The Counterfeit, a Crisis, a Conquest (Matt. 24; 2 Thes. 2; Rev. 13:1-18) (Part 1) — Frank Sona

Our Father, we join together now at the outset of this meeting. We do so in a spirit of dependence as we look to Thee again. We thank Thee for the work of Thy Son, all that we are speaking of, of future events, all predicated upon that great work of Calvary.

We do thank Thee for the vastness of it and the efficacy of it, that all eternity shall not only look back to Calvary, but shall forever worship the Lamb that was slain. We have sung together of our souls being like watered gardens.

We think of how the nation of Israel is promised one day to be as a watered garden, fruitful for God ultimately and eternally. But we as well even now would like our souls to be fruitful for Thee, and so we just commit ourselves to Thee.

We were reminded last evening of the practical effects of reading such as this upon our souls. We thank Thee that we can look upon Thy Son, gaze upon Him, and as the readings progress, we thank Thee that we shall progressively see more and more of His glories.

Occupy us with Him, we pray. Help our brother as he handles Thy word, and grant that we will have that which is profitable for all who are here. We commend ourselves in our Savior's name to Thee. Amen.

Amen.

Daniel's Seventieth Week and the Antichrist's Covenant

Now since we covered, our brother Coulson covered Daniel chapter 9 in such a good way, we're going to just pick up though at the very end of that. Let's go back to Daniel chapter 9 for a moment, and a few, just one or two remaining verses in that section.

Daniel chapter 9, excuse me, and verse 27. And He, that is the Prince, not Messiah the Prince, but He, or otherwise known as the Antichrist, and we're going to look at that a little later too. He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

So we've already established that that is a week of years, seven years. And in the midst of the week, He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. Now just to stop there, in the midst of the week.

So obviously we can all divide seven and a half. That would be three and a half years. We can't all divide it, I guess we can't. Seven and a half, and that's three and a half years. We have this period referred to in other sections of the book of Daniel as time.

That's one, and then times, two, and then half a time. So one plus two and a half, three and a half. It is also referred to in other parts, in the book of Revelation for example, by months, 42 months, or 1260 days.

It is a very exact time. He shall confirm the covenant with many for seven years, one week, and in the middle of the week, at three and a half year mark, He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

And for the overspreading of abominations, or the wing of abominations, that is an interesting word. It carried the thought even of the pinnacle. And this could be a very, it will be a very public thing.

You remember that the Antichrist seeks to be a counterfeit, seeks to duplicate. And you remember that Satan himself took the Lord Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said, cast yourself down, display yourself.

The Lord Jesus, of course, refused to do that. This man will do that. He will display himself. He will be very public. He will create an image. And he will break this covenant in the middle of this week, and he will become the absolute power.

There's a lot of other issues revolving around that, but let's just look as we continue. He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. So he's moving, he's acting, but it's all under, of course, the control of God, sovereignty of God.

Matthew 24 and the Tribulation

Now let's go over to Matthew 24. We're going to, I did appreciate what our brother Colson did this morning in terms of dividing some of the readings. That was a help. So we'll do that too, but we will look at a few things now.

Matthew 24. This is very interesting here. This is a very comprehensive portion of Scripture having to do with the tribulation, the tribulation period. When we discuss in a Bible reading like this end times or future events, it's a vast subject, vast.

Even just my reading is only a seven-year period, and yet the amount of material that is devoted to it is tremendous. The book of Revelation from chapter 6 to 19 literally embraced this period of seven years, the tribulation.

There's a massive amount of material. The word of God, right back from even earlier, but even in Genesis 49, a very comprehensive prophetic utterance of Jacob to his sons about the future of the nation of Israel.

Moving on to Leviticus 23. Going on to the major prophets, and then the minor prophets. Large portions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. Then you go into Zephaniah and Zechariah and the visions that these men had.

A tremendous amount. You move into the New Testament, and you go to the epistles, and there is material devoted there in the Thessalonian epistles. And then you move to the book of Revelation, and it embraces the future.

