Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our services tonight here at Faith Ward Baptist Church. It's a joy to see you all here on this Sunday night. If you would all please find your seats and take your song books. We'll begin with hymn number 428 tonight. Number 428.
It came upon the midnight clear. One of my favorite Christmas songs. Number 428. Number 428. It came upon the midnight clear. That glorious song of old. Number 428.
It came upon the midnight clear. That glorious song of old.
From angels bending near the earth, to the fair hearts of old.
Who from the earth adored to them, from heavens of rich must be.
The world in solemn silence wait to hear the angels sing.
Still draw the golden skies, they come with peaceful wings unfurled.
And still their heavy hooves they close for all the weary world.
A loving, sad, and lonely land, they bend our humbling wing.
And ever all is battle sound, the blessed angels sing.
And even in thy crushing love, whose forms are mending low.
Who talk of long, complying way, with painful steps back so.
For now the glad and golden hour, comes with me on the wing.
For rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.
For lo, the days are acing on, by profit bars for gold.
When many ever circling years, comes round the age of gold.
When peace shall over all the earth, its angels slither swing.
And the whole world may brand a song, which now the angels sing.
Amen. I'd like to go to Kevin to open this up for a prayer.
Father in Heaven, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.
I pray that you'll fill us all with your spirit as we sing to you.
And please thank you for the birth of Jesus Christ.
It's in his name and that we pray. Amen.
Amen. Number 426 is next.
I heard the bells on Christmas day number 426.
I heard the bells on Christmas day.
There of the milder gales wept.
And wild and sweet the words been heaped.
Of peace on earth, good will to man.
I thought how as the day had come, the bell frees above Christendom.
I rolled along the broken song, of peace on earth, good will to man.
And in this fair I babbled and there is no peace on earth, I said.
For faith is strong and longs the song, of peace on earth, good will to man.
Then give the bells more loud and keep, God is not dead nor does he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to man.
Till we keep singing on its way, the world revolve from night to day.
A voice I shine by chance of life, of peace on earth, good will to man.
Amen. Good singing.
Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we're in Ezekiel chapter number 18. We've got the soul winning times listed there below.
As well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page is the congratulations for the Areola family on the birth of baby Chloe Noel.
Born Saturday December 11th at 9.21 a.m. 7 pounds 9 ounces or 7.9 pounds, we're still not sure.
And measuring 18.5 inches and so congratulations to them.
Below that the Christmas caroling is coming up on December 21st at 5.30 p.m. is when we'll meet here.
And then we'll go out for like an hour, come back here and have cookies and hot cocoa from Panera.
And then below that we've got the cookie bake off coming on the 26th and that's going to be at 4.30 p.m.
We'll have our normal Sunday church services that day as well.
On the back, the home school field trip. That date is not correct. That should say January 7th, Friday the 7th. Am I right?
Am I good? All right. January 7th, but it is Friday, January 7th at 10.30 a.m.
And then read up on that. The Virgin Islands missions trip, it's going to be a good one.
If you can go, talk to Brother Raymond right away. If you're thinking about going, talk to Brother Raymond and get more details.
Just kind of open up communication with him. And then below that we've got some other upcoming events.
And of course that January 8th, that last one, that should say Saturday, January 8th.
But that is about it for announcements. So let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days.
So anything from Thursday? Any soul winning from Thursday? Okay. What was that again? Sorry. That was one. Okay.
Anything else from Thursday? And then how about Friday? Okay, we got you, got you.
Anything else from Friday? And then what about Saturday? Globe, we had, was it 7 or 8? 7 in Globe.
Outside of Globe. Gotcha. Anything else? Is that Saturday? Okay. Anything else from Saturday?
And then what about today, Sunday? I believe, I heard that the van had 6. Yeah.
And then outside the van, 2 outside the van, 1, 1, 10, 3, 1. Anything else?
2 for Thursday. 2 for Thursday. Wake up, buddy. No, I'm just kidding.
Alright, 2 for Thursday. Anything else from today? Alright, very good work on soul winning.
And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Alright, you should find the insert in the hymnal with the 2 songs. We'll start with O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
If you don't have one, please raise your hand.
Okay, men, if you flip that sheet over, we'll sing One Child is This.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Daniel, chapter 12.
Daniel, chapter number 12, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads Daniel, chapter 12, beginning in verse number 1.
In Daniel, chapter 12, the Bible reads,
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.
And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time.
And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
But thou, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end.
Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever, that it shall be for a time, times and half.
And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
And I heard, but I understood not.
Then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Many shall be purified and made white, and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly.
And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
But go thou thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Father in heaven, thank you for letting us gather tonight.
Please bless Pastor Anderson and let his preaching reflect on our lives today.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Man, tonight I'm preaching somewhat of a follow up to the sermon that I preached this morning.
If you weren't here this morning, don't worry about it because I'm preaching something totally different.
But I would recommend you...
...
Just now?
Yeah.
Turn it back on.
I did, I did.
So it's on now?
Okay, can you put everything back to normal back there?
Testing one, two, three.
Alright, so everything's good?
Yes, sir.
Everybody happy?
Alright.
Alright, let's start over.
So tonight's sermon is a little bit of a follow up.
No, I'm just kidding.
So, you know, after I preached the sermon this morning, a lot of people were asking me questions and we were getting in a lot of conversations after the service.
It's just that in the past I've done a twenty-two part series where I preached each chapter of the book of Revelation for about an hour.
And it's kind of hard sometimes to cram twenty-two hours of information into like a morning sermon or even, you know, two sermons.
So tonight I want to just preach about this subject a little bit more, kind of fill in a little bit more detail on what I preached this morning.
And again, I'm trying to keep this simple because I realize that not everyone is very well versed in end times Bible prophecy.
It's kind of a big subject, kind of a complicated subject.
And so what we talked about this morning is the fact that in the end times we're dealing with a seven year period in the end times.
And I made a big deal about that this morning.
That's pretty much what the whole sermon was about, how there's the seven year period.
And number two, that the abomination of desolation takes place in the middle of those seven years.
That was the main content this morning.
And again, go back and listen to that if you missed it.
But right now let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 because I have eight statements that I want to make tonight.
The first two I already made.
Number one, we're dealing with a seven year period.
Number two, the abomination of desolation takes place at the midpoint.
Okay, the third statement that I want to make tonight is that the rapture does not take place until after the abomination of desolation.
Okay, the rapture will not take place until after the abomination of desolation.
Look down at your Bible in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
It says, now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him,
that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.
So the Bible is really clear here. In verse 1, he says, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him.
You know, this is sometimes referred to as the rapture, right?
Christ comes in the clouds, the elect are gathered, the trumpet sounds, right?
They're caught up together to be with Christ in the clouds.
The Bible says, don't let anyone trick you into thinking that the day of Christ is at hand, that this is about to happen.
And we hear this all the time if we watch the televangelists or listen to the TV and radio preachers of Jesus can come back today,
he can come back at any moment because they teach what's called a pre-tribulation rapture, okay?
Whereas the Bible here is clear that there are some things that have to come first before the day of Christ.
It says, that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.
Now, obviously, a falling away, I mean, there are all kinds of falling aways happening all the time.
There are all kinds of apostasies taking place and there are multiple falling aways,
but apparently in the end times there's going to be a big time falling away, okay?
Maybe we're experiencing that right now or maybe it's still coming in the future,
but there's going to be a big time falling away.
