Welcome to Leading the Way. The Worldwide Ministry of Dr. Michael Youssef. Year before last I was speaking at Revival. And I was speaking about faith.
In my sermon. I had the pleasure of receiving from the Lord a great little nugget from Dr. Yusuf. And that was, I guess I'm paraphrasing here. Any part of the Bible that you ignore or don't appropriate is a practical form of atheism.
That struck me. And stayed with me. And when I was preparing my remarks to preach on faith, As I used that quote, really struck the congregation. What are the decisions that we make on a daily basis that are atheistic? In other words, without God, what part of God's word are we not trusting?
I just thank Dr. Youssef for his obedience to. Preach and for leading the way to be on the air every day because. For people like me that listen It's impactful and it means a great deal. And now, that word that he spoke so many years ago.
has impacted the lives of an entirely different group of people who may never have heard the broadcast.
So thank you, Dr. Youssef. God bless you. After more than 35 years of passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth. Dr.
Michael Youssef is even more fervent today. Seeking to bring as many men and women, boys and girls to Jesus as possible. And if you would like to have a conversation with one of our leading-the-way pastors or counselors about life or Jesus or how to tackle life in the turbulent days of 2025, please. Please start that conversation. It's easy to do.
Just fill out a short contact form at ltw.org slash Jesus.
Now, up next, the question that many are asking as we see so much unrest in the world, specifically in Israel and the Middle East right now. When will Jesus return? Listen as Dr. Michael Youssef begins this episode of Leading the Way Audio. In Matthew 24, 21, Jesus said, At the end of time, there will be a great tribulation.
Such as has not occurred since the beginning of time until now, nor ever shall be. This tribulation is going to encompass the whole globe. Throughout history, there are times of tribulation in certain parts of the world, but not in others. But the so-called Great Tribulation is going to be a global tribulation. No one will escape it.
And that will be the indication of the nearness of the return of Christ to take His children, to take His believers home to heaven. Yes. that Jesus also said that no one knows that day. It could be today. Or a hundred years from now.
Only the Father knows that day. But we live every day always in anticipation it may be today. Here in this passage Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking about two distinct events. I'm going to explain them to you. Two distinct events.
He talks about what's going to happen 40 years from the time where he's speaking, sitting on the Mount of Olive. Talking to them, that's why it's called the Olivet Discourse. Forty years from that time on seventy AD, Okay. when Jerusalem was totally destroyed. Then, secondly, he talks about another event, and that is the time immediately before his return.
You say, Michael, how do you know that?
Well, In the 70 AD time, the events he talks about those days that took many, many, many, many days for Jerusalem to fall and for the temple to be destroyed. But then he switches and says, on that day, Talking about the day of his return is going to be fast, it's going to be quick, it's not going to take a long time. It's going to be seconds in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.
Now, what is this abomination of desolation that the prophet Daniel spoke about?
Now let me tell you. All theologians of all stripes, Reformed, Dispensationalist, all theologians agree on one thing. that this abomination was committed by Antichrist the Fourth. as a Greek name, but he was Assyrian king. who ruled over Palestine, which is modern Israel, between 175 and 165 BC.
He called himself the magnificent God.
Now, of course, his enemies played on the Greek name, his name, and called him the Madman. Or the insane one, and he really was. I mean, he slaughtered countless thousands of Jewish men, and he sold the women and children into slavery. He desecrated the temple by offering a pig on the altar, and then he forced the Jewish priest to eat its flesh, and then he set up on the temple the idol Jews, the pagan God. But I'm sure So many of you bright people are gonna ask me, Michael, If he desecrated the temple, Back then Before Jesus, maybe two hundred years before Jesus was speaking here on the Mount of Olives.
How come Jesus is talking about this as a future event. Great question.
Now you can take this one of two ways. Again, you're not going to lose your salvation. Good people on both sides. You can take this, as some people do, that when the Antichrist comes. He is going to rebuild the temple.
in Jerusalem, which means he's going to have to destroy the mosque that is now on top of that temple. And you know what's going to happen if that ever takes place. I don't want to even contemplate that. And there he's going to desecrate it after he builds it. Or you take the reformed position.
the Reformed theologians position Who believe that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit? That we are going to experience this desecration of the Antichrist. That we will experience the pain of the blasphemy of watching the abomination of the Antichrist. That we, the temple of the Holy Spirit, will go through the agony of watching that evil creature exalting himself above everything that's called God and become an object of worship. That we, the temple of the Holy Spirit, would go through this unspeakable grief of watching people, some of them are loved ones, who will bow down and worship that evil, wicked imissory of Satan known as the Antichrist.
Again, It's your choice. The words of our Lord here saying, let the reader understand. is his way of saying That this is a warning. to the generation who's going to be living immediately before the return of Christ. Those who will be living in the last days, let that be a warning.
