Voddie Baucham - The End of the Age

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, if you have your Bibles with you, open them
to Daniel chapter twelve, Daniel chapter twelve, and you'll be
relieved to know that Daniel chapter twelve is only a
fraction as long as Daniel chapter eleven. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise
the Lord, Daniel chapter twelve. And as you find Daniel

(00:23):
chapter twelve, we will read this chapter. And I think
we say this every time we come to the end
of a book. We always say, how sad we are
to see a book come to a close when we
have preached all the way through a book. But I
have to admit, dealing with the second half of Daniel,

(00:45):
I'm sad to see Daniel go, but there'll be a
little relief not having to work through some of the
most difficult passages in the entire Bible. And exception to
that rule, Daniel chapter twelve is another one of those places.

(01:05):
It's very difficult, but I am also encouraged because you know,
we read through Daniel, and we wade through Daniel, and
we find all these passages that are so difficult, and
every once in a while when we're beginning to feel
like maybe we lacked intellectual acumen or maybe you know,
we just lack spiritual maturity or whatever. There are these moments,
and there's one here in Daniel chapter twelve where he goes,

(01:27):
I don't get it, and I go, thank you, Lord.
I just needed to hear that from Daniel right now
that he's writing these things and he didn't get it
because I don't get it.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Amen, we're not.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Alone, but we will understand it better by and by,
to quote the hymn writer, Daniel chapter twelve, let's read
this together. And as we read it together, note that
we have two main paragraphs here in Daniel chapter twelve,
and they're almost symmetrical, not not quite exactly symmetrical, but

(02:02):
you see the same pattern going on in the first
half and the second half. You see then angelic being,
and you see a reference to the tribulation coming to
God's people. You see a reference to God's people being
identified and separate from those who are wicked. You also

(02:26):
see the sealing up of this vision, and so on
and so forth. You see it twice here in Daniel
chapter twelve. And you'll notice that as we go from
verses one through four to verses five through the end
of the chapter, it reads at that time, and remember
we've gone from talking about Antiochus fourth to talking about the.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
End of the age.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
And now we read at that time shall arise Michael,
the great Prince, who has charge of your people, And
there shall be a time of trouble such as never
has been since there was a nation till that time.
But at that time your people shall be delivered everyone
whose name shall be found written in the book, And

(03:15):
many of those who sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some who everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall
shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those
who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

(03:35):
But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book.
Until the time of the end. Many shall run to
and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Now next paragraph, notice
some of the same elements. Then I, Daniel looked, and
behold two others stood, one on this bank of the
stream and one on that bank of the stream. And

(03:58):
someone said to the man clothed in linen, often a
reference to angels. There who was above the waters of
the stream. So we know that this is an angelic being.
How long shall it be till the end of these wonders.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was
above the waters of the stream. He raised his right

(04:21):
hand and his left hand toward heaven, and swore by
him who lives forever, that it would be for a
time times and half a time, and that when the
shattering of the power of the Holy People comes to
an end, all these things would be finished.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
I heard, but I did not understand.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Then I said, oh, my Lord, what shall be the
outcome of these things? He said, go your way, Daniel,
For the words are shut up and sealed until the
time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make
themselves white and be refined. But the wicked shall act wickedly,

(05:07):
and none of the wicked shall understand. But those who
are wise shall understand. And from the time that the
regular burnt offerings is taken away and the abomination that
makes desolate is set up, there shall be one two
hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits and
arrives at the one thousand, three hundred and thirty five days.

(05:32):
But go your way to the end, and you shall rest,
and shall stand in your allotted place at the end
of the days. Amen, beautiful way to end the book
of Daniel. And there are a number of things here again,

(05:52):
elements that you find in the first half and in
the second half that are parallel to one another. And
what I want you to do is I want you
to see these elements. But I also want you to
think about presuppositions that we have about the end of
the age, because I believe that Daniel chapter twelve turns
some of those presuppositions on their head. There are things

(06:13):
that we just presume to be true, things that we've
been told again and again and again and again and again,
things that have been written in books that have been popularized,
that we just absolutely do not question that we ought
to question, and I believe Daniel chapter twelve helps us
to question that. One thing that we see is we
see the encouraging presence of angelic beings. We see that

