Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of recognizing the political signs of the times, particularly concerning the nation of Israel. He discusses the prophetic events that have unfolded since Israel's rebirth in 1948, highlighting the importance of understanding these signs as indicators of the end times. Bickle warns that the world is witnessing the beginning of birth pangs, with Israel at the center of God's redemptive history, and stresses the need for believers to be aware and prepared for the coming events, including the rise of the Antichrist and the establishment of a false peace. He encourages the congregation to remain vigilant and discerning as these prophetic events unfold.

for your word. And Lord, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. We thank you for love, the way you love us and the way you help us love you. We love to love you. Our spirit cries out that we love to love you. When you anoint our hearts, when you oil our spirits to love you better, our spirit says yes. And we thank you, Lord, even for that few moments before you, where you were putting oil on our hearts, our understanding. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, session two on signs of the times, studies on the signs of the times. I'm going to take, we're going to look at the political signs of the times pertaining to the nation of Israel. Then we're going to look at political signs pertaining to the Gentile nations in the following sessions. Then we're going to look at technology. We're going to look at the birth pangs. We're going to look at, uh, what's happening and, and, uh, different social trends in the nation. There's, there's quite a few signs that we're going to look at. Then at the end, we'll put them all together and have one big list. So you can kind of really look at them all at one time. Roman number one, I'm going to give just a minute of review for those that were not here last week. And the notes are on the internet as well as the, uh, the CD as well. You can get it either way, the notes or the, uh, you can watch it, hear it, or just study it by the notes. Paragraph a, the scripture commands us to know the signs of the times. That's a, that's a new idea to some Christians. They think opposite. We're not supposed to know when, when it's Jesus actually, when we're in the generation of his appearing, he commands us to know the time and to understand the signs. Many scriptures emphasize how important the prophetic signs are at the end of the age in scripture. Jesus taught more on this than the apostles did. You add all the apostles together. Jesus exhorted them to know the signs of the times of his coming first and second coming, because when he exhorted them to know the signs of his first coming, that was also a prophetic message to know his signs of his second coming. Because the message is when I come, I give signs. And when I give signs of my coming, you must know them. That's the underlying message. Whether he's focusing on his first coming rebuking them or on his second coming and warning us by the rebuke that he gave the leadership of Israel that day, still paragraph a, my premise is that we are at the beginning and the beginning stages of the generation that the Lord will return. I don't know whether the final seven year prophetic, this final seven prophetic years, if it begins in five years or 50 years, I've been saying this for years, I think it's closer to 50 than five, but I might be wrong. But I, I think there's still a things that are need to happen. And we might be a few decades out. We might not be, it's hard to say. First Thessalonians chapter five, this is Paul speaking concerning the times and seasons. Brethren, you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves know perfectly well, you know, this the day of the Lord, and those are the events related to the second coming just before and after the second coming. That's the day of the Lord events. You know that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, but you brethren are not in the darkness so that the day should surprise you or overtake you. It says that day should not be a surprise to the people of God. Verse five, you are all sons of light. You are sons of the day. Therefore let us watch, be sober, understand what's going on. So concern concerning the times and the seasons, Paul made it clear that the believers are sons of the light. We are not to be surprised and overtaken and shocked that he comes like a thief. He comes like a thief to the people who are not watching. We are watching. We're aware that he's coming. Paragraph B to continue with review. When comparing Matthew 24, and we got a lot more notes on this last week. If you're new here this week or in the Omega course, we spent a whole session on this. When comparing Matthew 24 with 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we see three distinct prophetic time frames that are related to the final seven years of this age. First, it's called the beginning of birth pangs and I believe that we're in them right now. I believe we're in that first stage. Second, it's the one that's coming next. That's what I think is a few years down the road. The worldwide period of counterfeit peace and safety. This isn't the beginning of birth pangs, it's the increased birth pangs. And then third stage, the third prophetic time frame is the final three and a half years called the great tribulation. That's the heavy birth pangs. So we're in the beginning of the birth pangs now. Paragraph C continuing in review. My opinion is the beginning of the birth pangs began either in 1948 or 1967. And my guess is they began in 1948 when Israel became a nation. Israel is the reference point for understanding God's redemptive history. This is very important. If you study the prophets, Old and New Testament prophets, well the New Testament would be the apostles functioning in a with prophetic revelation. When you study the prophets of the scripture, what God does in Israel is the reference point. Now as Gentiles, most of us are Gentiles in this room, that might kind of surprise us, but God causes the timing to be related to the city and the nation that he's coming back to and that he's going to rule the nation of the world from. So the city and the nation that he's coming back to and the city and the nation that he's going to rule the world from, that's the reference point on timing. And all the timing in the scripture is related to a prophetic events to that city and that nation. And of course that city is Jerusalem and that nation is Israel. Israel gives us the prophetic timetable for the unfolding of God's end time purposes. And the most dramatic thing happened in Israel. After 2,000 years it became a nation. This is unprecedented in world history. There's nothing like this that's ever happened in history ever. It stands in a category of its own, I mean in a way out there all by itself, that Israel, it said in the Old Testament, many places directly or by implication that Israel had to be a nation in the generation that the Messiah would come. There's many, we're going to look at some of these passages so that you can become more aware of them. But the prophets of the Old Testament, you know, 2,500 years ago, 3,000 years ago, those kind of time frames, they said in essence, the meaning