Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. You know, for centuries there have been numerous theories and there have been numerous books, there have been numerous preachers that have stood before their congregations and before the masses and tried to explain the when and how of the world coming to an end. Here are some of the highlights gleaned from maybe the more famous mistaken predictions. In 960, Bernard of Thurnigia, a German theologian, calculated 992 as the most likely year for the world's end. As the time approached, panic was widespread. German astrologer, Johann Stofer, predicted an overwhelming flood in February 20, 1524. Believers started constructing arcs. One man is said to have been trampled to death by a mob attempting to board his specially built vessel. When nothing happened, the calculations were revised and a new date was given, 1588. Obviously that year passed without any unusual rainfall. Solomon Eccles was jailed in London's Bridewell prison in 1665 for striding through Smithfield market carrying a pan of blazing sulfur on his head. He was proclaiming doom and destruction as he did this. Although the end of the world didn't follow, the great fire of London did shortly thereafter in 1666. Now, one of the most famous of these failures was by William Miller. Miller seemed as unlikely a striker of panic as anyone. He was a farmer. He tended farm in Vermont. He fought in the war of 1812, and he served as a justice of the peace. His religious life, however, had not been so steady. Early in life, Miller followed deism, the rationalistic faith of many of our American intellectuals and our founding fathers of our nation. He converted to Christianity in 1816, and then he began an assiduous study of the scriptures. He found the prophecies of Daniel especially compelling, and he used a few key numbers from the text to calculate the date of Christ's return as 1843. Miller arrived at this conclusion not long after his conversion, but he didn't tell anybody about it until 1831. Soon, invitations began to pour in for him to come and to speak about his findings, and Miller became a local phenomenon. He gained wider audiences in 1838 by publishing his book, Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ. about the year 1843, and partnering with Pastor Joshua V. Himes, who would serve as his publicist, his fame went even further. An estimated 50,000 people took the message to heart. They quit their jobs, they gave away their belongings, and they prepared to meet their maker. hundreds of thousands of more people took a little more casual of a belief in it and they more calmly turned their eyes to the skies. As the title of Miller's book indicates, he had not pinpointed a date for the apocalypse. For more specificity, he could only offer the span of March 21, 1843 to March 21, 1844, at the beginning and the end of the Hebrew year. Unfortunately, March 1844 saw no lions laying down with lambs. Miller announced that he must have erred, but one of his followers dipped back into the scriptures to adjust the calculations. After the tearing time cited in Habakkuk 2.3 and Leviticus 25.9, after he factored those in, October 22nd, 1844 got the nod. Once again, nothing happened. Interestingly, Miller's followers stayed together. And the Millwrights focused on proper food and diet. William Miller invented the graham cracker as an attempt to create the perfect food. It was an amazing health food for the time. The Millerites eventually morphed into who we know today as the Seventh Day Adventists under its future leaders like Mary Baker Eddy. After studying both the Bible and mystical messages of the Great Pyramid in 1874, Charles Taze Russell, founder of the sect known as Jehovah's Witnesses, concluded that the Second Coming had already taken place. He declared that people had 40 years, or until the end of 1914, to enter his faith or be destroyed. Later, he modified the date to very soon after 1914. Herbert W. Armstrong, publisher of the magazine, The Plain Truth, declared that January 7, 1972 was undoubtedly the day to watch. The utter failure of his prediction did not diminish his zeal either. Now, these famous failures in predicting Christ's return, and many others, this is just a small sampling, In the minds of many believers have dulled our interest in studying Bible passages about the end times. Who wants to associate themselves with the end of the world crazies? My pastor, when I was in college, had no interest at all in the end times. He said he had enough to do with Bible passages that are very clear without entering the arguments over less certain Bible passages. You know, there are tremendous blessings, however, and encouragements that I believe those who will study the end times have in store for them, and those who forsake it are missing out. as long as we don't set dates. Revelation is the only book of the Bible that comes with a promise of blessing for those who study it. Now I'll try to show you some of the blessings and encouragement today as we open a vital passage for our end time understanding. Jesus gave an essential piece of the puzzle as he concluded his scathing rebuke of the scribes and the Pharisees that we have been studying in Matthew chapter 23. He concludes all of that by talking about the end times. And this was