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Inflation remains near a record high and it shows no signs of slowing. The consumer price index for September was an 8.2% compared to a year ago. So here has made landfall as a category 4 winds of 155 miles per hour was a heightened tension between the West and Russia. Russian nuclear capable warplanes have fought to turn off the signal. If you don't have your wallet, there's no problem. Just scan your palm to pay. Amen. So you're there in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Keep your place there. Let me just give you a little bit of a context and review of the series that we're in and what we talked about in the first sermon. This is the second sermon of the clues and milestones series. What are we talking about? So we're talking about end times prophecy. We're talking about clues and milestones. This is kind of a term that I use in my understanding to understand end times prophecy. Clues are things that we can see things and we can say, okay, that could be something. The Bible does talk about that. Milestones are something that we're definitely not going to miss. The milestone is something we're going to talk about tonight. We're going to talk about a milestone. In the first sermon, we talked about the idea of globalism, the idea of Revelation chapter 13. If you remember the first sermon, what I really want you to remember about the first sermon in this series of clues and milestones is just the path from Daniel chapter 9 where, you know, the Antichrist makes a covenant with many. He makes a covenant with many and then in Revelation chapter 13, all of a sudden we see everyone in the world is on board with this covenant. So the path that I asked you to remember in the first sermon was Daniel chapter 9 was the covenant with many and then Revelation chapter 6 is the way that he gets the many to the entire world. So this idea of globalism, these global alliances, these are clues that we need to look for. These are things that will be necessary to happen before some world leader could come on the stage, make a covenant with some nations, and then all of a sudden get everyone in the world on board. And we know that that is going to go through the process of Revelation chapter 6 where there's this massive war where billions of people are killed. I mean, the Bible literally details that out in Revelation chapter 6 and then all of a sudden in Revelation chapter 13, the entire world is on board with this man. All right, so we looked at the clues, you know. I mean, we see alliances all over the world today. We see, you know, the UN, we see NATO, we see all these different alliances that have happened throughout history and I showed you last in the first sermon how God doesn't want that. God wants nations to follow Him. He doesn't want all these nations getting together with alliances and while these alliances promise peace, what they do is they cause war and they keep wars going and make wars bigger. All right, so these are clues to look for. Now let's talk about the timeline. We're talking about the timeline generally of Matthew chapter 24. The timeline of Matthew chapter 24 is basically the Antichrist coming on the scene and all the events that happen up into the rapture, okay? And that is a three and a half year period, that timeline of Matthew chapter 24. Now, of course, after the rapture is another three and a half year period of God's wrath totaling, you know, Daniel's 70th week which I will explain to you tonight which is a seven year period. But for the purpose of this series, we're mainly focusing on that first three and a half years because hey, we're going to be gone after that, right? We're not going to be here for God's wrath. So tonight, we're going to talk about a milestone, all right? We're going to talk about a milestone, something. What do I mean by that? That's my term. That's not a Bible term. That's my term that says this is something that's going to happen that we will not miss, that we will know for sure that's what this is, all right? So look down at 2 Thessalonians in chapter number 2 and look at verse number 1. As a matter of fact, and I even brought this up last time, last sermon, the Bible even tells us here, he's like, hey, don't just because this is what people do. This is what uneducated people that have no idea what the Bible says, unsaved people, this is what they do. They see one tiny little thing that matches with something that they heard from the Bible or read from the left behind book and they're like, the end is here. But we have to pay attention to the actual words of the Bible. Look down at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and look at verse number 1. And the Bible even tells us here, it's like, hey, calm down. These things aren't going to happen until these things come to pass. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's when Jesus comes back and raptures the church and by our gathering together unto him, when he brings his saints home after this three and a half year period, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come. So it's saying, don't worry. Look, the day of Christ, the day of the Lord, it's talking about the rapture. There's all these weird doctrines out there talking about how there's many different days of the Lord and the day of Christ is different than the day of the Lord. That's confusion. It's talking about don't be troubled. Here's the things that have to happen first. So I can tell you now tonight, folks, look, I'm not going to predict the end of the world for you, but I can tell you Jesus is not coming tomorrow. I can tell you that for sure. How? Because of the Bible. That's how. So it says, let no man deceive you by any means. And that's what people are doing today. They're deceiving people. They're coming out and it sells. If I came out and I made a bunch of YouTube videos that the world was going to end in 2027 and I wrote a bunch of books, you know, I mean, I can make a lot of money. I mean, cults, this is how cults operate, right? This is how cults get