Panorama of Prophecy

We have indeed a great deal to say on this subject. The history of the future has already been written, and it's very important that we give heed to this, as Peter exhorts us to do, as to a light shining in a dark place, and that we might know where God is heading, and what he's doing, and how he's going to bring it about.

Because a knowledge of these things, not just merely to satisfy curiosity, but obtained in order to acquaint yourself with God's moving in human history, will make it possible for you to evaluate properly the current events of our own day. Prophecy is not merely just something interesting, so that you have a little foregleam of what's going to happen in the future, and content yourself with a satisfied curiosity in this area. It's given to us so that we might know how to adjust to the trends of the day, for what is coming is already being produced.

And this is what our Lord meant when he said, you look at the fig tree putting forth buds, and you know that summer is nigh. Perfectly normal process. You realize that there's at work a process evidenced by these small signs, which inevitably is going to bring about conditions that we characterize as summertime.

Now having known that, understand also that when you see these things begin to come to pass, you know also there is a process at work, which is inevitably going to culminate in what is set forth. And therefore you can use this to evaluate the times in which we live. This has always been true.

I brought along a map this morning because I want to try to trace some of these events, and locate them geographically as much as possible. And I've tried to stay away as much as I possibly can from mere speculation in these areas, so it's always a fascinating tendency to do so, and to fill in some of the details by guesses, which may be or may not be rather wild. But the scriptures are quite precise in the general outline of history to come, and I think we can content ourselves with remaining within that general outline.

I want to outline now, if I can, rather swiftly this morning, all the events that the scriptures set forth are to come, as I see them in the pattern of prophecy. And this will cover in rapid fire detail what we have covered in these previous studies, and try to link them up in our minds. I know sometimes some of you feel rather confused.

We've talked about many different events, and it's awfully difficult without studying at length to see some of the ties between these, and how they relate one to another, and this is what I'll try to do. I want to begin where the Apostle Paul begins in his second letter to the Thessalonians, when he says that the day of the Lord, which is this terrible day of destruction, close of the age, our Lord Jesus called it, the day in which the evil of man will be let loose, and man will be confronted with his own tendencies to evil in an overwhelming fashion, that this time, the day of the Lord, will not come until there first comes the departure, that word which is translated in the King James Version, the apostasy, and in the RSV, another term, what is it, the rebellion, but which, as we studied it through, is best translated, I think, the departure. That's the catching away of the church.

Now, it's necessary for God to remove his church out of the world before the scenes of judgment come, because the church is the salt of the earth, and salt is there to prevent corruption, and while the salt is acting in its capacity of arresting corruption, it is impossible for God to allow human evil to have its full sway, and so this is one reason why these scenes begin with the removal of the church from the earth. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't believers during this time, because there are, as we'll see, but the church, as the body of Christ, is removed from this scene, and we believe there are many approaches to this in the scripture that indicate this very clearly, so that this is the first and next great event of prophecy, the catching away of the church of Jesus Christ. It's a sudden event in which the church is transformed, just as the Lord Jesus was transformed before the eyes of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration.

He didn't pass through death. Those who are alive and remain, Paul says, are caught up together with those who are dead in Christ, and there is a resurrection which the world knows nothing about, just as the world knew nothing about the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus at the time it occurred, and there was no evidence outwardly that he was resurrected. The tomb was open not in order to let Jesus out, it was open to let the disciples in, and I don't believe that, I believe that if you were in the cemetery on the day when our Lord comes to the church and the dead were raised, you would not even know that anything was going on, because there would be no evidence at all.

The graves are not thrown open with great earthquakes and so on, tombstones toppling into them and all the imaginative details. The bodies of the believers are simply raised without this and glorified as our Lord's body was glorified. And this is the departure of the church, to be with the Lord.

Now, to be with the Lord, I also do not believe, involves going up into the heavens somewhere, up into the distant reaches of the universe. It means being with the Lord, not so much in a distance of space, but in a difference of dimension. And just as our Lord was existing in a different dimension during those 40 days after his resurrection, when his body was indeed raised and could be touched and felt and he could eat and drink with the disciples, and yet he could appear and disappear at will, he could pass through the doors, and when they were locked, he could come and go as he pleased.

