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We see this interesting story in Ezekiel, we see this story that's known as the story of the valley of the dry bones. We see this picture in Ezekiel where these bones are coming up out of the ground and they're getting connected back together. You know, I was telling my family about this sermon this week, I was like, you know, it's kind of Halloween's coming up, maybe I should call the sermon like clues and milestones zombie apocalypse, right? Because it's this story of like these bones and skeletons coming together and they're covered with skin and they're covered with, you know, they're basically being put back together again. It's kind of a morbid type of scene here that we see in Ezekiel chapter 37, but of course it's not talking about a zombie apocalypse. I'm going to explain to you what this means this morning in our clues and milestones series. I'm sure there's somebody out there that probably teaches that this is the zombie apocalypse. I mean, I don't know that, but I'm sure there's a YouTube video, okay? But anyway, in all seriousness, we're in clues and milestones this morning and we'll be looking at Matthew 24. So go to Matthew 24, keep your place in Ezekiel chapter 37. I'm going to explain to you what Ezekiel chapter 37 is actually picturing this morning and how it's important to us today, okay? Go to Matthew chapter 24 and let's look at the context of the sermon this morning. So we're in clues and milestones this morning. So what is the point of this series? We're talking about clues and milestones of the end times and what the Bible has to say. So you know, we've done a couple of sermons on milestones like globalism is, you know, something that is being pushed today. I've done a sermon on that. The abomination of desolation where the antichrist comes. This antichrist figure and he puts a statue in this temple that doesn't exist yet and he forces everyone in the world to worship this image and, you know, this is where the mark of the beast comes in. This is where the cashless society comes in. We talked about that. But the point is that the abomination of desolation, that's a milestone. We're not going to miss that, right? We're not going to miss that event. There's many signs in the earth. We talked about that. That's a clue, right? That's a clue. Earthquakes and signs in the earth and storms and all these types of things all the time. We talked about the cashless society. This is, again, it's a clue. It's how the antichrist will control people that do not comply to what he wants to put in place, which is basically the Bible believing Christians, you, right? The mark of the beast all plays into that. We also looked at the destruction of Babylon, this time towards the end of God's wrath. That is a milestone. We're not going to miss that. Well, actually, we won't even be here. But that's something that is going to be a drastic event, okay? So the point is this. There's two points to this series before we even get into Matthew chapter 24. The two points are this. The first point is the timeline. I want to have a sermon series so I can keep repeating the timeline to you so we can understand what is going to happen first, second, third, fourth, fifth. That is super important because if we misunderstand the timeline, and that's really what I'm going to show you this morning. If you don't understand the timeline of the end times events, you will make all sorts of mistakes and misjudgments in what is happening right in front of us, especially today. So the timeline is important of the end times events according to what the Bible says. That's the first thing. The second thing is the title of the sermon series. There's clues and there's milestones. So there's certain things that we can see as clues. We can't say, you know, like this morning is going to be a clue. But we can't say, oh, there was an earthquake, the end is here. These are clues. Okay? And look, people that don't know the Bible make these mistakes all the time. You know, there's a blood moon and somebody writes a book that sells millions of copies because everyone's like, the end is here. And you know, we need to understand what is a clue, what is a milestone, and what is the timeline of events. And then we won't make these misjudgments and mistakes. And the one I'm going to show you this morning, the clue that we're going to look at this morning is super important because if you misunderstand this clue, it can be falsely applied to where you can make horribly bad moral judgments in your life and what is happening in the world today. All right? Look at Matthew chapter 24. We can't take all that to say this. We can't take the clues as milestones. They're clues. Okay? They're clues. Look at Matthew chapter 24. We're going to look at a clue this morning. Look at Matthew chapter 24 and verse number 3. Jesus is talking about to the disciples about what's going to happen in the end times. Verse number 3, it says, 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 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. Look at verse number 6. This is going to be our focus this morning. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars and see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. So the Bible here is saying that when the end is approaching, you know, first of all, we're in the last days. Jesus was in the last days, meaning the latter half of history. We're in the last days. But we're not in the end times, okay? We're not in the end times. We're not in Daniel's 70th week, all right? We're not there yet. And we're going to know when those things are going to happen because of the timeline that the Bible tells us. But the Bible says here, Jesus says, you're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. So this is a clue. And this clue that I'm going to explain to you this morning and we're going to go into Ezekiel chapter 37 and I'm going to show you how relevant that is to this clue and properly interpreting this clue this morning. But this clue will show you the seriousness of end times misinterpretation. Many people including myself have said that, you know, if you're a pre-tribulation rapture type of person, you think that the Christians aren't going to go through tribulation and we're just going to be raptured, we're all going to poof, just disappear like the Left Behind movies. Is that a big deal if that's what you believe? That in itself, no, it's not a big deal. But it will lead to serious errors and serious consequences. And that's what I'm going to show you this morning. And look, we're seeing it today. And that's why I'm preaching on this this morning. It will lead Christians, saved Christians, to having their moral compass completely flipped around. And quite frankly, it kind of shows you that if you don't interpret the Bible literally what God says in the Bible, you're going to be a backwards Christian today. It doesn't mean you're not going to be saved, it's just you're going to be a fool. So we must listen to what the Bible says. And look, when you read it correctly for what it says, it's not complicated. It's not complicated. You don't have to jump backwards through hoops and try to take a sledgehammer and smash a huge round peg into a tiny square hole. You don't have to do those types of things. It's very simple. So let's look at this clue this morning of wars and rumors of wars. The Bible says as the end times approach, we're going to see wars and rumors of wars. You say, Pastor, that's crazy. There's always war. There's always rumors of wars. It's like, thanks a lot, Jesus, could you get more specific? I agree. There are wars and rumors of wars constantly. I mean, look, just look throughout history. And let me not confuse you this morning. Let's just look through U.S. history. Let's just start from 1776 and let's look at the warfare in the United States. And I'm going to, I'll even narrow it down. I won't even really talk about international warfare. Let's just talk about the domestic warfare in the United States. And look, there's a trend here and I want to show you this. So let's look at U.S. history this morning real quickly. All right. You're going to keep your place in Ezekiel chapter 37. We're going to get there in just a few minutes. But let me show you something about wars and rumors of wars. This is why we can't say, oh, there's a war. The end is here. Look at the history. 