History’s Most Important Event – Part 1

Hey, podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program.

On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. The fact that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth is one of the best kept secrets in the world. And yet, as you look at Scripture, the constant refrain of both the Old and the New Testament is Christ is coming back again to reclaim this broken world that has been lost. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. For 2000 years, Christians have wondered, when is Jesus coming back?

Well, no one knows the day or the hour, but we can be certain that Jesus Christ will indeed return just as He promised. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress looks at the culmination of the Great Tribulation when Christ finally returns to earth. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory. With so much violence and unrest around the globe, many people are frightened by what the future holds for America and for the world. Well, let me assure you, God already knows what the future holds.

Nothing happens outside of God's plan. In fact, He already told us exactly what we can expect in the coming days. But the storm clouds are gathering, and our prophetic future is unfolding right before our eyes.

We don't know when, but it's clear that the return of Christ is nearer today than it's ever been. Well, nothing will quell your fears any more than deepening your understanding of God's prophetic timeline. And today I'd like to send you a copy of my book that will clear up any confusion you might feel. My book is titled Perfect Ending, Why Your Eternal Future Matters Today. In this 200-page book, I'll help you strengthen your knowledge of biblical prophecy and bolster your resolve to stay true to God's plan. A copy of Perfect Ending is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In addition, when you respond today, I'll also include my book called The End Times Illustrated along with my Bible Prophecy Chart.

David and I will explain more about these three resources later on. But right now it's time to move on to the next event on God's prophetic timeline. Last time we discovered what will take place during the Great Tribulation. And now we'll look at the end of that seven-year period when Christ finally returns to earth.

After these last days in the Tribulation, I'm ready for some relief, aren't you? Well, today we're talking about history's most important event. In 1961, just a few days before President Elect John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as president of our country, he invited evangelist Billy Graham to join him in Key Biscayne, Florida for a few days of relaxation and golf. Now the invitation to Graham surprised people for two reasons. First of all, because of Kennedy's well-known disinterest in spiritual matters.

But also because of his equally well-known dislike of evangelist Billy Graham. Nevertheless, they spent a couple of days together. And one day after they finished playing golf, they were riding back to the hotel. And Kennedy still had his driving privileges. He was driving a white Lincoln with Graham in the front seat. And suddenly President Kennedy pulled the car over to the side of the road. He stopped the engine, he looked at Billy Graham and said, Billy, do you believe Jesus Christ is coming back to earth one day?

Graham said, I certainly do, Mr. President. Then Kennedy asked, why do I hear so little about it today? The fact that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth is one of the best kept secrets in the world. And yet as you look at scripture, the constant refrain of both the Old and the New Testament is Christ is coming back again to reclaim this broken world that has been lost. It is that event, what I call history's most important event, that we have come to in our study of Bible prophecy.

Today we're going to do three things. First of all, we're going to look at the events that precede the coming of Christ. And then we're going to look in Revelation 19 at that second coming of Jesus and how it is far different from the rapture that occurs seven years earlier.

And then finally, we're going to answer the question, so what? What difference does it make if Christ is coming back? If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 16 as we review the events preceding the second coming of Christ. You remember in our study of Bible prophecy, we saw that way back 4,000 years ago in Genesis chapter 12, God began his plan to redeem mankind with a man named Abraham. Remember how God came to Abraham in 2000 B.C.

approximately and said, Abraham, you are going to be the catalyst for my redemption of all mankind. And God made a promise to Abraham that through him and his descendants, all the nations of the world would be blessed. And remember in Psalm 89, the psalmist said, even if Abraham's descendants and David's descendants were unfaithful, God was still going to be faithful to fulfill his promise. It was an unconditional promise that God made to Abraham. Of course, the question is, well, when was that promise going to be fulfilled? That was a question that was especially of interest to the Israelites about 1,500 years later in the 6th century B.C.

when they were exiled in Babylon. They thought, God's finished with Israel. Maybe God's not going to fulfill his promise. Remember the prophet Daniel living in Babylon in exile said, Lord, what are you going to do?

