God's Grace Provision - Flee! Matthew 24:15-22

We need to do a little review and answering the question, what is the connection of Matthew 24:15-22 and how that fits with the previous context? The second question is, what is the abomination of desolation of Daniel? The first verse says, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet?" Well, what in the world is that talking about? Has that occurred before or is that something that is yet future? And in conjunction with that, answering the question, how does that connect with other prophecies, especially in second Thessalonians and Revelation chapter 12? Third question: what should be their response and who is responsible for this response, as he gives this warning to that generation? What are they supposed to do with this warning, and who is responsible for responding that way? The fourth question is, how will God protect and provide for them in the wilderness?

As we understand this passage He is telling all of the Jewish believers in Israel to flee into the mountains of Judea. Well, how is He going to provide for them if they are told to flee immediately without going to the grocery store, and packing their there go bag to get out of the house in a hurry. They're not even to go get it, they're just supposed to leave. So how will He provide and protect for them?

Fifth, what is it mean that the days will be cut short? That's what we see when we get down to verse 21, something a lot of people have made an issue out of, and that is that unless these days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. What does it mean in that passage? Sixth, what should be our response? There are some implications of what is being said here that impact how we think and how we respond to issues in life.

So first of all, what is the connection between Matthew 24:15-22 in the previous context. The events in Matthew 24 and 25 all represent one discourse, one teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in response to two basic questions that his disciples asked once He had crossed out of the temple and taken His seat on the Mount of olives. They came asking him privately. "Tell us, when will these things be?" And that is specifically related to His statement that the temple would be destroyed. Note stone would be left on top of another that all of the temple buildings would be torn down—not the retaining wall which is there today, that western wall, but the temple buildings. Second, what will be the sign of your coming?

The sign of his coming is really not mentioned again until we get down into verse 30 where were told, "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven." That is at the end of this period that we described as the Tribulation. We have to understand this in context. Jesus is talking to His Jewish disciples who were believers, but they are still Old Testament believers. He's talking to them as Jewish believers about Jewish prophecy specifically related to this concept of the kingdom, this literal his geophysical kingdom ruled by the Messiah on the earth from His throne in Jerusalem.

They want to know what's going to be the sign of His coming, that is, His coming to establish this kingdom, not coming in the Rapture of the church. We never know when the Rapture will occur. It could be today, could be tomorrow, it could be next week. It is imminent, but it is not necessarily soon coming. Just because we see things that we think are indicators, doesn't mean they are. There are no signs for the Rapture.

The second thing emphasized is that the Olivet discourse is the last thing Jesus said to the Jews about Israel. He is talking about Israel in these two chapters, not the church. Nothing in the Olivet discourse is about church age believers or has direct application to church age believers. There may be implications, but no direct application. We are not the ones were being told that when you see this sign, run and flee to the mountains. Those who are in Judea at that time are the only ones who can apply that, and the application is to run and flee to the mountains. That's how you apply that text, you don't apply it by any other means.

All living church age believers are raptured and taken to heaven before the beginning of the Tribulation.

Now the timeframe for this is in Daniel 9:24-27, a period that is described as Daniel's 70 weeks, due to a prophecy there that God has decreed 70 periods of seven for Daniel and for his people. 70×7 is 490. It's too short to make it days or weeks; it's a period of 7—7 years, so it's a period to 490 years. That last year is described as the 70th year, and it's usually broken down into two periods each 3 1/2 years in length.

The first half is what I have said is described in Matthew 24:4-8. Jesus at the end of His description of those trends says, these are the beginning of sorrows. That's what happens at the beginning. It's a beginning literally of labor pain. Something is being given birth to. That's just the start of the labor pains. What is been given birth to is the kingdom. The intensification of those labor pains occurs in the second half. There are increased labor pains and at the end of that section in Matthew 24:14 Jesus says, after those things, then subsequently, the end will come.

We see that the first 3 1/2 years of the beginning of sorrows, and the second 3 1/2 years there will then be increased persecution of Jews after the Antichrist breaks the covenant in the first half of that 70th week. It begins with the Antichrist making a covenant with Israel for peace. So Israel is secure under that covenant for that first 3 1/2 years. They will hear of wars and rumors of wars around them, but they are kept secure. But the Antichrist is going to break that covenant in a horrific way in the middle of that week, after 3 1/2 years. This is what we are going to be looking at now as the abomination of desolation.

