Israel Iran Conflict

Poll 1: Do you believe we are in the last days of the last days (closer to the return of Christ then His first coming)? A. Yes, B. No, C. nobody can know, D. A and C, E. unsure/none of the above

Poll 2: In the last week has your “new consumption” changed? A. Yes increased, B. No about the same, C. Yes gone down, D. I don’t do much news, hard to know, E. Not sure

Poll 3: Trivia Question: Who was the first person to prophesy the second coming of Jesus? A. Daniel, B. Isaiah, C. Enoch, D. Ezekiel  

Poll 4: Did you know: “The last days” began over 2,000 years ago when Jesus arrived?

Tonight we’re going to look at Iran’s role in the end times from a Biblical perspective…

By now… we all have probably at least heard some of the news regarding the United States and Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities… [pause]

when we look to the end times… we can really look at Israel…

Israel… in a way… is God’s prophetic time clock… [pause]

The Bible predicted that the Jews would be dispersed and then regathered in a day… [pause]

That the Jews would be regathered to their land and reborn as a nation…

Isaiah 11, 27, 43 and 66,

Ezekiel 20, 34, 36 and 37,

Amos 9,

Zechariah 8,

Jeremiah 23 and 31,

And other Old Testament passages… they predicted the Jews we be gathered again… And a nation would be formed… [pause]

Isaiah 66 predicted it would happen in a day…

and this prophecy… this was fulfilled in 1948 when Israel became a nation [pause]

When that happened…

That kinda put a tick on the timeline…

The caption for that tick would read something like…

“God is preparing the world for end-time events” [pause]

So end-time events and last days…

? what does last days mean? [pause]

And ? when did the last days begin? [pause]

The term “last days”… from the Old Testament…

Last days refers to the time when Messiah came [pause]

Throughout all the Old Testament the prophets would speak of the last days, the last days, the last days,

it always referred to the coming time of Messiah [pause]

Now one thing about this…

From the way I understand this…

the Old Testament prophets didn’t see the church age as we know it...  these last 2,000 years since Christ has come [pause]

It doesn’t seem like they saw that...

Because we don’t read about that in the Old Testament. [pause]

From what we can tell based on the writings…

They only saw that Messiah would come and set up His kingdom…

And they wrote about as one big event… [pause]

Isaiah 9, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,”

and the next thing it says, “and the government shall be upon his shoulder,”

 It does have a semi-colon there… but I don’t think they saw anything in the middle.

They saw a child born and a king reigning with nothing in between. [pause]

Paul says the church is a mystery…

The church… which happens between the first and second comings of Jesus… is a mystery

Paul writes about that in Ephesians…

so the Jews of the Old Testament only saw Christ the Messiah coming and reigning and they saw nothing in the middle.

They didn’t expect a 2,000 year gap…

They read Daniel…

? why would they assume that there’s going to be at least 2,000 years between the 69th and the 70thweek of Daniel? [pause]

You wouldn’t…

they only saw Messiah coming in full glory [pause]

So… when Messiah came it was the last days [pause]

That’s what the last days are and that’s when they occur…

Which means… we are living in the last days…

Not just us…

You can go back through history… we’re about to celebrate 250 years as a nation…  the whole thing… all of our national history has been in the last days

The country we we’re born out of… England…

Their entire national history has occurred in the last days… 927 AD is when England became a nation…

Not just that far back… but we can go all the way back…

Peter, Paul, James, John, Luke…

Everybody’s been living in the last days since Jesus arrived

The last days began 2,000 years ago [pause]

The last days began 2,000 years ago with the arrival of Messiah [pause]

The last days will be completed when the setting of the kingdom takes place… [pause]

? Why has it taken a 2,000 years? [pause]

Peter… writing about the second coming of Christ…

Peter tells us why…

2 Petere chapter 3… verse 9

9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,

 but is patient toward you,

not wishing that any should perish,

but that all should reach repentance. [pause]

God is patiently calling people from the Gentiles

And when God gets through calling together the fullness of the Gentiles

And after He gets through gathering and regathering Israel to the land… then the last days will be finished...

