In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines the Apostle Paul’s teaching to the Thessalonians regarding the timing of the Day of the Lord. In part three, the final part of this investigation, Pastor Babij explains the deluding influence sent by God on those who follow Antichrist and the political and religious systems that Antichrist will make use of in his rise to power. Pastor Babij also discusses a recent theory that links Antichrist with a revived Islamic empire.
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alright let’s take our Bibles this morning in turn to 2nd Thessalonians 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and I’ll continue on probably finished today about looking at three groups of events that we should be aware in a sense the end of the age precursors of what will take place and second Thessalonians is a significant passage of scripture for that so let’s have a word of Prayer as you as we pray now I also before I pray well let you know we’re going to I want you to use your Bibles today because we’re going to be looking at Daniel we’re going to be looking at Ezekiel we’re going to be looking at revelation all right so be ready for that I want you to see that this morning let’s pray lord thank you today for bringing us together thank you for the freedom you give us at this point in time to be able to meet together and worship to be able to sing and read your word and hear preaching in and I just praise you for that lord I pray that we would seize this time to grow and godliness to become strong so if they’s do come that are harder that we would be ready for them and I just pray Lord this morning you would bless us and give us an understanding of these passages in Christ’s name I pray amen all right before I look at that just again to give you where ye Thessalonians was written remember it was written for encouragement and assurance to suffering Christians that’s why it was written and of course the problem came up in chapter 2 and the Apostle Paul is addressing that problem some confusion came into the church and of course I that confusion was that some were saying that the day of the Lord had come already or that they were in the day of the Lord and Paul is letting them know that listen you are not in the day of the Lord it has not yet come because these things have to happen first and in verse number 2 of 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 it says that you that you not be quickly shaking from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us that’s if from Paul and the others who are traveling with him to the effect that the day of the Lord has come so that’s really what he’s writing about to correct that the day of the Lord has not come they thought it they possibly were in it because of their suffering because of the escalation of their suffering and so he’s writing the letter to really again provide assurance to believers encouragement to believers in at least two areas the first is to assure them that the day of the Lord has not yet come in secondly an assurance that believers will have no involvement in the day of the Lord if we’re looking at the whole of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians so so far i looked at the present events verse 6 and 7 presently there is a restraining power of evil and then presently there is the mystery of iniquity that’s going on and working behind the scenes Satan being very much in control of that iniquity and then of course the future events right before the end there’s going to come in verse number three they will come first in apostasy in verse number three and then the man of sin of lawlessness will be revealed right he will come to he will make his appearance on the human in the human realm and he will come and of course it is true that all men are sinners but Antichrist the manison both the same person will be more than a sinner he will be the man of sin alright this man will be the direct opposite of Jesus Christ who was the Holy One of God I can say it like this he’s the unholy one and of course the remover removal of the restrainer in verse number seven for the mystery of lawlessness is all at work only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way out of the mist all right and of course last week I said that the Holy Spirit is the restrainer and when the Holy Spirit which is the indwelling of believers making up the body of the church body of Christ removes his residence not his presence then and only then can the man of sin be revealed so consequently the church must be removed before the manison is exposed so I was mentioning last week the spirit will be taken out of the way in two senses the first one is that the temple in which he dwells which is the church will be removed and the falling away will be the result of the rapture of the church the taking out of the church and after the rapture of the church he will no longer be baptizing people into the body of Christ and you of course in using the presence of the church in the world to restrain the forces of godlessness so when the rapture of the church occurs instantly the entire world will be apostate the world will be filled exclusively with unsaved people the Antichrist backed by satanic treachery and daring blasphemy will have a tremendous appeal on the corrupt hearts of people the spirit of Antichrist is now already in the world preparing the way for his appearing he has not appeared yet he is not on the scene yet someday he will be but before that happens there will be the great apostasy the falling away from the true faith so the Holy Spirit has been restraining the activities of Satan all along and he has done that by indwelling the church indwelling believers the