is Israel will be a nation and they will occupy the city of Jerusalem when the Messiah returns or before the Messiah returns and obviously when and afterwards. And that was all fine and easy back in the Old Testament because Israel was in the land and they controlled the city of Jerusalem. So things seem like pretty normal prophecies. But then surprise, the Roman armies came in in 70 AD and scattered the Jewish nation to the four winds and took over the city of Jerusalem and the nation and disbanded the nation. And all of a sudden a bunch of those Old Testament prophets, it's like, well, how's this going to happen? Well, Israel is going to become a nation again. They're going to be reinstated in their statehood, their nationhood. Well, that was okay for maybe 50 years or 100 years and the people of God begin to say, huh, this is getting a little bit more difficult to happen because no nation, no nation in history, 6,000 years since Adam, no nation has ever been without a homeland for one generation and recovered, came back to their homeland. No nation has ever been driven out of their homeland and came back within a generation. If they've been out of the land more than one generation, more than 40, 50, 60 years, whatever, one lifetime. It's never happened. Well, 2,000 years later, it looks impossible. There isn't a chance. It's never been done. Not even after 40 years has it ever been done, let alone 2,000. And suddenly, suddenly in May 1948, Israel becomes a nation unprecedented and the prophetic time clock starts up again. And to those that are unfamiliar with Bible prophecy, that might seem like a small thing. It is a gigantic shout from heaven. The end time clock began again on May 14th, 1948. Paragraph D, five of the most significant prophetic events in the last 2,000 years, five of the most significant political events is what I want to say. We're looking at political events tonight. Of the five that I have listed, four of them are happening right now in this generation. Not for 2,000 years. Oh, for five. And then suddenly in one generation, four of them are coming to pass. And undoubtedly the fifth one is going to come to pass as well. Political event number one, the rebirth of the nation of Israel. Event number two, which is not the same thing. It's entirely a different thing. The recapture of the city of Jerusalem for the Jews to have control of the city of Jerusalem is a critical part of prophecy because a lot of the Old Testament prophets, the Jews had to be in the city to be surrounded by the nations. One of the famous prophecies is that the nations of the world would surround the city of Jerusalem to wipe out the Jews. Well, the Jews have to be in Jerusalem to get surrounded by the nations. The third point, which is basically what I just said about being surrounded by the nations, Jerusalem would be at the center of world controversy. Now, in 70 AD when they were disbanded, Jerusalem became a, before too long, a very second class city. Jerusalem in 18 whatever it was, 50 or 60, whenever Mark Twain went and visited, he wrote a famous report of the city of Jerusalem. It's referred to often in commentaries. And he said that Jerusalem was beaten down, dirty, poor. It was a third world city. And there was almost, there's very, very little population in the city. And there wasn't a chance just a hundred years ago that it was going to be the number one city in world politics. Not a chance. But the prophet said that the city of Jerusalem would be the number one city of which the nations would be in controversy and it would be in the news. And there's no city in the news like Jerusalem is in the last generation. Now for 2000 years, you couldn't get any news report on Jerusalem. Nothing happened that concerned anybody in the nations for the most part. So suddenly Jerusalem is at the center of world controversy. You can't just be the number one controversial city of the earth because you choose to be. Well, who would choose it? But you can't make that happen. You can't make the nations of the world be galvanized in their thinking and concern about one city. And particularly a very small city that for 2000 years had almost no population in it to speak of. No economic base. Nothing was in the city that was of interest to most people except for some holy sites. The fourth thing that has to happen for a significant political event is the establishment of the European Union in the same territory as the ancient Roman Empire. The book of Daniel, it's clear that the ancient, that the Roman Empire that continued for 500 to 1000 years, and those of you that have studied it, there's different points of history if you're going to talk about the Roman Empire. But from 500 to 1000 years, the Roman Empire lasted depending on how you're defining it. And what the prophet Daniel said is, is that the Roman Empire is going to go away and it's, which was basically the Mediterranean area and Europe. But in the generation the Messiah would come, it would come together as an empire. It would be regathered together as a unified empire. And beloved, that's happening right now as we're talking. And then the next thing that has to happen is that an international leader, that's the Antichrist, will be in a unique position to establish peace, a peace treaty with Israel and the Middle East to bring world peace. And the world peace treaty is going to be established between Israel and the surrounding nations. That's the fifth one and that's not, that's the one that we're waiting for. But these five events are very difficult events. Each of them in their own right are very difficult to happen, especially after 2000 years of a, of a, of a national drought, so to speak, a political drought. I mean, the Roman Empire has not existed. They've tried to conquer Europe for 2000 years, nearly, or 1500 years. They've tried to conquer Europe and to get it back, to make, to revive the Roman Empire. No, no leader has been able to pull it off. Napoleon wanted to conquer Europe. Hitler wanted to bring it all back together again. Charles the Great wanted to bring the thing, Charlemagne, bring the kingdom back together again, the kingdom of Europe, the ancient Roman Empire. Mussolini wanted to do it. Of course, he didn't even get close to it, but that's what his vision was. All these, these powerful leaders have wanted to unify Europe, but there's been a, you know, a 1500 year drought or a 1000 year drought in, in this agenda. It's been impossible to do that. Suddenly it's coming together. Suddenly it's got a life of its own and Europe is coming together. So there was a political drought in the Roman Empire. There's a political drought, so to speak, in Israel and the city of Jerusalem, but it's all coming now. It's not just that these four, yea five, because this fifth one is going to come together soon. It's not that they're just coming together. They're all coming together for the first time and at the same time. It's not like Israel became a nation, you know, in 1200 AD and then the Roman Empire started getting revived in the 1700s. They all came together for the first time at the same time. And that's supposed to be understood by people of discernment as a sign. It's the first time they've come together at the same time. All five of these, the fourth one hasn't happened, but it's, it's, it's