I want to turn back to Daniel 9. We've tried to cover many of the major developments of prophecy, and I hope you've seen enough to know that the prophetic scriptures bring before us a picture of the culmination of movements and currents of thought, which have been at work in the world for centuries.
These things that are pictured here, especially concerning the last days, are not simply things that come suddenly upon the earth. They are the outcome of trends and movements that have been with us ever since the beginning of the Christian era and are very much evident today, which will finally culminate in these things.
For instance, as we saw from the Prophet Daniel, there would be four major divisions of what we would most aptly call Western civilization. Four great world empires would dominate the whole scope of the development of Western civilization. The first three are easily identified as the Empire of Babylon, followed by the Medo-Persian Kingdom, and then the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great.
Then came a fourth great kingdom, which Daniel was specifically told that this fourth great kingdom or empire would be different than the rest. It wouldn't be just one monolithic central control running on for centuries, as the other empires were, but it would be divided up. He uses the term diverse. It would be introduced, we know in history, by the Roman Empire. But the Roman Empire doesn't embrace all of it. It sets the tone for all of it, so that the whole of this Western civilization becomes Romanized.
Yet it is not just the Roman Empire as such. Now this is what we've seen true in history. If we look back, we can see how the whole of the Western world is strongly Romanized. Our customs, ideas, forms of government, and our courts of law are all taken from the Roman Empire, which is now spread throughout the world.
It's most interesting that the cultures of the East have not pervaded, infiltrated, and changed the cultures of the West. It's the other way around. It's the West that has pervaded and captured the imagination and is changing the East. These concepts have spread throughout the Earth. Everywhere anyone travels in this easily traveled world of ours, can see this is true: these ideas and concepts from the Western world have now spread and are rapidly taking root all over the world.
Daniel also said that there would come certain characters, who our Lord also identified, which would symbolize, head up the final expression of the political philosophies current among men. We've looked at several of these. There is, first of all, the man of sin, of lawlessness, the antichrist, the prince that shall come, the little horn, and the beast. All these terms are used to describe one individual who will be at the head of the Western world in some form of a world government, or at least the Western world government.
He would be the one who would ultimately be received by the people of Israel as the true Messiah, the one they had been looking for. He would, therefore, take the place and fulfill the words of our Lord when he said, I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive
(John 5:43). He would be the political leader in company with a religious assistant, the second beast in Revelation 13, who would dominate this world.
And then we saw also the ecclesiastical developments, how there is at work in the world today, and has been for centuries, a spirit that the Bible calls Babylonianism. This has infiltrated and pervaded the structure of every religious organization on the face of the earth and is abhorrent to the mind and thinking of God. It's a philosophy that centers on the idea that earthly power and glory may be obtained by the exercise of religious authority and, of course, false religious authority.
Most Protestants are very quick to point their fingers at the Roman Catholic Church and say that this is the acme of Babylonianism. There's no question, for anyone who is honest, that the Roman Catholic Church is pervaded in great degree by a spirit of Babylonianism. But what we forget is that the Protestant Church is equally pervaded by the spirit of Babylonianism, which is the idea of seeking to obtain earthly power and glory by the exercise of a false religious authority, and is as much evident in Protestant thinking as in Catholic thinking.
Wherever it is, it's Babylonianism. Wherever it is, it will be ultimately judged by the nations themselves, and therefore the Scriptures make clear that the final end of Christendom as such, that is, outward, external Christianity, is destruction, a complete repudiation by the peoples of the world. They will throw it overboard as being no longer worthy of their interest because of its hypocrisy and its hollowness. Now this doesn't touch on the question of true faith, which is an inner thing, not an outward thing, which will never be overthrown. Nothing can touch that. Nothing moves against that. We can see some of these developments beginning to take very positive shape even in our day.
The final expression of earthly religion will not be Christianity as such. It will be humanism, that is, the exaltation of a man and the worship of man as man, all centered and focused on a single individual who will be worshiped as the god-man, though I doubt he will be given that term. For the spirit of humanism has been at work throughout the human race ever since the beginning in this desperate attempt to exalt man. And the final form that the satanic religion takes is that there will come an overthrow of everything that has the outward expression of Christian faith and even the outward adherence to God, with a substitution of man as God himself. This we see in the Antichrist.
