After That Tribulation (Part B)

They worship the beast saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? You say, well how can I use a verse like that to share the faith?

Very easily. You say listen, you see the human nature? They're so impressed with things they can see.

Because they think that what they see is all that there is to see. But the just shall live by faith. And you're either going to be gullible enough to believe there is this invincible figure coming to the earth who heaven says he is like an animal, or you're going to believe God. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. After that tribulation is the title of Pastor Rick's message, and today he'll be in Mark chapter 13. He says, but in those days, starting from the rapture, which they could not know about, through the covenant with the seven year covenant with Antichrist that is broken, and then his return. He says after that tribulation, and we pause there, we go back to verse 24, but in those days after that tribulation, I know this could be a lot of information for some of you, but you have to start somewhere.

You have to get your appetite going somewhere. And if you black out during the message, that's alright, we'll make sure we get you out before the lights are turned off. After that tribulation, God finishes the great tribulation, which is judgment and wrath on the earth. That is what it is.

There's no way to spin it and put a bow on it and make it something other than it is. That's why it is called a great tribulation. We never forget Christ has this way with understatement. He says things that don't sound so important or so serious or so dramatic, but yet they are.

Everything he says is dramatic. And he is going to return with a dramatic display of his sovereignty. Matthew 24 verse 27, for as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.

That's pretty intense. Now the coming of the Son of Man refers to the second coming all the time and not the rapture of the church. He comes for his church with the rapture.

He comes back with his church seven years later. And so these events that we're talking about here, and as we finish chapter 13 and the coming Sundays, we're not dealing with the rapture. We're dealing with the great tribulation period, events leading up to that period, and then of course after that period. So Daniel's week, when he says after that tribulation, Daniel's 70th week is going to end, which will then issue in the thousand year reign of Christ from Jerusalem.

He says the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. So in preparation for this, what is my mission? What is my objective as a pastor?

Not to tickle your ears with fascinating things, though I hope it's interesting. The goal is always to equip, to build up and equip us for the work of ministry. And ministry goes beyond the walls of the church building and it goes into the world. How else are they going to get these things? Can you preach end times to an unbeliever?

Absolutely. If you explain it, if you clarify, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. Visible cosmic disturbance, a dysfunctional universe it seems they're going to be faced with. He's quoting Isaiah the prophet. I mentioned his scriptures all over his words. Isaiah chapter 13 verse 10. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light.

The sun will be darkened in its going forth and the moon will not cause its light to shine. Now there can be some very practical reason for that because there's going to be a whole lot of war going on. And where there is war, there is smoke. And the Lord used very significant, as I mentioned, a very significant amount of scripture. Isaiah and Joel. Joel came before Isaiah. Joel writes so much about the end times, the last days.

Joel chapter 2. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh. And that's what we're talking about.

Zechariah ramps it up, way up. And this shall be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem. Now he's using that word plague in the same sense that Moses' plague struck Egypt. These are judgments. They come from God. They are not coincidences.

They are deliberate and they are divine. He continues, Zechariah, their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet. Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

That's gross. I mean, this is nuclear or some variation thereof. Ezekiel 39. Now, okay, again, Ezekiel chapter 39, I believe is Antichrist coming to power, that little horn that struggles and exalts itself. And then the 39th chapter of Ezekiel's prophecies deals with Armageddon, that final battle which begins on earth and is ended by heaven. We'll come to that as we go through this morning. But Ezekiel 39, talking about the end of the great tribulation period which Zechariah was talking about also. Now listen to this.

I mentioned nuclear or some sort of biological or chemical warfare, something going on that we already have these kinds of things. He says, the search party will pass through the land and when anyone sees a man's bone, he shall set up a marker by it till the barriers have buried it in the valley of Haman Gog. The name of the city will also be Hamanah, thus they shall cleanse the land. All right, so let's get those odd words out of the way. Haman Gog, literally the multitude of Gog.

Gog being the spiritual forces behind the enemy of the Jewish people that shows up in the leaders who are coming against Israel. I know they go into, you know, Rosh means Russia and Meshech and I disagree with them and I'm not alone. You'll need to know that I'm not alone unless you think I'm going off on my own things. There are times I like to be alone when I have a lot of ice cream for example.

I just like to be left alone. But anyway, remember they did not believe the preaching of Noah and it happened. Will they believe us?