successful. They predict the end of the world. They don't even have to be right. It's kind of maddening actually. But the Bible is telling us here, don't be deceived because these things have to happen first. For that day shall not come, verse number three, except there come a falling away first. Okay, well, I mean, we can kind of see that today. I mean, people don't seem to be interested in church today. People don't want to hear the Bible today. I mean, that's a clue. Okay, that's a clue. But look at this. Here's our milestone. And that man of sin be revealed. This is talking about the Antichrist being revealed. This is saying that the Antichrist will be known. People will know who he is before this day comes. Now look at verse number four. Verse number four is our focus tonight. How will he be revealed? How will we know who he is? I mean, look, everybody thinks they know who the Antichrist is. Every single U.S. president that's been, ever since I've been alive, has been the Antichrist to somebody, all right? Hitler was the Antichrist. I mean, the pope. I mean, these are all, they're all Antichrists, okay? But we're talking about the man of sin, the Antichrist of Revelation, all right, of Daniel. Look at verse number four. This is how we'll know, right here. And this is what we're going to focus on this evening. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. What we're talking about in Second Thessalonians chapter two and verse number four is what's called the abomination of desolation. And that's what we're going to talk about this evening. This moment in time where the Antichrist goes into the temple and he declares himself God. We already read about this in Revelation chapter 13 last week. And it happens right before the rapture. He goes into the temple, he desecrates the temple, he stops the daily sacrifice, and he literally declares that he's God and demands people worship him. Turn to Daniel chapter 11. Now you're going to keep your place in Daniel because we're going to be in Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 12, Daniel chapter 7. Daniel, I don't think we'll go to Daniel chapter 8. We probably won't have time. But all of these places in Daniel talk about the abomination of desolation. All these chapters in Daniel talk about this situation. So first of all, what is it? What is it? We saw a description of it in Second Thessalonians chapter 2. Go to Daniel 11 and verse number 31. Let's just get an idea of what it is. What is this event? Because the Bible told us in Second Thessalonians chapter 2, the Bible basically told us, and the reason I started there, there's so many verses on the abomination of desolation. I started in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 because that is basically the verse that points out that this is a milestone, that this is the event that will tell you who the Antichrist is. This is how he will be revealed to the world, or to us, Bible-believing Christians. Look at Daniel chapter 11 verse 31. Daniel 11 verse 31. The Bible says, And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength. Again showing that he's going to desecrate the temple, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, so he's going to stop the sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. Now notice how it says there, they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. So they're going to actually put something in the temple that needs to be worshipped, and they're placing it. Look, he's not placing himself in the temple. There's something that is going to be placed in the temple to be worshipped. An object of some sort. Turn to Matthew chapter 24. You're going to keep your place in Daniel, because we're going to be going back there for the entire sermon. Keep your place in Daniel, and go and look at verse number 15 of Matthew 24. So Matthew 24, if you're just trying to wrap your head around the timeline here, Matthew 24 verse 15 on is basically a very good description of the timeline. Just the whole chapter of Matthew 24 is a good description of this timeline of the antichrist coming on the scene to the rapture. But look at verse number 15 for our sermon this evening. We're talking about the abomination of desolation. This milestone that will reveal the antichrist to us. Look at verse 15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, who so readeth let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child and to give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither in the Sabbath day. For then, this is also the mark, this is also the mark of the great tribulation. So there's tribulation during this three and a half years that he has made this covenant up until the abomination of desolation. But then for a short period there is great tribulation. For then shall be great tribulation. Now this is the scariest thing right here. I'm not trying to ruin your day here, but look at the next few words of this verse. It says for then shall be great tribulation. Okay, how great? How great is it? How great is this tribulation? That's kind of a vague term. Isn't that relative? You're going to have a hard time today. How hard a time am I going to have today? You know how my week was last week? No, but look what it says. Look what it says. And how many times have I slapped a martyr's mirror up here and read you these horrible stories of martyrs that were tortured and murdered just for, you know, their stand on the gospel, their stand on baptism that they just wouldn't give in to the heresies of the Catholic Church. They were just, they were killed for days. There's points in the martyr's mirror where it says I think the imagination of men was just exhausted with the horrible things that they could do to men for Christ. It's like all the creativity that man had in his mind and the sick and the evil things that he could do were thought of and done to the martyrs. But look at this verse right here. For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time. No, nor ever shall be. That's a serious statement right there. If you know what Christians have gone