Turning Point - David Jeremiah

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Turning Point. The Book of Revelation covers a
full spectrum of subjects, from the events of the end
times to depictions of heaven. But through it all, Revelation
is about Jesus. Today, doctor David Jeremiah begins a series
in Revelation titled Escape the Coming Night with a message

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that firmly places Christ as the central focus. Listen now
as David introduces a panorama of prophecy.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, we have taught the Book of Revelation before, but
we never teach it but that it gets a greater
response than when we taught it before. So hang on
to your Bible and your notebook and get ready to
follow as we take a journey through the Book of Revelation.
We're not going to be in a hurry. We'll talk
about everything that's in the book. Today, we're going to

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show you a panorama of prophecy that we'll kind of
give you the bookends of this series, and then we'll
get involved in the verse five verse discussion beginning in
Revelation chapter one in just a few days. Thank you
so much for joining us. This is the last day
of the month, but it's the first day of a
new series. So on this last day, let me once

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more to tell you can still get the book that
we offered during the month of March, which is one
hundred Bible Versus everyone should know by heart, and it's
by Rob Morgan, and it's our way of saying thank
you for your gift to turning point. Make your best
gift and ask for this book and we'll send it
to you as our way of saying thank you and

(01:40):
adding value to your Christian walk. Well, we need to
get started with this opening lesson. Here is a panorama
of prophecy.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
God is not afraid to predict the future because you see.
To God what is yet to have and is as
certain as what has already happened. He sees the end
of all things as clearly as their beginning. For us,
it's yet in the future. For God, it's all in
the present. God doesn't have any past or future. God

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only has one tense present. So prophecy for God is easy.
He sees it as it happens, he sees it as present.
And it is no surprise to us that God's book
contains many predictions of the future. At least one fifth
of the Bible foretold the future. At the time in

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which it was written. Many predictions have already been fulfilled,
especially those in the Old Testament, and especially those relating
to the birth and life and death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. And yet there are many prophecies that are
yet to be fulfilled, particularly those concerning the second Coming

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of Christ. You will remember that Jesus Christ predicted through
the Word of God that he would die, that he
would go to the grave, and that he would be resurrected.
And if the importance of a doctrine can be judged
by the number of times that it is mentioned in
the Bible, then the Second Coming of Christ is a

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very important doctrine. For the second Coming of Christ is
one of the most often mentioned truths in all of
the Bible. For instance, the second Coming of Christ is
mentioned three hundred and eighteen times in the New Testament,
way more than once per chapter. After Jesus returned to
heaven from his first visit to this earth, we are

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told that two angels appeared to his disciples, and they said, ye,
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven.
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into
heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen him go into heaven Acts one eleven. And the

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announcement of those angels concerning the coming again of Jesus
Christ was the first post christ prophetic message. Jesus is
coming again, and all of the Book of Revelation and
all of the unfolding if prophecy, as it is given
to us in the Word of God, is basically galvanized

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around that simple truth that Christ is coming again to
this earth. We are not interested in the tribulation, or
the millennium, or the future state, or all of the
prophetic odyssey that is before us in the Book of
Revelation unless we understand it as the truth of the
coming again of Jesus Christ. In some of the old

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copies of the Scripture, they have written above the Book
of Revelation the Revelation of Saint John. That's a terrible,
terrible error, and please note it's not inspired. The revelation
is not of Saint John. The revelation is of Jesus Christ.
The word revelation is the word of Acalypsis. It means

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the unfolding, the unveiling of and that last book in
the New Testament is the unfolding of Jesus Christ. He
is the center of all prophecy, and if we don't
see that, we will miss the theme of that which
is before us now. The question that is often asked
when we think about the coming of Christ again to
this earth is why must Jesus come again? Why is

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it important? And what is the purpose of his coming?
And there are two or three reasons I want to
lay before you. Is we set the stage for this
study in prophetic truth. First of all, Jesus must come
back to take his Church to be with him. The
first reason for the return of Christ to this earth
is in order that Christ might take his Church to

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be with him forever. One of the great images of
the Church of Jesus Christ and the New Testament, found
in Ephesians, Second Corinthians, and Revelation, is the image of
the Church of Jesus Christ as the bride of Christ,
as a bride eagerly awaits the day when she will
be united in marriage to her bridegroom. So the Church,

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the bride of Christ, is waiting for the time when
she will be united with Christ in marriage. When Christ
comes again, the first thing that he shall do at
the rapture is to take the Church of Jesus Christ
to be with him, And in heaven will be the
marriage supper of the Lamb, the symbolic uniting of Christ,

