I'm glad you're here. Welcome. I hope maybe we'll add a few more to our number. I do feel like we've been a little down in our numbers the last few weeks, but I know around Easter and all that it just gets busier and busier, the closer we get to spring so that's okay. We're going to pray and get started. God, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word. Thank you for what it tells us of what the future is like. And even in the bad things, we also see good things. And thank you for the hope that it gives us, that you are in control no matter what happens in our individual lives, no matter what happens as far as the history of our world unfolding. thank you that you are almighty that you are in control that you have everything ordained what is going to happen and no one can thwart your plan and just pray again that you would help me to say only what is true to your word and that we would learn together today and be encouraged when we leave we pray this all in your name amen OK, we have reached the section of Revelation that is kind of called the parenthetical part, the parenthetical chapters. If you have this outline of Revelation, if you don't, I've always got extra copies if you've missed something. But we're in chapters 12, 13 and 14, which is kind of like this parentheses in the middle of the book. Another way to look at it is the chronology of Revelation chapter 6 through 19. So 6 through 11 are the events of the tribulation that are leading up to the sounding of the seventh trumpet. And again, the seventh trumpet then ushers in the bowls. So it's really leading up to the bowls. So 6 through 11 is leading up, or is the events up to the sounding of the seventh trumpet. the timeline kind of picks up in chapter 15 because that's where the trumpet sounds and that's where we see the bowl judgments with what is what comes from the seventh trumpet. So from 15 to 19, we see the events of the tribulation after the sounding of the seventh trumpet. And once we get to that point, there are really only a few months left on the planet. Like we are at the very, very end. Once you get to the bowl judgments, things are moving very quickly at that time. But now we're in Revelation 12-14 and it kind of backs us up a little bit and gives us events from Satan's vantage point. So up until now we've been kind of getting scenes in heaven and God's perspective on what is happening, why they're happening, why he is sending these judgments. But these next three chapters we're going to see this is kind of from Satan's perspective. These three chapters give us a lot of information about three key players. Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. That is going to be Satan's unholy trinity. He's always trying to mock and imitate, not mock, imitate and copy God. And so that's going to be his unholy trinity. The Antichrist and the False Prophet. We'll wait until next week. We'll get to them in chapter 13. But today we're just going to stick to chapter 12 and 12 gives us the most Concentrated information about Satan than any other single chapter in the entire Bible Revelation chapter 12, so we're just going to read through the whole thing and then walk through it so Revelation chapter 12 verse 1 and a great sign appeared in heaven. Okay, so there's a tip-off for us and It already says this is a sign. So we're going to know that this chapter is full of signs and symbols. OK, so just need to pay attention to that. And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head, a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon. with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nurtured for 1,260 days. Hopefully that number rings a bell by now. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated. And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, but woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time. Hopefully that sounds familiar. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea." OK, we're going to see that this chapter gives us eight characters. And it contains a lot of symbols, which has given rise to many interpretations of what these symbols mean. But again, let me remind you, we interpret the Bible literally. And yes, that means there are symbols that mean something else, but that doesn't mean we just get to fill in the blank. Symbols have a specific meaning. God intended them to mean something specific. So we approach scripture that way. doing our best to determine what he meant by these symbols and what they mean. And honestly, I mean, at first blush, this may be a confusing chapter, but if you know how to understand the symbols, it's really not too hard to understand. It's honestly pretty straightforward because I think it becomes fairly obvious what all these symbols and signs represent. Now, remember, one of the principles is let the Bible, let scripture interpret scripture. And it tells us very clearly. So we're going to start with the first character because it tells us right here in verse 9 who the dragon is The great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who was called the devil and satan the deceiver of the world So number one the great red dragon is satan. It tells us right there He's given many names in this chapter. He's called the devil. He's called the serpent. He's called the deceiver of the whole world He has a lot of names. I gave you a chart there just kind of for your own information of the different names that we see of Satan in the Bible. So who is Satan? Well, he is a created being, obviously. He is an angel. He was one of the highest, if not the highest angel that God created to serve him. We see some of this in Isaiah in Isaiah 14 12. It says how you are fallen from heaven. Oh day star Son of dawn how you are cut down to the ground you who are you who laid the nations low? This is where lucifer comes from a lot of translations will put lucifer there instead of day star because lucifer means day star So his name was Lucifer, but his eagle got the best of him. We see that in the next verses in Isaiah. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. That's a really bad idea because while our God is abundantly generous, he does not share his throne. So Satan is kicked out of heaven because of his pride and wanting to be like God. And in a great twist of irony in wanting to become like God, Satan became the polar opposite of God. Satan's rebellion launched an all out spiritual war throughout the universe and he continues to fight it on two fronts. It's fought in heaven and it's fought on the earth. The final and fiercest battles of Satan's long war against God are yet to be fought. Those battles are going to happen during the tribulation as we read today. Because we're going to see that when he is aided by the absence of the raptured church, so when the rapture is taken out and the Holy Spirit is taken out, not that the Holy Spirit won't be doing his work during the tribulation, but he does kind of, he lifts his hands in a way and just kind of lets sin and evil run rampant. So aided by these things and also by increased demonic hordes, which we saw in previous chapters in Revelation Satan is going to have a full-out battle. He's going to mount a desperate assault against God's purposes and against God's people Especially in those last days it will be to no avail. I just you know Satan is Thousands of years old he is I mean, you can't really call him wise, because you have to fear God to be wise. But I mean, he knows, he's way smarter than I'll ever be. And I'm still thinking, like, doesn't the dude read the back of the book? Mom and I were talking about that the other day, like, doesn't he just, like, why don't you do something like not raise up the Antichrist? Because if you did that, then you'd make God a liar. right just just thwart any of his prophecies and you know i don't know obviously god knew what's going to happen that's what's going to happen but sometimes i just shake my head i'm like satan what are you doing you're just i guess the dude loves fighting losing battles so here uh in this picture or in this passage uh satan is pictured as a large ferocious terrifying red dragon The red is likely also symbolic of just you know Fiery destruction and bloodshed all of those things all the evil that is associated with Satan First three tells us he has seven heads. He has seven crowns and he has ten horns there's definitely a connection there to Daniel's vision that he had in Daniel chapter 7 if you were here for that message and The seven heads with seven crowns, and this is a little bit speculation, but I have it in your notes there. They are perhaps seven empires, that's in your blank, seven empires that ruled or will rule over the geographic nation of Israel. Those nations were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. Those are all empires from the past, and the one yet to come will be the kingdom of the Antichrist, and he will conquer Israel and rule it for a time. Horns in the Bible are often a symbol of strength. we see he has ten horns. We talked about this also when we talked about Daniel. The ten horns are a coalition of ten world leaders, that's in your blank, world leaders who will rule under the Antichrist. We talked about that in Daniel where three of them are uprooted by the little horn which is the Antichrist. So likely he kind of It takes over three of those leaders, but this is the group, these 10 leaders that the Antichrist arises out of and eventually becomes the leader of them. 10 toes, that's talked about in the statue of Daniel, the 10 in Daniel 2, the 10 horns in Daniel 7. And we're also going to see these 10 leaders come up again in Revelation chapter 17. We see the dragon stands before a pregnant woman who is about to give birth. because he wants to devour the child. That's in your next blank there. The dragon wants to devour the child. We'll get into some of these details a little bit later. We see that the dragon is defeated by angelic forces. That's your next blank. And he is thrown down to the earth. We'll get back to that in a minute. We also see that his tail sweeps away a third of the stars. And stars are often used in the Bible to symbolize angels. So this is where we get that number where it seems to be that a third of the angels, that just blows my mind. A whole third of the angels would follow Satan. Why would you do that? But they do. So the third of the stars equals fallen angels. Or you can put demons there. The fallen angels are those that become the demons. So those are two of our characters so far, the dragon and the stars. Next, we're going to ID the child because I think it's easier to do that and then ID the woman. So the male child is Jesus, that's number three. We know this has to be Jesus. For one thing, Jesus is the only one ever described in the entire Word of God as someone who rules the nations with a rod of iron. That's in your blank. So he will rule all nations with a rod of iron. That phrase isn't found a lot in the Bible, but every time it's always Jesus. Psalm chapter 2, you shall break them. That's talking about the nations with a rod of iron. Revelation 2, he will rule them with a rod of iron. The chapter that we're in right now, Revelation 12, one to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. We'll see in Revelation chapter 19, he will rule them with a rod of iron. That's only ever a description of Jesus. It speaks of his power, it speaks of the resoluteness of his rule, that he has a kingdom that will never end because it's an iron rod that cannot be broken. Satan has always fought to thwart God's plans and especially to stop Jesus from coming through the line of the Jews We see this over and over back in Egypt when Pharaoh was killing the baby boys Trying to stop the Jewish line We see Then when Jesus So then there were two times during the time of the Kings where the line of David dwindled to just one little boy. That happened two times. Satan got that close to stopping the Messianic line, but of course he's never going to defeat God. But he tried, so he came close during the time of the Kings. We see during the times of the Medes and the Persians that he tried to use Haman to wipe out the Jews. And God raised up Queen Esther to put a stop to that. That's just to name a few of Satan's