Back to sermon search
EW

Woodhouse, ErnestGod's Plan For The Ages 07 ~ 5'th Dispensation

Download audio

Full transcript

turn together for a few verses to the second epistle of Paul the Apostle Peter Thessalonian. The schoolboy said, an epistle is the writer of an apostle. But you are much more intelligent than that. An epistle, of course, is simply a letter. Those of you who were with me in the lounge this morning will remember we've made reference to the letters written by the Apostle Paul and noted that the first two letters that he wrote were the letters to the Thessalonians. And they are called by a long name, they are called eschatological, because eschatology is the doctrine of future things. And there are two letters to the Thessalonians, because in a very general sense, the first one has to do with the coming of the Lord Rita for his people. and the second one has to do with the coming of the Lord Jesus with his people. We're going to make reference to those two comings tonight, but I wanted to read a few verses from the second chapter in the second epistle to the Thessalonians, and notice what the writer says here, and keep in mind that in a general sense the reference is in the second epistle will have to do with the second stage in the coming of the Lord Jesus, his coming with his people. Perhaps we'll point those out in the chart. There will be making reference to them. Here is the coming of the Lord Jesus for His people. He comes with the air, as we were saying, as we were writing in our hearts last night, and then at the end of this presentation we're going to talk about tonight, and I realize I haven't done so earlier, he comes again this time to the earth. So here we have first Thessalonians, and here we have second Thessalonians, and here we have Phidon. So I'll put him on and then I can wander around a little more readily and I hope. He sprouted a little ring since the last time I saw him make it a little easier for me to put the cord on him. All right, verse one of chapter two. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. and by our gathering together unto him, that he be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter of some earth, as of the day of Christ is at hand. Now I have to stop there, because we usually think, and properly so, that the day of Christ is the rapture, the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus for his people. Now when I tell you that in the original it does not say the day of Christ here, it says the day of the Lord. And that's very significant because that of course refers to the second stage of the coming, his coming with his people. So that what the apostle is saying here is, that he be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as promised. not from us, but purporting to be from us, that the day of the Lord is now present. There were people who were saying that, but Paul said, Don't listen. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of tradition, who opposes and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, remember ye not that when I was with you, I told you these things, and now you know what withhold us, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letth will let until he be taken out of the way, and then, so that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceitfulness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. That's how it reads in the original. They believed not, it says, they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, and because of this God shall send them strong illusions that they should believe the lies, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. Now there we have touched on some of the things that relate to and belong to this fifth dispensation. Now we're going to read again more. We did read from Daniel nine. You don't need to turn to it unless you want to. I'm going to repeat part of that reading again this evening. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity. Obviously, here we have a reference to the cross. and the suffering and the atonement of the Lord Jesus, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Now you'll notice that these things are included in the seventy weeks. Know therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks, that is, sixty-nine, sixty-nine weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times, and after three-score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. So there's been seven. Now there are sixty-two, and the Messiah is cut off, and then it says, And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week, and this one week is the period we are going to study tonight, this. fifth dispensation, and in the midst of the week, that is after three and a half days of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomination shall he make it desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Now one other reading. this time in Revelation chapter twelve. And once again we are taken to this period of time. Revelation chapter twelve. And let's begin reading again at verse one. And there was given me a reed, like unto a rod, and the angel stood, and saying, Rise and measure the Temple of God. Now that's chapter eleven, and it focuses our attention upon Israel. Now, let's continue in chapter eleven. In chapter eleven, there's a reference in verse two to forty and two months. Now figure that one out, will you? Forty and two months. How many months in a year? Twelve. How many in four years? Thirty-six. How many in forty-two months? Three and a half. Remember that. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and three-score days. And again, if you do a little arithmetic, you'll find that here you have three and a half years of thirty days, three and a half years. You have forty-two months of thirty days each, and it comes to a thousand two hundred and three-score days. Now, the non-dispensationalist is going to tell us there is really no significance to this forty-two months, these twelve hundred and three-score days. There's no significance to the three and a half years or the seven years, because all of this has to be spiritualized. I do not believe that. I cannot believe that. I believe the Spirit of God is so very meticulous here and so very, very clear that we cannot, and most of us would not want, to get away from this. Now go to chapter twelve. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. and she being which child cried, travailing in birth and pains to be delivered, and there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads, and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and he cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child, as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God unto his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three-score days. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought at his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceives of the whole world, he was cast out into the earth. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuse them before our God day and night. and they overtame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye the dwelling them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Now I don't know how puzzling these things are to you. But concerning the last reading here, the woman is a picture of Israel. She's identified in the bringing forth of the man child which was caught up to heaven. That's how Israel is identified for us. But the woman is a special part of Israel. A godly remnant, that is why she has to flee, and the Lord Jesus himself delivers her when he comes back again to the Mount of Olives. Let's go to the chart. Now I realize that most of you haven't seen the chart close up. Some of you have stolen up at the end of the meetings to take a rather longer and closer look at it, but there are certain things that from a distance you cannot see about the chart. And one of them I want to make mention of because we just read about it. Here, where we have the original creation, the chaotic condition of the earth and the recreation, we have a serpent around a tree. Here we have Eden, and you know what happened in the Garden of Eden, how Eve took an apple. At least that's what we are told, but the Bible doesn't say it was an apple. She took out the forbidden fruit, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because she was tempted by Satan. Now here's the serpent and he's wound around a tree in the Garden of Eden where the problems begin. But that's not the end of Satan. Indeed, if you could see the chart closely, you would see that there are two wiggly lines. One goes down and associates Satan with this black line, which is the death line. The other wiggly line goes up here into heavenly places. Don't ask me to explain this to you, but Job, the oldest book in the Bible, tells us when the sons of God came to present themselves before God, Satan came with them. So God, although Satan fell, and although Satan and some associate the chaotic condition of the earth with Satan's thought, they say God made the earth perfect. But at the fall of Satan, because in some way he had connection with the earth, the earth, as it was then known, was destroyed and became chaotic. Whether that connection has been established or not, I don't know. But there are those who say that the fall of Satan, when he thought God's throne is associated with the catastrophe, that cataclysm, which gives the cataclysmic theory its name, he did... as a fallen creature enter the Garden of Eden. And because of the temptation of man, as by one man sin ended in the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men in it all have sinned. Hence the death line at the bottom of the chart, and Satan's association with it. Now he is able to present himself in the presence of God. Indeed, Satan is called to things, although he is fallen. You know, if you read the Old Testament account of Satan in his original beauty. You'll find that he had the freedom of heaven before he fell. Thou hast walked up and down amidst the stones of fire. I've been tempted to repeat that topic some time ago during the summer. I took it up here in the park of the Palm, but Satan is very much a part of the picture here, and I've been grappling with the temptation tomorrow morning. to take up Satan as a topic. But most of the folks from the colony will have covered at least that outline with me. So I may change my mind and not do that tomorrow morning. So you can come just to find out whether I do or I don't. But you know, he lost that freedom of heaven. When he fell, God tippled him over the ramparts of heaven and he fell. But he still... was the Prince of the Power of the Air and the God of this world. And so here we find him able to come into God's presence and exercising his authority, if