HOW GOD SEES MOUNTAINS-HIGHWAYS

We have already read part of Isaiah 49; but I want to go back there, and start with verse 11, which deals with a present phase of what is to be accomplished in respect to dispersed Jews coming home to Israel. As we have already stated, Those Jews which returned to their home land following WW2, were basically the tribe of Judah and those related to Judah, which was Benjamin.

A BEGINNING-TWO TRIBES-IN THEIR LAND

They were the European and eastern Europe dispersed Jews; but what we are looking at now is basically the remnant of the ten tribes. They are scattered to the ends of the earth; and the overall goal through these restoration prophecies, is that the entire nation be regathered and restored; not just one particular tribe. The beauty of it all though, is that it has a beginning and a consummation; and everything has to be done in God's order. He is the One that works circumstances to bring it all into being. In verse 11 of Isaiah 49, the Spirit is speaking of our day, as this prophecy begins to have its introduction in time. Look at the world scene today. Communism is falling apart. Russia is no longer a world power to be reckoned with. That could not have been said two years ago. What has caused such a drastic change? Did man do it? No. God did it. Why did He do it? Because the time has come, for Him to fulfill something else written in His word. Up until this time, Russia was locking her heels when it came to letting very many Jews go from there. Every time they let a plane load go, the Arabs in the land set up a cry, Don't let any more of them come in here. However the United States just kept pressuring Russia, You have to give those people a chance to travel, a free choice to go and come wherever, and whenever they choose. Gorbachev eventually took the idea, not even realizing what it would eventually lead to. Since that change on the part of Russia, we now have a completely different situation. In every one of those Communist nations the door is now flung wide open. Those Jews can leave just as quick as they can get things processed and the means of transportation to take them out. What prophecy spoke of such a condition, one might say? Well let us look at Isaiah 49:11, and notice the wording of it. "And I will make all my mountains a way, (Now saints, do not literalize this, He is not talking about literal Pike's Peak, or any other literal mountains. He is talking about kingdoms, governments, and world powers.) and my highways shall be exalted." Again let me stress the fact that this is not to be taken literally. He is not talking about Interstate Highway systems of the world. What is He talking about? He is talking about the ways He is going to open up, to bring these Jews from the ends of the earth. That is the way you have to see it. Mankind with their carnal ways of looking at everything, will read scriptures like these and imagine vain things; but when God begins to bring it to pass, spiritual minds see the picture clearly. Let me take you back to the time when God brought Israel out of Egypt. He never touched one mountain. Such a mountain, is an obstacle to human progress, or to the way we want to do things. Even Isaiah 40:3-4, when we see how it was fulfilled, we realize that geographically, nothing was changed, when John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." Every word of that prophecy pertained to something spiritual. None of the landscape in Israel was changed, as John fulfilled that prophecy. All of that, pertained to something spiritual that was being done in the hearts of the people in Israel. That language speaks of how God sees society, or mankind, or kingdoms. God made a highway in the desert for the children of Israel, coming from Egypt to Canaan land, but if you had been there, you would not have seen a paved road. He made a way for them to come out. He made a way for them to survive. We are living right at the threshold of a great change. As we see these political systems fall, it is the hand of God preparing a way. For what? God is going to fulfill the end part of the prophecies dealing with getting that woman of Revelation 12:1, back in her land, and in a position where she can hear the message of those prophets that are eventually to come on the scene. I think often, of how God looks upon these Gentile missionaries who are always trying to convert the Jews to their trinity of Gods. If they only knew how God looks upon their systems of religion, I wonder what they would say then? In the eyes of God, they are nothing but a bunch of spiritual whores, prostitutes. God despises the whole bunch. Oh Brother Jackson, you ought not talk like that. Why not? If I am going to present the scriptures to you in truth, I have to talk like this; for that is exactly what the word of God calls these systems of religion. That is why it plainly tells us that the 144,000 servants of God in the book of Revelation, chapter 14, are virgins; simply because they have not been defiled by these Gentile harlot systems of religion. That is what it means, when it says they have not been defiled by women. In other words, Protestant, denominational missionary endeavors. God keeps the hearts of those Jews free from all of that; so they will not have to sort out what they hear from their prophets, from some Trinitarian doctrine. Isa.49:12, "Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, (Now He is not just pin pointing Europe now. This is a universal picture.) these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. (The closest any one knows what that word Sinim, means, is in the Scofield Bible footnotes. It is believed to be the land of China). Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted His people," I am telling you brothers and sisters, while the Arabs are presently the antagonistic aggravators and agitators in the midst of the Jewish population, God is getting ready to do something in that Middle East realm, that is going to be just as dynamic and outstanding, as the fall of Communism has been in the past year. Just think of it, what the Bolshovike revolution attained, where men fought and died to establish an empire, in just a few months of time it has just crumbled and fallen all to pieces. That just goes to show, that when the time comes for God's word to be fulfilled, He moves every obstacle out of the way. Is it not written in the book of Revelation concerning the ten horns, that they will give their power unto the beast, until the word of God is fulfilled. Rev.17:16- 17, "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." That is greater Europe. That is what is taking place today; God putting in the heart of men to fulfill His word. They are doing it blindly, not realizing that prophecy is being fulfilled by what they are doing. The world is ignorant to the true purpose of what is taking place in the world today. However the true children of God are not ignorant, nor blind; we see it coming about, even before it gets here. Is it not written, that the wise shall understand but the wicked shall not? They are led into a trap. As greater Europe comes to the forefront, rising up out of the sea, she is rising with all the particular identities she went down with in the Middle Ages. She is coming alive again, for her end time role in fulfilling the scriptures. The pope is an outstanding figure in world diplomacy today. He outshines all other temporal heads. Each year he will grow more important, until his hour finally arrives.