(06:36):
in verse one, and also in verses five and six.
Look again with me in verse one time, shall arise, Michael,
the great Prince.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Who has charge of your people.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Angels are, according to your Hebrews one fourteen, ministering spirits
sent out to serve for the sake of those who
are to inherit salvation. Angels and angelic beings are those
sent out to.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Serve God's people, to keep watch over God's.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
People, if you will, this is encouraging when you see
the angelic beings there also in verse five and six,
this is encouraging to us.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
It is an encouragement to us.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Now, just like anything else, there's a ditch on both
sides of the road. There's a ditch on one side
when we pretend like there is no spiritual realm, when
we pretend like there is actually no angelic aid for
the people of God. And the ditch there, of course,
is that we're ignoring the clear teaching of scripture. The
Bible teaches very clearly that angels exist and that angels

(07:41):
are ministering spirits, and that they are ministering on behalf
of God's elect on behalf of God's people. So we
need to understand that and believe that the ditch on
the other side of the road is that everything becomes angelic.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Amen, somebody, you know what we wrestle with.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
For example, we were at the same thing happens when
we talk about demonic which are fallen angels. There's the
world the flesh and the devil. How many if you
know that most of what you deal with is the world.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
And the flesh.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Amen, Devil ain't worried about you. You're absolutely not that important.
And you're so wicked that you know you don't even
need his help. You can't even deal with the world
and the flesh, and you're worried about the devil all
over the place. Amen. So most of the time what
we're dealing with is the world and the flesh, and

(08:34):
not you know, these demonic spirits directly acting upon you
or against you. And the same thing occurs when you
talk about the spiritual realm and the angels and the
way that angels operate. It is not that we are
somehow walking around in this bubble of angels and that
everything that we do is sort of being, you know,

(08:55):
handled by them, if you will.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's not the way the world works.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
But God in his providence has provided angels as ministry
experience who serve and intervene on behalf of his people.
The second thing is the angels are frequently mentioned in
passages about the general.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Resurrection on the last Day.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
We see that here by the way, clearly at that
time shall arise Michael, the great Prince, who has charge
of your people. And there shall be a time of
trouble such as never has been since there was a
nation till that time. But at that time your people
shall be delivered everyone whose name shall be found written
in the book and many verse two. Of those who

(09:45):
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
who everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
It's interesting that you read about angelic beings here in
the context of this passage Matthew, chapter sixteen, verse twenty seven.
For example, for the son of Man is going to
come with his angels and glory and the glory of

(10:09):
his father, and then he will repay each person according
to what he has done. So Christ is going to return.
He's going to return with his angels, and he's going
to return at the end of the age to pay
each person according to what he has done, or to
judge the living and the dead according to what they
have done. And so here we see judgment and angelic

(10:30):
beings at the time of judgment Matthew, chapter twenty four
and verse twenty four, verse thirty one.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
And isn't it just providential that.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Just like God that today we're here in Daniel chapter
twelve and our New Testament reading just you know, randomly
is Matthew chapter twenty four. And he shall send out
his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will
gather his elect from the four wins, from the from

(11:00):
one end of the heaven to the other. So here's
a picture. Christ is coming with his angels. He's going
to judge the living and the dead. But now we
see a picture of the angels being active participants in
calling up those believers.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
The angels call the side of the grave.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
The angels will swoop down and gather up God's people.
That there is this spiritual supernatural activity that is going on.
By the way, it has to be a spiritual supernatural
activity going on for dead people to rise.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Amen. Matthew twenty five thirty one.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
When a sun a man comes in his glory and
all the angels with him, then he shall sit on
his glorious throne, Mark chapter eight and verse thirty eight.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
For whoever is.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
Ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation of him, will the son of Man
also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of
his Father with the Holy Angels. Again and again and
again we see this reality. So we know angelic beings
are ministering spirits, but nowhere are they more active than

(12:19):
at the end of the age. It is as though
the end of the age comes. And we'll talk about
this momentarily, but in a moment we're going to see
this sort of heightening tension that comes at the end
of the age. And as there's this heightening tension, there
is a heightening persecution. But as there is heightening tension
and heightening persecution and we get close to the end
of the age, it is as though God is amassing

