14 Things to Watch in Prophecy #1

Fred R. Coulter—November 9, 2013

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After seeing the situation with the Muslims in the western world, that helps you understand the schemes of Satan the devil and the ones that He uses as correction against Israel. {referring to introduction on video} I have planned to give some sermons on the 14 Things to Watch in Prophecy. This fits right in with it when we come to the fall of Israel. This also fits into something when we talk about the king of the north. There will have to come a time when those things will all have to be addressed.

I gave this sermon about three years ago and quite a bit has happened since then. Dolores and I were watching what she recorded from the History Channel concerning the book of Revelation. It's interesting, they all have a good number of things correct, because God wants the world to know certain things. They also have a lot incorrect. For example, they talk about the beast and the anti-Christ. They have that very correct. But then, 'all you good people who attend Sunday-keeping churches, the rapture is going to sweep you away to heaven, so you don't have to worry.' (said factitiously)

Then someone sent me a DVD about the Seventh Day Adventist interpretation of Rev. 13. They got the first part of it right about the beast and the antichrist. But the one that talks about the beast that looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon: do you know what they interpret that to be? The United States of America! So, unless you really stick with the Scriptures, rather than stick with a denominational interpretation, or what you understand, you're going to miss an awful lot of things.

Let's understand something very important. The knowledge that God gives us is available to all if they will love Him and keep His commandments; likewise, with the Gospel. You can preach a lot about the Gospel, even if you're a Sunday-keeper. But it's like having glasses that are not quite clear. Or like having binoculars that are out of focus. Here's the key to understanding the Word of God. There are many things we could cover concerning that, but we're not going to.

It's available to all. Even God said back in Jer. 23, which we've read many times concerning the false prophets. He said, 'If they had made them stand by My Word, then they would have done what I wanted.'

It's just like we've talked about concerning the Passover. If you zero in on that and make that your target—which Satan has done—then you move people away from the understanding of the New Covenant and the renewal of it. Then you bring in the traditions. This is how a little leaven leavens the whole lump and how Christianity of the world, though they have some understanding, misses the mark.

1-Corinthians 2:9 "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'"

What is the love of God? The first manifestation of it is: 'Here is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.' Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep the commandments, namely Mine.' You need to understand He was also Lord of the Old Testament, too.

Then you take a look at the seven churches in Rev. 2 and 3 and what do you find, even with the Churches of God? You only find two that were really faithful: the Church of Smyrna and they were faithful unto death; the Church of Philadelphia understands the Word of God more because they were faithful in keeping it and doing it. All the rest had various problems:

• losing their first love
• bringing in traditions and teachings of Satan the devil
• following the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church
• coming to a point of exhaustion that they are nearly dead
• or after the revival of it, coming to the point that they are lukewarm and everything degenerates down to a social club

They can't see because they are blinded because of the blessings that God has given and they get self centered in what they are doing. Then unless they repent, God spews them out of His mouth, which He has done. There needs to be repentance as well.

So, for those who love God it gets down to another thing. What is the degree of intensity in your life that you love God? What did God tell the Laodiceans? 'Be zealous and repent.' If we maintain the zeal for God on a daily basis then we won't slip into all the problems of Rev. 2 and 3.

Verse 9: "'…the things, which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit…" (vs 9-10). The basic knowledge is this: God has to reveal the things that are not discoverable in the Bible just by reading and observation.

"…for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God" (v 10). We're going to cover some of the deep things of God.

I just might mention that Dwight Blevins, who is a musician and deals very knowledgeable in the Calculated Hebrew Calendar and in music and he's a harp maker. He sent a 250-page book that he has written concerning how music and the times of the calendar, the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, with the seven leap years where they added an extra 30 days, how all that ties in. It is absolutely phenomenal how everything comes together. When you read it your head will virtually explode.

I've read a lot of it, but it is absolutely incredible how things come along. Right now—just a little sidebar as we go along—if you don't follow the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, you miss the mark. There are some who have set up their own calculated Hebrew calendar and they are missing the mark. This year they kept the Feast of Tabernacles in October—30 days late, because they accept a wrong premise of the visible new moon and that the first day of the first month must occur before the spring equinox. That last one is not a rule of the Calculated Hebrew Calendar.