1 Timothy chapter 4 and 2 Timothy chapter 3 talks about the last days…

but he’s talking about the last days of the church…

The 2,000 years that we’ve been living in… [pause]

So you have the last days from the Old Testament… I’ve seen it written as the Jewish last days…

From the time Messiah arrives… we are now in the last days… [pause]

That brings forth the church age…

Then we have the last days of the church age…

Which could be described as the last days… of the last days [pause]

I believe we’re living in the last days of the church age… [pause]

I believe on May 14th1948… God marked the timeline in a clear way to say we are now in the last days of the church age…

That being the date Israel was gathered and a nation was born in a day [pause]

I also believe based on society… and look- society has always been bad…

But I do believe there has been an increase in lawlessness…

And I believe it’s accelerated in my lifetime… since the 80’s

I believe you could go back to 1948 and see lawlessness in our society accelerating from that point forward… [pause]

I don’t want to tell you what to believe…

Because that poll question 1.. I would answer it A and C… that we are in the last of the last days… but no one can know for sure… [pause]

That’s an opinion question… there is no right answer… that’s just my opinion…

? what do you believe? [pause]

? Do you believe Jesus is coming soon?

? Do you believe the rapture is soon? [pause]

That we’re not only in the last days of Israel… and have been for 2,000 years…

but we’re in the last days of the church…. [pause]

again… ? why has it taken 2,000 years?

1 Peter chapter 1… verse 20

20He… speaking of Jesus

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world

but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,

so that your faith and hope are in God. [pause]

? Do you know that the last times began when Jesus was manifest? [pause]

Hebrews chapter 1… verse 1…

1Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,

Jesus came in the last days…

1 John 2:18, 18Children, it is the last hour,

and as you have heard that antichrist is coming,

so now many antichrists have come.

Therefore we know that it is the last hour. [pause]

Hebrews 9:26

he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages

 to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

that statement shows that they really believed that the last time began with Messiah.

When they saw Messiah come and die,

they said it’s the end of the ages… it’s the last days [pause]

1 Peter 4:7  

7The end of all things is at hand;

Peter probably didn’t know there’d be 2,000 years in there.

because of those times and seasons… no man knows [pause]

And so everybody, since the time of Peter, lived as if Jesus was coming in the next moment to set up His kingdom,

because the last times have already begun 2,000 years ago… [pause]

so the last days of Israel began with the coming of Messiah

The kingdom was not brought at that time

when Israel wouldn’t believe…. the kingdom had to be postponed…. until Israel could be regathered.

And then once they believe again…

the kingdom will come and the last days will come to an end… [pause]

So sometimes you might here or read people say the Bible blew it in regards to the last days…

That this 2,000 year gap proves the Bible blew it…

No… that Bible is exactly on point…

This is the last days….

So much prophecy has been fulfilled… so much is being fulfilled…

And so much we can not see the potential of it being fulfilled…

Just think about this… in terms of the ability to fulfill prophecy and how everything is happening together… [pause]

Revelation 11:9-10

            9For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies

and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,

10and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents,

because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. [pause]

and that word some from the ESV is often translated all…

the word is “ek” and it means from out… from among… [pause]

What this is saying is… as a minimum… every tribe and nation will be gazing upon these two witnesses as they lay dead in the Great City…

I think it’s safe to say that Great City is Jerusalem [pause]

Now… in 1900… in 1915… I would even say in 1930 and maybe 1940…

Most people would say…

“hold on a second…

? how can someone in Australia and China and Sudan and Canada and Brazil and England and India all be gazing upon these two dead bodies? [pause]

Then comes the 1950s… right after 1948 and Israel becoming a nation in a day…

? what do you think of when you think of the 1950’s? [pause]

