Bible Prophecy: Parable of the Sower — Scott MacLeod

I was thinking today I might have neglected to finish a thought. Sometimes that happens. I don't finish all my thoughts. I mentioned last night the times of the Gentiles, and we sort of set the stage a little bit for that where it started with Nebuchadnezzar, and we brought out the reason for that is because God's glory had actually left the temple, and no longer was God administering Gentile affairs through the nation of Israel.

The Times of the Gentiles and the Restoration of Israel

So what happened at this point, because the glory of God was gone, the nation of Israel was under the suppressive hand of Gentile rulers, and that has continued right on through, and you'll notice the times of the Gentiles continues this green right through here, and there's where the word of God tells us it ends when the Lord Jesus comes back to the land, to the earth, and he enters the temple and the glory of God, and then finally for that thousand years, God is now administering through his people on earth the affairs of the world.

So that's an important thing. Another thing you'll find in Romans chapter 11 when you're reading it is along with the expression the times of the Gentiles, you might have read the fullness of the Gentiles until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

Some people think that that ends at the rapture, but it does not. Read the context carefully. The fullness of the Gentiles ends when the veil, the blindness, leaves the heart and the eyes of the Jewish people, and they discover their Savior.

So the fullness and the times of the Gentiles come to the same termination, and that, of course, is when Christ is on the throne. Now we're going to continue with our structure of the Bible, trying to understand what did the apostles know, the disciples know.

See, we are in a tremendous advantage with the New Testament. You might remember the last couple of nights we've touched on dispensations. We've touched on covenants. Now I want to touch on a truth that's known as the mysteries of the New Testament.

Some people will try to count seven. I personally count 14. I guess you could lump them all together. It all depends how people count, but anyways, it doesn't matter to me. I personally see 14 of them.

But what a mystery is, and we're going to look at one tonight as we move through this, is it's not something that's mysterious or hazy or spooky like we kind of think of the word mystery. A mystery is something that has been known to God but completely outside of the minds of men and women.

And only when God in His grace moved into humanity and revealed truth or this mystery, that is when we then came into the good of it. So there's a lot of things that we understand in the Old Testament now because of the light, the truth of the New Testament.

The Mystery of the Church Revealed in the New Testament

I'll give you an example. One of the mysteries, Ephesians chapter 3, is this period here called the church, the church age. And we're told very clearly in Ephesians chapter 3 that the truth concerning the church, you know this, it's hidden.

It's hidden in the Old Testament. It's not revealed. There was no prophet. There was no mighty king that ever sat down and discovered this truth of the church. That was actually saved for a man by the name of Paul.

And he was actually given the privilege of revealing. He was at the channel through whom God revealed it through. So what does that do to us? Because we now have that truth concerning the body of Christ, you know what we're able to do now?

We take that light and we go back into the Old Testament and we discover that, oh, Moses got a wife when he was rejected the first time. He got a wife the second time and she was a Gentile. Oh, that's a lovely picture of what we now know in the New Testament.

We come to Joseph. Joseph was rejected of his brethren. He goes down into Egypt. Once again, he gets a Gentile bride. Another lovely picture of what we know to be the church. But if you didn't have the truth of the New Testament, you would read those two stories in the Old Testament and it wouldn't mean anything to you.

Just be a story. So we stand at a tremendous point in time. We've got the full revealed truth from God. And we should be really thankful for that. I know we are because we know tremendous things. Men, you know from the Old Testament, 2 Peter, your key passage on inspiration, when men like David and all those men wrote, they actually stopped and they studied what they wrote.

And they tried to understand it. They couldn't understand some of the stuff they wrote because it went far beyond their experience. And we're going to show you just a little bit of that tonight. So let's start tonight in Matthew chapter 17.

We want to discover what did the apostles, the disciples, know prior to the Lord Jesus being crucified, going back to heaven, and the truth being given to us. Because there's going to be some expressions we want to look at.

