So tonight's sermon is going to be a little bit different.
We're going to use the technology that we have, right, we've got the screen up here.
And when we upload this sermon on YouTube, we'll also get the screens into the sermon as well.
So the title for the sermon tonight is the Post-Tribulation Pre-Raph Rapture Part One.
There's a lot to talk about, part one.
I'm hoping to basically close this off basically in two major parts.
One part tonight and whenever I get to finish, I finish this part off, part number two.
But I want to just focus on a few words that's said here in Matthew 24.
We'll start off here in verse number 15, Matthew 24 verse 15.
And I'll just wait for Matt to get that up there.
So on the screen we're going to have the Bible verses
and we're going to have a chart, if you will, that I've used before.
I have taught on this before but I'm teaching, it's not the exact same sermon.
I preached this before in my previous church but I've sort of changed it around a little bit.
It's still the basic same concept teaching that's been preached here today.
But it's just going to be a little bit different, a little bit different.
But if we look at Matthew 24 verse 15.
So if you've got your Bibles, use your Bibles.
If the screen's a little bit easier for you, use the screen, whatever's best for you.
I'm not trying to take the Bible out of your hands, okay.
This is still a fundamental Baptist church.
We're still Bible-believing Christians, all right.
We can still hold the pure word of God in our hands, all right.
This is just a supplement.
This is just a help for the sermon tonight.
Look at verse number 15.
It says, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,
whoso readeth, let him understand.
The first thing I wanted you to think about,
as this chapter was being read to you there in Matthew 24,
Jesus says, hey, this is about the abomination of desolation.
This is about something that Daniel the prophet wrote about.
And this is why we spent, in the last sermon in this series,
we spent time going to the book of Daniel
and looking at this abomination of desolation,
looking at what this means.
And if you, you know, just a refresher,
it's just a reminder there that this is when the Antichrist,
the beast of Revelation, will exalt himself.
He will claim to be God.
You know, he will speak blasphemy against the God of gods.
And he sets up some idol, some image,
something which is this abomination, okay,
that he demands people to worship, you know,
and it'll be a representation of he himself.
And Jesus Christ, when we're reading this chapter,
refers back to this teaching, right, in Matthew 24, verse 15.
So this should immediately tell you the context of this chapter.
What are we dealing with?
As I said in the last sermon,
we're looking at those 70 weeks of prophecy,
and we spent a lot of time going through those first 69 weeks.
We also looked at that final week, which represents seven years.
Each week of that prophecy represents seven years.
But what we're doing today,
we'll be going through this final seven years to come, okay?
We're looking at this final period.
And even Jesus Christ says,
hey, what I'm telling you about is what Daniel preached about.
And he points back to this abomination of desolation.
So brother mate, if you can go to the next slide for us.
Let's just put this in place, okay?
The abomination of desolation, what Jesus spoke about,
hope it's big enough for you guys to see.
And also just under that, we're focusing on Daniel's 70th week, okay?
Next slide, please, Matt.
When we look at Daniel 9, 27, Jesus said,
you know, go back to Daniel the prophet.
And we did spend time on that last time.
But let's take this once again here in Matthew 9, 27.
Sorry, Daniel 9, 27.
Daniel 9, 27, it says here,
and he, speaking of that antichrist, speaking of that beast,
he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.
Now, what is a covenant?
It's an agreement, right?
When you were married to your wife or to your husband,
you entered into a marriage covenant, okay?
You entered into an agreement.
And what this is saying here in that final week,
the antichrist is going to be busy,
he's going to be confirming a covenant.
There's a third covenant,
but the Bible doesn't really specifically say what that covenant is.
Some people say, well, he's bringing back the Old Testament covenant.
Possibly, but that's not what the Bible says, okay?
A covenant is just an agreement.
In other words, he's busy for that one week.
He's trying to gather his power,
trying to, you know, have an influence in this world
for this final seven year period.
And says he makes a covenant with many for one week,
but then it says this,
and in the midst of the week,
he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.
Now, when does this take place?
Says he in the midst of the week.
What's another way of saying the midst?
The middle, right?
The middle, the center.
The center, the middle of that week, this takes place.
And it says here,
and for the overspreading of abominations,
he shall make it desolate even until the consummation
and the determined shall be poured upon the desolate, okay?
This is the teaching of Daniel the prophet.
And Jesus says, hey, we need to go back to Daniel
to understand this final seven year period.
He calls it the abomination of desolation,
and the prophet Daniel says this takes place
at the midst of the week, okay?
At the midst of the week.
So let's go to the next slide there, Matthew.
In the midst of the week.
So what we're seeing here, brethren,
is the abomination of desolation takes place
at the midst of the week, right?
We see that consistency there with the Bible.
What Jesus said, what Daniel the prophet spoke about.
Now let me just stop there with a chart right now.
Because even though this is taking place
in the middle of the week,
notice that the blocks that I have there
is not right in the middle, okay?
Because what I'm putting together here
is not something that is accurate to time, as it were, okay?
What we're building toward is a chronology of major events
that Jesus Christ teaches us in Matthew 24.
So I want you to focus, yes, the entire thing
is that final seven year period,
and what we're building toward is a chronology, okay?
And where those blocks take place there,
that would be the middle of that seven year period.
In the last seven, we went through the importance
of that middle period, that time when the antichrist
exalts himself.
So I want you to just understand this is put together
for chronology purposes, okay?
And we're gonna build this chronology
of this final 70th week using the word of God alone.
All right, now we want to know what takes place
before the abomination of desolation.