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the bridegroom, and the Church, which is the bride together
for one as forever in eternity. Now, when Christ takes
his own to heaven, one by one, they will stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. By the way, sometimes
people ask me, if there are so many Christians who
need to be judged, why doesn't Christ judge them immediately

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after their death and save time so that when the
tribulation is going on down here on this earth, he
will already have some of them judged. I hope you
know the answer to that. The answer to that is
very simple. You don't finish your work when you die.
After your death, you keep on working. You say, how
is that Your influence keeps on working. Your life as

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it is influenced to others, keeps on working over and
over again. You stop and think about that. I visited
the Moody Bible Institute.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
You know, D. L.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Moody's been dead for a long time, but he's still working,
still piling up points. And when he gets to the
judgment seat of Christ. He will get all that he
has done in his lifetime and all that he accomplished
even after his death. The judgment seat of Christ takes
place in heaven while the tribulation is going on here
on this earth. Now, the Bible says that those who

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have faithfully lived for Christ and carried out his commands
will receive rewards from him, and those who have been
careless Christians will suffer loss. That is a truth that
is often misunderstood, and we have taken all the sting
out of that. But the judgment seed of Christ is
not anything to take lightly. The Bible says, someday Christians

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will stand before the judgment seed of Christ, not to
determine whether or not they shall go to heaven, for
they're already there.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
You see.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
The judgment seed of Christ takes place after we're in heaven,
not in order to find out if we'll go there.
But it will be a time when we will give
an account of the works done in our body, and
we will be assigned places of authority in the millennium
based upon our faithfulness to God here in this earth. Now,
there are no prophecies that I'm aware of that need

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to be fulfilled before Christ comes in the air to
catch away the saints. Nothing yet that needs to happen.
His coming is what we call eminent. According to First Thessalonians,
chapter four, there are several things that are going to happen.
You know the verse. Well. Christ will descend from heaven
with a shouted command, the voice of an angel, the

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trumpet of God. God and all who have died believing
in Christ will be raised, and the bodies of living
Christians will be changed instantaneously, and we will all be
caught up to meet the Lord in the air. There
will be reunions, there will be a rapture, And of
course the word rapture is a word which means to
be caught up. I always think of this when I

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think of the rapture, I think of having a magnet
and passing it over a box that has some metal
objects in it, and the magnet passes over the box,
and the metal objects are attracted to the magnet and
they're caught up to the magnet. When you accept Jesus Christ,
you become sensitized to the rapture, so that when Christ

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comes back, he doesn't come clear to the earth he
comes to the air over the earth, and everybody who
has Christ living within them, everybody who has in dwelt
by the Holy Spirit, will be like that piece of
metal that will be just caught up to be with
the Lord, raptured out, snatched away to be with the Lord.
That's the rapture. Now you will notice that the rapture

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is just the first phase of the Second Coming. It's
just phase one. It takes place before the tribulation. The
second Coming takes place at the end of the tribulation.
And a lot of folks get that confused. They try
to take all the signs, for instance of Matthew twenty
four and say all of those things have to happen
before the rapture. Well, that's not true. They are significant

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to the rapture in this respect. Now listen carefully. Those
are signs which have to do with the second Coming
of Christ. Now watch this. The second Coming of Christ
is how much later than the rapture. So it would
be reasonable to expect that some of the signs which

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are necessary before the Second Coming of Christ will be
in their incipient form evident even seven years earlier than that.
And I personally believe we're beginning to see some of
the signs of the second coming of Christ, seven years
in advance of their ultimate fulfillment, but already beginning in
their elemental stage. As we view the world today now,

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the second reason why Christ must come back to this
earth is not only to take the Church to be
with himself, but to judge the world. The Bible says
that Jesus Christ is coming back to this world to
judge this world. The Church is going to meet Christ
and be transported to Heaven to the judgment seat of Christ.

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Later on, Christ will return to judge the world. Between
these two phases of his second coming is a period
of seven years, a time of trouble which will be
climaxed by the Lord's return in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not

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the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.
Second Thessalonians one eight and nine. The prospect of Christ's
return to judge men gave the apostle Paul a sense
of soberness and urgency. He wrote to young Timothy these words. Timothy,

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pastoring the church in Ephesus, and Paul the older in
the faith and understanding the significance of the Lord's return.
Even back in those days, Paul wrote to Timothy, and
he said, Timothy, I charge thee therefore before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick, or
the living and the dead at his appearing. He used

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the coming of Christ as a strong admonition to motivate
young Timothy to do right. He said, in essence, Timothy,
you do right, because Jesus is coming again, and someday
you'll give an account to him. He is coming back
to take the church to be with him. He is
coming back to judge the world. But thirdly, he is
coming back to rule the world. Jesus Christ is coming

