Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
What in the world makes us so embarrassed about the Gospel?
"For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
Let’s open our Bibles to Luke chapter 21, we are confronted with words from the lips
of the Lord Jesus Christ which open up a huge subject in regard to the future prophecy concerning
end time.
Now whenever you talk about the prophecies concerning the end time, you’re talking
about a vast, vast theme. There are Old Testament books that sweep us into the end times, written
by the prophets of old. There are New Testament messages given by our Lord that look to the
end times. There are writings by the writer of the epistles in the New Testament that
look to the end of the age. And then there is the massive book of Revelation which gives
a series of visions that John the Apostle received while in exile on the island of Patmos
that have to do with the end of human history.
All of that simply to say, in a general sense, the end of human history has already been
written. There are no surprises to God and there are no surprises to those who understand
what God has revealed. God has given us in His Word an understanding of the end if we
take the Scripture at face value. And, in fact, in Luke 21 the Lord Jesus Himself is
giving a message, a sermon to His disciples on the future. And it comes at a most ironic
moment.
Precisely during the week when He will be crucified, which is just a few hours away,
it is on the Wednesday of that Passion Week and He will die on Friday, it is on the Wednesday
when the people of Israel and the leaders of Israel have finally determined that He
is in fact not the Messiah, when they have determined that He is not from God, He is
certainly not God, you can say it is at the very high point of their rejection of Jesus
Christ that He walks out of the temple with His disciples following, sits down on the
Mount of Olives and tells them the future. What an irony that is. When the populous and
the leaders have determined that He is not God, He then immediately does what only God
can do, describes the future. In fact, He describes the future in a sweeping fashion
through all of remaining history to the final culmination which will be His own return in
Second Coming glory, which becomes the pinnacle of this message. His Second coming spoken
of in verse 27 of Luke 21.
Here is that irony, that the one they have determined does not represent God is not God,
does not know God, is in fact satanic, is the one who can not only tell the future but
the one who having created the world and sustaining the world will be the very one to write its
history and bring it to its consummation. And what our Lord says about the future is
horrendous. According to the Lord Jesus, the future for this world and its inhabitants
is very, very tragic. It is much worse than any environmentalist imagines. It is much
worse than any scientist could ever imagine in any scheme that he could concoct on the
basis of select information. It is far worse than any educator could imagine, any politician
could imagine, or any religious leader could imagine. We are not headed toward some humanly
engineered utopia. We are not on the way to an age of peace and tranquility. It’s hard
living in this world today and it’s getting harder, and it will continue until it becomes
so hard that it will be worse than it’s ever been. All history has been a battle against
the effects of sin, and the effects of the curse on humanity and on creation brought
by God because of sin. Jesus said, “I’m going to die, I’m going to rise again, I’m
going to pay the penalty for sin and then I’m going away and while I’m gone, things
will get worse.” He says in verse 8 in this message, “See to it that you be not misled.
Many will come in My name saying, ‘I am He and the time is at hand.’ Do not go after
them.”
The first thing we talk about is Jesus says in the period between His first and second
coming, the period in which we now live. There will be dominating deception...deception.
A false Christianity that will outstrip the real Christianity. There will be more false
Christians than true ones. There will be more false representatives of Jesus Christ than
true representatives of Jesus Christ and they will accumulate and escalate until finally
the last form of Christian apostasy takes shape in the time to come called the Tribulation.
And we looked at that. In the time of the Tribulation yet to come, right before Jesus
returns, there will be a flurry of false Messiahs and false prophets plying their deception
across the globe. So this is an age characterized by increasing, escalating religious deception.
This is true, we all know it, we all see it.
Secondly, our Lord said disaster is to be expected, verse 9, “You’ll hear of wars
and disturbances.” He defines them further in verses 10 and 11, “The wars and disturbances
involve nations rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, global war and conflict will
characterize this time.” There will also be natural disasters, great earthquakes, various
plagues, famines, terrors which would encompass everything that we talked about such as fire
storms and tsunamis and tidal waves and any other volcanic eruption, etc., etc., not included
in earthquakes, famines and plagues. And there will be great signs from heaven, hurricanes
and tornados, etc., etc., etc. And the world will be characterized then by religious deception
and by natural disaster. And we have seen that, it is true, it is the way it is in the
world. And as the earth winds down, as the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy
that all things are breaking down, comes to its fulfillment, things disintegrate and this
world becomes more susceptible to these kinds of disasters and tragedies.