Does God know what He is doing? Of course, because He is God! Can men improve upon God? No! We are the created thing; He is the Creator. Men's vanity and rejection of God, beginning with Adam and Eve, and then Cain, was this: 'we can do better than God—Who has given us His commandments—and we will come to God the way we decide.' That's how all the religions in the world came about.

That's where the religions that are supposedly Christian are in a decline like falling off a steep slope. It is coming to almost total destruction. There are a few out there trying, but they need to learn the first lesson of loving God if they want God to reveal to them what He is doing.

"…for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God. For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him?.…" (vs 10-11). God gave us the ability with the spirit of man in us to have thought, planning, to have all the things we need to function. But that is incomplete; we need the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God does not dwell very long with those who live in sin. {Note sermon, The Holy Spirit of God and the Seven Spirits of God, and how those work}.

God deals with many people, but who are those who understand the secret of the Lord? Those who truly love God and are faithful! Some of the things we're going to cover here have not been understood by other Churches of God. Many of them have. In reading the book, Killing Jesus, by Bill O'Reilly, knowing only the Catholic tradition he did an adequate job. But in rejecting the majority of the Bible as history and truth, and not understanding the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, he did not understand the meaning of Passover.

"…In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God" (v 11). That is to truly understand it. What is the most important thing for us as human beings to understand? Not only the love of God, commandments of God, using the Spirit of God,but only the Spirit of God can reveal to ushow evil and wicked and deceitful and despicable that human nature really, really is!

That's why God has given us as Christians the job of overcoming, because God wants the mind converted, cleansed, and develop the mind of Christ. He doesn't want us to have a stupid religion out here where everybody is herded into church, and if you're herded into church then you are one of those and all you have to do is say, 'Yes, Lord, I believe,' and BANG! you are qualified for the rapture.

Only by the Spirit of God and He doesn't give His Holy Spirit to those unless they obey Him. Verse 12: "Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God; Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom…" (vs 12-13). Not through the philosophy.

Just a little sidebar: When I was first being called and coming to the knowledge of the Truth, this was one full year before I started attending at Ambassador College, I had graduated from the college of San Mateo Junior College and I was going to go the University of San Francisco. I had already signed up. The University of San Francisco is a Catholic Jesuit school. So here I am reading a Plain Truth and reading the articles. They were running the series, The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop. I got that book and I started reading that book.

So, here I am going to classes. Crosses everywhere, pictures of Jesus. This is the thing that did it for me, not quite. I'll tell you one before that. You would think, since they claim to be Christian, that in order to understand the principles of life and creation, they would begin with Genesis—wouldn't you? But you were required to take Philosophy 101. Those also deal in evolution and in the early church fathers.

This going through my mind and everything, I'm up on the third floor of this building waiting for a class to start. I just got a Plain Truth and I read it in the Bible where Jesus said, 'Beware of the scribes and Pharisees that go around in long robes and like the salutations of those in the market place—rabbi, rabbi.' That was in my mind and I was looking down to the center square that was kind of a park-like thing. They had the sidewalks running between. The Jesuit priests would go out there every morning reading their little prayer book in their long Jesuit Cossack outfit.

Then the thing that really did it would they would walk along and here would come a student. The student would say, 'Good morning, father.' He would look up and nod his head. I received my rabbi hello. I said to myself, I've got to get out of here. That was about the sixth week of the first semester. I immediately went down to the registrar's office and withdrew. When I opened the door to go to the registrar's office, here is a picture that was, I would say, four by six of Jesus with long hair and a crown of thorns on his head. I thought to myself, you better get out of here now.

So that was my experience. It proves the point:

• unless you love God
• unless you believe God
• unless you keep His commandments

you are not going to understand God's way—period. You can say you are Christian. You can have billions of followers, but that makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.