Big TV sets… and TV shows…

In the 1930s and 40s a TV was for the rich folks only… but in the 1950’s TV ownership explodes in America…

Delayed… but eventually around the world… [pause]

What’s interesting is… and we’re going to get into this tonight… and this is not cause and effect…

I think all we can read is it’s a coincidence…

We have to be careful not to read too much into things…

But from 1948 to 1978 Iran was one of Israel’s only friends in the Middle East…

Then in 1978 everything changed overnight and Iran became Israels enemy…

Right after that… not cause an effect… but in the 1980s computers start showing up in homes…

And the internet starts to take hold and really explodes in the mid 1990’s as far as people using it…

And now with the smart phones… around the world…

This idea of people from every nation seeing the two witnesses lying dead in the streets…

It’s like “yeah- of course… people will see it on their cell phones” [pause]

we could keep going through more… mark of the beast and how we  have several different technologies that could implement that- whereas 2 or 3 generations ago…

1930… you’re not really sure…

“? is it a tatoo?” was maybe the best guess in 1930… [pause]

Then you have the third temple institute who is making all the things needed for the 3rd Temple… [pause] [pause] [pause]

Ok- so all that to say we are living in the last days… the church age…

And we can now see with better clarity… moreso then at any other time in the history of these 2,000 years…

How many of these remaining to be fulfilled prophecies… how technology could assist them in being fulfilled… [pause]

Now to focus in on Iran and the things happening right now…

About a 4 minute clip and then we’ll jump in…

Play Got Questions 0:00-3:54

To begin…

You just heard mentioned in the video that Ezekiel 38 war is most likely going to occur during the tribulation…

I am not going to make the case that we are in the tribulation…

I do not believe we are there… for many reasons…

One of the most obvious reasons is there is no third Temple yet…

And I believe with about 99 percent certainty that the 3rd Temple is a Physical 3rd Temple…

And that needs to at a minimum be under construction before the 7 year tribulation period can begin…

Because remember 3 and a half years in… the anti-Christ is going to take his seat in the third Temple and tell everyone they must worship him…

And Paul tells us not to be deceived… not only by this antichrist… not only be the man of lawlessness…

But Paul tells us not to be deceived about people telling you the tribulation has already begun… and you missed the rapture

2 Thessalonians 2:3

3Let no one deceive you in any way.

For that day will not come,

Paul is speaking of the rapture… if you glance to verse 1… the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him…

Paul says… that day will not come…

unless the rebellion comes first,

and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

4who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship,

so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,

proclaiming himself to be God. [pause]

So this antichrist brings peace to the Middle East…

He sits down in the 3rdtemple… and we know this will be 3 and ½  years into  the tribulation…

He says I am God and you better worship me… and if you don’t there will be consequences… [pause]

Now this all requires a Physical 3rdTemple to be built… [pause]

I could be wrong… but I’m pretty confident in my interpretation here…

So… in my opinion… we cannot be in the tribulation… [pause]

So we’re not going to get into building a case for that… [pause]

We’re about to get into how Iran and Israel present day mirrors their relationship in Old Testament times… [pause]

But I will say this…

The rapture could absolutely happen at any moment…

We could be raptured out of here 90 seconds from now…

Or it could be years from now…

Or it could occur after  our earthly lives… [pause] [pause] [pause]

Ok… so what’s going on with Iran and Israel and the Middle East…

As we approach this… I want to remind us that  everything we see playing out in the physical world has a spiritual reality behind it…

That Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, Daniel, Isaiah… that they explain to us that these wars are natural signs that reflect a greater spiritual conflict… [pause]

So we always have to remember… when we look at the news and we see these events unfolding…

We have to remember that behind all of it there is a spiritual war that is taking place… [pause]

In the Old Testament there is a nation… a people… a place… and it’s called Persia

When we think of Persia in the Old Testament… you can just think Iran…

This is modern day Iran… [pause]