Because if we know it's the midst of the week,
hey, stuff happened before that, right?
I mean, the entire thing is seven years.
If this is the middle point,
there's been three and a half years of things
that have happened before this event, right?
So we want to find out what takes place, you know?
And if you can go to the next slide, Matthew.
Matthew 24, verse three.
So we're going, you know, when Jesus Christ spoke
about this abomination of desolation,
it was in verse 15.
So we're going to go to verse number three
and notice the question of the disciples.
It says here, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto him, that's unto Jesus,
privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be?
And what shall be the sign of thy coming
and of the end of the world?
Are the disciples asking about future events?
Absolutely.
Are they asking about things
tied into the end of the world?
Absolutely.
And look what Jesus says in verse number four.
And Jesus answered and said unto them,
take heed that no man deceive you.
Now, before we keep reading,
the words that Jesus Christ is about to speak
are so vital to our understanding of end times.
He just finished saying, look,
I don't want anyone to deceive you.
Okay, so the fact that he says that,
doesn't that mean the next things he's going to say
so we don't get deceived?
Isn't the purpose behind his teaching now
as we read through Matthew 24?
Now, we're not going to read every verse in this chapter,
okay, for time's sake, but we could.
But let's keep going.
Okay, let's keep going.
We know what Jesus Christ is about to teach.
And then go to the next slide.
We know what Christ is about to teach.
He's going to teach about this final 70th week,
this final seven year period to come.
And what does this start off with in verse number five?
Verse number five, it says,
for many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars,
see that ye be not troubled,
for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom,
and there shall be famines and pestilences
and earthquakes in diverse places.
Now, notice next words he says here in verse number eight.
All these.
What, what thing?
What, what things Jesus?
What did he just finish talking about?
The wars, the rumors of wars, the kingdom against kingdom,
the pestilences, the famines,
all these are the beginning of sorrows.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
So what takes place before the midst of the week,
before the abomination of desolation?
Something that Jesus Christ calls the beginning of sorrows.
Amen.
It's clear.
So if we can go to the next slide, Matt.
So we're going to place the beginning of sorrows
before the midst of the week.
Now, this is so important because
I've heard preaching on the end times many times,
and a lot of pastors don't know where to put this
beginning of sorrows.
Some basically would refer to today as beginning of sorrows,
because there are wars, there are rumors of wars,
there are pestilences, there are earthquakes today.
Okay.
But you know what?
There's been wars and rumors of wars and pestilences
and famines before even Christ came on the scene.
And there still will be wars and rumors of wars
and pestilences and famines in the future to come.
Okay.
So where do we place this?
I mean, wouldn't that make logical sense
to place this in the 70th week?
Because that's what Christ,
look, Christ is about to lead up to the midst of the week.
So obviously things take place before the midst of the week.
All right.
So I mean, this event that Jesus Christ is speaking about
is very specific.
It's not just things going on today.
I mean, well, it could be going on today,
we don't know that just yet,
but it's about the end times.
Okay.
It's about the end times,
a time which is still future to come.
And so we need to understand the chronology,
the beginning of sorrows.
I mean, it makes sense.
It's called the beginning of sorrows, right?
That would be at the beginning of that seven year period.
Okay.
And that would then lead us into the midst of the week.
We can see just chronology,
just by the chronology that Jesus Christ speaks of,
this takes place before verse 15,
when he speaks of the midst of the week.
All right.
Now, if we go to the next slide, Matthew,
verse number 21,
Matthew 24, verse 21,
we want to know again.
So verse 15 is about the midst of the week.
Now we're at Matthew 21,
which is after verse 15, right?
So if we're going through this chronology of Jesus,
he doesn't want us to be deceived.
What's the next things?
What are the next things to happen in verse 21,
Matthew 24, verse 21?
For then shall be great tribulation.
Now let's stop there for a moment.
Whether if you're pre-trib,
you're a pre-trib believer,
you're a mid-trib believer,
you're a post-trib believer,
or you're like us, a post-trib,
pre-raph believer,
you notice that all these positions have the word trib
for tribulation, right?
Pre-tribulation, post-tribulation,
mid-tribulation, post-tribulation,
pre-raph, rapture.
Why do we all have this word in the positions
that we claim to hold?
Because when it comes to the great tribulation,
this is an important part of why we believe,
what we believe about the timing of the rapture, all right?
Now Jesus Christ already spoke
about that midst of the week, right, in verse 15.
But here in verse number 21, he says,
for then, listen, if something happens
and then something happens,
can we put the tribulation before the midst of the week?
Or does it happen after the midst of the week?
Absolutely after the midst of the week, right?
For then shall be great tribulation,
after what we read in verse 15, okay?
Verse 15, be in the midst of the week.
Let's keep reading.
For then shall be great tribulation,
such as what was not since the beginning of the world
to this time, nor ever shall be,
and then look at verse number 22,
and except those days shall be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved.
Now let's stop there for a moment.
This is gonna be a terrible time.
It says these days need to be shortened,
otherwise no flesh will be saved, all right?
What is this great tribulation about?
Is this tribulation about God pouring out his wrath
on the unbelieving world and the wicked world?
Is that what Jesus Christ,
is that the flesh Christ is concerned about here?
You know, what is this tribulation?
Is it Christ destroying the beast
and the armies of the antichrist taking place here?
Let's read it again, verse number 22.
And except those days shall be shortened,
there shall no flesh be saved,
but for the elect's sake,
those days shall be shortened.
Listen, Jesus says he's gonna shorten those days.
