Early Warning Signs

3:16 I titled my message, Early Warning Signs. Transplants to Texas from states like California are surprised by a number of things when they come to Texas. But one of the things that surprises them most is our weather. You know, when you come from a state where the weather is pretty uniform, it's all the same all the time, People that come to Texas are surprised when what starts out as a clear and beautiful day can change dramatically in the afternoon. Ominous clouds appear on the horizon. Warnings come about threatening tornadic activity and thunderstorms. It can change very, very quickly. Today, we hear those warnings all the time. But it's interesting how people respond to those warnings of severe weather. Those who flaunt or just ignore storm warnings do so at their own peril. It can be very risky. You know, the Bible tells us that there's another severe storm coming to our earth one day. It's going to be the most fierce storm the world has ever experienced. It's the storm of God's wrath. Those who ignore the signs of God's coming storm upon the earth risk severe and eternal consequences.

4:53 And that's what we're going to see today in our study of Revelation chapter 6. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 6 as we look at these early warning signs that will precede the great tribulation. The beginning of the end begins in Revelation 6. It's the beginning of the great seven-year tribulation. Now, what is the tribulation? It is a time, certainly, for God to pour out his wrath upon the earth. But most specifically, it is a time for God to complete his plan with Israel. Remember 4,000 years ago, God chose a man named Abraham. And he said, Abraham, I'm going to make you the father of a great nation. And of course, that's the nation of Israel. But God has not finished his work with Israel yet. And I want you to see how the tribulation is actually the completion of God's plan for Israel before he brings an end to the world as we know it. Now I want you to turn over to Daniel chapter 9, beginning with verse 24. And I want to show you what I believe is the single most amazing prophecy in all of the Bible. Now, for the next 10 minutes, we're going to wade into some deep theological waters. Got your waders on? We're going into some deep water, but if you will stay with me for these next 10 minutes, you're going to see things you've never seen before in scripture. And most amazingly, you're going to be amazed at how accurate scripture is and why you can trust the Bible, that it really is God's word. Daniel chapter nine. Now remember the background for Daniel.

6:43 Daniel was a young Jew who was taken captive by the Babylonians along with most of the Jews living in Israel. The Babylonians took them captive in 586 BC. Daniel began to pray to God and ask God to give him a revelation about what the future would hold for him, but for all of Israel as well. And Daniel got more than he bargained for. God sent to Daniel, the angel Gabriel. And Gabriel gave Daniel a panoramic vision of God's final plan for our Israel. And you find it here in chapters, verses 24 to 27. Look at this with me. 70 weeks have been decreed for your people. Now, what does that mean? What Gabriel is saying is 490 years have been decreed for your people and your holy city. And in these 490 years, here's what is going to happen to finish up God's plan for Israel. In these 490 years, first of all, to finish the transgression, that is to put an end to Israel's rebellion, to make an end of sin.

7:59 This is a reference to the eradication of the sacrificial system. No more sacrifices needed. Why? Thirdly, to make an atonement for iniquity. Israel's sins will have been finally paid for sometime during this 490-year period. To bring in everlasting righteousness. That's a reference to the millennium, the rule of Christ on earth. To seal up vision and prophecy. That means no more prophecy needed any longer. And to anoint the most holy place. That is to rebuild the temple and have it be a permanent fixture on the earth. In other words, Gabriel said, Daniel, in 490 years, all of these things are going to happen and all of these promises are going to be fulfilled. Now, if I were Daniel, I would want to know, is that 490 years from today? When do we start counting down these 490 years? Well, Gabriel tells us in verse 26, It doesn't start right now, Daniel, but here's when you can start counting.

9:04 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven sevens and 62 sevens. 62 plus seven is what? 69. 69 weeks of years. 69 sevens. If you want to do the math on it, that's 483 years. In other words, God has this stopwatch. It has 490 at the top. He's going to press that stopwatch at some point in the future. What is that future? Whenever the decree goes out to rebuild Jerusalem. Did you know that actually happened in history? And we know the exact year. We know the exact month. We know the exact day from secular history when that happened. It is March the 14th, 445 BC. That's when the Persian ruler Artaxerxes Longimanus gave the decree to allow the Jews to return and to rebuild Jerusalem.

