For Such a Time as This

[00:00:01] If you would turn with me to the book of Esther, I would like to read some verses in chapter four, the book of Esther, and chapter four from verse 13. [00:00:22] Then Mordechai bade them return. Answer unto his think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the dews. [00:00:35] For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou and thy father's house will perish. [00:00:53] And who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? [00:01:03] Then Esther bade them return. Answer unto Mordecai. [00:01:09] Go gather together all the jews that are present in Shushan. And fast ye from me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. [00:01:24] I also, and my maidens will fast in like manner, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish. [00:01:41] So Mordecai went his way and did according to all the desta had commanded him. [00:01:52] Just a word of prayer. Beloved lord, we're so thankful that we're gathered together in your presence this morning. [00:02:03] And we're thankful, Lord, that for such a time you provide specific anointing, and into that anointing, grace and power. [00:02:17] We stand by faith, both for the speaking of your word and for the hearing of it. [00:02:27] Beloved Lord, will you take our time together, quicken us, revive us, make us alert, able to receive what you are seeking to say by your spirit in this day and hour? [00:02:47] And we ask this in the name of our messiah, the Lord Jesus. And we shall be careful to give him all the praise and all the glory for answering this, our prayer. [00:03:03] Amen. [00:03:06] The theme of this conference which Barry spoke about last night is found here in this passage in the book of Esther. [00:03:20] It is a very interesting little book over which the rabbis argued for quite a few centuries. [00:03:28] They were not sure that it should belong in the canon of scripture, because nowhere is the temple mentioned, nowhere is Jerusalem mentioned, nowhere is the word of God mentioned. And even the name of the Lord you will find very difficult to discover in this book. [00:03:48] And Esther, which, of course, many of us love as a name, has adopted very much, particularly in christian circles, is actually a persian version of Astarte, the goddess of love, or Venus in the western world. [00:04:12] So the rabbis were horrified that this book that seemed so heathen in so many ways, and then altogether apart from anything else, the people who'd gone back to Jerusalem in two waves. [00:04:30] And there was another to come after Esther were the ones that actually were so specifically involved in the fulfillment of God's purpose for the land to be rebuilt, the house of the Lord to be rebuilt, Jerusalem to be rebuilt, Bethlehem to be rebuilt, capernaum to be rebuilt, Nazareth to be rebuilt, so that all the prophecies that Isaiah and Amos and others had uttered could be fulfilled, that the Messiah could come. It really didn't matter if the Jews in Persia had died altogether because the purpose of God would still, in the end be fulfilled by those sufficient in number in the land to defend themselves, that is, in the promised land. [00:05:20] The most extraordinary thing is that here in this little book of Esther, in four turning points in the story, you find the name of the Lord in acrostics. That is, before each sentence there is one letter of the unmentionable name of the Lord and that saith this little book and it thus became part of the canon. [00:05:51] I think it is quite interesting that Bari and Barca felt that the Lord wanted as a theme for this time, these words, for such a time as this, before even this war on Iraq had finally become a household word before all huge discussion, demonstrations, those for, those against and everything else. [00:06:24] This little phrase was felt to be the theme for this time. And that, I believe, is what the Lord has burdened me with. And I would like to share. I may seem a bit disjointed to you. I'm thinking out aloud and my thinking is normally disjointed. [00:06:45] So forgive me if I seem to be a little bit disjointed this morning, but what a time this time is. [00:06:58] I cannot remember such a time. I was a little boy in the second world War. I very well remember cycling around on my bicycle in the avenue in which we lived when my stepfather came out and bawled at the top of his voice. My name and all these strange sounds filled the air, going up and down and up and down and up and down. And I came in to find my aunt, my mother, my stepfather and my little sister, younger than I by a couple of years, all sitting very sombre, listening to the voice of. At that time I thought, a very aged gentleman on the way. We are at war. But once the war came, there was no division in Britain everyone was with. They seemed to be one heart and of one mind on the thing. I find this the most extraordinary thing. A divided, paralyzed United Nations, a european union in total disarray. [00:08:12] NATO virtually destroyed demonstrations on all the capital cities and many other cities of not only Britain and Europe but of the world and much else as well. I mean, if it was only. If we could only stop there. But in fact, we have to go on. The transatlantic alliance looks as if it's broken. [00:08:41] Except for Britain, Spain and Portugal and the USA, it is a most amazing time of disorder and disarray. [00:08:56] And I find it even more interesting that it's reflected in the church. [00:09:05] Enormous number