WEBVTT 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:11.679 You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:20.079 In the last day, we're gonna see this restraining, lifted, and so don't be troubled. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:21.600 That's the point. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.399 Don't be shocked. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:25.920 Don't be surprised. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:27.440 It's gonna happen. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:36.159 But the key is that if we walk with the Lord, we walk with the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit daily. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:46.240 And that we're a part of the power of the gospel reaching those who don't know him in new supernatural signs and wonders. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:52.479 Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the Book of Revelation. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:58.320 At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:02.880 For more information on the road, visit theroad.org. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:08.159 We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:16.159 Listen, turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 21, and I want to make a note here. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:32.879 We are in the book of Revelation, actually, but this week, last week, and in the coming week, we're looking at what we're calling the times of the signs, and we've taken a break from Revelation chapter 6 because I'm kind of setting up Revelation chapter 6. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:40.480 And the Revelation chapter 6 is what we would classically call the beginning of sorrows in the last days. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.000 Some call that the Great Tribulation period, starting in Luke 6. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:45.280 I do not believe it is. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:46.719 I believe it's the beginning of sorrows. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.439 I think it's the birth pangs of the earth. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:56.799 That actually in Revelation chapter 8 is when we come to the seventh seal, and I consider that the great tribulation period. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:59.280 And to me, the debate is a healthy one. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:00.319 Doesn't matter. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.640 The reality is things are progressing toward the coming of the Lord. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:16.560 And so last week I talked about the first great sign, and I believe the most important sign of the last days is the nation of Israel being founded in 1948. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:18.479 And I've been to Israel a couple times. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.280 I brought an Israeli flag, it's up here right now. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:29.280 And then I brought actually an IDF, which is the Military Forces of the Israeli Army, which I was able to get on the Golan Heights when I was there. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:32.960 So that's here if you want to look at it later, but don't take it. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:35.520 If you take it, I will find you. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:48.560 No, but you can feel free to look at, enjoy looking at that because of what we're going to talk about today, which is another aspect of the nation of Israel. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:51.439 I want to say this at the very beginning. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:03:02.560 Just because we believe prophetically that God has a plan for the nation of Israel does not mean that we condone everything that Israel does politically. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:03.680 Do you understand that? 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:10.800 I love America, I put my hand over my heart, I stand for the national anthem, but not everything in America is perfect. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:13.360 Politics is made up by men. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:15.599 Prophecy is made up by God. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:16.639 Do you understand that? 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:33.199 So just because some aspects of the Palestinian, Arab issue, and the Israeli issue is very convoluted and confusing does not mean that we don't look at scriptures the way it was written that prophetically God has a plan for Israel in the last days, and we're seeing it right before us. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:42.319 Now, look at Luke 21, and I'm going to go through Luke 21 partially today because of my second sign of the times. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:49.280 But I want to start here at the beginning with verse 34 because this is the end of what we're going to read. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:51.840 So I'm going to start at the end and then we're going to go back. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:57.439 Because I want to share something that's coming up that our church is going to be a part of. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:08.960 Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:13.919 How many of you felt like you've been weighed down sometimes by the cares of this life? 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:24.480 If you've been watching the news at all, we are really, really a nation that's cracking in our cities with issues and struggles. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:35.120 And that day, and in your Bible it's probably capitalized day, meaning the coming of the Lord, that that day come on you unexpectedly. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:43.360 So it wouldn't say that if it wasn't possible that this coming of the Lord, these last days, could come on you unexpectedly. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:47.279 In other words, he's warning you, he's giving you an intelligence report. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:49.439 Look, it is coming. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:56.000 And what he's done in Luke 21 and Matthew 24 is he's given us the signs before this. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:59.759 And we're going to cover a few of them this morning. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:01.759 For it will come as a snare. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:02.879 This is really important. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:08.560 For it will come to you as a snare on those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:10.079 So there's actually a snare. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:11.439 You know what a snare is? 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:14.879 I've used snares before to catch raccoons. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.120 Actually, I've used a cage, but it's similar. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.480 Didn't kill the raccoon, but I've had raccoons get into my chicken. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.160 So I've used a snare or a cage. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:33.920 He's saying, look, you could be walking along, you know, and you can just walk right into a snare if you're not expectant that this was predicted before, and then you're actually ready. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.639 So look at verse 36, because that's where he's leading. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.959 After all of chapter of Luke 21, he comes to verse 36. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:54.160 Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.319 So, September 29th, it's in four days. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:08.639 We're starting 40 days and nights of prayer alongside Every Hum for Christ, and what Dick is doing over at Every Hump for Christ. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:29.279 And we're using his booklet called Fast Forward America, and this is a beautiful guide, a wonderful guide on how to pray each day for the seven mountains or spheres of influence in our country, like religion and politics and arts and entertainment and stuff like that, to follow that. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:38.800 Now, alongside this as a companion of this, is we're going to go into 40 days of prayer walking for revival and awakening. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:44.720 And when you leave today, we've got a hundred of these ready, a hundred booklets and a hundred of these. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:46.800 And if we run out, we'll get more. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:52.879 But what we're doing is we're encouraging you guys to take time whenever you can. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.639 And this is not programmatic. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.199 In other words, it'll be up to you if you have a heart for this. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:03.759 You guys know that our prayer walk, Liz and I usually together, prayer walk almost every day up in Black Forest. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:11.439 But what we're what we're challenging our church to do is to saturate the Briargate area with prayer walking. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:29.600 There is a massive, let's see, it's about two, I'm gonna say two by four feet map now in the war room that you can see all the streets of Briargate, and on this sheet on what to pray for, and there's six things to pray for as you walk, there's gonna be a map on the back. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:31.519 And that is a map of Briargate. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:43.279 And here's what I'd like you to consider doing is during the week, as many times as you can, or just one time, but sometime, come into Briargate if you don't live here, and just start prayer walking. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:52.639 Write down, like mark it on this little piece of paper where you've gone, and then when you come in on next Sunday and the Sunday after that, and the Sunday after that, mark it. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:54.480 We'll have a we'll have a marker there. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:56.480 Mark where you've gone in Briargate. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:58.000 Show us the streets you've covered. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:03.439 And I would love to see all of Briargate saturated in prayer. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:06.560 And some of the prayer requests on here are like this. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:12.639 Pray for a spiritual revival of wholehearted love for Jesus in your personal life. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:17.600 Pray that Jesus would awaken you to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:20.399 So if you're walking, say, Lord, and at first you'll have to kind of look at it. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:26.399 But after a while, it'll get all folded up and everything like this, and you'll stick it in your pocket, and then you'll start getting it. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:33.039 And then you pray that for your family, and then you pray that for that neighborhood, and then we pray for revival in Colorado Springs. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:37.120 And what we pray for is revival in the church's awakening in the city. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:40.320 Revival in the church's awakening city. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:42.559 How many of you know you can't revive something that's dead? 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.799 In other words, something that's revived is something that once lived, right? 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:50.000 But awakening is when you're asleep, you wake up. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:52.320 And so we're praying as we go through a street, Lord. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.360 I just pray, wake up people to the love of Jesus. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.600 Wake them up, wake them up, wake them up. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:00.879 Lord, revive the pastors of Colorado Springs. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:07.519 Revive the churches of Colorado Springs, because revival always leads to awakening. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.600 Revival historically always leads to an awakening. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:16.559 Revival is never just self-contained within a body of believers. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:19.600 It always spills over, or it's not a revival. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.240 It's not a revival if it doesn't spill over. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:23.519 And so that's our prayer. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:24.879 You'll see what the requests are. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:34.720 So as you leave today, even if you're coming to the seven-minute pit stop, just pick these up and pick up the booklet here as you go, because I think you'll find it really exciting. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.960 And I think it'll just be total revival in your own life to do that. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.080 So last week, what did we talk about? 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.120 We talked about Israel. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:48.720 And I said the first sign of the times, or the times of the signs, is this. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.879 Now, some of you are new to my teaching. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:07.039 Normally we are verse by verse. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:14.000 Right now, this week, last week, and next week, you're gonna get some history. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.679 So this is gonna be a little bit of a history lesson. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:19.200 So if you're bored by history, then stare at me. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:25.600 And just stare at me really, really like you're excited and can't wait to hear it because it'll encourage me. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:32.639 But the reality is that it's important that you understand this history because you're not gonna hear it anywhere else. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:37.919 I mean, I'm guarantee you, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC are not gonna have anything about Israel that's positive. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:44.480 But turn in your Bibles, keep your finger in Luke 21, but turn in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:46.720 2 Thessalonians 2. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:52.399 I think this is a preface to Luke 21 and even actually the book of Revelation. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:11:05.200 You that have been with me through the whole study of Revelation up to this point have heard me reference this before, but I want to do it again because it's really so crucial to understanding the ways of the Lord. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:13.919 2 Thessalonians 2, and don't miss this, God measures time morally. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.480 God measures time morally. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.200 So here's where people get faked out, especially young people. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.039 You young people get faked out by this. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:28.559 You think that you're, you know, uh, I shouldn't say young people, why am I saying that? 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.919 I mean, there's there's so many messed up older people, okay? 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:33.759 Okay, we're all messed up, all right? 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.600 And I'm messed up too, okay? 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:43.039 But here's the thing that we tend to think because we got away with something that doesn't really matter. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:44.879 And so you're kind of guilty about something. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:50.720 You went and got drunk on Friday night, or you had sex on Saturday night, and you know, look, things are still going great. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:51.600 I'm still making money. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:52.799 I gotta raise at work. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.000 It's going great. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:03.200 But actually, when you start to move into the area of wickedness and evil in your actions, a clock starts. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:20.960 It's like it starts, a God starts a moral clock, and he gives you opportunity after opportunity to repent, to change, to come back to him, but there's a clock that's going, and there's a point where the jud, listen, the judgment of God falls. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.240 And he does that in a nation too. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:37.600 And I hear people all the time say, Well, look, I mean, look, you talk about all this stuff, you pastors talk about this stuff, and we've got all this stuff happening in Hollywood and this other stuff that's happening and in Washington DC, and I don't see any judgment. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:43.919 Stock market just keeps going up, Dow John's keeps going up, we're fine. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:46.879 There is a ticker going, gang. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:51.679 I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna warn you, God measures timorly. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.080 Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:13:13.440 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.960 Let no one deceive you by any means. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:24.240 Again, we keep, there's two or three themes that run through on the day of the Lord theme in Scripture. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:27.519 And the first is that you can be deceived. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.159 He's talking, God, Jesus is always talking about being deceived. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:35.679 And then secondly, be alert, be watchful, be prayerful. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.080 Okay, now look at verse five. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:43.279 Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:50.320 So obviously, when Paul had been in Thessalonica, he had taught them about the last days, and here's what he said. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:57.039 And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:06.399 Verse 7, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until what? 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.320 He's taken out of the way. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:17.679 So God measures time morally, and the Spirit of God, men and women, is holding back judgment, even in the United States right now. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:25.120 We see judgment, we see aspects of it, but the reality is there's still a restrainer in your own personal life. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.320 That you could be involved in stuff, nobody knows about it. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:35.039 You've got a secret life, God knows it, and he's restraining the judgment of the Lord until you repent. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:41.120 And if you don't repent, there'll be a point where the restrainer is removed and he allows judgment to come. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:47.759 And so we see it with some pastors and leaders over time where they're involved in stuff, nobody knew it. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:56.799 And they're like, well, how could he how could he keep preaching the gospel, see people come to know the Lord, church was growing, God was moving, and he was doing what? 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.440 That's the goodness of the Lord. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.440 That's totally the goodness of the Lord. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:08.000 That was giving that man or that woman a chance to repent and get right. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.639 And if they don't, the restrainer is lifted. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:18.320 And in the last days, we're gonna see this restraining lifted, and so don't be troubled. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.240 That's the point. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.639 Don't be shocked, don't be surprised. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:26.159 It's gonna happen. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:44.720 The key is that as we walk with the Lord, we walk with the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit daily, and that we're a part of the power of the gospel, reaching those who don't know him in new supernatural signs and wonders. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.120 That God's gonna do in the latter days also. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.759 So, first sign: the coming of Israel back to a nation. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:53.519 Second sign, second sign. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:16:07.360 On June 7th, 1967, God set up his second modern sign that the age is rapidly coming to a close, the unification of Jerusalem. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:09.519 The unification of Jerusalem. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:11.279 So now you're in Luke 21 already. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:15.360 Go back to Luke 21, and I want to just, again, I'm doing this really weird. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:20.480 I uh I admit it, this is really um convoluted the way I'm teaching today, but I'm gonna do it anyway. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:21.600 Uh look at verse 28. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:23.679 Again, we're going to the end, then we're gonna go back to the beginning. 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:24.879 Luke verse 28. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:37.519 Now, when these things or these signs begin to happen, look up, lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:47.759 Now it's interesting, the term lift up your heads is from the Greek word anakudo, and it means to take your attention off of something and put your attention on something else. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:48.720 So what are you saying? 00:16:48.799 --> 00:17:01.759 It's kind of like you're watching TV, you know, you're watching the news, and then your baby is pulling the spread off of the dining room table, and plates are about to crash on their head, and so it gets your attention. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.480 It's like that. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:07.279 He says, look, take your attention and focus on this thing because this is about to happen. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:13.039 It's driving down I-25, you're going south, and suddenly, oh, I'll just tell you what happened to me. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:19.119 I was coming back from Denver the other day, and I turned this corner in Denver. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:20.160 It was a Rockies game. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:27.039 I was coming from a Rockies game, but turned this corner, and there was this massive truck with lights flashing, and I nearly hit it. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:36.960 And it was right there in the fourth lane, and I just slid, I didn't slide, but I almost slid to a stop because this guy had positioned himself in such a poor spot. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.480 And I said, Thank you very much, because I nearly got crashed into in the back too. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:42.640 But then we swerved and we made it out of the way. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.079 It got my attention. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:49.920 I was sitting there talking to my son, we're talking about the Rockies game, and suddenly, whoa, that's what it's like. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:54.319 He's saying, Look, be ready, be watchful. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:55.680 These are the signs. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:59.839 I'm giving you a heads up, I'm giving you an intelligence report from heaven. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.960 These are some of the things that are going to happen. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.240 So here's what he's about to do. 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:06.960 In Luke 21, Jesus does an interesting thing. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:14.559 He gives us a near prophecy, and then he gives us a for prophecy. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:21.200 And you're going to see this all through scripture, not so much in Revelation, but especially in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus does this. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:30.160 He says, look, here's how you're going to know that you can trust me in the latter days, is I'm going to predict something right now that you can see. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.519 And you're going to see it happen exactly the way I predicted it. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:35.440 And here's what he does in Luke 21. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:41.039 In Luke 21, he says, you are going to see the destruction of Jerusalem. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:45.519 In your generation, you will see the destruction of Jerusalem. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:50.559 You guys that are standing before me are going to see the destruction of Jerusalem. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:02.799 Then he turns that prophetic, that near prophetic word into a far prophetic word, and he says, You're now going to see the Son of Man coming. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:11.759 And he starts to give the signs of that, which, by the way, are exactly the same signs in Revelation chapter 6. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:12.559 Okay? 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:23.039 That's why we're starting, that's the reason we're doing it this way, is because you're going to then go into Revelation chapter 6 in a couple weeks, and we're going to actually see it from that perspective too. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.480 So Jesus begins to talk about the temple. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.039 So look at Luke 21, verses 5 and 6. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:31.200 So look at verses 5 and 6. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:39.200 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:53.920 He said, These things which you see, the days will come in which not even one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:59.759 Now you gotta understand, Herod's temple was massive. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:05.440 It took 84 years to build this temple. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.599 And the disciples are just country boys. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.160 They're like from Georgia. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:22.400 You know, and they were like, oh, I mean, that Herod's temple was one of the seven wonders of the world at that time. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:38.799 I mean, it had stones that were 37 by 12 by 18 feet that weighed in excess of 160,000 pounds each on top of each other, laden in between with pure gold. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:42.160 And so this is stunning. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:50.240 And if you've seen pictures, and I almost brought my big picture I have of Jerusalem today, but I didn't feel like going to find a ladder to get up on my bookshelves to get it. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:52.480 But you see the Dome of the Rock. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:58.400 The Dome of the Rock, the second most holy place of Islam, right there on the Temple Mount. 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:03.519 Well, imagine the Temple Mount at that time had Herod's temple on it. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.119 And he's saying, What? 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:10.400 Not one stone will be stacked on top of another? 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:14.480 I mean, that it just seems humanly impossible. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:18.480 Do you guys realize that even today we don't know how they built it? 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:28.240 I was doing some research this week, and they still believe, some still strongly believe, Jews believe that angels were a part of building Herod's temple. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:40.000 In other words, they don't know even how technically they figured out how to get 160,000 pounds of stone on top of each other as perfectly as they did. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:44.720 So it was it was one of the great feats of the world at that time. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:50.400 So Jesus looks out, he's on the Mount of Olives and he's looking across the Kidron Valley. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:52.000 So he's so he's right there on the Mount of Olives. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:57.119 He's looking across the Kidron Valley and he looks over at the temple and says, That temple is going to be destroyed. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:58.319 It's gonna be destroyed. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:02.319 And he's gonna say, in your generation, It's going to be destroyed. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:03.519 And they're just shocked. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:04.640 There's no way. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:11.279 And so you may know that 38 years later, in 70 AD, the Romans turned on the Jews. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:16.400 And Titus, the great Roman general, was ordered to completely sack Jerusalem. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:21.200 Titus laid siege on the city, and no one could come or go. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.240 He let the Jews starve to death. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:31.759 For 134 days he laid siege, and after 140 days he entered the city and found a Holocaust. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:37.359 1.1 million Jews stacked on top of each other, having starved to death. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:42.000 Josephus said their bodies were stacked like firewood. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.160 Titus was not finished. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.000 Then he completely burned the city, and guess what he did? 00:22:48.240 --> 00:23:02.559 When they found out there was gold between those stones, they took hundreds of thousands of men and began to shove those stones off, tearing it apart to steal the gold. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.400 Jesus had predicted it perfectly. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.079 Look at verse 7. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:13.599 So they asked him, saying, Teacher, but when will these things be? 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:19.200 And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place? 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.759 So he's not talking about the second coming. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:24.319 This is where there's been some discrepancies in the past. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:28.880 He's not talking about the second coming, he's talking about 70 AD, which is 38 years in the future. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:30.799 From verse, then here's what he does. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.519 This is what I'm talking about, near and far prophecy. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:34.400 Don't miss this. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:40.240 From verses 7 through 19, he gives us the opening. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:46.720 Listen, he gives us the opening of the seven seals that are found in Revelation chapter 6. 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:49.359 And we're going to come back to that in a couple weeks. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:52.319 So now jump to verse 20. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:54.319 Look at verse 20. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:24:04.720 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near, verse 21. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:14.880 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:15.920 Verse 22. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:21.920 For these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:31.680 So Josephus, the great Jewish historian, wrote of the destruction of Jerusalem, quote, The siege of Jerusalem was one of the most horrible in history. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.000 Jerusalem was a difficult city to take, being on a hill. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:38.559 And Jesus said, flee to the mountains. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:46.799 Here's what we know by Josephus historically is that the Christian Jews fled to Pella, 17 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:49.119 Excuse, 17 miles south of the Dead Sea. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:57.680 They fled because they remembered 38 years before that Jesus had predicted the sacking of Jerusalem and they were ready. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:13.039 I believe that there's probably, it's funny how when you're studying the Word of God and you keep studying a particular topic or subject, you start finding these cryptic passages all through Scripture to support things. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:18.960 I believe that's a sign, that's a clear sign of the rapture. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:33.279 Like in the days of Noah, remember, Noah and his family were forewarned, they knew it was coming, they prepared, and they were lifted out of the wrath of God. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:50.640 In this case, Jesus forewarned that the Jewish believers, now they're probably not even believers yet when they first heard it because he hadn't resurrected from the dead, he hadn't gone to the cross, but when they but when they came to know the Lord, probably at Pentecost and in the days that followed, as the church was said, remember, remember what Jesus said? 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:53.359 He said, That generation shall not pass away. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:54.559 We're gonna read that in just a second. 00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:56.079 He said, look, that's us. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:25:57.759 We're that generation. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:59.440 We need to be prepared. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:12.880 And so they were, and so the Christian, almost virtually, as far as we know, virtually all the Christian Jews at that time escaped the Holocaust, the Holocaust of what happened under Titus, the general of Rome. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:21.279 And so they fled over to Pella, and then the ethnic as well as the non-believing Jews were slaughtered. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:28.160 Josephus wrote, When the day came when men should have fled to the mountains, they did not. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:37.839 They crammed themselves into the midst of the city, and that very folly multiplied the horror one hundredfold. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:40.960 And I said about a million perished. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:44.000 Now, look at verse 32. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:50.559 Again, this is really weird for me to be jumping all over the place, but I think you'll understand the flow when I'm done. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:58.640 Surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:04.160 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:10.400 And so a generation in the Bible is 40 years, and this took place 38 years later. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.440 So what does that tell us? 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:15.039 Why does Jesus work that way? 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:16.160 I mean, I'll just say this. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:19.599 We were in a meeting this week and we were talking about the mystery of God. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:23.200 I was with the elders of Chapel Hill's Church and the shepherds and the stewards of the road. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:26.079 We had a fantastic meeting about the Apostles' Creed. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:31.839 We were talking about the Apostles' Creed and what essentially unifies us as a church of Jesus Christ. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:46.079 And in the in the discussion, we were talking about how really, since the demarcation of the two aspects of the church, where we have the Eastern Church and then we have the Western Church. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:28:01.680 So I won't go into a history lesson too much here because it's already a history lesson, but it's a little bit off the Rome became the capital of the Roman Catholic Church, and Constantinople became the capital of Eastern and later Russian Orthodoxy. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:06.319 The Eastern Church has always been comfortable with mystery. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:09.759 And the Western Church has always had difficulty with mystery. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:10.960 Well, we're the Western Church. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:16.400 We are the child of Rome, of Western Europe. 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:19.759 That's where immigration came from Europe to us. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:26.319 And so you've got to become comfortable with the mystery of the way Jesus does stuff prophetically. 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:45.119 And it seems as though he's saying to us, look, in the same way that I'm measuring time morally, and I'm measuring time on Israel and on Jerusalem, I'm also measuring time morally in the last days when I return and when I come back. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:46.880 So look at verse 24. 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:53.200 And this is this one you need to bracket, you need to highlight, you need to underline whatever apparatus you're using. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:29:05.599 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, be led away captive into all nations, speaking of Israel, the Jews, and listen to this. 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:15.599 And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:49.680 This is one of those cryptic, mysterious passages of Scripture that there is this period where this restrainer is allowing Gentiles to trample Jerusalem, and then there's going to be a switch, and the restraint is going to change, and there's going to be a time where the Gentiles, those who are non-Jews, can no longer trample Jerusalem, and that's a sign of the coming of the Lord. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:59.440 And so, as you may know, the Gentiles, that's us, those who are non-Jews, have trampled Jerusalem for thousands of years. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:00.640 And that's actually a sign. 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:07.359 The Romans trampled Jerusalem in 70 AD, and this was the beginning of the trampling. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:11.680 In 615, control of Jerusalem went to the Persians. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:15.200 In 637 to Caliph Omar. 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:18.559 In 1099 to the Crusaders. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:21.680 In 1187 to Celeiden. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:25.039 In 1215 to the Egyptians. 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:27.759 In 1517 to the Turks. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:30.559 In 1917 to Great Britain. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:44.960 From 1938 to 1945, over seven million, no, over six million Jews were exterminated by Adolf Hitler, and the prophecy seemed ridiculous, doomed. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:51.039 Two-thirds, listen, two-thirds of the Jews in Europe were slaughtered by the Nazis. 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:54.160 But in 1948, that trend began to change. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:58.240 Almost unbelievably, the Jews became a nation. 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:02.480 And Jerusalem, listen, was still trampled by the Gentiles. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:10.319 Because at that point in 1948, Jerusalem was still split between the Jordanians and the Jews. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:18.640 And from 1948 to 1967, it was a divided city with Arabs and Jews separated by bobwire and machine guns. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:30.400 1963, the Arab League had decided to introduce a new weapon against Israel named the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and the terror attacks began. 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:37.200 The PLO began terrorist attacks on Israel in earnest in 1965 with 35 raids. 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:40.240 In 1966 with 41 attacks. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:45.759 In just the first four months of 1967, there were 37 attacks. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:48.480 All the attacks targeted civilians. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:53.599 The Israelis were being taunted almost daily in the spring of 1967. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:01.200 Nasser, the leader of Egypt, said, quote, we shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:05.119 We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood. 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:11.359 Again, a few months later, Nasser expressed the Arabs' aspirations of the nations that surrounded Israel. 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:15.759 Quote, the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people. 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:19.279 In other words, we aim at the destruction of the state of Israel. 00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:23.200 The immediate aim, perfection of Arab military might. 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:28.160 The national aim, the eradication, the eradication of Israel. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:40.400 By June of 1967, the Syrians, Jordanians, and Egyptians had encircled Israel with soldiers, planes, and tanks, preparing for a full-fledged annihilation of the nation of Israel. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:53.519 The United Nations Emergency Force, which had been a buffer since 1956, suddenly backed out of Sinai, leaving the southern territory completely unprotected against the Egyptian forces. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:59.839 On May 22nd, Egypt closed the Strait of Tehran, blocking trade for Israel's shipping. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:03.200 President Johnson refused to help Israel. 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:07.359 Israel was all alone and surrounded. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:13.279 Nasser again taunted Israel, quote, our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:14.960 The Arab people want to fight. 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:18.079 We will not accept any coexistence with Israel. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:28.880 The Arab rhetoric was matched with the mobilization of Arab forces, 465,000 troops, more than 2,800 tanks and 800 aircraft ringed Israel. 00:33:29.119 --> 00:33:41.119 But on June 5th, 1967, Israel launched a preempted strike as their intelligence, the Mossad, picked up that all of the Arab nations surrounding Israel were about to attack. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:47.839 At 7:14 a.m., the entire Israeli Air Force took off, with the exception of only 12 aircraft. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.200 So everything they had except for 12 planes, you know, took off. 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:52.640 This is an amazing story. 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:55.039 I get goosebumps whenever I tell this story. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:00.000 Israel knew when, where, and how the Muslims were coming, and they struck first. 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:06.400 Dangerously below, the Russian installed radar, almost touching the waves of the Mediterranean Ocean. 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:14.800 With phenomenal speed, the Israeli Air Force struck the Egyptian airfields and destroyed roughly 300 aircraft while still on the ground. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:22.719 They then struck the Jordanian and Syrian airfields and knocked out their entire air forces before the pilots had even had breakfast. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:31.679 At the end of the day, nearly all of the Egyptian and Jordanian air forces and half of the Syrians were destroyed. 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:35.519 Now listen to what I'm going to read next, because I'll have to read it because I'll say it wrong. 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:37.760 I'll get too excited and then I'll mess up. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:54.719 Then began, and you can look this up, one of the great tank battles of modern times on the Sinai Peninsula, in which comes one of the most strange and interesting stories of modern warfare. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:05.840 Egyptian tank officers testify of hearing noises that sounded like a huge tank force coming toward them. 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:15.519 So loud and distinct was this sound that these men abandoned their tanks and ran away back to Egypt. 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:20.159 There was no tank force coming. 00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:21.920 Angels? 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:25.679 Supernatural intervention by God? 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:35.199 Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, the Gaza Strip from Egypt, and then pushed back Jordan back to the West Bank. 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:39.360 And on June 7th, the order was given to recapture Jerusalem. 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:42.639 Israeli paratroopers stormed the city and secured it. 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:44.000 At 9.50 a.m. 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:50.880 on June 7, 1967, David Ben Gurion announced to a stunned world, we are at the wall. 00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:53.599 We have taken control of Jerusalem. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:59.360 The IDF chaplain, Rabbi Shlomo Gorin, blew the shofar to celebrate. 00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:04.559 On that day, the control of the Gentile nations ended. 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:09.760 And the time of the Gentiles drew to a close. 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:12.960 Men and women, the unification of Jerusalem is huge. 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:18.559 And you need to understand that just these two alone give us pause. 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:21.360 God's on the move. 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:28.159 And this is the time to be praying for revival and awakening in our city. 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:33.360 This is a time for us to be playing for revival and awakening in our nation. 00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:35.920 We cannot stand by. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:39.599 We cannot let the enemy just have his way. 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:54.079 God, in the same way that is allowing the restrainer power upon the devil and his demons, God is empowering his church with the anointing of the Holy Spirit that all nations may hear. 00:36:54.960 --> 00:37:01.840 And I believe he's called this city to be a city of prayer for the nation. 00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:08.719 You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:11.840 We hope you have been blessed by today's message. 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:15.840 To connect with us further, visit theroad.org. 00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:19.920 If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you. 00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:27.119 Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request. 00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:35.280 Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.