"…but in words taught by the Holy Spirit…" (v 13). How was the Bible written? By the inspiration of the Spirit of God called 'God breathed.' Jesus said, 'The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are Life.' Yes, if you read the Bible you can understand a lot of things, but that doesn't mean you are converted. That doesn't mean you have answered the call. You've got to come to God His way, because 'there is a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.'

"…taught by the Holy Spirit in orderto communicate spiritual things by spiritual means. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (vs 13-14). So we need to realize that.

Now let's look at some framework on how we are going to understand the 14 things in prophecy. This is going to bring us to the #7.

The Foundation: Passover and the Holy Days

Passover is one day; Unleavened Bread seven. Then we have counting from the first day of the week during Unleavened Bread we count seven times seven days =49 days. The fiftieth day, one day further, is Pentecost.

Then we have the pattern in the fall. We have Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. We have seven Holy Days, but we have eight that we observe as a feast because the Passover is a feast but it is not a Holy Day because of everything that was done on it the day that Jesus died.

One other thing concerning the Holy Days: the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is figured from the first day of the seventh month, which used to be the first day of the year at creation. Adam and Eve were created, the Garden was there, they could eat the fruit of it. It had to be in the fall because all the fruit was available to eat.

That's why God said to Moses that in the first month of the year for the children of Israel it was in the spring. That's why He had to tell them that. That's why the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is calculated to the first day of the seventh month.

If you count the Holy Days beginning with Trumpets, instead of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

• Trumpets—one
• Atonement—two
• Tabernacles—three
• Last Great Day—four
• First day of Unleavened Bread—five
• Last Day of Unleavened Bread—six
• Pentecost—is seven

When Jesus said, 'All that the Father has given Me I will raise up at the last day,' tells you that is not the Last Great Day, but Pentecost. There are seven other things around which all prophecy centers.

1. Israel—the ten tribes.

Originally twelve, but also right at the beginning there was the division of the twelve tribes of Israel already preset. Did you know that Joshua was an Ephraimite? Caleb was of the tribe of Judah? So, you have the seed for the house of Israel and the seed for the house of Judah right at the beginning.

2. Jews

3. Jerusalem

Are we seeing a lot of things with Jerusalem today? Yes! The latest headline in the paper from Jerusalem was concerning the Obama Administration because the Jews flew their planes up there and bombed where they were storing those Russian anti-missile missiles and destroyed them.

The Obama Administration let it out in the news. The headline in Jerusalem was, 'BETRAYED!' because there was a secret agreement. If there is anything that God despises is if you are charged with a secret, you never reveal it to anyone!You will pay the price!

4. Jesus Christ—His first and His second coming

5. The Church—True Church consisting of the Churches of God

6. The world

7. The Kingdom of God

All the prophecies circulate around those. You have the framework of the Passover and the Holy Days. Note: book, God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days—that is designed to give you an in-depth understanding of the Word of God.

Let's understand something else concerning the Word of God. It is not a Twitter/Facebook. You cannot have just a summary of things of the Bible and say you understand it. You may have an acquaintance with some things of the Bible, but to understand the Bible you have to apply yourself and the Spirit of God.

People today want a quick overview. We're all trained. Just think of the millions that are trained on Twitter—one sentence. 'I've accomplished a big deal. I sent a twitter.' God has sent His Bible. Think on that. Let's understand something about the Bible and we come up with number seven again. There are seven divisions of the Bible:

1. Law
2. Prophets
3. Writings
4. Gospels & Acts

Those consist of five books, which compared to the first five books of the Bible, called the Law, or the Pentateuch. It is called Pentateuch because it comes from the number five. It's very similar. You have:

• the teachings of God
• the laws of God
• the history of the children of Israel

In the New Testament you have:

• Matthew
• Mark
• Luke
• John

which are:

• the laws of Christ
• the teachings of Christ and the knowledge of Who He is
• Then you have the history of the Church from its beginning—Acts

After that you've have:

5. General Epistles

They come right after the book of Acts.

6. Epistles of Paul

7. Book of Revelation

In order to understand Revelation and even Daniel, you've got to have some knowledge of the whole Bible in a pretty secure way, an in-depth way.

