Relevance of Biblical Prophecy 4

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Luke's gospel, chapter 21, reading from verse 20 but when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand. Then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains, and let them that are in the midst of her depart out. And let not them that are in the country enter therein. For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. For there shall be great distress upon the land and wrath unto this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity. For the roaring of the sea and the billows, men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming on the for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draweth nigh. [00:02:06] Speaker B: And he spake to them a parable. [00:02:09] Speaker A: Behold the fig tree and all the. [00:02:11] Speaker B: Trees when they now shoot forth, ye. [00:02:13] Speaker A: See it and know of your own selves at the summer is now nigh. Even so ye also when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come on you suddenly as a snare. [00:03:04] Speaker B: For so shall it come upon all. [00:03:07] Speaker A: Them that dwell on the face of all the earth. But watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of man. The second letter of Peter, verse 19. 2nd letter of Peter, verse 19. I'm sorry. Chapter 1, second letter of Peter, chapter one, verse 19. And we have the word prophecy made more sure. Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is a private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man. But men spake from God, being moved. [00:04:33] Speaker B: By the Holy Spirit. An anointing for every one of us, both for speaking and for hearing. And together now we stand into that anointing, that this evening may not be in any single part futile or vain. But, Lord, we may meet with thee and thy word may be written indelibly by thy spirit upon our hearts. Get over to us, Lord, the burden on thy heart. In this whole matter weve been looking at, and we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, some weeks ago we asked ourselves a question, and ever since weve been seeking to answer it. Is biblical prophecy relevant today? And we have looked first at the word prophecy, and then we have looked at the relevance of biblical prophecy for today. And then the last few times weve been looking at what is the relevance of biblical prophecy? And you will remember that we have looked at it first in general terms. Weve looked at its relevance, the relevance of biblical prophecy in general terms. And then we began to look at it in specific terms. Firstly, in its general terms, there are three areas in which we have seen that biblical prophecy is particularly relevant. First, it is the explanation of human history. And that is the most wonderful thing about prophecy. It's not just that it predicts certain things or outlines certain things. The most marvelous thing about prophecy is that it is the unveiling, the expressing of the mind of God as to what lies behind human history, what was in the heart of God from the very beginning. That is the relevance, the supreme relevance of biblical prophecy. And wherever you turn, this will be the key that will unlock matter after matter after matter. You will find that the prophets are not just talking about things that are going to happen in so many months or so many years or even millennia in the future. They are really bringing you right back to this fact that in the end, the thing that was in the heart of God from the beginning is going to be fulfilled. And that is the most wonderful thing of all. And I fear that many students of biblical prophecy altogether miss this point. They get wrapped up with details about the future or about this little point and that little point and altogether miss the, the mark as to the essential relevance of prophecy, which is that it is the explanation of human history, if you like, the explanation of time, the explanation of everything that lies behind the creation of the universe, the creation of man, the fall of man, the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the calling out work of the Holy Spirit from all peoples, nations, tongues, kindreds and so on. And then a second thing we saw in general terms as to the relevance of biblical prophecy was the matter of the warning concerning origins. Where else can you get that kind of warning? The fact that origin determines destiny. What a lot there is in the Bible about this. It's where a thing begins that matters. Its development and its end is governed by its origin. And thats why the Holy Spirit takes such tremendous care with us as children of God, that our source, our fountainhead, should be God and that all our beginnings should be in him. As the psalmist put it, all my fresh springs are in thee. The warning concerning origins, what is of the earth remains earthy, what is of heaven will end in heaven. And then, of course, thirdly, the matter we more generally associate with biblical prophecy, its relevance in general terms is also a matter of the outline of world history. And the last time we had, we spent some time upon the outline of world history. So how this whole matter of world history has been outlined in the Bible, predicted in the Bible thousands of years ago, then we began to look at the relevance of biblical prophecy in its more specific terms, and we spent the rest of our time, our last occasion we spoke on this matter, on the matter of Israel. Israel. Here we have the relevance of biblical prophecy in specific terms. And the jew is the evidence of God in history, wherever you find him. His whole course is an illustration, both negative and positive, of the fact that God is behind history and working out his purpose through history. And you remember we spent quite a lot of time upon that. The nation judged, the nation cursed, the nation destroyed, and the nation restored. We spoke of the fig tree. We took many of the scriptures about the gathering home of Jews back to the land of Israel. And we spoke of the mystery of election. Here you have the relevance of biblical prophecy in specific terms. No one can understand the matter of election, of divine election. And we see it most beautifully illustrated and displayed in the jewish people. They had to fall, that salvation might come to the Gentiles. And so in the end, the hardening which has befallen in part will be removed, and so shall all Israel be saved. It is a most remarkable thing. What can we say about it? We are up against. In one sense, I always feel we're in the holiest place of all in this matter. We are face to face with what lies behind our own conversion, behind our own salvation. We find that in some marvelous manner it is all connected up with the same thing. In the end, Israel and the church flow back together and become one again. How? We're