plots to try to wipe out the Jewish people. Because if you can wipe out the Jews, then the Messiah can't come. But having failed to wipe out the Jews and the Messianic line, then once Jesus comes, he attempts to either murder or thwart the Messiah himself. So we see when Jesus was born, Herod kills the baby boys, right? Trying to get Jesus killed. We see that Satan comes to Jesus in the temptations in the wilderness, because if he can get him to stumble there, he can't be the Messiah anymore. We see attempts on Jesus' life. There was an angry mob that tried to throw him off a cliff. There was another time where the Pharisees tried to stone him. In both of those instances, Jesus miraculously escaped both of those. And even Satan's seeming victory at the cross would ultimately become his doom. We see that the child is caught up. That's your next blank. The child was caught up into heaven. That's a reference to Jesus ascension. He completed his ministry. He died on the cross. He rose from the dead. He was caught up. So having failed to keep Jesus from the world, Satan is now determined to keep the world from Jesus. And we see here between verses five and six, there is a gap of thousands of years. It skips right from Jesus ascension to the tribulation. No mention of the church age at all, which shouldn't surprise us in Revelation because it's not about the church, because the church has been raptured. So now we get to who is this woman? Because some say that it's Mary, because clearly Mary gave birth to Jesus. But otherwise, that's about it. I mean, you can't really say anything else about that because nothing else really fits or makes sense. This woman flees into the wilderness after her son is taken up into heaven. She is protected for three and a half years in the wilderness. I mean, that never happened to Mary. So this woman is not Mary. The woman represents Israel. So that's number four, the woman equals Israel. We see that she is clothed with the sun, that she has the moon under her feet, that she has a crown of 12 stars. This reflects Joseph's dream. Joseph had a dream in Genesis chapter 37, where he dreamed and this is where his brothers were bowing to him. They were represented by the 11 stars, his father by the sun, his mother by the moon, because he was going to rule in Egypt eventually and they would bow down to him. And then, of course, Joseph being the 12th brother, there were 12 tribes. So these 12 stars represent the 12 tribes of Israel. And we know that Jesus was birthed from the nation of Israel in great pain. It talks about how this woman is in great pain and certainly they brought forth the Messiah in great pain. The history of the Jews has been one of rebellion, of satanic persecution, of divine judgment, of great sorrow, of unparalleled tragedy. We see also that after the sun is caught up, that the woman will be supernaturally protected. So that's in your blank. She will be supernaturally protected for 1,260 days. That's our number there for three and a half years. And we'll get back to that in just a little bit as well. In verse seven, we're introduced to characters number five and six, one being Michael, the archangel, And then the other group, we should say, is being his angels. So the good angels who fight with Michael, the archangel. Michael, we've talked a little bit about him, quite possibly he is the highest created being in the universe. Maybe he was that and Lucifer was under him or he took that spot when Lucifer left. But we see that Michael and his angels fight against and defeat Satan and his demons at this point. And we see that Satan is thrown to the earth. Now maybe some might be thinking, now wait, hasn't that already happened? I mean, it's said in Isaiah that when Lucifer tried to exalt himself above God that he was kicked out of heaven, right? I mean, hasn't that already happened? Well, it's sort of yes and no, because Satan still has access to heaven. I mean, he doesn't get to stick around, I don't think, very much. He doesn't live there, per se. But he is allowed to have an audience before God. We see that in Job, when Satan comes to the throne of God and accuses Job. We also see in verse 10 of this chapter, it says he constantly accuses the believers, he accuses us before the throne of God day and night. So Satan is still allowed into heaven. But something ignites this massive spiritual war, and the result of it is that Satan is cast out of heaven to the point where he's not allowed to return. And that's going to be new, because he's used to still being able to waltz in there a little bit and have his audience before God. Now, this is just speculation. I can't really point to a chapter in verse that would say this, but it's just kind of fascinating to think about, I think, that maybe this is the rapture. Maybe the rapture ignites this. You know, one of Satan's titles is the Prince of the Power of the Air, and that seems to refer to the realm between earth and heaven where demons move and exist. The rapture is described in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 as believers being caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So is it possible that maybe raptured believers will have to pass through the realm of Satan and his demons? Maybe. Maybe all believers do that at the time of their death. I don't know. But if they're just spirit, you know, when a person dies now, is there spirit that goes to heaven? Is it immediately there? Do angels escort us? I don't know. But obviously our bodies will, the raptured ones, our bodies are going. Like, there's physical movement from the earth to the sky. It's just kind of fun to think about. Like, I wonder, are there going to be angels making a corridor for us? You know, some of them just holding back, some of them fighting the demons, while others are making this path for us, like through the Red Sea, except it's through the demonic world, that they're not going to stop us to get into heaven. Because I mean, if when millions of raptured saints are being taken from the earth, along with millions of resurrected bodies that are being joined with the spirits of those who are