Sermon

"Why Israel?" Revelation Chapter 12.

Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour

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  1. What I can say is that since 2023, since October the 7th

  2. 2020, third this horrific day and until September 2024, anti

  3. Semitic incidents surged by 360 percentage with over 2000 case

  4. reported threats, assaults, vandalism and intimidation.

  5. In October and November 2023 alone, episodes increased over

  6. 700 percentage compared to the previous year, reflecting

  7. incitement by those with extremist views and

  8. misinformation in the media and online.

  9. Now is the time to make sure that anti Semitism will be

  10. uprooted. Sorry, that's the ambassador

  11. from Israel to Australia. Because what we want to look at

  12. today in the Book of Revelation is why Israel?

  13. Why Israel? The small, unique nation born

  14. from Abraham and Sarah has never been out of the world spotlight.

  15. Throughout history, each of the great empires of the past have

  16. had a rendezvous with Israel, this tiny sliver of land in the

  17. middle of the world. One side of the world writes

  18. this way, and the other side of the world on Israel writes the

  19. other way. Egypt powerful empire built by

  20. God, says raised by the Lord. 400 years, 7274 people went to

  21. Israel from Abraham and Sarah and turned into two to three and

  22. a half million people. Slaves for 400 years in Babylon,

  23. Mighty Babylon small nation and it became a great nation under

  24. Nebuchadnezzar. Captured, desecrated Israel,

  25. captured the Israelis and took them back to Babylon. 70 years

  26. in captivity. Then came the Medes and the

  27. Persians, and following the Persians, who would forget a

  28. fellow called Haman, who in the book of Esther, chapter 5, set

    Esther 5 chapter mention

  29. out what was going to be the final solution.

  30. Even back as far then on a certain day, certain month, at a

  31. certain hour, to kill every Jew, to kill every Jew.

  32. Then the Greeks came, and lastly the mighty Roman Empire. 70AD

  33. The Romans conquered, invaded Jerusalem.

  34. The Temple was destroyed, the Jews were dispersed.

  35. That survived, but didn't stop there.

  36. This acrimonious action against Israel continued on after that

  37. 1938. 45 Germany and after the war, the United Kingdom stopped

  38. the Jews from coming home, refused entry.

  39. Yet in 1948, somehow Israel was reborn.

  40. What happened? The day that Israel was reborn,

  41. war broke out with every Arab nation.

  42. We find ourselves in August of 2025 and the spotlight now is no

  43. never been greater on Israel. It's never being as intense as

  44. it is now. Why?

  45. Let's pray Lord, so we open your word, speak to our hearts, let

  46. our ears be listening ears to your voice, that only your

  47. voice, not the voice of a man be heard, but will.

  48. Let our hearts be deep rich soil to receive the word of God.

  49. Let us grow an understanding and maturity.

  50. Let us grow on our love for you. We pray and ask this in Jesus

  51. name, Amen. Revelation Chapter 12 Today we

    Revelation 12 chapter mention

  52. are set to begin as our journey through the Book of Revelation.

    Revelation 1 chapter mention

  53. Chapter 1. John on the Isle of Patmos.

  54. He's in these 90s as a vision sees Jesus and all his glory.

  55. Chapters 2 and three in the vision that he's given, he

  56. writes down the period of the church age.

  57. Chapter 4, John has taken up into heaven, sees the throne of

  58. God, the type of the rapture of the church.

  59. Chapter 5 is the great chorus. We glorify the Lord and the Lord

  60. takes the scroll on the right hand of the Father, 7 seals on

  61. the scroll, the tile deed of the dead, redemption of the earth,

  62. and he begin begins to break the seals.

  63. We had 7 seals and then we had the seven trumpets.

  64. We're in those trumpets now. We're going to get to the 7

  65. balls, but we're in Chapter 11. We're 11 chapters down.

  66. We're in the second half of the Book of Revelation, 11 chapters

  67. ahead. We find ourselves in the second

  68. half of the Tribulation period, often referred to as the Great

  69. Tribulation. In this chapter we are able to

  70. come to the answer as to why Israel.

  71. I remember walking into the Fremantle Football Club, being

  72. the chaplain down there since the year 2000.

  73. I remember the head of Sports Science, PhD in Physiotherapy

  74. was talking to one of the players as I walked in.

  75. They said you, you know as I walked in.

  76. Why? What's the deal about Israel?

  77. Why is everything about Israel? I said, well, you really want to

  78. know, do you? You want me to answer you and

  79. how I believe that what the answer really is.

  80. Yeah. Yeah.

  81. It's a spiritual conflict. It's a war between evil and the

  82. Lord. Yeah.

  83. Anyway, So why Israel? Why is there such a hatred

  84. venomous for this tiny nation, some 8 to 9 million people, 1/8

  85. of them Russian, 2 million of them are Arabs.