Thirdly, He says, the distress of persecution will come. “Before all these things, they
will lay their hands on you, you who profess to follow Me. They will persecute you, delivering
you to synagogues and prisons.” That was the Jewish persecution. “Bringing you before
kings and governors.” That’s the Gentile persecution. “All for My namesake. It will
lead to an opportunity for your testimony, so make up your minds not to prepare beforehand
to defend yourselves for I will give you an utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents
will be able to resist or refute, but you will be delivered up by parents and brothers
and relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death and you will be hated
by all on account of My name.” And I told you some have counted as many as 70 million
professing Christians having been martyred since Jesus said these words until now.
This period of time between the two comings of Christ, characterized by religious deception,
by natural catastrophe and disaster, and by persecution of the people of God. These are
the realities of history. They are facts of history. Jesus said this was how it would
be and this is exactly how it would be and how it is. And, of course, you remember the
disciples expected the Messiah to come and set up the Kingdom. This is very opposite
of what they expected. They had no idea of two comings with an interval in between. Jesus
had to show them that, tell them that and then actually go back to heaven in His ascension
and we wait for Him to return. But this is life in our world until He comes. And it’s
not getting better, it is getting worse.
And as I pointed out to you when we went through those verses and we’ve already gone through
verses 8 through 19, the worst form of religious deception comes in the last seven years and
the last three and a half in particular, before Christ returns to set up His Kingdom and to
judge, the worst natural catastrophes happen in that same period of time yet in the future
and the worst form of persecution as well. So these things at their maximum level will
occur in the time known as the Time of Tribulation. In fact, that is precisely what our Lord said
in this same message. Remember now, the words that Luke records are not all that Jesus said
on this occasion on the Mount of Olives when He spoke of His return and the time in between.
Mark 13 records His words and so does Matthew 24. And in Matthew 24 we are reminded that
there will be a time that is worse than any time in the history of the world. There has
never been a time like the time of Tribulation that is to come in the past, and there never
will be a time like it in the future. It is the worst of all times.
Verse 21, Matthew 24, “There will be a Great Tribulation such as has not occurred since
the beginning of the world till now, nor ever shall.” And in that time, all of these things,
deception, disaster and persecution, reach their pinnacle.
Now our Lord also says that when they begin, they are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew
24:8, the beginning of birth pains. Birth pains is a good illustration to talk about
this progression because everybody understands birth pains. There’s an event coming, the
birth of a child. It’s an event that occurs in a moment in time. Prior to that event there
are escalating, increasing pains. It’s a perfect illustration. What Jesus is saying
that when He goes, these things will begin to happen. These are the very early, almost
false birth pains. As you get nearer to the birth of Christ, the birth pains will be real,
they will grow more intense and more intense and more intense at the very end.
For example, when you look at the time of the Tribulation in the book of Revelation,
it is laid out under seven seals. There’s a scroll that is rolled and then sealed, and
rolled and then sealed, and rolled and then sealed. So it’s sealed seven times. That’s
the way they sealed a will. It’s the Title Deed to the earth, Christ is going to take
the Title Deed to the earth, unroll it, take back the earth from the usurper, Satan. Every
time He breaks a seal, another judgment is released. So you have the seven-seal judgments.
When He opens the seventh seal which is the last at the end of the period of seven years,
out of that seventh seal comes seven trumpet blasts. Those are more rapid fire. They all
occur at the time of the seventh seal which is right at the end. So you have seven trumpet
judgments that come right at the end. Out of the seventh trumpet comes seven bowls that
are poured out in judgment and they are even more rapid fire than the trumpets. So you
have that same birth pain intensity escalating in the imagery of seven seals over a period
of seven years, seven trumpets over a period of seven months, and seven bowls over a period
of days and hours. And then at the end of the bowl judgments, all judgments are finished,
Christ comes, judges the ungodly, and sets up His earthly Kingdom. The birth pains then
give us the idea you have escalating intensity until the very end when the pains become fierce,
leading up to the very event itself.
These final pains that I just mentioned are described in the book of Revelation. You see
in Revelation plagues, things that Jesus talked about, famines, earthquakes, wars, false Messiahs,
false prophets, deadly persecution of believers. You see all of that in the book of Revelation
at an intensity and a level that the world has never ever experienced or will experience.
