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

Matthew, chapter 24, first book in the New Testament, Matthew, chapter 24, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Following silently, we'll go to Josh Hall as he reads Matthew 24, beginning in verse number 1. Matthew 24, the Bible reads, And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him, for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 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, and diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. Many therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before, wherefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 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. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 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. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Brother Shelley, would you pray for us? Thank you Father, for all the souls out one today, who have been in the church, pray that you would give us a half day, and pray with mine, to invite you to speak your word, and that you would give us a half day heart to speak your word, and we all be glorified by your speaking in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we have a dresses from the rapture, and I want to give you three illustrations tonight in the Bible that show us the timing of the rapture, but before I get into those three illustrations, I'm gonna show you what the Bible clearly teaches here in Matthew chapter 24. You see we should never base our doctrine on pictures or symbols or figures in the Bible, parables, stories, typology. Those are great things to support what we believe or to illuminate what we believe or to further confirm what we believe, but we should always base what we believe on clear statements in the Bible. False doctrine is always just based on a symbol or a story or a parable. Somebody will take a parable and twist it to make it say whatever they want. We need to base everything that we believe on the clear statements of the Bible. Well, in Matthew 24, Jesus Christ makes some very clear statements about his second coming and he makes some clear statements that tell us when the rapture is going to take place as far as the timing. Now first of all, this chapter is very clear that no man knoweth the day or the hour of the rapture. Jesus went so far in Mark 13, the parallel passage to Matthew 24, as to say that he himself didn't even know the timing. He said, not even the son knows, but my father only. Now if Jesus himself said, I don't know, wouldn't it be kind of ridiculous for you to think that you figured out that which Jesus Christ couldn't even figure out while he's humanly on this earth? That makes absolutely no sense. And yet people today are constantly date setting and, oh, there's some thing happening October 23, 2017, but it was already October, whatever, 2016 and October, whatever, 2015, and it's just all of these fake dates that keep being thrown out there and all the failed predictions and people just keep following these false teachers even after they make failed predictions about the second coming of Christ. For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses have six times predicted the second coming of Christ and it didn't happen. And yet millions of people continue to follow them. Harold Camping made all kinds of false predictions. I believe he's dead now, but many people continued to follow that ministry even after the failed predictions kept on coming. No man know at the day or the hour and signs in the stars and that's not going to tell, it's not going to be that simple or to simply say, well, it's going to be exactly 2000 years after Christ or it's going to be exactly 6000 years after the creation of the earth or whatever. If it were that simple, Jesus would have known the day and so forth and he could have told you. We don't know when it's going to be. This could happen 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 100 years, we don't know when it's going to happen. People in the 1970s and 80s, they thought it was about to happen. We don't know. So when we talk about the timing of the rapture, we're not talking about setting a date or a month or a year and some people have even accused me of doing that. They said, hey, Steven Anderson set a date for the rapture and everybody always asks him, well, what was the date then? And that's the one question they can never answer because I never did set a date because setting a date is foolish and I never have and I never will. But when we talk about the timing of the rapture, we're talking about the timing of the rapture in relation to other end times events, in relation to the tribulation itself, in relation to the abomination of desolation and so forth. When will the rapture take place in the end times? Now there's a false teaching out there, the pre-tribulation rapture, and that false teaching says that Jesus Christ can come at any moment, that he could even come tonight. That's a false doctrine because the Bible is really clear that there are many things that need to come before Jesus Christ returns. The Antichrist must be revealed and so on and so forth. But let's look at Matthew 24 together and let's learn something about the timing of the rapture. The Bible says in Matthew 24 verse 15, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth let him understand, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house, neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days, but pray that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be, and except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Jump down to 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 heaven shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, 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. So we can see a pretty clear timeline in Matthew 24 of what happens in what order. First of all, the Bible mentions in verse 15 the abomination of desolation. So that's a reference point. We're going to come back to that. The abomination of desolation, and then it says that there's going to be great tribulation. So the abomination of desolation kicks off some serious tribulation, great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. But that great tribulation is going to be shortened. The Bible says, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. And then it says immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun and moon are darkened. Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, and the angels gather together his elect from the four winds. They gather them all together. They're caught up in the clouds to meet him and so forth. So we see a clear timeline that there's the abomination of desolation, then there's great tribulation that's shortened. Then we have the sun and moon darkened, and then Christ appears in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, that's clearly the rapture, trumpet sounds, Christ in the clouds, the elect are gathered, everything that we see in the famous rapture passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Now, what is the tribulation? Well, if we were to read the whole chapter, which we just did before the sermon started, but I'm not going to reread the whole thing for sake of time, Jesus talks about a lot of events that will lead up to the abomination of desolation. First of all, he talked about a lot of false prophets and false Christs, people claiming to be Christ, false teachers, false prophets deceiving many. Then he talked about wars and rumors of wars. He talked about famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Now these type of things happen already in this world. I mean, even today we could point to false teachers and we could point to people that are claiming to be Jesus Christ, we could point to earthquakes, famines, wars, and rumors of wars. So those are not supernatural occurrences. Those are natural type occurrences that are being brought on by man himself. And then what we see is that the abomination of desolation is a sign that we're to look for. When we see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, that signals the start of great tribulation such as was not from the beginning of this world to this time nor ever shall be. And then the sun and moon are darkened and then the rapture. Now let's go back to Daniel because Daniel chapter 9 is where we'll start because the Bible said when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. So let's go back to Daniel the prophet and see that. Now while you're turning there I'm going to mention that in the book of Revelation the same events are covered that Matthew 24 covers. And in the book of Revelation this takes the form of the seven seals that are being opened. And the lamb receives the book with the seven seals and when the lamb opens the first seal then it talks about a man riding a white horse and a crown is given unto him. He has a bow in his hand and he goes forth conquering and to conquer. When the second seal is opened there goes out another horse that's red and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given on him a great sword. The third horseman is riding a black horse and it talks about a measure of wheat being sold for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny. That's not today's penny. In the Bible the penny is a unit of money that was the equivalent to what a worker would earn in one day. So a full day's wages just for a measure of wheat or three measures of barley. So that's a very expensive food price which signifies famine or lack of food. Then the fourth horseman of course is on the pale horse. Death and hell followed with him and it says that he's to kill the fourth part of the earth with sword and with pestilence, famine, hunger, death. So what we see with those first four seals is the same thing Jesus talked about. We see the antichrist on the white horse. We see warfare taking peace from the earth, basically a world war. Then we see famine that's worldwide and then we see all kinds of sword, hunger, death, just a lot of tribulation, a lot of trouble, a lot of bad things happening on the earth. Then when the fifth seal is opened in revelation, he saw the souls of them that were slain for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God. So that's martyrs being killed for the cause of Christ. Jesus talks about that in Matthew 24 when he says, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And he talks about Christians being killed for the cause of Christ. And then the sixth seal is when the sun and moon are darkened. And so we see that it parallels perfectly with Matthew 24. And if you really want to dig into this study, just put Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 side by side with revelation chapter six and you'll see that they just match up perfectly. And it's really simple to understand that way. Okay, so where do we find the abomination of desolation happening in Daniel? Look at Daniel chapter 9 verse 27. The Bible says, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the ablation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Now, when you're reading the book of Daniel, it's a tough book to understand. I mean, it uses very cryptic language. That's why in Daniel chapter 12, after Daniel receives all these prophecies, he flat out says, I heard it and I understood it not. And Daniel asked the angel to clarify these things to him because he didn't understand them. But then the angel says, well, Daniel, just seal up these things because they're not going to happen for a really long time. But when we get to the New Testament, these things are explained in a lot more detail. See, in Daniel, it's cryptic, it's hard to understand, but the New Testament sheds a lot more light on this and we can understand what this is referring to. But the thing I want to point out to you in Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 is the timing of the abomination of desolation. When does the abomination of desolation happen? Well, the Bible says in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the ablation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate. Now what does that mean in the midst of the week? Well, in the Bible and in this passage in particular, the week here is not referring to seven days. It's referring to seven years. Now, how do we know this? Well, when we study the book of Revelation over and over again, you're going to find certain numbers coming up over and over again when you read the book of Revelation. These are the numbers you're going to see over and over again, three and a half years. You'll see that, you'll see 42 months over and over again. You'll see 1260 days, which is 42 30-day months. And you'll see 1290 days, which is 43 months of 30 days. So you'll see these numbers coming up over and over again, a time and times and half a time, three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days. So you'll see these three and a half year periods brought up repeatedly in Revelation. Well, that makes sense if we have a week of seven years, a seven year period, and then we were to put an event right in the middle of that, known as the abomination of desolation, then that would leave a first half of the week that's three and a half years long and a second half of the week that's three and a half years long. Does everybody understand so far? I'm trying to break this down and simplify it so that even a theologian could understand what I'm saying tonight. So there's a seven year period, or what's known as the week, and this week is punctuated in the middle by an event known as the abomination of desolation. Three and a half years before it, three and a half years after it. This is the period that the events of Revelation leading up to the millennium, they cover this seven year period. Okay. Now often people will refer to this seven year period as the tribulation, but the problem with that is that the