(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

He always loves and cares for his own. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, all of my troubles. He is a kind, compassionate friend. If I not ask him, he will deliver, pick up my troubles within him. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. Gifted and dry, I need a great Savior, one who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, feel my fears and sorrows with shame. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. Oh, how my heart is tempted to sing. I must tell Jesus, and he will help me. Over the world, love in Jesus' name. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. When with the Savior we enter the glory, won't it be wonderful there? And in the troubles and fears of the story, won't it be wonderful there? Won't it be wonderful there? Having no burdens to bear, joyously singing with heart bells all ringing, oh, won't it be wonderful there? Walking and talking with Christ the summer, won't it be wonderful there? Raising, adoring, the matchless eternal, won't it be wonderful there? Won't it be wonderful there? Having no burdens to bear, joyously singing with heart bells all ringing, oh, won't it be wonderful there? Never the tempest will ever be sleeping, oh, won't it be wonderful there? Sure that forever the Lord will be keeping us, won't it be wonderful there? Won't it be wonderful there? Having no burdens to bear, joyously singing with heart bells all ringing, oh, won't it be wonderful there? Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could all find a seat, we'll go ahead and get started. It's that great Christmas season, so we're singing some more Christmas songs. Go ahead and grab a hymnal. We're going to start in song number 424, O Come, All Ye Faithful. Four twenty-four. O Come, All Ye Faithful. Song number 424. Sing it out all together on the first. O Come, All Ye Faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, Lord, the King of Angels. O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Four hundred and twenty-four on the second. Sing, hearts of angels, sing in exultation, O sing, all He bide, O Son of God. Glory to God, O glory in the highest, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, for His happy morning, Jesus to Thee, the glory dear. Word of the Father, now in flesh appear, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Great singing, everybody. Let's go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this church. We thank You for all the people that are gathered here, Lord. We ask, Lord, that You help us sing unto You with love and with reverence. And Lord God, we ask that You fill Brother Ben with Your Holy Spirit, help him to preach an edifying sermon unto us so we can leave better Christians, and we came in for Your honor and glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, next up we have song number 422. Just a couple pages over. Thou didst leave Thy throne. Song 422. Song 422 on the first. Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy King be crowned when Thou camest to earth for me. But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room for Thy holy nativity. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee. And torches ring when the angels sing, proclaiming Thy royal decree. What of holy birth didst Thou come to earth and in great humility? O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee. The foxes found rest and the birds perished in the shade of the forest tree. But that couch was the sun, O thou Son of God, in the deserts of Galilee. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee. Thou camest, O Lord, with the living work that shall set Thy people free. But with mocking storm and with crown of form, they bore Thee to Calvary. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee. When the heavens shall ring and the angels sing at Thy coming to victory, let thy voice call me home, saying, Yet there is room, there is room at my side for Thee. My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, when Thou doth receive all this for me. The Steadfast Baptist Church. If you have not received a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of the ushers would be happy to get one to you. Pastor Shelley is out of town tonight, but Lord willing, he'll be back on Sunday. You'll notice on the front of the bulletin, we're working on our Bible memory chapter. It's Matthew chapter 28. We're on verse four now. Anybody under the age of 18 that can quote this week's verse there can receive a ice cream after the service. On the inside of the bulletin, we have our service times, we have our church-wide soul winning times as well as our church stats. Please be in prayer for our expecting ladies. You see their names there. I'll go over the prayer list in a minute. On the back, we have upcoming events. There's a cleaning volunteer luncheon, and it is on December the 22nd, which is this Sunday. And so basically all current church cleaning volunteers, help clean the church, can join Pastor Shelley at a luncheon on Sunday, and that's following the morning service. There'll be fellowship, there'll be some food as well, and an organization for the schedule. They'll be organizing the schedule, rather, for the cleaning of the church. So if you wanna volunteer, get involved there, you can do that. December the 25th, on Christmas Day, we're having a Christmas cookie bake-off after the service. That'll be lots of fun. I'll be looking forward to eating a lot of cookies on that day, January 1st. Oh, by the way, the church gets to vote. A little bit of democracy on the 25th for your favorite cookie. January 1st, there's a men's preaching night happening, and pizza, fire and brimstone preaching, and pizza. What a combination. Let's go over our prayer list. We're praying for the Naims, for my wife, her grandma's vision, health, and salvation. The Carlson family, their mother, Rebecca's health. Miss Miller, her friend's mom's cancer treatment. Brother Scott, for his parents' health. His father, unfortunately, dealing with prostate cancer. Mother, dealing with chronic nerve pain. Miss Garcia, for her daughter's pregnancy. Brother Tony's health and job need there. Brother Foley, for his fiance's visa process. Brother Le, his job situation. Miss Warner, her brother has a serious knee injury that he's dealing with for the Hernandez family. Miss Emily's grandma recovering from surgery. Mrs. Goodwin, we have an update on their request. It says her friend Sarah's recovering from surgery will require ongoing follow-up visits. For Brother Andrioli, he has upcoming exams and a career opportunity, so we just wanna be in prayer for that. And of course, Brother Wallach, Brother Jason, his brother Jason has emergency surgery. And in fact, from what I saw in the chat group, it looks like it went successfully. So thank you all for praying for him, just being continued prayer for his recovery. Let's pray now for these needs. Father in heaven, we lift up the prayer needs that are in our bulletin tonight and ask that you intervene, Lord, and that you answer these prayers for all the health concerns, career concerns, job searches that are going on, Lord. We ask that you would just enable these prayers to be answered. We know there is no situation too hard for you to deal with, and certainly these requests are no exception, Lord. We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. So that's all I have for announcements. Brother Rich will come up, and we'll move on to our next song. The next song we're gonna sing is Psalm 119, in your white handouts. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119. Sing it out nice and loud. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I have sworn it, I will perform it, that I will do the righteous judgments unto the flaked in, very much quick in me. O Lord unto thy word, the wicked have made us. O Lord unto thy word, the wicked have made us. Therefore, me, can I e'er come from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I said I beseech thee the freewill offerings of my mouthful. Teach me thy judgments, my soul is continuous. The wicked have made us, therefore, me, can I e'er come from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my path. The wicked have I taken as an heritage forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. For they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have in thy mind a heart for her for, thy statutes away, even unto the end, I hate may thoughts might by law do I love. The wicked have made us, therefore, me, can I e'er come from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Great singing everybody. As the offering plates are going around, would you please turn your Bibles to Daniel chapter number 11. Daniel chapter number 11. Daniel chapter number 11. The Bible reads, Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm to strengthen him, and now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall I be. Ha! I am there for you. I am there for you. I am there for you. I am there for you. I am there for you. I am there for you. I am there for you. stand up three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than they all. And by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grisha. And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity nor according to his dominion which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes, and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. And in the end of years they shall join themselves together. For the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of the arm, neither shall he stand, nor his arm, but she shall be given up. And they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times. But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them and shall prevail, and shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold, and he shall continue more years than the king of the north. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land. But his shun shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces. And one shall certainly come and overflow and pass through. Then shall he return and be stirred up even to his fortress. And the king of the south shall be moved with Coler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north. And he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up. And he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south. Also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall come and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities, and the arms of the south shall not withstand against his chosen people. Neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him. Blessed shall he do, and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her. But she shall not stand on his side, neither before him. After this shall he turn his face into the isles, and shall take many. But a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. Men shall stand up in his estate, a razor of taxes, in the glory of the kingdom. But within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle. And in his estate shall be stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overthrown from before him, and shall be broken, yea also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully. For he shall come up and shall become strong with the small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province. And he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers. He shall scatter among them the prey and spoil and riches, yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds even for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with the great army. And the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with the very great and mighty army. But he shall not stand, for they shall forecast devices against him. Yea they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow, and many shall fall down slain. And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief. And they shall speak lies at one table, but it shall not prosper, for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. Then shall he return into his land with great riches, and his heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall do exploits and return to his own land. At the time appointed he shall return and come toward the south, but it shall not be as the former or as the latter. For the ships of Chittim shall come against him, therefore he shall be grieved and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant. So shall he do, he shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries, but the people that do know their gods shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame and by captivity and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be hoping with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge, and to make them white even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed. And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the god of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the god of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honor the god of forces, and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with the strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him. Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas and in the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come up to his end, and none shall help him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for Daniel 11, Lord, in this chapter of the Bible. I pray that you be with Brother Ben as he preaches unto us. Fill him with your Holy Spirit. Help us to have an open heart to receive what he asked for us, and help us to apply that in our lives. Praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I'll open by thanking Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to fill in for him tonight. And we're in Daniel chapter 11. Start with verse number three, where the Bible read, And a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled. For his kingdom shall be plucked up even for others beside those. When you read Daniel 11, what you're reading are snapshots, highlights of historical events that happened. But what's astonishing about this chapter and other prophetic chapters in the book of Daniel is that it was written before these events actually came to pass. And this is further proof of the veracity of scripture and the fact that this truly is the word of God. What we have right here in verses three and four is a prophecy concerning a historical figure who was very well known, Alexander the Great. He was a mighty king and the sheer scale of his conquests made him quote unquote great, not his character. In fact, there are historical sources that say this guy was a faggot. So there you go. But the thing is, the guy was a conqueror. He obviously had a lot of military strength. And so he's known as Alexander the Great. And the thing is, is that his kingdom is broken up. His empire is broken up into four rather smaller kingdoms. And of course, I'm referring to the Grecian Empire, which eventually split up into four smaller kingdoms. And it was Alexander the Great's generals who then swooped in and took control of these four smaller kingdoms. And these are the kingdoms I'm referring to. You had one of his generals, Cassander, he takes control of Macedonia or Greece. Lysimachus takes parts of Asia Minor. Seleucus I takes Syria, he takes Babylon. He's the king of the north that the Bible describes in this chapter. Ptolemy takes Egypt and parts of North Africa and is referred to as the king of the south in this chapter at first. Obviously, the king