It's tremendous. Brother Shudd asked the question earlier, what is the benefit of looking at these things if they're all in the future? Well, there's several aspects. Number one, we know that God writes the future.

Our God writes the future. And there are no surprises with God. Therefore, there are no surprises for us. It also gives us the benefit of moving in and knowing he's going to win, and we're on the winning side.

And all that we see in this world that is so mismanaged and so darkened with all the powers of wickedness and evil and Satan, he's doomed. And in the end, the tables will be turned, and God will be vindicated, and our Savior that is rejected will have his rightful place.

All of that is seen in these events and these passages. And so what is interesting in the backdrop of Matthew 24 is just that. It's ironic that the Lord Jesus gives this discourse at this time because the end of chapter 23, as we said earlier in the previous reading, is that he turns.

Your house is left unto you desolate. He departs from the temple. And it is at this juncture that the rulers of the nation have actually said, You are not the Messiah. You are not God. You are not the chosen one.

And then the Lord Jesus turns, and he gets his own disciples unto himself, and he does something that only God can do. He tells the future. He tells it with an exactness and a specificity that shows that he is in absolute control.

And so as he begins, it is in response to a question. Verse 3, Now that is actually one event that is brought together by two expressions, the sign of your coming and the end of the age. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

So these things are given to us so that we are not deceived. They are also given to us so that we can understand. There is an expression that's repeated numerous times, Let him that understandeth. God wants us to understand.

He wants us to know. And as Peter says, What manner of persons ought you to be? And so as the Lord is unfolding this, he says, That you be not deceived. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.

And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, pestilences, earthquakes in diverse places.

All these are the beginning of throes or sorrows. They are the birth pangs of the deliverance of the nation of Israel in God bringing them back to himself in a fulfillment of the day of atonement and then bringing them into a place of repentance where they shall mourn for him and they will see him as the one who is ultimately going to deliver them from all of this.

And it says, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. You shall be hated of all nations for my namesake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another.

So now there are two things going on concurrently. There is the persecution during the tribulation of the nation of Israel, but there is also the persecution and even the martyrdom of those who are a faithful remnant and those who will not bear the mark, those who will not bow down to the image, those who will not go along with satanic beasts.

They will be persecuted. They will be martyred. And it is for his namesake. And then it says, Verse 12,. And because iniquity many, Verse 11,. Many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.

That is talking about a physical salvation. It is endurance to the end of this time period. And unless those days were shortened, as the Lord says, no flesh should be saved. It's going to be so terrific, so horrific in its degree.

It will be, in other words, as what the Lord says himself, unlike any time that has ever preceded it, nor will come after it. It is a unique, specific time of tribulation, persecution, and opposition.

And he says, Verse 14,. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the world for a witness unto all nations. So this gospel of the kingdom, which is slightly different, is still the object is the Lord Jesus, but a different focus, a different thrust, a coming kingdom, deliverance from the present kingdom, kingdom of darkness that will be preached.

An angel will fly through the atmosphere, preaching this. There will be those that will go forth preserved. We'll look at those two, these 144 ,000. And then there will be two witnesses during this time of tribulation.

We have a lot of ground to cover in this Bible reading. And he says, Verse 15, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation. Now that word abomination is often connected in our Bibles with idolatry.

And that is exactly what is going to happen. There will be an idol that will be set up in the temple. And we'll look at that when we get to our next subject in this section. It says, The abomination spoken of by Daniel, the prophet stand in the holy place.

Now I mentioned something here that's importantly critical. He refers to Daniel, the prophet, the spirit of God wants us to know that these passages are not simply one offs. They are not random information that Matthew is writing.

But that this is a cohesive whole of revelation. That is in agreement with one another. So that Daniel wrote, Matthew now writes, the Lord Jesus speaks in Matthew. And revelation is actually an expansion or an extension of the book of Daniel.

