 OK. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to BC213, our course on the end times. And welcome to a new year and a new semester. It's the start, it's not the end. Even though the course is there on the end times, it's the beginning of a new year. Let's pray, and then we get started. Introduce the course, and let's start. If you want to first please pray, and we get started. Amen. All right. So welcome, everyone, once again to this new semester, a new year, and the course, BC213, the end times. I'm going to introduce the course, and then we will get started. I'll leave this share screen. So in the course, the end times. So I have put out the full lecture notes on the classroom. For those of you who are here, we will also get it printed, give you a copy of it, and help us as we get it printed. In addition to the course notes on the class work section, I've also given two additional, sorry, one PDF, which is just a chart of the end times. And it's just an easy way to look at the sequence of events. And I've also given two books to read. It's optional. I'm not saying compulsory to read. One book is called, it is a book by a person called Jane Dwight Pentecost. That book is called the end times for the last days. It's a book that is typically used in seminaries to study about the end times. So that whole book is there. But it's a very thick book. I mean, I said, it can be printed, but it's a very thick book. But again, the whole PDF. And you can just, if you want to, you can use it as a reference to read through it, and so on. But that's the difficult book that's used in seminaries. And it's like a book that's been used for many decades, almost every seminary uses that book to talk about it in time. But we will not be using that book. I'll give you a ticket to the course. But that book is a reference you can read if you're interested. And then there's one more book, which is, again, you can read through it. It's on the timeline sequence of events. So we will be covering that timeline in the course. I'll be going through the materiality. But these two are reference books. You can read them if you have time, if you want to study further. So I've given both the PDFs as well. So also, what are we going to do in this course? And the main objective in this course is to get that good overview of the end times. So we're not going to study the book of Revelation in detail or Daniel in detail. That we will do in our third year. In the third year, we go through Daniel, all the prophetic sections in Daniel's verse by us. And we go through Revelation verse by us in our third year. But in this course, you want to get a good understanding of what the Bible teaches about the end time. It's more like the overview. And the focus is on what are the signs of the end times. So that we want to get a good understanding. But we will do an overview of Revelation. That means I will go quickly. Like I said chapter 1, 2, and 3 is about this. I'll give you like a summary. Chapter 1 will read like this. 4 and 5 is like this. 6 and 7. We won't read every verse, but I'll give you a summary of each chapter as we go through Revelation. In third year, we'll read every verse and go through it in detail. So we'll focus in detail as we do that. So this year, in this course, we're doing a course overview of the end times. Our goal is to understand the sequence of events. How are the events going to unfold? And what are the signs to your character? Bringing us to the end times. And usually, I'll break the assessment into three parts. You will read them based on that. Now, I just want to make mention of Dr. Jack Van Impley. He was, of course, a theologian and a scholar. And he spent maybe, I think, almost 60 or 70 years of his life. He passed away, I think years back, at the age of 80 years. But he spent maybe 60 years of his ministry preaching on the end times. And then that was his focus, his specialty. So he's written many books, and he can go to his website. So if you want to read something, so you can, I would recommend going to his specific book. He passed away, but all of his work is there available. And so in the next semester, next year, third year, I'll give you one of his books, a revelation to be able to look at. So I would recommend. Now, of course, there are many other people who have written books on revelation at the end times. But it's a great to read so many different people, one person who is really good, who is an expert. I would point you to Dr. Jack Van Impley's resources. So let's get started. Let's go to the introduction. And you can follow with me on the PDF. I will also give you the script. So as an introduction, the first thing is just to know the technical word called eschatology. So eschatology, it simply means the study of last things. And the final things, the study of the last things. So when somebody says, have you done eschatology? You can say, yeah, we had two courses. The second year, we had a course on the end times. The third year, we studied revelation and done it. So all of that is put together. We are studying about the last things, the end, the final things. Eschatology simply means study about the last things, end time events, and so on. So why should we study about the end times? And why is the subject so important? Some people will say, oh, it is so confusing. I don't want to study. Some will say, revelation, I cannot understand. So leave it. Again, some people will say, see, different people are interpreting it differently. So why study? Because everybody is interpreting differently. Why should we study it? So it is true. It is true that Book of Daniel, the collection, may not be very easy to understand when you read it the first time. And it is true that different people are having different reasons to understand. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't study. We should make the effort to go into descriptions, and understand these things, and make an effort to study these things. Now, I've listed here in this introduction some reasons why we should. Why is the subject important? Studying about the end times. So one, the first reason that you can follow in the earth is that God has revealed this to us. If God has made the effort to speak to us about the end times, in fact, one whole book, Revelation, is about the end times. So God has made an effort in his book towards us. That means he wants us to discover. He wants us to understand. He didn't say, OK, I'll give you a book, but don't read it because you're not going to understand what's the point. I don't think that was the reason God gave us the Bible. Now, everything in the Bible, he wants us to study. He wants us to understand. It's going to take effort, yes, but he wants us to understand. And in fact, when we look at the book of Revelation and the book of Revelation starts of Revelation chapter 1 verses 1, 2, and 3, John writes, he says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to the servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads. And those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near. So notice what he's saying. John is saying, see, the Lord Jesus revealed this to me. I have written it. And blessed is the one, or blessed is the person who reads it, and who listens to the words of this prophecy. So he's not saying, oh, I wrote it, but don't read it. No. I wrote it out. You are blessed if you read it. And you hear the words of this prophecy, and you keep it. You follow the instructions. What is given to you? So there's a blessing in studying about prophecy. Another reason why we should study about the end times is because God has revealed it to us so that we can be watchful in how we live. We can be watchful in how we live and make sure that we are in the end times. And we are very close in and God wants us to live right. So we can study about it. And we can live watchfully. Say, oh, I know we're very close. We're getting close. And we can live a life square. Because we know that the time Paul writes in Romans 13 verse 11 to 14, he says, knowing the time, now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. So we're getting closer and closer. So we need to live responsibly. We can't just live casually. We're getting closer and closer. Another reason, number three, and this is on page number seven of the lecture notes. Number three is because God wants us to be people of hope as we look for the future. So now we may be going through all kinds of things. But if we know the future is going to come out like this, God is going to step in. This is what he has planned for us. We can be people of hope. Even though there may be times now when there may be challenges, there may be struggles. But we know that in the future, God has good things planned for us. So we can be people of hope. And John writes in 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 and 3, he says, beloved, now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him. Or we will see him as he is. So he says, we know that when the Lord is revealed, we will be like him. We will be changed to be like him. We'll see him as he is. And we have this hope. And because we have this hope, we purify ourselves, just as he is pure. Of all the reason why we must study about the end times, why it's important to study, is because we see that we understand God's plan of when Adam leaves sin and the world wedded to sin and all kinds of things happen. It's not the end of everything. God is unfolding his plan. And the things he's going to do, and in the end, everything is going to come out well. Otherwise, we'll be sitting with all these questions. Why did God let it happen? Why investment is there? Why is the world is like that? We'll be sitting with those questions. But right now, if we understand what God is going to do, he is going to make the heavens and the earth. He is going to buy and save them and all the demons and get them out of the way. And he is going to make all things well. Oh, then we know it's a plan of God. We understand God's plan. He's going to put all things under his feet. He's going to conquer death and so on. Two reasons. One, number five is because when we study about the end times so that we can be actively proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth. That means we say, OK, we understand that God has given us a responsibility now that is connected to his plan. He's unfolding his plan and he's given us a responsibility. That is to take the gospel. That's our work right now. Our work right now is to take the gospel. God has everything that's planned. So the time we have right now is the time to take the gospel to the nations, to the people. That's our responsibility. So we'll be actively fulfilling that. And the last reason, number six is this prophecy itself. The message about the end times, the prophecy itself must