Revealing Revelation: All Things New

Are you looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth? Chapter 21 and Chapter 22, Back to the Drawing Board. Ladies and gentlemen, recognizing that the old heaven and earth was defiled beyond being solvable, God goes back to the drawing board, and He designs and then creates a new heaven, new earth, and a new Jerusalem. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell, Radio for the Remnant. Brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries. Today, Jan visits with ministry partner, Amir Tsarfati. Everything that has a beginning also has an ending, and it's all outlined in the Bible.

Jan and Amir talk about that this hour. We live in very challenging times. Chaos, pandemics, natural disasters, political intrigue.

It looks like the world has lost control. It looks like there's no hope, yet we know that for the believers, there's always hope. And God throughout Scriptures always, always emphasized the hope that we have in Him and His plans for us. Yet at the same time, God always gave us an accurate description of what is going to happen to our world that is in a state of disbelief. The most important source of information to understand what is going on in our life and what is going on in this world is the Word of God. And in the Word of God, the most important book that describes today's situation and the very near future, the one that encompasses all the future of the believers and the future of this world, is the book of Revelation. The revelation of Jesus Christ, the living Messiah that revealed Himself to a living apostle on a far remote Greek island called Patmos, right by the shores of the Mediterranean, giving Him a living message that rings in the ears of every living creature ever since. It's a message about life and it's a message about choice and it's a message about the destiny of this world. This is a book that is often misunderstood, ignored or abused. And this is exactly why I want to invite you to a journey throughout the 22 chapters of the book of Revelation to help you get a better understanding, not only an understanding of where we are today, but more so of where this world is going to.

A book that will give you the understanding of how important it is to make your decision today in order to avoid being part of the catastrophes that are going to befall this world. Join me in the journey of revealing Revelation. And I'm so glad you could join me for today's programming. I think you know with that introduction what we're going to talk about this hour. I'm going to be bringing a mirror on momentarily because we do carry his new book and study guide revealing Revelation, how God's plans for the future can change your life now.

And he said so much in that two minute clip that I don't need to repeat other than, yeah, the churches are marginalizing and compromising and even allegorizing this subject matter. And that's why it's so important that you hear the truth about the book of Revelation. So when this book and workbook came out, I was very enthused about it. Now I've read the book cover to cover Amir Sarfati. He is actually a tour guide in Israel. And what he's done is he's become a tour guide through the book of Revelation in the product that we're talking about. Amir points out that Revelation is not so much about the tribulation or Israel or the rapture of the church, but about Jesus Christ from beginning to end.

And ultimately it outlines our glorious future. We have worked together since about 2015 and he was at my annual conference for five years. We have ministered together at other venues as well since then. He resides near Tiberius, Israel, and we carry a number of his other books.

And I'm going to mention those as we get into the programming. So Amir, welcome back to Understanding the Times Radio. AMIR SARFIATI Thank you, Jan.

It's such an honor to be here on your program. Yeah, I'm literally a stone throwing distance from the Valley of Armageddon. JAN MARKELL Yes, I saw a recent update where you can see it in the background. Let me say this, the narration about the tribulation takes up much of the book of Revelation. But there is really a very specific purpose for this time period. It has to do with Israel.

Why don't you explain that? AMIR SARFIATI Yes, a lot of people tend to forget that God is not done with Israel. He's not through with Israel. Israel has a purpose and has a plan that God outlined in the Book of the Prophets. This is what Isaiah was talking about. It was Jeremiah, it was Ezekiel, and Zechariah, and others. Throughout the Book of Revelation, we can finally understand the plan of God for Israel that was already written throughout the prophets. Everything that has to do with the tribulation through the physical return of Christ and the reign of Christ for 1,000 years from Jerusalem. None of this is news to the ones that studied carefully the Old Testament.

We have to make it very clear. The church is gone, the tribulation will begin, and God is trying to get the attention of the nation of Israel. They choose their own things. They follow their own ways and plans, but God is trying to get their attention as He always had. So He's sending two witnesses. He's sending 144,000 witnesses from all the Jewish tribes, from all the tribes of Israel.

And at the same time, He also sends an angel that proclaims the everlasting gospel. All of that is happening while the very anti-Christ, pro-Satanic world is in the climax of its activity. Israel is there not by itself on a different planet. Israel as a nation is in a falling, deteriorating world all around it. And God, during the time that God is dealing with this very unbelieving and fallen and sinful world, God is also trying to get the attention of Israel. This is why those two witnesses are sent to Jerusalem. This is why those 144,000 are from the 12 tribes of Israel. And this is why eventually the return of Christ will be to Jerusalem.

