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Mark, chapter number 13 is an extremely important chapter. In the book of Mark, this is the one time where Jesus takes an entire chapter and talks about future events, Bible prophecy and times. At the beginning of the chapter, He talks about how this is the end of the world that's being referred to. Now, the parallel passages for this are in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. And these three chapters, Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, are the most comprehensive teaching that Jesus ever gave on Bible prophecy. That should make us pay attention and take note and say, hey, this is really important. If one time in Jesus' ministry He does a whole sermon and a big long chapter on Bible prophecy and future events, this must be an important chapter. Not only that, it's interesting that we find it in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but we don't find it in John. Why is that? Well, because John wrote the whole book of Revelation. And so John covers all this material that we find in Mark 13 in his book Revelation. So we have it in Matthew, Mark, Luke and then John does it in Revelation. Look at the beginning of the chapter, Mark 13, verse 1. The Bible reads, And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples saith unto Him, See what manner of stones and what buildings are here? And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed, lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. It's interesting that this statement, Take heed, lest any man deceive you, is a statement that is all often associated with end times prophecy. Because in Second Thessalonians chapter two, when he talks about the man of sin being revealed, he says, Don't let anyone tell you that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means. He uses almost the same wording. That means that there's a lot of deception about end times Bible prophecy. If every time God's talking about end times Bible prophecy, He's warning us, Hey, don't be deceived. Many will be deceived. There are many deceivers that are entered into the world. Now, one of the big lies about Mark 13 is that when you try to teach on Mark 13, a lot of people will say, Well, Pastor Anderson, this isn't talking to Christians. This is only talking to the Jews. This is actually talking to Israel. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch, it's almost as if God is putting that there because He knows that somebody is going to say that this chapter is not speaking to all. Often God preempts a lot of heresy. For example, evolution is a pretty new teaching, isn't it? You know, it goes back to the 1800s. But yet, the Bible says in Genesis one, over and over again, after His kind, the animals bring forth after His kind. The plants bring forth after their kind, after their kind, after their kind. Almost to the point where you're looking at it like, God, why are you saying after His kind so many times? It's so repetitive. But God knew that people would come along and say that things do not reproduce after their own kind or that evolution is responsible for all the different species of animals and plants. And so He puts that there knowing. And God knew that people would lie about this chapter and say, Oh, this is just for the Jews. This is just for Israel. And so He puts that last verse there just to make it clear who He's talking to. All. Everybody. So to sit there and say this passage is only talking to Israel when it specifically says what I say unto you, disciples, I say unto all, watch. To sit there and say, Oh, this isn't for all. It's to just deny the Bible. I mean, there it is right there. It's to all. And not only that, He's speaking to His disciples. We're Christ's disciples. We're His modern day disciples. Christians are the disciples. Are the Jews or the nation of Israel disciples of Christ? No, unfortunately, 99% of the people over in the so-called nation of Israel don't even believe in Jesus Christ. So it wouldn't be for them. Now as we read Mark 13, we see a series of events laid out and what the sequence is. Now go to Revelation. Keep your finger in Mark 13 and go to Revelation 6 because I want to show you how Mark 13 matches up perfectly with the book of Revelation and gives you the exact same teaching. Now when you're looking at the book of Revelation, he starts out in chapter 1 with John on the Isle of Patmos. And it's just an introduction to the book of what the book's going to be about. Then in chapters 2 and 3, we have messages to the individual seven churches in Asia. Then in chapters 4 and 5, we're still not into the sequence of future events. In chapters 4 and 5, we just have a scene up in heaven where we describe the throne room of God and the angels that are there and the four beasts and all the different pavements and the sea of glass and all the different things that we see. But the events actually begin to take place in chapter 6. Nothing really happens as far as future events until you get into chapter 6. And when we get into chapter 6, the seals begin to be opened because in the book of Revelation, of course, we have seven seals, later we're going to have seven trumpets, seven vials. Look what it says in verse 1 of Revelation chapter 6. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, come and see. And I saw and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer. So with the first seal, we have a man on a white horse who has a bow like a bow and arrow and he's going out to conquer. A crown is given to him and he's going out to conquer. Look at the second seal, verse 3, and when he opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword. So this is very logical when we think about the fact that a guy goes out to conquer with a weapon of war in his hand and then the next seal, what do we have? Warfare. And not only that, but the Bible says that peace is taken from the earth. That means that it's a worldwide warfare. The whole world is pretty much at war here. Peace is taken from the earth and people are killing one another. Look at the third seal in verse 5. When he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, come and see and I be held in lo a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand and I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou heard not the oil and the wine. Now if we cross reference with the Bible, we find out that a penny is a day's wages because elsewhere in the Bible, men go out into a field to do unskilled labor for 12 hours and they receive a penny. So the penny is a day's wages for an unskilled labor. So what are we talking about, 100 bucks, 200 bucks? He says here a measure of wheat for a penny. How would you like to go work out in a field for 12 hours and have enough money just to buy a measure of wheat? So what this is, is a very high food price. Imagine spending 100 bucks or 200 bucks for a measure of wheat or three measures of barley. So what the Bible is describing there is a famine because when there is a famine and food is in short supply, the price is going to go up, supply and demand. So the sequence of events there was the guy on the white horse going out to conquer with the bow, then we had warfare worldwide. What does warfare lead to? Famine. Because when all of the industry and all of the manpower goes toward fighting and building war machines, then food's not being produced and then that leads to famine. You look at World War II, there were all kinds of people who starved and all kinds of pictures of emaciated people who didn't get enough to eat as a result. Okay, flip, keep your finger there, go back to Mark 13 now. And notice how we see the same things described in Mark 13. It says in verse 6, many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. So what's being predicted here? Impostors, right? People are claiming to be the Lord Jesus Christ, claiming to be the second coming of Christ. Then it says, when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled for such things must need be, but the end shall not be yet. Verse 8, nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places and there shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. So what do we see there as a sequence? We see first of all, false Christs, then we see warfare, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and