1776, what happened? That was the Declaration of Independence. What was happening during that time? We had the Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. So that's the first domestic war in the United States. You say, man, there's a lot of peace after that. There's a lot of peace after that. Well then we had the start, in 1775 actually, we had the start of what is known as the Indian Wars in the United States. Now the Indian Wars basically went from 1770, early 1770s all the way to like 1920 as settlers in the United States pushed west. It was just Indian War after Indian War after Indian War. They're literally known as the Indian Wars. And it spanned well over 100 years in this country. And I'm not even going to count like the Barbary Wars and all these overseas wars that happened during this time. So 17, the War of Independence ends in 1783, then you're like, oh, we had a lot of peace. Well then we had the start of the Indian Wars and the Indian Wars were just happening as the continental United States was being settled. Then you had the War of 1812, another war against England, England wanted more. So we fought England again. And then after that, I mean, again, Indian Wars are still going. After that in 1845 I think it was, or right prior to the Civil War, you had the Mexican American War. You had the Mexican American War where we fought Mexico for what is now known as Texas and that went from 1846 to 1848. Again Indian Wars are still going because normally you can look at that and say War of 1812 ended in 1815 and then we didn't fight the Mexican American War until 1848. You're like, hey, 30 years of peace, but now we had the Indian Wars going on. Look, that was happening in the United States. This was a, I mean, I'm talking about like armies against armies wars here. I'm not even counting like these little precursor wars to the Civil War, like the Bleeding Kansas War where there was an uprising in Kansas over whether or not Kansas would, you know, Kansas was a new state at I think it was 18, it was something like 1850s. Kansas was a new state. Should it be a free state or should it be a slave state was the question. And really, if you look at the history of the Civil War, that was really the driver behind the Civil War right there. It wasn't so much that the northern states wanted to control what the southern states were doing, it was just that all of these states were becoming formed as we pushed west settling in the United States and it became this question of are they going to be slave states? Are they going to be free states? So this really sparked that fire and, yes, it was over slavery. Anybody that tells you the Civil War wasn't over slavery is trying to repaint history for you. But anyway, 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War, you know, just Americans killing Americans. Again, now you're still, even after the Civil War is over, there's still the Indian Wars going on in the 1860s pushing all the way, you know, now we're in the Midwest Indian Wars. In the Midwest where I was from, we have like, you know, wars against the Sioux, the Lakota, the Mandan Indians, the Cheyenne, all these names from the Midwest that I kind of grew up learning about and reading about. Then in 1910, we had a Mexican border war with another war with Mexico, 1910 to 1919. This was the, you know, the Pancho Villa, if anybody remembers that, there was kind of an uprising of rebels in that area, and then a border wall was actually established. A lot of people don't know that, but a border wall was established after that war ended in 1919. Of course, what happened in 1914, World War I broke out, and now this wasn't a domestic war. Now, this was kind of like, you know, World War I was kind of the end of domestic wars in the United States, so kind of mark that for yourself. But just think of this, from 1915 all the way back to 1776 was pretty much constant warfare in the United States, domestically, meaning the United States Army is fighting domestically somebody. Every few years there's another war, another war, another war, another war. Now you have these World Wars break out, and yeah, those aren't domestic wars, but they definitely affected the population of the United States. So they weren't fought here, but, so anyway, there's a shift. No more domestic war, really, after 1915 in the United States. Basically after the last Indian War was done, pretty much no domestic warfare, but then World War I breaks out, you know, it definitely affected the United States, 20 million people in the world died in World War I, and you're like, you know, it was a war to end all wars, and here we end that in 1918, and then just a few years later, in 1939, because of what happened in World War I, World War II breaks out. World War II breaks out, goes all the way up to 1945, so again, while not domestically inside the United States, I mean, there was 100,000 something US dead from World War I, I think World War II was about 450,000, you know, Americans that died, but you know, Americans kind of need to kind of look at World War I and World War II from a world perspective, okay? I mean, 20 million people in the world died in World War I, and 100,000 Americans died. We're like, we saved the day. In World War II, we think, oh, greatest generation, we saved the day. Look, I get it, my grandpa fought in World War II, many people's grandparents fought in World War II, but you have to understand, 450,000 Americans died, which is not, you know, a drop in the bucket, that's a lot of people. There was a draft, all this in World War II, but 75 million people in the world died. 75 million people in the world died. I think it would do people good today, especially in the United States, to go and study the history of Russia in World War II. You say why? Well, first of all, Russia doesn't lose wars. You say, what do you mean? One in seven people in Russia died in World War II. They don't, they just, they don't lose. Everybody will die before they will lose. One in seven people in their country died in World War II. I'm not defending Russia. Stalin was maybe one of the wickedest persons that's ever lived. You know, Hitler was a boy scout compared to Stalin. But the point is, is that, you know, over 10% of their population died in that war. So we think that we were such a great influence and such a big influence, but like these massive world wars killed tens of millions of people all across the world, and many countries were way more affected than we were. That's all I'm trying to get you to understand. What happened in 1950? In 1950, we had the war in Korea, and that wasn't a small thing. Over 20,000 Americans died in Korea in that war. We had, you know, North and South Korea. We still have the, the war never ended, by the way, it's still going on. There was never, you know, a declaration of peace there. There was never a peace treaty signed there. That war is still typically going, you know, the demilitarized zone, South Korea, North Korea. Then 1965, what did we have? We had Vietnam. Again, none of these are fought in the United States, but Vietnam had a draft. Many people my age, their parents, fought in Vietnam. My father-in-law was drafted and fought in Vietnam, so that generation is still with us today. You know, those are people that are about 75 years old or older were fought in Vietnam, but I mean, you've got to understand that in the United States, from 1965 to 1973, during the Vietnam War, 300 American soldiers were getting killed every single week. The total was 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam. It was not a small thing. It wasn't a domestic war, but it was a major war that did