whole thing is not called the tribulation because the Bible makes it really clear that God's wrath is not poured out until after the tribulation sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation. That's at the sixth seal. Well, the trumpets and vials are still coming. So the part that has the trumpets and vials is not called the tribulation. That would be the wrath of God. So therefore calling the whole seven years tribulation is false because only that which leads up to the sun and moon being darkened is called the tribulation. So the Bible makes it clear that the abomination of desolation takes place in the midst of the week. Okay. Look over at Daniel chapter 11 verse 31. We're going to look at the three mentions in Daniel of this thing called the abomination of desolation, and this is all introduction. And then I'm going to get into the three pictures of the timing of the rapture that I'm going to show you tonight. But first I have to bring you up to speed in the introduction. Daniel chapter 11 verse 31 says, an arm 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 make a desolate and 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 and they that understand among the people shall instruct many, watch this, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days. So when the abomination of desolation is set up, the Bible says that those who understand among the people are going to instruct many. They're going to preach the word of God to many people, but they're going to be persecuted. They're going to fall by the sword, by the flame, by captivity, by spoil many days. Go over to Daniel chapter 12. Let's look at the last mention here of the abomination of desolation. Now if we get into the New Testament, we understand more clearly that the abomination of desolation is referring to a period when the Antichrist or the man of sin or the son of perdition will sit upon the Holy of Holies in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and proclaim himself to be God. He will receive a deadly wound. His deadly wound will be healed and he will be proclaimed to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. He'll be proclaimed to be the Messiah. He'll be proclaimed to be God in the flesh and above all gods that are called God or that are worshiped and he will have a great image created that is the abomination of desolation, that image unto the beast that will be caused to be able to speak and have life and that whoever does not worship that image will be killed and everyone will have to receive a mark in their right hand or their forehead of the 600, threescore and six in order to buy or sell. If they do not worship the beast, if they don't receive this mark, they're going to be persecuted, they're going to be killed, et cetera. I don't have time to go into all that, but those of you that have studied Bible prophecy, read the book of Revelation, you know what I'm talking about. Look at Daniel chapter 12 verse 8, and I heard, but I understood not then said, I, oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that make a desolate set up, there shall be a thousand 290 days. Now stop right there. So far we've said there's a week and we've said that that week consists of seven years, not seven days, and that it's in the middle of the week that the abomination of desolation set up in the midst of the week, right? Well, let's test our theory. The verse that we just read said that from the abomination of desolation as a starting point, there shall be 1290 days. That makes sense because 1290 days is 43 months. Now why 43 months? Why not 42 just to help you with math, 42 months is three and a half years, right? Because three years would be 36 months, plus six more months would be 42 months, okay? So why 43? Well, here's why. Because in the Bible, the months all have exactly 30 days. Well, the problem with a 30-day month is that if you have 12 30-day months, that's only 360 days. And how many days are in a year? 365 and a quarter. So if there are 365 and a quarter days in the year, and you only have 360 days in your year, that's not going to work. You know why? Because over time, you're going to drift by five days. Pretty soon you're going to be having Christmas in July. It's going to be snowing in July, and you're going to wonder where you went wrong with your calendar. You've got to have 365 days. So the way the biblical calendar works is that they would have 30-day months, but every six years, they would add an extra month that was called Adar 2. You have Adar and then Adar part 2. It would be like us having December number 2. Every six years, they have to add an extra month, and then six times five, that'll take care of being off by five days every year. That's how they'd fix it. So in a seven-year period, we're talking about in the end times, seven years, you're going to need one of those leap months. You're going to need one of those extra months, right? So therefore, 42 and 42, it's not enough. So the first half of Daniel's 70th week is 42 months or 1260 days. But from the abomination of desolation to the end, there are 1290 days. So the two halves are not exactly equal, 1260 days, abomination of desolation, then 1290 days. Everybody following here? You're getting a great math lesson too. You got more than you bargained for. So that right there in Daniel 1211 shows us that this is a week of years because 1290 days is equivalent to the second half of that seven-year period. But then in verse number 12, it says, blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1,305 and 30 days. Now, what are the 1,305 and 30 days? He doesn't really tell us what those are in that verse. He just says, it's a blessing to wait and to come to the 1,305 and 30 days. So look at the next verse. It says, but go thou thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest. Thou is singular. He's talking to Daniel, thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. Now when he tells Daniel, you're going to rest. He tells him this is not going to be for a really long time, Daniel. In fact, it's not going to be for thousands of years, but when he tells Daniel that he's going to rest, you know what he's referring to death, he's going to physically die and his body will sleep or rest in the dust of the earth. He says, you're going to rest, Daniel. Rest in peace. Right? R.I.P. But he says, you will stand in your lot at the end of the days. Now he doesn't say end of days. He said end of the days. So the question is, which days? The 1,305 and 30 days that we just mentioned. So he says, you will rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days, at the end of the 1,335 days. And the 1,335 days is really what I want to talk to you about tonight. Let's start by looking up the word waiteth in the Bible, okay? Because he said, Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1,305 and 30 days. What does he mean by waiting? Well, let's go in the New Testament to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1. And