you will, as the Prince of the Power of the Air. But we just read in the book of the Revelation that during this period there will be war in the heavens. And Michael and his angels will fight against the devil and his angels, and the devil and his host will be defeated, and we read he was cast down to the earth. Now that's why there's a wiggly line here that goes along here. Because when this war takes place and Satan and his hosts are defeated, he will then, who lost the freedom of heaven, seems to be the prince of the power of the air. But he will still continue for a little while to be the God of this world. And you notice that little word of warning in the book of the Revelation. Go to the earth because the devil knows he's only got a little time and he's going to do his worst against the sons of men during that last little time where you see the wiggly line along the earth line here. So we have Satan. the prince of the power of the air up until this point when he and his host are defeated by Michael and his angels and is cast down to the earth so that now he is just at this point the God of this world but he's still going to be very very active and notice that his casting to the earth coincides with the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Now I better get to my topic because time has a way of flying, and there are three things I'd like to talk about tonight with regard to this dispensation number five. We call the first the introduction of life, the second the institution of order, the third the indoctrination of Israel, and the fourth the interruption of grace, the first we are calling the indignation of deity. When the church is taken away, the Lord Jesus having ruptured the church, then those who are left behind are left behind for perdition and judgment. Now there will be during this period the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, and there will be people saved during this fifth dispensation. but not one of them will be a person who heard the gospel during the fourth dispensation, the Age of Grace, the period, the Church period. If he had his opportunity and turn it down, we read in Second Thessalonians, God will send him strong illusion that he should believe the lie, that is the Antichrist's lie, the lie that's going to characterize this fifth dispensation in which we have the indignation of deity. Now the three things I want to talk about are first of all the confines that enclose this dispensation. The second the characters that experience this dispensation. And then thirdly the conditions that enliven this dispensation. So first of all the confines. That's very interesting to notice. If you come and take a close look at the chart, you'll find that there is just a little gap here. Now we can begin the dispensation at the end of this one because although the seven years will not begin immediately after the rapture, you see, you remember in Second Thessalonians it said, These things cannot begin to unfold until the wicked one be revealed. The wicked one, that's the world ruler. Now between the moment of the rapture of the saints and the time when the wicked one is revealed is an unknown period. It may be hours, it may be days, It may be weeks, it could even be months. We just don't know, because the Word of God is silent concerning it. But it does say that this dispensation, these last things that are going, horrible things that are going to happen, cannot begin to happen until the wicked one is revealed. Not until he has taken his place as a world ruler will he be able to make a covenant of seven years with the Jew. And those seven years constitute Daniel's last week, his seventieth week. And it's a covenant between the Jew, the unbelieving Jew, and the world ruler, the beast. If you like when you get home to read in Revelation chapter thirteen, you read about a beast rising up out of the nations, out of the sea, and the sea speaks of the nations, he's a Gentile. And it speaks about a beast rising up out of the land, and the land is Palestine or Israel, and he'll be a Jew. The one, beast number one is the world ruler. Beast number two is the religious ruler. I believe he's really the Antichrist, rather than the world ruler, though the world ruler is often called the Antichrist. It's the religious ruler particularly, who's a Jew, who will be the Antichrist. Now the confines are the rapture, the return of the Lord Jesus for his people, and then the return of the Lord Jesus with his people. And during this very short period, including seven years of a covenant between the world ruler and the Jew, and those few hours, few days, few weeks, few months, during which the world ruler is coming to the forefront to take the stage and be in a position to establish a compact or a covenant with the Jew. So we have a dispensation that is something longer than seven years here. but spoken of figuratively as one week in the prophecy, Daniel's seventy-th. Now again, can I remind you, there were seven years, there was seventy years, seven weeks, captivity. And then there was sixty-two weeks, from the command to the build the temple to the coming of the Messiah. Seven, sixty-two, make sixty-nine. That brings us to this point when God lays aside the Jew and interrupts the process with the church period and then starts again here Daniel's last week. But the last week begins with the signing of the covenant between the Jew and