Let that generation who will be living at the end times. understand the truth of the scripture. and discern the trials that they will be enduring. Verses sixteen to twenty-eight, the LORD is saying, that his second coming should be a motivation. both to the non-believers And to the believers, you say, Michael.
The second coming should be motivational to the non-believer? Yes, it really should. And we should not be embarrassed to talk about it with non-believers. You see, for the non-believers, when they understand that the Lord's return is going to be a day of dreadful judgment for them, They be motivated to repent and turn to the Lord and receive Him as Savior and Lord. Yeah.
For the believers. This should motivate us. To lovingly share the message of salvation with anyone who would listen. Verses sixteen to twenty-eight. Here again the Lord talks about these two events.
One that took place in 70 AD when Jerusalem fell at the hands of the Romans. Verse 16, for example, he said, Those in Judea, This is the region, by the way. This is kind of the county around Jerusalem. That's the Judea hills. That's Judea.
Escape to the mountain. The second event, verse 21, He talks about the end times, but then. If you read both Jewish and Christian historians About The events of seventy AD. When Jesus precisely In details, predicted what's going to happen 40 years later and how literally it took place, just as our Lord said. The temple was razed to the ground.
The horrifying account of what the Romans have done. And here was a warning. For those in Judea flee to the mountains. He was warning them. Of the severity of what's going to happen 40 years from that moment, and he was warning the disciples.
Why? Because the Romans were determined to destroy the temple. And those in the Judean region were in danger, immediate danger. The amazing thing to me is this. How throughout history, throughout history, Satan wanted to destroy The people of Israel.
Do you know why Satan wanted to do that? Because he knew The through them The seed of the Messiah. is going to come. That's why. See, certain new of the conversation that he had with God.
In the Garden of Eden, In Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. Here's what God said. And I will put an enmity between you and the woman. between your offspring and hers. Listen carefully.
He, that is Jesus, the offspring of the woman. will crush your head. And he did. On the cross. But you, Satan, will strike his heel.
Put him on the cross. Oh. But the tomb is empty. Only touch the heel. Only touch the heel.
Amen? But ever since that encounter, Satan tried again and again and again and again to destroy the redemptive plan of God for mankind. Again and again, he tried to eliminate the Jews before Jesus was born. But even after Jesus was born, lived, died on a cross, rose again, glorified, ascended into heaven, he's now trying to destroy his followers. Verse twenty-one.
Our load then switches. From those days To that day. That day. immediately prior to his return. There will be great tribulation.
such as never occurred before, beginning of time, or even after that. The book of Revelation from chapter 6 to chapter 16, when you see the seals and the trumpets and the bowls of judgment, you find a gradual escalation of judgment. Graduate escalation. Gradual escalation. In Revelation 6, when the sixth seal of judgment is broken, there is a great earthquake and the sun and the moon are darkened.
This is a reference to what our Lord Jesus is saying here in Matthew 24. Thankfully, he's going to shorten the daylight to give his fleeing children a break to protect them. And the cover of darkness, as it were, God will use that darkness for the sake of the elect, using it to hide them from their would-be destroyer. Then comes the most important part, verses 23 to 28. Yeah.
There will be Utter confusion. That's it, Lord, surely. Yeah. Is it going to get worse than this? Is it going to be more confusing than this?
And then comes my wife. And showing me In the British papers. It just devastated me. Four-year-olds. Can change.
And the teachers cannot tell their parents. When I'm crying to God, saying, Can it really get any more confusing, Lord? Verse 23. Then at that time, or during that time, that is, of the end time. When anyone says to you, Behold, He is the Christ, there he is.
Don't believe them. Those who take Jesus' advice. And flee from false teachers and false preachers, those who dwell in the shadow of the Word of God, those who will not fall for the deception of the Antichrist, those who will not bow down and worship Him, even though their own spirits will be vexed when the others do and capitulate, those who will take cover in the shadow of the one true Christ. Those who will turn their backs on earthly securities and acceptance by the culture, those who refuse to accept the mark of the beast, those who hold tenaciously onto biblical truth, those who refuse to go after false miraculous workers, those who refuse to follow preachers of preaching false gospels, they are the ones who are going to be victorious. First twenty-four.
is a verse That truly followed this one that really made me weep. but it needs some explanation. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles and deceive. And here it comes. Here comes If it is even possible If it is even possible.
Possible. That's why I need explanation. I needed to explain it to you. Even if it's possible. Beloved, Satan has never been able to deceive the true Christian believers.
I'm not talking about the hangers on. Or they look like Christians. I'm talking about the true believers. Why? Because Jesus said in John chapter 10: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
and no one can snatch him out of my hand. And this is what we call the eternal security of the believers. Once a person comes to Christ surrendering to him, no one, including Satan himself, will be able to snatch them from his hand. Scripture from cover to cover affirms this. This is not one verse.
True believers will not be destroyed on the day of judgment because our Lord sovereignly protects them. But nonetheless, look at this verse, nonetheless. Protected as they are.
