PITP #01

Let's pray. Father, as we open Your Word tonight and as we begin this new series looking into the prophetic passages of Your Word, I pray, Lord, that You would speak to us and give us insight by Your Spirit. You promised in John that You would not leave us orphans, but that You would give us the Spirit of Truth, who would guide us in all truth and teach us all things.

So, Lord, we ask that You would, by Your Spirit tonight, instruct us and equip us. As we look at the world around us and consider all the things that are going on, I pray that You would give us insight. That we, like the children of Issachar, would know the times, understand the times, and know what we ought to do. That we would be like those whom Paul exhorted in Ephesus to walk circumspectly, understanding the times, for the days are evil.

God, speak to us, we pray, as You have been for centuries. Open our ears that we would hear. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Over the last several years, the Lord has really stirred in me a desire to understand the prophetic passages of Scripture. When I returned from Germany in 2005, I started teaching at the Home Fellowship up in Valley Center, and we went through the minor prophets for several weeks. We took one minor prophet a week and studied them in depth.

As we were going through that, my mind just started racing. It was one of those things that almost kept me up at night, thinking about the different passages we were reading. We would read certain passages, and I would think, "That's really interesting what that's saying," because it looks an awful lot like what's going on over here.

Then, a few months later, the director of the Bible College up in Marietta asked me if I would teach through the book of Isaiah. I had never taught through one of the prophetic books before, and I was a little concerned because Isaiah is like the king of the prophetic books. If you're going to start with one of the prophetic books, you might start with Haggai or something, not Isaiah.

Dave Shirley asked if I would teach through the book of Isaiah, and I thought, well, okay. I started studying it and really digging deep into the text. As I did, I was amazed at the different correlations between the book of Isaiah and what we see going on in the world today.

How many of the ladies here tonight are going through the Isaiah study on Tuesday mornings? A number of you are. I know this because I've talked with a few of you, and you've shared how, as you've been studying through the book of Isaiah, you see many things that seem similar to what is happening in the world. God is still speaking. Malachi chapter 3 says, "I am the Lord, and I change not." God has not changed in the last 2,000 years. The Old Testament God is not different from the New Testament God. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He spoke very clearly in times past, and He still speaks; He wants us to listen.

He has chosen to speak to us primarily through His Word. Therefore, He wants us to be those who study to show ourselves approved as workmen and workwomen who rightly divide His Word of truth. We need to dig into His Word and consider what He is speaking to us. After I taught through Isaiah that first semester, Dave asked me if I would teach through it again, and I did. So far, I have taught through the book of Isaiah four times. Just this last Tuesday, we finished the book of Isaiah for the fourth time up at Marietta. Every single time I go through it, the Lord seems to shine light on new passages of Scripture that jump out. There is always something really there that the Lord wants to speak to us from.

Several weeks ago, just before the election, I shared out of Isaiah chapter 19 for a moment and talked about the corresponding judgment that came upon Egypt in that chapter. You can see how our nation is experiencing similar things. There are certain ways that God works; His ways are not foreign to us. He has made it very clear. One of the verses we will look at tonight speaks to that very thing.

When we come to Isaiah chapter 40, we read that God says, "Yes, comfort my people," says the Lord. "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished and that her iniquity is pardoned." As I read that, you may wonder what it really has to do with end times prophecy. I know many of you are interested in the last days and what the Word has to say for us living today in the year 2008, with all the things that are going on. Israel became a nation 60 years ago this year, and Israel took the land of Jerusalem in 1967. Now, we see this alliance building between Iran, Russia, and various northern African nations, along with radical Islamic nations and the rise of radical Islam.

And you look at these things, and there are tons of books that correspond these things to passages of Scripture. There clearly is a lot going on that is straight from the Scriptures that God spoke of 2,700 years ago through the prophet Isaiah or 2,500 years ago through the prophet Ezekiel, as well as the various prophets in the Old Testament. Whether it was Amos, Haggai, Obadiah, or others, God was speaking through them. He was speaking about events that are taking place today—things that they saw that weren't going to come to pass for thousands of years. Yet, God wanted them to write these things down so that you and I would know just what it is that He is doing.

In Amos chapter 3, and I am actually jumping ahead here, it says in verse 7, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets." God wants us to know what He is doing. He doesn't do things just to catch us off guard; He wants us to be watching and looking for what He is doing.

When Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem for the last time before He was betrayed, on that Palm Sunday road, coming down the Mount of Olives and into Jerusalem, He looked over the city and wept. In Luke's Gospel, I believe it's in chapter 22, He said, "You should have known the times appointed unto your peace." Because of the prophets who had written all these things down hundreds of years before, they should have known what was going on and that the Messiah was actually going to come in on that very day. Yet, they weren't waiting for Him. Why? Because they were not watchful.

As we go through the next several weeks of studying the prophets, the Lord calls to us many times. Jesus speaks about this dozens of times in the Gospels, emphasizing that we need to be watchful and ready. You know the parable of the wise virgins or the parable of the wise servant. If he knew that a thief was going to come at a certain hour, then he would wait for him. We need to be awake, ready, and watchful. The church needs to be awake, ready, and watchful because 1 Thessalonians tells us in chapter 5 that those who aren't watching and those who aren't awake will be taken like a thief in the night. They will be caught off guard.

Does anyone here want to be caught off guard? I see a lot of heads shaking. No, nobody wants to be caught off guard. We want to know what it is that God is doing. As we get into and study the whole spectrum of prophecy, particularly predictive prophecy, I wanted to start with this verse in Isaiah chapter 40 because it is very important.

Where God says, "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem that her warfare is accomplished and that her iniquity is pardoned." This passage won't make very much sense. In fact, none of the prophets will make very much sense until you get a little bit of the context of what was going on. If you want to understand Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, or Obadiah, you've got to read 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. You need to become oriented with the historical books of the Old Testament because they shine a great light on the prophecies that were being given forth by the Lord during this time.

As we read here, God says, "Speak comfort to my people." I want to lay the foundation of what was happening as Isaiah said this in Isaiah chapter 40. So, if you would, turn over in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 18. In 2 Kings, we are introduced to the king who is ruling over the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem during the time that Isaiah spoke comfort to the nation.

When you study through Kings and Chronicles, as I'm sure many of you have read through those books before, you may have been confused with all the names of the kings and the bouncing back between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. It can become very confusing. However, as you break it down and begin to look at what's going on, God had these men that He desired would lead His nation towards righteousness. It was never His intent for them to have an earthly king to rule over them. But if they were going to have an earthly king, God had certain standards and things that He called them to.

Out of all the kings that served over the nation of Israel, both the northern and southern kingdoms, there were only about ten kings that were ever really called good kings. That is a pretty sad thing. In 2 Kings chapter 18, verse 1, we read about the king who ruled over the nation during the time that Isaiah spoke and wrote in Isaiah 40. Verse 1 states that there are two different kingdoms. You have to remember that after King Solomon took over the nation, and after he died, his son Rehoboam took over the nation.

There was a civil war, and Israel was broken up into two different kingdoms: the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The southern kingdom was the one that God was primarily dealing with, the nation of Judah. They had Jerusalem, they had the temple, and through them would come the Messiah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

At this point in time, in 2 Kings chapter 18, Hezekiah became king over the southern tribe of Judah and Benjamin. It says in verse 2 that he was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abai, the daughter of Zechariah. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David, his father, did. He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the groves, and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days, the children of Israel burned incense unto it, and he called it Nehushtan, which means a thing of brass.

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him, there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. He clung to the Lord and did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses. Thus, we are introduced to King Hezekiah, who, at 25 years old, became king and served for 29 years. For all intents and purposes, he was considered a good king.

However, when we come to Isaiah chapter 38, we find that King Hezekiah, near the end of his life, becomes very ill. As he is there sick, Isaiah the prophet comes to him. In verse 5, the Lord said to Hezekiah, "Go tell Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer." He tells him, "Go and tell Hezekiah, you're going to die, buddy. This sickness is unto death."

Isaiah goes up to the king's palace and tells Hezekiah the news. Some of you do hospital visitation; I'm looking at Mike because he does hospital visitation, and that's not the kind of news that someone in the hospital wants to hear: "Thus saith the Lord, you're going to die." As Isaiah departs, Hezekiah prays, saying, "Lord, I've been a good king."

I've followed you. I've served you. The Lord speaks to Isaiah as he is leaving the palace of the king in verse 5. He says that the Lord showed grace and kindness to Hezekiah. Here was this man who had been king for a number of years—just about 14 years. He becomes sick, and God tells him, "You're going to die." He cries out to the Lord, saying, "Lord, I'm not ready to die. I'm in the prime of my life." God responds, "All right, I'm going to graciously give you 15 more years."

