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Before I start, I just want to say this. The Rapture is the resurrection. And that sentence is always rotating somewhere at the top of my mind. The rapture is the resurrection. The resurrection is the rapture. It's when we get our glorified bodies, and we're going to be walking with Jesus for the rest of eternity in those glorified bodies. And I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to getting my glorified body. This one's okay, but I've got a few complaints. Today we're going to talk about some surprising revelations. And I hope that you will be surprised, because we're going to be talking about the period and in which I believe we are living right now. It's called the period before the day of the Lord. It's a period that is mentioned in the Bible in a number of different ways. And once you become conscious of it, it's an amazing thing to think about. We are now living just before the day of the Lord, and we're gonna talk about the day of the Lord as it's mentioned in the Bible. Jesus said in Matthew 24:21, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. That's a mouthful, because this world has seen some cataclysms and a number of different cataclysms, but something is coming that will totally eclipse all of them. It will rearrange the surface of the planet, the geography. Mountains will fall, islands will sink, continents will shift. And we'll talk about that a little bit. The world knows it as Judgment Day. You know, everybody talks about Judgment Day. Well, come Judgment Day, I think every human being, saved or not, has something in the back of their mind that tells them that judgment is coming. Like a bunch of kids playing around while dad is gone. And they get in trouble, but they know Dad's going to be back. And I think the world knows right now, but it's flirting with disaster. And the world talks about Judgment Day, and it says, no, Judgment Day won't come. We'll fix it. We will produce less carbon dioxide so that the weather will calm down and we'll be ecologically sound and we'll get everything under control in this world, and we'll forestall Judgment Day. We'll push it back. But Judgment Day is coming. I'm telling you, as mentioned in both testaments, this coming period, the day of the Lord, is horrific. And we're living in a time right now. And I don't know whether you've noticed or not, but in the media there is a palpable sense of fear. Fear of this and that and the other thing, economic collapse, people are selling gold and silver. There's a fear that maybe the big earthquake is coming. There's a fear of World War three. There's just a creeping fear in humanity today. And as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to tell you I have the remedy for that fear. And you have the remedy too. And that's why we're here today, because I want us all to become experts in the preaching and teaching of the gospel relevant to prophecy. The Bible is designed to bring comfort and Hope, not fear. 2nd Corinthians 1:3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them, them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now that's a lot of comforting. And that's the spirit of the Lord. 1st Thessalonians 4:16, 18. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which 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. And here is the punchline, the payoff. Wherefore comfort one another with these words? Do you do that? Do you comfort someone in whom you find a sense of fear? Because you are uniquely qualified as a believer to bring comfort to your community. That's the message we are looking for, that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, when Jesus first came to this earth, what did he do? He brought comfort. For example, the Beatitudes. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. John 14:16. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter. The Holy Spirit who indwells us is called the comforter. Now, I'm going somewhere with all this comforting because to me this is the very spirit of Bible prophecy. Comfort. If you get away from the word comfort, you have lost the spirit of bible prophecy. John 14:26. The comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things. And by the way, when he teaches you, you need to teach others. That's why we're here. We're becoming experts in Bible prophecy so that we can go out and bring comfort to others in our community and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. He brought all these things to the memory of the disciples, the apostles who wrote them down for us so that we could then transmit them to others. John 15:26 but when the comforter is come, of whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. John 16:33 these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Jesus also mentioned the Tribulation. And here let's get into some of the nuts and bolts of Bible prophecy. In the Olivet discourse he spoke of the Great tribulation, Matthew 24. He called it in the Greek Tislipsis. Tis megalis. The Tribulation. The Great One. The Great One. Those are Jesus own words. If you just look at the Greek, only one. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners out of it. You notice I've got in brackets there, the number one. That is the number one reason for the tribulation, to destroy the sinners out of the land. And he's specifically referring here to the land of Israel. He wants to purge it, he wants to rebuild it, he wants to bring in the kingdom. The second reason for the tribulation is to bring about a world revival. And the way I read the Bible, I think there is a huge revival, a global revival coming after the church leaves this world. The world is going to be devastated at the change that will occur when we're gone. There will be no restraint at that point in time and people will be looking around for answers and a group of evangelists are going to sweep the world and there is going to be the greatest revival that one can possibly imagine. Number three, Daniel 12:7. To scatter or break the power of the holy people. That's the third reason for the tribulation. And who are the holy people? The twelve tribes of Israel. That's a specific reference to the Jews who have always been a stiff necked people. They've always wanted to do it their own way. One day they're going to fall down before the Lord and they're going to do it his way and he is going to come back and he's going to build that millennial temple, and he's going to set up the kingdom, and they are at last going to worship him as he has desired for several thousand years. Now, here's how the Lord described the tribulation, the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24:8. The word sorrows is a translation of birth pangs, and other Bible verses refer to birth pangs. Psalm 48, 6, Jeremiah 4, 31, 6, 24, 13, 31. You can read them there. All of these references to birth pangs, each and every single one of these references refers to the woman with child, and she is fully realized in Revelation chapter 12. The great birth pangs of Israel. We've seen the initial birth pangs of Israel. The birth pangs are coming closer together now and becoming more painful, if you will. And the big ones are yet ahead. But the birth pang is a prophetic reference to this time in which we live. In Matthew 24:15, Jesus talked about the abomination of desolation, quoting prophet Daniel. This will occur. It will profane the Jewish temple during the tribulation period. Now, there's no temple over there right now, but there will be, and the Antichrist will appear in that temple. We'll talk more about that in just a moment. Jesus spoke of the Great tribulation, Matthew 24:21. But he mentioned something else as well. He also mentioned the last generation. I often refer to this in Matthew 24:34, the Olivet discourse. He says, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. It's the generation of the fig tree. It's the last generation. In the Old Testament, there is a Hebrew phrase hador haaharon, which is translated into English as the last generation six different times. Deuteronomy 29, 22, Psalm 48, 13, Psalm 78, 4, Psalm 78, 6, Psalm 102, 18, Psalm 109, 13. All of these in the translation that I'm using here. The King James refer to the generation to come. For example, Deuteronomy 29:22 says, so that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the strangers who come from a far land shall say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it. This speaks of the return of Israel in the 19th century. What did they find when they came back? They found desert and swamp. And the phrase here referring to that is the generation to come in the King James Bible. But it literally says last generation. It's mentioned in Psalm 48:13. Tell it to the last generation. Psalm 78. 