10:12 Gabriel said that's when the stopwatch begins. From the time that decree goes out until Messiah the prince. There will be 483 years. What does that mean until Messiah the prince? Who was Messiah? Jesus. Good class. Very good. Okay. The Messiah was Jesus. What does that mean from the time he appeared in Bethlehem? Is that when the 483 year stops? No, it says Messiah the prince. This is a reference to the time that Jesus was presented as the son of God. Do you remember when that happened? When it became clear to the whole nation he was presented nationally? It was when he entered the city on the back of a donkey and the people said, Hosanna, Hosanna. That was the national presentation of Jesus as the Messiah. Now, again, we know when that happened. Great students of biblical chronology like J. Dwight Pentecost and Harold Hohner who specialize in chronology of the Bible have calculated that day to be April the 2nd, 32 AD.

11:26 And using the irregularities and the differences between the Jewish and the Roman calendars, they have gone to great lengths to show the time between the day that Artaxerxes Longimanus issued that decree in 445 BC to go back to Jerusalem until Jesus rode into the city on that day in 32 AD, April 2nd. It was exactly, exactly 483 years to the very date. That that is what I call amazing. Remember, Daniel lived decades before that decree went out. He lived in the 6th century BC in the 500s, but he was able to look down because Gabriel allowed him to and said, this is going to happen in 445 BC. We're going to be allowed to go back. And not only that, Messiah, the Prince will be presented in AD 32, 483 years. When Israel rejected Messiah, God stopped the stopwatch. It started at 490 years, 483 years past, but when Israel rejected Christ, boom, the stopwatch stopped. How many years would have been left? You can look on the graphic, seven years are left. There is a seven-year period of time left for God to finish everything he's going to do with Israel. Now, that time that God stopped the stopwatch, he stopped it in 32 AD and it's been stopped for 2,000 years. And it's predicted right here in verse 26 that a number of things would happen after that 483 years before the final seven years. There'd be a gap.

13:12 I don't think Daniel or anybody knew it would be thousands of years, but it has been. He said, then after the 62 weeks and the seven weeks that preceded it, 483 years, then after those 483 years, Messiah will be cut off. That's a reference to the crucifixion and have nothing. And the people who are the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Who is the prince who is to come? Different prince. This is the Antichrist, the people of the prince who is to come. The Antichrist will rule over a resurrected Roman empire. And he's saying the people of this future prince, that is Romans, will destroy the city. That happened in 70 AD when Titus entered the city and destroyed Jerusalem. And its end will come with a flood. Now verse 27, and he, that is the prince, the Antichrist, will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, one week, seven years. That is when the final seven years begins ticking off. The sign that God has restarted the stopwatch is when the Antichrist will make a firm covenant with Israel for seven years. But in the middle of that seven years, after the first three and a half years, he will break that covenant. He will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wings of abominations will come one who makes desolate. There are seven years left for God to finish his plan with Israel. Right now, the stopwatch is stopped. Between verses 26 and 27, we are living in that gap of time we call the church age. This is the time that God has temporarily set aside Israel. He said, I'm stopping with you right now so I can do something over here.

15:05 allow the Gentiles, non-Jews, to come to faith in Christ. And that's what Paul had in mind in Romans 11, 25, when he said, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, that a partial hardening has come to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. When I have finished my plan with the Gentiles, I've not forsaken Israel. I've not forgotten about Israel. I'm letting Gentiles come to faith in Christ. But when the end of that time comes, we're going to restart the stopwatch and finish the plan with Israel. That's what the church age is. And what is the end of that period of time? It's the rapture of the church. When God gathers together all believers, that will mean it is time for that final seven-year period. And I think you can see how the two coincide with one another. How will the Antichrist rise to power? As we'll see next week, when he rises to power, he does so without any force. Have you ever thought, what is it in America that would willingly give up our democratic system to follow a dictator who says no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, no freedom of commerce? Why will America, why will the entire world agree to that. It could be in part because of the chaos that ensues at the rapture. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when millions of people around the world disappear suddenly? I mean, can you imagine the chaos that would cause? Can you imagine just the infrastructure disruption of millions of people being taken away from their job? Or imagine the economic ramifications, Christians or think socially what would happen in our country, the chaos. You know, the Bible says in Thessalonians that the Holy Spirit is the restrainer of evil in our world right now.

