The whole purpose of this chastening period for Israel is to test them and to purge and to make them white. In other words, God never gives up on His people until finally they are purified. Finally they are purged. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today John MacArthur will return to his look at the prophecies of Daniel, focusing on a coming period of war and natural disaster and ultimately judgment. I'm referring of course to the Great Tribulation that will be part of the future of Israel, and that's the title of John's study, The Future of Israel. Now the details of the Great Tribulation are sobering, and reading about them can be terrifying, so how should you as a Christian prepare for the events foretold in Scripture? Is it possible to be hopeful and joyful when the prophecies in books like Daniel are frankly pretty frightening?
Find out now as John looks at the Great Tribulation. Next to faith and love, the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the greatest reality in the world is hope. Faith, hope and love, the three most critical elements in all of human thinking. Man cannot exist without faith or love or hope. As we focus on our passage, the theme is hope, one of that triad of great realities. Hope is essential to all meaningful life. Unless there is some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, man ends in despair.
Unless there is some kind of anticipation for a wonderful reality in the future, man finds himself unable to enjoy the moment in which he lives. Hope especially is important to those who suffer. God knows well that in order for man to endure the present stress, he has to have a future hope.
And so all throughout the Bible, God presents to man a great hope, an eternal hope, a hope in the future, a hope beyond all other hopes that gives to man a full, rich meaning to life. Now as you come to the close of the book of Daniel, this is precisely what Daniel does. The whole purpose of this chastening period for Israel is to test them and to purge and to make them white. In other words, God never gives up on His people until finally they are purified, finally they are purged. They will be subjected, says the angel to Daniel, to a series of Gentile pagan oppressors who will bring them grave suffering, but it is all designed by God to purge them, to test them and to make them white.
In other words, God keeps it going until they finally respond properly. Well, that's a pretty bleak message, isn't it? For God to say as His final word to Daniel, Daniel, it's just going to be like this for thousands of years, and then leave it at that, would leave no light at the end of the tunnel.
It would be so bleak. And so in the first three verses of chapter 12 comes the light. This is hope. This is hope. That even though it's going to be dark for thousands of years, and even though the people of Israel will not respond to God, and even though the time is going to come when they will actually reject their own Messiah and in His place accept Satan's counterfeit, the Antichrist. Even so, in the end, there's hope.
There's hope. Look at the beginning of chapter 12, verse 1. First few words, and at that time, just that for now, just that phrase. What time? The time he's been discussing.
What time has he been discussing? Oh, in verses 36 to 45 of chapter 11, he was discussing the time of the Antichrist, the consummate oppressor of Israel. The one who would bring the greatest amount of pain. The one who would slaughter the most Jews. He'll slaughter more than Hitler ever did.
The one who was the worst oppressor. But even at that time, at that very time, in fact, it could be translated during that time. At the very time when everything is the worst, in the middle of the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, when there is this great world ruler, when there is this massive warfare that ends in the bloodbath of Armageddon, at that very time when the Antichrist attempts to slaughter all of Israel, when he desecrates the temple, at that very time, hope will dawn. That's the message as chapter 12 opens. In other words, when it gets to the worst, it's nearly time for the best. The darkest comes just before the dawn. Well, how and why? How and why at that time can men have hope?
Several reasons. I want to share them with you. First of all, there will be a special distress. There will be a special defender. There will be a special deliverance, a special destiny, and a special dividend.
Those are the reasons for hope. First of all, there is coming a special distress. Back at verse 1 again. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people.
Now listen to this. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. In other words, Daniel says there is coming a time like no other time, a special distress. Israel has suffered much. Israel suffered much from the Babylonians, incredible slaughter. They suffered much from the Medo-Persians. They suffered much from the Greeks. They suffered much from the Romans. They have suffered much in the history even since the Roman time. They have suffered much from the Crusaders. They suffered much even in a more modern Europe.
They suffered from the Hitlers. They've suffered and suffered and suffered. And all of it has been the rod of God. All of it has been the refining process of God for their rebellion and rejection and all of it has been meant to draw them to Him. But the worst suffering is yet to come.