affect Americans. But now there's another shift after Vietnam. There's another shift. So we had this shift in 1915 where there was no more domestic wars in the United States. Then after Vietnam, we had another shift where basically we went from these declared wars to, you know, I don't, was Vietnam a declared war? I don't think so, actually. I don't think we've declared war except for after World War II, we've never declared war again. Korea and Vietnam were undeclared wars. But now we have these interventions. So not only do we not have domestic wars, things got even better for us in the United States, to where there's no more draft, there's no more, you know, we have all these interventions in the Middle East and all these other countries that many people probably don't even know we're intervening in a lot of these places. But it doesn't affect the American's life at all. There's no draft. There's really not that many people getting killed. You know, and many people don't even know anyone that serves in the military that is involved in these interventions. You know, it's an all-volunteer army. People's kids aren't getting letters saying, hey, go to fight here or whatever. And you started up in 1991 with these interventions with the Gulf War. Then we had 2001, Afghanistan, 2003, Iraq again, Iraq Part II, all these interventions. But the point I'm trying, you say, why do I try to, why am I telling you this history? The point is, is we're talking about wars and rumors of wars. The reason I'm telling you this is that war has gotten further and further away from the American public. It's gotten further and further away as the decades go on from the American individual. We go on with our lives and we go to work and we buy our homes and we buy our cars and we have our lives and we are furthering ourselves and these wars, even though we're still being involved in these wars overseas, they are not affecting us anymore. Certainly not on our soil. So something that you need to understand and I want you to think about this morning as a Bible-believing Christian is, is this what we deserve? Is this what we deserve? Do we deserve a period of peace and prosperity in this country? And you know if you've read the Bible, if you've read the history of the nation of Israel, you know that a nation that turns against God is going to lose their peace and prosperity and their freedom. So there's a great convergence that is happening or a great divergence that is happening, I should say, between what we have and what we deserve. You should probably pay attention to that. And that's one of the things that we should think about when we see wars and we hear rumors of wars. What do we have today and what do we deserve today? Those two things are quite different and they are, look, they're going to come back together because if we know one thing from the Bible, not only the nation of Israel, but every single nation that is talked about in the Old Testament, they all get what they deserve. Every single one of them. So let's talk about these clues. Let's talk about these clues. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Let's look at these Middle East wars now. Now we have all these wars breaking out in the Middle East stemming from Israel. Should we pay attention? Is it possible that a Christian could misinterpret this today is the question that I want to think about. The nation that is known as Israel today formed in 1948. Does that matter? Should we pay attention to that? So every Christian today or most Christians today, they see every conflict over there as something that is ushering in end times prophecy and something that, you know, every time you see Israel in the Bible, it applies to this country that was formed in 1948. Is that proper? Is that a correct interpretation? What are the ramifications if we get that wrong? That's what I'm going to show you this morning. It's a very specific sermon this morning on how to apply wars and rumors of wars to our times today. So the first question is, since the Bible, even Ezekiel chapter 37 that we're going to look at, these bones and these, you know, it's not the zombie apocalypse. The bones is the whole house of Israel, it says in Isaiah chapter 37. That's literally what it says. You're like, what are these bones? What are these skeletons? What are these sinews? Who are these people that are coming back together from the grave? It is the whole house of Israel. 100% for sure it's in the Bible. So the question becomes, who is Israel? Turn to Romans chapter 9. Now I went over this on two Wednesdays ago, but I want to go over it briefly for those that weren't here. Just briefly I'm going to go over this very quickly so we can understand who is Israel. Look at Romans chapter 9 and look at verse number 6. The Bible says, not as though the word of God had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. So the Bible here is saying in Paul's time, he's saying that there's going to be people that say they're of Israel that aren't of Israel. So if somebody just says, oh I'm of Israel, that doesn't mean they are. Because there's going to be people that say they are that aren't. Look at verse number 7. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. So he's literally saying, just because they're related to Abraham are they Israel? That's basically what he's saying. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Meaning it doesn't matter who you're related to. Do you catch that? Children of the flesh, who your relatives are. I don't know how many times the Bible has to say this. It doesn't matter who your parents are. It doesn't matter who your grandparents are. You going to heaven or hell has nothing to do with who your grandparents were or what your grandfather did or what your great great great great great grandfather came or what tribe you say you're from. Nothing. It is a Christian that has never read the Bible. Even the New Testament that believes it's garbage that is being taught today. You say, why does it matter? Why are you so angry, Pastor? Well, I'm going to show you why this morning. Look at Galatians chapter 3. No, but I'm sorry. It's still down to verse number 8. It says the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. So it's not the children of the flesh. It doesn't matter who your dad was or who he was related to. It's the children of the promise. What does that mean? Turn to Galatians chapter 3. This is very simple doctrine. This is not complicated at all. Look at Galatians chapter 3. We're looking for who the children of the promise are because it's saying the children of Abraham are the children of the promise. That's why the Bible says pay no attention to genealogies again and again. Genealogies mean nothing. Family trees, nothing. The children of the promise, who are they? Look at Galatians chapter 3 verse number 27. For as many of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. For there is neither Jew nor Greek. Oh man, what? You know what it's saying here? It's saying there is neither Jew nor Gentile. He's saying it doesn't matter if you are from the tribe of Judah or if you are from Sweden. Or wherever. Or China. That's what he's saying. It matters not. Is that hard to understand? There is neither Jew nor Greek. He's saying there is physically not people from China and people from Russia and people from Ukraine and people from... No, it's saying there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither is there bond nor free, neither is there male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. It's saying as far as who can be saved and who cannot be saved in Christ Jesus, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter your nationality. It doesn't matter who your grandparents were. It doesn't matter what country you came from. Your heritage means nothing. It's whether you believed on Jesus or not. That's it. That's why everyone's... The Bible is very clear that men and women should have different roles in the family. But it's saying as far as who can be saved and who