What happened during those 15 years? Second Chronicles chapter 32 tells us something very interesting. We will be bouncing around quite a bit tonight, so be prepared to turn through the Bible. In Second Chronicles chapter 32, after Hezekiah had been healed of this sickness, we read in verse 25, "But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up. Therefore, there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem."

I like the way it reads in another translation. The New Living Translation states that Hezekiah did not respond appropriately to the kindness that God showed to him. He became proud and lifted up in his heart. We see this pride displayed in Isaiah chapter 39. In Isaiah chapter 38, God heals him of this sickness, but then in Isaiah chapter 39, Hezekiah is visited by an envoy from Babylon. This group of men, including the king's son from Babylon, comes to visit King Hezekiah after he had been sick.

Hezekiah, having been miraculously healed, feels very privileged to have this meeting with the king's son from Babylon. It is as if the president called you and said, "Hey, I'd like to have dinner with you tomorrow night." You would think, "Oh, the president is taking notice of me." You would call all your friends and family to tell them that the president wanted to have dinner with you.

So here, the king of Babylon sends emissaries. He sends his son and an envoy to King Hezekiah, and he brings him a gift. In Isaiah chapter 39, we see the details of this visit.

In Isaiah 39, verse 2, Hezekiah was glad of them. This guy was super stoked when the envoy from Babylon showed up with a present for him and letters from the king of Babylon. He was glad. Notice what it says: he showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, all the spices and the precious ointment, the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show unto them.

So here the Babylonians come in, and Hezekiah is so excited and feels so privileged to meet these guys that he shows them everything in his kingdom. He reveals all the treasures in the temple and in his palace. He shows them where the armory is and where they keep all their embattlements. After they leave, and he is all excited and happy, it says, "Then came Isaiah." In verse 3, Isaiah the prophet came unto Hezekiah and said unto him, "What said these men, and from where did they come to you?" Hezekiah replied, "They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon."

Isaiah then asked, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "All that is in my house they have seen, and there is nothing in my treasures that I have not shown them." In verse 5, Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Hear what God has to say to you. Behold, the days are coming that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried away to Babylon. Nothing shall be left," says the Lord. "And of your sons that shall issue forth from you, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

Isaiah comes in and says, "You know what, king? This was not a good thing that you have done." Remember, we read in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 that his heart was lifted up with pride. In his pride, when this Babylonian envoy comes, he shows them everything. Isaiah comes in and says, "What you've done is not good. In the years to come, your grandchildren are going to be carried away into Babylon, and everything that you've shown them—in your armory, in your treasures, in the palace, and in the temple—is going to be carried into Babylon."

But notice Hezekiah's response in verse 8. It says, "Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word that the Lord has spoken."

But when you look at this in the original translation, the last part of this verse says, "And he thought in his heart." He didn't say it, but he thought in his heart, "For there shall be peace in my days." What that reveals is that Hezekiah had become compromised. He was indifferent and uncaring. He didn't seem to care that now, because of what he had done, the Babylonians were going to come and take away everything that his fathers had laid up, everything that the nation of Israel had built so hard for. It was going to be led away. Even his grandchildren would be taken captive and led into Babylon. He says, "Well, the word of the Lord is good," but in his heart, he thought, "Well, at least in my days, things are going to be okay. At least it's not going to happen while I'm king on my watch."

The prophecy of Isaiah now shifts. From Isaiah chapter 1 to Isaiah chapter 39, the whole focus was primarily on the Assyrian army. The Assyrians were going to come and destroy the northern ten tribes of Israel, and then they would come down towards the southern tribes of Israel and almost destroy everything. But the Lord would protect His city, Jerusalem. In one night, in Isaiah chapters 37 and 38, the Lord destroyed 185,000 of the army of Assyria, and God protected His people.

But then Hezekiah gets sick, and the Lord heals him. He becomes proud and puffed up. Now the shift takes place in Isaiah. No longer are we talking about the Assyrian army; now the Babylonian army is going to come. It's not going to happen for another 115 years, and that's why Hezekiah says, "Well, it's not going to happen in my days. Everything's going to be okay." But he had grown compromised and indifferent.