not quite sure, but we shall see it and then perhaps we shall begin to understand a little more clearly what it all means. I fail to make one other point here in our last time before we pass on to two other matters concerning the relevance of biblical prophecy in specific terms. And that is that Jerusalem, that funny old dirty city has become from the very beginning a symbol of a tremendous spiritual fact. And it doesn't matter where you turn. That city, the city itself, now don't spiritualize it. The city itself becomes the touchstone of history. Now we get this even in Zechariah where he says, every nation, Jerusalem shall become a burdensome stone to the nations. Everyone that takes it up will trip upon it. And it has been just so. And I've always loved tell it not in gath and publish it not in Escalon. But I have always loved the Latin Vulgate rendering of Zechariah, chapter twelve and verse six and seven. Just this little. In our version it's not too clear but I am pretty well persuaded that the Hebrew is quite accurately given in Knox's Vulgate version. In our version, my version, it puts it like this. And they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. Not too clear. But listen to this marvelous thing. I'd like one of these days to have this written on a little text. Jerusalem shall stand when all is over where Jerusalem has ever stood. I think that sums the whole thing up. It is the one city which has not moved from its original foundations. You see, modern Ashdod for instance is about 4 miles from the old Ashdod. Quite a few of the modern cities are some miles from. But by and large Jerusalem is where Jerusalem has ever stood. Now it's not that God is just interested in plots of ground or in bricks and mortar dust of the earth. It is really that Jerusalem has become a symbol of a tremendous spiritual reality. Really Jerusalem is the expression, the symbol of the purpose of God. And therefore it's as if God has said right all the way through history this city will stand as in one sense a finger to heaven and in the other way a stumbling to all unbelief. And that's exactly what it's become. Everyone that's taken it up has been crushed by it one way or another. And all those who've understood its meaning have found God. Jerusalem. Well now we must leave that or we'll start again on that fascinating subject. Now there is another matter in which biblical prophecy is specifically, specifically relevant. And that is in the events of the end, the events of the end, we have in the Bible the most remarkably clear and lucid prediction of what will happen at the end. Now, if you expect me to give you this evening a whole sequence of events that will finally settle all your problems, problems about the end days, I must tell you, you are going to be greatly disappointed, because I'm not going to do that. I wonder whether we can actually finally give a dogmatic, categoric sequence of events. What we know is this, that the Lord Jesus is going to come back. And secondly, what we know is that he is going to come, at least in my estimation, he is going to come back and is going to take us to be with himself. Now, there are, of course, those who do not believe that. They believe that we are going to go, or were going to go right through the tribulation, and the Lord will come at the end of it finally. But I still believe in what was called a rapture, a sudden, marvelous secret calling up to be with himself of the people of God. Now, where we might part company is on whether we all go up to be with the Lord, or whether only some of us go up to be with the Lord. I was brought up on the fact that we all go up to be with the Lord, that he is going to rapture every single born again child of God, no matter what their condition, and that those who've been living in an unworthy manner will be deeply ashamed before the Lord. Then I began. When I began to really look at the word myself and think myself about these things, meditate and reflect on them, I became more and more disillusioned with this theory and found a whole number of scriptures that didn't seem to fit in. And so then I became a person called, theologically, a post tribulation, that is, that we will all go through the tribulation and we will be caught up to be with the Lord when he finally comes. And the favourite catchword of those who believe this is that there are not two comings, two second comings of the Lord, but only one. But as I first was a bit satisfied with this theory, the more I began to look at the scripture, the less satisfied I became with it. And then I became thoroughly confused until I came to the conclusion that the truth lay somewhere between the two. And since then, whilst not dogmatic on this matter, I have come to rest on the fact that I believe the Lord is going to rapture those who are ready and are walking for not anything to do with their own good works. But that they are walking before the lamb, following the lamb fully, and are ready for him. Now, I have since then come to that conclusion that those are the ones that will be raptured, and the rest will go through the last phase of world history and be purified in it. And so we shall all be joined together at the end. Now, please don't get upset about this matter. Even this is not explained by all the scriptures. Now you may begin to understand what a complex matter this is. What we can say is that the Lord is coming back there. Upon that we can be absolutely dogmatic. I think we can go further. I think we can say quite dogmatically that the Lord is going to rapture his own. So here comes our first big point. The Lord clearly reveals this in order that we be ready. And after all, that is the thing that matters most. For if you are ready, does it matter whether he takes only those who are ready or not, or takes us all to be with him, or whether we all go through? If you are ready, you are ready for anything. And in that sense, you won't be ashamed at the presence of the Lord, at the coming of the Lord. If we all go to be with him, you will be raptured if there's a possibility of some being left because you're ready. And if we have to all go through just because we're ready, there will be grace ministered to us to go right through. So I've always said the thing that matters most is to be ready. But we do have a very definite prediction of some of the things that will happen at the end. Now, I shall mention just some of these. I'm not going to give any sequence, because here comes all the problem. But I shall answer, please do not take what I say as a sequence. But here are some of the points. First of all, there will be a great shaking that we know. Furthermore, I don't believe this is only an economic religious shaking. It seems to me reasonably clear that this shaking is a physical shaking. I think we have put too big an emphasis on spiritualizing some of these points. You know, the Lord