not, male, it doesn't matter. Women and men have the exact same spiritual heritage. That's what it's talking about. It's not like there's not men or women. It's talking about from the perspective of salvation in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, now this is really the key. If ye be Christ, meaning what? You're saved. You're in Christ. You have decided that you are going to trust in Jesus Christ as your savior, then guess what? You're Abraham's seed. Is that complicated? The Bible is saying that Abraham's seed and heirs according to what? Doesn't this match Romans chapter 9? Heirs according to the promise. This is the promise that Jesus Christ came here to pay the price for whosoever would trust on him and they would be given eternal life, everlasting life again and again and again the Bible says this. That's the promise. If you trust on Jesus, you have everlasting life. If you can take all the trust off yourself and put it only on Christ, in a moment you're saved. That's the promise. And guess what? You're Israel. That's what the Bible is saying. I'm staring at Israel today. I'm staring at Israel right now in Fresno, California. That's what the Bible is saying because it doesn't matter where you live. Israel is everyone that is saved. Now look, you know what that means? That means we're not Zionists here. What does that mean? That means that 1948 to 1917 to 1948 to the formation of this country known as Israel, I don't recognize that as God's Israel. That's what that means. That doesn't mean I hate Jews. You see, it's the mid-wit idiot that will try to paint you into a box today. You know what? They did the same thing with World War II with the Nazis and the Russians. They did the same thing. And George Orwell wrote Animal Farm. Animal Farm was a critique of communism. You know what people said? You love Hitler. You love Nazis. So you preach what the Bible says about Zionism today and who Israel actually is today and they're like, oh, you hate Jews. You talk about the evils of the Ukrainian government and things that have happened there like, oh, you love Putin. You want him to rule the world. No, don't put me into your mid-wit box. We don't hate Jews today. I don't hate Jews more than, you know, I don't hate anybody. These people, you don't hate any group of people, folks, except reprobates and all those people. We're not talking about that this morning. But the point is, is that these people, the Jews today, need to be saved just like the Arabs do. It's just another false religion. That's all it is. It's just another anti-biblical religion. Now people will take Ezekiel chapter 37 to point to 1948 and say, see, God is going to resurrect his people. He's going to resurrect Israel. So let's take a look at it this morning. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 37. Let's see if they're right. Let's see if they're right. Let's see if we can make it fit. See, Christians today, when I say people, I'm talking about Christians. I'm talking about people that are saved. You know you can be saved and know nothing what the Bible says? The gospel is the simplest thing in the Bible. So I could be saved. I could have trusted on Jesus and be saved and have no idea what the Bible says and listen to a bunch of people that are just twisting Scripture to teach me a bunch of false doctrine about end-time prophecy and make me believe a lot of things that lead me down some wicked paths that I could still be saved. Look at Ezekiel chapter 36. So Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse number 37 talk about this valley of bones, this resurrection of the house of Israel. Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 talk about a battle that I'm going to talk about in a few minutes. And then Ezekiel chapter 40 and chapters after that talk about Ezekiel's temple, which we're not going to get into this morning. But look at Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse number 24. Let's see if we can look at, you know, this resurrection of the house of Israel and see if it fits what we're seeing in the last hundred years today. Look at verse number 24. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land. See, that's what happened in 1948. Okay, let's keep reading. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you should be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart will I give you. And a new spirit will I put in you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them and you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God. Let me ask you a question. Does Israel today follow the statutes of the Bible? It's one of the most liberal nations in the world. They reject Jesus Christ. I don't think you can be a Christian and actually go there and like immigrate there. You have to reject Christ to live there. It's a false religion but it's a nation based upon a false religion. It's the only nation like that in the world. Now look, in Ezekiel chapter 37 there's a dual fulfillment of Ezekiel chapter 37 of the house of Israel being brought back into the land and I'm going to show you that this morning. Ezekiel was brought out of captivity. First we need to understand who Ezekiel was. Ezekiel was a prophet to the lower kingdom of Judah and his contemporaries were Jeremiah and prophets during the time that Judah was taken into captivity by the empire of Babylon. This is who Ezekiel was. So Ezekiel in chapter 37 is prophesying that they will be brought back into the land. There's a dual fulfillment because they were brought back into the land after 70 years. But how do I know it's a dual fulfillment? Because many of the things Ezekiel says do not fit them coming back into the land because he talks about forever and eternity and that there will be the two tribes, the two kingdoms will be brought together. We're going to look at that. But there's a dual fulfillment. There's a fulfillment of Ezekiel's time and there's a fulfillment for end times prophecy. Look at verse number one of Ezekiel chapter 37. Let's look at the bones, the valley of dry bones here. The Bible says the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out into the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which were full of bones and caused me to pass by them round about and behold there were very many in the open valley and lo they were very dry. And he said unto me son of man and these bones live and I answered oh Lord God thou knowest. Then he said prophesy unto these bones and say unto them oh ye dry bones hear the word of the Lord. So think about this is a picture. This isn't a literal story here. It's a picture of what's going to happen. And he's saying Ezekiel go out and prophesy speak the word of the Lord to these dry bones. And as soon as he does thus saith the Lord God unto these bones behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live. I will lay sinews upon you bring upon flesh upon you and cover you with skin put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord. So that's another point when these when these dry bones come up into full living bodies again full living people again they will know just like Ezekiel chapter 36 said they will know who is the Lord. Okay look if you reject Jesus Christ you don't know who the Lord is. You missed the bus on that one. So it's literally saying that these whoever these people are that are resurrected here they will know who the Lord is. All right verse 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise behold a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone. So it happened and behold lo the sinews and flesh came upon them the skin covered them above but there was no breath in them. Then he said unto me prophesy unto the wind prophesy son of man and say to the wind thus saith the Lord God come from the four winds oh breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me and breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet and exceeding great army verse 11. And then he said unto me son of man these bones who are these people these bones are the