through up to this time, that is a very serious statement. So, this is a milestone. This will not be missed. What do we have so far? Turn to Daniel chapter 9. While you're turning there, I'll just review for you. What do we have so far? This will not be missed. This is a definite milestone. The temple will be desecrated. Is there a temple right now? There's not a temple right now. We'll get to that at the end of the sermon. The temple will be desecrated. Some sort of image will be set up or placed in the temple. So you say, you know, then this man who will be revealed to us, this the antichrist, he will claim to be God and he will demand worship. This is the whole, this is the mechanics of the mark of the beast. This is the point of the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is to find out the people who aren't going to worship the beast, who aren't going to worship the image. And then this is the event that reveals the man of sin. Alright, so look, all, every generation throughout history. Can you imagine being alive during World War II? I can imagine. People must have thought. Hitler, Stalin, these guys are the antichrist. They must have thought this. And look, I don't blame them. I don't blame them. But this is the moment that will reveal the antichrist to us. And I'm not talking, look, they were all antichrists. Stalin was antichrist. All these rulers, these wicked rulers and the rulers of the principalities that rule this world, they're wicked. It's evil in high places. It's wickedness in high places. They're all antichrists. But this is the beast. The antichrist will be revealed through this milestone. Alright, turn to Daniel chapter 9. So we know what it is. It's this desecration of the temple where this man sets up an image of himself, I don't know if it's of himself, or sets up some sort of image and demands worship. Claims to be God. Alright. How about this? When does it happen? Look at Daniel chapter 9. This is where we need to understand Daniel 70 weeks. The prophecy of Daniel 70 weeks. I'm gonna try to make this as simple as I possibly can. I'm not gonna get, a lot of people get really, really, really, really lost in the weeds on this Daniel 70 weeks thing. But I'm gonna try to explain it as simple as I possibly can in just a few minutes. Look at Daniel chapter 9 and look at verse number 24. I say, what am I talking about? Daniel 70 weeks. Because really, the 7 year period that we talked about in the first sermon was Daniel's 70th week. It's the 70th week. 69 weeks have already gone past. We're talking about the last 7 year period is Daniel's 70th week. But what are the 70 weeks in general? Look at verse number 24. Verse number 24 of Daniel chapter 9. And you're gonna keep your place in Daniel chapter 9 when we go other places in the Bible. Okay? Book Daniel chapter 9. 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins 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. Boy, that's a mouthful right there. There's a lot that just happened. Basically, this is talking Daniel. When did Daniel live? Daniel was alive. He was in captivity in the Babylonian empire. So the Babylonians, they took over the lower kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom's already gone. They were gone 160 some years earlier because they were extra wicked. But then the Babylonians came and they took the lower, the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity and they took them off to Babylon. And Daniel was in Babylon when he is writing this, when he is receiving these visions and these prophecies from the Lord. And he says 70 weeks. Now these are weeks of years. All right? There's nobody that disagrees on this. They're weeks of years. So one week is seven years. All right? Seven weeks is 49 years. Seven times seven years is 49 years. So we see that 70 weeks is required from when Daniel is writing this, basically, until, you know, the millennial reign is what I'll explain to you tonight. So that's the 70 weeks. Okay? Look at verse number 25. Let's cut it up a little bit. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. So now he's like getting specific on when these 70 weeks begin. All right? Unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. Three score is three times 20, 62 weeks. And the street shall be built again and the wall even in trouble. So you have to notice here that this 70 week period is, it's cut up into sections. It's cut up into actually three sections. There's a seven year period at the beginning, the seven week period at the beginning, then there's an additional 62 weeks and then there is the 70th week period. The 70th week, which we'll get to in another verse. But the seven weeks is talking about, and it's actually fairly amazing that it works. I mean, this prophecy has largely been realized, a lot of it. The seven weeks or 49 years was the time it took from the command to rebuild Jerusalem when Artaxerxes, the prince of, remember, it was Babylon, then Babylon got taken over by Persia and Daniel was such a, he was so blessed by God, he became second in command to both empires. And from the time that Artaxerxes, the emperor of Persia, the king of Persia, gave the command that they could go back and rebuild Jerusalem, this is the story of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible, is this rebuilding of Zerubbabel's temple and then the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. Daniel is prophesying that that will be 49 years. And guess what? It was 49 years. So it took 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem. That's the first seven weeks. And then the 62 weeks, which if you do the math on that, 62 times 7 is 434, that is the time that it will take from that 62 week, beginning of that 62 week period until the Messiah is cut off. Well, what does that mean? That's basically from the time that Jerusalem was finished to the cross, is what it's talking about. All right? Now, here's what's really interesting. Look at Daniel chapter 9. So the total of this is 483 years. All right? Now, if people, and I've done the math myself and it depends on when the decree was, you know, a year or four years here and a couple of years there, you know, as far as the math, but look, it's right there. I mean, it's right there. 