The Bible predicts that there's coming a world peace. It will be a deceptive peace. It will be a false sense of security. It will be the most deceptive trap that's ever been set because it will catch the world in it and they'll be caught and they'll be destroyed. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. No doubt the front page, above the fold headline of many newspapers contained the word peace after Japan surrendered, ending World War II. You know, as you think about periods of history, it's natural to think in terms of wartime and peacetime. Still, how much peace has there really been in our world, even when wars haven't raged? Well, there is coming a time of worldwide peace and ironically, it will usher in an unimaginable terror on an unthinkable scale. In a very real sense, that peace will signal the beginning of the end. That's the title of the study John MacArthur begins today, The Beginning of the End. And to get started, John, here's a question many people probably have.
It shouldn't be too hard to answer. Exactly how close are we to the beginning of the end? How close are we to the beginning of the end? Closer than we've ever been.
That's the standard answer and it's actually an accurate answer. Yeah, we're closer to the beginning of the end, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ than we've ever been, closer to the rapture of the church than we've ever been. People sometimes will say to me, well, are there certain prophetic things that have to happen before Jesus comes? No.
No. The next event is the rapture of the church. That is a signless event. Nothing precedes it. First the rapture of the church, then an unfolding of events in the time called the tribulation, then the return of Christ to judge the ungodly and to set up his kingdom on earth for a thousand years.
So nothing prophetic needs to happen that hasn't happened. That is why we live in the light of the glorious hope waiting for the coming of Christ for his church. Understanding all that is coming should be really an anxious preoccupation of every believer.
Sadly it's not, but it should be. We should be continually living in anticipation of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think a lot of God's people are, and that's why we're looking at this wonderful series on the beginning of the end. Thanks, John.
And friend, don't go anywhere. Here's John to launch a compelling look at history yet to unfold. Turn to Revelation chapter 6 and follow along. We come now to the time of the study of God's Word, and I want you to open your Bible to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6 begins for us the future element of the book of Revelation. Now we see in the scene in chapter 4, God seated on His throne. Then as we come into chapter 5, God holds out His hand and in His hand is a little scroll sealed with seven seals. Those seven seals basically were for the purpose of hiding what was in the scroll. It could not be broken without manifesting that someone had done that. It couldn't be read unless it was broken.
It couldn't be broken legally except by the one who had a right to open it. The only one who was worthy and able to open it was the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David as He is described in chapter 5, verse 5. The scene then is God, and God is about to unleash judgment.
The Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah comes forth and takes the scroll. He is worthy and He is able. He has a right to inherit the universe.
He has the power to take it. Written in this scroll is a description of the judgment by which the Lord will take back the earth. It is sealed seven times as often ancient documents were to keep it hidden until the rightful heir opens it. At the opening of each seal, we will see drama portrayed, the drama of the coming judgment as the wrath of God unfolds and He takes back His universe. Now the first seal is opened, as we read, in chapter 6. And when that seal is opened, a drama plays out. One of the four living creatures says, as with a voice of thunder, come. And I looked and behold a white horse and he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given him and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Here is the first seal. This then is the description of the first event, the first feature of the end when the Lord takes back His world. For many years, many Christians have been taught that things in the world are heading inexorably toward final war. We have all been told that we are headed for Armageddon, that we perhaps are headed for a nuclear holocaust.
Maybe that's what Peter had in mind when he says the elements will melt with fervent heat. That everything in our society and in our world is going to deteriorate and deteriorate and deteriorate until the holocaust breaks loose. We face insurmountable dilemmas that will drive the globe into an ultimately living hell. We're on the slide to destruction.
But is that really the scene? Yes, ultimately, but no temporarily. Actually, before the worst comes and it will come, there are going to be good times. I believe we are headed for worldwide peace, worldwide prosperity, safety, security.
Before things get bad, they're going to get better. The Bible predicts such a time. The Bible predicts that there's coming a world peace. It will come. But listen, it will be a deceptive peace. It will be a false sense of security.