all less than a week before they would hand him over to the Romans to be crucified. As Jesus and his disciples walked away from the temple and the Jewish leaders after that conversation, well, the conversation about the end times, as that concluded, his disciples had some questions to Jesus dealing with that. And so next week when we open chapter 24, we'll see those three questions that they had because of what we're gonna study at the end of chapter 23 today. And in chapter 24, those of you who know your Bibles know that chapter 24 is the Olivet Discourse. That's all about end times. And it all started with this passage we're looking at today in Matthew chapter 23. So today and next week, we are going to be dealing with this controversial yet blessing filled topic of end times. Don't worry though, I'm not going to set any day or year as a prediction of Christ's return. Now, from the start of Matthew 23, we have seen in last week and the week before his messages, Jesus pronounced thunderously harsh judgments against Israel's leaders. He has been declaring to them, because you have rejected the Messiahship that has come to you, The kingdom that I came to set up is now going to be delayed. I started telling him that from Matthew chapter 12, and in chapter 23 here of Matthew, he has really been talking to these rejecters of his Messiahship in very scathing terms. Nowhere do we find Jesus use more scathing language than what we've been seeing here in Matthew chapter 23. He denounces the rejecters of God's prophesied kingdom and the prophesied Messiah. As Jesus concludes his seven pronounced woes against Jerusalem and its leaders here in chapter 23, we see an unrelenting judgment on these obstinate people. But he finishes it with a very tempered compassion. While his judgments are sure, this was not what Jesus desired. He would much rather that they would repent of their sin and come to him. Without any hesitation, Jesus would have gladly gathered them and protected them like a hen does her chicks. But that's not what they wanted. He is very much In the very same spirit of Ezekiel, when Ezekiel gave this prophecy, Ezekiel 33, 11, say to them, as I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Notice this same kind of compassion. that Jesus expresses here in the concluding verses of Matthew 23. Let's turn there now, Matthew chapter 23, and picking up with verse 37, it says this. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you were not willing. These final public words of Jesus to his contemporaries strike like a node of unspeakable sadness at their willingness to just refuse him. and their unwillingness to respond to his motherly concern. The image of a mother bird gathering her brood and covering them is a familiar one and would have been familiar to those who were listening to him there in the temple that day. You see, Moses used it in his farewell sermon in Deuteronomy 32.11. It's a picture of love, tender care, and a willingness to die to protect others. Jewish tradition claimed that Jewish people were under God's wings, and when a Jewish person converted a Gentile, he or she brought that Gentile under the wings of God's presence. Well, Jesus did die for the sins of the world, and including the nation of Israel. John 1.11 says, He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. Now here's J. Verna McGee's take on this whole thing here. J. Verna McGee says, Jerusalem rejected him in his so-called triumphal entry, and he has rejected Jerusalem. But now he weeps over the city. Yes, he denounced them, but he does love them. And knowing the judgment which must come, he weeps." The statement was made in Dwight L. Moody's day that he was the only man living who should preach on hell because he did it with such compassion. And certainly our Lord pronounced these woes with a heart that was breaking. You remember that some of the people thought he was Jeremiah, because although Jeremiah gave the strongest denunciation in the Old Testament, he wept over it. I am of the opinion that we today should not make denunciations unless we are personally moved by them. Jesus was deeply moved for the people of his day. in spite of the shameful manner in which its leaders had treated him, and in spite of the horrible sufferings that he knew still lay ahead. Christians today need to ponder their Lord's compassion for the Jewish people who, although in a day or so they would oversee his torture and death, they were a lost people, and they were about to experience their own horrific judgment. An arrogant attitude toward those who are lost is always despicable, whether or not they treat us personally badly. In his mind's eye, the Lord could see the coming siege of Jerusalem. He could see the hills around the city black and the crosses lining all the roads around it, and on every cross, a Jew. And it broke his heart. The siege of Jerusalem, which Jesus looked into the future some 40 years and saw, was one of the most horrific that you'll find anywhere in history. And there are lots of historical evidences and writings that speak of this. of what has happened. I hope that you will forgive me. I've toned this down a lot from what was written. And I don't want to, I don't want to offend anybody, but at the same time, I do want to give you a sense of how horrific it was that caused Jesus to just weep. This is what actually happened. The Romans first systematically subdued Galilee in a series of fierce battles, at times massacring all the inhabitants of a city, especially if they had put up a particularly stubborn defense. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, instead of preparing for the coming siege by uniting under a common leader, various factions savagely fought one another. in great panic. The state of anarchy was known to the Roman general Vespasian, and he simply bided his time, allowing the Jews to weaken themselves with all of their internal strife that was going on behind the walls. Inside the walls of Jerusalem, there were terrible shortages of food. Ruffian Jews were merciless against their fellow Jews in their hunt for food. They seized people they suspected of concealing food, and they would torture them, demanding they disclose secrets that they often didn't even have regarding where their hidden stashes of food might be. Natural affection and generous sentiment vanished before the plague of hunger. People ate filth and some even became cannibals and devoured their own children. A measure of wheat was worth its weight in gold. Weeks later, the Roman general Titus came and took charge of the campaign. Then the Romans finally broke down the walls of Jerusalem and entered the already devastated and emaciated city. When the siege was all over, the number of those who had been slain or who had died of the famine has been estimated at 1,300,000. The tallest and the strongest looking of the captives that were still living were selected to grace Titus's triumphal return to Rome. But a vast number, including the old and the sick, were put to death. Thousands. were dispatched to mines in various parts of the empire, were distributed among the provinces for the amusement of the populace in the arenas with a wild animal. Thus, Jerusalem fell. Foreseeing this event and all of its horror, Jesus lamented with great compassion because he knew all of that was about to take place, as a result of their rejecting the kingdom of God. Verse 38. See, your house is left to you desolate. Your house. It probably means the temple and the city, both which were destroyed in 70 AD by the invading Roman armies. You know, in the Old Testament, the temple was called God's house. Perhaps it's called your house here to declare that God's presence had exited it. And this is a fulfillment of 2 Chronicles 7.20. It says this, Then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight. And I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples." And that's what happened. Next, Jesus said something that I believe is the key that unlocks so many end time prophecies. Look what he says, verse 39 now. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now, not only were the religious leaders in shock, but his disciples must have been in total shock also. This seemed to them a very strange turn of events. They expected him to establish the kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital. But now he says that their house is to be left desolate and they will not see him again until they say, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. You see, although he is on his way to the cross at this time, in just a few days from now, he is going to be hanging on the cross. He is assuring them that he is going to return and that will be his true triumphal entry. Obviously the kingdom is going to be postponed. He tells his disciples that he will not establish the kingdom of God on earth at this time, but he will come again to fully establish it. That means that the kingdom they were expecting is postponed. The apostles were surprised and disappointed at the idea of a postponement, I'm sure. So as Jesus and his men leave the temple, they come to him with those three questions we're going to see next week. as we open up chapter 24 and look at the Olivet Discourse. Let's go back to this statement here, significant statement. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a quotation from Psalm 118, verse 26, that great messianic psalm that was quoted by the crowds several days earlier when Jesus entered Jerusalem. The crowds used these very words on Palm Sunday, declaring Jesus and their belief that he is the Messiah. It's a messianic greeting that they all recognized. When the Jewish people pronounced Jesus as the Messiah like they did on that first Palm Sunday, that is when Jesus will return. but not until the Jewish nation and its leaders recognize the one that they had rejected, that he truly is the promised Messiah. This will one day happen. It will mean the Jewish acceptance of the Messiah, of Jesus. Scripture is clear about it. This is not the only verse that speaks of this. Here are a few other verses that also speak of the future confession just before Christ's return. We have Jeremiah 3, verses 11 through 18. I'll come down there and read it. And the Lord said to me, Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous, Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge Your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among the foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord. Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord, for I am your master. I will take you, one, from a city, and two, from a family, and will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land in those days, declares the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed. It shall not be made again. At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem. And they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days, the house of Judas shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land I gave your fathers as heritage. Now the reason I believe that this is speaking of the very time of Christ's return is because it's never happened just like this, where all the nations have gathered and focused on Israel. It's never happened quite like this yet, but it will, it will. Now in verses 14 through 18 of this passage here, Jeremiah describes some of the blessings that are gonna come with Christ's second coming, his return. Once he fully establishes his messianic kingdom, It'll be a time of tremendous blessing and restoration for the Jewish people. But those blessings are conditioned by verse 13. They must acknowledge or confess one specific, the way it's written in Hebrew here, one specific rebellious act, which caused them to be scattered among the world's nations. Another passage is found in Zechariah. Now, Zechariah chapters 12 through 14 are a single prophetic theme. Chapter 13 is about the national cleansing of Israel from their sin. And chapter 14 speaks of the second coming and the establishment of the full kingdom. Now guess what chapter 12 speaks of? It is what the cleansing of Israel and the second coming are conditioned upon. Look with me at Zechariah 12, 10 here. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and please for mercy so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child. and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn. That's the condition of which Zechariah chapter 14 then describes the full kingdom. Isn't that amazing? Before Israel will receive the cleansing from her sin and before Messiah will return to establish his kingdom in fullness, Israel must first look on him whom they have pierced and mourn for him, as one mourns over the loss of their firstborn child. How do grieving parents typically mourn if they lost their firstborn child? Oh, if I could only have him back. If I could only hold him in my arms again. I sure wish I had another chance to be with him." That's how a parent mourns the loss of their firstborn. Israel will one day plead for Christ's return, one more chance to be with him. And it will happen before he does come back. One more, this one will astound you. Prophecy is so accurately fulfilled, that ought to encourage you that we are worshiping the right God. As we see this, this is Hosea 5.15 now. It says this. I will return again to my place. until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. This can only be talking about one thing, folks, to make any kind of sense at all. God said he is going back to his place. Where's God's place? Heaven, isn't it? God is going to return to heaven. In other words, to return to some place, you must first leave it. to return to it. Now the question is, do you ever know of a time when God left heaven? Where did he go? He came to earth as God incarnate, Jesus. Then just as Hosea prophesied because of a specific offense that was committed against him. And what was that? They rejected his Messiah ship. He left and he will not return until they acknowledge their offense. Just as the Jewish leadership led the nation to reject the messiahship of Jesus, which we've been studying since Matthew chapter 12, Jesus' leadership must one day lead the nation to accept his messiahship. They must confess the national sin, which was rejecting his messiahship, and then plead for the Messiah to return. This truth is what motivates Satan to wage war against the Jews down through the centuries. We've seen it, haven't we? Anti-Semitism. Satan is well aware of this. Anti-Semitism has been fierce throughout history, but boy, will it ever increase during the tribulation, folks. You see, Satan knows that once Jesus returns, his freedom ends. And Satan knows that once Jesus returns, his freedom ends, knowing that Jesus doesn't come back until the Jewish leaders beg him to return. Satan is doing and will do all that he can to utterly destroy the Jews. Satan knows that his time is shortened. Any form of anti-Semitism that we see today is part of the satanic strategy to avoid the second coming of Christ. Revelation 12 shows that Satan's attacks against the Jews will greatly intensify during the second half of the tribulation. The first five verses summarize the whole life of the Messiah in Revelation 12. Just before, from the time of just before the birth of Christ all the way to Christ's ascension, these first five verses of chapter 12 describe that. Israel is pictured as a woman who gives birth to the Messiah, while Satan, pictured as a great red dragon, waits to destroy the child, the Messiah, but the Messiah survives and the murderous attempts of the dragon are a failure. And the child who will one day rule the nations with a rod of iron ascends into heaven. We see this in picturesque language of Revelation 12 verses one through five. And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant. She 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 10 horns, and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars from 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. So after this summary about Christ's first coming and then his ascension, John's revelation moves forward to the middle of the tribulation with verse six, the very next verse after this. The woman who gave birth to the Messiah, who's that? Israel, the Jews, will flee into the wilderness to a special place that God has designed for their special protection at this period of time, which is given to us three and a half years, the second half of the tribulation. Here's the next verse. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days, three and a half years. During the second half of the tribulation, God will supernaturally bring the Jews who will be especially persecuted to a safe place in the wilderness. And he's going to supernaturally protect and provide them with all of their needs. Satan will not be able to get to them. God's hand will be upon them. They play a crucial part in all of this prophecy that we will see fulfilled. The next several verses describe the intense persecution that causes the Jews to flee to the wilderness for this protection. Now let's go to verse 7, the very next verse after this one. Verses 7 and following. Now war rose 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 was 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. Boy, he's angry, he's ticked off, and look how he takes his fury out. that he was no longer able to be in heaven. The great accuser of the brethren has now been denied that and so we continue here where I leave off. Verse 10, 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 God. And they have conquered Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony, for they love 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, and 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 time and halftime. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, Usually the imagery of water and flood means war. 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 its mouth. And God's going to supernaturally intervene in some way and still protect the Jewish nation. And is Revelation the only place in the Bible that speaks of this place that God is going to have them flee into the wilderness where he's going to... No, it's not. There's other Old Testament prophecies that speak of this. In fact, even we don't have to go much further than into the very next chapter, into the Olivet Discourse, into chapter 14, or 24, I mean, of next week. I want you to see when we come to it, that this is all about what we are looking at here in Revelation chapter 12. And so I want to show you from Matthew 24, verse 15, flip over there with me and your Bibles here. If you were in 23, just turn a page or so. The verse 15 of chapter 24, So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, when you see the Antichrist will break the covenant that he makes with Israel and he enters the temple and he stands in the temple and says, worship me, when you see that happen, so who's he talking to? Why is this in our Bibles? It's for the generation who's gonna be living it that day, when they see it. And so this is the instruction that he's giving those people when they see the Antichrist do these things. Then picking up next verse, verse 16 now. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Ah, there's this place in the wilderness. It's a mountainous region. That's the time you were to flee there, Israel. That's the time when you're to go there. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down and take what is in his house. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. Get there as fast as you can. Why should they pray it's not on the Sabbath? As Sabbath, all of the transportation system in Israel shuts down. Pray that's not gonna happen on the Sabbath, you need to get out of town. You need to get there, you need to get there now. And I'll ask for women who are pregnant, for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. That's describing the second half of the tribulation. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Stay in their place of refuge. If you hear reports, hey, he's come, come on out, he's over here, don't believe it, stay there. In this place, the specially designed place that God has for you. See, I have told you beforehand, indeed he has, hasn't he? So if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning comes from the East and shines as far as the West, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. You're gonna know it when he returns. So stay there in your place of safety. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. So those are the instructions that the Jews are gonna be saved during the time of the tribulation. We studied revelations earlier this year, and if you remember in Revelation chapter 11, there's gonna be two special witnesses who are gonna have a powerful outbreak of revival. That's what those two witnesses are for. A lot of Jews are going to place their faith in Jesus because of these two powerful prophets. There's also going to be 144,000 Jewish evangelists. Imagine that, 144,000 Billy Grahams. Is there going to be revival during the period of the tribute? You bet there is. What's going to be the result? People are going to be given their life to Christ. A lot of the Jewish people are gonna give their life to Christ during the period of the tribulation. Will we be there? If you're a believer right now, no. We're gonna be raptured out. But God, in his mercy, leaves these witnesses and people are gonna be coming to Christ. And then God, in his mercy, is gonna be protecting them, sending them to a place where he is gonna hold them and keep them and take care of them. Now this is primarily the Jewish nation who's rejected him, that this is about, and these witnesses are going to. I don't know about you, but I am tremendously encouraged by a God who does not give up on such an obstinate people who had turned their back on him. Who had rejected the Messiah, who gave them every proof of who he was. And he still doesn't give up on them. that's encouraging me. God is so sovereign. God is so full of mercy. He has it all worked out for bringing his people back to himself. That is grace, tremendous grace. God is full of mercy and grace. Seeing how he shows it to the Jews, do you think he has that same kind of grace and mercy toward you? You bet he does. You bet he does. Now I want you to look with me again at Hosea 5.15. We're not quite done with that verse yet. There's more to this one. I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. You know what the next verses say? I didn't show it to you earlier. But here's what the very next verse is. See, in the Scripture division, sometimes the chapter divisions in Scripture drive me nuts. There shouldn't be a chapter division here because it just flows right into chapter six. And verse 15, the very last verse of chapter five, the next verse six goes with it. So I'm gonna go into the next chapter here, which there really shouldn't be the break. But here's what it says right after. Come, let us return to the Lord. for He has torn us that He may heal us. He has struck us down and He will bind us up. After two days, He will revive us. On the third day, He will raise us up and that we may live before Him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going out as sure as the dawn. He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. Wow, what could possibly cause such a total turnaround? And sudden, in two days time, that they will return to him. that they will acknowledge that he was the missed Messiah. What could possibly happen that would turn this whole thing around? There are scriptures to suggest that one of the final stages of the Armageddon campaign is when the Antichrist and his armies surround the Jews in that place of protection, where God leads them. Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum uses Jeremiah 49 verses 13 through 14 to show this, and he might very well be right, because in this passage, Jeremiah 49 verses 13 through 14, it talks about the armies of the nations of the earth gathered around and about them. And so many theologians are looking at that as part of this Armageddon campaign. My goodness. That would strike terror in those as they were threatening to come in and crush them. If it's true, it's not hard to believe that the leaders of Israel will finally recognize why the tribulation has fallen upon them. They'll realize that they need Messiah, Jesus's help, and they'll cry out to him. Remember, they also have their own study of scripture and seeing how it correlates to all of the world events that have been swirling around them. They'll also have those two witnesses. They'll also have the 144 evangelists, but they will call on the Lord, and the Lord will come. You know why he comes back at that time? To redeem his people. Jesus will come back as reigning Lord, and every knee will bow. Philippians 2, verses 9 through 11 says, Now the question is, when Jesus returns, will you be with him? Will you be part of the host that returns with him? Will you see him coming as your consuming judge or your welcoming king? There's nothing in his unchanging character that rejoices when a person is punished. Instead, there is rejoicing in heaven over each sinner who repents and enters the kingdom of heaven. It's comforting and reassuring to know that Jesus opens his arms and welcomes us into his family. He's waited patiently for his own people, the Jews, to return to him. He's not given up on them. Neither has he given up on you. No one knows us like Jesus. He knows our hearts as surely as he knows the hearts of the Jewish leaders who rejected his Messiahship. He knows those who truly belong to him from the inside out. Are we fully ready to comprehend that he knows our most private thoughts. We realize that we too stand in need of repentance. We seek our own way. We want to do things that further our own personal agendas. We want people to look on us and remark about how wonderful we are. Therefore, like the Pharisees, we deserve Christ's terse analysis of our sinful condition and the punishment that he pronounced on them. Whether we are terrified by the judgment imposed on those who reject the work and person of Jesus Christ, or overwhelmed by his love and his patient urging, turn to him. Give your life completely over to Him to participate with Him in His kingdom work that is happening on this earth right now. Allow Him to make you His very own. Pray with me, please.