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back to rule the world. Turning your Bibles, if you will,
back to the Old Testament Book of Daniel. Daniel chapter seven,
Verses thirteen and fourteen tell us of the ultimate rule
which Christ will assume when he returns the second time.
Notice what it says. If you have a Bible that

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delineates a prosaic from poetic form, you'll note that this
is a poetic discussion. Verse thirteen. I was watching in
the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man,
coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the
ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
Then to him was given dominion and glory and a

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kingdom that all peoples and nations in language should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.
Christ is coming back to this earth someday, not only
to take his own to be with him. He's coming
back to judge the world that denied him. But one

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day he's coming back to rule this old world, and
he will have dominion from sea to sea, from one
end of the world to the next, and he will
rule in righteous dominion. It is in that period we
call the millennium the thousand year reign of Christ. Now,
isn't it interesting, as we think back over the life
of the Lord Jesus, that while he was on this

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earth the first time, he did not take over even
the government is own small country. He did not even
take over the government of Palestine. And it was largely
for this reason that the Jewish people of Jesus' day
misunderstood him. They were expecting the Messiah to come and
to conquer and rule and give them political freedom. And

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when Jesus did not fulfill their expectations, they despised him,
and eventually they crucified him. But the New Testament promises
that Christ will yet come again and to take into
his own hands the government of this world, and the
Apostle John, looking forward to that in a future time, wrote,
the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of

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our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign
forever and ever. Handel must have seen that in his
mind when he penned those words in the Messiah and
made them come alive for all of us forever and forever.
Now that's the basic reason for Christ coming back to

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this earth. There are three of them to take the church,
to be with him, to judge the world, and then
ultimately to rule the world. And we'll see all of
those aspects in the Book of Revelation. But the next
question I want to answer by way of introduction and
to set the stage for all we're going to be
talking about, is what is going to happen when Jesus
comes back. You may think that modern men are the

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first to have questions about the future. Not so. Matthew
twenty four tells us that there were disciples who questioned
the future and didn't understand what was going on with
the future. Verse three of the twenty fourth chapter says, Now,
as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples
came to him privately, saying, tell us, when will these

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things be? And what will be the sign of your
coming and of the end of the age. And we
have been wondering those questions ever since, haven't we What
shall be the sign of your coming and of the
end of the age. How shall we know when the
time approaches? And what's going to happen when Jesus comes back. Well,
I haven't time to give you all the details, but

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I want to hit some of the high points if
I can, to give you an understanding of what is
to transpire when Jesus comes back to this earth. When
the disciples ask him what would be the sign of
his coming, he told them there would be many signs
to indicate that his coming is drawing near. These signs
always point, Now watch this carefully. They always point to

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Christ's coming to establish his kingdom on the earth, not
to the Rapture. I've already said that, but I don't
want you to forget that. The only way they relate
to the rapture is that coming events cast their shadow
before them, and we live in the shadow time of
these events. Paul and Peter and John tell us of

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conditions that will exist just before Christ's return on earth,
and the general picture is not a pretty one. It's
a picture of conditions that get worse, not better. Things
will get so bad that God himself will step in
and straighten them out and bring about judgment and justice
and truth. And Christ's return for his own at the

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rapture will trigger a series of events that will lead
to the subsequent return of Christ to establish a righteous
kingdom on this earth. The day after the rapture, the
Spirit of God will have no restraint influence on this
earth at all. If you take what's going on in
our world today with drugs and with lawlessness, and with murder,

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and with all of the things that are running rampant
in this globe, let me tell you the only restraining
influence that keeps it from going crazier than it already
is is the presence of the Holy Spirit living within
the lives of God's children. And the Bible says that
the rapture, every Christian will be jerked out of here,
and this earth will be left without any influence of
the Holy Spirit at all. Can you imagine what it

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will be like? Somebody says, how could the world get
as bad as it gets in the tribulation? That's easy.
Man left to himself without any influence from God will
make the tribulation come to pass. And the Bible says
that after the rapture, the tribulation will take place. The tribulation,

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you see, is a seven year period between the rapture
of the Church and Christ's return to reign, and it
will be a period of great conflict and confusion and wickedness.
If you have your bibles open still to Matthew twenty four,
look at verse twenty one, For there will be great
tribulations such as has not been since the beginning of

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the world. Until this time, no nor ever shall be
you talk about bad times. The tribulation, according to the Bible,
will be the worst time the world has ever known
under any circumstances. There will never have been anything like
that before. The Bible indicates that this will approximately last

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in its beginning three and a half years. During this time,
in the first part of the tribulation, the climax of
generally worsening conditions, God's anger against the wicked will be shown,
and the signs of Christ's coming will fully come to pass.
If you want a graphic description of the tribulation period,
it is recorded in Revelation chapters eleven through chapter eighteen.