Now, there's another character that must come before us, and we'll try to get at him today, in Daniel 9—the great prophecy of the 70 weeks. Remember, this prophecy set forth the coming of Christ. It told exactly the time he would come in relationship to the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, and how after he came, he would be cut off and have nothing. Then would come the Roman people who would destroy the city, the sanctuary. All this has long been fulfilled exactly as it was predicted here.
Then would come the final end, where for a period of seven years or one week, the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist, all these terms, will make a covenant with Israel for seven years. The temple will be rebuilt in the city of Jerusalem, and there, in that temple, this man presents himself as the god of the world, as the final expression of the humanistic spirit in which man is his own god.
Then in the last verse of this chapter, the latter part of it, we read, And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.
(v. 27, ESV). Now that is a different individual. Here we have a hint that when the man of sin rules in almost invincible power, there is yet a second force that is raised against him called the desolator, who moves into the land of Israel, and a decreed end is poured out upon him.
Many have wondered who this is and what role he plays. I think it's time for us to trace this role. We’ll find, in Daniel 11, a further reference to some of these matters. This chapter is the most amazing chapter. It begins by tracing the course of history in the Mediterranean from Daniel's day, to almost the first coming of our Lord, and then skips over in the Great Parenthesis to the last day.
Daniel 11:1-35 has already been fulfilled. It's a very remarkable tracing in detail of history that covers a space of probably four to five hundred years that went on after Daniel wrote these words and was fulfilled in detail. This included such outstanding characters as Cleopatra, the king of Syria, Antiochus, Epiphanes, that is Antiochus the Great and is a record of the battles that went back and forth between Egypt and Syria in the days between the writings of the Old and the New Testament, in that intertestamental period.
Beginning with verse 36, we find the Great Parenthesis, that I've mentioned, coming in that leaps over the intervening centuries to the time of the end. This is suggested clearly for us in verse 35.
And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. vv. 34b-35
Those words carry us over some 20 centuries from the time before the first coming of Christ through to this time when the seven-year period that Daniel predicted begins to be fulfilled. That is the immediate seven years before the second return of Christ. Beginning with verse 36, we read about that period. And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods
(v. 36a).
You should recognize him. This is the one we've read about in so many scriptures, the man of lawlessness whom Paul says exalts himself above every god, exactly as Daniel said. Our Lord called it that abomination that makes desolate, who is the antichrist, the prince that shall come, the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13, and the one who will express the humanistic spirit in its ultimate manifestation.
He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; [That's the tribulation.] for what is decreed shall be done. He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. [That is the god of military might.] A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. [I take that as a reference to the extreme cost of military preparation, of which we are getting an excellent taste today.] He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. vv. 36b-39
Now the land in Daniel always refers to the land of Palestine or Israel, and here's one who shall make a covenant to divide up the land. Thus, you see this long-standing feud between the Arabs and the Israelis as to what part of the land belongs to whom, which is the unsettled problem of our day.
Now we read about the King of the South, which is always Egypt in the Bible. At the time of the end, the King of the South shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships
(v. 40). Who is the King of the North? As you read through this chapter, you’ll notice that the whole chapter centers around the conflict between the King of the South and the King of the North, and in the record of history the King of the South was always Egypt and the allies that they were able to control, while the King of the North was Syria, the area north of Palestine.
These directions are always given in relation to Palestine. North of that is the land of Syria, with Turkey still further north. Russia is even further north. All of these areas, including much of Russia, were dominated by the Syrian Empire. This then is the King of the North that we find referred to here, and you find this great political leader ensconced in the temple in Jerusalem, offering himself as the one who is the proper expression of human worship.
While he's there, at that time, the leader of Egypt marshals his forces and comes against him. And at the same time, the King of the North comes down so that there is a double-pronged invasion of Israel from the south and from the north, against the western ruler whose forces are there in the city of Jerusalem and in the west as well.
We read that the King of the North comes with chariots and horsemen and with many ships and shall come into the countries, overflow, and pass through. He shall come into the glorious land. [Palestine] And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites
(v. 41). That happens to be that section of the desert where evidently the Israelites, who flee from the city of Jerusalem in obedience to our Lord's words, get out of the city when they see these things take place and hide. And there's divine protection afforded to them so that they are kept from the enmity of the King of the North as he comes through.
He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape
(v. 42). So that he comes marching through Israel, capturing the city of Jerusalem, moving on down through the Sinai Peninsula, and into Egypt. He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train
(v. 43). That is, they will come under his influence.