church has been holding back iniquity it’s going to be a lot worse when the church of course is not here right and the bible does say the Holy Spirit of God will not always strive with mankind there will be a day where he will not strive in the way he’s doing it now so once the Holy Spirit ceases his restraining work the man of sin anti christ the son of perdition all names that refer to him the Beast will be revealed to the world and he will be energized and controlled by Satan in such a way that he will perform amazing feats and in in a very real way he will have an astonishing career in the world the Antichrist and the false prophet who is the second beast described in Revelation their deceptions will be so powerful and so convincing that the people of the world will believe the great lie second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 9 and 10 is this that is the one who’s coming f is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power signs and wonders and of course the Bible says in verse number 4 he will want people to worship him where it says who exalts and opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so he takes the seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God so in other words the people it says will believe what is false first number 10 and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as be saved all right so they will believe what is false what is the lie and of course they believe actually they the truth people they believe Eliza as if it is the truth they believe in the Antichrist but not according to reveal truth the scripture but according to the signs that point to the reality of his claim that he’s going to be performing keeping the rejecter of truth spellbound in admiration of the lawless one as being God Himself that that is this goal was gold was worship and coupled with this God sends upon the unbelieving world a work of error so liat this leads me to the last set of the end of the age events found in verse number 11 of chapter 2 and that this is the at the events at the end what’s going to happen in verse number 11 there’ll be divine delusion meant giving by God it says in verse 11 for this reason God will send upon them a diluting influence so that they will believe what is false verse 11 for this reason points back to their distaste for and rejection of the truth actually the phrase translated to looing influence carries the meaning of supernatural working or operative power it’s really the Greek word we get energy from some have translated a work of error which is correct a terrible result of willful rejection of the truth that they should believe a lie I contemplated result it’s not uncommon of course we remember in Romans they exchanged the truth of God for a lie there’s this switch-up can forth they they take the truth of God and they they don’t believe it and so therefore for them they believe a lie so those who reject the truth God sends them a work of error that is exchanged for the truth God sends them confusion so they cannot distinguish between the truth and the lie in other words God gives sinners over to the very sin and error they have embraced that’s reprobation that’s again in Romans that is the judicial act of God in which he gives the wicked over to evil the evil that they have deliberately chosen God gave all Romans chapter one God gave them over to the lust of their hearts verse 26 of chapter one God gave them over receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error God gave them over that’s a repeated theme in Romans but that’s not a theme just in Romans because if you go back in your Bible you don’t don’t you don’t have to go there just in like in a pack sins like some 81 in verse 11 this is what it says to the people of israel says but my people did not listen to my voice and Israel did not obey me so I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices oh that my people would listen to me that Israel would walk in my ways so in other words if somebody chooses not to believe the gospel if someone chooses not to believe God’s Word God’s truth then God gives them over to whatever they want to believe because they will you must believe something you cannot there’s no neutral ground you will believe something whether you make it up where you get it somewhere else you will believe something in this time there will be delusion that God provides upon everything else that’s going on so there’s really really no chance were those who have rejected coming into the tribulation to be saved so what does God do in verse number 12 of chapter 2 he gives them judgment it says in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth right so this deers divine judgment that comes this is the moral consequences that fall upon them this is right from chapter 1 of 2nd Thessalonians verse number 8 where it says dealing out retribution to those who do not know God to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power so the only thing left for God to do is to judge them and no one will escape his judgment so you see that band brings upon himself the ultimate judicial consequences of his chosen course of action which is that that is just to disbelieve at least disbelieve the truth like I said you cannot disbelieve neutrally you will believe a lie you will consider the lie the truth but it will be aligned on the less because it will be apart from what God has revealed so the ones who willfully turn from God have no way back their doom is sealed if you refuse the good grace of God if you refuse his good love if you refuse to good mercy of God then what does that leave someone well if you refuse the light all you have is darkness the fact that a person has not come to the light of the