At the beginning of Bible study at church last night, we were reminded of all the countries that tune in regularly to hear the live messages through Shorewood Bible Church's website, as well as their YouTube channel. They included Norway, the Philippines, Ireland, South Africa, Brazil and Canada, and I would list more but I can't remember all the ones he rattled off.
My pastor said a book from the Old Testament that he'd really like to teach is Job. Here's an outtake:
The problem with teaching Job is there's a lot of conversation in it that when you get through with it--Job's three friends, you can literally summarize everything they had to say in one sentence. They come at it with a different view, but they come at it with human viewpoint and it's fascinating how they lay out the kind of philosophy mankind has had throughout the years, but the answer is still in one sentence.
I haven't decided whether to teach Job or Isaiah. Isaiah's got 66 chapters and Job's got 42 chapters. I figure if I picked some long book like that I'd have to live long enough to get through it. I wasn't looking at Obadiah or Philemon. You can understand why; they're both one chapter.
When I taught through the Minor Prophets, I taught Obadiah in like five or six lessons so I'd like to live a little longer than that.
Anyway, I'm going to do another Q&A for now and there was a question about Matthew 24:
[37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
[39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[40] Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
[41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
[42] Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
The question that came was, "When he says in the verse 40 that one was taken and the other left, is that a reference to the Rapture of the Body of Christ, because we talk about the Rapture and the Lord coming and taking us to be with Him?"
This is, by the way, a common teaching. It's fascinating, there's a movie called Taken, and there's a whole series of books written back in the '80s about the tribulation.
I don't know if you follow Tucker Carlson, but he teamed up with a guy who does not believe in dispensationalism and is opposed to dispensational Bible study and really dumps on the Scofield Reference Bible as "the most dangerous thing that's been produced by the evangelical church in the 20th century," and the whole point is we are going into the tribulation.
Of course, if you're a dispensationalist you know that's not the case, but you see even people in the political world are anti-dispensational.
Romans 15:8: [8] Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
In His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ was the "minister of the circumcision" and He came to confirm the promises God made to Israel and to lay the foundations for them to be accomplished.
So, when you're reading the Book of Matthew, you're reading the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to the nation Israel. He's not talking about us.
Romans 11:25: [25] For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Now, can I tell you when people don't understand the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, what you become by virtue of that is "wise in your own conceits." You think you know something, and you get conceited by what you know, rather than it being the revelation from God.
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Here's a message Jordan gave on Joel:
Joel 2 educates the “believing remnant” in Israel about how Armageddon is going to come and deal with the real enemy behind the scenes, using the supernatural armies of heaven to accompany the Lord Jesus Christ as He comes out of heaven at the Second Advent.
Joel 2:7-8: [7] They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
[8] Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
They’re going to be moving straight forward, not breaking ranks. There’s just going to be one column of these soldiers following the Lord, undiverted.
"Mighty men" is a special description of these guys. They can’t be wounded, they can’t be destroyed, and when they come they don’t leave anything behind them. When you read that, you know immediately this is no natural bunch of humans.
Verse 9: [9] They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
There’s going to be house-to-house urban warfare. They’re literally going to come back and swarm like ants over the territory as they go through, and they’re going to take out everything that offends and destroy it.
Verse 10: [10] The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
We talked about the atmospheric turbulence that surrounds this army of thousands of soldiers, in all kind of battle armor, as they come through that region.
I think about how in Arizona, when they have these sand storms come through, it looks like a big round wall that goes up about 15,000 feet in the air.
When it says the earth is going to quake, the Book of Amos picks up right there. Amos 1:2 talks about an earthquake that, if you read the commentaries, nobody in history knows how to identify because it’s nowhere else in history or Scripture; this is prophecy looking into the future.
Joel 3:11 says, [11] Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.’
That’s the Lord’s attitude about the United Nations. Zephaniah 3:8: [8] Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
In the tribulation with the Antichrist, the Lord gathers up all these nations, gets them united against Jerusalem and then, as the prophet says, "There they are; come get ’em!"
It’s important to understand this supernatural army is going to be required because they’re going to be fighting supernatural enemies. There’s a behind-the- scenes spiritual conflict being brought to a conclusion at this point.
Isaiah 13: [1] The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
[2] Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
[3] I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
A "sanctified one" is called a saint. In the Book of Jude, when it says the Lord shall come with 10,000 of His saints, He’s not talking about coming with 10,000 humans. He’s talking about the sanctified, set apart elect angels who stayed true during the angelic revolt.
Isaiah 13: 4-6: [4] The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
[5] They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
[6] Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
I love when it says he "mustereth the troops." He literally goes out and gets all of the artillery, all of the weapons, all of the implements of war and gathers those angelic armies together.
Jesus says in Luke 11:20-22: [20] But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
[22] But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
Notice Satan (the strong man from Jeremiah 31:11 who’s holding Israel captive) is armed. He’s carrying. He’s got an army that works with Him and these guys are ready to fight. They have armaments, implements, warfare kinds of things.
The reason that army from heaven comes is there is a supernatural war in the spiritual realm of life.
By the way, in Isaiah 13:2 is something interesting. When it says "shake the hand," it’s like, "Over here, guys, here’s the way to get in!" But you see how it says "that they may go into the gates of the nobles"?
There’s literally a portal through which these angelic host are going to come to get into the battle.
It’s fascinating to me, we have a term in modern-day mythology and movie-making called Stargate. There’s even a movie and TV series by that name.
If you back into the ’60s, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis wrote these books (including Narnia) about the portal where you get into the other realm.
In the old soap opera Dark Shadows, there was a mirror where you’d go through it into a world where Lucifer (Leviathan) reigns. It was a portal from one dimension to the other.
I read that verse and say, "Boy, they’re using that word right out of the Bible." In the Bible, like in Genesis 28, Jacob sees the gate of heaven and the ladder where the angels are and they go up and come down and he says, "This is none other than the house of God; it’s the gate of heaven." Here’s the portal, the passageway.
Where hell's at is in the heart of the earth and there are passageways from the surface of the earth down into hell. You understand, if you have a prison like hell is, when Jesus talks about the "gates of hell," that’s a place you go in to room. It has bars and locks on it with keys to the gates. So, it’s an entrance way.
This stuff’s real and the descriptions of it are real descriptions. Jesus is going to come with real armies because the enemy He’s going to deal with are real enemies and the armies are going to be angelic armies.
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