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8-6-2023 Sunday Sermon Message

Meditations of the Week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: Daniel 2:31-45

Word title: Cataclysmic Events in the World After the Rapture preceding the Millennium

       God showed a frightening dream to King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the entire world in the Babylonian Empire, and had him interpret it with the help of the prophet Daniel. God foretold the rise and fall of many kingdoms that would arise from the Babylonian empire, where the time of the Gentiles began.

     Not only that, but at the end of the Great Tribulation, Jesus will return and judge everyone in the world who has not believed in Him. After judging the Antichrist and the false prophet by throwing them into the lake of fire. After winning the Battle of Armageddon. By establishing His everlasting kingdom on earth according to the disciples’ prayer taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 KJV)  to accomplish the full dispensation of God’s will, God is finally glorified through the prophecies spoken by Daniel and the vision given to the apostle John.

          God began the time of the Gentiles by raising up the Babylonian Empire to discipline and restore the Israelites by refining them, and successively raised up the Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire. Also, the Roman Empire was further divided into East and West Rome, and in the end, the whole world was divided into ten kingdoms, where the ten kings give all their power and authority to the Antichrist, thereby showing the end of the whole world ruled by Satan.

       The prophet Daniel prophesied to Nebuchadnezzar when he saw the fall of the last world empires and the fulfillment of the Millennial Kingdom, which is the  Kingdom of Heaven preached by John the Baptist and Jesus, taking place on earth with the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ:

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Daniel 2:44-45 KJV)

         Suddenly a stone appeared. The stone struck the image on its feet and on its ten toes, smashing it to pieces. But the stone was not hewn out by human hands. The Apostle Peter testified of this stone:

¶ To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5 KJV)

         The Lord Jesus Christ is a living stone. As a living stone, He becomes the Head of the Church, and the members of the Church become lively stones, reborn by the Holy Spirit and united with the Lord to become holy priests.

         Concerning the stone, the apostle Peter continues with his testimony:

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. (1 Peter 2:6-8 KJV)

        Those who believe in this stone and receive life will become as lively stones, but those who do not believe in this stone, Jesus Christ, will stumble. Who was offended? They were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes at the time of Jesus.

         But where did the stone strike? It didn’t strike the head of the image, but the feet. Striking down the ten kingdoms, the ten toes, that came after the Roman Empire. This is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. This is not the rapture, but the physical appearance of the Lord at the end of the seven years of tribulation after the rapture.

When the Antichrist reigns after being given all power and authority by the kings, Christ, the living stone, judges the Antichrist and the false prophet by throwing them both into the lake of fire. The apostle John prophesied this:

¶ And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1 KJV) And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20 KJV)

        The Apostle John witnessed the scene of the Lord, who is the living stone, opening the windows of heaven and returning with the lively stones, His bride, the Church. This is the book of Revelation fulfilling what was prophesied in the book of Daniel:

 ¶ And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16 KJV)

        The prophet Daniel foretold what would happen when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to judge the world and establish His Millennial Kingdom:

Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:34-35 KJV)

       Jesus spoke through John the Baptist at His First Coming that He would become a living stone and fulfill the words prophesied through the prophet Daniel at His second coming:

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12 KJV)

            At the Second Advent, the remnant, i.e., those who believe in the Lord, will become the wheat grains, as the kingdoms of gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay of this world will turn all to chaff and disappear without a trace.

        David prophesied of this:

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. (Psalm 37:10 KJV)

            Even in the days of Noah, after the flood, there was no one left on earth except his family, and everyone died. Noah’s family took possession of the whole world. Likewise, we can know from the Bible that after the Lord returns and judges the nations of the world, God’s children, His people, and the repentant Gentiles will take possession of the heavens and the earth.

         Likewise, in an empty world, The lively stones that were raptured and came down with the Lord, that is, the Church saints, along with the surviving Jewish remnants and numerous Gentiles who believed in Jesus and kept the commandments during the Great Tribulation, wearing white garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, will form the great mountain (Rev 7:9-17).

        The kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of Christ when the seventh angel blows his trumpet:

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15 KJV)

            The Lord Jesus Christ will not only reign over the world for a Millennium, but forever. And this is when David will again rule over Israel (Ezekiel 37:24-25). Also, the born-again brides of Christ who came down to earth with the Lord after the raptured will become rulers over ten or five cities in all the Gentile kingdoms, according to the pounds they gained.

         The prophet Zechariah prophesied the establishment of the kingdom after the Lord Jesus Christ’s defeat of the Antichrist’s army at the battle of Armageddon:

Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. (Zechariah 14:3-4 KJV) and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14: 5b KJV) And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9 KJV)

         Finally, the enemy devil, who has brought sin and death to the whole world and has been accusing us for the past 6,000 years, will fall into the lake of fire after the end of the Millennium and suffer eternally with the Antichrist and the false prophet:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10 KJV)

Amen! Hallelujah!