The reign of Christ for 1,000 years will be in Jerusalem and even the new heaven and new earth described as the new Jerusalem. Yes, now I want to clarify to the audience that these are 144,000 Jewish witnesses. They're not Gentile evangelists, folks.

They're Jewish witnesses. Revelation, eschatology, end times, it's so wrapped around Israel and the Jewish people, which much of the church is missing. But Amir, this brings an end to the times of the Gentiles, which began under Nebuchadnezzar.

I want to read a paragraph from the book here. You say this, the tribulation will punish mankind for sin. And you say, how often have you heard someone ask, why did God allow that to happen? Or why doesn't he do something about man's inhumanity to man?

Well, here's your answer. He's going to do something about it. For now, he continues to patiently wait for mankind to respond to him. But as time goes on, there is more and more rejection of God and more hatred expressed towards one another. And then you say, the time is coming when God will say enough. Then he will pour out on this planet the judgments of the seals and the trumpets and the bulls that are found in Revelation.

These judgments will be just rewards for the rebellion and sympathy that this world has leveled against its creator. So as you say, something happens, however, to the church between chapters 3 and 4 of Revelation. The word church occurs 19 times in chapters 1 through 3 and then not again until chapter 22.

Where do we go, Amir? That's exactly the point. This whole time period is never meant to be for the church, not with the church. The church is gone because the church has been raptured. And we're at the presence of God in that throne room of God.

And one of the things I talked about a lot is the throne room, is the things that exist up in heaven rather than down on earth. We're gone. That's why we're not mentioned. This is why there is a need for two witnesses. This is why there's a need for 144,000. This is why there's a need for the angel to proclaim the everlasting gospel. Because the only task the church has today is to share the gospel, is ministries to proclaim the gospel. And when we're gone, that is now a job that someone else needs to do.

This is exactly why I believe we have those things. It's important that we understand that God is not willing that any should perish. This is what 2 Peter chapter 3 is saying. The heart of God is for all people to be saved, but mankind by their own choice are marching towards such an evil future. Look what's going on in America right now.

God forbid there will be some changes in the abortion law that now they're talking about being able to even abort after the baby is born. There is no limit to the evil of man, as we can see, and it's only gonna get worse and worse. Remember, God allowed the nation of Israel into the land of Israel. And you read it very well in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 7, 8 and 9. And God said to the nation of Israel, I did not bring you in because of your great heart and works.

But it's for two things. One, for all the promises I gave to your forefathers. And two, because of the evil that these nations in this land have been practicing. You can clearly see God is not going to put up with such evil. He is going to put an end to it, and we're going to see it. Now Israel is gonna be trapped in a world full of evil and with a very important choice to make. Will we follow the one that Satan sent to rule the world? Or will we follow the very simple rule that man cannot be God?

That's it. I mean, we cannot worship that guy as a god in the temple of God. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio, Jan Markell.

I have on the line from Tiberius, Israel, Amir Tsarfati, beholdisrael.org, beholdisrael.org. And we're carrying his new book and study guide, Revealing Revelation. And I'm so enthused about this book.

And Amir, let's have a clarification here on something. And that is you and I are really adamant that we must not allegorize this book. Frankly, don't allegorize anything in the Bible other than the trees of the field.

If they're clapping their hands, that's fine. We can allegorize, but not the Book of Revelation. And yet as we are speaking, many, many listeners are in churches that are allegorizing.

In other words, they're not taking it literally. And this is just a tragedy. It is a tragedy, and this is exactly what Satan wants.

Satan wants the Church of Jesus not to be ready. Remember what Jesus on the road to Emmaus, what he did to his own disciples. He rebuked them. And he said, O foolish ones and slow of heart, to believe that which the prophets have said. He said, look, when the prophets said that Messiah had to die, when the prophets said that he has to die for the sins of the world, when the prophets said that he has to resurrect on the third day, why didn't you take it seriously? Why didn't you believe that?

And that's why you don't understand why I had to go through all of that. When we don't take Bible prophecy and the Book of Revelation, the way it's being introduced to us is the word of prophecy. Blessed is the one who is hearing or reading that word of prophecy. When we don't take prophecy seriously and we start allegorizing and changing things and generalizing things, we miss out what God has for a plan for us as individuals and for the whole world. And this is exactly why two disciples of Jesus could walk all the way away from Jerusalem on the day they heard that he is alive and they were sad.