then we see famine. Now it's the exact same sequence because if you think about it in Revelation 6, 1, that guy on the white horse is not Jesus Christ. The guy on the white horse is on a white horse because he's impersonating Jesus Christ. Jesus is not going to come on a white horse until Revelation chapter 19. On chapter 19, he comes on a white horse to set up his millennial kingdom, his thousand year reign. That is what the anti-Christ is impersonating. He comes on a white horse pretending to be Jesus, pretending to be there to institute his worldwide thousand year reign, but it's an imposter. So notice it's the exact same order. Revelation 6 went anti-Christ comes, warfare, famine, and then in Mark 13 we saw those same things mentioned in the same sequence. Let's keep going in Mark 13. In verse 8 it talked about that there would be famines and troubles. Now the word trouble is synonymous with the word tribulation. Throughout the Bible, the words trouble, tribulation, and affliction are all used interchangeably. Those three, trouble, tribulation, affliction. You can even see that trouble and tribulation come from the same root word, trib, trouble. So those are related, trouble, tribulation. It's almost the same consonance there. If we look down at the Bible at verse 9, it says, But take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel must be first published among all nations, but when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost. Now this is talking about Christians being persecuted, is it not? Again delivered up, arrested, turned in. He says even in verse 12, Now the brothers shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son, and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death, and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Okay I'll get to that in a moment, but I want to show you right now just the sequence of events. Go to Revelation 6 and let's see if it's consistent. Rule number one, Antichrist comes on a white horse to conquer. Notice a crown was given unto him. Later it's going to be said of the Antichrist that the dragon gave him his power. The dragon gave him his seed and great authority. That crown is given unto him by Satan, and he comes forth on a white horse to conquer impersonating the Lord Jesus Christ. Then what do we have in the second seal? Warfare, worldwide warfare. Then we have famine. Okay let's look at the fourth seal. It says in verse 7, when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth. So here we see a continuation of the same types of things on the earth just escalated because we had warfare and famine. Now we have more warfare, more famine, because that's the sword, hunger, right? Also just death and the beasts of the earth in general. Look at the fifth seal, verse 9, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Now let me ask you this, is that consistent with Mark 13's order? Because what came after that great time of trouble where there's sword and famine and warfare and pestilence, death, beasts of the earth killing? The next thing was they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And what do we see in the fifth seal? But Christians being killed for the cause of Christ because it says when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony that they held. Look, a time is coming when people will be slain because of the word of God. People will be killed and put to death for the cause of Christ and just for taking a stand on the word of God and what it says. Now look what it says in verse number 10, they cried with a loud voice saying, how long oh Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. Now stop right there. When they say, how long oh Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Can't you see that God is not yet judging and avenging their blood? Why didn't God say, well I already am? I've already been doing it. Didn't you see the warfare? Didn't you see the famine? Here's why. Because that's not God avenging anything. That's not God's wrath. God has not yet begun to pour out his wrath at this point. This is just man and the devil and the anti-Christ creating all this warfare, creating all this famine. It's all engineered by the devil, by the anti-Christ and by evil men. And evil men, I mean why would God be behind putting Christians to death? The Bible says the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life. So it's the devil that put the anti-Christ in power. It's the devil that's bringing warfare. It's the devil that brings famine. It's the devil that's bringing all this death and carnage and horrible things on the earth and ultimately with the fifth seal, it's the devil who is bringing persecution upon God's people. Persecution upon Christians. So people will try to say that these seals represent the wrath of God. It's a lie. God hasn't begun to avenge him. God hasn't begun his wrath. His wrath begins in the sixth seal. Look at it carefully my friend. It says in verse 12, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty men. Let me ask you this. Are these things that man can achieve? Man cannot darken the sun and moon and make the stars fall out of the sky. So this is where God steps in, darkens the sun and moon. The stars begin to fall. The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, verse 14, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains 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, watch this, for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. Let me draw special attention to is come. He didn't say it has come. It's already been going on for a long time. He said no, it is come. The great day of his wrath is here right now. It just arrived. It's like the song, joy to the world, the Lord is come. It's saying he's here right now. That's what the song is rejoicing about the birth of Christ. Now when it says that the great day of his wrath is come, that means that the great day of his wrath did not come previously. So all the stuff leading up to that, who is running scared with the fifth seal? It's believers who are running for their lives. But in the sixth seal, who's running scared? All the men of the earth, all the evil people, they don't want to face Jesus. They don't want to face his wrath when the sun and moon are darkened. The sun and moon being darkened is the key event here. The stars falling from heaven as a fig tree. Remember that. We're going to come back to that, but let's go back to Mark 13. So we're going to get back to that, but we've pretty much easily established that Mark 13 and Revelation 6 are describing the same thing, which makes sense that if Jesus is going to teach on Bible prophecy for a whole chapter, we're going to be able to find it in Revelation easily, readily, because it's the most important teaching that Jesus gave on Bible prophecy. But let's pick up where we left off and let's slow down and look at some of this stuff in Mark 13. I want to point out first of all in verse 12 where the Bible reads, Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son, and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. What could cause a child to rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death? I mean, isn't that mind-boggling to think about a child that would actually turn in their parents, that their parents would be executed? Rise up against their parents and cause their parents to be put to death? It's a chilling thought, isn't it? But if you think about it, in order for that to happen, they would have to have an allegiance somewhere other than to their parents. There would have to be someone else or some other ideology that they have a greater allegiance unto than unto their parents. And if you think about it today, many children today are not being raised by their parents, primarily. They're not inheriting the belief system of their parents. They're not inheriting the ideology of their parents. They're getting a completely different value system, ideology, upbringing if they're in school. Because if you think about it, children who are going to public school are not being taught the same values that their parents are teaching them at home. Not at all. Because at home, if the parents are Christian, because this is about Christians, if the parents are Bible-believing Christians, they're teaching their children, hey, you know what, you get married, it's