What This World is Coming To!
Matthew 24:21
11 Aug 2019 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Matthew 24:1-5,11,21)
Mat 24:1-5 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
A. Let no one deceive you! (Matt 24:11,21)
1. Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
2. If you get caught up in believing…
a. The world’s biggest problem is Climate Change
b. The world’s worst problem is Racism
c. The Bible is irrelevant and out of date, and has nothing to offer today
d. Mankind does not need Jesus Christ, just a bit of morality
e. Or that, we only need to just go to church for a few hours once a week, and we will be fine
f. Or that what this world really needs is one, great leader to just come in and forcibly fix everything so we can get on with living!
3. Well, then you are already greatly deceived!
4. There is coming a time called in the Bible, the Tribulation (Mat 24:21) For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
B. What we are about to learn is a lot of detail, but CAN be understood, and must be acted upon
1. Whether you believe it or not
2. Whether it confuses you
3. Whether you agree with it or not
4. It is the near future of this entire world
5. It is all in motion right now, as we sit here!
C. The world is about to face something called the Tribulation – Bible word!
1. Do NOT think the news, youtube channels, talk shows, analysts, movies, documentaries will actually make sense of any of what lies ahead
2. Only reading, and studying and rightly diving this word of truth that you and I hold in our hands will show us what is ahead, and how to get ready for it!
II. Background
A. Just Exactly What IS The Tribulation?
1. What it means:
a. Tribulation is one of those older words that means Trouble. But it means MORE than just a bad hair day
b. A Thrashing, Affliction, Misery, Distress, Pain, Torment
2. The Bible refers to it
as “the time of JACOB’S Trouble” (Jer 30:6-11)
A time when the physical descendants of JACOB experience troubles and pain and
affliction like never before in history!
a. Bad enough to cause men to act like they are in pain like a pregnant woman about to give birth (6)
b. There has never been any time like it before
1) Christian life is one of much troubles and tribulation
2) But the Christian life today is NOTHING like what is ahead (Matt 24:21) For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
c. It is “Jacob's” trouble – not the Church’s trouble, or the world’s trouble, but ISRAEL’s
d. “but he shall be saved out of it.” God will save the nation of Israel during it
1) Israel will no longer be troubled by anyone
2) The nation of Israel will serve the LORD their God, and David will be their king again, whom I will raise up (resurrect) unto them (in the Millennium). (8-10)
3) God will “make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee”
4) And God will fully restore Israel “I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” (11)
3. So, what is going to be happening?
a. A Time when the Wrath of GOD is poured out (Rev 6:16,17; 15:1)
b. A Time when the Wrath of Satan is poured out as well (Rev 12:12)
c. Truly, a time of the worst hell on earth
B. How Long will the Tribulation last? Seven years
1. Daniel’s last week of Man’s History, each day a year
2. Seven years of ever increasing Hell on Earth
3. Until the day of Christ’s Second Coming! Called Armageddon!
III. Message
A. The Four Horsemen of the Tribulation (Revelation 6:10-17)
1. The apostle John looked out into the future and sees four men, riding on four demonic horses
a. Racing throughout the whole world
b. It’s like the start of an intense race, and begins with a TRUMPET sound (Rev 4:1,2)
2. They describe characteristics of the entire time of the Tribulation from the start of it, to the Day of the Wrath of God at Armageddon (6:17)
a. False Messiah – Bringing World Peace (6:2)
1) White horse, bow and no arrows – no weapon
2) Conquering the whole world, peacefully
3) But he is NOT Jesus
b. World War III (Rev 6:3,4)
c. World-Wide Famine (Rev 6:5,6)
d. Death and Hell (Rev 6:7,8)
3. Followed by:
a. Extreme Genocide (6:9-11) - millions and millions of believers gladly slaughtered
1) Notice how hard people have gotten in the past 30-50 years
2) It is not an accident that the ost popular computer games are First Person SHOOTER games
3) There is a movie coming out called The Hunt – about hunting down Donald Trump supporters, and shooting them for FUN
4) The next few years, it will be Christians that are hunted!
b. Extreme world-wide disasters (6:12-16)
1) The greatest earthquake the world has even known
a) Every mountain and every island being shifted out of place
2) A cloud of darkness covering the entire globe
3) There are People and animals that will have escaped to the Moon that will die
4) Massive asteroids and meteors slamming into the earth
5) The stars in the sky actually shifting places
6) The entire population of the world fleeing to caves and holes to hide
7) Wishing they could die
8) Because they realise the wrath of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ was about to begin!
c. Do any of YOU want to wait until THEN to decide to get saved???