You see, look how pathetic it is to be sad when you know that he's no longer in the tomb, that he is actually alive. Amir, you and I frequently remind folks as we watch natural disasters today, they're heartbreaking to say the least, but they pale in comparison to the judgments that are coming in the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls of Revelation. I'm actually not going to dwell extensively on the seals, bowls, and revelations in our discussion only because I have in some recent previous program, but I'm going back to your book for a moment and I want to read another paragraph on the seals, bowls, et cetera. And you say this, how will the people on earth react to this devastation, meaning the seals, bowls, et cetera, folks? As is so often the case, rather than running to God, they will run away from him. And then you say many people will recognize the cause of the calamity. They will understand that they are experiencing physical judgments because of their spiritual sin. But rather than saying, God, we have sinned, forgive us, we repent and will follow you, they will try to hide from the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful judge. What would have happened if instead they had thrown themselves on the mercy of God? The point is here, Amir, they're seeing all these horrific, incredible events going on and most of them are going to curse God and many, many more will just keep running away from him.

In other words, not turn to him. Now this is a stunning commentary on mankind and a hardened heart. You're right, and that's why in 2 Thessalonians 2 it says, those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusions that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So we're watching a world that is not only not believing the truth and consciously believing the lie, but it's taking pleasure in unrighteousness.

And when I read Revelation, especially in Chapter 16, when I read how they blaspheme God, they know that He is the one that can stop these plagues and yet they did not repent and give Him glory but they blasphemed His name. That tells you the depth of deception and brainwash that the world is going to go through under the Antichrist and of course Satan himself. It's something that's scary unless you choose Jesus today. There's a good chance you'll be brainwashed.

There's a good chance you'll be completely reprogrammed in the way you think, not to mention how the world is now encouraging more and more drug use and more and more acceptance to drugs. And before you know it, you'll make some decisions that are far away from rational and logical ones and you'll believe the lie and reject the truth that might save you. This is very tragic, but we all can see it happening today. I mean, I'm asking how can a mother take pleasure in killing a baby inside of her? How can scientists be so excited about bacteria in one of the planets outside of planet Earth? They can be having big headlines.

We found signs of life just for one bacteria when they have heartbeat of the baby, feet and hands and nose and eyes, and they don't call it a living creature. We're watching stuff happening and you're saying to yourself they not only don't believe the truth, but they actually take pleasure in unrighteousness. We carry some of Amir's other books. Let me just reference them and you can find the one we're talking about in my online store, OliveTreeViews.org, OliveTreeViews.org. This is a revealing revelation. And Dr. Mark Hitchcock says on the front cover, Amir makes revelation come alive like never before.

And I would agree with that. The other books that we carry, Israel and the Church with a study guide. We carry The Day Approaching with a study guide and we carry The Last Hour.

So those are the four books of Amir Sarfati that we carry. Amir, I'm just jumping ahead a little bit because I feel that it's important that we clarify something. And that is the subject of Babylon. And there's so much confusion out there. And I hear from people and they say, Jan, don't you know America is Babylon? And then others and some scholars say, don't you know Babylon is the literal city in Iraq that's going to be rebuilt? We know it's a religious and an economic system. It's the second most referenced city in the Bible.

And that's why I want to talk about it right now. I want your perspective on Babylon and you talk about it in the book here. And others talk about Mystery Babylon. Give me your perspective based on what you've written here. Mystery Babylon tells you already that it cannot be the original one or else why would it be mystery?

The original one doesn't have a coastline for someone to see the merchants in the sea. And quite frankly, when you read the description of Revelation regarding that, you can clearly see that it has to be a financial, religious and political system that is headquartered somewhere. I've always believed that Western Europe is where the Antichrist is going to rise. Even by the way, Peter, if I'm not mistaken, referred to Rome as Babylon in the New Testament.

I believe that it's not America. For America to be Babylon, that means that America is still a superpower which doesn't really correspond with Ezekiel 38. Let's face it, if Ezekiel 38 happens when America is no longer there to stand by Israel for Israel with Israel and America is just like one of all the rest of the protests, that's it, if it's even there. Then we know Ezekiel has to usher the rise of the Antichrist. It's not a war in the middle of the tribulation, certainly not at the end of the tribulation.

And therefore, I can clearly see that if it's not the original which doesn't fit the description and it's not America which doesn't fit the timeline, I can clearly see how from the ancient Roman Empire will rise the new Roman Empire and from that part comes the political, financial, but mostly also the religious system. And it's tempting for folks to speculate on apocalyptic characters. Who might the false prophet be? Who might the Antichrist be?

And names have been thrown out here in the last few years. Well, the Antichrist, well, that's Emmanuel Macron or it's Barack Obama. Now it's Volodymyr Zelensky because Zelensky grows out of obscurity and many say that the Antichrist, he's the little horn, so he probably comes out of obscurity. And I think you would agree that we need to be careful when it comes to pinning the tail on the various apocalyptic players.

I believe so. I believe it's very dangerous path for a believer to even try to guess who the Antichrist is. Certainly because scripturally, if you go to 2 Thessalonians, we actually know as Paul said in Chapter 2 verse 5, Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things and now you know that what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed, which means we have to be out of here.