IN OUR SERIES OF MESSAGES TITLED FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END, WE WOULD BE DEALING WITH THE BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET LATER ON; BUT IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE MIDDLE EAST RIGHT NOW, AND BECAUSE THE BEAST OF REVELATION CHAPTER 13, IS SO DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE DRAGON OF REVELATION 12:3-4, WHICH WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT AS WE IDENTIFY THE WOMAN OF VERSE 1, WHICH BROUGHT FORTH THE MAN CHILD AND LATER IS SEEN FLEEING INTO THE WILDERNESS, WE FEEL THAT IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE AT THIS TIME, TO INSERT SOMETHING THAT WILL BRING ALL OF THIS UP TO DATE, IN THE LIGHT OF PRESENT HAPPENINGS.

WHERE ARE WE TODAY IN THE SCRIPTURES?

Before we go into Revelation chapter 13, for our text scriptures, let me just say this, This world is going to go berserk. Out in the streets today, especially in our major metropolitan cities like Washington D.C., and many others, there is a category of people thinking they are doing something great, by standing out there acting like foolish people. You hear the cry, Stop the War. Come Home. We do not need this, and we do not need that. Why were they not carrying on like that when dope gangs, perverts, and demon possessed people were first found creating conditions that have led this nation to the place where we have such a sick society? Why did they not demonstrate just as enthusiastically about all of that? Saints: if this war in the Middle East should last four weeks longer, and especially if we were to have a thousand casualties, there will be people demonstrating, climbing walls, and ready themselves to tear up something. Yet an awful lot of those same people have nothing to say about unborn babies being killed by the thousands, and little children being kidnapped, abused, and left to perish in a dumpster somewhere. I remember a time when it was not like that. It is a shame, that so many people will allow their mind's to be used like that. They will say, I am an American; I have this right to protest. Well I say, If the people that founded this country and fought for freedom from the British Empire, could come up out of their graves and witness what this freedom is being used for, they would chase a lot of you out of the streets with their old musket rifles, and let you know for sure, that such as this was not what they fought for. They knew what they were doing. You ought to thank God every day, that we are not still a part of what was once the old British Empire. I do not hate the British; but you need to realize, the system of government back then had a certain objective; and that was to drain the excess. That is how the British Empire existed for so long as such a great thing. It was her colonial territories that fed her, kept her going, and made her great. Like you have heard said, The sun never sets on the British flag. She had a navy that covered the seven seas, until World War 2. When it struck, it was just like the hand of God reached out and put an end to some things. The Dutch people came home. The French came home. The British came home, giving up, and giving back. The world has had nothing but problems, economic, social, political, and militarily, ever since. God always knows how to set things in motion, when the time comes. That is why I want to go into Revelation chapter 13, and sort of bring things up to date scripturally. We are going to take a look at this prophecy today; and try to understand it in the time factor we are now living in. I pray that this will help some of you to have a better picture of what is going on in the world; and then I hope you will say, God help me in whatever time we have left, to get my life made ready for your return.

