Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 3 * BOOK 6
RAPTURE: TRIBULATION:
SECOND COMING: MILLENNIUM
Daniel 9 & Genesis 25-26
We’ll turn to Zechariah Chapter 14 and we’re going to continue on now with our timeline. The last lesson we saw the return of Christ in glory – the “…KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Not to just go into Heaven and eternity, but to set up the earthly kingdom that’s been promised to Israel since day one. So, I’d like to have you turn with me to Zechariah Chapter 14, where we have yet another picture of the return of Christ, and we might as well start at verse 1. I don’t like to jump in on a verse if I don’t have to:
Zechariah 14:1-4a
“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;…”
Now, there you have that picture we described in the last lesson, how that the Anti-christ will bring all of the armies of the world there to the Middle East. Mainly to obliterate the Nation of Israel.
“And the city shall be taken (Jerusalem) and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” In other words, when it looks like there’s no hope, let’s read the next verse…
“Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.”
And that’s as we saw in our last lesson – how that He reaps the nations of the world. And He destroys them with the word of His mouth. Verse 4 – and this doesn’t sound like His coming to take the believer and end everything, then take us to Heaven, does it?
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,…”
That is such a graphic description that there’s no mistaking that it is the literal Mount of Olives in literal Jerusalem. Let’s go back to Acts Chapter 1, because I just want everyone to see that everything that I say, I try to tie to the Scripture. Now, this is after His 40 days; after His Resurrection, and He has been with the 11. Judas, of course, is off the scene, and they have not yet put in his replacement. And so the 11 are assembled with Him. Verse 4:
Acts 1:4-6
“And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”
I know we touched on these verses several lessons ago, but sometimes it bears repeating. Is Jesus going to restore the kingdom once again to Israel? You remember, I always ask the question, “Why did they ask this question?” Well you’ve got to go back to Matthew and maybe we can take the time to do that.
Matthew 19:27,28
“Then answered Peter”and said unto him, (this is during His earthly ministry and all 12 are with Him) ‘Behold we have forsaken all (their fishing nets and their families), and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” Now, he’s not talking about Salvation. We know from Chapter 12 that they had that. He’s wondering what more is in it for him and that’s so human. And Jesus doesn’t upbraid them for that kind of a question. He answers it very specifically.
“And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me (referring to the 11), in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory,…“ What does the word `regeneration’ mean? Well, it means made over to what it was in the beginning. In other words, if you have a storage battery and it runs down, what do you have to do? You have to generate it to return it to its original condition. Well, this old planet is going to undergo the same thing as we pointed out last week, as a result of all the cataclysmic action of the Tribulation. The planet earth is actually going to be delivered from the curse and be like it was in the Garden of Eden. It will be beautiful, and it will not have much water area. It will be mostly land mass. Probably not many arid or mountainous areas; it’s just going to be totally habitable and productive. That’s the regeneration he’s speaking of. And then, he’ll be sitting in the throne of his glory, there at Jerusalem, on the throne of David.
Observe what the Twelve have got to look forward to. Read on in that verse: “ye also (the Twelve, and not Judas that’s why Matthias has to take his place in Acts Chapter 1) shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now isn’t that plain English? You can’t enlarge on that. You can’t spiritualize it. It’s just plain English. These twelve men, when the Kingdom is set up, will rule the 12 tribes of Israel. Now then, if you’ll come back to Acts Chapter 1 for just a second, you’ll see why the Twelve are all hung up on the kingdom. Because for 40 days, it says, Jesus had been talking to them about aspects of the Kingdom, and you remember the promise that they would be ruling the 12 tribes. So now verse 7:
Acts 1:7
“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”
Always remember, NEVER in the Old Testament, NEVER in the Gospels, NEVER even here in the Book of Acts, is there a specific indication of the Church Age. Now Jesus knew it, from His Deity side. He knew Israel was going to go back into a dispersion. He knew that He was going to turn to the Gentiles, but He never indicated it. Always watch for that as you study the Gospels or the Old Testament, that there’s not a hint of this 1900 years or so, of what we call the Church Age. And even here, He could have told them they were going to die, and there would be 1900 years or so, and He, would turn to the Gentiles. Then he would return and set up his Kingdom, but He doesn’t tell them that. And Peter never catches on, as I’ve pointed out before. As Peter begins to preach here in the early chapters of Acts, all he can see is that God is going to fulfill the promises made to Israel, and it would be coming in short order. But, that was not to be. We should go on further in the Book of Acts, but we won’t for now. If you will come back to Zechariah, because you all know the verses in Acts, where He ascended; and what did the angel say? “This same Jesus that you have seen go into heaven, in like manner shall come again.” Well, where were they standing? On the Mount of Olives.