So this first half is called the beginning of birth pangs. There will be false Messiahs who come up and many will be deceived. This occurs and increases during the second half. Then there's going to be a rise in anti-Semitism in the first half, and it really intensifies in the second half. Wars and rumors of wars will be heard and there will also be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. All of these are global in impact; they are worldwide; they are not minor things.

When we hear of an earthquake in Mexico City or San Francisco or California or somewhere else in the world, those are but foreshadowing's. These will be on a massive scale. Right now we see we think it's terrible if there's an earthquake that registers seven or eight on the Richter scale. I imagine the earthquakes that are described in Revelation during the first seal judgments, during the first half, since it's a geometric scale it will be on the measure of 17, 18 or 19 on the Richter scale—massive worldwide destruction. So these are the beginning of sorrows.

As I have pointed out, the way to understand this is to follow the "then"s in your English Bible. That represents a Greek word TOTE, which means, then the next thing. And that's how Matthew uses that most of the time. Every now and then he used in the sense of then at that time, but as we seen throughout this section he uses it as then, that is, following this event, the next event.

So Jesus says in verse eight, all these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up, that is, after this. In the next stage they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. There will be hostility towards the Jews. There will be increased anti-Semitism, and what passed as the Holocaust to show up that took place during World War II when the Nazis attempted to eradicate all of the Jews in the world. That was their goal: not just in Europe, but in the whole world. You may not know it. I didn't know it until recently, but there were massive roundups of Jews in North Africa in Libya and Tunisia and other areas of North Africa where there were many Sephardic Jews who had lived for centuries. They were rounded up by the Nazis and shipped to Italy, and then to concentration camps. So the Holocaust was not limited to Western Europe, their goal was worldwide.

But that was only a type or a foreshadowing of the level of anti-Semitism that will break out during the Tribulation. "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations (Literally all Gentiles) for my namesake," because this is talking about, especially Jewish believers. And then we read, "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come". See, there's that word then again, indicating, then the next thing that happens is the end will come. That is the end of this period of Daniel's 70th week.

The gospel of the kingdom is not the same as the gospel of Jesus Christ. It includes the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it's more than that. It is the gospel of the kingdom, a gospel that includes the gospel for salvation, for individual salvation, but also includes the added information that the kingdom is about to come.

Dwight Pentecost went to be with the Lord a couple of years ago. He was 98 or 99 and was considered one of the great prophecy scholars of the 20th century. He was on faculty at Dallas seminary for many years and wrote an excellent book on the life of Christ on the basis of about 45 or 50 years of teaching the life of Christ. He wrote, "the message," that is, the gospel of the kingdom, "had both a soteriological (that's salvation) and an eschatological (that's prophecy) emphasis." So the message of the gospel of the kingdom has both a salvation message and eschatological prophecy message. "When John and Jesus called on the nation repent. They were asking them to acknowledge their sinful state and their need of salvation they were inviting the people to turn in faith to God, who had promised to send a Savior. The gospel of the kingdom, as preached in the Tribulation will have two emphases. On the one hand, it will announce the good news that Messiah's advent is near, at which time he will introduce the messianic age of blessing; on the other hand, it will also offer men salvation by grace through faith based on the blood of Christ. This gospel will be preached by hundred 144,000 set apart from the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:1, 8)."

I concluded last time by looking at Revelation 14:6, 7 were angels will go throughout the world, announcing to every human being the gospel, and that occurs in the second half of the Tribulation. But in the first half the 144,000 Jews that are saved. Those are not Jehovah's Witnesses, they are not Mormons, they are not some sort of elite group within the church. The text is very clear: 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. They are also mentioned in Revelation 14:1-5 because they will of been martyred by the middle midpoint of the second half, the Tribulation. There are also the two witnesses during the first half of the Tribulation, mentioned in Revelation 11:3. So these will all be responsible for getting the gospel to every nation, tribe, and tongue. That's a worthy goal for the church age but it is not based on this passage. We will not reach everyone in the church age. A lot of missionary organizations have that is their motivation, but that is not what the prophetic text indicates.