truth of the gospel shows there are heart lies in darkness also if you refuse the truth of the love of the truth then of course you choose idolatry a false substitute for the true and living God something else that you want to worship or a God you want to make up in your mind if you refuse eternal life with God that’s just to choose eternal death separation from a good God forever so if someone spurns eternal life they will only reap eternal death that’s what the Bible teaches and then of course there will be a divine exposure of the heart in verse number 12 also of chapter 2 it says now why does God judgment who did not believe the truth but took they took pleasure in wickedness right they’re rejecting exposes them for who they really are what they really delight in what are they delighted they delight in their own pleasure their own sin their own wrongdoing their own filling fulfilling their own passions and desires that’s what they delight in the Gospel of John says it like this in chapter three men love darkness rather than light why because who these are evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed isn’t what his deeds exposed because he loves his deeds so we can see that it’s clear that if one does not obey the gospel they will obey something if you do not love the truth you indeed delight in and love something else there’s no neutrality there’s no neutral position there is only two alternatives believing a lie or believing the truth each of those have their own effectual results so having actively and willingly rejected God they enjoy fellowship with the devil now this is the atmosphere during the tribulation this is the what will be going on then they will very natural follow after Antichrist because their heart actually beats with his heart they all beat in rebellion against the true Living God against his plan against his people the only thing we can do is really pray that the Holy Spirit may even today whisper in your heart if you do not know Jesus Christ to yield to Jesus Christ because he invites you to come anybody who comes unto him and he will know in no wise come out you will know why in no wise cast out so in other words come to Jesus before it’s too late that should be the message that’s why in Thessalonians we beg people to come to Christ we beg you to come because of what’s coming because of what’s going to take place now saying all that puts us in the realm of I was saying the Great Tribulation but everything has to be set up before that day even the world has to be set up before that day so brethren when people in general deny the existence of a personal God and a divine moral standard to follow their rejection actually has resulted in radical changes in society and in the world so when humanity finds no meaning in God and has no divine moral code to live by then they must fill up their emptiness with something they must find proof for their existence somewhere so they deliberately find meaning and alcohol and materialism and constant entertainment fornication adultery homosexuality lesbianism drugs witchcraft spiritism other forms of occult practices astrology oriental mysticism trends transcendental meditation yoga new age concepts some forms of music false religions and of course Satan worship and onward and onward it goes you can add to that list so the pursuit of these things show that the groundwork is being said that Satan is beginning to condition the minds of people to think since there is no God then truth is subjective and relative and a standard of right and wrong today are out of touch with reality so where does that lead to that leads to our own homegrown philosophy pragmatism pragmatism what it is it rule it actually rules our day you may not even know it does pragmatism and really what it does is it says ultimately that there is no such thing as right and wrong only what works and what doesn’t work so then it is not a question of right and wrong but what works for you so what works for you is not necessarily what works for me and vice versa seeing so the person’s preferences become the determining factor for what is right and what is wrong that’s what is going on today we experience it every day for example if Christianity works for you well then it’s right for you however Christianity doesn’t work for me Islam works for me so that’s right for me so a whatever you want to put in there that’s how it usually goes so when there’s no objective objective standard by which a person can evaluate whether something is right or wrong then lawlessness ensues and the site of society is forced to accept a new concept of Tolerance when a society thinks that each individual should be free to do what is right in his or her own eyes whenever and however he or she wants to the result is people living according to their lusts and desires ultimately producing spoiled pampered children who throw tantrums if they cannot get what they want when they wanted and I’m not talking about children Reynold showers who writes a book what on earth is God doing under his understanding of this new tolerance is helpful he wrote this the new concept of tolerance asserts that the belief or open expression that an opinion or practice of a person or group is wrong amount to a hate crime and should be punished by law so ultimately the goal is to outlaw freedom of belief and freedom of speech is that not under attack today in a way that we have never seen before the real scary thing is that the most serious crimes in society will not be murder and robbery or rape or anything like these the crimes will be thought crimes the time that crimes will be speech crimes the crimes will be written crimes see the world is moving in a direction that Satan wants all differences of