And when you begin to see those, Jesus said in Matthew 24:33, when you begin to see them
at that level, at that intensity, when you see these things, know...Matthew 24:33...that
He is near...that He is near. We haven’t begun to see those yet. We know what those
will look like because they’re laid out in detail in the book of Revelation. In Matthew
24:21 Jesus said, “There will be a great Tribulation.” There is Tribulation now,
in this world you shall have tribulation, John 16:33, but there is coming a Great Tribulation,
that describes that last seven years and most particularly the last three and a half of
the last seven. Wickedness will then be at an all-time high and it will be expressed
openly and without restraint. The Holy Spirit who restrains evil in the world will step
aside and let evil run rampant. Satan will be given the privilege of releasing demons
who are bound in hell so that they cannot escape but they will be released to run rampant
over the world in one last satanic dash against God and Christ. At the same time that you
have sin running amok, and demons running free, you have God’s wrath systematically
released with deadly force on the entire world and God’s wrath even using sinners and demons
for His own purposes.
At the same time you have the gospel being preached to the ends of the earth by 144 thousand
converted Jews, 12 thousand out of each tribe, Revelation says, by two witnesses who literally
die in view of the whole world and rise from the dead and preach the gospel from Jerusalem.
They’ll be seen, no doubt, by satellite television all over the world. Then you have
an angel flying in heaven preaching the gospel in the sky so that all the world will be able
to hear. So it will be the worst of times and yet there is a sense in which it will
be the best of times because that preaching of the gospel by the witnesses, the two witnesses,
the 144 thousand and by all the people who are saved from every tongue and tribe and
nation will cause a great revival and multitudes will be converted to Christ during that time.
And so, in that time of Great Tribulation, there will come an escalation of judgment
that will make it clear that you are at the end. That is why in the parallel passage in
Matthew 24, in the parallel passage in Mark 13, both Mark and Matthew inject into the
words of Jesus a little sentence, “Let the reader understand...let the reader understand.
Some people think that prophetic literature is written to make things incomprehensible.
That prophetic literature is designed to create mystery and confusion. Not at all. Let the
reader understand. You read what this says and you look at what is happening. I can read
about what Jesus said about wars, nations and kingdoms going against each other through
human history, false forms of Christianity, false Messiahs, false prophets. I read about
the persecution of believers and I say, “I understand. I see it. That’s history. That’s
reality. That’s the way it is.”
And in the future when these things reach the most intense level of their agonies, their
birth pains, all you have to do is read the Scripture and you will know exactly what’s
going on. Those words are injected by the writer because the writer of Matthew and the
writer of Mark understands that people in the future will be reading this. It doesn’t
say let the hearer understand. That’s not something Jesus said to His disciples at the
time, but it’s something that the Spirit-inspired author says to the future generations who
are looking at history and wondering what’s going on. And He says, “Let the reader understand.”
You’ll see this unfold before your very eyes.
At that time Matthew 24 says, “When these judgments are released, when iniquity runs
rampant, when believers are persecuted...” And by the way, when a revival is going on
across the world, people are being saved, Israel will be saved at that time, there will
be a great revival in the city of Jerusalem, Revelation 11, there will be 144 thousand
Jews converted, identified in Revelation 7 and 14. Multitudes from the whole world are
identified in Revelation 5. Satan will rebel against that and bring about the greatest
persecution in history. That persecution will cause some people to defect. There will be
professing false believers in that period who will defect under the heat of persecution.
Others who will defect under the influence of lawlessness. Matthew 24, Jesus said, “Because
of lawlessness or iniquity, the love of many will grow cold.” In other words, they won’t
want to abandon their sin.
So there will be false believers even at that time who will defect. But the true believers
will endure, as we remember from last time, verse 19, “By your endurance you will gain
your lives.”
Now how will the readers of the future know when this comes? How will they know that Jesus
is coming soon? What sign? That’s what started all of this, remember that? Back in verse
7, what is the sign when the end is coming? What is the sign of Your coming, as Matthew
puts it ? What is the sign of the end of the age? What is the sign, what should we look
for to know that it’s going to happen?
Of course, they thought it would happen then, soon. We’re two thousand years later, it
hasn’t happened. Christ hasn’t established His Kingdom. What is there to look for? For
that generation who is alive at the very end, what should they look for? What signs? How
do you know when you’re getting to the end?
Well just imagine that you’re living in the future described in the book of Revelation,
described by Daniel, described by our Lord here. You’re living in the future. Natural
disasters are at a fever pitch, far beyond anything humanity has ever experienced. Persecution
of the people of God is at its maximum level. Believers are begin slaughtered. There is
persecution the likes of which the world has never seen.
At the same time, there is false religion abounding under the leadership of the Antichrist.
It’s a very hard word. It’s a world more difficult to live in than any point in human
history. And those true believers are going to be like the martyrs under the altar saying,
“How long, O Lord, how long? How long is this going to go on because this is way more
stress than we can handle? How can we possibly know when the end is going to come?” If
you think it’s important now, hey...how important will it be then? I’m having a
hard time convincing people that it’s important now because they’re so comfortable. It’s
hard to get a people stirred up about the return of Jesus Christ because they’re not
living in terror.