Are you going to fulfill your promise? And in Daniel chapter 9, remember God came to him and he said that there are going to be 490 years in which God will finally fulfill his promise to Israel. And we looked at God's stopwatch and we saw how this 490 years was divided into the first 483 years that have already elapsed. And there are seven final years left on God's stopwatch in which he is going to fulfill that promise that he made to Abraham of the redemption of mankind and the restoration of the world. So right now we're living in that gap between the first coming of Christ, after which God stopped his stopwatch, the 483 years was over. We're living in the gap between then and the events that will lead to the return of Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice on your outline there are three significant events that are taking place during this gap, the interval between the first and the second coming of Christ. First of all is what we call the church age. Remember that chart on Bible prophecy? It's several pages later in your notes.

We've looked at it almost every week. Notice after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, there is a pause called the church age. It is a time when God has temporarily turned away from Israel so that Gentiles like you and I have an opportunity to be saved. It's a time that was talked about in Romans 11 25.

Paul said, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, about this partial hardening that has come to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. The end of the church age will be that event we've talked about, the rapture of the church, when God snatches away the church that is you and I to be with him in glory. And once that occurs, that stopwatch starts for the final seven years of Earth's history. What's going to happen in those final seven years? It's the period of time called the great tribulation. Daniel 9 27 gives us the outline.

It is a week of years, seven years. Antichrist will make a peace treaty with Israel. Halfway through, he will break the peace treaty and turn against Israel, as well as Christians who will be saved during that time. It is a time not only of Antichrist's reign of terror, but it is a time of God's pouring out his judgment upon the world. We've said that there are two purposes of this seven-year period of time called the great tribulation. First of all, for God to pour out his wrath on unbelievers, as he has promised to do. But secondly, to give unbelieving Israel and Gentile believers, unbelievers, the chance to be saved. And remember the last several weeks we said the first three and a half years of this tribulation time will be relatively peaceful. But halfway through it, the Antichrist turns against believers, both Jewish and Gentile. This will also be the time when the bulk of God's judgments against the world will be poured out during this last three and a half years in the form of those seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the bowl judgments.

Now, what is going to be the reaction of the world to these judgments? Have you all heard the maxim before? He who calls the shots takes the shots. And the fact is, if you're in management, you understand that truth. If you're in charge and something goes wrong, people hold you accountable for it.

He who calls the shots takes the shots. But the same thing is going to be true of Antichrist. He's the great world dictator. He has subjugated all the nations of the earth to follow after him. But imagine what these three and a half years are going to be like when there's going to be not only political turmoil and persecution of people, but all of these natural disasters. The world forces are going to start to blame Antichrist for these devastating judgments against the world.

He's going to be seen as weakened in his power. And so the Bible says the forces of the world, the kings of the earth, are going to mount a challenge to Antichrist power. And that challenge is the thing that precipitates this war of Armageddon. Many times we talk about the battle of Armageddon. And there is a climactic battle that we will look at in just a moment. But it is actually a war that characterizes the last three and a half years of the tribulation and goes up and down the length of all of Israel.

But here you've got the world forces. They are tired of the tyranny of the Antichrist, and they are ready to try to topple him. And that's where we've come to in Revelation 16, the battle or the war of Armageddon. Look at Revelation 16 verses 13 and 14. John says, And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, that's the Satan, the power behind the Antichrist, I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast, that's the Antichrist, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, Antichrist's assistant, I saw coming out of their mouths three unclean spirits. Did you realize that just like there is a Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is a satanic trinity, the dragon, that is Satan, the beast, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. John says, I saw coming out of the mouths of the satanic trinity three unclean spirits like frogs, for they are the spirit of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God the Almighty, and so they gathered them together to the place in Hebrew which is called Armageddon. The satanic trinity, Satan, the dragon, the beast, that is Antichrist, the false prophet, they are going to try to lure all the kings of the earth to this one spot in Israel for the great battle. Now you say, why would the Antichrist want to gather together all of his enemies in one place? The answer is so he could destroy them. That's the way you do battle. If your enemies are all dispersed throughout the world, you can't get at them.