one man, one woman, you know, you're supposed to be a virgin when you get married, you're supposed to be pure, abstain from fornication, you know, thou shalt not commit adultery, et cetera, et cetera, they're being taught that God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth. Right? Isn't that what they're being taught at home by their Bible-believing, godly Christian parents? They're being taught that God is supreme and the Bible is the word of God and that it is created by Him and it belongs to Him and that we're not our own but we're bought with a price. We need to glorify God in our body and in our spirit which are God's. Then they go to school and they're taught there is no God. Big bang, the earth's billions of years old, evolution, you know, you go up and you start fornicating when you're 12, 13, 14 years old and just as long as you do it safely, right, and they'll give them the means to do it safely, quote, unquote, and explain, and by the way, you know, as safe as you think you are from disease or pregnancy, you know, you're never safe from God who's going to come punish you for what you've done. Be sure your sin will find you out, the Bible says. And so they're being taught an ideology that's based upon atheism and you say, well, my kid in the public school, they have a Christian teacher, right, but the curriculum is based on atheism. The principal is running the school according to atheism. The department of education is based on atheism and that's going to come through and the teacher is not going to be able to get up and teach godly Bible principles to the children in the school because the institution is atheistic by nature. It's not just neutral, it's atheistic. They don't just say, well, we're just not going to talk about, you know, where the world came from because we're just going to leave that up to people's individual beliefs. No, they're going to tell you, we believe, you know, that it's this and they're going to sit there and explain to you, I remember when I was in public school, I was in sixth grade and the science teacher got up and he said, I don't care if you're a Christian, I don't care what religion you are, I don't care what you believe, you must believe in evolution in this class. And he said, evolution is a fact and if you don't believe in it, you're an idiot, he said. If you don't believe that the earth's billions of years old and that it all came from nothing, if you don't believe that everything in the observable universe used to be smaller than the period on the page and then it exploded, if you don't believe that everything came from nothing and things come to life by themselves, he said, you are an idiot. I mean, imagine he's talking to young, impressionable 11-year-olds saying, look, religion has nothing to do with it, leave your religion at the door, believe in this or you're an idiot, you have to believe in it. That's what he told us. The same teacher, I later got in an argument with him because I mentioned vitamin K and he told me vitamin K does not exist. He said, there's no such thing as vitamin K. I said, vitamin K. No, no, there's no such vitamin. He's like, maybe you're thinking of potassium because that's K. I said, no, vitamin K, I said, it's found in yogurt and alfalfa sprouts, vitamin K. And he just, no, I never could convince him. Finally I went home, I got out the encyclopedia, I look it up, I bring it to him, vitamin K. And he said, oh yeah, you're right, vitamin K, you're right, it's out there. But I'm an idiot, right? I'm an idiot, the science teacher doesn't even know what vitamin K is. I mean, don't they even give that to babies? Isn't that the ones usually that they, I mean, we don't do it with our kids, but they give the vitamin K shot even. This guy must have been all sterilized to high heaven to where he wasn't even having kids to have ever even heard of that. He's one of these atheists that refuses to reproduce or whatever. But anyway, what were we talking about, something about yogurt? That sounds pretty good right now. Yeah, you know, just how the school system is teaching them a value system that's completely alien to what they're learning from their family. So you could see how kids could rise up and just be like, oh man, you know, my parents are horrible criminals, I'm going to turn them in, you know, because they're actually these extreme and right winged fundamentalists, you know, and they're not on board with, you know, world peace through the antichrist and whatever. So basically, you can see how children would rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death when they're being raised with an ideology that's completely foreign to what they're being taught at home. That's where this disconnect between parent and child comes from. The parent's not teaching and raising the children. There rose up a generation, the Bible says, that knew not the Lord. Why? The parents did not teach and train. And we're supposed to teach our children under the third and fourth generation. Not only just teach your children, if you can't teach your children anymore because they're adults, you need to teach your grandchildren. If the children aren't teaching the grandchildren, then you teach them. You know, take responsibility for three or four generations. So that's why the children are rising up against their parents and causing them to be put to death. Now verse 13, let's stop and talk about verse 13, very important, ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. A lot of people will twist this verse to try to teach that we don't have eternal security. They'll try to use this to teach that we can lose our salvation. And they'll say, hey, you're only going to be saved if you endure unto the end. Or they'll twist it and say, well, you can't lose your salvation, but if you don't endure unto the end, then you were never saved in the first place, they'll say. And it becomes this thing where you have to have the perseverance of the saints to be saved. That's where the fifth point of Calvinism comes from, which is a lie. It comes from a misunderstanding of this verse where, you know, apparently John Calvin didn't understand this verse. Let's understand the verse together by comparing verse 13 to verse 20, okay? It says in verse 13, he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. First let's stop and think about it. Endure what? Endure the tribulation, persecution, the stuff that's going on where people are being put to death. So this isn't saying, oh, endure to the end means you stayed in church. Look, I know that, you know, you might not like our church, but this church is not the tribulation. You know, you can't, this church isn't some suffering that you have to endure to the end. You know, and people say endure to the end means stay in church and keep living for Jesus. No it doesn't. He says they're going to put you to death and they're all going to hate you and if you endure to the end you'll be saved. But he's not talking about going to heaven. Because look at verse 20, it says, and except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. So are we talking about souls being saved? We're talking about the flesh being saved. So he says here, except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he has shortened the days. What does that mean? He's saying here that if you endure all this persecution and people being put to death, if you endure unto the end, your flesh will be saved. Why? How is your flesh going to be saved? Because the days are going to be shortened. So what he's saying is that if this persecution were allowed to run its full course, if the devil and the anti-Christ were allowed to continue their reign of terror and putting people to death, eventually none of the elect's flesh would be saved, they'd all be killed. Because what is the devil doing here in Mark 13? He's putting Christians to death. And what he's saying is if that were allowed to just go on indefinitely or even to go on for several years, what would happen? No flesh would be saved. All Christians would eventually be killed. They'd just keep killing them until they're all dead. But he says for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened, their flesh will be saved if they endure to the end. What's that saying? If you endure this period, you'll be rescued by the rapture. The rapture is