Introduction to GOD’S TIMETABLE

 

I have preached what is written in this book in a series of messages called “God’s Timetable”.  I have no desire to set a date that the Lord will return.  No one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man cometh.  The Lord does not speak in generalities, but was specific in saying the DAY or HOUR.  The Bible is full of events that make it plain that we can know the approximate time of His coming.  “…when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”  Matthew 24:33.

Isaiah 46: 10,   Declaring the end from the beginning…”  This verse does not say that He knew the end from the beginning, but that He had declared the end from the beginning.  Certainly God knows everything from beginning to end, and therefore can declare it if He sees fit.

In the BEGINNING God created the heaven and the earth; He created the earth and all things therein.  He started with the FIRST DAY and ended with the SEVENTH DAY.  Then He started all over again.  Why did He stop at the seventh day?  Why did He not stop at eight or ten days, etc.?  Because “SEVEN” is the number of completion.

I believe that the Lord, in the seven days of creation, is declaring the way that He will do all His work, and then rest from all His work, which He has made.  Psalms 90:3-4 tells us that a thousand years in God’s sight are but as yesterday, etc.  II Peter 3: 8, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.”  So both the Old Testament and the New Testament declare the same truth of how the Lord looks at one day when it is past, or one thousand years, when it has passed. 

That being so, I will try to show that the seven days of creation represent seven thousand years, and that the scriptures bear this out.  If you do not agree, that is fine.  The Lord is coming soon, and the things written in this book will make you realize that we are living in the very last time, before His coming.  The Lord is not dealing in millions of years, but in thousands, which I will prove by the Bible.

I believe that I will prove that those things that had to happen and are happening, are the very things that the Lord warns us about before His coming.  So, if this book makes you aware of the coming of the Lord, and that is very near, I have accomplished my purpose.

 

 

Matthew 24:44-46

Alfred M. Gormley, Pastor

Bryan Station Baptist Church

3175 Briar Hill Road

Lexington, KY 40516

 

Table of Contents

Chapter I   AN APPOINTED TIME                           Page….   4

Chapter II   THE BEGINNING AND END OF TIME    ..... 11                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

                A.            The First Day of Creation              Page…. 12

                B.            The Second Day of Creation        Page…. 13

                C.            The Third Day of Creation            Page…. 16

                D.            The Fourth Day of Creation         Page…. 17

                E.             The Fifth Day of Creation              Page…. 23

                F.             The Sixth Day of Creation             Page…. 23

                G.            The Seventh Day God Rested       Page… 27

                H.            One Eternal Day                              Page…. 29

Chapter III   GOD’S WORK WITH MAN               Page…. 32

Chapter IV   ALL SCRIPTURE IS PROFITABLE  Page…. 35

                A.            The Flood                                       Page…. 37

                B.            From Noah to Abraham                 Page…. 38

                C.            From Abraham to Jesus Christ     Page…. 42

Chapter V   PROPHESY CONCERNING THE JEWS ……45

                 A.            God Turns to the Gentiles            Page…. 58

                B.            Return to the Jews                          Page…. 62

Chapter VI   SIGNS OF THE TIMES            Page…. 63

                A.            Standing for Truth                        Page…. 67

                B.            We Ought Always to Pray            Page…. 73

                C.            Perilous Times                                 Page…. 74

                D.            The Days of Noah                          Page…. 76

                E.             The Days of Lot                            Page…. 77

                F.             The Rapture and the Antichrist    Page…. 79

                G.            The Great Tribulation                     Page…. 87

                H.            The Blessed Hope and the Day of Christ…….93

I.                     The Day of the Antichrist             Page…. 95

J.             Shadows of Things to Come        Page…. 98

Chapter VII   CONCLUSION                                       Page…100

Dates of Importance                       Page…102

Publications                                   Page…103

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOD'S TIMETABLE

 

By:  Al Gormley

 

Alfred Gormley, pastor of Bryan Station Baptist Church, Lexington, Kentucky, preached the following:

 

            This message is concerning the second coming of the Lord.  I am going to show you through the scriptures that the Lord could come at any time.  I believe it is very close.  We are living in the last days.  When the Lord comes, the earth as we know it today, will be finished.  We need to get our minds on the coming of the Lord, listen to what the Bible says and pray.

            James 5:7-8, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts:  for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”

            Hebrews 10:35-37, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”  The word tarry means to delay.  Christ has a certain time to come and He will return at that time. 

            John 14:2-3, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”

            In speaking of the time Jesus ascended back to glory, Acts 1:11, “…Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”  There are many passages that tell us the Lord is coming back; it is an established fact that He will return.  The Bible says no man knows the day nor the hour.  I am not setting dates, but I will prove to you with the Scriptures that He could come at any time.

 

Chapter I - An Appointed Time

            Matthew 24:3, “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?”  This is talking about the destruction of the temple.  “And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”  Verse 27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  He will appear in the air; then will be the consummation of the age, and the great tribulation period.  The sun will be darkened; the Lord will come with His angels and gather His elect who have been saved during the tribulation period.  The three things that the disciples ask Jesus are: (1) When will the destruction of the temple be?  (2) What is the sign of Thy coming?  (3) What is the sign of the consummation of the age?

            Matthew 24:32-37, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”  Notice that no man knows the day or the hour; but He is saying we can know the time.  Verse 37 “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

            When Noah was on this earth, did he know the approximate time?  Did Noah know there was going to be a flood?  Genesis 6:3, “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”  The Lord invited him into the ark, and after seven days the rains came.  Yes, he knew the approximate time.

            As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be.  Did Lot know that Sodom would be destroyed?  He tried to get his people out.  Genesis 19:14 “…Up, get you out of this place: for the LORD will destroy this city…” 

             We are told in Matthew 24:40, “…one shall be taken, and the other left.”  That will occur in the rapture.  Verse 44, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”  In such an hour, the Bible does not say year or month, it says hour.  Verse 45, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household…”  That is why I am, as pastor, trying to lead the church and reveal the things of God, “to give them meat in due season?”  In proper time, that is what due season means.  I am to reveal the second coming of the Lord in the proper time.  Verses 46-47 “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.”  Noah knew when that day came; Lot knew when that day came.

            Can we know?  I have heard preachers say that the day of the Lord is going to come as a thief in the night, that we cannot know.  They have not correctly interpreted the scriptures.  I Thessalonians 5:1-6, “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.  For when they shall say, [lost people are the ones who are going to be caught as thieves in the night]  Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, [lost people] as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”  They shall not escape the coming of the Lord and the tribulation.  “But ye, brethren, [saved people] are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.  Ye are all the children of light, [God has given us an understanding] and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”  The Bible does not say that Christ’s return will catch God's people as a thief in the night.  He will catch lost people as a thief in the night, unprepared.  But ye, brethren, are not of the night; ye are children of the day.

            My purpose is not to set dates for Christ‘s return.  No man knows the day or the hour, but the Bible tells us we can know the approximate time.  The coming of the Lord is very close.  It could be in the next few years, it could be at any time, and it could be today.  We are living in the very last days.  I am 75 years old; I believe that if I live a few  more years, I will never have to die.

            God is not running this world by chance; He has a plan.  He works all things according to the purpose of His will.  Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, (singular) and there is none else; I am God, (plural noun) and there is none like me.”  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.  Verse 10, “Declaring the end from the beginning…”  He did not say I know the end from the beginning, but He said I am declaring the end from the beginning.

            God uses His word when speaking to Israel.  Isaiah 48:3-5, “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.”  As we study God's timetable, we will see that He is working in a period of time.

            Acts 15:18, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”  He did not say I have known them, Isaiah 46 says, I have declared them from the beginning.  If He knows them, He can certainly declare them.

            Ephesians 1:11, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” He not only knows all of it, but He is working all things after the counsel of His own will.  He has not only purposed and planned, but the scripture says He has a definite time for things to happen.  He has declared the end from the beginning.

            We will use several illustrations to show that God is working with a timetable.  Let’s look at the birth of Jesus Christ.  Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed…”  He declared the Savior would be born of the seed of a woman. 

            When would Jesus Christ be born?  Could He come at any time?  No, God had a time for Him to come.  Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”  He came when the fullness of time was come.

            The Bible also tells us that there shall be an antichrist that shall come, and he shall rule the world.  II Thessalonians 2:4-6, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.”  What withholds the antichrist is the Holy Spirit working with His people.  And when His people are taken out, immediately the antichrist shall reveal himself.  God is working with a timetable.

            Genesis 17:21, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, [not with Ishmael who was born of Hagar] which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”  God told Abraham and Sarah that Isaac would be born at a set time in the next year, and he would not be born until God was ready.  Galatians 4:28, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”  Each one of God's children shall be “born again” at a set time.

            This eliminates “easy believe-ism,” where a person can be lead to the Lord in five minutes.  Men will never get people saved until God performs the new birth in their hearts.  Our business is to sow the seed, and it is God's business to save. 

            Jesus Christ began His personal ministry:  Mark l:14-15, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”  The time is fulfilled.

            Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:2, “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”  We do not live a long life because of good health; it is all in God's plan.  When God takes our breath, we die.  Job 7:l, “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?”  Hebrews 9:27 answers that.  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die…”  That is an appointed time.  Acts 17:31, God “…hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness…”  By what?  “That man whom he hath ordained;” verse 25, “…he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things:”

            Things do not happen by chance, God is working with them.  We cannot know the day or the hour; but, by looking at God's appointment book, we can get very close to the time of the coming of the Lord.

            Acts l7:24-26, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.”  The word “determined” in the original Greek language means, “to mark out.”  He has marked it out; He has “determined the times,”--the “times” in this passage in the Greek means “fixed times.”  God has marked out fixed times “before appointed.”  In the Greek this simply means “to arrange” or “appointed before hand.”  He has marked out fixed times and hath appointed them before hand, “the bounds of their habitation.”  God has a plan and a purpose, and He is working according to a fixed time. 

            God has a timetable; He is working in His time.  He existed before time was, He shall cut off time and exist for evermore.  He will come and He will not delay His coming.  He had a time for this world to begin; He has a time to end.

 

Chapter II – The Beginning and End of Time

            It is not hard for us to find the beginning of time.  Genesis l:l,  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  In our study of God's timetable, this is where we shall begin. 

            Scientists say that the world is millions of years old.  The Discovery channel on television continually has stories about the earth being millions of years old.  God declares through the scripture that this world, as we know it today, is less than six thousand years old.  Romans 3:4 “…let God be true, but every man a liar…”

            If you go to an airport and look on the board of any airlines, you will find the schedule of planes arrival and departure times.  Sometimes they arrive late and sometimes they depart late.  But in God's timetable, everything happens exactly on time.  There is no delay in arrival and there is no delay in departure.  When Jesus Christ came, He came in the fullness of time.  When the antichrist comes, he will come at the appointed time, God’s appointed time.  There will be no delay.  God hath declared the end from the beginning. 