the world ruler. So the consigns that enclose this dispensation, number five, are the two stages in the return of the Lord Jesus. Number one is coming for his people, coming to the air. and then he's coming with his people when his speech will stand on the Mount of Olives. Two stages in the return of the Lord Jesus. And incidentally, during this period, there will be in the heavenly two incidents taking place. There will be the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper of the Lamb. So we have two things that concern us. in the heavens. We're not going to have time to talk about them tonight. We should do because the judgment seat of Christ is a very challenging study and a very solemn reminder that we must all stand before that judgment seat. Not to have our sins judged. That judgment will take place at the great white throne and no believer will be there. I saw the dead, small and great stand before that throne, says the writer. of the book of the Revelation, but the judgment seat of Christ will give an account of the things done in the body. It will not be a matter of sin. It will be a matter of faithfulness. We shall not be punished as a result of that judgment, but we shall suffer loss if we have not been faithful. These are the confines that enclose this dispensation. The two stages in the coming of the Lord Jesus And while these things are happening on the earth that we're going to talk about, two things are taking place in heaven, the judgment seat and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now what about the characters that experience this period? Now basically, largely they are two. There's the eternal Christ on the one hand. for he will certainly be involved during this period, and there is the infernal serpent on the other hand, because this is a battleground for the Son of God and Satan. Now, I know that you all know the details here, but there will be worship of Christ in heaven, there will be worship of Satan on the earth. There will be a ceiling by the Lord Jesus of his own in the forehead in heaven. There will be a ceiling of his own by Satan on the forehead, head and in the hands on the earth. These things are going on simultaneously. Now in writing of this period, the prophets write about a host of angels. Think of the book of the Revelation now. We have seven angels with trumpets. By the way, I have a little bone to pick with Mr. Booth here. If you look up here over this fifth dispensation, you'll see seven seals and seven trumpets and seven vials. Now I know that you're acquainted with those. You may not altogether understand what they mean, but here is my... my bone that I want to pick with Mr. Booth. If you read very carefully in the book of the Revelation, you will find that there are seven seals. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. But the seven seal, out of the seven seal come these seven trumpets. So the seven trumpets should not lie alongside the seven seals. the seven trumpets should all be coming out of that seventh seal. And then the seven vials should not be beside the seven trumpets, because just as the seven trumpets come out of the seventh seal, so the seven vials come out of the seventh trumpet. So what you have are seven seals and the last seal, out of the last seal, issues seven trumpets, and then out of the seven trumpets issue seven vials. Now that's important, and if we were taking a month, it would be a very intriguing study. But we have seven angels with seven trumpets. We've got seven angels with seven vials. We've got seven angels with seven messages. You might like to look for these in your Bible. I wouldn't dare to start on them tonight, or you'd still be here at midnight. Then we have four angels holding the four winds at each corner of the earth. We have three angels guarding the temple. And then we have an army of angels defeating Satan. So we have a host of angels that are busy, active during this period of the fifth dispensation. Now we also have a divided nation. The nation of Israel falls into two parts, a greater part and a lesser part, an apostate nation of Israel and a godly remnant. And it's what happens during this dreadful period that sorts them out. We also have a reprobate world. The world ruler makes promises of peace, and he seems to be fulfilling them to begin with, and then God starts pouring out judgments upon a reprobate earth. Now this is not going to be difficult for God. Nothing is difficult for God. But you know, the scene is so adequately set. I made a note here of something that seemed to me to be very, very significant. one of the very convincing proofs that the days in which we live must indeed be the last days. You realize that it took eighteen hundred and fifty years from the beginning of time to the year eighteen fifty for the population in the world to reach one billion. One thousand eight hundred and fifty years, that is from the beginning of time up until, it's longer than eighteen hundred and fifty years, but up until the year eighteen fifty there weren't a billion people on the earth, much longer than eighteen hundred and fifty years. But by eighteen fifty there were a billion people on the earth. Do you know how long it took? for that one billion to become two billion? From eighteen fifty to nineteen thirty, that's only eighty years for the population of the Earth to double. Now that began to create problems in nineteen thirty. One