And he seemed to exist in what scientifically we'd have to call a different dimension, a fourth dimension. But it was related to the three that we all know of now. And he could appear and disappear within that.

And I think it's in that same relationship that the church is with the Lord, still here on earth during that time, because the Lord's presence is here, and he is doing a work with Israel according to the promises given to that strange nation throughout all the pages of the Old Testament. Now, this begins the period, the removal of the church, begins the period of the closing of the age. And the next event of that is the calling of another body.

It's reflected for us in scripture in the sealing of the 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel recorded in the book of Revelation. Just as the apostle Paul, who was an Israelite of the Israelites, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a rabbit in his denunciation of Christian faith, an outstanding opponent of the gospel, nevertheless was suddenly arrested and converted on the Damascus Road so that he became an instrument of God's mercy to the nations, the Gentile nations. So 144,000 Israelites will be suddenly arrested in a similar way by the Lord's appearing to them and become his instruments for the preaching of the gospel throughout the earth in a tremendous declaration of the word of God throughout the earth in this seven-year period.

Now, these 144,000 will be very successful because John tells us in the sixth chapter of Revelation that he saw a great multitude that no man could number who had their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb and who stood before God. And he said to the angel, who are these? The angel said, these are those who came out of the great tribulation and who are therefore the Gentile converts of the Jewish preachers of the gospel during that time and who will be faithful to the gospel many, many times at the risk of their own life or even at the cost of their own life because the other events on earth at this time will make the true preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ a very risky affair. Now, what are these other events? Well, we know that the nations are to be gathered together in several specific groups.

First of all, as we've seen together, the gathering of the Western nations, the nations which are under the influence of the old Roman Empire, which are Roman in their customs and their thinking and at the core of their national existence, will take form again in a ten kingdom empire in which they unite and surrender a certain degree of sovereignty in order that they might exist as a sort of super federated states and oppose the power of another confederacy called the Confederacy of the North. That is the nations of Russia and the satellite nations there. And we can see how rapidly the pattern of events is falling in along that line today.

We have already almost the nations of the West gathered in just such a coalition. They haven't yet taken the ten kingdom form. I don't know as they will until the church is gone, but they're at the very verge of it.

And God has used the communist thrust to create these conditions and has allowed communism to dominate a great portion of the earth. And the Soviet government and the communist philosophy has been an instrument in his hand to weld the nations together in opposition to this and to bring about the very conditions that were foretold in the prophetic scriptures. So that there are now, as we see, two great federations being formed.

And one is called the Nations of the West or the Fourth Empire, the great and terrible beast diverse from the rest, which Daniel saw, which are the coalition of the Western nations. The other is the King of the North and his confederate nations, centering around Russia and these nations here. Now, in history, the King of the North in the book of Daniel was primarily this area here, Syria, Iraq, and parts of Turkey were dominated by the solution powers.

That is, remember when Alexander the Great had his empire here, which covered all this part of the world. When Alexander died, his kingdom was divided between four of his generals. Their names are given to us, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus.

And for our purposes, Cassander and Lysimachus do not enter into it, but the two major emphases in the scriptures are on these two divisions of Alexander's empire between Seleucus, who took this area here, and Ptolemy, who took this area in northern Africa. And we have a continual conflict raging between the Ptolemaic Empire and the Solution Empire, or the King of the South and the King of the North. And these directions are given in relationship to Palestine, which is right in here, the land of Israel, north and south.

Now, Ezekiel 38-39, we read that these northern powers are associated with a still further northern power called the uttermost parts of the north, which would be directly north of that, and of course includes the areas of Soviet Russia and Siberia. And the capitals of these two areas are named for it. Moscow is Mishech, and Kubal is Tobolsk over here.

Here's Moscow and Tobolsk over here in Soviet Russia. And these are therefore associated as the King of the North, this whole area here. Now, at present, as you know, the Arab nations are trying to form a very loose league with the Egyptian areas, Egyptian nation, in a United Arab Republic.