of christians are against the war and violently, vehemently so. And there are also quite a number of christians who believe that it is necessary. [00:09:21] Wherever we look, there seems to be a division, and then we have economic woes. I don't know where the United States gets the money from. [00:09:34] Americans tell me it's from them through taxes. But when I hear that President Bush decides and gets from the Congress writer to take $12 billion, that is an enormous sum of money and more to come. I wonder, where is all this money coming with world teetering on the brink of recession, with Japan, the engine that pulls the whole of Asia in deep recession, and no prospect of their coming out of it in the next two years at least. Germany, the engine that pulls the whole of Europe in deep recession with 12% unemployment, the highest ever since the second world War. [00:10:29] It is amazing to me, the whole world, as it were, teetering on the brink of economic woes. And then, of course, we have the climate now. You are at present enjoying unbelievable weather. Very rarely do I ever come to Britain and find this kind of weather. I always feel sorry for you in such a way, those of you who are british, that I feel I have to put you almost at the top of my prayer list, because I think of this eternal greyness that you live in. [00:11:04] I know there are beautiful days that make up for it, but I've always suspected that when people in Scotland and Ireland end here in England tell me, you know, one day makes up for a month. This doesn't satisfy me. I would rather have one day of rain in the months and grayness. But isn't it amazing what's happened with the weather? [00:11:34] I mean, not just here, we have had snow and wait for. Thank God for it. [00:11:39] I was asked to pray and lead the whole prayer conference in Jerusalem for prayer in January. And I prayed for floods and floods and snow upon snow. And now I'm beginning to be told by some people that I think I went too far in my prayer because we have had snow on the ground six days. In Jerusalem, we have had so much rain, it seems just a few days of pleasant weather, and then back we are told the winter is coming back. [00:12:10] And now even the Galilee is within, as Barry said, within 2 meters of its full measure. And we have at least 10 meters of snow on the Mount Hermon tumult. [00:12:25] And the experts all said it would take four to five years of unbelievably wet winters to bring the Galilee back. [00:12:35] How wonderful the Lord is. [00:12:38] But on the other hand, we have to say that there is something happening with the climate which is frightening, with the greatest fires that Australia has ever known, the greatest fires the United States has ever known, and then floods in the most unusual places, and then only the beginning after. What a time this is. Does it have significance? Is it just a hiccup in history? [00:13:09] Or is it indicative of something far more significant and far more important? [00:13:22] What a time this time is. [00:13:27] It is also to me quite significant that the first Gulf war in 1991 ended on the jewish festival of Purim. [00:13:44] And it was interesting because Shushan, where it all took place, is just over the border, the iraqi border in Iran. So it is, of course, the same area. It was the same kind of man. He calls himself Nebuchadnezzar II, and his original plan was to revive the babylonian empire. [00:14:15] And I find it interesting that he said that he would gas and incinerate Israel. [00:14:23] The same murderous, determined spirit that was in Hitler, that was in Nebuchadnezzar, is in Saddam Hussein. [00:14:40] I find it incredible that the second Gulf war began on the festival of Burim, and we have the same Saddam, which, of course, is a variation of Satan in Arabic. I don't know why his mother called him that, but apparently it's some idea that by so calling him demons wouldn't bother him. [00:15:15] But it is interesting to me. The same Saddam, the same area Iraq, same region, the Middle east. And we now have bush junior or bush senior. So interesting. [00:15:37] It is a shame that Bush senior didn't do the job properly on the first Gulf War, but still, that's, by the way, it's not for me to say so much about that, but I think that this surely indicates that we are in a very special time indeed. [00:15:59] And I believe this little theme for this conference, for such a time as this, means that we need to look a little more at this. [00:16:16] The Lord speaks of, of his people as the apple of his eye. [00:16:27] I see one or two very modern versions say his eyeball, which I think is a very unpoetic way of putting it. [00:16:36] But eyes are very important, and especially the iris of the eye. So important, those of you who have any problems with sight know how important the iris of the eye is. [00:16:52] And if you look at Deuteronomy chapter 32, nine and ten, we read these wonderful words, for the Lord's portion is his people. [00:17:02] Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness he compassed him about. He cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. And then the prophet Zechariah also says something in Zechariah, chapter two from verse eight. For thus saith the lord of hosts after glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you. For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. For behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them. And ye shall know that the lord of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion. For lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many other nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the lord of hosts has sent me unto thee the apple of my eye. What an a wonderful way the Lord describes his own. Nor is it wrong to say that the true church of God is also the apple of his eye, for we are all one people in the one. [00:18:37] We have two elect peoples on the face of this earth, one in unbelief, unsaid, disobedient at present, and the other redeemed by his grace and born of his spirit. [00:18:51] These two peoples have parted company on the person of the Messiah, Jesus, and they will come back together in one on the person of the Messiah and his finished work, the Lord Jesus. But I must resist any temptation in my wandering thoughts to wander too far and not get to where we ought to get this morning. [00:19:19] The Lord has his eye on two people, Israel and the true church. I'm not talking about the institutional thing or the traditional nominal of Christianity, which has so often been the persecutor of the real church anyway. I'm talking about the body of our Lord Jesus. [00:19:44] I am talking about the bride of the Messiah upon Israel, as yet in her unbelief, lost so much in her own intelligence and in her secularism and in many ways, sometimes in very high bound religion. [00:20:08] The Lord has his eye on this people. [00:20:12] They are the apple of his eye and the true church as well. [00:20:26] If I may take you further, they are, or they constitute the twofold touchstone of world history. [00:20:43] The twofold touchstone of world history in other words, if you really want to understand world history, it is not the great empire, the pharaonic, the Egyptian or the Assyrian or the Babylonian or the Persian or the Hellenic or the Roman or the British Empire or the Ottoman Empire or all the others. The great chinese dynastic empire might bore you. The indian empire of the Mughals, the soviet empire. [00:21:29] These are not the real key to world history. [00:21:36] The key to world history lies in a little people, small and hated that were the seed of Abraham. [00:21:57] And in all those of whom Abraham is called the father of all who believe. [00:22:11] Whenever nations superpowers, ideologies have sought to destroy the church in the end, those ideologies and those superpowers are cursed. [00:22:28] It does not matter where you look in history, the principle holds good. [00:22:36] Now, of course, I know that most people. Barry said something about history last night. Most people are bored to death with history basically because we had boreding history teachers. [00:22:52] They bored us to death. [00:22:57] And I think there is a kind of inbel. Oh, no, don't talk about history. I mean, there's nothing more boring, more deadly than history. [00:23:06] But in fact, history is tremendous. [00:23:14] But from history, written from the unsaved point of view you will learn something of the glories and genius of man. [00:23:27] Something of his cleverness, something of his inventiveness, something of his creativity. [00:23:36] But you will never understand world history. [00:23:40] That's why the Bible is so incredible. [00:23:45] It begins and ends with a correspondence. [00:23:51] And the extraordinary thing is that at the very center of the Bible is a little tiny book called the song of songs which liberal theologians call a bawdy ditty but which in, according to the rabbis, was a revelation given to Solomon of the love of God for Israel. [00:24:19] In other words, the whole of history is understood in the Bible from the divine point of view as something to do with a people who, normally speaking, would not occupy so many pages in world history and to do with those redeemed who are born of God's spirit. [00:24:51] I don't know whether I'm getting this over to you, but I'm sometimes asked questions like this. [00:25:00] If you say the Bible is so inspired how come it ignores the chinese dynastic empire that lasted over 2000 years? [00:25:12] How come some of the other great empires are not in it? Why are they ignored as if they didn't exist? [00:25:21] But the interesting thing is this, that Babylon and Assyria is only mentioned in the Bible insofar as they touch Israel. [00:25:31] Even the pharaohs in Egypt wouldn't be mentioned except that they touched this people. [00:25:41] That is prophecy. Now everybody thinks of prophecy normally as prediction only. But in fact, prophecy is the unveiling of the mind of God in any particular matter. In other words, God reveals what man cannot understand with his natural mind. [00:26:05] That is prophecy. And that's why Peter says, we have the word of prophecy made. More shall whereunto you do well, that you take heed as unto a lamp shining in a dark place till the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Of course, there is a whole area of prophecy that's predictive, but there is also a whole area of prophecy that is to do with history. In other words, what went wrong? Why man always falls, why man never succeeds, why the League of Nations never succeeded, why the United nations will never succeed. [00:26:43] Because it is Babel. [00:26:46] It's so simple. [00:26:48] They started in Babel to try and bring in a world order and a wonderful millennium of gold, a golden millennium of peace and equality and prosperity. [00:27:01] Well, Babylon was the result. [00:27:05] Marvelous in its architecture, marvelous in many other ways. Powerful. [00:27:14] Its