 Okay, welcome back to the second lecture BC 213 the end times. We are continuing our lecture now. Any further questions based on the quick run through on the geography in the history? Say go ahead please. Yes, Pastor. I was just going to ask, I didn't really see anything said about the U.S. knowing fully well how they are major players in the world. I don't know if scriptures kind of give us an explanation of their role, you know, in end time and in the whole end time agenda. So I can speak, so let me say, like personally, in my study, my reading of the scriptures, I do not see any specific reference to the role that the United States would play in all of this. Other than, you know, what we can infer, there's no direct statement. Like we were just saying earlier, when Revelation 19 says the nations of the earth come and then we say, yeah, definitely the United States will be involved, just because we know what's happening globally. But other than that, in scripture, we don't see, at least in my study, I don't see anything specific. Now, there are people who have tried to read into scriptures, like for example, I mean, I think the correlation would be any reference to an eagle in the scripture, they would say, okay, that refers to the United States, you know, things like that. I don't see it that way. And so, you know, basically there is no everything is surrounded around Israel as a nation, and what's happening around that. And yeah, that would be my response. But there are people who try to stretch things a little bit, and yeah, but I don't necessarily see that as the right thing to do. Yeah. Thank you Master. Okay. I think somebody else raised, yeah, Elisha, go ahead Elisha. Thank you very much, Pastor. Considering the biblical narrative, you realize that most of the references were made to kings, and looking at our contemporary dispensation, you realize that nations are not, many nations are not ruled by kings any longer. They are ruled by political leaders, sponsored into power through their political parties. So I am wondering how we still can put political leadership in the narrative of the Bible, where it refers to kings who operated under different dispensation than ours. So can you explain further how political leadership will play a role in the biblical narrative where kings were referred to? Yeah. So we must understand that a lot of things were written with the language and the understanding of their day, and it must be understood or interpreted into the context of our day. Simple example. In Ephesians chapter 6, writing to the church, Paul says, servants, be obedient to your masters. We don't have servants and masters today. You know, we're living in a totally different context. Does that verse apply to us or should we not read it? Of course, it does apply to us. But how do we translate it? Servants corresponds to employees. Masters corresponds to, you know, managers or bosses or organizational leaders. Similarly, Romans chapter 13, Paul is writing to believers. He says, be subject to kings, to those in authority, to soldiers who are sent by him to do it, to correct, you know, those who do wrong. Well, we don't have kings. We don't have authorities in that sense today. But is Romans 13 applicable to the church or not? It is applicable, but we translate it. We interpret it in our context. So in Paul's time, there were kings, there were soldiers who carried out what the kings wanted. There were emperors. In our day, civil authority is represented by, you know, a different form of government. But the underlying principle is, be subject to civil authority. And also across nations, civil authority is not always democratic. It could be so many different forms of civil authority. But the underlying truth is, hey, you're a believer, you'd be submitted to civil authority in your context. So what are we doing? We are interpreting that and making it relevant to our day and time. And like this, there are many things, many other portions in scripture. And, you know, like what we learned in our course on interpreting scripture, scripture was written in the language, in the culture, in the context of the author. The inspiration was given by the Holy Spirit, but the author could only write in the language that they had available to them. But we interpret it to our context. And that's exactly what we do even with Bible prophecy. So when Daniel wrote, he said, you know, I saw this beast with horns, horns. Then he says, he interprets for us the horns represents kings. Okay. The beasts represent kingdoms or, you know, the mountain represents Daniel to a mountain represents the kingdom. So he's interpreting the imagery for God is speaking to him through images. He's interpreting the images in the language he had, which was kings, kingdoms. But in our day and time that translates to people in authority, people in leadership, kingdoms translates to nations. Right. So that's how we interpret it, just as we do with any other portion of scripture. Is that okay, Laisha? Anything? Okay. There's another question here. There's a comment from