The Hour of His Judgment

Doug Batchelor: Have you ever been so nervous, frightened, or upset that you fainted? About 15% of adults are apt to faint at the sight of blood. And it's not uncommon for people to pass out at weddings or other public ceremonies that require prolonged standing or stress. People have even been known to faint in response to disturbing movies or when they're startled. The medical term for this is vasovagal syncope, a condition caused by an extreme and rapid drop in blood pressure that causes an individual to temporarily lose consciousness.

In Daniel chapter 8, we read that one of God's great prophets had a similar experience when he saw something in vision that was so distressing, he fainted from shock and was sick for days. But what happened in this disturbing vision that so troubled the prophet? And what's the meaning of the terrifying image he saw? How does this longest Bible time prophecy relate to God's people and the antichrist? You might be surprised how the answers to these questions affect your life today. So join me now, as we take a closer look at this very important subject.

Doug: The wisest man who ever lived, in Ecclesiastes, Solomon says at the end, as he's talking about the vanity of life, what really matters. He pursued wisdom. He tried to understand. He had building projects he pursued, a hedonistic life. He had done it all, tried it all, and he wraps it all up by saying, "Here is the conclusion of the whole matter." Ecclesiastes chapter 12, "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil." That is not a statement for just a few people. Paul says, "We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." There is a judgment day coming, but the Lord tells us that because there is a way for us to prepare.

Well, there's a prophecy in the Bible that talks about this great judgment day where everyone is going to give an account one way or the other. And we're not only looking in Revelation, but the book of Daniel and Revelation are parallel books. Let me just give you a quick example. Daniel chapter 7 talks about these four kingdoms that would persecute God's people, a lion, a leopard, a bear, and then this nondescript beast. Then you go to Revelation 13, the beast in Revelation 13, says he's like a lion, a leopard, and a bear, and some nondescript beast.

There's great parallels between Daniel and Revelation. And, in Daniel, you've got this image with the ten toes, and then you get to Revelation, you've got the beast with the ten horns, and a lot of overlap. So, to understand the judgment in Revelation, we also need to go to the book of Daniel. We're going to do that now as we delve into our lesson.

Question number one: Daniel's vision starts with a ram that has two horns. What does this ram represent? Do we need to guess, or does the angel help us understand it? The angel comes to explain it, and he said, "The ram that you saw, having the two horns--they are the kings of--" what empire? Okay, now listen very carefully. When you read the prophecy in Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 8, Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 10, 11, 12, it's not dealing with every government of the world. Those prophecies are dealing exclusively with the governments and the world powers that had a dramatic impact on God's people and His movement. So, you're not going to find the prophecy of Daniel talking about India, so to speak, or-- actually, Persia covered part of that, but, let's pick Australia, Inca Empire, China. They're not dealing with that; they're dealing with the ones that occupied God's people, the Jews, and then later, as Christianity spread, that persecution.

So, these are the kingdoms and the powers that are listed. And, since these beasts represent kings, when we get to Revelation, we talk about the mark of the beast. I remember, when I first became a Christian, they said, "The beast, it's a big computer." Any of you heard that? Yes, you came from that era. And we thought the barcode, the barcode on all the products when it first came out, that's the mark; don't buy anything that's got a barcode on it. All my friends that believe that are now dead; they starved to death. So, there's a lot of misunderstandings. But the beast, even in Revelation 13, is a power. It's talking about a political, religious power.

All right, next, Daniel sees a goat appears in this vision, with a great big horn between its eyes, Daniel 8:5. What does this mean? The angel comes later to tell us. "The male goat is the kingdom of--" by the way, a male goat is what we'd call a billy goat. "The male goat is the kingdom of--" what--"Greece. And the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king." And now who do you think this first king is? It's Alexander the Great. And, as for the broken horn, he, 33 and he died at the zenith of his power, says he died, "and that four horns stand up in its place, four--" what--"kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with the same power." They did not have the consolidation of power that Alexander the Great had.

So, you've got this goat, this billy goat--I don't know if you've ever been butted by a billy goat, but I had a neighbor that once had me take care of his goats while he was gone. He said, "Watch out for Billy." They're very creative; they named their billy goat, Billy. And so they said, "Watch out for Billy." And, boy, you turn your back to do anything, that goat is just waiting. His whole life revolves around hoping that you will turn your back. And he charged me, and, fortunately, he kind of reached the end of his chain, so I did not get the full brunt of him. But they look for opportunities to charge.