JOHN'S VISION

When the apostle John, in 96 A.D., had been caught up in the Spirit and shown things that were at that time, centuries into the future, he told how he heard a voice say, (in the fourth chapter ) "Come up hither and I will show you things which must be hereafter" (meaning far beyond 96 A.D.). When we come to this, (actually it is a vision) it relates to the world, and world conditions, and governments of the world, somewhere in time as we get close to the end time. John was caught up in the Spirit, into the future tense of time. That is what this type of prophecy is, something looking to the future. As he was taken off into time, into the future, it says this, (John speaking) "I stood upon the sand of the sea, (In other words, he was standing right in the same situation in his vision, in the spirit, that Daniel was in, over in chapter 4 of his writing.) and saw a beast, (which means a world power, or empire) rise up out of the sea, having (it already had this when John saw it) seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast (going back to the territorial, geographical makeup of this monstrosity of a world system) which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon (which is the devil, not God) gave him (the beast) his power, (that means authority) and his seat, (his seat would be the position from which this authority is derived) and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; (Please understand this, It did not just come up, and immediately receive a wound. What he saw, was that the head had already been wounded somewhere in the past tense of time; and it was a wound that looked like it should have been unto death.) and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: (It is the devil giving that system life, power to be active, to function, and the position from which the authority is motivated.) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Brothers and Sisters: If I know anything at all, when the day comes, that this old beast is doing the talking, giving authorization for what is to be and not to be, this gang that stays in the streets so much of the time, protesting, will be the first ones to climb aboard his vehicle, and ride with him to damnation. In other words, take the mark of the beast, which we will speak more of later. It is people with their kind of attitude, that will be quick to say, "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Listen to verse 5, "And there was given unto him (this beast) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." This mouth that does the speaking has to be symbolically related to how a certain man within this beast system will speak, when his hour comes. Daniel saw the same thing in chapter 7 of his prophecy. Daniel and Revelation, written hundreds of years apart, go hand in hand. Daniel was the prophet of God in the Old Testament, five hundred years before the advent of Christ, pointing forward in time. John, the apostle to the Christian, Gentile Church, in 96 A.D., was caught up in the Spirit and projected into future time, and allowed to see the things that would be for that hour of time that he was projected into. Which of course we understand now, that he was looking at events taking place in this very hour of time. Everything is so uniquely portrayed in our Bible. "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." That sets a specific duration for this beast man to be allowed to do that. It specifies that it will only be for a period of forty and two months; no more, and no less. The point is, What John saw was not something new; it was something that had been in existence previously, was wounded unto death, but was healed; and now it is back in position to continue on. That is why I am going to title this subject "Continue Thou On." We have read it time and time again; but do we really know what this word continue, is really implying? Before I read the dictionary definition of what this word continue, means, I just want to refresh your mind a little. In so-called Christendom today, we have tens of thousands of voices saying, Well the Bible says there is going to be a ten horned beast. Others will say, The Bible says the Roman Empire is going to be restored. Well technically all those references are truth; but just to say that much is not much benefit, if you do not know how to apply those references. It leaves one void of knowing how to understand what is going on in the world today. If you hear things like that all the time, you can get a very distorted picture; and become terribly confused and troubled. Well saints, my little message is not meant to confuse anyone; but rather to help you get above the natural thinking of carnal mankind, and see the reality of some of these prophecies of the Bible. The beast that we see with our natural eyes, by world events and every day news, is up out of the water today, ready for its end time role in world affairs. Somewhere just in front of us, it is going to go into motion. Therefore we have need to understand how to identify it. The beast that John saw had already been a beast, very active, very alive, very influential in the world. It is not something new. It is something old, being restored and brought back to prominence to continue on a little space of time. Let me read to you the words, it says right here, and power was given unto him to continue. That lets us know it is not something new, just starting out. It is the continuing on of something that has already been. It is important that you catch the word CONTINUE, or you will not understand how it fits into this prophecy. I will read Webster's dictionary definition; just to give my point emphasis. Naturally Webster's gives you different definitions of the word; so for our purpose let us just think of it like this. Suppose you have been writing a story, and you lay it aside for a while: when you get back into it again, you are continuing. Well in this case, there will be a continuing on, of something that was interrupted. Therefore by the help of God, I want to show you how that old beast that was there in the past, came to a non existent, dead, or unrecognizable state; so that generations were born not knowing how it had previously functioned, and affected mankind; but is now very much alive and ready to CONTINUE on for an allotted time. The interruption in its history was definitely an act of God; and during this interruption God has restored the original revelation of His word, back to the true Church; and now the world stands at the threshold of the completion of God's restoration plan for His creation.