It will be the most subtle and the most deceptive trap that's ever been set because it will catch the world in it and they'll be caught and they'll be destroyed. Jesus warned about this. Turn to Matthew chapter 24.
In Matthew chapter 24, I want to draw you to verse 3. Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives and the disciples came to Him privately and said, Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age? When will come the final end? When will come judgment on the world system of evil and darkness? When will come the beginning of a new and eternal age of light and righteousness? When is the end? They ask with eager and hopeful anticipation. And Jesus answers them, quite interestingly. And Jesus answered and said to them, verse 4, See to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in My name saying, I am the Christ and will mislead many.
Stop right there. When is it going to happen? When is the end? When is the final judgment? Well, Jesus says, it starts with a deception. It starts with someone who comes to mislead, who says, I am the Christ and I bring peace.
I am your Deliverer, I am your Savior, I am your Messiah. Matthew chapter 24 takes you from the beginning of the time we call the Tribulation right on through to the return of Christ. The first phase of it, just so you understand, is this deceptive peace by deceptive would-be saviors and peace-bringers, deceptive Christs, that crumbles into war. But even as the whole period escalates from war to famine to natural disasters and pestilences, even through the abomination of desolations, the desecration of the temple, even through the persecutions that come right on down to the brink of the day of the Lord when the sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven and Jesus is ready to come back and the sky goes black, right up until that moment the people who thought they orchestrated the first peace will be crying, peace is coming back, peace is coming back and there will be people who believe it.
Now hold your finger there in Matthew 24 and go over to Revelation 6 and you see the same sequence. Here the first horse is the white horse. He represents, as we will see in a moment, peace. The second horse is a red horse and he represents...what?...war.
He took peace from the earth and men slaughtered each other. The next horse is a black horse and he represents famine, the scales and the balance and the wheat and all of that, the barley, talking about famine conditions. And then the fourth seal and a pale green or ashen horse, and he represents death, natural disasters, plagues that are also mentioned even earlier. So you see the parallels are exact, peace, war, famine, death.
Those are the horses. And Jesus said, peace, war, famine and natural disaster, of course, implies massive death. And Jesus said these things in verse 8 are merely the beginning of birth pangs, just the beginning.
So the parallels are identical. If you read Revelation 6, the first four are the same. The fifth there martyrs under the altar.
The fifth component here is martyrdom. The sixth seal in Revelation 6, as we shall see, the sky goes black. That is exactly what you see here in verse 29. So the sequence is the same, absolutely consistent. Now first there will be peace.
That's what we want to focus on. Let's go back to Daniel 9 for a moment, Daniel 9. In verse 24 to 27, you have a very important text. And it says in Daniel 9, 26, after the 62 weeks...62 weeks are gone, the Messiah will be cut off, 62 weeks of seven years. God had prophesied back in verse 24, 70 weeks decreed on Israel, 70 weeks to bring in everlasting righteousness. It started, you remember, with the decree of a king named Artaxerxes and it went 70 times 7, or 490 years. 483 years from that decree to the very day Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem. The first 69 weeks were accomplished. Now, that leaves one week left, one period of seven years.
There were the seven weeks and then the 62 weeks, as he notes in verse 25. And after the seven and the 62 are complete, the Messiah is cut off. He is killed. The city is destroyed. The sanctuary is destroyed.
You remember that happened a little later in 70 A.D. And there's still a week that hasn't happened. Verse 27 picks it up. He will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. Who's He? He's the Prince who is to come, verse 26. The Prince who is to come.
He's the Antichrist. He's also called in Daniel the little horn, chapter 7, verse 8. He's called the King of Fierce Countenance, chapter 8, verse 23. He's called the Willful King, or the King who does whatever He wants, chapter 11, verse 36. The Antichrist comes, now watch this, and he makes a firm covenant with the many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he puts a stop to the sacrifice and the grain offering and commits the abomination of desolations, as it's called.
What is this? The Antichrist, remember now, he's the leading orchestrator of peace. He is a false Christ.