In that day when the world is living in a condition of terror, how are they going to
know that the end is near? The answer to that comes in verses 20 to 24, and that’s our
text. “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation
is at hand.” That’s the key. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize
that her desolation is at hand.
You say, “Wait, wait, wait. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies? That’s a
very familiar sight.” That has been a familiar sight for a very, very long time. Certainly
40 years after Jesus said this in 70 A.D., Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman army
who laid siege to the city of Jerusalem which finally fell in 70 A.D. And when the city
of Jerusalem fell in 70 A.D., people did flee into the mountains, thousands of them fled
into the mountains, many more traveled as refugees to various parts of the world. They
were horrible days. Titus Vespasian, son of the emperor of Vespasian came, attacked the
city and killed people until Josephus says he had no more people to kill and no more
people to plunder. And then Caesar sent orders to demolish the whole city, flatten it, demolish
and flatten the temple and just leave a portion of the wall, the city wall, and some towers
as a testimony to the power of Rome so that the people would know that it was once such
a formidable place evidenced by the greatness of the wall and the towers which was left.
And this would be a testimony to Rome’s great power. But apart from leaving that,
Josephus says there was not enough left of the city to make those that came after believe
that it had ever been in inhabited place.
Is that what our Lord was talking about? Was He talking about 70 A.D. here? I don’t think
so. Keep reading. Verse 21, “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,”
that happened then. “Let those who are in the midst of the city depart,” that happened.
“Let those who are in the country not enter the city,” and they didn’t. Then verse
22, “Because these are the days of vengeance in order that all things which are written
may be fulfilled.”
Wait a minute here. That language does not lend itself to a 70 A.D. interpretation. These
are not the days of vengeance. These are not the events which cause things which have been
written to all be fulfilled. The days of vengeance, just take that phrase, that is an Old Testament
expression used to describe the coming time of Tribulation. It is an Old Testament expression
to speak of divine vengeance from God in the end time, the time of Jacob’s trouble. You
read about the days of vengeance in Isaiah 34, 35, 61, 63. Daniel 12:1 speaks of the
days of vengeance, Hosea 9, Micah 5, Zechariah 12, Zechariah 14. You’re talking here about
the final end, when God’s final vengeance falls on the ungodly and on human history.
The days of vengeance when all things which are written become fulfilled...that’s a
sweeping statement....sweeping statement. When all things which are written become fulfilled.
This is far more than what happened in 70 A.D.
What are we talking about here? What event are we talking about here? Well some might
suggest the Middle Ages. Some would come along and say, “Well, the Jews were under siege
during the Middle Ages, the first of the Crusades, 1095, the first of the Crusades they came,
sacked Jerusalem and from then to the 1500's control over the city of Jerusalem changed
many, many times, until finally Sullamon(??) the magnificent, the great Ottomon’s sultan
in the early 1500's conquered Jerusalem. And if you were to go there today, the walls that
you see today, the stone walls, the battlements encircling the old city of Jerusalem belong
to the sixteenth century time of Sullamon(??) a visible reminder that Israel has been surrounded
by armies through its history. Right there is almost 500 years of it. But you couldn’t
call any of those events during that period of time during the Middle Ages the days of
divine vengeance and the fulfillment of everything that has been written.
Oh, even today someone might say, “Jerusalem is surrounded by armies.” Not that they
are against the edges of the city wall, but there are armies in constant readiness for
war surrounding Israel all the time. Ever since they came back in 1948, declared themselves
a state, it was immediately after that that a war of independence left the city of Jerusalem
divided. Jordan controlling the old city, including the temple mount most of the historic
sights, and that only lasted for about 20 years till 1967, you remember the Six Days
War. The Six Days War in Israel forces captured the old city, reunified all of Jerusalem.
The city came under Jewish control for the first time in centuries.
However, more than 30, 40 years later now, Jerusalem is still surrounded by enemies.
They are at the heart of an Israeli Palestinian conflict. Arab leaders worldwide insisting
that that land and that city belongs to them and that they have from God, Allah, a mandate
to exterminate the Jews. Jerusalem has been surrounded by armies. It is surrounded by
armies in a figurative sense right now. Its political position, as you know, in the Middle
East is so volatile that at any moment in time, Israel could be attacked by any of these
massive enemies that surround it.
Is that what this is talking about? Are we talking about now? Is this it? Are we there?