Christopher. Historically, the US gets itself involved in most major world events, which is true. I mean, today, right, you know, at this moment as we are talking, we are seeing what's happening. Russia, you know, has a master's troops on the border of Ukraine. And, you know, and then who's the first major person country to get involved? Okay. United States. Of course, the others, you know, slowly would reluctantly come in UK and the NATO and so on. But Russia is making a move. The US is responding. And so we could be sure that, you know, in revolution 19, US will get involved. There be a question. Where does the current world governments fit in Daniel's prophecy? So, yeah, so Daniel chapter two, like we were saying, Daniel chapter two, when Daniel talks about the feet, which are basically a mix of iron and clay. And out of that, there are 10 toes. And then the parallels to Daniel chapter seven, where he sees this beast coming forth with 10 horns. So it parallels to it. So what are we looking for? We're looking for some. So this represented, basically, this is the former Roman Empire, because it comes out of that comes out of the legs of iron, which is Roman Empire. So from that region, which is going to be a loosely held amalgamation or a loosely held confederation of nations, which is a mix of people. From there are going to come forth 10 leaders, because he's a 10 kings, 10 horns representing 10 kings. So we're going to look for that. Then, like we already explained, from what was part of the former Greek Empire, you're looking at the four regions in which it was broken. From there will come the little horn. So we're looking for that. And then, of course, Israel as a nation. And then all the other that we already covered, you know, there's Russia, they clearly identified other nations, Turkey, Egypt, the other tribes that have been identified. We're looking at all of them. So the names that have been specified in, you know, Ezekiel 38, 39, Revelation 16, so on, the names of those regions specified, those are things we are going to be looking at now. And that's what we're looking at, the current world governments. Did I answer your question? Yeah, I'm not sure. Okay. Yeah, I was also thinking if this mostly democratic governments that we have currently are those referring to these loosely held confederation that you said? Yeah, so the nature of the government is not specified in scripture, right? So the scriptures doesn't tell us, okay, they would be democratic governments or they would be dictators or, you know, imperialists or it doesn't talk about that, doesn't talk about the nature of the government. It only says this is what, you know, you will see, right? And also the scriptures talk in terms of the tribes, you know, so based on the tribes we will interpret, yeah, that rush means Russia, so on. So we will interpret it that way. So but it doesn't talk about the nature of the government. Okay, okay, best. Thank you. All right, one last question here. Chris, how about India? It is mentioned that China, Russia, India is more like Russia than China. All the India is in support of Israel. Yeah, so we don't know exactly what position India will take in that Revelation 19 war. If you go historically, historically, India has supported Russia and fought for Russia. So the Indian soldiers were actually deployed into, no, Israel, sorry, I had to correct myself. Historically, India supported Israel and Indian soldiers were deployed in Israel and fought for Israel. So if that is, you know, we don't know what's going to happen Revelation 19, what decision India would make and the Indian government at that time will make. But if you go by history, historically, Indian soldiers have fought for Israel. Maybe they'll repeat the same thing. They will fight for Israel. I don't know. Okay. So we're going to now move forward into our next chapter. Now this is the next two chapters. This is this one, which we're going to start. We're going to be in it for quite a long time. That means we're going to take it slow. I want you to understand it. All of this, all that we've covered so far is like, you know, just giving us a background so that we can get into the main part. We're going to take it slow. I want us to understand that this chapter, which is going to go through the sequence of events. Then the next chapter, which, you know, we'll get into is the signs of the times. That means, look, these are the reasons why we believe you're really close and the other signs we're supposed to be looking for. And almost all the signs we can list out from scripture, of course, are right there. So these two chapters would be the most, I would say, the main part of the course. Okay. So we'll take it slow. I want you to ask a question. Please ask your questions so that you would be very clear on these two things. Right. So the Lord Jesus is coming back. We start with that. Right there in Acts chapter one, verse six through 12, as he was ascending up into heaven, this was after his resurrection, he showed himself alive to his disciples for 40 days. And as