REVELATED PEOPLE WATCHING GOD WORK

Now that time has progressed to the point when Revelation 13, is a present day reality, there is a generation of people on the scene that just simply do not know how to understand it; but as God allows the devil to restore this thing back to a living, functioning beast again, restored back to its original status, He has some people upon earth that do understand it; and they will be watching it very closely. Once it has fully reached that restored status, and the head that had been wounded unto death, (This wounding is what brought about the interval of interruption) is restored back, meaning, completely healed, then God will again permit the devil to activate the thing; and it is going to continue on with the same motives and ungodly actions that it had previously. That is what it means, "And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." I have said this, When WW2 came, there were preachers who began to preach, Oh beware of Communism, it is the beast, (the Antichrist). That was during the time when Mussolini, set about to try to bring territories back under the scope of his power. Mostly because he was a Roman, people began to say, Mussolini is the Antichrist; because he comes out of Rome. Well, he is dead, hung by his heels, and the world moves on, still looking for the Antichrist. Back then, time had not progressed to the point where God wanted the identity of the Antichrist to be made known. However by the time his hour arrives, there is going to be an element of people on this earth that will understand; and they will be able to see the whole picture; just as there were people in the days of the first advent of Christ, that the Spirit of God dealt with, to enable them to recognize what was taking place. He dealt with the shepherds and the wise men in a supernatural way, enabling them to be participants in what was being fulfilled in their day. They were among those that began to see and understand how the prophetic scriptures pointing to the Messiah were being fulfilled. John the Baptist came on the scene later, right at the precise time to prepare the people for, and to introduce Israel's Messiah to them; using nothing more than the written scriptures that foretold it. The prophecies are all already written; but in each age the Holy Spirit reveals to spiritual people that which they need to know, to be witnesses in their hour of time. When John the Baptist came out of the wilderness preaching with such authority, some thought he might be the expected Messiah; but he quickly answered, I am not He; but I am one sent to prepare the way for the One who is to come. Those that went out to hear John preach, and were baptized by him, were given an understanding of how to look forward to the soon appearance and manifestation of their long awaited Messiah. That is what John was doing. He was preparing a way. He was preparing their hearts to understand and accept events that were applicable to their generation. Then when they stood there and saw Jesus baptized, and saw that great display of the Spirit of God, how it came down upon Him, and how the voice spoke saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," they knew they were living in a very great hour of time. That did not change the religious hierarchy at the temple; but the things that were taking place were destined to shake up their comfortable little religious routines for a long time to come. The high priests, and all those scribes and Pharisees were just as head set in their own stubborn, apostate, religious ideas as they always had been. That is why when Jesus come out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit and began to preach, He had so many confrontations with them. They knew He had authority they did not have; but they could not humble themselves to accept anything from anyone that had such a humble background. They looked upon Him as an illegitimate child, that could not possibly have anything they should humble themselves to submit to. Therefore the only thing they knew to do, was try to get rid of Him, before He ruined their religious setup. It is always like that. What God uses to enlighten one element, blinds another element of mankind; and the blind ones are always the ones that are so set in their own ways, they are not open to further enlightenment. Do you think it will be any different in our day and hour? I am here to tell you, It will not be. The world has lived through the period of this interruption in the old beast system of rulership; and to a lot of people that beast was not just wounded; they believe it is dead forever; but if that were true, then it would be impossible for the Roman Empire to ever be restored. Remember though, we are not talking about the rulership of the old Caesars; we are talking about the last form of Roman rulership, when the Roman Catholic Popes cracked the whip. Therefore we need to take a look at time, history, and prophecy.