whole house of Israel. Do you understand why I showed you who Israel is first before we got to this? Behold they say our bones are dried our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them thus sayeth the Lord God behold oh my people I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. So who are these people? These people are those that are in Christ when we apply it to end times prophecy. Those people back then were the people that came from Babylon back to the land of Israel and that's exactly what happened. Look at verse 14. So go back to those who are in Christ and look at verse number 14 he says I shall put my spirit in you and ye shall live and I shall place you in your own land then ye shall know that I the Lord has spoken it and performed it sayeth the Lord. The word of the Lord came up again unto me saying moreover son of man take the one stick and write upon it for Judah and for the children of Israel his companions then take another stick and write upon it for Joseph the stick of Ephraim for the house of Israel his companions. Let me explain this verse to you. Something profound is happening here and this is only in end times prophecy right here. But he is saying the house of Joseph remember Joseph never had land that was just his. There was Ephraim and Manasseh and many times when you're reading the Bible when you see so the kingdom split all right the kingdom split when the time that Judah Judah is the lower kingdom of Israel there's two kingdoms. By the time Judah was taken into captivity the northern kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed by the Assyrians some 180, 160 years earlier okay. So what happened was after King Solomon David's son there was a split in the kingdom so David ruled over the nation of Israel and when David's grandson Rehoboam took over the throne there was a split. Rehoboam took the lower kingdom of Judah which was made up primarily of Benjamin and Judah those two tribes. The rest of the northern tribes the 10 tribes went to Jeroboam who started the northern kingdom of Israel. So you had Israel and Judah. By the way Jew by the just that word Jew means you come from the tribe of Judah by the way which you know it doesn't apply to the whole all 12 tribes not that that really matters for what we're talking about today but just some context there okay. So the lower kingdom of Judah was a much better kingdom and it was always ruled by David's son. It was always ruled by a son of David a son of David a son of David a son of David because God made a promise in David's time to bring the Messiah from his kings. When God promises David that your kingdom will last into eternity that's the messianic promise because it will only be brought into it can't be brought into eternity by some earthly king because none of us have you know are going to live forever. You know just eternal life in Jesus Christ of course but the only way even we will enter into eternity is Jesus Christ. So that's why it's important that Jesus Christ came from the line of David because it was a it was a prophecy fulfillment of what God promised David okay. So the northern kingdom of Israel the 10 tribes of Israel are gone they did not get taken into captivity Assyria came in and destroyed them and lived amongst them and the tribes the genealogies of the tribes were just all gone basically and that's where the Samaritans came from. When you read the New Testament you see that the Jews just couldn't stand the Samaritans because they were polluted people and they had false gods it was true that the northern kingdom went into idolatry almost immediately and they were never a son of a son of a son there was this dynasty after dynasty after dynasty I think there was one son here and there but then a complete overthrow of the dynasty happened it was just a mess from the beginning. It was idolatry and a mess that's why they were judged 180 years earlier than the nation of Judah the southern kingdom okay. So where am I going with this? Look back at verse number 14 or verse number 15 the Bible here is prophesying that these two nations one day will be reunited they will be once again an entire nation that's what the Bible is prophesying here but Judah was only two tribes and yeah I mean I get it there was some mixed I'm sure there was stragglers from each tribe living in the southern kingdom during that time but for all intents and purposes the other 10 tribes were lost with the Assyrian assimilation and the Assyrian you know invasion basically that happened 150 years earlier so what you need to understand is to even for someone to say oh I'm part of the tribe of Asher or part of the tribe of you know Ruben or whatever one of those 10 tribes it would be impossible today even in James chapter 1 where he says to the 12 tribes you know basically that was 2,000 years ago though if you just do the math on just your ancestors in your life if you just do the math on your ancestors like you have two parents four grandparents and it just keeps it's two to the n basically and it just keeps doubling doubling doubling doubling after like 16 generations you have like 32,000 ancestors and a generation being 25 30 years 16 generations is not that long now talk about 2,000 years back to the time of Christ you have like a quintillion ancestors or something like that I mean mathematically possible you say well there's not a quintillion people on the earth well it's because as as this works is as the triangle goes as far as your ancestors go they say 80% I don't know if I believe this but they say 80% of marriages are actually second or third cousins so what happens is this triangle goes like this and then it kind of comes back in and goes out and goes in like this so there's never like gonna be a quintillion people on the earth it's just because people marry their relatives but the point I'm trying to get you to understand is mathematically when you get 10 15 20 generations back everybody's everything we're all Jewish we're all Arab we're all you know some part of something we're all mixed because we all have relatives that I mean people traveled all over the world and settled different places and I remember look even today you can see this this cousin thing happening today I worked with a guy in Sacramento four years ago I worked with him building this power plant I worked with him for two years two years this and I we worked together on this power plant every single day and he had a common last name it wasn't like Smith I won't mention his last name but it was a fairly common last name it wasn't as common as Smith but we went to a conference together we were on an airplane together and he mentioned like North Dakota and I'm like and I've often made the joke that like if you know somebody from North Dakota I probably know somebody that at least knows them because of that it's that small but just think we're in California I've worked with this guy for two years he's got a common last name and he mentions like somebody in his family went to Fargo North Dakota and I'm like are you related to you know and I mentioned the last name in Fargo he's like yeah and it turns out that his uncle or my uncle is his dad's cousin I'm working with this guy for two years he's like my third cousin and we're just like what in the world he brings me a family tree and I'm like yeah it's my uncle in his family tree the point is everybody's everything you can even see it today folks you can even see it today so to say that oh I'm from the tribe of Asher it's ridiculous and that's why the Bible says in the New Testament pay no attention to genealogies it doesn't matter because who's Israel those that are saved those that are in Christ that's Israel so you see the Bible is though saying to us that these tribes that the nations that Israel and Judah and Ephraim the reason he says Ephraim is because many times if you're reading the Old Testament Ephraim was the largest tribe in the northern kingdom so many times the Bible would just equate Ephraim to the northern kingdom so he's basically saying