he was ascending, Acts chapter one, verses six through 12, the angels spoke up and they said there in verse 11, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. So Acts 611, clear statement. Jesus, who ascended, is going to come back. And Revelation 22, the last chapter of the book of Revelation, the closing chapter of the Bible, many times Jesus says, I'm coming back. I'm coming quickly. My reward is with me. Right. So the Bible, the New Testament, very clearly is pointing to something in the future. Jesus is coming back. It's something we expect, we believe. And then there are a lot of things that are going to happen around that the Bible speaks of. And what we want to do is to try to create an understanding of the sequence of events, what's going to happen. And I'd like to, you know, put it in this chart like this for us to understand and we'll get into the details. So we are right now in what is referred to as the church age from the resurrection of Christ or the ascension of Christ after Jesus ascended into heaven. The day of Pentecost, the church was born and we are here, we are in the church age. I will just go over this high level overview and then we'll get into the details. So what we are expecting next is the rapture of the church, that Jesus comes to take the church out of the earth. At the rapture or the coming of Christ to take the church out of the earth, all who have died in Christ will be raised. And we will look at chapter and verse and scripture and all of this, okay, for all of these things. So I'm just running through the timeline or the overview and then we will get into the details. So all the dead in Christ will be raised. We will receive resurrected bodies. Those who have died before us, who have gone into heaven, will come with Christ. The spirits will come and receive glorified bodies and be who are alive in a moment in a twinkling of an eye. Our bodies will be changed. We'll meet the Lord in the air, that means he won't set feet on the earth at this point. And we take it up. Now some will say the word rapture is not found in the Bible. And we will see that the word rapture is there in the Latin Bible, that the word, the Latin word for, that's used in 1 Thessalonians 4 is translated as rapture. That's where we get it. So you can't throw it out. It's there. And so we're going to be up in heaven and for a period of seven years. Now during the church age, what we are going to do is we're going to map this whole thing to the book of Revelation. So Revelation chapter 1, 2, and 3 is that, you know, are things that have happened. chapters 1, 2, and 3 were things that happened around 1980. That means the time that John was there and he was writing. So those seven churches did exist. And the Lord Jesus was speaking to the seven churches. And since then we are continuing in the church age. Revelation chapter 4 and 5 is the scene in heaven right after the rapture. Revelation chapter, and I'll repeat this. Revelation chapters 4 and 5 is the scene in heaven right after the rapture. So why do you say that? Because we see the elders seated around thrown around Jesus. They have received their crowns, which means they have received their rewards. And they are, all the believers are clothed in robes of righteousness. So it's a scene in heaven right after the rapture because they received their rewards. Revelation 6 starts off here, the beginning of the tribulation, all the way to Revelation 19, 21 when Christ comes back. Okay, the second coming of Christ. So it's describing these events that will take place during the seven years. Revelation chapter 6 verse 1, all the way to Revelation 19. And I think it's verse 21. Let me just make sure I'm saying it right, Revelation 19. Yeah, the Christ coming back, Revelation 19 and the battle of Armageddon, verse 11, 11 is the second coming of Christ. Okay, and then during that, so in Revelation chapter 6 verse 1, all the way to Revelation 19, 11, there are times we are looking at earth and there are times we're looking at what's happening in heaven. So we're going up and down, we're going up and down between. We'll see what's happening in heaven, we'll see what's happening here or not. Revelation chapter 6 verse 1 to Revelation 19, 11. Okay, now what happens in heaven during these seven years? Well, Jesus said he's building mansions for us, so we will be assured into our mansions. Verse Corinthians chapter 3, second Corinthians chapter 5 says believers will receive their rewards, so that'll happen here. There's going to be worship happening in heaven. Believers, I was standing before the throne, worshipping Jesus. And Revelation 19 talks about the marriage supper of the Lamb, so that will also take place. So some of the key events that are taking place in heaven during these seven years, we can identify based on what we see in scripture. Here on earth, during the seven years of tribulation, everything begins with the emergence of the antichrist who puts in place a seven-year peace treaty. He sets in place the sacrifices and the worship in the third temple. He sets that in