The Woman Flees

RV155-01

The great oil wealth, which is possessed by the Arab nations today, gives them a powerful voice in their hatred and their antagonism against the nation of Israel. The industrial nations of the world cannot ignore those who supply their oil lifeline in terms of their hatred and antagonism toward the Jewish people. Saddam Hussein has threatened the flow of the world's oil supply by his invasion of Kuwait, and has the nations of the world lined up against him because they fear what he could do to them if he were in a dominating, controlling position over the oil lifeline for industrial nations.

The Gulf War

I reiterate to you that in all of the nightly news reports, and in all the information flying toward us concerning the Persian Gulf, you should not lose sight of the fact that Saddam's plan and intent was to attack Israel. He was going to take Kuwait. He was going to move in on Saudi Arabia. He would now have control, believe it or not, of 50% of all the world's oil supplies and reserves. He would have the nations of the world by the throat, so when he went after Israel, they would not feel free to complain too strongly.

That is because at that point in time, he very wisely reinforced his words by creating an enormous military force. A force of a million men is a powerful military force. The Americans (the allies) will be lucky to face him with 350,000 men. In a military operation such as exists in the open terrain of the desert, it is axiomatic military doctrine that when you attack, you must do it with a three-to-one superiority over your enemy if you hope to succeed.

So, we have an interesting situation that has developed in the world. All the world is fearful of a man who can really turn terror loose if he wants to. They are sitting now eyeball-to-eyeball across the line, facing the imminent destruction of one or the other. If a shooting war breaks out in the Persian Gulf, it is very unlikely that Israel will escape attack.

There is another sobering report that has come out the last two days. You may remember something that I called your attention several weeks ago. It was not a surprise to you, but a confirmation that Saddam Hussein has had access to a man who has technology for developing a cannon capable of sending a missile 400 miles. This is not a ballistic missile, but a cannon. The United States indicated it was not interested. So, Saddam got hold of this man. He has suddenly disappeared. The intelligence agencies have been wondering where he is, but they've all uncomfortably suspected that his technology has been placed in the hands of Saddam Hussein.

This past few days, that information has now been confirmed that he has this technology, which means that he could send a projectile with either poison gas or biological contamination, and hit all the major places in Israel, right from his home country.

Just imagine what would happen if such an attack were turned loose upon Israel. How would the rest of the Arab world react? The Arab world is now torn by the fact that they're having to take a stand with the gentile infidels against a brother Arab. They are torn by the fact that here is a man who is standing up to the United States, and the United States can't just step in and blow him away. He is a formidable foe. And the United States is walking carefully around him, trying to analyze and figure out how to do this job if it becomes necessary to make it a shooting war.

The Arab world looks upon him as a hero. Can you imagine what a hero he would be if he were to attack Israel and inflict enormous injury, and inflict an enormous destruction of death upon the Jewish nation? He would be a greater hero than ever before. Most of the Arab world would salute him, and view his action as a holy war, a jihad brought upon them by Allah himself for the destruction of their ancient enemy.

They would have a difficult time, even those who are not sympathetic with Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. The Arabs would have a difficult time standing against him with the United States and its allies. They would have a very difficult time objecting to an attack upon Israel, and being able to control the masses of the Arab people. We must ask the question, "Who really wants to go to war to make the world safe for the Jewish nation?" What mother and what father, with sons and maybe daughters in the military service, is so gung-ho such that they would say, "Let's go for it, and start bringing those body bags home," and there would be plenty of them. Who wants to go to war before Christmas? I suspect that the American government is viewing that with considerable disdain. That's not a good time to bring body bags home, and have popular support.

But there is another problem. In that part of the world, where a war would have to be fought under the conditions of desert warfare, there are only four months when you can do that, when the temperature is more tolerable, and the winds are down so that you're not fouling up your equipment and your weapons with blowing sand. Those are the months of November, December, January, and February. It would be against all military wisdom to wait too far into the new year to begin such a campaign just on the outside chance that American technology cannot make up for numerical superiority on the other side, and the war gets extended.

Hitler's Mistake

So, something is going to happen pretty quickly, and it's going to have to happen, by military reality, before the end of February.