Now Iran… Persia…  In the Bible Iran’s dealing with Israel has been mixed…

Iran has been used by God to bless and protect the Jewish people

But they've also been an enemy [pause]

On one side… and I kinda drew a little chart last week when I started to outline this… [pause- show chart paper]

On one side… the book of Ezra tells us that Cyrus… the king of Persia… empowered the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple

Ezra 1:1-4

1In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,

that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,

the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus

king of Persia,

so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia:

Remember… this is the king of Iran… he king of ancient Persia… [pause]

The Lord,

the God of heaven,

has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, [pause]

and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

3Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him,

and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah,

and rebuild the house of the Lord, [pause]

the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.

4And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold,

with goods and with beasts,

besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” [pause]

Isaiah 45:1

1Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped, [pause]

What incredible passages… [pause]

What an incredible thing that the entire book of Esther takes place in Persia during the reign of King Xerxes

Who was actually the grandson of Cyrus [pause]

So the Persian Empire creates the backdrop for Esther's rise from an orphan Jewish girl all the way to being queen and

for the dramatic events that lead to the salvation of the Jewish people from total destruction [pause]

But on the other side of the chart…

Persia is listed in Ezekiel 38 among the nations that align themselves with a figure called Gog from the land of Magog

and a massive military alliance comes together in a future end-time battle against Israel [pause]

there's some debate as to what specific nations and people are represented…

Most biblical scholars believe that this alliance points to regions in central Asia

modern-day Turkey… and then also Russia… [pause]

Gog represents the king or leader of Magog…

So if Magog is Russia… and this battle were to happen tomorrow… Gog would be Putin… [pause]

So the common interpretation… or belief is that you have Turkey and Russia coming together…

But here's why you might have been hearing a lot about this chapter if you’ve been following Christian news this week and last week… [pause]

Persia… modern day Iran… is specifically named in Ezekiel 38 as one of the key players in this end times coalition that rises against Israel

Ezekiel 38:5

5Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

This verse… written about 2,600 years ago… predicted that Iran was going to join forces in an endtime war against Israel

Ezekiel 38 verse 14…

            14“Therefore, son of man,

prophesy, and say to Gog,

 Thus says the Lord God:

On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely,

will you not know it? [pause]

ok- so this verse 14 is telling us that before this battle… there will be a time of peace and security for Israel… [pause]

That’s a hint that what we are seeing right now… probably is not this battle in Ezekiel 38…

But it could be setting the stage for it down the road… [pause]

Because Israel has not been in a time of peace, especially since October 7th… [pause]

Verse 15 of Ezekiel 38…

Speaking to Gog… Prince of Magog… many believe Russia…

Gog is “Rosh” in Hebrew… and it is the old root word for the land of Russia

15You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north,

North of Jerusalem is Moscow…

and north of that there really isn’t anything else…

so Moscow seems to be the uttermost parts of the north… [pause]

you and many peoples with you,

all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army.

16You will come up against my people Israel,

like a cloud covering the land.

In the latter days I will bring you against my land,

that the nations may know me, when through you,

O Gog,

I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. [pause]

it seems that Israel is about to be wiped off the map… and completely destroyed… but verse 17 goes on…

17“Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? 18But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger.

19For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare,

On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

20The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground,

and all the people who are on the face of the earth,

shall quake at my presence.

And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground.

21I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God.

Every man's sword will be against his brother.

22With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him,

and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones,

fire and sulfur.

