Mike Bickle emphasizes the critical importance of standing with Israel as a litmus test of faith in the end times. He explains that this issue reveals the true obedience of believers to Jesus, who is committed to the salvation of the Jewish people. Bickle outlines the prophetic events surrounding the second coming of Christ, including the establishment of prison camps and the eventual deliverance of Israel, highlighting the necessity for the Church to understand and proclaim these truths. He warns against the political incorrectness of this message, urging believers to embrace their role as God's messengers in a time of great turmoil. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a unified and purified Church that stands firm in faith and obedience to God's sovereign plans for Israel.

Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing. Father, I ask you for a spirit of understanding. I ask for living understanding. I ask you for a spirit of revelation, a spirit of inspiration in the speaking and hearing of your word. I thank you in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Paragraph A, a litmus test is a test that uses one indicator to prove the point or to make a decision. Most of you know what a litmus test is, but if that's a new term to you. And there's one issue that the Lord and his sovereignty has established in the events related to his coming that will have a greater revelation of what's in our heart. I mean, the only issue is always obedience to Jesus. But this issue of standing with Israel will test the obedience of the people like no other issue will. The issue is always the sovereignty of Jesus and obeying him. But in his sovereignty, for a number of reasons, and hopefully some of it will be more clear by the end of this, it'll be clear as to why he is pushing this issue. He is, in his sovereignty, he is going to establish this issue of paramount importance. And he's gonna require those who follow him to take a stand with him in his commitment to bring the Jews to salvation. And so from a Gentile's point of view, it's a stand with Jesus. From a Jew's point of view, they're blown away that he would make such a big issue about recovering them. So it's really personal to them. And sometimes we lose our way in it, but from my point of view in faith, it's about obeying Jesus and his sovereign leadership. That's what it's all about. It's not about a romantic fascination with Judaism. It's nothing about that to me. It's about, my king says this, he says jump, I say ha-ha. And he just happened to point in that direction. And he has a lot of reasons as to why he wants that to be one of the major issues that express our faith and our obedience. Let's look at a little bit of review from the other sessions for those that are new with us. The necessary paradigm to understand the end times. It's often neglected, is that Jesus, when he comes back, he was going to rule the earth for a thousand years without suspending the natural human processes. We have this idea that when he comes back, all the natural processes are gonna be gone and it's all gonna be supernatural. He's not gonna suspend the natural processes of life, but rather he's gonna significantly enhance them by the supernatural dimension of the spirit. So it's this unique combination of the natural and the spiritual operating together. And if you don't grasp that, and most people kind of assume the natural processes will be gone, then you can't understand the hundred plus chapters that are related to the end times in the Bible. Paragraph C, this session tonight will provide some foundational understanding that we need to understand the second coming procession. The second coming has a number of events that are related to it. It's not just a momentary one moment he appears in the sky and it's over. And this session is really, it's critical if you're going to understand the chapters and the events related to the second coming. The Antichrist will establish prison camps across the world. It's one of the major end time things. We spent an hour on it in the last time that we did this, couple weeks back. I wanna say it again, the Antichrist, this is new to many believers, but there's many, many Bible verses on it. We're gonna spend another session on it as well in the weeks ahead. The Antichrist is going to establish prison camps across the world. It's one of the major strategies on his mind and he's gonna put Jews in them and Christians in them and others as well, not just Jews and Christians. He's gonna put a lot of people in them. It's a real point of emphasis to the Old Testament prophets for the generation the Lord returns. And it's way too big of a point to be totally neglected by the body of Christ like it is today. The scripture emphasizes the camps, particularly in two nations, Egypt and Assyria. It's repeated over and over again. Now Assyria, we said, where's Assyria? Ancient Assyria was a nation, it was the most powerful nation in the world in Isaiah's day and Isaiah is the one that talks most about this. It was the most powerful nation in history up until Isaiah's time and in his time. It now includes parts of modern day Jordan, Syria and Iraq. That's the territory of the ancient empire of Assyria. That's where the prophets emphasize where these prison camps are going to be. They aren't only gonna be there, but that's the point where we see more verses on those two places, Egypt and Assyria. Paragraph D, the essential part of the second coming procession emphasizes Jesus after the rapture. He comes back, he's on the earth. He marches up through Egypt and Assyria on his way to the Mount of Olives and he's killing his enemies. He's literally physically killing his enemies. Again, those of you who've been around for a while, you've heard this over and over, but those that are new with us, it's like what? I just thought he appeared for a moment. We all went away and it was over. No, there's many, many and very important details that are relevant to our understanding of the scripture. He's liberating Jewish prisoners in death camps. He's healing the infirm, particularly the blind and the lame. He repeats that over and over. He's gonna heal the blind and the lame. He says the deaf a time or two, but the blind and lame are mentioned over and over. This is a really important part of what he's marching up through the land of Egypt and ancient Assyria, which is again, Jordan, Iraq and Syria of modern time and he's healing them. Those are the main things he's doing when he returns. Jesus is going to function as the greater Moses, delivering his people. Now this message of the events related to the second coming because typically we just look at the one point he's coming and we don't pay attention to the events related to his coming. These ones that are repeated over and over. We need to understand them. We need to declare them. We need to prepare the nations for these events. But here's the problem with it and of course the Lord did it on purpose. These events, this message is