IDENTIFYING WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT

First we need to ask ourselves, Why is all this trouble centered in the Middle East, all of a sudden? The main scope of attention has turned from the Baltic states, and the Russian Empire, to the Middle East. Think of it. In just two years time, God has smashed that great iron curtain and broken its wall all to pieces. That did not destroy old Russia, which was known in many centuries of the past. It is just simply a fact that the great perimeter of her empire, God has caused to come to an end; and it is for one specific reason. Better than two million Jews were detained there by political means of Communism; and God wanted them out of there. What did God want them out of their for? To bring them back to the land of Israel, for the restoration back to Israel all the things she had lost. First He brings Judah, then He brings the ten tribes, which is referred to either as Ephraim or Joseph. Now they are coming in mass numbers. The Jerusalem Post told how they even found a small congregation of Jews in the country of Albania, which was a strong communistic part of that Russian perimeter. Actually there was between 350 to 500 of them. They finally got their opportunity to come back to the land of promise. That has been their hope. Why is it necessary for Gentile people to know about these things that are just for the Jews, you may say? It is through the understanding this picture, that we learn to prepare ourselves to be ready to go to be with the Lord, for that interval of time when He will have His bride Church away from what is going on in the world. When we read in Genesis, how this area of the world was the area that was first populated, and that this is the portion of the world where the Bible was written by the Jewish people, we have to realize that what takes place here, is important to the Creator. God separated Abraham from the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia, and took him to the land of Canaan, giving him all the land between those rivers and so forth, for an everlasting inheritance. You can read it in Genesis. Abraham's seed are the rightful owners of all of that land, no matter who may be living in part of it at this present time. The Bible was written by those seed of Abraham, that were his seed through Isaac. That is where the great squabble over land in the Middle East gets hard for outsiders to reconcile their thinking to. Those Arabs throughout that land readily admit that the land belongs to Abraham's seed; but they are also Abraham's seed; and they feel that it belongs to them. They will never accept the fact that Abraham's inheritance went to Isaac and his seed after him; because they do not accept the Bible we get our understanding from. Therefore before I go further, I will read a few verses that make the main points we are dealing with; and you can read the verses in between, at some other time. God said to Abraham, (Gen.15:7) "And He said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." Now I want you to notice the covenant. (Gen. 15:18) "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." (Gen.17:8) "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." In this next verse we get the God appointed heir of that land given to Abraham. (Gen.17:19) "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." Ishmael was not forgotten, nor ignored; God made Abraham a promise concerning him also; but he was given no inheritance within the boundaries set forth in the promised land. (Gen.17:20) "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." God kept that promise also; and all of Ishmael's seed are Arabs; and you know how they feel about Isaac's seed, the Jews; but none of their feelings can change the word of God, nor the purpose of God. I have one more verse for now. (Gen.17:21) "But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year." Regardless of how you or anyone else may feel about Jews and Arabs, and about who should be where, the word of God answers it all; and God is not going to change His mind. It is forever established.

A WORD ABOUT LAND DIVISIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The red dot you see here marks approximately the spot of the ancient city of Ur. (Bro. Jackson is pointing to one of the charts.-Editor) Abraham came from that region. This was called Mesopotamia. That is why Saddam Hussein looks back in time, and wants to model his future from that ancient Mesopotamian society and power. The next red dot is on up the river Euphrates, approximately where the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon lies. We have a large map of this area, that we have used to design our charts. It shows the geological ruins of these two cities. We do know this, right in here between Iraq and Saudi Arabia is the little country of Kuwait. Right in here on this map, (you could look in your Bible map and find it) is the plains of Shinar. Now look what we have in here; we have the valley of two rivers. Where do they come from? Way up in the north, from Turkey and Armenia. We know this, to show you how Biblically centered this spot of the earth is, up to the time of the flood of Noah's day, this was where the majority of civilization existed. Geographically this is the land of Eden, as you may discover by studying in the book of Genesis. Right in here, you can see the two rivers on the east, the Euphrates and the Tigris; and over here is the Nile, on the west. Down in here, is the dried up river bed of Havilah. Why is it that way now? Because we are living beyond the flood. A lot of things have changed since the time of the events in the early chapters of Genesis. It is very possible that what we now call The Mediterranean Sea, was only a small lake back then. The regions of the land of Eden continued right on up into these gradual slopes. However since we now have so much water here, the whole topography of the continents look very different now, than before the flood. Nevertheless the point is this, That region still remains to be the apple of God's eye. When the waters of the flood receded and the ark rested on Mt. Ararat, (which is up here in Turkey) Noah and his family came out of the ark and followed the water routes back down south; and ended up right back down in the plains of Shinar. Right in this delta region, is where civilization (after the flood) began to rise up and spread out. It was right in here, in the regions of old Babylon, that their language was confused. When they all still spoke the same language, they huddled together and decided to build a tower to heaven. Of course they were not intending to name the tower Babel; it is called Babel because of what God did to them as a result of building that tower. After God confused their language, a name was given to the tower to illustrate the condition of mankind after such a catastrophe. What God did to their language, brought an end to the Babylon tower. They could no longer communicate with each other. Why did God see fit to do that? Because they were failing to carry out His commandment to them. To Noah and his three sons God said, (after the flood) "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, (Gen.9:1) Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." They never would have fulfilled that command, if they had all remained together in the Plains of Shinar. That is why God did something to defeat them in their efforts.