  86. Part of what is to believe a total worldwide of some 15.7

  87. million, only remembering that 6,000,000 were murdered between

  88. 1938 and 1945 by the Nazis, of which 1.5 million were little

  89. children and babies. Horrific.

  90. Why this vile hatred towards them?

  91. Revelation chapter 12 could easily be entitled A History of

    Revelation 12 chapter mention

  92. Hatred. Let's read verse one now.

  93. A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman, first character,

  94. clothed with the sun, with the moon and her feet, and on her

  95. head a Garland of 12 stars. 12 was the number of government

  96. then being with child, second person we're introduced to, she

  97. cried out in labour and in pain to give birth.

  98. And another sign appeared in heaven.

  99. Behold a great fiery red dragon, third character, having 7 heads

  100. and 10 horns, 7 diadems of crowns on his head.

  101. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven angels and threw

  102. them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the

  103. woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child.

  104. As soon as it was born, she bore a male child, Capital C notice,

  105. who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

  106. And her child was caught up to God and his throne.

  107. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place

  108. prepared by God that they should feed her there 1260 days.

  109. In this passage we are introduced to three main

  110. characters. The woman.

  111. Who is this woman? Well, some say it's the Virgin

  112. Mary because look at the description, you know, no, it's

  113. not the Virgin Mary. She was not in heaven prior to a

  114. birth. And some say, well, it's the

  115. church. No, it's not the church.

  116. The church did not give birth to Jesus Christ.

  117. Mary Baker Eddy, who birthed what's called Christian Science,

  118. which is a cult. Mary Baker Eddy said it's me.

  119. She actually said that that's me.

  120. We find much of the scripture written here by John the

  121. language you go back to Genesis chapter 37.

    Genesis 37 chapter mention

  122. There is a young boy by the name of Joseph who had dreams 2

  123. dreams and he shared his dreams with his father Jacob and his

  124. mother Rachel and his eleven brothers dreamed.

  125. Remember, they were gathering all the wheat gathered up their

  126. sheaves and and then there was a sun on the moon and and the

  127. sheaves and the sun on the moon all bowed down to him.

  128. And of course, his brothers are when?

  129. Yeah, that's going to happen. Even Dad Jacobson, what are you

  130. going on about? But we know as we read through

  131. Genesis that the sun and the moon were Joseph's father and

  132. mother and that the 12 stars became known as the 12 tribes of

  133. Israel. We remember that God changed

  134. Jacob's name to Israel after that all night World

  135. Championship Wrestling match which our premier paid for the

  136. woman in Israel. The woman is Israel.

  137. Revelation chapter 12. So we find out who that first

    Revelation 12 chapter mention

  138. person is. Our second character mentioned

  139. here is Jesus. The woman brings forth a child.

  140. Jesus was born a Jew, a descendant of the Jewish tribe

  141. of Judah, through the people and nation of Israel.

  142. We as Christians, believers today, we owe a great debt of

  143. gratitude to the people of Israel.

  144. I, I gave us the word of God. No, they didn't invent it, but

  145. they wrote what God wrote gave to them and they wrote it down

  146. painstakingly. Not a jot or a tiddlers out of

  147. place, not a not a spot, not a grammar.

  148. They painstakingly wrote and gave us the word of God.

  149. And thus we have the word of God on our hands because of the

  150. Jewish people. They gave us the Saviour, they

  151. gave us the prophets. And on the day of Pentecost, as

  152. the Holy Spirit fell, as Jesus said, the promise of the Father

  153. would come, and the disciples were waiting and praying in

  154. Jerusalem, they gave us the church.

  155. The church began with just Jewish believers on a Jewish

  156. holiday, day of Pentecost in a Jewish city, Jerusalem.

  157. In verse 2, the woman gives Israel.

  158. The woman Israel gives birth to our Saviour Jesus.

  159. And he is described as the one who shall reign notice forever

  160. over all nations, verse 5. And he who ascended to heaven.

  161. And we have the third character, a fiery red dragon.

  162. This tells you as you see much in Asian culture, particularly

  163. the dragon and the colour red it comes.

  164. From the source, sadly, verse 3. And another sign appeared in

  165. heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon

  166. having 7 heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his heads.

  167. Now when you read many of the books that try to write these

  168. animals and creatures and scripture, again, that's freaky

  169. and it just blows you away. You know, what is this?

  170. But we all know who this is, and verse 9 clarifies it for us.

  171. Drop down to verse nine. So the Great Dragon was cast

  172. out, that serpent of all. Old called the devil and Satan

  173. who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth.

  174. And his angels. Were cast with him red in

  175. colour. Why the colour red?

  176. It signifies bloodshed. Because he's a destroyer, the

  177. seven heads and the 10 horns a symbolic of his world kingdoms.

  178. We see again mentioned in chapter 13 of this beast and

  179. also Daniel Chapter 7 prophesied.