And those who study their Bible well know that this will never last. And therefore, it was no surprise to see that the United Arab Republic, which was once formed, soon broke up again. And all the attempts of Nasser to reestablish it has been unsuccessful.

And it never will make it. It may for a while, but it never will ultimately. Because these nations here are ultimately going to be dominated, clearly and wholly, by Soviet Russia.

Therefore, there's no hope that they will ever be firmly linked with the United Arab Republic or with Egypt. As these nations take place, there's a development going on also in the religious world. And we read here that the false Christianity, which has been in the earth ever since the beginning of man's history, called in scripture Babylonianism, that is a false faith, which is characterized by an attempt to win earthly power and glory by means of false religious authority, is going to widespread and infiltrate almost every religious institution known to man, as it already has.

And therefore, there will be a link up between the Babylonianism ideas in Protestantism and those in Catholicism, for instance. And this we see beginning to take place very rapidly. The divisions between Rome and the Protestant world are really no longer existent.

There's no barriers now whatsoever, except a few matters of just working out agreements that separate Rome from the rest of the Protestant world. And we must recognize that Babylonianism is a tendency in every place where the people of God meet together that it is impossible for the people of God to separate themselves from this in terms of isolation, that God doesn't intend them to do so, that he expects them to maintain an infiltration of every level of life until the church is removed. And when that time comes, he calls his people out from among them.

But until that time, there is no possible way of separating the two as physically. The true church, the true body of Christ exists right along and intermingled with the false church, exactly as our Lord predicted. He said, let the tares and the wheat grow together till the time of the harvest.

And he specifically enjoined any effort to try to separate them. Now there is a separation, but it's a separation of philosophy, of outlook, of attitude, not of personality or person. And we see the end of this vast Babylonian system in that it becomes so dominant over the nations and so arrogant in its pretension that the nations hate it, we're told, and destroy this system itself so that all external Christianity is ultimately going to meet its doom in a revulsion of the nations against it and the complete destruction of these hypocritical systems which have the name of Christianity but no reality about them.

I believe this actually means, as we saw it in the French Revolution, an actual destruction of the buildings, the church buildings, so that outward Christianity is wiped off the face of the earth. And the religious world is then left open for the emergence of a system of humanism, the philosophy of which has long been in the earth, which will find its culmination in the exaltation of a single individual as the symbol of man's own right to be his own god. And that individual will be the leader of the Western coalition of nations who becomes identified in scripture as the man of sin, the antichrist, the beast, the prince that shall come, some of these other names that we find scattered throughout scripture.

And the worship of this man then becomes the religion of the earth after the destruction of outward Christianity. Now, of course, all during this time the true witnesses of Christ are preaching the gospel, but it's a hidden bootleg operation that has to go on continually against the constant harassment of the beast, of the man of sin, the man of law. Now, this man is accepted by the Jews as their promised messiah because he makes a covenant with Israel that they should have the land that has been long there by covenant from God, and they regain possession of the old city of Jerusalem.

Our Lord made a great deal of that point. He said Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. But when you see the temple rebuilt in old Jerusalem and the man of sin shall sit as God in the holy place, he said, then let them, those that are in Jerusalem, flee to the mountains.

Because then begins, at the middle of this seven-year period, that terrible time known as the Great Tribulation. And the believers in Israel and others flee down into this southern area into the wilderness where they find a refuge there. And God watches over them during that time.

We see this reflected in the 12th chapter of Revelation. Now, Daniel tells us, as we saw last time in chapter 11, that the king of the south at this time shall launch an armed attack against the forces of the Antichrist or the man of sin here in the city of Jerusalem. He shall launch an attack against Israel.

Now, this is certainly not difficult to understand in view of the longstanding hatred of the Egyptian nation and those associated with them against Israel. You know how this warfare has been eyeball to eyeball for 20 years, ever since the foundation of the nation Israel. And neither one has blinked yet and can break out into armed warfare at any given time.

And this is what happens. The king of the south, we're told, launches an attack. At the same time, the king of the north, with his vast force, launches a similar attack to take advantage of the situation.