4. Showing to the last generation the praises of the Lord. Psalm 78. 6. That the last generation might know them, even the children who should be born. This is all laid out in chronological order. Psalm 102. 18. This shall be written for the last generation, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. We're there. We're living in that generation right now. I have absolutely no doubt about it. Psalm 109. 13. Ooh, the Antichrist let his posterity be cut off sometime. Read all of Psalm 109. You'll be amazed. Speaking of the Antichrist. And in the last generation let their name be blotted out. The children of the man of sin, the progeny, the spiritual progeny of the man of sin, the Tribulation. It has names that imply horror. In the Old Testament, Zephaniah calls it the day of wrath, the day of distress, the day of wasteness, desolation, darkness, gloominess, clouds, thick darkness, trumpet and alarm. Not a very good time. The 70th week of Daniel. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation. Even at that same time, it's coming, the time of trouble. The world is afraid, and they have good reason to be afraid. You and I, we're not afraid. I'm not afraid. I am comforted. And my job is to comfort other people. I believe that the rapture of the Church, and we'll go into this more deeply in a few minutes, comes not only prior to this period, the day of the Lord, the Tribulation, but sometime prior to it. It's also called Jehovah's Strange Work. Why would it be called that? Well, it's because the Lord does not naturally judge. He is a loving God. He is a savior. God. God is love. It is very strange for him to act as a judicial force. It's strange to him. He doesn't want to do it, but he's going to have to do it because he promised to do it. It's called the Day of Israel's Calamity, focusing the reasons for the Tribulation right upon Israel. And of course, it's called the Tribulation. All these are Old Testament titles. In the New Testament, the Tribulation is called the Great Tribulation. As we have seen. It's called the Day of the Lord. It's called the Wrath to Come. And I want to talk about this Wrath a little bit later. We need to focus in on what this Wrath actually is. In Revelation, it's called the Wrath of God. The hour of trial, the hour of judgment, the Great Tribulation. I'm just laying this out so that we'll all be on the same page. It's coming. This Tribulation. Now, if you believe you were going through the Tribulation, how could you prepare for this day? Well, you might save up some dehydrated food, maybe some water. Some water filtration, purification, a little. I don't know where you would keep it or what you're planting. Maybe you got a swimming pool, I don't know. I don't know. The first earthquake cracked the swimming pool and all the water will leak out. But anyway, maybe you have some guns and ammo, pepper spray, just in case they unleash a dirty bomb or we have nuclear fallout. Perhaps you might need a Geiger counter, I don't know. How are you going to prepare for the Tribulation? What's your escape plan? And by the way, do you have your gold and silver? Have you turned on the TV lately and noticed the gold and silver hawkers out there? They really want you to buy some for tough times because they think tough times are coming, right? They think money's going to fail. There is this panic out there. There's this fear. Well, today the word prepper has emerged and it's become a big part of the English language. And because there's a fear of judgment. Human beings are human beings. Whether you're 8 years old or 80 years old, you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. It's not a good thing. And yet you'll still try to steal an occasional cookie. It's the nature of man, and man knows that judgment is coming. That's why all this science is out there telling us that we've got to do this, that and the other thing to avoid impending disaster. Science falsely so called. Now my question is, would the Lord put you through something like the Tribulation? For then shall be great tribulation. Such was not since the beginning of the world, not to this time, no nor ever shall be. The heaven departed as a scroll when it's rolled away. This Tribulation thing is going to be, and this is in Revelation, chapter six, early in the book, something's going to happen. What would make the heaven depart as a scroll early in the Tribulation? Well, maybe it's a stratospheric cloud that rolls around the earth. Maybe volcanism maybe. Nuclear explosion, mountains, islands moved out of their places. Plate tectonics, Isaiah 24. Listen to this description of this period. We're talking about fear. And the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitants of the earth. And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth out of the noise of fear shall fall into the pit. And he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For the windows from on high are open and the foundations of the earth do shake. The upper atmospheric systems are broken, the plate tectonic systems are broken. There is absolute catastrophe above and below. I mean, you got to be some kind of prepper to survive this. The Earth is utterly broken down. The earth is clean, dissolved. The earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard. Perhaps rotationally speaking, it will wobble. A lot of people are saying that we're due for a pole shift. And some people have said that a large volcanic eruption in the right place could set off or trigger a land mass movement that would actually cause the Earth's axis of rotation to shift. But Isaiah is talking about this. The earth shall be removed like a cottage. You ever see a picture of a tornado taking out a house? And the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it. And it shall fall and not rise again. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high. Who would those people be? The high ones that are on high? I think that they are the principalities, the powers, the rulers of darkness of this world that Paul spoke of in Ephesians 6. And the kings of the earth upon the earth. The earth is going to be judged. The high ones on high, the dark spirits, the kings of the earth, those who rule visibly. They're all going to be punished. They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit. They shall be shut up in prison. After many days shall they be visited. The moon shall be confounded, the sun ashamed. When the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and, and in Jerusalem and before his ancients gloriously. It's going to happen. It's coming. But it's not without pain. Why, if the Lord's going to take you through the tribulation and let you see all this anguish, why would he do that? Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, maketh it waste, turn it upside down. Earth is utterly broken down. It's clean, dissolved. That is all the natural laws are loosed. Moon shall be confounded, sun ashamed. Everything from the ground under your feet to the atmosphere to astronomical phenomena are going to be absolutely unseated, unsettled. Natural law will be displaced. But Israel is to be established as the head of all nations. It's not all lost. The earth's going to be turned upside down. And I want you to remember when you think of the Tribulation, that the purpose. Purpose of the Tribulation is to establish Israel in the kingdom. When Jesus came, he offered not only comfort amidst trial and distress, he also explained who he really is. He's the Savior. He's my Savior. He's your Savior. He came upon a mission of salvation which we are carrying out to this very day. He is the Savior. Luke 19:10 says, for the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. We could talk for an hour on that verse alone. But, and this is what I really want to get to he is also something else. And that something else that he is will soon shock the world. This is who he really is. And I want you to listen carefully to this, because people do not understand this. John 5, 17:22 describes an event in the life of Jesus which I think is a signal event. Jesus is having a quote, unquote discussion with the Pharisees. They're kicking dust in his face. Basically, they don't like him. He loves them. He's very reasonable, rational. And they accused him of blasphemy. But Jesus answered them, my Father worketh hitherto, and I work. He says, my Father and I work together. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making himself equal with God. Amen. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do. For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son. Likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that Himself doeth. And he will show him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. And then we come to. This is the verse I wanted to get to in this exchange. Verse 22. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Did you ever think about that? God the Father is not the Judge. When we speak of the wrath of God, we commonly and mistakenly think that It's God doing the judging. That is Elohim, the God of the far, far distant Old Testament days. The wrath of God. No, it's not the wrath of God the Father. It's the wrath of God the Son. Because the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, Jesus, the most loving man who ever lived, ever walked on planet Earth. Don't get him angry. He will judge. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son. He is the judge. But he's not my judge. He's my Savior. And he has taken my sins upon himself and put them out of the way through the blood of his cross in order that I won't be subjected to the judgment which I deserve. It's amazing when you stop and think about it. And I want to go another way and teach on salvation right now. But no, I'm going to stick to the subject. Let's talk about judgment, the day of the Lord and the wrath of God. He's not my judge. He's not your judge? Oh, yes. One day we'll appear before him and there will be a life review of the things done in the body, whether they be good or bad. But that's not the judgment of the tribulation. Oh, no, not at all. He's my Lord and my Savior, not my judge. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many men. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus is my interior decorator. Do you ever stop and think about that? He knows exactly what I like in a house, probably better than anybody else. And he's going to go. By the way, is preparing a place for me. What that means I don't know, but I can't wait to find out. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again, receive you to myself. This is the first mention in the New Testament of the rapture of the Church. He's going to come again. He's going to receive us to Himself in a loving reunion. I mean, I can't even believe how wonderful this event will be that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know, and the way you know. And of course we do know the way. He is the way, the truth and the life. Romans 6:5. For if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. The Rapture is the resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead in Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God likewise. Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the judge. How does he judge from the throne of God? In Revelation 4 and 5, John ascends to heaven. He describes the throne of God, the seven spirits before the throne, the four cherubim, the 24 elders. There is this judicial setting in which judgment is being prepared. And the seven sealed scroll is presented to the Lord. The scroll is brought out. And when John sees this, he weeps. He weeps because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book that is the scroll, neither to look thereon. And so here's the setting you have. The judgment seat is set. It's all set. Everyone is present. The angels, the cherubs, the elders. They're all there. A scroll is presented. And apparently some time passes and John begins to cry. He says, I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the scroll, neither to look thereon. Says the King James. Couldn't even look at it, couldn't take a peek. It's a scroll. Here is a misunderstanding. What is the seven sealed scroll? And everybody talks about the opening of the seven sealed scrolls scroll. Why did John weep? Because the seven sealed scroll is a legal document. It is the essence of legality. In that scroll is the crime of planet Earth against God. And it is a list of charges. It is a list of indictments to be read against mankind. And in order to read the list of indictments, you have to be eligible, you have to have a certain kind of standing. And John's weeping because there's nobody around with that kind of standing. It would be like being in court. There is a man on trial for first degree murder who has killed a member of your family. You're sitting in court and this murderer is looking at you and he winks at you. Why? Because he knows that for legal reasons the indictments against him cannot be opened in court. And a legal tangle has ensued that will enable him to go scot free. This murderer of a member of your family. What would you be doing at that point? Weeping. And you'd want somebody to be able to open and read the list of charges in order that judgment could come. It's a legal document. It's a sealed indictment. John wept at the prospect that justice could not be done. This scroll unleashes the tribulation. The very one who called himself Back in, John 5:22. The judge now judges the entire world. Of course, he's the Lamb of God who comes out, and he alone is eligible to open that list of charges against planet Earth and to read it that seven sealed scroll that unleashes the tribulation. Now, the event Described in Revelation 4 and 5 prior to the opening of the scroll is before the tribulation. So this thing is going on in heaven prior to the opening of the seven seals. Therefore, prior to the tribulation. The first seal, of course, releases the white horse, which is the white horse of global government. Some say it's the Antichrist. The second seal, the red horse of war. Some people say World War Three. Some people say World War three is on the horizon. I think the red horse is snorting even as we speak. Not going to be loosed yet, because some seals have to be opened first before everything breaks loose. Third seal, the black horse of economic collapse, which always accompanies a great war. The fourth horse is a pale green horse, the horse of death. What