called the salvation of our body, the redemption of our body. So here's the thing. If we believe on Jesus Christ, our soul is saved, eternally saved and we can never lose our salvation. We don't have to endure to the end for our soul to be saved. But we have to endure to the end for our flesh to be saved. Because your head getting cut off, yeah that's not your flesh being saved. Your flesh just died. If you drown, your flesh just died. If you starve to death, your flesh just died. So endure to the end that you might be saved is not spiritual salvation. People make a mistake whenever they see the word saved and they always just assume it's talking about going to heaven. Peter, I mentioned it on Sunday, Peter's drowning and says, Lord save me. He wasn't trying to get to heaven, he was trying to get back in the boat. So you can't just assume what saved means. Get the context in verse 20. Their flesh shall not be saved. Two different things. So he says in verse 14, But when you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understand. Then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything out of the house, and let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. Now let me stop and say this. A lot of people will wrongly teach that the abomination of desolation already took place before the time of Christ. There was a guy named Antiochus Epiphanes and this guy Antiochus Epiphanes, you know, invaded Jerusalem, it's all found in the Apocrypha, the story about Antiochus Epiphanes coming in in the book of the Maccabees, it talks about how he came in and, you know, he sacrificed a pig on the altar at Jerusalem and everything like that. But hold on a second. Is Jesus talking about something that had happened in the past or something to look for in the future? So Antiochus Epiphanes coming in and desecrating the temple cannot be the abomination of desolation because it already happened before Jesus even was born. Because it happened hundreds of years before Jesus was born. What happens a lot of times is that there are events that are foreshadowings, foreshadowings of future events. For example, in the end times the Bible tells us in Revelation that the sun and moon are going to be darkened and that that's a major event, when the sun and moon are darkened and the stars fall. But think about how there was a foreshadowing of that when Jesus died on the cross, what happened? You know, the sun was darkened for three hours, okay? But a lot of people will say, oh, see, that was already fulfilled. But no, these are foreshadowings of it and a lot of times in the Old Testament there were shadow fulfillments of things and then the main fulfillment came with the coming of Christ and then there's other fulfillment that's coming at the second coming of Christ. But a lot of people who are preterist will say that the events in Mark 13 have already all happened or part of them have already happened or we've already happened. Now here's the thing, the temple was destroyed in AD 70 and Jesus did predict that the temple would be destroyed and that one stone would not be left upon another. Yeah, that already happened. But here's the thing, Jesus hasn't come in the clouds yet. The trumpet hasn't sounded yet and all the elect were gathered. None of the plagues of Revelation have been seen yet. So to sit there and be a preterist and say, oh, this stuff already happened, it's all done. Okay, when did Jesus come in the clouds? When did the trumpet sound? When were the believers caught up together to be with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air? To ever be with the Lord. When did God pour out all the plagues that are found in the trumpets and vials where he sends these locusts from hell that are stinging people? None of that has happened, my friend, so don't fall into this preterist trap where they try to say it's all happened. Yeah, there's a shadow fulfillment with Antiochus Epiphanes. Some things were fulfilled and there was a shadow fulfillment in AD 70 just in the sense that Jerusalem was destroyed and Jerusalem is going to be destroyed again in the end times, okay? That's a shadow fulfillment and there's going to be another fulfillment. Most of the events are still coming and the book of Revelation, you know, talks about things that have not happened yet unless you just want to take a super loose, super liberal interpretation that says, oh, it's all figurative. That's a real weird interpretation to take, you know, I mean, how figurative can it be? I mean, at that point, then the Bible is so mystical that none of us can understand it if it's that figurative. But anyway, Mark 13, where we are, we're talking about the abomination of desolation. So let's just quickly review the timeline, Antichrist, false Christs, okay? Then we have World War. So let me ask you this, are we into the end times before we see a World War? What's the first thing that we're going to see, a World War? So if anybody tries to tell you, oh, maybe we're already into the tribulation or maybe, maybe, you know, we're already on the X, Y, and Z seal or maybe we're on the third trumpet or we're already on the fifth trumpet or the seventh, don't listen to that. The first step, my friend, step one, World War. World at War. Now, have we had the World at War before? Well, there are two wars that have been called World War I and World War II. The whole world was not fighting, but there was fighting taking place all over the world. That's why it's called a World War because there were fights that were going on on, you know, most of the continents and in all different parts of the globe, warfare was happening in World War I and World War II. But there's going to be another World War. World War III will happen. There's going to be a World War at some point, okay? You know, we don't know exactly what side is going to be lined up against who. You know, a lot of people have theorized that it would be, you know, Islam versus the Western world or, you know, that it could be East versus West. We don't really know how it's going to play out, but we know one thing, there's going to be a World War and until you see that World War, you're not to the second seal yet. You're barely, you're not even into it. When you see the World at War, does that mean that for sure you're into the end times? No, because otherwise people could have said at World War I, this is it. And by the way, there were people in World War I who said it was it. They're called the Jehovah's Witnesses. They predicted the second coming of Christ like six, they gave exact dates. He's coming back in 1914, 1917, 1918. They were trying to say that, okay, people thought World War II was the end. They thought Hitler was the Antichrist, you know. All kinds of people have thought that it was the end. If you see World War, does that necessarily mean it's the end? If World War III breaks out tomorrow, does that mean it's the tribulation? Because this could be World War IV, you know what I mean? It could be, right? We don't know when it's going to happen. He tells us at the end of the chapter, no man knows the day or the hour. We don't know when the time is, okay? This could be a few years from now. This could be a hundred years from now. We don't know. Although we do see the technology ramping up, we do see the end approaching with all the religions starting to unite. I saw something in the news about Rick Warren, you know, saying good things about the Pope and trying to unite evangelicals and Catholicism and let's be friendly toward Islam and let's all get along and let's all put aside our doctrine and these interfaith movements and this world council of churches and the presidential prayer breakfast where we got the rabbi and the priest and the pastor and the whatever, you know, imam. And they put it all together and we see that we have the United Nations as a governmental body but then they say, oh, we need to unite religions also, you know, to keep the peace amongst religion. You know what? They don't want, they want to shut people like me up. People who don't want to play ball with their new world order. People who don't want to play ball with their pro-sodomy, pro-wickedness agenda. You know, I'm not playing ball, my friend. I'm swimming upstream and they don't like that. They want everybody on the same page. They want everybody in one accord with Satan. And