And his attack, not only with his overwhelming forces, sweeps down through the land and not only covers the land of Israel, taking Jerusalem captive and ravishing the city, but he sweeps right on down through into Egypt and uses the opportunity to seize North Africa as well. And comes down into this area and seizes hold of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, we're told, are all taken by the armed attack. Well, now you can imagine what this does to the west when they see the communist nations, the Russian nations, launching this armed attack down in there and threatening to take over all of North Africa.

There's an immediate mobilization of all forces and an army is launched to come down, to attack them and to cut the supply line of this long-extended supply from Russia down through this area into North Africa. And, of course, the natural military tactic would be to simply leave these forces stranded down here without proper supply. And that's what takes place.

The king of the north, down here in this area, hears tidings out of the east and out of the north that trouble him. He not only hears that the west is mobilized to come against him here, but in Revelation now, chapter 16, well, chapter 9 and 16, we read of another force involved. In chapter 9, verse 13, we read, Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet.

This is the series of the trumpet. And I heard a voice from the altar, from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels were released who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month and the year.

That's how precise God times human events. He has a calendar in which he has it marked the hour, the day, the month and the year. And these are going to be released right on schedule to kill a third of mankind.

The number of the troops of cavalry was twice 10,000 times 10,000. That's 200 million troops. That's more soldiers than were in all the combined armies of the nations in World War II.

200 million troops. I heard their number, and this was how I saw the horses in my vision. The riders wore breastplates the color of the fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lion's heads.

These are symbolic terms. And fire and smoke and sulfur issued from their mouths. By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the sulfur issuing from their mouths.

Now look at chapter, remember this word about the great river Euphrates. Turn over to chapter 16, and we learn who these are specifically, where they come from. Verse 12, the sixth angel.

That was the sixth trumpet, you remember. Now this is the sixth angel pouring his bowl, poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Now we know who this great army of 200 million is.

It's the armies of the Orient nations, the kings of the east. And I saw issuing from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet three foul spirits like frogs, for they are demonic spirits, performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. And then because this is such a fearsome thing, there's a word of assurance inserted in parentheses.

Lo, I am coming like a thief, blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed. Then we read, and they assembled them at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon, or the mountain of Megiddo, which is located here in the plain of Israel in the northern part of Palestine. We now have the full picture here of the gathering of the nations, not the battle but the campaign of Armageddon, a battle so fierce that it literally covers the whole of the land of Israel from north to south with blood.

We read last week how the nations of the north coming down here, the king of the north, the Russian nation, comes back into the land when the tidings of the east and the north trouble him to meet these armies that are gathering here from the east and from the west. But he never comes into contact with them because on the mountains of Judea outside of Jerusalem, as he makes his camp in preparation for battle, God himself rains out from heaven great hailstones and brimstone and fire upon him, and the northern army is destroyed without a battle there on the mountains of Judea. God doesn't.

The blasphemous boasts of Khrushchev and Stalin and others that they would destroy God from his heaven are met by God himself and the communist forces are liquidated by God on the mountains there. But this destruction of these nations here are symbolized in Revelation as the drying up of the river Euphrates. If you notice the river Euphrates, you'll find it coming, it runs down through here and comes down out of Turkey and these mountains here and flows down through these Arab nations to Iraq and down into the Persian Gulf.

And the river Euphrates, therefore, is a symbol of these Arab nations, which historically were the kings of the north, which are linked at this period with the power from the uttermost north, which is Russia. And it is this which has served as a check against the orient nations coming into the west. Now you can see how this is fitting some of the events of our own day.

For despite all the prophecies and commentators of a few years ago, that it would be impossible for there to come any division between communist China and communist Russia, Bible students have long predicted that there would be such a division, that communist China could never be associated with communist Russia in any long-standing event. And this has come to pass in our own day in just these last few years, so that there is now a great hatred developing between these communist nations. And the two are rapidly becoming bitter enemies and are erecting now barriers one against the other.