Now if you were here for the last sermon,
I had mentioned that there's a 75-day period
in the book of Daniel,
which speaks of a blessing to come, okay?
And here's what I believe,
and if you believe differently to me, that's okay,
but here's what I believe,
I believe what Christ is,
or what Daniel is being shown there,
is that there is going to be from the midst of the week,
a 75-day period of great tribulation to come, okay?
That's been set by the word of God.
But here's the thing, okay?
And I actually believe it's gonna be shorter than 75 days.
And the reason for this is because number one,
I think it would have been easy enough for Jesus
to just say after the great tribulation,
it'll be 75 days.
But what he says instead is,
except those days shall be shortened, okay?
It says, but for the elect's sake,
those days shall be shortened.
So what I believe is happening here
is that God had set in his timeframe 75 days,
he's allowing up to 75 days of great tribulation
to fall of the antichrist,
being able to persecute the people of God,
but then Jesus says,
but I'm gonna shorten those days.
So I actually believe it's actually shorter
than the time that was allocated from the book of Daniel,
okay, for the elect's sake.
But notice it's for the elect's sake.
So what is the tribulation?
Who's suffering the most during the great tribulation?
The elect.
Who's the elect?
The believers.
Those that believe on Jesus Christ.
They're the ones that have been targeted
at this great tribulation.
Now, is God the one bringing great tribulation?
Is God the one killing his people,
beheading his people,
bringing hardship upon his people?
Of course not.
You know, if the elect,
if the believers,
if they're the ones that are suffering
where Christ has shortened these days for them,
then it is the antichrist,
it is the beast,
it is this ungodly,
wicked world that is persecuting the people of God.
And listen, when it comes to the great tribulation,
it is the world persecuting believers, okay?
When it comes to great tribulation,
this would be the most difficult time period ever
for believers of Jesus Christ to go through,
being persecuted by this wicked world.
There is a huge difference between the tribulation,
which is persecution of God's people,
and God's wrath,
which God pours out upon the wicked unbelieving world.
But just by this verse alone,
Jesus, don't be deceived.
The tribulation,
those that have been targeted in the tribulation
are God's people, the elect,
you know, for the elect's sake.
So if we can go to the next slide,
Brother Matthew,
next slide,
we can say the great tribulation takes place
after the abomination of desolation.
Now this makes perfect sense,
because what does the antichrist do
at the abomination of desolation?
He exalts himself above God.
You know, he demands to be worshipped, okay?
He sets up that idol to be worshipped
and all those kinds of things.
Who's not going to bow down and worship him?
Who's it going to be?
It's the elect.
It's the believers, right?
We're not going to take the mark of the beast.
We're not going to worship the dragon.
God will take care of us.
We don't need to take the mark of the beast
to buy and sell.
God will take care of his people.
We saw that God promises
that he will provide our food and our arraignments, okay?
Well, that's one of the promises that God gives us
if we set his kingdom first in our lives.
So God will take care of that.
So we don't need to take the mark of the beast.
We're not going to be tempted to do such a stupid thing.
And because we're not bowing down to the antichrist,
who's he going to go after?
You know, the believers.
Those that do not want to take the mark of the beast.
Those that do not bow down and worship him.
So what we're seeing here in the chronology
is the abomination of desolation takes place at the midpoint.
Before that, the beginning of sorrows makes sense,
but the beginning of sorrows.
But then after the abomination of desolation
makes perfect sense that the great tribulation takes place
as Jesus Christ says,
for then shall be great tribulation.
Now, not only that, but in this time period,
which is only a few days of great tribulation,
you know, 75 days or less, right?
We have a teaching here in Matthew 24, verse 29.
If you can go to the next slide.
Matthew 24, verse 29.
I just love how Jesus just lays it all out for us.
You know, we don't need to be deceived.
This should almost be like the milk of the word of God.
We're just reading it and believing it, okay?
We're just reading it and believing what Jesus Christ says
in Matthew 24, verse 29.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days,
shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light
and the stars shall fall from heaven
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
So what happens immediately after the tribulation of those days?
What did we just read?
The sun will be dark and the moon will not give her light
and the stars will fall from heaven.
Like a miracle takes place.
I mean, imagine the sun just going dark,
just switching off, okay?
I mean, that's just going to freak people out, okay?
But this is going to be exciting for us, okay?
But here's the thing.
And this is a term that I like to use.
We see a celestial darkening, okay?
A celestial, it's not Bible words,
but just so I don't have to say the moon, the stars and the sun.
Okay, the celestial darkening takes place
immediately after the tribulation of those days.
Now, before we go to the next slide,
you know, I've heard it said to me,
well, it's just tribulation of those days,
but then the tribulation continues.
Well, that's why we've got Mark 13,
just for that person that says that.
And yes, people say that, okay?
Mark 13, verse 24, look at this.
Mark 13, verse 24 and 25.
But in those days, after that tribulation,
there we go, all right?
It's even clearer in the book of Mark, all right?
Mark 13, 24.
But in those days, after that tribulation,
the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give a light,
and the stars of heaven shall fall,
and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
The consistency of God's word.
You know, we look at Mark,
and Mark 13 is just a parallel passage
of the Olivet Discourse
that we're reading through in Matthew 24.
It's the same teaching of Christ.
So if we can go to the next slide, Matthew.
So we know that after,
immediately after the tribulation of those days,
or after the tribulation,
we have the celestial darkening,
the sun, the moon, the stars,
all being affected by that event, all right?
Now again, you know, this is not to be taken,
you know, I mean, it's chronology, right?