483 years until from basically from the time they built the, started building Jerusalem to the cross. Messiah cut off. Right? Look at verse 26. And after threescore in two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off? I mean, in Daniel's time, he is literally telling them how many years it will be until the Messiah comes. Isn't that a little shocking that people kind of tell you how well these Pharisees knew the Bible? I mean, Daniel's literally saying, in this many years, the Messiah will be here. You'd think somebody had been looking. Some people were looking, though. Those are the people that believed. Those are the rules. And look, a lot of Jews did believe, and a lot of Pharisees did believe, but the mainstream Jewish religion did not believe, did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Now, this is interesting, too, because Daniel not only tells you when the Messiah is coming, he tells you what the Messiah is going to do. Look what he says in verse 26. He says, then will Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. Hmm. He's literally saying that Messiah, that Jesus, that the Messiah, who people don't know his name yet, he's like, he's going to be a sacrificial Messiah. He's literally saying, what were the Jews looking for? Jews looking for a king to come drop the hammer on the Romans is what the Jews were looking for. But Daniel just said it. The Jews had the oracles of God. They just said, he's going to be cut off, but he's not here for himself. Nothing Jesus did was for himself. This is why all this garbage came out years ago about the Da Vinci Code or all this stuff, and Jesus was married and all this. Well, you have stupid Christians being like, well, maybe Jesus was married. Well, no, because Jesus literally came here to do nothing for himself. Jesus came here to sacrifice everything. Nothing he did was for himself. He didn't even have a place to lay his head down, he said. Look, every, Daniel told us what kind of Messiah we're going to have here. And then look at this, and the people of the prince shall come, that people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Let me ask you a question. Did that happen? The people of the prince, did the temple get destroyed? Yeah, it did. Jesus actually predicted it. Jesus predicted it, and they, it was one of the reasons they wanted to kill him. He said there wouldn't be one stone laid upon another stone. In 70 AD, the temple was destroyed by the Romans. It was destroyed by the Romans, and guess what? It was a seven-year war between the Romans and the Jews. It was called the Jewish-Roman War. History talks about this. I mean, there's a seven-year war, and guess what? Right in the midst of that seven years, three and a half years into that seven years, the temple was destroyed by the Romans, by the Roman prince, Titus. Look at verse number 27. Look at verse number 27. Actually, keep your place there before we go back to 27. Keep your place there and go to Luke chapter 19, because Jesus is like, Jesus actually said this. This is pretty good. Jesus is like, how come you don't know the Bible? He's telling these guys, he's like, how come you don't know the Bible? Like, we literally told you, we literally gave you in the oracles of God and the word of God, which is me, by the way, we literally told you when the Messiah would come. Look at verse 43 of Luke chapter 19, just kind of as a side note here. Even Jesus was surprised that the Jews didn't recognize him. For the days shall come upon thee, Luke chapter 19, verse 43. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another. Why? Why is the temple destroyed in 70 AD? Jesus is saying, he's like, why? Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. He's like, cause you know what? You didn't study to show yourself approved, you didn't know the Bible, and you didn't recognize when I was going to be here, is what Jesus is saying. And he's predicting that the temple will be destroyed. And this is one of the reasons that, by the way, I think that the entire New Testament was written before 70 AD. Because the New Testament and the epistles and the writers, you would think that if it happened after 70 AD, that the writers of the New Testament and the Holy Spirit would have mentioned that this prophecy was fulfilled. Because many times, the Bible does mention that prophecies were fulfilled, just like Jesus said right here. So I believe the entire New Testament was finished, and we can see that as we're studying through the book of Acts. We can see how, I mean, right away after Jesus was gone, they just went out everywhere and started preaching the gospel. And most of these men, by the way, most of these men, this is historical accounts, it's not the Bible, most of these men were dead by 64 AD. What men? The apostles. Just about except for John, every single one of them. The vast majority of them were dead before 70 AD, before this war broke out. Alright, now go back to Daniel chapter 9, verse number 27. I'm trying not to go on too many tangents here. Verse number 27. So, we see what the seven weeks is, up to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. We see the 62 weeks, the 434 years after that, that leads us to the cross, and then we see that the prophecy was fulfilled, that the temple was destroyed, and you know, so look, that's a shadow fulfillment of the abomination of desolation too, as well, by the way. I'll get to that in a minute. But look at verse 27 of Daniel chapter 9. All we are waiting for is the beginning of the 70th week. So, there is a gap between the 69th week and the 70th week, and we are in that gap. Alright, we are in that gap. We are waiting for the beginning of the 70th week. As we all sit here in church on Sunday night, we're somewhere in the middle of that gap between the 69th and the 70th week. Look at verse 27. And this is what we talked about last week. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. That's seven years. Talking about Daniel's 70th week now, the seven year period of which the abomination of desolation is right in the center of. How do I know that? Because look at the next verse. Look at the next part of the verse. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate. This is exactly what Matthew chapter 24, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Daniel chapter 8, Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 12 is talking about is this moment, even until the consummation and that determinant shall be poured out upon the desolate. Now, a lot of people, a lot of people, you know, like preterists, people that think that everything has been fulfilled already in the Bible, which I will prove that wrong in a few minutes. But what you have to understand about Bible prophecy, and you're like this is going to be so confusing, but here's the thing. There is shadow fulfillment or dual fulfillments of prophecy all the time. And I want to give you a good example of why I believe, this is my opinion, why I believe God does that is so we can see those patterns and we can know what to actually look for. Okay, and I'll give you an example of that at the end of the sermon. But this prophecy has been fulfilled like in a shadow way at least, you know, twice basically. In, you know, in 167 B.C., there was a Greek ruler by the name of Antikikis Epiphanes who literally set up an altar of Zeus over the temple and made a sacrifice in the temple. He sacrificed a pig in the temple. Alright, so that was kind of a shadow fulfillment of this. But how do I know that that isn't the, that that moment where that Greek ruler desecrated the temple in that way, how do I know that that's not what the actual major fulfillment of Daniel, Revelation, and 2 Thessalonians? How do I know that? I know that because Jesus himself talked about it in Matthew chapter 24 like it's going to happen in the future. So that's how I know that one isn't, you know, the fulfillment. You say, well, what about the Roman-Jewish war where the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.? Well, okay, and it was a seven-year war and right in the midst of that war was the temple just destroyed and desecrated. Like, wow, I mean, that's pretty amazing. The only problem with saying that that is the abomination of desolation is the book of Revelation. That's the problem. If we didn't have the book of Revelation, you might have half a leg to stand on on that argument. But this is why we did the sermon two weeks ago on globalism and on this path from this alliance of many to this worldwide alliance where, look, turn to Revelation chapter 13. Turn to Revelation chapter 13 where the Bible literally says in Revelation chapter 13, you're going to keep your place in Daniel because we're going to go back there, where the world literally says, or the Bible literally says, look at verse number 3 of Revelation 13. And let's see if this fits the Roman-Jewish war in A.D. 70 where the temple was destroyed by the Roman prince Titus. And I saw one of the heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast. How could all the world wonder over something? Look, there wasn't even the kind of technology back then for anyone else in the world, anyone else not even, you know, 100 miles away to even know what was going on. But where are we today? Aren't we in a place today where all the world definitely sees what's going on in all the world? We are definitely in a place today where something like this could come to pass. At least we have the technology. At least, you know, all the world will see some great event like this happening. All right, so look, there's been shadow fulfillments, but we know through the book of Revelation that the main fulfillment has not come to pass on this yet. Now look, let me just say this about the Preterists, okay? Because I used to be in a church that was Preterist. I used to go to Lutheran churches and they're Preterist. They're just like, Revelation, that's all happened already. And look, I know why they do that. I have personal experience with this. They do it because, first of all, is this simple stuff that we're talking about tonight? I mean, is this like the sermon this morning? The sermon this morning was kind of like a jelly bean sermon, right? Some gummy bears there. It's like, hey, everybody's wicked. You know, we're anti-homo and we're anti all this stuff. And it was like, you know, this is all wicked stuff. And everyone's like, yeah, these are gummy bears. Everybody knows this that even knows a little bit about the Bible. But this is complicated stuff. And here's the thing. If you're not saved, you have no chance of understanding this. So the reason that I've seen pastors and I've even heard Lutheran pastors say this on several occasions, Revelation, there's just no way we can understand that. They're not saved. They can't understand the Bible in general. They can't understand a spiritual book because they're not spiritually minded. They don't have the Holy Spirit with them. It's simply a cop-out is all it is. Turn to Daniel chapter 7. So, I mean, that's why I think people choose to be predators because they have no other choice. They can't understand this stuff. They can't study this stuff. It takes some serious study with the Holy Spirit to get through some of this prophecy here. All right? Look at Daniel chapter 7. Look at Daniel chapter 7. Let's look at another prophecy of Daniel looking at just, you know, what is, you know, or when is this event going to happen? More detail in Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7 is talking about, you know, the four beasts. And look at verse number 7. He says in Daniel chapter 7, he says, After this I saw in the night visions, I saw in the night visions, behold a fourth beast. Talking about just the kingdoms of the world and he sees this fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth and it devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns. Does that sound familiar? Revelation chapter 13, the ten horns. Look at verse number 8. And I considered the horns and behold there came among them another little horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots and behold in his horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things. Sound familiar to Revelation chapter 13? All the world wondered. Ten horns, ten kings. Look at verse 19 now. Skip down for sake of time. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast which was diverse from all others exceedingly dreadful whose teeth were of iron as nails of brass which devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet and of the ten horns that were in his head and another one which came up and before whom three fell even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things whose look was more stout than his fellows I beheld the same horn. This is that little horn again. Who is this horn? This same horn. Look what he did. Made war with the saints and prevailed against them. There's Matthew 24 right there. There's that tribulation and that great tribulation like such as the world had never seen until that time. Until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. In the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth which shall be diverse from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth. Again the whole earth matches perfectly Revelation chapter 13. Shall tread it down and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of his kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another shall rise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three kings. He shall speak great words. Verse number 25. Don't miss this. He shall speak great words against the Most High and shall wear out saints of the Most High and to think and think to change times and laws. Now look at this. And they shall be given into his hand until. So he's going to come on the scene and he's going to wear out the saints. He's going to make war with the saints for how long? Now look at this. Until a time and times and the dividing of time. Now if you take that word time to mean a year, that means one year plus two years, three years, and a dividing of time, half a year, we're talking about three and a half years. Daniel is prophesying again that the man of sin, this beast he's calling them here, this little horn, is going to be on the scene for three and a half years wearing out the saints. Why will he only wear out the saints for three and a half years? You ever wonder about that? Because the saints are gone after that. Look he was doing a good job. He was prevailing against them. The Bible says that if God didn't cut that time short, it's like no one would survive. No one would survive it. It's so bad. But guess what? Three and a half years is exactly the same as Revelation 13.5 where it says he will be able to have power for 42 months. That's three and a half years. In Revelation chapter 13 again it says he'll be worshiped by the whole world. The whole world will go along with this except us. Daniel chapter 8, same thing, different type of vision. I'm not going to go into that for sake of time, but turn to Daniel chapter 12. We already talked about Daniel chapter 11. Turn to Daniel chapter 12. Look at verse number 11. Try not to make this too complicated, but you just need to understand that this guy's going to come on the scene. We're not going to really know who he is because everybody thinks every ruler is the antichrist. We're not going to know who he is, but three and a half years in it's going to be revealed and we're going to know who he is. Look at verse number 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, when is that? When is that? That's the abomination of desolation right there. And the abomination that make it desolate set up. Here you can see again that something is going to be placed, something is going to be set up in the temple. Something. So it's saying when the abomination that make it desolate is set up in the temple and the daily sacrifice is cut off, is ceased, is taken away, it says there shall be 1290 days. This is talking about the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away until the end of the seven years will be 1290 days. You know what that is? It's about three and a half years. Alright? So basically it's three and a half years from the abomination of desolation. The rapture is shortly after that, just a few days after that. And then it's three and a half years until the end. Alright? Go back to, now go to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13. So we've got a desecrated temple. We've got a man declaring himself to be God. He's worshiped. This is the reason for the mark of the beast is to identify you basically. That's the reason for the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is to identify you and to punish you. To put economic sanctions on you. So you can't buy or sell. Alright? But who is this man? Let's look at some characteristics of who this man is. Because look, there's some clues. Yes, this is the milestone. We will definitely not miss this. But guess what? There's some characteristics of this man. Alright? Look at Revelation chapter 13 and verse number 1. Revelation 13 and verse number 1. And I stood up on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy. Look at verse number 5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things. So first of all, you know, this guy is not going to be somebody who gets up and gives a speech and forgets who he is. Right? So the Antichrist is not Joe Biden. Alright? I'm just going to declare that one right now. Alright? Because he's just got this mouth like speaking great things. I'm not saying Joe Biden is not Antichrist. I'm just saying he's not the Antichrist. Alright? So look, it's given to a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months, three and a half years. Then we saw last week, or a couple weeks ago, that he's going to get this multinational alliance going, this diverse, as we saw in Daniel, this diverse alliance. Verse 7 of Revelation 13, it was given to him to make war with the saints, that matches everything we see in Matthew 24 and in Daniel, and to overcome them. He's going to win. Look, he's going to be crushing the saints of God. This is why the saints in Revelation 6 are like, how much longer, God? You're going to let this go on. And power was given to him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. He's going to have worldwide alliance at that point. The many, in Daniel chapter 9, at this point, has become the entire world. All nations, tongues and kindreds. Look at verse 11. And I beheld another great beast, another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon, as a false prophet, for the beast, for the Antichrist. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and all them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. So, we see that he's wounded in the head and he didn't die and he's demanding worship. Again, matching everything that we've seen. And he's doing great wonders. Make a fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles, which he had power to do in sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast. Sound familiar? Which had the wound by a sword and did live. So they make some image. This is what they set up. This is what they place in the temple. This image. What is the image? I don't know. It's probably a statue or some kind of idol of the Antichrist, is what I would think. Look, there's also, go back to Daniel chapter 7. Hopefully you've kept your place in Daniel. I'm going to keep bringing you back there. There's also some clues. There's some physical characteristics that the Bible gives us. These aren't things that we can just take, you know, just one of these things and say, that's the Antichrist. But these are clues. Look at Daniel 7.20. Daniel 7.20 gives us kind of some physical characteristics of the Antichrist himself. Daniel 7.20, the Bible says, And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other two which came up, and before whom three fell, this is talking about the little horn, the Antichrist, even of that horn that had eyes and had a mouth that, what, spake very great things. Again, he's going to be a very great, people are just going to hear him and just be like, man, that's just amazing. You know, but that's how people are. That's how shallow people are. They'll hear some great speaker, and they won't even, you know, this is like Jordan Peterson. I'm not saying Jordan Peterson is the Antichrist, but this is Jordan Peterson gets up and he just says all these things. No one even understands a thing that he just said, and everyone's just like, man, that's brilliant. What did he say? I have no idea. But just like, some people just have a good way of speaking to make it sound like they're just, they're great, right? But look at this. Whose lick was more stout than his fellow's. So he's going to be a stout individual, whatever that means. Does that mean he's stalky or strong or whatever? I mean, we can't really, you know, just go out with that one and go hunting for the Antichrist. But it's a clue. Turn to Daniel chapter 11, verse 37. Turn to Daniel chapter 11 and verse number 37. It's probably not Barack Obama when I think of that one. You know, you remember the picture of Barack Obama on the bicycle with the bicycle helmet? You know, so it's probably not him. But look at verse 37. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. Verse 37 of Daniel chapter 11. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above all. Talking about the Antichrist, so I don't know. Is he a sodomite? It seems like he certainly could be. He's definitely a reprobate. I mean, he's definitely a reprobate. So it definitely fits. It says he would not desire women. So this is going to be a man that does not desire women. So, I mean, that's a pretty strong clue right there, right? Now go back to Daniel chapter 9. So there's a couple physical characteristics about what this person will be like that we can just kind of keep a watch out for, as Jesus would say. I mean, everything's in the Bible for a reason. Look at Daniel chapter 9 verse 24. Let's take it back to where we began. Let's take it back to where we began. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins. This is Jesus, right? 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. So this is kind of, now that you know what Daniel seventy weeks are, from the building of Jerusalem to, you know, the cross, this gap, and then the end of this seven years, look at the end of this verse. What is the end of the seven years? What happens? The Antichrist comes on the scene. He makes a covenant for seven years. At the midpoint of that is the abomination of desolation. A few days later is the rapture. We're out of here. Then God pours out his wrath. God pours out his wrath for three and a half years. But that's the end of Daniel's seventieth week. And the Bible here tells us what's at the end. What? To anoint the most holy. This is the millennial reign of Christ right here. This is where Jesus literally gets anointed as king. You say, well, he already is king. No, he's literally going to come back and rule the earth for a thousand years. And it's called out in Daniel chapter nine and verse number twenty-four. It marks the end of the seventy weeks. All right? And it's interesting because the three and a half years and the seven years is all over the Bible. You know, especially the three and a half years. I mean, Jesus' ministry. Most people agree that Jesus' ministry was about three and a half years long. You know, most people agree that, you know, the abomination of desolation, as we just showed, is three and a half years into, you know, Daniel's seventieth week. I mean, all over the Bible, even in James chapter five verse seventeen, it says that Elijah prayed and it didn't reign for three and a half years. These are all shadows. These are all shadows. This is why God does it. To shadow, to show us. And then, look, three and a half years after, you know, he makes a covenant with many is the rapture. So three and a half, God's wrath, three and a half years to anoint the