That is important to grasp. So you can have confidence in your Bible. Now we, let's continue reading. First, let him understand the end of verse 15. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.

Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. Woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days.

But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. Now let me just emphasize two things here. These are definite statements which will give us comfort for the fact that we are not going to go through this time.

Even in this passage here. We're going to look in 2 Thessalonians 2 and that will nail down this truth as well. But you will notice the distinctively Jewish flavor and emphasis of what is in these passages.

Talk about the holy place. Referring to Daniel the prophet. Going back again. Connecting it with thy city, thy people. Then pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath. Who is the Sabbath in relation to?

Us? No. In relation to the nation. And so all of these things emphasize the fact that this is not for us. This is now God taking again a dealing with the nation and nations. Verse 21. For then shall be great tribulation.

Now we're in the second half. First half of the tribulation is a time of, I use the term loosely, relative peace. But the second half. The second half of the tribulation. If you were to look in the book of Revelation.

Our brother Joe referred to the trumpet this morning. And if you look in those chapters of the book of Revelation you will see that there are seven seals. Our brother used the word telescopic. So it's like those, you ever see those little Russian dolls that you put one on top of another.

And you take one out and there's another one inside. That's kind of what it's like. So that these seven seals, the last seal, then ushers in seven trumpets. And then the seven trumpets usher in the seven bowls or vials of wrath.

And each one that precedes out of the other is more horrific. Is more rapid. And so we have this increasing amount of wrath. And there is wrath from Satan. From the beast. He is going to persecute the nation of Israel.

But ultimately what the tribulation is, is the wrath of God. Upon the earth. Upon the nations. It is God having the final say. And so as we continue here. Verse 21. And then if we keep going down. We don't want to cover the whole chapter.

But verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened. The moon shall not give her light. The stars shall fall from heaven. The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

And then in verse 30. And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven. This is the terminus. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And they shall see the son of man coming. In the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The Day of the Lord and the Man of Sin

Now let's go over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He has already referred in 1 Thessalonians that that day will not overtake you. So that's also a reference to the fact that we are preserved from it.

That day will not overtake you. It will come as a thief in the night. Those who are unexpected. A thief comes to take what is not his. We are his. He is coming to take us. But in 2 Thessalonians 2. There was concern.

People were thinking that they were off on prophetic events. And that they had missed certain things. Just as in 1 Thessalonians. And so he assures them. In the writing of this epistle. As well as the first one.

And he says this. Verse 1. Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our gathering together unto him. That is again same construction as the question. And the answer of the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 24.

This is one event. It's not two separate events. So his coming. His personal presence. And our gathering together unto him. That is the rapture. That you be not soon shaken in mind. Or be troubled. Neither by spirit.

Nor by word. Nor by letter. As from us. That the day of Christ. And that I believe we would all be in agreement. That the critical reading of this should be the day of the Lord. That the day of the Lord is at hand.

Let no man deceive you. By any means. For that day shall not come. Except there come the falling away first. The apostasy. There are multiple views on what this apostasy is. But the two most common views.

And perhaps the two most believable views would be. But there are other views. I believe our brother Colson has another view on that too. But that would be the falling away of professing Christendom. That which professes to be testimony for God.

And the apostasy of that. There's another view that this apostasy here. The word apostasia. Apo going from. Can be the rapture as well. And there are reasons in this passage to support that as well. Because he talks about the restrainer.

And being taken away. Taken out of the midst. And so we can discuss that. But it says that that day shall not come. Except there come the falling away first. And the man of sin be revealed. The son of perdition.

How is this man of sin revealed? Well our brother has already brought that before us this morning. In the signing of the covenant. That is what reveals him. So he says we will not be here. That day will not come.

Except the day of. Not only are we. Don't be shaken. Because we will not be here. But the day of the Lord will come. And it will be ushered in. By this. The man of sin. The son of perdition. He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God.

