What Will Happen to the Jews & Iran?

Israel, the Jews and the Word of God; what's going to happen? One thing we know for sure, Rev. 1 sums up every up to this point, and everything after this point!

Israel and the Jews/Persia and Iran are always right there! Here we are at the end of the age, and what's happening? Everything in the world is centered around the Middle East.

It's affecting every country one way or another. But more particularly, the Jews and then Israel and Persia and then Iran, because they fit together.

Rev.1—here we have Jesus declaring who He is. We will see that everything that is done on a major basis between nations, God knows it! God is behind it, or Satan is behind it; one of the two.

Revelation 1:11: "Saying, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last…"

Verse 8: "'…the Beginning and the Ending,' says the Lord, 'Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come—the Almighty.'"

What's taking place over there in the Middle East is very important. Great things have happened there in the past. I call your attention to the Book of Esther, which is very interesting because it shows how the religious leader Haman the Agagite hated the Jews and wanted to kill all the Jews. He even finagled the king Ahasuerus to sign a decree that a year ahead of time, all the Jews in Persia would be killed. Well, you read the rest of the story and what happened, and it reversed on them! So, maybe we will see something like that today.

• What do we have? We have a religious leader in Iran—who is—in Persia!
• What does he do? He wants to kill all the Jews and kill all of Israel!

It's stated today, he hates the Jews and hates America! Death to the Jews and death to America!

That's why what's going to happen in the next few days is very important. So, let's look at a couple of things here and see that there was a man that God raised up as king in Persia. And there was a prophecy of him back here in Isaiah.

Now today, we have a man who's trying to do something of it, whose life God saved in a very spectacular way. Who, even though he may not be completely converted, understands God and understands His way enough that he's going to do the will of God. Now here's a prophecy 150 years before Isaiah was born:

Isaiah 45:1: "Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, 'Whose right hand I have made strong in order to humble nations before him. And I will loosen the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved doors; and the gates shall not be shut.'"

Now there's a prophecy of Cyrus and how he, at the end of 70 years of Babylonian captivity of the Jews, would come to power and he would conquer Babylon. Now that conquering of Babylon was quite a miraculous thing, because God put it in his heart to make a diversion of the Euphrates River so it would flow in a different way, because the Euphrates came right down the middle of the city of Babylon. That lowered the level of the water so much that his troops could come under the iron gates that came down to where the river was. Alongside the shores there were gates that came down that opened and closed where the people could come down and could get water.

Those doors were locked every night, but on the night that he came and conquered Babylon those doors were open just like this prophecy says! This was 150 years before it happened.

Now then, Cyrus was the one who was to let Israel go, and he did the will of God.

• God helped him
• God opened the way
• God took care of it
• God intervened in the days of Esther to take care of Haman the Agagite
• God intervened at the time of the end of the Babylonian captivity

We will see a prayer of Daniel in a little bit. We'll look at a little bit of the history of Babylon.

Ezra 1:1: "And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might he fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia…" Think about that!

• Can God use anyone He wants to use to do His will? Yes!
• Is He concerned with nations? Yes!

He says that He judges all the nations all the time (Jer. 18). And a prophecy, we will see a little later, about the downfall of Babylon was given to Daniel before the event even occurred.

"…the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying…" (v 1). Very interesting!

I want you to think about how many things that Donald Trump has said:

I stand before you tonight (at the Republican National Convention) by the grace of Almighty God. And God spared my life.

What is Trump doing here in America? He's trying to help bring the people back to common sense, and it is as many as possible the doors will be open so that they can come back to Christ the way that they ought to.

Here God deals with the nations and the kings. We'll see that again when we get to the book of Daniel.

Verse 2: "'Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And He has charged me to build Him a house [temple] at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.'" The Babylonians destroyed it!

Now we're looking at the same thing today, aren't we? That's why we have this going on, because the enemies of the Jews, who are the enemies of God…

A lot of people say, 'Look how sinful the Jews are.' Yes they are, but are they any more sinful than anybody else? No, they're not!

I also want you to go to templeinstitute.org and look up what they are doing about the temple right now. You will see they're making every possible to rebuild the temple, to have a third temple! We know that the temple is coming. We've covered those verses in:

• Rev. 11
• 2-Thess. 2
• Matt. 24

Verse 3: "Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem…"

This is the 70th year, it's the end of the captivity, and now they can go to Jerusalem. We'll look at some other prophecies here in a little bit.

"…which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel—He's the God Who is in Jerusalem" (v 3).