of the north and the king of the south represent many kings over many generations. But at first, that's who the Bible is referring to. What we're seeing here in Daniel 11 is a certain time period being described, and it is referred to by historians as the Hellenistic period, essentially the infusion of Greek culture and the language, the Greek language as well, into this portion of the globe. Greek actually became the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean parts of the Near East and the language, the culture, political institutions spread like wildfire during this time. And this Hellenistic period encompasses the time period of the death of Alexander the Great all the way to the rise of the Roman Empire. Daniel 11 details wars and conflict and battles that occur during this time in history. And as I said, many kings represented. The Bible talks about the king of the north, the king of the south, but they represent many different kings over hundreds of years, many dynasties that the Bible is alluding to in this chapter. But there are two kingdoms in view primarily, the king of the north, who represents the Seleucid Empire, and the king of the south, who represents the Ptolemaic Empire. And the reason why they're referred to as the king of the north and the king of the south is because those designations come in relation to Israel. So in relation to Israel, Israel is smack dab in the middle of the king of the north, the Seleucid Empire, and the king of the south, the Ptolemaic Empire. At verse 21, and you might have noticed this if you understand Bible prophecy, but at verse 21 in this chapter it starts to sound a lot like end times Bible prophecy, doesn't it? And the reason why this is the case is because of the law of dual fulfillment as it relates to the interpretation of Scripture. There's a dual fulfillment when it comes to Bible prophecy, meaning there's a historical fulfillment, things that happened already in the past in history, and then there's a future end times fulfillment that is yet to come. And everything that happened in this chapter that we read about occurred in history. It is part of that Hellenistic period that I described. However, just because it happened in history doesn't mean it won't happen again, because it will happen again in the end times. These events will mirror the end times. They will mirror the events that occur during Daniel's 70th week, which is the final seven years before the millennium. But these are astonishing predictions that we see here in the book of Daniel written hundreds of years before they come to pass. But regardless of that, what we see in this chapter are insights into what will happen in the future. So therefore, we can look to the past to see the future. We can look to the past to determine and gain more insight, more knowledge, more wisdom into what will happen in the end times. And that's why the title of my sermon is prophetic lessons from Daniel 11. And these lessons can be derived from this chapter. The Bible tells us to watch and to be sober. Jesus said, what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. And that's why sermons like this are important, because if we're commanded to watch, well, then the question is, how can we actually accomplish that if we don't know what we're watching for? What we're watching for. And that's why as Christians, it's about time that we shut off Fox News and we open up the book of Daniel. We open up the book of Revelation. We look at some of these passages dealing with end times Bible prophecy, and then you'll get an accurate look into what will happen in the future. And in this case, we're looking to the past to learn about the future. So tonight, what I hope to do is further unlock this chapter a little bit. It's not a verse by verse Bible study. I'm not doing that. It's technically a topical sermon. This is not an expository sermon, but the idea is that we can learn some valuable lessons about end times Bible prophecy and take them home with us tonight. Some more insights into what will happen before and after the rapture. Now let's look at Daniel chapter 11 in verse 6. The Bible says there in verse 6, and in the end of years, Daniel 11 and verse 6, and in the end of years, they shall join themselves together. Now this is in reference to the king of the north and the king of the south, and they form some kind of alliance here. And it says, for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement, but she shall not retain the power of the arm, neither shall he stand nor his arm, but she shall be given up and they that brought her and he that begat her and he that strengthened her in these times. Now what's going on here is there's basically an attempted marriage alliance that happens between the king of the south and his daughter being given to the king of the north. And the idea is to form an alliance between these two kingdoms through this marriage. And if you look at history, this is how kings often aligned with each other is through marriage. That's what's happening here. And the king of the south, who again represents the Ptolemaic empire, sends his daughter to marry the king of the north, who represents the Seleucid empire. And we know that according to history, the king of the south's daughter, her name is Bernice. What happens is the king of the north divorces his wife to marry Bernice as a part of this alliance. When the king of the south dies, so this is Bernice's father, once he dies, the king of the south dies, the king of the north ditches Bernice and goes back to the marriage he had prior to this agreement. So this was a failed marriage alliance. And what happens is it actually kick starts a back and forth battle between the king of the north and the king of the south that we see throughout this chapter. And it goes on and on about how the north attacks the south and then the south attacks the north and the momentum is exchanged between these two empires. And what happens is that the king of the south, he's eventually replaced by one of the relatives of Bernice. And in verses seven and eight, the king of the south is winning. Simple enough. I'm trying to break this down as best as I can. In verse 10, the king of the north assembles a great army and regains momentum. That leads us to verse 11 where it says, and the king of the south shall be moved with color. This just means anger. And shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north. And he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. So the north's great multitude falls to the king of the south. And again, just keep in mind that what we're reading about are events that span hundreds of years. Many kings, many dynasties are being represented in these passages. Let's look at verse 12. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up. So this is the king of the south. His heart is lifted up and he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. So the king of the south becomes arrogant. He gets puffed up after winning. And the thing is, is because of his pride, he doesn't fully overtake the Seleucid empire, the king of the north and his kingdom. Verse number 13, for the king of the north shall return and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. So the north returns with an even bigger army. And in summation, what are we seeing here? If I just were to summarize this in the simplest words possible, we're seeing battles. I think we can all agree on that. Whether you want to get into the weeds of the history or not, we can all agree that we're seeing battles. We're seeing warfare. We're seeing fighting between the king of the north and the king of the south. Now, although I don't believe there is a specific end times application for the king of the north and the king of the south and the battles that they go through and endure throughout this chapter, there isn't one thing you can pinpoint in the end times to say, okay, that guy is the king of the north, this other guy is the king of the south. I do think we can still prognosticate about who this, or I should say what this represents. We can still think about and we still have an application that we can make that does have something to do with end times Bible prophecy, which is why the first prophetic lesson we can derive from this chapter is that there will be wars and rumors of wars in the end times. Let's go to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. There will be wars and rumors of wars in the end times. And this is something that we need to watch out for. And we see this even today in 2024 America in the sense that there have been rumors of wars, in fact, going on for a long time. I mean, I feel like for years now we've been on the brink of war with Iran and it seems like we're accelerating down that path. World War III, especially if you ask Alex Jones, is always around the corner, right? Every episode of his show that he does, it's like red alert, nuclear attack coming, etc. So Alex, he's prepared for this, I guess. Not really. Matthew chapter 24, let's look at verse number six. Jesus says this is an event to watch out for. Wars, rumors of wars. And some more detail here is what we see in what is referred to the fancy theological term for this passage is the Olivet Discourse. Verse six, and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Verse six, 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. Jesus warns us of wars, rumors of wars, nations fighting against nations, kingdom against kingdom. This will happen in the time that is referred to as the beginning of sorrows, or you could just call it the tribulation if you want. But the beginning of sorrows will contain a period of warfare, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom. And that's what we see in Daniel 11. And that's what we could take from it as it relates to end times Bible prophecy is that there will be warfare just as the King of the North and the King of the South are continually fighting and battling with each other throughout that chapter. In the same way, there's going to be warfare. There will be warfare. World War III, maybe by then it'll be World War IV, nuclear warfare, whatever the case may be, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom during the tribulation. Let's go back to Daniel 11. The second seal in Revelation 6 talks about peace being taken from the earth. And this is a major eschatological milestone, or again, that's just basically just means end times. It's a major milestone leading us to the rapture. In verse number 19, Daniel 11 and verse 19, the Bible continues, then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. So the King of the North, just to recap, he wins some battles here, but eventually he gets his rear end kicked, all right? And he returns and dies. Now verse 21, this is the big one right here. In verse 21, it introduces a character who represents the Antichrist. Let's read verse 21 together. In verse number 21, the Bible reads, and in his estate, referring to probably Seleucus IV, in his estate shall stand up a vile person. Notice it says this person is vile. What does this mean? Exceedingly wicked, diabolical, heinous, a really bad person to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in, pay attention to this word, peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Now in the previous verse, some insignificant tax guy ends up getting replaced by this figure in verse 21, who was a foreshadowing of the Antichrist. And this person appears in history. He's known as Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Antiochus Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire, and he reigns from they say, you know, 175 BC to around 164 BC or something to that effect around that time. And he's a precursor of the man of sin, the beast of revelation. He's a precursor of the Antichrist. This name Antiochus, it was actually common for Seleucid kings to have that name. And this is one of the reasons why the Bible simplifies this passage for us, just refers to these kings as the king of the north, king of the south, because you have so many different kings reigning. They all have similar names. Antiochus was a name used commonly. But Epiphanes, this literally means God manifest, God manifest. So when I say this person's a foreshadowing of the Antichrist, that's true in many different ways. But just on a surface level, you look at the guy's name, and it should tell you everything you need to know. In fact, they even minted coins with the inscription, manifest God on them in the Seleucid empire at this time, because this guy literally believed that he was God manifest. And he was exceedingly wicked. He persecutes Jerusalem. I'll get into that a little bit later on. But what I wanted you to notice in verse 21 is that word peaceably. And the insight that we can extract from that is my second prophetic lesson. The Antichrist will promise peace. The Antichrist will promise peace. So again, I'm going to be focusing more so on end times Bible prophecy in this chapter. We'll take a peek at history, but more so focused on the Antichrist, which is to come. And the Bible says about him, little children, it is the last time as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, Jews, whereby we know that it is the last time. So what does this word Antichrist even mean? It means instead of Christ, in the place of Christ, and essentially it's a counterfeit Christ. It is a counterfeit Christ who is still to come. And here's my question for our brothers who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. Here's my question for them. Clearly we see that the Antichrist is still to come, but according to their doctrine, the rapture happens before the Antichrist comes on the scene. So then in that case, Jesus, the authentic Christ is coming before the counterfeit. If the real thing comes before the counterfeit, who in the world would believe the counterfeit? That does not make sense. And so the Bible tells us that those whose names are not written in the book of the life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world will worship the beast is another name for the Antichrist. But how could that be true if Jesus came before him? The pre-trib rapture simply is untenable for so many reasons. That's one of them. And I'll be mentioning things about the pre-trib throughout the sermon. But Daniel 8 says about Antiochus Epiphanes, the man of sin, he's a foreshadowing, a precursor of the man of sin, a precursor of the coming Antichrist who will reveal himself in the future. And it says about him that by peace, he shall destroy many. By peace. And remember what I said, the second lesson for us to extract from this chapter is that the Antichrist will promise peace, world peace. And that's what everyone's looking for today. They want to co-exist and bring about world peace. Now this makes sense if you think about the tribulation period. And I realize this is all prophecy nerd stuff. I get it. All right. And if you're a new believer and maybe some of this is going over your head, even if you're not and it's still going over your head, I get it. You could take a nap if you want and then join me at the end of the sermon because I'll have something that we can all understand at the end. All right. I'm just kidding about the nap part. Try to stay awake. But anyway, if we look at the tribulation period, what do we see? Well, we see warfare in seal number two, seal number three, we see famine, seal number four, we see death. So if you want to summarize all of this, it's catastrophe. It's catastrophe. And so it would make sense for the Antichrist to come in and present himself as the solution to all these catastrophic events. It's called problem, reaction, solution. What's the problem? Catastrophic events, like I said, warfare, bloodshed, death, et cetera. What's the reaction that the world will elicit? We need a savior. And what will be the solution? A fake counterfeit Christ who presents himself as God in the flesh. And he will promise peace. He will promise to provide a solution to all the events that occur during the beginning of sorrows. Let's look at verse number 21. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, I know we read this already, but I want to read it again, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. We know historically, this is how Antiochus IV gained power is through flattery, through deceit, through alliances and manipulation and peace and teaming up with the right people for political gain so that he can climb the political ladder. And by promising peace to the right people, he made it to the top of the power structure, if you will. This is exactly what the Antichrist will do. He will promise peace, he will promise an end to some of the catastrophic events that the Bible outlines for us in Revelation, all the violence and the warfare that were orchestrated by the devil. They're orchestrated actually by the devil through the Antichrist, and yet he'll present himself as the solution to all that. Now, I personally believe that he'll actually promise to bring an end to the seemingly never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this has been going on for so long now, but he'll present himself as the solution to that by invading Jerusalem and desolating it. That'll be how he ends that warfare, the constant warfare going on there. But the Bible says he obtains the kingdom by flatteries, why? Because he's a politician at first. And you know what? Antiochus IV, at his heart, he was a politician, there's no question about that, and politicians flatter people. All you gotta do is look at the Democratic Party platform. This is what they do, is they flatter minorities, they flatter certain people, promising them money, things of that nature, patting them on the head, and acting in a condescending manner toward them to secure their vote. This is the DNA, the modus operandi of politicians, is to flatter, and the Antichrist certainly will use that tactic. Let's look at verse 24. He shall enter peaceably, even upon the fattest places of the province, and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers. He shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil in riches, yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. So Antiochus IV, he offers free stuff to gain favor, to obtain power, and he forecasts devices, the Bible says, against strongholds. So this is basically referring to plotting and scheming. That's what he's doing by forecasting devices, he's plotting, he's scheming, and I believe he's using magic and satanic influence and just false religion, essentially, to continue his stranglehold on power. And he does this against fortified cities, but the point that I wanted you to pay attention to is it says at the end of the verse, even for a time, even for a time. So what does this tell us? Satanic lesson number three is the success of the devil will be temporary, because he does this scheming, he does this forecasting through satanic magic and his false religion, he does this for a time, temporarily. And in the same way, we know that the devil will succeed in the end times temporarily. He stopped, Revelation chapter 12, let's go there, Revelation chapter 12. Yeah, Antiochus IV schemes and plots with occult magic and things like that for a time, and in the same way, we know that the devil will succeed for a time. Revelation chapter 12 describes this when it says in verse 12, therefore rejoice, Revelation 12, 12, therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath. So the tribulation is not God's wrath, it's the devil's wrath, according to this verse, because he knoweth that he hath what? But a short time. So he has a temporary period of time, which is three and a half years to get the job done to advance his agenda. And in the same way, Antiochus IV, we know historically, and I think the Bible is indicating to us in Daniel 11, 24, that he only had a temporary period of time for his scheming, for his plotting. And so let's go back to Daniel chapter 11, and we'll look at the fourth lesson that we could obtain from this chapter. So when it comes to the final seven days before the millennium, you have a 1,260 day period, which is known as the beginning of sorrows or the tribulation. Then you have 75 days of great tribulation, great tribulation, and then you have after that 1,215 days of God's wrath, which leads to the millennium. But we're raptured at that 75-day mark towards the end of it. At the end of it, we're actually raptured out of here. And the fourth prophetic lesson that I wanted to talk about, again, as it relates to the end times Antichrist, is that the Jews will bring in the Antichrist. The Jews will bring in the Antichrist. And we'll look at verse 30. I believe Daniel 11 provides insight into this, and it says in verse 30, for the ships of Katim, these are Roman soldiers who were stationed in Cyprus, and they were preventing the king of the north from overtaking Egypt. So that's kind of the backstory here. But it says, for the ships of Katim shall come against him, therefore he shall be grieved in return and have indignation against the holy covenant, so shall he do. He shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. So he seems to blame God for his defeat. The king of the north seemingly blames God for this defeat that he suffers here, and he ends up unloading all of his frustrations on Israel. That's what we see happen here. And historically, it's true that Antiochus IV, he attacked Jerusalem. He persecuted the Jews who actually followed the old covenant and adhered to the old covenant. But here's what's interesting about this, is that when Antiochus Epiphanes invades Jerusalem, it's the Jews who have forsaken the holy covenant, as the Bible says, who collaborate with him, and it's the Jews who adhere to the holy covenant, which is the Old Testament, Mosaic law. The Jews who actually adhere to God's law, they're the ones who are persecuted by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Jews who forsaken God's law, they're the ones collaborating with him. This is why the Bible says that he has intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. So he teams up with, he aligns with Jews who forsaken the Mosaic law. So these are more progressive Jews, you could argue, liberal Jews, you could argue. But they want to bring this guy in, and they want to infuse Jerusalem with Greek culture, the eradication of the Old Testament law, God's law, bringing in the false religion of the Grecians. And perhaps what we'll see in the end times, I think, is the same thing, is that you'll have the more conservative type Jews, the Orthodox and the Hasidic Jews, they actually, in my mind, will get taken out by the Antichrist, and it'll be the liberal Jews, so-called, or the Jews who are more aligned with political Zionism, the more progressive Jews who actually bring in the Antichrist, align with him, and eventually worship him as God. Turn if you would to John chapter five, John chapter five. Now we know that the synagogue of Satan are fake, fraud Jews. They say they are Jews, but they're not. And the Lord Jesus Christ obviously preached against them over and over again, and he makes the claim in John chapter five that is relevant to end times Bible prophecy. He says in verse 42, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. So he's just basically accusing them of not even being saved. And then in verse 43, I am come in my