not long. It's not long off. And what's happening right now in the middle East with the president of Iran and the Hamas and just the, the radical Islamic terrorist there is causing such a boil, such a firestorm that they're setting the stage for a world leader to bring peace because as this firestorm is being stirred up right now, it's going to cause havoc to all the economies of the world. This firestorm, this trouble is going to cause oil problems worldwide. It's going to cause terrorism problems. It's going to cause economic problems, security problems, military problems worldwide. And the whole world wants this issue settled and nobody can settle it. And I'm telling you from the scripture and you, most of you know, anyway, there's coming forth a man that will settle it in a, in a, in a, in a way that will be supernatural. God will be moving in it in part, and the enemy will be moving in it in part, and men will be moving in it in part. And the whole thing will come to pass in such a way that there will be peace in the middle East, but it's a counterfeit peace. It's only a momentary peace, but the stage for that peace is being set up right now because we're getting into violent waters right now. Great turmoil. I mean, the turmoil is far more significant now than it's been in other times, especially with Iran with a nuclear weapon within nuclear weapons within a year, conservative estimates within a year, maybe a year and a half. There's no doubt that within a year and a half, Russia is open about it. We're helping them develop nuclear weapons. They're, they're, they're actually public about it in the news now. The radical Islamic groups are calling right now for the assassination of the president of Egypt. They're calling for the assassination of the king of Jordan, and they're calling for the bringing down of, of, uh, the, uh, house of, uh, of the Saudi Arabia royal family, the house of Saud, they're wanting to bring it down a whole dynasty. And the reason they want to bring down the president of Egypt and the king of Jordan and the house of Saud is because they're too conservative. They're too friendly with the West. They want all the nations around Israel to be radical Islamic zealots that want to exterminate Israel. So they're actually publicly calling forth the assassination and the death of the leaders of these three nations. They're saying it publicly young men, terrorists, bombers, suicide bombers, please take your life and take these, these, these three nations, take the leadership out so they can be replaced with radicals. So we can have a wall of fire around Israel. They're calling out for that right now, today, they are an army of young men are raising up saying we want to die for God. We'll gladly drive our car into the, into the situation to, to take out a president so we can replace it. And, and, and in a minute, there's going to be the whole of Israel is going to be surrounded by a radical Islamic fanatics that want Israel exterminated. And this is the setup for a world leader to come in and solve it. Beloved, we're minutes away from the thing being a full firestorm. This has never happened like this. These, these events have never come together against for the first time they're coming together. And it's at the same time, the first time in history, it's not an accident. So you want to be familiar with these. You want to know a little bit of the terms, a little bit of the politics, just a little bit, just a little bit. We'll, we'll, we'll get you, uh, uh, familiar. You don't have to, you know, buy a 500 page book on the middle East and study it for the next couple of years, just a couple terms and a couple of key Bible verses. And you cannot be, but excited and alarmed and alert on the inside. Beloved, it's coming down right now. Politically there's many other signs, but these five signs are already stunning. I mean, they're, they are the chances of them happening at the same time for the first time is about almost zero because they're exactly what the prophets in the old Testament prophesied would happen. Okay. Paragraph F I have several prophecies and I might add the word many prophecies that are related to Israel are closely linked and interdependent on each other. Meaning as we look at a few of these, one of them overlaps with the other one. So they're very, uh, interdependent events that are prophesied that have to happen. So as we talk about one, inevitably we're talking about one or a couple of the other prophecies as well. These include these inner interdependent events that have to happen. They include the abomination of desolation. We looked at a little bit last week. We'll review it a little bit this week. That has to happen. That's the number one prophetic sign politically or spiritually is the political is the abomination of desolations. It's, it is a political sign and it's a spiritual sign. It's both. It's a combination of two that has to happen. That's yet to happen. That is the ultimate in time sign. When that happens, it's, you can set your, you can set the, uh, clock 1,260 days. The Lord will, will return. That's what he said. 1,260 days over and over in the prophets, 1,260 days, 42 months, three and a half years. They say it, uh, several to six different ways. Actually in the scripture, the Lord will come after the abomination of desolation, 42 months later, three and a half years later, 1,260 days later, time, time, and half a times later in the middle of the week is another way that they say it. And we'll look at some of those terms, but anyway, event number one, the big one that has not happened yet. But when this one happens, beloved, the second coming is minutes away. I'm meaning three and a half years, but that's minutes away. Although that might be a real long three and a half years, but then it might be a real powerful one too. And it will be for sure. So that's a event. That's one event. Number two, the return to the land, obviously the control of Jerusalem. We talked about it, the rebuilding of the temple, the temple must be built in the city of Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. It has to be built because there's, there's too many prophecies that are better, uh, necessitate it functioning for that prophecy to be fulfilled. The reestablishing of the Hebrew language, the reestablishing of the Sabbath that's already happening right now. They, uh, they respect the Sabbath over there. They have lulls regarding the Sabbath. They're, they're not mandatory, but they're, they exist a hundred years ago. You didn't, you didn't have a, the same situation as they have now Israel becoming the center focus of world politics. Again, we looked at that a minute ago, worldwide antisemitism has to happen and it's happening rapidly worldwide antisemitism beloved. It's coming again. And the church will stand faithfully with Israel in this coming antisemitism. Antisemitism is, is a hatred of Israel. I'll just say it kind of a, not a technical definition, but that's what it means. Bottom line. And the gathering together of all the nations to lay a siege around Jerusalem. What I mean by a siege to surround it, to take it over. And right now the nations are already gathering around Israel right now. I mean, this, this new, uh, of, of, of, uh, recent weeks and months, this call to assassinate the, uh, leaders