Book of Revelation - Ch. 11, Vs. 3 (09/16/2018)

and them that worship therein. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

Thank you for giving us this place to come, that we might meet together in worship and study your Holy Word. Thank you for giving us the

Holy Spirit to guide us in our study. Thank you for giving us one another, that we may reinforce and guide each other with the guidance that you have provided us.

Protect us and keep us and go through with us today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The church age, that is to say the time of the Gentiles, is over.

The gap in Daniel's vision of 70 weeks is now completed. I thought

I would start here with Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks and just kind of run through it quickly and lightly in case there's some discomfort about it.

70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.

That's Daniel 9 verse 24. I forgot to tell you that. Daniel 9 verse 24.

This is the vision of 70 weeks. 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.

Now that phrase answers three questions. How long? Now, not 490 days.

Think like you think about a dozen. A dozen is a word representing a number.

The number is 12. So if I said 70 dozen years, you would think, after a little arithmetic, 840 years.

In the Hebrew, 70 is used as a number, not 70.

Week is used as a number. And the number that it's used to represent is 7.

So if you say a week, you may be talking about 7 days. You may be talking about 7 years.

You may be talking about 7 eggs. If you were talking about 7 eggs, you'd have 7 times 7 is 49.

If you were talking about 70 days or 70 weeks, you'd be talking about 490 days.

But you're not talking about that. You're talking about weeks of years.

And if a week is 7, then 7 is 490 years.

So the time in this vision is 490 years. And that's from the starting until the end of the vision.

Now, who is also answered in that phrase? 70 weeks, that's the number, 490 years, are determined upon thy people.

Now that could be all of God's people, or it could be just the Jewish people, just the people of Israel.

I believe from the context it's just the people of Israel because they're not going to even view everybody else.

At the time of Daniel, in order to get footing with God, you had to first become a

Jew. They had a method for doing that. You had to become a Jew, and then you could become into the family.

So at that time, the people that he's talking about are the

Israelites. And where is also answered? Israel, thy holy city.

That would be, I'm sorry, I put that down twice. Thy holy city would be

Jerusalem. Now I'm going to go back and read that again and get to what

I really wanted to get to. 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecy and anoint the most holy.

Now I'm going to read this list again. But as we go through it this time, I want you to think about whether this item that is mentioned has happened already or is it in fact still in the future.

So let's get to the first one. To finish transgression. Is transgression done?

Do we still have transgression in our presence now and we'll continue to have it in the future? So we haven't finished with transgression.

What about the end to sin? Is sin over? What about reconciliation for the iniquity?

When do you think that happened? I like that.

I said I think it happened then. But I'm glad to say, I'm glad that you know, I'm glad that you are,

I only wanted to say I think so that you could say I know. It happened at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Not at his crucifixion. There's lots, lots of men were crucified. But at the resurrection.

Now I'm not sure what you said. I wasn't really listening. I was so excited about you saying, I know that it happened.

And when he rose again, that's the reconciliation for iniquity is done.

That was in Daniel's future. But it is in our past.

What about to bring in everlasting righteousness? Is everybody righteous now?

What about to seal up the vision and the prophecy? What I said was a definite maybe.

We know that nowadays people don't make prophecies.

They don't see visions. But sometime in the future, the prophet said that that will happen again.

So I don't know about that one. What about to anoint the Most High, the

Most Holy? Has that been done yet? Let me give you a clue.

It was almost done. But instead they crucified him. Right?

It was almost done, and yet they crucified him. We'll get to that in just a minute.

But certainly the bulk of that list is still in our future as it is also in Daniel's future.

So let's go back to verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build

Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And then he says, after threescore and two weeks. I thought I'd stop here and kind of tally it up and see where we are.

That's after the seven. Remember he says, shall be. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build

Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks, and the street shall be built again, even in troublous times.

Then he says, after threescore and two weeks, that is after the seven, and the sixty -two.

How many is that? Sixty -nine. There's one remaining. After that, after the threescore and two weeks, shall

Messiah be cut off. What does that mean? That's his crucifixion.