billion in eighty years had become two billion. Do you know how long it took to become three billion? I have it here. From nineteen thirty to nineteen sixty, only thirty years for the next billion. All of that long, long time for the first, eighty years for the second, thirty years for the third. Do you know how long it took for the fourth? From nineteen sixty to nineteen seventy-five, just fifty years. Since nineteen seventy-five, five years have gone by. Do you know that there's another half a billion people on the earth in the last five years? A half a billion more people. Do you know if the earth exists until the year two thousand, how many billion people will be on the earth? More than eight billion people, and we can't support four billion. That's the reason why the Word of God prophesies such dreadful famines. among many other things. Now here's an incontestable proof that time for mankind is running out. And some of the things that are seen during this period are dreadful famines, and God will be responsible for sending them. It obviously is not going to be difficult in view of the speed with which the population of the earth is multiplying. Now, What are the conditions that enliven this period? Let's think about the reprobate world, the world upon which God is going to pour out judgments, so much so that eventually we find the world of men knowing their tongues with pain. We find them being scorched by great heat. We find them crying on the mountains and the hills to fall on them and blot them out. I'm glad the Church of God is not going to be here for this fifth dispensation. The reprobate world, first of all, is going to be deluded. God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe they lie, so when the world ruler steps under the stage and says to the world, I'm going to give you peace, I'm going to give you plenty, the world is going to say, this is our man, and they're going to acclaim him. The reprobate world will be first of all deluded, and then it will be divested. You read the book of the Revelation and see that while the man of sin, that world ruler, the first beast, the beast out of the sea, the Gentile beast, is seeking to fulfill his promise so that he can ingratiate himself with the sons of men by making their circumstances better, God comes in and destroys their crops. God comes in and destroys a third of all of their shipping. He interrupts their commerce, and he brings dreadful disasters, one after the other, upon the earth. And God divests men of the things they need most, their food, their comfort, their health, their physical well-being, and so on. They are deluded first. They are divested next. and then they are terribly, terribly disturbed. We're living in very wonderful days, you know. There was a time when people used to read the Scripture I read to you about the two witnesses, and say, how can the world see the bodies of these men lying in the Holy City for three days? How can the world see that? It isn't possible. But you turn on your television and you see what's going on in the other side of the world, and you see it while it's happening, and that's precisely what's going to happen. Television is going to be the medium through which the world rejoicing is going to look at the two witnesses, or the bodies of the two witnesses, that have been telling the world what God's message, and the world hasn't wanted to hear it. Eventually those two will be slain and deliberately their bodies will be left in the streets so that people can rejoice at the fact that they've been overthrown and the whole world can view them and rejoice along with the people in that city that have asked these two disturbing witnesses that have talked so much about God and so much about a dreadful future, tried to interpret these evil things that have come upon us to us and we didn't want their message, we're glad they're dead. After three days, the world watching, they're going to see these men get to their feet, and God is going to take them up to himself. Now, I know that sometimes the two witnesses are used as an illustration of other things, but I think it's quite possible that God will do just this, since he will have his witnesses in every place, will raise up two men. I think that's possibly, that's the interpretation that I take. I take it literally, because you can see how that would disturb the world. and they will be very disturbed. And eventually this deluded and divested and disturbed, reprobate world will become demented, literally and absolutely. Such dreadful things are going to happen. There's a picture of the Antichrist with frogs coming out of his mouth. Do you know that there's going to be tremendous satanic manifestations? in the days in this dispensation. Do you realize that miracles are going to happen. They're going to be performed by the Antichrist, not by the power of God, but by the power of the devil. But they're going to happen. The return of the occult. My, we've seen a sort of echo of this over the past several years. We know that in this country today there are covens of witchers and they actually offer up blood sacrifices, and it is believed in some places even human sacrifices. Yes, in the United States of America there are black witches who constantly and consistently and openly worship the devil. Oh, the stage is being set. And no wonder the Bible says, woe, woe, woe to that reprobate world. Now what about