He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. vv. 43-45
That's the decreed end that Daniel mentions back in chapter 9, Until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator, he shall come to his end with none to help him.
Notice what happens. He comes down into Egypt, and while he's there in northern Africa with the Ethiopians and the Libyans coming under his power, tidings from the east and north come to him that alarm him. I wish I had a map here so you could see this area in detail, but if you have one in the back of your Bibles, you might follow it.
You'll notice that if you're in Egypt, the east and the north are Palestine. Here he is with a long-extended supply line in northern Africa, and, of course, this kind of invasion will not be taken lightly. The tremendous military might of the West is stirred up, and he hears words evidently of an attempt to cut off his supply lines from the east and from the north. So he comes back into the land of Israel with great fury, and we read, He shall pitch his palatial tent between the sea and the glorious holy mountain.
Now the sea is always the Mediterranean, and the glorious holy mountain is Jerusalem, yet he shall come to his end with none to help him. Holding your place here in Daniel, turn back to the previous book of Ezekiel. In the 38th and 39th chapters of this book, we have an amazing prophecy related to the King of the North, which is, in the end time, identifiable with Russia and its satellite nations.
The word of the Lord came to me:
(Ezekiel 38:1-2). Gog and Magog are referred to in Genesis 10. Anthropologists, archaeologists, and Bible students alike agree that these nations migrated up into the northern parts of Asia, into this area, and settled into the lands of Armenia, Turkey, and the northern shores of the Black Sea, which is now the southern steps of Russia.Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him
The cities that are mentioned here, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, are quite strongly, in the grammatical derivation here, a reference to the principal cities of Russia and Siberia. Moscow is another spelling of Meshech, and Tubal is another spelling of the capital of Siberia, which is Tobolsk. These names can be closely traced back and identified with them. So we have here a prophecy concerning Russia.
Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; vv. 3-5
Persia is Iran. Cush is identified, usually, with parts of the Arabian Peninsula, so that here are the Arab nations in league. Gomer and all his hordes; Beth-togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north with all his hordes—many peoples are with you
(v. 6). Gomer is most identified with parts of Eastern Germany. See, here is a nation that is dominant in power over many satellite nations as well as many peoples. Now the word comes to Israel. Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. After many days you will be mustered
(vv. 7-8a). Here is the word for Russia:
In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them. You will advance, coming on like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you. vv. 8b-9
That's why Daniel wrote that upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate.
Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say,
I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its leaders will say to you,Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?vv. 10-13
Here is opposition arising from certain nations identified with the merchants of Tarshish, which is usually associated with the western Mediterranean nations.
Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. vv. 14-16
It's amazing when you stop to think about it, that this declares that Soviet Russia and all its communist activity is an instrument in the hand of God. It serves the purposes of God.
Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?
(v. 17). You will want to read the prophecies of Isaiah about this one. You can find it under the title of the Assyrian.
But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword will be against his brother. With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord. vv. 19-23
You may be asking if this is atomic warfare or if this is a natural phenomenon poured out from God. It's a little bit difficult to determine. My personal conviction is that this is not atomic warfare; this is a natural phenomenon that God musters the forces of the universe, and there are these tremendous outpourings of hail and fire and brimstone that rain down. The earth has had records of such outpourings before, and this could occur again.
I'll just skip through part of chapter 39. I don't have to read the whole chapter, though it's interesting to read. We read this prophecy further, and then verse 11 says, On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea
(v. 11a). Remember what Daniel said, He shall plant his palatial tent between the sea and the holy mountain.
It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory, declares the Lord God. They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make their search. And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. vv. 11b-15
Then he speaks of calling the birds of the air to feast upon the flesh of the thousands and millions who are slain on this occasion, and how he thus proves his might among the nations.
Now turn to the prophecy of Joel, which is beyond Daniel. Daniel, Hosea, and Joel, and you see another word concerning this in Joel 2. We read a prophecy of this great northern army coming down.
Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. Joel 2:3-6
We will skip some verses until we come to verse 18.
Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people. The Lord replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things! Joel 2:18-20
There, you see God destroys the armies of Russia, of the Soviets. All this takes place during this tribulation period when all these terrible things are happening on the earth. I'm convinced from the scriptures that this destruction of the Russian host occurs before the so-called battle of Armageddon. But we're moving up to the very time of that great battle, which has become a byword among the peoples of earth. A time when God finally settles the problems dealing with the nation, and I want to spend most of my time next week on finally bringing the picture together—the final climax. I'm sure you have a lot of questions you'd like to ask, and we'll take extra time this morning to handle them.