Ephraim and Jude are gonna come back together meaning all the twelve tribes are gonna come back together one day that's gonna happen folks the Bible says it the Bible says it you say so who are who are the the tribes who are these tribes turn to Matthew 19 the Bible tells us the Bible tells us where these tribes are going to come from here's the answer folks whenever the Bible is talking about it's those that are in Christ in the twelve tribes of Israel think about that what's that mean well were people in the Old Testament saved any differently than people in the New Testament no they're saved by looking forward to Christ as we're saved by looking back at Christ it's the same salvation from Genesis to Revelation so when it's talking about people from the twelve tribes of Israel it's talking about Old Testament Saints it's talking about people from the Old Testament there were part of those tribes that are saved that are in heaven today that's what it's talking about look at Matthew chapter 19 look at Matthew chapter 19 in verse number 27 the Bible says this says then answered Peter and said unto him behold we have forsaken all he's asking Jesus what about what are we gonna receive for everything we're doing other than you know obviously eternal life and follow thee what shall we have therefore and Jesus said unto him now this is the key to Ezekiel chapter 37 right here Jesus said unto them verily I say unto you that which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye shall also sit upon the twelve thrones judging who the twelve tribes of Israel this is talking about after the regeneration the regeneration is the resurrection folks remember all the preaching I've done on the first resurrection that's you but guess who else it is it's the Old Testament Saints too if you're standing here this morning you're sitting here this morning and you're listening to this preaching you and you're saved you will be part of what the Bible calls the first resurrection but guess what the dead in Christ shall rise first and those are the Old Testament Saints their bodies are in the grave their souls are in heaven but we are all going to be resurrected Ezekiel chapter 37 is talking about this regeneration it's exactly what it's like oh it all fits together exactly I mean you know you don't have to get up here and do backflips and make up a bunch of weird stuff it's just like oh it's the regeneration and we're talking about Old Testament Saints no one today knows what tribe they're from and if it was important what tribe you were from why would the Bible say it's not important that would be weird the Bible's like don't pay attention to genealogies quit all this fables and quit no genealogy is bad don't it doesn't matter what matters is what you believe what matters is that you're in Christ that's what makes you of Israel and then it says the twelve disciples that follow Jesus will judge Israel what's that mean it means they will rule Israel in the millennial reign of Christ judge me you know the judges the judges they will rule over the twelve tribes over the Old Testament Saints in the millennial reign of Christ that are now regenerated as we all will be in the first resurrection go back to Ezekiel chapter 37 let me give you another clue so first of all the millennial reigns important it's important that the Bible talks about that because that's when this is going to take place go back to Ezekiel chapter 37 so you need to know who Israel is first of all you need to know who Israel is and yes it matches perfectly that this regeneration of these bones and these sinews and basically it's Ezekiel chapter 37 is talking about a resurrection and it's talking about the first resurrection it's talking about the dead in Christ rising first and Jesus tells the twelve disciples in the New Testament you are going to rule over them he's talking about the twelve tribes that have now been put back together that are now one nation they're gonna be ruled over in the millennial reign by the twelve disciples kind of fits exactly what the Bible says we're gonna see here chapter 37 verse number 24 here's another clue that Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 37 is not talking about 1948 I know it doesn't make any sense at all to you now but let's look at another another variable here look at verse 24 it says in David my servant shall be king over them oh man and they shall have one shepherd they shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them so obviously like they're you know the the current nation of Israel the the physical nation of Israel formed in 1948 nothing to do with this nothing to do with the Bible nothing to do which is what these are the statutes right here and do them and they shall dwell in the land that I've given unto my Jacob my servant wherein your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell therein and they shall and their children and their children's children forever and my servant David shall be their prince for 22 years forever this fulfillment look this matches the fulfillment in you know after the 70 years of captivity because they came back and who was their governor their governor was the rubable was the rubable is in the line of Christ go to Matthew chapter 1 actually you don't have to turn there but in Matthew chapter 1 so rubable that's why the line of Christ is listed the rubable is in the line of Christ so the rubable is a son of David and guess who else is the son of David Jesus Christ so David is ruling over the nation of Israel as they came back from Babylonian captivity and the Bible says in the millennial reign who is going to rule in the millennial reign is going to be Jesus Christ and that is how the nation of Israel the twelve tribes will be judged by they will be they'll have governors of the twelve disciples and Jesus Christ shall rule over them fits perfectly it's just perfect easy to understand it's Matthew 1 chapter 12 or verse number 12 if you want to just reference that in your notes but let's look at the third clue the point is you need a sledgehammer to fit this round peg into this square hole of Israel being you know this nation that we're dealing with today it's not the Israel that the Bible is talking about Israel that are those that are in Christ let's look at a third clue remember important the timeline is I just keep speaking timeline timeline timeline timeline if you don't know the timeline anybody can make up anything and make you believe anything if you don't know the actual timeline to the Bible talks about as far as the end times prophecy turn to Revelation chapter 20 Revelation chapter 20 what happens right after the millennial reign of Christ the millennial reign of Christ there's another battle you say why is there a battle I mean isn't everyone look folks during the millennial reign of Christ people have free will God doesn't you know create the millennial reign and just make everyone robots people are still going to get saved and not get saved during the millennial reign of Christ you're like but yeah Jesus Christ is ruling and reading people everyone's not going to believe in it no they're gonna be able to fight against him there's even people that are against him just like there's people that are against him today there's gonna be people that are against him then too through the millennial reign of Jesus Christ look at Revelation chapter 20 in verse number two some people are going to get saved some people aren't the Bible says in Revelation 2 it says he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which who's the dragon which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years so he throws the devil in hell for the entire millennial reign for a thousand years now the false prophet and the beast the Antichrist and his false prophet they're off in the lake of fire that will eventually be in the same place and that's a whole nother doctrine in itself but they're like fire they're never coming back they're never coming back they're gone their use is over but the devil is put in hell