opinions and convictions that divide man must be abolished in that type of atmosphere in other words the world of humanity if is to save itself must unite into a common human community a worldwide community there must be a move toward one unified world community and a single world religion that is what is being set up so the question comes to mind where are all these changes in society and in the world heading well they’re heading to what we are calling today religious pluralism religious pluralism is the mindset that all religions are man-made and equal to each other so there would be nothing wrong with merging all religions together to form one world religion for the sake of unifying all mankind there’s a growing pressure for religious groups to unroot to unite as a solution to bring peace and harmony to society and the world with the hope of eliminating wars from a biblical perspective in chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation reveals to us that there will be a political economic and religious system in place and it will begin to emerge and filing finally dominate the world during the future Tribulation Period the political division and there will be a religious division take your Bibles in turn to Revelation chapter 17 verse number 15 revelation 17 verse number 15 and it says in verse number 15 and he said to me the waters which you saw were the harlots where the harlot sits are people’s and multitudes and nations and tongues alright so in other words without going to other passages this is going to be where the political division run by the Beast the Antichrist will tolerate denomination by religious division the harlot will be the global influence in other words in this passage of Scripture the woman rides on and is carried by the Beast in chapter 17 and verse 7 if you go up to that passage it says this and the angel said to me why do you wonder I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the Beast that carries her which has the seven heads and the ten horns so in other words she the woman is the harlot religious system which is moving behind the political and national scene in of course in the Tribulation Period she depends on the beast Christ calls her a harlot and the reason for that is because she commits spiritual prostitution by forsaking God’s Way so in verse number seven it says something here it says which has the seven heads and the ten horns now we want to get that imagery from Daniel and that’s where we get it from the seven heads would be seven kingdoms or seven empires the ten horns would be ten nations or ten Kings so in other words the Antichrist is the final ruler of the last Gentile world empire and is symbolized by the little horn in the Book of Daniel he is the Antichrist he is the end time satanic ly controlled king who will come to the world as a false Christ so everything will be set up for that the whole mindset of the world will be set up for that both politically and religiously and he will come at that moment so once his goal is reached and his goal is going to be worship the worship of him and there becomes a division between the political part and the religious part where it says in revelation 17 verse 16 it says and the ten horns which you saw and the beast these will hate the harlot but remember the harlot being the religious system and will make her desolate and naked naked and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire in other words the ultimate goal is in this religious political system is for Satan to use the religious system and the false prophet to get people to like him and trust him and ultimately worship Him so once he is worshipped the religious system is done with because he’s now the God of gods and the Lord of lords so what religious pluralism does is it conditions people to accept not only the harlot religious system but also the one world religion of Antichrist worship of course which will destroy and replace the harlot religious system in fact in Revelation 13 verse number 8 and 9 the Bible says all who dwell on the earth will worship Him everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who has been slain if anyone has ears let him hear so in other words Antichrist is going to have a significant place in this Tribulation Period specifically from the beginning the seven-year period until the middle and then from the middle to the end would be the Great Tribulation but the question would be who is the Antichrist who will he be will be a Jew will he be a Gentile well to answer that question if we actually can’t answer that question I need to gather some background information so at this point I like to take your Bibles and turn to Matthew I’m excuse me Daniel chapter 11 Daniel chapter 11 now as I have already pointed out Antichrist will exercise religious power an antichrist will also exercise political power in other words he will be a king and as a king he will head he will be the head of a kingdom he will be the perfect counterfeit of the true Christ so will fulfill the role of King of Kings Daniel chapter 11 look at verse number 36 it says then the king will do as he pleases and he will exalt and magnify himself above every God and will speak munch monstrous things against the God of gods and will prosper until the indicate indignation is finished for that which is decreed will be done all right so there we see that he is a king and he will be a king who does whatever he wants to do and no one really gives him opposition at this point now will not Antichrist kingdom be the very one which Satan offered in vain to Christ if you remember from Matthew remember the temptation of Jesus Christ it says then the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory the devil did