    Daniel 7 chapter mention

  180. That these would be the kingdoms and the kings who would give

  181. over their power to the coming Antichrist, the lawless. 1 It

  182. says in verse four he drew a. 3rd of the stars of heaven,

  183. that's not stars like a planets etcetera threw them to the earth

  184. and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give

  185. birth to devour her child capital C as soon as it was

  186. born. This verse takes us back before

  187. the days of Eden to the original fall of Satan and a third of the

  188. angels with him. It says drop down to verse 7 and

  189. a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought

  190. with the dragon Satan and the dragon and his angels a third of

  191. them, but they did not prevail. Nor was a place found for them

  192. in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast

  193. out, the serpent of old called the devil, and Satan, who

  194. deceives the world, he was cast to the earth, and his angels

  195. were cast out with him. This passage tells us that Satan

  196. wanted to be like God. He was created.

  197. And we have this thing, you know, you know of the devil and

  198. the of of you know the pitchfork and the horn feet and.

  199. And the little horns, actually, that's the God Pan.

  200. Lucifer himself was created as a most magnificent creation.

  201. He had instruments built into his actual body.

  202. He was in charge of worship, LED worship.

  203. He was probably a terrorist. And Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12

    Isaiah 14:12

  204. tells us about what happened with Satan, Lucifer.

  205. It says in Isaiah 1412 how you are fallen from heaven, O

  206. Lucifer, He was called the sun of the morning.

  207. How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the

  208. nations. For you have said in your heart,

  209. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the

  210. stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of

  211. the congregation of the farther sides of the north.

  212. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

  213. I will be like the most high I will be.

  214. God, that's his plan, that's why he was cast down.

  215. It's interesting that when Satan tempted Jesus 40 nights or 40

  216. nights on the wilderness, whatever he said to Jesus,

  217. Jesus, you don't have to go to the cross, You don't have to do

  218. any of that rubbish. Just bow down to me, worship me,

  219. I'll give you the world and he, he got the world.

  220. Remember, Adam and Eve forfeited it, gave over the minion to

  221. Satan. Jesus, just bow down and worship

  222. me. That's what he wants and that's

  223. what he's going to do through the Antichrist.

  224. When Jesus was born back in verse 4, chapter 4 that we read

  225. in Bethlehem, we celebrate his Christmas.

  226. Satan was waiting for him. What for?

  227. To kill him. And the dragon stood before the

  228. woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as

  229. soon as it was born. How did he go about this?

  230. Well the Magi remember turned up, been over 2 years now.

  231. Jesus as a 2 year old. They turn up and they come to

  232. Herod. OK, we're looking for the king

  233. born. Follow the star.

  234. And he went king, and he's, Herod said to his counsellors,

  235. where is this king? Well, he's to be born, the Jews

  236. say, in Bethlehem. Herod said to the Maggie, when

  237. you find him, let me know when you because I want to go there.

  238. And I worship him too. And So what happened in Matthew

    Matthew 2:16

  239. chapter 2, verse 16, the Lord said to the Magi, don't go to

  240. Herod, go back, go where you came, leave.

  241. And So what did Herod do? He got angry and he said, every

  242. Jewish child, Bethlehem two years and under, kill them all.

  243. Kill them all. So the dragon stood before the

  244. woman was ready to give birth to devour her child.

  245. Now jump down to verse 6. Now we find ourselves in the mid

  246. Trib. Then the woman who is it?

  247. Israel fled into the wilderness. What's going on here?

  248. This is the desert where she has a place prepared by God during

  249. the tribulation period that they should feed her.

  250. Look after the people of Israel. 1260 days.

  251. So we're travelling now some 202,000 years on from the time

  252. of Christ's birth, plus to the days of the great Tribulation

  253. period midway. So the Antichrist up to this

  254. place. Remember the first of the seals

  255. broken by Jesus on the scroll was 4 horsemen.

  256. First horsemen. White Horse diadem comes and he

  257. brings what peace. White Horse brings peace.

  258. The following him is is war, death and destruction and and

  259. and famine. So the Antichrist up to this

  260. stage has got the world in his hand and he's got Israel in his

  261. hand. He has set up his rule.

  262. The the 10 horns are 7 heads and 10 horns are nations who will

  263. give over their authority, their government to this man because

  264. they think this guy is. And he will be brilliant.

  265. He'll be the most brilliant political leader, savvy, most

  266. powerful orator the world has ever seen, and he'll be in Rule

  267. at this time he has brought. Peace to the Middle East

  268. situation. And you can imagine every, every

  269. U.S. President is, you know, thought

  270. my man, if I can bring peace to the Middle East, man, I'll be

  271. the greatest president ever. They've tried, they've tried.

  272. They named a place where they're going to meet all the time, Camp

  273. David. They set it up.

  274. They meet, they meet, they meet. Doesn't work, does it?

  275. And today we still have war going on in Israel.

  276. And now? Sadly, our Prime Minister again

  277. made of another step toward another step away from Israel,

  278. away from God, and toward judgement of coming upon our

  279. nation when he spoke strongly. Now he's going to sign the

  280. agreement that Palestine must become a state, and we're

  281. sending $30 million there. And so up to this point, we find

  282. ourselves in the passage of Scripture.