(12:42):
his troops and the angels are making ready, and they're
standing at their ready waiting for the trumpet call that
they might descend with Christ to do battle on his
behalf and awaken his elect call them to his presence
and inaugurate the end of the age. When you like

(13:05):
to see, says, will be demel get a hold of that.
I just fear sometimes that our faith is not supernatural enough.
I just fear sometimes that we get so caught up
in the mundane and the day to day that we
begin to think that we only serve a God who

(13:29):
deals with spring toes and headaches and grandma's you know,
trip to the doctor, and you know, these things that
we sort of become accustomed to praying about and bringing
before the Throne of Grace, which are so petty and
so small in the grand scheme of things. Now, I know,
when you get ready to go see the doctor, it's

(13:50):
not small to you. But if you put it into
the perspective of the God whom you serve, whose forces
will be amassed on that day, it changes things. When

(14:10):
you recognize that these beings stand ready for service to God.
You recognize that whatever it is that you're dealing with
or wrestling with, it's not going to overwhelm the God
whom we serve.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Beyond this, we also see the angels here are not
just coming for ethnic Jews at the end of the age,
but for all God's people. Notice this and watch the transition.
At that time, shall arise Michael, the Great Prince, who
has charge over your people. Now immediately we hear that

(14:50):
he's speaking to Daniel, Daniel's Jew who's in exile in Babylon. Right,
So Michael has charge over your people. And we think
the Jews in Babylon, and there shall be a time
of trouble such as never has been since there was
a nation till that time. What nation? I guess we're
talking about the nation of the Jews. Okay, But at

(15:12):
that time your people shall be delivered. Watch this, everyone
whose names shall be found written in the book is
that every ethnic Jew. Absolutely not. So now your people
doesn't refer to every ethnic Jew. And many of those

(15:34):
who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
What's being referred to here? Who are your people? Your
people are the people of God. Daniel's people are the
people of God. There are some people who are ethnic
Jews with him in Babylon who are less His people

(15:59):
than you and I are.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
If we're in Christ. Let me say that again.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Here's Daniel in Babylon in captivity with other ethnic Jews,
and there are some of those about whom this statement
is true. You and I, who are not ethnic Jews,
are more His people than those who were with him
in Babylon at that time. Why because if they were

(16:29):
not God's by faith, if they did not belong to
God by faith, they weren't really Daniel's people at all.
But you and I, who belong to him by faith,
are Daniel's people. And so Michael is not just in
this picture. When you read it and flesh it out.

(16:51):
There is this coming for the people of God. This
is not just coming for Israel. Yeah, it's coming for
the Israel of God, the Church of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
But this is not just about one particular ethnic and
geopolitical people group. But is this what we read in
Romans chapter nine, verses sixteen to thirteen. But it is
not as though the word of God has failed. For
not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
and not all are children of Abraham because they are
his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

(17:25):
This means that it is not the children of the
flesh who are children of God, but the children of
the Promise. According to the Promise, are counted as offspring.
The children of the Promise are counted as offspring. The
others are not counted as offspring. Who belongs to God
who are God's people? Those by faith are God's people.

(17:46):
Notice the difference between the people who belong to God
and the people who don't is whether or not they
are wise. Now that reference to wisdom doesn't mean if
you're really smart, you belong to God, and if you're not,
you don't belong to God. But those who are wise
are those who are made wise. They come to knowledge,

(18:09):
they come to understanding. They are given this knowledge and
this understanding. We see this later. Look with me, for example,
in verse ten, many shall purify themselves and make themselves
white and be refined. We know that's a picture of salvation.
We've been seeing that in Revelation. Those who clothe themselves
in white robes the ones who are made righteous by
the lamb. But the wicked shall act wickedly, and none

(18:34):
of the wicked shall understand. But those who are wise
shall understand those who are wicked. So wisdom here is
the opposite of wickedness. He's not here talking about intelligence.
He's talking about those who understand, by the grace of God,
those who come to this truth. You are not saved
because you are smarter than other people. Amen, smarter people