BEASTS OF THE BIBLE EXPLAINED

The point I am endeavoring to bring out as we get acquainted with this area of the world, is that in this very vicinity, these beasts of Daniel and Revelation had their origin. Over the centuries, from the time Abraham was called, there was a city that began to develop. I suppose there had to be a reason why that city was named Babylon. In other words, they named it that, because somewhere they could still see the ancient ruins of the tower of Babel. People of that area were called Chaldeans, and Mesopotamians for a period of time. However as we come into around the eighty century B.C. it began losing its Chaldean identity, and Mesopotamian identity. Assyrians, the people of what is now called Syria, somehow had managed to gain control of a vast area up in the northern section of what we are looking at. They rose up first, to become an empire. You do not read very much about a major city as being the center of their civilization. However we do know that Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the old world. It was there when Abraham came moving out of this part of the country on down here. I am giving you this background because I know a lot of you, even though you may have studied it in school, did not find it interesting then; but now it is very interesting, because of what is taking place in that part of the world. When all of a sudden the social structure of the world begins to rock to and fro, a lot of people really get shook up. What is going on? The thing is, As long as it was going on and did not disrupt our economy, nor our future stability in any way, we did not care whether Nebuchadnezzar lived before Christ or after Christ. When we begin to see our future plans affected by what is going on in the world, at least some of us begin to be very interested. We want to know what is going on, and what to expect, if there is any way to find out. Well I am happy to inform you, We do have a source of completely accurate information; if we are willing to accept it as the infallible word of God. I am giving you this background; because we are going into a study of these beasts, which one's were where and when, and how recognize the hour of prophecy we are living in. This will help you understand the things going on in the world at large. The whole world is going to be affected in one way or another.

ISRAEL'S CAPTIVITY

It was the Assyrians that took the ten Northern tribes of Israel into captivity. That left only the two Southern tribes called by the name of Judah. Finally the Assyrian territorial empire began to break up because of the rise of Babylon. I have the history of the rise of Babylon. It first began to come into being approximately 800 B.C. However not until about 600 B.C. did Babylon attain unto the magnificent city it came to be. By the time the Babylonians came in, things in this region (the Middle East) really began to change. The two Southern tribes of Israel were carried away captive into Babylon around 600 B.C., and the prophet Daniel was among those captives. It is through his writings, that we are first made aware of the beast terminology associated with ruling empires. Therefore let us go to the book of Daniel, and take a look at what is recorded there concerning the things we are now interested in. In the seventh chapter, we learn where Daniel was when he had this experience he recorded. He was a Jewish prophet that had been carried away from Jerusalem to the ancient of Babylon. As the Babylonian Empire rose up, its territorial domain eventually encompassed many territories and peoples of that area of the world. It was an empire named after the city from whence it was ruled. That is one difference between it and the Assyrian Empire. However it did not gain its preeminence for several years. When the time did come, the Babylonian Empire came right straight through here, taking everything in its sweep. That is when it conquered the whole land of Israel, the tribe of Judah that was still there, and carried Daniel, along with Ezekiel and many others of the children of the royal families of David, back to Babylon, to exist in captivity. The city of Ur, by this time, was beginning to become a city forsaken. The area was no longer being referred to as the Assyrians. It took on identity as Syria. The city of Damascus began to stand out in preeminence. Everything was changing; and God had a purpose in every bit of it. Let me read about 4 verses from Daniel, chapter 1, to acquaint you with the setting, before we read in chapter 7, to see these beasts of his visions. (Dan.1:1) "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. (1:3) And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; (1:4) Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. (1:6) Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah." That lets us see what had transpired, to put Daniel in the position he was in. While he was there, somewhere in the beginning of their captivity, the God of heaven gave Daniel this dream. Let us read it now, in chapter 7. "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar had gone off the scene. This Belshazzar that had taken command was going to be the man that would be in power when this Babylonian Empire, a city oriented empire, would meet its doom.) Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters." If you will pay attention to this, it will help you better understand what we will be looking at over in the book of Revelation later. (7:2) "Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." He was standing, in his dream, looking at a great panoramic scene. Let me say this. He was actually standing on the sea coast looking at what would be the Mediterranean; because in ancient times this was called the Great Sea. That Great Sea is symbolic of where time was, at that particular time, pointing to the masses of people. We can say that, because all around the Mediterranean, is where the wheels of prophecy turn. It started in the eastern realm. It will eventually wind up in the western realm of the Mediterranean; at Rome Italy. (7:3) "And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. (They were all four different.) (7:4) The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." I do not have time to go into all the details of the history related to that verse. I will say though, Belshazzar, mentioned here, which is the king that ruled Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar's period, was the man that turned the nature of that lion beast empire, from that of being like a lion in nature to its latter state when a man's heart was given unto it, and stood upon its feet like a man. That did not happen over night. It was a gradual transformation. Belshazzar's reign eventually caused the Babylonian Empire to loose its conquering power. How does a thing like that happen? It became a pleasure seeking society, living in luxury to the point where it lost its lion-like conquering and subduing attitude. We will see more of what followed as we continue with the beast; but let me clarify something first. There are times, when we get to dealing with prophecy, that one could get the idea that I love war. That is not true. I wish there was some way to avoid ever having another war anywhere in the world; but as I read my Bible I am made aware of the fact that there are certain wars that have to be fought before we will ever get out of here to our eternal reward. The God that created us is a God of war. That may sound strange to you, if you think of Him only as a God of love and peace; but I want you to know, there are wars that take place in the world, that absolutely serve a purpose of God. You may as well make up your mind to the fact that this war going on over in the Middle East today, is something God has allowed to come about because He is going to re-shuffle some things through it. He is going to put some things in positions where they have to be for the end of the age. He is going to put some men down; and raise some others up. There will be some get real angry, climb walls, pull their hair out, and do everything they can to repel or reverse what is coming; simply because they could not care less about God nor what He is working out. As far as I am concerned, they can go jump in the same green pond they believe their ancestors came from. If you are that evolutionary minded, go take a look at that pond; and see if you can get something out of it that is wiser than the omniscient God I present to you. Listen to me saints, Spiritual blindness is absolutely the worst thing any person could ever be bound by.