            When God created, He had a timetable.  He began on the first day and ended on the seventh day.  After His work was done, He started over again, one through seven.  Cain and Abel came at the appointed time.  In the fullness of time, they began to worship.  Genesis 4:3-4, “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof…”

            Our weeks are seven days long.  Did you ever ask yourself why our week does not keep on going:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10...?  Did you ever ask yourself why we have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. and then start over again?  Why does it not keep going?  Why is it not a ten-day week?  Why is it not a four-day week?  The reason we have a seven-day week is because God planned it, started it, and is going to finish it.  God has a timetable and even our weeks declare it. 

 

The First Day of Creation

            Let us study the seven days of creation.  God hath declared the end from the beginning.  Here is the account of the first day.  Genesis 1:1-3, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  And God said, Let there be light…”  God created light. There was no sun, no moon, no stars, and yet there was light.  He created light and then He, verse 4 “…divided the light from the darkness.”  Did you ever wonder why we have a day and a night?  It is because God divided the light from the darkness.  No wonder Psalms 19:2, says, “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.”  Genesis 1:5, “And God called the light Day…”  We say it is getting light outside; it is time to get out of bed.  Who named the light?  God called the light, day; “…and the darkness he called Night…”  When we use the words “day” or “night,” [i.e., “I have to work the night shift.”], just remember the word ‘night’ was given to us by God.  Genesis 1:5b “…And the evening and the morning were the first day.”  This is why the Jews begin their day at 6:00 p.m. and end it at 6:00 a.m.-- because the evening and the morning were the first day.  The scriptures did not say “the morning and the evening” as we do today, but “…the evening and the morning were the first day.”

 

The Second Day of Creation

            Verse 6, “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,” The firmament is the blue that we see in the sky, that expanse.  “...and let it divide the waters from the waters.”  When God placed the firmament there, He was declaring the end from the beginning.  He said the firmament shall divide the waters from the waters.  Verse 7, “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament:…”       

            In Genesis chapter 7, God destroyed the earth by water, approximately in the year 1656.  Genesis 7:11, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day…  [He put that down on a timetable] were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”  What happened?  God had already divided the waters from the waters.  He held them in the heavens until the time when He would destroy the earth and man because of their sins.  When the fullness of time was come, God said, “I am going to destroy all living flesh with the waters that I put above the firmament.”  God put the waters above the firmament; and, at the time of the flood, He opened the windows of heaven and it all came down and destroyed the earth.  He has declared the end from the beginning, just as He declared that the earth would be destroyed by water.

            The Bible is very plain--the next time the earth shall be destroyed by fire.  Colossians 1:16-17, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”  The word “consist” means they are held together.  He holds all things together.

            II Peter 3:4b, 5, 7, 10, “…all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water…But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men…  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”  

            God is going to destroy this earth by fire.  The atmosphere is made of atoms...millions of atoms.  What is the biggest explosive we have had in the last few years outside of the hydrogen bomb?  It is the atomic bomb--it ended World War II.  How is an atomic bomb made?  The atoms are split.  This whole earth and atmospheric heaven is made up of nothing but atoms.  God holds those atoms by the word of His power.  He holds it all together.  When God is finished with this earth and is ready for it to be destroyed by fire, He will split the atoms, causing one huge atomic explosion.  The earth shall disintegrate and shall melt with fervent heat.  He has declared the end from the beginning.  The earth is just waiting for that to happen.  God upholds all things by the word of His power, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment of ungodly men.  He destroyed it by water the first time--He had it all planned.  He is going to destroy it by fire--He has that planned also.  Known unto God are all His works.

            The Bible talks about the “times” of the Gentiles.  He is going to depart from the Jews.  Hosea 6:2, “After two days He will revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (two days represent 2,000 years).  The Bible says the “times” (plural) of the Gentiles.  Time = one year; times = two years.  The word “times” = 2,000 years.  The Gentiles will be here approximately 2,000 years and then God will go back to the Jews.  In these last days, God hath spoken to us in His Son.

 

The Third Day of Creation

            Now we will look at the third day of creation.  Genesis 1:9-10, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place…”  Notice that He is very particular.  He said “waters under the heaven.”  He didn't say all the waters above the firmament, but under the heaven, be gathered together unto one place.  He left the waters above the firmament for the purpose which He intended in the flood.  “…Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  And God called the dry land Earth….”  God named this planet, not man.  Anytime you hear the word “earth,” remember that God gave the name, before man was created.  Adam named the animals; but God gave this earth its name.  He also named the water.  “…and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas.”  We say “we sailed the high seas,”--just remember when we hear the word “seas,” God is the one that named them.  “and God saw that it was good.”

            Verses 11-13, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass…”  God is still working.  For six thousand years, God has been working with people, to redeem His people.  And when He is through with His work it will be finished.  The six days are the work of creation.  The six thousand years are the work of redemption.  God is taking a people out of a people for Himself.  “…Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.  And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:  and God saw that it was good.  And the evening and the morning were the third day.” 

 

 

 

The Fourth Day of Creation

             “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament…”  God has again declared the end from the beginning.  Verse 14, “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, [notice the purpose] to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” The sun, the moon, and the stars were made to divide the day from the night.  They were set in the firmament.  Sometimes we miss this little word “signs,” “Let them be for signs…”  That was the first purpose that God gave to the sun, the moon, and the stars.  They shall be for signs; and, then He says they shall be “…for seasons and for days…”  We know about the seasons, we know about the days, we know about the years; but what about the “signs”?

            We find one of those “signs” in Exodus 31:13, “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: [talking about the seventh day] for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”  Verse 17, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”  It is a sign between God and the children of Israel. 

            Could it be that when God finishes His six thousand years of working with His people that He is going to stop and look upon His people, and be refreshed for one thousand years?  He will take glory in that which He has created.  For one thousand years, He will be refreshed over the people that He has redeemed.  It is a “sign.”  The Bible says it is for the children of Israel forever.  In the New Testament, Sunday is the first day of the week, and is a sign for all of His people.  One of these days we are going to praise Him through eternity, one eternal day.

            Genesis 1:15-16, “And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.  And God made two great lights; [the sun and the moon] the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:  he made the stars also.”  

            The sun and moon came into existence on the fourth day.  Jesus Christ appeared after four thousand years and we beheld His glory.  Matthew 4:16 “The people which sat in darkness saw great light...  John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world…”  He was in heavenly places, but came to this earth to give light.  He came from heaven and fulfilled his earthly purpose, then went back into heaven. 

            John l:l, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Verses 4-5, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”  Jesus Christ was light in the Old Testament but people of the world could not comprehend the truth of God, then the true light was manifest.  Jesus Christ revealed himself as God in the flesh and the world still could not comprehend Him.        

            Everything you can say about the sun can be said about Jesus Christ.  The sun is the center of all the planets; Jesus Christ is the head of all things.  The sun gives light; Jesus is the light of the world.  The sun gives life; it is Jesus Christ who gives life.  We could go on... but the sun is a type of Jesus Christ.  Yes, there was light, but God had not made himself visible.  God manifested himself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

            In the Old Testament the Jewish nation had the oracles of God, the sacrifices, but they could not comprehend the truth of Jesus Christ.  John 1:11, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”  John 1:9, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”  Jesus Christ was that true light, the light of the world.  He is God manifested in the flesh, that He came into this world to save sinners and many still cannot see.

            Jesus Christ, being rejected by the Jews, built His New Testament church.  The New Testament church is for the purpose of manifesting His light upon a world that is in darkness.  Ephesians 3:2l, “Unto him be glory in the church...”  That is why the moon was placed in the heavens on the fourth day.  It is a figure and type of the Lord's New Testament church, which sees the Son when the world cannot and reflects the light of the Son back down onto the earth.  That is our purpose today.  Matthew 5:14,Ye are the light of the world...”

            He sent His Holy Spirit to empower the church.  Matthew 28:20, “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”  The Holy Spirit is going to be with Christ’s kind of church until this age comes to a close.  I Corinthians 3:9,For we are labourers together with God…”  He is still working, isn't He?  We are laborers together with God:  Ye are God's husbandry…” a cultivation of the soil.  God is using His New Testament church to do His work.

           Jesus said, John 9:5, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” but when I leave, Matthew 5:14, “ye are the light to the world…”  Christ ascended to glory and, now the Bible tells us, He cannot be seen by the world, just like the sun when it goes down.  Every time the sun sets, the world cannot see it, except as it is reflected by the moon.  When men landed on the light side of the moon, they could see the sun when the world could not.  When you are saved by the grace of God, you too can see the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, when the world cannot.

            Incidentally, the fourth day of creation is when the moon was placed in the heavens also.  The moon is a type of the Lord's New Testament church.  The Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world and made God visible to man.  While you have light, walk in the light, but then Jesus departed.  Just as God left the moon in the heavens to give light when the sun goes down, He left the church to give light unto the world in His absence.  The moon can see the sun when we cannot see it.  Those who have been saved by the grace of God can see the Son, Jesus Christ when the world cannot see Him, because we are in heavenly places.

It is interesting to hear the New Testament writers speak of the time since Jesus Christ, as the last days.            

We find that four thousand years have passed, that is four days of God's timetable of seven. Jesus Christ rejected the Jews, turned to Jew and Gentile, built His church, empowered His church, came to dwell with His church and He has been with His church ever since.

            Spiritually speaking, to be a member of the Lord's New Testament Church, we are set in heavenly places.  The Bible says “let your light shine.”  Where is it to shine?  It is to shine on the earth.  The Lord’s church is not of the world, even as Christ is not of this world.  As God set the sun in the firmament to give light upon the earth to divide the day from the night; even so, God's New Testament church should have a division between those people who are lost and those who are saved.  What was the greater light for?  It was to divide the light from the darkness and to give light upon the earth.  Luke 12:51-53,Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?  I tell you, Nay; but rather division:  For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.  The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.”  Jesus Christ come to this earth to divide the light from the darkness.

            God's children are children of light.  I Thessalonians 5:5,Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”  Christ came to cause division, to seek and to save; He is working.  Saved people are the children of light and lost people are children of darkness.  Just as the Lord set the sun, moon, and stars in heavenly places to give light upon the earth, even so, Jesus Christ came into this world to be the light of the world.

            He declared that I am going to build my church, and she shall give light upon this earth.  He declared also that there are going to be some stars that are not members of His New Testament Church.  They are those saved people of denominational churches.  I believe every star is representation of people who are in the Kingdom of God.  He is still working.