Zechariah 14:4
“His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
There is going to be a split in the Mount of Olives, so that there will be a river flowing from the Mediterranean, through Jerusalem, and out to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea will no longer be dead, but it’s going to come alive. Now, all of this is on the physical earth. Before we turn away from Zechariah, read verse 8:
Zechariah 14:8,9
“And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea (the Mediterranean), and half of them toward the hinder sea (the Dead Sea); in summer and in winter shall it be.”
“And the Lord (Jehovah, The Christ, The Messiah) shall be king over (what?) all the earth.(!)” Not Heaven! And that’s what people can’t seem to see. That when he returns to the Mount of Olives, he sets up his rule from Jerusalem. The Nation of Israel will finally enjoy everything that was promised to Abraham back there in Genesis 15. Those of you who have been with me, now, for the last several months will remember, that territory goes all the way from the Mediterranean clear out to the River Euphrates. Then clear down to the Red Sea, out west to the River of Egypt, and back. That’s the whole Middle East. That will be the homeland of Israel in the kingdom economy. Verse 9 continuing “…in that day, there shall be one LORD, and his name one.” He’s going to be “…KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS,” over this physical, literal, earthly kingdom. Now, if you’ll come back to Isaiah 66 Verse 7:
Isaiah 66:7,8
“Before she travailed (speaking of delivery) she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child (the man child always refers to Christ, The Lord Jesus). who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?”
Absolutely. After the holocaust, and Tribulation, oh, the beauty of that kingdom is just going to come in short order. “Or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Now what’s that speaking of? Number one; remember we spoke of this remnant fleeing from Jerusalem to the mountains, and God is going to take care of her there for three and one half years? Well now, when the Nation of Israel, which is all that’s really left here in this remnant who fled in the middle of the Tribulation, when they see the returning Christ coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that’s when this Nation of Israel will experience her Salvation. She will suddenly realize who Jesus really is. Now, before we go all the way back to Zechariah again to pick up the language that makes that so plain, you may want to look at Isaiah 51:3, where He will make the earth, again, like the Garden of Eden. Now, back to Zechariah, because we try to put all these things together and hopefully they are making sense to you.
Zechariah 13:6
“And one shall say unto him, ‘what are these Wounds in thine hands?’ Then he shall answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'” Now, isn’t that obvious, it’s just as plain as day. Turn back to:
Zechariah 12:10
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
So, the Nation of Israel out there for that 3 1/2 years of protection in the wilderness, when they see Him coming, immediately, the whole nation (and remember it’s a remnant), seeing who He is, will believe. The nation will be born in a day. And now then, the Nation of Israel is ready to come from their mountain hideout, and come back to the land that was promised. Then they will go in as the predominate head nation of the kingdom. Now, I say the head nation. I pick that up from:
Deuteronomy 28:13
“And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them…”
That will finally come to fruition, when saved Israel comes into the Kingdom, and they enjoy their King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All right, what about Gentiles? Are they left out of the picture? Well, not at all. Come back with me then to Isaiah once again to Chapter 24 (I hope you are keeping all of this straight). The Lord returns, smites the nations that have gathered around Jerusalem; the earth will suddenly be renovated like the Garden of Eden. The Nation of Israel is saved in a day. They come back up and begin to occupy the land deeded to Abraham way back in Genesis Chapter 15. And now, we are going to pick up the Gentile nations. Because, after all, The Bible is a Book of nations. And it never stops being a Book of nations. The last chapter in the Book of Isaiah, which takes us into eternity, is still dealing with nations:
Isaiah 24:1-6
“Behold the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master;” as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.” It won’t help to be a billionaire. They won’t have enough billions to buy their way out of this one.”
