Welcome to another Upstream Teaching blog post. We’ve discussed already that the Great Tribulation will be a three and a half period following the antichrist stopping the sacrifices in the temple. Here’s a list of events that we will cover in detail over the next weeks.
1. The abomination of desecration.
2. Severe persecution of the church and Jewish nation.
3. Mandatory worship of the antichrist.
4. The Mark of the Beast.
5. Plaques, famines, war and catastrophe’s.
6. An invasion of Israel and the battle of Armageddon
7. A massive upheaval in nature.
All of this precedes the manifestation of Jesus Christ when He will appear in the sky, riding on the clouds. Hallelujah! We see this in the scriptures we’ve already looked at in previous blogs; Daniel 9, Daniel 11, Matthew 24 and Second Thessalonians 2.
The antichrist will enter the temple, forbid the sacrifices and declare himself to be God. Second Thessalonians 2:4 says this; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
So the antichrist will set himself up as God. But this won't be a new idea to the world. The world has been trying for decades, if not centuries, to convince society that God doesn't exist. So, the world won’t be shocked by this act of the antichrist setting himself up as God. They will welcome it, in fact, and go to worshipping him without hesitation. They will be completely deceived.
What about this severe persecution of church and Jewish Nation? This is where it might take some adjustment in your thinking, but unfortunately, we can see very clearly in the Bible that the antichrist will persecute the church. That’s how we know the great tribulation will occur before the rapture.
Daniel 7:21 says this; I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them. Then in verse 25 it says; And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High.
In Daniel 12:7 it says;
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swear by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
These passages are talking about us, the church, the Body of Christ, the 'holy people'. It’s talking about those who’ve been made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ; the Saints. How can the antichrist ‘wear out the saints’ or ‘make war with the saints’ if the saints aren’t there?
It’s not fun to hear this, we know. But this is why we need to prepare our hearts, our children and be totally settled in our hearts and minds that it does not matter what the devil does or the antichrist brings, we will hold on to the very end!
We’ve said it before that knowing these things in advance prevents us from being deceived and helps us to stand firm against what the enemy tries to do. Again in Second Thessalonians 2 it says: Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means
We hope this helps. There is a lot more to come as you can see from the list above and over the next weeks we will dive into all of this and what it means.
You can watch an extended video clip of this teaching on our YouTube channel - just click the image below.
Until next week, keep your eyes on Jesus and your mind on the Word.
Upstream Ministries
CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO WATCH PASTOR RICHARD'S EXTENDED WEEKLY TEACHING