while you're turning to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, I'm going to read for you from 1 Corinthians 1, verse 7, where the Bible reads, So that ye come behind in no gift, watch this, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 10, And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Flip over to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3. While you're turning to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, I'll read for you from James 5, 7, where the Bible reads, Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receiveth the early and latter aid. Be ye also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 2 Thessalonians 3, 5, And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. And then if you would go to Romans 8, Romans 8, while you're turning there, I'll read Luke 12. The Bible says, Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. So verse after verse after verse in the New Testament is repeating the same thing over and over again, waiting for his Son, waiting for the coming of the Lord, waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ, waiting for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Romans 8, 23, And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. You see, when you believed on Jesus Christ, your soul was redeemed, your soul was saved. But your body wasn't saved, nothing changed about your body. You didn't get saved and get a brand new body at that moment. You have to wait for the redemption of your body. Your body is going to be changed in a moment of twinkling of an eye at the return of Christ, at the rapture. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, and we will be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye. We're waiting for Christ's coming. We're waiting for the redemption of our body. Over and over again, the Bible is clear on that. I just showed you six clear examples, seven clear examples of that in the New Testament. So that makes sense that if we're waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that blesses he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred five and thirty days. And then Daniel's told that when that time comes, he's no longer going to be resting in the earth, but he's going to stand in his lot at the end of the days. So at the end of that thirteen hundred thirty five days, he is going to stand before the Lord, having been resurrected along with everybody else. So that makes sense that that thirteen hundred thirty five days is referring to when Christ would come in the clouds and we would be caught up together and the dead in Christ like Daniel would rise and we would rise to be meet them, to meet them and be with them. So let's say that the rapture then happens thirteen hundred and thirty five days into the week. A lot of people mistakenly start the thirteen hundred thirty five days at the abomination of desolation, but it doesn't really say that. It says the twelve hundred ninety days starts there, but it doesn't say when the thirteen hundred thirty five days starts. Let's start at the beginning of the week. Let's start at the beginning of Daniel seventy week. And that would put us seventy five days beyond the abomination of desolation. And look, I know I'm going deep tonight, but it's time to grow up and get some strong meat of the word and learn some Bible tonight. You know, we can't just always have a shallow rah rah pep rally of a sermon. Sometimes we need to dig in and study the Bible. Hey, blessed is he that readeth the book of Revelation and that understands the prophecies of this book. The time is at hand. We need to know these things. And so we need to dig in deep tonight and get some smarts and learn something about the Bible and not just say, oh, just just make me feel good, encourage me through the week. I'm trying to encourage you through a rougher time that might come in your lifetime, known as the tribulation that you better be ready for. And you want to know what's happening and understand the times and the things that are happening. So what we see then is that we've got a seven year period, right? When do things get really bad at the abomination of desolation? That's when it becomes great tribulation. That's when a lot of people are killed for the cause of Christ. But the Bible said those days shall be shortened. Well, I submit to you that they're going to be shortened to a length of seventy five days. Why? Because if we're twelve hundred and sixty days in, when the abomination of desolation takes place, three and a half years in to tribulation or Daniel's 70th week, then abomination of desolation, seventy five days of great tribulation. And then once we make it to the thirteen hundred and thirty five days, then we're saved physically pulled out of this place. So therefore, the greatest part of the tribulation, the worst period will only last for seventy five days, which makes sense because he said, look, the days are shortened. If they were to run their full course, if they were to run their full three and a half years, no flesh should be saved. All the Christians would be would be killed, but many will be alive and remain in the coming of the Lord. So therefore, the rapture takes place after the tribulation. But before God pours out his wrath, and the timing of it is just shortly after the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week. Now some people say, oh, that's a mid trip rap. No, no, no. Because it's after the tribulation. It's before God's wrath. It's mid 70th week. But not only that, it's not at the exact middle. It's a little past the middle, isn't it? I'm going to show you three pictures tonight that will confirm that what I've shown you from the book of Daniel and Matthew 24 is the truth. It'll confirm the timing of the rapture in regard to the 13 and 35 days. I'm going to show you three pictures of that in the Bible tonight. Picture number one is the trumpet of the Jubilee. Go if you would to Leviticus chapter 25, Leviticus chapter 25. That was the introduction. Now I'm going to give you three points. Point number one, the trumpet of the Jubilee. Now this is a perfect picture of the rapture. Why? Because the trumpet of the Jubilee was something that the children of Israel were to blow every 50 years. And when they sounded this trumpet, they were to proclaim liberty to the whole land, to all the inhabitants thereof, and every man would return to his ancestral homeland and get his land back if he had sold his land or if he personally had been sold into bondage. Every captive would go free, every debt would be forgiven, and everyone would go back to their ancestral home. Now wouldn't that be great if every 50 years all those credit card balances and student loans would all just reboot to zero? That's what God actually had in his system. A year like that, just a reset button to give everybody a clean start. Now this is a great picture of the rapture for a few reasons. Number one, because the trumpet sounds. And of