But here's the one thing that's going to be really easy to recognize,
that this must happen first before the rapture, is that the man of sin must be revealed, okay?
The man of sin must be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,
so that he as God sit within the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
And of course, we would identify this with the same timing as the abomination of desolation, okay?
What happens at that midpoint of the seven years is that the Antichrist is going to be lauded by the entire world and praised and glorified as God himself.
He's going to be praised as the Messiah.
He's going to be seen as the object of worship of all religions and all faiths.
The Bible said this morning, we went over it in Revelation 13, that all nations of the world, all kindreds will worship him.
And then if you remember, the false prophet says that there should be an image to the beast,
and that the image of the beast should both speak and that as many as would not worship, that image would be killed.
That image being set up is the abomination of desolation. That happens at the midpoint.
So at the midpoint is when the Antichrist declares himself to be God, the false prophet points people to the Antichrist,
and this image is made to the Antichrist, and that's where the 666 is implemented, the mark of the beast, and all that that we saw this morning in Revelation 13.
That's happening at the midpoint.
Well, what's the Bible saying? That the day of Christ is going to happen after that.
So if we haven't seen the abomination of desolation yet, then guess what?
It's not time for the rapture to happen yet. It's not time for the second coming of Christ to happen yet.
You've got to see the abomination. That's why in Matthew 24, Jesus said,
When you there foresee the abomination of desolation, and then later, he says,
after that tribulation is when Christ comes in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, and the elect are gathered.
So we're dealing with a seven-year period, abomination of desolation.
The rapture takes place after the midpoint, after the abomination of desolation.
Go to Revelation 13 now.
The fourth statement that I want to make this evening is that the Antichrist's reign begins at the midpoint.
Okay? Because what happens at the midpoint? Remember?
He declares himself to be God, abomination of desolation, the image to the beast is set up, 666 is implemented.
Okay, that marks the beginning of the Antichrist's reign.
That is when he comes to power as this messianic figure and so forth.
One other thing I forgot to mention in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.
A lot of people get hung up on the fact that it says that he sitteth in the temple of God,
and they say, how could the temple of God be a name for a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem
where the Jews are offering a bunch of animal sacrifices or something?
Why would that be of God? Because let's face it.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain once for all.
Okay? There's no reason for an animal sacrifice to happen.
Any animal sacrifice is blasphemous to the Lord because Jesus already did all that.
Okay? But if you ask any Jew today, why don't you guys do animal sacrifices,
they'll say, oh, because we don't have the temple.
You know, the Jews did animal sacrifices all the way up until AD 70 when the temple was destroyed,
and now they say, well, we don't do it because we don't have the temple.
Well, apparently, in the end times, the temple is going to be rebuilt in the end times,
which makes sense because Christians want it built because they're crazy.
Jews want it built, and someday it's going to be a rebuilt temple so that the Antichrist can basically go in there.
Now, people would say, well, that's not the temple of God, but hold on a second.
Listen to the verse.
So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Now, those are all a capital G. Let me ask you something.
Is the Antichrist God?
So guess what? The temple of God is not the temple of God either.
The Antichrist is being called God, and the temple is being called the temple of God.
So, obviously, from our perspective as Christians who actually know the Bible, we would look at that temple and say, that's not of God.
Obviously, the Lord in heaven would look down at that third temple and say, that's not of God,
but it's going to be called the temple of God by a guy who's calling himself God, which is the Antichrist, okay?
Just like it's called the Holy Land and the Holy City and the temple of God.
It's not a holy place.
From our perspective, we know that there's nothing holy about that place right now.
It's an unholy place, but that's what it's called.
That's what it's referred to.
That's what it is.
So don't get too hung up on this whole temple of God thing, because people will try to say, like, well, the temple of God is the church.
The temple of God is our body, and amen.
I mean, we know the truth that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that the church is the house of God.
I get all that, but the Antichrist isn't going to enter into my body or enter into our church and declare himself to be God, okay?
That doesn't make any sense.
I even heard this goofy interpretation of saying, well, we already kind of see this happening, you know,
because there was some churches took some aid money for COVID, and, you know, that's the Antichrist entering the temple.
Come on, you goofball.
It's ridiculous.
You're really going to say that 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is prophesying some church that got COVID relief, their business or whatever got relief.
And, you know, we didn't get any kind of money like that.
I mean, I personally got a lot of money because I have a lot of kids, so Biden was giving me all kinds of money for COVID.
But, you know, they didn't give any money to our church, folks.
But if there is some church somewhere that got money from the government, they got some kickback from the government,
for COVID relief or something, I got news for you.
That's not the man of sin entering into the temple of God and declaring himself to be God.
Getting a little loose with your interpretation there, brother.
Okay.
Anyway, I'm getting off track here.
Okay, so Revelation chapter 13 is where we are.
Statement number 1, seven year period.
Statement number 2, the abomination of desolation takes place at the middle.
Statement number 3, the rapture takes place after the abomination.
Statement number 4, the Antichrist's reign begins at the midpoint.
Because, again, he takes power at the midpoint.
Okay.
Look at verse 5.
This is right after he's received the deadly wound and been healed.
Everybody's marveling.
Everybody's worshiping him.
They're about to implement the mark of the beast.
And it says, there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.
And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
So how long is the Antichrist going to continue in power?
Once he takes power, he continues for how long?
Forty-two months, which is three and a half years, right?
Now jump over to chapter 16, verse 10.
Chapter 16, verse 10.
Because this morning we talked about the seven years.
We talked about the two halves.
So my goal tonight is to kind of help you figure out what happens in each half.
What happens in the first half?
What happens in the second half?
What's the timeline?
Okay.
So, Revelation 16, 10.
This is the pouring out of the vials of the wrath of God.
And this is toward the very end of the seven years, when things are wrapping up,
shortly before the millennium.
So you've got the end of the plagues.
You're at the fifth vial.
So you're pretty deep into this thing of God pouring out his wrath of the seven vials.
And look what it says in verse 10.
It says, and the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast.
And his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain.
Now stop and think about this.
The word seat is sort of like the word for the government of a county.
It's called the county seat.
That's where the government is located.
So the seat of the beast is basically his capital, his headquarters, where he rules from.
You know, kings rule from like a throne, and a seat means where the power is located.
And so therefore, notice that while God's wrath is being poured out in the trumpets
and the vials, it is still known as the antichrist kingdom.
And his kingdom has a seat of power.
What does that mean?
That means that while God is pouring out his wrath, the antichrist is still ruling and reigning.
So when the Bible talks about the antichrist having a reign of 42 months,
are we talking about the first half or the second half?
Second half.
Because it starts at that midpoint, and it goes all the way to the end, or very close to the end,
and so that second half, that's the reign of the antichrist,
and during that time, God is pouring out his wrath, and the antichrist is in power.
Number five.
Okay, we're already on five out of eight, alright?
You guys, you're doing great.
Go to Revelation 11.
Revelation chapter 11.
Revelation chapter 11, verse number one.
The fifth statement tonight is that the treading underfoot of Jerusalem
and the prophecy of the two witnesses take place in the second half.
So right now we're talking about the second half.
What's going on in the second half?
One of the things that's going on is that God's pouring out his wrath.
One of the things that's going on is that the antichrist reign is happening.
He rules for that second half.
But also, the treading underfoot of Jerusalem by the Gentiles
and the prophecy of the two witnesses takes place in the second half.
Look at chapter 11, verse one of Revelation.