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoureth the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”
There is going to be tremendous holocaust, probably a nuclear effect, but the last words of that verse are what I want you to see and remember – “And few men are left.” In other words, I’ve reminded my classes over the years, whenever there has been a tremendous calamity, even Hiroshima, where we dropped the Atom Bomb, they found right under the center of the bomb, survivors. I know that’s almost unbelievable. We can have tremendous earthquakes, like the one out in Oakland a few years back, and what did they find? Survivors. And so it will be at the end of this seven years, even though it seems utterly impossible, there will be a few people left all around the planet. From every tongue, tribe, and nation there will be a small percentage of survivors.
Come back now with me to Matthew 25. In the few moments we have left, hopefully I can cover this. The number of survivors will be many. The earth is now populated with nearly 6 billion people. We’ve done this in some of our other classes by putting it on the black board. If you take 10% of 6 billion people, how many are still left? 600 million according to my arithmetic. And if you want to go 5%, there would still be 300 million. If you want to go 21/2 %, you’ve still got 150 million. There are a lot of people that will survive. You want to remember that during the seven years of Tribulation those 144,000 Jews were preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. Many believed and were martyred but some of them survived.Many of them heard it and rejected it. So now, The Lord’s got to deal with it. And here we have it in Matthew 25:
Matthew 25:31-40
“When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:…”
We have already established where that is going to be at Jerusalem.
“And before him shall be gathered all nations: (Plural) and he shall separate them one from the another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:.. And he shall set his sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”
Remember, we are dealing with an eternal God, in an eternal situation, and nothing is impossible. Nothing. All right, he immediately sorts them. With the sheep representing the believers on the right, and goats representing the unbelievers on the left. Let’s go on:
“Then shall the King (see it’s capitalized) say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom (do you see that?) prepared for you from the foundation of the world:…”
Matthew 25:35-38,40
“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?'”
“When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? And the King (CHRIST) shall say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Now, who are these,” my brethren”? The 144,000 Jews who were preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, during the seven years of Tribulation. They went through privation, They went through suffering. Remember they couldn’t be killed. And so it was just like it was in Nazi Germany with the Jews. Who were the people who gave refuge to the Jews in Nazi Germany? Well, the believers, the Christians. It’s the same way here. These people who respond to the message of the 144,000 young Jews become believers. They minister to their physical needs. Now look what happened to the survivors who didn’t care, the goats:
Matthew 25:41-46
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.”
“Then shall they also answer him, saying, ‘Lord (See they called him Lord, but they’re unbelievers, they’re lost), when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?'”
“Then shall he answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into the life eternal.”
But their life eternal is going to begin in the Kingdom. I don’t have to take you back to John’s Gospel Chapter 3; you all know that verse, when he replied to Nicodemus. What did he say? Except a man be born above, or born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, that’s why he had to have this separation. There were survivors of the Tribulation, who were still unbelievers, and they could not go into the Kingdom. Therefore you have the setting of Matthew 25. The believer goes in.
To make a short picture of it, since you’ve got this large group of Jews, going up to be the Nation of Israel in the kingdom, you’ve also got a small smattering of Gentiles. Just a few probably, from every nation around the earth, who were part and parcel of these sheep. They then become the seedstock, if I may use that word, of the Gentile nations in the kingdom. So you have all the nations represented; you have nothing but believers going into it. Christ is The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You have the Twelve disciples ruling over the 12 Tribes of Israel. And ruling with Christ over the whole Kingdom will be the members of the Body of Christ.