Or that is worshiped. So that he as God. Sitteth in the temple of God. Showing himself that he is God. A reference again. To the abomination of desolation. That idle image set up. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you.

I told you these things. And now ye know what withholdeth. What holds back. That he might be revealed. In his time. For the mystery of iniquity. Is already working. Only he who now withholds. Let us. Will let.

Until. He be taken. Out of the midst or the way. And when that happens. Then. Shall that wicked one. Be revealed. Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth. And shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan. With all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. In them that perish. Because they receive not. The love of the truth.

That they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them. Strong delusion. Now exactly when that happens. Can be a point of discussion. Does it happen at the beginning? Does it happen in the middle?

Of the tribulation. And what exactly is this strong delusion? Because it says. That they should believe the lie. What is the lie? That they will believe. That they all might be judged or damned. Who believe not the truth.

Revelation 3 and Preservation from Tribulation

But had pleasure. In unrighteousness. Now one final reading. In this section. Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. In verse 10. Because thou has kept. The word of my patience. I also will keep thee.

From the hour of temptation. Which shall come upon all the world. Why? To try them that dwell. Upon the earth. Behold I come. Quickly. This verse is very important. Because someone could say. Well he can preserve us through it.

That's not exactly what it says. It says that we're actually. Not only going to be kept out of it. That's the Greek word. Out of. But we're going to be kept. From the hour of it. So in other words. The very element of time itself.

We will be preserved from this time. This event. This time. We will not be here. As many other passages concur. How do we look at prophecy? I think it's important for us to understand. That when the Lord Jesus spoke.

To his own in Matthew 24. When there are even parables that we read. That the church is not the subject. Of those parables. The church is not the subject of. Prophetic events in the sense of. What we read in the Old Testament.

It was a mystery. It was hidden in God. Not just hidden in the scriptures. Hidden in God. If we view prophecy like a rope. And we have. The Old Testament scriptures. We have God dealing with Israel as a nation.

We have the kingdom. And then now moving along. All of a sudden now we have. The Lord Jesus goes back to heaven. Let us cut the rope. Let's open up a section. And during this present dispensation. We are living in.

A time. That is unprecedented. Where the mystery of the one body. Is being formed. And it is not the subject of God. Dealing with either the nation of Israel. Nor the nations on earth. He is calling out a people.

A heavenly people. When we go home. When the rapture takes place. That rope. Will then be joined again. And prophetic events. In God dealing. With this world. In terms of the nations. And their boundaries.

And the nation of Israel. Will take place again. Right now. The middle wall of partition. Is broken down. There is neither Jew nor Gentile. Bond nor free. And so God is putting together. Making of twain one new man.

In one body. When the rapture occurs. If I can say it this way. The distinctiveness. Between Israel and the nations. And God dealing with each as an entity. Will be back again. 144 ,000. In Revelation 7.

12 ,000 from 12 tribes. Will be called out. God will be dealing with them. And so we have a number of other things. But for the sake of time. I just want to go into the outline here that we have. But I want to make it very very clear.

That this period of tribulation. And great tribulation. A seven year period. The 70th week of Daniel. I will reiterate and emphasize once again. As our brother did this morning. It concerns thy holy city.

It concerns these people. Thy people. It does not concern us. We are not here. And the man of sin is going to be revealed. By the signing of that covenant. And we will not be here at that time. Now. Maybe we could discuss.

The tribulation. And its timing. We also notice that dates are not given. For the church. The Lord Jesus makes that clear. He says as for you. It is not for you to know the times nor the seasons. But it is for Israel.

And so he designates these specific times. God is dealing. In a very very real specific way. There is another reason. Why we are given these specific dates and times. Our brother mentioned this morning.

That Daniel 9 is the backbone of prophecy. The spine if you will. It gives us a framework. An important framework. For all interpretation. Of prophecy. It does not allow us. To spiritualize. And then to literalize.