politically incorrect to everybody. I mean, there could not be a more politically incorrect message than the events surrounding the second coming of Christ. It's no wonder that it's rarely proclaimed. Christians don't like it, Jews don't like it and Muslims don't like it and they all have several reasons why they don't like it. There's nobody who likes this message except for God. Paragraph E. Paragraph F. See, it was just repetition. I'm just giving you some Bible verses and this is from the last session as well. Many Jews, many Jewish people will be deported out of the land of Israel against their will. That's a really heavy statement. But heavier is that it's a truth. Many Jews will be deported out of their land against their will. Some will flee of their own free will. Some will stay in Jerusalem and they'll be supernaturally protected. There's a number of different responses. I don't wanna go into that. We looked at that at the last session. Paragraph G. This is just all by way of review. We're kinda getting ready for Matthew 25 in a moment. Paragraph G. The Old Testament prophecies reveal two major extremes related to the second coming events. Again, the second coming, Him appearing is one event but there's many events related to that that are all part of one continuum. There's two great extremes that we have to understand. Extreme number one, this is what the church and Israel does not like this extreme number one and Islam doesn't like extreme number two. Extreme number one, Israel is described over and over as being desolate in prison camps and assaulted by foreign armies. Israel's worst days in history are yet ahead of them. Israel's best days in their history are yet ahead of them. Their worst and their best days are yet ahead of them. And the body of Christ is right in the middle of the drama as God's spokespersons to the earth. We are the mouthpiece of God interpreting to Jews and Gentiles alike what God's thinking and what God's feeling. That's why we must overcome our intimidation with these Bible verses and say, you know what? Lord, I'm your son, I'm your daughter. I'm gonna learn these things. They're in the Bible. They're repeated over and over and over. I'm gonna learn these things because I wanna be a mouthpiece. I wanna be a messenger for you to believers and unbelievers alike interpreting the things that are happening related to the return of the Lord. So the first extreme is Israel is desolate, real desolate. The most desolate she's ever been. Worse than the desolation of Nazi Germany. It will surpass that in severity. Second, this is the extreme to the total opposite degree. Jesus suddenly reverses everything and brings deliverance. He reverses everything. This is the part Islam doesn't like. And all of Israel's oppressors will be killed and they will be, you know, stopped by being killed and many of them thrown into the lake of fire. Some will repent, actually get sick. Some will be saved. Jesus is gonna heal the bodies, restore them and make them the leaders of the earth with his prosperity and revelation and holiness and the glory of God. It's gonna go exactly the other direction. Those are the two extremes. There's a whole lot in between the two. Paragraph H, there's three types of people on the earth when Jesus appears in the sky. Number one, there's the redeemed and they will be raptured when he appears at the second coming. They won't be raptured, a secret rapture, you know, years before all that. They'll be raptured when he appears. The one and only time he appears, they will be raptured. It's one of the great deceptions in the body of Christ today. It's a very dangerous deception. They're very popular, but still very, very dangerous. That the church is gonna be whisked away kind of before the trouble and that's the church's greatest hour in the glory of God is when the trouble comes and it's our most critical hour as God's messengers to the earth. The second group of people are the reprobates. Those people that take the mark of the beast and their conscience are seared and they'll never get saved. And the third group are the resistors. There's many descriptions of the resistors. We'll look at some of them. The people who don't take the mark of the beast, but they're not saved yet. They've done neither. There's probably several hundred million of them. There's billions that take the mark of the beast, but probably several hundred million. Obviously, I don't know the real number. That's just a real uneducated guess. Nobody knows the number, but it's not 10. It's millions and millions of resistors. Paragraph two, I mean, Roman numeral two, top of page two. Why do we need to understand this? I'll give you three reasons why these strange ideas, because undoubtedly, to most of you in this room, minus maybe having heard it a few times in the last month or two, these are strange ideas, but they are all in the Bible. The fact that we don't know them doesn't eliminate them as biblical truths, just because the bodies of Christ isn't familiar with them. And they're real straightforward. I don't mean it doesn't take a secret insight. It's really straightforward. Over and over repeated, these things, the repetition makes them, points to their importance to the body of Christ, because they're so important to God that we know them. First thing, why we need to know them, because Jews being in prison camps is one of the most emphasized prominent features in the second coming passages in the Old Testament. This reveals Satan's rage against Israel, and it reveals God's intensity of how he's gonna purify the church in Israel. It shows us the measure to which God will go to purify the church and to purify Israel, because Israel's under the rage of Satan, but God says, now my covenant people, body of Christ, stand with them and tell them about Yeshua. Show them the power of God and the love of God. Stand toe-to-toe with them in the pressure, and tell them about my heart and about my salvation, and I'll release my power in the context of that. The body of Christ, many will say, I don't wanna say most, but many will say no. They'll deny the Lord's call over his church in this hour. Many will fall away. They'll say, absolutely, I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I'd rather have it a little easier now and forget about eternity. I'm just not gonna do it. But many, many in the body of Christ will do it. They'll say, Lord, we don't count our lives. We don't love our lives even unto death. We will obey you because we trust you, and we live in eternity. We're children of the resurrection, and this whole process will purify the church dynamically. Remember, the Lord's coming for a purified, unified church, and one of the great ways of which God has chosen to purify and unify the church, it won't be mostly unity meetings where everybody holds hands and sings One in the Spirit and sways in the stadium. I like those kind of things, but they don't produce unity, but I do like them. I go to them, and I hold hands, and I sing the loudest. But I