Question: I thought that this man, the abomination, was the King of the West.
Stedman: No, that's the King of the North, who comes down. The prince who shall come is the King of the West, and he is involved in conflict with the King of the North, as Daniel tells us in chapter 11.
Question: I thought all of these things were about the same person.
Stedman: All of these things are yes, but the desolator is a different individual. He's the King of the North. This is not the King of the North. None of these names identifies with the King of the North. Remember the points of the compass.
You have the King of the North, which is throughout history, Syria, and the northern nations beyond that, which would identify with Russia. Then the King of the South, which is Egypt, and all the nations of Northern Africa that identify with it. Then there is the Western world. It's never called the King of the West, but you can think of it that way, where you have the leader with all these names here. These all apply to one individual, the Western King.
Then there are the Kings of the East that are mentioned in Revelation, who we will speak of next week, that come onto the scene just at the final end, where you would certainly have the millions of China and India involved.
Question: I'm very confused because I thought that the King of the West was the one who desolated the temple.
Stedman: He does, but he only desolates the temple, not the land. He has been accepted, in a sense, as the ruler of the land, and he desolates the temple which was erected by the Jews as a true temple to God, by offering himself as the proper object of human worship. By doing this, he desolates that temple, which is what our Lord meant when he called him, The abomination, which makes desolate.
However, the individual who comes through and desolates the land is the northern powers of Israel, the King of the North, who fights against this king of man of sin. The destruction of the armies of the West comes at the battle of Armageddon. You find another reference to it in Zachariah 14.
Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. Zechariah 14:1-3
Now this is the invasion of the King of the North with his armies, which is what we just read in Ezekiel 38 and 39. But then it goes on to involve also the battle of Armageddon, which almost immediately follows. I will tie that in next week. So, it's the northern army that ravages the city of Jerusalem and takes it captive.
This is the time when our Lord said to let him who is up on the housetop not come down and take his coat but get out of the city when you see this taking place, this abomination of standing in the holy place. He instructs them to get out of town, because it will be immediately followed by this invasion from the north. The city will be taken and destroyed as we read here.
Question: Does this happen in the first half or the second half of the tribulation?
Stedman: That's very difficult to determine, whether it's the first half or the second half. Commentators shift between the two. I personally feel it takes place early in the second half, otherwise in the first half.
Question: Will Christians see this before the rapture?
Stedman: I don't think the church sees it except as seeing it from a glorified state, but there will certainly be believers who see this and are involved in these scenes, the believers of that day. I frankly think they'll still be called Christians, because that name, once introduced, will never be lost among men. But they're not part of the church now.
Question: The Western King will be the antichrist who will rule from this new temple with the Jews. Is it clear that he will be a Gentile?
Stedman: I think so. I think he'll be a Gentile.
Question: And he'll be accepted by the Jews as the true messiah?
Stedman: Yes, he will.
Question: Is the King from the South involved?
Stedman: Yes, he's overcome by the northern army as it sweeps down with just a juggernaut of military power. This evidently is what precipitates the invasion of the north. To put it in modern terms, though I'm not saying that the present individuals will necessarily be the ones involved in this, though certainly it could be them. Supposing Nasser [Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian ruler, 1954-70], who is now toying with joining with Russia and is under their influence, but not necessarily totally so yet.
Suppose he would, without consulting Russia, launch an invasion against Israel, as certainly he's preparing to do right now. This might well be taken as a very frightening thing on the part of Russia because they might feel that they were losing their grip on the Middle East. It would fall under Nassar’s control, and they would no longer have any voice at all. So they decide to launch an immediate counterattack. They might think that now is the time to strike, and they come right on through Egypt. Well, that would be the similar situation we have here.
Question: Is the Anti-Christ going to destroy them?
Stedman: No, his forces seem to be temporarily discomfited, and the northern army passes right on through into Egypt. The forces of the West, of course, are not really involved yet. They're still in the Western world. There comes an immediate summons for the mobilization of all the military power of the West to come and strike back. This was a lightning attack here, and immediately, the Western powers will begin to assimilate their forces to strike back. That's the tidings out of the east and the north which trouble the king while he's in Africa. He doesn't dare stay there with his lines of supply deployed as long as they are, so he comes back into the land of Israel, and it's there that he is destroyed.