already in heaven, if we're all passing through Satan's turf, I would imagine he doesn't like that very much. And I can't imagine that he'd really just want to stand. And like I said, the dude loves fighting, losing battles. So I don't know if it will be the rapture that kicks this off or really what the reason is for this, but obviously something happens that Satan is fully defeated in heaven and he's exiled from heaven never to step foot there again. And that will be a source of great joy for those who are in heaven, but it will be a source of great distress for those who are on the earth. Look out. Because Satan is uncontrollably enraged at being booted out of heaven, and he is going to take his furious wrath out on the earth. I liked how John Phillips described Satan. He said this, quote, Satan is now like a caged lion, enraged beyond words by the limitations now placed on his freedom. He picks himself up from the dust of the earth, shakes his fist at the sky, and glares around, choking with fury, looking for ways to vent his hatred and his spite upon mankind. Look out, people of the earth. And this is one of the reasons that we've already seen in Revelation, there are so many martyrs in heaven during the Tribulation. The time of martyrdom will far exceed in the Tribulation any other time of history. Many will die for their faith. And yet, even though Satan will be allowed to kill many believers, they are the ones who are ultimately victorious. As we read in this chapter, it says they conquer Satan. They don't conquer by their own strength or by their own wisdom or by their own strategies, but they conquer him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And we see that true followers of Jesus love him even more than they love their own lives. I mean, the worst Satan can do is kill our body, right? Matthew chapter 10 verse 28 says, and do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. So they don't need to fear it. The worst He can do is kill them and then they get to go to heaven. But He's going to do as much damage as He can do because verse 12 told us that His time is short and He knows it. And He knows right where He's going to start. He's going to start with Israel. He is upping the persecution game because he will be hell-bent on eradicating the nation of Israel, the nation that birthed the male child, the nation from which the Messiah came. Satan will launch a tsunami of anti-Semitism throughout the world that will dwarf all previous persecution of the Jews, and that's saying something. Considering the world's history of hating the Jews. We talked about this a lot in our lesson about Israel being the super sign and We see that now. I mean you sit in the news now that the hatred of Israel is rapidly increasing all around the globe even now Through history the Jews have been a lightning rod for persecution for prejudice for almost always unfounded reasons And it's just so bizarre. Like, why this tiny little nation, this potion stamp of a country, and Jews, I mean, I don't know what percentage they are of the world's population, but it's gotta be small. I mean, come on. Why do so many people care and get so angry over the Jews and over Israel when there's genocides in Africa and there's all kinds of corruption in South America? I mean, every nation has its own problems. Why do we care so much about the Jews? Why do we see riots and all these things about the Jews? Well, there's really only one explanation. It's that spiritual warfare is real. And Satan hates Israel. So he has incited the world to hate Israel. Because he knows that Israel holds a dear place in God's heart. And Satan loves hurting God in any way he can. And during the second half, especially, of the tribulation, the mask comes off the Antichrist, the gloves come off Satan, and Israel will not have a friend in the world. They will stand completely, utterly alone among the nations. But there will be godly, righteous individuals who will come to their aid. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, starting at verse 31. This is the judgment of the sheep and goats. Matthew 25, 31, when the son of man comes in his glory and the angel with him. So this is the second coming of Jesus at the end of the tribulation, when he's about to set up his 1000 year reign, the millennial kingdom on the earth. He angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirst and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not close me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. You've probably heard that passage before. But you know, I think sometimes we kind of misapply it. We kind of think about that as now we need to be motivated to go help in a soup kitchen or give food to the homeless. You know, go dig up, dig some wells in Africa so people will have water. Go visit people in ministry, have a prison ministry. Go visit people in prison, have a prison ministry. And those are good things, of course. God wants us to do those things. A Christian No matter what time we live in, no matter what era we live in, we are to be defined. A defining mark of a believer should be compassion for the needy. But in this context, I don't think we always understand or think about the fact that this is talking about the people who lived through the tribulation. Because this is Jesus coming back to set up His kingdom. He is talking to people who have lived through these seven years. And He comes and He is going to Judge the nations and so the sheep and this is on the back of your sheets I know we haven't quite filled out the front yet, but the parable of the sheep and goats the sheep are saved people During the tribulation that's in your blank save they are saved people out of the tribulation who will enter the Millennial Kingdom the goats are the unsaved people during the tribulation Also, it says He gathers the nations. In verse 32, it says the nations gathered before Him. And very often in Scripture, the nations mean Gentiles. So, you could put nations there equals the Gentiles. He's gathering Gentiles before Him. And so, when He says in verse 40, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of My