know they don't produce anything, but I do like them. They don't produce much, let's say it that way, in terms of unity. What will produce unity is you and I standing together in the vortex of the pressure related to Satan's rage against Israel and the persecution that will come upon us for it. That will, all false motives will be exposed, and we will realign our hearts with such energy and such focus to be pure, to walk blameless. So that's the first reason, because it's so prominent. These ideas are so emphasized over and over in the Old Testament about the generation of the Lord returns. Secondly, the reason why this is so important to understand is because when we see God's heart to take this apostate, atheistic nation that hates God, and Israel as a nation hates God, they don't love God, they hate God, according to Jesus' definition, and that's the only one that we're going with. God says, you hate me and you disobey me, but I'm coming after you because I will not let go of you. This reveals the tenacious love of God, and the math, we do the simple math. If God will do this for Israel, He will do this for us. When God sets His heart on a people, He's coming after them. Now, there's some pain involved the longer they say no, but He's coming after them, and He restores them to the fullness of His purpose for them, and to see what He will do with Israel gives us a picture of His heart for us as individuals. This is the nature of God, to do this. And third, the reason we need to understand these emphasized but strange ideas is because without understanding several of these main things we've been covering in the last sessions, you can't understand the end time drama, and that's why the body of Christ, I'm not trying to pick on them, but because I is one, and I love the body of Christ, but the body of Christ is so illiterate. I mean, almost completely illiterate about what the Bible says about the generation the Lord returns. It says one or two points we've emphasized on. A trumpet's going, we're going up, and we're out of here. And the trumpet is gonna blast, and we are going up, and that's about the only thing true about what people know. The vast majority, the body of Christ is almost completely illiterate about the real reality of what God says is gonna happen. And if we don't understand a couple of these ideas that are not automatically pleasing to us, we won't understand these chapters. We'll just write the chapters off as, you know, I'm not into end times, it'll take care of itself. It won't take care of itself. We will only be prepared by understanding, and we will only be able to prepare others by us understanding and bringing them into it. So we really need to face the intimidation with this subject and overcome it. Just decide there's not that many points to it, and it is God's message to the earth, and it has to do with our destiny and the end of the age. It really matters. It is the planet that's in the balance. I mean, it's really worth understanding it. Roman numeral three. We're still on the review, long review, as is my custom. But the reason I'm doing it, because I just feel like, though we covered it a time or two, I just feel like most still don't grasp it yet. Paragraph A, Jesus is gonna raise a standard. There's maybe five or six places in the Old Testament, most all of them are in Isaiah, where the Messiah will raise a standard to the earth. He's gonna raise a standard. What is that standard? And another way of saying it, he's gonna publish, I don't know how, a decree. He's gonna get the decree known to the nation. When he raises a standard, he's proclaiming something that he wants everybody to know. And we have here in the passage here, in Isaiah chapter 49, this is one of those passages where God says, my son's gonna raise a standard. He's gonna declare a message. To raise a standard is to declare a message, is the point. Here's the message. Verse 22, I will lift my hand, this is the Messiah, in an oath to the nations. Jesus says, I promise all the Gentile nations of the earth, 210 of them, I promise the Gentile nations this, I'm gonna set up my standard, in other words, I'm gonna proclaim my message or my decree for all the peoples, and the word peoples in the Old Testament almost always is referenced to the Gentiles. He goes, I'm gonna lift my standard up, I want the Gentiles to understand this message. Here it is. Here's what they're gonna have to understand. They, the Gentiles, they will bring the sons of Israel in their arms back to the land of Israel. Jesus has made an oath that he's gonna preach this to the earth, and the Gentiles will do this, or they will be in the peril of disobeying his sovereign kingship. Now, we're Gentiles. We oughta know this, because Jesus is making an oath, and he's gonna raise it as a standard to the nations, and he's gonna make sure everybody understands this, and he's gonna enforce it. It's not something he's just, it's not a suggestion. He will require it, and our faith will be measured by our obedience to his decrees in the end times. Well, also history, but he has some real poignant and specific decrees that he's serious about. Look at this. They, Gentiles, will bring your sons, he's talking to Israel, they will bring your sons in their own arms. He goes, I'm not even just gonna let them write the check. I want them to come personally and come to Israel and bring the Jews with them and pay their way all the way, all the expenses, and get through all the obstacles, and I want them to make the sacrifice. The Gentiles aren't gonna like this concept, because this concept is immediately after the greatest hour of anti-Semitism in history. There's been more hatred of Jews, anti-Semitism, in history, in the hearts of Gentiles, than any other time in history when this decree goes out. There will be the greatest rift in history of people groups, Jews, Gentiles, with hatred against Jews. And Jesus says, at this greatest rift in society ever, there's never been a rift greater than this one that's yet to come. Jesus will say, the very point of the social disruption of the earth is the point I require obedience to my leadership in. He will say, they will bring their sons in their arms. Now, this is after the second coming. Say, well, it doesn't apply to me. I'll be with the Lord, you know, in the air, and got my new body, and hey, that's cool. I hope they do good. Well, it does apply to us, because the reason it applies to us is because this is a message we're gonna declare to millions and millions of people. This will be known. Part of the way the Lord's gonna raise the standard is through the church proclaiming it long before he takes us up to be with him. This will fill the highways and the byways. I mean, right now, to me, it's an amazing thing that through the Tim LaHaye series, 60 million left-behind books have been sold, 60 million. I mean, that's exciting, though I don't agree with most of his conclusions. I'm really excited by these books, and I believe the Lord has anointed them, and the Lord has