  283. It's been 3 1/2 years. And in that.

  284. Period of time, because how does this man bring peace to the

  285. Middle East? Well, he's got to satisfy the

  286. Muslims and he's got to satisfy the Jews.

  287. And somehow or other he makes an arrangement where the Jews can

  288. rebuild the Temple. They even struggled to go up on

  289. the Temple Mount. I touched on that on Wednesday

  290. night. Israel at this time has

  291. reinstated temple worship. So the priests are going there,

  292. the children of Israel are going there, and they're taking their

  293. lambs, their doves, They're doing this.

  294. The Holy of Holies is there. The priests are going about

  295. their thing. It's happening.

  296. All this is happening in Israel. The priests are all adorned, the

  297. the sacrifices, the lambs, the goats, the calves, all going

  298. through. Because the Antichrist has

  299. allowed this to occur. Suddenly, you can picture this,

  300. the Antichrist flies into Israel, lands at Tel Aviv.

  301. I think he's great because, man, it's just things are going so

  302. great. Worship place, We got peace.

  303. You know, this is just wonderful.

  304. Muslims aren't warring against us.

  305. Look at the Temple Mount. Here we go.

  306. The people are gathering there. It's just, oh, man, you are

  307. awesome. He arrives up to in his limos.

  308. Imagine they're just clapping in, waving flags as he drives

  309. out. Maybe he's just going out the

  310. temple site. He's going to just look at this

  311. magnificent. What's going on?

  312. And he gets out, walks straight up, walks into the holy of

  313. holies and he says everything. Stop right now.

  314. Stop all this. Now you'll worship me.

  315. Now you and all the world will worship me.

  316. And if you don't, I'll kill you. You might be able to eat, sleep,

  317. you'll bear my mark as a mark of who I am.

  318. And Israel goes. What has happened?

  319. Daniel prophesied of this in Matthew 2415.

  320. Jesus said this would occur. He says, therefore when you see

  321. the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet

  322. standing in the holy place, he'll actually walk into the

  323. holy of holies. Jesus said whoever reads this,

  324. let him understand you're going to know this.

  325. Let him understand what this is about.

  326. Then let those who are in Judea, this is Israel, this is talking

  327. to Israel during the time of the mid tribulation.

  328. Those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

  329. Run. How desperate.

  330. Let him who was on the housetop not go down to take anything out

  331. of here. Just go run.

  332. Let him who was in the field not go back and get his clothes.

  333. Just leave. Flee, but woe to you who are

  334. pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days.

  335. And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the

  336. Sabbath. Notice the Sabbath has been

  337. reinstituted. 1280 steps on the Sabbath.

  338. That's as far as you can go. Oh, we can't.

  339. We can't run. We'll break the Sabbath.

  340. Now go for them. There will be great tribulation,

  341. Jesus says. Such as has not been seen since

  342. the beginning of the world until this time no nor ever shall be.

  343. And unless those days were shortened, Jesus says no flesh

  344. should be saved. But for the elect's sake those

  345. days will be shortened. So the woman Israel, mid Trib

  346. Antichrist is mighty stand. He's let everyone know really

  347. what's going on. Flee into the wilderness, to a

  348. place God has prepared for her. 1260 days, 3 1/2 years.

  349. The second half of the Tribulation.

  350. Now what's beautiful in this tragic moment for Israel is the

  351. very Greek language that the apostle John uses to describe

  352. this place of safety prepared by God.

  353. Because only in one other place in the Bible are these exact

  354. words used or found in any other passage of Scripture.

  355. John chapter 14, Remember the verse, Let not your heart be

    John 14 chapter mention

  356. troubled. You believe in God, believe in

  357. me. Also in my Father's house are

  358. many mansions. If it were not so, I would have

  359. told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

  360. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,

  361. receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be

  362. also. So as Jesus prepared a place for

  363. believers in heaven, when we are raptured, we go to that place.

  364. So too, during the Tribulation period, God has prepared a place

  365. for his people, Israel, the woman in the wilderness during

  366. this most savage, traumatic and dangerous time.

  367. But the Jews who stay and don't flee, who remain.

  368. The Antichrist was savagely put to the sword.

  369. More than two. Thirds of them.

  370. The place Daniel Chapter 11, verse 41 he shall also enter the

    Daniel 11:41

  371. glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown,

  372. but these shall escape from his hand Edom, Moab and the

  373. prominent people of Ammon. Now, as we go down the the drive

  374. from Jerusalem down to sorry, from the Galilee down to the

  375. Dead Sea, on our left is the Jordan, on our right, all these

  376. cliffs. We're heading down to the Dead

  377. Sea. We're in the bus on the driver.

  378. We're heading down on the left. Here, River Jordan and the

  379. mountains over there, Moab, all along opposite the Dead Sea

  380. where we stay, it's all Moab, it's all Jordan.