place. But then there are a series of judgments being poured out on the earth. There are, so we have three sets of seven judgments each being poured out on the earth, and we will see the sequence of those things. So increasingly things are getting bad. Now, other things we will see happening here on earth is the Revelation 7 talks about 144,000 Jews who are set aside to preach Christ. So they will start off somewhere here in the beginning of the tribulation. There'll be 144,000 Jews proclaiming Jesus. We see there will be increased prayer and intercession happening. There will be people turning to the Lord Jesus during the tribulation. There'll be increased prayer and intercession happening. Revelation 8, there will be the proclamation of the gospel taking place during this time. Revelation 11, which is the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. There will be the breaking of the peace treaty and the desecration of the temple, the stopping of the sacrifices. Revelation 12, which is from the midpoint of the tribulation, there'll be increased persecution of the Jews and those who believe in Jesus Christ. Prior to this, we see that there will be many people who will be killed for their faith in Christ and we'll find them up in heaven worshiping Jesus. Somewhere right after the midpoint, the 144,000 Jews are taken up into heaven. We don't know exactly how they're taken up into heaven, whether they are raptured without dying, whether they're being killed or they're killed and resurrected, but we find them up in heaven. Revelation 14, in Revelation 13, we see the antichrist and the false prophet. The antichrist survives an attempt on his life, he's healed and so he is acclaimed as a celebrity. The world begins to worship him. The false prophet shows lying signs and wonders and his main goal is to get people to worship the image of the beast. There's the introduction of a global economic or financial system with the mark of the beast and also there is the Revelation 13. There is an introduction of this world religious system, which is to get people to worship the image of the beast. So this is around Revelation 13. Revelation 11, going back there, we see the two witnesses whom God sends who will be ministering for three and a half years, the second half of the tribulation. The second half of the tribulation is also known as the time of Jacob's trouble. It's also referred to as the Great Tribulation. This entire seven-year period is known as Daniel's 70th week or the time of tribulation. Other things we see during this seven-year tribulation is armies of the earth or the nations of the earth beginning to get pulled in to be against Israel. The antichrist will do it because Revelation 12 is all out against Israel. It begins to cause the nations, Revelation 16, cause the nations to be stirred up against Israel. Revelation 17, there is the collapse of the world religious system that was introduced by the false prophet. It just collapses the 10 leaders who lended their support to what the antichrist was doing, pull out and there's a collapse of whatever the false prophet was doing. Revelation 18, immediately right after that there is the collapse of the global financial economic system that was introduced by the antichrist where he had forced everybody to receive the mark of the beast by that whole thing collapses. And then Revelation 19, we see the marriage of the Lamb happening in heaven and then right after that Christ returns. Revelation 19, by this time the nations of the earth have gathered together against Israel. Christ returns and then that's the battle of Armageddon, battle of Armageddon taking place. Jesus lands on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is split into two, Zachariah 14, Joel chapter 3, the nations of the earth are against Israel and Revelation 19 as well. And then by the word of his mouth Jesus destroys all the armies and here he comes and he sets up his kingdom. There's the resurrection of all those, the tribulation believers, they are raised who have died during the tribulation, they are raised to life. Satan is bound for a thousand years, the peace and the false prophet have been cast into the lake of fire. Satan is bound for a thousand years and then Jesus reigns on the earth for a thousand year period. And we have information from scripture on what happens during the thousand years. Life goes on on the earth, you have people who have come in through the tribulation, they continue to live here, they multiply, they grow and they are taught about the Lord, the nations of the earth are called in to come and worship the Lord in Jerusalem. The kingdom has been handed to the saints so we administer the kingdom here on earth. There is a transformation and the nature of things because the Bible talks about the lion and the lamb lying together, people beating their souls and their plowshares. So there's a total transformation during this thousand year reign of Christ and life goes on on the earth for a thousand years. And at the end of the thousand years Satan is lost for a brief period