for a thousand years but look guess what when the thousand years are expired verse seven Satan shall be loosed out of his prison he should go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth look at this Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle the number of them who is the sand of the sea now look we say why would God put Satan in hell for a thousand years it's because he's gonna let him out so he can gather people that are following him together so he can take them all out in one battle it's kind of a you call it a trap or whatever it is but he's just gonna like let Satan out and all the people that are against Jesus Christ on the earth at that time are gonna go to Satan and there's gonna be one last battle and it's this battle of Gog and Magog so the battle of Gog and Magog it's gonna be a quick battle if you just read the next verse the battle of Gog and Magog is after the millennial reign of Christ and people have thought it doesn't even matter where Gog and Magog are but you know Bible scholars today like this is Russia and Iran so anytime anything happens with Russia and Iran they're like oh Iran said something me the battle of Gog and Magog is gonna happen I'm gonna write a book and I'm gonna sell it to a bunch of Christians that have never opened their Bible before after the thousand years there's this battle of Gog and Magog Gog and Magog is not all over the Bible it is not like if you just do like a search of Gog and Magog you're not gonna get like a hundred instances in all these different places in the Bible it's in like two places it's in Ezekiel it's in Revelation chapter 20 guess what it says Ezekiel chapter 38 why because it comes after Ezekiel chapter 37 see how complicated this is so after the first resurrection after Jesus Christ rules his his house of Israel the two nations that are come together after the millennial reign turned out Ezekiel chapter 38 Ezekiel chapter 38 it's the only other place that Gog and Magog and look I don't even care if it's Russia or if it's Persia whoever it is it makes no difference it makes no difference just look at the Bible in Ezekiel 38 in verse number one the Bible says the word of the word came into me saying son of man set thy face against Gog the land of Magog the chief prince of Misha and it just goes into Gog and Magog again in chapter number 39 talks about this Gog and Magog being against Jesus Christ against this house of Israel ruled by Jesus Christ it makes perfect sense if you just understand what the Bible is saying turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 I got a land that's playing here pretty quick but I mean the idea is this the idea is this that the house of Israel is going to be resurrected because you are Israel those that are in Christ those that are saved are Israel and that matches everything that the Bible talks about as far as the first resurrection the the the the Antichrist coming the abomination of desolation the tribulation into the great tribulation and then Jesus Christ look at verse number 16 of 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 Jesus Christ comes back to gather his elect the Bible says the great tribulation against Christians the Antichrist is going to bring in you know in that first three and a half years of the of Daniel 70th week it's going to be worse than anything we've seen before that's bad because like there's been some pretty bad persecution throughout history it's kind of like the hike right like that was a really bad hike yesterday was really hard yesterday so that's our 10 but if we look at some of the persecutions that Christians have gone through throughout history and we mark those as like the 10 the Bible says is going to be a so we know it's going to be really really bad persecution we say well it just means that if Christians think they're just going to poof and their clothes are just going to fall and all you know the airplanes are going to all fall out of the sky like the Hollywood movie says and all this stuff it just means that they're just not going to be ready for hard times now I'm going to show you that it means much more than that it means much more than that look at first Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16 it says this is the rapture the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the Archangel with the trump of God I think we're going to miss that you think that's going to be a secret as this this it must be the trump of God like no one's going to hear it except for us in this building no the debt but then look at this the dead in Christ shall rise first then which we are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord that's the dead in Christ shall rise first underline that and just point to Ezekiel chapter 37 if you write in your Bible it's really simple that's the whole chapter right there the dead in Christ shall rise first and those 12 tribes that are part of the dead in Christ because the dead in Christ is who anybody that is now currently dead that is saved physically dead that they're physically there because their physical bones are still in the grave just like David's bones are still in this up you know in the sepulcher they're still in the but they're going to be regenerated that's the resurrection where we get those glorified bodies that the Bible talks about and then we're going to go into the millennial reign of Christ and at the end of that millennial reign is the battle of Gog and Magog Ezekiel chapter 38 Ezekiel chapter 39 it makes perfect sense no backflips no logical inconsistencies no nothing it's just it's just the Bible then after that the battle of Gog and Magog so look I'm not denying today well you say why do I preach a sermon now I'm not denying today that things are going on in the Middle East today I'm not denying that no there's this battle going on if you want to call it a battle between you know Israel and in the Palestinians and all this I'm not denying that things are going on in Russia today I'm not denying that but the point is this folks you have to understand this timeline because the point of all of this happening the point of all these wars in rumors of wars is to usher in the first milestone which is the coming of the Antichrist which is the coming of the very first sermon that I preached on this which is the coming of the Antichrist this this great leader that is going to come in and he's going to make in Daniel chapter 9 it talks about he's going to make a covenant with many he's going to make a covenant with me not all he's going to make a covenant with a treaty with many then Revelation chapter 6 kind of goes to this great detail of how through war he's going to turn that covenant with many into this one world government and that's what we see in Revelation chapter 13 so Revelation chapter 6 is the means to get to Revelation chapter 13 then we go into the abomination desolation where he declares himself God and all that not that it's not talking about none of this was talking about some gathering together of a nation that rejects Jesus it makes no sense at all if you're looking at the words of the Bible and again you just we just need to pay attention we need to pay attention to what's going on so what is the clue what should we do with the clues of now that we know all this what should we do with the clues of war of wars and rumors of wars faster you asked me what should we do with that and what is the danger of not knowing everything that I just showed you what we need to understand with wars and rumors of wars is that wars usher in world order shifting because right now folks right now so we need look we need nationalism to die around the world we need nationalism in order for the Antichrist to come in and make this treaty that it turns into a one-world government through war we need nationalist nations and we do nationalism to die but and what is the West pushing today West is pushing this idea of globalism today but guess what globalism is dying globalism is dying today if you're paying attention globalism for the