got them out, because it's like the biggest-selling books in history, minus, you know, obviously, the Bible is the number one, but, you know, I don't know how those Harry Potter ones do, but, you know, I hear they're real big, but a couple other ones are real big, but this is one of the number-one-selling books in history, and what it's done is it's filling the Western world, at least, with the knowledge that there is an Antichrist coming, there is a mark of the beast coming, and millions of unbelievers know this language because of this, and even though lots of the message of the book, I believe, is wrong, and even a real distraction, but in the comfort of their armchairs, they're reading this, eating their popcorn, and flipping through the channels, and going, oh, this is kind of cool, hey, honey, come over, do you know the Antichrist is coming? And they're just kind of learning about it in a real kind of comfortable environment, but the information is gonna get in their mind. Well, in the same way, well, probably a lot of other differences, the fact that we're proclaiming it now will create an awareness worldwide of this. It will be the oddest message. Hey, Gentiles, hey, Nazi Germany, you know what you're gonna do? Imagine standing up in Nazi Germany and saying, hey, Nazi Germany, you will not only bring the Jews back to Israel, you will pay the way for them, remove all the obstacles, overcome them, and you will personally attend them to make sure, take care of their needs and their comfort on the way. I can imagine the Nazi regime saying, I don't think so, and Jesus says, I do think so, and he's going to manifest his power to enforce this decree. It is a major offensive decree. It's at the point of conflict, Jesus is in your face before the nations. I mean, this is, he couldn't have done anything more offensive than this decree. Of course, he knows that we don't really think about it much because we kind of think about, well, bring their sons and their daughters, so what? Again, this is in contrast to the most hostile anti-Semitism in history. Think of the Nazi hierarchy having to do this, or they go to the lake of fire, that's it, and Jesus is flexing his muscles. He's coming in glory, and he's insisting on what he wants, and he wants this, and the Jews, who have rejected him for 2,000 years, they go, why are you so on our side? This is on our side to an extreme, and Jesus will say something like, I have always been on your side, and that will break the nation of Israel and lead them to their salvation, and that's why Jesus' choice of this strategy, at first, it's a bit odd. When I first began to read this, I go, God, now take this with a grain of salt, God, but if I was God, I wouldn't do it this way. This seems a little extreme and odd to me, but the more I think on this, and the more I can see the pieces of Scripture come together, it is brilliant. It will purify the church. It will convince Israel of his passion for them. It will be in your face to the obstinate spirit against God and against Israel. He's pushing, he's pushing the limits right to the edges. So he's gonna look at verse 22. I'll lift my hands in an oath to the nations. I'll set up my standard for the peoples, and here's what they're gonna do. Here's what the former oppressors, the former murderers of the Jews are going to do. They will bring their children. These Nazi guys don't even like children. They're gonna take their children in their own arms, and their daughters will be carried on their own shoulders, and they will go back to the land, verse 23. Kings, the most powerful leaders of the earth, will be the foster fathers, and the queens will be the nursing mothers. These dignified, wealthy women will be the nursing mothers of these Jewish infants. A number of them will be orphaned. That's why they need them, because their parents have been killed in the onslaught. They will come to Israel, look at this. They will bow down with their faces to the earth. I took it out just for space. They will lick the dust of the land of Israel. They will kiss the ground of Israel. What is gonna make these formerly hostile people do this? Jesus is flexing his muscles before the earth, and they are terrified by the man who came across the sky in flaming fire, and he's a Jew, and he's a human, and he's Jewish, and the nations are going, oh no, he's Jewish, and Israel's gonna say, oh no, he's Jewish, because we've hated him all these years, but now that we think about it, yes, he's Jewish. At first, it will, oh no, wait, he's Jewish. Then what's gonna happen is you will know, here's what the Lord says to Israel and to the nations. He says it both ways. You will know, Jesus is speaking, I'm God. When these former persecutors bring the children back, the orphaned children back, with joy and thanksgiving and tears for the chance to walk in God's favor, then everybody will know there's only one man who's God, the man who gave the decree. Absolutely marvelous. Is this the Jesus that you're worshiping tonight? Yes, this is the one. He does this. He has such a marvelous plan that he's setting into motion. Verse 25, even the captives of the mighty, of the mighty leaders, the mightiest, again, we're going back to World War II, the Nazi hierarchy, I'm talking about the main guys. The Jewish prisoners of the mighty ones shall be taken away. In other words, they're gonna be delivered. And the prey, it's again, Jewish prisoners, of the terrible leaders, the terrible means awesome. It means terrifying, powerful. Well, they're terrible people too, but. But it means mighty, terrifying is what this word means. The prey of the most wicked, powerful leaders are gonna be delivered by Jesus. He's gonna see to it that they get delivered. Now, many will die, but many will be delivered. And here's what God says. Here's the oath God makes. Not only that they'll bring them back in their own arms, but here's the oath. I, Jesus, will contend with all the kings that have contended with Israel with their anti-Semitism. Jesus goes, I will personally fight everyone who has fought Israel. I personally will fight them through my kingdom and through all my resources and through my network, so to speak, of the saints and the angels and the glory of the Father. Look at this, Jesus is going to fight with everybody who fights against Israel. Even the Jews who fight against God's purpose with Israel, Jesus will fight against them. He will have a covenant people in the land, in obedience, filled with gratitude without violating their free will. He will do it by showing his power. This is the Jesus that saves us and heals us and delivers us. He's got a burning passion in his heart about a particular purpose when he comes back. And that's why we wanna know it. We wanna love what he loves and we wanna do what he does with passion. Some guy says, well, I'm not into this Israel thing. I said, well, technically, I'm not either. I'm into the Jesus thing. And Jesus has a purpose with Israel, so count me in. I said, I'm a Jesus guy all the