 

The Fifth Day of Creation

            Genesis l:20-21, “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind…”  These species produce after their kind.  The teaching of the process of evolution is of the devil.  Scientists have absolutely no evidence to prove this teaching.  God was working.  Verse 23, “And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”

 

The Sixth Day of Creation

            Verse 24, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”  Did you ever see a horse cross breed with a cow?  No, because God said “after his kind.”  If you want rabbits you must have two rabbits mate, if you want giraffes, you must have giraffes.  You cannot mix the two together.  You must have two of a kind.  No wonder God told Noah to take two of a kind, male and female, because no animal will cross breed.  No animal is going to produce anything that is not after its own kind.  That is why the Bible says creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things after his kind.  Verse 25 And God saw that it was good.”  

            Like always produce like, i.e., apples produce apples. There has never been anything that has overstepped this boundary.  Oranges still bear oranges, men bear men, and fruit trees have fruit after their kind.  Now they can graft something in, but they cannot change it.  Evolutionists teach that man started from a microscopic sea creature and evolved into a man.  Scientists have not found one thing that has produced something else.  Like always produces like.  And even so in the birth of Jesus Christ--when the Holy Spirit produces, He produces that which is like Him, the Son of God.  And when He performs the new birth, we become like Him inwardly, because like always produces like.  There is no cross whatsoever between the things that God has created. 

               I am trying to prove to you that this earth and mankind has existed for less than six thousand years.  God hath declared the end from the beginning.  I am showing you all these things that have happened, because it disproves the scientist’s theory of evolution.  God dealt two thousand years with all people, then two thousand years with the Jews.  Now He has been dealing with the Lord's New Testament church almost two thousand years.  That is why the sun and the moon came into existence on the fourth day, because that is when light appeared.  There was light in the Old Testament, but it appeared in the person of Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist revealed the true light.  John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

            Jesus promised His New Testament church that He would send the Holy Spirit.  John 16:7-8, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”  The Comforter is the Holy Spirit.  “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:” He, the Holy Spirit, does that through His people.  We have no power to convict anyone of anything unless the Holy Spirit works through us.  John l5:5, “…without me, ye can do nothing.”  John 16:9-11, “Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”  The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to indwell His church.  Immediately when He came, the people of God began to be the light of the world and began to reprove, or convict the Jews, and the Jews were saved.  Since that time the Holy Spirit has worked through His people, convicting the world of sin.  That is what light does.  Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world…”

            John 1:8-9, Talking about John the Baptist, “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”  Talking about Jesus Christ, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”  Yes, there was light in the Old Testament.  The light of the glory of God was in the sacrifices; it was in the lamb that was slain.  There was light but God made visible the true light, Jesus Christ.  He was the light of the Old Testament, which was not visible, but God made Him visible when He came into the world.  The glory of God was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ.

            Now here is a general account of the creation of man.  Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us,” that is the plurality of God, God the Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.  A plural noun in the Hebrew means three.  Singular is one, dual is two, and plural is three.  So “let us make man in our image…” therefore, one God and three persons of the Godhead.

            Verses 26-29, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  [Replenish simply means to fill to fill the earth].  And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” 

            Adam was a vegetarian.  Before the flood, all mankind was vegetarian.  He did not have the right to kill an animal to eat.  It was after the flood that God gave man permission to eat the animals.  Verse 31b, “…And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”  This completes the six days that God worked in creation.  I believe this represents the six thousand years of God’s timetable.  God hath declared the end from the beginning.

 

The Seventh Day God Rested

            This was before the seventh day came into being.  Genesis 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”  He is not going to do any work on the seventh day.

            It is the same way with God’s work of redemption.  When God saves all the people that He has determined to save, it will be finished.  I don't believe there will be anyone saved during the thousand-year reign.  It will be finished.  There will be people saved during the tribulation period, but not during the thousand-year reign, because He is going to cease from His work.  We are going to be with Christ, He is going to be blessed in the work He has created, and we are going to give Him glory.  God will have completed all of His work in six days.  That is God's timetable. 

            Exodus 20:ll, “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:  wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”  Verse 10 “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God:  in it thou shalt not do any work…”  There are seven literal days, six in which He created and the seventh was for Himself.  Genesis 2:2, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

            After God created, He immediately began to work with man.  Adam and Eve failed when they sinned in the Garden of Eden; but God saved them, I believe, and from that point He began to save His people.  For six thousand years, He has been working to take out a people for Himself.  The whole Bible is a story of redemption.  God is saving some people, whom He shall enjoy, and be refreshed in one day, not only for one thousand years, which is a sign to Israel, but for eternity.

            When seven thousand years are complete there will not be any more time.  God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, or set it apart.  Just as He rested from all His work of creation, He will rest from His work of redemption.  Each one of God's children is a new creation.  God has been making new creatures by His grace for almost six thousand years.  When He saves the last person that He has elected, He is going to be refreshed from that which He has created.  The Bible says He looked upon it all and said it is very good.  Verse 3, “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it…”  It was a day set aside to remember His completed work of creation.  He was refreshed and rested. 

            It could be true that the seventh day is a type of the one thousand year reign.  The Bible did not say the evening and the morning were the seventh day, because that seventh day, the glory of the Lord will be here upon this earth for one thousand years.  There will be no more time after the seventh day, or after the seven thousand years, only eternity.

            When we go through a week, Sunday through Saturday, we start over again counting from one through seven days, then we go back again the same way.  We are going to count time in that manner until Christ comes.  Then the scripture tells us that He is going to be refreshed and enjoy the works of His hands.  When Christ returns and the one thousand years end, completing the seventh day, there will be no more weeks, there will be no more Sundays, there will be only the first day and it shall be eternal.

            Proverbs 4:l8, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”  What is the perfect day?  One that does not end, that has no evening, and no darkness.  There will be eternal glory with our Lord.  That is what the first day of the week typifies.  What we shall do through eternity is what we should be doing today; coming into God's house, worshipping Him and giving Him the glory that is due to His name.  God finished His seventh day and began to work with man.  He has declared the end from the beginning.  Time is simply that which God is working with.

 

One Eternal Day

            It started in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God…”  He sat down His timetable one through seven.  God is following this timetable in seven days, which we call a week, over and over again.  One day the week will end, and we will have one eternal day.  Time will no longer be.  We are currently living in time.  God is doing His work with man and is still using a timetable.  It is the same as He started with, six days to work, one to rest.

            There is a difference in God's timetable that He is working with man.  The Bible teaches us that one day is as a thousand years.  Psalm 90:3-4, “Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past…”  A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past.  One day is equal to one thousand years.

            II Peter chapter 3 is all in the context of the second coming of the Lord.  Verses 7-8, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment.”  Notice, "the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  God hath declared the end from the beginning.  One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  Everything that God has told us would take place before His coming is taking place right now, before our eyes.

            When you see these things, the fig tree has already gotten her leaves, the time of His coming is right upon us.  God set forth His timetable when He used the seven days of creation.  One day is equal to a thousand years.  When those six days of God’s working with man are complete, those last thousand years will be a day hallowed unto the Lord.  He shall rule and reign for one thousand years, as Revelation 20:1-10 says, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

            These verses give an account of what shall happen after the seven years of tribulation, and reveal Jesus reigning for one thousand years.  Then after the seventh day, or one thousand year reign in verse 6, chapter 21 reveals a new heaven and new earth and one eternal day.  Revelation 21:23-27, “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

             Revelation 2l: 3-5, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new...”  Verse 1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…”

            That is exactly what Peter said; the first heaven and first earth are passed away.  So when six thousand years are ended, His work will be finished.  When His work is completed, He will come back.  After He punishes the Jews, during the tribulation period, He will pour out His wrath upon the peoples of this earth for their sins.  He is going to come back, to take control with the rod of iron, and He has written on His vesture, King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  He is going to reign for one thousand years, and this time will be hallowed unto the Lord and His timetable will be complete.  You do not read in the Bible of any time counted after the thousand year reign; just one eternal day.

            Anyone who has studied the Bible in detail knows that the number seven is used to signify fullness or completeness.  It is used four hundred, thirty-seven times in the Bible, always as fullness or completeness.  Genesis 2:2, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”  When He finished the seventh day, He started all over again.  There are seven seals in Revelation, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven spirits, seven churches, seven days in a week, seven notes in the music scale, seven days Noah was in the ark before the flood, seven days in which the priest were consecrated, seven times the children of Israel went around Jericho, there are seven branches on a candlestick.  We could go through the Bible and have hundreds of examples.  Each time the number seven is used it signifies fullness or completeness.  God is telling us this in His timetable.

 

Chapter III – God’s Work With Man

            God is working with man for His own glory, and it is all for Him. God did not create this world for us to just have a good time.  Colossians 1:16, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” When God saves His people, they are created by Him, and for Him, and He will enjoy them one day. He is before all things and by Him all things consist and are held together.  Romans 11:36, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.  Amen.”  No wonder, if you are saved by the grace of God, you are of Him and through Him.  You were created to give Him glory.  Therefore; to Him be glory for ever and ever.  Proverbs 16:4, “The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”

            Since creation, God has been working with man.  After He created man, immediately He began His work with him.  Here is a summary of the truths that can be proven through the scriptures.  One day equals one thousand years in God's timetable.  For two thousand years God worked with all men.  They became corrupt and were destroyed in B.C. 1656 by the flood.  The earth was populated again.  They all spoke one language, but when they tried to build a tower to heaven, God confounded their language.  God turned to one man, Abraham, and made a great nation out of Him.  For two thousand years, from Genesis chapter 12 through the Old Testament, God dealt with the nation of Israel, the Jews.  It was approximately two thousand years from the birth of Abraham until the birth of Jesus Christ.  In the New Testament, the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ; He then turned to the Gentiles.  He has been working with the Gentiles almost two thousand years, or two days.  On the fourth day the moon was revealed, the Lord chose to give light upon the earth, witness to the world and spread the gospel through His church.  God has been doing this for almost two thousand years.  He is going to come back, to rule and reign for a thousand years, and be with His people, in the work of redemption that He has done.  I'm not giving you the day or the hour, but I'm trying to show you the time.              

            Did you ever stop to think why we have time counted as A.D. and B.C?  A.D. is after the year of our Lord and B.C. is before Christ’s birth.  We have had approximately two thousand years since Christ was born.  In God’s timetable, He can soon say, “I have finished my work.”  The thousand years is going to be separated unto the Lord.  The Bible says Christ is going to sit over the twelve tribes of Israel, to be judge over them.  Israel is a sign. He is going to bless that day and set up His reign for a thousand years.  When that thousand years has ended, the evening and the morning were the seventh day, no.....there won't be any evening and morning, just eternity.  His work will be done.  It will be complete.

            God made Adam and Eve.  Then He began to work with man.  He worked, He rested, and then He went to work.  Look at your life.  Each one of us has tried to work for salvation.  Christ came and finished the work.  When we trust Him, we quit trying to work for salvation, and rest in His finished work.  After we rest in His finished work, then we go to work for His glory.  We cannot work for salvation, but we can trust in the finished work of Christ.