says, I will shake not only the earth, but the heavens also. And I don't think that just means the spiritual powers that are in the heavens. But I think that Luke quite clearly shows us that the heavens will be shaken. It says, stars will fall out of place, something will happen to the sun, something will happen to the moon. So there seems to be a shaking. First of all, in a moral sense, in that the whole world is shaken. So that all that can be shaken will be shaken to pieces, and that which cannot be shaken will become apparent. And then there is an actual shaking in the heavens. It says, is it literal in Luke 21 where it says that the billows of the sea, the roaring of the billows of the sea. Now, if something happens to the moon, it could well be that there will be an effect on the sea. And it's exactly the same way that if something happens with the sun, there will be some kind of effect with the moon. These things are quite clear. They're all linked together. And if you read in Luke 21, you will find that you've got many of those things. Then, of course, we know from Matthew 24 and the first part of these, of that chapter that there will be wars and rumors of war, kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation, and so on and so forth. Now, I suppose if we look at this century compared with all preceding centuries, then we must say that this century has been a century unparalleled for war and rumors of war. Whereas before there have been wars which have ravaged certain parts of the earth, we have never before had world wars which have caught the whole sort of civilized world into its orbit. We have had two world wars in this century. The first world war, of course, swept away a whole order of things which had lasted for close on a thousand years. When you remember, of course, I don't suppose there are too many here who do remember it, but when you think I'll put it like that, when you think that before 1914, there were kingdoms, thrones, empires which had pretty well been in existence for, in some cases, almost a thousand years, it is amazing to think that the whole thing was swept away in four years. From 1914 to 1980, the whole face of Europe was changed. China was changed. Russia was changed. The austro hungarian empire collapsed. The turkish empire collapsed. These are empires which had lasted, in some cases, for many, many hundreds of years, some longer than even that, it's all swept away. This has certainly been a century of wars and rumors of wars. Furthermore, ever since the Second World War, we've never been without rumor of war or actual war. And some of these so called local wars have seen as many people killed as in a major catastrophe. You take the Bangladesh, the Pakistan civil war. Over 3 million people died in that one war. You take the civil war in Ghana and Nigeria, both of them, when they had their disturbances, millions died in that disturbance. You take the korean war. You take the vietnamese war. Since the so called ceasefire a year ago last January, 59,000 people have died in a ceasefire. Since the ceasefire, it's supposed to all be at peace now for this, Doctor Kissinger got the Nobel prize along with Lee Docteau of North Vietnam. But 59,000 people have died. Those are the official casualty figures for so called Indochina. Now, I think when we realize that, we begin to see that we have. We've entered into a period taken over the whole of history. We have entered into a period in which there is a very real, well, what you say, we can say a fulfillment of this war and rumor of war and much else along, that we're also told that there will be catastrophes. It's very interesting, if you look in Matthew 24, that it says there will be famines. I hope you've noticed that famines, we normally always associate this with food, but it could well just be another word for shortages. Just shortages of all kinds of basic and essential materials to the kind of society and life that we know well, maybe we're beginning to see that develop. We've been warned for some time by those who are so fearful of pollution that unless something was done about pollution, we would within another decade or two be facing really serious shortages. But of course, those prophetic voices, they weren't christian, they weren't children of God. But those prophetic voices raised up rather like balaam in one way in this world, have not really been heeded until it's almost too late. But these are signs that we have. We are told that there will be signs in moon and sun and stars. Another thing that we are told about, of course, is the Gog and Magog war in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Now here again, I don't think that we can be categoric or dogmatic. Many people have equated the gong and Magog war with Armageddon. Others have equated it with the final battle described in revelation, chapter 20, because it says there in verse seven and eight, when the after a thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And because of that reference to Gog and Magog, some Bible students have equated the war described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 with something happening at the end of the millennium. I think this is my own opinion in this matter, that gog and magog, every time you read Gog and Magog, you're not reading the same war gong and Magog is a name or a term used to describe a certain area of the earth. It was originally, of course, a place in central Turkey, but it came very early on in rabbinic literature to be a term used to describe the far north. The far north. And from then on, it became a term for, really a northern confederacy of armies. Now, in 38 39, Ezekiel 38 39, we have just that. All we know there is that at some time there will come down upon Israel a huge military confederacy from the far north, and its one great aim will be to destroy Israel, to wipe it out once and for all. Furthermore, if you read it carefully, it says, because the cities are unfenced and the boundaries the the cities are unfenced, and the land is secure and is at peace, we shall come down upon it and we'll wipe the whole thing out. This is just a description of the Gargomae gong war I'm giving you now from 38 39. When it gets to its worst point, God intervenes. Now, we're not quite sure about this intervention, whether it is a direct intervention of God in the sense that something comes out of heaven and destroys these armies on the mountains of Israel, or what could just as easily be so that one of their own weapons blows up in their face. For again and again in biblical history, God has finished off the enemies of Israel by simply causing their own weapons to be turned against them. For instance, you remember, Jehoshaphat, when three armies of a confederation of three nations turned against each other and slaughtered each other so that there was hardly anybody left. We have this again