Now another thing to note for today: God is not going to do what he's going to do, because the Jews necessarily deserve it.

He's going to do it because Jerusalem is His city, and just like in the days of Hezekiah, when the Assyrians came down and wanted to destroy Jerusalem, take them captive, God annihilated the army of 180,000 of the Assyrians in one night to spare Jerusalem and the temple for His name.

• yes, Hezekiah prayed
• yes, Isaiah prayed

but God did it! All right, here we have the same thing here.

Then he continues on with his proclamation; v 4: "And whoever remains in any place where he resides, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with animals, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem."

Verse 5: "And the chiefs of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had stirred up, arose to go up to build the house of the LORD, which is in Jerusalem." That was their goal!

• Can God stir up people to do things? Yes, He can!
• Were they converted? No, they weren't converted!

Verse 7: "And Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem and had put in the house of his gods. Even those Cyrus king of Persia brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer and numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them thirty basins of gold, a thousand basins of silver, twenty-nine knives, thirty bowls of gold, four hundred and ten silver bowls of a second kind, and a thousand other vessels" (vs 7-10).

What is missing? No Ark of the Covenant!

Now, at the close of the book of Jeremiah, he doesn't mention that it was taken when the Babylonians came to conquer. So, the Babylonians took everything they could lay their hands on in the temple and took it to Babylon. That very night we find that they were celebrating. (Dan. 5).

They took all the vessels out of from the temple and they were drinking their wine out of those vessels. What happened? There was a hand that came and said, 'mene mene tekel upharsin,' which is your kingdom has come to an end! That was the very night the Persians came through the gate and conquered Babylon.

Now it's interesting. When you have a war, there's nothing but destruction. But this was conquered without throwing a spear, shooting an arrow, any of that; we say today 'without firing a shot.' Why? Because God wanted the Jews to go back in peace! That's why He did it that way.

Now, concerning the Ark of the Covenant: What happened to the Philistines when they took the Ark when they destroyed Shiloh where the tabernacle was, because of the sins of Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phineas? They took the Ark and went out to war against the Philistines and God was not with them!

So it's not the Ark that would do it. God was the One Who would do it! So, the Philistines captured the Ark. They put it in the temple of Dagon, their god and worshipped the Ark, and Dagon fell down. They put it back up. The next day it fell down and his hands and Dagon's head were removed. And then they started having the plague of hemorrhoids and mice.

So after a while they said, 'We got to get rid of this. Let's send it on back to Israel. So they made a new cart and put a new heifer on it and sent it on back to toward the Israelites. It came to the house of one of the Levites and he took care of it for 20 years in Kirjath Jareem.

When David wanted to bring it up to Jerusalem, he sent a cart to put it on and take it up there and Uza touched it and he died. It tells you this: The Ark is not on earth! If it were on earth, the Jews would have found it already. They say Jeremiah buried it, but we have in:

Revelation 11:19: "And the Temple of God in heaven was opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His Temple…"

Why? Because when the Jews went into captivity into Babylon, God took it up to heaven and there it is!

• we'll look at Daniel
• we'll look at Nebuchadnezzar
• we'll look at what Daniel understood

and how we can see some parallels that are going on with what's happening today between America and Iran and Trump and the Ayatollah.

Let's come to the book of Daniel, the first chapter. We'll just summarize that. That's where Daniel was and his three companions, the four of them. They were in the first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar and brought back to Babylon. They were so wise that they were put into the school of the magicians and the wise ones and the counselors and they stood head and shoulders above them all, especially Daniel.

Then we come to Dan. 2 and here we have where God moves in a special way, where He gave a dream to King Nebuchadnezzar.  But King Nebuchadnezzar couldn't figure out what the dream was. So, he called all the wise men and all the soothsayers and magicians and said, 'I had a dream. I want you to tell me what the dream was and what does it mean? 'And they said, 'We can't do that, you tell us the dream.' He said, 'no, if you don't do it this way, you're going to be dead men'—just paraphrasing it.

So, they came to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and they put it before God: Daniel prayed and asked God to reveal what this was! That was an impossible thing to ask. 'Tell me the dream.' How are you going to know who dreamed what? 'Then tell me the meaning of the dream.'

This is really very important. That's why we have it recorded in the Bible. So, God opened Daniel's mind.

Daniel 2:18: "That they might pray for the mercies of God in heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon."

Because when the king says, 'I'm going to kill you,' you're as good as dead!

Verse 19: "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. And Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said, 'Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His" (vs 19-20).