that and he said to him all these things will I give you if you fall down and worship Me see this is the great temptation that we consider in Matthew and in the Gospels when Jesus was tempted with the full force of the enemy so the devil offers glory and ruled to Jesus Christ in exchange for worship that’s what he does God has turned the kingdom’s over to Satan and he is willing now to turn them over to Jesus if he places himself under Satan in other words just a little act of worship that’s all he was asking for Jesus that’s it nothing else one simple little act that’s all I want Jesus well Jesus would if he did that would have become a rebel against God and a tool in the hand of the devil this temptation that the devil provided Jesus also prevented or present an easy road to the kingdom’s all right to the kingdom of God and it was to bypass the will of God and to give a quick fix that’s what Satan does he gives a quick fix do something quick and let’s get it over with so Jesus will receive remember the kingdom but not through God’s ordained method in other words he will receive the kingdom according to God’s ordained method which will be the bitter road of suffering ending with Christ’s death on the cross his burial his resurrection from the dead so Jesus what does he do he repulses dis assault with Scripture and he responds to the devil as the Lord and as a commanding Lord with a strong command and Jesus of course will have nothing to do with Satan and his proposition or his person so Jean de Jesus final counterblow is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6 which says you shall fear only the Lord your God and you shall worship Him and swear by his name alone see that is send satan away Jesus of course becomes the victor in that victory now that you have to ask yourself the question why did Jesus have to be tempted well Christ had to be tempted because the first Adam failed the test gave in to the temptation but the second Adam Jesus Christ passed the test so Jesus remained unmovable by sticking to the truth under the full force of Satan and resisted the powerful temptation in other words to enter the kingdom you believe in Jesus Christ who is the Lord and Savior so Antichrist will be a king but secondly Antichrist will be the head of a great army look again in Daniel if you’re still there Daniel chapter 11 look at verse 40 and 42 42 it says at the end time Daniel 11 verse 40 at the end time the King of the South will collide with him that’s Antichrist and the king of the north the Antichrist king of Babylon will storm against him that’s the King of the South with chariots with horsemen and with many ships and he that’s the Antichrist will enter countries overflow them and pass through and verse 41 and he the Antichrist will also enter the beautiful land and many countries will fall but these will be rescued out of his hand the Antichrist Edom Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon verse 42 then he Antichrist will stretch out his hand against other countries and the land of Egypt will not escape in other words that he’s going to have a be the head of a great army he’s going to be a military commander and he’s going to go and take over places that’s what he’s going to do so this man of sin will ultimately be the head of according to Daniel the revived fourth world empire now in Daniel chapter 2 it tells us that there will be a fourth Kingdom it will be as strong as iron in so much that as iron crushes and shatters all things so like Iron that breaks in pieces it will crush and break all these in pieces so it will be a very powerful fourth Kingdom so the Antichrist and the head of the revived Empire some called that the revived Roman Empire will be the same person that the Roman Prince the head of the revived Empire makes a covenant with the many for seven years right there in Daniel look at Daniel chapter 9 and verse number 27 the first part of the verse Daniel 9 27 and he will make a firm covenant with many for one week now let me just stop there so the head of the Roman Empire I’m calling that for just for now the Roman the head of the Roman Empire makes a covenant with the Jews now remember the Jews at this time our apostate their secular their materially wealthy in the land that’s who they are they’re so Satan uses them politically and religiously comes alongside of them right and he actually supports them he watches out for them however certain things make Antichrist very upset and he breaks his covenant with the Jews and begins to persecute them look at the second half of verse 27 of Daniel 9 it says but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering and on the wing of abominations he will come will come one who makes desolate even until a complete destruction one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate now this is of course the middle of the tribulation which will be the Great Tribulation this will be the time of Jacob’s trouble but remember Abraham Isaac Jacob Jacob’s name was changed to what Israel a right so this is the time of Israel’s trouble and of course it will be a time of persecution that the Jews have not seen upload this time in human history it will be worse than anything imaginable worse than the Holocaust so whichever vantage point one approaches the subject it’s seen it is seeing that the Antichrist is the head of the fourth world empire now remember the fourth world empire has something’s going on underneath it the ten toes of the image of Daniel alright present certain things kingdoms and so he’s in charge of many things so really we may conclude that the Antichrist will be a Gentile does he have to be a European Gentile I don’t know it can’t be really sure about that however the geographical