of time. It's his final opportunity to go deceive the nations and go against Jerusalem, against the people of God. He makes his last attempt, God intervenes, Satan is bound forever, cast into the lake of fire. And at this time the Bible says every person stands before the throne of God. There's a great white throne judgment. Every person is raised up, brought back to life and stand before the throne of God. The book of life is opened and this is the final judgment, the separation of those who are going to spend eternity with God and those who are going to be away from God. And those whose name was not found written in the book of life, they're separated away from God into the lake of fire. And right after the great white throne judgment is the renovation of the heavens and the earth. So the Bible says there are going to be new heavens and the new earth. The old earth is going to be completely renovated by fire. That means it's no longer going to be the way it was. And heaven, heavenly Jerusalem is going to be brought to the earth. So everything's going to change. That's Revelation 21 and 22 that takes us into this new heavens and the new earth. What always going to happen there, we don't know, but it's going to be completely different. We don't need the sun, we don't need all the things that we're dependent on. God himself is going to be the light on the earth. Okay. So this is kind of a quick overview. We will go through it in detail. We will explain why these things are happening or why we believe in the rapture of the church and all those things we will explain. Okay. Let me pause here and see if there are questions. Somebody's mic is on. Yes, Pastor. I wanted to ask about rapture. I believe, yes, in the rapture of those who died in Christ and those who are still alive that are born again and working in the righteousness of Christ. My question is, which I've been asked before, is what about all those before Jesus Christ? What is the condition? Are they also going to rise on that day when Christ appears together with those who died in Christ after His resurrection? I'd just like to know what's going to happen to those before the resurrection, the death and resurrection of Christ. Are they already resurrected or are they going to also be resurrected on the day of rapture? Okay. So what we know is, so we go back in time to, friend Jesus died and rose up again. When He ascended, what we know is He took the Old Testament saints with Him. Paradise was moved from the lower parts of the earth into heaven. So we know this from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 8, 9 and 10. It says, when He ascended up on high, He took captivity captive with Him. Paradise, which was in the lower parts of the earth, in the New Testament. After the resurrection of Christ, you find paradise in heaven. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12, I was caught up into the third heavens into the paradise of God. So where is paradise? It's up in heaven. So where are the Old Testament saints? That means those who the righteous ones, the Old Testament saints, they are in heaven. The others are in hell. That means those who did not believe they are in hell. But the righteous ones are in heaven. So then the next question is, when will they get their glorified bodies? Because all of us are eventually going to live in glorified bodies, bodies that are incorruptible and immortal, because the mortal has died, it's gone. Their spirit is alive, their spirits are in heaven. And likewise, those who have died since the resurrection of Christ, those who died in Christ, their spirits are in heaven. But the body's decay is gone. So the big question is, when will they receive resurrected bodies? The Bible, the New Testament doesn't specifically point out Old Testament saints as receiving resurrected bodies. But what it does say, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, that those who have died in Christ, God will bring with him. 1 Thessalonians 4. And this is an open for discussion thing, because the Bible doesn't specifically point out and say Old Testament, the spirits of Old Testament saints. But what I am persuaded, and this is what I will be also sharing with you, is that 1 Thessalonians 4 will be a time when even the Old Testament saints will receive their glorified bodies, because it says, God, Christ will bring with him those who have died, who? The spirits, they receive glorified bodies. So we can position it either at the rapture of the church. So here are the options we have. And the rapture of the church are at the end of the seven year tribulation. At some point, these people also would have to receive their glorified bodies. Now we know according to Daniel chapter 7, that the saints, the elect will also be on the earth ruling during the Millennial reign of Christ, because Daniel 7 clearly tells us that. So that means before the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ, these Old Testament saints should have received their glorified bodies. We have only two places we could position this, either 