Let's begin with what Jesus said. All of this requires active participation. God wants us to be active, participating, zealous, loving, obedient; and all of those things God wants us to have, because He's not going to give anyone eternal life until they have learned to love and serve God. If there's any one thing I have been learning in reading the Old Testament, it is this: You better make sure you do what God says, especially when it comes to the Holy things.

Let me give you an example: God gave all the detailed instructions to Aaron and Moses concerning the temple, the tabernacle, the altars, and everything. One thing He said, 'You shall not bring strange fire on My altar.' How did the fire on the altars start? After the temple was dedicated, what happened? They had offerings on the ground altar, that's true, but the altar at the temple, where God put His presence, He started that fire!

God told the sons of Aaron to keep the fire burning. Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron, let the fire go out, so they said, 'We'll put fire in there.' What happened to them? They were zapped deadbecause they did not do what God said! There are other instances, too.

Look at what happened to David, even though David was forgiven for the affair with Bathsheba. God said, 'You, because you did this thing, are going to have trouble in your household the rest of your life.' A few days later Absalom raped Tamar. We need to understand that God means what He says.

Let's understand what God has given. Let's understand if you want to fight against God, you better remember what Jesus said here, Mark 13:31: "The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away. But concerning that day and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Take heed…" (vs 31-33). Be on guard, be watching and praying, especially in our day.

"…For you do not know when the time is coming. It is like a man journeying to a far country, leaving his house and giving authority to his servants, and to each one his work and commanding the doorkeeper to watch. Be watching, therefore…" (vs 33-35).

Notice He says "…watching and praying…" (v 33)

"…for you do not know when the master of the house is coming: at evening, or at midnight, or at the cock's crowing, or in the morning; Lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!'" (vs 35-37).

We're going to look at some of things we need to watch. Surely someone will say, 'There's a contradiction in the Word of God.' The carnal mind likes to look for contradictions so they think they are contradictions and they can reject all the Word of God. This is talking about the coming of Christ (1-Thess. 4).

1-Thessalonians 5:1: "Now then, concerning the times and the seasons… [these are the appointed times of God] …brethren, there is no need that I write to you; for you yourselves understand perfectly that the day of the Lord will come exactly as a thief comes by night" (vs 1-2).

How are we to know the times and the seasons and yet not know the day or the hour? At the time that Jesus spoke there to the disciples, as we found in Mark 13, He did not know. Why? How can we have some knowledge, but the actual return of Christ to the day and the hour we don't know? Yet, what do we say? We say Pentecost pictures the first resurrection—correct? Yes, it does! Passover was the day on which He was crucified—correct? Yes! Trumpets is the day He is going to put His feet on the earth. We understand that. That is no conflict at all.

That is no difficulty at all when you understand, as you read Rev. and you read Isa. 2 and Hag. 2 that God is going to shake the heavens and the earth. When you do that, what do you do with time? Immediately it shows that 1/3 of the day isn't going to shine; 1/3 of the night is not going to shine; the stars are not going to shine! What is going to happen to the earth? It is going to moved in its orbit. What does that do with time and days? That gets them all discombobulated! No one is going to know the day or the hour. Later on when we get down toward some prophecies that are fulfilled, we might be able to pretty well nail the year. There is no conflict here. There is no contradiction.

With all of that said, let's come to Matt. 24 and we'll show what Jesus said there. What we need to realize is this. We live in the end times and God has made sure that His Word is available to everyone—and it is. And available in many, many ways, not just in a book anymore: audio, visual, all media devices and handheld devices. It's there! Why? As a witness to all nations! That's a part of it, and also because Matt. 24 has a dual fulfillment.

1. During the days of the apostles up to the destruction of the temple
2. At the end-time it is to be understand even more completely

We have instant communication around the world. You are sitting watching your news and all of a sudden it says, 'News flash!' Remember when the earthquake hit Japan? Came up instantly: 'Mammoth earthquake in Japan, 8.3 on the Richter scale.' They found out that was well over 9.0 when they got all the facts together. What happened? There was a tsunami, that's true, but the main island of Japan was moved 8 feet north and west!

