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As one man said, "I milk a lot of cows, but I churn my own butter."

Please use these sermons as the Lord leads, but nothing on this site may be used for profit without my expressed, written permission!*   |  *A Biblical View Of The End Times - #3**Matthew 24:1-31**THE TIME OF JACOB'S TROUBLE**Intro*: Today, we continue our study of what the Bible has to say about the end of time, and the events that will take place as God completes His great plan of the ages.

Thus far, we have considered the Rapture of the church and the man who will be known s the Antichrist.

Today, we will be looking at a period of time known in the Bible as "*The Time Of Jacob's Trouble*."This

phrase is found in *Jeremiah 30:6-7*.

In these verses, Jacob, or the nation of Israel, is portrayed like a man who is about to give birth.

This man is suffering great pains and is bowed in agony.

The Bible tells us that there are no days to compare with those that Israel must endure.

However, *verse 7* shows us that Israel will be saved out of those days.By way of introduction this morning, I would like to share two major reasons for this time known as the Tribulation.

There are many more reasons that could be stated, but these seem to stand out to me as some of the more crucial.1.

*To Punish The Gentile Nations* - *Rom.

1:18; 2 Thes.

2:12-13; Rev. 19:15.*

For many thousands of years men have spurned the call of God to repentance and salvation.

During the Tribulation Period, God will visit wicked humanity with the fruits of their sin: divine judgment!2.

*To Purge The People Of Israel* - *Eze.

20:37-38; Zech.

13:8-9; Mal.

3:3.*

The Nation of Israel is guilty of rejecting the Messiah and of having a part in His death.

However, God will use the terrors of the Tribulation to prepare Israel for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When Jesus returns to the earth in power and glory, He will be met by a believing remnant of the Jewish people.I want to say that I will be covering some frightening material this morning during the course of this message.

However, we need to hear these things because there may be those people here this morning who have never repented of their sins and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

These people, if Jesus returns in their lifetime, will face many of the things we will discuss during the course of this message.Those of us who are saved will not be here for even one minute of the Tribulation, but we too need to hear about these things.

We need our hearts stirred about what the lost of this world are going to face.

We need to realize that the responsibility of reaching this world before the Tribulation is on the shoulders of the redeemed people of God.

May the Lord use these truths to stir the hearts of His children to action!Now, having said all those things, I want us to spend some time this morning in the 24th chapter of Matthew's Gospel as we think together about *The Time Of Jacob's Trouble*.I.

V. 1-14 *HOW TRIBULATION COMMENCES*(Ill.

This passage is part of a sermon preached by the Lord Jesus known as the Olivet Discourse.

This message came about as Jesus and His disciples were at the Temple.

Jesus told His disciples that the Temple would eventually would be destroyed.

This intrigued these men and they wanted to know more details about the end of time, *vers.

1-4*.

In this message, Jesus tells them some of the events that will transpire during the course of the Tribulation.

Even though these words were spoken to the disciples, they are a message to the nation of Israel.

Even though these words are not addressed directly to the church, there are still lessons given here that we can learn from and grow from.)

The first half of the Tribulation will be a time of:{{{"

A. V. 5, 11 *Spiritual Deception* - There will be a rise in the appearance of those claiming to be the way of salvation.

There will be many false Christ's and false prophets during the Tribulation.

However, none power or the fame that will be enjoyed by the Antichrist and the False Prophet, *Rev.

13*.

The two reprobates from Hell will deceive the world into believing that they are literally gods and they will demand and receive the worship of men!

The Tribulation will be a spiritual time, but it will be marked by great deception.

One of the great tools used by the Antichrist to deceive the world will be his ushering in a time of peace, *Rev.

6:2; Daniel 8:25.*(Ill.

We are already seeing these things being manifested in our times.

Remember men like David Koresh, Jim Jones, Sun Myung Moon and many others who claim and have claimed to be the Messiah.

False prophets abound.

However, these are just the tip of the iceberg.

The crazies will crawl out of the woodwork during the Tribulation.)B.

V. 6-13 *Social Devastation* - The Tribulation period will be marked by an increase in the instability of society.

Notice these pictures that are given here.{{{"

1. V. 6-7 *This Time Will Be Marked By* *Disruptions*{{{"

a.

There will be an increase in warfare and the hostilities between nations, *v.

6-7*.

The false peace instituted by the Antichrist will not last and will be replaced by the devastation world war!

This is made clear in *Revelation 6:4*.

The Rider on the Red Horse is War!b.

There will be an increase in anti-Semitism and persecution aimed at the Jewish people, *v.

9.* *Daniel 7:25* refers to this.(Ill.

Again, many of these things seem to be going on around us this morning.

For instance:{{{"

1.

The world's political scene is becoming increasingly unstable.

Now, small nations ruled by unprincipled men have nuclear capability.

Economic pressures are forcing countries to seek the resources that belong to neighboring nations for their very survival.

The world is poised for war!2.

There is a marked increase of hatred towards the Jewish people in today's society.

This is profoundly clear in the attitudes of Israel's neighbors.

The Palestinians and the Arabs would love nothing more that the total destruction of the nation of Israel.

It is also my conviction that they will attempt this during this first part of the Tribulation.

*Ezekiel 38-39* seems to indicate that the Russians will be involved in this attempt to destroy Israel, but the plan will fail and Israel will use the weapons of this warfare to provide fuel for their people for seven years, *Eze.

39:9.*However, when the actual Tribulation comes to the world, there will be an astronomical increase in this kind of activity.

The things that are transpiring in the world today are only the first rumblings of what is yet to appear.)}}}

}}}

2. V. 7 *This Time Will Be Marked By Desperation* - According to this verse, there will be "famine" during the Tribulation.

This is again made even clearer by the words of the Revelation, *Rev.

6:5-6*.

A careful look at these verses reveals the following:{{{"

a.

The black horse speaks of death.b.

The balances refer to a careful rationing of food.c.

A "penny" was a days wages.

A Roman penny would purchase 8 measures of wheat or 24 measures of barley.

In other words, the food supply will be 1~/8th of what it is normally.d.

However, the rider is told not to hurt the "oil or the wine".

It appears that luxury items enjoyed by the rich will not be harmed.

Sadly, the common man will not be able to buy these things.

Therefore, he will starve!(Ill.

Again, we are already seeing these things begin to take shape.

We are living in the most prosperous days this world has ever known.

However, the world has never been this populated before.

Much of the land that was once used to grow food now has been transformed into places for people to work and live.

Our world faces genuine food shortages.

Think about the following for just a moment.1.

One person dies from starvation or one of its related diseases every second of every day!2.

This translates into *86,400* per day; *2,592,000* per month, or *31,104,000* every year!3.

*75%* of those who die and infants and children under that age of 5 years of age.

(Ill.

That is the grace of God! Imagine that, over 23 million precious, innocent, souls ushered into the presence of God every year.

They died a horrible death, but they have everlasting life!)During the Tribulation, these things will just grow worse and worse.

Want to stay here for that?)}}}

3. V. 7 *This Time Will Be Marked By Diseases*{{{"

a. *Verse 7* refers to "*pestilence*".