what we see here is that the abomination of desolation is the point at which you know you are in the end times for sure. Because when you see a guy saying, I'm Christ, does that tell you for sure? No, because a lot of people have said that they're Christ. There are people right now on the planet who claim to be Jesus who have many followers. When you see a world war, does that mean it's the end? No. I mean, a lot of people thought it was the end times when Genghis Khan, you know, started invading Europe. This is it. This is the tribulation. The army from the east, you know, across the river Euphrates or whatever. People thought that the black plague, they're in the tribulation. One third of Europe is wiped out by the black plague, the bubonic plague. When you see plagues, when you see people starving, when you see disease, when you see famine, when you see warfare, none of that guarantees you that you're in the end times. Because stuff like that has happened throughout history. You say, well, how will we know that it's really the end? He says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, you know, that's when you really know for sure. Now what is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet? Let's turn back to Daniel the prophet, right? And let's just take a glance at it in Daniel chapter 9. And let's see what this abomination of desolation is that is spoken of by Daniel the prophet. It says in verse 27 of Daniel chapter 9, it says, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the ablation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and the determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Now we see there the words abominations and desolate, okay? Now when we look at this passage, and we see the abomination of desolation, it talks about the daily sacrifice, he shall cause the sacrifice and the ablation to cease. So when the abomination of desolation takes place, if we just take just an interpretation of just what Daniel 9, 27 is actually saying, it says that the sacrifice and the ablation are going to be made to cease. Now I have a question for you. Are the Jews today performing the sacrifice and ablation today? No. Now, go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. So let me ask you this, 2 Thessalonians 2, can you cause something to cease that isn't even happening? You can't stop something that hasn't even started, right? So before you see the sacrifice and ablation cease, you'd have to see those things start happening, okay? Now look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The Bible reads, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Now some people will tell you, oh, the day of Christ is at hand, he'll come any moment. No. 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 exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Now let me ask you this, can you sit in the temple of God if there is no temple of God? No. So what's going to happen at the abomination of the desolation is he's going to cause the sacrifices to cease and he's going to sit in the temple of God and he's going to say that he is God. He's going to put himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped. He's going to exalt himself above all gods. He's going to pronounce himself to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the Messiah, and he's going to stop the sacrifices and the oblations in the temple. Now there is no temple in Jerusalem at this time. The temple was destroyed in AD 70 and not one stone was left upon another. A lot of people will wrongly believe that that wailing wall where the Jews will go there and do this kind of thing, you know, to the wall, they say oh that's part of the temple that's left. Not one stone was left upon another. That wall is not a part of the temple, that is just a wall. And you know what those Jews ought to be doing? Bowing down to Jesus instead of bowing down to a wall. Bow down to Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord, the King of Kings. Quit bowing down to a wall and wailing. You know you're going to be wailing if you don't get saved because in hell there's going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth. There's no wailing wall. There's wailing in hell for them if they don't get saved. They need to believe in Jesus. But what we see today is that not one stone of the temple is left upon another. But the temple will be rebuilt in the future. Not hard to believe at all. That's what the Jews have been planning for decades. Why do you think they're even back over there? Why do you think thousands of years later the nation of Israel is back in existence? Why? The Zionist Jews have gone there with a plan and a desire to eventually rebuild that temple and dominate the entire world from Jerusalem. And they will rule over the Gentiles. That's what they believe. And they're going to do it with the Antichrist at the helm. And what's going to happen is they're going to rebuild the temple and they're going to reinstitute the daily morning and evening sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. You will see animal sacrifices being performed once again. Now why don't the Jews offer animal sacrifices right now? I've asked that question to hundreds of Jews, hundreds. Where are the sacrifices? All, you know, you claim to believe in the Torah. It says over and over again all these sacrifices. Where are they at? Oh well we can't do that because we don't have the temple. Now first of all that's a lie because God told them that they could always build an altar of stones or an altar of earth. They could pile up dirt or pile up rocks and offer sacrifices thereon. And we even see people doing that. We see examples of that even after the temple was built. Of men of God piling up stones, building altars, and offering sacrifices. Secondly, God never even told them to build the temple. That was man's idea. That was David's idea. And when David had the idea to build the temple, God told him, I never asked for this. I never told you to build this. But he said it's good that you want to build it. It's good that it's in your heart. Go ahead and build it but you can't build it. Your son's going to build it and Solomon built it. But God instituted the tabernacle. That's why in Hebrews in the New Testament when he talks about all the symbolism of the Old Testament, no, he doesn't talk about the temple. He talks about what? The tabernacle. The tabernacle. That was his original intent, his original plan, the tabernacle. But even before the tabernacle, pile of dirt, pile of stones. After the temple. So look, it's hypocrisy. They strain it a gnat of, well, we don't have the temple. That wasn't even God's idea. And they swallow a camel of, let's just ignore God's hundreds of commands to have sacrifices. The Bible says without shedding of blood, there's no remission. The Jews are lost in their sins. We aren't because we have the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, slain from the foundation of the world. We've been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God. We've been washed in the blood of the Lamb. They haven't even been washed in the blood of a physical goat or a physical bull because they don't even sprinkle the blood at all because they have no sacrifice today. The religion of Judaism is a pharisaical fraud. So what we see then is that the abomination of desolation takes place in the temple. And it takes place in the future and it hasn't happened yet. So until you see the temple built, you're not in this period yet. So you can't sit there and say, oh, man, it's going to be tomorrow. No. You have to, oh, man, Ebola. Could this be the fourth seal? No. I mean, are people saying stuff like that? They'll say, oh, man, Ebola, this could be the fourth seal. Or like, for example, that Iceland volcano that spewed a bunch of smoke into the air and then people say, look, it's darkening the sun. Could this be the end? Or they'll point to the fifth trumpet where smoke came out of the bottomless pit and blackened the sky. Hey, this is it. The fifth trumpet. No, wrong, my friend. People are out there to trick you. There are so many prophecy teachers out there that are there to deceive. That's why he says over and over again, let no man deceive you. Let no man deceive you. Let no man. You say, well, how do we know that you're not deceiving