way. That's why I'm into Israel, is because I'm into Jesus. And here's what God tells, here's what Jesus says. He goes, I will save your children. He looks at the Jews, because many of the children are orphaned. And he's telling them, he goes, I'm gonna save them. I'm gonna, he's, bless me, think of what an orphans would like after World War II in Europe. Can you picture the documentaries of World War II in Europe, just these aimless wandering bands of thousands of people walking and starting like zombies and near starvation with no water, no direction, with orphaned children in the chaos of this. Jesus said, I will take care of them. I know what I'm doing. What a statement. And he goes on, he says, verse 26, I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk in their own blood. And now not only Israel will know I'm God, but all the Gentiles will know I am the savior of Israel, and I am God. When I make them, when I make them drunk with their own blood because they've stood against me. Again, Jesus is flexing his muscles. He's showing his power. He says, then all of the earth will know there's only one man who is God, and his name is Jesus of Nazareth. What a, Isaiah 49 is awesome. But you can't read Isaiah 49 if you don't have the paradigm for what's happening. I mean, the whole chapter is line upon line. I mean, glorious and terrible in the sense of awesome. Okay, let's, where do we wanna go now? Let's go to paragraph G, top of page three. And we're going to Isaiah 60 as well, for the PowerPoint. Isaiah 60, verse 11 and 12. And in all the notes, we just skipped about a page there. I just said the same things I just said. Okay, Isaiah 60, verse 11 and 12 on the PowerPoint. The top of page three or nearly. I'm gonna read it. The Lord says about Israel, "'Your gates will be opened continually.'" Why? Why will your gates be opened? So that the men or the Gentiles, the men of the earth, will bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles. God's gonna open the gates. I mean, Israel's gonna keep the gates of their nation open. Again, this is after the Lord's return. Because the way I did, remember, the Lord returns and the natural realm doesn't dissolve. The Lord returns as a real man under the anointing like he did the first time. He's coming back as a real man with a real body, anointed like he did the first time, but a greater power demonstration. But the natural realm will continue and he'll rule the earth. But first he's gotta restore the earth and that will take years to restore it. The major cities of the earth, most of them will be desolate and they've gotta rebuild. I mean, think about how much time it's gonna take to restore New Orleans. I mean, to fully restore it. You know, they say, maybe never. And others say, well, for years and years. That's one city with everybody pitching in and helping. The cities of the earth are gonna be decimated. And Jesus isn't gonna come, wave his hand over him and all of a sudden buildings are built. They're gonna be built brick by brick. The streets are gonna be cleared. The water lines are gonna be reestablished. The electricity, the food supply, the crops are gonna have to be regrown. Just all, everything has to be rebuilt. And it will take years in the transitional time. It won't happen in a month. It will take years for the transitional time after Jesus returns to govern the earth. There'll be, I'm guessing, again, I don't know the number, but some several hundred million, maybe a few more. Maybe more than, maybe four, five, six, seven, eight, a hundred million people on the earth that had been resistors. They were not raptured. They were not believers. They were not reprobates. They didn't take the mark of the beast. They're gonna go on. It's gonna be some hundreds of millions. And Jesus is going to lead them as the king of the earth. And we're gonna be involved together with him with resurrected bodies. And the way, but in a more dynamic way than the angels are involved with us right now. Maybe a much more dynamic way because heaven is coming to the earth. The realms are gonna come together. We're gonna have a very powerful, relevant impact in this. It will matter to us. But natural life will go on. And there'll be time, it'll take process for all of this to be established. Okay, let's go to the passage, Isaiah 60, verse 11 and 12. It's right before G on the PowerPoint. There you go. It says there at the bottom there, your gates will be open continually. It's talking about the gates of the city of Jerusalem. And men, that's Gentiles, they're gonna bring the wealth of nations. The kings are coming in procession. The kings are gonna take, they're gonna get on the schedule, the kings of the earth. There's 210 nations right now. And there maybe won't be that many nations because there'll be some nations lost, some nations merged. But let's just use the same number, 210 or 200 or so nations, whatever. Because the Lord will rewrite the boundary lines. And some nations will merge and who knows what's gonna happen, what that's gonna look like exactly. But the kings are gonna go in procession to Jerusalem. They're gonna get on the schedule, all the kings are. Can you imagine? They're gonna go to the Jerusalem conference because guess who the worship leader and the preacher is? He's worshiping the Father and he's preaching about the Father. You know who he is. Anyway, they're gonna come in procession. Now, you do know this has never been fulfilled in history, right? Has there ever been a time where the kings of the earth lined up to go visit Israel? No, Israel's been desolate for 2,000 years. And when it wasn't desolate, the kings of the earth didn't like Israel. Like they don't like it now. But they're gonna all come in procession. Look at this, verse 12. For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you. This is Jesus in your face. He goes, I wanna promise you, any king that will not serve you, because it's not really about serving Israel, it's about obeying God's sovereignty. And God says, in my sovereignty, this is where I want your humility exercised, right here. On the nation you have hated the most, I want you to serve them and it will develop meekness in the earth. Even, there's so many reasons Jesus has set up his plan this way. It will produce meekness in all these new converts. These resistors who are getting saved will have to be saved. They'll get saved for a living because if they don't get saved, they'll be judged and executed and thrown into the lake of fire. Only believers will live through this. But it'll be some months and even years in the transition period. For the nation or the king which will not serve you, they will perish. The king and the nations, or the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you, those nations will be utterly ruined. How are they gonna get ruined? Jesus is going to ruin them after he comes. I mean, he didn't ruin them in the coming. This is down the road and they decide, you know, we don't like this Israel thing. They will be utterly destroyed