cities, tremendous avenues, banking houses, hanging gardens, botanical gardens, canals that came up from the Gulf of Persia, bringing ships right up into the city centre there. It was tremendous. [00:27:39] And it all failed and will fail because God says it is fallen man. [00:27:52] And Jerusalem became the symbol of something else. [00:27:56] Jerusalem didn't have an avenue, not one, certainly. No canals bringing ships to Jerusalem. [00:28:05] One little stream, the Kidwan, now buried under meters and meters of earth and sand. [00:28:13] Nothing. [00:28:14] Nothing. [00:28:16] I often say to people, if I had stood in the streets of Babylon and prophesied and said, you see this great city? It will be nothing. It will be the dust of history. It will disappear so entirely that people will argue whether it even existed, whether it was like Atlantis, a legend. [00:28:38] But Jerusalem, this will endure. People in Babylon would have laughed me to score. They would have said, you're crazy. Jerusalem will last. That higgledy piggledy quaint little hilltop town, it hasn't got an avenue. Where are its banking houses? Where are all its wonder? The wonderful temples we have? Where are the hanging gardens? Where are the great iron grapes? Nothing there. Don't tell us it will last. [00:29:10] Yet Babylon disappeared so completely that people did think it was a legend. [00:29:17] And it was german archaeologists that discovered it some 200 years ago. Anyway, I mustn't dwell on this too long. All I want to say is this. You see that when you have this book, God reveals something of about history. He tells you why judgment has fallen on the nation. He puts his finger, if I may so speak, upon the source of it. That's prophecy. What man could not understand. God reveals. And it may be history, it may be a contemporary situation, or it may be to do with the future. [00:29:58] Once you understand that, then we can say here another thing. We can underline something else. The way nations or empires or superpowers or ideologies touch Israel or touch the true church, determines whether they come into judgment or whether they come into blessing. [00:30:28] God said to Abraham that in you will all the families, all the families of the earth be blessed. He that blesses you will be blessed, and he that curses you will be cursed. [00:30:43] This was not only just Abraham, nor just Isaac, nor just Jacob, nor just Joseph, but it goes right through to the whole seed of Abraham, through Isaac, not Ishmael, and through Jacob, not Esau. [00:31:02] When that people is cursed, accursed comes upon that nation. [00:31:10] When they are handled deceitfully, when they seek to manipulate them, when they seek, seek to override God's purpose for them, change, as it were, the course of divine election to suit them, a curse comes upon that nation. No matter what nation it is, how great it is, how powerful it is, a curse comes upon it. [00:31:47] And it is true of the church. When the French persecuted and murdered the Huguenots, a curse came upon France. [00:31:58] When Spain instituted the inquisition, a curse came on Spain. [00:32:10] If we had time, I would go for a whole number of other things to do with this. But really, what I'm saying is tremendous. I hope you who pray for Israel, you know these things. I think of Isaiah, chapter 60, and verse twelve, for that nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. [00:32:43] Or again, I think, in the same prophecy, Isaiah 54 and verse 15. Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee. [00:33:05] Now, what I am saying is of tremendous importance for such a time as this. [00:33:20] What it means is, if, God forbid, the United States decides on the division of Israel, a curse will come upon the United States. [00:33:59] I remember very well when I was a young believer, only I think I was three years old in the Lord, and I was only about 15. [00:34:19] I came from a totally non christian background. [00:34:24] I remember one Sunday morning, Alan Redpath standing in the pulpit and saying, because of what Britain has done to the jewish people in changing the mandate, and because of the white paper that was of 1938, and because of what the british navy and army is doing to the Holocaust survivors trying to reach the shores of the promised land, he said, judgment will fall upon this people. [00:35:06] And as surely as I stand here, there will be no, no british empire left. [00:35:14] That was 1946. [00:35:20] Two or three very godly church members got up and walked out in protest. [00:35:27] They were good british people as well as being good christians. They could not believe that God would judge Britain. They were very upset because they said, we have stood almost alone. [00:35:43] And now some pastor is telling us, our own pastor, that God is going to judge this nation and bring this empire to nothing when we have stood alone against this tyrant Hitler. [00:36:03] I lived to see the end of the british empire. [00:36:14] It began in 1948 at the same time as Israel was born. [00:36:24] Well, I don't want to say any more because I don't want to upset you all too much, but I could say a good deal more because Britain has become an offshore island of Europe. [00:36:46] Tony Blair, for whom I have great admiration for his courage in standing almost alone on this matter of Iraq and war on terror, is still a very big influence on President Bush. To put the israeli palestinian question right at the fore and at the heart of this whole matter. [00:37:23] Is it too much for you to take if I turn you to another scripture? In Jeremiah 31 819, I read these amazing words. They are for me quite amazing. [00:37:39] The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts, hosts is his name. Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war. With thee will I break in pieces the nations. And with thee will I destroy kingdoms. And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider. With thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein. With thee will I break in pieces man and woman. And with thee will I break in pieces the old man and the youth. And with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the virgin. With thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. And with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen. And with thee will I break in pieces governors and deputies. I find that an incredible prophecy. Why? Why do I find it so incredible? Because Jeremiah was speaking when Israel was absolutely nothing, broken, occupied her king in Babylon, his eyes put out. And then he died in prison, his sons having been executed before his eyes were put out, the last thing he ever saw. [00:39:03] And here is Jeremiah saying that the Lord says, israel, you are my battle axe, you are my weapons of war. With you I will break in pieces everything. [00:39:20] It doesn't seem to add up. [00:39:26] If the Lord said of Babylon, you are my battleaxe, I am using you to break up empires and nations and so on, it would have made sense. But Israel was not even intact. [00:39:41] She was broken. Nothing insignificant. [00:39:49] And yet the Lord said, you are my battle axe. Now, a battle axe is a very unpleasant instrument. [00:40:02] In more modern versions, it's called a maul. But I doubt whether most people would know what a maul is. The only thing you know is when a dog mauls you, when you get mauled as well, then you say, I was mauled. But very few people know the maul, the maul, or battleaxe, was literally a thing that caused disintegration. [00:40:24] It broke your head into pieces. It just pulverized you. And here is the Lord saying about little Israel in her judgment, in her broken condition. He says, you are the key to world history. I will make you the means of pulverizing empires like Babylon. Don't be afraid. They will disappear as surely as. As Jeremiah stood there and prophesied. [00:40:54] You needed faith to believe that. [00:40:58] But it's happened with the Ottoman Empire and it has happened with the. [00:41:04] With the british empire, and it happened with the german, Adolf Hitler's German Reich of a thousand years. [00:41:15] And it's happened in your life time with the soviet empire. [00:41:21] Who would have ever thought that that monolith that straddled the whole of the world and haunted the whole world would disappear? 70 years to the day that the marxist covenant was signed in the Kremlin, it disappeared. If I had said this 30 years ago, people would have said, you're not. [00:41:47] If I had said the old tsarist flag would. The old tsarist colors will come back to be the flank of the russian federation, people said, you're nuts. If I had said that in the government room of the Kremlin, above where the prime minister sits, would be the double headed eagle of the tsars with the crown back in place. On top of it, people would have said, you are living in cloud cuckoo land. [00:42:21] It is, in fact, christians said, it is the Antichrist. It is the Antichrist. They are going to take the world and we are all going to suffer. [00:42:30] But that soviet empire touched Israel and the church and 70 years to the day it fell. [00:42:48] One could say a good deal more about this, but I must not say anymore. [00:42:55] Now it's Islam. [00:43:01] I have no doubt at all that there are millions of decent, honest, hard working Muslims who want to live in peace. I have no doubt about it at all. I have a number of friends that are palestinian Muslims. I have no doubt about it. [00:43:21] But Islam itself has an agenda, and that agenda is world domination. [00:43:29] And Israel is its bugbear it cannot bear the fact that in the islamic homelands there is a recreated, renewed jewish state. [00:43:46] It's an obscenity to them. [00:43:50] Actually, Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Quran. [00:43:57] It is, we believe, implied in one or two places, but it's not mentioned. [00:44:05] And the interesting thing is that Jerusalem is only third in the holy city category. [00:44:16] Mecca is first, Medina is second. If you are a shia, there is a place in Iraq that is third. Jerusalem comes fourth. If you are Sunni, Jerusalem comes third. [00:44:32] Islam has an agenda. [00:44:37] Now I find this very interesting, but I must continually curb myself because of my wandering thought. [00:44:53] Barium, bachelor, led highly by the Lord, chose this little phrase for such a time as this. There is a man that goes all the way through this record. One of the lovely one. Lovely. I don't know when you call it lovely, but one of the exciting things, certainly for kids, is that every time this man's named in the synagogue, as the whole of this book is, there is a riot. People bang on the floor. Bang on the thing. Wave rattles his name is Haman. Haman, the Agai guide that Saul didn't slay and Samuel slew. But apparently Saul allowed a number of his relatives to get out. [00:45:37] All those years later, it was coming. Khomeini. The Ayatollah Khomeini. [00:45:44] His