The Antichrist comes. He leads all the other false Christs and false Messiahs to bring this world peace. He makes a covenant with Israel. Yes, certainly Israel is a key player and the many certainly focuses on Israel since they are the nation in view here.
But it extends beyond Israel. It is a covenant that involves the protection of Israel from all of those who might harm them. So it is a kind of major peace pact.
Who knows how many nations may be involved in it? He makes a peace pact. That's how the period of tribulation is going to begin. Peace, global peace, and the Antichrist specifically makes a peace treaty with Israel, a covenant to be their protector, their peacemaker, their deliverer, their Messiah, their Savior.
But in the middle of the week, in the middle of the seven years, that's why we know it's a seven-year period, it's called a week of years. In the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. You know what's going to happen? That peace treaty with Israel is going to be so comprehensive and so complete that they're going to be back in their sacrificial system. They're going to be back making sacrifices. They're going to be back offering grain offerings.
They're going to have their temple. And in the middle of it, he's going to come in and desolate the place. He's going to make it desolate and he's going to try to destroy Israel and conquer the world. I think by the middle of the week, war will already have broken out. I don't know that the peace is going to last the whole three and a half years. The wars and the rumors of wars may have already begun, but for sure it'll all break loose then as Antichrist desecrates the holy of holies, sets himself up as God to be worshiped by the whole world and that leads the world into massive warfare that ultimately ends up in Armageddon. But it all starts with peace. Peace is coming for the world, for Israel, prosperity, safety. It's a trap followed by war, famine, natural disaster, fierce persecution, the blackening of the sky, the appearing of Christ, devastating judgment and then His kingdom. This is the future. The labor pains are going to come, starting with peace.
And as labor pains do, they get harder and harder and closer together and closer together so there is a movement through that seven-year period of escalating trauma, escalating pain, increasing rapidity until the event happens. Now all of that brings us back to Revelation 6. Let's go back there briefly. You say you haven't said anything about these two verses. I know. But do you understand what I've said so far?
Okay. And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with the voice of thunder, Come. And I looked and behold a white horse and he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer. Heaven's praise was so glorious in chapter 5, so glorious in chapter 4, and now all of a sudden silence. The scene shifts from heaven to earth. The Lamb unrolls the first seal, opens the scroll, the title deed to the universe. John sees as the Lamb breaks the seal and the contents are revealed, that legal document which represents the rightful heir and his power and authority to take back the earth. And as he opens it, he sees a white horse, but not until one of the four living creatures calls that white horse and rider. One of the four living creatures, we've already noted in chapter 4 that the four living creatures are angels, cherubim, same kind described in Ezekiel 1 that are around the throne of God. And one of them says loudly like thunder and after all, thunder and lightning is coming out of that throne, as we remember from chapter 4 verse 5, it's a throne of judgment.
And his voice is a voice of judgment. He says, Come...Come. And immediately a white horse comes and a rider.
And you say, Well, what is this? Well, horses were associated with war. I wish we had the time to do a little horse theology.
We don't. Horses are representative of power, magnificence, majesty, conquest. And here comes this horse and the one who sat on it, a rider. It's not necessarily a person because the red horse and rider and the black horse and rider and the pale or ashen or green horse and rider as some have designated it are not a person either.
These are representatives of something and we'll see that. Just a note, the Lamb broke one of the seven seals to remind you that seven is a number of completion. That's why there are seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls because that completes the judgment.
When all of them are complete, the universe is Christ's, the Kingdom has come and the Millennium is here. All of these events also occur in a period called the Tribulation which is a week, the seventieth week of Daniel, a period of seven years. Jesus, as I said, divided it into two parts, the birth pangs, the first half and the Great Tribulation, the second half, separated by the abomination of desolations which is when the Antichrist desecrates the temple in Jerusalem and heats up the persecution and tries to destroy Israel and set himself up as God to be worshiped by the whole world. As we saw in the first half, generally you have the four seals which is peace, war, famine and disaster bringing death.
