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Old Testament Scripture Reading: Daniel 11:30 – 40 (NASB) |
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Dan 11:30 “For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened, and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.
Dan 11:31 “And forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.
Dan 11:32 “And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.
Dan 11:33 “And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, for many days.
Dan 11:34 “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy.
Dan 11:35 “And some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge, and make them pure, until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.
Dan 11:36 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.
Dan 11:37 “And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.
Dan 11:38 “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.
Dan 11:39 “And he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him, and he will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.
Dan 11:40 “And at the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through. |
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New Testament Scripture Reading: John 5:28 – 47 (NASB) |
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John 5:28 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice,
John 5:29 and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
John 5:30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
John 5:31 “If I alone bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true.
John 5:32 “There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the testimony which He bears of Me is true.
John 5:33 “You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
John 5:34 “But the witness which I receive is not from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
John 5:35 “He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
John 5:36 “But the witness which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
John 5:37 “And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.
John 5:38 “And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
John 5:39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;
John 5:40 and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.
John 5:41 “I do not receive glory from men;
John 5:42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
John 5:43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another shall come in his own name, you will receive him.
John 5:44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
John 5:45 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.
John 5:46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.
John 5:47 “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” |
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Point #1) There has been a continuous desire in the heart of satan to work behind the scenes in the affairs of men to produce a godless society that will be primed to receive the coming ruler that is called in the Bible: the antichrist, the little horn, the man of sin, the son of perdition {or son of destruction}, the false prophet. {This end-time false prophet is energized by the power of the devil and closely associated with the beast to the point that many have referred to them as “the un-holy trinity”}
(Rev 16:13 KJV) And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
(Rev 19:20 KJV) And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
(Rev 20:10 KJV) And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
(Dan 7:8 KJV) I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
(Dan 8:9 KJV) And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
{Jesus uses the title here to speak of Judas Iscariot who was a “type” of the coming antichrist}
(John 17:12 KJV) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
The Apostle Paul uses “son of perdition” here to speak of the coming antichrist who appears as a symbol that the world is entering into eschatological times.
(2 Th 2:3 KJV) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Point # 2) People who love and worship the world and the things that are in the world will be deceived by this antichrist who will lead them all the way to the point of warring against the true God and Christ Jesus.
Luke 21:33 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
Luke 21:34 “Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap;
Luke 21:35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.
(1 John 2:15 KJV) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Mat 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW;
Mat 10:36 and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.
Mat 10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Mat 10:38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Mat 10:39 “He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it
Point # 3) Even though God in His unfailing love for mankind has already sent the Messiah into this rebellious and dying world, to save and deliver all who trust in His only begotten Son, many in the world will still reject His offering of free and complete salvation. We who have embraced the cross of Christ must learn that this fact is against the will of God who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. You and I must learn to see it as He does. Yet we must realize at all times that God has only provided ONE WAY OF ESCAPE from HIS JUGEMENT which is by believing the gospel of His SON!!
(1 Cor 16:22 KJV) If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
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