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Now believe verse of this present age who are alive
at the beginning of the tribulation are guaranteed deliverance from
the seven years of God's outpour judgment upon the earth.
That's what we mean when we say we're pre tribulational.
We're going to be taken out of here before the
tribulation begins. The Bible says, we have been saved from

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the hour of wrath, not saved in it, not saved
to endure it, but saved from it. The Bible says,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are
in Christ. Jesus, I do not intend to spend one
day in the tribulation, not one. I believe that when
the rapture comes, all of God's children will be taken

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out of here before the tribulation begins. Now Here are
just a few characteristics of the tribulation. It will be
characterized by worldwide judgment. And in the Book of Revelation
that's symbolized by a number of symbols, the seals and
the trumpets and the files. I can't wait to tell
you all this stuff when we get to that part

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of it, because it's just so graphically described, and it's
so interesting as we look at what's happening today and
we wondered in the years past, how could those things
ever happen, And now it's easy to see how they
could happen. And the tribulation will be characterized by persecution
of Israel. Israel is going to go through it during
the tribulation. That's why the word tribulation has a synonym

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in the Old Testament. You know what it is. It's
called the time of Jacob's Trouble. The time of Jacob's trouble,
Jacob symbolizing Israel. The period of the seven years is
a time of intense persecution of the Jews. Salvation of
multitudes who had no chance to believe prior to the
rapture will take place during the tribulation. People will be

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saved during the seven year tribulation. And some of you say, well,
that's what I'll do. I'll just wait until the rapture
takes place. I'll have all kinds of fun and not
be a Christian, and when you all are gone, I'll
know it's time to get serious, and then I'll get saved. No,
it's not going to work that way. The Bible says
you can't do that. Maybe I better show you that

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because you probably don't believe that. Turning your bibles to
Second Thessalonians chapter two. You can't get saved in the
tribulation if you've heard the Gospel before Second Thessalonians chapter two.
When we study prophecy, we can't just stay in one
place like we're accustomed to doing. So oil the hinges

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on your bible, all right, Second Thessalonians chapter two. Here's
a description of what happens in the tribulation. And for
this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they
should believe the lie that they all may be condemned.
Now watch this, who did not believe the truth but

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had pleasure in unrighteousness? When did they not believe the
truth when it was preached to them? Before the tribulation,
and because they already heard it, they're not going to
get a chance to believe it again because they will
be deceived into not believing it. Second, Thessalonians two eleven
and twelve, Verse ten says, and with all unrighteous deception
among those who perish, because they did not receive the

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love of the Truth that they might be saved. They
had the chance to be saved, and they weren't saved.
And now in the tribulation they'll not have a chance again.
They'll be deceived and they will not receive Christ. But
some who never heard the gospel will be saved in
the tribulation, and apparently, from what we can understand, many
of them will be immediately martyred. They will die for

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their faith during the tribulation period. Also, we are introduced
to the second theme I want to talk about, and
that is the man of sin or the Antichrist. Well,
we'll put a period there and continue this discussion on
the Tuesday edition of Turning Point as we turn over
the calendar to the month of April. Thank you so

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much for your faithfulness during the month of March. You know,
we kind of look at Turning Point in monthly sections,
and some months are harder than others financially. February is
one of those months. For some reason, April can be
one of those months too, So thank you for your faithfulness,
and remember your gifts are totally tax deductible. They go

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for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is
to buy airtime and to produce these programs so that
they are available every day. And we are so thankful
for your participation. Thank you for helping us in the
month of March. Pray with us as we enter into
April in this new series.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
I'm David Jeremiah, so good to be with you and
thank you for joining us. Have a good day.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
For more information on doctor Jeremiah's series Escape the Coming Night,
please visit our website, where we also offer two free
ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine Turning
Points and our daily email devotional Sign up today at
David Jeremiah dot org, slash Radio. That's Davidjeremiah dot org,
slash Radio, or call us at eight hundred ninety four

(25:17):
seven nineteen ninety three. Ask for your copy of Robert J.
Morgan's powerful best selling book one hundred Bible Versus Everyone
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For a gift of any amount. You can also purchase
the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International,
and New King James versions, available in a variety of

(25:39):
handsome cover options. Get all the details when you visit
our website at David Jeremiah dot org. Slash Radio, this
is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue
the series Escape the Coming Nights here on Turning Point