The fifth seal, the abomination, triggers the persecution and then the sixth and seventh seal bring the end. Half of this period is designated as forty-two months in Revelation 11-2 and Revelation 13-5 and even designated as 1260 days in Revelation 11-3 and 12-6. So the time period is pretty set. It has to be seven years because we're even given months and days to note what half of it is.
Multiply it by two and it's seven years. Our Lord returns, Scripture says, Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the Tribulation of those days. So at the end of the seven years, Christ comes back.
Now, having given you the context, we're at the beginning. The seal is opened, the voice of the cherub says, come and He comes. Who is this? Some say it's Christ. No, it can't be Christ.
Why? Because Christ is opening the seal. Can't be Christ. This writer has a stefanos, that's a crown that you win as a prize. Christ wears a diadem off or a crown.
That's a kingly crown over in chapter 19 when we see Him. It can't be Christ because Christ doesn't come at the beginning, He comes at the end. It can't be Christ, He doesn't carry a bow, He carries a sword. Some say it's antichrist.
Well, He's certainly there. I mean, it certainly encompasses antichrist but the horses don't represent individuals, they represent a force. War is a force. Famine is a force and so is death. Certainly antichrist is the main man in the peace but the horse and rider represents the peace.
He's not alone. There are many antichrists, many false Christs, many impostors and this horse and rider represents the false peace headed up by antichrist. You say, how do you know it represents the false peace? Well the fact is he has a bow. That's a symbol of a warrior. But if you have a bow, you also need something else.
What? An arrow. He doesn't have any. The absence of arrows speaks of a bloodless victory, worldwide peace brought by this covenant maker and his cohorts in a bloodless way. And then an interesting phrase, a crown was given to him. He is sort of democratically crowned here.
It doesn't seem that he took it, it was just given to him. Like he's been honored by the world and elevated and given prominence, this peace has been made king by the world. Everything is subservient to peace and since the architect of peace is primarily the antichrist, everything is subservient to him. He is rewarded with the crown which is a reward, Stephanos, rather than a diadema which is a king's crown that belongs only to one who is in the rightful line of the king. Peace is king and peace is crowned king by the world.
He went out conquering and to conquer. He's rung up a long series of triumphs in bringing world peace. This is the deception that Jesus talked about when He said many would be misled.
This is the golden age. This is the utopia that antichrist helps to establish with his covenant with Israel that Daniel spoke about. Peace, misleading, deceptive, false peace orchestrated worldwide by many false messiahs and led by the antichrist. And of course, once the peace is established, the antichrist rises to the top. In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 2, 9, it says he will come with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish and God will send a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false.
Why? In order that they may be judged. God's going to delude the world. He's going to let the delusion run. They're all going to fall into the false peace, bow down to this great world ruler who epitomizes it and it's a trap in which they will be caught and killed. The world is headed for war, but first it's headed for peace.
Father, thank You for this insight. Help us to be able to read the signs of the times and see the way our world is headed. So much talk about peace, so much movement about peace. We could be very near the time when You come for Your church. We thank You that in this all we have no fear, for our hope is not to look for antichrist but for Jesus Christ Himself who will take us to the place prepared for us in glory. We thank You that we live with an eternal hope of heaven, but also knowing what is coming, we have the responsibility to warn the world. They're falling for a false peace, and the only one who can give them real peace is the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ. In the days that we have, may we preach the true peace.
In our Savior's name, amen. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, launching his study here on Grace to You called The Beginning of the End. John is looking at prophecies in the Bible that may unfold in the decades or years or maybe even in the months ahead. Now keep in mind, you can download John's entire study in MP3 and transcript format for free.
Simply go online and go over these lessons again at your own pace. To download The Beginning of the End, get in touch with us today. You'll find The Beginning of the End at our website, gty.org.
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That's our website, gty.org. Or you can call us at 800-55-GRACE. That's our number again, 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today. Be back next time when John shows you more about the coming world peace, which won't be as wonderful as it may sound. Find out why when we return with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.