And as far as the western world is concerned, it is true that the union of Soviet Russia is going to be the barricade which prevents the nations of the east from overrunning the west. And this is why our own government, I think, is wise in at least maintaining some kind of diplomatic negotiations with Russia, because this will be a barricade designed of God to prevent the onslaught of the nations from the east, the kings of the east. But when this power is destroyed by God himself in the mountains of Judea, the river Euphrates is said to be dried up.

See, there's no longer any barricade. And there's nothing now to prevent the associated armies of the east, which seem to include both China and India, from mobilizing their forces to sweep on against the western world. And the only thing that opposes them is the armies and powers of the western nations here.

This is the great battle of the God the Almighty, and it's to bring these nations down into the valley of Armageddon. Now, in order to put an army of 200 million soldiers into the field, it's necessary to have a tremendous population behind them. And the only nations in the earth that are capable of producing such an army are, of course, the oriental powers.

That's why it's most interesting to observe that the great bulk of the population of the earth is in the orient and becoming increasingly so. And the only real military power that they have to reckon on is their vast numbers. There seems to be no suggestion here that they have any other forces than simply the overwhelming mass of just millions of people by which to overwhelm their enemies.

So here's an army of 200 million men. Now, the present population of China is reckoned at about 600 million. That of India, about 400 million.

And in these two major oriental countries, you have already enough of a population to put an army of 200 million men into the field. And that's all that's said in Scripture about the kings of the east. That's why I personally feel that God's dealings with the east is going to be one of a continual troubled ferment that keeps them constantly engaged in their own domestic problems until this moment strikes, when they're able then to unleash their armies.

They will, of course, be preparing those armies and getting them ready. And there will be continual threats from this part of the world. But nothing comes of it until the hour of God strikes.

The day, the hour, the moment, he says, when the time is prepared and the river Euphrates is dried up and these armies come in. Now what happens when they come together? We read several prophecies that have to do with this gathering of the nations. Back in Joel, third chapter, we find a prophecy, which is remarkable for these last days, and which I think everyone who has pacifistic tendencies ought to read.

We're used to quoting the Scriptures where it appears twice in the Bible, the word of God, the promise of God to men, that he will melt the swords in the plowshares and the spears in the pruning hooks. And men shall never learn war anymore. Thank God for that day.

It's coming. But there's something before that. In the ninth verse of chapter three of Joel, we read, proclaim this among the nations, prepare war, stir up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears.

Let the weak say, I'm a warrior, hasten and come, all you nations round about, gather yourselves there. Bring down thy warriors, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about.

In other words, God is at this moment behind the fever in the nations for military preparedness. And his word to the nations of earth during this hour is get ready for war. Prepare war and beat your swords and plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears, because I'm going to call you down into the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Now, they don't know what they're going there for. They think they're going to make war with each other. But God says, there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.

And then in Zechariah, in the twelfth chapter, we read the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus says the Lord who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him. Lo, I'm about to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about.

It will be against Judah, also in the siege against Jerusalem. On that day, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves, and all the nations of the earth will come together against.

On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But upon the house of Judah, I will open my eyes when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. And on the fourteenth chapter, in the fourteenth chapter, the same book.

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming. When the spoil is taken from you, we'll be divided in the midst of you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle.

And the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And then what happens? When the nations gather there, both from the east and from the west, the northern powers and southern having been destroyed already, then we read, Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought on the day of battle.

On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, east to west, by a very wide valley. So that one half of the mountain shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward.

And the valley of my mountain shall be stopped up, for the valley of the mountain shall touch the side of it. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord your God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

I read a very interesting geographical report many years ago on the topography of the Holy Land. And was interested to learn that there's a great earthquake fault that runs right through the middle of the Mount of Olives. It's in connection with the Great Rift Valley, which is the deepest valley on the face of the earth.

It runs down where the Jordan River runs. And there's many interesting topographical features that tie in with this that could be compared. But now turn to chapter 19 of Revelation, and we get the final picture here.

When the nations gathered, then shall appear, the Lord Jesus said, the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. And the nations will then see that their fight is not against each other, but against God. And because of the power of hydrogen bombs and other things that they have under their control, they even dare to think that they can fight the forces of heaven.

And they gather to do battle against God. As we read in chapter 19 of Revelation, verse 11, Then I saw heaven open. They hold a white horse.