The Holy Spirit in us, in the church, that very unique presence of the Holy Spirit that has never been in a history in any group of people beside the church, we are the restraining power of the Holy Spirit in us. And when we are taken out of the way, that's when the lawless one will be revealed. If we think we know who he is, that means that either we have been left behind or we want to change the order in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2, which we can. I would say, as you always say, let's not worry about the Antichrist. Let's look forward to Jesus Christ.

I think what I'd like to go is I'm going to go backwards just for a little bit. We're going back to the opening part of Revelation and that's where John is talking about the churches. Before Jesus Christ takes the church, he wants to address the church in the first few chapters of Revelation and not all of those churches are very pleasing to him.

There's Ephesus, there's Smyrna, there's Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. But here's the verse I'm settling on. Let's talk about it for a moment because he's addressing the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3.10 and there he says, Because you have kept my word of endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. In other words, Amir, I believe that's evidence there of Jesus Christ removing the church from.

Well, what's the trial that's about to come on the whole world? The seals, the bowls, et cetera, the tribulation. He removed the true church. He removes true believers based on Revelation 3.10. Your thoughts? I believe the word is from, not through.

Thank you. And that is exactly why this is one of the main Scriptures to support the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. It's very important that we make mention of that. It also corresponds with 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1.

At the very end, it says the following thing. Wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. Again, the word is from, not through the coming wrath. But in other versions, it's from the wrath to come.

We are not here to experience that wrath. And by the way, Daniel in Chapter 8 makes it very clear that everything is called wrath. The latter part of the indignation, indignation in Hebrew is the word wrath.

It's called zaam. There is part of the events that will happen in the former part and events that will happen in the latter part. But all of it is the indignation. All of it is the wrath of God. Again, He will rescue us from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1, Verse 10, and of course, Revelation Chapter 3 when we talk about the Church of Philadelphia.

And of course, let's be honest. Every time Jesus, when He revealed to Paul about the rapture, both in 1 Corinthians 15 and then in 1 Thessalonians 4, the rapture that Paul is describing has absolutely no connection to a great tribulation. You would think that when he talks about the rapture, if the rapture happens in the middle or at the end, it will mention it.

Obviously, this is the worst disaster this world will ever go through in history. But yet both 1 Corinthians 15 speaking about the new body that we will get as we're being taken and 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 talks about encouraging one another with these words completely unrelated to a great tribulation. We've got two topics yet, actually three that are stunning. And one would be the millennium. What is this millennium? Is it a literal 1000 years?

Well, the Bible says it's 1000 years. What is this new heavens and new earth? What we're talking about this hour, it's all in this new book revealing Revelation that we have. You can give my office a call, too, if you'd like to get a hold of the book.

I strongly recommend it. And if time allows, I want to ask Amir his perspective of is there some prophetic significance to what's going on in Ukraine? Or is this just another war and rumor of war?

Frankly, I don't think so. I think it has deeper meaning. Also, you have an interesting video posted online, Amir, a discussion with your daughter in Israel about the topic we're covering this hour. And Mayan is speaking, I think, on behalf of the younger generation.

Let's play that short clip. Abba, why do you think the Book of Revelation is relevant to my generation? Well, it's a very good question, Mayan, and I think that I can ask the same thing about my generation. And I think my parents' generation could ask the same thing because this is the revelation of Jesus Christ that was given to the Apostle John in the island of Patmos 2000 years ago. Yet the Bible is not with a time stamp. And when the Lord said, blessed is he who reads and hears the word of that prophecy, it is not limited to a specific generation. In other words, every generation, every living creature that will ever read and hear that book and keep the words of that prophecy will be blessed.

There is a blessing that is promised to it. But I understand that it's not an easy book. It's a very difficult book to read, you must understand. I agree with you, and this is exactly why I felt the need to write Revealing Revelation. Revealing Revelation is a journey that I take you as a tour guide.

That's what I did for many, many years. People come from all over the world to Israel and they don't know the history, the geography, the topography. They don't know how we connect the land to the people today, to the history and to the Bible.

And this is why they needed a tour guide. And that's exactly the purpose of Revealing Revelation. This is a guided tour through the 22 chapters of a difficult book to understand. Yet a super important one that God wants everyone to read, hear and do the words of that prophecy. Have you read the Book of Revelation?

Yes, of course I read the Book of Revelation. Just not one thing that is easy to understand in that book. Well, I agree with you that this is not an easy book to understand.

But this is exactly why it is misunderstood, abused, overused or ignored completely. And that is exactly why I believe a book like Revealing Revelation is so important. I truly believe we live in the very end times. This book is all about the end times.