limits from the old Roman Empire to the new one are from the old geographical boundaries to now our broader in fact the geographical limits do not have to be confined to the limits of the old Roman Empire there are passages scriptures that use a broader designation like it says in Revelation and the kings of the earth will commit acts of immorality now the kings of the earth is a much wider expression and has includes such kingdoms possibly as North and South America China Japan Germany Russia all those things all in fact are outside the bounds of the old Roman Empire so then there is possibility that the future kingdom of the beast and his ten Kings that he rules with could be outside the limits of an old Roman Empire so that means this that the Antichrist may not be European at all and connected to a European unified 10-nation Confederacy or wear whatever you want to call it but actually the Antichrist can be an Islamic Antichrist now there’s much more study needs to go into that but there has been a recent book that puts forth an interesting thesis suggesting the possibility that the final Gentile kingdom could be headed by a Muslim and Islamic Antichrist and the nations that comprise the Antichrist power base will be Muslim now the events that we see unfolding with the Islamic state all over the Middle East and in parts of the world and right even here in our own homeland Isis is carrying out their mission it is a priority in Islamic belief to believe that in to actually believe in the last days and the events that precede the last days the Islamic perspective regarding the last days and specifically what they call the major signs as part of an Islamic horror of beliefs the first major sign after the lesser signs that they mentioned which all not bring up here in which mankind they say will reach a stage of great suffering then they say the awaited mahad Mahdi will appear he is the first of the greater signs of the last day so then the central sign that Muslims are weighed is the coming of a man known as the Mahdi in arabic al mahdi or which means the guided one or the lord of the age or the awaited savior in other words the Mahdi is Islam’s Messiah it’s Islam savior throughout the Islamic world today there is call there is a call for the restoration of the Islamic caliphate you heard it in the news over and over again the Caliphate in Islam maybe view as somewhat as as a pope or a pope of the Muslims in other words he will be a universal leave leader for all Muslims on earth the Mahdi’s ascendancy to power is said to be preceded by an army from the east carrying black fat flags or banners of war that’s why in the news you see them carrying black flags because they’re going according to their prophecies the hadith which is the writings and sayings and deeds of Muhammad actually they’re the sayings and deeds of Muhammad the hadith indicate that when the black flags appear from Central Asia in the direction of corazon and Corazon is Iran then the appearance of Mahdi is imminent they say so the Mahdi will engage in a military campaign against Israel where they intend to erect their black black flags in the holy house the Dome of the rock located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem so the Bible makes it clear that the devil’s primary plan for the last days have been for the past few thousand years to raise up two men Antichrist and the false prophet as the primary instruments to deceive the inhabitants of the world now did did Satan fail to perceive the strategy the strategies regarding the global spread of Islam now according to joel richardson who was the author of the book the Islamic Antichrist believes that Islam is indeed the primary vehicle that will be used by satan to fulfill the prophecies of the Bible about the future political religious and military system of the man of sin that will overwhelm the entire world just prior to the coming of Jesus Christ well according to joel richardson in his thesis he wrote despite numerous prevailing arguments for the emergence of a revived european Roman Empire as Antichrist power base the specific nations he says that the Bible actually identifies as comprising his empire are all today Muslim they are all Islamic regions in fact if you take your Bible and turn to Ezekiel chapter 38 I know today is a little bit heavier than usual but I want you to follow because this is a thesis this is not something that necessarily i would say i believe one hundred percent it is something that comes to light with some scriptural backing to it that i want to consider and so I’m considering it with you this morning but if you notice in Ezekiel 38 verse 1 through 7 it says in the word of the Lord follow me it says then the word of the Lord is Ezekiel 38 1 and where the Lord came to me saying son of man set your face toward gog of the land of Magog now GOG is another reference for Antichrist of the land of Magog and of course Magog would most likely be the Soviet republics of kaka Stan turkestan you bet you Becca Stan turkestan northern parts of modern Afghanistan the Prince of rosh meshack means modern portions of Turkey and tubal portions of modern Turkey and prophesy against them verse 3 and say thus says the Lord God behold i am against you oh god prince of rosh Meshach and tubal I will turn you about and put hooks in your jaws and I will bring you out and all your army horses and horsemen all of them splendidly attired a great company with buckler and shield all of them wielding swords verse number five Persia is Iran Ethiopia or cush is Egypt put is Libya Algeria Morocco and tunes ania with them all with them all of them with shield and helmet Gomer is considered to be kappa kappa this cappadocia and of course that would be