be preached. Paul writes in Romans chapter 16 verses 25 through 27. He says, now he was able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of mystery, kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith, the God alone, wise, be glowing for Jesus Christ forever and ever. So what is he saying here? He's saying the prophetic scripture is made known to all nations. And to bring people to become obedient to the faith. So the preaching of prophecy, the prophetic scriptures, the prophecy of the scriptures should be made known to all nations. So this message about the end times is not just for us. Oh, we know. See, keep it secret. No, no, no. The mystery has been revealed. And now we must preach the prophecy to everyone. Announce it. The Bible already says these things will happen. Spore so that people can come to obedience to the faith. Come to Jesus. So even the preaching of the end times, preaching about the end times, preaching about the prophecy of scripture is something we must do. God has unveiled it, has revealed the mystery, and we must preach it to the nations so that people can come and have faith in Jesus. So it's part of what we also preach to bring people to faith. So these are some reasons why it's important for us to study about the end times, study about Bible prophecy. Now, page number 8 in the PDF, our approach is studying the end times. How are we going to study out of some guidance? First, and this is very important. This first point is very important. Take things literally, then figuratively. OK? And it's whenever possible, take it literally. And this is what itself, take it literally. If the literal doesn't make sense, then you say, oh, this is figurative. What does it mean? So in profiling scriptures, there are many things that God communicates through pictures, figures, examples in the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He sees a big image. And the image, of course, he tells people, you haven't done me the dream, but then Daniel tells him the dream. He says, OK, in your dream, you saw this. You saw an image. The head was of gold. The chest and the arms was of brass. And the waist was of different metal, silver. The legs were of iron. And the feet was a mix of iron and clay. And the feet and toes, and there were 10 toes. And then there was this big rock, which was not hewn by man's hands. It was not cut by man's hands. Big rock that came out of the heavens. And it fell on this image. And it crushed the image. And this rock became big. So that was your dream. Oh, yeah, you said that. Now, when you saw like that, there are a lot of pictures, figures. So first thing is, does this mean anything literally or not? Literally doesn't mean anything. There's no meaning to it. Then we will have to say, OK, it's figure it. Now, when we say something is figure it, many times, the clues to interpreting it is already given in scripture. So for example, this damage of a tomb, Daniel himself interprets it. And says, King, the head that is of gold, that is you. Each part of this image represents empires or kingdoms. So you think it's talking about kingdoms is interpreted. Head gold represents you. Then the waist, the chest, represents the next kingdom that will come after you. Then after there will be another kingdom, the waist. Then the feet of iron will become another fourth kingdom. Then this fourth kingdom will disintegrate. And the iron mixture with clay that there will be people from the fourth kingdom who do mixing with people from all other parts of the world. And in the days of that kingdom, God will set up his own kingdom so that raw coming from heaven becoming a mountain is a kingdom that God will set up here on. So what have I said? First, there is all this picture that God gives. But the interpretation usually is found in scripture itself. We just have to read it. So in the book of Daniel, in Daniel 7 and 8, there are a lot of Daniel's beasts and animals and all that. We think, oh, what is he saying? What does it mean? Oh, just read on. And he will interpret. He'll say the bear represents this, the lion represents this. So whenever it's figurative, use scripture to interpret. And you usually find it within scripture itself. Sometimes it will be in the same chapter or the next chapter. Sometimes it may be in some other place. But we have to search within scripture what is the meaning and state of it. Literal means if God says three and a half years, look, OK, take it as literal three and a half years. And I will explain this when we come to the last seven years of population. How do we know in seven years of population? Because you've seen many places in Daniel and Revelation. He's saying seven years, seven years, seven years. So then he's a little seven years. Actually, it's going to be seven years. Middle of seven years means three and a half years. It's a little three and a half because middle of the seven is three and a half. So that number we will take as unit two. And we don't have to make that signature. So that's the first thing. Second, we do not engage in speculation or sensationalism. And then let us not create some high speculation and cause people to get all anxious and so on. I see sometimes when people are preaching with antics, they preach as to Jesus is coming before the seven will get over. He is coming right now. You will repent right now as to before they can finish the sermon Jesus is coming. Like that