In John's vision here, in Revelation 12, we see portrayed the personalities who are involved in the tribulation climax of Satan's anti-Semitism, which today is represented by the epitome of anti-Semitism in Saddam Hussein. Israel has suffered for centuries at the hands of Satan in this way. Because Satan controls the nations of the world, he directs them to hate the Jewish people. In the tribulation, Satan will form a union of ten Western nations who will be governed by a man that he will empower, which the Bible calls the antichrist. The demons, who are subject to Satan, will carry out Satan's attacks against the Jews. The tribulation will climax in a dramatic extermination of the Jewish people.

God has observed that Satan was unable to prevent the birth of the God-man, the Messiah-God-Savior, Jesus Christ, who subsequently paid for the sins of the world on the cross of Calvary, in order to release those who believed in Him from Satan's slave market of sin. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, will, in time, remove Satan and his demons from off the face of the earth for a period of 1,000 years, during which Christ Himself will reign as the ruler of all nations. He will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords at that time, and He will administer a world government from the city of Jerusalem.

The millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ will be governed by a rod-of-iron scepter, which means that righteousness and justice will be enforced. This means that the Lord will be a beneficent dictator, and because of that, mankind will enter a golden age of peace, blessing, and prosperity. Satan will not be on the scene to tend people. The demons will not be on the scene to tend people. The world system will be organized so that the appeals of sin will be at a minimum. All of the things that are powerful appeals to sin; all the institutions of society; all the entertainment world; and, all of the things that call upon us and tempted to sin are going to be wiped out. All of society is going to be reorganized. There will be one main source leading to sin, and that will be the sin nature of the people who were born during that time.

Satan is determined not to let the Jews enter such a millennial kingdom in which they will be the leading nation ruled by the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. For this reason, he is to this day determined to exterminate the Jewish people. That is very fascinating to me, to think that in our day, right under our very noses, here comes a man out of the Mideast, who for years has been carefully preparing a military force such that you cannot push him over. You cannot give him the back of your hand. You are confronting somebody who is a real threat, and this man's objective is to exterminate the Jewish people.

In Revelation 12:5, after the Son is born to the virgin Mary, and it is stressed that he is a male child, because in his masculinity, he will take the role of male leadership in society, and He rule the nations of the world with a rod-of-iron scepter, there is suddenly another one of those telescopic gaps of time that the Bible has a way of putting together. That is that her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Now, this child being caught up here is separated by a considerable amount of time from when He will be ruling with in His Millennial Kingdom. He is caught up in the ascension of Jesus Christ, which is what we're looking at here. Some 2000 years later comes the time of His reigning as David's greater son.

In the Greek Bible, the word "child" looks like this: "teknon." This is one of the words for "child," and "teknon" refers to Jesus Christ as the one who is born into the human race, stressing again His humanity. You might translate this word as "the born one." We are told that He is "caught up." The Greek word looks like this: "harpazo." The word "harpazo" means to be snatched away, just as an animal would snatch its prey.

We have this used in several places in Scripture that illustrate the quality of being snatched or suddenly removed. For example, John 10:12: "He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, behold the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf 'harpazo" (snatches them) and scatters them." That's a perfect example of the picture of this word. So, suddenly Jesus Christ, who was here, completed His ministry, and He is, as it were, suddenly snatched out of this world before the very eyes of his disciples.

This word is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to describe what happens to us at the rapture of the church. There it is translated as "caught up." We Christians are snatched up.

This word is also used in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, which describe the apostle Paul's experience when he was snatched up temporarily to look in on the third heaven, and was given a marvelous inside of what is ahead for all saints in heaven.

Also, in Acts 8:39, this is the word which is used to describe what happened to Philip after he was through testifying to the Ethiopian treasurer. The Bible says that he was "snatched away."

This word is in the aorist, which means, in the Greek language, that it is at a certain point in time. It is at the point of the ascension of Christ. It is passive, which means that God the Father reaches down and pulls His Son out of the world. He snatches Him out. It is in the indicative mood – a statement of fact. And He is snatched up to God.

Christ's Throne is on the Earth

In Ephesians 1:20-21, we read, "Which He brought about in Christ when He (the Father) raised Him (the Son) from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that to come. Jesus Christ here is seated in heaven indeed on a throne, but it is His father's throne that He is sharing. He is in a position of supreme authority.