The second question we are looking at is, what is this abomination of desolation mentioned in verse 15, and how does that connect to other prophecies? In Matthew 24:15 Jesus says, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place …" And then in parenthesis Jesus says, (Matthew inserts this) "… whoever reads it, let them understand" "… then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

There is this event called the abomination of desolation. It is an event that would be known to His listeners, known by His disciples, because it is written in the Old Testament. It is an Old Testament doctrine, not a church age doctrine. This is a Jewish prophecy from a Jewish prophet in the Old Testament, and He is speaking about in that context about something that will happen to Israel in the future. This is written to Jewish believers during the future time that we refer to as the Tribulation, and it is a warning that when those who are in Judea see this they are to flee. It doesn't say those who are in Judea and Samaria, it doesn't say those who are in Washington DC or Houston Texas or Paris or London, it says those who are in Judea. That would include Jerusalem.

Another thing I want to point out here is that word "therefore". I pointed out that the progression, the timeline, is indicated by that word then. Jesus uses this after verse eight when He says all these are the beginning of sorrows. He says then, that's the next thing: then they will deliver you up to tribulation verse 10, and then following that many will be offended. Following that, verse 11, then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. There's progression all the way through that.

Then there's a break in that timeline because what you see in verse 15 is that the word therefore always indicates drawing some sort of inference or conclusion from something that's been said. The first four verses of this, four through eight, talk about the first half of the Tribulation. Some prophecy teachers have said that that just represents trends in the church age; then starting in verse nine you get into the tribulation, and then verse 15 with the mention of abomination of desolation that is the midpoint. That's not quite correct. The first half is four through eight; the second half is nine through 14. But notice, 9 to 14 is mostly really bad news. These are bad things that are going to happen. In the first half it is going to be bad, the second half is going to be worse.

In the second half you're going to see the rise of hostility towards Israel and you're going to see many who are further deceived—not offended but entrapped by deception. They will betray one another; they'll hate one another. There will be an increase over the first half in the rise of many more false prophets and deception, lawlessness will abound, and the love of many will grow cold. It will just dry up. They will be so concerned with self-preservation that they won't care about anybody else. That's the second half. That's all bad news; there is no good news there.

What in the world are we going to do? That would be the natural question that would occur to us if we read about how bad the next 3 1/2 years would be. You can lose everything. How in the world am I going to survive? Jesus gives that answer, and that is the therefore starting in verse 15. This fits the typical way in which Jews wrote things. They would give a summary overview and then come back and deal with the specifics.

For example, in Genesis chapter 1 down through verse 2:4 you have the seven days of creation, and then in 2:5 you have the start of the story about how man was created. That all happened on the sixth day. So the first part gives you the overview of the seven-day framework, the seven consecutive 24 hour days of court of the creation week, and then chapter 2:5 starts to goes back to the sixth day and gives a lot more specifics on what happened on the sixth day. That's the pattern here you have the overview of the seven years in verses 4-14 and then starting in verse 15 down through 28 you come back and just focus on the specifics.

Basically what Matthew is and what the Lord is saying in the way he's teaching this is you can have all these bad things happen and the question that arises is, how do we escape this? What he is saying is when you see the abomination of desolation that's going to be the key event that's going to trigger this last half that's going to be so bad. When you see it drop everything instantly. Don't try to get your go bag. Don't try to get your money out of your bank account. Don't try to get food out of the pantry because this is going to last a long time. You can take enough money or anything, just immediately drop everything that you're doing and flee.

So what is this event that happens? It's called the abomination of desolation as Daniel the prophet spoke, so we need to look at a very important passage in Daniel. Daniel 9:24-27 is one of the most significant prophetic passages in the Bible. There's so much there. This is a specific forecast, a specific timeline that the Lord revealed to Daniel for His people and for His holy city, that is, Jerusalem. If you understand it, and we are supposed understand it, and can count the days, then you can figure out when the Messiah is going to be cut off and you can figure out when the end is going to come when the Messiah establishes his kingdom.