This event's not going to take that long on a time scale,
all right?
This is a quick event,
but just to show you the order of the chronology of events there.
All right.
So what we need to do now
is we're going to compare Matthew 24
with Revelation chapter six.
Now look, if we keep reading Matthew 24,
we'll look at this at the end of the sermon.
If we keep going, we see the coming of the Son of Man.
We see the coming of Christ in the clouds, okay?
But that's not what I want to focus on right now.
I just want to focus, okay,
let's go to Revelation six,
because one thing that I love about the Bible
is just how well,
it's how it fits together.
You know, when it comes to the end times,
I could never work it out.
I had all these puzzle pieces,
some pieces fit,
but then I couldn't fit other pieces,
you know, for a long time
when I believed the pre-tribulation rapture.
But once I just understood this event,
the celestial darkening,
once I could understand,
the tribulation has ended at this point,
and then God pours out his wrath.
We'll look at that later.
Once I could understand all these things,
everything else just started to fall in place,
you know, and this is what we should expect.
When we fix up our inconsistencies,
when we remove our preconceived ideas,
and we just go to the Word of God,
we can compare spiritual with spiritual,
we compare scripture with scripture,
the Word of God is always right,
always, always right.
We never have to wrestle it.
We never have to twist it.
You know, if we just be like,
you know, just like children
who believe every word of God,
you know, we just understand this quite easily.
I don't find the end times difficult anymore.
Honestly, once upon a time,
I thought it was the most impossible thing to work out.
Now it's just, I just believe what the Bible says.
That's where I should have started,
okay, but I was deceived.
You know, Jesus says,
don't let any man deceive you.
I was deceived, okay.
Now, if we go to the next slide,
brother Matthew,
we're going to compare the book of Matthew
and the book of Revelation.
And in Revelation 6 12, it says,
and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal,
and lo, there was a great earthquake,
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
and the moon became as blood.
So when does this take place?
When Jesus Christ opens the what?
The sixth seal, amen.
That's quite clear there.
Verse number 13,
and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs,
when she is shaken of a mighty wind,
and the heaven departed as a scroll,
when it is rolled together,
and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places.
So Revelation 6,
this is why we're going to Revelation 6.
Revelation 6 mentions these seals,
but it also mentions this celestial dark in events
that takes place.
But what we learn in Revelation 6 12
is that it takes place
when Christ opens the sixth seal.
Now if you know the book of Revelation,
there are seven seals,
there are seven trumpets,
there are seven vials.
We're not going to focus on the trumpets
and the vials today.
We're just going to be focusing on those seals, okay?
And at the sixth seal, once again,
the celestial darkening takes place.
So if we go to the next slide, Brother Matthew,
then we can say at the celestial darkening,
we can say there that it takes place at the sixth seal,
according to Revelation chapter 6, okay?
This is why I wanted to get to the seals
and compare Revelation 6 with Matthew 24, okay?
Because we see how the prophet or the apostle John
is lighting himself what he's writing
with what Christ spoke about in Matthew 24.
So we're going back to that period
where Jesus Christ called the beginning of sorrows.
Let's flesh that out a little bit, okay?
Let's get some detail about that event.
And Jesus started in verse number five saying,
For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.
The first thing he says that there will be many false Christs.
Now look, there's already false Christs on the earth today.
I understand.
There's some guy in Queensland that claims to be Jesus Christ
and is married to Mary Magdalene or something,
some weirdo.
I can't remember his name right now.
I'll preach against him one day, not right now.
But there are obviously idiots out there.
But there is coming somebody that will deceive.
I mean, even the ungodly world recognize that guy's a weirdo.
That guy is a lunatic.
That guy is not really Christ.
There is coming a man who almost the entire world
will believe this is Christ or a Christ
or reincarnated Jesus, something to do.
He's going to be that deceptive.
And this is why Jesus Christ says they will deceive many, okay?
Many will be deceived, not just some fringe lunatics,
but the almost entire world will be deceived by this man.
And when we go to the book of Revelation, chapter 6,
look at verse number 1 there.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,
the first seal, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder,
one of the four be saying, come and see.
And I saw and behold a white horse.
Oh, that must be Jesus.
Well, hold on.
Let's keep going.
A white horse and he that sat on him had a bow
and a crown was given unto him.
Now what's he doing?
And he went forth conquering and to conquer, okay?
Now this is a description of the Antichrist.
I'm not saying the Antichrist is riding a white horse, okay?
I'm just saying this is illustrative
of the kind of man that he will be.
He will come and when Christ comes back in Revelation 19,
doesn't he come in a white horse as well?
Hey, this guy is trying to be like Jesus Christ
is what the imagery is trying to show us here, right?
But he comes conquering and to conquer.
What did we see in Daniel 9?
When the Antichrist would come,
he would come to establish the covenant with many for one week, okay?
And what we learn here, what is this covenant about?
I mean, I don't know exactly what the covenant contains,
but what we see when we go and look at the first seal
is that he's conquering nations.
He's conquering people.
He's amassing power upon himself, worldly power.
He's, you know, taking on and conquering these people.
That's his purpose and that's what he starts off doing
at the beginning of the first seal.
And so we see that connection of someone that comes mimicking Christ.
Christ said that there will be deceivers.
He said there will be false Christs in that day.
And so what I want to show you is this beautiful correlation
between Matthew 24 and Revelation 6, all right?
Matthew 24 and Revelation 6.
So if you go to the next slide there.
So we have the beginning of sorrows there in Matthew 24.