So Gog finally attacks Israel…

God causes a great earthquake and chaos to erupt as He unleashes plagues… and torrential rain and fire on the invading coalition armies

And in their confusion they turn on each other and begin to kill each other… [pause]

But this isn't just about protecting Israel from invasion

It's about God making himself known among the nations of the world in the end times

that's something we have to keep in mind

that all of these events… there is a demonic side driving them [pause]

but there is also an all powerful… ever present God Who is allowing these things to take place

directing things into the funnel of end time events [pause]

verse 23

23So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel tells us the timing of this is in the latter days [pause]

The Hebrew… it means the end times [pause]

So a lot of people believe this is going to take place after the rapture [pause]

And a lot of people put it after the rapture… but before the tribulation begins [pause]

Now… as we went through often in Revelation- when we did that study a couple years ago…

Some people believe the rapture will occur before tribulation… some think mid… some think towards the end of tribulation or at the end of it… [pause]

No-body knows for 100 percent certainty when the rapture will occur and when it will occur in relation to tribulation… [pause]

And you guys might remember… when we began studying Revelation, I started off believing the rapture would happen mid-tribulation…

And then as we went along I actually changed my opinion, and thought the rapture will happen before the tribulation… [pause]

I do think… based on Paul’s writing in 2 Thessalonians that we just went through…

That passage could be used to make a strong case that the rapture is going to happen after the mid point of the tribulation…

Because Paul says the being gathere to him… it’s  not going to come unless the rebellion comes first… and the man of lawlessness is revealed…

And it goes on to talk about the 3rdTemple… [pause]

Now… I kinda still lean towards the rapture coming before tribulation kicks off…

Because I think you can look at what Paul wrote and say the rebellion is kinda already starting…

We are calling good evil… and evil good…

As a society… as a world… we are rebelling… [pause]

Ok- main point… [pause]

There are great Bible teachers on both sides… or all three sides of when the rapture occurs..

And to be honest with you… as I studied 2 Thessalonians again yesterday…

I started thinking… maybe the rapture is going to happen after the antichrist desocrates the 3rdTemple…

I don’t know…

Nobody knows… [pause]

But we can know we aren’t in triobulation… we’re not there… [pause]

Now this specific war… Ezekiel 38…

The common or most popular belief is this is going to happen before the tribulation…

The common belief is that this specific war is going to reshape the Middle East and set the stage for the rise of the Antichrist

Now with this in mind

When we think about everything that's happening right now in the Middle East

It looks like the pieces of the puzzle are starting to set up in such a way that this Ezekiel 38 war could be in the future…

Like not the 1,000 year from now future… but possibly in the more near future… [pause]

So back to this idea of the modern day Israel and Iran mirroring ancient Persia and Iran relationship…

And this little chart I kinda drew out…

A little bit of historical context

Since Israel's rebirth in 1948 as a nation

Their relationship with Iran has been a mirror image of Israel's relationship with Persia in the Old Testament

Both for good and for bad

In 1948… after World War II… Israel reemerges as a tiny nation from the devastion of the Holocaust

As a result… most of the Middle East nations attacked Israel immediately…

It’s called the Arab-Israeli war… this began the day after Israel declared itself a sovereign nation…

Israel is born in a day on May 14th1948… and on May 15 1948 they get attacked…

Flip to map

For those who can see the screen…

You can see Israel basically attacked at every front…

Lebonese… Arab Liberation army, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt…

They all attack Israel the day after they become a nation

Flip back

Now there was no Iran on that map…

Because in the events leading up to this war

Iran… even though they were a Muslim nation…

Iran was friendly towards Israel…

They probably saw Israel as a potential and a strategic partner

Because in time… Iran and Israel were trading oil and weapons and farming equipment and

They were even sharing military intelligence with each other… [pause]

Now fast forward to 1979

Everything changed overnight when the Sha was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile [pause]

And that word Ayatollah… it’s a fancy word…

It just means a very high Muslim religious leader..

And for practical purposes…

It just means supreme leader… [pause]

Technically it doesn’t mean supreme leader… it’s a high religious leader in Islam…

But when we hear Ayatollah of Iran…

Supreme leader it the same position…

So that’s the Ayatollah… he is the supreme leader of Iran… [pause]

When he comes in… 1979…

Iran was immediately reborn as a radical Islamic republic [pause]

This high religious leader of Islam brings this forth radical Islam… [pause]

Now in relation to Israel…

this new Islamic Republic instantly declared that Israel was an enemy of Allah and that America was the great Satan [pause] and

it began funding groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon… and Hamas in Gaza…

groups who were Arab militant organizations that were sworn to Israel's destruction….