name is Haman Khomeini and the present president of Persia is Khamenei. Same cloud. [00:45:58] Isn't that interesting? [00:46:02] Because for me it means that this little book of Esther has rather a lot to say to us today for such a time as this. Now listen carefully to me. [00:46:17] If what I am saying is true, then there is a significance to what is happening at present in the Middle east that far outweighs the war on Iraq. [00:46:39] I believe that the United States and the United Kingdom are in colossal danger. [00:46:50] I believe they are doing absolutely the right thing. As one of my good friends from the continent said to me, it was Britain and the United States in the first World War. It was Britain and the United States in the second world War. And now it's Britain and the United States again in whatever is happening now. [00:47:20] That's interesting, but I believe they're in tremendous danger. If, God forbid, they really do go ahead with the road, man. [00:47:31] And if they impose upon Israel and the Palestinians some solution that they believe will answer everything. [00:47:42] I will not say more about it now. I will in the next time I speak. But I believe that the little prophecy of Joel gives us the key to divine judgment of the nations in the last phase of world history. And it is incredible to me that it says, because they have divided my land. [00:48:07] Now am I to believe that that is some sort of prehistoric appendage that somehow managed to get through dozy Jewish and managed to get to us and has absolutely no meaning to anybody? Everybody, especially charismatics. Take Joel chapter two. Oh, Joel chapter two. [00:48:31] The Holy Spirit and all the rest of it. But Joel chapter three, it seems as if they feel the chapters, you know, are sort of divine cut offs. [00:48:46] But Joel chapter three speaks about divine judgment in that day when the captivity of Jerusalem and Judah is restored. It says, it speaks of the divine judgment of the nations and says the reason is they have scattered my heritage and divided my land. [00:49:21] If what I am saying is right, then in spite of doing the right thing about Iraq, they are on a collision course with the almighty and that will have untold consequences. [00:49:50] That leads me to the last thing I want to say and I'm only going to mention it and just make a few comments on these points. [00:49:59] Is this war on Iraq a prelude to something much larger and much more significant? [00:50:11] I have to tell you that from the very beginning, and I am only one person and you don't have to take what I say, and I prefer you not to take it as inspired. [00:50:22] I would prefer it that you were to take it and seek the Lord about it. But for myself, from the very beginning, I have felt that there is something immense in the wings. [00:50:37] That this war on Iraq, whatever is right or wrong about it, that has divided everybody so much, pales into insignificance next to what is coming. [00:50:50] I believe that there is something tremendous in the wing. [00:50:59] I may be wrong, and if I live long enough, you'll be able to tell me so. [00:51:04] But I have a feeling that there is another major fulfillment of God's prophetic word almost upon us. [00:51:18] What could that be? [00:51:22] Could it be a holy war? [00:51:27] Now I'm talking about a jihad, an islamic holy war in which as a result of the war of Iraq, they take courage and with determination they rise up to destroy Israel. [00:51:53] You will notice they all hate America and frankly, most of the muslim countries hate Britain as well. And it's not because they went to war on Iraq. We who live in the Middle east know a good deal more than folks who are thousands of miles away. [00:52:14] They believe that America in particular and britain in not so great a measure of the destruction of islamic culture and the great barrier to the fulfillment of Allah's purpose as recorded in the Quran. [00:52:40] The Quran speaks of a war in the last day that they say will be forced on them, and in which the whole of Islam will rise up and they will, in the end, kill every Christian and every Jewish who will not become a Muslim, and then the whole world will be Muslim. [00:53:11] Khomeini, the Ayatollah Khomeini taught that we were now in the last days and that at some point this war would begin. [00:53:25] Osama bin Laden is not a Shia Muslim. He is a sunni Muslim. But he was an astute disciple of the Khomeini. He believed that Khomeini had touched something absolutely real and authentic when he said, we're in the last day. [00:53:48] The attack on September 11 was the beginning of that war. [00:53:54] What I think Osama bin Laden did not leave would happen was that President Bush, called by so many the texan cowboy or in the arab press, Bush junior, looked upon as some somewhat empty headed American. [00:54:21] They never. I don't think Osama bin Laden, in his worst nightmare ever, thought that Bush would respond. He thought America would take it lying down. [00:54:33] But by the grace of God, Bush responded, and that's where we are now. [00:54:47] The question is, is this war on Iraq the prelude to something much bigger? Could it even be Ezekiel 38 and 39? [00:54:57] I have never believed that. That war in Ezekiel 38 and 39 is the final Armageddon battle. I believe it has to come before. [00:55:06] And if I am right, could it be that the Soviet Union unwillingly would be drawn into, because it says about that great power in the outermost parts