they preach and they create so much of emotion and hype up. No, you shouldn't do that. I remember this was some years ago. I think that was 2016. I forget exactly which year. But it was the year when that particularly, yeah, I think there were many, I think although not eclipse or something, where the moon becomes, would be blood turned red. So a lot of people say, oh, this is blood moon. Because one of the signs would be the moon would turn into blood, it will become red. Not blood, but moon become red. There would be signs in Georgia to do that too. There would be signs that the moon would become red. So the blood moon would not have any people or anything like that. Full that whole year, there was food in the Christian world. I think it was 2016 or something like that. Not too long ago. There's so much of everybody on blood moon, blood moon. This year there will be three blood moons. Jesus is coming, there's so much of him. Then added to that, that same year, what happened was the stars, the particular constellation that the stars were all being aligned, as though there was a woman carrying a child. Then they said, this is the fulfillment of revelations up to 12. Because revelations up to 12, and we'll explain it. There is the woman with the mansion. Oh, this is the fulfillment of that. But actually, revelations 12, if you read that whole chapter, it's very clear, you know, the woman represents Israel, the man-child represents Jesus, the dragon represents Satan. It's all explained in the same chapter itself. But here, because people were seeing something in the constellation, or your full, there were articles and things, somebody even forwarded me. They said, faster, you have to get the church ready. I think it was September, some date again. At this date, this is actually coming into full position. At this date, Jesus will come. You must inform the church, tell them to be ready. I literally received that event. I wanted to speak with you today. They said, that person was in the event. That particular Sunday, we are all going to sit in our place very quietly waiting for the coming of the Lord. But that was the hype that was going around. Everything, the Christian one. Now, it is true that that particular year, that particular season, that constellation was all coming together. And they went through the study astronomy. They say, yeah, it's that woman there, and that woman carrying it there. It's only the arrangement of the sun. How does it make it look like that? It is true that it's happening there. But that has no connection with what this revelation probably says. This is different. So much of life in August, September came, and when October came, I came here. Can't be pretty good. None of this. So this has been going on for years. Now, remember back in 1988? So actually, maybe it was 1986, or some American picture. He had written a book, Jesus is Coming by 1988. The title of the book was, Jesus is Coming by 1990. That has become so much hype. So this has been going on for many decades, you know, this thing of creating life, causing people to be very anxious. But we want to avoid those things. Suddenly, in terms of understanding, be ready. It may happen around like that, or it may not happen. It may happen in the next generation. But our response is to understand the science and live correctly. Be ready. It just comes to the good. If it doesn't come, I will continue doing my work. First, don't need to be pulled aside. Third, exactly. Number three, the third approach is, we are open yet uncompromising at man's. We understand that there are people who may have a different view from us on how we are interpreting by the process. So we are open. Fine. If you think differently, if you interpret differently, it's fine. But we will not compromise on certain things. I mean, there are certain things about the core truth of the scripture that Jesus is coming by. He will have resurrected bodies. We will all stand before the judgment and see the things that we know for very clearly that we will not compromise. Things that we know, OK, timing, fine, you think like this coming out since that's OK. Because to be friends, you have different opinions. So example, now, there are different positions interpreting Bible prophecy. So I've just given in the bottom of page A, I just listed some of the more important ones. Different people have also literally many, many different views. But I just listed some of the more important ones. And just for us to know, I'll tell you the position we will be taking in this course. So there is dispensational pre-millennialism. That means they look at God's working with people as separate dispensations. One, God's working with Israel. God's working with the church. God is working with them. And then there is pre-millennialism. So that means we are in the dispensation when God's primary working is to the church, OK? In the Old Testament, God's primary working was with Israel until Christ came. Now after Jesus came, the church was born. So the current dispensation, that means the current time period. Dispensation is a time period. In this current time period, the focus, it is not that God has stopped working with Israel. He still has access to chosen people. He still is chosen people. But this dispensation, right now, we are in what we refer to as the church age. God's primary working is through the church. And the church is in this dispensation, this