Well it's really not up to us to get too much into that. What is important that we're listening to the Holy Spirit, that we're ready, we're armed and ready. From Satan's view, may we be armed and dangerous in open carry. That we're not hiding our faith. We do not have a concealed Christianity right now. Some of our brothers do and brothers and sisters, they're being persecuted. They cannot be out in the open with their faith. We can. Listen, if they can be out in the open with their sexual perversity, why can we not be out in the open with a God who is the solution to perversity?

It's very basic. Everybody understands that. Even the unbeliever gets that. The armies of the Far East will mobilize in rebellion against Antichrist and the West. Antichrist will be very powerful but at some point in the great tribulation toward the end, at the end as a matter of fact, the battle of Armageddon, the military forces of the East will come.

Revelation 16 12, then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the East might be prepared. Now Antichrist says he's going to deal with this new threat. He is still determined to wipe out any remaining Jews he can find and anybody who converts to Christ. But he will have to mobilize he and the West to meet this threat nonetheless.

And that will set the stage for Armageddon where Christ will wipe out all of the unbelievers coming against, well there will be some survivors but it comes down to ground troops in Israel. Conventional warfare. Why not just send missiles and blow them to smithereens?

Because of the technology. The Iron Dome which will even be further developed. Scud missiles. We saw scud missiles going in or being fired by Saddam Hussein and we had Patriot missile defenses that shot them down. And so the armies coming against Israel are going to be very reluctant to fire these things into Israel lest they be exploded over their own heads. And so they're going to have to send troops on the ground. And that's why you have this conventional warfare in the Valley of Megiddo that is 50 years ago, well maybe 30 or so, you might have said, but does it make any sense with all the weapons we have today? Why not just fire an endless amount of Trident missiles of you know into Israel? Well there's the answer.

There are ways to stop those things and force a ground confrontation. Revelation 13 4. This is speaking about how successful Antichrist has been in defeating the armies of the world. So they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? You say, well how can I use a verse like that to share the faith?

Very easily. You say, listen, you see the human nature? They're so impressed with things they can see because they think that what they see is all that there is to see. But the just shall live by faith. And you're either going to be gullible enough to believe there is this invincible figure coming to the earth who heaven says he is like an animal. Are you going to believe God? So the armies of the world, Ezekiel 38, that's Revelation 13 4, who can make war with him?

But here's an interesting thing. In Ezekiel 38, the armies coming into Israel are defeated in the mountains. Whereas Ezekiel 39, Armageddon, they're defeated in the plains.

There's two different war events going on. The stress that Israel will face during the great tribulation period. We don't have a lot of, at least I'm not mindful of a lot of Jewish people here where we live.

You may be. When I lived in New York, there were many of them. And opportunities to witness is what I'm talking about from their own Old Testament. Sadly, many of the Jewish people aren't even familiar with their own Old Testament. There are many people that have Christian biblical names, New Testament names and don't even know it. I mean, just we cannot assume that people know what we know. And the only way we're going to get down to it is if the Holy Spirit gets us in front of them.

And the only way, well, the question is why should he do that if you're not prepared? You don't have the fundamentals of your faith. So Ezekiel 38, I will, this is again before, seven years before Armageddon. Ezekiel 38, I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains says the Lord Yahweh. Every man's sword will be against his brother. Now Gog, Bosh and Meshech are spiritual links to the forces behind the human leaders that are enemies against Christ.

Revelation 16, well they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Verse 16 of Revelation 16, and they gather them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. It's going to happen. And it's going to happen just like that. And there will be eyeballs that will be melting in their sockets.

We won't be here to see these things, but we are here to preach about their approach. Noah was not there to feel the rain. He was inside the ark.

It is coming. And then God led them in the ark and God closed the door. He did not have to feel the rain to believe God.

Lot. He did not have to get hit with the fire and brimstone to get out of Sodom and Gomorrah. And my point is we are preaching about things that are coming on the whole earth which we will not be here to feel, but we are here to preach. And you say, well, Noah got out with eight souls.

Lot got out with four less one. He ends up with three, himself, his two daughters who were the product of being raised in the schools of Sodom and Gomorrah. The battlefields will be global at this time in history, this great tribulation period in that day at the end of it when Christ comes back.

This is what he's coming back to. War will be all over the place. Jeremiah talks about it. Jeremiah 25. You see how many prophets we're drawing from? Isaiah, Genesis, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Joel. It's all over the Bible because there's too much information to lay out in one book.

It has to be filtered. Jeremiah 25, 33. And at that day, the slain of Yahweh. That's the judgment of the great tribulation period.