There is no more relevant book than Revelation to the time and season in which we live today. And especially for people of your age, a generation that is so digitally oriented. It's important to get back to Scripture in order to gain an understanding of what really is going on in this world today. You know, social media gives you a false picture of this world. The Internet gives you a false picture of this world. The Bible gives you a mirror of this world.

Not just a mirror of what the world looks like today, but more so of what is going to happen. And so far the Bible has a track record of 100% reliability, accuracy and authenticity. And so I trust the Bible, I study the Bible and I want to convey that understanding to those people who find it hard to understand. This is why Revealing Revelation was written. Just a couple of quick announcements here. We are having a special Understanding the Times evening in just a few weeks.

On June the 9th with both Dr. Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley who have written a new book on the reset and how that is ushering in the Antichrist agenda. If you're coming on out to the church, doors open at 6 and that's Revived Church. Some of you remember it as Brooklyn Park Evangelical Free. Only the name has been changed.

And that's 7849 West Broadway, Brooklyn Park, Northwest suburb of Minneapolis. No cost, just first come first serve. All the panel discussion, we'll have Q&A, you can submit questions online. So that will be happening on Thursday, June 9th here in the Twin Cities area, but available to the world by accessing markhenryministries.com. markhenryministries.com to live stream all these events.

And then we post it electronically. My website, Mark Henry Ministries website, you can watch it at your leisure. And also Amir is going to be doing a tour in Canada beginning on May 22nd. Here are the cities, be May 22nd through 30th and I want you to go to beholdisrael.org for details.

Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, for sure those three cities Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver May 22nd through May 30th. And I highly encourage if you want to be encouraged, turn out to one of these meetings. I've had Amir at five of my conferences and I can tell you, well, he electrifies the audience. I don't say that in a sensational way.

Please, you know me better than that. It's just that folks are so hungry for true Bible teaching. Plus, they are hungry for more information on how does it all end and when does it all end?

Well, we can't give you that date. We don't know, but you can look at things around you and you can clearly see things are winding down. And Amir, coming back to you here, I just said that we have so many listeners right now who are, I know what they're thinking. They're thinking, why doesn't my church talk about this? Give us your thoughts on that because it's a heartbreak.

It's the most frequent email to this ministry, Olive Tree Ministries. Give me your take on it. By the way, that's exactly why we wrote that book because there is a common thread throughout the whole Christian world.

The Book of Revelation is either to be ignored or to be taken as an allegory. It's hard for them to accept things as they are. It's too hard for them to understand that the events that are described in that book are truly going to happen. It's too bizarre. It's too weird. It's too catastrophic.

It's too harsh. Well, I'm asking what's more bizarre than a flood that is covering the whole world? What's more harsh than a flood that is covering the whole world? And they have no problem with that flood, the time of Noah. So I'm saying to myself, God said He will no longer send a flood, but look what is going to happen.

This is going to be the biggest catastrophe this planet has ever seen. And the reason why people run away from it is because they want to believe in the good, happy end of the story. So it doesn't really correspond with the narrative of be good, feel good, do good and all will be good.

It doesn't correspond with the narrative of Kingdom Now. We are preparing the place for Christ to return here rather than we are going out of here. So He will judge the whole world while we're gone. I also believe that there is a side in some Christians that is very religious.

They want to know that they suffered enough in order to justify the grace and mercies and salvation and eternal life that they will have. It's very bizarre. It's almost like they want to stay here. When you tell them that there is a way to escape, it's called escapism. It's like you're an escapist. Well, I'm proud of being an escapist. Wouldn't you want to escape a disaster? Absolutely.

When you see a big ship drowning, wouldn't you want to be on the first rescue boat out and escape that? Well, obviously, and thankfully, we have many examples in the Scriptures of how God removes the righteous before He pours the judgment on the unrighteous. And look, the enemy is working very, very hard on blinding the people of God. He doesn't need to work hard on the non-believers.

They will never look at this book anyway. They actually take the word apocalypse, they take the word tribulation, Armageddon, and they put it in some other worldly things because they don't put anything in the right context. But the mission of the enemy is actually to confuse the people of God. And the best way to do it is not to attack them from the outside. 1 Peter is outside, 2 Peter is inside, is to bring false teachers from the inside that will tell you how it's allegorized, how it's all not exactly literal.

And you know what? I remember when Israel was born in 1948, that was a big problem for all those people who allegorized everything. And from that point on, they had to start question everything else because if God after 2000 years brought His people back to their land exactly according to His plan, then apparently the church is not Israel. God still has a plan for Israel. And that is why I say let's stick to the Bible and let's take it literally.