He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.

No doubt about who this is, is there? And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

He gathers together there all the terms for God's anger, the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slaves, both small and great.

And I saw the beasts and the kings of the earth, that is, the kings from the east, with their armies, gathered to make war against him who sits upon the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in his presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone, and the rest were slain by the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issues from his mouth, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

And so the human race is brought to its final battle, doing battle, daring to do battle against God himself. And at this final outrage and rebellion of the human heart, the Lord Jesus returns, as he says, in glory, with all his angels with him, all his holy ones, the saints with him. And then in Matthew 24 or 25, verse 31, When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Before him will be gathered all the nations. You see, there's great destruction of the armies of the nations, but the nations themselves, of course, are still preserved. Their populations on the earth are still preserved in their own nations, despite many of the terrible things that have fallen on the earth.

And before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Now this isn't nations gathered as nations. Really, the term is, shall be gathered all the Gentiles.

The same word. And he will separate them as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he'll place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

Then we have this familiar passage. The king will say to those at his right hand, Come, O blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee? Or naked or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee? And the king will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren.

Now here's a third group introduced. Who are these my brethren? You did it unto me. Well, the brethren are those that are his by his own.

He came unto his own, we read, and his own received him not. But there will come a day when his own will receive him. Those 144,000 you see out of the nation Israel that preach the gospel up and down the length and breadth of the earth during this time.

These are the brethren. At this time, the economic supply of the world is so controlled by the political powers that no man can buy or sell without the mark, without the permission of the beast, we're told. Well, how do these people live against whom the enmity of the beast is raised? Well, only by the care of those who are willing to minister to their needs when they come.

And the test, you see, of faith is whether a man has been so, has believed the word of God to the point where he will take his own life in his hand and risk it to take care of these brethren of the Lord, who are the offscouring and outcasts of the earth during that time. And this will be the test then of those who genuinely have believed. And then on the other hand, he will say to those in his left hand, depart from me, you cursed and the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

He was hungry and thirsty and so on and so on. And they did not visit him or take care of him. Then they also will answer with surprise.

Well, Lord, when did we see you this way? And he said, truly, I say to you, as you did it, not the one of the least of these who did it not to me. And they will go away into eternal punishment for the righteous and eternal life. Now, I think that gathers it all up.

And I'm sorry. I was hoping to have some time for questions, but it wouldn't take five minutes run over time that long. Anybody want to ask a question on this? God has always predicted events and said things would take place.

And nevertheless, he leaves room for the exercise of free will within that. You see the same problem occurring in the matter of the crucifixion of Christ. Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and says to the rulers of Israel, you did with wicked hands slay the prince of life whom God sent to you.

But it was done according to the determinant foreknowledge of God. Yet they did it themselves out of their own free will. God had predicted that this would take place.

But the men involved in it had no consciousness of any coercion, and they weren't coerced. And so we just have to leave the problem there. It doesn't violate free will, although it does announce exactly what will happen.

This has been a problem all through the higher dealings of man with God. When you speak of the king of the south, does this entail all of Africa? The king of the south, specifically, is said to be Egypt, with certain other nations that are named for us associated with him. Libya, and Ethiopia, and what probably is the Sudan area is here.

So it's these nations surrounding Egypt. No more of Africa than that. And the king of the west, do you feel that this means that the western hemisphere also? Yes, I find it very significant that all the nations of the western hemisphere, the south and North Americas, are all Roman nations.

They're all made up of colonies of nations which belong to the Roman Empire. France, England, Spain, and Portugal are the nations in the western world, aren't they? And all the customs, all the traditions, all the background, all the thinking, all the form of government and everything is derived from these Roman nations. So that the entire western hemisphere is linked with the nations of western Europe in this sense.

The only real part of the world which is not in this whole fight is Africa, is that right? Yes, except that it will never play a major role in these things, though of course it's influenced by this, because the whole earth is influenced by this continual struggle back and forth between these major powers, major coalitions. And that's what we're seeing today, isn't it? Well, I'm sorry our time is up. Let's close in prayer.