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 or Revelation chapter 20 verse 4, like when the dead are raised. So these are the two options. Some people position it here in Revelation 20, they say, okay, that's the time the Old Testament saints will receive their glorified bodies. I feel, I'm saying I feel because I can't give you a chapter in verse which specifies Old Testament saints. There is no worse that specifies Old Testament saints. But my feeling is that it'll happen in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, because everybody is going to be in heaven with glorified bodies from every spirit. But the spirit of every person was in heaven. Old Testament saints, New Testament saints, we're all in Christ. We are one new man in Christ. So together. And also another reason Hebrews 11 says, and Hebrews 11 closes, it says, God reserved this so that we could together enjoy the benefits. So that's again, seems to be to me an indication that when New Testament saints receive glorified bodies, Old Testament saints will receive their glorified bodies will be taken back into heaven. Does it answer your question? Well said, Pastor. Thank you very much. Yes, that answers my question. Thank you. Okay. All right. There are a lot of questions here. Let me see and let's try to answer these. Maggie, what is the difference between the Battle of Armageddon and the Battle of Gog Magog? So the Battle of Armageddon. So Gog and Magog. So the Battle of Armageddon takes place in Revelation 19 at the end of the Seven-Year Tribulation. What is often referred to as the Battle of Gog and Magog takes place in Revelation 20 and it's versus that eight at the end of the Millennial reign. Okay. So let me repeat it. Battle of Armageddon takes place at the end of the Seven-Year Tribulation, Revelation 19 or 10 onwards, 11 onwards. Battle of Gog and Magog at the end of the Millennial reign, Revelation 20 versus eight. But one confusing piece. Gog and Magog is also mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 38 in connection with the Battle of Armageddon. So we shouldn't get confused. It's the same tribes, same groups of people fighting two times. Okay. But what is often referred to as the Battle of Gog and Magog is Revelation 20 versus eight at the end of the Millennial reign. But Gog and Magog is also mentioned in this Battle of Armageddon, which happens at the end of the Seven-Year Tribulation. Is that clear, Mangi? Yes, it is. Thank you, sir. All right. Next question. Elisha, Matthew 24.14 talks about the preaching of the Kingdom to the whole world as a testament to all nations and the end will come. When practically are we going to experience this revelation? Matthew 24.14. Elisha's question. So the answer to Elisha's question, Elisha, it is happening right now. So we are seeing Matthew 24.14 being fulfilled right now. Literally, in our time, the Gospel has reached almost every place. And it has really been preached all over the world. We are down to, right now, we are down to about around the current number, but maybe 20,000 people groups. So right now we are counting people groups. We are not even counting nations or countries. We are counting people groups, meaning we are counting tribes. And they're saying these are the tribes that are left that haven't heard the Gospel yet. So we've covered the nations. Every nation has the Gospel. Now within the nations, we are counting tribes, making sure the tribes, the peoples will hear the Gospel. So basically, it's happening before our eyes. And many mission agencies are, you know, doing focused work to take the Gospel to the last remaining sets of tribes around the world. And, you know, a major number of these tribes are in what was usually referred to as a 1040 window, starting from, basically, you know, covering parts of the Middle East, Northern Africa, all the way to parts of Asia, 1040 window. That's where most of the, what they refer to as unreached people groups. So these tribes are left. So it's really happening in our day and time, right before our eyes. And given with all the advancements, we have language translation is happening very quickly, translating the Bible into the language of these tribes, because the ability to, you know, the whole process of learning a new language, getting a script for them, and then putting the scriptures into their language is happening at, you know, a tremendous speed. So it's amazing. Okay. Next question. Revelation 37, that the Antichrist will make war with the saints, Revelation 13, 7. Yeah. So rapture will take place before tribulation. How will this take place? Yeah. The answer is very simple, because from the time the rapture takes place, there are going to be lots of people who will turn to Christ, lots of people. So during the seven year tribulation, lots of people are going to be turning to Jesus, the other saints. Remember, we mentioned 144,000 Jews, God has handpicked them to be proclaimers of the gospel. So people will be saved during tribulation. And we will see in the book of Revelation, there will be people who are dying for their