Christ spoke of the false Christs to come.
And when we look at the first seal on the right hand side,
we're looking at seals one to four.
It says that the Antichrist will be coming riding on a white horse,
conquering those nations, okay?
We're going to keep building on this
so we can understand the beginning of sorrows, all right?
If we go to the next slide, brother.
Then Christ says in Matthew 24, verse 6,
again, this is still the beginning of sorrows.
It says here,
and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.
Let's stop there for a moment.
If the Antichrist is coming on the scene and conquering,
don't you think people are going to get a bit upset?
Don't you think existing powers,
I mean, some are probably just going to cave in,
but others are going to be like, hey, who are you turning up here?
You know what's, we know what's going to,
listen, anybody going and trying to take power of another country,
it's going to cause unrest.
It's going to cause wars and rumors of wars.
Hey, you do this.
You come here.
You come in our territory.
We're taking you down.
Hey, you attack our city.
Not only are we going to fight you,
but our friends, our allies are going to fight you as well.
And so it makes perfect sense
if the Antichrist is trying to conquer this world,
that it's going to rise, you know, rise wars.
Not everyone's just going to, you know, agree to that covenant, okay?
It says the covenant was made with many.
But not all, okay?
Men and many others are going to stand up against the Antichrist,
against his power.
And so what we see here
is that you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars.
See that ye be not troubled,
for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
Man, this is a world war, okay?
Now I'm not saying this is World War III necessarily.
It could be.
It could be World War III
when this starts to take place.
It could be World War X.
We don't know exactly what world war this will take place in,
but it's definitely going to happen.
And you know what?
Believers during World War I and World War II,
they all thought they're in that time period, okay?
Because when all these kingdoms and all these nations
are getting involved in this fight,
you know, we know that we're coming near the end,
but Jesus Christ says, but the end is not yet.
There's still more to come.
And so when we go to Revelation chapter 6 verse 3,
Christ opens up the second seal.
What are we going to find?
If the Bible's in complete harmony, if it's consistent.
It says in Revelation 6, 5 and 6.
Sorry, Revelation 6, 3 and 4.
It says here,
And 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.
What's about this horse?
Look at this.
And power was given to him that sat there on,
look at this,
to take peace from the earth.
Now listen, if there's peace on the earth
and you take peace away,
what's going to happen?
What's the opposite of peace?
War, okay?
So this red horse,
this rider has the ability to take peace away from the earth.
And then it says,
and that they should kill one another
and there was given unto him a great sword.
Hey, what's a sword about?
It's a weapon of warfare.
Hey, this red horse,
this rider represents world war.
Peace is removed from the earth.
Hey, this is consistent with what Christ is talking about
when it comes to the beginning of sorrows, is it not?
So we know that the second seal is this world war.
So if we can go to the next slide, brother.
So we can see that the beginning of sorrows,
the next thing Christ speaks of is the wars and rumors of war.
And then in Revelation 6,
the second seal is peace being taken away
and people are killing one another.
So it's again, the consistency of the Bible.
Next slide.
Then Christ says in verse number 7,
after the wars that are mentioned,
he says,
and there shall be famines.
Okay, what's famine?
A lack of food, right?
You're unable to purchase the food you need
for yourself and your families.
And then in Revelation 6,
we come to the third seal,
Revelation 6 verse 5,
and when he had opened the third seal,
I heard the third beast say,
come and see and I beheld
and lo a black horse
and here that sat on him
had a pair of balancers 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 hurt not the oil and the wine.
What do we notice in the third seal?
Is that what we really,
I've taught this before
that a penny is roughly a day's wage.
Okay, so a day's wage
will only purchase you a measure of wheat,
a small amount of wheat.
Look, a day's wage will probably get you,
you know, if today,
will get you a full trolley of groceries.
Okay, but when it comes to these days,
an entire labor's, you know, pay,
a day's pay will only get you
a small measure of wheat.
Okay, and if you want barley instead of wheat,
you get a bit more.
You get three measures of barley for a penny
and then it says,
and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
So it looks like, you know,
there'll be plenty of wine,
grape juice and plenty of oil to be had,
but not much that fills your belly,
like barley and wheat.
And will that tie in
with what Jesus Christ said about famines?
Man, we've got a famine of toilet paper right now.
Man, you know, I went to the show,
I went to the shops the other day
and like the entire toilet paper area was empty.
It was gone.
And we're not even at the beginning of sorrows yet.
Man, if toilet paper's been affected by one pestilence,
imagine when there's pestilence,
well, we'll go to that soon,
but world war and famine,
all these kinds of things,
man, the shopping centers will be empty.
Okay, and it will be a time of famine,
not just a famine of toilet paper,
but a famine of food, all right?
A famine of food.
And so when we go to the next slide,
we put these two things together.
Christ spoke about famines there in Matthew 24
and then we see the shortage of food
in Revelation chapter six
being pictured by the black horse.
All right, next slide, brother.
Then he says in verse number seven,
and pestilences.
Okay, pestilences are like a coronavirus
and swine flu and I don't know,
the black plague and well,
who knows what pestilences,
what other genetically modified pestilences
will exist in that time
and you know, is the antichrist purposely released?
And there's probably, who knows?
Okay, but here's the thing,
anytime there's war and there's death
and there's rot in bodies,
there's going to be diseases.
You know, it's just a natural consequence
of war as well
and many people have died
and so Christ warns of pestilences to come
and then when we look at the next seal
in Revelation six, seven and eight,
it says,
and when he had opened the fourth seal,
I heard a voice of the fourth beast say,
come and see.