us? Because I'm proving to you everything from the Bible. And you know what? Just take my word for it that I'm not deceiving you. Just keep it in the back of your mind that maybe I am and read the Bible for yourself and make sure that I'm not. Don't even let anybody deceive you. You need to read on your own. And if you read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and if you read Revelation, you'll see that everything I'm saying is the truth. First and Second Thessalonians, I'm preaching the truth tonight. And everything I'm saying is backed up with scripture, go ahead and study it all you want and you'll find that my Revelation series, I'm sure it has mistakes in it, but I believe it's 99% dead on. You know, nobody's perfect, but I put a lot of study and prayer and learning into this and there are a lot of faults. Don't just listen to any old Bible prophecy thing. You know, you need to be checking this stuff out on your own and anytime you listen to a sermon on prophecy, you need to do it with Bible in hand. And you need to compare it to the book of Revelation for yourself. So what we see here is that we're not into this period of the tribulation or into the seals or into any of this until we see, you know, a world war followed by famines and then when we see the temple being rebuilt, the sacrifice being instituted, and then when we see the abomination of desolation, then we know that we would be three and a half years into it because it's in the midst of the week. The week being the seven year period of the end times. That seven year period in the midst of it is when the abomination of desolation takes place. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, you know that you're deep into it. You're well into it, okay? You're around the fifth seal, period, at that point. But until then, you're not going to know for sure until you see the stuff surrounding the temple. That's the stuff that's unique to the tribulation, whereas famines and warfare happen other times. I got to hurry up. There's so much to cover. A lot of people will take this verse that's in verse 14 where it says at the end of verse 14, then let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains, and they'll say, you know what, see right there, right there, this proves that this chapter is only talking to the Jews. Okay, verse 37 again, what I say unto you I say unto all, watch, okay? It's to all. But secondly, if this were only talking to the Jews, then why would he say, then let them which be in Judea? Sounds like he's also talking to people that are not in Judea, or else why would he say, then let them which be in Judea, here's a special instruction for them. He says, let not him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein. Why would the person in Judea need to head for the hills when they see the abomination of desolation? Because Jerusalem is going to be destroyed and trodden underfoot of the Gentiles for 42 months, read Revelation 11. So yeah, if you're living in Jerusalem, if you're living in Judea, what was then called Judea, today we would call Israel, you know, that's where it's going to be really rough for you, okay? He says, you know, woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days, just because why, it's going to be hard to flee, right, if you got little kids and babies and nurselings, it's going to be rough for you to flee, and pray that your flight be not in the winter, for in those days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall be, let me emphasize to you again, that the word tribulation and affliction are both interchangeable, okay? In Matthew 24, this exact statement says, then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, to this time, no, nor ever shall be. So it says, there should be great affliction, and then it says in verse 20, you know, except those days should be shortened, except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And now, again, chosen, a lot of people get hung up on the word chosen or elect, and they think that God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. That's not true. When the Bible talks about chosen or elect, what that means is that we as Christians are God's chosen people, and what that goes back to is the Old Testament teaching where the nation of Israel was chosen, right? God chose Abraham. Does that mean everybody else went to hell? No, there were all kinds of people saved that were all over the world that were saved. Abraham wasn't the only one that was saved. Abraham chose him to be the father of many nations and the father of a great nation. So when God chose Abraham, and then he chose Jacob, and he chose Israel to be his people and his nation, they were the chosen people of God in the Old Testament, the elect. But then in the New Testament now, the Bible says that we are a chosen generation. We as Christians are a holy nation, a peculiar people, according to 1 Peter 2. So we're the chosen people. It doesn't mean God chooses which people will be saved and which people will be not saved. What he chooses is that his people will consist of the saved. The Bible says, whom he did foreknow. He did predestine to be conformed to the image of his son. He didn't predestine which one would go to heaven and which one would go to hell. He predestined that those whom he foreknew as being believers would be conformed to the image of his son. He predestined and chose that God's people in the New Testament would be Christians, and that God's people in the Old Testament would be the Israelites. Those are choices that he made. So when the Bible talks about the elect whom he's chosen, it's talking about those who believe in Christ. Because we are the new chosen people versus the old chosen people, the physical nation of Israel in the Old Testament. So the Bible says here in verse 21, then if any man shall say to you lo here is Christ or lo here is there, believe him not. Look what is it saying? Never will someone have to tell you this is Jesus Christ, this is the second coming of Christ. I'll put it to you this way. Is this Christ? It's not. Could this be the second coming of Christ? It's not. Could this man really be the second? No. If anybody even says to you for any reason, this is Christ, you don't believe him. Never believe him. No matter who it is, no matter what you hear or see, if there's a doubt in your mind, it's not Christ. Period. Because the Bible says there are going to be false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders. They're going to perform miracles. They're going to be believable. And it says that they would seduce if it were possible, even the elect, to seduce if it were possible. That means it's not possible. So the elect shall not be deceived. Holy Spirit-filled Christians will not be deceived, but those who are not saved will be deceived. But take heed, behold I have foretold you all things. Now why is no one going to have to tell you that it's Christ? The Bible says that when he comes with clouds, every eye shall see him. He'll light up the sky from east to west. Every eye shall see him. And we're going to be caught up with him in the clouds, you're not going to be wondering. You're going to see it and it's going to be like, okay, this is it, you know, done. No doubt. So it says in verse 24, but in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. Now remember the sun and moon being darkened in Revelation 6. So what does that mean? If the sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation, what was all that stuff that we saw in Revelation 6? What would that be called then? Seals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The tribulation, right? Because seals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 happen. Then when seal 6 happens, sun and moon are darkened. So if sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation, seals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are the tribulation. Okay? So then it says after the tribulation, the sun and moon are darkened. And it says in verse number 24, the moon shall not give her light. The stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken, identical to Revelation 6, and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Now what did they say in Revelation 6? Hide us from the face of who? The Lamb. So does it surprise you that right here it says