            He told Israel, on the Sabbath day, ye shall do no work.  Why should they not do any work?  By His example, He worked six days and rested on the seventh.  As in creation, God is going to work for six thousand years and then quit His work and be refreshed.  So Israel was supposed to work six days, which is in figure and type, then stop one day and be refreshed.  Israel did not keep His Sabbaths and they were carried away into captivity, but one day they will keep it.  The thousand-year reign will be kept.  For one thousand years God will enjoy the works of His hands through eternity.

 

Chapter IV – All Scripture Profitable

                 Have you ever wondered why the Lord put all those dates of men's births and deaths in the Bible?  So and so begat so and so.... he died and he begat so and so and he died, etc.  I used to read the Bible and skip over all the dates.  I wondered why God put those things in the Bible and spent so much time with them.  II Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine...”  Those dates are profitable.

            Genesis 5:5, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”  Verse 3,  “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:” Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when Seth was born.  Verse 6, “And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:” Verse 9, “And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: Verse 12, “And Cainan lived seventy years and begat Mahalaleel:” Verse 15, “And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:” Verse l8, "And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and begat Enoch.  Verse 21, “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:” Verse 25, “And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:” Verse 28, "And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:” Verse 29, “And he called his name Noah…”

            Genesis 7:11, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Noah was six hundred years old.  If you add all these figures, from Adam down to Noah and the time of the flood, it totals 1,656 years.  Not millions as some would have you believe.  Here are some facts: first of all, the word of God is true; Romans 3:4, “…let God be true, but every man a liar…”  From Adam to the birth of Noah was 1,056 years.  Since Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came, from Adam until the flood was 1,656 years.  From Adam to the birth of Lamech was 874 years.  Since Adam lived to be 930 years old, Lamech, Noah's father, lived 56 years while Adam was alive.  Lamech was fifty-six years old when Adam died.  Noah could have gotten his knowledge of creation secondhand from his father Lamech who could have talked with Adam.  Does that sound like millions of years, or does that sound like a little over a day and a half?

            Lamech could have taken Noah upon his knee and from the time he was born, he could have taught him about creation, which he could have learned from Adam.  This is a time span of just three generations, Adam, Lamech, and Noah.  Does that sound like millions or does that sound like God is working in thousands, or hundreds of years?  Then I ask you, why did God see fit to record all of this?  Remember, all scripture is profitable for doctrine.  These dates are for a purpose.  They disprove evolution.  Evolutionist deal with millions of years, God says thousands.  Get your mind off millions now and get it on thousands.  God's timetable declares the end from the beginning:  seven days, seven thousand years.  For 1656 years God worked with the whole human race, they became corrupt.

 

The Flood

            Genesis 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  Verses, 12-13,  “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt;” after 1656 years "for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

            Two days, two thousand years, have not passed, and the whole earth had corrupted his ways.  Genesis 6:7, “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”  There was no one to leave God's message with.  II Peter 2:5, Noah was “…a preacher of righteousness…”  Noah knew very close to the time the Lord would destroy this earth.  Genesis 6:3, “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”  He preached and people would not pay attention to him.  I am preaching to you and you will not pay attention.  Hebrews 11:7, “…Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world…”  Our works ought to condemn the world, as we look forward to the coming of the Lord.  We ought to be working for Him rather than for ourselves.  Mankind lasted only 1656 years, less than two days and God destroyed them all.  Only eight souls were saved, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Noah and their wives.  They believed God, went into the ark and were saved.  Matthew 24:37   "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  Noah knew what was going on.

            I Thessalonians 5:5, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  We need to know what is going on, that is what Christ said; blessed is that servant that gives His people meat in the proper time.

 

From Noah to Abraham

            I am trying to prove to you from the scriptures that this earth is not millions of years old, but it is less than six thousand years old.  God picks up the timetable after the flood.  Genesis 9:28, “And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.”  Genesis ll:l0, “These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:” Verse 12, “And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:” Verse 14, "And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:” Verse 16, “And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:” Verse 18, “And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:” Verse 20, "And Rue lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:”  Verse 22, “And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:” Verse 24, “And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:” Terah was Abraham's father.  Verse 26, “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.Verse 32, “And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years…”  Genesis 12:4, “So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.”

            By studying these figures, it was 1878 years from creation to the birth of Terah, Abraham's father, who was seventy years old when Abram was born. That makes the birth of Abraham, in the year 1948.  From Adam to Noah's birth was 1,056 years.  Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came.  Genesis 9:28-29,And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years…and he died.  So Noah died in the year 2006.  This world is less than six thousand years old.  When Noah died, a third of the time had already elapsed.  I am trying to show you that this earth is not millions of years old but thousands: therefore Noah died fifty-eight years after Abram was born.  It was two hundred and ninety two years from the flood to the birth of Abraham; not millions.  In these few years after the flood, the earth was populated again.  It only took a few years for people to corrupt themselves again.  This is why God turned to Abraham to build a nation.

            Genesis 11:1, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.  This was after the flood of which only eight people were saved.  The whole earth was of one language and one speech.

            Verse 2, “And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.”  Babylon is in the land of Shinar.  Verses 3-4, “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly.  And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.  And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

            They did not want to be scattered.  They were of one language and of one speech.  We want to be as one.  Is not that what is happening today?  This world is being brought back together.  The religions of this world want to be one.  They do not take a firm stand for anything so no one will be offended.  They do not want to be scattered anymore.

            Verses 5-7, “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.  And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.”  Verse 9, “Therefore is the name of it called Babel;” the word Babylon means confusion, “because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

            I have given all these scriptures to prove it only took three hundred, fifty-two years for the people to corrupt themselves again, not millions.  They were scattered, and God began to deal with the Jews, beginning with Abram.  For two thousand years God dealt with the Jews, they rejected Him and He scattered them.  If you want to know why people speak different languages upon the earth, it is recorded in Verse 9.  God confounded the language of all the earth.  That is exactly what is happening today.  People want a United World, like the United States.  They want to speak one language and have one world religion.  They are doing the same thing today that was done in Babylon.  It had been two thousand years since creation.  God destroyed man because of sin in the days of the flood.  Three hundred, fifty-two years after the flood, man again began to exalt himself.  Two days of God's timetable are over, two thousand years have passed.  God had been working with all men; He then turned to Abram.

            Adam lived fifty-six years with Lamech, Noah's father.  Noah's son Shem lived ninety-three years with Lamech.  Shem, Noah's son lived one hundred fifty years with Isaac.  Isaac was Abraham's son.  Therefore Isaac could have talked to Shem, Noah's son, who could have talked to Lamech, Noah's father, who could have talked with Adam.  Adam was created, could have talked with Lamech, Lamech to Shem, and Shem to Isaac.  The story of God’s creation could have been passed down by four generations who had lived 2,158 years.  This is not millions of years, but just a little over two thousand.  At that time, God ceased to work with all men and turned to Abram, to make a nation.

            Genesis 12:1-4, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:” This was the beginning of the Jewish nation.  “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.  So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; And Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.  It was the year 2,083 when Abram departed from Haran.

 

The Time From Abraham to Jesus Christ

            Genesis 21:5, "And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.”  Genesis 17:17, “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old?  and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?”  Genesis 25:20, “And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife…”  Isaac begat Jacob and Esau.  Jacob had twelve sons, who grew into a great nation in Egypt.

            Exodus 12:40, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.  From the time of Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob and his twelve sons, was four hundred, thirty years.  We have the story of Joseph preserving them.  Moses was raised up to deliver them out of Egypt.  God has a continual counting of years.  It is important to study.  Israel grew into a great nation, Moses delivered them, and they went into Canaan.

            From Genesis, chapter 12, until the last book of the Old Testament, which is Malachi, God has recorded His work with the children of Israel.  From the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus Christ is very close to two thousand years.

            God dealt with Israel for two thousand years. They rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, and were scattered upon the face of the whole earth.  Hosea records the story of the children of Israel after they were scattered.  Hosea 3:4-5, “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return [after they were scattered at the time of Jesus Christ] and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; [Jesus] and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.”  God chose Israel, and they rejected Him.  He scattered them.  The prophecy is that they shall return to the Lord.  As we read, they are going to be scattered and are going to abide many days, without a king as a nation, and they have.  Chapter 6 gives us their end.  Verse l-2, “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”

            If you still think the age of this earth can be measured in millions of years, look in Matthew, chapter l.  God gives us all the genealogy starting from Abraham.  Matthew l:17, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”  Does that sound like millions of years to you?  God started with Abraham and recorded all the people in whom they were begat, until the days of Jesus Christ, approximately two thousand years.  From Abraham to David, a period of nine hundred, seventy-six years, one generation was approximately seventy years.  From David to Babylon, a generation was thirty years; from Babylon to Christ a generation was forty-one years.  If you add these figures together, and divide that number by three, you will find that a generation averages forty-seven and one-third years.  The Bible says when you see these things come to pass, lift up your head, for this generation shall not pass.

            From Abraham to Jesus Christ was two thousand years, God scattered the Jews, then they abode many days without a king, and after two days He will revive them. It has been about two thousand years and God is again with the Jews.  They are back in their own land and all God has to do is breath on them and they will live, as Ezekiel said.  God is turning back to Israel and they are returning just exactly as He said they would, in one day, at the close of six thousand years.  It shall be in the latter days.

 

 

Chapter V – Prophecy Concerning The Jews

             Here is proof that the prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the Jews returning is taking place, after a period of about two thousand years. We will deal only with the Jewish people and the prophecy that they will return, when they will return, and how it is happening today.  The last two thousand years is almost over.

            You will find recorded in Jeremiah from two thousand, six hundred years ago the prophecy of the return of the Jews.  Jeremiah 31:17, “And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”  Notice...  “in thine end.”  There is the latter end, when they will return again to their own border.  Verse 31,Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:” It will not be just Judah, it will be a covenant with Israel and Judah.

            Verses 32-36, “Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.  Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.”

            When you see the sun, moon, and stars, it is still a sign that God has His hand on Israel. He said if those ordinances depart from me, then Israel shall cease from being a nation before me forever.  We can see from these scriptures that God is going to return to the nation of Israel, although they were scattered in the days of Jesus Christ.

            Isaiah 14:1-2,For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land [notice that] and the strangers shall be joined with them, [that is exactly where they are today] and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.  And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were…”  

            Jeremiah 30:3, “For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, [not just Judah, but Israel and Judah] saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, [that is Palestine] and they shall possess it.  They are there now.  When is God saying they will possess it?  Verses 4-5,  “And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.”  They are headed for real trouble.  Verse 7, “Alas!  for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.  Verse 11b, “…but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” God is going to punish the Jews.

            Verse 24, “The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.  Chapter 31:8-10, “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth.”  Remember this was recorded two thousand, six hundred years ago.  “and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.  They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.  Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.”  God scattered Israel, and He is going to gather Israel.  We have lived to see this.

