Tonight we continue on the theme of the end of
the age, talking about those events which the
Word of God predicts will occur at the end of
the age in which we are now living. Tonight our
theme is the great day of God's wrath. That phrase
is taken from the book of the Revelation and
the sixth chapter. I'd like you to turn there
quickly with me. And then we'll turn to another
more lengthy text. You'll notice at the beginning
of chapter 6 we have the pouring out of the seal
judgments. This is the beginning of the suffering
that will come upon the earth as a result of
the pouring out of God's judgment upon the world.
It is such a severe experience of suffering and
pain that in verse 16 those in the world said
to the mountains and to the rocks fall on us
and hide us from the presence of Him who sits
on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb
for the great day of their wrath has come and
who is able to stand. Let's pray together. Father,
in heaven, we pray tonight that the Holy Spirit
would be our teacher of these things revealed
to us in the Word, that we might know them. I
pray that you will give us spiritual ears to
hear not only the truth of what is said, but
how those things should impact our lives as well
as we look toward the end of the age. In Jesus'
name, amen. The tribulation period may be called
the great day of God's wrath, for that's what
it is. It is a time when God officially will
pour out upon the unbelieving world of men His
wrath. Our Lord Jesus describes this period of
time in the sermon which He gave on Mount Olivet
to His disciples and recorded for us in Matthew
24. I'd like you to turn there with me as we
read down through a number of verses. Now the
disciples were not asking about the tribulation,
but they were asking about the end of the age
and when the things that Jesus had talked about
would occur and what the sign of His coming would
be. Jesus answered two out of three of the questions.
In verse four of Matthew 24, it says, And Jesus
answered and said to them, See to it that no
one misleads you, for many will come in my name,
saying, I am the Christ and will mislead many.
And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of
wars. See that you are not frightened, for those
things must take place, but that is not yet the
end. For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom, and in various places
there will be famines and earthquakes. But all
these things are merely the beginning of birth
pangs." In other words, labor has just begun,
but the judgment has not fully arrived. He says,
then they will deliver you to tribulation. Now
it would be important for us to notice Yet this
word tribulation is used in a generic sense in
the New Testament of the suffering, affliction,
and pressure which God's people face in every
age. That is the sense in which our Lord uses
the term in verse 9. It says they will deliver
you to suffering, to persecution, to affliction,
to tribulation that is. But the word is also
used as we shall see. of a period of time which
is called the tribulation. Now let's go on. They
will kill you and you will be hated by all nations
on account of my name. And at that time many
will fall away and will deliver up one another
and hate one another and many false prophets
will arise and will mislead many. And because
lawlessness is increased, and if you want to
know why, read 2 Thessalonians 2. Most people's
love will grow cold, but the one who endures
to the end, he shall be saved. I do not understand
that to mean saved spiritually, but the Lord
is simply saying that the one who endures through
the sufferings of that period of time that we
call the tribulation, the one who endures physically
through that period of time will be saved alive
and physically to enter into the kingdom. the
millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole
world for a witness to all the nations and then
the end shall come. Please understand the context
of this verse. This is not something said to
us today in this part of the age. We do not have
to wait for the gospel to go into every nation
in the world before Jesus can come back for his
bride, the church. Indeed, the message that is
said here, the gospel of the kingdom, is slightly
different than the gospel of grace which we declare
today. They will in that day be talking about
the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ and salvation through Him. But the
emphasis of the message will be on the coming
of our Lord to establish His kingdom. That is
why it is called here by that specific name the
gospel of the kingdom. Now, there are some people
today who like to go to verse 14 and make this
a great missionary verse. It is not that. It
is not that. If we believe that verse 14 had
to be fulfilled before our Lord could come, then
His coming is not imminent. It could not happen
at any moment. In fact, His coming would be further
delayed now than before this time because there
are more and more people who have not yet heard.
And so this is a verse regarding the missionary
thrust in the tribulation period. Now he says,
therefore when you see the abomination of desolation,
which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.
