Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 2 * BOOK 77
CONNECTING THE DOTS OF SCRIPTURE – PART 38
Genesis – Revelation (The Tribulation)
Glad to have you joining us out in your living rooms or wherever. We’re going to continue right on where we left off in the last half hour. In fact, all four programs this afternoon will probably just run together. I’m not going to try and end in a particular place. And if we end up in the middle of a verse at the end of the program, we’ll just pick it up in the next half hour. So be aware of that this afternoon as we continue to connect the dots of Scripture.
All right, we’re talking about the next great event on God’s calendar after the Rapture of the Church, which will be the seven years of Tribulation—the vexation and wrath of God predominately on the Nation of Israel, as we showed in the first half hour. But I decided to stop for a second and establish again from Paul’s writings why I so adamantly stand on the fact that we as the Body of Christ will not go into the Tribulation. We will not find out who the anti-Christ is, because that will not be revealed until after we’re gone. And of course, the primary Scripture for that is II Thessalonians chapter 2. I think most of you in the studio have already found the Scripture. For those of you out in television, join us if you will.
II Thessalonians chapter 2 and we’re going to start right at verse 1. And remember, we’re going to establish why I teach that this will take place before the anti-Christ is revealed. Now verse 1:
II Thessalonians 2:1a
“Now we beseech you, brethren,…” So, Paul is talking to his Gentile believers. Now, you know, it’s amazing what these anti-Paul people can dream up. Somebody had given this guy one of my tapes delineating Paul’s apostleship. And he came back with a series of questions that the guy should send me. And I mean it’s just unbelievable. Well, one of the tenets that I held to in that particular tape was that Paul alone was the foundation, or the founder, of the Body of Christ according to I Corinthians chapter 3 where he says, “I am the master builder. I have laid the foundation which is Jesus Christ crucified.”
This guy comes back and asks, was that only applied to the congregation at Corinth? Was he was the Master-builder of the church at Corinth? Now, I haven’t answered it yet. I may not. I don’t know. But listen, if that be the case, then when he wrote to the Romans that we are “joint-heirs with Christ,” then that would mean just the Church of Rome. When Paul writes to the Galatians that “you’re not under law, you’re under grace,” oh, that was just for the Galatians, that’s not for us.
See how ridiculous their arguments get? It just is nonsensical what they’ll dream up—anything to refute what Paul has said. But here again, Paul is beseeching these Gentile believers in the ancient time in what we call Thessalonica.
II Thessalonians 2:1
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,”
Now, all you have to do is have a sixth grade mentality and look at that. Does that say, I’m coming to the Mount of Olives? No. He’s going to gather us to Himself in the air as he had explained in I Thessalonians chapter 4. So there’s no way that you can put this in line with the Second Coming when He comes and stands on the Mount of Olives after all the horrors are over.
Evidently there were people who were trying to upset Paul’s teaching and his Gentile believers. They had come in and told these Thessalonian believers that they were already in the Tribulation, and that there was no such thing as the Rapture taking place until after the Tribulation and so forth. This is why Paul is saying what he’s saying. Now verse 2:
II Thessalonians 2:2a
“That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, (Mentally. Don’t get all upset by what these false teachers are telling you.) neither by spirit, nor by word,…” In other words, don’t let these guys come in and fast-talk you into thinking that you’ve missed something, and that you’re out in left field. No.
II Thessalonians 2:2b
“…nor by a letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” What does that imply? They were actually forging letters and sending them into his churches and signing Paul’s name to it. I mean, the devil will stop at nothing. That’s what they were doing.
And the Thessalonians…now you’ve got to always remember. What kind of people were Paul’s converts? Well, they’d just come out of paganism. They knew nothing of the Old Testament. They knew nothing of Israel’s Law and Israel’s God. They were just simply brought out by believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of this Jesus of Nazareth.