Matt. 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 are all to us in this day the prophecy of what's going to happen. We will know! To them at the time of the apostles, it was to them up to the destruction of the temple, but we will see that were certain prophecies that were not fulfilled at the time it was destroyed.

Matthew 24:32: "Now, learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near…. [talking about His second return] …In like manner also, when you see all these things…" (vs 32-33). That means every single one of them taking place, not part of them.

If you take a jug and say, 'Fill this up with water,' and the one you sent to fill it up with water comes back with it 3/4-full. 'Why didn't you fill it up with water like I asked?' I thought this would be enough. That's just exactly like Matt. 24 as it applies to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70A.D. and what is happening now. Not all the things had happened. So this applies to us.

What am I telling you? That Matt. 24, to be understood in its fullest, though we have read it over and over and over again, is to be understood in the light of the modern communications and technology so we know when these things occur wherever they take place in the world.

Verse 33: "In like manner also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Isn't that interesting? What did Jesus say to the Laodiceans? 'I stand at the door and knock; if any man open I will come in and sup with him and he with Me.' If those Scriptures in Rev. 3 apply to you, you better listen to the knock and you better open the door, lest you be disappointed.

Verse 34: "Truly I say to you, this generation…" That is the end-time generation, not the generation of 70A.D. That was a type of a fulfillment.

"…shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away…. [He repeats again what He said there as recorded in Mark 13] …But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (vs 34-36). He adds more to it.

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Let's come to the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel can be likened to a lock. The book of Revelation can be likened to a key. You can't understand Daniel without Revelation and you can't understand Revelation without Daniel. Let's take a quick review of the book of Daniel:

Daniel 2 talks about the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw. We find that it ends up with the coming of the Kingdom of God with the return of Christ. There is absolutely no timeframe involved and understanding when that would occur except as the history unfolds through Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Rome is a little different situation because you have different rises and falls of the Roman Empire. So, that makes it harder to understand.

Daniel 3 we have Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. They didn't burn up.

Daniel 4 was not written by Daniel, v 1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth…" Here's a message perpetually to all nations and peoples.

Verse 2: "It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs! And how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation" (vs 2-3). Nebuchadnezzar wrote Dan. 4.

It's about how he got all lifted up in his vanity and how God revealed to him that God sets up over the nations the basest of men. Very interesting! You read it all the way through.

Daniel 5 shows the decline and fall. Here it is the fall with Belshazzar of the Babylonian Empire. It fell that night. You will see that the final vanity against God was that at this banquet they took out all the vessels that had come from the temple in Jerusalem and were drinking out of them.

Daniel 6—you see a change from the Babylonians to the Persians.

Daniel 7—we have again the kingdoms of this world leading up to the return of Christ. In this one it gives a little more understanding, but does reveal this:

Daniel 7:24: "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the set times and the laws. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time'" (vs 24-25).

We will see there's a dual fulfillment of this at that time and then also at the return of Christ, because it goes right into the return of Christ:

Verse 26: "But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him" (vs 26-27).

No time setting—way out there somewhere in the future. Only the book of Revelation can give us the time setting here.

Daniel 8:23—again, coming to the same point: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king, fierce of countenance and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up…. [that's the coming anti-Christ] …And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power… [the power of Satan the devil] …And he shall destroy marvelously, and shall prosper and do his own will, and destroy the mighty and the Holy people" (vs 23-24). That applies to the Jews and it also applies to the Christians.

Verse 25: "And also through his cunning he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. And he shall magnify himself in his heart… [We will see the fulfillment of that in 2-Thes.] …and in time of security shall destroy many… [we'll see when that comes about] …He also shall stand up against the Prince of princes… [against Christ's return] …But he shall be broken without a human hand."

Daniel 8 ends the revelation concerning the Gentile kingdoms between that time and the return of Christ.

Daniel 9 talks about the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah.

Daniel 10—we have some things concerning going to Jerusalem.

Daniel 11—we have the history of that part of the world and the last part tells us about the king of the north, the king of the south.

Daniel 12 this brings us up to the things at the end of time.