course we know a trumpet sounding is associated with the rapture. Number two, because there's a proclamation of liberty and in Romans chapter 8, the Bible called the redemption of our body or the rapture, he called it, quote, the glorious liberty of the children of God. And number three, it's a great picture of the rapture because it says that everyone would return to his possession and return to his family. And what is the rapture? It's a great reunion with our family, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and it's a great reunion where we're meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving our inheritance or receiving our rewards and so forth. So let's look at this in the Bible, Leviticus 25 verse 9, then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land and you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a Jubilee unto you and you shall return every man unto his possession and you shall return every man unto his family. Now I've been to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Liberty Bell with the crack in it. And it says inscribed on the Liberty Bell there, it says to proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof is a quote from Leviticus 25 verse 10 inscribed there at the Liberty Bell. You say, well, Pastor Anderson, what does this have to do with the timing of the rapture when we talk about the trumpet of the Jubilee? Okay, well, here's what it has to do with it. When is the trumpet of the Jubilee sounded? Look at the beginning of verse 9. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month. Everybody got that? Tenth day of the seventh month, that's when the trumpet sounds. Okay. Now, if we take a look at the biblical calendar in the Old Testament when they had all these feast days, God gave them a calendar. He said to them that the Passover month, he said, this is going to be your first month. So when they came out of Egypt, God gave them a new calendar. He said, you know, whatever the Egyptians are doing, that's their own calendar. But he said, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. This is going to be your first month. And on the 14th day of the month, you're going to have the Passover. So God laid out a calendar for them where they had these spiritual holidays that they were supposed to keep. And those holidays were the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Well, on the first day of the seventh month was a feast called the Blowing of the Trumpets. Now what's significant about the first day of the seventh month is that it is the exact midpoint of the year. Is it not? Think about it. Because you've got 180 days before, and then you've got 180 days going forward, right? If you have a 360-day year, 12 months, 30 days each, well then six months in, you're 180 days in, right? So the first day of the seventh month is the midpoint of the year. And what feast do they celebrate that day? The Blowing of the Trumpets. Now what does that represent? Go to Numbers, chapter number 10, verse 9. Numbers chapter 10, verse 9. Numbers chapter 10, verse 9. The Bible says, And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, you see that? You go to war against an enemy that is oppressing you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. So the blowing of the trumpets represents sounding an alarm, you're being oppressed by an enemy, and you need God's help. You sound the trumpets, plural, as an alarm to get God's help because you're being oppressed by an enemy. Okay, what happens at the exact midpoint of Daniel's 70th week? The abomination of desolation. And what does that entail? It entails the antichrist coming to power, setting up his image, and, quote, making war with the saints. So the war with the saints begins at the abomination of desolation and continues, that rule continues for 42 months, but of course the days are shortened for the elect's sake. So the blowing of the trumpets represents that alarm of persecution, oppression, affliction, danger, because that's when the antichrist takes power. And then the tenth day of the seventh month, with the trumpet of the jubilee, represents the rapture, or the liberty of the children of God. Now, here's what's interesting about that. The math works out exactly, that the tenth day of the seventh month would correspond exactly with 1335 days into Daniel's 70th week. How do I come to that math? Okay, everybody put your math thinking cap on, okay? So one year, we have one Hebrew calendar year, and in the dead center of that year is the blowing of trumpets, which represents the antichrist taking power and making war on believers. Then ten days go by and we have, what, the tenth day of the month, which is the jubilee, which represents the rapture. Okay? Everybody got that? Well, when we talk about the end times, we're not talking about one year, are we? We're talking about how many years? Seven years, the week, right? The midpoint of the week. So if we take 1335 days and we divide by seven, because we're not talking about seven years of end times, we're talking about one year of a calendar, 1335 divided by seven is 190 and change. So what's the 190th day of the year? The 190th day of the year would be what? Think about it. You got 180 days for the first six months. The tenth day of the seventh month is the 190th day. Now tell me that that's a coincidence. There's no way that could be a coincidence, because it works out so perfectly that it exactly lines up that the tenth day of the seventh month is a perfect picture for the rapture if it were 1335 days into Daniel's 70th week. That's a little too perfect to be a coincidence, okay? If that went over your head, well, the second point, you're going to understand the second point, I promise. If the first point's too hard, hang in there, you're going to get the second point, I promise you that, okay? Go to Revelation chapter 2 verse 10, and let's further support this. In Revelation chapter 2 verse 10, when God's giving the messages to the seven churches, He says something that for many, many years boggled my mind. I never understood what this meant. And I know a lot of Christians have scratched their head, what does this mean? But in Revelation 2, 10, it says, Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, watch this, and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Tribulation ten days? How does the tribulation last ten days? That doesn't make any sense, does it? But wait a minute, symbolic, why? Because what? The first day of the seventh month to the tenth day of the seventh month is how many days? Ten days. So there we go, that unlocks that cryptic statement of you shall have tribulation ten days, which at first would perplex and boggle the mind. But once you understand it in regard to that picture of the trumpet of the Jubilee, then it actually makes sense, it actually clicks, and it kind of backs up our math that we did of 1335 divided by seven. All right, let's move on to something simpler. John chapter 6, all right, John