the divided nation? The nation of Israel. You know, when this period begins, the nation of the whole will be very pleased. that the man of sin, he won't be called that in those days, he'll be acclaimed as the man who's going to solve the world's problems. And when he makes a covenant with the Jew, the Jew's going to be happy because he says, now you can carry on with your form of worship. Mind you, the Jew is totally unbelieving at this time. And he's religious, he carries on his religion. But still, when the world ruler says, that's perfectly okay by me, you and I will have a covenant for seven years. And then right in the middle of the seven years. Now we come to the forty-two months. Forty-two have gone, forty-two are still to go. Don't call this fifth dispensation the Great Tribulation, will you? because the fifth dispensation is not the great tribulation, only a half of it. Only three and a half years. Why, the first three and a half years don't constitute tribulation at all, even though God is pouring out judgments. It's for the Jew, it's a time of false peace of mind. But after three and a half years right in the middle of the covenant, right in the middle of the pact, the Antichrist will cause an image of the beast to be set up in the temple, and then the people will be told that they must worship it. Now that's where the nation divides. There are those who are afraid because they won't be able to buy and sell. They want to have the mark of the beast so they can carry on their commerce and still try to make their fortunes, and they will succumb and they'll worship the beast. But there'll be a godly remnant, a smaller number, who will say, now we see it all. Now we realize what's been happening and cost us what it will. We are not going to worship the beast. And that very experience will open up for them a period of persecution such as has never been known. There's the woman fleeing and she's pursued by Satan. And God himself has to shelter her. Oh, there'll be many. The Jew during that period, the godly remnant, will carry the message that's saved to the people who've never heard. And they will respond. There will be a very large response from those who've never heard the gospel. But in order to be saved, they'll have to endure to the end. It'll be no good saying, I trust, and going on for a little while and falling away. They that endure to the end, the same shall be saved, the Word of God says. And so we move into that last forty-two months, that last twelve hundred and sixty days, that last three and a half years. This is the Great Tribulation. Do you know what it's called elsewhere in the Bible? It's called the time of Jacob's trouble. because it's great tribulation for the godly remnant of Israel. Of course the church won't go through the great tribulation. I said to you the other day probably ninety percent of the church is already in heaven. In any case it's not the time of the church's trouble the church will have been taken out of the rapture, it's the time of Jacob's trouble. It's three and a half years of the great tribulation for the godly remnant of Israel. And do you know how this is going to end and my time has gone? The godly remnant eventually will be surrounded in the city of Jerusalem, and all the forces of evil will be there ready to deliver the coup de grace, ready to destroy that godly remnant. And when the godly remnant, totally threatened and absolutely helpless, seems on the verge of being engulfed, the Lord Jesus will return. His feet will touch the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives will split in two. And it's very interesting. Do you know that there is an earthquake fault runs through that city and across through the mountain? You realize that? And it also goes beyond, it goes beneath the dome of the rock. Maybe the Jews won't have to pull that down in order to build the millennial temple. because maybe that earthquake, when the mountain splits in two, will deal with the Muslim entity on the Temple Mount. Maybe, I don't know. But when he comes and he touches the Mount of Olives, it's going to split in two, and he personally is going to deliver that godly remnant, and he will defeat the forces of evil. And that will bring to an end this Sith dispensation called by us for this week. the indignation of deity. Let's rejoice that we're not going to be there. Now there is one other thing I ought to mention. I mentioned the reprobate nation, or the reprobate world, and I mentioned the divided nation. I also mentioned earlier the apostate church. There will be people there because when the rapture takes place there'll be lots of folk who thought they were Christians but they were never born again and they'll be left behind. Read the chapter seventeen of Revelation about Babylon and see what's going to happen. That church will become that reprobate church, that apostate church, it'll become unilateral, it'll be one church, it'll become ecumenical, it'll be a combination of all these apostate churches. It'll be fanatical. It'll be demoniacal. The devil will be the one in control. And it will be, see chapter seventeen of Revelation, totally immoral. And yet it'll still parade as the church of the day. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, these things are not new to us. But we ask that as we have pondered them again tonight and as we think about them in separating, our hearts might rejoice.