Are we seeing the fulfillment of this prophecy and Jerusalem is surrounded by all these Arab
nations who are armed to the teeth and gaining greater weaponry including nuclear weapons
to come against them? Is that it?
No, no, that’s not it. You say, “Well what is he talking about?” We have to go
to Matthew to answer the question. Turn to Matthew 24. Matthew records that our Lord
said something even more specific...our Lord said something even more specific. He said,
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, that’s the sign. That’s the sign that
the great part of the Tribulation is to begin. That’s the sign that the worsts is coming
and it’s the darkest darkness before the dawn. And here he takes it a step further.
Verse 15, Matthew 24, “When you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken
of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place,” and here’s where that
phrase is, “let the reader understand.” “Then those who are in Judea flee to the
mountains,” and He goes through the same series of warnings to get out of the place.
“If you’re on the housetop, don’t even go down inside to get your belongings. If
you’re in a field, don’t go back to get your coat. And woe to those who are pregnant,
those who nurse babies, even as we saw recorded in Luke, pray that your flight might not be
in winter or on a Sabbath. There will be a Great Tribulation.”
What launches the Great Tribulation at the midpoint of the seven years, the Great Tribulation
is the last half and Daniel points this out even by numbering the days in chapter 12,
as the book of Revelation numbers the days. What triggers the last half, the worst half,
just prior to Christ’s return, what launches that Great Tribulation is when the armies
surround Jerusalem and there is the committing of what Daniel calls the abomination of desolation...the
abomination of desolation. Jesus is very specific. Jesus then relates Daniel’s prophecy of
the abomination of desolation to the end time. When you see the abomination of desolation,
you know that’s the time. That’s the end time. Right after that, verse 29, comes the
Tribulation, its final form. The sun is darkened. The moon doesn’t give its light. The stars
fall. Then the sign of the Son of Man appears in the sky. This is all eschatological. This
is all in the last days.
So our Lord is talking about a period in the end of history, when the armies encamp around
Jerusalem. And they encamp around Jerusalem with the purpose of desolation. That’s simply
a word that means to ruin, to destroy. They camp around Jerusalem with a view of coming
in and creating desolation. What specific desolation? The abomination of desolation,
says Matthew. So he fills out our Lord’s words, just exactly what is an abomination?
It is a blasphemy...it is a blasphemy. That’s the meaning of the word. There is committed
at this time a blasphemy.
In fact, an abomination to God is any act of idolatry, anything that blasphemes His
name, His honor, His worship, His glory, His place. Certainly spiritual uncleanness is
a blasphemy and an abomination. Certainly immorality of any kind, unrighteousness is
an abomination. But in particular, idolatry is an abomination.
So we have here then, in the end time the prophecy of nations surrounding Jerusalem
and inside Jerusalem there is committed an abomination of desolation which is spoken
of by Daniel. Let’s go to Daniel 9:27 and see what it is. And here’s our great challenge.
I can’t possibly take you through all of this on this occasion. I suggest to you if
you have further interest, get some of the material on Daniel. Read the sections in the
Study Bible, get the CD on Daniel 9:27 and you will get a greater insight into the abomination
of desolation. Or study the material from Matthew 24:15 where the abomination of desolation
is referred to. I have messages on that as well as the Matthew commentary with an extensive
section on that.
There’s also a chapter in the book, The Second Coming, which deals with this as well.
But look at 9:27 in Daniel. “And he will make a firm covenant,” talking about the
Antichrist. In the end time, there will come the final Antichrist, the final false Messiah,
the final false prophet and he will make a covenant, firm covenant, with the many for
one week. What does that mean? He makes a covenant or a pact with Israel. He becomes
the protector of Israel. Amazing.
They are still in unbelief when the Tribulation begins. The church has been Raptured. Now
the Tribulation begins. Israel is still in unbelief. The Antichrist comes along. He offers
himself as the protector of Israel because Israel is sitting in a still very, very hostile
world. So the Antichrist comes along, offers himself as the protector of Israel. They make
a covenant with him for a week, in the middle of the week. It’s a week of years, by the
way, as 70 weeks of Daniel means 70 periods of seven years. And this...the detail of this
is very important in prophecy. The first 69 years were completed when Jesus was crucified.
There’s one week left to go, the seventieth week in the future. During that week there
is a covenant made with the Jews and Antichrist, he becomes their protector. However, in the
middle of the week, he puts a stop to sacrifice in grain offering.