and again in the word of God. And it could just be that one of these ballistic intercontinental missiles fired off, which is homing in on Israel and about to wipe the whole place out, falls short by about 70 or 80 miles and instead completely destroys the army waiting to go in afterwards to occupy. Now, that could just be. I'm not saying it is. All we know is that there is a divine intervention. Furthermore, we have that very strange and rather sobering comment in Ezekiel 38 39, that fire will be cast upon the coastlands. Now, in your revised standard version, it says coastlands. In your authorized version, it says isles. And the word in Hebrew was the word given to the islands of the coast of Greece originally and then came to just mean all that vast, typical sort of primitive israeli style. It came just to mean in jewish insularity, all that world that lies beyond Israel, Greece, and the whole greek culture. Forgive me, those of you who are from Greece, Greece and the greek culture and everything that lies beyond them, in other words, the rest of the world. And therefore we have this very sobering comment that in this Gog and Magog war, evidently quite an area of the world is involved in the conflagration. Now there are many other things we could say in this connection, but suffice it to say that when this divine intervention takes place, the whole military might of the northern confederacy is finally destroyed on the mountains of Israel. And it clearly says that the whole world will see it as absolutely singular an act of God. Seven months they will take, burying the dead, so much so that they will have special squads of Israelis who will go through the area wherever they find a dead body or bones putting up a stick, and the others coming up behind will take the body and take it to a certain valley where all will be buried. Now that's the Gog and Magog war. We are also told that out of the Magog war, if you look at Ezekiel 39, verse 21, I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me and I hid my face from them. So I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell, all of them by the sword, according to their uncleanness, and according to their transgressions did I unto them, and I hid my face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel and I will be jealous for my holiness. And they shall bear their shame and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land, and none shall make them afraid when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies lands, and I am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them unto their own land, and I will leave none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them. For I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God. In other words, evidently this will result in the beginning of the spirit of supplication, grace being poured out upon the jewish people in other words, what we heard the last time about the conversion, the beginning of the conversion of the jewish people. Now, this is one of the things that we know is described in the end time. And out of this, evidently, much is going to happen. I have wondered whether the prophecy in Isaiah 19 will come to fulfillment where Syria, Egypt and Israel will be bonded together and made a blessing in the center. Well, I don't know, but maybe that's where that unfulfilled prophecy will finally come to its fulfillment. One other thing I'm quite sure, and that is that there will be a period of unparalleled gospel opportunity to the ends of the earth just because of the destruction and devastation. There will probably be a period where there will be multitudes in the valley of decision. And I believe again that this is one of the points where the final. There will be the final fulfillment of the prophet Joel's words about the pouring out of the spirit of God upon all flesh, because we are told that this conversion of the jewish people will be life from the dead, just as Pentecost was life from the dead. It was. It was resurrection, life of our Lord released by the Holy Spirit to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. So it would seem that at the end, there's going to be some complement to Pentecost, a new releasing of life from the dead, the risen life of our Lord Jesus, which is going to take the church through the last phase of its history. Well, I don't know. There again, we underline certain things. One other thing we can tell you with absolute certainty, a rather dark and somber fact, is that in the end time, the Antichrist will come. Now, about the Antichrist, there is a tremendous amount in scripture. He is based upon a certain gentleman called Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Now, Antiochus IV was a very remarkable man indeed. Daniel predicted that he would come to reign and that he would bind the whole of the eastern Mediterranean into a kind of pan hellenic empire. And this was the lifelong ambition and passion of Antiochus. He took the name Epiphanes because he believed that he was the manifestation of God, the outshining of God. And he, we always think of him, naturally, as a very dark gentleman indeed, not a very nice piece of work. But in actual fact, when you read the contemporary records about Antiochus Abivanis, he stands out as a most enlightened democratic reformer. And here I think we get some very, very interesting facts. You see, this man was given the freedom he was made, given the freedom of the city of Athens. They fell in love so much with him. He wasn't an Athenian, but they fell absolutely in love with him. Felt he was absolutely, you know, the cat's whiskers, he was. His one great aim was to bind the whole of the Mediterranean. In a kind of common market. With a unified economy, a unified language, one language and a unified culture. Now, his idea was that greek culture should, in fact, be the basis for this Unified culture. The greek language should be the language. Greek religion should be the basis of one religion. And of course, he believed in this one economy. His idea was to stop all the wars that came through. That were the consequence of economics. And by binding everyone together in this kind of common market, he thought we would rule out the possibility of partisan war and dissension. It's got a very modern ring, hasn't it? This man swept the whole of the eastern Mediterranean with his vision. And everyone fell into it. Already, most of the eastern Mediterranean and quite a bit of the western Mediterranean. Had been hellenized anyway. And were only too ready for this. There was one single people found everywhere in the whole of his domain. That appeared to him to be the one dark blot on an otherwise marvelous record. And that was the jewish people here. They were insular, independent, exclusive, superior. They refused to worship any other God but the living God. And he was invisible. They refused to have