I hope you understand better in a minute. Then
let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let him who is on the housetop. not go down to
get things out that are in his house, and let
him who is in the field not turn back to get
his cloak. And woe to those who are with child,
and to those who nurse babes in those days, and
pray that your flight may not be in winter on
a Sabbath." That is when travel would not be
as easy. The point is here that the time following
the abomination of desolation will be a time
of great suffering and persecution, especially
for the Jews. All believers of God, yes, but
especially for the Jews. And those, remember,
are the ones to whom directly our Lord is speaking
in Matthew 24. And he says the suffering will
be so intense he is warning them to flee, to
leave everything behind and escape from the pressures
that will follow the abomination of desolations.
Now we'll look in Daniel in a moment and see
what that entails. He says, for then there will
be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred
since the beginning of the world until now, nor
ever shall. And unless those days had been cut
short, no life would have been saved. Verse 22
does not mean that the days are going to have
less daylight, as some people seem to think.
But it's simply saying that that period of time
is going to be cut short, ended, so that there
will be those who will live through it physically.
Otherwise, the period is so filled with judgment
and pressures and warfare and death that no one
will be left alive on the earth. He says, for
the sake of the elect, those days shall be cut
short. Then if anyone says to you, behold, here
is Christ, or there he is, do not believe him.
For false Christs and false prophets will arise
and will show great signs and wonders, so as
to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold,
I have told you in advance, if therefore they
say to you, Behold, he is in the wilderness,
do not go forth, or behold, he that is the Messiah
is in the inner rooms, do not believe them. For
just as the lightning comes from the east and
flashes even to the west, so shall the coming
of the Son of Man be." Then Jesus closes this
part by saying, wherever the corpse is, there
the vultures will gather. A rather obscure statement.
But, of course, a corpse involves the corruption
of flesh. And he says, where there is corruption,
then God sends in His clean -up crew, which are
the vultures. Now, this is a proverb, apparently,
that was common in that day, or at least in use
in that day, and what the meaning seems to be
that where there is the kind of awful moral corruption,
as has been suggested, here previously in these
verses, God is going to bring judgment and clean
it up. That seems to be the import of it. Now
let's ask the question, because Jesus mentions
here the great tribulation. What is the tribulation?
Our understanding of the Scriptures is that the
tribulation is a seven -year period of judgment
that will come upon the world. I'll explain why
we say seven years in a moment. The tribulation
is a period that will conclude this age, just
as every age through the history of the world
has concluded with a judgment, so this age will
conclude with a judgment. During that period
of time, the Lord is going to once again resume
His dealings directly with the nation of Israel.
Israel in this period of time, as Paul explains
in Romans chapter 11, has been set aside so that
the times of the Gentiles might be fulfilled.
Now when that period of time described that way
is fulfilled, and we understand that to mean
the calling out of the church, which is primarily
Gentile in its composition, then our Lord is
going to once again take up Israel and deal with
that nation. and through a period of purging
will bring the nation to faith and then to millennial
blessing. The tribulation period will follow
the rapture of the church. Why do I say that?
Because it is a period of wrath which will come
upon the world and as we saw, I think it was
last week, wasn't it? Last Sunday night. The
church is not appointed to wrath. but rather
to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we believe that the Church is going to
be caught out of the world before the tribulation
period comes upon the earth. It will depart for
that place prepared for us by the Savior. Now
I'd like for you to turn with me to the book
of Daniel where we will gain some insight, I
trust, as to why we're talking about a seven
year period of time. When we talk about the tribulation
we must remember that we're not talking about
a subject that is only revealed in the New Testament.
We're talking about something that was spoken
of in the prophets of the Old Testament as well.
We're going to look in Daniel at the ninth chapter.
