 Okay, the recording is on. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to BC 213, our course on the end times. We're going to get into our lectures. Let's just take a moment to pray and then we'll get started. My request one of us is to please pray and I'm sure the others will join the class soon. It is Lord we want to thank you for this morning, Lord we humble ourselves before your presence. We pray to God that you would speak to us today, help us to know more about your coming. Pray to God that we would understand it well, open the eyes of our understanding of God, that we may see the wonders of your word of God, anoint your man to reveal your word to us of God. We thank you for this time, help all of the other classmates also to join soon. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you, everyone. Zephina, Paul, Silatoli, Anita. Thank you for connecting and joining this morning. So we've started this exciting study on the end times. It's really wonderful to look into the scriptures and see what the Bible has to say about things to come, about the last things or things that are still, you know, they're from our time on into the future. So last week we gave us, gave an introduction on how we are going to approach this course. I'll just quickly run through some of the key points and today we will begin with chapter one where we talk about the fact that the Bible is a prophetic book and we look at, we will look at one of the main passages or in the Gospels, they've got the apparel of Matthew 24 and also we have a little mark and look at the apparel passages, but mainly Matthew will look at one of the passages where the Lord Jesus himself is giving us kind of an overview of the end times. So we will go through that today. It gives us an overview and we will also look at the sections or the timelines that the Lord or what was outlined for us there in Matthew 24. So that's our plan. Let's quickly review last week's course just to touch on the key highlights and then we will move forward. So we had the course outline, I mean the course notes and so if you have downloaded that and we went through the introduction last week. So, you know, we looked at the reasons why we should study about the end times and we mentioned at least six reasons that are important for us as believers to be studying the end times. How it affects our life, how it affects our hope for the future, how it also affects our being in readiness for the coming of the Lord and how it also affects our preaching and teaching that really the preaching and the teaching should include the message about the end times and the prophetic scriptures and that is part of what will bring people to faith in Christ. So we covered that. Then we looked at how we are going to study, you know, how we take approach in studying the end times. So we mentioned, you know, we to take when we read the prophetic scriptures, we know there's a lot of imagery, a lot of figures, things that are given in pictures. So our approaches, let's try to interpret them literally. And then if the literal, of course, is not practical, then we look at it from a figurative sense. So first the literal, then the figurative. Very simple. We don't engage in sensationalism. We don't try to predict things. No, we just stay with the scriptures We also understand that there are different positions, you know, within the Christian church. There are people who have different points of view. We recognize that and we, you know, we understand what they are saying. And at the same time, we also want to understand our positions, which, you know, I we will explain as we journey through the scriptures and say, okay, this is our position. This is why we are saying what you're saying. We will, of course, give reasons. And at the same time, we are aware that there are people who may have a different point of view. And we are not going to fight or, you know, get into arguments. That's okay. We understand what their point of view is. So we explained some of the common positions that people have in concerning the end times and where Christ will come and so on. We explained that. Then some other things about how we interpret scripture. We try to look at look at those things from a complete perspective. Don't take one passage in isolation, you know, put everything together on that same subject. So then that will give us a complete view. If you take only one passage in isolation, then it's quite possible to, you know, come up with some different explanation. But it is always good to go from Genesis to Revelation on that subject, because you will find that sometimes, you know, there are things that have been said about that particular event in many other books in the Bible. And so we need to bring all of that together. And then we connect Old Testament and New Testament together. And we also use Bible biblical typology. If you're going to interpret figures, stay within the scriptures as far as possible. In fact, you know, almost everything is explained within the scripture. Sometimes it's explained the same chapter. Sometimes it's explained in other places. So if you want to interpret the figures, what does this figure mean? Okay, look at it within the Bible. We also mentioned about recognizing time frames where within one passage of scripture, sometimes even within one verse of scripture, there could be different time frames being addressed. And you must be aware of that. We gave one or two examples. We talked about the fact that sometimes scriptures can have a dual fulfillment, meaning there is an immediate fulfillment and there is also a future fulfillment. So also one more thing I need to add is there is a dual fulfillment both in terms of church and Israel. Example is, of course, example, Joel said, Joel chapter two, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. So Joel is prophesying. Whom was he speaking to? He was speaking to Israel. Now there is a fulfillment of that promise with the church. We all know that. Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church of the first believers. And Peter said, this is a fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. So we know it's there, fulfilled in the church. But it will also be fulfilled with regards to Israel. Zechariah 1210, Zechariah prophesies says that the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out on the house of Israel. So we are finding that Joel's prophecy has a dual fulfillment both in terms of church and Israel. So in scripture, understand this idea or this truth about dual fulfillment. It has to do with time, meaning some is fulfilled immediately and also in the future. Some is fulfilled with the church and then with Israel. And so we can see examples of this. Number nine, we are open to some unexpected ways for fulfillment, meaning some things are, you know, we're just watching, we are seeing how these prophecies are going to unfold. So we are not locked into one particular way for it to be fulfilled. Now one example that I gave was about the mark of the beast. Now we know it is there, clearly. Revelation 13, it says, this is the mark which the Antichrist will use 666. It'll be on the hands and in the forehead. Okay. And you cannot transact financially unless you have that mark. That means you have said yes to the Antichrist. So we understand that, but how it is going to be literally fulfilled, we will leave it open. You know, there are so many ways that a mark can be given, you know, so we don't want to lock in to something, you know, okay, maybe he will use a microchip. Maybe there will be some other way of branding people on the hand and in the forehead or some way, we don't want to, you know, get locked into one particular, leave it open. But we know this will be fulfilled, you know, as the scripture has said. So some things, how exactly it's going to happen, keep it open, we don't know, because, you know, God spoke through the prophet way into the future. And how it literally will happen, it's not so important. And we also are aware, last point, is that, you know, we are 100% sure of when and how certain things will be fulfilled, right? We know it is in scripture, exactly how we don't know. So the timing, leave it to God, times especially. God has revealed certain things, but many of the things, especially considering timing, we don't know. So we just leave it to God and we will look for the signs of the times, we look for things, how close they are going to happen. Example, in both in the book of Daniel, and we will see this, Daniel, Daniel chapter 9, and also in Revelation 11, it is clear that the temple in Jerusalem will be there and there will be sacrifices going on. The Jewish sacrifices. And the Antichrist, Paul also writes about this, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. So we have it in multiple places, you know, Daniel 9, Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 24, Paul wrote about it in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, John the Apostle wrote about it in Revelation chapter 11, that the temple will be desecrated, the temple, the Jewish temple, right, will be desecrated. So it's clear. So like we said, there are, you know, four different references, at least to talk about this. Right now, when we look at the temple mount in Jerusalem, it is occupied by the Arabs, the Muslims. They have the, the whole temple mount area, basically, the Al-Aqsa mosque and the dome of the rock is sitting on the temple mount. That was the place where Solomon's temple was there. That was the place where the temple was rebuilt after they came back now from the Babylonian captivity. But then that was taken over by the Muslims now. So it is clear from the scriptures that somehow there has to be this third temple where worship is going on and where it will then be desecrated. The Antichrist will come and set himself as God. So the big question is, okay, according to the scriptures, there has to be this temple. The Antichrist has to come in and set himself up as God and speak blasphemies against God. It is very clearly stated in the scriptures. Right now, that temple mount is being occupied by the Muslims. So when will this happen? Oh, we don't know. We don't know. Will it happen? Well, if these scriptures have to be fulfilled, somehow a Jewish temple has to come there in that place. And there has to be the restoration of worship in that place because it is stated clearly in scripture. Timing, oh, we don't know. But we know that by the time Revelation 11 comes, that means by the time we're in the