Question: Somebody asked about the rapture. If the whole church is taken out, who would be the believers after the rapture?
Stedman: Well, immediately following the rapture, the departure of the church, at the very moment that these events take the church out of the world, there will also be an unveiling of the blinded eyes of thousands in Israel. In the Book of Revelation, we read that there will be 144,000 Israelites who suddenly see that Christ is the Messiah.
Like Paul on the Damascus Road, they are suddenly transformed and changed from their blinded condition to see that he is indeed the one. Paul speaks of himself as one born out of due time, that is, one born before the time. His conversion was a picture of this conversion of Israel at that time. Well, the Holy Spirit, of course, is always present. And it's always been true that the church, when persecuted, has more power to convict people and bring them to Christ than it has when it's not persecuted. So you find all through the Book of Revelation, the saints are there in the world. And the enmity of the man of sin is directed against the saints. He makes war against the saints, Daniel says. He tries to stamp out this religion. He succeeded in stamping out all the external forms of Christianity, all the Babylonianism that's present in Christianity. And the only thing left is this fire in human hearts, which he can't quite get at. So he makes every possible effort to try to stamp this out.
Question: And the Holy Spirit will be here at that time?
Stedman: Oh, yes. Very definitely so.
Question: When is Christ going to receive the 144,000?
Stedman: Receive them? What do you mean by receive?
Question: You mentioned that 144,000 of those in Israel would have their eyes opened.
Stedman: At the coming of the Lord as a thief, that is the departure of the church, only in the sense that the church becomes with the Lord in glory. But remember the picture that I've drawn is that Christ comes and remains here on earth through that whole time, just as he was here during those 40 days after his resurrection, when he could appear and disappear at will. He's in direct contact with these 144,000 or more.
Now, some of this may sound rather fantastic, but when you stop to think about it, it's nothing more than what has already happened. There's nothing new. No new elements are introduced. It's exactly what has already occurred in our Lord's relationship with his own as recorded in the gospel. It's all the strange and sinister sounding beasts and animals and that you find in the Book of Revelation that are not literal. They're figurative. They're figurative of political movements and ideals at work among men. They're not something new. They're something that's already present.
You could take the Book of Revelation with its strange animals and so on, and I think pretty well identify them with the movements, ideas, and philosophies that are abroad today because they're simply a figurative description of these things. When you read the book that way, you can see that it isn't going to be a time of grotesque and absurd animals appearing on earth, sort of like an Alice in Wonderland scene, but it's really just a description of what's been here all along in its final, ultimate culmination.
Question: (It could not be heard)
Stedman: Well, now remember, he spoke to the disciples as representatives, didn't he? Because they did not personally go through any of this. So, he speaks to them as representatives. Now, they were representative of two different groups, and amazingly enough, only the disciples fit in this catagory. We, Christians, could never have represented what they represent, because they were both of Israel and of the church.
They served to represent both groups of God's people. They were called at the time that the church hadn't yet begun when the Lord spoke these words. So they were standing before him as representatives of Israel, but in his anticipated thinking, they also represented the church. So he could speak to them in both relationships. So in that sense, the words he addressed to them do not indicate, in any way, whether the church would be involved or not involved.
However, there are passages that do indicate that. In 1 Thessalonians, we are told that God has not chosen the church to go through the tribulation, a wrath, but rather to be delivered from it. Also in Revelation 3, there is that amazing promise. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth
(Rev. 3:10). And the original language here is very strong. I will keep you out of the hour of trial which is coming. I will take you out of it.
There are other promises, but I think it's clear if you put the scriptures together.
Question: What would be your advice to anyone who is still here during this time?
Stedman: Well, the advice is to hold fast to the things that the Lord has spoken. Anyone who is seeing these things take place, there's only one possible alternative, and that's to hold on to Christ as the only one who could possibly see them through this time of difficulty. Of course, this is a time of great stress and pressure. As the Lord said, For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect
(Matthew 24:24).
But that's the point, only those who are genuinely God’s are kept by him through this time of trouble. And he's able to keep his own. He knows how to do that, just as he does that today. That could actually be said about any Christian at any time. We don't stand by our own cleverness. It isn't by the fact that we constantly keep alert or recognize every arrow that comes our way that keeps us. It's really the grace of God who watches over us.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
The day of wrath, in this verse, is another descriptive characteristic title of the time of tribulation.