That is the context when you get into Isaiah chapter 40. The context is coming judgment. Now, if you had been told that the entire nation that you love so much, the United States, is going to be completely destroyed—everything, the White House, all the Capitol buildings, everything in New York—this entire nation, everything that we look to as security and strength, is going to be destroyed. Then the very next thing that God says to you is, "Comfort. Speak comfort to My people." How many of you might think that would be an odd thing for God to say? It seems kind of out of place, doesn't it? It seems a little bit mismatched to say, "The nation's going to be destroyed," but God says, "I want to speak comfort to you."

Speak comfort to my people. Tell Jerusalem that their warfare is ended. Their iniquity is pardoned because they have suffered twice for all their sins, double for all their sins. God says to this people that are looking forward to coming tribulation, coming trial, and coming judgment, "I'm speaking comfort to you."

How possibly can God comfort someone when He just says, "I'm going to judge and destroy"? Where does the comfort come from? How can we experience comfort when we're faced with coming difficulty, trial, tribulation, and persecution, as these people were?

Well, notice how God comforts His people here in Isaiah chapter 40. It says, "Yes, comfort ye my people," says God. "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her." Here is the message that God has for His people who are about to face judgment: "Your warfare is accomplished. It is finished. Her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

What is it that God comforts His people with? He comforts them with the assurance that even though they are going to be judged, even though they will experience trial and tribulation through the coming Babylonian army, 115 years later, something great is going to happen. Your iniquity is going to be pardoned, not because they went into Babylon. Your warfare is going to be accomplished. The warfare that you have will be finished.

How is that going to come to pass? Verse 3 states, "The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God." There is a voice crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." Who is that voice? It is John the Baptist.

You see, they are faced with coming judgment. In 115 years, the nation is going to be devastated and decimated. The temple is going to be destroyed, and everything will be taken back to Babylon. But God says that after that, there is a great restoration coming. After that, one is coming who will be a voice crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." The Lord is going to come after this messenger. Every valley shall be exalted, and every high mountain and hill shall be brought low.

The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Why? Because the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. What possibly could give comfort to the people of Israel who were facing coming destruction, coming judgment, and coming persecution? The only possible thing is to look through what was going to come and see that on the other side is something much, much greater. Why? After the trial is going to come the joy of the Messiah.

Prepare the way of the Lord. Make every road straight. Bring every mountain down and every valley up, and prepare the way of the Lord because the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh are going to see it together because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. You see, the way that God comforted His people who were facing coming judgment was to reorient their focus, to change their focus, and to show them that there is something else that He is doing here.

But remember, in Amos chapter 3, God says, "Surely I don't do anything unless I reveal my secret to my servants, the prophets." He didn't want His people to be taken by the Babylonians unaware. He wanted them to know what was coming. So, He was going to lay out the whole plan before them and tell them, "Yes, you are going to receive judgment, and yes, you are going to be led away in captivity, but after that is coming something so great, so awesome. The Lord will come."

It has been said that a third of Scripture is Bible prophecy. One third of the Scriptures that you hold before you is Bible prophecy. It is predictive in nature. It speaks of history in advance and tells us what is going to happen before it happens. I believe that it is the best evidence of the divine inspiration of Scripture. I believe that predictive prophecy is the best thing to show that God is the one who wrote this.

Why? Because it reveals His omniscience. It reveals His omnipotence. It reveals that He is outside of time and space, that He is able to see the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the one who was and is to come. When we read predictive prophecy, it reveals that truly God knows what is going on. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 44,

God says to His people in that chapter, "What other God is there? What other idol do you have that can tell you the end from the beginning?" There is no other God in this world, no other thing that man bows down to, that can truly tell you what is going to come to pass. Here, God says that Babylon is going to come and destroy you, but after Babylon comes and destroys, there is going to be a messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord. The Lord is going to come. Surely, God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets.

God revealed His plan in the pages of Scripture, not just His plan for His first coming. A third of the Bible is prophecy—predictive prophecy—telling us history in advance. A little more than half of it, as we can tell from our study, has been fulfilled already. Three hundred of those prophecies were fulfilled in Christ when He first came. There may be even more in Scripture that is predictive prophecy, which we just don't understand yet and don't fully comprehend as predictive prophecy. But God wanted to show us what was going to come to pass because He doesn't want us to be ignorant of these things. Surely, He doesn't do anything unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets.