Where Daniel is given after a lengthy time of
prayer some understanding regarding the future
of his people, Israel. Now remember that Daniel
was a Jew. He had been taken away into Babylonian
captivity in the first excursion into the land
by Nebuchadnezzar. He was taken as a young man,
made a eunuch, and there was given assignment
within the palace of the great king, Nebuchadnezzar.
He was not only a statesman of that pagan and
Gentile country, as time went on, but preeminently
Daniel was a man of God, a prophet of God, to
whom God was pleased to reveal insights and understanding
regarding things to come, not only in his day,
but throughout this whole age. Now, Daniel 9,
24, the heavenly being says to Daniel, Daniel
9, 24, 70 weeks have been decreed for your people
and your holy city. Now, let's notice immediately
that he is speaking here about the Jews and the
city of Jerusalem. God, it says here, has decreed.
That is, has set aside 70 weeks to culminate
his purposes for the Jewish nation. The word
weeks here literally is sevens in the Hebrew.
Therefore, Bible commentators take this not to
mean 70 weeks of seven days, but 70 periods of
sevens. Each seven is a year of time, not a day.
It's not a day of a week, but it's a seven, it's
a period of seven years. And he says that there
are 70 periods of seven years which God has decreed
for the nation of Israel. Now he goes on to say
as those weeks transpire, this is what will happen,
to finish the transgression. That seems to be
a reference to the apostasy of the nation of
Israel, the reason that they were at the very
time that Daniel heard this, in captivity. And
he says to make an end of sin, that is to seal
up sin, the idea seemingly by judging it. To
make an atonement for iniquity, believed to be
a reference to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To bring in everlasting righteousness, which
may well refer to the kingdom. In other words,
these seventy weeks will lead right up to that
point, the bringing in of a righteous kingdom.
And then he says, to seal up visions and prophecies
and to anoint the most holy place. Now we don't
have time to look at every phrase here tonight
or we're going to be here a long time. So let's
move ahead. Verse 25. So you are to know and
discern that from the issuing of a decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the
Prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty -two
weeks. Now, we're not fully understanding as
to why he broke those down just the way he did,
but notice that the total is 69 periods of seven
years, or 483 years. So here is the specific
prophecy given to Daniel. From the time the decree
would go out to rebuild Jerusalem until the time
of Messiah the Prince, there would be 483 years.
There is a clock. that God puts up on the shelf
in this verse. It begins to tick when the decree
goes out to rebuild Jerusalem. Now, when did
that happen? Well, again, Bible commentators
differ on this slightly, but only slightly. However,
most believe that the clock began to move when
the decree went out in 4 445 B .C. in the days
of Nehemiah for the rebuilding of the city and
its walls. You can read about that in Nehemiah
chapter 2. And so the clock began to move in
445 or 444 B .C. And it began to move for 483
years. Now, if you're interested in trying to
figure this out to the very year, there are some
complications in doing that, including this,
that these years are not solar years, but lunar
years of 360 days exactly. And so our calendar
is based upon a solar year of 365 or 66 days,
and you have to compensate for that in your calculations.
And if you're interested in reading about that,
there are a number of commentaries that go into
detail about it. But the point I want you to
notice is that in 445 BC, the clock began to
move until Messiah the Prince. It would seem
as though this is when Messiah was officially
presented to the Jewish nation. It does not seem
to refer to his coming to the earth at Bethlehem.
But some years later, during his public ministry,
when he officially presented himself to the Jewish
people as their Messiah and King, and at which
time, by the way, they rejected him as a nation.
483 years to that point. Now it goes on to say
in the verse, it will be built again, that is
the city, with plaza and moat, even in times
of distress. You can read Nehemiah. and Ezra
and understand what those words mean. And then
in verse 26 it says, then after the 62 weeks,
now that's the 62 weeks that follows the original
seven weeks that he mentions in verse 25 where
he told of 69 weeks, after that, after the 483
years, the Messiah will be cut off. Notice that.
because that is a reference to Calvary. It does
not seem to be included in the last or the 69th
week, but rather after that period has been fulfilled.