And God had transformed their lives and had given them the Holy Spirit whereby they were able to withstand all the pressures of persecution and everything. But they didn’t have a lot of theology behind them. They were still babes in Christ. So these false letters would come in, and you can understand, it would throw a curve at them. So Paul is almost frantically writing to them, don’t believe this stuff. Don’t you take a forged letter as from me. And don’t you believe for a minute that the day of the LORD is at hand, because it couldn’t be at hand until they were Raptured, as he had taught in I Thessalonians. Now verse 3 is the one I want to spend just a couple more minutes on.
II Thessalonians 2:3a
“Let no man deceive you by any means: (Don’t you let someone come in and say, well, you’re in the Tribulation, and there’s no such thing as being called out ahead of it. You’re going to go through the horrors of all the prophetic things. So he says,) for that day (Well, what day? The Day of the LORD. And what’s the Day of the LORD in Scripture? The seven years of Tribulation. So that day, the Tribulation–) shall not come, unless there come first a departure,…”
Now, I’ve had Jerry put these men’s names on the board. And I want you to lock this in this afternoon. I’ve used them before, but I haven’t put them on the board. These are the first five translations of the original manuscripts from the Greek. Tyndale—1534. A year later, Coverdale—and he’s the one that I have quoted on the program over and over. Coverdale way back here in the 1500’s said to always determine who wrote it, to whom is it written, what were the circumstances, what went before, and what follows after. That was this guy, and he translated the whole Bible from Greek to English in 1535.
The next one was the Geneva Bible, which of course was over in Switzerland. And that was in 1537. Then came the next one, the Cranmer Bible, which was in 1539. And then several years after those four were completed, we had the Beza in 1565. And I’m not as acquainted with this one. But we have these four basic translations from Greek to English all within a matter of one, two, three, four years.
Now, when the King James came along in 1611, the translators used Tyndale’s almost word-for-word and these other three as well. So, all of these early translations were agreed on this verse, that it should have been translated “depart” instead of “fall away.” Now, that’s the point I want to make. Why the King James came in and used the words “falling away” I’ll never know, but it still means basically the same thing. But now read it in that light.
II Thessalonians 2:3a
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the Tribulation) cannot come except there come a departure first,…” And that word departure is used eleven times, if I’m not mistaken—by Luke in his Gospel, in the Book of Acts, and in Paul’s epistles. Eleven times it’s always translated to depart from one place to another.
So the departure here, as we’ve taught before—this is review. This departure then is the Body of Christ removed from one place to another—from earth to Heaven. All right, so unless there is a departure first:
II Thessalonians 2:3b
“…and that man of sin be revealed, (who, of course, is–) the son of perdition;” Then Paul goes on and explains that individual much like Daniel does back in chapter 11. So I want to make the point, that here we come to the end of this Dispensation of the Grace of God, the out-calling of the Body of Christ. We have to be taken out first, before the man of sin can be revealed to bring in those final seven years. Okay, that’s enough on that for now.
Now, let’s come back and sort of pick up where we left off in that first half hour, and let’s establish that from more portions of Scripture. It isn’t just Daniel who speaks of those final seven years. Come all the way back to Revelation chapter 11. We’re just going to establish this period of seven years, so that you can’t say, “Well, you’re just using one verse back there in Daniel” and so forth. No, all of Scripture alludes to a seven year period. Revelation chapter 11 and come down to verse 2.
Revelation 11:2
“But the court which is without the temple leave out, (That’s with regard to that Tribulation Temple.) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city (Jerusalem) they shall tread under foot forty and two months.” How long is forty-two months? Well, that’s three-and-a-half years. This is the second three-and-a-half. We’re going to go look at the first three-and-a-half in a minute. All right, here we have three-and-a-half years, verse 3.
Revelation 11:3a
“And I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy (or speak forth) a thousand two hundred and sixty days,…” How long is 1,260 days? Forty-two months. How long is forty-two months? Three-and-a-half years. See how all these numbers fit.
Now, come on over to chapter 12 verse 6. We’re speaking of the escaping remnant, which we’re going to be looking at. I’m just establishing now, I hope I’m making sense, that this seven years cannot start until the Church departs. But once it starts, it’s seven years. It is 1,260 days, 42 months—and another 1,260 days, 42 months, for a total of seven years.