(18:57):
than you will go to hell. First of all, there
are smarter people than you. I should probably start there.
For some of you. You need me to take that step. Okay,
there are smarter people than you, and there are smarter
people than you who will end up in hell. Coming

(19:20):
to faith in Jesus Christ. He's not about your intellect.
It is about the grace of God. And on that
last day it will not be about those merely who
were intelligent. Another great Passages, Ephesians two eleven to twenty two.
I'll leave you to read that one. In addition to

(19:42):
this encouraging presence of angelic beings, we also have the
discouraging reality of persecution. We see that in in verse one,
and also in verse seven. Look at verse one again.
At that time shall rise Michael, the great Prince, who
was in charge of his people, and there shall be
a time of trouble such as never has been since

(20:05):
there was a nation till that time.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Go down with me in verse seven, and look in
verse seven.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was
above the waters and the streams. He raised his right
hand in his left hand toward Heaven and swore by
him who lives forever, that it would be for time
times and half a time, And that when.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Listen to this, the shattering of the power of the
Holy People comes to an.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
End, the shattering of the power of the Holy People.
He said it again and again and again and in
multiple ways, that at the end of the age there
would be great persecution of the people of God. At

(20:53):
the end of the age. Let me tell you this,
brothers and sisters, the Church will not escape tribulation. The
Church has not escaped tribulation. The Church is in the
midst of tribulation. And again this flies in the face

(21:14):
of what we hear so often. We have all just
been inundated with dispensational pre millennialism, and all of us,
I mean, we're just washed in it and bathed in it.
I'll never forget my first interview that I had to
interview for a church position was a young seminary and
I was going through this interview for a church position,

(21:35):
and I was actually asked, you know, if I believed
in a pre tribulation rapture, And everybody in the room
knew that if I said, I did not believe in
a pre tribulation rapture, and at that time I did
because I didn't know that there was anybody who was
a real Christian who didn't believe in a pre tribulation,
rapture of the Church. And so I'm like, yeah, yeah, Church,

(21:59):
through tribulation, Man, we're gonna be out of here.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
We're gonna be raptured. We're gone.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Of course I believe in that. I guess I didn't
pay attention to Daniel Chapter twelve. Watch this. Look at
what he says. And there shall be a time of
trouble such as never has been since there was a
nation till that time. But at that time your people

(22:28):
shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written
in the Book of the Life, written in the Book
of Life. And then we have the general resurrection after
this tremendous persecution. Here's the other thing it's going on now.
The only thing we find at the end of the

(22:49):
age is just that it has continued to intensify. There
is no secret rapture of the Church before the Great Tribulation.
It's just not there. There are no multiple raptures. It's
just not there. The calling up of the dead at
the end of the age is just that.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
It's the end of the age. It's one event.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
One fell swoop bam, Christ comes and it's over.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Give me a break.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Jesus is going to return for a thousand years, and
there's gonna be a new temple where there are sacrifices
being made to him while he's ruling on the earth,
and he's going to allow that blasphemy to go on.
Help you if you believe that that's blasphemy. Here's Jesus,

(23:41):
who is the Lamb of God, who was slain for
the sins of the people of God. And you're gonna
put a lamb or a goat on an altar and
kill that lamb or that goat while the Lamb of
God is ruling and ringing.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
No, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
And that is all presuppositional, all of it, every last
bit of it. It's not what the scriptures clearly teach.
But the good news is that God preserves his people

(24:22):
in the midst of it. There's also this picture of
the inevitability of the general resurrection and the Judgment Verses two,
ten and thirteen.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
We already looked at verse two. Look at it again.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame
and everlasting contempt. Notice this, okay, Because the secret rapture,
the secret pre trip rapture, is Basically, what that's supposed
to mean is that God's people are going to be
raptured and they're gonna be taken out of here secretly, okay.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
And.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Everybody else is going to be looking around, going, you
know what happened to them? Here's a general resurrection that
happens at the end of the age for everybody.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Look at verse ten.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Many should purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined.
But the wicked shall act wickedly. Verse thirteen. Go your
way to the end and you shall rest. I believe
that's a reference to the fact that Tenure is going
to die and shall stand in your allotted place at

(25:44):
the end of the days. That's a reference to him
being resurrected. But when at the end of the days,
at the end, at the end, at the end, at
the end, at the end Hebrews nine in verse twenty seven,

(26:08):
verse twenty six through tween, just as it is appointed
demand to die once and after that comes to judgment.
So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins
of many, will appear a second time, not to deal
with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting
for him. But he appears a second time, not a
second and a third says he appears a second time again.