chapter 6. So number two, we're looking at pictures in the Bible, symbols or pictures of the timing of the rapture. And again, look, we're not going to hang our hat on pictures. We're not going to hang our hat on a symbol. How do we know that the rapture takes place after the tribulation? Because of a clear statement in Matthew 24, that's how we know. How do we know it happens after the abomination of desolation? Because of a crystal clear statement in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And you know what? The abomination of desolation hasn't happened yet, so no, Jesus cannot come back tonight or tomorrow or next week or next month, because a whole bunch of things have to happen first. And I promise you, we're not even into Daniel's 70th week yet, because the whole world's not at war right now. And that's the second seal. We don't even see that even building up just yet. And so the coming of Christ is over three and a half years away, friend. You can buy those green bananas, because Christ is not coming back in 2017. He's not coming back in 2018, 19 or 20. It's just not going to happen, friend, because the Bible gives us a whole list of things that have to happen first, and they're going to take over three and a half years to happen. It's that simple. John chapter 6, we're going to talk about the second illustration. Number two, the first illustration was the trumpet of the Jubilee, and it matched up perfectly, didn't it? Let's see if we can find more evidence. Number two picture, and again, these pictures don't form the foundation of our doctrine. They form the icing on the cake. They're the confirmation of or the support of our doctrine, but not the bedrock of our doctrine, because our doctrine is based on clear statements. But they show us that we got the statements right. John chapter 6 gives us our second illustration. Number two, Jesus walking upon the sea. Look at John chapter 6 verse 16, and when even was now come, his disciples went down under the sea and entered into a ship and went over the sea toward Capernaum, and it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them, and the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew, so when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. Now let me say this, nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, or accidental. Everything in the Bible is there for a reason. And if God tells us that they rowed out into the sea five and twenty or thirty furlongs, that has significance. Now you say, what's a furlong? Would somebody update the King James Bible? What's a furlong? Well here's the thing, a furlong is not a hard unit of measurement to understand, because a furlong is exactly and always has been exactly one-eighth of a mile. It's that simple, one-eighth of a mile. Now if you live in Phoenix, Arizona, you should have a very firm grasp of this measurement, because every street is one-eighth of a mile apart. So if we were to go from Forty-eighth Street to Central Avenue, Forty-eighth Street is forty-eight furlongs from Central Avenue. So that means what? It's six miles. If we were to just go down Southern Avenue, we will reach Central Avenue in six miles. Why? Because it's forty-eight furlongs and a furlong is an eighth of a mile. So basically we could just call this a block. But it would sound weird if the Bible said, hey, they went twenty-five or thirty blocks into the Sea of Galilee, right? But that's how far they went. Twenty-five or thirty furlongs or eighths of a mile. So you say, how big is the Sea of Galilee? Well the Bible says they're out in the midst of the sea, right? So in the midst of the sea is about twenty-five or thirty furlongs into the sea. Well guess how wide the sea is? Seven miles. And, you know, you can even go on satellite images, Google Earth, and obviously it's going to change a little bit over the course of a couple thousand years. It's not going to be the exact shoreline because waters, you know, ebb and flow and recede and change. But it is still to this day about the same distance. It's about seven miles wide. Sea of Galilee. Well how much is twenty-five or thirty furlongs? Well twenty-five or thirty furlongs, if it's an eighth of a mile, twenty-five furlongs is three and one-eighth miles, right? Thirty furlongs is three and three-quarter miles. Does everybody understand? So Jesus says they're rowing in the ship and they get about three and an eighth to three and three-quarter miles out into the sea. What happens when they get that distance into the sea? And it said they're in the midst of the sea. They're toward the middle of the thing. It's a seven mile wide body of water. Which makes sense. Three and an eighth, three and three-quarter. What's half of seven? Three and a half. So they get at that distance and what happens? Christ comes. And what happens? Christ gets into the ship with them and the storm and the wind and the sea raging is immediately over and they're warped to the other side. Look down at your Bible. It says in verse twenty-one, then they willingly received him into the ship and immediately the ship was at the land where they went. So it's a miracle. They're out in the middle of the lake. Jesus gets on the boat. Not only does the storm stop, but immediately they're to safety. Immediately they're to the other side. They're warped three and a half miles almost. So what does this tell us about the timing of the rapture? Well, remember how the Bible said, except those days should be shortened, the days of the tribulation, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Let me ask you this, was their trip shortened a little bit? I mean, look, and they were in trouble. They were in tribulation. The storm was raging. They thought they were going to die. They were in danger of death. The ship is being tossed about and they're laboring hard and the wind's blowing and so forth. Christ comes and saves them from their calamity and immediately it's over. The trip is shortened. So think about it. How far would thirteen hundred and thirty-five days be if seven miles is seven years? I'll tell you how far. It would be twenty-nine and a half furlongs. So thirteen hundred and thirty-five days into the seven year period of Revelation, thirteen hundred and thirty-five days in, if we were to convert years to miles, what would be the distance? It'd be twenty-nine and a half furlongs or what we know as three point seven miles. So three point seven miles into the Sea of Galilee and they're saved by the appearing of Jesus and warped to the other side. Well guess what? Thirteen hundred and thirty-five days is three point seven years into Daniel's seventieth week. Coincidence? He said it's twenty-five to thirty and then they see Jesus. So yeah, that's in that range. Twenty-nine and a half furlongs. And they actually get warped to the other side. Now with that in mind, let's look at a third illustration. Go to Jeremiah fifty-two. You say Jeremiah fifty-two? I thought we were finally done with that book. I was