If these are. A literal people. If this is a literal place. If Messiah being cut off. Was a literal event. Then the times are literal too as well. We don't spiritualize them. It gives us the principles.

For interpretation. And that is important. That we take prophecy and the word of God. As literally as we can. In those times. Now. The tribulation and timing here. We will start with. The referred period.

The tribulation and the great tribulation. And maybe we will make some comments. Because this now is referred to as the inception. Or the beginning of the day of the Lord. And that in itself. We address the Lord Jesus as Lord.

And rightly so. He says you call me. Master and Lord. And you say well. For so I am. But when we read of the expression. The day of the Lord. It is a little different. We are not looking at the term Lord.

In his sovereignty in a sense. We are looking at Jehovah. In his covenant keeping aspect. In his relationship to the nation of Israel. So the very fact. That it is addressed and called. 75 times at least.

The day of Jehovah. Shows it stands. In particular relationship. To the nation of Israel. His covenant people. So with that we can maybe have some. Contributions of our brethren about. What exactly is this day of the Lord.

The Four Prophetic Days

As an overview in general. Man's day. Day of the Lord. Day of Christ. Day of God. There are four days in scripture. That are given to us. And incidentally when we read of a day. It doesn't necessarily mean it is a 24 hour period.

A day in the Bible. Can often be characterized. By specific events. Or a tenor. A particular characteristic. So we have man's day that we are in right now. 1 Corinthians 4 is a reference to that. It is a day where.

God is allowing man. To do what he will to an extent. We see the mismanagement of this world. And so on. It is man's day. The day of Christ. Is the next day on the calendar. And we were discussed that this morning.

It begins with the rapture. Takes us to the judgment seat of Christ. And is presenting a heavenly scene. Where we are in. With the Lord Jesus. In heaven. Now it unfolds. A number of things in those seven years.

And the effects of it go beyond that. As we mentioned. Reward. Position. The next day is the day of the Lord. Now while the day of Christ. Begins with the rapture and ushers us. Into heaven who are saved.

God will then begin dealings with the world. With the nations. The day of the Lord. I believe that the scriptures teach. That the day of the Lord. Will last approximately 1 ,007 years. Beginning with the tribulation.

Seven years. A thousand year millennium. Now that's open to tweaking a little bit. But I'm just saying that's the approximate time frame. And it is God dealing with the world. With the nations. When the day of the Lord.

Reaches it's terminus. It's completion point. The day of God. Which is the eternal state. Will come. And we read of a new heavens. And a new earth.

That is a generalization of those. Basic four days. So 2 Thessalonians 2. Where you read. You mentioned you have the rapture. Thought in. Verse 1. Are gathering together onto him. Seemingly. The Thessalonians.

Had. Received wrong teaching. That because of the persecution they were going through. That the day of tribulation. The tribulation was already started. The day of the Lord. They were already in it. And so he's writing to correct that wrong assumption.

Or wrong teaching. So my question is this. The day of the Lord. Why is it the day of the Lord? Like you distinguish between the day of Christ. Or the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it called the day of the Lord?

What's the thought?

Well again. It will be when Jehovah. That's the Lord there. And that designate. And that title. He will then now be taking up a dealing. Again with the nation of Israel. The name Lord has a covenant relationship.

To the people of Israel. The nations will have to bow. And they will also have to acknowledge. Eventually coming through that. That Israel is the head and not the tail.

So he's taking up his Lordship. He's intervening in the affairs of earth. In a specific way. Yes. And he's establishing his Lordship over it all. And that will result in the judgments that come. It will result in his manifestation.

It will result in his kingdom being established here. He's exercising his Lordship.

So he's moving to fulfill his covenants. Right. Maybe we should mention. Just for the sake of young believers. The covenants that need to be fulfilled. Well.

The Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants

One of the reasons I believe. We're going to get into this. We're getting a little bit ahead. But of this beast. The antichrist signing a covenant. We'll remember that he is a counterfeit. And he is going to try.