that are standing in the way in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia to kill them. I mean, to kill them, they're saying it publicly. We want to kill them. You'll get rewarded in heaven. If you kill these leaders, somebody says, wait, they're, they're Islamic leaders. They're part of our brotherhood. That's too bad. They're conservative. They're compromisers. They like the West. They like Israel. They have to die so we can get a radical group surrounding Israel, uh, that will be committed to the extermination of the visitation right now. Surrounding Israel, even now in part, let's go to Roman numeral two, the abomination of desolation. This is the primary sign of the end times. And don't be afraid of that word. Abominate that phrase, abomination of desolation. It's such a cryptic kind of phrase. They go, what, what does that mean? And I, and I hope that if you were here last week that, uh, uh, you have clarity about it. It's what it is. It's an abominable act that brings desolation to people. That's what it means or destruction. You can put the word destruction. It's an abominable act or a very, or a, a blasphemous act could almost be called the blasphemy of destruction. I mean, if you wanted to exchange the words, it's the great blasphemy that leads to destruction of people. I mean, the nations of the earth, not, not just a few here and there. I'm talking about the nation to world history. We're talking about it's the, it's the desolation or another word for desolation is destruction of the nations of the, of the known world. The world as we know it will be desolate because of this blasphemy because of this abomination. And of course, the man that does the abomination who leads it is the antichrist. And what he does is he calls himself God. That's only part of it. He requires the nations to worship him. But the bad part of this abomination, it's not only an abomination because he claims it to be God and requires worship. It's an abomination, or you could use the word of blasphemy because the nations agree and they do it. So it's not just the antichrist does it. The nations do it. They say, yes. Now, of course, not all the nations. There'll be, uh, uh, I mean, there'll be a billion or two who's who won't say yes. I mean, a billion or two or more. I don't know. Nobody knows the number, but it's significant number will say no, but billions will say yes. And that is a blasphemous thing, or that is an abomination to God. So instead of abomination, but blasphemy, if that helps you understand it better and it leads to desolation or leads to destruction. And as I mentioned last week that the antichrist is, if you don't worship me as God, I will desolate you. I will destroy you. And then God says on the other side, if you do say yes to the antichrist, I will destroy you. So one group is being destroyed by the antichrist. The other group is being destroyed by God. It will literally cause the world as we know it is history to come to an end. It's not just the desolation of a few people. It's the desolation of world history. It is the new world order comes out of the ashes of this desolation. It is the ultimate sign at the end. Now, of course, this man can't be in a position to require the world to do it. And he can't, he won't have the power to enforce his requirement, except he's the world leader and except he's entrenched in the nation of Israel. He will do this from Jerusalem. So dramatic. He's not doing it from Mecca. He's not doing it from London. He's not doing it from Washington, DC. He's not doing it from the mountains of Tibet. He's doing it from the city of Jerusalem. That's what Jesus said. This man's abominable act and the response of the nations to him, which is abomination will happen around what he does in Jerusalem. It's in the Jerusalem temple where he stands up and says, I am God. I'm the one that is the essence. And I mean, the reality of it, I'm the Shekinah glory. I am God. And many Jews will follow it. And many, many more Gentiles will follow this deception. Paragraph B, he puts an image of himself or a statue. You can put an image, a statue or an idol, any word that you want. He puts a very sophisticated image of himself. It's very similar to Daniel three. Remember when Nebuchadnezzar made the big statue of himself and Daniel three, and he made everybody worship the statue or get thrown in the fire. Meshad, Shadrach and Abednego said no. These three Jewish youth said no. And they threw him in the fire. And then Jesus, a fourth man, one like the son of God, was standing in the fire. And these three Jewish boys were in the fire, but the fire didn't burn them. But the point of it is there was a statue that the whole nation had to worship as God. It was Nebuchadnezzar's statue. And he was there going, what do you mean you're not worshiping my statue? That was a that was a prototype, a very low-level prototype of a very sophisticated image. And this image will have all the technology involved with it. This image will have supernatural power. It won't be just a statue. It'll be a statue that can talk and breathe and seemingly reason on its own power. A statue. It will have supernatural power. And it will have sophistication about it as well. Okay, I just say more about that. I've already covered a bit of it last week. Paragraph E. Now the image or this statue of the beast, and we know the beast is the Antichrist. 36 times in the book of Revelation, the beast is the Antichrist. It's only confusing because of one verse, because the beast is mentioned 37 times. It's 36 times it's the Antichrist, and once it's the false prophet. He's called another beast arose. And so because of that one verse, another beast arose, some people get confused. They go, now which one is it? It's the Antichrist or the false prophet? The false prophet is called the false prophet every time except for once. He's called another beast. And the reason I believe that John did that, because the reason the Antichrist is called a beast is because it depicts his cruel nature. See, he will look calm. He will look reasonable, but he is unreasonable. He has no capacity for mercy at all, though he will have a kind countenance when he wants to. He'll have a kind presentation when he wants to. But the prophets are saying he is an unreasoning, wild beast at the core of his being. He cannot be bargained with. You cannot deal with him. You cannot make any kind of negotiation with him. He is a wild, unreasoning demon at the core of his being. He has a demon-like nature. That's why they call him the beast. And the reason the false prophets called another beast just one time, because so that we would know the false prophet, though he's called the false prophet every other time, he has the same nature, the same personality, the same spirit as the Antichrist does. So that's why the scripture gives him the name once, so that we know that he'll look like, undoubtedly, he'll show himself as reasonable and kind. And the world will follow this man. He'll bring world peace. And people say, no, you're not getting it. You Christians are so fanatical. You're worse than those radical Islamic zealots. You won't reason. This guy brought world peace. We're feeding all the children. The wars are stopped. I'm telling you, this man that's causing it is unreasonable. You can't reason with