What that means is the temple will be rebuilt of some form. They will be offering sacrifices
again. Judaism will be restored to some place in that time. The Antichrist will offer himself
as the protector of Israel. He’s not labeled the Antichrist, he’s a man of peace, a leader,
a great world leader of peace. They’re very possibly out of the Roman Catholic system.
He comes in, sets up some kind of pact with them, becomes their protector. However, in
the middle of the week puts a stop to their offerings, their sacrifices, and creates what
is called the abomination which makes desolate. This is what our Lord is referring to. In
the middle of the last seven years of human history before the Lord’s return, the Antichrist
is violated in the middle by something the Antichrist does to create an abomination...an
abomination that produces destruction and desolation. This is the abomination of desolation.
What is it? Ah, the New Testament makes it clear what it is. The New Testament tells
us that the Antichrist in the middle of the week will go into the holy place in the temple
and set up an idol of himself and demand that the entire world worship him. That is an abomination
to God...an abomination to God. Scripture talks about this very specifically, and I’ll
refer to that in a moment.
But, there’s another component. And I’m going to try to hurry and give this to you.
We’re looking eschatologically at the future, at the end time, the Antichrist makes a pact,
breaks it in the middle, breaks it by setting up an idol of himself in the middle of the
Holy Place in Jerusalem, trying to create a world religion, cause the whole world to
worship Him. Obviously this is Satan worship at its pinnacle in its final form. All the
nations of the world are encamped around. Jerusalem is the focal point of everything
and this idol is set up in the Holy Place.
Is there anything like that in human history? Is there anything that you could look that
would be a preview of that kind of behavior?
Yes there is. In the same prophecy of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 11, you’ll have to study
it on your own, throughout chapter 11 you have the history of a particular ruler, a
ruler that has been well-known to students of history and Scripture as Antiochus. Antiochus...one
of the major Seleucid kings. That is, he came from Syria. The powerful kings in Daniel 11
are the King of the South, the Ptolemies from Egypt, and the king of the north, the Seleucids
from Syria that bordered Syria.
In Daniel chapter 11 the Seleucid king is called a vile person to whom they will not
give the honor of royalty but he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue.
This is referring to Antiochus IV who was a Seleucid.
Now you need to know just a little bit about this particular guy and I can’t take you
into a whole lot of detail. He came in the third century. Daniel prophesied in the sixth
century, he says there’s going to be a king and he gives all kinds of details about him
and he comes three centuries later. He offers himself as the protector of Israel. He’s
from Syria in the north, he will protect Israel from the south. He will protect Israel from
the Egyptians, the Ptolemies in Egypt. That’s going to be his commitment. He pretends to
be the defender of Jerusalem. So he goes to war, this is what Daniel said he would do
and history said that’s exactly what he did. Daniel said he would go to war against
Egypt. He would then plunder Egypt, take all the spoils of Egypt and buy influence in Israel.
That’s why in Daniel 11:24, says he shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places
of the province, he shall do what his fathers have not done, or his forefathers, disperse
among them plunder, spoils and riches, devise his plans against the strongholds but only
for a time. So what he comes to do is bribe them, buys his way in as the protector of
Israel by giving them some of the plunder he stole when he conquered Egypt.
He goes back, he is to go back and make a final devastation of Egypt. That was Antiochus’
plan. In the year 168, history says he was going to Egypt to make a final plunder of
Egypt. He had already defeated Egypt. He had already made his alliance with Israel. It
came to pass three centuries after Daniel said it would, exactly as he said it would.
On his way to Egypt he receives orders from Rome via Cypress because the Roman fleet was
stationed at Cypress. That’s very important. The Roman fleet is anchored at Cypress. The
word comes to him, Caesar says, “Do not make war against the Ptolemies, do not make
war against Egypt.” He is humiliated. He is angry. He is infuriated. So he withdraws
from Egypt and he heads back to Syria. He is so mad that he decides to vent his rage.
He’s so made he needs to kill somebody, so in passing he decides to kill the Jews.
As he goes north, he stops at Jerusalem. This is what Daniel said, Daniel 11:30, “Ships
from Cypress shall come against him, therefore he shall be angry, return in rage from the
holy covenant and do damage.”
The word came from Cypress to him by ship not to go to Egypt, but to go back to Syria.
And Daniel knew that three centuries before it happened because God revealed it to him.
He stops and he’s going to sack Jerusalem. He waits until the Sabbath when he knows the
people will be most vulnerable, orders an army of 250 thousand soldiers to slaughter
the Jews. Now remember, he’s been their protector and their benefactor. He met with
very little resistance.
