26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:26-27
Now, one of the things which you realise when you read through the Bible is that there are certain times when God acts and God moves in a truly supernatural way, changing the conditions on the earth. Those mighty changes are what we call the dispensations.
So, there are major changes in the world as a result of these actions from God. They don’t happen very often but the major changes which have already taken place in this way are:
- 1. the creation
- 2. the fall in Genesis chapter 3 as sin comes into the world
- 3. the flood in Genesis chapter 6 through to 8 whereby God destroys the first world and creates a new one saving Noah and the animals
- 4. the Exodus from Egypt and Exodus and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and then, of course,
- 5. the coming of Jesus the Messiah – His first coming, His death and resurrection
All of those things are accompanied with great signs and wonders, things which can’t be done by any kind of science or human manifestation, they can only be done by God intervening.
If look at the account of the giving of the Law in in Exodus, it comes with God appearing on the mountain with signs, and fire, and all that stuff just as it happens on the day of Pentecost which is today by the way.
14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.”
16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.”
23 But Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ”
24 Then the Lord said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. Exodus 19:14-24
But we have this manifestation of God’s power at these events.
When Jesus came, we had the manifestation of God’s power in the miracles which He did in His death and His resurrection, His ascension to heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost which is also manifested with signs and wonders which came from God.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
21 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:
‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:1-39
This kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time. In fact, these rare events only take place when they’ve happened in the Bible. In between these things happening, life goes on in a fairly normal sort of way. God is still acting, He’s still answering prayer, He’s still saving souls, He’s still doing things but you don’t have these major interventions.
Now, the Second Coming of Jesus is going to be the major, major intervention from God. In fact, I think it’s the biggest intervention of God since the creation because, at this point, Jesus is going to come not as the suffering servant, not as the One who suffers and dies to humble Himself under the rule of men, He’s coming this time as King of kings and Lord of lords, with all the power of God at His disposal.
That’s why it’s described as the glorious appearing of our great God and Jesus Christ.
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. Titus 2:11-15
A glorious appearing. When He comes, He’s going to change the way the world is run. His coming is going to totally transform our world. The present world economic, political system will be finished, it will be over.
We read in Revelation chapter 18,
2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” Revelation 18:2-3
The whole commercial system is over, kaput, finito, nothing is left. And if you look at some of the evils which are coming out of the present world system, that’s not a bad thing because there are a whole lot of demonic powers which are working through it and becoming even worse as time goes on. Even as they develop all this stuff like AI and there’s potential for it becoming the means of destroying the earth , the world even if God doesn’t move first.
So we have all kinds of things which are going to change. Also, there’ll be no more wars, no more training in the military, armies, no more arms production. Isaiah 2 tells us,
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:4
Praise the Lord!
Also the forces of Antichrist and false prophecy will be totally eliminated and the end of all religions, including nominal Christianity, certainly Islam, Hinduism, New Age mysticism, Yoga, the occult, all that stuff will be finished. The only religion or the only faith which will be left is worship of God, the true God who made us through the Messiah Jesus by the Holy Spirit. That’ll be the only religion which is allowed. And it’s not a religion, it’s a faith, it’s a relationship with the true God who made us.
The devil, the one responsible for all the misery and confusion on the earth will be bound and be thrown into the abyss. He’ll be unable to influence the world during the thousand-year period in which Jesus is reigning on the earth. Revelation chapter 20 tells you that. And he’ll remain there until he’s released for a brief time at the end of the millennial kingdom before he’s thrown forever into hell with the fallen angels and all unsaved humans.
Now, is that the sort of normal thing happening on the earth today? Has anybody experienced anything like that happening? No, it’s totally out of this world, if you like. It’s God coming with power to change the world in which we live.
I’ve studied this for years and I believe it but I still have difficulty thinking about it. Could that really happen? Can it really be that God can reign on the earth? Can He really just move in a moment of time and smash all this stuff up?
That is what He says is going to happen. And it is going to happen because God is actually going to bring judgment on this world which is gone so far away from Him. This is the blessed hope of the church.
God can move in this way of course. God can do anything. He made the world. He can do what He wants with the world. And the Bible tells us that, in the end of days, He’s going to do what He wants to do and it’s going to come to the end which will be the blessed hope.
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 1 Peter 1:2-4