they see the Son of Man coming? Who are they asking to hide from? The Son of Man. Jesus. Jesus called Himself the Son of Man scores of times. More than He called Himself the Son of God, He called Himself the Son of Man. Son of Man is one of the most common references to Jesus in the whole New Testament. Over and over and over and over again, He's called the Son of Man. He comes in the clouds. They're going to see Him coming in the clouds with power and great glory. And in Matthew 24, there's an added detail where it says, then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. All tribes of the earth. Somebody said, oh, that's Israel, the 12 tribes. No, no, no. All tribes of the earth shall mourn. That's everybody on the planet is going to be mourning. Why? They're saying, fall on us. Rocks and hills fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come and who shall be able to stand? As they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels and shall gather together His elect from the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Now I've got to stop and just tell you something funny here. Flip over to Matthew 24. Keep your finger in Mark 13. It's funny how people will just, they fight this passage. They need to just surrender. You know, they're just like fighting Matthew 24, just fighting Luke 21, fighting Mark 13 because they just want to hang on to that pre-trib rapture that just ain't there. But they just fight it and just fight it and fight it. And they fight it so hard, you know, it reminds me of the passage about the strange woman in Proverbs, lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, it says, her ways are movable. You know, if she doesn't get you one way, she's going to get you another way, right? And that's how it is with these pre-trib believers. You'll prove them wrong on one thing and then they'll just change the game, just change the rules of the game. So first it's like they make a whole movie called Left Behind about, you know, one shall be taken and the other left. And then they'll try to say, oh, it's the bad people that are, it's the bad people that are taken and the good people that are left. It's like, wait, what? What in the world? They're taken in the rapture. But they change the game. So here's what's funny, when you come at people with Matthew 24, here's what I've had people say. And it's just, it's such a display of ignorance and it's especially embarrassing when a preacher says this. But I've had a preacher tell me this. I said this to a preacher, I said, hey, this is the rapture in Matthew 24, 29 through 31. And in verse 31, look at Matthew 24, it says, he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. And I've had him say this, hey, this isn't the rapture because he's just moving people from one end of heaven to the other. You know, he just kind of like picks up, okay, let's gather the elect and we're going to move you to another part of heaven. That was pretty cool, huh? Are these people nuts? But it's like they'll do anything. They'll do, they'll do, say, believe anything before they just accept that their preacher rapture ain't happening. They're just, they're grasping at straws. You know, they're, they're just, they're like a drowning man that's just grabbing at anything he can just grab hold of, you know. But what's funny is that they would have the ignorance to sit there and say, oh, it's just from one end of heaven to the other, okay. But then look at Mark 13. It says at the end of verse 27, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Whoops. Ooh, forgot to read Mark 13, buddy. But here's the funny thing, obviously when God says in Matthew 24, from the uttermost part of the, from, from one end of heaven to the other, he's talking about the sky. Because the sky is also called the heaven, right? God created the firmament and he separated the waters which were above the firmament from the waters which were under the firmament, he called the firmament heaven. And it talks about the foul of the air flying in the heaven. From one end of heaven to the other, go to Montana, big sky country, right, and if you go to Montana, what are you going to see? Here's the one end of heaven, here's the other end of heaven. What is he saying? The whole earth. That's what he's saying. It's an expression, it's a figure of speech. What he says, he's going to gather together his elect from one end of heaven to the other, uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. He's just saying he's going to gather all the elect, everywhere they may be found. That's an expression, that's a figure of speech. So he says in Mark 13, verse 28, now learn a parable of the fig tree. The fig tree was also mentioned in Revelation 6, the stars fall like figs. When her branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even at the doors. How do we know it's nigh? How do we know it's at the doors? When we see what? These things come to pass. So why do people tell us there are no signs of his coming? There will be no warning. It can happen at any moment, it could happen tonight, it could happen before the end of the service. No. When we see these things come to pass, we'll know that it's near. Now do we know the day or the hour? No we don't. But we know that it's after the tribulation and we know that when we see these things come to pass, it's near. He says this in verse 29, or verse 30, verily I say unto you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. So when you see these things start, it's all going to happen in one generation. It's not a parable where it lasts over hundreds of years, no. When you see it begin to come to pass, this generation will not go away until it's finished. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. That's one of the best verses on preservation of God's word. Matthew 24, 31 is the best verse on preservation. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man. Now what's funny is people will take this verse, but of that day and hour knoweth no man and say, see, it could happen today. Hold on, does that verse say that it could happen at any moment? He just finished telling us it's after the tribulation and then he says, but of that day and hour knoweth no man. But does that mean that it could happen now? Let me illustrate it to you this way. What if I said to you, sometime after the first of the year, sometime after the first of the year, I'm going to show up at your house unannounced for dinner. Tyler Baker. I'm coming to your house sometime after the first of the year. You're not going to know when I come. You don't know the day or the hour. You need to just be watching and I can come at a time that you don't expect, but it's going to be after the first of the year. Now does that mean that I might come tomorrow? No way. I'm not coming tomorrow because I just finished telling you it's after the first of the year. But look, you don't know the day or the hour. Now is Tyler going to go home to his wife and say, well, Pastor Anderson told us that we don't know the day or the hour. So we better just be prepared for him to come today. Wouldn't that be silly? It doesn't even make sense because I just finished telling him it's going to be after the first of the year. So just because you say you don't know the day or the hour doesn't mean that it's not after the tribulation. And then other people will say, you know, well, the Bible says we're looking for it. So if we're looking for it, then that means it can happen at any moment because the Bible says, you know, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ. But here's what's silly about that. You know, what if somebody is looking forward to getting married? You know, somebody, let's say, is getting married at a certain month. You know, it's a few months out, right? You're getting married. You know, are you looking for that to happen? You know, you're looking forward to it, right? But does that mean it can happen tomorrow? No. So you're looking for it. But here, here's the biblical proof. Okay. In 2 Peter chapter three, you don't have to turn there, but in 2 Peter chapter three, he uses the exact same word in verse 12, looking for and hasting unto, boy, that sounds like it's right there, huh? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. But those who are pre-trib do not believe that that's going to happen at the rapture. They don't believe in the fire and the burning of the atmosphere and everything like that. They think everybody just disappears. So that right there is looking for fire and brimstone. Can that happen at any moment, O pre-tripper? But then even further, he says in the next verse, nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth. When are the new heavens and the new earth going to happen? After the millennium, over a thousand years from now. But are we looking for that? We're looking for new heavens and a new earth, the Bible says, but does that mean it can happen at any moment? No. So Mark 13, let's quickly finish up. Listen to this. This is a key right here in verse 32. People have called me a heretic for just preaching and teaching exactly what verse 32 says. But look what verse 32 says. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Let me ask you this. Did Jesus at this time know the day and the hour of his return? It says right there, neither the Son. Now I have said before that Jesus did not know everything when he was a 12-year-old boy. He didn't even know everything at this time. Because what? He didn't even know the day of his coming. Does that mean he knows everything? No. Why? Because Jesus was a human being, but he was also God. We're not taking away from the deity of Christ here. The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, these three are one. The Bible says that unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Look, Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. But what's amazing about Jesus is that he took upon him the form of men. He took upon him the seed of Abraham. He took upon him flesh. Look, when he was born as a baby, he didn't just come out of the womb and start talking in complete sentences, but in the Koran he does. Did you know that? In the Koran, Jesus comes out and he's a baby and he's talking. Now that's not biblical because the Bible says that Jesus at age 12 grew in wisdom. How do you grow in wisdom if you already know everything? Think about that. And when you're a baby, look, Jesus, you know, the song goes, the cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes. Now I personally don't, I mean, it's a great song, but I personally don't think that Jesus just never cried. Jesus wept. You know, it's right there in the Bible. I mean, as an adult, there were three times that he wept. You know, it's conceivable that he probably wept as a baby when he needed a diaper, when he needed to be fed, or whatever. Because here's the thing, my wife told me, she said, well, that song's bogus because she said, if the baby doesn't cry, you wouldn't feed it often enough. You know, the baby cries to let you know, feed me. And then, you know, because my wife feeds them on demand, you know, every hour she's nursing those newborns. So what I'm saying is Jesus actually lived a life of a human being. He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. It's the most amazing story ever told. It's a marvel. And I love the humanity of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he's in agony, and he's sweating, and he's weeping, and he doesn't want to go through with the cross. But he says, not as I will, but as thou wilt. It's powerful. Because it's not just, oh yeah, Jesus just showed up, he's God in the flesh, everything was easy, everything was a piece of cake, he just did it all. No, he actually suffered and went through everything. And it's a beautiful story, and it's a true story, it's the greatest story ever told. And so Jesus was human. He did not know all things from birth. As he became older, he learned more and knew more. And he knew that he was the Son of God, he knew he was the Messiah. And I'm sure that Jesus up in heaven right now knows the day and the hour of his coming. I just don't think he knew it at this time, you know. Anyway, he says, again, you know, for the Son of Man, we'll quickly finish, verse 34, is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch, by the way, means to stay awake. That is what the word watch means, to stay awake. He says, Watch ye therefore, for you know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning. Look, this is a parable. It's not literal. It's not literal like, you don't know if he's going to come at the cock crowing or the morning. No, it's a parable about him being as a man that goes on a journey, and the servants don't know whether the master of the house is going to come back at even, or midday, or the morning, or the cock crowing. A lot of people misunderstand, take it literally, okay. He just said, it's as a man. He didn't say, the King of Heaven is a man. He said, it's as a man. That's a parable, that's a likeness, that's a simile. He says, less coming, suddenly he finds you sleeping. Now, this isn't saying, boy, the last thing you want to be is asleep when Jesus comes. You know, so when you see the abomination of desolation, you better get some real strong coffee, and you better stay awake as much as you can, and for all those days and weeks after the abomination of desolation, you know, you better stay awake, buddy. Don't let him catch you sleeping. Wake up! You know, at the middle of the night you need to be awake. No, when he says, be awake, what does he mean? He says this. In 1 Thessalonians 5 is where this is really explained well, but I kind of said we were almost done with the sermon, so we're not going to turn there. But in 1 Thessalonians 5, he says, they that sleep, sleep in the night. They that be drunk in the night. Let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. And he says, ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of the light and the children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. What does darkness and night represent? Not knowing. When you're in darkness, you don't know what's going on. So when he says, be awake, watch, what is he saying? Know what's going on, know what to expect, know what the Bible says, know what Jesus taught and be paying attention to what's going on around us and awake. It's funny because a lot of people in the truth movement will use terminology like this, don't they? Being awake. But you know who's truly awake are Bible-believing Christians who understand tonight's sermon. And you know, the truth movement's great. You know, I love the truth movement. You know, 9-11 truth and, you know, exposing the global government and everything like that. That's all great and dandy. But you know what? Anybody who's in the truth movement who doesn't believe in Jesus is asleep, period. You got to believe in Jesus to really be awake. It's not literal, okay, when he says awake and sleep. It's symbolic of being aware. That's what the truth movement means. You're aware of what's going on. People that are asleep, they don't know what's going on. They're unaware. They're living in a dream world. That's my words and I have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this critical chapter, Lord. I pray that people would understand it, Lord. I have tried my hardest tonight more than anything to make this chapter simple and I've tried to break it down and explain it in a way that was understandable, Lord, because that's my job as a pastor, to take that which is complicated and make it understandable, Lord. I pray that you would open the eyes of every single person that's here, Lord. I pray that they would not be lazy but that they would be diligent to read Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, Luke 17, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and the book of Revelation, Lord, and really let these things sink in. And we love you, Lord, and we await your coming. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, and we pray these things in your name, amen. All right, let's go ahead and sing one more song before we go. Let's sing Away in a Manger, you know, but we just talked about it, so we might as well sing it. Grab a hymnal here. You know the page for the mat, 433, Away in a Manger. We don't know whether he was crying or not that first night, so we'll go ahead and sing the song. 433, let's sing it out. The stars in the sky were down where he laid The veil, O Lord Jesus, was seen through the day The cattle are low in the field range The veil, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made The day, O Lord Jesus, how bright he made