It would seem to be after he is rejected by the
nation. Then some time later he is cut off, referring
to the cross, and he will have nothing, that
is nothing of the rights, the royal rights that
are his as the king of that people. And the people
of the prince who is to come. You have to go
back to Daniel 7 to understand that. It's a reference
to the Antichrist. The people of the prince who
is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
That occurred after Calvary, about 40 years later,
in 70 AD, when the Roman armies, under General
Titus, destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the
Jewish temple, completely leveling it and taking
away Jews, dispersing them throughout the Roman
Empire. And so every word here that is given
to Daniel is one that is fulfilled in history,
either already fulfilled or shall be fulfilled.
Now it says it will come with a flood even to
the end, there will be war, desolations are determined.
And he will make a firm covenant. Now the question
is, who is he? Well, you have to back up to find
out. The closest antecedent is the prince who
will come in verse 26. And so verse 27 refers
to Antichrist. And he, Antichrist, will make
a firm covenant with the many for one week. the
many here referring to the Jewish people in that
day, a yet future day. And notice how long the
covenant will be for, one week. So here is the
70th week, 69 weeks ticked off on God's clock
until the time Messiah was rejected, leaving
one week, the 70th week, yet to be fulfilled.
Now we know from the perspective where we live
today that between the 69th week and that final
week of years, of seven years, there is a whole
age of time. Daniel was not given to see that.
It is a mystery that is revealed to us in the
New Testament. Paul calls it a mystery in Ephesians
3, as we studied a few weeks ago. It was not
revealed then, but when the clock stopped on
the nation of Israel, God had a whole other purpose,
and that is the purpose of the church, calling
out in this age a people to belong to Jesus Christ
as his bride, as his body. But the clock has
yet to strike for that 70th final week. Here
it is. Now when that week comes, Antichrist is
going to make a covenant with the Jews. It seems
as though that covenant will be to provide peace
for Israel. I want you to know tonight there
is nothing that the Jewish people long for more
in Israel than peace. Because they have been
a persecuted people down through the centuries.
And today they bristle with armaments that they
might protect themselves against those who would
destroy them. They want peace in their borders,
and Antichrist will guarantee them peace for
that covenant period of seven years. However,
Daniel is told, in the middle of the week, that
is after three and one half years, he, Antichrist,
will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering.
Now this introduces another thought to us, and
that is that in that time the Jews will reconstruct
a temple in Jerusalem. There are those who say
that the materials are all stored already in
the city of Jerusalem, that the plans have all
been drawn up, but there is a terrible geographical
and even more political problem, and that is
that the place where the temple belongs The place
where they will build the temple is now occupied
by Muslim holy sites, by two mosques. And of
course, were the Jews to destroy the mosques
in order to build their temple, we would have
World War III up through World War 100 in one
minute. And so they have a terrific problem today.
We believe they are ready to build that temple.
There is indication of that. But they are on
hold waiting for the right moment for it to happen
and so they will offer again their sacrifices
and that will be a part of their life as a nation
at the beginning of the tribulation and a Christ
will approve that until the middle of the week
and then he will say that's enough and It says
on the wing of abominations Will come one who
makes desolate? So you see, here's where Jesus
gets that phrase, the abomination of desolations.
Even until a complete destruction, one that is
decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate.
Our time does not allow us to look at other passages,
but let me summarize for you that what takes
place is this. At this point in that seven -year
period, at the halfway point, Antichrist will
insist that the Jews stop offering their offerings
and that they begin to worship him as their Messiah.
And to bring that to pass, he will cause the
offerings to cease and will establish in that
reconstructed temple in Jerusalem an image of
himself. An image we are told in the book of
Revelation which will speak. It will be an amazing
image and we understand today with all the computer
technology available as to how that might happen
he will insist the Jewish people worship him
at that image in their temple and that is what
is called the abomination of desolations. It
was prefigured in what Antiochus did in the times
of the Maccabees when he slew a pig upon the
altar in Jerusalem. The pig, an unclean animal
to the Jews, was slain there, defiling the temple.