anything to do with the greek mythology. Or furthermore, they wouldn't really touch even greek culture. Now, many of the Jews in the dispersion spoke Greek. And were, to a certain extent, hellenized main core of the jews, the hebrews. As Paul said, I am a hebrew of the Hebrews. They, the Palestinian Jews, would have absolutely nothing to do with anything Greek or Hellenic at all. So much so that even our lord later on, our lord didn't like to go into Tiberius. Because Tiberius was basically a hellenized. He didn't like going there. As one of the reasons, probably, why our lord never went to Ashkelon. Was because he considered it to be a hellenized city. He felt he had come to the lost house of Israel. And this was an instinct deep within this PeOplE. The book was the all governing thing and the law and so on. And so Antiochus began his wooing of the Jewish people. Now, he got a long Way. He managed to get rid of a godly old man, Simon the righteous, who became the founder of the Pharisees. When they were really something. He deposed him, got rid of him. And put in his place a man whom he gave a greek name, JASON, and made him high priest. In his place. Now, this new man, this new high priest, this hellenized Jew dressed as a Greek and began to build a circus in Jerusalem right next to the temple for Greek games and everything, which were all in the nude, which absolutely in the nude, which horrified the people of God. And, well, there was an uprising. You know the whole story, I'm absolutely sure, and the whole land ran with blood. Seven years, Daniel prophesied it would happen. The first three and a half were all the different laws. You werent allowed to be circumcised anymore. You were not allowed to keep the Sabbath anymore. You werent allowed to do this, to do that. The idea was to push the whole people now out. You can understand Antiochus. He wanted to get this narrow minded, old fashioned people into breathing a new, more universal air, to get them, as it were, out into the hole. And when he found, after three and a half years, that the hard core of them wouldn't change, then he began his really strong arm methods, and the whole land ran with blood. Now it's this man who has become the arch type of Antichrist. And it doesn't matter where you look in scripture, you will find, of course, the people in the New Testament, they thought Nero was the Antichrist. And later on, of course, our own folks in this country and the Huguenots thought that Napoleon was the Antichrist because of his desire to bond the whole of Europe from Portugal to the Urals, from the Atlantic to the Urals in one great common market. Then, of course, later on, some of you who are really older in age will remember that many people thought that Mussolini was the Antichrist, especially when he was talking about having that colossus of himself carved out a rock and set up on the appian hills just outside Rome. And then, of course, Adolf Hitler. That was even more definite because certain rabbis found that in Hebrew, the name Hitler added up to 666. So, of course, many were quite sure, although it's a new Testament thing, there seemed to be some kind of identification in this matter. And then, of course, when Hitler had gone, it was Stalin who was thought to be the Antichrist. Now, this is not so unusual. It's not so strange, because every one of these men were petty Antichrists. They were not the Antichrist, but insofar as they were demonized, they have a common sort of color. There's something about them which is you can see in all of them, they all had big aims. They all had ideas of unifying great areas of the earth under one command. All we know is that in the end, the spirit of Antichrist, which is in the world and has been from the beginning, will finally be expressed in a human being who will be the Antichrist. And there are many other things we can say in connection with this. The Antichrist will not only be a person, there will also be a kind of religious aspect to him. There will be the false prophet that speaks like the dragon but looks like a lamb. And we've got the harlot who appears to be the bride with all the same materials, gold, precious stone and pearl. But it's only gilded. It's only skin deep. She rides upon the beast. Now, you've got all this in revelation 17 and 18. Revelation 13, revelation 17, revelation 18. But you see here, you've got the most incredible prediction of the events of the end time. And as these things really do come to pass, we shall be able, from the word of God, I am quite sure, to identify. For instance, we do know now, I think, I think most christians are one on this, that the capture of Jerusalem in June 1967 is the fulfillment of Luke 21 24. I think nearly all christians are agreed now upon that. At the time when there was tremendous international pressure upon Israel to make it an international city or to give it back to Jordan, people weren't so sure. But it's remained in jewish hands ever since, and I think it's likely to remain in jewish hands right to the very last battle. So now we have here some very interesting things. We have got matters which are outlined for us. Many of us believed that Jerusalem would come back under jewish sovereignty. It has come to pass. We couldn't be sure how it would happen or when it would happen, but when it happened, then we knew. And that's one of the surest ways in the matter of prophecy, because when that happened, then a whole lot of other things begin to become clear. You understand? We know from this scripture of Luke 21 24 that theres a change in the times. The times of the Gentiles have come to their end. There is the last period now spanning the short phase to the coming of the Lord. Its another time we have entered upon. Now, all this is very interesting, but it is really for our help. We know that there will be a great tribulation here. Of course, believers are divided because there are those who say that none of the believers will go into the great tribulation. By the grace and mercy of the Lord, they will all be preserved from it and raptured. As I said, that's called pre tribulation rapture. We shall all go up before there are those who believe, of course, we shall go right through the whole thing. And there are those who believe that we shall go through the first part of it and raptured before the worst part of it, of Jacob's trouble. Well, there we are. There is a prediction of events at the end. But there's something else that I think is also wonderful, which we should underline, and that is that in the midst of all this shaking and all these catastrophes and all these shortages, these wars and these rumors of wars, this gog and magog and whatever is constantly comes as a consequence of it, in the midst of all this, the bride makes herself ready. That is perhaps a point that's overlooked. People, a lot of us are like fly paper. Everything unpleasant