could he be? He could be the horse of chemical and biological warfare. Could be nuclear fallout. Who knows? A fourth of the world's population is going to be summarily killed in the first wave of judgments. When this seal is open. The fifth seal shows a martyred remnant beneath the throne of God, saying, how long, O Lord? I think that these are the redeemed who are redeemed after the church is gone, after the rapture, there will be innumerable souls saved. And sadly, they will have to go through terrible trial. Martyrdom. Martyrdom, I think, in the millions. Seal 6, Anarchy in the natural world. You have the sun darkened. You have the moon turning to blood. You have the islands shaken and moved out of their places. You have cosmic disarray, meteors, who knows what comets. Anarchy in the natural world. And the seventh seal then opens a wave of trumpet judgments, which open a wave of vile judgments. Now, in the midst of all this, you have the setting in heaven prior to the opening of the seven seals. You have the opening of the seven seals. The wrath of God is going to pour forth on planet Earth. And the question is, when does God's Wrath arise. That is, is there a place where you can push a stopwatch and say, okay, the wrath of God has now arrived. When does it arise? Revelation 6:17 at the sixth seal says, for the great day of his wrath is come. Has come. Who shall be able to stand? Well, that might be one time marker right there. Revelation 6. Remember that. But here's something interesting. Ezekiel 38, 18 and 19, speaking of the Russian invasion, the invasion of an alliance from the north, pouring into Israel with the intent to totally annihilate Israel. The battle of Gog, of the land of Magog. It shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. Now, who is the Lord God here? It's our Lord, Jesus Christ. He's the judge. The Father has committed all judgment unto the Son. Isn't it wonderful that he's our Savior and not our judge? I mean, that's fabulous. For in my jealousy, my wrath, fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day. Now that's a reference to the day of the Lord. There shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel. This is it. Day of the Lord. His wrath will be unleashed. Romans 1, 16, 18. Listen to this now. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew first, also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written. The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. If Jesus is not your savior, he's going to be your judge. Might be a way to evangelize. You know, oftentimes we think, well, you got to evangelize, accentuating the positive. Maybe there will be a time to accentuate the negative. You might tell somebody, you know, he's the judge, and one of these days he's going to judge the world. And it would be good if he were your savior. That way he wouldn't judge you. Think about it. Chaos. The sixth seal. Revelation 6, 13, 16. The stars of heaven fell to the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs. Now, did you ever stop and think the fig tree is the symbol of Israel? In fact, if you go to the book of Jeremiah, he's got chapters where he talks about the fig tree of the Latter Jesus spoke of the fig tree. The fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. I think this is a reference to Israel going through this tribulation period. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it's rolled together. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, chief captains, the mighty man in every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains. You know, all over this world there are underground shelters, some of them absolutely huge. Hundreds of thousands of square feet stocked with food and water, generations or generators so that people can go down underground and live for a long time. In the event of what, Nuclear war? There is such a shelter near Washington D.C. near Moscow, near Paris, London, all the major cities of got them. There's Cheyenne Mountain, of course, where the military is dug into the Rockies. And of course all these people will be safe during the tribulation, right? Well, that's what they hope is they're hiding themselves in the dens and the rocks and the mountains. Verse 16. And said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. The world is going to be crying out to be saved from the wrath of our Lord Jesus. I got to tell you, I'm not in that category and neither are you. But before the day of the Lord. Now that's the period in which we're living right now. Zephaniah has something interesting to say. He says, before the decree, bring forth. What is the decree? That's the opening of the book, the seven sealed book. Before the decree, bring forth. Before the day pass as chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you. Before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be that you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Now this is not talking about the rapture of the Church, because there's no maybe about the Rapture. There is an is. The rapture is coming. The pre tribulation rapture of the Church is coming. We'll go into that here in a moment. This is referring to. This is Zephaniah the prophet talking to his brethren Israel. In the latter days it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Wise up, people. Joel 2:31 and 31, I'll show wonders in the heavens and the earth. Blood and fire. Pillars of smoke. A pillar of smoke. Reminds me of a nuclear weapon, by the way. A pillar of smoke with a little mushroom at the top. The sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Come. Peter quotes this in Acts 2. Before the great and terrible day of the Lord, something terrible is going to begin to happen before the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord happens when those seven seals are opened. It has a very specific starting point. Something else is going to happen before the day of the Lord. Behold, I'll send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now that'll be interesting. Elijah is coming prior to the Tribulation. So will he make it on CNN Fox News? I mean, are we going to see Elijah? Well, here's the interesting thing about Elijah. Before the Tribulation, Elijah is expected every year. If you know anything about Passover, you know that the Jews Remember Malachi 4, 4, 5 that says, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. By the way, Elijah is mentioned in this passage with Moses. I think they are the two witnesses of Revelation. They were the two witnesses on top of the Mount of Transfiguration. So why not the two witnesses of the Book of Revelation, Elijah is mentioned with Moses. Now, when Elijah comes before the Tribulation, he is going to be preaching. I believe he's going to be preaching. The Jews also believe. In fact, every Passover, they set a place for Elijah at the Passover Seder table, and they pour a cup of wine for him at the Seder table. And as that cup of wine is poured out, the cup of Elijah poured alongside the fourth cup of the Passover Seder. The host of the Seder puts these words in Elijah's mouth. In other words, this is what the Jews imagine Elijah is going to say when he comes before the Tribulation. Pour your wrath upon the nations that do not recognize you, and upon the kingdoms that do not invoke your name. For they have devoured Jacob, destroyed his habitation. Pour your anger upon them, and let your fiery wrath overtake them. Pursue them with wrath and annihilate them from beneath the heavens of our Lord. Every year at Passover, the Jews expect Elijah to come, and this is what they expect him to be preaching. Pour your wrath out upon the nations. In other words, Elijah is going to be begging the Lord to Act out in judgment. It all fits together. It makes a perfect picture. Before the day of the Lord's anger, gather yourselves together. Gather yourselves together. O nation not desired. Before the decree bring forth. Before the day passes chaff. Before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you. Before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth which have wrought his judgment. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Anger. In the New Testament we have an analog for this. But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, which is a great memory verse, by the way. I have this verse on the wall upstairs in my home. But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. It's a great verse. Now your immediate response to that verse is, oh, yes, I do. I do have a need that you write unto me and tell me more about the day of the Lord. No, we have all the information we need. That's what he's saying. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they, not us, they shall say peace and safety. Then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child. That's Israel. And they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, ye speaking of the body of Christ, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. So you have this group of people here crying peace and safety. I'll never forget when Benjamin Netanyahu ran for prime minister the first time in Israel. He ran on the Shalom Vabatiah ticket. Shalom vabatayach in Hebrew means peace and safety. And that's what all of his placards said. Benjamin Netanyahu, Shalom vabatayach. Peace and safety. Wouldn't that be nice? The Jews want peace. They want safety. Nobody around them wants peace and safety. When does the tribulation start? It starts when the prince signs the covenant. Daniel 9, 26 and 27. After threescore and two weeks, 62 weeks, shall Messiah be cut off. Now that happened in the first century. But not for himself. He gave his life for the sins of humanity. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The prince that shall come is Daniel's way of talking about the Antichrist. And his people are going to destroy the city and the sanctuary. His people are the Flavian dynasty of Titus and Vespasian. They came and they burnt down the temple. They sacked it, they destroyed it. The Flavians wreaked havoc on Israel in the last half of the first century. Titus, Vespasian, Domitian. They killed Christians, they killed Jews. They were unrelenting. They are the people of the coming prince, the people of the Antichrist. They destroyed the city, they destroyed the sanctuary. The end thereof shall be with a flood unto the end of the war. Desolations are determined. And he the Prince, who happens to be the antecedent of the pronoun he, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. That is a Shavuah. That Shavua is seven years. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. What's the covenant that he signs with them? He signs the covenant with Israel, which is a covenant that allows them to build a temple and to proceed with traditional worship. Sacrifice and oblation. And in the midst of the week, he causes that sacrifice and oblation to cease. He lied to him. He said, I'm going to let you go ahead and build your temple and observe the tenets of the Abrahamic covenant, the law and the sacrifice and oblation of the temple. In three and a half years. He says, can't do it anymore. Why? Because he's decided that he himself is going to be God and worshiped as such. And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate even to the consummation. And that determined shall be poured out upon the desolation. Now, these overspreading abominations, Jesus calls the abomination of desolation. In Hebrew it's hakanaph hach shekutzim. Hakanaf hashekutsim, which in English means a wing of horrors. A wing of horrors. And you visualize something like a dragon's wing, the wing of an unclean animal sweeping across and bringing forth all kinds of occultic misery. Dark spells from dark caverns. Hakanaf hashekutzim. It's called the overspreading of abominations. It's wicked, it's evil. And that determined shall be poured out upon the desolate. The Shavuah is seven years in length. It is the Antichrist's signature, the man of sin's signature, the prince's signature on a piece of paper with the elders of Israel and nothing else that initiates the tribulation. The seven years start when the covenant is signed. And that's my firm belief. Prophet Micah has a vision in which he visualizes a scene in which all of Israel's friends have disappeared. And you may have read this, but I love this passage of scripture. It's so evocative. Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits. Now this is the gathering of the summer fruits is the harvest. And typically from the biblical perspective, it refers to the time of the harvest mentioned by Jesus. Jesus said the harvest is the end of the age. And here, Micah speaking for Israel, speaking, his lips are speaking Israel's words, and he says, woe is me, for when they have gathered the summer fruits, the harvest is over. The grape gleanings of the vintage. There's no cluster to eat. My soul desires the first ripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth. There's none upright among men. Wow. They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother with a net. There's bribery, there's extortion, there's thievery, there's no honor because the good man says Micah, has perished out of the earth. The word perish there is from the Hebrew avad, which means to disappear like that. The good man has disappeared. What do you suppose that might be? I suppose I know what it is. And poor Israel. After we're gone, we are Israel's friend. Bible believing Christians are Israel's only friends when we're gone. Such a time now, there are antecedents, that is things which come before, and they are necessary. Certain things have to happen to produce the environment that brings the tribulation. Certain invading nations must be strengthened. Certain others must be weakened. That is to say, the Bible says that certain nations are going to invade other nations. They have to be brought to the point that they feel competent to do that. Other nations that have been traditionally strong, like the United States, must be weakened in order to give the evil man the courage to do the invading that he is scheduled to do via Bible prophecy. Things have to be put in place. Still others must be removed entirely. There are powers that have existed for a long time that the Bible says will be removed in the last days. Economic and spiritual conditions must be brought to the breaking point prior to the tribulation. We're seeing that happen right now. In other words, we're seeing precursor events. We're seeing antecedents unfolding before our very eyes. Antecedent one, I would propose, would be the removal of Damascus. I know you're all familiar with Damascus. 