And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood, saying,
Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not,
for it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city, talking about Jerusalem,
again, so-called holy city, shall they tread underfoot forty and two months,
and I will give power unto my two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days,
clothed in sackcloth.
So notice the prophecy of the two witnesses.
How long does it last?
One thousand two hundred and sixty days.
That is the same as forty-two months.
Okay?
Also, the city is trodden underfoot.
It is given to the Gentiles for forty-two months, for three and a half years.
So what happens is, the temple is going to be rebuilt at some point,
the Jews will reinstitute their animal sacrifices,
misguided Christians and Jews will get all excited and think it's so wonderful
that we got rid of that mosque, and that we've got this temple there,
and it's so great.
But the Antichrist is going to enter that temple at the midpoint and declare himself to be God.
And this is not necessarily going to fly with everyone.
It's not necessarily going to fly with the Jews who want to be their own Messiah,
and they want to be the ones, and so basically what he's going to do
is he's going to end up basically crushing rebellion in Jerusalem
and slaughtering people that are opposed to him.
And so he's going to run roughshod over the people of Jerusalem,
and he's going to make it desolate.
Now, not that it's going to become a parking lot or something,
but just that the people are going to be killed and punished,
and he's going to crush rebellion, tread it underfoot.
He's going to basically turn around and bite the hand that has fed him,
which is the Jews, okay?
And this is because of the fact that, you know, God has some punishments
prepared for the Jews because of their wickedness
and rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And so that's what we see happening in the second half.
Now, how do we know that this is the second half?
Well, first of all, we know that at the end of this story in chapter 11
where we have the two witnesses and the 42 months and they preach 42 months,
if we go to the end of it, okay, when they die, they're killed,
and then they get brought up to heaven and all that,
it says in verse 12,
And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them,
Come up hither, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud,
and their enemies beheld them.
And the same hour was there a great earthquake,
and the tenth part of the city fell,
and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.
And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Now, what is the third woe?
The third woe is the seventh trumpet, okay,
because you've got the fifth trumpet is the first woe,
the sixth trumpet is the second woe,
the seventh trumpet is the third woe.
The last three trumpets are the worst, and they're known as the three woes.
So notice that right after, right after the two witnesses finish their prophecy,
they're killed, they're caught up to heaven, there's an earthquake,
and then the third woe is coming quickly,
you know what that tells me? We're at the end of God's wrath,
because the seventh trumpet is where it's all over.
Because it says in verse 15,
The seventh angel sounded, this is the third woe,
and there were great voices in heaven saying,
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever.
See, it's no longer the kingdom of the beast, is it?
It's no longer the kingdom of the antichrist,
now it's the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
He takes power at that point, okay,
because this is the end of the seven years.
So does everybody see that?
So the two witnesses are prophesying in the second half,
because when they're done, boom,
you're at the end of God's wrath, seventh trumpet.
So, the treading underfoot of Jerusalem,
and the prophecy of the two witnesses in the second half.
Statement number six, okay,
what's happening in the first half, right?
So let's talk about the first half,
because we've been talking a lot about the second half,
let's talk about the first half.
Go to Revelation chapter six.
In the first half of the seven years,
the antichrist is coming to power.
He's gaining power,
and there are wars, famines, pestilences,
natural disasters, et cetera.
That's what characterizes the first half.
So we've got a seven year period.
The first half is characterized by wars, famines,
pestilences, and natural disasters.
Not necessarily anything supernatural there.
You know, I mean, wars happen now,
famines happen now, pestilences happen now,
natural disasters happen now.
Now, the difference, though,
is that the Bible says that this will be a time of tribulation
unlike the world has ever seen.
So it's going to be the worst warfare,
famine, pestilence, and natural disasters
that the world has ever seen,
but it's not necessarily anything supernatural in the first half.
The other thing is that there's nothing necessarily directed
at Christians in the first half.
All of the bad things that are happening in the first half
are happening to the whole world.
The whole world's experiencing warfare.
The whole world's experiencing famine.
The whole world's going to have a messed up economy.
You know, the whole world is going to be having diseases
and stuff like that.
None of this is specifically directed at Christians
in the first half, okay?
Let's look at this in Revelation 6.
This is the very beginning of the tribulation,
and let's see what it says, beginning of verse number one,
because the first thing are the seals, right?
The six, or eventually seven seals.
Look at verse number one.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,
and I heard as it were the noise of thunder,
one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And I saw on behold a white horse,
and he that sat on him had a bow,
and a crown was given unto him,
and he went forth conquering and to conquer.
Now, I think it's very clear that this is the Antichrist,
and, you know, there are a lot of reasons to believe that,
it fits the timeline perfectly,
it matches a bunch of other scriptures,
but just really quickly at face value,
he's on a white horse.
Jesus Christ is eventually going to return on a white horse
in Revelation 19.
This is the imposter.
The word Antichrist means in the place of Christ,
instead of Christ.
That's what anti prefix means.
Don't get confused with the other meaning of anti,
which is like anti-abortion, or anti-queers or something.
Which we are those things too.
But anyway, you know, this anti is in the place of.
So the Antichrist is taking the place of Christ.
He's an imposter.
He's a fraud.
He's a fake messiah, okay.
So he is impersonating, and it says,
A crown was given unto him.
Remember, the dragon gives the Antichrist his power
and his seed and great authority.
It's all handed to him by the devil.
So a crown is given unto him.
He goes forth conquering and to conquer.
So the beginning of this bad series of events,
this is a series of harmful things happening to the earth.
These are bad.
These are not good things.
These are bad things.
The first thing is the Antichrist sets out conquering
and to conquer, okay.
He's on a white horse.
Power is given unto him, et cetera.
Look at verse number three.
These are known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse,
right.
So the first one is Antichrist.
Number two, second seal, it says in verse three,
when he had opened the second seal,
I heard the second beast say, come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red,
and power was given to him that sat there on
to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another,
and there was given unto him a great sword.
So the second seal is warfare.
The first one is like, okay,
the Antichrist is going out to conquer.
Well, you know, if anybody goes out to conquer,
usually that's done by means of warfare.
Warfare is a part of that program typically,
or the result of that.
There's always going to be war associated
with a major power shift.
So the second seal is warfare, okay.
And then it says in verse number five,
when he had opened the third seal,
I heard the third beast say, come and see,
and I beheld in low a black horse,
and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say,
a measure of wheat for a penny,
and three measures of barley for a penny,
and see, thou heard not the oil and the wine.
This penny is not the penny that we're familiar with
in the United States.
This penny is like a day's wages.
So imagine spending a whole day's wages
for a measure of wheat.
That's pretty expensive food,
and that means supply and demand,
there's a famine, there's inflation,
bad economy, people are starving,
three measures of barley for a penny,
one measure of wheat for a penny,
see, thou heard not the oil and the wine.
That's famine, okay.
Look at verse number seven, when he had opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say,
come and see, and I looked and behold a pale horse,
and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him,
and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth
to kill with sword and with hunger and with death,
and with the beasts of the earth.
Now, stop and think about these four horsemen of the apocalypse.
Are any of these directed specifically at Christians?
Or are they affecting the whole world?
Are these not disasters affecting all of humanity?
The Antichrist is coming to take over.
The world is at war, peace is taken from the earth.
There's famine, there's pestilence,
death on a massive scale.
This is happening all over the world.
These first four horsemen of the apocalypse
represent the first half of Daniel's 70th week in the end times.