by Jesus. I'm talking about even years later. He's really important to him that they get this message clear. Paragraph G. In Isaiah 60, Isaiah describes a dynamic, radical reversal of the attitudes of all the kings of the earth. And the kings are gonna operate in such, later down in the paragraph, such extravagance towards Israel because they will fear in the right sense. They will have godly fear more than respect. They will tremble before this new Jewish king who's running the earth as a benevolent dictatorship. He will be the only king. Everybody else will be delegated under his authority. There'll be no democracy at all on the earth. It will be a benevolent, holy, theocracy, one-man rule under God. Dictatorship has such a negative term that it's hard to think of it that way, but it's the idea of one person dictates how the governments are run, but it'll be a really, really good man doing it. Okay, let's go to paragraph I. Jesus will evaluate the nations to determine which ones will survive. Now, this is after he's returned. Because if they repent, because they've been resistors, they survive. If they're born again already, they get raptured. It's not an issue. They get raptured as individuals. Nations don't get raptured, but individuals do. But the resistors, they didn't take the mark of the beast. If they take the mark of the beast, it's over. They will be reprobate. Their consciences are seared. They are on their way to the lake of fire. Let's look at the verse Zechariah 14, right underneath it. It shall come to pass. Now, this is talking about in this transitional period after Jesus returns. It will come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, which are all the nations, everyone who's left of the nations which come against Israel, because the survivors, these are the resistors. There's not that many. Again, it might be some hundreds of millions, but compared to billions, it's a quite small percent. It'll come to pass that of everyone who's left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem, that's yet future, this coming against Jerusalem. The nations are already lining up against Jerusalem right now, as we can see in the news. Everyone who's left of the nations which came against Israel shall go up from year to year to worship Jesus. He is the king. They will worship him. He is the Lord of hosts, and they will keep the Feast of Tabernacle. The leaders of these nations, they have to go to Jerusalem. They have to do the Israel thing. Again, God's producing meekness in the earth, but these kings are so happy to be alive. They're thinking, we didn't obey you, so we were raptured, but we didn't take the mark either, and you forgave us. We will do anything you want. He says, I want you coming to Israel as the Washington, D.C. of the earth, using our American paradigm. It's the capital of the earth. You must come here, and you must worship. They go, absolutely, can't wait to do it. You're indescribably lovely. Verse 17, and Jesus, the Lord speaking, the spirit of prophecy, it's the Lord speaking, so we know it's the heart of Jesus here. He says, verse 17, and just in case people lose their way, it will be whichever family of the earth doesn't do this, there'll be no rain upon them. Their crops will have a drought. He says, this is not an option. You must, you must come to the annual staff meeting. You must come to Jerusalem, or there will be drought on your crops, and your families will be in dire problems. He goes on, he pushes it a little bit heavier. Verse 18, and if the family of Egypt, I mean, there's so much about Egypt and Assyria, these nations right next door to Israel, they have this, they have a more difficult time getting through the issues. They had the biggest death camps. They had the greatest animosity. And they still, they are forgiven, but the Lord, there's issues still with some of them. He says in verse 18, if the families of Egypt won't come up, there will be no rain, but it's like everybody else, but I'm gonna take it up a notch. They will receive a plague will come on them. This is talking after the second coming in the millennial kingdom. I will send a plague to them if they don't come up and do what I say. And I'll strike the nations, all the nations, not just Egypt, he broadens it now. It's the plague I strike the nations with if they don't come up and worship. Beloved, this is like intense. Let's go to Roman numeral four. Go to the top of page four and look at Roman numeral four. Now again, I realize a handful of you tonight, these are completely new ideas, but honestly, there's only about 10 ideas in each of them. You could put maybe 10 paragraphs behind them and you really have it. It's really not that hard. The 10 ideas, I don't know the exact number, but it's a small amount of ideas that are really prominent in the Old Testament about the coming of the Lord. And they're not that, they're at first, they're a little bit, they kind of throw you off a little bit because they're brand new the first time or two you hear them. But the good news is the Bible doesn't keep growing. Once you learn the ideas, you learn them. I mean, there's only a small number of them related to what I'm talking about. Once you learn them, you actually know them. And then all these other passages begin to all make sense. You go, oh man, that verse means what it says and says what it means. That's not a hard problem. That verse means exactly what it says. Romans 4, the principle of honoring God's sovereignty by blessing Israel. Here's what the Lord told the first Jew, so to speak. It's Abraham, it's the first one, the first covenant. He goes, I'm gonna tell you something, Abraham, it's only you and Sarah, you're the only two. You're the only, they didn't call them Jews, but he goes, you're the only two in the whole earth. I'm in covenant with you. And now here's the deal, from now till the end, I mean forever, through the millennium, on to the new earth. Here's the deal, this is an eternal decree. I will bless the people and the nations that bless you and I will curse the people and the nations that curse you. Abraham, sounds good to me. The Lord might have said, you don't, I mean, obviously he didn't say this, but he could have said it. Abraham, you can't even begin to comprehend how massive this point I'm making to you is. And it will come to a major pinnacle around the great tribulation and the transitional years into the millennial kingdom. The Lord will bless whichever individuals or whatever nations bless Israel. And it's not because it's Israel, it's because it's God's purpose, that's why. Again, it's important to say that because I've seen a lot of, not a lot, but I mean like 20 or 30 or 40, not thousands, but it's always, it makes my heart sick, maybe a few more than that, over the years. I've seen them, Gentiles who love Jesus, they read the Bible, they find these verses and they get fanatical and romantic about Israel and they lose their connection with God. They become more fanatical about Israel than Jesus. And they