father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. So what he's saying here is that if somebody comes by his own power, if somebody usurps authority and ends up leading, you will follow him, right? And so I think he's alluding to the beast. He's alluding to the future man of sin. The Bible refers to him as the son of perdition, and that when he claims to be Christ, even though he really isn't, the Jews will receive him. Again, I personally believe this is just a hypothesis, but I think it'll be the more progressive Jews, the political Zionists who welcome him with open arms, and they are going to be the ones who roll out the red carpet for him and worship him, and it'll be the orthodox Hasidics who get pummeled by the Antichrist armies in my mind. But it's clear that there will be Jews who accept the Antichrist, and you can actually make this, you can draw this conclusion based on what they say themselves. You can draw this conclusion based on what they claim, what comes out of their mouth. Here's a Ben Shapiro interview in 2019 with William Lane Craig. He said, the Messiah in Judaism has always been a political figure who's destined to do certain things, restoring the kingdom of Israel, which to me sounds like the greater Israel project, where they want to expand their borders, maintaining control of that kingdom, bringing more Jews back to Israel. All these things are considered political things that the Messiah does. Interesting. So he views him as a political figure. Well, we know that the foreshadowing of the Antichrist, Antiochus IV, certainly was a political figure. We know he uses flattery to obtain power. The Antichrist will start out as a political figure, so that fits perfectly. But reconstructing Judaism, this website said this about the Messiah. They cite the Mishneh Torah written by a Jewish philosopher who quote, envisions a world governed by a king Messiah who is wise, righteous, just, and politically adept. There will be no servitude to foreign powers and there will be peace. That's what he says right here, that basically this Messiah they're looking for will bring peace. And that's what the Antichrist will claim to bring, peace. That's what he will promise. He will promise peace. And it's funny to me because people will often accuse us of being contentious and, oh, you guys, you cause so much division. You fight over the King James Bible. You fight over salvation by grace through faith and different doctrines and the Trinity and the nature of God and all these different things. You're so contentious, you're fighting, you're battling all the time, waging spiritual warfare. Why don't you just hold hands with everybody and sing Kumbaya and coexist and stop fighting all the time? Well, if you're looking for peace and you're looking for someone to promise that, you'll get it in the end times. But that's not what Jesus promised. He actually promised the opposite, division. Now, yes, we should have unity in the local church and amongst the brethren. I get that. But in general, if you're going to be a Christian, the natural byproduct of that is division, isn't it? It'll be the Antichrist who promises peace as a means to come in and invade and obtain power. I'm not done with the Jews just yet. Here's another quote, Judaism 101. This is an online encyclopedia. It says about the Messiah, he will establish a government in Israel that will be the center of all world government, both for Jews and Gentiles. Isn't that interesting? So they're basically saying there's going to be a political figure who establishes a political structure in Jerusalem that is the center of all world power. That again fits perfectly with what the Bible says the Antichrist will do. It's amazing to me. And you know, I do believe that when all this stuff starts to happen, you're going to see false prophets coming out of the woodwork saying, oh, look, hey, all Israel shall be saved. It's happening right now. The Antichrist is actually Jesus and all the Jews have been regathered into Jerusalem. They're worshiping him. Look, all Israel is being saved right before our very eyes. That's what they'll be saying. And of course, they'll be dead wrong. You know, I don't know what the pre-trippers will be doing. They'll probably be crying themselves to sleep every night knowing that they kicked out new IFB church members for no apparent reason because their doctrine turned out to be wrong. And it may be only then that they realized that, but that's okay. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'll be loving and forgiving to them anyway, even though they were kind of mean to us about this. So the Jews will collaborate with the Antichrist. Go back to Daniel chapter 11. Here's another prophetic lesson we can learn from this chapter. Prophetic lesson number five, an idolatrous object will be set up. An idolatrous object will be set up. And Revelation 13 talks about how the beast who was the Antichrist, one of his heads gets wounded to death. And basically, the beast, the Antichrist, the man of sin, he gets killed in some kind of battle or maybe he gets assassinated in some way. But what will happen to him is he dies and then he gets resurrected by the power of the devil. And at that point, he's actually possessed by Satan, which is why he's referred to as the son of perdition. The same title given to Judas, who we know was also possessed by Satan. And this will serve to mock the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It'll be a counterfeit gospel. And many people will worship the Antichrist as a result of this. But my whole point is that he starts out as a political figure. He gets assassinated in some way. And then after, quote unquote, rising from the dead through the power of the devil, he actually reveals himself as a religious figure claiming to be God and demanding global worship. So some people, they're looking for attributes in politicians today to try to figure out who the Antichrist is. And there's different guesses out there. I'm not going to get into that. I don't think it's worth trying to figure it out. I even saw somebody seriously say this. They thought maybe Donald Trump is the Antichrist. And in my mind, he's way too goofy. I couldn't take him seriously. He tweets all day or posts things on X that are kind of funny. So it's like, I wouldn't even take the guy seriously if that was him. So I don't think it's Trump. And that's kind of a stupid prediction. But Daniel 11, look at verse 31, an arm shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and this is verse 31 and shall take away the daily sacrifice and they shall place, notice, place the abomination that make it desolate. Historically, we know this happened when Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Jerusalem. He sets up a statue of Zeus and he sacrifices a pig on the altar. And this happened in probably like 167 or 168 BC around then. And it was an abomination of desolation that happened at that time. But it was a foreshadowing of what the man of sin will do in the end times. And turn, if you would, to Revelation chapter 13, Revelation chapter 13, where he will set up an idolatrous image in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and demand that the entire world worship it. The Bible says, who opposeth and exalted themself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So he's going to sit in the temple of God, he's going to have this image set up, proclaim himself to be God, and people will have to worship him in order to buy or sell, in order to get the mark of the beast. The Bible says in verse 15, Revelation 13, 15, and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. So this image speaks, it's got some weird things going on with it. But the idea is that people will be forced to either worship it or be killed. They have to worship it or they'll actually be