And Israel for me is the best example of why we should do so. I think the biggest theological change in my lifetime, Amir, and my audience, and Amir just referenced it, is this Dominion theology, Kingdom Now theology, because it takes the emphasis of the latter days off of Israel. It puts it right back on the church, even though the church isn't even here for the book of Revelation except a couple of opening chapters, three chapters.

So it puts all the emphasis on the church and the church is going to be glorious and the church is going to restore the earth. Don't buy into that, okay? Don't believe it.

It's false theology. Can I be any more blunt? Say if you want to keep up with Amir Sarfati, my guest for the hour, do so on his Telegram channel. There he's posting videos and other articles and various items of interest daily. If you'd like to keep up with Olive Tree Ministries, we are on Telegram, Facebook, Gab, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube.

Now what I'd like to do, Amir, is transition a little bit here, and I think to do that I want to play a one-minute clip. It happens to be Dr. David Jeremiah and then come back, and this is transitioning us into, well, an intriguing and even a glorious time known as the Millennium. The Bible says that you and I, who are Christians, are going to be a part of the government.

That's really true. All of us who are believers, remember, we go up in the rapture if we're living during this period of time. We're taken up to heaven in the rapture. We're in heaven for about seven years while the tribulation is happening down here up in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb and the judgment seat of Christ for believers.

All of that takes place up there. But when Christ comes back at the Battle of Armageddon and he defeats the armies of the world that have come against him, the Bible says we come with him. And when we come with him, when the battle's over, we stay here with him, and we rule and reign with him throughout the whole world. The Bible says, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years, Revelation chapter 20. And you say, well, Pastor Jeremiah, what am I going to get to do?

I don't know. There seems to be in the Scripture some relationship between one's faithfulness here in this time and what administration they're going to be given in that time. So if you want a good job in the millennium, you better start taking care of business because the Bible says he's going to reward us on the basis of our faithfulness to him.

Amir Tsarfati, why a millennium? How about if we just were in heaven for seven years? Let's say there, no, we're going to come back to a very bruised earth.

Why do you think that's the case? When I was studying for the message I prepared on the Millennial Kingdom, I was actually asking myself the same question. Why could you not leave me in heaven and send me back to the same earth I gladly left? But then I realized one thing. First of all, we may not even feel the thousand years as thousand years because we will be in a different body that is like Christ. So for God, a thousand years is like one day, one day is like a thousand years.

So unlike those who do not have a glorified body, we may not have this concept of time the same way. However, what is more important is this. Towards the end of the thousand years Millennial Kingdom, after Jesus Christ himself physically, not just by name, not by spirit, physically He will sit and reign from Jerusalem and people will come to worship Him in Jerusalem from all over the world. After 1000 years of seeing a world that is as close as it can be to the situation in Eden before the flood, after all of that, when Satan will be released from his bottomless pit for a short time, the Bible describes one more, a multitude of so many people that will join Him in His war against the saints. And the point is this, God will show us that the next thing that is coming, the Great White Throne, that final judgment that will send people to the second death, which is the ultimate one, is going to be a very just reward to those people. He's giving us another 1000 years with Jesus in a better world. And yet if that's not enough, by the way, without Satan. Satan is locked up for those 1000 years, him and his demons.

And yet people are people with their hearts, with their desires. And so when the moment comes and the final judgment comes, I think it will be easier for all of us to see how just God is in the way He is judging the unbelievers. Additionally, Amir, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of promises to Israel in the Old Testament and therefore the Millennial Kingdom. And so the Millennium during that time, all these promises to Israel will be kept very literally. Absolutely, this is the time when Israel will be back at the head of all nations. Jerusalem will be the center of attention of the whole world. This is when we know that the times of the Gentiles are over. This is when things are being restored back to Israel. And yet everyone needs to eventually put his trust in the Messiah, not in anything else.

So I agree with you. As far as Israel is concerned, the Millennial Kingdom is God's way to restore things the way they were before. But again, we do have this very unpleasant portion in Chapter 20 of Revelation that describes what's going to happen the minute Satan is released again. The Bible says he's out there to deceive the nations once again. That's what he does.

That's his expertise, and he will do it again. And they will fall into that deception and follow him to their death. And so it's very tragic to end up such a beautiful... Yes, yes. But again, it shows you that eventually God will always judge people in a just way.

That's why the Bible talks about Jesus as the just judge. If you just join me, you're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell.

I have on the line from near Tiberius, Israel, Amir Sarfati. Many of you have been to some of his conferences, including five of mine here in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area starting in 2015. But he has a new book, and our conversation is centered on the book, Revealing Revelation, How God's Plans for the Future Can Change Your Life Now. It has an accompanying workbook.

You don't have to get the workbook if you don't want it. A study guide. Both are in my store, OliveTreeViews.org. OliveTreeViews.org.