(26:33):
Look at that again. Every man will die and then
he will face the judgment. And then right after that,
Christ is going to appear a second time for what
for the judgment?

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Not for a secret rapture for the judgment.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Listen to this one of the passages that is often
used to refer to this idea of a secret rapture
of the church, one Thessalonians four thirteen through eighteen.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I'm going to read, but we do.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Not want you to be uninformed, brothers about those By
the way, I heard this passage preached not long ago,
and the pastor took this. This was his text, and
he was preaching the whole idea of you know, dispensation
of premillennialism and the secret rapture of the church, and
you know, and then you know, all this sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
This was This was his, This was his text.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers
about those who are asleep. That you may not grieve
as others who have no hope for since we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus,
God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
For this we declare to you by a word from

(27:43):
the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left
until the coming of the Lord, who are left until
the coming of the Lord, who are left until the
coming of the Lord, this is when he comes at
the end of the age, will not proceed those who
have fallen asleep, For the Lord himself will descend from
heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of

(28:05):
an archangel. Does that sound like a secret and with
the sound of the trumpet of God? And the dead
in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive,
who are left, will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore,

(28:28):
encourage one another with these words. Where do you get
a secret rapture from that passage of scripture?

Speaker 2 (28:36):
It's not there. That's the end of the age. One
fell swoop one event.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
We also see a clear call to proclaim the truth
until he comes. Notice what we find back in verses
three and four. Those who are wise shall shine like
the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn
many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Those

(29:13):
who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars
forever and ever. The same thing we see again at
the second half, especially there in verse ten that we've
read a couple of times. The idea there is that
in the midst of all of this there is this
promise of God's angelic protection of his people. There's also

(29:35):
this promise that there's going to be this persecution. But
you see in the midst of this that there is
going to be this resurrection at the end of the age,
but also that between now and then that the people
of God will be called forth under righteousness, and that
there are those among the people of God who will
be especially marked out as those who call forth others

(29:56):
to righteousness. This sounds very familiar, doesn't it It ought
to Romans ten, verses fourteen to seventeen. How then will
they call on him whom they have not believed? And
how are they to believe in Him whom they have
never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

(30:18):
As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
those who preach the good news? They have not all
obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord who has believed
what he has heard from us, So faith comes from
hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. What's being
referenced here in Daniel is the same thing that God's

(30:43):
people are going to be called forth from now and
to the end of the age.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
How are God's.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
People going to be called forth from now to the
end of the age by the faithful proclamation of the Gospel,
by the way, not by scaring them with you know,
the idea of the second Coming.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
People aren't scared into the Kingdom of God. That's not
the gospel. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God
unto salvation.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's the gospel.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
This picture of the Second Coming, quite frankly, is of
much more use for those of us who know God
than it is for those who don't. Yes, we warn them,
but we warn them because of their sin, that God
will judge them, not warn them about the second Coming. Folks,
chances are you're not gonna make it to the Second Coming.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Last time

(31:41):
I checked, the death rate was one per person. I
didn't look today, I promise, But if I did look,
I doubt that it would have changed. More than likely.
You're going to die here. You are sitting up worried
about the second Coming of Jesus, when just before you
you could die, before you get your neck all the
way fixed to look up for him to come again.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
What do you do?

Speaker 1 (32:08):
Then?