decapitated during this time. And it'll be impossible for Christians to do this. Now the Bible is clear, Revelation 14, 11 makes it clear that if anyone takes the mark of the beast, in order to take it, you have to bow down to the image, the abomination of desolation. And those who bow down to this satanic image will receive the mark of the beast, which enables them to buy or sell. Now this mark could be a tattoo, it could be an RFID chip, there's speculation on that. I'm not going to get into that. But the idea is worship the image, get the mark so you can buy or sell. Those who don't worship it are killed. So when we talk about great tribulation that Christians will have to go through, we're talking about a time in which the saved, who are incapable of worshiping the image, the abomination of desolation, they're not even capable of doing that because they have the Holy Spirit. They can't get the mark. The saved will be mowed down. They will be persecuted. Christian persecution will reach its climax at this point in the timeline for 75 days prior to the rapture. It'll be so bad the Bible says that except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. That's what Jesus Christ promised. But it just goes to show you how bad, how intense the persecution will get at this point in the end times timeline that if it wasn't for the rapture, the saved would be completely wiped out. Because of course they won't be worshiping the image, getting the mark, et cetera. Let's go back to Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 11. Prophetic lesson number six is this. We know that an image will be set up in Jerusalem, in the temple, a rebuilt temple. So all these Christian Zionists who are donating money to get the temple rebuilt at the behest of the Jews are actually helping to bring in the anti-Christ. That's what they're doing. And this man of sin, the beast, he will come into the temple. He will declare himself to be God, set up this image. People will have to bow down to it to take the mark of the beast. And in Daniel chapter 11, we know this, that by this point of the timeline, prophetic lesson six is a world government, a banking system, a religion will be established. A global government, global banking system, a global religion will be established. And this will last for the second half of Daniel's 70th week for three and a half years. Look at verse 37, and I believe this chapter alludes to these three components of the anti-Christ's coming kingdom. It says in verse 37, neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself above all. So the religion that he adheres to is himself being magnified above all, obviously in history, Antiochus the fourth believed he was God manifest inscribed on coins, et cetera. And in the end times, the end times anti-Christ will claim to be God. People will have to worship him as God to be able to buy or sell. It also tells us that he honors the God of forces. This is an impersonal God. This is some sort of just satanic garbage, sounds like Star Wars, but the idea is it's an impersonal fake God. You have to worship the anti-Christ in the end times to be able to buy yourself. The saved won't even be capable of doing this. We see a world government as well. Look at verse 42, verse 42, it says Daniel 11 verse 42, he shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. So he stretched forth his hand, he stretched, stretches forth his hand rather on the countries. I think alluding to the coming corporate world government, the 10 King coalition led by the anti-Christ that eventually rules the entire planet, rules the entire world. And this in and of itself is a counterfeit of the millennium. It's a counterfeit of when Jesus rules the world and actually brings in peace. There's a banking system as well in verse 43, I believe that's being alluded to. It says, but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. He has power over the treasuries, over gold, over silver. Of course, if the end times anti-Christ will establish a mark of the beast system, which enables people to buy or sell as part of a cashless society, then it would make sense for him to have full control over a global banking system. And I think that's foreshadowed here in Daniel chapter 11. And let's look at verse 33, go backwards to verse 33. The seventh prophetic lesson we could learn, and I already talked a little about this, is that we will endure tribulation, but receive a little help. So when all of this is established, when all of this comes to pass, it's all really just a mechanism to eliminate Christianity. Just as sure as Antiochus IV wanted to eliminate the Jews religion, and he collaborated with those who forsook the Old Testament to do that, I believe the anti-Christ, he will want to eliminate Christianity and he'll team up with anti-Christ Jews, loving Jews, and fake Christians to do just that, to eliminate Christianity, to persecute God's people. But there's a very powerful verse in this chapter that if this all sounds really scary to you, this should give you some courage. Verse 32, it says, and such as do wickedly against the covenant, again, this is talking about the Old Testament, and then such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Hey, there were a bunch of fake Jews that helped Antiochus IV Epiphanes to persecute the Jews who were actually following God's law in the second century BC. And in the end times, there are going to be a bunch of fake Christians who enabled the anti-Christ to persecute real Christians. And you know what? There's going to be a bunch of fake Jews that helped the anti-Christ to persecute and enable him and align with him in his persecution of the spiritual Jews of which we're all members. We're all spiritual Jews. So that's the parallel there. And it says in verse 33, and they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, notice, by captivity and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be hoping with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. Verse 35, and some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed. So the Bible is talking about here those who are of understanding. And historically, it was those who actually follow the Old Testament who were pummeled by Antiochus IV, and it'll be those who actually believe the gospel of Jesus Christ who are targeted by the anti-Christ in the end times. That's what's going to happen. And it says that these people who have understanding, they shall fall, but they shall be hoping with a little help, meaning what? They will be sustained in some way, at least temporarily. And I think the same thing applies to believers during the Great Tribulation. If you're doing the work of God, if you're making yourself useful, yes, there will be many martyrs, I get that. But there will be some who are helped temporarily and sustained temporarily leading up to the ultimate help, which is the rapture. And so this should give us some hope that it's not necessarily true that you're going to get decapitated in the end times. You may make it to the very end, to the rapture, and that's what I'm striving for myself. But the Bible talks about God's people being sustained in some way, receiving a little help. This is what Matthew 25 is talking about, the sheep-goat judgment, when Jesus Christ talks about how when He was hungry, He was fed. He talks about the thirsty, the imprisoned, and that He was all of those things, and it was the brethren helping each other. Well, I think that's a reference to what will happen in the tribulation. We'll all be helping each other. There's going to be a black market of some sort where we'll be passing around food and necessities and clothing, finding a way to help our brothers and sisters break out of prison, et cetera, and some of us are going to run away and hide. You know, it's funny, I talked with