            Jeremiah 32:37-41, “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, [that is where they are] and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”

            Chapter 33:7,And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.”  Amos 9:13-15, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.  And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.  And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land, which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”  That is where they are and that is where they are going to stay.             

            Ezekiel 11:17, “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”  Ezekiel 20:34, "And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.”  Verses 41-42, “I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.  And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.”  There we have the prophecy that He will bring the Jews back to Palestine. That is what has happened.

            Ezekiel 28:25, “Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.”  The Jews are going to dwell in the land that God gave to Jacob.  Verse 26, “And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them: and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.”  They are going to possess the land that God has given unto them, and will fight anyone who tries to take it from them.

            Ezekiel 34:13, “And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.”  Ezekiel 36:24, “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean...”  They have not been saved yet, God is still bringing them back into their own land.

            Verse 28, “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”  Ezekiel 37:21, “And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:” Verse 24, “And David my servant shall be king over them...”  God is bringing them back and they are going to live.  Our Lord is going to come and He is going to reign upon the throne of His father David.  That time is almost here.

            Chapter 38:14-16, “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog,” Gog is Russia.  “Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, In order for this to come true, Israel has to be back in her own land.  “shalt thou not know it?  Russia does not know that Israel is dwelling safely, that God is with them.  “And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts…,” Russia is directly north of Jerusalem…thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army.  And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land…”  This scripture tells us that Russia will invade Israel.  Russia had to become a powerful nation, and Israel had to be back in her own land.  We are in the latter days.  “…it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”

            Ezekiel 38:8, “After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

            The Jews always gloried in the fact that God delivered them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and brought them to Caanan to the land of Promise.  But here is a prophecy: Jeremiah 16:14-15,  “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”  Today that scripture has been fulfilled.  God has brought them back to their own land.  The day will come that it will not be said they brought them out of Egypt but God hath delivered them out of the land of the north, that is Russia, the lands into which He had driven them.  They had been scattered for over nineteen hundred years. God brought them back in 1948, and they again became a nation, and have their own land.  Based on the fulfillment of these scriptures, we know that it is the latter days.

            I have proven to you that it was prophesied of the Jews return to their own land two thousand, six hundred years before it happened.  This has taken place right in our lifetime, in 1948.  The Bible says that Israel’s coming back to their own land shall be in the latter days.  I kept an article out of a magazine.  It tells about the six-day war in 1967; this is how Newsweek magazine described it: “The world marveled at Israel's terrible Swift Sword in the six-day war of 1967.  For the third time in two decades the ancient lands of the Middle East echoed with the crack of bombing attacks, the rumble of armored columns and the keening cry of battle between Jew and Arab.  In six amazing days the war was over, and when the guns fell silent, victor and vanquished alike were quick to realize that what had been wrought was a political and geographic upheaval of enormous consequence.

            In the west, troops of the victorious Army stood on the banks of the Suez Canal.  In the east, the Jordanian bulge was eliminated and in Syria, Israeli armor was at the gates of Damascus.  In the south, Israeli paratroopers had taken the fortress of Sharm el Shiekh [the Egyptians had abounded it] commanding the Strait of Tiran, and the southern sea route to Israel was open for the first time since Egypt imposed its naval blockade two weeks earlier.

            The Arab route was complete.  Though Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian troops had fought and died bravely in a score of nameless desert battles, neither they nor their leaders had proved anywhere a match for the brilliant planning and execution of the Israeli attack - nor for the studiedly implacable ferocity with which it was carried out.”  (The above quoted from Newsweek, June 19, 1967.)

            In l948 after World War II, Israel became a nation.  Was that by accident?  Oh no!  God said after two days, I will start gathering my people back.  Israel had her own land, but she did not have Jerusalem.  In l968 when Israel was again attacked, she acquired a lot more land, just as God said she would, but still she did not occupy Jerusalem.  When they attacked Israel again on one of their religious days, when the dust cleared, Israel had claimed Jerusalem.  They went from not being a nation at all, to possessing Jerusalem.  God certainly had His hand on Israel through all this time.  He said Israel shall be inhabited, even in Jerusalem.  The Arabs attacked again, trying to drive back the Jews.  Israel, that little nation, just whipped the dickens out of them.  God said, if I be for you, who can be against you? 

No one knows the day or the hour, but we know Christ’s return is very close.  The prophecy in the scripture tells us that Israel is going to be a nation, and that is where she is, even in Jerusalem.

            God chose Israel.  Deuteronomy 7:6-8, "For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers…”  

            God promised to bless them.  Verse 9-15, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.  Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye harken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.  And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.”

            God promised to bless Israel if they would do as He said.  Deuteronomy 8:1-2, “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.”

            Notice the warning Chapter 8:l9-20, “And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.  As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

            Chapter 28:63-66, “And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.  And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people.”  Remember He scattered all people after the flood and this is a warning to the Jews.  “And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.  And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life.  Israel was scattered in 70 A.D., just exactly as God had warned.

            Going back into history, Joshua led the children of Israel to conquer the land of Canaan thirty years.  They settled then into a period of judges.  As Paul preached in Acts 13:17-20, “The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.  And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness,” This refers to Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness.  “And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he [Joshua] divided their land to them by lot.  And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.”  

            When Israel demanded a king, Saul was elected.  He reigned forty years, until he was put out of the kingdom because of disobedience.  David took his place, and reigned forty years.  After the death of David, Solomon reigned forty years.  The reign of Solomon began about 982 BC.  The reign of David was about one thousand years before our Lord.

            The time between Abraham and David includes the Judges, the wandering in the wilderness; the sojourning in Israel was about one thousand years.  At Solomon’s death Rehoboam, his son, put too much pressure upon Israel and the nation split into the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom.  The ten northern tribes had wicked kings, not one was good.  In 722 BC the king of Syria carried the ten northern tribes into captivity.  They have not been brought back since that time.  Judah, the southern tribe, remained from 722 BC to 606 BC until Nebuchadnezzar, because of their sins, carried them into captivity for seventy years.  After seventy years, under Ezra and Zerubbabel, the people came back, and the temple was rebuilt.  Again they rebelled against the Lord, and God sent His prophets to warn them.  Malachi was the last prophet in the Old Testament, who warned them of the love of the Lord.  Malachi 1:2, “I have loved you, saith the LORD…”  But in spite of his warnings, they rejected Him.            Romans, chapter 11, tells us how the Jews are rejected and how the Gentiles are grafted in.  Verses 11-12, “I say then, Have they, [Jews] stumbled that they should fall?  God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.  Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”  This means the Jews are going to be brought back again.  Verse 15, “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world…”  Does this mean that the whole world is going to be reconciled?  No, it means that the Gentiles are going to be.  “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, [He is speaking of turning to the Gentiles now.]  what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”  God is going to receive the Jews back.

            Verse 20, “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith.  Be not highminded, but fear:” Verse 22, “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness…”  God cut the Jews off and extended His goodness to the Gentiles, “…if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”  The Bible tells us the Lord is not going to come again unless there be a falling away.  Verse 23, “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”  He cut them off; He is going to graft them in again.  Verse 24, “For if thou, [Gentiles] wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?”  God is going back to the Jews.

 

God Turns To The Gentiles 

Verse 25-26, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.  And so all Israel shall be saved…”  God is not finished with the Jews.  We are in the times of the Gentiles now, times (plural) representing I believe the last two thousand years and then God will go back to His chosen people, the Jews.  He is going to punish them for their sin, in the tribulation period, and when He comes all the way to the earth, they are going to look upon Him who they have pierced and they are going to be saved.

            Ephesians 1:10, “…in the dispensation of the fulness of times…”  When the fulness of times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.  Time equals one thousand years, times equals two thousand years; in the times of the Gentiles when they are fulfilled, God will again go back to the Jews.  God has been dealing with Gentiles almost two thousand years and that is the times of the Gentiles, then He will go back to the Jews.  Hebrews 1:2 “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”  These are the last days, the last two thousand years.  There are some Baptist preachers who are preaching that God is through with the Jews.  That is what the Bible means when it says, “that servant says the Lord delayeth His coming.  In a little while, He shall come.”  God describes the days we are now living in as a little while.

            Revelation l:l,  “…Things which must shortly come to pass;…”  Revelation 22:6, “…things which must shortly be done.”  Hebrews l0:37, “For yet a little while, he that shall come will come...”  He said just a little while, just a couple of days.  II Peter 3:8, “…one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

             There is a falling away.  Before the Jews were scattered, they turned away from the Lord.  Before God does away with the system of His church, many will depart from the faith.  If you believe the majority of the Lord's churches are standing for the truth, you are mistaken.  There are still a few who are faithful to the whole council of God, but few are still preaching as they once did.  Most Baptist churches, especially Southern Baptist churches, no longer mention the doctrines of grace, depravity, limited atonement and security of the believers.  The majority of today’s churchgoers will not stay where doctrine is taught.  All Baptist churches preached those truths a few years ago.  In the last fifty years, a lot of churches have departed from the old paths.  In the latter days, some shall depart from the faith.  He did not say all...some shall depart from the faith.

            From Malachi until the birth of Jesus Christ there was about four hundred years of silence. During this time Daniel's prophecy was taking place.  Nebuchadnezzar had the dream of the image of the beast.  The head was of gold, which symbolized Babylon, the chest and the arms were of silver, which symbolized the Meades and the Persians, the belly and thighs were Alexander the Great.  These nations all ruled followed by the great and terrible nation of Rome.  The Roman Empire was in power at the time when Jesus Christ was born into this world.  That was the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had.  In Daniel’s interpretation of that dream in Daniel chapters 2 and 3, he told that at the time of Jesus Christ the Roman Empire would be in power.  By studying all these figures, we find that it was approximately two thousand years from Abraham to the birth of Jesus Christ.

            If you get your calculator and figure up Daniel's seventy weeks, in Daniel, chapter 9, from the time that Darius issued the degree to go back to Jerusalem until the day of the Messiah, figures out to the day.  Then if you will figure the time since Christ’s birth, you will find the last two thousand years of God’s timetable.  The figures I came up with, are within a few years.  If you will look at all these dates, you will find that Christ’s return is close upon us.  We can see the approximate time; from creation to Jesus Christ is four thousand- years.

            Remember the six days of God's timetable.  Hebrews 1:1-2, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”  I want you to notice the words in these last days.  These are the last days.  Four days have passed, only two remain.  Joel 2:28-31, “And it shall come to pass afterward, [notice the word afterward] that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; [Pentecost] and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.  And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.”

            The New Testament interprets this. In Acts 2, the apostle Peter used this verse to tell the people what was happening on the day of Pentecost.  When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost he said, verses 15-20, “For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days,” notice that, in the last days.  Joel said afterward, Peter interprets it, “in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh:”

            He is saying the Holy Spirit was poured out and the sun and the moon shall be darkened, all in the last days.  In other words, at the beginning of the last two thousand years, God is going to pour out His spirit upon all flesh, but in that same two thousand years He is going to cause the sun to be darkened and the moon shall not give her light.  Both of these things are going to take place in the last days.  