Give my office a call. And I think, Amir, your book might be in Target and a few places like that. Yeah, apart from Amazon where we've seen unbelievable presale.

There's Target, Brick and Mortar Store, and also Walmart in a couple weeks, even Hobby Lobby. Oh, wonderful. Let's move quickly because our time is winding down into Revelation 21 and 22, which talks about, and this is tough to wrap your brain around, folks, the new heavens and the new earth. And Amir says in the book, God spares us the details of the demolition of the original heaven and earth, but he unveils a new heavens and a new earth.

That would be Revelation 21, verses 1 and 2. And so much superior in quality to the old. You know, Amir, superior quality to the old heaven. The old earth, I understand, but even the heaven will be greater because all that sin from the devil and when he rebelled, all of that's gone, thankfully.

Yes, and thankfully, the New Jerusalem will come down. And it's a city descending from the sky, but it's massive. This is not a normal city. We're not talking about London or Los Angeles.

We're talking about a territory that is wider than Europe, from London to Kiev, basically. It's huge, and it's adorned in such a beautiful way. It's like the most perfect of gemstones that are on the walls and its foundations and gates and streets. And it's like a bride that is coming down, and it's amazing. Look, when the Bible says no ear has heard, no eye has seen, it doesn't come on anybody's heart, the goodness that God has prepared for His people. This is what it's about. There is nowhere in this world even something close to the beauty of this New Jerusalem. Look, I generalize, but the saying is that woman's best friend is the diamond, okay? That's what they say. It's a joke, I guess, but I can tell you this.

Women will be very happy. John didn't have enough words to describe the beauty of this Jerusalem. Just like the prophets, when they tried to describe a war in conventional weapon that we have today in modern days, there were no words in their days to describe what can be described in modern languages today.

But 2000 years ago, I guess even today, there are no words that can ever describe such beauty, such elegance, such going to the details. Look, the walls and the gates there are not because people need to be protected. The walls and the gates are just to tell you how much God is holding you and protecting you forever and ever. Even that, normally these are the least beautiful places, gates and walls.

You invest in your mansion, but not in the walls and the gates. But even the walls and the gates and the foundations are all with unbelievable perfect gemstones and all of that. Look, I am extremely excited about our future. Not only that we're gonna get a new body, thankfully, not only that we're gonna be out of here before the tribulation, not only that we will be in the beautiful throne room in the Christ's judgment seat and receiving our rewards and having the marriage supper, but also after 1000 years with Jesus, how can anything wrong happen to us when we're with the Lord? After that, to know that we will spend eternity in such a place. Everybody, when they enter into a hotel, they want to run and upgrade their room. And when the hotel manager tells them, look, I upgraded you to the suite or the presidential suite, they are so excited and they feel so blessed. Think about it. God is upgrading us to the godly suite.

It's not a presidential suite. It's the suite of God. We cannot even fathom the amazing things that we're going to go through. Folks, I know some of you, because I hear from you, you're going through such difficult times right now, be it broken relationships, illness, children that have gone astray in your life and your heart broken.

I want you to be encouraged because this is our future. This is what we're talking about. This is the glory of what awaits the believer.

Those who have named Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is what awaits you. That's why we're talking about it. That's why I'm so excited about revealing revelation, because yes, there are going to be some terrible things taking place on the earth. If you're a believer, you're not going to experience these bowls and vials and trumpets and the seals, etc. You escape all that, and only some glorious, glorious times await you. I want you to be encouraged by all that. It's not all doom and gloom, and a lot of people, including some pastors, will tell you, oh, revelation is all gloom and doom. It's all darkness. No, it isn't, folks. No, it isn't. Did you hear what Amir just said? My goodness. That's just total incredible future.

For those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and that is the key. Amir, I want to transition here for just a moment, and let's spend an extra five minutes or even more if necessary. We have the time. I want to look at Ukraine, and as we speak, we have watched, I think it's almost three months of horror in a nation that was minding their own business, and all of a sudden it was invaded in the most brutal way. It's almost, Amir, like looking at 1942 again, and here it's 2022. Give me your perspective on what's going on in Ukraine, and the only real relevance to the believers might be how it applies to Bible prophecy, but give us your perspective. I'll say two things about the Ukraine. First of all, there's false and misinformation and disinformation from both sides. Everyone wants to show that they have the upper hand, but we have to remember that eventually the bottom line is two-thirds of the Ukrainian main cities are damaged severely.