him. He has no mercy. He has cruelty, a supernatural cruelty about his personality that he hides from people until the day he wants to show it. Well, anyway, paragraph E, the image or the statue of the idol, use any word, any of the three words you want, it's the same thing, of the beast of the Antichrist will be set up in the Jerusalem temple. They're going to set it up in the holy place. And when this happens, what Daniel said is, when the abomination of desolation is set up, look right there in Daniel 12, 11, from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination is set up, there'll be 1,290 days, 30 days longer than the 1,260. I'm not going to go into that right now. My point I want to say is this, the daily sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple will be taken away when this, when this image is set up in the holy place. That's what Daniel said. I'm gonna say it again because that's, if it's a new idea, you're thinking, ah, you're hurting my brain here, go slower. The Jerusalem temple is going to be set up and they're going to reinstate the sacrifices, the, the old Moses sacrifices from the old Testament, you know, like Leviticus that are prescribed in Leviticus and that are described and prescribed. And what's going to happen? They're going to reinstate, they're going to reinstate the temple again, and they're going to get the sacrifices going. But what Daniel says 2,500 years ago, he says, I'm telling you, the daily sacrifice is going to be taken away when the abomination of desolation, that means the statue, when it is set up there, when it's put in position, the sacrifice will stop. Well, what's this tell you? It tells you the sacrifice is going to be going in order for it to be stopped, right? Well, the sacrifice isn't going yet. That's still a, yet a future prophecy. Right now we're looking at this prophecy and we're saying, how can the sacrifice be taken away? It hasn't started yet, but I tell you assuredly in a few minutes, you know, my minutes, you know, a couple of years in a few minutes, they're going to start when they start the sacrificial system up in Israel, in the temple. And right now, by the way, there is significant amount of, of, uh, of people of the priestly line who are right now going to school to learn how to offer these sacrifices. There is a tremendous energy among some of the priests in, in, uh, in, uh, uh, Israel to learn all of these system of Moses. They're, they're right now in classes today. This is a new thing of the last, uh, years, last several years. This is amazing. For 2000 years, there was never a school that taught you how to do Moses prescribed sacrifices. Now there is one now where that is amazing. Don't you think that's amazing? And the sacrifices, the daily sacrifices are going to be reestablished. And the, one of the reasons Daniel wants us, he says it this way. He wants us to know at this time of history that they will be reestablished again, but he wants us to also know they're going to be suddenly interrupted and they're going to be interrupted by the statue or the abomination of desolation. That's the big phrase, but it means the statue and all that's related to it. The statue is set up where where's there. It's set up there. Where's there. It's set up in the Jerusalem temple. And it goes for 30 days for one month longer than three and a half years. And there's a very important reason we're not going into that right now, but the three and a half years is the basic timeframe of trouble, but there's one extra month that Daniel prophesies about. Look at Daniel 9. It says that the antichrist will confirm a covenant with many for one, for one week or seven years, but in the middle of the week at the three and a half year mark, he's going to bring an end to the sacrifice. Again, if, if we didn't believe in prophecy, we would say, how could he bring it into the sacrifice? There is no sacrifice going on over in Israel for him to end. Of course, Daniel would say, but there's going to be one beloved. Watch it. Just watch the temple get set up. The temple is going to be rebuilt. The sacrifices are going to be reinstated and the antichrist is going to have a significant role as a world leader to make this happen. It's how he's going to get his, his stronghold in the, in the, in the nation. Paragraph G, the abomination of desolation requires Israel to be in the land. For 2000 years, there couldn't be an abomination of desolation. You can't have an abomination of desolation unless Israel's in the land, controlling the city of Jerusalem, having a temple with sacrifices. All, all four of those are implied. Israel has to be in the land. That happened in 48. They have to be in control of the city of Jerusalem in order to run their religious system. That happened in 1967. They have to build the temple. That's a minute down the road and they have to install or establish the sacrifices. Those four things have to happen before the abomination of desolation could take place. And those four, two of them have already happened and two of them are a minute away from happening. Now I realize that some of you, you're brand new with this. You know, it's hard for you to say abomination of desolation without tying your tongue up. Say, say to your neighbor abomination of desolation. See, you got it. Say it's a robobell real fast. See, I'll mix you up there. So I'll just keep you on. Let's go to Roman numeral three. So it just be patient with yourself. If you're just brand new, just get familiar with the terms, discuss them with a few people. You'll get them. They're really pretty simple. I mean, if you're getting them all in one evening, they're a little bit overwhelming, but a couple of weeks later in a couple of conversations, there's only five or six concepts, honestly, or maybe five or 10 of them. And once you get them down, you have them forever. They don't change. They're in the Bible. It's the same concepts. Roman numeral three, the antichrist functions in relationship to the rebuilt temple. There has to be a temple rebuilt because there could not be an abomination of desolation without a temple there. You can't put a statue in the temple. The temple doesn't exist. The temple is going to get rebuilt. Now, uh, there's a whole group of scholars that think all of this is symbolic, but then when you ask them, what is it symbolic of? They all disagree with each other because they can't agree with what it's symbolic of because it's not symbolic. It's actual. It's going to happen as a sign to us. God could, could have let it happen without putting it in the Bible because he wanted it to happen for his own reasons, but he put it in the Bible. So we would be aware of the hour of which we're living because when we see it happen, we go, this is the time frame. This is the timeframe that Jesus was talking about. And that's what we're supposed to do with it. Significant activities related to the tribulation temple. That's, that's a name of that. You can call it the third temple because there's been two other ones, Solomon's temple, and then Zerubbabel or Herod's temple. That's the second one. And this is the third one. You can call it the third temple, or you can call it the tribulation temple. Different people call it one or the other, call them both if you want to. Significant activities are related to the