The framework is given at the very beginning, the "what" is given here—70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city. He is talking to Daniel. "Your people" is definitely going to be Jews, not Gentiles; your holy city is not Babylon, it's not Rome, it's Jerusalem. And then six purposes are described there. That's what answers the question why. Why is this timeline being given? Why is God waiting this long. What's He going to do? He is going to "finish the transgression, make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, and anoint the most holy". This is all related to Israel. God is going to bring to a conclusion all of the promises that He has made to Israel to bring in their kingdom. So this is his outline here for finishing His plan to reconcile Israel to Himself for their sin and to bring in the promised kingdom.

Then in verse 25 the angel says to Daniel, "Know therefore and understand." What that means is that you can understand this, and be you're supposed to know it. Every one of us is supposed to understand it and know it so you can communicate it to others, so that it will give you confidence. And especially at that time when Israel was out of the land and they were captives in Babylon; and it is a confirmation of God's promise that they're going to go back to the land and God will fulfill all of his promises to Israel.

So the angel says, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command …" That we can identify in history. And it happened in the ancient world when Artaxerxes issued a decree to Nehemiah to take the Jews back to the land and to rebuild the fortifications. They had already rebuilt part of the city, but as you'll see at the end, not only will the street be rebuilt again and the wall. The wall wasn't rebuilt. Nehemiah rebuilt the wall so that's why we can date Artaxerxes' decree.

So from the going forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Seven plus 62 is 69—69 periods of seven. The phrase translated weeks is really a poor translation; it is 70 periods of seven. So it could be 490 days, 490 weeks, or 490 years. The only thing that works is 490 years. You have 7+62 = 69 times seven periods (7 years) + 483 years. If you multiply that by 360 days (because in Scripture, Israel used a 360-day lunar calendar), that comes out to 173,880 days. But it is seven years short of that 490-year period.

Daniel 9:26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end {will come} with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined."

Then what is described in verses in Daniel 9:26, after the 62 weeks Messiah will be cut off. That indicates that there is that the timeline stops. You go to 483 years and God hits the pause button. After that the Messiah is cut off, but not for Himself (He dies for others) and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and sanctuary. The prince who is to come is the Antichrist. His people, is the Roman army of Titus that destroyed the city and the temple in AD 70. Now Titus didn't want to destroy the temple. He had given orders to his soldiers not to destroy the temple, but they were so angry at the resistance they had met from the Jews that they went ahead and disobeyed his orders. They burned down completely destroyed the temple. The gold melted and ran down into the cracks between the stones and they got to pry bars to pry them apart so they could get to the gold, and that is why no stone was left on top of another, as Jesus prophesied.

We are still in that pause. Then what will happen in the future (9:27), "he will confirm a covenant with many for one week". That's a seven-year period. It's that confirmation of the covenants, the making of a covenant between the Antichrist and Israel that begins that seven-year period. It's not the Rapture. The Rapture is before that. We don't know how much time is going to be in the transition between the rapture and the signing of this covenant. It could be a few weeks, could be few months, could even be a few years. He will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week, that's 3 1/2 years in the middle of the week, he will bring an end to sacrifice and offering. He allows sacrifice and offering in a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount for the first 3 1/2 years.

What's on the Temple Mount right now? It's a Muslim atrocity. It's the dome of the rock and it's it it's a blasphemous atrocity because inside there's all these Arabic scriptures that are written that are all taken from the Quran to say it stay that Jesus is not God, that Jesus is only a prophet. The dome of the rock is unapologetic against Christianity and for Islam. It is a blasphemy to show that Islam is better than Christianity. That's why if you stand on a level with that you can see that the dome of the rock is higher than the domes on top of the church of the holy sepulcher. It is a political theological-statement against Christianity. And Islam hates Christianity; they are set on world domination.

This last week I read a CBS survey that was taken that said that 67% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans believe that Islam is no more violent than any other world religion—not a more violent than Buddhism or Hinduism, or Mormonism, or Christianity. That shows the ignorance that's out there, and with all that has been said and taught in the last 15 years since 9/11 you would think people would be more aware than they are, but they're not; they're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.