It was an abomination of desolations of sort,
but in that day, Antichrist will give the complete
fulfillment of that when he commands that the
Jewish people worship him. And so, in the middle
of that tribulation period, he will begin to
turn on the Jews. and he will begin to persecute
them as a people and will show himself certainly
be no friend of the Jews. Now we're going to
look more in detail at the person of Antichrist
on another occasion, so you'll have to come back
for that. We're talking tonight about the seven
-year period. I wanted to show you where we get
the seven years. The seven years goes all the
way back into Jewish history and to Jewish prophecy.
It is a seven -year period that God is waiting
to fulfill at the appropriate moment. Now what
will it be like during the tribulation period?
Well, let me just review with you, for many of
you that is what this is, review, for others
of you this may be new material, but let me just
quickly review with you what the world will be
like in the tribulation period. Let's think first
politically and militarily. And here we're bringing
together a number of passages from Revelation,
from Daniel, from Ezekiel and other places. It
seems as though that there will be five great
power blocks in the world in that day. Today
I suppose we might say that we have two superpowers
with other major powers and then third world
powers. But in that day it seems that there will
be five power blocks that will be militarily
and politically jockeying to control that key
part of the Middle East occupied by the nation
of Israel. We do not know exactly who these power
blocks are, but they are identified in the Bible
by these terms. The King of the North. And I
remember as a kid when I read that phrase, I
thought, well, that's Canada. We are very oriented
to the United States, but remember that prophetically,
the focus is not the United States, it's Israel.
And so when we talk about the King of the North,
you have to go north of Israel, geographically.
And there today, you find Arab powers, radical
Arab powers. Perhaps that will be the case in
the days of the tribulation. Then there is the
King of the South, which is most often referred
to as Egypt, and those powers aligned with Egypt
to the south of Israel. There are the Kings of
the East, an Asiatic power, perhaps a conglomeration
of powers, which will march on the Holy Land
at a particular point. And then there is a Western
power that will be a revived form of the Roman
Empire. That's why Daniel speaks of the people
of the prince who will come. That's the Roman
Empire, which collapsed under its own immorality
and corruption in that day, but which was never
destroyed in a sense. which has lain dormant,
but which will congeal once again. Now there
are those who believe that we see, maybe the
beginnings of that at least, in the common market.
Economically those similar nations that comprise
the old Roman Empire coming together. And so
there will be the revived Roman Empire and that
is the source, the origin. politically, nationally,
for Antichrist. He will come out of that power
block. And then there seems to be a fifth power
block in Russia. Or at least a power far to the
north, which is specifically mentioned in Ezekiel
38 and 39. So politically and militarily there
will be these power blocks. which at various
times will make moves against Israel. Their final
move will involve the Battle of Armageddon, which
is the great military movement at the end of
the seven -year period which will be culminated
by Christ's return from heaven and the destruction
of the world armies. Then what will this time
be like morally, socially, economically? Well,
we can say it will be a time of lawlessness which
will abound as Jesus said a time of corruption
a time of perversion It seems as though socially
it will be a time when there will be a rather
strict class structure Unlike what we enjoy in
our Republic where the the class distinctions
are rather vague It seems from Revelation 6 15
that there will be rather strict classes of peoples
in the society of that day. And economically,
the world economy will come together. And if
you read about economy, you will notice that
there is pressure today for a world economy.
No longer can we have national economies, we
are told. We need a world economy. And that world
economy eventually will come under the control
of the world dictator, Antichrist. Well, it will
be like spiritually. There will be two messages
preached in the tribulation period. On the one
hand, the truth of Jesus Christ will be preached.