central turkey with all its troops beth togarmah also region present in present day turkey from the remotest parts of the north with all its troops many peoples with you be prepared for seven and prepare yourself you and all your companies that are assembled about you and be a guard for them in other words that those nations right there those countries right there that all surround israel very nicely all right Syria to the north right above Syria Turkey right to the east of it there is Iraq and Iran to the south you have of course Libya Algeria Morocco to nans ania and Egypt they all surround Israel all of them and all of them are Muslim today now saying that that means that Turkey has a significant place in the program of the Antichrist now if I if I go back for a moment I just want to bring this to your attention the seven heads remember that we mentioned in the passage ar7 empires that have existed throughout human history and then the ten horns are ten nations or ten Kings right now considering this let’s turn our Bibles to Revelation chapter 17 Revelation chapter 17 and I want you to see something and this passage of scripture for a long time confused me when it came to prophecy and believe it or not it seems a little bit clearer today considering that this may be the case Revelation chapter 17 look at verse number 9 now remember this is really at the end of the tribulation period something’s going on it says in verse number 9 here is the mind which has wisdom the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are seven kings look at verse 10 5 have fallen one is the other has not yet come and when he comes he must remain a little while verse number 11 the Beast which was and is not is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven and he goes to destruction verse 12 the ten horns which you saw are ten Kings who have not yet received the kingdom but they receive authority as kings with the beasts for one hour these have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the Beast now this is most likely at the end of the tribulation this is at the end end and so what happens here is that actually this is after the Millennium I would I would I would think because he is let out of the abyss and we have Armageddon we have the seven bowls of Wrath and but I just want you to notice in verse number ten because it says this and they are seven kings five have fallen let me just stop right there what are they talking about what they’re talking about seven kingdoms right it says five of them five of those kingdoms are already done they’re already fallen well what are they well from Daniel we find out that we have the Egyptian Empire we have the Assyrian Empire we have the Babylonian Empire we have the Persian Empire and we have the Greek Empire all of those five have fallen all right the sixth empire and if you notice in verse number 10 it says and they are seven kings fire phone and then then it says one is so John is writing revelation and John is saying there’s one Empire that’s in power right now what was that one the Roman Empire right that was the Roman Empire that was when John was writing revelation he has one is and then it says in verse number 10 the other has not yet come and when he comes he will remain a little while so he’s talking about a seventh empire that has not yet come now what empire follows our own that’s the question now in all those other empires something is very there’s two characteristics that are very very interesting in those empires all fulfilled two characteristics one they all ruled over Jerusalem and secondly whatever other Kingdom they they defeated either they defeated that Kingdom or they absorb that kingdom into their kingdom those are the two things that have happened so what Empire actually followed Rome well we know that Rome didn’t actually fall right away it wasn’t absorbed necessarily into another Kingdom that fought against them and overpowered them so most likely it’s not the revived Roman Empire as what we thought up until this time the reason why is because the Roman Empire was the 6th Empire not the seventh all right every one of those other ones ruled the Middle East Rome did not necessarily move rule all of it including Jerusalem and also the first six empires either destroyed or absorbed the other empires that preceded it not the revived Roman Empire so in other words when Jesus returns there will be an eighth Empire because it talks about that in our passage in verse number 11 of revelation 17 the Beast which was and is not is himself also an eighth is one of the seven and he goes to destruction that actually there will be an eighth empire but I didn’t answer the question what Empire follow Rome well the Empire that followed Rome was the Ottoman Empire the Turkish Ottoman Empire is the Empire that actually followed Rome so that means this eighth Empire according to his thesis which seems to be intriguing the eighth Empire in which Satan will gather the nations of the world will be the Turkish Empire it will be that empire that will be here and Satan will rule over it and of course if that all lines up with what I read in Ezekiel 38 that means the region of Turkey will head will be the head will be the place the head of the Antichrist Empire will be right there and of course his goal is to what his goal is to overtake rule the world and overtake Jerusalem that’s where Christ comes in that’s where Christ comes in all right because if you notice what happens in verse number 11 it says the Beast which was and is not is himself also the eighth and is one of the seven another four in other words one of the seven that it’s going to be a revived version of the Turkish Empire it says in the end of verse number 11 and he goes