There will be a time, a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. Now that is a Hebraism. That is a Hebrew idiom. It is also used several times in the ninth chapter of Exodus. It means this is the worst ever.
This is the worst ever. Exodus 9, 18 and 24, for those of you who want the Scriptures specifically. But it is a Hebrew idiom that means this is the worst. Frankly, people, we have to make that announcement to Israel that worst is yet to come for them. It isn't going to get better.
It's going to get worse. Jesus said the same thing. Look at Matthew 24. Jesus said exactly this. Matthew 24, verse 15. Actually, He talks about in verse 7, nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and all of this is just the birth pangs, just the beginning of pain. Verse 15, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.
Whosoever readeth, let him understand. Then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains. When you see the Antichrist, desecrate the temple. When you see him, establish himself as the God of the universe. When you see him, call all men to worship him. When the abomination takes place, you better run. And him who is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house. Don't even go inside to get anything, just run. If you're out in the field, don't go back to take your clothes. And woe unto those who are with child and those who nurse children in those days, because they're going to be...it's going to be hard to run when you have little children and nursing infants.
Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath. In other words, they're going to scatter so fast, for there shall then be great tribulation. Here it comes. Such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor shall ever be. And except the days were shortened, there would be no flesh saved.
Now you get the picture, don't you? Jesus said the same thing that Daniel said, an unprecedented time of trouble for the people of God, Israel. The book of Revelation describes that final time of human history with terms that are beyond our imagination to even grasp.
But let me run it by you very fast. From Revelation chapter 6 through Revelation chapter 19, you have the details of that period of time, the last three and a half years of Daniel's 70th week, the great time of tribulation. And the writer John sees in the vision there the following elements to that time. War, famine, 25 percent of the world killed, the collapse of the heavenly bodies, one-third of the earth destroyed, one-third of the sea destroyed, the creatures in it and the ships on it, one-third of the fresh water and many multitudes of people who drink it, one-third of the sky lights the stars, the release of hell's demons to overrun the earth, the slaughtering of the beast and the false prophet consummates their evil, vile ministry that goes on during that time, body soars all over men, everyone in the sea and all living creatures in the sea are killed, all fresh water will be polluted, scorching sunlight will burn people to death, darkness will cover the earth, pain soars more demons, and it just goes like that from Revelation 6 to 19. And in addition to that, that's what comes upon the earth in general. But in addition to that, you have God allowing the Antichrist to oppress Israel in a final act of purging.
An incredible time of suffering. In addition to all the activity that God is directly involved in, in this incredible time of tribulation, there is all the activity that Satan is involved in which God allows as evil finally reaches its apex. Now mark it, the whole course of the world and all of its history is outlined in Scripture to move toward a holocaust that no one in history has ever perceived before. And especially will it be difficult for the children of Israel. Listen to what Jeremiah said in the most important chapter, the 30th of Jeremiah and verse 4. And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah, For thus saith the Lord, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now and see whether a man doth travail with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble.
And it pictures everyone in the horrible pain of childbirth holding themselves in agony. In Zechariah again, as the prophet ends up his book in the 13th chapter and the 8th verse, It shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be cut off and die. But the third shall be left, and I will bring the third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them.
I will say, It is My people, and they shall say, He is the Lord, My God. There will come a slaughter. Two out of every three Jews will die. The other third will be redeemed. They will be purged. They will believe. If the population of the world is 15 million Jews, that means 10 million will die. Were it to happen now. So there awaits for Israel a very special distress, a distress without equal in human history, the time of Jacob's trouble, the 70th week of Daniel, the time of the tribulation, the great tribulation.
All of these terms are used to describe that period. But here comes the hope. In the midst of the special distress comes a special defender. Back to verse 1, a special defender. And at that time shall Michael stand up. The nation will not be utterly destroyed, for Michael will stand up.
And who is he? The great prince who stands or who guards the children of thy people. Michael, perhaps the most powerful of all the angels, has been given throughout all of Israel's history the singular responsibility of defending the people of God. As the head of the holy angels, Michael is given that generalship over Israel.