And I trust it will help you understand this. And this is important to see this in relation to what we want to teach about the spiritual aspect of the kingdom in contrast to the physical. I'll go over that a little bit again.

Elijah, John the Baptist, and the Kingdom Offer

So Matthew chapter 17, I want you to look at just a little expression here in verse number 10. His disciples come to the Lord Jesus. Matthew 17 and verse 10, and here's what they say to him. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias or Elijah must first come?

You ever read that and wondered what does that mean? Okay, well, let's go back into the Old Testament. The very last book of our Bible is Malachi. Go to the book of Malachi. It's very easy to find. Very last book in the Old Testament.

You ever notice how the Old Testament ends? Go to Malachi chapter 4 and look at what we have in verse number 5. And as you know, we've now, after Malachi, we've got 400 years of silence until God speaks again in the New Testament.

Malachi chapter 4 and look at verse number 5. Spirit of God speaking through Malachi. And here's what we read. Verse 5 of chapter 4. Behold, I, that's God, will send you Elijah, the prophet. Notice, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

Now, if you were to go to a non-Christian Jewish home today in the month of April when they celebrate the Passover, every single home will have an empty chair at their table. And if you were to ask them, the host, why is it that every year you have an empty chair, they will quote you Malachi chapter 4.

Because God told us that Elijah is going to come and announce the day of the Lord. It's going to come. So we're expecting him at any moment to come in through that door and we've got a seat here for him.

Now, you remember reading in the New Testament what the Lord Jesus taught about John the Baptist. The Lord Jesus actually said, we're going to read it in very emphatic terms, that if they had have received the ministry of John the Baptist, this is the Elijah of the Old Testament.

What does that mean? I'm going to prove it to you tonight from the word of God that when the Lord Jesus came the first time, he came with a bona fide offer of the kingdom. He did. Now, that's going to cause some problems in our minds because we're full of the truth of the New Testament and our minds are going back and we're saying, but wait a second now, the Messiah had to die.

He had to be buried. He had to go back to heaven. There's this church age. You see, but what you need to understand is this. I'm coming back to this again. What did the disciples know from the Old Testament?

It's often been explained. They saw two mountain peaks. That's what they saw. This is how they saw them. They saw the incoming, the birth of the Messiah, and they saw the reign of the Messiah. That's what all your prophets are taken up with.

Now, what does the New Testament do for us? It takes it this way and we go, oh, there's quite a valley in here. There's quite a span of time in here. There's something called the dispensation of grace in here, which you would not see from the Old Testament.

So I want you to understand, the next time you read Matthew 16 and the Lord Jesus asks the disciples, whom do men say that I am? And finally, there's a number of answers, and Peter says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

Then what does the Lord Jesus tell them? First time he mentions it, I am going to go to Jerusalem. I'm going to be arrested. I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to be raised. What does Peter do? He rebukes him.

He says, oh, Lord, be it far from you. Now, why did Peter talk that way? Because Peter only knew what he knew from the Old Testament. There's what he saw. He saw the birth and the rule. That's why he couldn't understand.

You're going to die? How did the Lord Jesus teach his disciples to pray? Go to Matthew 6. Father, it's art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. You see? There it is right there. Every day they would have prayed, they would have mentioned the kingdom.

This is what we are looking for. You remember the two on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24. And all of a sudden, this person draws near to them, which they don't realize is the Lord Jesus, and he starts to listen to their conversation.

And notice what they say. We trusted. The word trusted means hoped. We hoped that it was he which would redeem Israel. There's where their minds were, which would redeem Israel. So these people were speaking this way because all they knew was the truth of the Old Testament.

Go to Acts 1. The Lord takes his disciples out to the Mount of Olives. In Acts 1, remember what Peter says. The Lord is just about to go off to go to heaven. And Peter says, Lord, will you at this time restore again Israel?

There's where Peter's mind was because he didn't understand the things that we understand from the New Testament. So the reason I'm saying that is don't be too hard on the ignorance, we think, of these men.