brothers, you did it to Me. Who are Jesus' brothers? The Jews. Because he's a Jew. Now, granted, this could potentially also mean any believer, set your other blank, brothers could equal Jews, or perhaps any believer during the tribulation, because obviously, God is going to reward anyone who helps any person in need. Because he is pleased by our good works. But this parable, I mean, so many times I feel like we just reduce this to charity work. This parable isn't talking about charity work. This is talking about during the tribulation. And we've talked about how horrible the tribulation is going to be, and how scarce things are going to be, and how everybody's in survival mode. I mean, you're like, look out for yourself because you don't even know if you're going to live through this next seven years. But if during the tribulation, if you are willing to feed and clothe and house and tend the sick and visit those in prison, you are doing that at great personal cost. Because there's not going to be an abundance of food and water and clothing and all of that to share to begin with. But you're also doing it at the risk of your own life. You are someone who is putting your own neck on the chopping block. Because you're associating yourself, it would seem, with the Jews. And the Antichrist and Satan is going to hate the Jews and persecute the Jews. The ones, when he says, these brothers, the least of my brothers, who is going to be the least in the tribulation? It will be the Jews. They will be the ones in the most dire straits. The tribulation is going to be the Holocaust on steroids. I kind of think of this judgment of the sheep and goats. It's kind of like Jesus is standing there and asking the question, okay, where's my Corrie ten booms? Who are the ones who would sacrifice it all to help those who needed it the most? If you don't know Corrie ten boom, you should look her up. Now, this parable is not saying that these guys are saved by their works. They're not. Don't get the wrong idea. Salvation is not faith plus works. Works are not the root of our salvation. That is not how it works. This is how it works. Faith, it's just faith that results in our salvation, but then our works are not the root of our salvation. They're the fruit of our salvation. Our works show that we are genuinely saved. And these people's works, when they are willing to help these people and to know what it costs them to help them during the tribulation, they are demonstrating their genuine faith because there is going to be the greatest distinction that ever existed between following God and following Satan during the tribulation than in any other time in history. And the tribulation believers are going to show their genuine faith by helping desperate, persecuted, hunted people. I mean, yes, there are only two options for everybody. You either follow God or you follow Satan. But that choice for the people in tribulation is going to have a lot of earthly consequences. I mean, for everybody, it has the eternal consequence, right? If you follow God or Satan. But it's really going to mean sacrifice for the tribulation saints. A lot of earthly consequences. And when they're willing to help these people, they're pretty much putting themselves on the hit list. This goes far beyond helping the homeless. This is a matter of life or death. And many of these people, because they help, will die for it. So individual believers will help the Jews. But like I said, no nation is going to step up and help the Jews. That's okay, because they have the only ally that really matters anyway. Because we see in verse 14, this is back now in Revelation chapter 12. We see in verse 14, we meet our seventh character, though it's sixth on your blank because Michael and angels are kind of two characters. Our next character is the eagle. And the eagle is often a symbol used in the Bible for God. The eagle is God. They have the wings of an eagle given to them. this group of Jewish people, and he'll deliver them to a safe place where they will survive the second half of the tribulation. Now this isn't going to be all Jewish people, this is going to be a remnant, because Satan is going to succeed in killing many Jews during this time. Oh, this is just a verse that demonstrates how the eagle is often used to symbolize God, Exodus 19.4, you yourselves have seen this, God talking to the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, you saw what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." But Satan will succeed in killing many Jews during the Tribulation. We see in Zechariah 13, verses 8 and 9, it says, in the whole land, this is the land of Israel, declares the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish. Two-thirds of the Jewish people during the Tribulation will die. One third shall be left alive and I will put this third into the fire and refine them as one refined silver and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name and I will answer them. I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is my God. So there will be a third that survive the tribulation and not just survive, but realize that Jesus is the Messiah. And they will turn their hearts to him and be restored to him as his people once again. I think this flight, you know, when they're given the wings of the eagle and they're taken to this place in the wilderness, I think this flight is very possibly connected with what we talked about before, the abomination of desolation. That happens at the midpoint of the tribulation, that these Jews are those who will heed Jesus' words when he says, when you see the abomination of desolation, when you see the hand of Christ standing in the temple declaring that he is God and he needs to be worshipped, then there will be great tribulation as never been seen before. If they had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, the days will be cut short. So they heed Jesus' words and they flee to the mountains. I believe this is what it's talking about, that event, when the eagle comes with the wings and takes some of the Jews to a place of safety. And we see that they're there. Well, we saw in verse 6 that it was 1,260 days. We saw in verse 14 that with time, times and half a time. And as we've talked about, those are all references to saying three and a half years. The location of this place is not revealed. Jesus simply says to flee to the mountains. There is kind of an interesting verse in Daniel. It's Daniel chapter 11 verse 41. This is talking about the Antichrist. He, the Antichrist, shall come into the glorious land, that's Israel, and tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered from his hand. Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. That is a region, so here's modern-day Israel here, here's Jerusalem. So Ammon, Moab and Edom is this mountain, you can see the mountains here, kind of this mountainous range that runs through there and that's to the east of Israel. And for some reason, according to Daniel, this region seems to not be delivered into the Antichrist's hands. Which has kind of led me to speculate that potentially this place could be Petra. There's a place called Petra. It's right about in here somewhere in the mountains, kind of halfway between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. It looks like that would be an amazing place to visit. It's this amazing fortress that's carved into the stone. A place where there were other times in history that people have taken refuge there. It can be only accessed by a very narrow, pass through the cliffs. So we don't know this is where these Jews will go, but it's possible. And I wanted a picture that had people in it. I mean, look how big that is. It's crazy. How did they do that? I'd love to go there. But wherever they go, they go to this special place that God has prepared for them. Satan's not going to give up easy. It said a flood comes from the serpent's mouth. More than likely that refers to some kind of military campaign. There are other places in the Bible where it talks about being overcome by a flood, meaning a military campaign or conquest. So these Jews would be in big trouble, but God's got their backs. It says that the earth opens up its mouth and swallows the river that the dragon pours out of his mouth. So we don't know what that, I mean, are these like men marching in there to get them and literally the earth opens up and the army is gone? Could be, it sounds very much like Korah's rebellion in the Old Testament where a guy named Korah led a rebellion against Moses. The ground opened him up, opened up and swallowed him and along with everybody else who'd followed him. But the main point here is God is going to supernaturally protect the Jews. And I think it's going to look a whole lot like Old Testament times, with the ground opening up. Maybe these people will wake up every day to manna being on the ground. Maybe their shoes will not wear out. Maybe they will be drinking water from the rocks. Maybe ravens will bring them bread. Who knows? But God is going to take care of them, this special group of Jews, who are part of this remnant. And these Jews will survive the tribulation. They will live to see Jesus come on his white horse. They will live to see him plant his feet on the Mount of Olives. They will live to see him establish his kingdom on the earth. And very likely, I mean, Satan must know where they are because the dragon does attempt this flood. Satan must know where they are, but he is enraged by his inability to annihilate Israel. He has tried for centuries. to defeat these people, to get rid of the Jews, and he can't ever do it. He must be so angry. So instead, he goes off to fight the rest of the offspring. So who are the offspring? Number seven, the offspring are other followers of Jesus. So possibly other Jews, because like I said, not all Jews would necessarily be in this group. So other Jews. Any believer really, Jew or Gentile, is going to be on the hit list. Potentially the 144,000 witnesses that we talked about. We don't know that they'll be in this sheltered group. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But he will go off to get any Jew or follower of Jesus that he can get his hands on because he's so enraged that he just can't get them. Have you ever had that feeling? I remember when I was little, we used to play football in our front yard. My brother's the oldest, then me, then my sister Sherry, and Kayla's the youngest. It was me, Jeremy, and Sherry on one team. Kayla and dad on the other. He'd give Kayla the football. I mean, she's barely big enough to move. That football's almost bigger than she is. She's just doing her best to slowly run across the yard. I would get so close to her. And my dad would always be, like, right behind her. And I'd get so close to her, I'd almost get my fingertips on her. And then here comes dad. Just, bam! And I'm on my back. Just nail me, send me flying. It'd make me so mad. Sometimes I'd just sit there and act hurt, or I'd pout. And, you know, oh, that really hurt. Dad, my dad wasn't raising no snowflakes, let me tell you. He'd just laugh at me and be like, get up, you're fine. It would make me so mad because I knew I could take her out. I was bigger and stronger and faster. All I had to do was get to her. But dad was always there and I'd just get just so close and then I'd just be sent flying every time. Now Satan's gonna be a lot more mad than I ever was, but that's what it's like. So close all these millennia and can't do it. So he's gonna take his rage out. on anyone he can get his hands on, any follower of Jesus during the tribulation. That's the end of 12. Don't you worry. I still got 13 minutes. I'm going to use every minute. You know I do. I didn't want to start at 13 because that's all about the Antichrist. That's going to be our lesson next week. So I'm going to take a quick aside because I kind of wanted to do this. I have made, I'll have them up here for anybody who's interested. I'll send them over here. For those of you who love to read, here's my recommended prophecy books for you. That's a long list. If you read all of these, then you feel free to be the teacher, and I'll sit under you. I have read, I've read all of these authors, I should say, except for Ron