It's a marvelous task. He's involved in it. We see that in the New Testament as well as the Old. In Jude chapter 9, we find him even fighting Satan for the body of Moses.
He has such care and concern for the people that he will not even permit the desecration of their dead bodies. And so he looks out for Israel. And we've already seen, haven't we, back in chapter 10, that when the demons tried to stop this angel from giving his revelation, verse 13 says, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. Michael assisted him. John verse 21, it says, in all of this there's none that works with me in these things, but Michael, and I love this, your prince. God has assigned Michael the special task of caring for Israel. And so when they get in the heat of the special distress, we're not surprised to see Michael appear either in chapter 12 verse 1. When the battle gets the hottest, when the most furious persecution and oppression takes place, Michael comes to the rescue.
Now in what way does Michael stand up? How does he stand up for the people of God? Well I believe during the tribulation, Satan wants to release all of the forces of hell against the people of God, Israel. He wants to obliterate that nation.
I'm not talking about the church now, I'm talking about Israel. He wants to obliterate Israel. He's always wanted to do that. He wanted to wipe out the people of God so there could never be a Messiah.
He wanted to rub out the line. He wants to destroy them so there can never be any of them for a kingdom. He wants to capture them all so that Christ and God are frustrated in their mission for that people. And so I believe that all the demons of hell in the end time are going to go after that nation Israel. If you want to know a little bit about what happens, turn in your Bible to Revelation chapter 12 and let's see the battle itself.
Verse 1, Revelation 12, you have to compare Daniel with Revelation, they really are tied together. There appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. I believe that's Israel, twelve tribes in the imagery of Revelation.
She being with child, cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. I really believe that what you have here is Israel and in verse 5, she brings forth a male child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to His throne. That's the Messiah. He was born, He lived, but He ascended.
He was caught up out of the world. And then the woman, verse 6, began to be persecuted and fled to the wilderness. Now back to verse 3, the reason she flees, there appeared another wonder in heaven, behold a great red dragon, seven heads and ten horns. That shows how he embodies all the imperial governments, the final form of the Roman Empire, all the crowns on his head. His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven.
You know what that means? As soon as Satan fell, one-third of the angels went with him, so his force is not as large as God's. He has two-thirds left. It's not a question of numbers either, it's a question of power and righteous power can always overcome evil power. But he drew a third part of the stars of heaven and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as it was born. And do you remember what Satan tried to do to stop the birth of Messiah?
Everything he possibly could. And then when the Messiah was finally born, he got hair to try to slaughter the child, to devour that child. But she brought it forth and the child was caught up to God and all through his life, I believe, Satan tried to kill him, but always unsuccessful. And finally, Christ went to His throne and Satan has continued his attack on Christ obviously, but in the tribulation time, the future that Revelation speaks of, the woman is left, Israel. And I believe that Satan and the beast and the demons of hell come after Israel again. And she flees into the wilderness and she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and threescore days.
That's three and a half years. God protects the nation for this period. That's the earthly thing.
But how does He do that? Verse 7, there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels.
Here, folks, you're getting a glimpse into an incredible scene. The demons want to overrun the earth and dominate Israel, but Michael and the holy angels start a war against them in heaven. And the dragon and the dragon and his angels, it says, fought and verse 8, prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. A great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, the devil and Satan who deceived the whole world was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.
I believe there's a sense in which they lose some of their supernatural power at this point. I heard a loud voice saying, in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accused them before our God day and night and they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death. Therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. What happens is his plan is thwarted in relation to Israel and in the short time that he has left, apparently he just overruns the earth with evil. He tries hard to persecute the woman, verse 13, but he's unsuccessful.
The battle is already over. The battle has been won and the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecutes, the woman brought forth a male child, that is Israel, and to the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place. And she is nourished for a time, times and half a time. That's one, two and a half, that's three and a half.
Again the same idea, she's protected for three and a half years. The serpent, he casts out water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman to cause her to be carried away, but the earth helped the woman, the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. It could be another thing like Korah, Dathan and Abihu in the Old Testament, the beast and all of his army go out there and the earth just opens up and swallows them up. The dragon was angry with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now the key to winning this battle seems to be Michael...Michael.