All they had was the Old Testament. For instance, you look at all your prophets. All your prophets looked forward to this. That's what they all look forward to, every one of them. You take Isaiah 9, that, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

What's the very next phrase? And the government shall be upon his shoulder. Jumps right from the birth, right to the rule. Just like it covers how many thousands of years just in one simple sentence. So that's the way their minds were conditioned from the Old Testament.

And that's something that we need to understand because, see, they didn't understand the structure of this whole program. Now, like I said, I'm going to prove this in a minute. When the Lord Jesus came, it was a bona fide offer of the kingdom.

You might ask me, well, how can that be? Okay, let me give you something else to think about. You remember the rich ruler that came to the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Mark? What must I do to be saved, you know, born again?

Did the Lord Jesus not offer him salvation? Yeah, told him exactly what to do, but the man rejected. Does that mean that the Lord knew he was going to reject him? Does that mean the Lord was just playing with him?

You see, here's something you'll have to come to grips with when you study prophecy and structure the Bible. We have a hard time understanding that God decrees, but it doesn't violate the free will of man.

It's very hard for us to weave them together. I told you I don't have time to do it, but God will actually call and use a man called Nebuchadnezzar to discipline his people. Then you'll know what you'll read from the prophet Isaiah and Jeremiah.

God will predict the judgment of Babylon because they were too hard on the people of God. God will do the same thing with a number of these kings. God will use Egypt to discipline his people, and then God will turn around and use Babylon to discipline Egypt.

And the Assyrians, the same thing. God used the Assyrian nation to discipline his people because of sin, and then God will take Babylon, and he'll take Medo-Persia, and he'll discipline Assyrians. You say, how can that be fair?

Well, you see, we just have to let God be God. Sometimes in 2016, we live in the age of intellectualism. Do you know what we were speaking? Just touch it. Just touch a brief at the table tonight. It's almost like we're almost hesitant just to quote the Word of God.

Period. Oh, no, no, we have to explain it. We have to add our argument to it to almost bolster it up. No, we don't. You just have to quote the Word of God. That's the importance of the Word. That's where the power lies, dear child of God.

You ever been in a Bible study, and the verse says this, and there seems to be one or two brethren, and they spend about 20 minutes? Well, this is what it says. No, it doesn't. This is what it says. Oh, no, no, no, this is what it means.

No, no, this is what it says. Just take it literally. God did not give us a book full of riddles. He gave us a book to be taken literally. That's the problem with many people today. As I said in denominationalism, as I said, those three different categories.

Christ as Head of the Church Rather Than King

Let me give you just one simple question to prove my point. Is the Lord Jesus reigning as a king right now? Well, you say, according to some of these songs that we sing, he is. Well, hymology is not theology.

The Lord Jesus is not reigning as a king. He's not even sitting on his throne. The Word of God is very clear. He's seated at the right hand of his father. His father is on the throne, administering the affairs of this world.

You go into the book of Hebrews. What does the book of Hebrews do? The book of Hebrews brings before us that lovely picture of Melchizedek in the Old Testament who was a king priest. Which office does the book of Hebrews develop?

The high priest. It doesn't even develop the king side. Because Christ as a king is not for the church. It's for the nation of Israel. So for us to get up and go on about Christ as our king, he's not our king.

He's our head. It's a completely different thought in it. See what I mean? When you don't understand verses in their context and the group of people that they're for, you start to bleed verses into other groups and it doesn't even apply at all.

So that's something that we need to just keep in the back of our mind. So let's go to Matthew chapter 11 and let's prove this genuine offer of the kingdom, what the Lord Jesus taught about John the Baptist.

You know that John the Baptist was the forerunner to announce the coming king. And it's kind of sad to think that the nation, because they rejected him, what will come? There will be a false prophet that will come announcing the Antichrist, just like happened with the Lord Jesus.