time period. The church has been given responsibility to do certain things, which is to bring the gospel to all the people in Israel. So that is dispensational. So dispensational. Pre-millennialism means we also take the position that the church will be taken up and the church will be taken out. That will bring it into the church age. It will bring it into this current dispensation, this time period. The church will be taken out, then will come the tribulation. And after that, the millennial reign of Christ. So dispensational, pre-millennialism. Pre means the rapture is taking place before the tribulation and the millennial. The rapture will take place. So that's the kind of position we will hold in this course. That means we believe and I'll explain it later. We believe in the way we were explained, also is that the rapture will take place before the seven years of the revolution. Because during the seven years of tribulation, the focus will change back to Israel. Because with the Bible or a reader to it, as Daniel's 70th week, the seven years of tribulation, is referred to as Daniel's 70th, I will explain later. Because when Angel Gabriel, this is in Daniel chapter 9, when Angel Gabriel came and spoke to Daniel, he said, Daniel, I'm going to talk to you about 70 weeks concerning your people. And in the 70 weeks, 69 weeks have already been fulfilled, I'll explain it later. So one week is left, one week representing seven years. That seven years is the seven years of tribulation. The Bible also refers that seven to that as the time of Jacob's trouble. This is the time when Jacob, Israel, Jacob represents Israel, will be going through a lot of trouble. So during the seven years of tribulation, the focus, and there will be believers, that the gospel will be preached, but a lot of attention will be on Israel and what is happening with Jerusalem. So the church, it ends with the rapture of the church, then the last seven years, then the millennial reign of Christ. The millennial reign of Christ is another dispensation, meaning another time period. The reign of Jesus here on the, do you understand me? We go to the church once again, I will repeat it. Now there's another view with a slightly different chapter, which is called historical pre-millennial. Where the return of Christ is just before the millennium. So that means for them, it is that Jesus will come at the end of the tribulation and the end of the seven years of tribulation, which will happen. But that's the time of the, I mean, the church will go through the tribulation. So the church is not going to be taken out of the tribulation. The church stays through the tribulation. Jesus comes at the end of the tribulation. So that's a historical pre-millennialism, that is the native church will go through the tribulation. And everything will happen just before the pre-millennial, just before the millennium. That's one position. Post-millennialism means everything happens after the millennium, post. That means the thousand years is actually, they say, we are now in the thousand years. I mean, it's not necessarily a little thousand years, as we would expect, a thousand year reign of Christ. But the God right now God is rolling, reigning through the church. And right now the gospel is being preached. So we are already in the millennium. And these thousand years will end. And then Jesus will return. So that's a different position. Post-millennialism and Christ is ending on the earth through the church and the gospel is increasing. Another view and the millennialism is that Christ already has gained victory over Satan. He's already conquered Satan. So they're not looking at a literal thousand years. They're like, OK, it's not there. They're not looking at it as a literal thousand year reign of Christ. He's already conquered the devil. He's already conquered Satan. And he's at the right hand of the Father. He's already ruling in reign. They're not looking at it as a literal reign on Christ on the earth. It's over. He's already won. So that means they're not even, they don't even believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ. So if you look at the chart on page 10, you look at the chart. So you see what these oppositions look like. Dispensational pre-millennialism means the church age. We are right now with the church age. The church age ends with the voucher of the church. And then there is a seven years of tribulation, as you mentioned. And then come the thousand year reign of Jesus. Now, even within the pre-millennialism, there are different positions. Some believe in a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. Isn't the position we will have? There are some who believe in a mid-tribulation rapture which is in the middle of a tribulation. And some who believe in the post-tribulation rapture of the church, which is the equivalent of historical pre-millennialism. So historical pre-millennialism is equivalent to this post-tribulation. Everything is happening at the end of the seven years of the tribulation. The post-millennialism or un-millennialism, they both don't believe in a literal reign of Jesus on the earth. The post-millennialism says that Jesus, from the time he rose from the dead, through the church he's been reigning on the earth. And the thousand years is not a literal 1,000 year. It just represents an era of a time period. Our millennialism don't even believe in that thousand year