He then took control, set Jewish apostates, defectors from Judaism, enemies of Israel’s
covenant with Jehovah, he set them in all the positions of power in the city. Daniel
said he would do that, Daniel 11:30, “He shall return and show regard for those who
forsake the holy covenant.” Daniel said he would put apostates in places of power...he
did. He was trying to set up a thoroughly new religion of paganism, he demanded no more
sacrifices to be made to God. He demanded that all sacrifices be made to idols. The
Sabbath was to be profaned. All laws of Judaism, both biblical and traditional, were to be
eliminated. He wanted one people, one religion just like Daniel said he would. And he was
to be the object of everyone’s worship. He called himself Epiphanes the Great One.
The people called him Epimanes the mad man. And at that time when he took power there,
this is what he did. It says in the history of the Maccabees, the fifteenth day of the
month Kislev, a hundred and forty and fifth year he set up the abomination of desolation
on the altar.
You know what he did? We know. History says. He went into the Holy Place where the Jewish
altar of sacrifice was, where God was being worshiped and he put an image of Zeus on top
of the altar where offerings were made to Jehovah. And he did exactly that. He abominated
the Holy Place and that brought desolation. Daniel 11:31 says, “There he committed the
abomination of desolation.”
So you have a wonderful picture in Daniel. You have an illustration of someone in the
third century, or actually 168, you have an illustration of this individual just two centuries
before the Lord who abominates the Holy Place and is a picture of the future abomination
of desolation at the end time. It is Daniel 11, by the way, that refers to Antiochus,
but the other abomination of desolation in 927 can’t refer to Antiochus because it
refers to the very end of all history in the final seven years before the Lord establishes
His Kingdom. There’s a further reference to it in Daniel chapter 12 as well which is
looking at the end time abomination of desolation.
So in a pattern that is pretty frequent in prophetic literature, you have a future prophecy
illustrated in a near prophecy. Antiochus becomes an illustration of what the final
Antichrist will do. And so we know Daniel 9:27 is referring to the future, go back to
Luke 21, because that’s what Jesus refers it to. Jesus is interpreting Daniel and when
our Lord says, as He does in Matthew 24, “This is that which was written by Daniel the prophet
concerning the abomination of desolation,” we know it’s connected to the time of His
return. It’s connected in Luke 21 to when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then
recognize that the desolation is at hand. It’s that same desolation.
So the Lord sees this as an eschatological event. Yes, Jerusalem has been surrounded
by armies throughout its history. There have even been a couple of times through history
when the temple has been desecrated, of course, and abominated, the place where God is supposed
to be worshiped there. There is that most notable time laid out in Daniel 11 and fulfilled
in history by Antiochus where a kind of abomination of desolation happened and he did things that
were absolutely atrocious. The story of what he did, beyond what I told you, is that he
slaughtered a pig on the altar and stuffed pork down the mouths of the priests as a way
to desecrate the place and desecrate them as well. And so the picture of what he did
is only a preview of what that final Antichrist will do. And if you ask just exactly what
will the final Antichrist do? Revelation 13 says, here’s his abomination, “In his
vision was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast.” He sets up his
image in the temple in the Holy Place, his idol. There was power given to him that the
image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of
the beast to be killed, Revelation 13:15. So he doesn’t set up an altar of Zeus, he
sets up an idol of himself. Paul describes it in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 4 with these
words. The Apostle Paul says this, “The son of sin when he’s revealed...that’s
the Antichrist...the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that
is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God.” That’s the final abomination. That’s what Antiochus did in
a preview of the final abomination.
So, let the reader understand. When you see in human history a world leader at the end
of the age who makes a pact of protection with Israel to protect them and in the middle
of that period of protection while judgments are beginning to move that are unlike anything
in the history of the world, and you see the armies of the world surrounding Jerusalem
to put an end to Israel and you see this Antichrist going into the Holy Place, putting up an idol
of himself to establish one world religion, calling the whole world to worship him, you
know that the coming of Christ is near...is near. He will turn against Israel whom he
has feign to protect. He will call the armies of the world to come and they will amass in
Israel from the city of Jerusalem clear north to the plain of Megiddo, all these forces
set against God and against Israel, and he will then desecrate the Holy Place and this
will trigger the return and the judgment of Christ who will destroy all the armies of
the world, all the ungodly and unrighteous and establish His Kingdom.
Now back to our text of Luke 21 quickly. When this happens, these are the days of vengeance
when all things written are to be fulfilled. “Woe to those who are with child and those
who nurse labor in those days.” Why does He want everybody to run? Why does He want
them to flee? Well in the sense it’s metaphoric, get out, the disaster is going to be so horrible,
you don’t want to experience the horror of what’s going to happen in that place
when Antichrist ascends on that and starts the massacre that’s going to be going on
there.