faith in Christ, right? So the saints refer to both Jewish people, specifically, as well as all those who believe in Jesus Christ. And a lot of them will turn to Christ during the tribulation. And so there will be the attack against these people. It's going to be very hard, but it's going to happen. People will turn to Christ. And all these people who have died as martyrs during the tribulation will be raised up. Revelation, the 20th chapter, and yeah, verses, was four and five, they will be raised up at the end of the seven year tribulation. Okay, so that's what's referring to the saints who died during the seven year tribulation. Before white throne judgment, how can people go to hell? So God, so there's one criteria, so they believe in Jesus Christ. So they've never, they're not been saved. They've not been born again. They are immediately, when they die, immediately sent to hell. Hell will be cast into the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment. That's Revelation 20 and verse 14 and 15. Okay, Anita, can I answer your question? Christopher's question, those who have died in Christ since the New Testament, where are they currently residing in heaven, right? The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So the moment a believer dies, they will go to heaven. Anita's quite a question. White throne judgment is for whom? It is for all the unsaved, right? So it's not for the believers. Believers have already been, you know, taken to heaven. They're already with Jesus. The great white throne judgment is for all those who have ever lived since from Adam on, who have not believed in Christ, they will stand before the white throne judgment. So you can think of as the great white throne judgment. Yeah, so they will all stand before the throne of God, right? So we will read it, right? It's Revelation 20 verse 13. It says the sea gave up those who were in it. Death and hell delivered up the dead who were in them. Revelation 20 verse 13. So they'll be brought out of hell, right? From death from hell and they will be judged. You know, this is the standing before the throne, the, before the throne of God. So Revelation 20 verse 13 answers your question, Anita. Okay. Christopher, I mean the ones who have died in Christ who are part of the rapture. Yeah, everybody who dies in Christ, they are with Christ right now. What is your question, Christopher? My question actually, Pastor, is in the rapture, those who are currently living like us will be, will be, will be taken up as part of the rapture. And in addition, there are those who have died in Christ. So are those, are those who have, are those people who have already died, physically died? I mean, and are they, are they also part of the rapture? Everyone. So like we were saying, I was answering Sai's question. Everyone who's died in Christ, so their spirits are in heaven right now. So in at the rapture, their spirits will come and be united with, will receive resurrected bodies. And what I was saying to Sai is not only the New Testament saints, but I believe it also includes all the Old Testament saints, right? The spirits of the Old Testament saints, because they're also been taken up into heaven. So everyone will receive their resurrected bodies. Everyone meaning those who died in Christ, the spirits will come with Christ and receive resurrected bodies. So we'll read this chapter, we'll read the chapter in text, 1 Thessalonians 4, and you will see that. So currently, the ones who have died in Christ and are in heaven, they are not, they don't, they don't have what are they called? Glorified bodies. Yes. Yeah. So they don't have the glorified bodies. But remember, the spirit is a person. So it doesn't mean they are like unidentifiable flying objects. No. The spirit is a person. So they are very recognizable, guest spirit beings, without the glorified bodies. Okay. All right. One last question from Sri Kumar. Then we'll wrap it up. What do you think? Thank you. Can I? Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. Pastor, I need a, I need a clarification on three things. One is who are these Elders? And second question is, when we, when we say that after rapture, we will be in seven years, those seven years will be calculated, in which way? Like, is it a, it's a, it's a spiritual terminology, or it's a God's timing, as it's seven years, when it says. And when we say 144,000 Jews, so even, is that a, you know, prophetical number or is it, is it the exact number like 144,000 is a human understanding? Is it just, is a human, human way of thing? Or it is a, it's a, it's a prophetic number. That's all. Thank you, Pastor. Okay. So one of the rules that we said in our introduction on how we are going to interpret prophetic scripture is wherever something is literal, we will take it as literal. We will not take something that's literal and change its meaning, right? Whatever's literal would say it's literal. Only when something is stated, which the practical interpretation of it is illogical, that means it's unreasonable, it's not, it cannot happen, then we will