sticks to us. All the dark things, the sort of flies and blue bottles get stuck upon us. I don't know. We have a kind of morbid interest. Even those of us who least like these things have still got a sneaking out of the corner of the eye morbid interest in this tribulation and what this is going to happen and that and the other. And they say, don't tell me. And yet, you know, I can't bear it. But go on. It's a kind of. Almost a disease. But the scripture doesn't give us all these dark events that we might be so down. It tells us that in the midst of this, some of the most glorious things of all in the purpose of God are going to be fulfilled. One of them is the conversion of the jewish people, and the other is the bride making herself wed. You know, that tremendous hallelujah that goes up in the beginning of revelation 19. After all these beasts and dragons and false prophets and harlots have paraded themselves around, suddenly there's a tremendous hallelujah that goes out. And the word is, the bride hath made herself ready. The marriage supper of the lamb is come, and the bride hath made herself ready. So isn't this an encouragement, especially for those who tell us that at the end it's all going to be so terrible that really there won't be anything at all left. And we have got to remember, the Lord did say, shall the love of the many will wax cold. And he did say, shall I find faith on the earth? But we must put over against that this marvellous thing the bride hath made herself ready. And that other wonderful word in Zechariah four, which symbolizes the whole thing. Who art thou, o great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain. And the top stone shall be brought forth with shouts of grace. Grace unto the only word people can utter when they see this final completion of the bride is grace. Grace. It's the grace of God that began the work, and it's the grace of God that has completed it. Well, I say that's a simply marvelous thing to look forward to. And I believe that there will be a rapture of the saints. And so I think that is the most marvelous prospect of all. Just when the enemy thinks he's finally, we should be gone. And to me, that's just a marvelous prospect. We may have to endure a night, a part of a night. There may be some tribulation for us to go through at the beginning of the throes and so on. But I believe there is a glorious prospect in front of us believers, and a great encouragement to walk with the Lord and to settle issues in our hearts that we may be ready for that day. For no man knows the hour or the day when the Lord will come. And he has given us the warning that two shall be in a bed together, one taken, one left, two shall be in a field together, one taken, one left, two shall be grinding, one taken, one is left. It's very interesting that that's all around the world and working and morning and the afternoon. Quite interesting, really, when you look at it. It's just a universal rapture of saints. Well, there we are. Now, finally, specifically, if there are these events of the end which are so lucidly predicted for us, the relevance of biblical prophecy in specific terms is also a matter of our readiness and preparation. Now, I cannot underline in closing this matter enough. You see, people get fascinated with prophetic systems. They get fascinated with the details of prophecy. They absolutely go overboard on the days in Daniel and the sort of three and a half year, one, one and two and a half, and all these things, and they plough into it and go into it and investigate it, and they go off at a tangent on this and, you know, and so on and so forth. But in the end, the main thing about biblical prophecy is that when it describes these things for us, it comes right back to the question of be ready. The whole thing is not simply that we might have a clear sequence of events. The whole thing is that we should be ready. We should be prepared and ready. These details have not been given to fascinate us, rather like fortune telling. I feel that some people treat prophecy like a kind of crystal ball. It's fascinating. You look into it and you see all these things for the future. Like fortune telling, almost palm reading, this, this and this and this will happen. And we think, oh, much better than my stars in the newspaper. And I feel we do great harm to the whole matter of biblical prophecy. For biblical prophecy was never given to us, just a fascinating us or to thrill us and enthrall us in an unhealthy manner. Biblical prophecy the relevance of biblical prophecy is that we might be ready for the events described, that we might not be caught out, we might be prepared, alert, watchful, ready. I cannot underline this enough. Certainly it's not being given that we might be divided over the details of prophecy. I sometimes wonder when I see the way believers are hopelessly divided. Wherever I go I hear of people who've been literally expelled from works, from companies, from assemblies because they don't see eye to eye on some minor detail of prophecy. Isn't it amazing? And when you really take the whole of the New Testament, just the New Testament, don't you think if the Lord wanted to settle this matter once and for all, all he had to do was to say, now, to clear up all these problems, I will give you the sequence of events. 123-45-6789 and ten. This is how it will happen. Now this is the kind of bunch of keys by which you can unlock all the prophecies. But the Lord doesn't do that. We have here something and there something and there something enough for us to be able quite clearly when the time comes to know that this is being fulfilled, but not enough to make us independent of God. As if we've got the whole thing and say, now I know it all. It's only enough to make us dependent upon God. And that is the wonder of biblical prophecy. You see, I find that biblical prophecy makes me absolutely like a little child dependent upon the Lord. I say, well now I think maybe this, maybe that, but I can't be sure. For the more I know, the less I know. And all I can say is, Lord, I'll trust you. I'll go with you like a child. I'll trust you because you'll make it clear as we go along. Now I feel this is very important. If you will just take your Bible. Let me give you three little scriptures. One John three, one John three, verse two and three. Beloved, now are we children of God and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him even as he is. And everyone that hath this, this hope set on him purifieth himself even as he is pure. If biblical prophecy had that effect upon the believer, what a tremendous thing it would be for the church. Instead of all haggling over details of prophecy and dissension and division, faction as a result of it, and superiority rigidity. Instead of that, we were made pure by this blessed hope of the appearing of our great God and