of the north that the Lord will put a hook to its jaw, turn it round as if it doesn't want to go, and drag it into the battle? [00:55:26] Could it be? I don't know. [00:55:30] I don't know. All I know is this is a real possibility. This is the first possibility. [00:55:37] Is this war a prelude to something? [00:55:41] Secondly, is this war a prelude to a third world war? Now, I know that would shock any of you. It could actually be an extension of this first one. [00:55:51] But with North Korea. North Korea is the biggest supplier of arms and weapons in the world. [00:56:00] And furthermore, whereas soviet weapons don't work. [00:56:06] I don't wish to be rude about our russian veteran, but, I mean, the fact of the matter is that when in the first Gulf war, they used to send off those scuds, so often they exploded on the launcher and blew up the whole launching team. The result was the launching teams developed a deafness to the phone from headquarters. [00:56:30] These were soviet Scuds. But the north korean scuds are quite different. [00:56:37] If North Korea obtains nuclear devices and starts at a very great price to sell them. Libya will be one of the first to buy, and so will Iran. [00:56:51] And that could lead to a conflagration in which India and Pakistan have a punch up when the North Korea and the Far east have a punch up. I don't want to depress you all, but, I mean, I'm a war horse. I've lived through it all. People sometimes say, I think you're a warmonger. [00:57:12] I don't believe any believer could be a warmonger. I believe all of us long for peace. The difference is between idolism and realists. [00:57:24] Idealists believe that war is wrong, full stop. [00:57:28] We should not have anything to do with it. Even if there is a dictator and he's evil and he's taking over the whole world, we should do nothing. We had them all in the 1930s. They chained themselves to railings outside Downing street and outside parliament and elsewhere where you were. I doubt whether too many that old to remember that, but it was so. And there was not a single denomination, Christian denomination, that did not back Chamberlain. [00:58:00] And they were all very anti Churchill. [00:58:05] They called Churchill the drunken warmonger. [00:58:12] Interestingly, when Chamberling came back, waving his little bit of paper with his umbrella and saying, it is peace in our time and that european christian civilization had been saved within a year. Of course, the greatest world war ever upon us and 55 million dead. In the end, it is Churchill that has come as the great statesman and was one of the most revered Britishers in history. And Chamberlain is synonymous with weakness and appeasement. [00:58:56] But you never ever found any of those christians apologizing, saying, well, we were wrong. [00:59:03] I found that very strange, but still less. [00:59:07] One of the extraordinary characteristics of british men is to be able to somehow take it all and then accept it, whatever happens. Well, I only say this. Could it be. I'm not sure about this, but it is possible. I have friends like David Dolan, who has serious concerns that it could lead to a third world war. The third thing I just want to mention, and it's wonderful, could it be the salvation of the house of Israel? [00:59:45] This the prophets and kings and apostles and believers all down through the ages of time have waited. Could it be that finally it will arrive? Could it be that when the world turns against Israel, when even America forsakes Israel, when alone with a bat against the wall, with anti semitism, now called anti Israelism, in full force, could it be that little Israel will fall, finally fall into the arms of God? [01:00:27] I wonder if it is, then it explains everything. It explains the fury of Satan. [01:00:38] It explains his mobilizing of forces left, right and centre, north, south, east and west. [01:00:45] It explains the kind of foment that's going on in this world that lies in the evil one. If something so near to the heart of God and the completion of God's purpose for the true church is at hand, Satan will do everything to stop this. He will do everything to stop it. [01:01:16] Hitler was one of those he threw into the arena with Mussolini. He wasn't quite so bad with the Jews. He had a jewish mistress. [01:01:26] He wasn't quite so bad when it came to the Jews. [01:01:30] But Stalin, the Holocaust. [01:01:42] As I see history, I believe that the powers of darkness tried to stop the recreation of the state of Israel by literally destroying the only jews that would have gone back. [01:01:57] But God turned it and made it the catalyst for the recreation of the state of Israel. [01:02:04] Now it seems to me as if Satan has picked up something in the courts of heaven. [01:02:11] Maybe he's picked up something in our prayer meeting. [01:02:15] He doesn't know everything, you know, he listens, which is more than some christians do. [01:02:23] He listens and he picks up things. Aha. [01:02:29] That's it. That's what, that's what God is moving toward. That's what Jesus is moving toward. [01:02:38] We'll stop it. [01:02:42] Some people tell me there will never be another Holocaust. I wish I could believe that. I would love to believe it. I lost 658 members of the family in the Holocaust. [01:02:53] I would love to believe it. [01:02:56] I don't live because Satan is not dead whilst he is alive. [01:03:08] If you could say and kick him. [01:03:11] He is going to try one last attempt to destroy