think it's about Israel. No, it's about Jesus. It's just as, this is just one of those points. He has several of them in the Bible. It's not the only one, but it's one of these major points that's a litmus test that is going to determine the quality of a person's faith and understanding. He says, I'm gonna bless the people who bless Israel and I will curse the people who curse Israel. One of the reasons America has unprecedented blessings compared to any nation in history, the power and the wealth is second to no nation in history. We have had, we have so much sin in our nation. We have so many reasons for God to confront us with such power and he's going to. But the very fact that we have, as a nation, have blessed Israel in just ways second to none in the earth, that is a major thing. And it's not because, again, Israel romanticism, it's because God made a covenant and God never breaks his covenant. When we pray for Israel, this is major, even if you don't get it, lots of folks that join us, most of, if we get a couple hundred new interns in Bible school students, 90% of them go, I don't get the Israel thing. And that's because the body of Christ is nearly illiterate on this subject. But in a month or two or three, you start getting it. And you still got years to go, most of you. And so you got it. And one of the reasons, one reason God is gonna bless IHOP in the days to come, because we are taking the word of Jesus, it's Jesus's decree, and we're making it important to us. And he goes, okay, I take this personal, says the Lord. Jesus, I'm into Israel because of you. Whatever excites you, I am committed to it, even if I don't get it, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. And I'll get it in process, I'll get it on the way. I declared, when I just got the little bit of understanding of this some years ago, I declared, I said, I'm going for this, my brain's gotta catch up with it, but at the heart level, I am into the end all the way, by the grace of God. And I imagine the Lord said, you know, or something like, well, little guy, that's good. You're right, you don't get it, but that's good. Line your heart up, and I'll fill in the blanks. Just stay with it, I'll fill in the blanks for you. And that's what the Lord's asking for us to do. Look at the next one, this is Isaac speaking to Jacob, Genesis 27. Isaac, he's giving the blessing of God upon his son, Jacob. Isaac's the father, Jacob's the son. Let the peoples, there it is, peoples is Gentiles again. Let the peoples serve you. Oh, what an offense. Let them serve you, that's offensive to the Gentiles. That their own prophets are prophesying that we're gonna serve them. Well, they can, because they can back it up, because Jesus is the one that's backing it up. But the problem is, Israel puts their chest out. The Lord goes, ooh, that's not good. Don't strut, and Gentiles, don't get bitter. Everybody stop strutting. Everybody be humble, and this thing will work. The Gentiles, in our pride, we go, I am not serving a Jewish nation. The Jews put their chest out and go, we are the main people, and we know it. But not without obedience and humility, they're not. And it's because of the favor of God. But it is a decree, and that's good enough for me. If it came from Jesus, it's good enough for me. Let the Gentiles serve you, let the nations, that's the Gentiles again, bow down to you, and cursed are everyone who curses you, and blessed are those who bless you. The Lord is so kind, he's been really kind in this. There are, I know, so many guys in the body of Christ, anointed preachers, I mean, I got good friendship with, or a good, I mean, a good respect and genuine affection. And they have written off Israel. And they go, ah, this Israel thing, that's just a bunch of hogwash, in a low way. It's not in a major way, but they're cursing Israel. I go, ooh, just don't do that. Just put your hand in your mouth, and put your face in the dust. Don't do that. And they, I've seen them get up and say, this Israel thing, and so, and they blast Israel. I think, you just don't wanna do that. And the Lord, at this hour, is winking at it. He's looking at it and says, you know, boys will be boys. They just don't get it. But the hour is coming, and we might be a decade or two out. I don't know, but I'm not taking no chances. The hour is coming where the Lord is not going to wink at this in the church. He, I mean, the language, and again, we're only looking at a couple of verses. Obviously, we're not gonna get to Matthew 25, but this is, but you can't understand Matthew 25 without this. Without this, Matthew 25 does not make any sense. We'll look at Matthew 25 next week. But I believe the days are coming, and it might be now, but my guess is it's still a little bit of time where the Lord is not going to wink. They're not gonna, at this arrogant Gentile spirit in the church that casts off Israel. Because it's, Paul, in Romans chapter 11, he called it, he says to the Gentiles in Rome, he says, don't be haughty, and don't be ignorant, and do this, and yet, the body of Christ for 2,000 years, I mean, the greatest leaders of the body of Christ, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, I'm talking about great minds, became haughty, and arrogant, and blinded, and cast off Israel. And though God used them, even in their arrogance, they were used of God, just like us, like all of us in this room. In our arrogance, he uses us. And I read some of the writings, I go, ooh, ooh, man, that's intense, because Paul called it haughtiness and arrogance in Romans 11. He said, don't be haughty, verse 22, 20 to 22, he goes, don't be arrogant, don't be blind like Israel's blind, be humble, understand that God's sovereignty has decreed this. Look at Psalm 126, I mean, 122, verse six. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and may they prosper who love Jerusalem. I love Jerusalem by faith, what do I mean by faith? I have determined, some years ago, I said, I am setting my heart on this, because you've set your heart on it, and you've got a purpose for it. You're gonna measure the nations, you're gonna measure meaning, you're gonna evaluate the nations in this cauldron, this great troublesome vortex of Israel. You're gonna purify the church, you're gonna make us stand with your purpose in Israel, and we will go through the heat with them, like Corey Ten Boom, and guys like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, these people who gave their lives, or their families did, standing true to God's word in the time of Nazi Germany, standing for the Jews, not because they liked Jews, per se, because they loved Jesus, and they knew what Jesus had set his heart upon this people. And I'm sure they did love them, because you connect, at first, it's an idea, it's a people group that you don't have a name and a face, but once you get involved with it, they got real names and faces, then you love the people that have real names and faces. But Jerusalem, it's a city, most of us haven't even been to it. It's like, okay, I