  381. Jordan is going to be the place of sanctuary for Israel during

  382. the Tribulation period. Now back to verse 7.

  383. Hang with me. I know you're going.

  384. We'll keep where are we? Verse 7, War broke out in

  385. heaven. Michael and his angels fought

  386. with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they

  387. didn't prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any

  388. longer. Notice that so the great dragon

  389. was cast out, serpent of old called the devil Satan, who

  390. deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, his

  391. angels were cast out with him. Verse 10 Then I heard a loud

  392. voice saying In heaven now salvation and strength and the

  393. Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the

  394. accuser is the Satan of our brethren who accuse them before

  395. our God. How often day and night has been

  396. cast down. Take a journey back.

  397. We go to the book of Job. Remember how the book of Job

  398. starts is Job wonderful man? He's doing sacrifices for his

  399. children. He loves God and God says to

  400. Satan, because Satan at this time is going up from the earth

  401. and he's able to go to the courts of heaven.

  402. He says, yeah, but Joe Bunny worships you and loves you

  403. because you protect him. You give him everything.

  404. Let me have a crack at him. He'll turn against you.

  405. No problems. And we know the story.

  406. Well. Satan has been able to do that.

  407. And each time he's gone to heaven, he's had you and I also

  408. on his lips. Keep calmly.

  409. He's an idiot. He's only worshipping you

  410. because you look after Him. But let me have a crack at him.

  411. He'll turn tail on you, it says. And they overcame him by the

  412. blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony.

  413. And they did not love their lives to death.

  414. You see, when you apply the cross of Jesus Christ to your

  415. life, when you make Jesus Christ your Lord, when you pray and

  416. repent and say, God, forgive me, I'm a Sinner.

  417. I believe you died on the cross for me.

  418. I believe you died on my sins. For my sins I receive your

  419. grace, your forgiveness. Now be my Lord.

  420. The Bible says you are forgiven of your sins completely.

  421. All of them are gone. That's why we celebrate

  422. communion. We remember and it says and they

  423. overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.

  424. You see, there's the devil is a lie.

  425. He's the father of lies. And each and every one of us in

  426. this room had said lies. Every hand would go up if I

  427. said, have you ever felt that you're not a Christian?

  428. Has there ever been a time when you thought, yeah, man, I know

  429. I've been to church, but till I look, look what I said, look

  430. how? Oh yeah.

  431. And felt that we see salvation has nothing to do with you.

  432. We accept salvation. It's all to do with God, what

  433. God has. Done.

  434. That's why we have grace and peace.

  435. It's not like why we don't wake at night and go, oh Lord, I had

  436. an argument with my wife. If the rapture comes now, just

  437. she will go or I've been so cruel and my kids, I've been

  438. terrible. Father, I the, the rapture was

  439. to come. I mean, I'd be home.

  440. I'd just be just just me and they'd go.

  441. That's how the devil plays on. Your mind, doesn't it?

  442. No, because the Bible says and so where we go, you have come in

  443. by the blood of the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb says when

  444. Jesus died on the cross for you there was 1 sacrifice and one

  445. only. It's done, it's finished.

  446. He said it is finished when he arose from the dead the third

  447. day. That's the exclamation mark and

  448. we sang about it. All our sins are paid for, every

  449. one of them. Done and dusted for good.

  450. I'm a Sinner, but I'm saved by grace and that salvation is

  451. forever and ever and ever and ever.

  452. It's eternal life. And since they overcame the

  453. devil by the word of their testimony, you see your personal

  454. testimony of what Christ has done in changing your life.

  455. This is your testimony. People say, well, I don't

  456. believe in God. Well, I don't care whether you

  457. believe in God or not. I know what's happened in my

  458. life. I once was lost, I once was a

  459. savage, stupid, selfish idiot and now God has changed me and

  460. I, I actually care about you. Even though you don't like me

  461. and you abuse me or whatever, I care for you.

  462. I pray for you. I know what God has done in my

  463. life. I'm changed.

  464. I'm no longer the despicable, selfish person that I hated

  465. myself, that I wanted to kill myself.

  466. I want to be rid of myself. That's gone.

  467. And I know I'm not alone anymore.

  468. I know I'm loved. I know I'm cared for.

  469. I know that when I die, I know I'll go to heaven and I'll be

  470. with my Lord. You see, that's your testimony.

  471. And it says they did not love their lives to the dear.

  472. They did not consider their lives more valuable than loyalty

  473. to Jesus. So they are willing to pay the

  474. ultimate price. And many people are doing that

  475. in Africa, in India and Pakistan at this time.

  476. Christians, John 1225 says, do you want to follow me?

  477. Take up the cross, deny yourself.

  478. And so when you come to church and you get saved, it's not

  479. like, well, what do I have to do?