As you study through the Scriptures and look at the prophecies that God gave, many of them are pretty heavy prophecies. When I say heavy, I mean they are heavy-duty things. God speaks about judgment. In Isaiah chapters 13 through 23, God speaks judgment to nine different nations. He tells them that the Moabites are going to be destroyed, the Assyrians, the people of Philistia, and the people of Babylon. He lists these nations and says, "Every single one of you is going to be destroyed."

As you look at the world today, those nations don't exist anymore. Why? The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. He spoke it, and it has come to pass. However, in Isaiah chapter 24, God speaks about a judgment and destruction that is going to come upon the entire earth. Has that happened yet? No, it hasn't. But Isaiah chapters 13 through 23 are fulfilled, while Isaiah 24 is not fulfilled. That which has been fulfilled reveals to you and me that that which hasn't come to pass will. God will make good on what He said.

So, when you read through Isaiah chapter 24, or you read through Ezekiel chapters 38, 39, and 40, or through the end of Ezekiel, or you read through the book of Revelation, you will see the unfolding of God's prophetic plan.

As you read through Joel chapter 3, Matthew chapter 24, and Luke chapter 17, you will notice that these passages deal with apocalyptic judgment. It can become pretty heavy. You might look at these things and think, "Man, I don't know about this. This is almost scary." Reading through some of these texts can even make you feel a little anxious.

Yet, what would be the word to you and me? What was the word to the people in Isaiah's day, 2,700 years ago, when they were facing coming difficulty? The answer is comfort. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Notice what Paul says to the church at Thessalonica. This church was about to experience tribulation and persecution; they were already beginning to face some of it. They were so in awe of this coming judgment that they wrote to Paul, concerned that they had missed the coming of the Lord. They thought that somehow they had missed His second coming.

Paul writes to them and says, "No, no, don't be worried. You haven't missed it. It hasn't come yet. Don't worry. These things are going to happen." He then explains the coming of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. After speaking about the coming of the Lord, he says in verse 18, "Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."

You see, they were facing judgment, persecution, and tribulation, which looked like a heavy and scary thing. What did God say to them? "Don't worry about that. Comfort one another with these words." With what words? The second coming. Our Lord will come again.

Isaiah, in his day, 2,700 years ago, 700 years before Jesus came, comforted the nation of Israel with the fact of the first coming of the Messiah. Today, as we read of apocalyptic judgment that is going to come upon the world, God says, "Comfort one another with these sayings." What sayings? He is coming again. He will come again.

Not just Paul, but also Jesus speaks of this in Luke chapter 21. In Luke chapter 21, Jesus has just spoken about the second coming and all the tribulation that will come before He returns. In verse 28, notice what Jesus says: "And when these things..."

Begin to come to pass. Look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near. That's a comfort, isn't it? When you begin to see these things come to pass, look up because your redemption draws near.

Over the next several weeks, we're going to be looking at different prophetic passages of the Old and New Testaments. We're going to see how the Lord speaks to you and me in these things. Let me tell you something: I am excited about this. As I read through the Scriptures, these passages are exciting and interesting. They have application and implication for you and me in 2008.

As we study through these things, I want you to remember that word "comfort." God, through these passages, wants us to be comforted. Comforted through what? Through the predictive promise, through the promise that He will come again and that He has a kingdom that He is going to establish. The comfort is found in the predictive promise, so remember that comfort that He speaks to you and me.

The fulfillment of these predictive promises all points to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. They all point to Him establishing His new kingdom. When we look at these things, if we really believe it, it should affect the way we live. Just as I mentioned on Sunday, our belief should affect our behavior. If we believe that these things are truly going to come to pass, then it should change the way we think, the way we view the world, the way we interact with people, and the way we act with family and friends.

Notice what Paul says in Romans chapter 13. In verse 11, he says, "And that knowing the time, that now it is high time for us to awake out of our sleep, for now our salvation or our redemption is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts."

Paul said that if you believe that the prophecy of Scripture, the predictive nature of the Bible, is real and true; if you believe that Jesus is one day going to return with ten thousands of His saints; and if you believe that one day there is going to be this great battle called Armageddon in the valley of Megiddo in the land of Israel, then it should change the way that we live.