You need to bring them all together in one place. I remember years ago hearing Dr. Criswell tell the story about being seated on an airplane next to the chief of staff of the Pentagon one day. And because Dr. Criswell was preaching on the battle of Armageddon, he turned to the chief of staff of the Pentagon and said, do you ever believe there will come a time when there will be no need for foot soldiers, that everything will be done through nuclear warfare? Will there ever be a time when foot soldiers are irrelevant? The chief of staff without hesitating said, absolutely not.

There will always be a need for foot soldiers because soldiers are the way we push our enemy all together in one spot so that we can destroy them even with nuclear warfare. That's exactly what you have going on here. From the Antichrist perspective, he is the one who is enticing all of the world forces to come to this plane of Megiddo so that he can destroy them. That is from his point of view. But from God's point of view, he is the one gathering together in one spot so that he might smite the nations of the earth. Wait a minute, Robert. The text says it is the evil spirits that lure the kings of the earth there, and yet you're saying God leads them there.

Which is it? The answer is both. Many times God even uses demons to accomplish his purpose. Do you remember the story in 1 Kings? How God sent an evil spirit to cause evil King Ahab to mount an attack against the city of Ramoth Gilead. Now who was it that lured Ahab to do it? Well, the direct cause was a demon, but the ultimate cause was God. It reminds me of Luther's comment, even the devil is God's devil.

There is no one or nothing that thwarts God's program. And so from God's point of view, he is luring the enemies of the world together at this spot called Armageddon, or the plane of Megiddo. Many of us have had the chance to be at that plane of Megiddo before. It is the site of some of the most famous battles in all the Old Testament, Baruch and the Canaanites, Gideon and the Midianites. When Napoleon stood over that plane like many of us have done before, when Napoleon looked out over that plane, he said, this is the most natural battlefield in all of the world.

And if you go there, you'll see why that is. It's going to be the place for that climactic battle. Look at Revelation 16 verse 17. While the world forces are gathering themselves together at the plane of Megiddo to mount war against the Antichrist, it is at that point that God releases his judgment, his final judgment against the earth. Look at Revelation 16 verse 17. And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple for the throne, saying, it is done. This is the final bowl judgment, the final of God's judgments against the world. And notice this judgment, this bowl, is poured out not on the earth.

It is poured out in the air. I believe that John is describing what we would call a nuclear explosion, a nuclear exchange, something that happens in the air and has great destructive force. I did some research this week about nuclear weapons.

I hope I don't get in trouble with the NSA tracking my computer for doing it. But I was doing some research about nuclear weapons and exactly how powerful they are. Did you know that a rudimentary nuclear bomb used to be one kiloton? That is 1,000 tons of explosive. That was a rudimentary nuclear bomb. Did you know if that elementary crude device of 1,000 tons of explosive, if the terrorist on 9-11 had used that and detonated it in the middle of midtown New York City, it would have killed most of the residents of Manhattan, of Staten Island and Brooklyn.

It would have leveled the United Nations, the New York Stock Exchange and also all three or four major broadcast networks. That is from one rudimentary bomb, 1,000 tons of explosive, a kiloton. But today, nuclear weapons are much more sophisticated.

They are not one kiloton, they are 100 kilotons. These nuclear weapons that you find on submarines, they are 100 kilotons. That means 100,000 tons of arsenal that have tremendous destructive power. If you take 1,000 present-day nuclear devices and explode them at the same time, do you realize you could destroy the entire world with just 1,000 of those nuclear weapons? How many nuclear weapons do we have today of that potency? Did you know the United States possesses enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 18 times?

And it is reported that Russia has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 29 times. Now, can't you see how some tension, some altercation in the Middle East, perhaps it's Iran attacking Israel and bringing in world forces on both sides, how some skirmish like that could begin an exchange of nuclear weapons? I think that is exactly what John is saying that he saw. He saw this judgment poured out in the air and notice the result of it in verses 18 to 20 of Revelation 16. And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and there was a great earthquake such as there had not been since man came upon the earth. So great an earthquake was it and so mighty, and the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath, and every island fled away and the mountains were not found.