tribulation temple that signal the end times. And those activities are getting stirred up right now. That's why we care about studying it on the signs of the time, uh, session here. The, like for instance, I'm going to repeat it. I've already said that the abomination of desolation can't happen unless there's a temple on the temple Mount in Jerusalem, the temple has to be built, or there can be no abomination of desolation. And without the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation doesn't start until the abomination of desolation takes place. That is the big event that initiates the great tribulation. That temple does not currently exist. It is going to be rebuilt and it's going to be rebuilt soon. Even now plans to rebuild the third temple are aggressively being pursued right now. There's a, there's a lot of energy in Israel to build that third temple and to get that sacrificial system going. Paragraph B Paul, the apostle, he has a prophecy about the tribulation temple. It's not just Daniel in the old Testament and it's not just John in the book of revelation. It's good old solid conservative Paul. You know, everybody says, well, let's go with Paul. Will Paul prophesize it? Of course, Jesus was enough, but it was nice for the Lord to give us a little more insight into this whole thing through Paul the apostle. What did Paul prophesy? He prophesied, I'm still in paragraph B, of the desecration of the tribulation temple or the third temple, the next one, the desecration or the defiling of it. It's going to be defiled by the Antichrist. Well, again, you can't defile it if it's not rebuilt. It has to be rebuilt if the prophecy of defiling is going to take place, of desecrating it. Here's what Paul said. Paul said the man of sin or that's called, that's the Antichrist or the son of perdition. There's another title there that I took out just for space. The man of sin or the Antichrist, this man is going to oppose and he's going to exalt himself above everything that's called God. This man will be such so blasphemous. I mean, he's the ultimate abomination, the way he lives and the decisions he makes. He is going to exalt himself above everything called God. He's going to oppose everything called God. In other words, he won't stand for any type of worship. He will be against Islam. He will be against Hinduism. He will be against every type of new world of a new age religion. He will be against every religion at the end. He will oppose everything that has God in it and demand that there's only one God that's worshiped himself. See right now he's letting the world systems come together in the big one world religion. He's going to let that happen for a while to seduce the nations and then he's going to outlaw that world religion. Right now that's next on his agenda to get everybody to compromise their faith. He's trying to get the Muslims to compromise in their Islamic zeal, in their zeal for Allah in Islam because one, he's trying to get the Christians to all the different religions of the world because once he gets us to compromise and be one big happy family then we're no longer true to that which was the religion that we grew up with or whatever. Once he gets all the religions compromised and they're all one big happy family then he outlaws every religion even the new one and says I am the only one now. When he does this he will oppose everything that exalts that's called God everything and then he will sit as God in the temple of God and he will show himself or proclaim himself is another way to say it. He will proclaim himself as God. That's the abomination or that's part of the abomination. The other part of the abomination is billions will say yes you are God. That's the second half of the abomination. Again you could put the word blasphemy if you want. Now Daniel talks about this same thing. Daniel 11. He says the king, that's the antichrist, he will exalt and magnify himself. I mean Paul the apostle is quoting this passage. I mean that's the very passage Paul's talking about in 2nd Thessalonians 2. The antichrist will exalt and magnify himself above every God and he will speak blasphemies against God. You could put the word there abominations if you want. Blasphemy and abominations you can it's nearly interchangeable in this context. Verse 37. He will not regard the God of his fathers. This is the verse that people use to assume that the antichrist is Jewish because the God of his fathers is a Jewish term and I think it's reasonable. I think there's a very good chance that he has some type of connection with Judaism though he will be the archenemy of the Jewish race. It's kind of that confusion that Adolf Hitler was part Jewish but was trying to liquidate the Jewish race. It may have the same kind of complexity to it as Hitler did. Hitler was proven as part Jewish so there's no question about that in terms of if you really are honest about the data. Anyway this man's gonna he'll not he shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women nor will he regard any God. He will be against even the false world religion but not at first he will let it happen but he will turn against even the one world religion. He will exalt himself above every type of religion. I am God. So basically Paul is quoting Daniel. Paragraph C it just says the antichrist is going to stop the temple sacrifices which means they have to exist in order for him to stop them. That's the point. The daily sacrifices are going to be taken away. I'm just repeating that again. Paragraph D John the apostle he prophesied of the desolation of the tribulation temple as well. In Revelation 11 he talks about the temple and how it's going to be desecrated by the Gentiles. You could read that on your own. Paragraph E the third temple is not the same thing as the millennial temple. The millennial temple is the temple that Jesus builds after he returns. Because in end time prophecies some of the prophecies are talking about the tribulation temple or the third temple and others are talking about the millennial temple that comes after the second coming and it's really easy to tell which are which but if you're brand new it might confuse you. So I just have some verses there for you. Those are two different temples. They're very distinct in their purpose and everything about them is different. I just wanted to point that out. I don't want to go into that right now. So basic point that I've made in the last few minutes here is that the temple will be built. The sacrifices will be installed and they will be stopped. And the reason that's a sign of the time is because they're working right now to figure a way to build that temple and they're training the priest to offer the sacrifices right now and that's a new reality. There's a new zeal on that over the last number of years. This isn't something that was happening 100 years ago. That is in itself a sign of the time and it's going to be the issue of the temple that the antichrist is going to come and say Israel here's here's the deal you got to follow me however there's you got to do my agenda if you follow me but I'm going to build the temple for you and they're going to say if you build the temple for us we'll do anything you want because Israel falsely thinks if they build the temple they have the favor of God and the favor of