Revelation 12:6
“And the woman (Israel, the Remnant) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they (the Godhead) should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Twelve hundred and sixty days is what? Forty-two months. Forty-two months is three-and-a-half years. Then you come on down to verse 14, still in chapter 12.
Revelation 12:14
“And to the woman (this escaping remnant of Israel) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, (one year) and times, (two, for a total of three) and a half a time, from the face of the serpent.” And we have this over and over throughout Scripture, that we have a seven year period of time.
Now come back with me, and we’ll go to the Lord Jesus Himself. And my goodness, if you can’t believe Him, then you are in tough shape. If you can’t believe the Prince of Glory, if you can’t believe the Creator of the Universe, why then, I don’t know, you might as well fold it up and forget about it. Matthew 24, which I have maintained for 30 some years, is all Tribulation. It’s all prophecy concerning these final seven years. All right, since we’re in it anyway, I’m going to bring you down to verse 14, because this all fits. Israel is going to be the core of all this activity in Jerusalem, and the Temple is going to be rebuilt. The 144,000 Jews are going to be commissioned to go out and take salvation to the ends of the earth. What Gospel are they going to be preaching?
You know, there again, I had a letter a while back. I don’t know if these people hear me repeat their letters or not. So be it. But he wrote me and said, “Les, I don’t want to go in the Rapture. I want to stay here and witness and see people saved.” Why, the poor fellow, doesn’t he know he’s going to be ashes before he even gets his mouth open? And the Gospel of Grace won’t be valid. It won’t do him any good to go out and preach our Gospel, because it’s not going to be under the Gospel of Grace. Here it is now. The Lord Jesus Himself—if you’ve got a red letter edition, it’s in red. Verse 14 and He says:
Matthew 24:14a
“And this gospel of the kingdom…” In other words, that which He and the Twelve were preaching.
And what was the Gospel of the Kingdom? That Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah, and He’s going to bring in the Kingdom. That’s what going to be preached. Well, now isn’t that logical. Seven years from this point in time He’s going to stand on the Mount of Olives. He’s going to set up His Kingdom and in will come the 1,000 years. Well, isn’t that good news? Well, sure it is! That’s the good news of the Kingdom. That’s what He preached in His first Advent, and that’s why He used the word this! And this gospel that He and the Twelve are preaching at the time,
Matthew 24:14a
“And this gospel of the kingdom (Not the Gospel of the Grace of God that Paul preached, and that we teach.) shall be preached in all the world…” So, it’s not going to be confined to Israel. It’s going to go into every tongue and tribe and nation so that there will be candidates for the Kingdom from every Nation on earth to reestablish the population.
Matthew 24:14
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” How’s the end going to come? His Second Coming—He’s going to come and stand on the Mount of Olives. The horrors of what we saw in our last taping will have been consummated, and the earth will be made ready as the Garden of Eden. But getting back to our seven year time frame, go on into verse 15.
Matthew 24:15a
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,…” That’s the anti-Christ when he goes into the Temple in the middle of the Tribulation. As Daniel said in chapter 9, he will go in, and he will cause it to be defiled. And it will remain that way until the seven years are ended. Jesus is referring to it.
Matthew 24:15-16
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, (and you see that individual) stand in the holy place, (In the Temple, remember.) (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16. Then let them who be in Judea flee to the mountains:” We’ll cover that in a later program. I don’t want to do that just at this point in time.
But see, here we have the establishment of a seven year period of time that is exactly like what we’ve got on the board. Three-and-a-half years, three-and-a-half years—and that, of course, will be ended with His Second Coming, and He’ll bring in the Kingdom. Now, whenever I teach Revelation, you’ve heard me say it before, the easiest way to understand these final seven years and all the events is to take the events at the opening, in the mid-point, and at the end and then fill in the details.
All right, so we’re going to concentrate this afternoon on the opening events of this final seven years of time as we know it. And that, of course, would have to be the appearance of the man anti-Christ. All right, turn with me now to Revelation chapter 6. We’re not going to stay there very long. Just for a little bit in verse 1 and then we’re going to have to chase down some information.