The lion-like beast, in its territorial outreach, has been all the way into Egypt. Under the rulership of Nebuchadnezzar it truly was like a lion, conquering and bringing down other rulers. The Babylonian Empire ran its course; than another beast took its place. We will take a look at that beast now. (7:5) "And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between the teeth of it: (these three ribs are speaking specifically of the three great kings that lifted it to its greatest power in that which is related to Jews and prophecy.) and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh." This of course was the Medes and Persians. In history, this is referred to as the Persian Empire. What united these two lines of people, was a royal marriage between King Cyrus of the Persians, and the daughter of Darius of Media. That empire did not have the name of a city; like two of the others did. It is referred to in the Bible as the Persian Empire. That terminology takes on a people identity. Why was that? Why would it stand out like that? Well when you consider the Babylonian Empire, it was named after its city because of its origin. The people of Babylon enlarged the city, and eventually moved out and conquered smaller tribes, Bedouin type people. This kept on until they had accomplished their goal, to become a great empire. That whole territory was ruled from Babylon; as long as it was known as The Babylonian Empire; but when the Meades and Persions came to power, there was no city powerful enough to give the area a name. Yet we do know this, In Nehemiah's writing, the major city was Shushan. That is where the king's palace was, in the days of Nehemiah. The ruins of that city is not too far from what is known as Tehran Iran today.

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

The Persians were great warriors. When this empire ascended to a place of great power, they came sweeping down through this territory, destroying the Babylonian Empire. They went right on through this whole territory. They gave the freedom to a number of Jews, to go back from captivity to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Cyrus made the decree. We find that in the book of Ezra. (1:1) "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, He is the God, which is in Jerusalem." (I just put this in to give you a little insight of the kind of man Cyrus was.) Cyrus went on into Egypt and conquered it; while Darius set up a seat, temporarily, in Babylon. I cannot take time to put in a lot of history concerning what these empires did. We are just going through Daniel,s vision, getting to the last beast of the four; before we go into very many details. However the Persian Empire lasted many centuries until finally they were defeated by another empire that had come to be a power to be reckoned with. It was called the Grecian Empire. That is the way it is written in history.