ready to wash my hands of that book. Fifty-two hours of preaching on that thing. Watch this in Jeremiah fifty-two with that in mind. Let's look at our third illustration of the rapture of the timing specifically. How far were they out in the lake? Three point seven miles which represents three point seven years which represents the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days. And you can get the recording of this sermon and do all this math and double check me if you're dying to do some more math. Now, in Daniel chapter nine where the subject of Daniel seventy-eighth week is mentioned for the first time where it mentions the seventy-eighth week and the abomination of desolation in chapter nine verse twenty-seven. What's interesting if you go to the beginning of that same chapter, it says in Daniel chapter nine verse two, you're turning to Jeremiah fifty-two. It says in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years where of the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the destruction of seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. So in the book of Jeremiah, we learn that God was going to judge Jerusalem for seventy years and that there was going to be a seventy year captivity, right? Sixty years. Well look what the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter fifty-two. This was pointed out to me by a guy named Ben who lives in Belgium who was listening to my Wednesday night sermon and I said in my Wednesday night sermon, I said, this little story at the end of Jeremiah fifty-two is so random. It pops up out of nowhere and you kind of wonder why is God even bringing this up? And what I said on Wednesday night was that I think God is bringing it up to contrast Jehoiachin with Zedekiah and that's definitely an important interpretation here of the guy who gets another chance versus the guy from whom it was too late. But this guy Ben actually emailed me and he pointed this out to me when I'm about to show you and this just blew my mind in light of what I know about Bible prophecy, how it just fit so perfectly. It says in verse thirty-one and it came to pass in the seventh and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin in the twelfth month and the five and twentieth day of the month that evil Merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of prison and spake kindly unto him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon and changed his prison garments and he did continually eat bread before him and for his diet there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon every day a portion until the day of his death all the days of his life. Here's what's interesting. So we take the seventy year captivity of the children of Israel. How long was it until Jehoiachin captivity was shortened. He was lifted up. He was taken out of prison. He's given a change of garment and he's dining with the king. Thirty seven years. And how far is it into the seven years that thirteen hundred thirty five days is three point seven years three point seven years three point seven miles into the lake three point seven years into the tribulation and then it shortened and were pulled out this guy in a seventy year not seven but seventy thirty seven why because it's ten times long. So thirty seven is the seventy as three point seven is the seven. So it's the it's the same distance in. Now you say well it's a twelve month or five or it's not saying twelve. What it's not saying is thirty seven years and twelve months and twenty five days. It's saying it's in the thirty seventh year of his captivity and it's just in that day and month of the year. So yeah you'd have to do a lot of complicated math to try to figure out when you know when exactly did he go into captivity and which kind of years are we talking and months because there's different calendars at work and it's complicated but the bottom line is you can just glance at this and see the significance that it's the thirty seventh year of a seventy year captivity and that's exactly the factor that we see with the three point seven miles the three point seven years the same distance into the Hebrew calendar is when the trumpet of Jubilee sounds coincidence. Why is even bringing this up? What's this story even about? It's a picture of the rapture. That's what it's about in the Old Testament isn't that amazing and this should just show you how amazing the Bible is that it's just so deep there's so many layers. You could say the Bible for years and years and listen back when I was working on the Revelation series with brother Paul Wittenberger back in two thousand thirteen I really had my head deep into this stuff I mean I was studying Bible prophecy every day and I was reading the book of Revelation every single day and I remember every part of the Bible I read things were jumping out at me about Bible prophecy every part of the Bible like I was just reading in Joshua for example which you wouldn't really think of Joshua as being a book about Bible prophecy but it's all in there you know the two spies that go into Jericho are like the two witnesses in Revelation eleven Rahab the harlot is in Jericho Jericho's like Babylon where it's destroyed with fire there's the great whore of Babylon is this a charismatic church now or what got people running through the aisles so we've officially become a holy roller church so hallelujah so and you thought you thought this was a deep sermon no this no the spirits moving tonight friend but you know what's funny it's no more silly than what goes on in the charismatic church amen there's about the same amount of Holy Spirit involvement with what just happened down there but anyway go to one last place tonight revelation chapter seven this is where we'll finish revelation chapter seven is a clear pick is a clear scripture that documents the rapture taking place where this great multitude appears in heaven right after the sun and moon are dark and Christ comes in the clouds and so forth when this great multitude appears in heaven and notice the similarities with the joy akin passage in Jeremiah fifty two revelation seven nine after this I beheld in low a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sit upon the throne and under the lamb and all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and worship God saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever amen and one of the elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they and I said unto him sir thou knowest and he said to me these are they which were in a pre-trib rapture no no it says these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of lamb therefore they before the throne of God and serve him day and night at his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them they shall hunger no more neither thirst anymore neither shall the sunlight on them nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them under living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears in their eyes