171 and 2, the burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken. Aroer being the area to the north and to the east of Israel all the way through Jordan and all the way up to Damascus. There's going to be some kind of a catastrophe that will wipe out Damascus, which has been there for 4,000 years. This has never happened before. I know you're familiar with this prophecy and also familiar with the things that are happening as we speak in and around Damascus. It's just a matter of time. But apparently Damascus and the Syrians as a power are removed prior to the tribulation. Isaiah 17, which begins with the destruction of Damascus, ends with this multitude of people. Let's call this World War three. They make a noise like the noise of the seas, the rushing of nations. They make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters. The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them. They shall flee far off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains. Before the wind, like a rolling thing, before the whirlwind, like a fiery tumbleweed, if you will. And behold, at evening tide, trouble. And before morning, he is not a 24 hour war. Wow, that has to be a high tech war. Nothing like that has ever been seen before. This is the portion of them that spoil us, that is Israel. And the lot of them that rob us, that is Israel. What is this rushing? A lot of rushing there. Very possibly it's the invasion that happens in Ezekiel 38 and 39. A whole series of battles are displayed there and they seem to be happening at the very same time of Isaiah's prophecy. In Isaiah 17. Another antecedent is what I've called the Egyptian deluge. Egypt right now is in misery. The Arab Spring was followed by the Morsi debacle, Muslim Brotherhood, the El Sisi takeover, that is the military takeover of Egypt. Al Qaeda is now getting very strong in Egypt and at some point the Bible says Egypt is going to be absolutely destroyed. Ezekiel 29 and I've written at length on this elsewhere. The land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste. They shall know that I am the Lord, because he hath said, the river is mine and I have made it. The Nile river is Egypt and Egypt is the Nile. And Egypt for thousands of years relied on the flooding of the Nile until they built the Aswan High Dam back in the 60s. With Russia dammed up, the Nile changed everything about Egypt, including its vulnerability. Because it's been speculated that if you placed a nuclear bomb and it would take a nuclear bomb. Because the Aswan High Dam is so large. If you placed a nuclear bomb on the dam and blew it up, you would cover Egypt with radioactive water from one end to the other. Therefore, I am against thee and against thy rivers I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate. From the Tower of Syene. This word Syene is cognate with Aswan. And there is now a tower of Aswan. There is a big dam there that has a huge tower called the Lotus Tower. From the Tower of Syene or Aswan, until the border of Ethiopia, When Ezekiel wrote this prophecy, there was no such thing as a Tower of Syene. It didn't even exist. Gog and his invasion, I think, comes a bit later. You have Gog, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, Togarmah. But Syria, Damascus and Egypt are missing from this lineup of invaders, which means they've probably been taken out of the way. That is, they are part of the antecedents that we believe will unfold prior to the coming of the Day of the Lord. All these events must happen before the Tribulation. Now, people are telling you, and they often tell me, hey, we're going through the Tribulation. We're not going to get taken out until God's wrath explodes in the second half of the Tribulation. I got news for you. God's wrath, that is the wrath of our Lord Jesus Christ, explodes at the beginning of the Tribulation and not in the middle of the Tribulation. All these events must happen before the Tribulation. Why? Because Gog's invasion is launched before God's wrath is fully released. Remember Ezekiel 38, 18. Now, this is a rarity in the Bible, a timed prophecy. You rarely find timed prophecies in the Bible. But I want to go back to this one. In Ezekiel 38, 18:19, at the same time, it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face, for in my jealousy and the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking and the Lord land of Israel at the same time. You don't see this in the Bible very often at all. There may be two or three places where you have events timed together. And here the wrath of God is timed to come forth at the same time as Gog's invasion of Israel. That hasn't happened yet. It doesn't look like it's well, or on the Other hand. Maybe it does look like it. Today's headline, you have Russian forces lining up on the eastern border of Ukraine. The Russian air force has been moved up to the front lines as well. I don't know. Things could be getting close. I try never to name dates, but we're close. Ezekiel 39, 6, 8 says something else very interesting in that series of battles. It says this. I will send a fire on Magog. That is the land of the Scythians, Meshech and Tubal, Russia. How do you send a fire on Magog? Maybe you could send a few nuclear missiles over there. I don't know. Maybe God will loose today's missile forces. Maybe it'll be angelic fire. I don't know, but it's fire. And also among them that dwell carelessly in the isles, the Ayyim isles, a translation of the Hebrew word iyim, which means continence. So let's read it this way. I'll send a fire on Russia. And among them that dwell carelessly among the continents. In other words, we have a world war here. We have World War Three. And they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people, Israel. And I will not let them pollute my holy name anymore. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, it is come, it is done, saith the Lord God. This is the day whereof I have spoken. It's the day of the Lord. We're living before the day of the Lord. Question, where in the first seven seals does this take place? Most probably these wars explode with the opening of the first four seals. That is the Four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The white horse, the foundation of global government, the red horse of war, the black horse of economic upheaval, the pale horse of disease, nuclear, chemical, biological war, pestilences, and much, much more. Thousands of ways to die. But now, having said all this, and this is a preface now to where I really want to go. But now we come to the big question. And this question is put to me. It's been put to me maybe 5,000 times. I don't know, maybe more. And adversarially, I might add, people kind of get this close to my face and they'll say in a daring sort of manner, can you tell me which verse in the Bible tells us the timing of the Rapture? And of course, the tone is. I'll bet you can't. Bet you can't tell me which verse in The Bible tells us the timing of the rapture. Notice the word timing. Not time, but timing. Well, my answer to them is yes. I can just read 2 Thessalonians 2, 3. Now we beseech you, Brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind to be troubled neither by Spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us as the day of Christ is at hand. Day of Christ. Christ is the Lord. He's the judge. The day of the Lord. Don't let anybody tell you the day of the Lord is here. It's not. And Paul says, let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed, the Son of perdition. Let's stop right there. Don't let anybody deceive you about the Tribulation. And don't let anybody tell you you're going through the tribulation. He says, that day shall not come except there come falling away first. What's he saying? Here we have the answer to the question. Can you tell me which verse in the Bible describes the timing, not the time, but the timing, of the rapture? In verse one, Paul addresses the rapture, calling it our gathering together unto him which it is. In verse three, Paul warns this. Don't let anyone deceive you. He says, that day, the day of the Lord. The tribulation, not the Rapture. He's talking about the tribulation. That day will not come until two things happen. Number one. First, the great apostasy, which he calls the falling away. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, the great apostasy will come. That's the first thing he says. Has the great apostasy come? Certainly apostasy has come. We're living in a day of, I suppose the day of the Laodicean Church. Christians have gotten tired and sleepy and diverted. And Sunday has been. Sunday morning has been now canonized as the day when you go play golf and ride your bicycle. So apostasy has come. But has the great apostasy come? I think not. That won't come until we're gone. And suddenly everybody will look around and say, something has changed. What is it? I can't put my finger on it, but everything is horrible. Something horrible has happened. That's the great apostasy. And second, Paul says the man of sin will be revealed, the Antichrist. Now I Don't believe the man of sin can be revealed until the restrainer is taken away. We are the restrainer. We'll talk about that in a moment. But Paul says two things have to happen. First, the great apostasy. Second, the man of sin will be revealed. And then the day of the Lord shall come. So you've got two things to look for before the day of the Lord. Neither one of them has happened. The great apostasy hasn't happened. The man of sin hasn't been revealed. We're not there yet. This Antichrist, this man of sin, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power signs, lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send them, not us them, strong delusion that they should believe a lie or the lie. What is the lie? The lie is that this man is the Messiah. He is the returned Messiah. He is Jesus in the flesh. More than that, he stands up in the temple, in a holy place and calls himself God and demands that he be worshiped as God. And for this cause God will send them strong delusion that they shall be. Can you imagine the delusion that it would take for you to believe that this creature who stands up and calls himself God is the real God? You really have to be deluded. Second Thessalonians 2, 16, 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, even God and our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. That's the end of second Thessalonians 2. We haven't seen the great apostasy. We haven't seen the unveiling of the man of sin. Paul says those two things have to happen before the day of the Lord. So you watch for those two things, and if either one of them happens, then you can go to your neighbor and say, hey, the day of the Lord's here. How do you know? Well, because the man of sin's been revealed and the great apostasy has happened. Well, it hasn't. The world is being covered by the gospel right now. 24 7. The gospel goes out through Trans World radio, shortwave satellite radio and television. Every nation in the world is bathed with the gospel. 24:7. By the way, did you know there are revivals taking place in China, in Iran, of all places. All over the place there are revivals Right now, Christianity is exploding even while it's kind of mellowing out here in the good old usa because we kind of, you know, hey, we got Christianity. We don't need to do anything else, man. And I'm going to go out and ride my bike, you know. No, we have the great gift and we shouldn't rest. There are people out there hungry for the word of prophecy. 2 Thessalonians 2, 16, 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts. Wow. That's my job. I would like to say I'm in the comfort business, really. I want people to know what they have, the potential they have in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and establish you in every good word and work. We, the Church, the body of Christ, are the restrainers. Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away. First the apostasy. And that man of sin be revealed. The Son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Certainly that has not happened. People talk about the temple being built in Israel, hasn't been built yet. They could possibly do it very quickly. But listen, I'm watching all the time. I watch the Jerusalem Temple Institute. I watch the land of Israel and Temple Mount Faithful movement. I talk with these people. They're not there yet. They want to build the temple. Sadly, when they do, they're going to be deceived. But that's another story. And then Paul says, remember you not that when I was with you, not yet with you, I told you these things. Which is another good memory verse, by the way. This is a great memory verse. Remember you not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. Hey, folks, listen up. Don't you remember? It's kind of like the rap on the forehead. McFly, wake up. Don't you remember when I was with you I told you these things. We should always remember this. Don't ever forget. And now you know what withholdeth, what restrains that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity. That's lawlessness, by the way. The world is a lawless place. That's the reason the seven seals are going to have to be judged under the law of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. When he opens those seals for the mystery of iniquity, lawlessness doth already work. Only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. That is, to put it another way, only the one restraining the Spirit of God in the body of Christ will continue to restrain until he be taken out of the way. That's the rapture of the Church. When the restrainer is gone. Wow, you don't want to be here. Now let's ask a few questions about the Day of Wrath. I want to say that we are not, capital N, capital O, capital T, going to become immersed in the judgments of the Tribulation. Why? Because he's the judge and he's my Savior, not my judge. That's reason number one. Certainly Christians have been persecuted for the past 2,000 years. We may not escape persecution. We have been gloriously spared persecution in our era. During my lifetime, I've had a free pass. Nobody has threatened to hang me or dip me in hot oil or behead me for my faith. And you talk about a blessing. Jesus was crucified, Peter was crucified, James was beheaded, John was boiled in oil. I could go down the list of the 12. They were persecuted, but they did not undergo the Great Tribulation or anything like it. Under Nero and a succession of Roman emperors, they were persecuted. There was the Persian persecution, there were the papal persecutions. The Waldenses. The Albigensians suffered persecution unto death. They were wiped out, but they didn't go through the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation. There's never been anything like that. Like them, we may suffer persecution. The Rapture is not designed to rescue us from persecution. Let's ask another big question. Why is there a Rapture at all? Why is there even a Rapture? Is it so that we can escape from the world's troubles? You know, a lot of people who hear us teach about the pre tribulation rapture say, oh, you're a bunch of escapists. You're just trying to escape from the world's troubles. And there are a lot of other people that won't escape. And so what do you think about them? It's not fair that you would be raptured out. Is the Rapture and escape from the world's troubles? Well, no. Christians have been persecuted for 2,000 years. They didn't escape. We may not escape. By the grace of God, we have so far. Is the Rapture triggered by the last sinner to be saved? That is, there's a guy out there who Lives in Wyoming and his name is Joe Brown. And when he receives Christ, that'll be the last. And God will look, oh, Joe Brown. He's the last guy. Hey, we can have the Rapture now. No, that's not. It's not the quota system. And why do I say no to that question? Because millions will be saved after the rapture of the Church. There will be a series of great revivals all the way through the period after the Rapture, all the way into the tribulation period. There will be evangelists traveling all over the world and there will be literally millions saved. Many of them will be martyred, of course. It will be a horrific time to be alive, but they'll be saved. So the rapture isn't being delayed until the last sinner. That's the point. But there is an answer to this