What this refers to is the event that took place 40 days after Christ was raised from the dead: "And when, before the eyes of His disciples, He was suddenly snatched up into heaven.

We have this described for us in Acts 1:9-1: "And after He (Jesus) had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. As they were gazing intently into the sky, while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them (that is, angels). And they also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'"

This is reiterated in Mark 16:19. Then, Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin was so easily entangled us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

You have to be very exact as you read the Bible. You cannot play loose with words. It is sheer nonsense for anybody today, as many religious teachers indeed do, to say that the throne that Jesus is seated upon now is the throne of His father David in heaven. This is clearly not the throne that he is seated upon. It says very explicitly that He is seated upon the throne of His Heavenly Father. When the Lord Jesus fulfilled His earthly mission, He was snatched into heaven. He now awaits the time when His Father is ready to send Him back to earth to set up His earthly Davidic kingdom.

Hebrews 10:11-13: "Every priest stands daily, ministering and offering time-after-time the same sacrifice which can never take away sin. But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet." That's what he's doing now. He is in the process of waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool. And at an appropriate time, God the Father will turn to the Son, and say, "Son, the time has come. I want you to return to the earth. This will be at the end of the tribulation era.

The disciples, just before Jesus ascended, asked Him, "When will you set up your kingdom?" They understood that the leaders of Israel had rejected Him. They had blown the opportunity to bring in the Davidic kingdom. The nation had not been told to come to repentance. So, the whole prophetic clock stopped ticking for the Jews. Seven years of history was left unfulfilled for them, and God turned to a new purpose of gathering, out of the gentile world, a special pride for His Son, the church. But they were curious to know: "When is this now going to take place?" So, they asked Him, "When will you set up your kingdom?" And what was the Lord's response? "That is not for you to know. It is known only to the Father," which meant that Jesus, in His humanity (you have to deal with Him as human and as God) doesn't know when the time will come for Him to come and set up his kingdom. In His deity, of course, he does know, but it is a special secret. But the time will come when God will fulfill that purpose.

In the meantime, Jesus is in heaven, which means that He is beyond the attack of Satan. Therefore, Satan goes after Christ in another way. That's why you are under attack. He goes after his body, the church, and he goes after the earthly people of Israel. The Jews, through their spiritual blindness, which had been imposed on them by Satan, had killed their Messiah, Jesus Christ. God the Father exposed their horrible error by raising Jesus from the dead. Then the Lord ascended to heaven, to await the time for the establishing of His earthly millennial kingdom, the kingdom of His father David, and to restore the Jews at that point in time to great national blessing.

God, in His mercy, shortly after the Lord went into heaven, gave them another shot at it. This is a God of grace. They had blown it completely. They had murdered their Messiah. Now, on the day of Pentecost, Peter gets up, and he preaches a sermon. And he speaks to these Jews who are sons of the covenant, who are entitled to all the privileges of Abrahamic Covenant. He says, "You understand what you did, and it is still God's purpose to give you the millennial kingdom, and we are now offering it to you" (Acts 3:19-21). In his sermon, Peter gets to the statement in verse 19. He says, "Repent, therefore," having described for them, in the context, the suffering of Christ and His death, and that all of this was predicted in the Old Testament.

Then, in verse 19, Peter says, "Repent, therefore, and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times." What Peter was speaking about there was an immediate offer. He was telling them, "Now you have a second shot at it. Come to national repentance; turn your back upon your religious leaders; and, don't listen to those con men. You have seen that God has revealed to you the horrible mistake you made by killing the Son. He has been raised from the dead. We are witnesses of that. Now He's got to stay there in heaven until the time of restoration. What is the time of restoration? The time of restoration is when the Jews turn and say, "Christ Jesus of Nazareth is our Messiah Savior, and we receive Him."

Notice verse 19. He calls upon them to repent in the sense of believing in Jesus for salvation: "Repent, therefore, and return." He uses the word "repent" there in terms of changing your mind (that is, concerning Christ) – to now believe in Him as Savior. Then the kingdom would be established.

Notice verse 20: God the Father would have sent Jesus Christ from heaven back to the nation right then, and established the kingdom. He says, "Turn to Him, and trust Him as Savior, so that God can send the anointed Christ to you. He's not talking about something in the future. He's talking about right then.