And I looked and behold a pale horse.
Now the reason I believe
these two things go together
is because this horse isn't just given a colour,
it's said it's pale, okay?
Now when you're looking pale,
I'm sure you've looked pale before.
Haven't people just said to you,
you look sick, you look sickly today.
I remember going to work many times
and I'm not feeling the best
but I go to work and people say,
man, you look pale,
you've lost colour in your face.
That's what it means, you've lost colour.
You know, you look like you're half dead
or something, right?
You know, you look different
and so what this, you know,
usually, you know,
it's referring to you being sick.
It's you having some type of illness,
you know, you've been exhausted
or extremely tired,
you know, this paleness
and so this is the association
with the pestilences there
and he goes here and says,
a pale horse and his name
that sat on him was death.
So of course, pestilences will kill people, okay?
And then it says and hell followed with him.
So people are dying from these,
from these, you know, sicknesses
and they go into hell as well.
I mean, there's a great death
and a lot of people are being cast
into hell for at this point in time
because they're dying from all these diseases
and then it says 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 beast of the earth.
So we see that it's not like the wars stop
and then there's the famines
and then the famines stop
and there's the pestilences.
It's all together
because it's not just this pale horse
but also you see that people are being,
you know, a fourth part of the earth,
people are being killed by the sword.
So there's the wars,
you see the hunger,
you know, there's the famines
and with death,
the death is associated with the pale horse
and with the beasts of the earth.
I mean, even the animals,
the animal kingdom at this point in time
is going crazy.
All the wild animals, you know,
are targeting humans or something, right?
Now look, here's what I think is happening.
Warfares, right?
I'm sure there's, you know,
plenty of refugees trying to escape their war,
you know, torn country, their cities,
you know, they're crossing the borders,
they're crossing places
where there's no civilisation
and it seems like just the beasts of the earth
are just taking advantage of that.
I mean, somehow, you know,
they've been affected by all this as well.
Maybe they have a shortage of good food as well
and they're just going after human flesh.
You know, people are being put to death by animals.
So that's what I think is going on here.
So obviously, I mean,
this is a terrible time to come, all right?
So if we go to the next slide,
we see then that the pestilences there
is in association with the pale horse,
the sickly looking horse
and so we see the consistency there of the Bible
and Jesus Christ called all of these things
the beginning of sorrows, all right?
So if we go to the next slide,
I just want to show you that.
So we see that the beginning of sorrows,
which we already had in our graph here,
is tied together perfectly with the seals,
numbers one to four, okay?
Now, I want you to notice this
because Jesus Christ calls all of this
the beginning of sorrows
and when he comes to the first four seals,
each of these seals is being represented by a horse, right?
The white horse, the red horse,
the black horse, was it?
And the pale horse.
And so even when it comes to the book of Revelation,
when it comes to these seven seals,
it's only the first four seals
that have been represented by these horses, you know?
So, you know, thematically,
they're all one and the same thing
and Jesus Christ calls all that one and the same thing
the beginning of sorrows
because after these events,
we get to the next thing,
which is the abomination of desolation
and that's where things change.
It's no longer the entire world that's suffering,
the entire world going through difficulties.
No, rather the Antichrist lifts himself up, you know?
He's got the answer for the shortage of food.
He's got the answer for the problems of money.
You know, he brings in the mark of the beast.
Hey, this will fix the economy.
This will help you go and buy food on the shelves
and so people will flock to him
and they'll believe that he's Jesus Christ
and believers that do not believe on him,
do not worship him,
do not take the mark of the beast,
of course, they're not going to do that
and they're going to go through that period
known as the Great Tribulation
where they're going to be persecuted by the beast.
Okay, so we see that coming together.
Can you go to the next slide, brother?
Just a reminder there
and actually, sorry,
can you go back to the previous slide?
All right, so if we look at this now,
we can see that the celestial darkening
takes place at the sixth seal, amen?
We can see the beginning of sorrows
are seals one to four.
So let me ask one of the younger ones,
maybe Sebastian.
So if we've got seals one to four over there
and we've got seal number six over here,
which seal are we missing?
Number five.
So five's got to go somewhere.
Where's it going to go?
I mean, if the Bible is consistent,
it should just fall into the Great Tribulation, right?
If the Bible is consistent,
let's see if the Bible is consistent.
Let's go to the next slide.
In Matthew 24 verse eight,
Jesus Christ said all these,
what we just read about the beginning, right?
Are the beginning of sorrows.
Look at this.
Then, is this afterwards?
Yes.
Then, okay?
Then shall they deliver you.
Who's you?
The disciples came asking Jesus
a question about the end times
saying to the disciples, to his people,
then shall they deliver you
up to be afflicted and shall kill you
and you shall be hated of all nations
for my name's sake.
Oh, those are the Jews.
The Jews do not believe on Jesus Christ.
The Jews do not reverence the name of Jesus Christ.
These people are those that have been killed
for the cause of Christ for his name's sake.
Hey, the ones that have the name of Christ
are the Christians, all right?
You who have been born again.
You who have believed on Christ.
The elect, the elect of God
are being persecuted at this time
following, or we don't have the graph there,
but following the abomination of desolation,
the great tribulation, right?
Now, if you look at Revelation 6 and 9,
it says, and when he had opened
the fifth seal, I saw under the altar
the souls of them that were what?
Slain, hey, is this consistent?
Who's been slain here?
For the word of God and for the testimony
which they held.
Hey, who's been slain at the fifth seal?