The first half is what we're talking about
with these four horsemen of the apocalypse, okay.
Now, sometimes people will try to act like,
it's happening right now.
We're in the end times right now.
Maybe the tribulation has already started.
Stop and think for a minute.
What's the first seal?
The Antichrist going forth to conquer.
Is that happening right now?
Well, maybe it's going on behind the scenes.
Okay, how about the second seal?
The whole world at warfare.
Is that happening right now?
No.
So until World War III breaks out,
we are for sure not on the second seal.
So basically, if there's no warfare going on,
we're not into the tribulation,
because right away at the beginning,
second seal, which is very early,
right away the world's at war.
So this all starts with a gigantic war.
Now, if World War III is going on,
it doesn't mean that it's the end of the world though, does it?
Because World War IV might be the end of the world, okay?
Right?
Maybe it's World War V.
Now, you know, it's very likely to be World War III.
That would be my guess.
But we still don't know for sure, do we?
Because I guarantee you that during World War I,
I guarantee you preachers were like,
this is it, second seal, it's all happening.
I guarantee you when World War II happened,
what'd they say?
This is it, it's all happening.
Second seal, we're there.
So we don't want to jump the gun.
But I'll tell you who's really jumping the gun.
People that start identifying things that are happening right now
as like, oh, that's the sixth seal.
Oh, that's the third trumpet.
Oh, it's like, hello, we haven't had the second seal yet,
so we're not to that yet, you know.
So how do you identify even a possible start to this
is World War.
And again, you know, we could speculate about what this World War is.
I'll give you my opinion.
My, and this is just my opinion.
I would say it's probably going to be a world war
that on one side you're going to have Islam on one side
and you're going to have the United States and Israel
and their allies on the other side.
So Islam and their allies and the United States, Israel and their allies.
That's probably how it's going to shake down.
Obviously Islam's going to lose
and the U.S. and Israel are going to win, okay.
And, so the good news is we're going to win.
The bad news is the Antichrist is on our team.
That's the bad news, okay.
So, anyway.
But, you know, who knows?
I mean, maybe it's going to be Islam teamed up with China
or I don't know, whoever.
But again, that's just me speculating, you know.
And obviously I have some reasons to think that,
but it's, who knows?
You know, this might not happen for a long time.
Geopolitics can change, whatever.
But it makes sense, right?
Because if there's some big giant conflict
between the Zionist West and their allies
and Islam and allies,
well then when Islam gets their butts kicked,
what are they going to do?
They're going to get rid of that mosque.
And what are they going to do?
Build the temple.
It makes perfect sense.
So it kind of fits.
But again, that's not in scripture.
That part is my speculation.
The rest of what I'm teaching tonight,
I'm teaching directly from scripture.
Hopefully you notice that.
So point six is that what's happening in the first half
is that the Antichrist is rising to power.
Now look, remember, I want to emphasize this.
The Antichrist does not begin reigning until the midpoint
and he reigns for 42 months.
So in the first half, the Antichrist is not in power.
He's rising to power.
Because obviously it takes time for him to take over
the whole world, right?
I mean, that takes time.
And so that happens through these events that unfold, okay?
Now when we get to verse 9, okay, it's the fifth seal.
Now we're no longer in the horsemen.
The four horsemen happened in the first half.
The fifth seal, now we're talking about the second half,
okay, because notice what the fifth seal is.
It says in verse 9, when he had opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
So what is the fifth seal?
The fifth seal is Christians being killed
for the cause of Christ.
Up to this point, nothing has been about persecuting Christians.
It's just been about humanity suffering.
But then with the fifth seal, all of a sudden now
people are dying for Christ.
Now let's compare that to Revelation 13, verse 7.
Revelation chapter 13, verse 7.
Now remember, when we're in chapter 13,
we're talking about the midpoint.
Because remember, chapter 13 is the Antichrist coming to power,
mark of the beast, the false prophet sets up the image
to the beast, all that stuff.
We're talking about midpoint.
And what begins at the midpoint, statement number 7,
persecution of Christians begins at the midpoint, okay?
Verse 7, it was given unto him, talking about the Antichrist,
to make war with the saints and to overcome them,
and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations.
So notice, when the Antichrist takes power over the whole world,
when he takes power over all nations and kindreds and tongues,
that's when he begins to make war with the saints.
That's when he begins to persecute Christians, okay?
Now, the 8th statement...
Actually, before I get to the 8th statement, go to chapter 12.
Go to chapter 12.
And again, I'm kind of cramming a lot into tonight.
I'm kind of covering a lot of ground.
If you really want to do a deep dive on this
and get a more thorough teaching,
go back and listen to my Revelation series.
It's 22 hours long.
You can stay up all night watching...
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, you know, it's 22 hours long.
If you really want to do the deep dive,
and you can get more detailed verse by verse through the whole book.
But right now, I just want to get these main statements across to you.
So if you don't grasp everything I teach tonight,
that's okay. Just get these statements
and think about the proof that I'm using to prove these things
because I'm proving these statements to you,
and it'll help you get the timeline.
And then when you look at the chart that we have,
you'll see, okay, that's where Pastor Anderson's getting that, you know,
because we know we're dealing with a seven-year period from this morning's sermon.
We know the abomination happens in the middle.
That's from the sermon this morning.
We know the rapture is not going to take place until after the abomination,
in the second half.
We know that the Antichrist reign begins at the midpoint.
That's when he starts persecuting Christians.
During that same second half is when Jerusalem is trodden underfoot
and the prophecy of the two witnesses is happening.
What's happening in the first half?
The Antichrist is on his way to coming to power.
Warfare is happening.
Famine, pestilence, natural disasters, tidal waves, earthquakes, that kind of stuff,
but nothing really supernatural and nothing really directed at Christians, okay, in that first half.
Everybody see that?
So persecution of Christians begins at the midpoint.
Now, here's another thing I want to teach you about the book of Revelation,
and this is, in my opinion, one of the biggest keys to understanding the book of Revelation
is that you have to understand that chapters 1 through 11 are in chronological order,
and then at chapter 12, we go back in time and chapters 12 through 22 are in chronological order.
So what did the, you know, you want to rightly divide the word of truth,
cut the book of Revelation in half.
1 through 11, 12 through 22, chapters 1 through 11 are in chronological order.
Chapters 12 through 22 are in chronological order.
If you don't understand that, you're going to get confused why things are being repeated,
because you'll see events happening again, and it's like, wait, didn't this already happen?
Did we already talk about this?
Some people will just say, oh, it's not in chronological order at all,
and just kind of throw up their hands and think that it's just jumping all over the place.
That's not true.
Chapters 1 through 11 are chronological, and chapters 12 through 22 are chronological.
Now, when I preached this back, you know, a long, long time ago,
I mean, I preached this back in 2007 when I did my Revelation series,
and then back in 2013 when I did the second Revelation series,
and this is a response I got from a preacher.
Show me one other book in the Bible that does that.
I'd like to see one other book in the Bible that gets chopped in half,
and the first half's chronological and the second half's chronological.
You know, show me one other example of that.
And I said, sure, the book of Daniel,
the most important prophetic book of the Old Testament for end times.
So isn't it interesting that the key prophecy book in the New Testament, Revelation,
and the key prophecy book in the Old Testament, Daniel, are both laid out this way?
Now, if you read Daniel, you'll notice that the first six chapters are all in chronological order.
But then you'll notice when you get to chapter 7, you know what happens?