And you know what the outcome will be. The nation will actually accept the Antichrist. So there's quite a picture that you have there. So Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 13, notice what the Lord Jesus said about John the Baptist.

Verse 12, For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John. Here's the words of the Lord Jesus. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. Now that's pretty clear. You can't argue with that.

Because I have had people argue with me and tell me that no, no, no. When the Lord Jesus came, there was no offer of the kingdom. Well, then what does the verse mean? Let's go to another verse. Let's go to chapter 17, Matthew 17.

Here's what the Lord Jesus said about John the Baptist in Matthew 17. The verse that we started with, verse number 10, I'll read it too. Matthew 17 and verse 10. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already. And they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.

Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer them, then suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Now, what did John the Baptist do? He caused a tremendous restoration in the nation of Israel.

Remember, they were coming out in groves to be baptized in the Jordan so that they were linking themselves with this coming king that they'd never met. And when John stood that day and pointed him out, then the disciples left John and they started to follow this Messiah, right?

Now, you'll see this come to a head here in a minute, what the Lord Jesus said. It's very important to get a hold of that. John did the very same thing that Elijah brought, tremendous restoration in the nation.

And that is why this link is made with Elijah. So, as I said, there is coming a man that will come and say that he is the Elijah, but we know that he'll be the false prophet, and that's another whole word of ministry.

Jesus Reads Isaiah and Announces the Acceptable Year

Now, let's come over to Luke chapter 4. I want to show you this now. The Lord Jesus knew exactly. He was not blind, as we know, like the disciples, because he not only knew the Old Testament, but he knew the New Testament as well that had been revealed yet.

I often marvel at that time. You ever wonder about that time when the Lord Jesus was in the temple at the age of 12 or 13? And if you know anything about what's called a bar mitzvah, that's when a young Jewish boy will quote the first five books from memory, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

I often thought, what it must have been for him to quote his own word. Not a wonder they were amazed at it. It just came out of him so easy. It's his own work, his own word. That's tremendous to think of that.

Okay, Luke chapter 4. Look what we have here. Verse number 16. You know this. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for it to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. Verse 18. Quotes from Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Verse 19. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Period. Did you ever take time to go back into Isaiah and read where the Lord stopped? Let's do that. Go to Isaiah 61. It's fascinating where he stopped. Praise the Lord he did stop because you'll notice in Luke 4, he says, this day is a scripture filled in your ears.

He says that in verse 21. So there was a fulfillment of scripture there. Go to Isaiah 61. And you're going to discover that the Lord Jesus stopped right in the middle of a verse, which is quite unusual.

Look at Isaiah 61, verse 1. You already read these words. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn.

Look at the chart. There's the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all that mourn. You notice where the Lord Jesus stopped? Thank God he did. He stopped to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Then he stopped. And then he looked at the people and he said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. If he had kept on reading, it would have jumped quickly into the judgment. See how careful?

See, the Lord Jesus knew. The Lord Jesus didn't look at things like this. He could see the whole structure. There is coming a time when I will be back in heaven and the gospel will be preached. Then will come the vengeance of God.

Then will come the millennial reign. So I just want you to see that the Lord himself did not make the same mistakes that the disciples made. He knew all of scripture. He knew what man was going to do.

He knew he was going to be rejected. He knew that the offer, the bona fide offer of the kingdom to the nation, he knew how they would respond. He didn't make them respond the way they responded. So you've got the free will of man that's never violated when God is moving amongst humanity, something that we just can't understand.

Matthew 12: Israel's Rejection and the Spiritual Kingdom

Now let's go to Matthew 12. This is where I want to finish our nights of ministry, Matthew 12 and 13, because as I said, I want you to see the distinction between the physical kingdom and the spiritual kingdom.

Or we could say it this way, the earthly aspect of the kingdom of God versus the heavenly aspect of the kingdom of God. And we brought out last night, or the night before that, you might remember when God was speaking to Abram, he talked about the dust and he talked about the stars.