middle of the middle of the seven years of tribulation, the three and a half years, it has to be there. And it will be there. So that much we know, the three and a half years we know it's given in scripture, but exactly how and all this is going to happen. We don't know. We will watch and see how all this is going to unfold. Just giving you an example. So some of the things we don't there are certain things that we won't subscribe to very clearly. We can say that these things we don't believe. Okay. So let's get started with our chapter one, the Bible, a prophetic book. Maybe I will just see if any questions from last class, any questions from the introduction so far, any questions, any thoughts. So we will now start getting into our course content and feel free to ask any questions or anything is not clear or you want me to repeat something. Please feel free to ask. Let's go to chapter one. So here we just want to introduce the fact that Bible prophecy can be completely trusted. We can, you know, it's like some preachers, I don't exactly who said it first, but you know, you would have heard this statement, you know, people say Bible prophecy is history written in advance. So Bible prophecy is human history written in advance. So that's how reliable the prophetic scriptures are. We know that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God and we know, and I'm just quickly going through the scriptures because we are familiar with it. We know that prophecy was it didn't come by some man or some person sitting and writing some ideas that, you know, that they were just making up. No, we understand that the spirit of Christ was in them and he was testifying about things beforehand. So it was the Holy Spirit in these prophets, in these people who was speaking to them and showing them beforehand things to come about Jesus, about his sufferings and everything else, the thing that would be would happen out in the future. And these prophets, it was revealed to them, but they realized it's not just for them. It is not the prophecies or things that they were speaking about. It was not just for themselves, but they were speaking a headway into time for people in the future who were going to receive the gospel and the Holy Spirit, right, the gospel. And so these prophecies, these prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit. They spoke beforehand things about Jesus, about his suffering, about everything that's going to come after that. They spoke beforehand and they understood they were not speaking this for themselves. That means these things were not going to happen in their own lifetime. No, no, no, no, no, they were speaking way into the future for those whom the gospel was going to be preached and to whom the Holy Spirit was going to be given, meaning us people and those, you know, in urgent, those who've come on since then. And so we understand that the prophets spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And also very interesting, it says the angels desire to look into this, these things. Can you imagine? Even the angels, even the angels are trying to understand these things. So you can imagine, you know, we are reading the Bible about all these things. So in some way, even the angels are looking into these matters which the prophets spoke or the Holy Spirit through the prophets spoke. Angels are looking at, okay, when is this going to happen? When is this going to unfold? Angels are desiring to understand these things, you know. Second Peter, same thing, Peter repeats, he says, the prophecy of Scripture, it didn't come by any private interpretation, you know, it wasn't like somebody made it up. No, the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So that is something we must not forget, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So this is so important for us that the scriptures or the prophecy of Scripture is 100% reliable because it was God, God the Holy Spirit, speaking through the prophets. So that cannot go wrong. It's not a hit and miss kind of thing. It's not, you know, a guess work. The Holy Spirit spoke through these prophets and so these prophets, the scriptures, these prophetic scriptures are 100% reliable. So we can look at some examples and I think, you know, these are things you are familiar with and, you know, some people, those who have really countered all these things, prophecies tell us, you know, there are approximately 2,500 prophecies, about 2,000 of them have already been fulfilled without any error. This is from Heros and the Bible contains 10,385 verses that speak about the return of the Lord. So there are many, you know, like you can count and if you want to put it in terms of numbers, this is what we could say. And some examples here and I've just quoted, quoted these examples from the writings of Dr. Heros here. For example, the Egyptian slavery, you know, God spoke to Abraham 400 years. He said, your people will be slaves 400 years and then I will bring them out. And just as God said, God's people were in slavery in Egypt 400 years. And then shortly after that, they made their journey into the land of Canaan, the land of promise, Babylonian captivity. And, you know, the prophets were warning as I, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they're