Christians, those that believe this word,
those that believe in the word of God,
Jesus Christ, those that have the testimony
of Jesus Christ, is that consistent
with what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24?
For his name's sake, absolutely, okay?
This is why we know this is 100% correct
when we put it together,
because if you were wrong,
just on one small thing,
the entire chronology will fall apart,
but no, the chronology is consistent
in Revelation and in the book of Matthew, okay?
So if we go to the next slide, brother,
we can then say, yes,
the fifth seal is the great tribulation.
The fifth seal are believers
being persecuted by the Antichrist.
So the first four seals, beginning of sorrows,
the entire world is suffering,
but then after the midpoint,
believers, those that believe on Christ
are being targeted specifically
by the Antichrist, by the beast.
All right, so we've built that up so far.
Is that, has that been complicated?
Besides me messing up a couple times
the presentation, but hey, Bible's clear.
Bible makes perfect sense, right?
So we've got all of that.
Now the next thing we want to work out
is what takes place after the celestial darkening, right?
That makes sense.
We want to know what takes place after that event,
and if you can go to the next slide, brother,
we have two very clear passages
about the chronology of this event.
We have one that's found in the Old Testament
in the book of Joel
and one in the New Testament in the book of Acts,
and in Joel chapter 2 verse 31,
now don't miss this, brethren,
because most of my fellow brethren
from the independent Baptist world,
my fellow pastors, most of this is just,
they don't realise these verses are in the Bible.
Or if they see them, they just, I don't know,
they come up with some other,
they twist it, okay, but look at this.
Joel chapter 2 verse 31,
the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before,
before, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
So what takes place before the terrible,
the great and terrible day of the Lord come?
What takes place the celestial darkening, right?
Does it make sense?
It makes perfect sense, right?
I mean, just believe what the Bible says.
I'm a Bible believer.
That's what you should be, a Bible believer.
Look at Acts chapter 2 verse 20,
the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before
that great and notable day of the Lord come.
So after the great tribulation, okay,
the 75 day period that's been set in the book of Daniel,
and I believe it's shorter,
but after that event, what is the next thing to come?
According to both these verses, the day of the Lord.
You guys see that?
The day of the Lord, all right.
So let's add the day of the Lord to the chart
in the next slide, brother.
All right, so afterwards, the day of the Lord, amen.
Now, what is the day of the Lord?
Let's understand this a little bit.
Let's see if it fits where we've put it, okay.
I mean, this is the day.
If we're putting the day in the wrong place,
it's gonna mess, the Bible's gonna be all over the place.
It's not gonna make any sense,
but let's prove that what we've put together so far
is 100% correct.
So if we can go to the next slide, Isaiah 13.
Now, the day of the Lord is mentioned many, many times
in the Bible, you know.
But here in Isaiah 13, verse nine, let's read it.
It says, behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
cruel both with wrath and fierce anger.
I want you to notice that.
It's of wrath, cruel, cruel wrath and fierce anger.
To lay the land desolate,
that he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Look at this.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof
shall not give their light.
The sun shall be darkened in his going forth,
and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Have we put the day of the Lord in the right place?
Absolutely, okay.
Even this passage talks about the sun, the moon,
the stars, the constellations,
all having this celestial darkening event take place.
So we know we've got it at the right place.
As soon as this event takes place,
it's the day of the Lord, amen.
We see those two things associated together.
The day of the Lord, the celestial darkening.
Please go to the next slide.
We've got Joel chapter two.
Joel chapter two is one of those passages that we read in verse 31
where it said the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood
before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
But if you look at verse number one here,
Joel chapter two verse one, it says,
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion
and sound an alarm in my holy mountain.
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble.
For the day of the Lord cometh,
for it is nigh at hand.
Now look at verse number two.
What is this day of the Lord?
A day of darkness and of gloominess,
a day of clouds and of thick darkness, right?
As the morning spread upon the mountains.
Now, would it make sense
that the day of the Lord is a very dark day?
Yeah, man, if all those stars and moons
and it's all gone dark,
absolutely it's a day of darkness.
But when you drop down to verse number 10, it says this,
The earth shall quake before them,
the heavens shall tremble,
the sun and the moon shall be dark,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Have we got it at the right place?
Yeah, man, you know, Isaiah says
that we've got to the right place.
Joel says we've got it at the right place.
Yeah, but your Baptist brethren
don't say you have it at the right place.
I'm going with Joel and Isaiah here, all right?
God used them, you know,
they were being moved by the Holy Ghost
to pen these words.
I'd rather go with them
than the opinions of my Baptist brethren, all right?
What about Zephaniah?
Let's go to the next passage.
Zephaniah chapter one.
Sorry if it's a bit small there.
Zephaniah chapter one verse 14.
Look at this.
The great day of the Lord is near.
It is near and hasteth greatly,
even the voice of the day of the Lord.
The mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Look at verse 15.
That day is a day of wrath.
Notice that again.
Now wrath again has been associated
with the day of the Lord.
It's a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress,
a day of wastedness and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Makes perfect sense.
We drop down to verse number 18.
It says neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord's wrath.
But the whole land shall be devoured
by the fire of his jealousy,
for he shall make even a speedily riddance
of all them that dwell in the land.
What do we notice here?
It's another day.
It's the day of the Lord.
It's another, again mentioned,
a day of darkness.
But what do we see mentioned again?
God's wrath, God's anger.
Not even rich men that have silver and gold
will be able to escape.
It's not going to help them.
It's not going to help anybody.