 

Return To The Jews             

            That is why Peter included both of them, when he said this is in the last days.  Why didn't he stop with the Spirit being spread forth?  Why did he go on, when he was talking about the last days?  I tell you why he didn't stop, because in the last two thousand years the Lord has dealt with His church.  The church is going to reject Him, as they have today.  The Lord's churches are no longer standing for the truth as they once did.  After two days they are going to be rejected and the Lord is going to again go back to dealing with the Jews.  There had to be a falling away, a departing from the faith before God would turn back to the Jews.

            I Peter 1:5, talking about God's people.  “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (singular).  If you have studied the Bible, you know that the book of Daniel talks about time (one year), times (plural - two years), and half times (one half year): or three and one half years.  Revelation uses that same measurement; time, times, and half time.  But the Bible says He shall be ready to be revealed in the last time.  That is when God’s elect shall see Him face to face, when he appears in the clouds.

 

Chapter VI – Signs of the Time

We used to drive to Detroit every year.  When we traveled from Lexington to Cincinnati, we did not see any signs saying Detroit.  When we went from Cincinnati to Dayton, there were no signs that read Detroit.  When we went from Dayton to Toledo, we did not see any Detroit signs.  But after we had driven to outside of Toledo, we would see signs saying Detroit, fifty miles.  The purpose of those signs was to make us realize that we were nearing Detroit, that Detroit would be the next city.  The Lord has also placed some signs on the road to eternity. We need to examine them, as they tell us that we are nearing His coming.

Psalm 74:9, “We see not our signs:…”  Did you ever drive down the road and miss your sign?  You drove too far and missed the turn you were to take.  I have gotten interested in something else and missed the correct turn.  “We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.”  God has told His preachers to bring forth this information in due season.  Verse 10, “O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?  shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?”  No, he shall not, for God is king and is coming.  Others may not see these signs, but it is my responsibility, as a pastor, to reveal to you that we are close to the coming of our Lord.

            I Peter 1:20, talking about Jesus Christ who shed His blood for us.  “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”  He came as a son, on the fourth day.

            Jude 18-19, “How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.”  Surely you can see that today the world is filled with people who have sensual, fleshly lust, who do not have the Spirit, who walk after their own ungodly lust, mockers.  Does the world not mock the truth?  They mock eternal security, depravity, particular redemption; they mock all these truths exactly as God said they would.

These are the signs the Lord has placed along the road, showing us the time is close.  Daniel 12:4, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”  Two things that are said will happen at the time of the end: (1) many shall run to and fro, (2) knowledge shall be increased.

            I have a set of 1893 Britannica Encyclopedias that I bought at an auction years ago.  I have searched these books and cannot find an automobile or an airplane.  I cannot find them in the encyclopedias because they didn't exist at that time.  For over one thousand, nine hundred years this world did not have automobiles or airplanes.  In the Standard International Encyclopedia I found recorded that in 1895, the world's first automobile was made.  It had four wheels and looked like a kitty cart.  The first sea-going motor ship was a tanker launched in 1913.  For over one thousand, nine hundred years ships were powered with sails and oars.  Then all at once, knowledge began to increase.  The Queen Mary is now dry docked at Long Beach, California, and we also see the U.S.S. United States, the fastest ship afloat, retired in Norfolk.  It traveled across the Atlantic in three days and five hours.  If you turned the U.S.S. United States up end for end, it is almost as tall as the Empire State Building.  Yet the Queen Mary and the U.S.S. United States have both been retired, because they are no longer efficient.  Knowledge has increased so much, the Navy can no longer use these ships, because they are obsolete.  Years ago, it took nine days for me to cross the ocean on a ship, now they can get across the ocean in a Concord jet in less than three hours.  It can go over 1,500 mph; knowledge shall be increased.

This did not happen the first 1900 years after Christ.  My mother-in-law was born in 1900.  Since her birth, the automobile has come into existence; the Model T in l920; airplanes; jets have been invented; the space shuttle which can travel 17,000 mph; man has landed and walked upon the moon; we have nuclear weapons; the atomic bomb; and the hydrogen bomb which can destroy anything in its path.  Just think, over two hundred years ago they were shooting arrows.  Television has come into existence, in order for the entire world to see the two witnesses, when they tell Jerusalem about the Lord.  God said the whole world would look upon them when they are killed during the tribulation.  That was not possible until now.  Knowledge has increased and every household has one or more televisions.  Computers, which have changed our whole society, have been invented.  The technology of the computer now controls our utilities, hospitals, businesses and most things in our daily lives.  We have more knowledge today, more scientists than ever before exist upon the face of the earth.  Why did it happen?  I am showing you that God is doing His work in six days.  The Bible says that at the time of the end, knowledge shall be increased.  Is it any wonder then, why all of our educators are putting the emphasis on higher education?  Do you know why?  Because God said knowledge had to be increased.  

Daniel also said, many shall run to and fro....  If you go out, and look up into the sky, you will see jet streaks going to and fro.  In fact, there are so many planes in the sky that they must have radar to assure they do not crash into each other.  Men are going to and fro.  Traffic is at an all time high in our cities, and on our interstate highways because men are going to and fro.  There is traffic everywhere, going and coming.  In 1900 there were no automobiles, only horses and buggies.  Then the automobiles came; we would pull off the road and let them pass by.  Ask yourself this question, why did we not have automobiles for 1900 years?  People were just as smart in 1900.  Why did they not have the ability and the technology to build these things?  I will tell you why.  God's eternal plan was, in the last days, knowledge shall be increased and men shall go to and fro.  Do you see this sign?  It is telling us that the coming of the Lord is very close.

            Here is another sign.  Remember we are almost at the end of that sixth day; the seventh will be hallowed unto the Lord.  The Holy Spirit is speaking in I Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times…” this phrase means near to the end, “…some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;” This scripture is talking about the system of teaching and doctrine, not that personal faith in Christ.  Jude 3, “…that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  The faith is God’s system of teaching and doctrine that was given to His kind of church.  The Bible says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, that is apostasy, going away from the truth.

 

Standing For Truth

            The Lord's churches have lived and died for the teaching of the King James Bible.  The Trail of Blood gives the account of the early believers of the first nineteen hundred years.  They were so conscious and concerned about the truth that they were willing to die for it.  Now, since about l940, Baptists are departing from the truth.  Look at your own life as an individual member of a Baptist church.  Are you willing to have your blood shed for the truth?  Most Baptist today are not even willing to attend the house of God to hear the truth.  You cannot live for Christ, if you are not concerned enough to worship Him in spirit and in truth.  You are departing from the faith.  Those of you, who put worldly things before the Lord, are the ones who are departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.  Baptist churches need to stand for the truth.  Baptists have departed from the faith.

            Many from the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville deny the virgin birth, and the eternal security of the believer.  Baptist churches today no longer stand for the ordinance of true baptism.  They are accepting alien baptism.  The Lord's Supper is open to everyone and some churches even use crackers, milk, and other things that have no semblance to Christ’s body and blood.  They have departed from the faith.  People no longer believe the doctrines of grace, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints

            There is no salvation outside of the grace of God.  If God does not save you, you will never be saved.  Think what I am saying.  Eternal security is being denied.  That is the only kind of salvation there is, eternal.  Separation is being denied; all Baptist churches want to come together and be as one.

            II Corinthians 6:17, “…be ye separate, saith the Lord…”  II Corinthians 6:14, “…what communion hath light with darkness?”  Baptist churches do not believe Titus 2:12-13, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Church members should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.  Have you departed from the faith?

            Many times members will say, I just don't feel like going to church.  The trouble is in the heart.  You have head knowledge, and there is nothing in your heart.  Romans 10:10,For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 

            Baptists have turned away from the teaching of a woman’s place in the church.  I Corinthians 14:34, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.”  Yet women are ruling most Baptist Churches.  Baptist churches are ordaining women preachers and women deacons.  God said this should not be.  A pastor cannot control other Baptist churches and should not try to; but I tell you what each pastor should do, he should preach and stand for the truth in his church.  If you are not willing to stand for the truth, your church will go downhill just like the rest of them.  It takes a preacher and a people to stand.  You need to be in church each time services are held, including Wednesday night.

            Did you know that demons have their doctrine?  Did you know that the devil has spread his doctrine?  People are going toward that doctrine.  Any doctrine that is not according to God's inspired word is the devil’s doctrine.  Romans ll:20, “…Be not highminded, but fear:”  If you go into unbelief, you will be cut off.  God tells us very clearly in II Thessalonians, chapter 2 that the antichrist will not appear until the Holy Spirit be taken out of the way.  There must be a falling away first, and that falling away is here now.  Most Baptist churches are no longer the pillar and ground of the truth.

            Here is another sign: II Timothy 4:l-4, “I charge thee…”  Paul talking to young Timothy, the preacher “…therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick…” the living, “…and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”  In other words, just keep on preaching.  “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;” If you went into many Baptist churches and taught what is being taught in a sound church, you would be thrown out.  “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; [The doctrine, which is according to godliness.  The word endure means to hold up.]  but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”  They do not want to be taught the truth, they want to satisfy their own lusts.  They want teachers that teach what they want to hear, who do not preach on sin and the consequences of it.

            Before you move away from a church that is preaching the truth, you should examine your reason for leaving.  If you are leaving because you no longer want to hear the truth taught, then you are in the ‘falling away’ category, turning to fables and myths.  The word fables means tales or legends.  People today do not want the truth; they are determined to observe holidays like Christmas, a myth or a fable.  It does not matter if preachers have proven that it is against the truth, some people will still celebrate.  Be warned that you are satisfying your own lusts of the flesh.

            Easter is not the truth.  The word Easter is used only one time in the New Testament and should have been translated passover.  Those who observe this holiday get all enthused at the rising of the sun and say they are worshiping the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  My Lord came out of the grave around 6:00 on Saturday night.  While it was yet dark, they went to the grave and He was not there.  A sunrise service ought to be observed fifty-two weeks of the year.  Upon the first day of the week we observe the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  If you observe Easter, you need to know that you are involved in idol worship.  You are turning away from the truth, to the lust of the flesh.  John l0:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”

            II Thessalonians 2:l-l5, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

 

We Ought Always To Pray

Do you want to know the condition of the world when Christ comes?  Luke l8 is the parable of the unjust judge.  The widow woman continually asked him to avenge her adversary.  The judge turned her away, but she just kept coming to him, until he wearied of her continual petition.  The Lord is teaching us always to pray and not to faint.  Keep on knocking at the door of our Lord; don't cease to pray.  Men ought always to pray.  The scriptures tell us through this parable that we ought to keep on asking, just as the widow woman kept bothering this judge.  Eventually he gave her what she asked for. 