On top of that these events led to the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tran Iran and 52 Americans being held hostage for 444 days [pause]

So far… I don’t remember any of this as I wasn’t even born… but some of you guys remember when these things happened… [pause]

Now fast from 1979 to the 2000s [pause]

Iran sets its sights on nuclear weapons

The problem is that an Iran armed with a nuclear bomb is a serious threat to Israel and to the United States… as well as the rest of the world

That goes on for a few years…

Then in 2020 President Donald Trump introduced the Abraham Accords which normalized relations with several of the Arab states around Israel

Many of these nations were historically hostile towards Israel

They now saw Iran as dangerous… [pause]

And from an ideological standpoint… the foundation of all of this…

Is Iran's view that the total destruction of Israel is both a religious duty and a divine mission [pause]

Now another layer of complexity to this present- day conflict

If you stop at the geopolitical or ideological aspects of this

you're going to miss the Spiritual war that's taking place at the same time [pause]

remember when we went through Daniel

about three years ago… some of you guys might remember that study…

I really enjoyed that study…

But remember in  chapter 10 we read about a very powerful demonic angel

the prince of Persia

and the prince of Persia… along with other demonic entities… ruled over the Persian Empire

Daniel 10… verse 12

12Then he said to me,

“Fear not, Daniel,

for from the first day that you set your heart to understand

and humbled yourself before your God,

your words have been heard,

and I have come because of your words.

13The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, [pause]

then we read about the Archangel Michael… who is referred to as one of the chief princes of God's kingdom [pause]

but Michael,

one of the chief princes,

came to help me,

for I was left there with the kings of Persia,

14and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days.

For the vision is for days yet to come.”

Then… in the very last chapter of Daniel…

Daniel is given an incredible word of deliverance for the Jewish people

and what's interesting is that this prophetic word is dealing specifically with events that are going to take place in the end times [pause]

            Daniel 12:1

            1“At that time shall arise Michael,

the great prince who has charge of your people.

Has charge in Hebrew is “ya-a-mode” and it means to stand watch

the great prince who has charge of your people.

And there shall be a time of trouble,

such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.

But at that time your people shall be delivered,

everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.

verse four says 4But you, Daniel,

shut up the words and seal the book,

until the time of the end.

So the Old Testament makes it clear that the Archangel Michael has been assigned to watch over and protect the nation of Israel

And this role is confirmed again in Revelation 12 [pause]

The point is…

that even today…

behind the politics of the Middle East and

the physical wars…

and the conflict between Israel and Iran [pause]

that there is a spiritual war taking place [pause]and

that all of these events are pieces of God's prophetic puzzle [pause]

with Russia and China and the news is changing every minute… it’s really hard to keep up with it all…

but we can see that maybe an Ezekiel 38 coalition not so so far away… [pause]

I’ll play this clip… share poll results…

If we have time try to briefly get into and answer the question

? why?

? why does the Iranian regime want to eliminate Israel?

Which will lead us right back into the Spiritual warfare side of this

Play Joel Rosenberg 0:30-7:37

Poll Results

According to Islam…

            In the last days Islam will take over the world by force… holy wars… and jihad… [pause]

            And there will be one last battle… a war to end all wars…

            That battle will bring forth their version of messiah who will usher in shria law across the earth… [pause]

            Now… when we think about that…

            If this does happen… this is the man of lawlessness in the Bible… this is the antichrist…  [pause]

            You guys might remember from Daniel and Revelation I talked a few times about how the messiah of Islam lines up really well with the antichrist we read about in the Bible…  [pause]

            So… Islam wants the battle of Magog in Ezekiel 38 and they want the battle of Armagedon [pause]

            They want it… not realizing these battles will wind up bringing forth the return of Jesus Christ… [pause]

            So…

            ? Why do we try to stop it? [pause]

            Because God is patient not wishing any would perish… and we reflect that… God has put that desire in our hearts…  [pause]

            We want the end times to keep extending outward so that more people have opportunity to come to Christ before it’s too late…  [pause]

            But there is this tension… right…  [pause]

            Because we also… really want Jesus to come back…

            Its kinda like in Revelation when John eats the scroll and its sweet in his mouth… but bitter in his stomach

            That one side is sweet and good as God is going to come back and make all things right…

            The other side is bitter in the stomach as John is seeing visions of all the destruction… [pause]

            So I think it’s perfectly natural for us to want the end times to come… and at the same time want them to be postponed as long as possible…

            Because there is that sweet side… and that bitter side to it all… [pause]

            Now with Iran… and radical Islam…

            How do we postpone… [pause]

            How do the leaders of the world postpone…  [pause]

This might sound harsh…

but I don’t believe we can negotiate… [pause]

            Iran… right now… radical Islamic leaders…

We’re dealing with radical Islam…  [pause]

This is a country who is being run by leaders who have the same mentality of a suicide bomber…

            Which is if I blow myself up… I’m really happy about that as long as I also blow you up… because then I’ll get a bunch of virgins from my demon god…  [pause]

            That mentality can not be negotiated with… [pause]

            A person who has that mentality… a person operating from that premise…

Maybe I’m wrong… but I don’t see how you can ever negotiate…  [pause]

Even if you do come to an agreement,

? can you trust them or expect them to honor the agreement?… [pause]

            There religion is telling them they need to kill all Israel and the US… and actually…

We went through it…

In the Surah… Allah gives instructions to kill anyone who is not Muslim

Surah 3:151: "We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve (all non-Muslims)

Surah 2:191: "And kill them (non-Muslims) wherever you find them … kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers (non-Muslims)."

Surah 9:5: "Then kill the disbelievers (non-Muslims) wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush … [pause]

Islam is demonic in the sense that it’s pretty clear Satan is influencing the religion to do his work… [pause]

Now I wouldn’t say that to a friend who is Muslim…

I wouldn’t say “hey- you’re actually worshipping a demon god”

that’s just going to start a fight and they probably won’t ever want to hear about Jesus… at least not from me… if I say your religion is led by a demonic entity… [pause]

But there is so much… and we did a night going through the Quran and the religious writings of Islam…

And it’s really hard to come away with any other conclusion then… at a minimum… Satan is using Islam in a powerful way to do his work… [pause]

So knowing that… [pause]

So I don’t really know how politically… the nations… mainly the US and Israel… will be able to negotiate a way to postpone these things…

            I think most of the world is hopeful that the bunkerbuster bombings did enough damage to at least set Iran back as far as being able to make a nuclear weapon… [pause]

            But I hear of desires to negotiate… I personally wouldn’t trust any agreements that are made between any nation and Iran… [pause] [pause] [pause]

            To close out tonight… I want to go back to October 7th

            Because in my mind… that’s the attack that really sparked this whole chain of events… even leading to the destruction…

            Hopefully the complete destruction… of some of Iran’s nuclear facilities… [pause]

Matthew 24 verse 37… 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. [pause]

what's interesting about that… is the first place the word hamas occurs in the Bible… Genesis 6 verse 11…

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

You can see the screen… That word violence… in the Hebrew is the word “hamas”