So the first half of this period is going to be a time of peace for Israel. They're going to be allowed to have observance (of course, apostate) in the temple. They don't recognize Jesus as Messiah. And then halfway through the Antichrist is going to break the covenant, he's going to violate the sanctuary, he's going to cease, completely bring to a halt all of the sacrifices and offerings, and then he is going to do something that is referred to as an abomination, which literally desecrates the temple. He is going to do something there that is going to just be the highest act of blasphemy.

Now there was an event in history that occurred that is a type of this, and that occurred under Antiochus the fourth who was called Antiochus Epiphanes. He was a Syrian king was part of the Antiochene dynasty that had succeeded Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death the Greek empire was broken up between four of his generals and Antiochus received the area north of Israel, the area of Syria and Turkey. All of that area was his domain.

One of his descendents Antiochus the Fourth, called Epiphanes, hated the Jews. He instituted all sorts of laws against the Jews seeking to destroy Judaism, making it illegal to circumcise male infants, making it illegal to have a copy anywhere of the Torah; all sorts of things, and he went into the into the holy of holies and sacrificed a pig, which is an unclean animal. He sacrificed the pig in the holy of holies, which desecrated the temple. That is a picture of the kind of thing the Antichrist will do.

Now in understanding what this abomination of desolation is, in Daniel 11:31 it's mentioned again, that forces shall be mustered by him. In context, that's talking about the Antichrist. "And they will defile the sanctuary fortress, then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation."

Daniel 11:36 says some more about the king that will do this. "Then the king shall do according to his own will …" He is a self-willed king over against submitting to God. "… he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished [That's the time of Jacob's wrath the time of the Tribulation], for what is been determined shall be done." There is a clear statement there in 11:31 and 36 as this relates to the end time ruler known as the Antichrist.

Daniel 12:11 states the same thing. “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, {there will be} 1,290 days." That's at the midpoint, though be appear to 1290 days and that refers to the extended. After the 1260 days, there's another 30 days when there's a mopping up operation and there's a judgments that take place and things of that of that nature.

The prince who is to come is the Antichrist. He is described in Daniel 7:7 as a little horn there. This horrible beast has 10 horns. Those 10 horns represent the represent the 10-nation confederacy of the Antichrist, and in Daniel 7:8 talks about this little horn is an arrogant horn, as a boastful leader, and Daniel says that while he was contemplating the horns behold another horn, a little one, and came up among them, and the three of the first horns were pulled out by their roots. That shows extreme conflict and violence that the Antichrist is going to use to completely smash three of the kings in order to bring them under his dominion. This is described Daniel chapter 7.

When we get into the New Testament we get some more information about this in second Thessalonians 2:3, 4. Paul says, "Let no one in any way deceive you, for {it will not come} unless the falling away comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God."

That is the day of the Lord, referring to this time period of the Tribulation, "for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first". Some people take that as apostasy because the noun is apostasy, but the verb form of that word is often used of a departure. And so many dispensationalists understand this did not mean apostasy, but it is the departure. That's what I believe, and it refers to the Rapture of the church. The Rapture the church has to come first and then the revealing of the man of sin, the son of perdition. That's the Antichrist. He sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. That is the abomination of desolation.

In Revelation 13 the first part describes the Antichrist second part describes a false prophet. In verses 3, 4 "He will a take his seat in the holy of holies he will claim to be God, claim to speak for God, and then he will build an idol, an image of himself that he will place there. In Revelation 13:4, 5 this is further described. "They worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?' There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him".

The first beast is speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. That's the last half of the tribulation. In the first half he consolidates his power leading up to the abomination of desolation, and then he is given authority to rule the world during the second half.

In verse 14, talking about the role of the second beast, the false prophet, he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, and telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast. This false prophet will create a miracle that will bring the image to life in the holy of holies, and so everybody will fall into this deception on the earth. This is the sign. Jesus said, "And when you see the sign you just get out as fast as you can". Just get out immediately. That is not talking about anybody other than those who are in Judea.

What we have seen is that this describes a desecration of the Jewish Temple in Daniel 11:31 and Second Thessalonians 2:4. Secondly, we've seen that the ruler stops all regular sacrifices in the temple, Daniel 9:27; 11:31 and 12:11. Third, an idol of the ruler is placed in the holy of holies, Daniel 11:31 and 12:11, and Revelation 13:14-15. Then the images brought to life again in Revelation 13:14-15.