Rhodes, but that was given to me by Pastor Fred. And except for Paul Benware, that was given to me by Pastor Mike. Otherwise, I had our pastors look through this list, look through these authors, make sure these are legit guys, that they don't see any red flags. So these would be authors I would recommend to you because they are men who would interpret the Bible the way we do. They interpret the Bible literally. They would hold to the primary view of the tribulation happens or the rapture happens before the tribulation. that there's a literal millennial kingdom, that the church does not replace Israel. Some of these very foundational issues about prophecy that I think, must be agreed upon are the ones that they would agree, you know with where LBC stands on these things. But then you're going to find a lot of the gray areas and that's okay. The most important thing is to know our Bibles, obviously, and to always evaluate an author's perspective through the lens of scripture, and to never put what an author writes in their book, as great as it might be, never put it on par with scripture. You know, always view it through the lens of what the Bible says. We need to be wise in discerning, because I guarantee if you read all those books, you're going to find things that these men, great godly men as far as I know, they're going to disagree with each other on some of these things, and that's okay. But that's why it's good to know our Bible. So that when you read something and you think, wait, is that quite right? That seems kind of odd. Like I was reading in a book, and most of these books I borrowed from my mom. I was reading this book and this author wrote, that he was convinced that the rapture would happen, when the right number of Gentiles have been saved. Which is correct, we talked about the fullness of the Gentiles, if you remember that. When the last Gentile is saved, the rapture will happen. And he said, He is convinced that when the number of saved Gentiles matches the number of angels in heaven, that's the right number and that's when the rapture will happen. And I read that and I was like, what? I mean, and he didn't give a reference or anything. I'm like, so where do you see that? Where do you get this? And he didn't give a reference or anything. And it was kind of funny because my mom had highlighted through the book, but it was kind of this light yellow highlighter and it faded a little bit. But after I was had like this what moment I looked and in the margin my mom had put a question mark with her highlighter I'm like yeah mom I'm on board with you on that one like where did that come from you know just kind of things like that where you at least are like I'm not sure where that comes from so just to notice those types of things so I've been wanting to kind of address the parable of the fig tree And this is kind of a random offside I know from my lesson. But turn to Matthew chapter 24. Because I feel like I've seen this parable getting a lot of press these days. And it's maybe, you know, I use my computer a lot to search for different things about prophecy. And so maybe I get stuff that comes up in my feed more about prophecy. I don't know. Not a week goes by really where I don't see something on social media or whatever. And I roll my eyes and think, what in the world? Where are these people getting their theology? This is ridiculous. So I have seen the parable of the fig tree. And I wanted to look at that. Now we read Matthew 24 a couple weeks ago. It talks about all the signs of the times. It talks about, this is Jesus really talking about really what were the seal judgments. He talks about wars. He talks about famine. He talks about kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation. He talks about signs in the skies and the gospel being proclaimed to the earth. He talks about the abomination of desolation and all of these things. He talks about the coming of Jesus, when the skies will be darkened, the moon won't give its light, but the Son of Man will appear, all of these things. Then he gets to verse 32. And he says, from the fig tree learn its lesson. As soon as this branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near, Jesus, return, that he is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away so this is what I have seen so this is one of Amir Sarfati's books and as you know I'm a fan of Amir his is a book that we're reading through he is a He is a Bible scholar. He is fluent in four languages. He can read the Bible in its original text. He is Jewish, which gives insight into the culture. I have learned a ton from him, so I feel a little bad. I'm going to tell you that I think he's wrong, but this is just my opinion. This is just an example of how we need to just be a little careful, I think. One of my things about Amir, he is, my impression is he's a very opinionated, stubborn Jew, which is fine. I mean, he probably needs to be with the battles that he is facing. But sometimes in his books, I wish he would write, I think this is how it's going to happen instead of writing it like this is how it's going to happen. I don't think he does that so much in our Revelation book, but I've noticed it in other books where I just like, just put the word, I think in front of it. So this is what he says about the parable of the fig tree. And we're gonna yeah, we're course we're gonna run out of time. There were three plants in the Bible that symbolize Israel We see that the vine is and I mean, that's a whole nother lesson. We don't have time for a lot The vine is Israel's spiritual privileges to which the church has been grafted in So we're part of that the olive tree is Israel's religious privileges as saints and servants to God those roles have also been made available to the church and So we are part of that under the new covenant. I've given you the references for some of those things. But then there's the fig tree. And when the fig tree is used in the Bible, it's about the nation of Israel. Israel's national privileges and those are ethnic Jews. So when you're talking to fig tree, it's the nation of Israel. So here's what he writes. One agricultural