this nation and destroy this people before their salvation can come. [01:03:24] But it will come. [01:03:28] Could it be this, the third thing and the last thing I just mentioned? I will take up some of these things later. But could it be the advent of the Antichrist? [01:03:40] I know this might worry some, but I personally believe this could very well be. [01:03:49] There is such a disorder now in amongst the nations. Such a disorder in the United, so called United nations, now disunited nations, such a disorder in NATO, such a disorder in the European Union as such a disorder worldwide with the economic woes and everything else. [01:04:10] This war on Iraq could tip the balance with the economists going into deep depression. [01:04:17] I believe that. [01:04:22] And that could bring such anarchy, such disorder, such disarray, that the whole world will look for someone democratic in one way and autocratic in the other. He took Clay and I am. [01:04:39] Who will somehow or other find a way to the disorder. [01:04:51] I have said it, and I say it again, that I believe that President Bush and the United States is the only thing that stands between the world and the country coming of the Antichrist at present. [01:05:08] Now, I know you're good Britishers and I know you would like me to say that Britain stands. I wish I could. [01:05:19] Europe has gone. He's immortal. [01:05:23] That biblical judeo christian conscience has gone and Britain is almost in the same condition. [01:05:37] Only in the United States, with all its immorality and its sin, is there still that what I call biblical conscience. [01:05:56] President Bush is unseated by this whole thing. The way will be wide open for the appearing of the Antichrist. [01:06:06] Now this may seem very strange to you to talk like this, but dear children of God, our hope is not here. [01:06:13] We have another hope. We have a hope that is centred in our Lord Jesus. [01:06:18] And when he appears, the kingdom of God will come with him. [01:06:23] That's our hope. [01:06:25] I know there are those who believe we're going to go through the tribulation. [01:06:29] And people are always asking me, do you think we're going to go through the tribulation? And I always say, I think I'm in enough tribulation now, but I'm always being asked, will we be taken before the tribulation? Will be taken at the end of it. [01:06:49] I personally suspect that those who are ready will be taken somewhere in the midst of it. [01:06:58] But on this matter I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty. The Lord is going to appear. [01:07:04] And when that Lord appears this time in glory, when he appears, and with him the kingdom of God, the whole thing will be over. [01:07:20] We have a hope, so we shouldn't be afraid. After all the books, most of you have heard of what I've said this morning for years. The problem is no one's ever believed it would happen in their lifetime. They always say, no, no, no. I'd like to think the Lord's coming, but I don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime. It's going to be a bird, Will. It's a terrible shock to suddenly maybe we're there, maybe it's actually happening in front of our eyes. [01:07:51] For such a time as this, you have been born in the foreordination. [01:07:59] I don't mind using the word predestination of God for such a time as this. [01:08:06] You can't get away from it. You didn't choose the time of your birth. You didn't even choose to come into this world. [01:08:13] That was all in the Lord's hand. [01:08:16] And since you have been born in such a time, you and I need to be equipped by the Holy Spirit, gifted by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need to be centered in the Lord Jesus. We need to give him the preeminence in all things. [01:08:39] We need to be those who are witnesses to him right to the end. [01:08:46] For such a time as this. [01:08:49] May the Lord touch your heart. [01:08:52] I imagine most of you have known much of what I've said anyway, I'm only underlining and confirming those things. But there may be some here who wandered in poor things and feel as if they have been hit between the eyes and really not quite sure where the speakers come from. [01:09:18] May the Lord give you understanding. [01:09:22] And if you have a sleep, endless night or two, all for the good. [01:09:28] If in the end you wake up to the fact that somehow or other we are no longer in a time where we can play games, but in a time of reality where we really got to face the situation as it is and find the Lord in a genuine way, he is there. [01:09:53] He is not interested in your defeat. He is not interested in your being, as it were, trampled underfoot by this deed. He is interested in you being an overcomer. [01:10:05] And he is the overcomer. And in you he can be the overcomer. May the Lord help us. Shall we pray? Lord, we very simply commit to this time, to you and all that's been said. There are a lot of wrong constructions that can be put on what has been said. Deliver us from such, Lord. Deliver us from hearing what we want to hear and not hearing what we should hear. Lord, will you get into us in a new way? In a new way, Lord, and really meet with us in our heart so that, Lord, in whatever lies ahead of this nation and indeed of the nations and of Israel in particular, we may be those who have an understanding of the times and may be a people who are, by your grace, made overcomers. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.