it's just like to wake him he's pulled out of prison given a new change of garment he's before the throne of the king and he dines with him he feeds with him he's no longer hungry or thirsty or suffering in prison so again we don't want to base our doctrine on these type of symbols or parallels or pictures but it really confirms that we've understood the statement correctly you know when we look at the clear statements in Daniel and Revelation especially Revelation especially Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21 where Jesus is clearly teaching his disciples about the second coming these pictures and parallels you know what they do they seal the deal for us they confirm us and they show us that we were barking up the right tree and and they also cause us to just stand back and marvel at God's word that we can study it look I've been studying the Bible all my life I've been reading it cover to cover since I was 16 that's the first time I started reading it cover to cover so I've been reading it now cover to cover for about 20 years and in scores and scores and scores of times of reading the Bible I'm still learning new things I'm still seeing new things and marveling at things that I never knew were in there and you know what I can still learn from someone else I can still be taught something by someone else and I oh man I know this hey do you know who you're talking to I preached the Revelation series you see a DVD back there look at that artwork look at that DVD but here today you can still keep learning the problem is a lot of people they get to a point where they think they know it all they're not they're not learning anymore or pastors who just they get tired of reading the Bible are tired of learning and they just start recycling always the same teachings all and it's like they're not learning anything new friend we need to be getting into the Bible every day and finding new things learning new truths letting God speak to us the Bible is so if you think you know it all that shows how little that you know because the more I read the Bible the more I feel like there's more to learn the more I study God's Word the more times I go through it I find myself thinking boy that's a book I I'll think of certain particular books in the Bible and say you know what that's a book I feel like I don't have a firm grasp on I better read that thing 10 or 20 more times let alone it's so funny I'll be I was just out soul winning yesterday I think it was yes it might have been a couple days before I'm out solely and this what a guy I try to tell this guy how to be saved it was on Wednesday now that I think about it and I said hey can I show you in the Bible oh I've read the Bible he doesn't know for sure he's going to heaven he thinks he's being a good person is gonna get him there but I say hey can I just show you in the Bible real quick it'll take five ten minutes oh no I've read the but man man I've been in prison and I read the Bible in prison and I oh well case closed oh you read the Bible in prison will shut my stupid mouth you already know and I you know so the guy told oh yeah I read that I know I read a lot in prison and I just said all right hey you know God bless you have a great day and I walked away I looked at my son and I said well what do you teach the guy who knows everything he already knows everything he already knows the whole Bible front to back I mean I've been out so winning and hey do you go to church anywhere no well we'd love for you to come by well the problem is that you know whenever I go to church I usually know more than the pastor that's what a guy told me well you know what you're not even in church you're not even a doer of the word because you're sitting at home talking about how smart you are no no I guess you didn't learn the part about humility I guess you didn't learn the part about listening to preaching or coming to church or being a part of the body of Christ you want to sit at home and talk oh I'm so much smarter than than all these pastors anyway I know more Bible than they do and I said to him I said really do you think you know more Bible than I do oh well you know I don't know I'm like well okay why don't you come to church and find out buddy see you later have a good day so the point is that you know we need to understand that the Bible is bigger than any of us so don't get this attitude that you know everything and look I'll go to the preaching class and a guy will get up and preach who's been saved for six months and I'll learn something sometimes God sometimes reveals things unto babes but then you know you get this attitude I've been in the ministry for 30 years I listen to this guy you know what we can learn from a five-year-old if they're speaking God's Word because God's Word is so deep that we haven't even scratched the surface I believe that when we've been in heaven for thousands of years and we're on the new earth and and we're you know we've been with the Lord for thousands of years I believe that Christ will still be teaching us new things from the Bible even thousands of years from now he'll be teaching us new things I don't think we're just gonna know it all immediately the the depths of God's Word are unsearchable and unknowable and so we need to stand in awe of God's Word and humbly continue to read it daily and learn more and and look sometimes I think we all could get an attitude that says sometimes do I really need to read the Bible today I've already read it so many I you know we look at a book in the Bible I've read this book hundreds of times I know what it says I can quote it from memory but you know what you can still learn more I mean I still learn new things from Genesis 1 I mean if there's any chapter you think you know everything I mean Genesis 1 I got that figured out but then somebody will show you something whoa that's interesting so let's keep learning let's keep reading this this amazing book the Bible it's bar rights and have a word of prayer dear Lord thank you so much for your word Lord and thank you for opening our eyes and showing us marvelous things out of your out of your word Lord and just just opening up the scriptures to us tonight and other nights Lord and I I pray that people would understand the importance of these things some of these things that are a little deeper a little bit of the strong meat of the word some people might tune out and say oh this doesn't apply to me but honestly we need to study your word and in all of its facets and help us all to study to show ourselves approved unto you Lord and we thank you so much Lord for the fact that we have salvation through Jesus Christ and that we will be spared from the wrath to come Lord thank you for saving us from your wrath that's coming Lord and that we will be spared that wrath and that we will be caught up together in the clouds Lord and and and that we truly are blessed Lord if we wait and come to that thousand three hundred and five and thirty days in Jesus name we pray Amen