THE GRECIAN EMPIRE

Athens is the Capitol of Greece; but nowhere in history do we ever read anything about an Athens Empire. The Grecian Empire was named after the people; because Alexander the Great, was a descendant of a line of Macedonian kings; and they were gallant warrior type people. Those Greeks that came from that line, were the ones that finally defeated the Persians; as they began to enlarge their empire. The Grecian people were mighty warriors; but they did not become such until time for the Persian Empire to subside. When Alexander the Great came upon the scene, he was a king that did not just sit down and established his throne in any one particular city. He was always where his army was. This is why you have to view the Grecian Empire as a people empire. Naturally I am not telling you Alexander The Great did not go back to Athens once in awhile. He probably did; but history attached no importance to it. The important thing is, the Grecian Empire was described as the leopard. Let us read it here in Daniel 7:6 "After this I beheld, and lo another, (BEAST) like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it." This is how God showed the Grecian Empire to Daniel. Remember, it was the 3rd world empire; and it had its period of time in history. Alexander the Great rose up, crossed into Turkey, and after many conflicts finally subdued the Medes and Persians, which were mainly called Persians by then. He came around from the back, through Babylon. When he came through Babylon the Jews heard about it; and they were afraid of what he might do to them, coming through that route. (I want to call your attention to something very interesting, at this point.) As Alexander the Great, was moving toward Jerusalem with his army, the Jewish high priest, thinking Alexander the Great was a pagan king, and having heard stories about what he had been doing in other territories, thought, We will not open our temple. The temple, and the city had been rebuilt; because it was the Medes and Persians that let the Jews go back home to work on that project, in 500 and something. We are now dealing with events of 300 and something B.C., when Alexander the Great was leading his troops toward Jerusalem. I just have to rejoice in what I am about to relate to you. (I would to God we had some political leaders today, that God could talk to. Our leaders the world over, do not want the supernatural God to talk to them. They do not believe He can talk to a human being. They call that fanaticism. To them, it is a disgrace, and very humiliating for a leader to stand up and say, God told me thus and so this morning; or God showed me in a dream last night, to do such and such. What would our news media do with something like that today. We are living in a day when most people do not want God in anything they are doing; unless they end up in some serious situation they cannot handle. Then they will cry, God help me!) It is true, Alexander the Great was a pagan. He was moving toward Jerusalem at the head of an army that no power or people has been able to stand before. The day came that the Jews closed the gates and waited for their worst expectations to be realized. They did their best to prepare themselves for what was coming. They did not intend to open the gates of their city. However, the night before Alexander and his army reached the outskirts of Jerusalem, the high priest had a dream. (It is recorded in secular history, written years ago. Our fathers, 70 and 80 years ago, read it; even though you would probably not find it in our schools today.) In the dream, he saw himself, the other priests, and the people, all decorated, and carrying flowers out to meet this approaching army. Dressed in his high priest robe, he opened the gates and was leading his people out to meet Alexander the Great on the outskirts of the temple area. As they approached Alexander the Great, sitting on that military horse, and as the high priest was about to speak, Alexander the Great dismounted and bowed before him. Naturally that took him by surprise. He thought Alexander might draw his sword and cut his head off. As he looked up, Alexander looked at him; and the high priest asked him, Why did you do that? Alexander said, So many days back, as he contemplated his advance toward this city of the Jews, he did some sacrifice, (as was according to pagan practise) to ask the gods for their guidance. He said, In a dream I saw you and your people. I saw myself bowing to acknowledge the God of the Jews. With that introduction, Alexander the Great, and the high priest turned and led the vast host into the city of Jerusalem. The people of the Jews prepared all kinds of delicacies for the Greek soldiers to eat; an it turned out to be a pleasant experience for them. Instead of the Jews having to fear the Greeks, the Jews were blessed by Alexander the Great. Alexander, in his endeavors to gain complete territorial conquests, gave the Jews much liberty. As he gave them the liberty, the Jews respected him; all because it was brought about by a divine act of God. Alexander the Great went on toward Egypt and finally conquered that whole area, bringing all of that vast scope of the Mediterranean under his power. He built a city at the mouth of the Nile River; and called it Alexandria. Young people, listen to this. Around 300 and something B.C., Alexander the Great built that city and is was the beginning of secular learning; because from then on, way on up into the second and third century A.D., young people, or anyone that wanted to learn, made their way to Alexandria to study. There, is where the various, professors, or teachers of secular learning had made their profession accessible. The city of Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile, for centuries, was the center of human learning and growth, in the secular realm. It surpassed Athens by a long shot; even though Athens was referred to as the capital city of the Grecian Empire. As Alexander the Great left this area, he slowly made his way as far as the country of India. He had extended his empire. It is said, that when he came to the sea coast, he bowed down and wept. His soldiers asked him, Why do you weep? He answered, There is no more world to conquer. He had just turned south too quick. He died with a terrible disease. I will not even mention that part. The point is this, After his death, to make the four heads of the leopard and the four wings of a fowl stand out, that is when this area all began to break up. The Egyptians, the Syrians, and the areas of Turkey and Greece, finally ended up like this. The city of Damascus, which is the capital of the country we call Syria, began to stand out in the remaining period of that duration. From about 180 B.C., on down to the advent of Christ, the Jews existed in very troubled times; because the great territorial empire of the Grecians began to break up, and the Jews fell in the crossroads, of what they began to call the hammer and the sickle. Egypt and Syria. Damascus was the city that Antiochus Epiphanes came out of, and did what he did in the time of the Maccabean Jews in Jerusalem.

Continued