This goat charges the ram, the sheep, the male sheep, and kills it. And Alexander destroyed the Persians, but--and he's really an incredible soldier. You think about it; just in 12 years--He had Aristotle for a teacher. In 12 years, he marched his soldiers 22,000 miles. He conquered the world, but he could not conquer himself. He died from either malaria or alcoholism, drinking too much, a fever, at 33 years of age. And, as he was dying, they said, "Who will rule in your place?" And he is said to have responded, "The strongest."

Well, his generals--He had a young son that was not old enough to rule. His generals sort of fought and divided up the kingdom into four parts. This is exactly what the prophecy said would happen. And there you've got a map of the Ancient Macedonian or Greek Empire. You could see the influence of Alexander went all the way from Greece to the borders of India, into Egypt, and up north into Turkey. And it was amazing how much ground he covered and the influence of his conquest; that's why the Bible is written in Greek, the New Testament, because it became the language of education all through that part of the world back then. Divided up Lysimachus and Cassander and Ptolemy and Seleucus, the different Generals of Alexander, and then it went through a lot of carving up and intrigue after that.

Then the vision, as you read on, it says, from one of the four horns--or the four divisions of Alexander's kingdom--"a little horn sprouts," Daniel 8, verse 9. What power does it represent? Says, "It came to pass--" You look in Luke chapter 2, what power came after the Greeks? "It came to pass in those days that a decree went out from--" who--"from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered." You can also look in John 19:15, "Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your king?' And the chief priests answered, 'We have no king but Caesar!'" It's kind of frightening, and it was Caesar who had expelled all the Jews from Rome in the days when Paul was out preaching.

So, you've got this goat that had the four--one central horn is broken off; Alexander dies; his four generals divide up the kingdom. From one of the four, the general that occupied and ruled the territory where Rome is, he lost his power. And Rome began to grow into an empire until they conquered the Greeks in about 168 BC, and they continued to grow.

Now, something you're going to notice with each one of these empires, they're stronger than the one before. Talks about this strong ram, and then this very strong goat, and then this exceedingly strong little horn. And you'll also notice, when you get to the vision in Daniel chapter 2, it says that you've got--each kingdom has a harder metal than the one before. What's harder, silver or gold? Silver. What's harder, bronze or silver? Bronze. What's harder, iron or bronze? Iron. What's harder, stone or iron? Stone. Yes, because the clay and the iron, that's concrete. And, by the way, it's a stone that destroys the whole thing. And you'll notice, in that vision in Daniel 2--I'm assuming some of you have read it--that there's a progression. Each one of these kingdoms lasts longer; each empire lasts longer than the one before it. This has all been fulfilled. This is so exciting to me; it's all been fulfilled by the history books. So, now, just back up a little bit.

Number four: What time prophecy--we're going to study the longest time prophecy in the Bible in the time that remains. What time prophecy is introduced into the vision? It says, "For--" what's the number--"two thousand three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Now, is that talking about 2,300 days, literal days, or, when you have a prophecy like this, what is a day? The Bible tells us, if you look in Ezekiel chapter 4, verse 6, "I have laid on you a day for each year." In prophecy, a day equals a year. The children of Israel, when they had the spies, those 12 spies went through the promised land for 40 days, but they did not believe--at least 10 of them. Moses said, "Because you did not believe, for every day they wandered, there'll be a year."

And then Jesus says, in Luke chapter 13--After John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod, some messengers came to Jesus. They said, "You know, John's been beheaded. You better be careful. Herod's got his eye on you." Listen how Jesus responds, "Go tell that fox--" meaning Herod-- "I teach and do cures and cast out devils today, tomorrow, and the third day I will be perfected--" or completed. Did Jesus preach three more days or three more years? Three more years after the execution of John. So, even Jesus, making a prophecy, used a day for a year. So, when it says 2,300 days, what are we really reading? Two thousand three hundred years, all right, so this is a prophecy in Daniel 8; he's talking about this beast power that was going to persecute God's people, this little horn.

Well, did the Roman power persecute God's people? They had one point, then they destroyed--not only did they occupy Israel, not only were the Romans instrumental in executing Jesus, then they began to persecute Christians and Jews, ultimately destroying the Jewish temple and scattering the people and enslaving them and crucifying 2,000 of them. And so, it was a terrible persecuting power that God warned Daniel about. But, as they say, wait, there's more in the prophecy. What happens at the end of the 2,300 days? "For two thousand three hundred days; then shall the--" what-- "the sanctuary be cleansed."