I bring you back to; Revelation 1:8: 'I am the Alpha and the Omega… [the First and the Last (v 1)] …the Beginning and the Ending…" Christ—the Lord God of the Old Testament—revealed it to Daniel!

Daniel 2:21: "And He [God] changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings…." Very interesting! God is dealing with the leaders of the world!

• Do some of them know it? Yes!
• Do some of them not know it? Yes!

But He's still dealing with them!

"…He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the Light dwells with Him" (vs 21-22)—add in Rev. 1!

Verse 23: "'I thank You, and praise You, O God of my fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of You, for You have made known to us the king's matter.' Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had chosen to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said this to him: 'Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king'" (vs 23-24).

So, God is the One Who sets up kings, and changes times and seasons, because He's in charge, even though Satan the devil is down here doing his work, as well. Then Daniel was brought to the king.

Verse 25: "Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel in before the king, and said this to him, 'I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make the interpretation known to the king.' The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar… [that was his Babylonian name] …'Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?'" (vs 25-26). Now that's a tall order!

Verse 27: "Daniel answered before the king and said, 'The secret which the king has demanded cannot be shown to the king by the wise men, the enchanters, the astrologers or the magicians. But there is a God in heaven…'" (vs 27-28).

Let's see what happened with Nebuchadnezzar. Very interesting indeed!

• Does God deal with unconverted leaders to get his will done? Yes, He does!
• Do they know sometimes what they're doing? Yes!
• Do they know sometimes that they don't know why they're doing it, but they're doing it? Yes!

Verse 28: But there is a God in heaven Who reveals secrets and makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days…."

Now that's an interesting statement; the latter days down to our times! So, we're going to see that this is a tremendous vision because it is one long vision from Nebuchadnezzar to the return of Christ! Now that's a long time, over 3,000 years.

"…Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are these: As for you, O king, while upon your bed your thoughts came to you of what should come to pass hereafter. And He Who reveals secrets makes known to you what shall come to pass" (vs 28-29).

Have all of these things happened? We can look back in history and see that they did. There are other chapters in the book of Daniel that covers the succession of other kingdoms, as well. In Daniel's time, it was the Babylonian Empire with the head of gold and the chest of silver, the Persian Empire.

Verse 30: "But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living man, but so that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. You, O king, looked—and behold, a great image! That great image, whose brightness was surpassing, stood before you. And its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold; his breast and his arms were of silver; his belly and his thighs were of bronze; His legs were of iron; his feet were part of iron and part of clay. You watched until a stone was cut out without hands that struck the image upon its feet, which were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together. And they became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors. And the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth" (vs 30-35)—the whole Plan of God right there!

First time, everything comes in a linear fashion from Nebuchadnezzar to the return of Christ, just dealing with the nations.

And after he got done explaining it, okay, he explained all these represent kingdoms. Then we come over here to

Verse 44: "And in the days of these kings… [the ten toes] …the God of heaven shall set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed….

• Isn't that the Gospel that Christ preached?
• What was the first thing Jesus said when He came into Galilee? Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand!

Well, He was the coming King! Here we have in this verse everything containing about:

• the Church
• Israel
• the Jews
• the end-times

All in this one verse, but the details are somewhere else in the Bible! A little here, a little there! That's the way it is!

"…And the Kingdom shall not be left to other people…" (v 44).

Who's it going to be given to? The saints of the Most High who will:

• be kings and priests
• rule with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20)

That's what it's talking about here!

"…but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure" (vs 44-45).

Now then, notice what Nebuchadnezzar did. Here is the great king, the great ruler of the world at that time!

Verse 46: "Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshiped Daniel, and he commanded to offer an offering and sweet incense to him. The king answered Daniel and said, 'It is true that your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret'" (vs 46-47).

Now notice what happened. Very interesting thing.  This gave grace and favor to all of the Jews in captivity in Babylon.

Verse 48: "Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over all the province of Babylon…"

• How about that?
• Do you recall something similar to that with Joseph going into a prison and then answering a dream that a king wanted to know what it meant? Joseph told him what it was!
• Do you remember the seven lean cows, the seven fat cows and that famine was coming?
• What did the Pharaoh do? Joseph came out of prison, was cleaned up, brought up to Pharaoh what that dream was!

Then the king made Joseph ruler under himself and told him, 'You make provision for this coming famine.'

Same thing here; God will raise up a ruler to do His will, and that one whom He's dealing with will know that God is the One. Now in some cases, they would be converted. In other cases, they would not be. Nebuchadnezzar wasn't as we will see.

"…and chief of the prefects over all the wise men of Babylon" (v 48).