We go back in time, and 7 through 12 are in chronological order again.
And so this is not unprecedented because Daniel and Revelation are both laid out this way.
And if you read Daniel, I remember when I read Daniel as a kid,
I was reading chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6,
and I loved reading the first six chapters of Daniel as a kid.
You kids out there, you want to read some good Bible that's fun for you at your age?
Man, grab Daniel 1 through 6 and read that.
Because that's a great passage for kids to read.
I loved it when I was a kid.
But I'll be honest with you, as a kid, I was like, man, this is great, I'm loving chapter 5, I'm loving chapter 6.
When I got to chapter 7, I was like, whoa, I don't know what's going on.
And then I got to chapter 8, and I was like, whoa, 9, 10, and I kind of just ran out of steam, okay?
So I recommend chapters 1 through 6 for a young child, right?
Nowadays, of course, I love chapters 7 through 12.
But the point is, chapters 7 through 12 are very different from chapters 1 through 6,
and chapters 7 through 12 are way harder to understand than 1 through 6.
That's why a little kid loves 1 through 6, it's a piece of cake to understand,
whereas 7 through 12 is the heavy stuff.
Well, Revelation's kind of the same way, where the first half of Revelation, 1 through 11, is easier to understand,
and then 12 through 22 is the heavier stuff, okay?
Not as heavy as the Daniel stuff, but a little heavier than the first half.
So this is not unprecedented.
Now, you say, well, Pastor Anderson, how does God expect us to figure this out?
How does God expect us to notice this?
Well, in Daniel, it's easy, because he just, at the beginning of each chapter, he tells you pretty much the date.
You know, in this year of this guy's reign, so, okay, yeah, we went back in time now.
Well, how do we know in Revelation that chapter 12 is a jump back in time?
Well, let's start reading chapter 12, verse 1, and see if it makes sense to us.
See if we can figure out if something is off in the timeline.
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven.
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven.
And behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and it cast them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne.
Let me ask you this.
Who is the man-child who was born to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and was ultimately caught up to God and to his throne?
Jesus Christ.
So, at the beginning of chapter 12, what are we reading about?
The birth of Jesus Christ, okay?
Let it not be said that I'm not in the Christmas spirit, okay?
With my sermon tonight.
This is a sermon about the birth of Christ.
So, here's the deal.
Isn't that a clue that all of a sudden we just jumped out of the timeline and started over at the beginning?
Because in chapter one of Revelation, we started out in the first century A.D. with John on the Isle of Patmos,
seven churches in chapters two and three, that's all first century stuff.
Well, are we not back in the first century now?
With the birth of Christ and the ascension of Christ?
So, that's your clue.
We've gone back in time.
We've started over a chronology.
That's why we end up talking about everything again in chapters 12 through, really 12 through 16 are parallel.
Because then at 17 and through 22, that's all new material that doesn't get covered in the first half.
So, as we can see here, we've gone back in time to the birth of Christ.
So, when the woman's ready to give birth to the child, the dragon is who?
Satan.
And Satan is ready to devour the child as soon as he's born.
Is that what happened when Jesus was born?
Yeah, because if you remember, when Jesus was about to be born, King Herod wanted to kill baby Jesus as soon as he was born.
So, when the three wise men, or I guess we don't know if it was three.
They had three gifts, so.
We three kings, okay?
Come on, people.
Anyway, when the wise men showed up, Herod says,
Oh, you know, find this king of the Jews because I want to worship him too.
He didn't want to worship him.
He wants to murder him.
But the three wise men, or sorry, there's not really three.
Maybe there are three.
I think there's three.
Quit being so pedantic.
But the wise men, they're warned of God in a dream.
Don't tell Herod about this.
You know, go home another way.
So, Herod realizes that the wise men aren't coming back.
So, he decides that he's just going to kill all of the children in that area from two years old and under
because that's when the star appeared in the sky that the wise men are following.
So, he decides to just kill a whole bunch of babies in that region just to murder a bunch of babies in that region
just to try to kill Jesus.
So, this is the dragon ready to devour the child as soon as he's born.
Now, it says she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
Jesus will ultimately, when he returns the second time, rule all nations with a rod of iron.
The child was caught up unto God unto his throne.
Now, of course, we know that this child is Jesus Christ.
Obviously, we're skipping a lot here because he didn't just get born and then just up to heaven.
That's not what happened.
He was born.
He grew up.
He lived his life.
He went about doing good.
He's baptized.
He preached the gospel.
He had 12 disciples.
He did miracles.
He preached the word of God.
He got crucified.
He was buried.
He rose again.
He showed himself alive.
He showed him the holes in his hands.
He showed him all these things, and then he ascended up to heaven.
And they watched him go up to heaven in the clouds.
They watched Jesus ascend into heaven, and then the angel came and said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come again.
In like manners you've seen him go into heaven.
So, did we kind of skip a lot here?
Because it's like, he's born.
He's going to rule all nations with a rod of iron at some point, and he's caught up
to heaven.
So, we're not getting, we're just, we're not getting details.
It's just like we're jumping forward in time here, just kind of getting up to speed here,
okay?
And again, this is not literal here because it's very symbolic.
The woman in verse 1 has, she's clothed with the sun.
Is that literal?
No.
She's got the, she's got the moon under her feet, upon her head a crown of 12 stars.
This is all symbolic.
This is not literal, okay?
Look at verse 6.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had the place prepared of God that they
should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days.
Now, didn't we have some giant leaps there, like birth of Christ, caught up to the throne,
now the woman's in the wilderness for 1260 days.
So, there's no reason to believe that the 1260 days started back then, because remember,
we had a whole bunch of big jumps.
Well, guess what?
This is another jump.
Jesus caught up into the throne, and now we jump again to a period of 1260 days.
What is that period of 1260 days?
That is the first half of the seven year period that we're talking about.
Because remember, we've started over.
Okay?
So, in chapter 12, we're talking about that first half.
What characterizes that first half?
Well, the Antichrist is coming to power, but it's really characterized by wars, famines,
pestilence, natural disasters, and these things are happening to all of humanity.
Not Christians specifically, but all of humanity.
Agreed?
Now, what happens in chapter 13?
If you don't know, then you weren't listening this morning, and you certainly weren't listening
tonight.
If you don't know what chapter 13 is about by now, then I'm just going to give up and
go home right now.
So, chapter 13 is about the abomination of desolation, the Antichrist, he takes power
and everything.
And when does that happen?
Midpoint.
Okay, so, understanding the second half of Revelation.
Chapter 12 is the first half.
How long does it last?
1260 days, which is 42 months, which is three and a half years.
Then chapter 13 is the midpoint.
Then we have everything after the midpoint in chapters 14, 15, 16, 17, God pouring out
his wrath, all these different things.
Okay?
I hope you can follow that.
So, who is this woman?
You know, and again, this is a whole sermon in and of itself.
I've preached whole sermons on this.
You can get my chapter 12 sermon from the Revelation series.
But who is this woman?
This woman, some people say the woman is Israel.
Some people say the woman is the Virgin Mary.
Some people say that the woman is all of humanity, or Eve.
Now, which one's right?
Now, you can see where everybody's coming from.
You can see why somebody would think it's Mary because Mary gave birth to Jesus.
You can see why people would think it's Israel because Jesus came from Israel physically
according to the flesh, right?
He's born an Israelite.
So you can say, okay, it's Israel.
Okay, it's Mary.