Let's come back to Dan. 9 and we will go through this in detail. Again, there are certain things that have to be known and applied in order for this to be understood. This could not be understood in full until the latter times. Part of it was understandable even up to the time of Jesus Christ, the coming of the Messiah.

Remember what happened when the wise men came to Herod, and he asked them, 'When did you see the star?' They told him! They asked the priests and the scribes, 'Where was the Messiah to be born?' In Bethlehem! They had certain understanding from the prophets up to that point.

Daniel 9 shows us the things that are going to happen beginning with the point in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus[transcriber's correction] It defines how long it's going to be until the Messiah comes. Let's learn a lesson here from Daniel's attitude. This also substantiates that you are not going to understand what the Bible means

• just because you are intellectual
• just because you work in a theological institution
• just because you have theological degrees and understand Hebrew and Greek

That's not the criteria. Even Daniel didn't receive this vision until he was seeking God and repenting!

Daniel 9:2: "In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, which came according to the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years."

When did he understand that? Right at the end of his life! Even though Seriah—who was the brother of Baruch, the secretary for Jeremiah—took the prophecies of Jeremiah and gave them to the priestly community in Babylon in the captivity, of then which Daniel had access to. Who knows how many times he read it. We don't know, but he didn't understand it until this critical juncture. What did he do when he finally understood that, and how does understanding come? It comes from God!

Verse 3: "And I set my face toward the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes…. [Repenting!] …And I prayed to the LORD my God and made my confession, and said, 'O LORD, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commandments" (vs 3-4). First priority, we've already discussed.

Notice, he didn't say: 'God, we've been here being beaten up and put down by all these Babylonians here. Since Jeremiah said that it's 70 years, this looks like it's the 70th year. How about getting us out of here? We don't deserve any more of this.' No! He was repentant, humble, seeking God.
Verse 5: "We have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, and have turned aside from Your commandments and from Your ordinances. Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets…" (vs 5-6).

Look what the king did when part of what Jeremiah wrote came to the king. Remember that? The king was sitting there. It was being read to him and he took a penknife, cut the scroll and threw it in the fire. Baruch came back it was all burned up. God said, 'Write it again and add more words to it.' That's how they treated him.

Verse 6: "Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O LORD, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, and to all Israel who are near and who are afar off, through all the countries where You have driven them because they dealt treacherously with You" (vs 6-7).

• that's how we understand the Word of God
• that's how we understand our own human nature and the evil that we have

That's why God, with His Spirit, reveals to us the evil that is still lodging in our minds and our evil thoughts that are there so we can have our minds 'cleansed with the washing of the water by the Word.' We can think the way God wants us to think. We can see things the way God wants us to see things.

Verse 8: "O Lord, confusion of face belongs to us, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You." Is that not the prayer that needs to be prayed for the United States of American and Britain today? Yes, indeed!

Verse 9: "To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses even though we have rebelled against Him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God to walk in His laws which He set before us by His servants the prophets" (vs 9-10).

Think about what they do to anyone who names the name of Christ today. There was a man who for years driving a little bus taking students to school, they would pray in Jesus' name. Now he's ordered to stop because some poor little sissy might be offended. That's where we've come.

Verse 11: "Yea, all Israel has transgressed Your Law, and have turned aside, so that they might not obey Your voice. Therefore, the curse has been poured out upon us and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him."

Isn't it interesting? When was the last time you read Deut. 28 and Lev. 26? All those things are happening right now. We are going to be surprised when all things come unglued, but the prophecy, the stranger shall rise up high above you is being fulfilled every single day. All the curses! Do we have sickness? Disease? Do you think that ObamaCare is going to do one thing to take care of you? No, it's not!

Therefore, we've said how many times that you better learn how to take care of yourself. You better go back and learn some of these good old fashioned home remedies. Go back and get some of those books that tell you how you can do certain things, because they don't want any of us who are over 75 to live. What a great way to get rid of all those 'calcified immovable' conservatives. Give them a pill and send them home to die. We need this prayer!