Brother Marcel about this, and I told him, you know, it'd be funny, because I've preached about end times a lot, and I've done these rah-rah messages about, you know, we've got to fight against the New World Order, the Antichrist, and remain steadfast in the midst of this persecution, and he said, it'd be really funny and embarrassing if I was the first one to run away after preaching all of that and talking about it on YouTube and doing live streams and things like that. Who knows, maybe that will be the case, and then you could laugh at me as a result, but hopefully not. You know, I'm going to strive to stick with it, and, you know, the Bible says, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that they may be tried. You shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. And we should purpose in our hearts, all kidding aside, we really should purpose in our hearts as difficult as it may seem right now to be faithful unto death, to be faithful even unto death, to receive a crown of life. And what a legacy to leave behind to say that this person, this man, this woman, this Christian was willing to stick it out in the face of intense persecution, the likes of which this world has never seen before, and was willing to die for the cause of Christ. That would be amazing. Final point is this, the eighth prophetic lesson and the final point that I'm going to make is that the Antichrist will come to his end. So I talked about him ruling, I talked about him ascending to the top of a new world order power structure, but what do we know? He will come to his end, and that's exactly what the Bible says in verse 45. Daniel 11 and verse 45, let's look at it together. It says, and he shall plant the tabernacles of this palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, referring to Jerusalem, yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him. Antiochus IV plants a military presence in Jerusalem, but he comes to his end. He eventually dies. His downfall is predicted right here in Daniel 11 and verse 45. Last place I'll have you turn, let's look at Luke 21 and then we'll be done. Well, the end times Antichrist also will come to his end and Daniel 8 provides more information on this, what it says, but he shall be broken without hand. And I think what this is talking about is the fact that he will be destroyed courtesy of the direct intervention of God. The Antichrist will be destroyed without hand. The Antichrist will be destroyed at the direct intervention of God, God's wrath on him. He will be taken out. The son of perdition will be consumed with the spirit of the Lord's mouth. After three and a half years of God pouring out his wrath on this world, Luke 21, notice verse 28, Luke 21, notice verse 28. It says, and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. Even though there will be intense persecution, we're going to go through the tribulation. Don't let the pre-tribbers fool you on this. If we live to see all this stuff come to pass, we'll face it head on. The Bible literally says immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the star shall fall from heaven. And then shall the tribes of the earth mourn for they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. After the tribulation, that phrase exists in the Bible for a reason because the rapture happens after the tribulation of those days. And at that point, if we make it to the end, we'll be able to look up and our redemption has drawn nigh. On that same day, the day of the Lord, God pours out his wrath on this world and releases all of his pent up anger and frustration at the wickedness of this world. And it all culminates with the battle of Armageddon in Revelation chapter 19 when the Antichrist is taken out and destroyed. And Jesus wins in the end. So if you didn't understand anything I said over the last hour, I hope you'll at least understand this. Jesus wins in the end. Jesus wins in the end. Even as we're hated of all men, of all nations, for Christ's sake. In the end, Luke 21 is telling us, hey, if we make it to this point in history, in the future, we'll look up and we'll see that our redemption has drawn nigh. And this is something you could take home with you tonight. Hey, we're on the winning side. We are on the winning side, not just in the future. We're on the winning side, not just in the future, not just when the Antichrist has taken out, not just when we're raptured, not just when we come back down and the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Not just then, but we're on the winning side right now and we as Christians ought to act like it. Act like you're on the winning side because we are. The Bible is telling us that we are, not just in the future, but today. So yeah, things are getting bad politically, culturally. I get that, but don't be too pessimistic. Don't let it get you down because at the end of the day, we're on the winning side. The same God who will deliver us from the great tribulation that's coming in the future, from the Antichrist who will reveal himself in the future is the same God who can deliver you from trials and tribulations today. He's the same God who can deliver you from persecutions today. The same God who can deliver you, period, right now, today. So let's act like it and not get down and act like we have no hope like the rest of this world. But the Bible says in this world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer because the Lord Jesus Christ has overcome this world. And if you've believed on Christ, you've overcome the world as well. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, the Bible says. And so I have to ask this question. It's asked in Scripture. We're winding down. We already read our last verse. If God be for us, who can be against us? And that's a pertinent question. Hey, if God be for us, who can be against us? And it's a rhetorical question because the answer is so obvious. There isn't a new world order, an Antichrist, leftists, reprobates, anybody who can hold a candle to God. And so the answer, even though it's rhetorical, I'll give it to you anyway. Absolutely nobody, nobody can be against us because even if we're a minority, a minority with God is a majority, folks. That's what you have to understand. And so what did we learn? We learned prophetic lesson number one, there will be wars and rumors of wars in the end times. Number two, the Antichrist will promise peace. Number three, the success of the devil will be temporary. Number four, the Jews will bring in the Antichrist. Five, an idolatrous object will be set up. Six, a world government banking system, religion will be established. Seven, will endure tribulation but receive a little help. And eight, the Antichrist will come to his end. We're on the winning side. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you so much, Lord, for this chapter and I pray that even if there are some who maybe aren't into the finer points of Bible prophecy or anything like that, that at least they were inspired today to live every day knowing that, hey, we are on the right side, we are on the winning side and Lord, just as sure as you will deliver us in the future, in the great tribulation, you can deliver us now from the trials we face today. We love you and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. All right, for our last song, we're going to do song number 432, Angels from the Realms of Glory, 432. Song 432. Sing it out on the first. Angels from the realms of glory, Weep your flight o'er all the earth. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ the newborn King. Sing the great desire of nations, We have seen the great desire of nations, We have seen the great desire of nations, We have seen the great desire of nations, We have seen the great desire of nations, We have seen the great desire of nations,