saviour, Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing it would be. It says here, everyone that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself even as he is pure. Is that the effect of biblical prophecy on you, that it purifies you? There is a right place, you know, for trembling over the coming of the Lord. Some people seem to feel that there should be no matter, no question of fear at all in this matter. But it does say in scripture, let the sinners in Zion tremble. I mean, if we're not right with God, our knees should smite each other until we do get right with God, this hope should purify us. Then again, if you turn to Titus and chapter two, Titus, chapter two, and verse ten and eleven, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our savior in all things. For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men. I'm sorry, it's twelve and 13. Instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works. Now here again, we've got a marvellous thing. It says that we, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope. So it has again the same effect. One Thessalonians chapter five, verse eleven, has the same thought. Wherefore exhort one another and build each other up, even as also ye do. Here is the effect of this coming of the Lord. We should build one another up. Now, the Lord has revealed these things that we might be. And here are just seven things that I have listed down. You can just pop them down if you want to. First of all, here is the relevance of biblical prophecy in specific terms in this matter. He has revealed these things that we be watchful and alert take Luke 21 36. Luke 21 36. Watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of man. Watch. If you turn to Matthew 24, you have exactly the same thing. Matthew 24, verse 42. Watch, therefore, for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. Or again in verse, chapter 25, verse 13. Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour. Now, what does it mean to watch? The word just means to keep awake. Be awake, be alert. Be awake. The trouble with so many of us, I know it may have a practical and literal application at this point. The gathering, the problem with most of us is to keep awake. Now, when a person can't keep awake, no matter what they do, they can't take in because they are doing their best to, but they just can't. You're just asleep. And spiritually, thousands of christians are asleep. They sort of wake up every now and again. A Billy Graham comes, and then and then someone else comes and they wake up, and they're all wonderful. It's a kind of they can't keep away. They're heavy. They're heavy. They just can't keep alive and awake. Now, we must understand that if the Lord says watch, he means that there's all the possibility of going to sleep. And I must say that since I've been moving around in these past months, I have never seen so many christians asleep, not literally in the meeting, but spiritually asleep, just asleep. We thought you were waking up. Well, I don't know. It's absolutely true. This word be watchful, be awake. Adelaide. Now the second thing. Be prepared and ready. Here you've got it again in Matthew 24 44. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in an hour that ye think not the son of man cometh. Be ready. This is more than just being watchful. To keep awake is so that you can see what's happening and you can detect what's happening. You get an understanding of the times in which you live. You understand what the will of the Lord is for you. Now, be ready is to be equipped to be ready for whatever you may be called upon to do, to be ready for the coming of the Lord, and ready for any task before that. It's very interesting in the parables, isn't it, of the Lord that he gave in this matter? In Matthew 24 25, they had all to do with being ready. Heres a man whos got a job of feeding the other servants in the house. Thats what it means for him to be ready. The Lord didnt want him to be a daydreamer, sitting in the attic looking out of an open window, waiting for the Lord to come. His job was to get on with the job of feeding all the other servants. That was what it meant for him to be ready. And there was the other man, the three who were given talents. One buried it and sat there waiting for his master to come back. He was the one that got kicked out. The other two went and gave it to a bank and got some interest on the talents they'd been given, and they were commended. Now, I think this is quite interesting, because it just simply means that being ready doesn't just mean that spiritually, you know, you're a spiritual know all, and then you sit there saying, im ready. Ive got a completely cast iron system of prophecy, and now, of course, Im ready. Thats not being ready. Being ready is that youre spiritually prepared and ready for the Lord. And I believe it can also mean material things, too. As weve talked about, there are going to come times in these years when we shall be given understanding of what to do on the material level. And there are a number of indications in these things as to what we can do at that time. Therefore, we must take note of all this. A third thing is the relevance of biblical prophecy is that we might become stable and immovable. Have you noticed that wonderful word in one corinthians 15 and verse 58 after that tremendous chapter upon the resurrection of the body and how we're going to go up to be with the Lord and how we'll all be there, the living and those who preceded us through death, we shall all be caught up together to be with the Lord. And this is a tremendous chapter, absolutely tremendous. And then the apostle Paul says, wherefore be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour in the Lord is not vain. Now, I find that very wonderful, because again, the apostle Paul comes right down to, he says, I don't know. I don't want to hear what you know. What I want to know is, are you unshakeable? Are you immovable? Because this whole matter of the resurrection of the body is a matter of being immovable. Well, quite honestly, if in the end you're going to be raised up, what can they do to you in the end? If not a hair of your head is going to perish? Well, you've already got final victory. They can take your body, they can do these things to you, but in the end, the victory is the Lord's. Therefore, don't worry whether you die before the Lord comes or whether you live to see the coming of the Lord. You can be immovable, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. I find that a tremendous thing. I believe biblical prophecy never was meant to panic us. I hear in certain quarters that some people are panicking when they hear these things getting fearful, just going round the bend on things. Well, I suppose one can understand it if we've lived in a fool's paradise for years, and then suddenly we begin to are these things about to happen? We start to, there's all the danger of a panic. But the Lord never gave us these things that we might panic. He gave these things that we might be calm, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. It finds us out, you know, these things, people that you would think to be absolutely marvellous, shaped like leaves. More than that, they look like a tree. In a Gael false denial blowing about. Paul and I would come back from Scotland, we saw a huge oak tree, all much bigger than this room, that had been lifted right out of the hedge and carried into the center of the field and dumped. We must be immovable, absolutely immovable. Now, another thing is, the fourth thing is that we should not only be saved, but filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. I think thats what it means. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. A person cant always abound in the work of the Lord unless youre filled with the spirit. Have you found that out? You can stick at it with teeth gritted, but you cannot always abound in the work of the Lord till youre truly filled with the spirit. Then theres an overflow, theres a cup that runneth over, theres a bough that goes over the wall. Blessed someone on the other side. Some christians can just about stick it and they keep their head well, their nose just above water. But to really always abound in the work of the Lord, youve got to be filled with the spirit. And then your bow goes over the wall and theres something for others. And thats another marvelous thing. And I hope youve noticed, and taken in the parable of the ten virgins, you will notice that these ten ladies were not just sort of distant folks in the wedding. They had some responsible relationship to the bridegroom. That's the first thing. The second thing is much more than quite contrary to the normal idea. Five of them had, all ten of them had oil in their lamps. The idea, the general idea, is that five didn't have oil in their lamps. This is absolutely untrue. If you look at it carefully, it says, when the cry came, the bridegroom comes, five said, give us oil in our lamps for our lamps are going out. Now. I find that a very, very sobering thing. That meant they not only had lamps, they not only had a relationship to the bridegroom, but they had oil in their lamps as well. Well, what's it all about? It's about resources. Not enough just to be a light for the Lord. Youve got to have resources. And this is the whole point of biblical prophecy to let us know. Listen carefully. You will not go through these things unless you have boundless resources. You must be linked up to boundless and infinite resources of divine energy and power. If you have that, you'll be all right. Now, isn't that just what it means when the Lord said, don't bother when they haul you up in front of magistrates and kings and judges because the Holy Spirit will give you what you shall say when you had an experience of the Holy Spirit? When that moment comes, you may quail, you may fear, but when the moment comes, you'll have grace. People all getting fearful about all these things. I'd never be able to do it. I couldn't be a martyr. Of course you couldn't be a martyr. We all know it. I couldn't be a martyr. But if I'm called upon to be a martyr, by the grace of God alone, I shall become one. And I'm sure you will if we're called upon because its grace ministered to you at the time. Dont try and think of such a time as if now with what you know now. Remember, if youll only walk with the Lord and youll only have a real experience of the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit, when that time comes, grace sufficient, youll go through like a bomb. And then fifthly, you will build biblical prophecies that we may build one another up in our most holy faith. You notice that one Thessalonians 511 and Matthew 24 45. It says, without this servant, he was caring for the others. I mentioned this already, so I don't think I will say any more here in this connection. Sixthly, would you notice the command of our Lord? Now here is a practical command of our Lord. Luke 21 28. When these things begin to come to pass, look up, lift up your heads, because your redemption too often eye, when we look down, we get fearful. The command is look up. I'm quite sure that if we will obey this simple command the Lord will meet us. And I think if we will remember this again and again and again, every time the devil comes at us with fear or dances before our eyes, dreadful apparitions to do with the future. Deliberately look up, lift up your heads. Your redemption, dwarf knight. And notice that the Lord describes all this as your redemption. I think that's just wonderful. I've sought wherever I've spoken in recent months at the end just to mention this, that the Lord says all this. He doesn't call it darkness, night, the beast, this and that and the other. He says, your redemption, dwarf nigh. You see, it's where what we look at has all the difference on us. I think it's absolutely marvelous thing to think that our redemption draweth nigh. And here you have the relevance of biblical prophecy. You can look on the dark side, you can look on the bright side. Some people will say Gog and may gog. Oh, other baby people say, praise the Lord. It's going to be the most marvelous and glorious prospect, this thing. Some people look at the Antichrist coming and other people say, thank God, one day the Lord's going to breathe on him and he's going to shrivel up. Some people look at Babylon and say, oh. Other people say, thank God is going to go up in smoke. But the new Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven having the glory of God. It's where you look. Look up. Look up. Lift up your head. Have you ever noticed that when people fear, they look down. Look up. Lift up your head. Your redemption dwarf nigh. I think we'll finish now. Lord, we do commit this whole matter into thy hands. We are sure that in the years that lie ahead we will need, Lord, to know more and more in our own life, our way, both corporal and personal. We are going to need to know this relevance of prophecy. And Lord, we want to praise thee for giving us thy word and for all that it can mean to us, dear Lord, as thy children to receive from thee such direction and such understanding concerning the days in which we live. Father, above everything else, we pray that these things we have finally talked about may be the experience of every one of us and of us as thy people together, Lord, make us truly to be these things we pray not only immovable and watchful and alert, but those, Lord, who are getting on with the job and building one another up in our Lord Jesus. Father, we commit ourselves now to thee. Wilt thou translate all this into flesh and blood? By thy spirit we pray and we give thee all the thanks and the worship in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.