God is with Jesus not with that temple but they're they're blinded they think if they can get the temple built even they compromise to get it built God will have so much favor on that temple that he'll bypass their offense and they're going to be really wrong about that but they have a many of them will have a superstitious view towards this temple this temple doesn't excite me as a spiritual reality it excites me as a sign of the time I don't want anything to do with that temple I'm not going to give money to it I'm not going to visit it I'm not going to go take pictures in it and nothing I want nothing to do with it the favor of God is on Jesus not that temple but the temple is a political and spiritual reality that many in the nation of Israel will be deceived by having a supernatural suspicion about it and there's the temple's tricky because uh John calls it well tricky is not a good theological word it's complicated because it's not just that simple this isn't my point to really talk that much on the temple but John calls it here in Revelation 11 the temple of God I mean the Bible calls it the temple of God and Paul called it the temple of God and that kind of like bugs me a little bit which I got to repent of that because I go wait this is the temple the Antichrist is going to deceive the nation in Lord why are you letting John and Paul say the temple of God why don't you say the temple of the Antichrist and the Holy Spirit whispers back into me and says just calm down people he's just just you got stuff to learn I got some stuff that is not real clear right now just calm down I go ah that bugs me father Jesus is who your favor's on don't worry don't worry me Jesus are solid but I'm I'm I'm doing something it's not it's not as black and white as I would like it to be I see the the dark side of it real clear but that those two phrases John and Paul I mean those are main guys aren't they they both said temple of God I thought why didn't you say the temple of the Antichrist I don't like that you put that title but I'm going to humble myself Lord because the other option is bad I'm just going to hold out and say you've got a surprise you're doing something bigger than what I understand but I do understand the dark side of the temple that I'm clear about it's the light side of the temple that I don't grasp Roman numeral uh four the nations are going to set a siege against Jerusalem the nations all the nations of the earth all of the nations of the earth are going to come against Jerusalem you can see it kind of the early stages of it I mean the nations are gathering Israel's got you know kind of one main friend America and I want to believe that America is going to hang in there but I I know this that when it comes between oil when it comes between air condition and Israel most Americans are going to pick air condition they really are and getting and and their lifestyle and it before it's over it's going to come down to the to the to our nation do you want air conditioning your cars to work or do you want to stand with Israel and except the miracle the way of man is to go with their own comforts and so I expect America to reverse their decision I'm praying they won't I mean I pray and Lord don't let this happen because this is a glorious thing that we're standing with Israel against the nations and all the nations are gathered against Israel and America is a bright light but America hasn't had to choose between air condition and Israel yet they haven't had that choice yet and when it comes down to that and their cars and our economy I I'm not uh I don't have a lot of confidence in where what our nation will do well the scripture says all the nations but sometimes when it says all you know there's contingencies prayer and fasting can change some of the all's in the bible you don't know and you as long as we're saying yes to Israel we want to keep asking the Lord's favor on that let's go to paragraph five you can read and I really urge you to read those parent those verses I have there they're very important ones but they're they're straightforward so I'm not going to take time here I want to get done with this so in order my point in this in paragraph five or roman numeral five is to say that for the abomination of desolation to take place for Israel to build the temple they've got to be back in the land and they have to have control of the city of Jerusalem that's really all I'm saying I'm just kind of summing it up again saying it again roman numeral six Israel will establish a covenant with the antichrist Israel is going to establish a covenant with the antichrist he shall confirm a covenant or a peace treaty with many that means many nations it's not many individuals as many nations not just Israel it's going to be probably many nations of the earth but but the primary point is the many nations is Israel in the middle east islamic nations that's the point of interest that's the main crux of this peace treaty though undoubtedly this peace treaty will affect many other nations but the words many it's not one nation some think of it as a covenant with Israel no no it's a big package deal and this covenant or this peace treaty is going to go on for one week and in the bible I got a I got it written in a I'm not going to develop it but in the in the scripture one week speaks of seven years because the the uh ancient Israel had a week of days what what do you call a week of days seven days is called a week but they called seven years a week the same way they said you know it's either a week of days or a week of years they talked about in a week this is going to happen meaning seven years and sometimes they talked about in a week seven days they they use the word week both ways it's very very uh obvious in the context here is talking about seven years and everybody agrees with that who believes in uh literal end time prophecy it's a real common uh understanding but here's the problem in the middle of that week which is what three and a half years mark in the middle of that week right at the three and a half year mark this man's gonna bring an end to the sacrifice he's gonna say he's gonna break the covenant and say no more sacrifice in Israel and Israel is gonna say wait a second the deal was we got to have our temple he says that's too bad I lied they're gonna say well you can't lie he's gonna pull his mask off he's not gonna really have a mask on but he's gonna show his real face and he's gonna say you have no idea who I am and I'm in total power over your nation now thank you for the invitation he's gonna use this covenant to get a stronghold a foothold in the nation and then he's going to show himself as false and Israel this will be the darkest hour of Israel's entire history they're gonna say oh no the most anti-semitic man in history is the head of our nation right now and we gave him that role because when they make a covenant with him it's not just a political covenant they have to sell out his leadership and he has an agenda with him he wants to exterminate them that's what's on his mind paragraph b Israel's governmental leaders will make a covenant with the antichrist this covenant we're going to look at in a moment is called a covenant with death or a covenant with hell the good news is at the end of paragraph b the covenant I mean the