4. The Tribulation will be THE worst imaginable time the world has ever known – worse than the destruction of Noah’s flood, and worse than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah! Worse than Auschwitz and the Holocaust!
B. Daniel’s Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:22-27)
1. Daniel’s Vision of the End Times
a. An angel was speaking to Daniel, a very important prophet of the Old Testament
1) Dan 9:22,23 And he THE ANGEL GABRIEL informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
2) Wanted to explain something to Daniel
b. What was Daniel struggling to understand?
1) Dan 9:1,2 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
2) Okay. So Daniel is noting the date, and knows that the 70 years of captivity for Israel in Babylon are about up
3) He wanted to know, then what? What was going to happen after the 70 years was finished?
4) He had no idea what was supposed to happen on God’s CALENDAR
5) Dan 10:14 Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
2. Daniel’s People
a. Dan 10:14 Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
b. Daniel’s prophecy is NOT for Christians, but for the Jewish nation called Israel
c. Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
3. The great plan of God – to bring in the Kingdom
a. Dan 9:24 … to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
b. Satan will be defeated
c. Sin will be finished
d. Israel will be reconciled to God
e. Everlasting righteousness
f. All visions and prophecies fulfilled
g. And the Son of God will be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords
h. The Millennial Kingdom of heaven on earth
4. The meaning of ‘weeks’
a. God showed Daniel it was not just 70 years of Jewish captivity that Jeremiah was writing about, but 70 WEEKS of years!
b. The amount of time until the Messiah Rules
1) Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city… to anoint the most Holy.
2) 70 weeks of years (490 years) until God’s big purpose is accomplished
3) See Numbers 14:32-34
a) Num 14:32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
b) Num 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
c) Num 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
4) When Jacob worked for Laban for 7 years, he referred to it as only a week! Genesis 29:15-20; 24-28
c. From Nehemiah until Palm Sunday was 69 weeks of years exactly
1) 483 years = 173,880 DAYS
2) Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
3) From Artaxerses commanding Nehemiah to return to the land of Israel and rebuild JERUSALEM
4) Until the coming of the Messiah
5. 7 + 62 = 69 weeks, and then Messiah Cut Off
a. That’s a surprise… The Messiah is supposed to RULE and REIGN
b. But Gabriel says He shall DIE, and NOT reign at first
c. But the Messiah will not die for Himself (Dan 9:26a) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
d. He will die for the whole world! What a thought!
e. Well, exactly 173,880 days after Artexerxes told Nehemiah he could go and rebuild Jerusalem, a Man came into the very same Jerusalem riding on a donkey, and was hailed as the King of Israel!
f. And then just three days after Palm Sunday, the Messiah was crucified
6. Then a GAP – 2,000 years so far!
a. God’s clock has been on hold since the Crucifixion
b. But it is about to be restarted
c. For the final seven years before the Second Coming!
7. Then ONE final week of years (7 years), and then the end
8. Remember these numbers:
a. 70 weeks of years
b. 69 weeks
c. 1 week at the end
d. THEN comes the end
C. Summary of the Seventy Weeks
1. From commandment to rebuild Jerusalem by Nehemiah, until the Messiah is 69 weeks of years (69 * 7) = 483 years 483 years * 360 days = 173,880 days to the DAY
2. Messiah dies right at the end of 69 weeks of years!
3. The Pharisees and the people should have known! (Luke 19:41-44)
a. Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
b. Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
c. Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
d. Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
4. But the plan goes on
5. After a LONG gap… (so far 2,000+ years)
6. The 70th week brings about the conclusion of the plan of God – the reign of Jesus the Messiah!
D. The Tribulation
1. A time of increasing wrath and judgments
a. Three sets of judgments coming on this world, running almost simultaneously for the entire time of the Tribulation
1) Seven Seals broken (5, 6)
2) The Seven Trumpets blown (6:6-21; 11:15)
3) Seven Bowels of Plagues poured out (15:1-16:21
b. Every one of the judgments ending with the battle of Armageddon
1) It just is NOT going to get better and better folks!
2) All hell is about to break loose on this planet! And it won’t stop until Jesus returns!
2. There are Actually Two Tribulations
a. Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
b. Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
c. Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
d. The seven years are divided into two halves of 42 months each (3 ½ years)
1) The first half is the build-up to the crowning of the antichrist in a rebuilt Jewish temple, in Jerusalem
a) Called just simply, The Tribulation
b) A constant build up of world troubles that get everyone to look to a false ‘saviour’ to save them from
c) That’s when an antichrist / prince shall come
1. Dan 9:26b and the people of the prince that shall come
2. shall destroy the REBUILT city and the sanctuary;
d) The rise of the antichrist
1. He will bring a sort of peace to the world
2. There will be more and more wars, but people will really believe it is actually getting better and better
3. He will negotiate a peace in the Middle East, allowing the Jews to rebuild their Temple
4. People will willingly worship him, and surrender all their rights to his control in exchange for PEACE!
e) Establishes a covenant of World Peace
1. Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant OF PEACE with many for one week:
2. A False Peace
f) An enables the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem – not for God, but for the antichrist to rule from!