  480. What do I have to give up? Here's the deal.

  481. You got to give up everything. Well, does it cost to follow G?

  482. Yeah, absolutely everything. You can have your own life.

  483. You can have all the toys and all the things and but all the

  484. problems that go with it. Besides, hell comes with that

  485. old life. Loneliness, depression,

  486. heartache, heartbreak, grief, sin.

  487. But you see, I've given that all away, and now God, whatever God

  488. wants to do with my life, it says in verse 12.

  489. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, woe

  490. to the inhabitants of the earth. Notice that we've discovered

  491. that before. Woe to the inhabitants of the

  492. earth. Therefore rejoice, O heaven, and

  493. you who dwell on them. That's the church.

  494. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil

  495. has come down to you having great wrath.

  496. He's been kicked out because he knows that he has a short time.

  497. So there's war in heaven. Satan and his demons were cast

  498. out of heaven thousands of years ago, but Satan had access to the

  499. courts of heaven. We spoke about that with Job.

  500. And he it is here that Satan has brought you and I before the

  501. Lord continuously accusing us. But one John 2 verse one says

  502. each time Satan has accused us before God.

  503. John says if any man sin, we have an advocate with the

  504. Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous and Jesus.

  505. That's all right, Keith. Keith is mine.

  506. I died for him. My righteousness is on him.

  507. So the devil has no argument. He can't argue with that.

  508. You see, when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, he lovingly

  509. uses the Word of God to bring you back to repentance.

  510. When the difference between condemnation and conviction,

  511. conviction by the Holy Spirit is when you know you've done wrong.

  512. You said the wrong thing to your wife, you acted foolishly, you

  513. did the wrong thing. You've done that and you go.

  514. You, you, you feel in your heart you're troubled.

  515. Sin weighs you down. David was troubled and we're

  516. weighed down. And so we go to the Bible and

  517. the Bible tells us if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just

  518. to cleanse us and make us righteous once more by the blood

  519. of Christ, we can go to God. And God will take that away.

  520. So I understand, forgive him. But you see the devil.

  521. And This is why people come to church and then the devil just

  522. gets hold of them and they take off because they're not reading

  523. the Bible, but they don't understand the Bible.

  524. The devil, on the other hand, uses your sin in a hateful way

  525. to drive a wedge between you and God.

  526. You're not going back to church, are you?

  527. He says to you, you're unworthy. You know who's unworthy?

  528. We're all unworthy, aren't we? But the devil just says you're

  529. unworthy. Better not go to church, better

  530. not take communion, better not read the Bible and all that

  531. stuff. And So what happens is the devil

  532. gets you to leave and to walk away from God.

  533. That's the difference between condemnation and conviction.

  534. There is now no condemnation to those who walk in Christ Jesus,

  535. but here we see God pulls the pin on his axis at Satan's and

  536. Satan is far from happy. He's booted out at this time.

  537. What are the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for?

  538. The devil has come down to you having great wrath because he

  539. knows that he has a short time. Israel is that nation that just

  540. won't die. They're the only nation that has

  541. been dispersed, years removed from their lands.

  542. And and you know, you do that with any other culture, any

  543. other people's tribes and they've disappeared.

  544. Israel. Everyone's tried to do that and

  545. they remain Israel. No matter how hard other nations

  546. have tried to wipe them out in the past.

  547. They can their continued existence.

  548. That's why Israel is so important, is one of the

  549. greatest signs to the power and plan of Almighty God and God's

  550. chosen. People, it says in verse 13.

  551. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he.

  552. Persecuted the woman Israel who gave birth to the male child,

  553. but the woman was given 2 wings of a great eagle that she might

  554. fly into the wilderness. This is during the tribulation

  555. period to her place where she is nourished for a time and times

  556. and half the time from the presence of the serpent.

  557. The word nourished here means feed supernaturally.

  558. Could it be that God once more brings manner from heaven during

  559. this 3 1/2 year period? I don't know.

  560. All I know is that and some say, well, the two wings of the

  561. eagle, is that the is that the US Air Force getting them out?

  562. I don't think so. It's God getting them out of

  563. Judea into Moab Jordan. And there he says, I've got a

  564. place and I got food. This is God.

  565. He's does this. So the serpent verse 15 spewed

  566. water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman.

  567. He's angry as they flee that he might cause her to be carried

  568. away by the flood, but the earth helped.

  569. The woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the

  570. flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

  571. Now what is? This for sure.

  572. We don't know. Could it be that he sends his

  573. military might out after all these people fleeing Judea?

  574. Could be. And that as the military might,

  575. this great flood of soldiers and equipment head out after these

  576. people or heading to Jordan. And then God says I open the

  577. earth and close it again. Go on.

  578. This is this is this is amazing stuff.

  579. The 17 the dragon was enraged with.

  580. Women. So he's getting, you know, he's

  581. ticked off. So he's just getting.

  582. Angrier and angrier. With who?

  583. With Israel. And he went to make war with the

  584. rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have

  585. the testimony of Jesus Christ. Believe Jews turning to Christ.

  586. So Satan becomes even more enraged, seeking to kill any

  587. Jewish person or family he can find.

  588. Now during this period, remember the church is in heaven.

  589. So Keith, why do we need to know all this stuff?

  590. If it's got nothing to do with Australia, what's what's it

  591. going to do with us? And what why Israel?

  592. Well, Paul says in One Thessalonians, chapter 5, this

  593. one. But concerning the times and the

  594. seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you,

  595. for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the

  596. Lord, the tribulation period, comes as a thief in the night.

  597. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction

  598. comes upon them, as labour pains upon a pregnant woman.

  599. They shall not escape. But you brethren, the Church.

  600. Are not in darkness so that this day should overtake.

  601. You as a thief, you are all sons of light and sons of the day.

  602. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

  603. Therefore let us not sleep as others do and all, and not just

  604. carry. Go about my business.

  605. No, but let us watch and be sober.

  606. In other words, live your life for Christ each day, because

  607. He's coming. Paul was in Thessalonica. 3

  608. Sabbaths and in the three Sabbaths Paul loaded on them the

  609. gospel and all the prophetic stuff about the rapture and the

  610. Tribulation period. In just three Sabbath periods,

  611. we're living in what the Bible calls the last days just prior

  612. to the events. These events we're reading about

  613. unfolding. We must be cognizant, aware of

  614. the fact that our world has a spiritual dimension and it's

  615. just not material. It's true, isn't it?

  616. You have a soul, each one of us. You have a spirit as well as the

  617. body. Man basically has 3 needs, one.

  618. We don't want to be alone. Loneliness kills us.

  619. We want the truth. We always wanted to be told the

  620. truth. We hate being lied to.

  621. We want to know what's the truth?

  622. What is the purpose of my being? Where am I going?

  623. What happens after I die? Where do we come from?

  624. And we want peace. We want peace in our soul.

  625. Where we say, if only I can get go on a holiday, if only I can

  626. be on a tropical island somewhere.

  627. If only I can get away from all this.

  628. Isn't that what drives your life?

  629. You see, the struggles in our lives are not just broken bones

  630. and things. Oh, blast price of petrol's gone

  631. up. Oh, that's terrible.

  632. No, the things that cause grief are complex in our lives because

  633. we're complex beings. The Bible tells us that as

  634. Christians we are engaged in a spiritual war.

  635. And behind all the wickedness, the evil, the darkness, is a

  636. figure who is relentless in his hunger to destroy.

  637. Destroy you personally, have you kill yourself, destroy your

  638. marriage to ruin it, destroy your children to bring heartache

  639. and grief. That's his modus operandi and

  640. you and I are living in a world. We come back and forward and we

  641. have all those things going on, phone calls, this happens.

  642. The job, the boss said. That person said a stranger says

  643. something to you, someone breaks into your house.

  644. All these things, these events happen in and around you, in

  645. your family. Someone dies.

  646. All things happen and we're grieved.

  647. We're broken because Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and

  648. blood, but against principalities, powers, against

  649. the rulers of darkness. They're all the ranks of the

  650. three of the third of the stars, the third of the angels that

  651. went with Satan. Both the prophet Daniel and the

  652. Lord Jesus himself tells us we are to know and understand what

  653. life is about and what your future and the future of the

  654. world holds for each of us. Christians should be the most

  655. intelligent people in the world because we actually know what

  656. the world is about, how it exists, how it came into being,

  657. what's going on, who runs the show, who's in charge, and

  658. what's going to happen. Daniel chapter 10, verse 14.

    Daniel 10:14

  659. The Angel came to Daniel and said, now I've come to make you

  660. understand what will happen to your people in the latter days.

  661. Daniel, I'm going to tell you, for the vision refers to many

  662. days yet to come. When he had spoken such words to

  663. me, Daniel said, I turned my face toward the ground and

  664. became speechless. He went, What These things are

  665. going to happen? Oh my, Jesus said in Matthew

  666. 2415 to the disciples. Therefore, when you see the

  667. abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet

  668. standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him

  669. understand, know what's going on.

  670. Matthew 2432. Now Jesus says, learn this

  671. parable from the fig tree. Learn when you know when you go

  672. on, I'm going to show you something.

  673. We're going to learn how to do this.

  674. In other words, you ought to know this.

  675. Now learn this parable from the fig tree.

  676. When it's branch has already become tender and puts forth

  677. leaves, you know that summer is near.

  678. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is

  679. near at the doors. So each of these statements are

  680. directly related to Israel. So why Israel?

  681. Because they are God's chosen people.

  682. If Satan can destroy Israel, then God's ultimate plan for the

  683. nation's salvation cannot happen.