Daniel had complete control of everything in Babylon, except for being king.

Verse 49: "And Daniel asked the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat within the gate of the king."

Very interesting! I wonder what all the Babylonians thought of that? How did these Jews get there? Sometimes we ask the same question today.

Dan. 3—Nebuchadnezzar made a great idol and said, Everybody bow down. If you don't bow down, you're going to be cast into the great fire. Well, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn't do it. So they were thrown into the great fire, but they weren't burned! Then he again had to admit that this was of God.

Dan. 4 is an interesting chapter. Daniel only edited this chapter. King Nebuchadnezzar wrote it!

• Was he converted? No!
• Was he inspired though he wasn't converted? Yes!
• Who was the head of gold? Nebuchadnezzar!
• What are all the nations called all the way down up through the book of Revelation? From the head you have then the silver, the brass, the iron and clay!
• What is the end-time called? Babylon the Great!

Nebuchadnezzar got all carried away with his ego and he stood up and he looked out at Babylon and said, 'Oh, look at this great city that I have built. How great I am.' God warned him! BANG! God struck him down!

For seven years he lost his mind. And he was put out to pasture with the cattle and ate grass like the cattle for seven years. Then he wrote this chapter.

Let's read the first part of it and then we will read the last part of it, to show that God will deal with unconverted people to even give them dreams:

• to carry out His will
• to do what He desires

even though they're not converted!

Notice what Nebuchadnezzar writes; Daniel 4:1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people… [that means all people everywhere and all of those to come] …nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth…"

He didn't know a lot of the places of the earth, but nevertheless, he was inspired to write this.

"…'Peace be multiplied to you. It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs! And how mighty are His wonders! His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation'" (vs 1-3).

Then he tells his story. He was warned 'don't do it or something's going to happen.' Well what happened?

Verse 27: "Therefore, O king, let my advice be pleasing to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, so there may be lengthening of your prosperity." Now this was Daniel's warning to him!

I don't know what's happened with Trump, we'll bring it up to date. But he's been warned that they're out to kill you. You better do what's right.

Verse 28: "All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months… [gave him a whole year] …he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke and said, 'Is this not great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'" (vs 28-30).

Good lesson! Whenever you do something that God wants you to do, don't get lifted up in vanity! We saw that in Worldwide (COG) and it was destroyed. Is that not true? Yes, indeed!

Verse 31: "While the word was yet in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven, saying, 'O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you. And you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you… [seven years] …until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He wills" (vs 31-32).

So, God is working in the world today. What is He doing? He is preparing everything for the end-time prophecies to be fulfilled. Now we'll look at some of them.

Sidebar: Read Matt. 24 very carefully. It goes from the time that Jesus spoke those words until the first resurrection.

Now then, it also shows us that we don't get lifted up when God does something through us or to us! That's the lesson! So, Nebuchadnezzar wrote this chapter. It's in the Bible from the head of gold that goes all the way down to the return of Christ. It's a lesson for us and a lesson for everyone who's in government, who is in whatever occupation that there is connected with serving people.

Verse 33: "The same hour the thing was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, and ate grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens until his hair had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."

Can you imagine what he looked like? No cutting nails for seven years, hair growing for seven years, eating grass out there with the animals on your hands and knees.

• you don't even know who you are
• you don't even know where you are
• you don't even know what you're doing

That was for seven years!

Verse 34: "And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High…"

That's what Donald Trump did when he spoke to the Republican Convention, and he said over and over again that 'God has spared me to do what He wants me to do.'

So, we'll see how that works out with this current Iran and the Jews, because the third temple cannot be built while there is war going on! It's that simple.

At least there's a modicum of peace right now with many of the Arab countries. When you read about the second seal that describes the beginning of the Great Tribulation with the war that will break out. It says with the second seal, the red horse, that he takes peace from the earth (Rev. 6).

So, this tells us there's going to be a time of peace and maybe this is the thing that's going to institute that time of peace if they can stop the Iranians from developing a nuclear bomb. Because they are so dedicated to the destruction of the Jews and of Israel—and America today represents the greatest portion of Israel today of the lost 10 tribes—and they say, 'Death to the Jews, death to America'; and they've said it how many times? 40 years!

Remember about Haman in the Book of Esther, the Agagite. God took care of him. We'll have to wait and see what's going to happen to the Ayatollah. We're going to have to wait and see how this is going to happen.

But nevertheless this has to be done in order for there to be peace long enough for the temple to be built. Because we find in Rev. 11 to measure the temple. How can you measure it if it's not there?