You could also say that the woman represents Eve or humanity because of the fact that Jesus
is the son of man.
Jesus born of a woman.
Now, I have zero doubt about this.
A lot of people don't agree with me on this and have challenged me on this, but I have
zero doubt about this.
I think it's very clear that the correct answer is that this woman represents all of
humanity, mankind, and that it represents Eve.
Why?
Because if we go back to Genesis chapter 3, the Bible, when it first prophesies of Christ,
it's the first mention of a prophecy of Christ is Genesis 3.15, okay?
Go back there if you would.
It's worth quickly looking at this even though we're short on time here.
Look at Genesis chapter 3 and see how clear this is.
And remember, Eve is the mother of all living.
Her name is called Eve because she's the mother of all living.
She's the mother of all humanity.
Look at the first prophecy of the coming of Jesus in the entire Bible.
That's significant, isn't it?
Genesis 3.15, talking to the serpent, he says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman
and between thy seed and her seed.
So is there enmity between the woman and the serpent seed?
Yes.
It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.
So what we see here is that Jesus is the seed of the woman that will bruise the serpent's head.
There's enmity, enmity between the woman and the serpent, and there's enmity between the
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
You see, the devil is not just the enemy of Christians.
The devil is the enemy of all human beings.
The devil hates everybody.
He doesn't even love his own followers.
He's not helping them.
They're all going to burn in hell.
He's destroying them.
The devil hates humans.
He's everyone's enemy.
You know, if I go out saluting and talk to an unsaved person, you know what?
The devil is their enemy, and I'm their friend.
Because I'm trying to get them saved.
I'm trying to get them out of the snare of the devil.
The devil's the bad guy.
Unsaved people aren't necessarily the bad guy.
They're the victims of the devil, and they may not know it, but the devil is their enemy.
The devil hates everybody, and there is enmity not just between Christians and the devil,
but the Bible in Genesis 3 says there's enmity between humans and the devil.
The woman's seed.
Who is the woman's seed?
Everyone.
Who is specifically the seed of the woman is Jesus, because he's the son of man, born
of a woman.
Does everybody understand?
Humans versus the devil, right?
That's what we see in Genesis 3.15, and then we see Jesus versus the devil.
Jesus is going to bruise the serpent's head.
All he does is bruise his heel.
So who wins, right?
Jesus does.
So, with that in mind, now go to Revelation 12.
Revelation chapter 12, we see that this is a battle between the woman and the serpent.
And again, it's very symbolic, very allegorical, not literal.
There's not going to be a literal dragon spitting water out of his mouth in the end
times.
It's symbolic, but notice what it says in verse number 13 of chapter 12.
When the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man child, and the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might
fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and
half a time from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood, and the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened
her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Again, very symbolic, allegorical, not literal.
It's a whole sermon in and of itself.
But the point I want you to see is that it's a battle between the serpent and the woman.
The serpent is after the woman.
The serpent is trying to hurt the woman, but the woman survives.
Everybody get that?
Serpent being attacked by, er, serpent attacking woman, woman survives.
Okay, now ask yourself this question.
What is happening in the first half of Daniel's 70th week?
Are Christians being persecuted or are all humans suffering?
That's why I believe that the woman is humanity.
Because number one, it basically wraps up the enmity between the woman and the serpent
that was started back in Genesis 3.
This is the wrap up, okay?
But secondly, it fits because of the fact that we don't see the serpent persecuting
Israel in the first half.
We don't see the Virgin Mary, you know, getting resurrected and battling the serpent in the
first half.
But what we do see is that the devil is seeking to destroy humanity in general.
The whole world is in peril of being destroyed.
I mean, think about it.
Could we humans theoretically, you know, just not thinking about God or the Bible for just
one moment, physically speaking, could we humans actually just destroy ourselves completely
to where everyone on the planet died if we, if we set our minds to it?
I mean, think about it.
What if we just like fired all of our nukes at Russia and Russia fired all their nukes
at us?
I mean, wouldn't that have the possibility of wiping out the entire planet?
Some kind of a nuclear winter or, and you know, I don't know if all the science behind
that is really legit because obviously it hasn't really been tested and, you know, a
lot of people don't believe in that and who even knows?
But I'm saying, I think, I think, you know, we're pretty, we have, you know, some resources.
I think we could destroy ourselves if we wanted to.
We could probably just completely nuke the environment and screw everything up to the
point where everyone dies.
You know, and the devil would love that.
You know, so the devil, he wants everybody dying.
He wants everybody killing each other.
He wants the world at war.
He wants nukes going off and dirty bombs going off and diseases and laboratory created weaponized
viruses and famine and, you know, he just wants people dead.
He just hates everybody and so it's a war against humanity in that first half is what's
going on, okay?
But of course, does he succeed at wiping out all humans?
No.
So what does he do?
In verse 16, we see the woman escapes.
The earth helped the woman, the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which
the dragon cast out of his mouth.
So look what verse 17 happens.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed
which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
So in chapter 12, which is a 1260 day period, which is a three and a half year period, it
says both in the chapter, he's going after the woman which just represents mankind, okay?
But in verse 17, notice he has a new target now.
Who's the new target in verse 17?
Those that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Who's he going after in verse 17?
Christians.
So isn't it interesting, we turn the page and where are we?
Abomination of desolation.
What starts at the abomination of desolation?
Persecution of Christians.
That's why he said he's going to make war with the remnant of her seed and when he puts
the antichrist in power, what does the antichrist do?
He goes to make war with the saints.
Just like a glove, am I right?
There it is, okay?
So it's nice when you understand these things, when they click and when everything fits together
so nicely, it's really a beautiful thing.
I hope that you can see the beauty of it, even though we're talking about some gnarly
stuff tonight, okay?
The last statement that I want to make tonight, statement number eight, is that persecution
of Christians is cut short by the rapture.
It is cut short by the rapture, right?
So at the midpoint is when the persecution of Christians begins and it is cut short by
the rapture.
The first half, it's all of humanity that's suffering.
Second half, the antichrist is in power, he's being worshipped by everybody, they say peace
and safety because the big war is over because now the antichrist is in power, now he's going
to crack down on Christians, okay?
Now again, at the beginning of chapter 12, remember because I said the woman represents
humanity, doesn't it make sense that the woman is clothed with the sun, the moon under her
feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars?
That's what the earth is like.
Because if you think about it, the earth is clothed in the sun because the sun warms the
earth and we have the moon under our feet because obviously, you know, we landed on
the moon, amen?
So, you know, that's Neil Armstrong right there.
No, I'm just kidding.
But what I am saying is, sorry flat earthers, but the point is though that the moon under
her feet, because the moon is a satellite of the earth, the earth dominates the moon,
so the earth is over the moon, you know, the moon goes around the earth, so clothed in
the sun and then the 12 stars probably referring to the 12 signs of the zodiac, you know, those
are the basically 12 constellations of stars and whatever.
And no, I'm not into astrology.
But anyway, but I do like constellations.
So humanity is being, you know, is going through stuff in the first half.
Second half is going to be the persecution of Christians.
But thank God it is cut short by the rapture.
So here's the good news.
Remember what's happening in that second half.
Two witnesses trampling down of Jerusalem.
God's wrath being poured out happens in the second half.
And persecution of Christians happens.
That's all second half stuff.
But here's the good news.
The good news is that the persecution of Christians that starts with the abomination of desolation
is cut short.
Because if it were to go the whole three and a half years, we'd all die.