Isaiah is very vocal about this also. Anyway, back to Jeremiah. It shall be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented or gathered or buried. They shall become refuse on the ground.

The battlefield carnage that will be all over the earth will be too many dead to bury. Revelation talks about the rivers of blood. Jeremiah is very clear.

He says from one end of the earth even to the other. But most Jews would miss that in those days because, again, they were so Israel-centered in their thinking that everything was about the Jews and about Jerusalem. And you can understand it partly because God poured out so much care on them. But it was to a fault in their understanding of things. Again, even these apostles when Jesus is talking about things, they were going huh, what?

And they wrote down nonetheless what he said even though they had not all developed a fuller understanding as of yet. Christ will not allow men to incinerate the planet and wipe men off the face of the earth. Thus he says those days are shortened. So what begins as a confrontation between the forces of the east and Antichrist of the west ends as a confrontation between heaven and earth when Christ comes back to the Mount of Olives and also at the same time wipes out Antichrist and his forces. The climax and the conclusion of the great tribulation comes with unmistakable signs that we're warned about so that we can warn. And the 144,000 Jewish witnesses will be all over end-time prophecy in their preaching and people will be getting saved because of it. God will crush the devil and he will crush the signs and wonders that Satan was permitted.

Whether they're false or true, they're going to be stopped. There will be no mistaking who truly is God. And as humanity enters into that thousand year period in the very early stages, there are going to be many converts. But as they give birth to more people through that thousand year period, they're going to be many more unbelievers yet again.

But we're not yet talking about the millennial age. Verse 25, the stars of heaven will fall and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Now you could allegorize that and say the stars are the leaders and things, you know, the nations and there would be truth to that. But I think that it is also physical, this climactic end to man rule on the earth and the beginning of Christ rule on the earth. He stays when he comes back incidentally. When he destroys these armies at Armageddon, he sets up his government and we, his believers from all history past, will be used by him as ministers of his truth and leaders of society. Humanity and human rule will be hemorrhaging when he arrives. They will be bleeding out. It will be action packed.

It will be. Again, the Lord's present audience believed it though they did not live to see it. First Peter chapter three. Now Peter is talking about what happens after the return of Christ. He says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

And so Peter has lumped it all together himself because that was his understanding. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The rapture comes without us knowing it. We know it's coming. We just don't know when it's coming. And so it will be through the tribulation period.

There will be other events that will come and if unexpectedly and if you are not ready, you are doomed. And Christ will get into that at the end of this message, not this morning's message, but his Olivet Discourse at the end of chapter 13. He will keep saying watch, watch out. But when he uses the word, he does not confine it to those who will be living through this age.

He expands it to those living in every age. You cannot listen to Christ say watch for this, take heed, and think he's talking about somebody else and not you too on some level. Verse 26, then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. Now he's quoting Daniel chapter 7. As I mentioned, he's just scripture for everything he's saying is scriptural. He is taking the scripture verses and he is amalgamating them.

He's putting them together. But to get to be able to do that, you have to have an expansive understanding of what the Bible says about end times. Well, here's Daniel who tells us more about Antichrist than anyone.

But that's not what we're talking about now. We're talking about the return of Christ. So let's read what Jesus has condensed for us from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13.

Daniel in his vision says I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

That's the passage from which Christ is quoting to his disciples but he's not quote laying it all out. He's got so much to preach. He's only got so much time before service has to end. He really did. He could just preach on and on and on. Paul did and almost killed a kid. That's why we don't have a second story.

I had attended a church years ago that would meet on the fifth or sixth floor of the building depending on what was available and I was very happy there were no windows. Anyway verse 26. Then they will again then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. The climactic end to human rule.

Not the end of the world. That comes at the end of the thousand years that I just quoted from Peter. But listen one of the great verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 24. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father because he is God the Son. When he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

See those two Greek words authority excusia in the Greek that is the authority the right to do it and then power there in the Greek is dunamis the ability to enforce that authority. And so when Christ does come not only will he come and put down what the enemy is doing he will stay and preserve what he is doing. The preliminary signs are done. There's really nothing on the calendar waiting to happen. We can be raptured at any moment and this great tribulation period begins. Going to open up a lot more not this session but next week because you know then we get into the generation that will see it happen. When did the clock start ticking Lord?

It was in 1948 on May 14th or was it June 7th in 1967? When did the clock start ticking to say to us this generation will not pass until they see these things. Okay I'm getting ahead of myself.

That comes later. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry visit our website crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark right here on Cross Reference Radio.