I think that is a nuclear exchange that he is describing here. But regardless of the source of this judgment, this judgment against the entire world is just a prelude to the main event, and that main event is the return of Jesus Christ. Turn over to Revelation chapter 19.

As the world forces are battling at the plain of Megiddo, as the world is trying to recover from this nuclear judgment, suddenly the heavens are going to open, the Bible says. And look at Revelation 19, 11 through 13. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war, and his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems, crowns, and he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself, and he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. As the world forces are doing battles, suddenly they are startled when they see the clouds part and they see the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they see Christ, they see he's not alone, because in addition to the appearance of Christ, notice secondly there is the appearance of the church of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 14. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. Who is that army that is following Christ from heaven to earth? It is you.

It is I. We are the armies that are following with Christ. You say, now pastor, how do you know that? It's very clear from Revelation 19.

Go back up to verse 8 for a moment. John is describing what happens in heaven immediately before the second coming of Christ. You know what's happening in heaven? Right before the second coming of Christ to earth, you and I are getting dressed for it.

We're getting ready for the event. The reason we're getting dressed for it is as soon as Christ comes to earth and he judges unbelievers and dispatches them to hell, the first thing that happens in the millennial kingdom that we'll talk about next week is a great wedding feast. It's called the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is gonna be a celebration that you and I are going to join in when we, the bride of Christ, are joined together with Jesus Christ. And so in Revelation 19, verse 8, it says we're gonna be in heaven getting ready for this great supper that is to take place.

Look at verse 8. It was given to her, that is the church, to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Now, I've been doing weddings for 35 years, and I've seen some very unusual get-ups that people have worn to weddings before. You know, occasionally, somebody will wear blue jeans and a T-shirt, but that's not the usual dress.

Most people still dress in their finest for a wedding. The Bible says in heaven, before we, the bride of Christ, return with Christ to reign over the world, we're gonna get dressed for that occasion. The Bible says we're gonna dress in our finest clothes.

Now, he's not talking about Chanel dresses or Brioni suits. He's talking about what he says very clearly in verse 8. Our linen, our clothing are our righteous acts. That's what we will be putting on for the wedding supper of the Lamb.

And what a glorious day that will be when we put on our finest clothes to attend the wedding supper of the Lamb. Well, we have so much more to talk about regarding the second coming of Christ, and we'll do that on Monday's broadcast. But just before I turn the microphone back over today, let me remind you that today, you're invited to request your copy of my bestselling book, Perfect Ending, Why Your Eternal Future Matters Today. Topics related to the end times and the materials we produce about the end times are among the most popular on our Pathway to Victory broadcast.

People are searching for answers, presented in a way that they can easily understand. God has provided those answers in Scripture, and I want to help you understand what the end times look like and how it should impact your life today. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make sure a copy of my book is sent to you right away.

Again, it's called Perfect Ending. That's not all, because I'm going to include another favorite. It's The End Times Illustrated, and this book gives you a visual representation of the end times from start to finish so that you can see with your own eyes the chronology of God's plan. Plus, I'm going to include a conveniently printed Bible prophecy chart that you can tuck into your Bible for easy reference.

Please don't let this occasion pass without equipping your library with these helpful resources. And thank you for giving generously to Pathway to Victory. Together, God is using our collective resources to push back the forces of evil and to bring men and women into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. As we come into the weekend, don't forget you can see Pathway to Victory on television. On Saturdays, we're on TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, at noon Eastern.

And on Sundays, we're on hundreds of stations, including TBN at 10 a.m. Eastern and Daystar at 6 p.m. Eastern. David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. As a gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of Dr. Jeffress' best-selling book called Perfect Ending, along with The End Times Illustrated. Plus, as an added bonus, we'll also send you the highly requested Bible prophecy chart. To make your request, call 866-999-2965. Or even easier, just visit our website, ptv.org.

Now, when you give $75 or more, you'll receive the complete, unabridged, perfect-ending teaching series on CD and DVD. To request the complete package of resources, call 866-999-2965, or go to ptv.org. Now, if you'd like to write to us, jot down this mailing address, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. One more time, that's P.O.

Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, wishing you a great weekend. Then join us Monday when our series called Perfect Ending continues, right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate, or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.