All right, if you go 2,300 years from the time of Daniel, was there a sanctuary in Israel? Temple had been destroyed, but did we learn last night there is still a sanctuary on earth? What's the sanctuary on earth? Point to it. You are the temple of God; we are living stones. Is there a sanctuary in heaven still? We have a high priest, we read in Hebrews; he's ministering before the real throne of God in heaven. So, what is his prophecy? Two thousand three hundred days of sanctuary be cleansed; cleansed from what? The Bible tells us; you read a little; go back a few verses, in Daniel 8:12, "He--" the beast power--"cast the truth down to the ground. He did all this, he practiced, and he prospered." There would be a great falling away that would come into the church through this beast power during the dark ages. And this is what happened to Christianity. So, there would be a cleansing from the errors of that time and a cleansing from sin in heaven, and it would--this movement, this cleansing, would begin 2,300 days after a starting point.

But there's a problem here. In Daniel chapter 8, Daniel faints. I don't know if you got your Bibles handy. The angel gives Daniel this prophecy, and you go to the last verse in chapter 8, and he says, "Seal of the vision, for it refers to many days in the future--" I'm reading Daniel 8:26--"and I--" Daniel-- "fainted and was sick for days afterward. I arose and went about the king's business because I was astonished by the vision, and no one understood it."

Now, Daniel is given a vision; he tells them that the vision is going to be 2,300 days, or 2,300 years, but in order to know what that means, you need a starting point. Does that make sense? Otherwise, how do you get an ending point? It doesn't mean anything; it's just floating out there anywhere. Daniel 9 conveniently--Keep in mind, in the Bible, there were no chapters originally; those were added years later by scholars that were reading so they could find things more easily. Daniel 8 flows into Daniel 9, and another vision happens. In Daniel 9, Daniel is given another time prophecy. How is this time prophecy related to the 2,300 days? They've got the same starting period. "O Daniel, I have come forth to give you understanding. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the--" What vision--? The one he had just given him, in the previous chapter. "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for the holy city." This is called the 490-year prophecy.

When I first studied this, I was in the mountains living by myself like a hermit in a cave. And God had worked it out where I was just by myself, and I had my Bible and some good books. And, when I read this and I finally understood this prophecy, I'll just tell you, I was by myself, and I was jumping up and down praising the Lord, scaring all the lizards and snakes because, I thought to myself, "Jesus came right on time the first time." And He said, "I'm coming again." He is going to come. It was longer than maybe Daniel had hoped, but He did come, and He promised He would come again.

Number seven: When is the start date for the 70 week and 2,300 day prophecies? There's only one date given for both prophecies; it's the only starting period. What is that starting point? He gives it to us in Daniel 9:25, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks."

Now, the going forth of the commandment was given by Artaxerxes I. There were actually three commands that gave the Jews permission to go back, and Darius gave a command to do certain things. But the final command that's listed there, in Ezra chapter 7; you can look it up for yourself; it's right there in the Bible; that's our starting point; it's a date in history we're very sure of because we know that Artaxerxes I, he followed Xerxes, who was assassinated. And we know, based on the Persian calendar, what year of the reign it would be when he issued this decree. We know what years Ezra went with the captives back, and you can do the math and figure it out; it's 457 BC.

So, you can even take out your calculator and figure this out. If you go 7 weeks plus 62 weeks, at 69 weeks, 69 weeks is 483 years. If you go 483 years from 457 BC, it comes to 27 AD. What happens there? Jesus comes to John in the wilderness, and He's baptized. And I am so thankful for Luke; Luke, he pegs that time period as just the best historian in history. He says, In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, he tells Pilate was governor of Judea. He talks about Philip; he talks about everybody, and there's only one time in Roman history when all these rulers overlapped, and it's 27 AD. So, it's just a really well-established date, and I'm just thankful that God made it easy for us to figure these things out. Number 8: What other important events are revealed from the start date of the 70-week prophecy? Well, it also said, in Daniel 9:25, "From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until--" who-- "Messiah--" who's that; that's Jesus--"the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks." See, the reason it breaks off seven weeks separately is it took 49 years for them to finish establishing the city, rebuilding, building the walls, and becoming an independent group again. And so He breaks it up that way, but then there's another 62 weeks from the completion of them having independence that way, until the Messiah comes.

Now, I've got a little chart up on the screen; it's going to grow. So, you've got the starting point 457 BC; this is the decree to restore Jerusalem; it's the third and final decree by Artaxerxes. And, if you go 483 years, it comes to the baptism of Jesus. But, if you go 2,300 years, it comes to 1844. Well, let's take this one piece at a time. You're probably wondering, what's, what happened then? Look at the first part here. You've got--it's not on the chart there, but first you've got your 49 years of rebuilding the city. Then you've got 483 years; it says the Messiah would be cut off after that point, Jesus is baptized in 27 AD. Are you still with me?