If you're going into this day
and you're going to face God's wrath,
your prestige, your status,
your money, your bank accounts,
your riches, your resources,
none of it's going to save you
from that day to come.
This is not for believers though.
This is for that wicked world.
So we see the association with God's wrath
so far there in the Old Testament writings.
Let's go to Revelation chapter 6 again.
So next slide.
Revelation chapter 6.
Again, Revelation 6 talks of those seals
that have been opened.
And this is after the sixth seal is opened.
Remember the sixth seal is when the sun
and moon are darkened.
All right.
Now let's pick it up here in verse number 15.
Revelation 6 15.
And the kings of the earth.
Hey, you don't get any higher than a king
as far as man goes on this earth.
And the kings of the earth
and the great men and the rich men.
They've got the silver and the gold.
They'll be fine.
And the chief captains
and the mighty men
and every bond man,
even if you're a servant,
and every free man hid themselves
in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains
and said to the mountains and rocks,
fall on us and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For that great day of his wrath is come
and who shall be able to stand.
What is the day of the Lord, brethren?
It is a day of God's wrath.
It is a day of the wrath of the Lamb of God.
And what do they say here?
After the moon and the stars darkened,
the Bible taught us that the heavens
erode together as a scroll.
And what do they say?
They're in verse number 16 again.
And said unto the mountains and rocks,
fall on us and hide us from the face of him
who?
That sitteth on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb.
Hey, who are they seeing?
They're seeing Jesus.
After the sun and moon are darkened,
they're seeing Christ coming in the clouds
is what they're seeing.
And like we're going to be rejoicing.
You know, our Redeemer's here.
You know, our new bodies are coming any moment.
We're excited.
But all these, the wicked world,
they're scared.
They're trying to hide themselves
in their bunkers, in their mountains,
in their caves.
They know that this is the day of God's wrath.
So notice that it also said in verse number 17,
for the great day of his wrath is come.
It's not that it was there before.
Is come present tense.
It's here now.
It's right here.
It's at the doors is what they're saying.
So was the great tribulation
before the sun and moon darken?
Was that the wrath of the Lamb?
Was that the wrath of God?
Was that the day of the Lord?
No, the day of the Lord happens
after the celestial darkening.
And what we see consistently in Revelation,
in Zephaniah, in Joel,
that this is a day of God's wrath.
Okay, so let's go to the next slide.
The day of the Lord is God's wrath.
Amen.
Now, this is pretty much where I'm going to leave it.
We've got a few more slides to go to,
but this is where I want to leave it for part one.
Okay, I haven't spoken too much about the rapture.
You know, you're saying,
but you called this sermon,
the post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture.
Well, let's look at it a little bit,
because if that's the position our church holds,
that we're post-tribulation,
what does post mean after, right?
But we're pre-wrath.
Okay, that means we believe the rapture
will be before God's wrath.
Now, if you go to the next slide, brother,
let's see how this fits in.
Let's look at this in Matthew 24, verse 29.
Matthew 24, verse 29.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days,
shall the sun be darkened
and the moon shall not give her light.
So that's the celestial darkening.
And the stars shall fall from heaven
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Okay, so that's, oh, can you go back to the,
go back, so that's the celestial darkening.
Then what's going to happen?
Okay, we know God's wrath is after.
Go back to the passage there for me.
All right, awesome.
And then in verse number 30,
some beautiful words.
And then, after, and then shall appear
the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.
And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.
What do we see?
The kingdom, they're freaking out.
They're so afraid.
They're mourning.
And they shall see the Son of Man,
they shall see the Son of Man come in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory.
That's why they're afraid.
They know Jesus Christ is now going to pour out his wrath.
It's a day of God's wrath.
But look at verse number 31 for us.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet
and they shall gather together his elect
from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other.
And so without going into part two too much,
we believe that the rapture takes place
after the tribulation of those days.
When the Son of Man appears in heaven
in those white clouds,
he sends his angels together his elect.
So we're post-tribulation.
Now, brother, go to the next slide for me.
But we're also pre-wrath.
And this is a passage that my pre-tribulation brothers
love to quote.
Say, we're not going to go through the tribulation
because it says in 1 Thessalonians 5-9,
for God has not appointed us to wrath.
Amen.
God has not appointed us to wrath.
That's why we're also pre-wrath.
But the wrath of God, as I've shown you today,
is not the great tribulation.
The wrath of God takes place after the celestial darkening
and the great tribulation takes place
before the celestial darkening.
So I'm in agreement with our pre-trib brethren
in how they understand this verse,
in the sense that we're not appointed to his wrath,
which is why we're pre-wrath.
We're post-trib.
After the tribulation, we're raptured,
but we're not going to face God's wrath.
So let me just finish that verse there.
It says, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
Whether we wake or sleep.
Now, this is 1 Thessalonians 5.
1 Thessalonians 4 spoke about those that are awake and sleep
and how we're all going to be gathered together
in the clouds of Jesus Christ.
So this is our passage, not just a general wrath of God,
but it's a passage about the end times.
We are not appointed to God's wrath.
So if we go to the next slide, last one there.
What are we again?
We're post-tribulation.
We're after the great tribulation.
When we see the sun and moon darkened,
that should excite us.
The rest of the world will be freaking out.
We'll be excited.
They'll be going, why are these Christians so happy?
Why are they looking up?
We're trying to hide from Christ.
We're looking up because Christ is coming to get his elect
and we raptured before his wrath.
Okay, we're going to be raptured before the day of the Lord.
Alright, let's pray.