17:01 The Holy Spirit in Christians is what is holding evil in check. People who respect God and obey the laws because God has said to. Can you imagine if all of the Christians are suddenly taken out of this world and people are free to do whatever they want to do. I mean, you can just see the chaos in the world that is going to occur after the rapture of the church. I believe it is that chaos that will make people so desperate for order that they will willingly follow anybody who says they can bring peace out of chaos. And that's why in verse seven, you see the Antichrist rising to power without any opposition whatsoever. What is the purpose of the tribulation? Let me just mention two very briefly. Why does God have to do this? Is he just a cosmic killjoy who loves punishing people? No, there are two very important reasons for the tribulation. First of all, the salvation of the elect. Even in the tribulation, you see God's love and mercy. He's giving earth one more chance to repent. This is called Daniel's 70th week, the time of Jacob's distress, in order that Israel especially might have one last chance to accept Jesus as their Messiah before the final judgment of God. Verse 7 of Jeremiah 30, alas, for that day is great. There is none like it, for it's the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it. During the tribulation, you'll see many Gentiles saved, Revelation 7 verse 9, but you'll also see a multitude of Jews who will be saved. It's a redemptive purpose for the tribulation. It is a time for the salvation of the elect. And secondly, it's a time for the condemnation of the lost.

18:58 A holy God cannot allow evil to go unpunished. And this is a time for God to pour out his wrath on unbelievers. Isaiah 26 verse 21, for behold, the Lord is about to come out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. And the earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer cover her stain. Let me just say this about an overview of the tribulation judgments. As we're going to see in the weeks ahead, these judgments are actually a series of three different judgments. There are the seven seals that are mentioned in Revelation 6. That's the first set of three or seven judgments. The first of three sets of judgments, each has seven in it. They're the seven seals. And then in Revelation 8 through 11, the trumpet judgments. And then finally, the bowl judgments in Revelation 16. Each of these three series of judgments increases in severity. The first seals judgments happen in the first three and a half years.

20:08 The final set of judgments, the trumpet and the bowl judgments take place in the last three and half years. Talking about thunderstorms, one way you could understand the increasing severity of these judgments is by the different ratings that weather forecasters use to rate thunderstorms. I would call the seven seal judgments a TS3 thunderstorm. Darkness descends with occasional lightning strikes, moderate rain and wind, pea-sized hail. The seven trumpets would be a TS4 thunderstorm, very dark, increased lightning, heavy rains, damaging winds, and golf ball to baseball-sized hail. And then that final series of judgment, the bowl judgments would be a TS5, pitch black, continuous lightning strikes, flooding rains, tornadic activity, and grapefruit-sized hail. I want you to notice the way these judgments are arranged. You have the first seven seal judgments in Revelation 6. But the seventh seal judgment contains all of the trumpet judgments. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And the seventh trumpet judgment contains all of the bowl judgments as well. So really, when we talk about these series of three judgments, all of them are contained in these seven seals. And that's why that picture is so powerful that we saw last time. That is when God the Father on the throne hands that seven-sealed book scroll to Jesus, the Son of God. When Jesus takes possession of that seven-sealed scroll, he is holding in his hands all of the judgments against the earth that will culminate with his return to earth to reclaim that which belongs to him. That's why that is such a dramatic, dramatic picture. How do we prepare for this coming storm, this certainty of God's judgment?

22:18 I want you to look at me and I want you to listen to these words very carefully. It comes from the living translation of 1 Thessalonians 5, 8 through 10. And there's somebody I believe listening to me right now who needs to take seriously these words about the only way to prepare for the coming storm. But let us who live in the light be clear-headed, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. Trusting in Jesus Christ as your savior today.

23:16 is the only way to escape the coming and certain storm of God's judgment. It falls upon every believer to be prepared for the coming storm. And to help you, we've prepared a number of exclusive resources that are available for a limited time. The first is a book I've written called Final Conquest. In my book, we'll explore the events that will culminate with the return of Jesus Christ. And it's yours when you give a generous and much-needed gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Second, when you respond today, I'll also include a booklet I've written. It's called The Major Characters of the End Times. This full-color, 56-page booklet covers the key figures of the rapture, the tribulation, the second coming, and the final judgment.

24:15 And finally, keep listening, because David will also explain how you can receive the entire teaching series for Final Conquest on CD and DVD. Today's program featured just one half of my original message. But when you request the CDs and DVDs, you'll be receiving the full unabridged version. In closing, let me thank our Pathway partners and all those who give generous gifts to Pathway to Victory. We couldn't possibly achieve our mission without you. Thanks so much. Here's David to tell you more.