to destruction all right and of course the goal of the ten horns and the ten Kings and their kingdoms is finally to give power and authority to the Beast so he gathers all the nations of the world against Israel for its ultimate destruction but what happens well let’s turn back to 2nd Thessalonians and I’m going to close there’s so much else to say but I can’t have no time it’s more of an overview but it look what it says in verse number 8 of 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and you are we what we have to actually thank and praise the Lord for this because there’s a lot of things going on between the verses here in verse number 8 it says then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming that is the one who’s coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders in other words that there will be a divine destruction that comes upon the man of sin and the armies that come against the people of Israel so but brethren not until the church is removed from the earth and the Holy Spirit lists his all-powerful restraints will the lowest Antichrist be revealed and then in the end this lawless one will be overthrown and the agent of his destruction will be the Lord Jesus Christ himself that is the true man of God will bring the man of Satan to a swift end it will be easy for him in fact the Bible says the Lord will slay him with the breath of his mouth the breath of God has always been the fierce weapon of his word it says in Psalms by the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts the power that proceeds from the Lord Jesus Christ is no match for the Antichrist the nation’s who back him in all the armies of the world that are against them there is no match at all whatsoever in other words we won you realize in Christ we won I said all that to say we won see that’s encouraging to people who are suffering that’s encouraging to people who believe something incorrectly now are being corrected to say no Jesus Christ is going to take care of all of it every bit of it and of course he’ll do it by also bringing end by the appearance of his coming so this is going to be the second coming of Christ that this happens so this is at the end this is after the millennia this is this is way at the end the visible presence of the Lord Jesus in the world will put an immediate stop to any accelerated diabolical program and his glorious arrival the glorious arrival of the very presence of Jesus and at the same time the activity of the lawless one will be undercut and ultimately stopped forever and what’s going to happen of course the Antichrist and the false prophet already have been cast into the lake of fire and there they’ll remain there forever the kings and their godless armies will be killed and all the birds of the air will feed on their flesh that says that several times in Revelation the political the economic the religious the military forces of Satan’s Kingdom will be crushed completely and Satan then will be bound and cast into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever that’s the end whether all the timing in this particular thesis winds up with what we normally would think there may be complications there but at the end of the age generally speaking and I want to close with this the end of the age is that period of time which will begin with the events and conditions which occur or prevail immediately before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for his church then the rapture of the church then the rise of Antichrist and other super agents of Satan the terrible time of tribulation then finally Great Tribulation and then the return of the Lord Jesus Christ with power of course and great glory to defeat overwhelmingly his enemies in the great battle of Armageddon to judge all the nations of the earth and of course we know that other is the Millennial age the thousand-year reign of Christ where righteousness will rain in peace and plenty until the Lord brings us to the great white throne judgment and then after that there’ll be the new heaven and the new earth where it’s all done it’s all over New Jerusalem will come down meet the new creation and God will be with his people and he will be our God we will be his people and never again will there be a separation between man and God so that’s God’s goal he’s bringing it all to that end so if you were able to follow this morning there’s a lot of things to consider but I think it was something I wanted to bring before you I was thinking about it and the bottom line for the Thessalonians would be this that God promised them not wrath but rest not judgment but his presence let’s pray lord I do thank you this morning for this time that we could be in this passage and on this subject I pray Lord that you would use these things to encourage us to know Lord that there’s many great many things that must take place but I I know Lord that prophecy often bolsters our faith it gives us confidence Lord in who you are it gives us a sense that things are culminating to an end time plan we know you’re coming again Lord we know everything is coming to an end and we know Satan will ultimately be defeated and be done with forever and that you will be the victor over all this we will be your people we will dwell with you and we will worship the true God and the Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world we will worship you and that Time Lord is going to be a glorious time I pray Lord from now until then you would give a strength to be strong believers in the faith to be wise to see what’s going on around us and what’s going on in the world and be ready for your coming because we know you’re coming is imminent for your church and I prayed this this morning in Christ’s name Amen