2) Then Right until the Middle of the week comes the Abomination of Desolation
a) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,
b) even until the consummation OF GOD’S WRATH, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
c) The “abomination of desolation” – the antichrist will claim to be ‘God’ (Mt 24:15; 2Thes 2:3,4)
d) That’s when the GREAT Tribulation begins
3) The second half is the wrath of God, mixed with the wrath of Satan on the entire world
a) This is the beginning of the GREAT Tribulation
b) The most unimaginable disasters will be poured out on the entire world
c) The earth will go out of control
1. Famines – world-wide famines and food controls; and Pestilences, diseases – HIV
2. Earthquakes (Rev 6:12)
3. Hurricanes and Tsunamis (Luke 21:25,26)
d) The heavens will go out of control (Mt 24:29)
1. Sun will go dark before it will explode and become 7 times brighter than before
2. The moon will be turned to blood
3. Stars will fall from the sky
4. An asteroid will slam into the Mediterranean Sea
5. A massive comet will explode over Asia poisoning all the rivers and drinking waters of over a billion people
6. Sounds impossible? People thought so up until about 40 years ago, but now there are dozens of large, expensive telescopes scanning the skies every night, all over the world, looking for “Near Earth Asteroids”, because astronomers know they are out there and are earth destroying rocks!
e) People will go out of control
1. No love at all, except of self (Mt 24:12)
2. Demons will be loosed upon the earth (Rev 9:1-6)
3. An army of 200,000,000 angry soldiers surround the middle east to attack Israel
4. Intense persecution (Mt 24:9,10) – blaming the “nuts” for all the world problems
a. Against all non-conforming religions
b. Ultimately against the Jews
5. Deaths - 1/3rd of the world’s population will die of all these disasters in just 3 ½ years
6. Total unity all over the world under the protection of the Beast (Rev 13)
a. His Mark in their foreheads or in the right hands
b. His number controlling people’s movements and ability to buy or sell
c. His worship the only focus of the whole world
d. All in the name of survival during all the disasters – “acts of God!”
e. But only after all that will come the end! (Dan 9:26)
1) and the end thereof shall be with a flood OF FIRE AT ARMAGEDDON
2) and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
a) Desolation is utter ruin
3) It will only end at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ – Armageddon (Mt 24:30)
IV. More To Come – there are over 300 events happening during this time of Jacob’s Trouble
A. So we will learn more about the coming Anti-christ – his name, number, powers
B. Two Lone Witnesses – Moses and Elijah will be coming back
C. Israel Saved in a Day – right smack dab in the middle of the Tribulation
D. The 144,000 Jewish evangelists go into all the world and start winning millions to faith in Christ
E. Then comes Armageddon – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
F. Where are the Christians through all of this?
V.
VI. Why is the Tribulation even Happening?
A. To judge this world – to judge history – to judge all nations, and all people
B. To end Satan’s rule
C. To bring in a KING, and a kingdom of perfect righteousness
1. Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined … to anoint the most Holy ONE.
D. But the greatest purpose – to save Israel
1. It cannot save YOU – Jesus already died to do that!
2. The time of JACOB’S TROUBLE / Tribulation
a. So it all is for THEM!
b. Not for CHRISTIANS!
3. To save Daniel’s people – the Jewish people
a. Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
b. God made a promise to that little nation over in the middle east, to sometimes scatter it when they rebel, but to always bring them back, and to save them!
c. They, like no other nation, are God’s people
E. Don’t Wait Until it is Too Late
1. Don’t think you can wait until THEN to get saved
2. The Bible says NOW is the accepted time, TODAY is the day of salvation
3. The future is serious business folks!
4. The ONLY Way to Miss the Tribulation (Mt 3:1-7; John 14:6)
a. Repent of your own sins – seriously repent! Hate what you are, and what you have done, enough to humble yourself before an almighty, all holy God who SHOULD send you straight to hell, but is ready to forgive you and save your lost soul!
b. Race to Jesus Christ – I mean RUN! Cry out to Him in desperation for forgiveness
c. Rest / Trust in Him alone – trust that HE died in your place, and that it was enough to pay off all your sin debt