look for the meaning of it in the texts to see if God himself was saying, that means this. So the second or the third question, the seven years, it's literal seven years. Why do we say that? I mean, for, for many reasons. When you go back to Daniel's prophecy in Daniel chapter nine, verse 26, 27, Angel Gabriel said, I'm talking to you about 70 weeks concerning your people. And then he said, the first 69 weeks, this will happen. Now, when you look at the 69 weeks, you understand each week is representing seven years, because 69 times seven, 483 years. And you look at that, and that 483 is exactly was fulfilled. So if 69 weeks translated to exactly seven years per week, which is 483 years, then there is no other way to interpret the last seven, last week, other than saying the last week is exactly seven years, because 69 weeks was fulfilled already exactly as 483 years, or each week representing seven years. And you also find in other places in the scriptures that seven is used seven week, you know, this, this week's is used to represent years. We will look at the scriptures. So when you look at Joseph, you know, he talked about seven years, you know, and so, so, and when you look at what's his name, Jacob, and he served for seven years, 14 years. Again, you see that. So based both on the actual fulfillment of Daniel nine, 26 and 27, and the language interpretation of the number seven, we can say with absolute confidence Daniel 70th week represents exactly seven calendar years. The only thing that we can dispute is, is it the Gregorian calendar, or is it the Jewish calendar? That is open to debate, you know, so there'll be a variation for a few days. Whether you're looking at the English calendar or the Jewish calendar, okay, fine, doesn't matter. But it is seven years. We cannot argue with that because the 16 and weeks was literally fulfilled as 483 years. So therefore, so the third part of your question, the 144,000 Jews, we will take that number as literal. Because when we read Revelation seven, he's talking about 12 tribes. So the 12 tribes is not metaphorical. It is literal. Why? Because go back in the Old Testament, there were 12 tribes. And God is selecting a certain number of people from each of the 12 tribes. So mathematically, it has to be 144,000. So if the 12 tribes in the Old Testament were all metaphors, then we would say the 144,000 is metaphorical. But no, no, the 12 tribes are literal. Therefore, the 144,000 from each totaling the number of people from the 12 tribes therefore has to be literal. So we will stay with the literal in all of these cases. And your first question. What was your first question? Elders. Who are the elders? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so the elders. Yeah, so we will look at it again from Scripture and you will find the elders as you look through the book of Revelation in another interaction that John has one of them says, I am one of your brethren. So who are the elders? One of your brethren, one of the Jewish people. We will look at all these details. So in Revelation itself, it's telling us who are the elders, one of your brethren, one of you. So it's not an angelic being. It's one of John's own people. So that's why we are saying the elders are representing the people who have been taken into heaven, who have now received the crowns, are seated around the throne and together worshipping God. But we will look at all these actually. These are all questions we will answer as we go along. And we will look at the Scripture references. Thank you Pastor. Thanks a lot. Okay, so that's it for today. It's just a quick overview. Now we're going to get in next week into the details and it will answer many of our questions. And it's something for us to think about. And as more questions come, we will definitely do our best to find answers to them. Okay, thanks for your patient listening. Let's wrap up. May I request somebody to please pray with a glass and then we will dismiss. I would like to close and pray. Heavenly Father, we are grateful Lord. We are grateful Lord for even though you are so magnificent, you are so powerful, you are so stronger. So we are more than you can imagine, Lord. You choose to reveal the future, Lord. You choose to reveal your plan to us, Lord. And through that we may know how to live, Lord. How to number our days, Jesus. How to keep our focus on you, Lord. And we pray as we learn about the future event and the end times, reveal more to us, Lord. Soften our heart, Lord. And let your Holy Spirit broaden us, Jesus. And let what we learn, Lord, barefoot. And let us also go and teach others, Lord, what we are learning, Lord. So that, you know, also be aware of the time we are living in and also keep their eyes on you, Lord. We pray with us until we miss again the next class. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. Thank you everyone. So we will get into details. Look forward to seeing you all. Enjoy the rest of the day. God bless you. See you again tomorrow. Bye now. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you. Thank you.