question. Why is there a rapture at all? It's to remove the restrainer. Now why would the restrainer be removed? To make way for the rise of Israel. That's precisely what the day of the Lord is. The day of the Lord is designed to judge the planet and to set in motion the events that will cause the rising again of Israel. The church does not restore the kingdom Israel and the Jews restore the kingdom. And I want you to look at a couple of things that you've probably read before. But look at them again. Romans 11, 11 and 12. I say, then have they the Jews stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather through their fall salvation is coming to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. For now if the fall of them the Jews be the riches of the world. And by the way, their fall brought riches the gospel of grace to the entire world. And the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles. How much more their fullness. Paul says they have fallen, but they're going to rise again to fullness. But look at Romans 11:25 talks about another fullness. I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise. Your own conceits that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. So right here in Romans 11 we have fullness mentioned twice. It's two different kinds of fullness. Israel's fullness is different from our fullness. The Jews have fallen, but they are rising again to a new fullness. The Church, the body of Christ has risen to fullness. And when it reaches a certain point it'll be taken out so that Israel can rise once again to its fullness. It's a pattern that's seen all the way through the Bible. We are waiting for the sound of the trumpet. First Corinthians 15:51, 52. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. You know that this last trump, some people say, there it is right there, the seventh trumpet of Revelation. That's when the church is going to be raptured. Of course, that's in the second half of the tribulation. So they are saying, you'll go through the tribulation. They're just misinterpreting what it means when it says the last trump. We're not talking about the seventh trump. Trumpet of Revelation. Paul wrote to his followers when he wrote 1 Corinthians 15. He wrote it in A.D. 55, 40 years before John wrote Revelation featuring the seventh trumpet of being blown by an angel. So you got 40 years elapsing between 55 and 96. That's 40 years in which Paul's letter referencing the last trump had no meaningful point. If you believe that the seventh trump of Revelation is the last trump, there simply wasn't anything for Paul to refer to until 40 years later. Well, that's one reason why I think that that seventh trumpet is not the seventh trumpet of revelation. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Paul wrote, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now, this trump of God here in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, is not a trumpet blown by an angel. If you examine it, it is the voice of God. By the way, if you look this up in the Bible, the first trumpet that ever sounds in the Bible is found in Exodus 19 at the giving of the law. And the first trumpet is the voice of God. It's not a musical instrument. It's not a shofar. It's not a silver trumpet. It is the voice of God. The last Trump, first Thessalonians 4:16, is also the trump of God. It's not a musical instrument being blown by an angel. We're waiting for God's voice. In short, when he says, come up hither after this I looked, and behold, a door was open in heaven. Remember in Revelation 4. 1 When John looked and he saw a dimensional aperture A hyper dimensional aperture. It's called a door that lets you go to heaven. And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me. That's the very same voice we're going to hear when we are asked and invited to come up here. It'll be a voice that sounds like a trumpet. I can't even imagine what that will sound like, but I can't wait to hear it. And there will be no mistaking it if it happens 10 minutes from now, which it could, you'll hear a voice saying, come up here, perhaps naming your name, and it'll sound like a trumpet. Wow. Come up here. John heard that voice. We're going to hear that voice. It's amazing. That's the thing we're waiting for. It's not an angel blowing a trumpet. It's the Lord himself. Remember, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. That's the voice of the trumpet. It is a voice of victory. It is a voice of accomplishment. It is a voice that I believe the Lord has been waiting to sound now for a couple thousand years. And he's as anxious to say it as we are to hear it. I really believe so. Because God is love. He is typified by love. He is love personified. He loves us all. He wants us to be together as a family. He's waiting. He's waiting. He's waiting through all this time until he can say, come up here and consummate this incredible 2000 year ongoing relationship with the body of Christ. It's not an angel we're talking about here sounding the last trump. It's the Lord himself. It's also the next item on our spiritual agenda. By the way. Right now we are in the business of spreading the gospel. And I want to say, not just the gospel as we have traditionally known it, not the gospel where you leave a tract on the door, you knock on the door and you run to the curb before they can open it so you won't have to talk to them. It is not that kind of gospel spreading. We are in the business of spreading the full gospel. That is the declaration of Bible prophecy that tells people what time it is and motivates them to receive Christ and to become part of what I consider to be the fastest movement on earth today. Things are happening so fast in Christianity. If you can stand in my shoes sometime and talk to the people from all over the United States, all over the world, who are crying and saying they're not teaching prophecy at our church, I Wish they would. They need to be. We're just not hearing about these things. And once they do, suddenly it all snaps together and they begin to understand that they are a part of this huge movement that is going to be culminated in the coming of the Lord for His church, his body, if you will. Right now we are in the business of spreading that gospel. And soon we're going to be joining the armies of heaven. Revelation 19, 11, 16, right there in the middle of it in verse 14. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. I can't wait to wear that white linen. That fine linen, white and clean. And as I tell people, it'll probably be the first garment you've ever owned that fits you perfectly. It's going to be great. We're all going to return with Christ at the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation. Because all during the Tribulation and during his judgment, we've been with Him. He's my Savior, not my judge. And if you want to be a real prepper, all you need is his love. Be with Him. Know the joy of his salvation. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. This little passage of scripture written by Paul is written for one purpose only, and that is we are eternally bonded to Christ. In our present state. Nothing that Paul could imagine, nothing that he could conjure up in his wildest imagination can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, how could you possibly be going through the Tribulation? Because to do so would violate every principle in the history of the interpretation of Bible prophecy. And it would mean a separation from our Lord because you would experience him as Judge, not as Savior. And we're not going to experience him as judge. We are safe. And you know, he's coming back for us. And I think very soon, imminently, but very soon before the tribulation. So keep looking up, everybody.