            Luke l8:7-8, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”  Shall He find faith on the earth?  This refers to praying.  Will He find faith that prays?  Will He find people that cry unto Him day and night?  We need that, and yet we too, are guilty.  We need our Lord just as much today as we ever have.  Hebrews l0:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  We need to come together with God's people and pray, because the Lord's churches are not praying like we should.  The lack of prayer is one of the signs of the coming of our Lord.  The Bible talks about people praying day and night.  We do not take time to pray.

 

Perilous Times

            This is another sign of the Lord's coming.  II Timothy 3:l, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”  Perilous means hard, difficult.  The word is translated as fierce in Matthew, Chapter 8, in the description of demons.  Does this also describe our generation?

            Verses 2-4, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves…”  Isn't that just about the condition today?  “…covetous…”  Love gives, covetous always wants, more...more…more...  “…boasters,…”  Today we are always boasting about what I am, what I have done, and what I have gotten.  “…proud,…”  We are proud, lifting self up.  This is the very opposite of meekness. “…blasphemers,…”  Do you like to work on your job with people who are lost?  They curse, using the Lord's name in vain, and use filthy language.  That is what the Bible said would happen.  “…disobedient to parents,” Do we need to say more about this scripture?  Children today, who are l2, l3, or l4 years old act as if they are grown, and do not care what Mom and Dad say.  Children were not disobedient to their parents thirty or forty years ago.  “…unthankful….”  Everything we have comes from God.  We need to thank Him for it.  How many really stop and thank God for the food?  How many of you thank God for your blessings, your salvation, your children, your home, we could go on and on.  How many of us are really thankful to God?  “…unholy,”   How many people are holy and live righteously and godly in these last days?  “Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,…”  We read in the newspapers each day about young boys shooting their mother or father, brothers or sisters, or going into a restaurant with a machine gun killing anyone.  They then stand in their house and dare the police to come in.  No self-control.  “…fierce, despisers of those that are good.”  The world despises those who try to do the right things.  “Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”  Never let pleasures mean more to you than God.  Never make a decision to put pleasure before God.  God will not bless you.

            Verse 5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  Is this the description of modern day churches?  They have a form of godliness.  The congregation comes into the house of God, they sing a song or two, but at l2:00 the preacher quits, so they can go home.  If he preaches after 12:00, most congregations will get rid of him.  They have a show for the world to see, but no conviction in their heart of sin.  Do not expect them back on Sunday night, or Wednesday night.  They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; from such turn away.

 

The Days of Noah

            I Corinthians 4:20, “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”  Luke l7:26-27, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.  They did eat, they drank, they married wives,…  (plural) …they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”

            The way of the world in Noah’s day is the same way it will be when the Lord returns.  The Bible says, they ate and drank.  There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking, but that was all they had on their minds.  They did not think about the judgment.  Noah preached to them how God was going to destroy the world, but they were eating and drinking and having a good time.  Noah warned them.  Today the world is the same way.  People do not have their mind on the coming of the Lord.  They have their mind on eating and drinking, lust of the flesh.

            In the days before the flood, they married wives.  It is commonplace today for a man to have more than one wife.  Genesis 6:2, “…they took them wives of all which they chose.”  The Bible teaches that it is right for a man to have one wife and a woman to have one husband, and the only cause for separation is death.  They did eat and they did drink, but there was no concern about God, no concern about judgment, and no conviction for their sin.  All they had on their mind was the world and the lust thereof.  How many people have you talked with today that have their mind on the coming of the Lord?

            Genesis 6:5, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  Verse 11, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”  This is the condition of the world today.  You need only watch the news to see how much violence we have today.  People everywhere have no real conviction that all this is sin against God, and God will punish sin.  That was the way it was in the days of Noah, and that is the way it is today.

 

The Days of Lot

            Does this look like the antichrist was ruling here?  In the days of Noah, they were not having a hard time.  No, they were having a good time; they were eating, drinking and having a big time.  Luke 17:28, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;” In the days of Lot, were they having a hard time?  It was a day of plenty.  The Bible says in Genesis 19, as it was in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, and they builded.  They had their minds on the things of the world, not on judgment; nor did they realize what was going on with sin.  As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.  This is a description of the modern day world.

            In Lot’s day homosexuals were everywhere.  Until recently, you did not hear or see anything about homosexuals.  Now, homosexual men and women march in public parades, demanding that they have rights and privileges the same as married men and women.

            Genesis 19:1, “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom:…”  Chapter 16 tells us that Lot was a ruler.  “…and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.  And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.  And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night?  bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”  And that did not mean they just wanted to meet them, they wanted to perform sexual acts with them.

            Verse 6-11, “And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.  Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.  And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them…”  In other words, we are going to do the same thing to you.  “And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot,…” they were trying to get Lot “…and came near to break the door.  But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.”  The Bible says the city was filled with homosexuals.

            As it was in the days of Lot, even so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. San Francisco is a city filled with homosexuals.  This city has what is known as gay rights, with towns where the gays are in authority.  This was unheard of until the last few years.  They were bold in Lot’s day; men came to his house for the two new men, to know them.  Both in Noah's day and Lot's day the children of God were placed in a safe place, before judgment fell.  God put Noah in the ark, safe from judgment.  God took Lot out of Sodom before He destroyed it.  In like manner, God is going to rapture His people, before He pours out His judgment upon this earth.  There is going to be a rapture before the great tribulation.

 

The Rapture and the Antichrist

                In Luke 21, God warns us, do not look for the antichrist, but for the coming of the Lord.  Verse 34-36, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting,…”  that word means fullness, having so much that you do not think about the Lord “…and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”  That is the way it was in the days of Noah, they were unaware.  God said do not settle down in this world, but look for the coming of the Lord.  “For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”  Be counted worthy to escape all these things.  God's children are going to be raptured, snatched away, before all these terrible things in the tribulation period come to pass.  One shall be taken and the other shall be left and then the antichrist will be revealed in that time.  The great tribulation will come, he will set himself up as god, the whole world will worship him as god, and the Jews will receive him.

            II Thessalonians 2:9-10,Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.  The antichrist will be Satan incarnate.  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they [the people on this earth] received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”  The people did not like or want the truth.  They turned their ears from the truth; they departed from the truth.  Verses 11-12, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  God will give those people something that they will believe. People will believe the lie and accept the antichrist.  The Jews will accept him, no doubt, as their Messiah.  He will be in the temple of God.  The rapture, our calling up to be with the Lord is right upon us.  Do not expect the antichrist before the rapture.  The saved will be taken out before the antichrist appears.

            We rejoice in Verse l3.  “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”  If you are saved, God has chosen you to salvation.  That is His elect.  Salvation is through sanctification of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit came unto you through the new birth, set you apart, and caused you to believe the truth.  That is the only way to be saved, or born again.  Lord, what did you intend to do?  Verses l4-15, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

            Matthew 24 speaks of the events to take place in the tribulation period, but they will begin to take place in our day and time.  Verse 3-7, “…Tell us, when shall these things be?  and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise against nation…”  The civil war of the United States, was not nation against nation, but was just fought on our soil.  We did not have the ability one hundred years ago to cross the ocean to fight Germany.  But in the last few years, we have ships, airplanes, bombers, and rockets and the technology needed to fight another nation.  Five hundred years ago we did not have to worry about Germany; they could not come to the United States to fight.  The Bible says, in these last days, nation shall rise against nation.  Verse 7, “…kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences,…”  That is diseases.  It is no surprise that AIDS, a disease for which a cure has not been found, has come upon the world.  Galatians 6:7, “…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Matthew 24:7, “…earthquakes in divers places.”  Do not be surprised when you hear the report of earthquakes in many places.  In fact, Kentucky is setting upon a fault and could soon have an earthquake.  California is just waiting for the big one.  They are reported all over the world.

            Matthew 24:8, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”  Christ gave us some general signs of the things that are coming upon the earth.  The people of God will be hated, lawlessness shall abound, no respect for law.  Verse l2-13, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”  

          We are now living in 2004.  Our calendar is off just a few years.  Do you understand what I am saying?  The Jews are back in their own land, even in Jerusalem.  Russia is the power that is going to invade them.  But at this time, Israel is at odds with most of the mid-east.  She is a valley of dry bones as prophesied in Ezekiel.  Her people are lost.  In the latter days, some shall depart from the faith.  Daniel, chapter l2 says knowledge shall be increased, men will go to and fro, and that has taken place.  Everything is happening exactly as God has said and the next event will be the rapture.  God is going to take His people out.  If you believe that God's people are going through the tribulation, you are wrong.

            God will snatch His people up before the great tribulation period, which is Daniel’s seventieth week.  He worked with the Jews for sixty-nine weeks, even until the day from the decree of the signing to go forth to build Jerusalem, until the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem and they acknowledged Him as King.  It was to the very day, sixty-nine weeks.  The time of the Gentiles is the gap; the seventieth week is still to be fulfilled, which will complete the seven years.

            The whole context of Matthew 24 is the rapture.  Remember the questions that were asked?  Verse 3, “…When shall these things be?  and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”  Here is the rapture.  Verse 27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west…”  It does not come all the way to the ground.  The Lord said as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west.  That is in the air.  “…so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  This will be in the air.  Verse 28 “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”  God’s people are the eagles.  He made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 

Luke l7:34, “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.”  We do not have any trouble with the one that was left.  He is going to be left where he was.  But where is the other one going?  Verse 35-37, “Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord?”  Where are you going to take them?  “…Wheresoever the body is, [that is Jesus Christ] thither will the eagles be gathered together.”

            The Lord is going to come and we are going to be called up together to be with Him in the air.  Where the body is, that is where we are going.  He shall come in the air, the One we have been looking for, the One we have been trusting in, the One who died for our sins.  To those who are looking for Him, He shall come in the air.  Where is the Lord going to take us?  I Thessalonians 4:l6-17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  That is what we call the rapture.          

            When will the resurrection be?  John 6:39, “And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”  .

            Verse 40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  John 11:24-25, “Martha saith unto him, I know that he,…  Lazarus, “…shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”

            At the last day something else is going to happen.  Verse 26, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.  Believest thou this?”  At the last day, there are going to be some people that are alive and trusting in the Lord; they are not going to die, but will be translated and taken up to be with the Lord.  I Thessalonians 4:14-17, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  This will happen at the last day. 

There is another sign that will be seen, after the rapture, before the Lord comes all the way back to this earth, at His second coming.  Revelation 11:3-10, “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.”  That is three and one half years.  “These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophesy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit [that is the antichrist] shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, [that is Jerusalem] And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make  merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.”

            There will be two witnesses that shall prophesy, shall be killed, and shall lie in the streets of Jerusalem, and all the people, and the kindreds and the tongues and nations will look upon their dead bodies.  This could only be seen worldwide through means of television and computers.  God knew that knowledge would be increased, everybody would have a television or the internet, and when these dead bodies lie in the streets of Jerusalem, everybody can look upon them, and the whole world will rejoice over their death.