I mean if for three and a half years you can't buy or sell if you don't have the mark of
the beast, if for three and a half years anyone who won't worship the antichrist and his image
get killed, it's going to be kind of hard for us to last for three and a half years
not getting the mark of the beast, not worshiping the antichrist, we'd die.
So here's what the Bible says.
In Matthew 24 22, it says, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh
be saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
So abomination of desolation is mentioned in verse 15 of chapter 24.
And then after the abomination, he talks about persecution of us.
And he says if those days were not shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
Which makes perfect sense to me because if we had to endure three and a half years of
the antichrist, we'd all die.
You know, except one guy who's got the bunker and the three and a half years of food, he'd
be okay.
Everybody else would die except a couple of info warriors would survive with their survival
foods, okay?
The survival seed bank.
Okay, but you know, pretty much everybody would get smoked other than that as Christians.
So except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
Go back to Daniel chapter 11.
Daniel 12.
Sorry, Daniel 12.
Daniel 12.
And I'm out of time, so I'm just going to hurry through this part, okay?
So the question is, when does the rapture take place?
Well here's the thing, we believe in what's called a pre-wrath rapture.
What that means is that the rapture is going to take place before God pours out his wrath.
I said God pours out his wrath in the second half, but not starting at the very beginning
of the second half.
It doesn't start at the very beginning.
It's after the rapture that he begins to pour out his wrath.
So the good news is, number one, the persecution of Christians, we're going to be here for
it if we're still alive.
We will endure it, but the good news is it's shortened.
It is shortened.
We do not have to make it through three and a half years of the anti-Christ.
And the good news is that we are also out of here before the wrath begins to be poured
out, because the wrath is the...
So what are we going to be here for?
We're going to be here for the three and a half years of war, famine, pestilence while
the anti-Christ is rising to power, the devil's war against humanity.
We're going to be here for that.
We're also going to be here to see the abomination of desolation, because remember the first
thing we talked about tonight was 2 Thessalonians 2 says the day of Christ comes after that.
We're going to be here while the mark of the beast is being implemented, while Christians
are being persecuted, Christians are beheaded.
We're going to be here for that, but the good news is those days are shortened, because
if they weren't, no flesh should be saved.
So the question is by how much are they going to be shortened?
I mean how much are we going to be here for?
Like how deep into the second half does the rapture happen?
Now a lot of pre-wrath people, a lot of people who believe like us, like post-trib pre-wrath
rapture, a lot of them would just say it happens at an unknown time.
You know, like sometime during the second half the rapture happens.
And you know what, that's a perfectly valid viewpoint.
You know, I get where they're coming from, that it's just kind of unknown.
Just hang in there and at some point it's going to happen, and then God pours out his
wrath.
But I actually believe that the Bible tells us how deep into that second half it's going
to happen.
Now please do not go out of here and lie and say that I set a date on the rapture, because
I've never set a date on the rapture and I never would.
Nobody knows the day or the hour, not even Jesus.
That's what the Bible says.
It says the Son doesn't even know.
The angels don't know.
The Son doesn't know.
Only the Father.
Okay, now maybe the Son knows now, but when Jesus was on this earth in Mark 13, he said,
of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels, not the Son, but the Father only.
Please don't think that you're smarter than Jesus and tell me when the rapture's going
to happen, because guess what, you're not.
If Jesus and the angels don't know, you don't know, okay?
And Jesus knew the Bible, didn't he?
When he was on this earth, he knew the Bible and he didn't know the day or the hour, neither
do you.
So don't listen to all these bozos who said it.
I'm not setting a date because we don't know when the seventh week begins, 70th week begins.
We don't know when the abomination of desolation is going to happen.
We don't know those things.
But when we see the abomination of desolation, the Bible says when you see that, then you
know that it's nigh at hand and he says, look up for your redemption draw of nigh.
You know, when you see these things come to pass, then look up.
You see, eventually we will all know the date of the second coming of Christ.
That's a fact.
How about after it happens?
Will we know then?
After it happens, everybody's going to know.
So it's, the Bible's not saying no one will ever know, but you're not going to know until
it happens.
But when you see the abomination of desolation, you can have a pretty good idea, okay, it's
about to happen sometime soon.
Even if you're in the other crowd that says sometime in the second half, you'd still know
like okay, it's happening in the next three and a half years at some point.
Okay.
Now, I believe that the Bible's more specific than that.
Okay.
Now, let me give you the evidence very quickly because I'm out of time.
Bible chapter 12 verse 11 says this, from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be
taken away and the abomination that make a desolate set up, there should be 1290 days.
Now notice the difference here.
This is not the usual 1260 days that we're used to, is it?
We've been talking 1260, 1260, 1260, now we're talking 1290.
What gives?
What's the difference?
Let me explain to you the difference.
The Bible's calendar is based on 30-day months, okay?
Every month is 30 days.
Now that's different than our calendar because we have 30 days at September, April, June
and November.
All the rest have 31 except February with 28.
So our calendar is different.
Now what happens if you have 12 months of 30 days each, how many days are in a year?
360.
Now here's the problem.
That's not going to work with the sun because how long does it take for the earth to go
around the sun?
365 and a quarter days.
So if we start having 30-day months and 360-day years, you know what's going to happen pretty
soon?
We're going to get off kilter with the sun and we're going to be having like instead
of Christmas in the winter, we're going to have Christmas in the summertime and it's
going to be real confusing.
Does everybody understand?
So if you have 30-day months and 12 of them in a year, then every six years you have to
add an extra month.
It's like a leap month.
Does everybody understand?
Because that'll make up and then eventually you have to deal with that quarter day as
well.
And we do the same thing except we just add one day at a time because our year has 365
days so every four years we take care of the quarter with one day.
The way they did it in this system is 30-day months and then they have to add an extra
month every six years.
So if you're dealing with a seven-year period, you're going to need one of these leap months
aren't you?
So that's why the first half is 1260, second half fully is 1290.
But there's still a 1260 and then there's like a bonus 30 tagged on at the end, the
leap month if you will, to round out a full seven years.
That's what's going on.
So if you do the math, 1260 is exactly 42 months of 30 days, 1290 is exactly 43 months
of 30 days.
So from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, that's the midpoint,
so from, from, that's the starting point, from that 1290 days there's going to be, from
the midpoint there's 1290 days, that's the second half, everybody got that?
Now here's another period of time that we're going to talk about.
Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty
days.
But go thou thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end
of the days.
Now Daniel just finished saying, I don't understand any of this.
If you read Daniel 12, well we all read it together, he didn't, he's like, I don't understand
any of this.
And God says, don't worry about it, seal up the prophecy, this is not for a long time,
don't sweat it Daniel, that's my paraphrase.
But this is cryptic.
What does this mean, blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thirteen hundred and thirty
five days?
I submit to you that the rapture will happen thirteen hundred and thirty five days into
Daniel's 70th week.
Because that puts it just shortly after the midpoint.
Now do I have evidence for this?
Yes.
First of all, right here in the passage, the thirteen hundred and thirty five days seems
to indicate the rapture.
Let me explain to you why.
Because it says, blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thirteen hundred and thirty
five days.
What are we waiting for?
I mean, we're waiting for our redemption, we're waiting for Christ's return.
So we're waiting for the thirteen thirty five days to happen, number one.
Number two, look at verse 13, go thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest.
What does that mean when it says Daniel's gonna rest until the end?