Now the third question: What should be their response and who is responsible? Those who are responsible are the Jewish believers, Jewish Christians living in Judea. It's not for anybody else, and it's only going to be Jewish Christians who think that Jesus means something and should be obeyed; which tells us that those who flee into the wilderness are already believers in Jesus as Messiah. There may be a few exceptions, but there are going to be those who listen to Jesus. So they are individually saved already. The reason I make that point is when we get to the end of the Tribulation and they call upon the name of Jesus corporately, and He is coming to save them. That's to rescue them, not to individually justify them.

Matthew 24:17-20 says, let him was on the hot housetop not go down to take anything out of his house don't run by your gun safe on the way okay don't hit the ATM machine leave. Don't take anything with you. Let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes you working on the backyard go leave don't even run into the house and the reason is, this going to be so severe that the sooner you can get away the better, and the opposition will be terrible.

"Woe to those who are pregnant are those who are nursing babies in those days," because as you know, ladies, if you're been pregnant it is tough to move, and you have somebody else, another life to be taken care of. And so it would be more difficult. So Jesus says to pray for this, "pray that your flight may not be in winter" when the weather can be quite cold in the snow in the hills or on the Sabbath. Revelation 12:6 picks this up and says, "And the woman fled into the wilderness [the mountains of Judah] where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1260 days." Now who is going to nourish her? The Lord. This is like the Exodus. When they left Egypt, even though they had a lot of material possessions that they took with them, God sustained them every day by giving them manna. I think God's going to do another miracle very similar to that.

When they are in the wilderness during the second half of this Tribulation they are going to leave and are going to cross over into what is now Jordan. But God is the one who's going to nourish them; that is what the text says. He prepared a place for them and he's going to nourish them; He will provide for their food.

Now where do they go? Micah 2:12 says, “I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with men." The Hebrew word for a sheepfold is bozrah. Bozrah means a sheepfold. They will make a loud noise because of so many people. They are going to be hidden in a special area, and I believe that this is going to be in an area over near Petra today.

Revelation 12:8, 9 says that this is going to be energized by Satan. When Satan is cast from heaven at the midpoint of the Tribulation. That is when he is going to come to the earth. He will indwell the antichrist and then he's going to make the Jews, his target. Revelation 12:12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has {only} a short time. [13] And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman [Israel] who gave birth to the male {child.}"

Israel is going to be rescued. Revelation 12:14 "But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent".

Now this is going to be a miraculous provision. The imagery of the two wings of the great eagle is just a figure of speech. That is first found in Deuteronomy 32:10, talking about how God rescued the Jews of the of the Exodus generation: “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions." That is describing God protecting Israel. That same imagery is carried over to the way He will protect Israel during the second half of the Tribulation. That is, those Jewish believers who flee from Jerusalem.

And it is at this place called Basra that there's going to be a great war when the Lord Jesus Christ returns and destroys the armies of the Antichrist there. As stated in Isaiah 34:6, "The sword of the Lord is filled with blood. It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom."

Question five, what does it mean that the days will be cut short. Basically what this means in Matthew 24:22—"and unless those days were shortened" is not that there can be any shorter than the seven years, or the time, times and 1/2 a time, or the 1260 days. What it says is that He will reduce the duration. So the 1000 turn 60 days is a reduction already. The seven years is a reduction God is not going to let it go on and on. By ending it at seven years He will end it, Israel will survive, the human race will not eradicate itself. It does not mea that it's going to be cut short from what has been described in Scripture. So verse 22: "unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved" isn't talking about justification salvation. It is talking about physical deliverance from the wars that will take place at that particular time.

So we come to the last question, and the last question is, what does that do for us? What should be our response? I have three things that we should be reminded of as we think about this. First of all, is if God can provide for Israel during that intense horrible time of economic collapse and of political collapse, if God can provide for them, then God can provide for us in whatever situation we are in. Second, if God can protect them in that environment— where everything breaks down and there's no nation that is not against them, and there's no nation or army to protect them—God can protect us in any situation. And the third application is that that we should do everything we can to tell others about Jesus Christ, so that they are not in danger of going through this Tribulation.

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