The gospel will be preached with that special
emphasis on the coming kingdom. And therefore
it's called the gospel of the kingdom. On the
other hand, there is the lie of Antichrist, which
will sweep many away. Some will believe. each
of these messages. The majority will believe
the lie, but there will be many who will believe
the gospel. In the early chapters of Revelation,
there are 144 ,000 Jews who are sealed by God
Almighty as His special servants in that tribulation
period, and it may well be that they will become
evangelists to preach the gospel of the kingdom
to the world. There will be great apostasy in
that period of time and there will be many martyrs
many martyrs many will lay down their lives for
Jesus Christ in the tribulation period Nationally
for Israel it is called the time of Jacob's trouble
Jeremiah 30 verses 1 through 9 Two -thirds of
those who live in Israel and that day will be
killed Zechariah 13 8 It will be a day of grief
and desperate sorrow, Isaiah 17, 11. What we
see for the nation of Israel is an awful time
of holocaust which will cause Hitler's years
to pale by comparison. The worst days the Jewish
people have ever experienced, I am sad to say,
seem to be still ahead. for them as a nation.
And folks, that is one reason we need to be today
preaching the gospel to the Jewish people. We
need to be concerned about preaching the gospel
that they might be one to the Savior and be spared
not only from hell to come but also from this
time of national sorrow that I believe will come
upon some who are alive on the earth today. I
believe we are entering into this period of time.
How will God judge the world in the tribulation
period? Well, in about two minutes, I'm going
to condense Revelation chapters 4 through 19.
First of all, it is going to be the time of God's
wrath being poured out upon the earth. Revelation
6, 17. We read that earlier. God's wrath is going
to involve the pouring out of several series
of judgments. In the first three and a half year
period, and may I just remind you that the Bible
does divide the seven years into two periods
of time. Of a time and times and a half a time,
or 42 months, or 1260 days, or three and a half
years, all those phrases are used. In the first
half of the tribulation period, there will be
seals, seven seals, and seven judgments. of judgment
poured out upon the earth. Seven seals and seven
trumpets of judgment poured out upon the earth.
And as a result of that, the population will
be given to follow Antichrist as a rule. There
will be unprecedented warfare upon the earth.
Famine will become worldwide. There will be unparalleled
death by war, famine, and interestingly by the
ravaging of beasts. There will be anarchy and
lawlessness upon the earth and great natural
disasters which will be of supernatural origin.
They will include one -third of all of the trees
and grass of the earth being burned, one -third
of the oceans of the world turned to blood, one
-third of the sea creatures and ships destroyed
in a disaster. One third of the fresh water in
the world made undrinkable. One third of sunlight,
moonlight, and stars quenched so that there will
be a supernatural dusk that will come upon the
world even in the daytime. There will be five
months of torment by a stinging, hideous -looking
locust described in the book of the Revelation.
Locusts which seem to have some kind of demonic
attachment. As a result of these judgments, first
one -fourth and then one -third of the world
population will die. Now you figure that out
and over one -half of the world population will
in the three and a half years of the first three
and a half years of the tribulation be killed
as a result of this judgment poured out upon
the earth, seven -twelfths. of the world population
which is said to be five billion by the year
2000. In the midst of the tribulation period
Satan will be cast out upon the earth to direct
his warfare against God and men and especially
against believers and Jewish believers at that.
And then in the last seven, excuse me, the last
three and a half years seven judgments will be
poured out upon the earth. Beginning in Revelation
chapter 16, they are described to us judgments
of great intensity, so great that this is called
the Great Tribulation. These judgments will involve
a foul, painful sore and boil which will be upon
men. The entire sea will be turned as blood of
dead men. so that every sea creature will die.
All fresh water in that last period of time will
become as blood. As it says in Revelation 16
6, they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and thou hast given them blood to drink, for
they are worthy. The sun will have power in that
period of time, it says, to scorch men with fire.