  684. No Israel, no plan, no Jerusalem, no Jesus throne.

  685. If God's plan is not carried out exactly as God has established,

  686. then God's word is proven wrong because the Bible says these

  687. things are going to happen. Satan's out to try and go.

  688. I'm stopping them. Satan hates what God loves, and

  689. the Bible tells us that Israel is the apple of God's eye.

  690. So Satan's plan is simple. Listen to this.

  691. He will make the nations want to get rid of Israel.

  692. Is that happening? It is before our eyes each day,

  693. even our own nation. We had soldiers fight in Israel.

  694. When Australian troops turn the battle, they're the charge of

  695. the 10th Light Horse turn the battle, Battle of Bathsheba, our

  696. men died, shed blood. There's even a War Memorial

  697. there. And now our nation's going no,

  698. we'd rather have Hamas, our soldiers, our nation, our

  699. character. What's happened?

  700. Secondly, he will make Christians think that God is

  701. done with Israel. How many churches today are

  702. saying Israel's finished, we're the spiritual Israel, and that

  703. needs a good because no, you're not.

  704. Israel is Israel. We are the unnatural branch

  705. grafted in. We're going to be taken out, and

  706. Israel will be the nation that God intends them to be.

  707. Lastly, He will set out to make Israel, and He's working on

  708. this. Tired of being persecuted.

  709. How? How?

  710. Long have they been fighting there.

  711. Remember, Yaniv was with us. He'd been six months fighting in

  712. Lebanon. How many soldiers are going back

  713. and forth, back and forth? Fighting in Gaza and he wants

  714. the nation and people of Israel to forsake the things I've got.

  715. Well let's just who needs we don't need.

  716. That's what he's working on. Israel has suffered greatly

  717. throughout history. This vile and growing anti

  718. semitism has been fuelled, promoted and unleashed by Satan

  719. himself. He was the leader of the band of

  720. the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Holocaust is a vivid

  721. memorial memory for many Jewish people.

  722. Yad Vashem. We go and visit it and as we

  723. come out of the main part, and then we wander over into the

  724. Dome and we walk into the Dome and there's all these pictures

  725. of all these little kids everywhere and their names of 24

  726. hours, seven days a week. You hear their names spoken over

  727. over over over 1.5 million children beaten, destroyed,

  728. tortured by the Nazis. The day of Jacob's trouble.

  729. Is yet to fall. The church will be raptured

  730. while Israel remains. 2/3 of the nation of Israel will be wiped

  731. out. Zechariah chapter 13.

    Zechariah 13 chapter mention

  732. They are a sign for you and I to be ready to repent, to watch, to

  733. look up for our redemption draws near.

  734. How do you and I stand against Satan's onslaught, his attacks

  735. on us and upon Israel? Charles hadn't spurred and said

  736. I have a great need for Christ and I have a great Christ for my

  737. name. It's not your hold on Christ

  738. that saves, it's His hold on you.

  739. Let us pray now. Think about this man.

  740. It hit me like never before because I prepared this.

  741. Let us pray for Israel and God's chosen people.

  742. Let us pray for one another for the time is short.

  743. Let me ask you this who else in the world can actually pray to

  744. God? Besides Israel, there's only one

  745. group, there's only one one body, one persons that can do

  746. that. The church, you know, Psalm

  747. A1226 says pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

  748. You know who that's for? It's not for the Muslims, not

  749. for the Baha'i, Confucianist, Taoists, Jehovah Witnesses.

  750. The only people who can respond to Psalm 122 is you and I.

  751. God says pray for my people because that's why you're here.

  752. That's why I'm here, because they have no one else.

  753. They have no one else who can pray or who cares about them.

  754. The most ashamed I have ever been of being an Australian is I

  755. walked into the Yad Bashem, the Holocaust Museum, and there's

  756. this great white sign, huge. And it was the Commissioner of

  757. Australia written out in 1938 when the Jews were trying to get

  758. out of Israel, out of Germany. Sorry.

  759. The Commission of Australia said we will not allow Jews to come

  760. to Australia because we don't want to import a racial problem.

  761. I was discussed so we didn't insect them and Hitler burnt

  762. them. We didn't accept them and Hitler

  763. burnt them. We are the church.

  764. It's time. If you don't know Jesus Christ

  765. as your Lord and Saviour. Today I beg you to turn your

  766. heart today to Christ. I'm not to be a church person,

  767. but to be a godly person. I want you to pray.

  768. I'm going to pray right now. If you're here, you don't know

  769. Christ, I'm going to pray for you.

  770. Repeat this prayer after me. Heavenly Father, I sent you,

  771. Holy Spirit calling me today. I repent of my sins before you.

  772. Now I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for me.

  773. I believe he rose from the dead, that he's coming soon.

  774. Right now where I sit, I give my heart to you.

  775. I want to follow you. I turn my back on my old life

  776. and I turn to you. Now help me to walk before you.

  777. I pray and ask this in Jesus name, Amen.