            They claim that three billion people watched Neal Armstrong when he landed on the moon.  One hundred years ago people would mock and say that could not happen.  They would have said it is not possible to see two dead men lying in the streets; we would all have to go to Jerusalem to look at them.  But today we know that the whole world can see news from the other side of the world, instantly.  Technology had to be perfected before this could take place.  It is a little thing, but this all had to come to pass.  God hath declared the end from the beginning.  Two thousand years ago God told us that people would be able to see this event all over the world.  That will happen in the days of the two witnesses.

 

The Great Tribulation

The rapture, and the great tribulation are two separate events.  The whole context of Zechariah l4 is when He gathers all nations against Jerusalem to fight in a battle called Armageddon.  Verse 3, “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.”  Revelation l9:15, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations:…”  Zechariah 14:4-9, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east [that is when He comes all the way back to the earth] and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”  There will be no evening in that day.  That is why He did not say the evening and the morning were the seventh day.  “And it shall be in that day, that living waters [that is Christ and His word] shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”

            After God’s people are taken out, those that remain are going to have great tribulation.  Matthew 24:29-30, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,…”  The word tribe is translated two hundred fifty times in the Bible and it always means Israel. The tribes of the earth, Israel, shall mourn.

            When shall Israel receive the Lord?  Zechariah l2:10 “…and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him…”  Matthew 24:30, “…and then shall all of the tribes of the earth mourn…”  Those are Jews.  He will go back to the Jews at this time.  “…and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”  That will be His second coming, when He comes all the way back to the earth.  Verse 31, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,…”  Most people want to connect the sound of the trumpet with the rapture.  That is not the rapture, but is when God gathers His people, the Jews.  “…and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”  That is His elect people, the Jews, spoken of in Daniel l2.

            Jeremiah16:16-18, “Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.  For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.”  Here is the tribulation.  “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land…”  In other words, God is going to bring the Jews back into their homeland, and then He is going to punish them for seven years of tribulation, called Jacob's trouble.  God will punish Israel and if those days were not shortened, no one would be saved.  There is going to come a time like never has been before upon the face of this earth.

            Jeremiah 23:5-8, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, [that is Jesus] and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”  This is not speaking about David.  David lived four hundred years before this time.  He is talking about Jesus.  “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.”  This will be the time Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth and reign over His people.  II Peter 3:11-12, "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God…”  That time is very, very close.

            I John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,” in other words the antichrist will come at the last time, the last one thousand years; at the very end of time the antichrist will come, “even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 

            Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:” The Bible says in Joel, and Peter interpreted it at the day of Pentecost, that in these last days, the sun will be darkened and the moon shall not give her light.     

            Isaiah 13:6-11, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.  Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity;…”  This is going to happen in the last days.        

            Isaiah 24:17-22 gives us the great tribulation.  Verse 20, “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard…” that is the great tribulation period.  Verses 22-23, “And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.  Then the moon shall be confounded, [or become red] and the sun ashamed, [will not give her light] when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.”  The sun gives her light today, but when the glory of the Lord is revealed, the sun is not going to give her light anymore.  Jesus is the true light and the moon will be ashamed.  You won't see the moon anymore because the glory of the Lord is going to do away with that light.

             Joel 2:10, Talking about this latter day.  “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: Chapter 3:2, “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.  Verses 9-15, “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.  Assemble yourselves, and come [that is Armageddon] Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.  Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, and vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining”

            Mark 13:24, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.”  Luke 21:24b, Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. I want you to notice that God put the words time, times, and half of times in the Bible for a reason.  Luke 21:24, the first part of this is the destruction of Jerusalem.  “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: [that is the scattering of the Jews] and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times (plural) of the Gentiles be fulfilled.  Four thousand years have past and two thousand years remain, times...until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.  Verse 25-27, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  All of these things will occur in the last day.        

 

The Blessed Hope and The Day of Christ  

            Zechariah 14:4-5, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”  That is when He comes all the way back to the earth.  Verse 7, “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.  That is the reason the Lord did not say on the seventh day the evening and the morning shall be the seventh day.  On the seventh day, when our Lord reigns for one thousand years, at evening time it shall be light.  The glory of the Lord shall lighten this earth for one thousand years.  It won't be as it has been in the first six days.  

            Zechariah 12:2-3, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”  Verse 6, “In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.”

            II Thessalonians 2:2, “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us [this is a different day altogether] as that the day of Christ is at hand.  The day of Christ and the gathering together unto Him are two different events.  The rapture is our gathering together unto Him.  The day of Christ is when Christ comes back to earth and takes over this world.  That is the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  That is the day of Christ.

 

The Day of the Antichrist

            The day of the antichrist will be during the seven-year tribulation period.  But the day of Christ is going to come at the end of the tribulation period, He is going to come and destroy the antichrist.  Verse 8,…and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”  This is His glorious appearing.  Titus 2:l3, “Looking for that blessed hope,…” that is the rapture, “…and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”  That is the day of Christ, when He comes all the way back to earth again.  The blessed hope is one event, and the glorious appearing of our Lord is another.  The blessed hope is the Lord's coming in the air to take out His saved sheep,  and the day of the Lord is when He comes back and completely puts His enemies under His feet.  He shall destroy them with the brightness of His coming.  The day of Christ is at hand.

            The Apostle Paul told the church at Thessalonica of the Lord’s return in the air to receive us.  They started looking for Him and Paul began to tell them of things to come.  He said, first, we will be gathered together unto Him and then the day of Christ is going to come.

            II Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [meaning the day of Christ] except there come a falling away first,…”  There will be an apostasy, there shall be a departing from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits.  There must be a falling away first, “…and that man of sin be revealed…”  If you will compare that to the rapture, it does not make sense.  However, when you talk about the day of Christ, the glorious appearing of our Lord, the Bible says there must be a falling away.  Then the man of sin shall be revealed and Christ will destroy him at His glorious appearing.  The man of sin is the antichrist.  Verse 4, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,…”  That is what the antichrist will do.  “…or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God…”  This tells us that the temple will be rebuilt.  He is going to set himself up in the temple of God.  “…shewing himself that he is God.”  Satan is a man, and that is his desire from the very beginning.

            Verses 5-6, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.”  The word withholdeth means to hold down.  What keeps him from being revealed in his time?  What is it that keeps the antichrist from coming into this world today?  Why is it that the man of sin cannot take over today?  The influence of the Lord's New Testament church and the Holy Spirit working with His church is what holds the antichrist back.  Verse 7,For the mystery of iniquity…” or lawlessness “…doth already work:…”  it is working now.  The man of sin, when he comes, will have this whole world living in sin.  He will change laws, the Bible says.  Everything he will do will be to the lust of the flesh.  If it feels good, do it; just like the attitude of today; do anything, do not worry about God.  “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:  only he…”  The He here is the Holy Spirit.  “only he who now letteth will let,…”  The word letteth is exactly the same Greek word translated withholdeth.  He who holdeth, will hold him back.  “…until he be taken out of the way.”  The antichrist cannot come until after the rapture.  Our gathering together unto Him is the rapture.  The day of Christ is after the seven-year period of tribulation, after the antichrist rule.  Jesus Christ will then take over, that is His glorious appearing.  That is when He will destroy the antichrist with the brightness of His coming.              The Holy Spirit and the Lord's New Testament church are holding down the antichrist, so that he cannot rule.  He is not more powerful than the Holy Spirit.  After our gathering together unto Him, that wicked one shall be revealed; that is the antichrist, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth.  Revelation l9:l5, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations:…”  Verse 20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.  These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

 

Shadow of Things to Come

            John 12:48, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”  There is going to be a judgment.  Therefore, God has placed the Jews back in their own land, where they will go through the seven years of tribulation.  The King will then come and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.

            Colossians 2:16, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.”  The word days in this verse is in italics, which means the translator has added it.  It simply means “of the sabbath.  Verse 17, “Which are a shadow of things to come;…”  A shadow reveals what the truth is, or it is a type of that which is to come.  The seventh day was set apart, and hallowed unto the Lord.  In it God shall do no work and be refreshed.  It is a shadow of the one thousand year reign where we will cease from our work, and enjoy the fruits of our labor; God will reward us.  It will be hallowed unto the Lord.  Hosea 6:1-2, “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us:  in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”  That two days represents two thousand years.

            John 3:31-32 “He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.  And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.”  Jesus was rejected by the Jews.  John 4:3-4, “He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.  And he must needs go through Samaria.”  Verse 9, …for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”  The Samaritans were Gentiles.  Jesus saved the Samaritan woman.  Verse 40, “So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.”  He abode there two days.  He has been with the Gentiles almost two thousand years.  This is another type, or shadow.

            Verse 4l-43, “And many more believed because of his own word;” He turned from the Jews, went to the Gentiles, and many more believed by the preaching of the word.  “And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.  Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.”  Verse 45, “Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him…”  He was rejected by the Jews, went to the Gentiles, stayed two days, and many believed on Him because of the preaching of the word.  He then went back to the Jews after two days and they received Him. 

            Matthew l6:28,Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”  Chapter l7:1-8,  “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.  Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.  While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.  And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.  And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.”  This was a shadow of what the kingdom would be like after six days.   

            Luke 9:32 is a statement made on the same teaching, the mount of transfiguration.  “But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory…”  Jesus gave them a glimpse of His glory to come.

 

Chapter VII - Conclusion

            I believe that I have proven to you, with God’s help, that He hath declared the end from the beginning.  I believe God is working in six thousand years.  He set this timetable in the very beginning and it is almost over.  Seeing that we see the fulfillment of these scriptures today, we need to live soberly and righteously and godly.  We need to be praying, to be putting the Lord first in our lives, and we need to assemble more and more.  We need to go out and witness to other people; we need to be living our lives for the Lord.

            I am not trying to set the day nor the hour; I am trying to show you the closeness of His coming.  Are you ready to meet Him?  He could come today.  Be watching, be ready.

 

 

 

 

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Dates of Importance

All dates B.C.

 

     0           Adam formed               Genesis 2:7

  930          Adam’s death               Genesis 5:5

 

  874          Lamech’s birth  Genesis 5:26

1469          Lamech’s death            Genesis 5:30

 

1056          Noah’s birth                 Genesis 5:29

2006          Noah’s death                Genesis 9:29

1556          Shem’s birth                 Genesis 5:32

1656          Year of flood                Genesis 7:6

2156          Shem’s death                Genesis 11:11

 

1948          Abram’s birth               Genesis 11:27

2023                    Abram departed Haran Genesis 12:1-4

2024                     (Birth of Jewish nation)

2048          Isaac’s birth                  Genesis 21:5

2123          Abraham’s death          Genesis 25:7

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