And that's where we want to see this whole thing come together, okay? So when the Lord was rejected, you'll see how this is broken here. Israel is blinded. So the physical kingdom, end it right here. Then in comes the spiritual aspect of the kingdom of God.

And then you'll see that this will be picked up again here when the physical aspect of the kingdom, and we're going to see that in the parables of Matthew 13. But we need to look at a very important chapter.

Chapter 12 of Matthew is a pivotal point in the life of the Lord Jesus, okay? So have a look at verse 14. The Lord Jesus just finished healing a man with a withered hand, verse nine and 10. Verse 14, then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him.

Notice how they might destroy him. Okay, come down to verse number 22. Then was brought on to him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and the dumb both spake.

Now this is miracle number 12. Just happens to be in Matthew chapter 12, okay? Miracle 12 in chapter 12. Verse 23, and all the people were amazed and said, notice, is not this the son of David? You see that?

What did we learn last night about the son of David? That's linking it to the king, okay? You know the common people heard him gladly. It was the religious rulers that did not want to accept him for who he was.

You know that there was a number of disciples as a result of John the Baptist. They did acknowledge him as the Messiah and they were following him, okay? Look at the effect in verse 24 on the Pharisees.

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Now this is why this chapter is such a pivotal point. They are attributing the works of the Lord Jesus to the devil.

You know, the spirit of the dunghill, it's a God of the Old Testament this year. Beelzebub, I don't want to go into that right now. But they're attributing his actions to the devil. Think how serious that is.

The people, they could see that God is behind this man. They could. But the Pharisees didn't want to accept it, okay? Now, the Lord Jesus, verse 25, he addresses this issue. And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.

And every house, you know, basically he's saying, how can I be casting out the devil by the power of the devil? That's really what it comes to. Come up to this here. Verse 27. And if I, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your children cast out?

Because all their disciples were doing miracles. Verse 28. But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Now, there's the Lord Jesus, very clear. He's telling these people, as a result of my miracles, it's a proof to you that I am actually presenting the kingdom to you because I'm doing it by the spirit of God.

So you can see how important this is just to see this little distinction. Now, that is the context of verse 31. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

Now, I do not believe that can be done today. I believe that in the context, this is attributing the activities, the energies of the Lord Jesus to the devil. That's the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost when it is actually the Holy Ghost that is doing the work.

So, just ponder that in your little mind and keep it there for yourself. Notice what he says in verse 32. And whosoever speak of the word against the Son of Man. Remember what we learned last night about the Son of Man.

If the Son of David links you with the King, the Son of Man links you with the kingdom. So you got the two being brought together here in this little portion. Come to verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

Now, can you imagine? I told you this was miracle number 12. Here are these people wanting another miracle. Like what's another miracle going to do? You haven't listened to the last 12. And this is what the Lord is going to...

Look what he says in verse 39. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. Jonah.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now, how does that fit in here? What did Jonah do when he went out of sight from his own nation?

He went to a Gentile nation and preached the gospel. What has the Lord Jesus done since he's been rejected? He's gone out to the Gentiles to preach. You see, so there's more to the story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale than just a man swallowed by a whale.

Get the point? The Lord is bringing this before them. Now, look at this. You have got to understand just how... Some people picture the Lord as just a nice little soft preacher. I tell you, look, he was really coming hard on them here.

You watch how this increases. Look at verse 41. The men of Nineveh... That's where Jonah went. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with or against this generation. That's the ones he's looking at.

And shall condemn it because they repented of the preaching of Jonah and behold, a greater Jonah is here. Can you imagine how that fell on those Jewish ears? Gentiles are gonna rise in the day of judgment and they're gonna condemn us Jews?

Man, you can just see there... You can just see smoke starting to come out their ears. Every Jew looked down their nose at a Gentile. They're filthy. They're rotten. They don't even have God. And you're trying to tell us that those people that repented of the preaching of Jonah, they're actually gonna judge us?