Verse 12: "And He has confirmed His words which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing upon us a great evil… [What are the judges doing today? Have they not brought upon us the great evil of same-sex marriage? Destroyed the family?] …for under the whole heaven it has not been done as it has been done upon Jerusalem." We can say, yes, it's not going to be done ever again like it's going to be done to America and Britain. It is going to happen!

I don't know about you but about two years ago for about three weeks I had this foreboding, just foreboding in my mind. All I could do was think about it and ask God to help me. Eventually it went away, but it was because of all the things that were happening. Here recently, as I said in my last message last week, it's like the news is just like a boxer out there punching through the screen and hitting you right in the face with every evil thing that's happening. I've been just on edge, because I know the things that are going to come. Then you see all the nonsense that we are doing as a people and a nation. It just pulls you down! When that happens, we've got to go to God just like Daniel did here, exactly like he did.

Verse 13: "As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us. Yet, we did not make our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your Truth."

I'm going to give some segments on Church at Home about the decline of Protestantism. There are a few out there trying to do well, but if they want to really try and do well, they need to repent and embrace the Sabbath and Holy Days and commandments of God and stop all their stupid nonsense that the Law has been done away. No man is going to do away with the perfect Law of God!

How can you say you're a Christian and the Law is done away when the whole fact of the New Testament is, as recorded in Heb. 10:16? We are to have the laws and commandments written in our hearts and in our minds, when you say it's done away and you get rid of it!

• You need to pray like Daniel!
• You need to repent like Daniel!

"'…that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your Truth'" (v 13). The only way we are going to understand the Truth of God is the way that Daniel approaches it. Here we have been giventhe entire Word of God!

Think about this for a minute: God said when David wanted to build a temple and he was king over all twelve tribes of Israel, God told David that 'I will make a place for My people Israel. I will make a place.' That's talking about the end-time fulfillment of the prophecies of Gen. 49. That is modern-day Israel today, and how they would be a great nation and a multitude of nations or a commonwealth of nations.

When God began to fulfill that, what did He do? He raised up William Tyndale so that before He gave them the fulfillment of the blessings that were promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they would have the whole Word of God in the language of their day. God first gave them His Word. They couldn't unshackle the Sunday thing. They couldn't in Britain get rid of things of Catholicism the way they should have.

They persecuted the Sabbath-keepers because the Bible was made available even to the ordinary person. The one who couldn't read the local church was to provide a reader to read to him so he could understand. When they came to the point of understanding the Word of God and keeping the Sabbath, they persecuted them and they had to go to Holland in order to get out from the persecution. The pilgrims that came were a lot of Sabbath-keepers. In order to preach the Gospel to the world unfettered you had to have a nation with

• freedom of speech
• freedom of religion
• freedom of assembly

You never had that in Great Britain.

However, in the reign of Elizabeth I there was the destruction by God and they all recognized it was from God of the Spanish Armada sent there because Queen Elizabeth would not marry some Spaniard. She remained unmarried her whole life. She said, 'I am married to England.' From the beginning of her reign England amassed the wealth coming from the poorest nation in Europe to the richest.

God sent His Word and they have it. If you think the people of ancient Israel were sinners, think about this for a minute: They all have the Word of God—don't they? But now they are rejecting it. The churches are becoming pubs. There are more witches than there are clergies of the Bible. So, there needs to be many more prayers like Daniel's prayer. They have no excuse; they have the Word of God.

Verse 14: "Therefore, the LORD did not hesitate concerning the evil that He brought upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all His works which He does, but we did not obey His voice." He's saying, yes, we deserved everything. Everything that you said, Lord, and You are righteous.

Verse 15: "And now, O LORD our God, Who has brought Your people out from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has made a name for Yourself, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly!" I wonder if any of the Christian bishops—or whatever they want to call themselves in Washington, D.C.—could understand that.

Verse 16: "O LORD, I pray You, according to all Your righteousness, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your Holy mountain. Because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those who are around us."

• Is that not happening today?
• Do they not hate us for our stupidity?
• Do they not hate us because of our lying and cheating of the financial system that we have set up with brother Ephraim and with brother Gad in Switzerland?

God is going to send it all to the Chinese!