And yet, Antichrist's kingdom will be filled
with a supernatural darkness that will come upon
it. Once again, great natural disasters will
take place. Earthquakes, which will cause whole
islands to disappear beneath the waves, mountains
to crumble and fall, and entire metropolitan
areas to be destroyed. Earthquakes, as it says
in Revelation 16, 18, such as was not since men
were upon the earth. And it says that there will
be storms in that day involving hailstones of
the weight of 100 pounds. And it says the plague
was exceedingly great. And so during the first
three and a half years of the tribulation there
are the judgments of the seals and the bowls
of wrath. I think I misstated that earlier. In
the first three and a half years, it's the judgments
of the seals that are open and the bowls of wrath
and the last part of the tribulation, the seal,
the judgments of the trumpets. Now you say in
light of all of that, my goodness, I think I'm
going to go out and just give up. No, don't do
that. Don't do that. Why does God give us this
kind of information? Does He give us this information
so that we just... decide to wait on the housetops
for the Lord to come? Is it so that we can just
sell everything we've got and just forget trying
to do something in this world for Jesus Christ?
Shall we stop having children? Shall we give
up life as we know it? None of that. Our Lord
gives us this information so that we might understand
that there is an end to the wickedness of man.
Things are not going to go on. as they always
have. They shall not. God is going to bring an
end. He is going to bring judgment to this world.
We are not today looking for the 70th week of
Daniel. We are looking for His coming. That's
important to keep in mind. And our Lord has said
that we are to occupy. We are to be busy. We
are to be faithful. until he comes. We are not
looking for the Antichrist. We are looking for
the real Christ, and he is going to come for
his own. Our Lord has not left us in the dark
as to those things that will be involved at the
end of this age. Beloved, God does not want us
to focus on those things, nor does he want us
to become anxious about those things or depressed
by them. He wants us to be aware that judgment
is coming upon the world, but God has appointed
us to salvation and not to wrath. And we are
expecting His return, and He wants us to be involved
in winning this world to Jesus Christ until that
time that we are caught up to be with our Lord.
I think that Peter has some good words for us,
and with these we close. He does not speak directly
regarding the judgment that we've been looking
at, but he is talking about a judgment that will
come after that, but his words are instructive
for us. I want to go back and review this because
in my mind I got confused when I reviewed it
the second time. So here's the third review.
The first three and a half years will be the
judgment of the seals and the trumpets in the
last three and a half years, the bowls of wrath.
So there it is. That's the way it is. That's
the real review. How many of you caught that
mistake? Good. I'm proud of you. That's good.
All right, so you got that straight? If you want
that detail, the first three and a half years,
the series of judgments will involve what are
called the seal judgments and the trumpet judgments,
and the last three and a half years, the bowls
of God's wrath poured out upon the earth. Now
let's look here at what Peter says in verse 14.
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these
things, be diligent to be found by him in peace.
Notice that. He doesn't say that we are to be
found by him in anxiety and worry. We're to be
found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.
Despite the fact our world is going down the
tubes morally and spiritually, we the Lord's
people are to live, as was illustrated tonight
earlier, separately from that. We are to be spotless
and blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation. And he says, regard the patience
of our Lord to be salvation. And then we'll go
on to verse 17. You therefore, beloved, knowing
this beforehand, be on your guard, lest being
carried away by the error of unprincipled men,
you fall from your own steadfastness. So we are
exhorted to be on guard in these days in which
we live. And also, in verse 18, grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Those are good words for us. And so as you think
about the end of the age, remember what we are
told here. Be at peace and live a life that is
morally spotless and blameless. And regard the
fact that our Lord is delaying His coming as
an opportunity to win others to Jesus Christ.
And be on guard against the pressures and false
doctrines that will be coming even more intensely
in the end days and could keep growing. in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We're not looking for the Antichrist, we're looking
for the Real Christ. We're not anticipating the
tribulation, but we are anticipating the blessed
hope of His return. Let's be faithful to be found
of Him in that day as He would have us to be
found. And now our Heavenly Father, as we have
looked at this