But not just Paul. Notice what John said in 1 John 3. 1 John 3, verse 1, is a verse that many of you have memorized: "Behold what manner of love the Father has shown unto us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knows us not because it knew Him." Look at verse 2: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

And every man, notice this, in verse 3, 1 John 3, verse 3: "And every man that has this hope purifies himself, even as He is pure." Paul the Apostle says it there in Romans chapter 13. The Apostle John says it here in 1 John chapter 3. And Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10, says: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat; and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found in Him, or of Him, in peace, without spot and blameless. Paul tells us that if we believe these things, we need to wake up, and our lives should be radically changed. John says the very same thing: he who has this hope purifies himself. Peter tells us here what manner of persons we ought to be if we believe these things. We need to be those who are looking for.

Three times he says, "looking for," looking for what? Looking for his appearing, his coming. Because he's going to return. He promised to do so.

Now, as we look at the things that are going on in the world today and consider what the Scriptures have to say about these things, it should transform the way that we live. The thing that concerns me is that Jesus himself tells us in the Gospels that there will be many in those last days who say, "Where is the sign of his coming?" There will be many in those last days who will depart from the faith, as Paul says to Timothy, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.

There will be many in those last days who think that their Lord delays his coming. They will become lazy, revilers, malcontents, and partiers, beating one another, and the love of many will grow cold. As I look around the world today and consider the church, there are some in different corners of the church who are beginning to say there is no more prophecy left to be fulfilled; it's all been fulfilled.

There are various groups, whether they are amillennial or, even within the group called amillennial, a group called preterists who say that every single prophecy in the Bible was fulfilled in 70 AD, even the return of Christ. They believe he has already come. Isn't it sad that they think he has already come and that we are living in the kingdom age? This is it, guys.

We talked several weeks ago when Charlie Campbell came and discussed the emergent church. How many of you were here for that? If you study some of the material from the emergent church, you'll find that they believe in a social justice-oriented gospel. Why? Because many of them believe that there is no more prophecy to be fulfilled in the Scriptures.

It is our job to bring about righteousness here on earth through social acts of kindness and good works. They advocate for buying a Prius, being green, and helping people who are sick and dying. Those are all good things and wonderful, but the Scripture makes it very clear that he will come again. It also reveals that there will be many in the last days who will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, and they are going to deny that the Lord is coming.

is going to come, and it's happening before our eyes. We are seeing it happen in the church today, where people are saying, "No, he's not going to return. That's just all spiritual; it spoke about 70 AD." I'm a literal futurist. I believe that these events will be literally fulfilled in the future, and I'm looking forward to His coming.

Why? Because people who have this hope purify themselves and look forward to His coming. They get ready like a bride making herself ready for the wedding. However, people who don't have this hope become, like Hezekiah, complacent and uncaring. They sit back and think, "Well, I guess all we have to do is be green." But God has something more that He wants us to do. If we have this hope, it should transform the way we live.

Let me tell you about some of the things I've been studying and discussing with different friends over the last few months regarding prophetic events. There are some amazing things happening. A couple of months ago, we talked about the whole issue with the blood moons, and I know several people told me, "Oh, it's just a coincidence." I don't believe in coincidence. The rabbis say coincidence isn't kosher. As I look at the things happening in the world, it is truly amazing.

In Psalm 19, the psalmist David said, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows forth His handiwork. Day unto day they utter their speech; night unto night they speak forth language." There is no language that doesn't receive their instruction, as the Psalms tell us. God speaks through the creation that He made. Paul made that very clear in Romans chapter 1, stating that man will be without excuse. Why? Because the invisible things of Him are clearly seen by those things that He has created, even His divine power and Godhead.

Two thousand years ago, there was a group of men known as the magi of the East. They were astronomers who looked up at the stars and recognized that something significant was happening in the cosmos. When they saw it, they identified that the King, the Messiah, the King of the Jews, had been born. For several months, they followed that star. It may have even taken them...

Up to two years, because how old were the kids that Herod killed? Up to two years old. Why? Because he heard from the magi, "How long ago did you see this star?" They followed what was happening in the stars and tracked this star all the way to a city called Bethlehem. They knew that the king had been born. How did they know that? Well, the heavens declared the glory of God. God has put these things there to point out that, hey, He is coming.

Next week, I'm going to share with you something about His second coming in the stars that I think is going to blow your mind. When I first heard it, it blew my mind, and I'm still kind of a little crazy about it. But God is doing things, and God is on the move. In two weeks from tonight, we're going to watch the Bethlehem Star video, and you will see the scientific data that shows exactly what the Bethlehem Star was and how it led these men of the East to the Christ child 2,000 years ago. They knew by looking up and seeing that the heavens declare the glory of God, and there is His star. "We saw His star in the East, and we came to find Him." How would they have known that?