reign. They believe Jesus finished everything here after he rose up from the dead. He's conquered the devil, and he rules and reigns over everything. So that's their position. So are the responses OK? We will listen to your ideas. We will listen to how you're interpreting scripture. Be open to understanding or listening to you. But there are some things we won't compromise on. Things that are very clear is scripture we won't compromise on. Timing, fine. We understand different people take different timings. But this is our position. We will explain why we believe in a pre-tripulation rapture of the church, why we hold the position of dispensational pre-millennialism, and so we'll explain them as we go. So this chart, we will come back to it. We will kind of get into the details of what's happening. But this chart is useful for us to understand the sequence of events that are going to take us. We'll come back to it and explain it further. Now I just put the chart here just to help us understand different positions that people take and as far as how they interpret scripture. So we're not going to fight with other people about these things. We respect their ideas. But we'll also very clearly explain our position, what people believe, and so on. Yeah, a few other thoughts here. We're going to go for the break. I'm on page 11, number four. Every time we are studying in-depth scripture, we like to look at it with a complete view of the scripture. Don't take one passage or one chapter by itself and try to interpret it. Whatever we do with prophetic scripture over the end times, take all of prophetic scripture and then interpret it. Others, we just take one portion and try to interpret it. You can go or you can go up and do something. So we have a complete view of scripture when we interpret it. And we also understand that things that are given to the Old Testament, they are further explained for us in the New Testament. Example, Daniel wrote in Daniel chapter 9, actually in Daniel 7, and he writes about this little horn. He first calls it a little horn. Then he calls this man who speaks abominable things against God. And then he refers to him as a man who comes and he is an abomination of desolation. He comes and desecrates the temple of God. So he deals with it. Then in the New Testament, Jesus refers back and says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, then you know this is the end. So even the Lord Jesus is referring back to that. Paul, in his writings, second verse, he says, ah, that man of sin, the son of perdition. He's referring back to what Daniel wrote and he's explaining it further. Then you come into the book of Revelation, John, in his writing of the chapter 13, he refers back to what Daniel said and he explains it further. So what is given to us in the Old Testament is explained more and given more details when we come into the New Testament. And so we have to put everything together then we get a quick picture. Number six is we use biblical typology. So in the Bible, for example, Wins, Daniel says, I saw the four Wins. What was Wins? But the Wins are moving upon the sea. What are the sea? Then we go to Revelation chapter 17 and then we see that the waters of the sea represents people, motherhoods of people. So then we say the Wins are the things that are moving, the forces that are moving upon the people are upon the nations. And that means there is something that's causing that to think in a certain way, more of a certain way. So we interpret scripture by staying within scriptures and don't go outside of it. Also, number seven, recognize different time frames. So that is very important that in one verse, or maybe even in one passage, different time frames can be referred to. A classic example is in Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. Isaiah says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. And of the increase, it continues later. Of the increase of his government, there will be no end. So in these two verses, it is like one sentence. But in that one verse, in Isaiah 9, verse 6, in that one verse, there's a gap of more than 2,000 years. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. This is the birth of Jesus. The government will be on his shoulder. That is not it for little. 2,000 years have gone. When will the government be on his shoulder when he comes and he establishes his kingdom there on earth and he sits as king? That is when he's going to be ruling. Government will be on his shoulder. So in that one prophecy, there's a gap of 2,000 years. But if you don't understand the timing, then we get very confused. Oh, the child must also be the king. But when Jesus came, he didn't become king. He came to be the sacrifice. So that is one big reason why the Jews missed him. Because unto us his child is born, unto us his son is given. And the government will be on his shoulder. So they're expecting, you want to take over the government. That's why even when he was ascending into heaven, the disciples, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And will you change the government now for us? And so it's not for you to know the timing of the season. So far there hasn't been so many. So we must understand. Let's pause here. And I heard that, well, let's pause here. We'll come back and take this forward. And we'll also take some questions. Any questions that are there when we come back? Let's pause. Thank you.