The two witnesses end their ministry by being killed and their bodies left in the street, and they're the first two resurrected when the first resurrection takes place. So, we know that at the end-time there's going to be a temple.

Much like this, Trump always—and he said it before—wants to do for the people of America to make it great to what God wants. Let's look at the parables here. Daniel blessed the Most High!

Verse 35: "And all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing… [Was he humbled? Yes, he was!] …and He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth…."

Now remember what we've said before: God is all things to everything! Everything we have, even though the things that are made and manufactured, put together, melted. Whatever it is, it's all from God! God is all things to everything!

"…And none can stay His hand, or say to Him, 'What are You doing?'" (v 35). That's quite a statement!

Verse 36: "At that time my reason returned to me. And the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. And my advisers and my lords sought me out, and I was established in my kingdom, and surpassing greatness was added to me."

Verse 37—doesn't this sound like Trump today?: " Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are Truth and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase."

Don't you think that Trump was abased when he:

• was wounded in the ear?
• goes through all of these trials and court things?

Yes, God is working with him!

We know that it talks about the kingdoms afterwards. You can read it there in the book of Daniel. I want to come to:

Dan. 9:26—we'll see if we can get all of the chronology of that time that Carl Franklin worked out years ago. It comes right down to us, right down in this day.

• What are we going to do?
• How are we going to live?
• What are we going to preach?
• How's it going to be done?

All of the elders and ministers better understand the lesson of Nebuchadnezzar, lest you like grass and you're humbled!.

We better know that everything comes from God and we better stay close to God, and not get lifted up in any carnality and vanity and stupidity! We've got to serve the people of God, and we've got to help them so that they're faithful to the end. That's what it is.

Daniel 9:26: "And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself…."—so, it comes right down to Christ!

Then it jumps ahead to the Beast Power (Rev, 13 & 17).

"…And the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. But his end shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined" (v 26).

How's he going to die? It shows in Rev. 19 the beast and false prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire; here's a prophecy of it right here. So, it goes from the first coming of Christ all the way to the second coming of Christ.

Verse 27: "And he… [the Beast Power] …shall confirm a covenant with many for one week…."

Now one week in this case is seven years; so this is the last seven years!

"…And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease…" (v 27).

In order to have the sacrifices and offerings you must have a temple! Some say they can offer the sacrifices on a stone altar. Only burnt offerings! They can't offer sin offerings.

"…and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate even until the consummation…" (v 27).

That is to the end of the age and the return of Christ and the resurrection of the saints! Then the establishing of the Kingdom of God!

"…And the fully determined end, which is decreed, shall be poured out upon the desolator" (v 27). In other words, it's just like Nebuchadnezzar said:

• Who is going to challenge God?
• Who's going to say to God what are You doing, I don't like it?

Well, tough Nebuchadnezzar! If you don't like it it's going to happen anyway.

The moral of the story is the first thing that Jesus said: Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! The Kingdom of Heaven is coming, and we're seeing the last days being put together by God and we can see it right on television. We can see it live and that's an amazing thing!

Because the decree went out we read it in in Ezra the first chapter.

Daniel 9:1: "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans."

Now what Cyrus did, he was king of the Persians. Darius was king of the Medes. So, when Cyrus went on for more battles going over trying to fight the kingdom of the Greeks, then he put Darius in charge of Babylon.

Verse 2: "In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, which came according to the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years."

Let's look at this prayer. This is a very profound and interesting prayer. This is a prayer we all need to look to and examine ourselves and examine what we're doing. I hope that all of those in charge of the government here will have a modicum of understanding coming from many of them believing to a certain degree in God and Christ that they will do what they need to do. But listen to this prayer written out by Daniel, which is really a tremendous prayer.

God will honor this for His people down through time, as well! That's why it's written down!

Verse 3: "And I set my face toward the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes."

Coming to God in the greatest humility possible, because he'd been there all this time. He was one of the first ones taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and he had seen everything that went on in the province of Babylon and finally taken over by Cyrus and Darius.

Verse 4: "And I prayed to the LORD my God and made my confession…"

That's what we do. We confess our sins to God, directly!

"…and said, 'O LORD, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to those who love Him…" (v 4).

Notice there is love in the Old Testament contrary to what the Protestants may think!

"…and to those who keep His Commandments" (v 4).

Doesn't that sound like 1-John 2 that Lyall Johnston just read? Yes! {message: The Body of Christ: The Church}

Notice repentance!