One thing that the Old Testament saints did not see was the Messiah being executed.

And the second thing they didn't see was the gap between the crucifixion and the final week.

They didn't know about the church. They didn't know about the gap that existed and has now existed for almost 2 ,000 years.

Paul deals with that gap in Romans 11, verse 25. If you'll go there.

He doesn't identify it as the gap. He identifies it as a mystery.

For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. The mystery is the gap.

Lest ye should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened to Israel.

Why? We'll see that in just a minute. Why they have blindness in part.

You can say it now. Because they rejected him after they had proclaimed him.

It is really weird. We'll do that in Luke in just a minute. But it'll really be weird.

That's why. Until when? Until the fullness of the

Gentiles become in. That's the church age. That's the gap. That's what they didn't see. That's the mystery of which they were not aware.

They didn't see the church age. But they did see the remaining seven years. Verse 26 says,

And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the

Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Anybody got a comment or a question?

Or anything to add? I thought I saw someone trying to say something.

I didn't want to shut them off or shut them out because I think you guys are at least as well versed as I am in Scripture.

Probably more so. Verse 26. Back to Daniel. I actually go back a little bit earlier.

After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood.

And unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

That's the last week. That's not the 69th week. That's the 70th week. The remaining week.

The final seven years. But I didn't recognize this until maybe this time through or maybe last time through.

Those who experience that final week, if you're there to experience the final week, you won't recognize that you're in it until it's half over.

The reason you won't recognize that you're in it is because nothing really out of the ordinary, nothing specific will have taken place.

Oh, there'll be many bad things, but bad things happen all the time. But the one thing that Daniel is going to say to look at and Matthew is going to say to look at is one particular event.

And what's that going to be? What's the particular event that will...

Rapture? No. The abomination of desolation. The abomination of desolation. And what is that?

That is Antichrist setting himself up in the temple as God, to be

God and to be worshiped as God. When we see that, we will know not that that seven -year period has begun, but that the seven -year period is half over.

We get that in the last half of this verse. I kind of cheated and stopped. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

And in the midst of the week, at the three -and -a -half -year mark of the 70th week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

And for the overspreading of abomination, he shall make it desolate. That's the abomination of desolation that Miriam was talking about.

Even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

And now we know for sure. Matthew said it this way in chapter 24.

Chapter 24, verse 15. Let me change color. I got that in green instead of white and I didn't see it.

If I ever do this again. When therefore, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place.

So what's standing in the holy place? The abomination of desolation. Whosoever readeth, let him understand.

Understand what? That the 70th week is here. And in fact, it's half over.

Now, in this same passage, there's another time spoken of. At the end of the 69th week.

Let's go back to Daniel 9 .25 and reread that. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build

Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks.

That's the 69 weeks. We're going to go to the

New Testament for an event that confirms that prophecy. We're going to go all the way back to Luke chapter 19, verse 29.

And I'm going to read more than I probably should. Luke 19, verse 29.

This is going to be so familiar that you almost can all recite it. And if you can't recite it, you can at least tell the story without leaving anything important out.

And it came to pass that when he was come nigh unto Bethphage and unto

Bethany at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying,

Go ye into the village over against you in which at your entering you shall find a colt tied whereon yet never a man sat.

Loose him and bring him hither. Let me stop here a second. All the times up before when people would tell

Jesus to proclaim himself as the Messiah, his answer would be, No, it is not yet my time.

My time has not yet come. Remember that? Many times they imposed upon him,

Proclaim that you're the Messiah. Who could do these magical, miraculous is the word

I was trying to think of. These miraculous deeds, who could do them other than the

Messiah? Proclaim yourself the Messiah. And he would say, My time is not yet come.

And so now, 69 weeks later, 69 weeks after the beginning of Daniel's prophecy, he arranges it.

He sends his disciples to get the donkey. And if any man asks you,

Why do you loose him? You say, Thus shall you say unto him,

Because the Lord hath need of him. Why did the Lord need him? Because he was prophesied to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.

A horse wouldn't do. A camel wouldn't do. A flying saucer wouldn't do.