most holy. The reign of Christ. So, look, the abomination of desolation. It's three and a half years in. So, remember the methodology of the sermon series. What we're going to do is we're going to, let's now look at this abomination of desolation now that we know when it is and we know what it is and let's walk it back. Let's walk it back to where we stand today and see what needs to happen. What needs to happen? What are the things that we need to watch for before this could actually possibly come to pass? So, first of all, we know it's a world leader, right? We know the Antichrist is a world leader. He's going to make a covenant with many. We know there's an alliance. We know he's going to take that alliance to a global alliance. We know he's stout. We know he's, you know, maybe going to be a homo. He's not going to desire women. But, yeah, here's another thing. There must be a temple to desecrate. And here's the reason I believe that they're shadow prophecies because you get these people today that they see a halftime show at a sporting event that is like, you know, worshiping some, you know, idol and it's some, like, evil, wicked, like, you could tell it's like some kind of wicked ceremony or something. It's not, it's definitely not Christian. But they're like, the abomination of desolation just happened. And I'm like, what? But, look, no, it's really going to be the temple. I mean, in 70 AD, it was really the temple. So, look, there needs to be a temple. There's not a temple today, right? The temple is destroyed. But guess what? There's a lot of people pushing to rebuild the temple today. Did you know that? There's big sects of people of the Jewish religion, you know, Jesuits or whatever they are, trying to rebuild the temple, rebuild the third temple. But here's the thing. We need to also know that in order for there to be a daily sacrifice, there needs to be a temple. And this is where, you know, it gets kind of complicated. But you can go into Daniel chapter 8, and it talks about the time from the daily sacrifice until the end of the 70th week. Basically, it talks about that being about 6.3 years. So we know that from the time the Antichrist comes on the scene, the temple's going to be built pretty soon after that, within just a few months. And it's going to be, the daily sacrifice is going to start, because we already get the prophecy in Daniel chapter 8, which is the vision of the daily sacrifice, you know, which I didn't go into tonight to try to, you know, to try to, you know, keep things simple. But the point is, when the temple begins being built, the beast is already on the scene. Okay? So when the temple is being built, the covenant has already been made. Once the temple is, at least when it's finished. Alright? And he's, and look, because it says, and it says, all the world will wonder. Right? So we know from that, we know from basically Revelation chapter 13 that it's not Hitler, it's not Stalin, it's not some, you know, leader that we see now. Right? Or, you know, I mean, I don't know if we know the name of him now or whatever, but I mean, from the way I look at things now, I'm thinking, hey, you know, the end times aren't, aren't close is the way I look at things now. But here's the, here's the, here's the kicker. Here's the wild card. What happens in Revelation chapter 6? What happens in Revelation chapter 6 when the beast takes his covenant of many to the entire world government? There's this huge massive war where billions of people die. Look, if COVID taught me anything, it's things can change in a hurry. And when there's massive wars like that, and there's massive things flipped on their head like that, anything can happen. So just be watching for these things. But just remember, Revelation chapter 6 could flip everything. I'm talking about the first four seals of Revelation chapter 6. Everything could be flipped on its head and things could change very quickly in that situation. All right, here's another thing. Most religions, most major religions today have some sort of, you say, how could the possibly all the world wonder after him? How could everybody but us worship this guy? How could everybody but a saved believer fall for this guy? Because most major religions have some kind of messianic figure in the religion. That's why. Even the Buddhists, they have some like sodomite looking like transgender thing that, that is their Messiah. It's true. I mean, you know, the Muslims have the 12th Mahdi. You know, the Jews are still waiting for the actual Messiah, or that they think is the actual Messiah. So it's very plausible to think that the major religions of the world would fall for somebody like this. Just because they're all waiting for the Messiah. It's only going to be the Christians that know this is not Jesus. Why? Because of the things we're talking about tonight. That's why. Right? Because of the reasons that we're, that's why we're going through these things. Let's, I mean, let's end it, you know, where we started it. Go back to 2 Thessalonians, go back to 2 Thessalonians in chapter number 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter number 2. Let's just land the plane right where we began. And look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Why? You know, we won't fall for it because it says, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be soon not or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us, as the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed. And as we saw, the abomination of desolation is going to reveal that all these things need to happen in that previous three and a half years before the day of Christ or the day of the Lord. All right? So hopefully that makes more sense. It's a definite milestone and it's going to reveal the Antichrist. All right? So, yeah, keep your eye out. And it's always kind of, you know, interesting to see, like, huh, maybe that could be it, or maybe that could be it. But, you know, just keep your eye out. And as Jesus said in Mark 13, watch. All right? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you.