Revelation 6:1a
“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,…” Now lock that word in. The “seal,” just like when you seal a letter. I always immediately think of the revenue stamps at the courthouse. You stick those revenue stamps on and it designates an official act, doesn’t it? All right, now that’s what this is. We’re going to look at it just a minute.
Revelation 6:1-2a
“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four creatures saying, Come and see. 2. And I saw, and behold a (What?) white horse:…” Not the white horse of Christ at His Second Coming in chapter 19, but a counterfeit. And who is the master counterfeit in Revelation? The anti-Christ under satanic power. So, this is the appearance of the anti-Christ which will open that seven year period of time. It can’t open until he is revealed, because he is going to unlock the seven years and this first seal on this scroll.
All right, now we’d better go back, and we’ve done it before. A lot of this is review, of course. Just back up a page to chapter 5. What kind of a seal are we talking about? Well, it’s a scroll. And that scroll was sealed much like we would an envelope, but instead of with just the lap and the glue, it was sealed with seven seals so that it wouldn’t unroll.
Okay, Revelation chapter 5, now I love teaching this. I can’t help it! I just think it is so vivid. It’s just such a beautiful picture. Verse 1:
Revelation 5:1
“And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne (Who’s on the throne? God the Father or God the Son? Well, God the Father. God the Son isn’t sitting on a throne. He’s at the right hand. So here we have a picture of God the Father on the throne, and He has–) a scroll written within (on the inside where nobody could read it) and on the outside, sealed with seven seals.”
Now, can you picture that? That shouldn’t be too difficult. Here you’ve got a papyrus laid out, and they write out all the details of a what? Mortgage. Yeah! I like to read lips. A mortgage. What kind of a mortgage? Satan’s. Well, when did Satan get the mortgage on planet earth? Wow, here we go, Genesis. Now, isn’t this fun? It better be! Otherwise, I might as well go home. Genesis chapter 1 and drop in at verse 28. Now, I know we’ve done all this before, but some of it was probably 17 years ago.
Genesis 1:28a
“And God blessed them, (That is Adam and Eve.) and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have (What?) dominion…” Now I think most people think that was over the Garden of Eden. No. How much dominion did he have? Everything is God’s creation. It was all under Adam and Eve’s control. They were given total dominion. That’s what it says.
Genesis 1:28b
“…and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” That was the realm of their dominion. But what happened? Come over to chapter 3 verse 6. Now, I know this is all old hat to you, but it still bears repeating.
Genesis 3:6-7
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (The one that the Lord said “Thou shalt not eat of it,” remember?) and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; (Adam) and he did eat. 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
All right, what happened? Adam dropped the ball. Right? In a simple act of disobedience, he dropped the ball. Now, when he dropped the ball, what did he lose? Dominion. He was no longer in control. He was now under the curse. But, oh my goodness, beloved, who picked up the ball? Satan did. And he’s been running for a touchdown ever since. Now, you think I’m kidding? Jump back up to the New Testament. Go to II Corinthians chapter 4 and verses 3 and 4.
II Corinthians 4:3-4
“But if our gospel be hid, (That is our Gospel of salvation in this Age of Grace.) it is hid to them that are lost: 4. In whom (That is in the lost of this world.) the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Who’s the god of this world? Satan. Since when? Since he picked up the ball that Adam dropped.
Now come back with me to Matthew—Matthew chapter 4 verse 8. Now, I hope you’re having as much fun as I am. You know, one of the best seminars I ever did I was sick as a dog out in Indianapolis all day. But I tell you what, I told those people, I am sick as a dog, but I’m having fun. Because when you get this Book opening up and see how it all fits, it is fun. I’m sure you’ve all worked a jigsaw puzzle and all of a sudden a whole bunch falls in place. My, it gets exciting. Well, it is the same way here. All right, we’ve got to do it quickly. Forty seconds.
Matthew 4:8-9
“Again, the devil (Satan) taketh him (Jesus) up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, (That is from stem to stern, all of them.) and the glory of them; 9. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Now, how do I always put it? Were all the kingdoms of this world his to give? Yes!