End Time Louder Hoofbeats

When I was doing my research on my authorized biography of the Bible scholar J. Sidlow Baxter, I came across in his personal papers a manuscript he had written on the Book of Daniel in regard to the End Times. It was a fascinating study because Dr. Baxter said the Antichrist would not come out of Rome but the Middle East, and he named the five toes of the statue in Daniel's vision, if I recall properly, as the nations of Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. It is also intriguing how, in just the last hundred years, these Middle Eastern countries have risen in power due mainly to the oil cartels.

I look around today, friends, at the condition of the world and how it seems to be spinning out of control in regard to nuclear war and annihilation. The nations of the world have promoted sexual perversion as a political right that when I was a child would have been unthinkable. Today evil is called good and good evil.

The sad moral decay in our cities and communities, which are ripe with vice and crime, violence has a death grip on this land as blood is on the streets and it washes over it on a daily basis to where we have grown accustomed to it. But I believe what grieves me most out of all this rising chaos is the sad spiritual declension in many of our denominations and churches. There are very few Christians who are truly on fire for God and are flaming witnesses for him within their communities.

This backdrop of black velvet is the perfect condition for the appearance of the Pearl of Great Price as he returns for his bride. But he won't come back for a dirty bride. She must wash herself and be cleansed and purified to meet him.

The title of my message today, friends, is End Time, Louder Hoof Beats For in the book of Revelation we read And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in his righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, and with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The world then, friends, won't see a baby Jesus meek and mild, but Christ the King, mighty and strong.

My text today is found in the book of Daniel, in chapter 12. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. I want to explore out of this striking passage of Scripture three things.

Number one, the when of the end time. Secondly, the what of the end time. And lastly, the watch of the end time.

Look at verses one through four. Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of his holy word. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people.

And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. I will pause here, friends. This time of tribulation, which will come upon the earth, our Lord Jesus spoke of in Matthew's gospel.

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, to this time, no, nor even shall be. First, I want us to see the when of the end time. Look at verse four of Daniel chapter one.

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. The when of the end time, friends, will be during this time mentioned.

And is this not the time in which we live? Before the automobile, and railways, and airplanes, it would take days to journey on a horse, or cross the sea on slow-moving ships, taking several months at a time. Now you can get in your car and drive through four states in one day. You can hop on an airplane and cross the Atlantic in just a few hours.

Many shall run to and fro, or here and there, with modern travel. And it will be a time of increased knowledge. Is this not a description of Internet access to all the knowledge of the world at our fingertips? Any subject can be Googled, and instantly an answer immediately appears.

Next I want us to see the what of the end time. Look at verse ten, friends. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried.

But the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand. But the wise shall understand. This speaks of a threefold time of.

A time of cleansing. A time of testing. A time of understanding.

Is it strange that the Lord has been making you conscious of your trouble and sins lately? He has been dealing with you regarding them. You may even have of late a new desire to serve God in a deeper way, and to live for Him in the way He desires for you, to live unto Him in holiness and consecration. Like I said, Christ won't come back for a dirty bride.

She must be cleansed and made white. It's a time of cleansing. It is also a time of testing.

Why, I don't know a time in my life where friends of mine are going through such deep trials as never before. It seems almost everybody I know is in some kind of testing. And it's a time of understanding, where you are given a new perception of yourself in relation to God Almighty.

Now look at the watch of the end time in Matthew 24 and verses 42 and 244. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good men of the house had known in what hour the—in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Now listen to this, friends, to the added emphasis which Jesus places upon His words here regarding the believer's duty to watch for His return. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh. God's been dealing with me lately like He's never done before.

And He's opening my eyes to things I've never seen before as I draw closer to Him and His purpose for me in these last days. Listen, friend, it's time to get serious with God, and to prepare ourselves, and to cleanse ourselves, and to dress ourselves, and to be ready when He appears. I can almost hear those approaching hoofbeats as they get louder and louder in my ears.

Let us pray.