It had to be a donkey. Why did he need it? I thought about saying this,

Because he read Daniel. And then I said, No, he didn't read Daniel. He wrote

Daniel. He sent the angel to Daniel to tell Daniel what to write, so that the

Pharisees would see it. He wrote it. He knew because it was his time. His time is now come.

And so what did they do? He said, Because the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way, and they found, even as he had said unto them, and as they were loosing the coat, the owner thereof said unto them,

Why loose you this coat? And they said, The Lord hath need for him. He didn't protest.

He didn't say, Then give me my $47 or whatever the donkey is worth.

They said, I guess take the donkey and go. Why?

They had no choice. It was destined to happen.

It was predestined to happen. It was predestined from before the time that the

Lord sent the angel to Daniel to write the message about the time. It was already done.

Even the donkey was predestined. And they brought him to Jesus, and they cast their garments upon the coat, and they set

Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in his way.

And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples, that's not just the twelve, that's everybody that's following him, began to rejoice and praise

God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.

They've seen Jesus do a lot of stuff. Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the

Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the

Pharisees among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

My question, why did they say that? Well, they were.

Oh, pardon me. You are totally right. The disciples were not following man's traditions, and the

Pharisees wanted to. I had the object misplaced. They were proclaiming him to be the

Messiah. That's what they were doing. And it was blasphemy to proclaim someone the

Messiah who was not. And even though these Pharisees had seen great and wonderful things, and even though they had read

Daniel, and if they had thought clearly, they would know that today the

Lord was coming on a donkey into Jerusalem, and the people would proclaim that he was the

Messiah. They didn't see any of that. Now what did

Jesus say? I thought this was so funny. And you kind of wish that they had all shut up.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

Because now is the day that Jesus is proclaimed to be the Messiah.

It wouldn't matter if they proclaimed him or not. He was going to be proclaimed that day. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and he wept over it, saying,

If thou had known, if who had known?

If the leaders of the church, if the Pharisees had known, even thou in this thy day, the day when the stones would have sang out if the people didn't, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.

What's hid from his eyes? The Messiah is hid from their eyes.

From all of them? No, there's going to be some exceptions. There's a lot of Jewish people that recognize that Jesus is the

Messiah. It's not hid from their eyes, but it is hid from the bulk of the church.

If thou had known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.

For the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and comest thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

They were supposed to know. They were given all the information to know, and they didn't know. Yes? I'm sitting here thinking, so when

Satan or the Antichrist tries to be the same thing and sets up the abomination of desolation in the temple, there will still be people's eyes who are blinded to that.

Yes? Blinded to the Antichrist? There will be some.

In fact, most of the people will follow him.

I don't know that there's any Jews that will. I kind of think that the ones that will be fooled by the

Antichrist setting up himself in the temple, I think they will be

Gentiles. But there will be plenty of them, and I wouldn't make too much of what

I think. Okay? Yes? That's going back to this story.

They had it written. They had it, and they missed it.

We have it prophesied and written, and people will miss it. And that's what's, it's literally miraculous, because eyes are blinded, ears are closed to it, even though it's right in front of your face.

And the only way they couldn't see it is that they were blinded to it.

Yes? We do see it.

I think the more miraculous thing is that we do see what we see. It doesn't surprise me, all the things that we do believe.

Matthew 24, verse 15, deals with this same passage, and I'm going to go back and read a little bit of that.

Starting at verse 15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whosoever readeth, let him understand.

And again, we already talked about what it is they understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee unto the mountains, and let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of the house.

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe be to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.

But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be, and except those days be shortened, there should be no flesh saved.

But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Shortened to how much?

Shortened to three and a half years. The pre -tribulation rapture.

The pre -tribulation rapture folk all think that everything happened prior to the 70 years.

I just shouldn't say everything. That the rapture happened prior to the seven years. If you believe that the great tribulation began at the three and a half year mark, you could still believe and have a pre -tribulation rapture position and have it happen three and a half years into the seven year period.

But I was just wondering, is this where they get, let's say, security?

Well, anyone that believes has security. Yeah. Is this one of the verses?