Oh, they couldn't take it. You see, the Lord was no cream pie preacher. He was just hammering them, giving it to them. That's what they deserved, okay? So he goes even stronger. Look at verse 42. Another Gentile, the queen of the south, shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.

For she came from the othermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Behold, a greater Solomon is here. Another Gentile? And a woman at that? The Jews, they couldn't tolerate this. They just couldn't take this on board, we'd say.

How can those people? And this is how wicked this generation was. That's why I say to you, I was recently involved in a Bible study on Genesis. We were talking about creation and all that. And you know, I just simply told the people, I said, you know what?

This is not going to deteriorate into apologetics and scientific. You want to know something? When you meet somebody and they're only trying to pick a fight with you, just tell them have a good day. Don't argue with them.

There are people that are so set against the word of God. You're going to see this in a minute. Right after this event, do you know what you discover in Matthew 13? It's the first time in the ministry of the Lord where he starts to speak in parables.

Do you know what a parable is? A parable is a double-edged sword. We often quote it this way and say, oh, you know, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That's only one edge of the sword.

Do you know what the other edge of the sword is? It actually makes people dark who have just refused light. It damns them. That's what it does. And that's what the Lord Jesus does at this point. These people had so hardened their heart against the Lord.

After 12 miracles, now he's bringing in Gentiles who just received the word of God like that, coming in a day of judgment to stand and judge this nation because they didn't receive the Messiah like the Gentiles did.

And now he's going to, from this point, there's going to be a tremendous turn in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. And that, it's just, all we're doing is building to the break from the physical kingdom to the spiritual kingdom, which you'll see in just a minute.

So look at verse 43 now. We might not understand this and understand how this connects. He says this, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none.

Then he saith, I will return into my house. That's important. In the gospel of Matthew, the house is always linked with the nation of Israel. Okay? My house. From whence I am come out, came out. And when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished.

Then goeth he and taketh with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

What is the Lord meaning there? You want to know one thing that happened when the Lord, when God took the nation of Israel out into captivity, into Babylon? Seventy years in Babylon, do you know really what happened?

The nation of Israel was cured of their idolatry. And you realize that from the return into Israel from Babylon, that nation over there has not fallen back into idolatry. History will prove that to you.

Oh, they're a very secular nation. There, you might not know this, but Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is actually the homosexual capital of the world. Oh, they're very liberal. Very, very, very accepting of everything.

But it's very telling that the nation has not fallen back into idolatry. Do you know what the Lord is teaching here? You have come back out of captivity to a swept and garnished house. God has cleaned it for you.

But you know what's going to happen as a result of rejecting me? You're going to receive seven other demons, far worse, the Antichrist. And that's what the Lord means. The end of you people is going to be far worse than the stage you're at now.

The Antichrist and the World’s Expectation of a Messiah

You know, it's very... I find it very interesting. You'll notice in the book of Revelation that you have the two beasts. One comes out of the sea and one comes out of the land. Now, I personally... The seas are always linked with the Gentiles.

The land is always linked with the Jew. I believe that the Antichrist comes out of the sea. And I believe the prophet comes out of the land. So I think the prophet, which will mimic John the Baptist, will be a bona fide Jewish man pointing his finger at a Gentile pretending to be a Jew, the Messiah.

And the nation will swallow that hook, line, and sinker. Remember I told you about my little trip over to Israel and the Temple Institute and how they're just waiting for their Messiah. They're expecting him to come.

You should do a little study on history. The first time the United Nations mentioned... The first time the United Nations came together in New York, Henry Spack, S-P-A-C-K. You know what he said from the podium?

He said this back in 19... I think it was 47. He said, We need a man. Be he God or the devil, we will receive him. That was back in 1947. That's hard to believe. You go out into that world of religion, you know this, that even amongst the Islamic folk, the Muslim faith, what are they waiting for?