Question: (Can’t hear the question.)
Stedman: Well, it would have to be us because the whole letter is addressed to the church. You have another reference in chapter 1 of Thessalonians.
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 Thess. 1:9-10
Question: (It is hard to hear.) They are asking if the word church is the correct translation from the Greek.
Stedman: That's the translation of the word ekklesia, from which we get ecclesiastical and so on. That's the word church
in the Greek. Now, that word, interestingly enough, does not occur in the Book of Revelation after chapter 4. You'll never find the word church
in all the scriptures of the tribulation.
Question: The word church means all believers in Christ.
Stedman: Yes, the body of Christ, called the body of Christ.
Question: Did I understand that at one point it's possible that the church will not be completely removed from the world?
Stedman: Well, it will be in point of time, but not in point of space.
Question: Do you have scripture to support this?
Stedman: Not wholly. These are partly conclusions that I have come to as I compared scriptures together. But the statement is made clear that the church will be with the Lord.
Now, you find in the Book of Revelation that the Lord appears with his people on earth. A hundred and forty-four thousand are seen with the Lord, the Lamb in the midst. And the church is, therefore, always with the Lord. And I think it can easily be seen in the same sense that he was with them during the time of the forty days after his resurrection. He wasn't always visibly with them, but he was with them and became visible at times. Now, with the church, those, of course, were not yet glorified saints. Glorified saints are with the Lord always, but in the same relationship that he is.
Question: And the reference in 2 Thessalonians 2 saying You know what is restraining him now.
Which is the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit will be present?
Stedman: Oh, yes. He will be present. All this says is that his restraining activity ceases. It's like somebody standing in front of a door, holding it shut with his back up against it, and he's holding somebody from coming in. And then finally he decides to let him in. He steps aside, and they come in. He's still there, but he's not restraining anything any longer. That's what the Holy Spirit does, you see. It's that his restraining work stops. He lets loose the flood of human iniquity.
The only reason we could exist here and meet this morning is because God is restraining the iniquity in this world. If he ever, for a moment, chose to let it go, let it find full expression, we would immediately be engulfed in anarchy over the face of the whole world. And that's what will happen during that time.
Question: It's interesting about this destruction of the King of the North. God says that he will reveal himself to these people through this destruction, yet they have no time for repentance or for turning, just recognizing him for what he is.
Stedman: They've had time for repentance all through the long years of their whole life. This just becomes a time of final revelation, you see, because they've deluded and deceived themselves. This is not true only of Russia. It's true of all people. This is a problem with man, isn't it? We delude ourselves. We deceive ourselves. We don't want to look at life as it really is. We don't want to face reality. We want to face our image of it. We want to dress it up, so it looks like something that we like, and then we say that this is what life is like. That's just what men are doing all the time.
Question: When they talk about chariots, is this literal?
Stedman: Not necessarily. It's literal in the sense that they will be actual vehicles, certainly, but not necessarily the old idea of chariots. That's just a general term. I think it could cover tanks, and amphibian vehicles, and so on, just as well as the old war chariots.
Question: Are we going to get a chance next week to delve into this area of Revelation where the Alice in Wonderland
scenes come in? This is really puzzling.
Stedman: Well, I don't know how much time we'll get into some of these other areas. I can't, of course, cover all the prophetic sections of the Scripture because there's much that I haven't even touched upon. I've just hit the highlights. This is just a course on the highlights of prophecy. But if there's time, I'll be glad to try to answer some questions on that next week.
What I want to do next week is to pick it up right where we've left off today and trace the final culmination of things in what is called the Battle of Armageddon, Campaign of Armageddon.
It comes from two words in Hebrew, har, which means valley, and Megiddo, which is simply a name of a location. So it's the Valley of Megiddo or Armageddon. It's a well-known valley, also called the Plain of Israel. You can visit it if you ever go there. It runs from Mount Carmel, where the city of Haifa is located, straight inward until it ends at a bluff upon which the city of Nazareth is located. So when you're at Nazareth, you look out over the Valley of Armageddon.
Napoleon once stood on that site and looked out over the valley and said, This indeed is a valley in which all the armies of earth could maneuver.
That valley already has been the most fought over spot on the face of the earth. Battles are not new to the Valley of Armageddon.