globalist it's not going well because the rest of the world look clown world's ideas are being rejected by the world and like clown clown world doesn't want to go down without a fight this is the problem this word gets dangerous right here NATO is fracturing these treaties these treaties these these these countries these the West that's pushing this globalist idea it's being rejected by the world we're seeing the uniting of the Muslim world that has never happened in my lifetime where where like Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims are like coming together saying like hey we need to get together and I keep these guys out of our business because they just keep wrecking everything and they just want to take all our stuff and and tell us what to do like but here's the danger and how we need to apply the Bible properly look if clown world won't die quietly they will expect people within clown world to fight for it that is the pattern throughout history see Ukraine don't tell me that every single Ukrainian that is fighting and dying today believes in what that government was doing on the eastern side of the country they're all just farming and they're just doing they're living their lives and all sudden their country is destroyed why because like if you don't fight against the wickedness of a government if you're just silent and you want to live your lives and you don't say hey this is wicked stuff this this sodomy and all this perversion and all these things that we're pushing on the whole world and pushing on children and all these things this is wicked this is against the Bible it's against God if nothing is said eventually you will be expected to fight for those ideas that's the history that's the pattern throughout history and here's the real problem here's the real problem this idea of Zionism and again this idea that oh if you're not a Zionist meaning if you don't agree that 1948 was of God which how could you read the Bible and agree with that this idea that that doesn't really matter and all this look this idea that Zionism it makes the Christian lose his moral compass it makes the Christian like love war I mean what is wrong with Christians today you say oh it doesn't matter oh see but God reunited Israel so whatever they do is right no that's not Israel that's your first mistake and it's a horribly fatal moral mistake because you're like oh they can kill and oppress whoever they want that's God what is wrong with these people Jews and Muslims both need to be saved a Muslim child getting blown up and killed is just as valuable as a Jewish child getting blown up and killed it's not like oh just don't kill them all give me a break people say this stuff the Christian who believes in this pre-trib Zionism has a moral compass that is backwards today you say it doesn't matter yeah it matters I'm actually starting to see how much it matters look wars all around are the majority of wars all around are being used to shift world orders that's what they're being used for and they're used by wicked people all around we can't have some some fake you know theology that's been sold to Christians that don't know what their Bible says that just allows wicked things to happen to innocent people look it's it's innocent people on both sides is a wicked thing being killed we have to have this is why even these end times events I hope you understand that even these clues in these end times events understanding these things properly reading the Bible and understanding what the Bible says you notice how well all this fit together we just looked at this through the Bible whenever somebody starts teaching you doctrine that they have to like do all kinds of backflips and twists and oh yeah but this this whatever that makes no sense that should just throw off red flags but look it we're seeing how how really that could affect how we think about things today and moreover there's this idea that if we think that Jesus is just coming back and nothing's going to precede that guess who we're looking for today we're looking for Jesus instead of the Antichrist now go to verse number five of Matthew chapter 24 what is the preceding context of wars and rumors of wars look at the preceding context of it and you'll see why it's so dangerous to even be a tree pre-tribber to think that oh Jesus is just going to come back at any moment because then who am I looking for who am I looking for if I think Jesus can just come back at any time I'm looking for Jesus but who's really coming this wicked evil world ruler that claims to be what one of the Bible tells us this look at verse five look at verse number five verse number six is you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars but what's the context what I always tell you if you don't understand a verse in the Bible read a few verses above it and a few few verses past it and you're usually going to figure things out because what do people that teach false doctrine do they pick one verse and they go make up some story but look up look up at verse number five where Jesus says this he says for many shall come in my name saying what and here's another one what did you did Jesus ever claim he was the Christ many shall come in my name saying I am Christ what's the Antichrist gonna do he's gonna come he's gonna say he's the Christ you know what the Muslims are looking for a Christ the Jews today they're looking for a Christ there's all these religions across the world you know what a lot of unsaved Christians today are looking for a Christ to come back because they're not looking for the Antichrist because they think oh poof Jesus can come get me I'm gonna see this great world leader you know what they're not even saved they're not even saved and they'd be like oh that's Jesus because the Bible says that it's only the elect it's only the saved that will not be deceived I don't care what you identify as if you have not trusted 100% in Jesus Christ you are not saved I don't care if you go to a Catholic Church you go to a church with a cross on it or whatever it is or you call yourself a Christian that's what it takes and look the person that believes in a hundred percent and is trusted in Jesus and never goes to church is saved because it has nothing to do with going to church it's only to do with trusting in Jesus and that person if they know the Bible they're looking for the Antichrist not Jesus Christ it's a big deal it's a big deal it's a bit you're looking for the wrong person you're looking for the wrong person and that's why if you wonder why you see so many Christians today that are just so backwards on what is happening it's because they don't know what the Bible says they've been taught false doctrine saved or unsaved but look it's an embarrassment it's an embarrassment because all of these you know what these unsaved people need across the world you know what the Muslims need they don't need to be blown up you know what they need they need somebody to walk up and preach the gospel to them these these Jews are not saved need somebody to walk up and preach the gospel to them all these people Hindus Buddhists I don't care what they are they don't need to be fought against and blown up they need the gospel they need Jesus Christ that's what they need and for us we need to be educated because God told us how it's gonna go and you know what it's going that way it's going that way all we have to do is study the word listen to the word you know what our moral compass as frustrating as these things this is why Jesus told us these things so at least we wouldn't be confused we wouldn't be offended we would know and I'm so glad that I can at least see with a straight moral compass and I thank God for the Bible to forgive him that he could have just saved and just left it from there but he and I would save us he gave us the truth so we could see these things happening we know exactly why we know exactly who and you know the wind is kind of gonna work itself out but we got these milestones let's bow our heads have a word of prayer you you