Some of them are completely leveled almost to the ground. We also need to remember that Russia is going to achieve the goal of creating those republics on the Donbas area, creating a land bridge from them to Crimea. And the new thing now that Russia is doing, and this is the second phase of their operation, is taking over and controlling the coastline of Ukraine so it will disconnect Ukraine from the Black Sea. Thus, you will paralyze their economy, and it is happening. And look what I just said, paralyze their economy. There is a lot to do with economy. It's a lot to do with trade, with financial. If Russia has no problem doing that to its own blood, let's face it, the Russian Empire started in the Ukraine, in Kiev. These people share genes, they share blood.

They all look almost the same. I mean, even in the Ukraine, the language that was mostly spoken until 10 years ago was Russian. And yet, if the Russians have no problem doing that to people like their brothers and sisters, how much more they will have no problem doing that? That same financial war, that same war to take spoils and booty and to plunder, all of that that Ezekiel described that is going to happen to Israel, we're seeing an introduction to it.

It's like, look and see how it can happen and how the world will only protest. But have you seen any fighter jet coming against Russia? Have you seen any foreign tank rolling into Ukraine to fight the Russians? Have you seen any submarine firing at Russia? No, they left the Ukrainians to do the fighting and they're protesting and sanctioning only from the outside. And by the way, the ruble is back to the same level before the war, which tells me that Russia is not deterred and it's not as bad as people think it is. And if Russia will feel that it will serve its interests for financial reasons to come now and do the same to Israel, it will have no problem doing that.

So you're really referring here to the Gog Magog passage of Ezekiel 38-39. Absolutely. I think that we all agree that there has to be a hook in the jaw. There has to be a reason. And from the way everybody is protesting against that, you know that they're coming to take plunder, to steal. It's their financial gain. It's not about Palestinian state. It's not about all of that.

It's about taking something that we have. Now we can clearly see that as a result of the Ukraine war, Europe wants to wean itself off the dependence on Russian energy and Israel is becoming the alternative, whether it's directly from Israel or indirectly via Egypt. But Europe is going to start getting gas from the Middle East rather than from Russia. And I believe that when the Russians will understand that they're getting hit that way, they will have no problem, no sentiments, not even one muscle on their face is going to move when it comes to changing their tactics and making a move against Israel. I mean, if they can do it to the Ukrainians, trust me, they have no problem doing that to us. So this could be sort of a setup.

I mean, this might be phase one. Do you think they will try to take any of their old territory back or do you think they will head to the Balkans next? I don't know.

I know one thing. I don't think Israel is on the radar right now. I think Israel will be a default from their situation because of the Ukraine war. When they find themselves losing markets such as Europe to Israel, they'll understand that they must make a move against Israel. But as we speak right now, they're creating the reason for Europe to wean itself from the Russian gas and oil.

And I've always said that. I don't even think Putin understands the biblical significance of what he's doing. I don't think that a lot of world leaders when they do what they do, they don't understand God is laughing because God has the last say. But they really think that they're big shots and they can do whatever they want.

But eventually God will use all of that and fulfill His plan. What we see now is a very, very determined Russian leader to restore the greatness of Russia and to turn their neighbor from a threat into a what we call living space, a space where they can live with and not be very, very nervous about. I must say America made many mistakes over the last few years, especially during Obama's period.

America literally almost raped Ukraine with its involvement in the Ukraine, both U.S. secret services as well as injecting Americans into every gas and oil company. No wonder why we know those things about Biden. You understand that there's also some interest here from this administration whereas the previous president wanted to uncover all of that. And then what they did with that phone call with Zelensky is trying to impeach him.

Look, try to cover up all of that. So Putin is looking at all of this. He's saying this is maybe not a member of NATO, but they already act like it. And it's becoming America in my backyard. And that is why he came up with his demands.

He waited for a weak president in the U.S. and he made this move when he knew that it can happen. Folks, our discussion for most of the hour centered on the new book that we carry, Revealing Revelation, How God's Plans for the Future Can Change Your Life Now. It's in my online store. You can give my office a call.

You can get on our newsletter lists, E in print, and it's advertised in those periodicals. And Amir, thank you so much for giving up your time today to join me here on Understanding the Times Radio. I want to go out of the program, though, because I talked a moment ago about the Lamb's Book of Life. So I want to close by asking if your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. If so, your future is out of this world glorious.

If not, your future is out of this world horrific. And to make sure you are in that Book of Life, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus today. Ask Him to be the Lord and Savior of your life. He promises to make all things new, even your shattered life. He will make it all new. Romans 10 says all who call in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. It is that simple, but do it today.

No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. I want to thank you for listening, and we will talk to you again next week. Contact us through our website, OliveTreeViews.org. Call us central time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. We get our mail when you write to Olive Tree Ministries in Jan Markell, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. All gifts are tax deductible. Nothing happens by accident. God is orchestrating today's global events as history as we know it begins to wind down. We have a front row seat to watch everything fall into place.