How many of you have heard about the Tower of Babel? What is the Tower of Babel? Well, in Genesis chapter 11, we read that man was of all one language, and they gathered together in the plains of Shinar, in the region that we would call Babylon. They decided to build a tower that reached up to the stars, as many of your translations say. But really, when you break it down and study it, it doesn't say much about reaching up to the stars. It wasn't about the height of the tower; it was a tower for them to use to look at the stars. They were astronomers.

The ancient Arabic peoples say that they received instruction from Seth. Seth was the son of Adam, not the son of Noah, who received it from Enoch. Remember, Enoch was the one who walked with God for 300 years and was not, because God took him? They had received instruction from Seth, who was the son of Adam, and Enoch had told him about the stars and how God had created these constellations to speak to man. You look at these different things, which have been perverted.

Today, it's called astrology. Where was it perverted? Well, it was perverted thousands of years ago at the Tower of Babel because man stopped looking at the stars for what they had to say about God and started looking to the stars for what they might tell him about himself. Isn't it always the way that man works? He changes it, he twists it, so it's no longer about God but about himself.

A very interesting book, and Lisa's going to be upset that I said this because she doesn't have it in the bookstore yet, is a book written in 1893 by a man named E.W. Bullinger called The Witness of the Stars. It speaks about how every major civilization in the world, every major ancient civilization, knows each of the twelve constellations by certain names, but they all have the same picture associated with them. Each of those twelve constellations has three more constellations adjoining them, resulting in forty-eight different constellations that every major ancient civilization knows about.

Why do they know about them? Why does every single one of them know about the same groups of stars and the same pictures associated with them? Because they all learned about them in the same place. They all learned about them from the Lord ultimately, but then it was perverted at the Tower of Babel. The languages were disrupted, and the nations dispersed, taking with them the knowledge of the stars. However, they perverted it and started to look to these things for what they might say about themselves rather than what they had to say about God.

We are going to consider some of the things that the Scriptures have to say about God. Have you ever read that passage in Revelation chapter 12 where it says, "Behold, I saw this strange thing: a woman, a virgin, clothed with the sun, and the moon at her feet"? How many of you have read that before? You might wonder what in the world that is talking about. Did you know that it's actually referring to the Feast of Trumpets? Because on the Feast of Trumpets, the constellation Virgo, which represents the virgin, is shrouded in the sun, and the moon is at her feet.

It speaks about the virgin being with child and giving birth to a son, who is the desire of all nations. As you follow through these different things, you might think, "Man, that's pretty strange. Is God trying to say something to us? Is He trying to speak to us?" Well, next week, since we're out of time, we will look at that. I've set the hook; we'll see if you're interested.

Here next week, God has some awesome things that He is doing. But again, what is the purpose of it? That one word from Isaiah chapter 40: Comfort. Comfort one another with these things.

Listen, to the believer, it is a comfort. To the unbeliever, it is the scariest thing in the world. And it should be. We know that the Lord is going to return with ten thousands of His saints, which means that we will be returning with Him. But for the unbeliever, that is not the case. They will be on the other end, watching Him return with ten thousands of His saints, and that should be a scary thing. If you feel uncomfortable as we speak about these things, that might be a good thing. It may be an indication that you need to turn to the God who made you and repent.

God has some awesome things that He is doing in our days. He still speaks. Are we listening? We read throughout the Scriptures, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches," in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. God wants us to listen up. So next week, we will look into the Scriptures and see what they have to say a little bit more.

Let's stand and pray.

Father, I thank You that You have promised to reveal to us what it is that You are desiring to do and are going to do before You do it. Lord, You don't want us to be ignorant. You don't want us to be caught off guard. You don't want us to be taken unaware like a thief in the night. You want us to be ready, waiting, watching, and expecting Your soon return.

Even though as we look at history, we say, "Well, He said He'd return, but it's been 2,000 years." Lord, You are not taking Your time. You are not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We thank You for the mercy that You have given and that You have not returned yet. But we know You have an appointed day. Just as Jesus said in Acts 1, the Father knows the day. It is committed into Your hands, Lord. You have it. You know it.

You desire that we would be looking forward to Your soon return. We are not ignorant of the times and the seasons. The day or the hour, we may not know. But Lord, we say, "Come quickly." For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.