all speaking, saying, hey, you're going, you know, God is going to bring judgment. You're going to be in captivity for 70 years. You're going to be taken away from your land. You're going to go to a foreign land. You're going to be in captivity for 70 years. And after that, you'll come back. And so they prophesied. And surely enough, 70 years, when 70 years was fulfilled, things happened in such a way that the people were sent back to their land. So that's, again, amazing. What's, what's very interesting is Isaiah, as he was prophesying about this whole captivity, he prophesied 150 years before the, before King Cyrus was born. He prophesied, Cyrus, Cyrus, he called by name. So Isaiah 44 to 28, Cyrus. So Cyrus is not a Jewish name. It's a Persian name. And he said, Cyrus, you will do what I please, and you will tell Jerusalem, go, I mean, you will speak to Jerusalem saying you will be built in temple, you will be restored. Now, can you imagine about 150 years, more than one sanctuary ahead of time? There's a prophet, Isaiah, and he is saying, Cyrus, you are my shepherd. I mean, you are somebody I have raised up, and you're going to do what I want. You're going to tell Jerusalem to be built. You're going to tell the foundation, you're going to tell the temple, the foundation will be laid. At that time, when Isaiah was speaking, Jerusalem was a fine city. Solomon's temple was there. And here Isaiah is saying, there is somebody called Cyrus. He's going to say this 150 years before. Now, at that time, imagine if you were listening to Isaiah, and he says again in Isaiah 45, Cyrus, if you were listening to Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, at that time, he said, what is he talking about? Who's the Cyrus he's talking about? And why should Jerusalem be built? It is already built. Why should the temple foundation be laid? I mean, it's there. Why? It didn't, it wouldn't make sense. But 150 or 180 years later, everything's happening, just like he said, you know, there is that the people of the Jewish people are in captivity, the Babylon empires holding them captive, they are overthrown, the Persian empire comes, King Cyrus, the first king, and in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in his very first year, he gives the decree. He says, people, I want you to go back and you go rebuild your temple. Right. And imagine this is coming from a Persian king, somebody who is not, you know, not, he doesn't know the God or the Bible, but he is speaking, and he is saying this. And the prophecy that was spoken by Isaiah and Jeremiah, Jeremiah said 70 years and he'll come back. So it's being fulfilled. So it's amazing when you look at this prophecy. It's like, it's like we said, human history written in advance. And then as time goes, these things begin to be actually fulfilled, just as it was spoken. Another amazing, I think one of the most personally for me, one of the most amazing prophecies, of course, as chapter 53 is a very amazing prophecy about the crucifixion of Christ. And Daniel chapter nine is again a very amazing, amazing prophecy. Daniel prophesies about the coming of Jesus Christ, about Jesus' death, and then on into eternity. Right. So not eternity, but into the millennium. He's speaking, he jumps from the crucifixion on to the millennium, the tribulation of the millennium. So think about this. This is Daniel chapter nine, and we will look at these verses again later. But I'm just mentioning it here for us to see how Bible prophecy is so amazing. It has been fulfilled, many of things. So Daniel, he spoke in Daniel chapter nine and he said, verse 25, 26. Know therefore understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Okay. So again, now Daniel is speaking in figurative language, seven weeks and 62. So seven plus 62, which is 69. We will explain weeks later, but you can see in scripture and we can show it to you from scripture that a weak represents a period of seven years. So he's speaking about seven plus 62, which is 69 weeks, 69 times seven, which is 483 years. So what Daniel is saying, from the time the commandment has been given to restore and build Jerusalem, which is what we mentioned earlier, King Cyrus gave the decree to the people, go and build Jerusalem until Messiah comes, Jesus comes, there will be 483 years. Now can you imagine that? Daniel is prophesying. And here's Daniel several hundred years before the birth of Christ. He's speaking and saying this is going to happen. And then almost 500 years before. And so sure enough, 483 years and the Messiah comes, Jesus comes. So here is a time given, a time foretold, 69 weeks, 483 years. It is foretold and sure enough, as it was spoken by Daniel, from the time King Cyrus or the issue was decreed to the time Jesus began his ministry, 483 years. Jesus begins his ministry. And then he continues, you know, he even says, and after the 62 weeks, Messiah will be cut off. That means at the end of the 69 weeks, he mentioned seven plus 62, right? At the end of the 62, which is really at the end of the 69, that is seven plus 62, 69 weeks, Messiah will be cut off. That means Jesus will be crucified. So he foretold the coming of the Messiah. And he also said the Messiah will be crucified, will be cut off. And then it goes on, right? So there's a lot more in this prophecy. So this is, again, a very amazing prophecy, because in Daniel 9, 25 to 27, he covers more than 2000 years in those three verses. From the time he speaks about so many things. We will break it down a little later on. He talks about the rebuilding of the temple. He talks about the coming of the Messiah. He talks about the Messiah being, he talks about the temple being destroyed. And he talks about Jesus being crucified, the temple being destroyed. And then he talks about the future temple being desecrated. So he literally in those three verses, Daniel 9, 25 to 27, he covers 2000 years, or actually more than 2000 years. He covers that whole period in just three verses. Very amazing, very amazing. But I just wanted to point out here that this timing that Daniel gave was fulfilled. Exactly. You know, he said 67 weeks and 62 weeks, that means 69 weeks. There will be 69 weeks. From the time the commandment is given to go and rebuild Jerusalem till the Messiah comes, 483 years. And then the Messiah will be cut off. He will be killed. And then this will happen. So it's amazing. You know, it's beautiful. We will look at this later. And so, you know, Professor or Dr. Hewros, he would calculate the probability of how these prophecies being fulfilled. And you know, they are so, so, the probability is so remote in some of these cases that for the prophecy to be fulfilled, it's so, so unlikely. And yet they were all fulfilled. Then we look at, you know, the prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus Christ. There are so many, many prophecies. We've just mentioned a few years. He would be the seed of a woman. He would come to the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would be a descendant of Judah. He would be born in Bethlehem. Can you imagine where exactly the Messiah would be born? The name of the village is given Bethlehem. He would be born of a virgin. He would be in Egypt for some time. He would grow up in Nazareth. He would be betrayed by his close friend. He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. And he would be crucified, of course. We know that not one of his bones would be broken. They would cast lots for their clothing. He would rise again. So this is just a few of the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. And all of these were fulfilled. And so the probability of one man, one person in history fulfilling all of these prophecies is just unimaginable. That one human person would fulfill all of these prophecies. It's so unlikely. And yet in Jesus Christ all of these were fulfilled. And that makes it so, so amazing. Just a few other things here. The destruction of the temple. So Jesus himself said that this temple will be destroyed. And 40 years later the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. So that was the temple that was rebuilt. Solomon's temple that was rebuilt. That was destroyed in 8070 by the Roman general. So that was Fotold and Ulfer. And the dispersion, regathering of Israel. God had spoken many times through the prophets that no matter where Israel was dispersed, they would be regathered. Now there were time and time again when the people were brought into Jerusalem, brought into the Promised Land. So we know from Egypt they were brought in there. From Babylon they were brought back. So wherever they were dispersed they were brought back. But then finally when the Jews were overpowered, you know, we had many other kings, especially the Roman Empire when they came, they completely took over. And then later on there were the Ottomans or the Arabs, which later the Arabs came in, completely dispersed. So there was no Israel as a nation. They were Jewish people, but they were all scattered. And what is amazing here is that in history we see that finally Israel was regathered and Israel was established as a nation in 1948. So they were dispersed for thousands of years. And they were finally regathered and established as a nation in 1948. It was so unlikely that that would happen. And yet it was fulfilled. And God had been speaking through time over and over and over again. Right from the time he gave the promise to Abraham. Abraham, this land is for your descendants. So that's 3,500 years before God spoke to Abraham. Abraham, this land, I'm giving to your descendants. Okay, but these people were scattered everywhere. It seems so unlikely that what God spoke to Abraham would ever be fulfilled because his descendants were gone. They're all scattered and it was now, you know, later occupied by the Arabs. How could the Jews come back and take this land? They had no control. And then suddenly in 1948, of course, God was bringing the people back, moving in their hearts. The Jews were making their journey back into that area. What we know today is Israel. And then 1948, Israel was declared themselves as a nation. And today they are strong. So what God spoke to Abraham, Abraham, your descendants, I'm giving this land from the Tigris, the Euphrates and Tigris in the north to the Nile in Egypt, down south. So that full land is yet to be occupied, but a major portion, they already have control over. And it's their part of their nation that was fulfilled in 1948. So again, the probability that something like this would happen