As God. As Jehovah established the Abrahamic covenant. With his people in relation to the land. And so on. He will establish a covenant. He will pass himself off. As their Messiah. As God. As the one to be worshipped.

And in doing that. He will bring about a covenant with them. But as God will be. And always will be faithful to his promises. This man is unfaithful. He will renege. He will break his covenant with them.

So the Abrahamic covenant would be one. The Davidic covenant would be another. Where God has promised. That there will not lack a man to sit on the throne. And that throne will be established. Now that's another issue for another time.

That's why I said. This has a lot of tentacles in it. There is the new covenant. Of course. The everlasting covenant. And the blessings of that. There's even a smidgen of the Palestinian covenant too.

Some of it that just moves. But it's basically those three. Abrahamic, Davidic and the new covenant. There are two types of covenants too. And maybe we should just comment on that. For the sake of younger ones.

There are covenants. We've referred to them often as conditional and unconditional. Perhaps maybe a better word than. Unconditional would be unilateral. It's a unilateral covenant. Meaning that God takes everything upon himself.

And so. God will be the one who will be the faithful. Fulfiller of the promises. You remember that when God made the Abrahamic covenant. In Genesis with Abraham. He put him to sleep. He put him to sleep.

God is saying this is all on me. I'm going to be faithful to this. But then there are conditional covenants. If you keep your end, I'll keep my end. If you don't, I'm under no obligation. So there are different types of covenants.

So. The covenants that you're mentioning.

Can span. Dispensations. That's another word that has come up. So there is a structure of dispensations. In Earth's history. Different modes of. Administrating from God's point of view. Planet Earth. But also these covenants.

That you're mentioning. They can span or bridge over. Several dispensations.

Okay now we want to be a help to everyone. So that's a great point. Can you just encapsulate. Dispensations what they are and why. Our brother did there last night.

Administration. Like a house management. System. And God has managed this Earth at different times. In different ways. I don't know how much you want to put into that. No that's good. And the purpose of it is for what?

Well we were pointing out that God.

Has one purpose. Is progressively. Unfolding it. And we suggested from Ephesians 1 and 10. That's with a view that in a dispensation. Still to come. That he's going to head up all things in Christ. That will be the dispensation.

Of the fullness of times. So in the meantime. God has a program running for the Gentile. A program running for the Jew. A program running for the church. He's going to bring them all together. In the dispensation of the fullness of times.

The one might overlap the other. But it doesn't intrude on the other. As God is bringing all his. Strands of purpose into light. Right.

And I think it's important to emphasize too that. A dispensation is a time of testing. The human race is being tested. Under these various scenarios. Under these different ways of administering earth.

The millennium also is a time of testing. We'll see that later.

So these dispensations. Ultimately reveal God's faithfulness. And progressive purpose. That is unhindered. Unstoppable. But as well it reveals our failure. Okay. I think that's important. So question.

The Restrainer and the Removal of the Church

As we look at now that we've covered the period. Let's go to this restraining power. Because there are differences of views on this. The restrainer that is mentioned. In 2 Thessalonians 2. It is obviously.

The Holy Spirit. But in what way. Would my brethren. I'd like to hear your contributions on this. I'll just tell you what. I think this passage supports. The fact that it is the spirit of God. Working uniquely.

In this day. Through the church. And when we are removed. You'll remember that the church. Is literally. The residents being baptized. In the medium of the Holy Spirit. He forms. That whole. That unity.

With everyone. That happened on the day of Pentecost. At the rapture. That church will be complete. And we will go home. So that no longer. Will the Holy Spirit. Who will continue to work. During the tribulation.

Be able to work in that specific way.

So all work that is ever done. Is done by the power of the spirit of God. It is just simply. Whether he is in dwelling the church. Or now working in a different way.

So you agree brother Frank. That in verse 6 of 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 6. We know. What withholdeth. Is the newt agenda. So it's something. That is withholding. And then in verse 7. It's someone. It's a person.