love you, I love Jerusalem, nice bumper sticker, love Jerusalem, I guess, I love Jerusalem. My point is, it's like we don't really connect with it, and I read that verse years ago, and I go, I love the prosper part of this verse. I love the prosper part, I don't mind the pray part, pray, that's okay, I do that. Peace, peace is good. Love, Jerusalem, I love you, no, I don't think so. I don't think I ever think about you. No, that's how I started, I looked at this verse, and I go, why are you pushing this, Lord? Love them? Love, L-O-V-E, huh. I love America and the Super Bowl, you know, I love Revival and Charles Finney, you know, I go, yeah, I'm an American, I don't love, I don't even get them, I don't get it over there. I went over there and visited, I said, I'm gonna go. Walked around the city, it was a weird city, I just looked around, I go, there's so many weird people in this city, interested, yes, love, I don't think so, love, I don't think so, Lord. 1982, walked around the city, I was trying to do this verse. Totally intrigued, die for this? No, I don't think so. Pray for it a couple times a year, maybe a few more times, I ended up doing a bit more than that. But I determined, I said, I'm going to get a hold of this. I'm gonna, by faith, I'm gonna lock in and position my mind and heart, and I'm gonna learn this. I'm gonna learn what you think and feel a little bit. And I wouldn't say I'm there yet, I have a whole lot more love than I did in 82 when I visited, but I went there with this verse, it was on my mind, I wanted to love Israel. And I certainly didn't hate Israel, but again, I found it very intriguing, kind of interesting, but love would not be the right word. But these years later, and I've prayed for Israel many, many prayer meetings over the years, and I thought, you know, Lord, I'm starting to feel a little bit, I like this, I like where this is going. And so we posture ourself and we stay with it. And I began to read Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, find out what God's doing with Israel and why it's so critical to humble the nations and to purify the church, and it's gonna purify and humble Israel in the process of being the object of God's affection. It will break the nation of Israel, this love will. This love is a two-sided love. This love is what's gonna cause 2 3rds of the nation to be exterminated. 2 3rds of the nation is gonna be killed. They will die unnatural deaths because God has set his heart on this city and this nation. The backside of this is trouble, trouble. I love them, I will not let go of them. I will love them, I will not let go of them. And 2 3rds, it says in Zechariah 13, will be killed, premature deaths, unnatural deaths, horrifying. I don't mean horrifying deaths, per se. Some of them will, I don't know, they'll all be different. But my point is 2 3rds of a nation dying in a short period, 2 3rds of a nation, are you kidding? Lord, that's horrifying. It's because I love them. I will not let them off the hook. But 1 3rd will be awakened in my love. And they will be the seedbed of a whole new order on the earth. And they will be so broken in their humility. And I will join them to the Gentiles in the earth. And they will be broken in their humility as well. Let's go to B, paragraph B, Balaam prophesies this. Balaam is prophesying to King Balak, the Moabite king. And some of you know, it's a very, very interesting story. Numbers 22, 23, 24, Balaam is a Jewish prophet. And Balak says, the king says, hey, tell you what? I'll give you a million dollars. Of course, he's making up the number. But I'll give you a million dollars. I'll give you gold if you will curse Israel. Because I know you're anointed somehow, some strange way. And if you curse Israel, I know it will hurt them. And Balaam says, okay, okay. You'll really give me a million dollars. All I gotta do is curse Israel. He goes, yeah, but you gotta get into that. This is strange stuff, so I don't really understand it all. But you gotta get into that power realm that you get into, Balaam, to where the curse really works. Because we want him taken out of the way. Balaam says, I'll do my best. But if I get in the presence of God and God says something different, God's too powerful, I can't overdo it. I can't overthrow God. And Balaak says, okay, I'll take my chances. But you only get paid if you curse him. He says, okay, good, I'll do it. So he went into that whatever mode he went into. I don't understand it, so it's a strange story. And God stands, you know, lets Balaam stand before him. And he says, I love Israel. And I will bless Israel, and I will curse everybody, even Balaak, who's paying you. I will curse him and everyone. And so Balaam comes out of this vision, and he says, oh, man, Balaak, you're not gonna like this. I saw the Lord, I was there. Whoever blesses Israel, God will bless. And the king said, what? You're going the other way. He says, I can't help it. He goes, God is really into Israel. You know what, I'm getting off the subject. I'm gonna take the amount of time anyway. I mean, Matthew 25 is the next passage here, so we'll just take it up next week. But getting off the subject, you know what Balaam did? It's really, really important. I was gonna say interesting, that's too trite. It is interesting, very interesting story. Numbers 22, three, and four, I think even 25. Balaam said to Balaak, I can't curse them because every time I get in the presence of God, the word of God comes, I can't get God to switch. It doesn't work. Balaak says, you're not getting the million dollars. The deal's off. He goes, hang on, hang on. Here's what you can do. Now, listen, this is really important. He said, if you can get your young women who love idols, demons, if you can get them, go over the state line and get them to have these parties with the Jewish men, and the Jewish men get into immorality and go over the line, God will curse them. God will judge them if they go over that line. He says, if you can get Israel to sin, then God will turn on Israel. Balaak said, really? So Balaak got, sent the women over there, and the judgment of God came on Israel. It worked, in an evil way, it worked. And beloved, if Satan can't destroy us, if he can get us, if he can get us to open our spirit to darkness, then Satan can get God to judge us. But he's gotta pull us over the line because God won't do it when we stay on his side. But if we go over on the dark side, because God cannot change, this is what Balaak said, he goes, God can't change. He goes, when I got in his presence, I couldn't make him change. I couldn't get a different word. He goes, but if you can get your girls to entice the Jewish boys, God will absolutely judge them for sure. What an evil piece of wisdom, but it worked. And so what we say as the body of Christ, we're not going to, the judgment of God came on Jesus. The only way the judgment of God will come on us is if Satan can get us into his realm, the realm that God's committed to judge. Well, we'll just end with that. Let's stand.