Speaker 2 (32:11):
It's not the second Coming but the Gospel. Amen. The
second Coming is a picture that encourages us.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
It encourages us in the midst of tribulation. And I
guarantee you, folks, we are in the midst of tribulation.
Be ready before let me read it again in Revelation
chapter one, verse nine, I John, your brother and partner
in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance

(32:43):
that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmas
on account of the word of God, John says. And
Revelation chapter one. By the way, the idea is that
the great tribulation happens beginning of Revelation chapter six. Okay,
through three you have the church age, and then chapters
four and five the church has already been raptured up,

(33:05):
and we're in heaven and then in chapter six we're
looking at the great tribulation that's going on on the
earth while the church has already been raptured up. We'll
get back to that in a couple of weeks, but
let me just say for now, we don't buy that
that chapter six on and Revelation has nothing to do
with you and I in the here and now. Don't

(33:26):
buy that for a minute. Chapter six on in Revelation
has everything to do with you and me in the
here and the now.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
John says he's our partner in the tribulation. We are
in the midst of tribulation even now, and God has
a word for us in the midst of tribulation. Two
words for us. Number one, it's going to get worse
before it gets better. And number two, it won't last indefinitely.

(34:00):
How long is it gonna last? This angel says A
time times and half a time, a time, one times,
three and a half, a time three and a half.
How long is it gonna last? Three and a half

(34:21):
three and a half? What? No, you missed the point.
It's going to last three and a half, three and
a half. What you missed the point? Yeah, but you
can't just have three and a half. It's gotta be
three and a half of something. No, it doesn't have
to be three and a half of something, of course
it does. You can't just have like three and a
half three and a half what three and a half days,

(34:42):
three and a half hours, three and a half years,
three and a half millennia, three and a half what, Ah,
dear friend, remember our time. In revelation, there are numbers
that are extremely important. One of the most important numbers
is the number seven. The number seven is the number
of completion, completion. The number three and a half is

(35:06):
a broken seven, which means prior to completion, prior to
the completion of what Look with me again.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Verse seven.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
I heard the man clothed and lenen, who was above
the waters of the stream. He raised his right hand
and his left hand toward Heaven and swore by him
who lives forever, that it would be for a time
times and half a time, and that when the shattering
of the power of the Holy People comes to an end,

(35:46):
all these things would be finished, the shattering of the
power of the Holy People three and a half. If
it's a seven, you have the complete shattering of the

(36:09):
power of the Holy People. And they're done. Three and
a half is a broken seven. God stops it before
his people are wiped out. That's what a time times
and half a time means. That shattering is not seen

(36:33):
through to its completion.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
God halts it. How does he halt it?

Speaker 1 (36:41):
He amasses his armies, and the Son of God himself
rides in as the general of his armies. And before
the shattering of the power of the people of God
can be complete, Christ come and makes an end to

(37:02):
those who are attempting to make an end of us.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's what it means.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
There is this intensification, there is this gathering and growing,
but God will not leave us utterly for a second.
Finally we see the certainty that these things will come
to pass. In verses four and verse nine, he's told
to seal up these things, seal up this vision. Now,

(37:37):
to seal it up. What does that mean, Well, seal
this up. Daniel closed this up so other people won't
see it. Well, we see in the first half, end
of the second half that knowledge is going to increase.
People's understanding is going to increase. So he's not telling
Daniel not to do it. By the way, we have
the Book of Daniel, So seal it up doesn't mean Daniel,
I'm telling you this stuff, but I don't want you

(37:57):
to tell anybody, so don't write it because he wrote it.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Amen. So it doesn't mean that seal up these things?
Does it mean? Daniel?

Speaker 1 (38:06):
Here's the deal. You get these things and they're clear,
but I want you to obscure them so that other people.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
Don't get them. It can't mean that.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Why because Daniel went, I don't understand, Amen, So we
know that.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
It can't mean that. Seal it up. It can't mean that.
What does it mean?

Speaker 1 (38:25):
Well, remember when we read about that broken seal over
in Revelation, and there is a picture of the document
being sealed up, which is about the unleashing of the
judgment of God, but also the idea of a will
that is sealed and it's broken when it's time for

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you to receive your full inheritance. By the way, there
could be copies of it out there that are unofficial copies,
so that you can know what's in the will. But
you don't get what's in the will until the finality
of the event and the breaking of the seal on
the original seal it up, Daniel, it's going to come