He's gonna die and his body's gonna be sleeping in the dust of the earth, he's gonna be resting
in peace at the cemetery, right?
How long is he gonna rest for?
Until he stands in his lot at the end of the days.
Which days?
The thirteen hundred and thirty five days.
So at the end of the thirteen hundred and thirty five days, Daniel will stand in his
lot at the end of the days after resting.
What happens at the rapture?
The dead in Christ rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain are cobbed together with them in the clouds.
So Daniel is resurrected at the end of the thirteen hundred and thirty five days is how
I'm reading that.
You say, well, I don't think you're reading right.
Well, let me give you more evidence.
There's tons of symbolism of this in the Bible and I'm just gonna have to just rattle through
this.
If you're interested in this, I did a whole sermon called The Timing of the Rapture where
I explain this further.
Here's an example, okay?
Jesus is crossing the Sea of Galilee with the disciples, which is seven miles wide.
He gets a little bit more than halfway across and he calms the storm and the Bible says
the ship is just immediately at the other side.
So think about this.
The Jews, or not the Jews, sorry, the disciples are on a perilous journey in a storm.
They think they're gonna die.
Lord, save us, we perish!
Across a seven mile wide lake, they get a little more than halfway across.
The Bible gives us the distance, 25 to 30 furlongs they get across, little more than
halfway and then Jesus shows up and says, peace be still and it says they're immediately
to the other side.
Warped to the other side.
Sounds like their trip was shortened.
Okay, now here's another illustration.
Jehoiachin, we've been talking about Jehoiachin and Zedekiah a little bit in the Ezekiel series.
Jehoiachin's captivity is a 70 year captivity, but just a little bit after halfway through
that captivity, guess what happens?
He's pulled out of prison because he was in a dungeon, a prison.
He gets pulled out of prison, cleaned up, fresh clothes and he gets to eat at the king's
table and feast and be honored for the rest of his life.
So he's basically, it's a 70 year thing, but just past the midpoint, he gets pulled out
and treated well and it gives us exactly how many years that is.
Not only that, but in the Jewish calendar year, on the 10th day of the seventh month,
which is just a little past the midpoint because the midpoint would be like what, you know,
the first day of the seventh month, 10th day of the seventh month, you have the Jubilee
where the trumpet sounds and liberty is proclaimed throughout all the land and by the way, the
Bible calls the rapture in Romans chapter 8, the glorious liberty of the children of
God.
Isn't it interesting, it's also just a little bit past the midpoint, okay?
So let's do a little math real quick, okay?
This won't be painful, I promise.
Okay, look at this.
So we said 1,335 days, right?
If we take 1,335 days and divide it by 7 years, 2,520 days, just the, without the bonus month,
just the basic 7 years, we get 0.529 which means that 1,335 days would be 50, you know,
I'm rounding up .529, I'm just rounding up to 53%, 53% of the way into the Daniel 70th
week is 1,335 days, blessed is either way to then come into the 1,335 days, 53% of the
way in.
Okay, how about the day of the Jubilee, 10th day of the seventh month?
Well, the first 6 months, that's 180 days.
So the 10th day of the seventh month would be the 190th day.
How long is the year?
360 days.
So how deep into the year does the Jubilee happen?
0.528, 53%.
So 1,335 days, 53%.
Jubilee happens 53% into the year.
Okay, the Bible says that Jesus appears walking on the water when they're crossing Galilee,
25 to 30 furlongs, about 25 to 30 furlongs in, that's when Jesus shows up and they're
warped to the other side.
Okay, well, 7 miles is 56 furlongs.
So let's say it was 29.6.
Is that within the 25 to 30 range that the Bible gives?
The Bible says 25 to 30 furlongs.
Okay, let's call it 29.6 divided by the total 56 furlongs, oh, 53% of the way in.
Isn't that interesting?
How about Jehoiachin's captivity, 70 years of captivity?
The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 52 that he is lifted up in the 37th year of his captivity,
37 divided by 70, 0.529, call it 53%.
I'm sure this is all a coincidence.
Here's a bonus one that somebody just showed me, I just saw it this afternoon, in fact.
How about this one?
From the time that men began to call upon the name of the Lord in Genesis to the flood,
so men began to call upon the name of the Lord when Enoch is born, up to the flood is
1,421 years.
But during that period of time, one special guy, Enoch, what happens to him?
He's caught up to heaven without dying.
He's translated that he should not see death, and that happens 752 years after men began
to call upon the name of the Lord, 752 divided by 1421 is 0.529, 53%.
Now here's the thing, you could say, well, Pastor Anderson, you know, you can just find
numbers in the Bible, and if you're just looking for that number, you're going to see it everywhere
or whatever.
But here's the thing, these aren't just random occurrences, these are pictures of the rapture.
I mean, we're talking about they're on a seven-mile trip, there's a storm, and Jesus warps them
to the other side after coming to them.
That's a great picture of the rapture.
Enoch being caught up to heaven is a great picture of the rapture.
Jehoiachim being pulled out of prison, new garment, white robes are given unto every
one of them, sitting at the king's table, feasting, that's a great picture of the rapture.
The trumpet of the jubilee, the glorious liberty.
These are not, these are like really good pictures of the rapture and they all just
happen to work out, the math works out.
I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty compelling stuff.
So I mean, with that in mind, then we look at this and Daniel, hey, blessed is he that
waited to come to the 13,935 days.
So therefore, think about it, 1260 years, or excuse me, 1260 days in is the abomination.
1335 days in is the rapture, then how long is the Antichrist reign of terror on Christians
really going to last?
About 75 days.
Can you hang in there with me that long?
That's a little more realistic, isn't it?
So you don't need to stockpile years of food or anything, folks.
90 days.
Yeah, 90 days, you're good to go, you know, because then you can eat extra and, you know,
desserts and stuff.
No, I'm joking.
But the point is, my friend, you know, it's going to be cut short, it's only going to
be a couple months of that, then Jesus, so the Antichrist, he's going to fight for three
and a half years to take power, he finally gets power, he really only gets to enjoy it
for like 75 days, the rest of his reign is just dealing with the wrath of God.
So his reign's not going to be that cool after that first 75 days.
Oh, and by the way, here's another symbolism, if that wasn't enough for you.
How about Revelation chapter 2?
Ye shall have tribulation ten days, be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown
of life.
Well, what did we say?
Tenth day of the seventh month is the jubilee.
Oh, what happens at the midpoint?
Oh, abomination of desolation, oh, ten days of the seventh month from the midpoint to
the liberty, ten days.
Another coincidence, right?
So this is pretty compelling stuff, that's why I believe that the 1260 days, first half
of Daniel's 70th week, 1290 days, second half, because there's a 1260 and a bonus 30, 1335
days is from the beginning of the week to the rapture, it's that 53% mark, or 0.529
is the way the math worked out on those 0.528, 0.529.
So I hope that this sermon helped you maybe put some things together, put some things
in their proper place, and was a blessing to you because, you know, the Bible has the
answers but we have to study to show ourselves approved and yeah, this is kind of a tough
subject but, you know, it can be rewarding to study this also because it's beautiful.
It's the word of God and, you know, a lot of people enjoy it.
And it's going to really come in handy if this actually happens in our lifetime.
You're going to be really glad that you learned these things.
And if it doesn't happen in our lifetime, you know what, hey, it was still good to study
the Bible and learn about the Lord.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and thank you for giving us minds that
can grasp these things and the Holy Spirit to guide us.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah.