 Okay, welcome back everyone to BC 213, of course on the end times. This is our second lecture today and we are now going to, so in the previous lecture we talked about the Middle East and the territories or regions or countries that are of interest for us in that area based on Bible prophecy. Are there any questions on that before we get into the next chapter? Any additional thoughts, questions? Okay, so now we are going to go into the next chapter which is kind of related but we are going to specifically look at Israel and some of the things that we need to know concerning Israel, right? So let me go ahead and share the PDF. All right, so this is lesson number three where we're focusing in on Israel specifically and some of this thing we have mentioned in the previous lecture. So when God promised Abraham this land, so in Genesis 12, he said, you know, I'm going to take you to a land, get out of the, out of the Caledays, I'm going to take you to a land that I'm going to give you. And then God said, you know, I'm going to give to you this land from the river Egypt to the river Euphrates, the great river Euphrates, right? So this whole, if you look back, this whole region from the river Euphrates all the way to the river down south and it's not a concede on the map here, but down south Egypt, the river Nile flows. God said, look, that whole section, that all is what I'm going to give to you, that is to Abraham and to his descendants. So God had promised, you know, from the river of Egypt that is Nile to Euphrates, God said, that's the region giving to you. Right? So now, of course, the people of the Jewish people, the Hebrews later on, we call them the Jews, well, you know, have been living in part of that region. They've been there, they were dispersed and then they've been regathered and settled in that region. Now, of course, when we see God's dealings with the people of Israel, you know, he brought them back from Egypt, he brought them back to the land, he gave them all of these feasts to observe. There was Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic, the Davidic covenant, he promised them the Messiah and all of them. So we see all of that happening. Now, this table here, it just traces the history of the nature of Israel. Now, you don't have to, you know, necessarily learn all of it, memorize this or know this by heart. I'm just, I just put it down here so you'll have a place where you can go to, but if you want to, you know, give the main highlights, we know God called Abraham, he brought them into the land, into that land that he had promised, but then from there, they went into Egypt, they went to Egypt and they were there in Egypt for 400 years, then God brought them out of Egypt, he brought them, you know, back into the land of Canaan. There was King David, one of the notable patriarchs or kings of Israel, King Solomon. Later on, the kingdom was divided to the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. It was, you know, divided as it was a divided kingdom, the separate kings, king of Israel, king of Judah, and then the Assyrians attacked, they attacked the northern part, then Nebuchadnezzar came, the Babylonian king, he attacked the southern part, which is Jerusalem, took the people away captive and that's what we, you know, Daniel and others were taken captive. Later on, the Persian king, Cyrus gave the order to people to go back and rebuild Jerusalem, rebuild the temple that happened, the temple was rebuilt, Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of the city. After that, there was the Greek Empire, Alexander the Great, the Babylonians, then there were the Meads and the Persians, then there was Greek, the Greek Empire, Alexander the Great, he conquered a major part of that region, then came the Seleucid Empire and Daniel prophesied about these people as well. In Daniel chapter 11, he gave a detailed prophecy about, you know, what these people will do, the Maccabees and how they would revolt against the empire there. Then later on, the Romans came, the Roman Empire. So after the Greeks, there were these other smaller kings and empires and then came the major empires, the Romans. They took over the whole region, the very dominant and they appointed, you know, various local kings, so the Jewish people were appointed as kings in that part of the world and then then came the Lord Jesus, born during the time of the Roman Empire. And the temple that was rebuilt was then destroyed by Titus, the Roman general in 8070. And, you know, subsequently Rome, after Romans had overthrown, you know, Israel, the temple mount was, the temple was destroyed. Subsequently, the Muslims or the Arabs took over that whole region. So around 86, 622, they took over that whole region and they built on the place where the Solomon's temple was, which was later rebuilt and destroyed, they built their own dome and their own mosque over there. So around 690, they built the dome of the rock on the temple mount in Jerusalem and there were waves of conquest by the Muslims and then the Turks, they're all part of the same descent, the Muslims, they were taken over. World War I, subsequent to that, we see the British Empire or the British Army helping liberate that region, Jerusalem operations, they liberated it from the Ottoman Empire, the Turks, and handed it off, you know, later on, they handed it off to the Jews. There was a partition plan separating region, part for Israel or the Jewish people, part for the Palestinians. But when they moved out, when British moved out ever since, there's been problems there in the Middle East. After Israel declared themselves as a nation, there have been several wars that have been fought, notably when the Egyptian army attacked Israel, they were defeated. Then there was a six-day war that was fought in 1967. Again, Israel overthrew, very surprisingly, over through allied forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon. They all came together, but they were overthrown by a small nation, Israel. And so when that happened, Israel gained world prominence because they said, wow, here's this country that is very powerful, very small, but they have a very powerful military army or military strategy. So Israel gained a lot of respect globally, and they were able to defend against, you know, almost five other Arab nations who attacked them. They were able to defend. And so, you know, that gave Israel a lot of significance worldwide. From that time on, there have been many, many attempts to bring peace to the Middle East. Most notably, there have been both the American and Europe, America and Europe, both have been trying to, you know, be involved in bringing peace, several different attempts. I just mentioned a few here, you know, just historical information. But, you know, nothing has actually resolved the problem. There have always been peace accords that have been signed by different leaders to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But, till today, problem has not been solved. It's just going on, just going on, right? So some of that information, you know, just explain it here. Israel was regathered. You know, many, many prophets spoke about this. Isaiah said, he will regather the outcasts of Israel. Ezekiel said, you know, that Israel will be regathered, the cities will be inhabited, ruins will be built, and people will, my people will take possession of that land. Sure enough, all of these things were fulfilled when Israel was suddenly declared as a nation May 14, 1948. So if you look at that part of the world where things are today, so you see Israel as a nation, but there is a big portion called the West Bank, that is, on the west side of the River Jordan. So the River Jordan is flowing like this. The west side called the West Bank. There is also a small part known as the Gaza Strip, which is on the western side of Israel here, the Gaza Strip. These two portions are occupied by Palestinians. Like we said, most of them are of Arab descent. And they want these regions to be declared as their own country, as Palestine. But Israel, of course, refuses that. And so they're not officially recognized as a country. They just refer to as a Palestinian territory. And so there's constant conflict. The conflict is mainly because of what's happening here in Jerusalem. So what happened was in the Six-Day War, Israel recaptured Jerusalem. Israel, the Jewish forces, they took over the Israeli forces, took over Jerusalem. But then in order to have peace, the then general, the Israeli general, for whatever reason, he made this decision. We don't know. But he handed over the eastern part of Jerusalem. He said, okay, you all have this part. And we will just, you give us permission for the people to come to the Western Wall and worship them. Now that mainly because on that Temple Mount, there were already the holy sites for the Muslims, the Arabs, which is they had their mosque and they had the dome of the rock already built there. And in order to kind of keep some sort of peace, he, he, you know, he agreed to this kind of an arrangement. So on the east part of Jerusalem, there are the Palestinians, the Israel Israeli people, the Jewish people have access to the Western Wall. But that has become now a big problem. And of course, sometimes, and there's fighting happening sometimes across Gaza and Israel here, or there's fighting happening in and around this Temple Mount. And the other thing that's going on here is Israel has been slowly occupying these territories, meaning they're building their own settlements and kind of, you know, slowly expanding into their own territory regions here, which people, you know, the European Union would say, no, don't do that. You're not allowed to do that. But Israel continues to do it. And that again causes a lot of conflict. So Israel and its neighbors, Jerusalem is a very special city to God, the Palestinians, who again, we don't know if this 400% certain, but some historians would trace the Palestinians back to the Philistines, the, the Arabic word for Philistine is Palestine, from which we get English with Palestinians or very likely they're, you know, the descent is there. We don't 100% sure, but that's some kind of connection that some people would draw. And maybe it's true. I don't, we don't know for sure. But like we said, Gaza and West Bank are occupied by the Palestinians. And it's become a place of conflict. Right. So along with that, Israel is surrounded by Arab countries like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Lebanon and Syria. So Israel is fully surrounded by Arab countries. So they do support the Palestinians in their, their call for an independent country or an independent nation. Right. So now, if you know, this is just highlighting those two areas. This is the Gaza Strip where Palestinians are living. And this is the West Bank, west of the River Jordan. But again, the Palestinians are living and Jerusalem here is on the border or on the edge, both sides. Now, the major point of conflict is the Temple Mount because right in the city of Jerusalem, like if you look at the history of it, this was the place where Abraham brought Isaac to sacrifice on Mount Moriah. This was the land that King David purchased and King Solomon built the first temple, exact spot. This temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians. The Jews came back, Zerubabel, others they rebuilt it. So that's referred to as the second temple. It's the same spot, but the rebel temple is called the second temple. King Herod, he enlarged this temple, he refurbished it. So that's referred to as Herod's temple, but it's all the same place. Then this temple was destroyed in 8070 and then later on around 600 AD, the Dome of the Rock, the Arabs, they built the Dome of the Rock and they also erected their mosque, the Alakza Mosque over there. So today on that same spot where historically it's very important for the Jewish people from the time of Abraham, David, Solomon, so on, in that same place today stands the Dome of the Rock and the Alakza Mosque. So these are, it is a very, very, you know, a very hot spot of this. And so here, these notes summarize what I've just already said that, you know, on the Six Day War this was recaptured, but then the defense minister in those days decided to hand it back and, you know, bring peace and all of that. He did all that, but this continues to be a place of problem. Now, what is going on today? Now you look at this picture here. So this is the temple mount in Jerusalem. This, the Dome of the Rock and the Alakza Mosque are both very important places for the Muslims or the Arabs, right? But this whole place actually had Solomon's temple. This was the place. It's all been destroyed. The Jews or the Israelis are allowed to come on the western side to pray, western wall. Of course, there's also a tourist spot, so lots of people from all over the world go to see these places. What we know from the Bible is there has to be a third temple. That means Solomon's temple, which was destroyed, rebuilt, that is referred to as the second temple, which is again destroyed. And then now this whole place has been replaced with these, the Alakza Mosque and Dome of the Rock. The Bible is telling us there has to be a third, there has to be a temple where the sacrifices are happening, in which into that temple the Antichrist comes and he stops the sacrifices and he sets himself up as God. So right now that temple doesn't exist, but the Bible is very clear about that prophecy. Daniel spoke about it. Daniel chapter 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9, Daniel 12, all these chapters in some way reference this temple. Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 24, which we saw last week. He said the abomination of desolation spoken out by the prophet Daniel. When you see him standing in the temple, well, there is no temple, there has to be a temple. And Jesus said this Antichrist will be standing in the temple. Same thing the apostle Paul wrote, second Thessalonians chapter 2. John in his revelation, Revelation chapter 11 spoke about it, the temple taken over, desecrated. There is chapter 11, chapter 13. So Bible prophecy is saying there has to be this temple where sacrifices will be happening and then this man of peace, that is the Antichrist, will come and he'll stop the sacrifices and he'll set himself up as God. So how is that going to happen in this place right now? This is very sacred. It is sacred to the Jews, but it's sacred to the Muslims. It's also important for us as Christians when we look at Bible prophecy, how is it going to happen? What we know is if you just look at what's going on, that there is the a group or a section of Jewish people, Israelis, who have already made all preparations to rebuild the temple. And you can look at it up here at Temple Institute. You can look up a video documentary that was done about seven, eight years ago, which is documenting the fact that there are this section of Jews who've made full preparation to rebuild this temple and to bring back the ceremonial worship. So they are ready with all the plans with everything. How exactly that is going to happen? We don't know. But it is important or it is interesting for us to keep an eye on what's happening there with the political situation in Israel. Right now, there is a very fundamental Jewish minister there who is very strong, is very strong in saying that these things should belong to Israel, not to the Palestinians and so on. He's pro-Israel that way. But we don't know. We have to wait and see. So the Jewish people only have access to the western wall. They can only come here. They can pray and go quietly. They're not, of course, allowed into the mosque area or the tomb of the rock area. So they come, they pray, and they go. So this is what is the current situation as far as the temple mode. But it is a place of conflict. Right? It's a place of intense conflict these days. And almost every other day or every other week, you will see in the news, you know, fighting happening between Palestinians and Israeli forces, things are happening. It's going on. Then the second matter is the Jewish settlements. So Jeremiah prophesied that, you know, once these people come back, the Jewish people, they come back to Jerusalem, they are going to rebuild. The city will be rebuilt. And very interestingly, Jeremiah mentioned how it's going to be rebuilt. He mentioned the Tower of Haniel, the corner gate. He said it'll go all the way to the hill garab, to go out to the whole valley, the brook kidron and the horse gate. So people can, people have traced all of this. And amazingly, the way the settlements were built, the way Jerusalem was rebuilt as a city, it happened exactly the way Jeremiah prophesied almost 2,500 years before. Amazingly, the city expanded the way Jeremiah said it will expand. So that is, it is, it is shocking. And yet it is true. Right? Jeremiah prophesied, this is how the city is going to be rebuilt. Today, Jerusalem has been rebuilt. It has been expanded. And settlements, so now the Jewish settlements continue to be established in those, we said, you know, the Palestinian territories, these settlements continue to be built, you know, and maybe they just, the Jewish people, the Israelis are continuing to rebuild the settlements, these homes. And it is again a point of conflict because the Palestinians say, hey, why are you doing this? Israel doesn't bother us. They keep building, they keep expanding, taking over those territories. And that gives rise to a lot of conflict. Then the alignment of Israel, Egypt and Syria. Egypt in the south, Syria towards the north, north eastern part of Israel. It's very interesting what the Bible says. What you see in the scripture is that before the coming of the Lord, Egypt will turn to the Lord. Isaiah 19 is amazing. He's saying Egypt is going to turn to the Lord. Now, we have to wait and see, how is Egypt going to turn to the Lord? And then he says, Isaiah says, there will be a highway that is built from Egypt to Syria. That means it has to go all the way through Israel. There's going to be a highway from Egypt to Syria. And then he says, Egypt, Syria, Israel will become allies. This is all in Isaiah 19. So how is that going to happen? We don't know. But it's something to look at because it's given there in Isaiah chapter 19. Will it be established in the millennium? How and when? We don't know exactly. But that is there in scripture, Isaiah 19. Maybe it might happen during the millennium, after the Battle of Armageddon and everything when the Lord sets up his kingdom. Maybe that's when it'll happen. Not sure. But that's something in scripture. The highway from Egypt to Syria, Egypt turning to the Lord and Egypt, Syria and Israel becoming friends. Something to think about and look at. When is going to happen? We're not sure. But it's in the Bible. And lastly, the last point is to highlight is for us to keep in mind that Jerusalem is a city that is of very important significance to God and in the Bible. It is referred by different names. City of David, City of God, City of Judah, and so on. There's many, many names are given in scripture. But it is a very important place, Jerusalem. It is important for many reasons. But when we look at end time scripture, it will be the capital of the millennial reign of Christ, of the Messiah. So it's very important, Jerusalem. In the context of all this, we must also keep in mind the relationship between Israel and the Church and the Kingdom of God. So God began his work through Abraham and eventually into the nation of Israel. And that work is going on even today. So God has not given up or he has not stopped working in Israel as a nation. He chose them through Abraham and he's continuing his work. At the same time, the Kingdom of God was introduced on the earth through John the Baptist and then the Lord Jesus. And the Church of Jesus Christ, which is a spiritual body, is now his instrument in expanding his spiritual kingdom. So you have today on the earth, you have both Israel and the Church. And God is working in and through both. Israel is a literal nation, a literal physical people. The Church is made up of believers from all nations, languages, tribes. And when you say church, it's a spiritual body, of course, it's made up of believers around the world. And God is working through both. And he has a plan for both. But what will happen is, of course, and God is bringing us both to the same point, meaning he's bringing Israel, the Jewish people, he's bringing the Church, which is made up of believers from all over the world, to the same point, which is to acknowledge Jesus Christ and experience salvation through Jesus Christ. And we are one new man, as Paul writes. He has made both one and he has made us one new man from the two. So that is what God is doing, bringing us all to a place of faith in Jesus Christ, one new man. Right now, today, the Church has a mission, which is to bring the Gospel to all the nation and to disciple all nations. That is the mission of the Church right now. And then there is God's plan and how he's going to wrap all these things up and how he's going to bring everything together. So that is something we're going to look at. So essentially, and we'll give the timeline here, but essentially, as a Church, you know, we, the Bible tells us to bless the Jewish people, to bless Israel as a nation, to pray for them and so on, as a Church. And what will happen? A time will come when the Church will finish its work or the Gospel will be preached to all the nations. The Church will be taken out of the way. And there is a final period of time, a seven-year period. We call the seven years of tribulation. The focus is on the Jewish people. And, you know, will the Gospel still be preached? Yes, of course, the Gospel will be preached through those seven years. People will be turning to faith in Christ. Yes, we will see all that in the book of Revelation. But I'm just giving a summary of this. And this kind of brings us into the next lesson, which we'll pick up next week and looking at the timeline of things. But the Church's age, which began on the day of Pentecost, will come to an end with the rapture of the Church, meaning the Church is taken out of the way. The last seven years will be a wrap-up where, sorry, by that time, Jerusalem will become the center of focus. It'll become the troubled spot of the world. And all the nations will turn against Israel. At the beginning of the tribulation, there'll be a man of peace who will come into prominence. The Antichrist will come into prominence because of establishing a peace, some sort of a peace accord in the Middle East. And so there'll be a three and a half years of false peace set up by this man, the Antichrist, whom people will recognize. The temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount somewhere around this time. That temple will be established. We call it the Third Temple or the Tribulation Temple. But in the middle of that seven years, the Antichrist will desecrate this temple. And the second half of the tribulation is known as the Great Tribulation. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, meaning it's the worst time for Israel ever. And there'll be a lot of things happening. We will get into the sequence of what is happening due to the tribulation. Then there's going to be the Battle of Armageddon, like we mentioned. Again, the whole focus is on Jerusalem and Israel, nations coming together to fight against Israel. And that will culminate in the return, the physical return of Jesus Christ. So there is the Battle of Armageddon being fought in the Valley of Jezreel or Megiddo. And this battle is, of course, happening in three stages. Russia will come, supported by, later on, by the kings of the east, possibly China and other nations. And finally, nations will come from all over the world, get involved. But that will be intercepted by the coming of the Lord. Then Jesus will come, he will intervene, destroy the Antichrist and all of his armies and set up his kingdom. And he will rule and reign from Jerusalem over the nations, and we his people will rule and reign with him. And during the millennial reign, Israel as a nation will be under the lordship or rulership of Jesus Christ. Israel will extend throughout the whole world. Nations will be called to come and worship the Lord. There will be another temple during this time, which is referred to as the Millennial Temple. We'll talk about it a little later. Daniel speaks about it and Ezekiel talks about it. So there will be the Millennial Temple where people, well, there will be the sacrifices being established, but people becoming worshiped Jesus in Jerusalem. So this is a little overview of how God is going to be dealing with Israel as a nation. We looked at the history, we looked at the present situation, the problems that are happening, and we had a quick overview of what is going to come in terms of what will happen during the Tribulation and the Millennial. So it's just an overview. So don't worry, we didn't get into the details. We will be getting into the details as we go through the timeline and as we go through an overview of the Book of Revelation. This is just kind of an introduction on Israel and where Israel fits in the overall plan, what God has done, what God is doing, what God is going to do concerning Israel and the Jewish people, and specifically the city of Jerusalem. So let me pause here and see if there are any questions, any anything that you want to ask me about at this time. Yes, regarding the church's response to Israel. So we see from scriptures that we need to pray for Jerusalem, pray for Israel. But if somebody is asking us, see Israel is doing like this to the poor people in Palestine, is it righteous or is it right? And ask about our position with what Israel is doing as an army. Do we stand with Israel or how do we respond? Good question, good question. Now we must remember that not everything that's happening in Israel is right from a justice perspective. There are a lot of sinful things happening, being done by the Israelis. For example, even in Israel, in as much as we speak about the