Verse 17: "And now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate for the LORD'S sake. O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not present our supplications before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies. O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do. Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your name" (vs 17-19). That was a mighty prayer and God answered it immediately!

• You take that as a model for your own life
• You take that as a model for your own church
• You take that as a model for your own state or district or whatever it is

—and you return to God! You've got the Word of God. He doesn't need to come and do some miracle in your presence. You just need to get on your knees and confess your sins like this and be willing to obey Him.

Verse 20: "And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the Holy mountain of my God; Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel… [that's the angel who appears as a man] …whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, came to me, about the time of the evening sacrifice" (vs 20-21).

He gave him understanding. He also gave a prophecy that all the rest of the Bible from that time forward follows along. This is important to understand concerning the things that we need to watch in prophecy.

Verse 22: "And he made me to understand, and talked with me, and said, 'O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight and understanding.'" Just like where we started—it all comes from God. Doesn't matter who you are, how many degrees you have, how important you think you are. Unless you truly know God, you know nothing! You are an educated ignoramus that God calls a fool!

Verse 23: "At the beginning of your supplications the word went forth… [He got the message, 'Gabriel, go.'] …and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved…" Remember that. God loves His people. God loves everyone that has His Spirit:

• Don't treat it lightly!
• Don't treat it with contempt!
• Don't treat it in such a way that you think you can live in sin because you are gods!

No, you can't do that!

"…therefore, consider the word, and understand the vision" (v 23).

So here is the vision. We will read it through. We'll talk a little bit about it, but we'll pick it up here next time:

Verse 24: "Seventy weeks are decreed upon your people… [each week represents a period of 7 years] …and upon your Holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." That includes an awful lot of things. We'll go in detail into that next time.

Verse 25: "Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again with streets and the wall, even in troublous times. And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself. And the people of the prince… [it shifts over to the anti-Christ here] …who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. But his end shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate even until the consummation. And the fully determined end which is decreed shall be poured out upon the desolator" (vs 25-27).

That is quite a prophecy and covers a great span of time. It needs our attention in detail. I'll just mention this. The book that we have, The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah, if you have it, read it again. There are some things there that could not have been understood until the last days. Could not have been understood until Carl Franklin had the ability through his computer to go directly to the libraries in Europe to understand the king lines of the Medes and the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and get all of those coordinated so we would know the exact time when the decree was given and which king it was.

He had to unravel all the difficulties of Ezra and Nehemiah. All of those pertain to it. It took 49 years for the temple and city to be completed, but it didn't take 49 years for the temple to be completed. They built the temple; they had that going, but then Nehemiah had to come from Persia and help build the wall.

Just like all human beings—this is why we have the Sabbath. If we didn't have the Sabbath, we'd put everything off to the last minute and never do it. We'd just wait. They started going about their own business and doing their own thing instead of building the wall. 'I've got to build my house. The house of God doesn't need to be built, yet, I've got to have my house first.' So, God had to correct them in it.

So you have the book of Haggai, the book of Zechariah, you have Ezra and Nehemiah, which bring out all these histories. Those had to be put together to get the correct time in order to understand when Jesus the Messiah would appear, not when He was born. He was not Messiah until something happened first.

We'll continue the story in part two…

Scriptural References:

• 1-Corinthians 2:9-14
• Mark 13:31-35, 33, 35-37
• 1-Thessalonians 5:1-2
• Matthew 24:32-36
• Daniel 4:1-3
• Daniel 7:24-27
• Daniel 8:23-25
• Daniel 9:2-27

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 13
• Jeremiah 23
• Revelation 2; 3
• 1 Thessalonians 4
• Isaiah 2
• Haggai 2
• Luke 21
• Daniel 2-12
• Deuteronomy 28
• Leviticus 26
• Hebrews 10:16
• Genesis 49

Also referenced:

Sermon: The Holy Spirit of God and the Seven Spirits of God

Books:

• Killing Jesus by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
• The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
• God's Plan for MankindRevealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days by Fred R. Coulter
• The Appointed Times of Jesus the Messiah by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:lp
Transcribed:11-17-13
Formatted: bo—11-18-13

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