symbol of Israel that's never open to the church is that of the fig tree. Never in scripture will you find the church connected with that representation. The fig tree signifies the national privilege of Israel, which belonged to the Jews alone. Christians have the privilege of being part of the vine and the olive tree. They have the privilege of witnessing God's work with the fig tree, so the work with Israel. So what is this parable telling us? The parable of the fig tree. When you see the fig tree budding and pushing forth leaves, know that the end is coming. The fig tree is Israel, and Israel has more than budded. So that's view number one. The fig tree equals Israel. It has pushed out its leaves and is now producing massive amounts of fruit, because Israel was reborn in 1948. And what was Jesus' ultimate point? The generation that sees this miraculous sign of the fig tree will not pass away until these things take place. Who is this generation? If you have a smartphone, take it out, open your camera app, set it to selfie mode and snap a picture, see that face? That person is part of the generation that will not pass away until the return of Christ. It is this collected generation that will not die. There are people alive today who will be among those taken up in the rapture to meet Jesus in the clouds. If it happens soon, it will be most of us. If the Lord tarries, it will be only some. But it is this generation that will see Jesus return to receive his church unto himself. I really hope he's right. But I went to Pastor Mike, I went to Pastor Fred, I'm like, what's your take on this? What do you think? It just depends on your interpretation. So as Farfadi is saying, he is saying the fig tree is Israel. That the putting forth of its leaves is the rebirth of Israel, which happened on May 14, 1948. So these things, the generation seeing these things, means the rebirth of Israel. And the generation is the generation who has seen the rebirth of Israel. That's one way to look at it. But view number two is the fig tree equals just a fig tree. Because you can't say that a fig tree every time in scripture means Israel. You know, it's like all symbols. Not every lamb in the Bible is Jesus, the lamb of God. Sometimes a lamb is a lamb. So sometimes a fig tree is a fig tree. Does it mean Israel in this context or does it not? Could it be there was just a fig tree there? And so Jesus used that as the example, because there were a lot of fig trees in Israel. Could it be that if he'd been in Oregon City, he would have said, now when you see those tulips popping through the ground, that means spring's coming. And he was just using it as a plant, you know, so that so he is saying then putting forth the leaves, they're just leaves. And he's saying, you know, you guys can read signs in the natural world. So the way you read your signs in the natural world, This is how you read these signs. You should know what's coming. And that these things, so when he says, when you see these things, so what are the things? All of those signs listed previously in chapter 24 that Jesus talked about. The sealed judgments, the wars, the rumors of wars, the famines, the disease, the abomination of desolation. He's saying the generation that sees those things, So they've been, so now we're talking we're in the tribulation, right? If you're seeing the abomination, you're in, if you see the abomination of desolation, you're in the tribulation. I hope I don't mix up my words too much and don't know that I do that. So they're saying this generation who is seeing the seal judgments play out, seeing all of this happen, that's the generation clearly will be the ones who will be the generation that don't pass away. Because you get to that point and his coming is right around the corner. Am I making sense? Are you tracking with the two views? Okay. Then you know the problem too with view number one of the problems with view, number one is that then you have to ask how long is a generation? Because at the beginning when people kind of started taking the fig tree this way, with the rebirth of Israel they said a generation is 40 years. Because that was the generation you know the wilderness, that 40 year generation they died off in the wilderness, a generation is 40 years. Well guess what that would have been 1988. So now we got to redefine it a little bit. Now people have redefined it that a generation is an average lifespan of a person, which is 70 to 80 years. Israel is going to celebrate its 76th anniversary in May. We're in the butter zone if a generation is 70 to 80 years. My only fear is when somebody, You know, what if a hundred years from now, because he didn't get it right, maybe it's just a fig tree and it's going to be the generation that sees all the abomination, all that, that's the generation that will pass away. If somebody picks this up a hundred years from now and they read the sentence, there are people alive today who will be among those taken up in the rapture to meet Jesus in the clouds. Well, they're just going to throw this out the window, right? Because that's not true. It didn't end up being true. And so then all the great things in here that are true, And because of points, so this, that's my reservation. You know, that's why I always try to, when I teach, I always try to say, this is what I think. This is how it could play out. This is how it might be. Because I never want to say anything that somebody would be able to point to that and say, well, that, she said it so dogmatically and it didn't happen. So that means the word of God is not true. That's my caution to you as you read some of these books, as you see some of these things online, even from people, like I said, who I think are great Bible teachers and know what they're talking about. Just always, like I said the other day, just pump the brakes. Talk to trusted people. That's why I went to Pastor Fred. I went to Pastor Mike. I'm like, hey, what's your take on this? Just to see how maybe something else could be understood. Okay, next week we are talking about the Antichrist, the biography of the beast. All things Antichrist next week.