(39:08):
to pass. My judgment will be poured out on the wicked,
and my people will have their full inheritance.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
But not right now.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Daniel can't understand this, because Daniel just thinks we're talking
about getting back. We're talking about getting back to the
Holy land. That's what he's thinking. There's this land of promise.
We're gonna get back to that land of promise, and
that's gonna.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Be the deal.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
That's gonna be it right there. No, Daniel, you have
no idea. That's not the breaking of the seal, because
that land right there is just a picture of the
idea of the land of promise for the people of God,
and this people right here is just the picture of
the actual people of God. You don't get the reality, Daniel.
You can't comprehend the reality, Daniel. But it will be

(39:57):
made clear, and the judgment and the promise will be
manifested in its entirety. Then we get this last part here,
verse eleven, out of nowhere, and from the time that
the regular burnt offerings is taken away and the abomination

(40:19):
that makes desolate is set up, there shall be one thousand,
two hundred and ninety days blessed is he who waits
and arrives at the one thousand, three hundred and thirty
five days.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Well, we know that we see that number one thy
two hundred and sixty days, which is right at three
and a half years. There is the solar rendering of
time that they had, which was three hundred and sixty
four days, and the lunar rendering of time that they had,
which made a year three hundred and fifty four days
their solar lunar sort of rendering that made it right

(40:55):
at three hundred and sixty days and three hundred and
sixty days. You're right there, smack dab in a mind
to elect twelve hundred and sixty days. But this goes
beyond any of those to one thy two hundred and
ninety days. So it's a little beyond the three and
a half years. And then there's another number which is

(41:16):
forty five days later. Several possibilities. One is that we
turn back and we talked about Antiochus again, because we
know that the work of Antiochus against the people of
God lasted right about three and a half years.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
And then it was a little over a.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Month later after God's people were delivered from Antiochus. It's
only about a month and a half later that he dies,
but this is pointing forward, I believe even beyond that.
I believe this is one of those prophecies that has
multiple fulfillments. We see this an Antiochus. Yeah, we see

(41:54):
this in Antichus. But Jesus in Matthew chapter twenty four,
refers back to this officey again talking about the end
of the age. I believe we saw this in eight
seventy as well, with the destruction of the temple. I
believe he saw that. But it also points to the
same ultimate reality. What's that ultimate reality? The ultimate reality

(42:18):
is this that there are those who oppress the people
of God, sometimes manifest in individuals who do so in
a very public way. But even that, it's cut short
because there is no man who can oppress the people

(42:40):
of God, and ultimately he will meet his end. And
I love it because in the very next verse we
get the so what, because we're left with that verse
right there, you know, verses eleven and twelve, scratching our.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Heads, going what is that? Who is that? Could be? This?
Could be that?

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Probably a combination of this and that and something else. Okay,
So what do we do with that verse thirteen, Go
your way to the end, you shall rest and shall
stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.
That's not just for Daniel, that's for you and me.

(43:24):
What do I do with this? Go your way to
the end, do what God's called you to do, Be
what God's called you to be, and then you're gonna rest.
You're gonna die, but that's okay because even death won't
stop you from standing in your allotted place at the

(43:46):
end of the age. Where's your allotted place with Christ?
So what's the twelve ninety and at thirteen thirty five?
Whatever it is, it's somebody who meets their end, and
they don't get to stand where I stand. They'll stand

(44:08):
for a while, But their standing and my standing are
two entirely different standings. Because I stand with the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. I stand with
Christ himself. I don't know what you are going to

(44:33):
be called to endure, but I do know this. In
this life you shall have trouble. I know that all
those who desire to live a godly life in Christ
Jesus shall be persecuted. And I know that whether you
and I are alive at the end of the age,

(44:54):
when these things have intensified, or whether we die a
thousand years ahead of that. We are going to experience trials, tribulation, persecution, heartache,
and difficulty. We are going to see men who mock God,

(45:15):
who terrorize the people of God. And we're going to
ask ourselves when we see this, God, how long are
you going to allow this man to do what he's
doing and say what he's saying before you do something
about it. And when you get to that place, and
just before you kind of lose yourself and shake your
fist at God, remember what he says to Daniel, I'm

(45:44):
in control. I'll deal with that. You just go your
way until the end, and then you just rest. Angels
call you, and then you'll stand in your allotted place

(46:08):
because of Christ who died in your allotted place. And
trust me, there will be no one at that time
making a mockery of God or his people.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Let's pray