• this is what we need to pray for the Church
• this is what we need to pray for ourselves
• this is what we need to pray for as many possible in this nation

That at the bare minimum they come to common sense and law and order!

Verse 5: "We have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, and have turned aside from Your Commandments and from Your ordinances."

Isn't what we have done? Look at the state of the Churches today!

Verse 6: "Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets…"

That's why we need the prophets. We need to:

• read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
• read the things that happened
• read the warnings that are coming
• read of all of the things that are going to happen

"…who spoke in Your name to our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land" (v 6).

That's all the children of Israel wherever they are today. So, let's take this prayer and apply it to:

• all the children of Israel
• all the ten tribes wherever they are
• all the Jews wherever they are
• all the Gentiles that have been brought into the Church wherever they are

Because there are a lot of people we don't have a clue as to what God is doing, because we don't know where they are or how God is dealing with them.

Verse 7: "O LORD, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, and to all Israel who are near and who are afar off, through all the countries where You have driven them because they dealt treacherously with You."

That's what we've done down through our history. This is what we are doing right today in this country, and:

• what's happening in the UK is a tragic thing, indeed
• what's happening to the people in the world is terrible, indeed

Verse 8: "O Lord, confusion of face belongs to us, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You." And sin is:

• the breaking of the Laws of God
• rejecting God
• turning from Him
• thinking that our own ways are better

Verse 9: "To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses even though we have rebelled against Him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets" (vs 9-10).

That's an amazing confession! What did Jesus say? Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God! We obey His voice, and these are the words that are here for us.

Verse 11: "Yea, all Israel has transgressed Your Law, and have turned aside, so that they might not obey Your voice. Therefore, the curse has been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him."

Read Deut. 28 about:

• all the sickness, all the disease that comes because we didn't obey God
• all of the strangers that come in and rule over us, and that has happened

Now if there is a reprieve from that, we need to pray that it will be used to help spread the Gospel. We will pray that it will be used to help set up all the things at the end as God wants them done.

Verse 12: "And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing upon us a great evil, for under the whole heaven it has not been done as it has been done upon Jerusalem."

You look at what all the sins that we have today. All of them! Treacherous sins; evil sins!

Verse 13: "As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us. Yet, we did not make our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your Truth."

That's what we need to do. That's the message that needs to go out:

• to repent
• to understand the Truth
• to understand the will of God
• to understand the righteousness of God
• to understand everything about Christ and what He said

Verse 14: "Therefore, the LORD did not hesitate concerning the evil that He brought upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all His works, which He does, but we did not obey His voice. And now, O LORD our God, Who has brought Your people out from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has made a name for Yourself, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly" (vs 14-15).

That's what needs to be preached in every Church. Let's hope that there are some Protestants that are really doing that. That the Seventh-Day Adventists will be doing that. And that many of the Seventh-Day Adventists will come out from the deception that they are under and keep the ways of God the way that they should.

Verse 16: "O LORD, I pray You, according to all Your righteousness, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem…"

That was the prayer so the temple could be built; that rebuilding of the second temple. Now then, same thing for today; let's pray for that.

"…Your Holy mountain. Because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those who are around us. And now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate for the LORD'S sake" (vs 16-17).

And that's what we are looking at today with all of these things that are taking place. An amazing thing!

Verse 18: "O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name…."

God is going to do it, because Jerusalem is where He has placed His name.

"…For we do not present our supplications before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies" (v 18). Notice His prayer! This is what we need:

• in our lives
• in the Church
• in the nation
• over there with the Jews in Jerusalem

Verse 19: "O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do. Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

God answered that prayer right away! Right while he was speaking Gabriel came and gave the rest of the story up to the coming of Christ, and then on into the Great Tribulation. So this is the message we have for today:

• What is going to happen to Israel and the Jews?
• What is going to happen to Persia and Iran?

Everything is hanging there right today!

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 1:11, 8
• Isaiah 45:1
• Ezra 1:1-5, 7-10
• Revelation 11:19
• Daniel 2:18-35, 44-49
• Daniel 4:1-3, 27-37
• Daniel 9:26-27, 1-19

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Esther
• Jeremian 18
• 2-Thessalonians 2
• Matthew 24
• Daniel 5
• Daniel 1
• Revelation 17; 20
• Daniel 3
• Revelation 6; 13; 19
• 1-John 2
• Deuteronomy 28

Also referenced: Message: {truthofGod.org}
#4 The Body of Christ: The Church by Lyall Johnston

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 6/25/25

Copyright 2025—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.