Some Under Satan's verbal assault will get shaken up. Under the severe, terrible turmoil Will have their confidence shaken up.
Some under the duress of false messiahs and false preachers and false teachers. They will be battered and they're going to lose their equilibrium. For some When they see those horrific signs in the heavens. With the world falling apart, stars falling from heaven, sun and moonlights being radically reduced, millions are dying from diseases and starvation, thousands of their contemporaries are in dire straits, They will become emotionally drained. and utterly vulnerable.
to the subdifference. A false Christ. Take heat. Take it. I say that to myself.
Be forewarned. Oh If it wasn't for God's protecting hand. If it's not for God's protecting hand. Look at verse 25 with me. See, I have told you this ahead of time.
isn't just like our Lord. He always It gives us a warning. In other words, Be ready? Be prepared. Don't let those days take you by surprise.
Protect yourself and your family ahead of time.
So you're not surprised. How? Verse 27. For just as the lightning comes from the east and visible even from the west, so Will be the coming of the Son of Man. What does that mean?
Lightning in the east and the west. He is saying the coming Returning of Christ is now going to be stretched over a long period of time. His coming is not going to take days or even hours. His coming is going to be quick and sudden. His coming is going to be loud and public.
Everyone in the world, everyone in the universe is going to see it. They're going to see the glorious, glorious event. It doesn't matter whether you're in Australia or in the Middle East or in America, North America, South America, and Asia. Every eye shall see him. Remember in the book of Acts chapter 1, verse 11, when the disciples who've been with Jesus three years and one-third of a year and see him after they've seen him resurrected, lived with him after the resurrection for 40 days, and then their jaws were dropping to the ground as they saw him going up, and they just literally were speechless.
And the angel said to them, Why are you so surprised? This same Jesus, whom you're seeing taken up from you, is going to come back in like manner. In Revelation 1:7, John's vision said, Behold, he's coming with the clouds. What is this clouds? Is this a cloud that brings rain?
No, clouds in the Bible means people. Clouds means people, those who have gone before us are going to be with Him and they're going to come with Him. These are the clouds the Bible talks about in Hebrews, for example. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. That's what the Bible talks about: cloud, not the cloud that brings rain.
We're talking about the beloved ones who have gone to heaven. They're going to come with him and they're going to come. That cloud are going to be with him, and we're going to meet them in the air. Because the air is the domain of Satan, because he is the prince of the air, and we're going to defeat him when we meet Jesus in the air. Every eye will see him.
And it's going to be quick. And it's going to be fast. It'll be like lightning. We see it in the East, you see it in the West. Everybody's going to see it.
And beloved friends, The book of Revelation says In 6.15 and 16, the kings of the earth and the celebrities The princess. The famous ones. The commanders and the rich and the mighty, the slaves and the free. They will hide in caves among the rocks and the mountains. There will be calling on the mountains and the rocks: Fall on us, hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, from the wrath of the Lamb, and for our British friend, the wrath.
Of the Lamb. It will be seen from every corner of the globe. Don't ask me how. He will make it. Possible.
Verse 28. Whenever you see There is a carcass. There's a vulture Vultures will gather. It's a common proverb at that time. It's even today.
We still talk about it. And we see vultures, we say, there must be a dead. Bird somewhere. What it means, at the end of the great tribulation. The world is going to be laid waste.
Christ. is going to appear. and it's gonna clean house. And then The new Jerusalem is going to come, and Christ will reign and rule in righteousness and in truth. And I can't wait.
Now, how Should we react? How would you react? After that word from the Word of God. I would do two things. First of all, I'll keep my eyes and the eyes of my family.
On the science? of the birth pains. No, I'm not going to put on white robes and head for the mountains. No, no, no. Just keep my eyes on that.
Not get distracted from serving and giving and doing, but keep my eyes on it. And the second thing I'll do is pray for a revival. Pray for revival. Pray for revival. Now, beloved, we live between two worlds.
Scripture makes that very clear. We're in the here and now. We're to serve now faithfully. Do all we can in every waking moment.
So we live between the here and now and yet to come. And they're yet to come. They're yet to come. Is the glorious return of Christ. The next message.
I'll show you how it's going to be sudden, but it's going to be loud. I don't believe in a secret rapture. I think it's going to be so loud. Everybody will see it. Everybody will see it.
Heard in 28 of the world's most spoken and understood languages across six continents. This is Leading the Way Audio. Right now we are living in tumultuous times. Fires, plagues, wars, and division run rampant across the world, leaving both Christians and non-Christians alike asking themselves: is this the end of the world? Dr.
Youssef's book, Is the End Near, chronicles the crucial words that Jesus delivered in Matthew 24 and 25 about what his people should look for as we near his return. Time is getting shorter and the king will return soon. Learn how God has positioned you for such a time as this. Learn how to get your copy of Is the End Near when you visit ltw.org. ltw.org This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr.
Michael Yousaf. passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.