was so negligible, one in 10 raised to 20, but it was fulfilled. And we are living in a time where that prophecy has been fulfilled. That means what God spoke to Abraham. Long time ago, Abraham, this land for your descendants, they'll be numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand in the seashore. That prophecy has been fulfilled and we are living in a time of that fulfillment. So that is very important because as we will see, Israel is a very important part of end time Bible prophecy. A lot of things that have to do with end time Bible prophecy actually has to do with Israel. And I know we are the church, we are studying Bible prophecy, but a lot of the prophecy has to do with Israel. And so Israel coming to its place, its own land, having its own nation, being where it is, is very important to the fulfillment of many of the prophetic, end time prophetic scriptures. So what we did is, I just quickly ran through about seven examples. We could have many more of where the different things were prophesied in the Bible, whether the Egyptian slavery, the Babylonian captivity, King Cyrus, the coming of Christ, prophecies concerning Christ, the destruction of the temple, or the regathering of Israel. These are just some examples that tell us that Bible prophecy is so real. It is literally history written in advance. Okay, so any questions so far with this part? All right, so I see a question. What does it mean when it says he would be the seed of the woman? It means he would be born of the woman. Now, we think, okay, that's common sense, of course, anybody who has to be born is to be born of a woman. But I think, but the emphasis is important. That means his origin didn't have that of the man, Adam. Now, yes, in the natural, any person who was born was had to be born of a woman, of the woman, of a woman, any person. But so obviously, if the Messiah was going to be a human person, he would have to be born of a woman, yes. But the emphasis that which Isaiah later revealed to us, he would be born of a virgin. There would be no involvement of a man. This was the work of God keeping birth to this particular seed. This man was born off a woman, but he was born by the work of God. So that's the emphasis we should highlight. So to answer your question, literally, yeah, this was going to be a descendant or human person who would crush the head of the serpent. That's what Genesis 315 is saying that there will come a human person who will crush the head of the serpent, the seed of the woman, being one man would crush the head of the serpent, the devil. But the emphasis, as it unfolds, we see this man who was born had no earthly father. He was born of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Any other questions on this part on the Bible being a prophetic book? Any questions on that? Everyone's following me so far? Yes, Kostya. Okay, good. Thank you. So what we're going to do now is we're going to look at one of the passages about the end times. Okay, this is more like an introduction, right, which is, of course, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as in not the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5, but his sermon was given in Matthew 24. So Jesus loved to preach on the Mount of Olives. It must have been his, you know, one of the places where he went often to preach and the crowds would come and listen. We're all familiar with the Sermon of the Mount as in Matthew 5, the B attitudes. But there's another time where Jesus comes and this time he's speaking about the future, right? So what we want to do is we want to kind of just read that passage. I know it's a long chapter, but we want to read it. And then I want to break it for us, break it down, and just highlight some of the key things from Matthew 24. It'll give us a good foundation for what we're going to do in the coming weeks as we look into the end times. It's very interesting that when Jesus, and I'm just giving an introduction, we'll take a break and we'll come back and read Matthew 24. It is very interesting that when Jesus, in his discourse of Matthew 24, he is actually looking back to the Old Testament to tell us about things to come. He points us back to the days of Nova. Very interesting. He also quotes from Daniel. Daniel has Daniel prophesied. So it shows us how the Lord Jesus is connecting things in the Old Testament and saying, hey, the Old Testament is already speaking about future events. It's pointing to certain things in the future. And especially Daniel's prophesy, which we just read, Daniel chapter 9. He talks about the abomination of desolation, the man of sin who comes and desecrates the temple. So Jesus is saying Daniel prophesied. He's validating Daniel's prophesy. Daniel said it and that is going to happen in the future during the tribulation. It's going to happen. So Jesus is validating Daniel's prophesy. And of course, he tells us a lot of things, other things, that to look out for as signs to the end times. So we will take some time just to read that whole chapter, Matthew 24, and then look at what the Lord gave to us as far as the end times. So let's take a break. Now we will go for a 10 minutes break and we will come back and dive into Matthew chapter 24. Thank you everyone. See you in 10 minutes.