But there’s another element to it and it is this, that this is the end of evangelism.
For those who are believers He doesn’t say, “Endure persecution, endure suffering, take
it, don’t worry if you’re arrested, don’t worry if you’re incarcerated, don’t worry
if you’re martyred. It will fall out to be a testimony to the goodness of the gospel
and you’ll make a good confession.” There’s no more evangelism, it’s over. It is done.
Just leave. God wants to protect and will protect certain of His people in order to
enter in to the Millennial earthly Kingdom. Time to get out. It’s going to be more difficult
for pregnant women and women who have nursing babies. Obviously they can’t move as fast,
they’re encumbered.
There will be great distress upon the earth and wrath to this people. It will be the wrath
of Satan but it will be executing the wrath of God. They will fall by the edge of the
sword, there will be a massacre led captive into all the nations. This happens at the
midpoint for the final three and a half years. The people who aren’t slaughtered are going
to be sent all over the world, as we also read in Matthew 24. Jerusalem will be trodden
underfoot by the Gentiles. Only until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
What are the times of the Gentiles? It’s a period of time from 586 B.C. when Israel
first went into captivity, until the end of the Tribulation when Christ comes to establish
His Kingdom. Through this whole time they have been, to one degree or another, under
the attack, the oppression, the influence of Gentiles. But the times of the Gentiles
will end. It didn’t end in 70 A.D., so this can’t refer to that. It didn’t end in
160's, so this can’t refer to that. The end of the times of the Gentiles is concurrent
with the day’s vengeance of God, when all things will be finally fulfilled. This is
the future of the world.
The Old Testament understood this. The Old Testament prophets said it. Let me close with
this. Zechariah 12, “The burden of the Word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus, declares
the Lord, He stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth and forms the
spirit of man within Him. Behold, I’m going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling
to all the peoples around and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against
Judah.” As I said, all the way through that land. “It will come about in that day that
I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples, all who lift it will be severely
injured and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. In that day, declares
the Lord, I will strike.” That’s not talking about anything that happened in 70 A.D. The
Lord didn’t strike in 70 A.D. That’s not happening either in the time of Antiochus.
This siege of Jerusalem is the very one our Lord is referring to, same one Zechariah spoke
of.
Zechariah 14, he talks of it again. “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to
battle. The city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished,” that’s
why you want to run. “Half of the city exiled, the rest will not be cut off from the city.
The Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as He fights in a day of battle.”
That great conflict at the end is where the Lord comes down and brings the final victory.
That didn’t happen 70 A.D., didn’t happen in Antiochus’ day. It will happen in that
day. So when you look at the history of the world and you understand what Jesus is saying,
He laid it all out. Laid out just exactly how it would go, that it would escalate, that
it would get worse, that it would have its final form in the horrors of the time of Tribulation
described in the book of Revelation. The trigger event to let people know that the end is near
is the armies of the world gathering against Jerusalem after a feigned protector has been
sort of accepted as the one to defend them and keep them safe. He turns on them, he goes
in, desecrates the temple, sets up an idol of himself, wants the whole world to worship
him, have one world religion when obviously they won’t respond to that, both Jews who
have been converted to Christ and who have not, at that particular point he turns on
them a massacre begins, a massacre takes place followed by another massacre by the returning
Christ. But that’s the subject for next time.
Father, this is so weighty and so amazing that You have given us all this truth and
barely contain it like drinking from a fire hose to take it all in. And there’s so much
more to be said throughout the writings of Daniel in great, great careful detail. And
also, throughout the writings of the New Testament in the words of our Lord and in the words
of John who received visions of the end. Lord, help us to understand that You’ve given
this to us that we might be warned, that we might understand the way the world is going,
that we might be safe from these horrors because our lives are hidden with Christ in God. I
pray, Lord, that even today You will draw to Yourself sinners who will be caught in
the disasters if they tarry until that hour, if that’s in our lifetime, we can’t imagine
the horrors of how many will perish under the deception and the delusion of Satan and
under divine and demonic judgments. Lord, rescue souls today by having them put their
trust in Christ and be safe from all these things. We know Your church will be raptured
even before anything begins, anything begins. And yes, Lord, we understand that even the
worst of times will also be a time when You will begin again to gather a people to Yourself
to live forever in heaven and praise and glorify You. We thank You, Lord, that You are a God
who redeems through all the eras of history. We pray for Your own glory that You would
redeem sinners even today in the name of Christ. Amen.