Then He confirms the covenant with many for one week, that's seven years. In the midst--3 1/2 years into His ministry--He is cut off, but He's not done trying to confirm the covenant with His people. You know what Jesus said to the apostles? "As the Father sent Me, so send I you." Jesus healed the sick; He raised the dead. The apostles healed the sick; they raised the dead. Jesus preached the gospel; they preached the gospel. Jesus said, "I'm sent to the lost sheep." They went just to the lost sheep. Until the supreme court condemned Stephen, after hearing the gospel, and executed him, God was especially focusing the message on His people. "After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be--" what--"cut off, but not for Himself. And He'll confirm the covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week, He'll bring an end to sacrifice and offering."

Jesus, 3 1/2 years after He began his ministry, He died on a cross outside of Jerusalem. The veil of the temple was torn, there was an earthquake, graves were opened. It was the end of the sacrificial system. Paul says, "Now Christ is our Passover." You don't need to kill lambs anymore. Circumcision is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing. But keeping the commandments is what matters. It's what Paul says. All right, so, looking once again, you've got, you see in the midst of that last week, 3 1/2 years in person, 3 1/2 years through those who heard Him. It says, "He confirmed the covenant first Himself, then through those who heard Him," the apostles and the disciples. And it was in the midst of that last seven, Jesus died on the cross.

Friends, this is so amazing to me; it all fits perfectly. How could God control time and events and see this far in advance so perfectly? So, when He says He's coming again, can we trust Him?

Number nine: What happened at the end of the 70-week prophecy? "Seventy weeks are determined for your people, for the holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and anoint the Most Holy." All of those things happened just as God said. So, you see, that prophecy, the charts up there, reaches all the way from 457 to 1844, and it's also the 490-year prophecy that tells us about the time cut off for the Jewish nation.

Number ten: On what date did the 2,300-day prophecy end? Revelation 14:7, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come." We entered a phase of the first judgment. I told you there's three phases of judgment. The judgment that happens before Jesus comes has begun. And Christ is now--He's entered into a special final phase with the Father. You might call it the day of atonement, heavenly, interceding for His people.

Number eleven: What is the pre-advent judgment? It tells us, in 1 Peter chapter 4, "For the time has come for judgment to begin--" where--"at the house of God." So where does this judgment principally begin? Jesus is not judging the lost world during this time because He, Jesus said, "They're already condemned." It's those who have taken His name to see if they're sincere, you know. Jesus said, "You'll know them by--" what--"their fruits." Do they have the fruits of the Spirit? Didn't Jesus curse a tree that had leaves and no fruit? He went and He looked it over and found no fruit. He wants us to have the fruits of the Spirit, and this is what He said about the vine, in John 15.

How many of you have read in your Bibles, Ezekiel chapter 9, where it says that there's a judgment that begins at the house of God? These angels of destruction go through Jerusalem, beginning with the ancient men, and those that sigh and cry and pray because of the sins of God's people, they get a saving mark on their foreheads. We always think a mark on the forehead is bad. Revelation says, "The saved have the seal of God in their forehead." Revelation 14 says, "They've got their Father's name in their foreheads." In Ezekiel 9, the ones who have the mark of the angel are saved, and the destroying angels go through and execute everybody else in that vision. So, we want to be among those who are praying and striving for holiness to please God, amen? And then Jesus tells us, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to--" what-- "his work." I know I went through that quickly, but Jesus, He's not only our advocate, He's witnessing in our behalf. And He can declare us safe during that time.

Doug: Either directly or indirectly, virtually every Bible writer refers to the great judgment day. Paul says, "We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." In light of our countless sins, the thought of facing a life's record before a holy God can strike terror into the heart of every man. But Jesus tells us there's a way to face the judgment with complete peace. We'd like to share this beautifully illustrated resource with you that explains, through scripture, who presides at this judgment, who's the defense attorney, the accuser, the supreme judge, and, most importantly, how to escape being condemned. To get your free copy, call the phone number on your screen, and ask for offer number 132, or visit the web address. And, after you read this incredible resource, make sure and share it with a friend.

Doug: Do you long to experience the peace that can only come from our loving, heavenly Father? Do you desire your heart to be clean and at rest? Jesus stands before you right now with His arms open wide to receive you. Why not ask Him into your life right now? Why not receive Him now as your personal Savior? Take that first step, and say, "Yes, Lord, I choose You." He is ready and waiting to receive you.

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