Now with that in mind, go back to Daniel and I'll build on that a little bit. In the end time, and I don't have time to go into the whole thing in Revelation 12, but what happens is Michael stands up to defend the people of God. He has a war in heaven and he wins the victory. Satan is no longer the prince of the power of the air, he is no longer in heavenly places, he is cast to the earth.
The major battle is over. While he's only got a short time here, he overruns the earth. He does everything he can to destroy the people of Israel, but they are protected for a time, times and half a time for 1260 days, both indicating three and a half years.
They're protected for that time. And when his army goes out to try to destroy them, the ground opens up and they're all swallowed. Michael seems to be in charge of this whole operation, a special defender. Michael is going to stand up. Now isn't it important that in chapter 10, the very special angel let Daniel in on the power of Michael to deal with Satan and the ministry of Michael through all the centuries so that he would have the confidence to know and the hope to know that Michael would be there in the time of worst trouble.
A special distress and a special defender. That's John MacArthur, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, showing you what awaits in the Great Tribulation as John continues his study on grace to you titled The Future of Israel. John, you talked about the frightening, violent role that Satan has played and will yet play in Israel's history. And as we think about Satan's place in the here and now, I know you're concerned that our listeners know how to face this very real enemy and also how not to face him. Yeah, it's clear that scripture tells us Satan plays roles in history. We see that in the book of Daniel with the conflict between holy angels and demons trying to stop each other from doing what God intends to be done. We also know that Satan is going to play a role in the end time, in the explosion of demonic activity, including killing of Jews and the killing of believers during the time of the tribulation. So Satan obviously has a role to play, and he has through history played every role possible to try to stamp out the purposes of God in the world, unsuccessfully, by the way. But it's not so much those larger areas where Satan is at work that we engage in. I mean, that's beyond us, but we do engage the devil and his forces on a personal level.
I think we have to understand that. We don't want to be ignorant of his devices, the scripture says. And along that line, I want to mention a book called Standing Strong. There's a lot of talk, and has been for years, about spiritual warfare, fighting Satan or fighting demons.
How do you do that? And that's what prompted me to write this book, again, the title Standing Strong. Some people say we ought to ignore Satan, he's no real threat. Some people say he doesn't even exist. Others say we ought to take the battle directly to him, go after him, chase him down, make commands to him as if we could bind him, tie him up, restrict him.
Both of those things are wrong. There is a balanced biblical approach to standing strong against Satan and the invisible war that he carries out in the world. Again, the title is Standing Strong. How does Satan attack believers? How does he attack the church?
And what is our responsibility in fighting against that and being victorious? The book, again, Standing Strong, has chapters called The Believer's Duty, Protecting Our Minds and Emotions, The Sword of the Spirit, Prayer on the Battleground, and 12 chapters in all. So there's a lot more there than that. Also, there's a study guide for each chapter with questions to break the ice in a group setting. Keep the discussion going. Great for studying biblical truth with others or on your own. The title, again, Standing Strong, Affordably Priced.
Thanks, Jon. And, friend, this book will show you the strategies that Satan uses against the church, also what your responsibility is in resisting Satan and his demons, and the weapons God has given you for your protection. It's a very helpful and compelling book. Order your copy of Standing Strong when you contact us today. Call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org and you can order there.
Again, the title to ask for, Standing Strong. The book costs $10.50 and shipping is free. Our order number, again, 800-55-GRACE and our web address, gty.org. And friend, if Jon's verse-by-verse teaching, like today's lesson from The Future of Israel, has helped you and your family better understand the judgment that Christ has saved you from, if you've seen your family spiritually strengthened, or if God has used this ministry to draw someone you know to faith in Christ, we'd love to hear about it. You can reach us by mail at GRACE2U, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Or even quicker, email us at letters at gty.org.
That's letters at gty.org. And thank you for contacting this radio station when you're able. Let the team there know that you appreciate hearing Bible teaching programs like Grace to You. And now for Jon McArthur and our staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for listening today. Be back tomorrow as Jon continues his look at the Great Tribulation and how God will preserve His people through that terrifying event. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.