They don't use this verse for that, I don't believe. I don't think this is a real big pre -trib rapture belief.

The one they go to most often is the one in Thessalonians. That they won't have to go through that.

That they won't have to go. And in Revelation in the church at Philadelphia. They think that because Philadelphia was kept from the, that they won't go through any of it.

Now, frankly, I think we go through a lot of it. Okay.

The mystery of the church age to which Israel was blinded is now over. Revelation 10, 7, you don't have to go there, said,

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished.

That's the church age. As he has declared to his servants, the prophets.

What we're going to do now is go back to the beginning of the 70th week. Back to the very beginning of the 70th week.

It will be a period that we will not recognize we're in until it's half over. The Antichrist will have been revealed by the midpoint.

And we're at the midpoint. The church age will have ended. The blindness of Israel is now over.

The Deliverer will soon come. God has shifted his focus back to Israel at this point.

And we're going to, too. We shall return to the beginning of the 70th week.

We'll go back to the temple and we'll go on to Revelation 11, verse 1.

I'm going to read it again. But before I read it, let's say this. Is there anybody that has anything to add?

Okay, or a question. I can let you add, but I can answer some questions. I think there will be.

And maybe I didn't say it correctly. There is a gap about which the Israelites are blinded.

They are no longer blinded. Well, that's because of my inability to explain what

I'm trying to explain. There is never a time when there's not a pathway for the elect to get to God.

There's never a time when there's not Gentiles who are elect.

There's never a time when there are not

Jews that are elect. But there is a time when the

Jews did not recognize that the Gentiles could be saved. That's the time

I'm talking about. I'm not talking about time where you can be saved. Because we're all saved.

I think this is what you're saying.

Right now, the church actually don't see. That's right, but they will see.

That's all I'm trying to say. If I said that poorly, I apologize. Not that there is any different way of saving people.

We're all saved the same way we always are. We are elect. And God tells us that we're

His. And then we do as we are ordained to do. That has never changed. It was true for Adam.

It was true for Moses. It was true for Jesus, I guess.

It was true for Mark, Matthew. It was true for John. It is true for me.

And it's true for anybody that has ever lived that is elect. And that church, those are all of God's people.

That's why in the beginning I said, thy people in the context of what this passage is talking about, the people that he's talking about are the

Israelites, not everybody that can be saved. I don't know whether I got that cleaned up or not.

I think that there's Gentiles after this point, and this is just me. I think there's

Gentiles after this point, but I don't think there's a separate unidentifiable group.

I think now the Israelites will, the Jews will be able to see. The period of their blindness is over.

If I had said that, we would have avoided all of this. If the period of their blindness, the period of their blindness is over.

That's right. That's it. That makes sense to me. That's kind of where I am.

It said that the mystery is over, the mystery is complete. The mystery usually represents the church or the indwelling of the spirit within the church.

But that doesn't give a definite time. It shows that the time is sometime after when it is, right?

I don't think so, but it does say at the beginning when he begins to sound. I think it was. That's the only issue that I would have, and I'm not clear on that, and I didn't want to bring that up.

We're beginning Chapter 11, and we're going to see Gentiles being saved just in a couple more verses.

Yeah. As you move forward? We go forward, but we go forward looking at it from the perspective of the temple and the

Jews and things that happened with regard to them. Daniel told us that clearly way back in the time, didn't he?

We'll learn more and more, and we'll see more and more clear. Closer and closer to it.

Well, he was offered it. Yeah, but you know, there's an interesting passage that's going to come up in about two verses that will address that.

Most of us, most of us and all of us should know, all of us should know at the beginning of the seven years that now it is because the temple is being built, but many of us won't, but we will all know for sure when he sets himself up.

Okay, I want to go just a couple more verses because this is really... And there was given to me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying,

Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein.

Now, usually to measure something is a precursor to judgment. I'm going to skip on down because of time, and we'll come back to this.

Look at verse two. But the court, which is without the temple, leave out.

What it says, cast it out, don't measure it. Don't measure the court, which is outside the temple.