Temple Mount and people wanting the certain group of people wanting to rebuild the temple, there's a lot of wrong things happening. For example, human injustice, that is the ill treatment of the Palestinians. Is that right? It's not right, it's wrong. They are ill-treating the people, they are not, but of course there is a political conflict happening. Within Israel there is a huge, I just realized a lost connection in between. Till when did you hear me? Just the last part, so whatever is happening in Israel is not right. Yeah, sorry about that, I don't know if something happened. So there are a lot of wrong things happening from a perspective of justice and righteousness. As we said, the ill treatment of people of the Palestinians. Yeah, that is wrong. If you're not example during COVID time, they did not let vaccines get into the Palestinians. I mean, these were the reports that came. So things like that were happening. Within Israel itself there is sin and things that are not right. So when people ask us, we have to say, you know, what is right is right, what is wrong is wrong. We can't just, we shouldn't condone the actions just because they are God's chosen people. Now it is true that they are, God has a plan for Israel, God is working through them. But when they do something wrong, we have to say it's wrong. When there is sin, we have to say it is sin. We don't just condone all their actions just because God has chosen Israel as a nation for a particular purpose. And also regarding the rapture and the temple is going to be built. So I've heard something like this. I just want to say it's right and wrong. If the temple is established that the moment itself Jesus would come and the rapture would take place, it is because in God, that's not one, two types of sacrifices, the old covenant and the new covenant to be together in the world. Is there any significance of that pastor? Sorry. Say that again, John. Say that again. I didn't understand. So what I've heard pastor is the Israelis are trying to build the temple. And once the temple is built, Messiah would come and the church would go because God does not want both the type of worship, like in the old covenant, the type of sacrifices and the new covenant approaching the throne. So God does not want both to happen together. So that is the reason the church should be taken off. Is there any significance for that? Now I would find that kind of an argument rather illogical, meaning it's not correct why. The church is taken out of the way, the rapture happens. There is the physical temple, the third temple or the tribulation temple. But what we do see in the book of Revelation is even during the tribulation, there will be people turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, people will be saved and there will be huge prayer rising up to the throne of grace. And this is during the tribulation, which means there is the physical temple, but there are people being saved and crying out to God. And there is intense prayer. In fact, Revelation says there will be a prayer movement on the earth. And this is something in Revelation 8. Let me just give it to you correctly. Yeah, if you look at Revelation 8, verses 1 through 6. So this is in the first half of the tribulation. So the church is out of the way, there is an earthly temple, but there is prayer movement going on on the earth, meaning people are turning to the Lord and the prayers of the saints are coming up before God. Revelation 8, 1 to 6. So this argument doesn't hold because will there be believers on the earth during the tribulation? Yes, people will turn to the Lord. Will believers be praying and worshiping Jesus? Yes. In fact, Revelation 8 says there will be so much prayer going up during the tribulation. It's like prayers rising up above the throne of God. So there will be the spiritual prayer happening from the people who are saved and who, you know, they later on, they refuse the mark of the beast, but they will be crying out to God. And yeah, we see that repeated in the Book of Revelation during the tribulation. That is, there will be people worshiping God. There's 144,000 Jews who have been marked by God who will be worshiping God during the tribulation. So they will not be participating in the temple sacrifices. So the answer is there is the physical worship happening. There's a spiritual worship happening throughout the tribulation. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. So good questions. Let us pause here today. So today we just went through a historical and geographical background so that it gives us a little context when we start looking into the timeline of events that are going to happen. Okay. Take some time to go through the notes on both these lessons. And, you know, it's good to have this information. We're going to close now. I know we are only time the break and we have to get ready for the next class. Somebody could quickly pray and dismiss us please. So we thank you for the relations, the understanding that we receive from your word. We pray that we would continue to grow in this and be useful for the kingdom in every way God. We thank you for this time. Jesus means we pray. Amen. Thank you, everyone. Enjoy your next class. God bless. Bye now.