decision gets reversed and they say they denounce him and they go with Jesus at the end and they make the covenant with Jesus and so the story ends really good paragraph d the antichrist will trust will win the trust of Israel by establishing this peace in the middle east this an antichrist is going to make peace in the middle east he's going to make a way for them to build their temple and he's going to make them a way to get financial security and then he's going to show himself as false he's going to break he's going to break the covenant and so in paragraph f g and h i'm just saying more of the same thing you can read some of the details on your own there most of it's straightforward i want to go to m on the top of page six so end with this because we're out of time here i want to i want to look at this covenant this is a terrifying passage if you've never read it it's terrifying isaiah 28 top of page six paragraph m look at read verse 14 this is the covenant that israel is going to make with the antichrist hear the word of the lord you scornful men and and on the notes this this should be just in italics without bold i'm it's my phrases the leaders of the end time israel's that's the scornful men he's talking about he says hear the word of the lord you scornful men who rule the people who are in jerusalem so he's talking about the leaders of jerusalem here's what these scornful men have done because you have said we have a covenant with death we've made a covenant with shield or you could put the word hell there we've made a covenant with hell so these scornful men are making a proclamation they're in despair because they've understood what they've done we've made a covenant with death we made a covenant with hell we thought he liked us we thought he would build our temple we thought we could trust him he promised us money and security and to build our temple and it's a covenant with hell itself that we have made and when the overflowing scourge passes through the land passes through the land of israel which means the persecution of the antichrist when the overflowing scourge when the persecution of the antichrist passes through the land here's what they said when his evil ways pass through it won't come to us because we made a covenant we joined his team he'll take care of us and our families we sold the nation down the river but he'll take care of us for we have made lies our refuge our protection we've made uh we've made a a false covenant or an evil covenant is a better way of saying it we trusted in this evil covenant we made it what we trust in our refuge our trusting place under falsehood we've hidden ourself under this false covenant we think our families are safe but it's a false place to hide verse 16 therefore says the lord this is the father i will lay in zion a stone a foundation a tried one a man that is proven a man that loves israel a man that gave his life for israel he's a tried stone he's tested in the fires of gethsemane he's a precious stone he was fully god and he gave himself over and his integrity and his love for the nation of israel he is a sure stone he won't be moved by any pressure no temptation nothing will get him off track and whoever believes in this precious stone will not act hastily meaning they won't under pressure make a covenant with the antichrist they will stay true they won't get in a hurry because the nation of israel is going to be under great duress to buy into this covenant and we're going to be prophesying and we're going to join guys like uh asher and trader and the whole gang over there we're going to say don't be hasty don't buy into that covenant don't do it there is a tried stone there is a leader who has proven himself who's very precious he was crushed by the wrath of god and his love for the nation of israel this this other man is a is a devil he's an evil man verse 17 the lord speaking i will make justice the measuring line oh that that's so intense says i'm going to deal with israel those that trust me i'm going to deal with them according to their trust of me and those that sold me out for the antichrist i will i will deal with everybody based on justice if they ran under the refuge of jesus then i'll deal with them on that basis many in israel will be will be measured by god and found guilty of treason against god by making this covenant with the antichrist verse 18 your covenant with death will be annulled which means they trusted this covenant but the antichrist is going to break it the antichrist is going to stand up in front of him saying i lied i'm going to say what do you mean you can't unknow the covenant he goes yeah i'm unknowing it it's false now i'm going to kill all of you and your agreement with hell will not stand which means it won't protect you the agreement you made with the devil and with hell will not protect you from the rage of the devil or the wrath of god you won't be protected on either on either side you will not be protected when the overflowing scourge passes through the land then you will be trampled down by it and the scourge that goes to the land is the antichrist's rage to destroy the whole nation of israel and then it's god's wrath as well but the focus here is the is the antichrist's rage and the nation of israel will be trampled down by this scourge it's very heavy but the remnant will be saved many places the remnant the people that are didn't act hastily they're saying wait wait wait we believe in jesus or or there's others that don't know if jesus is the truth but they're but they're not acting hastily they are not buying into this covenant they're not taking the mark they're not worshiping this false this evil man look at verse 19 for us and we're just going to end with verse 19 and 20 for as often as it goes out the scourge it will take you for morning by morning this whip instead of just put the word whip morning by morning it will pass over you day by and by day and by night in other words it's unrelenting every day it's like what the nazi regime did to the jews in in poland and in germany day by day morning by morning unrelenting they wouldn't have any mercy they wouldn't let up at all it will be a tear just to understand the report just to hear the story will cause men's spirits to tremble that's the scourge that's the evil that's in this man's heart for the this is this uh uh strange little proverb but it's a important one it says for the bed is too short to stretch out and the covering so narrow that you can't wrap yourself in it it means that there will be no ability to find comfort and that that that was a proverb in the land the bed is too short so the guy is he's built up on the bed he says well my legs you know i'm all cramped up there's no relief there's no comfort from this scourge when it passes through the land he says yeah but i'll put the blanket on me oh no it's just like a little napkin you know i'm freezing the blanket's too short there is no relief there's no position you can get into for comfort that's what it's saying it's a proverb that's saying comfort will be impossible to find except in the lord that's the only place but these are people that have resisted the lord roman numeral eight seven you could just read those on your own those are just some other little points that are developed that are happening right now let's stand