There are many ways of determining, people used to determine where the temple was. One of the most usual methods shows the temple of the rock, the one that Brother David is talking about, to be in the courtyard.

Now, when you look at the different ways, passages in the scripture where you talk about, like David was looking out,

I think, or Solomon, I guess it was Solomon looking out and he could see things that you couldn't see from where the temple of the rock is, but you could see further back, and that the temple of the rock was in what was the courtyard of the temple.

Now, I'm going to have to go back and... Well, not necessarily, because it's in the courtyard.

Yeah, it says, don't measure, but the court, which is without the temple, outside of the temple.

That's where Jesus came in in Luke, just right after the passage we read, and cast out the money changers.

That's where they were. They were in the courtyard. That was reserved for the

Gentiles. They didn't have any use for the Gentiles. They just used up their worship space to raise money.

And Jesus was not at all happy with that. This is the space reserved for the

Gentiles. It says, measure it not. And it tells you why not to measure it. For it's given unto the

Gentiles. And the holy city they shall tread underfoot for forty and two months.

That's three and a half years. They will tread the holy city underfoot for three and a half years.

They will go through the temple, but they will reserve the temple because of the covenant made by the

Antichrist. They will reserve the temple itself for the Jews. The temple will have been rebuilt.

I think the temple of the rock will still be there. But I may be wrong about that. But the temple will be there.

The Jews will be worshiping in the temple. And the Gentiles will have control over everything.

But according to covenant, they will be allowed use of the temple to worship Jesus. No, that just means they're walking over it, walking through it.

They just are. So with the first three and a half years, the temple and the altar are protected from desecration from the

Gentiles. Even though the city of Jerusalem and the outer court of the temple will be under control of the

Gentiles. The Jews will control the temple. Yes.

Well, His judgment is not going to come on that part. His judgment is going to come on the

Jewish part. Yeah. I think so. No, to measure it means to take it.

Yeah, yeah, I was going to say God is focusing on what He's going to judge. And He's saying,

I'm going to judge the temple. Now, who's worshipping there?

The Jews. How are they worshipping? With the permission of the

Antichrist, but they're worshipping the way they always worshipped. They're giving sacrifices.

They're giving oblations. They're doing all the things that they used to do in the temple that they're not doing now because they don't have a temple. They'll go back to do it.

And they're going to be judged for that. They still haven't had their blindness removed, but they soon will.

And it says after that, they'll come and deliver out of Zion that will make them all to believe.

Say that again. Absolutely, because He doesn't care what religion you believe in as long as you don't believe in the true

God until He gets to the point where He says, oh, I am now God. You have to believe in me.

Right now, He is happy. Right now, I believe Satan is happy with us believing anything we want to believe as long as it's not

Jesus. But later, the Antichrist is going to say, oh,

I am Jesus. I'm the Messiah. You've got to believe in me. And He'll change the worship. And now

He'll make them worship in the temple but not worship God. And not even worship the

Old Testament God. Not even worship the way the Jews did, but worship Him. That is amazing.

So, here's where I want to... Actually, this is not where I wanted to finish today, but this is where we will.

For the first three and a half years, the temple and the altar are protected from desecration from the

Gentiles. Even though the city of Jerusalem as well as the outer court of the temple will be under control of the

Gentiles. Within the temple, worship by Israelites will be tolerated.

However, during the second three and a half years, the entire temple will be desecrated. And the only worship that will be allowed will be the worship of the

Antichrist. And in fact, that worship will be required at the penalty of death.

Now, not everybody that refuses to worship Him will be killed, but most of them will be. And I will give power to my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, and three -square day clothed in sackcloth.

That's also three and a half years. That's the two that can't be killed until the three and a half years is over.

He only gives them that... invincibility for three and a half years.

He gives them that power for three and a half years. For one thousand, two hundred, and sixty days.

That's three and a half years. Well, I don't want to go any further, but I'm going to come back and pick this up at this point.

And we'll go forth from here. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank

You for this day and thank You for all of our many blessings. Bless us and keep us and protect us. In Jesus' name we pray.