Hamas literally means violence between people [pause]

so this whole thing with hamas that happened on October 7th… [pause]

it could be a sign that we are entering into these days of Noah [pause]

if you go down that route of thinking… [pause]

their name is Hamas… they stand for the violence… violence is beginning to spread through the world

again… going back to 1948… violence in the world has really increased…

the crime rates from the 1910’s to the 1970’s- it’s a completely different world by the time you are in the 1970s and 1980s [pause]

the world is becoming increasingly violent all around… [pause]

but with this name hamas for this terror group… and with the increase of crime… and with the Israel and Iran conflict and Russia and China taking Iran’s side publically right now

? are these signs that we are in the days of Noah? [pause]

Like Revelation study- I just say “maybe… I don’t know… but it’s interesting”

Because when Jesus said as it was in the days of Noah

Part of it is He is talking about people will just be going about life, marrying and stuff like that [pause]

But we also know the days of Noah before the flood- it was extremely corrupt world… with a lot of violence and confusion and corruption [pause]

Obadiah 1 verse 10 10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.

Because of the hamas done to your brother Jacob  [pause]

So Obadiah is prophesying judgment on the descendants of Esau [pause]

one of the descendants of Esau is Amalek… this guy Amalek is the first person to attack Israel when they come out of Egypt in Exodus chapter 17  [pause]

a descendant of Amalek is Haman…  [pause] remember when we went through Esther

remember Haman wanted to completely wipe out the Jewish people  [pause]

remember Esther happens in Persia… modern-day Iran

Iran wants to destroy Israel and destroy all Jews [pause]

You guys have probably heard of Jezebel and the Jezebel spirit…

Well Haman- he was a historical figure…. Yes

He came out of Iran and wants to destroy the Jewish people

That spirit lives on today… and satan is behind it… [pause]

that spirit hate… that was in Amalek and Haman

it lives on today… the devil is still pushing that spirit forward today [pause]

it’s the anti-semitic spirit… [pause] it’s an anti-Jewish spirit [pause]

and it’s not limited to Jews…

it’s an anti Christ spririt

which when you break that term… obviously it means its against Jesus

and it’s against His followers…

It’s a Spirit that hates you and me…

And there is a real devil… there are real demonic angels… they’re called demons…

There are many people and systems and some nations that… even if they don’t realize it.. they are being influenced and at times controlled by the devil  and his agents… [pause]

Two things to close…  because that doesn’t sound like really good news or a pleasant thing for me to speak or for you to hear… [pause]

If you had to sum up the book of Revelation and only had 2 words…

“Jesus wins”

And if you only had 2 words to summarize the whole Bible…

“Jesus saves” [pause]

Praise God He saved you

Praise God He is victorious over the enemy- the devil is already a defeated foe…

Second thing… and we’ll end with the answer to this question…

? how did Ether overcome Haman? [pause]

the first thing they did was fast and pray [pause]and

that’s a pattern you see over and over again in the Bible… [pause]

so we do need to pray for Israel and everyone involved… [pause]

we need to pray for each other and ourselves…

We need to reach up to heaven and grab a hold of our Daddy’s hand and pray

“Lord help me

Help me each and every day… in each and every battle I face

Help me when temptation is large… help me when temptation is small

Help me if I’m persecuted… and help me when I’m not…

Lord I know there is a spiritual war going on in this whole world…

And there is one around me because the enemy hates me because I’m Your child…

So Lord… I’m asking You to help me… [pause] [pause] [pause]

And so with all the kinda chaos happening right now… and knowing that’s only going to increase right before tribulation…

you can see how when a guy comes along and brings peace to the whole situation…. [pause]

And the temple is rebuilt… [pause] [pause]

The world is going to be amazed… and this anti-Christ…

the world is going to follow this guy [pause]

I hope we are out of here before that happens…

I do believe the rapture will happen before…

but no one knows…

and so we need to be aware of these things so that if we are here during tribulation- [pause]

we know what is going on [pause]

Because behind all these physical realities is a spiritual war…

And behind the Israel-Iran conflict

There is a spiritual war behind it all… [pause]

James writes…

“draw near to the Lord and He will draw near to you”

Questions, thoughts, comments