Verse 21 points out that Jesus must remain in heaven until the Jews come to their senses about Him, so that the kingdom can be established. This is the period of national restoration that was spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. But the Jews are going to remain in their unbelief toward Christ, right into the millennium, right down to the end. During the tribulation, the church is in heaven, and Satan will zero in on the Jews, to express his hatred and his rage toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Satan can hit the church (the Christian) and the Jews. But once the rapture takes place, the Jew is all that Satan has as a point of attack to reach Christ.

So, Lord Jesus is going to return from heaven at the end of the tribulation, and He will come to govern, at that point in time, the nations of the world. Revelation 11:15 pointed that out: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. He will reign forever and ever.

In Revelation 19:15, we have the same thing: "And from His mouth becomes a sharp sword, so that with it, He shall smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty."

So, with this will end the period that the Bible refers to as the times of the gentiles. Jesus Christ, through both His mother Mary, and His foster-father Joseph, is a direct descendant in the royal line of King David. There is no one else that can be the king of the Jews today. There is only Christ. He is the only living one who could do that.

In verse 6, the clothes of this section that we're looking at on personalities, we read, "And the woman fled into the wilderness." The woman here, referring to the nation of Israel, is at this point in time in the latter part of the tribulation. She flees. This refers to a time when the Jews are really going to be running for their lives.

Between verses 5 and 6 there is one of those expanses of time again – the 2,000 years of the church age. The Son is caught up to God, and to share the Father's throne. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit leaps forward into the tribulation, and announces that the Jewish people are fleeing for their lives. The church age a gentile era, with the Jews set aside under God's discipline. The tribulation is a Jewish era with the gentile church raptured and in heaven. The antichrist, at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation, will step in to act as the protector of Israel against the Arab world.

What is happening in the world today makes this a lot easier for all of us to understand. The small, desperate nation of Israel is surrounded today by a vast sea of Islamic Arabs, and it's going to be tougher and tougher for the Jews to survive. In comes the antichrist. He comes on the scene; he charges in with great military capacity; he forms a ten-nation confederacy in Western Europe; and, he is a power to reckon with. What he does then is he turns to the Jew, because he is so powerful that he can even make the Arabs knuckle under.

In Daniel 9:27, he makes a treaty with the Jewish people. Here again, we have to go to Daniel to get the background of the book of the Revelation: "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week." There is that period of seven years that we were talking about in the previous session that never was fulfilled. In comes the antichrist. The church has been taken to heaven. Now the antichrist moves in on the scene and becomes a dominant force in the world political structure. He goes to the Jews and says, "I'll protect you." Verse 26 says, "And after 62 weeks." At this point, remember that we've had seven weeks, and then there was a break, and then 62 weeks – making a total of 69 weeks: "The Messiah will be cut off (on Palm Sunday), and have nothing;" that is, instead of having a kingdom and His throne (being received), He has nothing." And the people of the prince who is to come (the Roman Empire – the Romans) will destroy the city."

Verse 27 says, "And he (referring to this prince who is to come, which is the antichrist) is the head of this restored Roman Empire." So, the Jews are going to settle for the right to exist within secure borders in peace, and they probably will be willing to disarm to do it.

However, they'll consider it a good deal, because now they can be free to re-institute their ancient worship rituals in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. But after three-and-a-half years, in the middle of the tribulation, the antichrist breaks the treaty, and turns against the Jews. In Daniel 7:27, he makes a covenant for one week (a seven-year period), but in the middle of the week (after three-and-a-half years), he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on a wing of abominations (on a wing of the temple – the holy of holies) will come one who makes desolation, even unto a complete destruction; one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

He places a statue of himself in the holy of holies. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 talk about this man of sin. The antichrist demands that the Jews worship him as God, on pain of death for refusing. Revelation 13:14-15 give us more information on that. He is there. He is the God to be worshiped, and all the world will join the antichrist in its intense hatred of the Jews in general, and the nation of Israel in particular, because the Jews refuse to cooperate.

This is one thing, after the Babylonian captivity, that the Jews never had any more problems with. They finally got over their habit of worshiping idols. They won't go for this. They'll realize that they have been double-crossed. This is predicted in Zechariah 12:3, where it says, "And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be severely injured, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." The antichrist will promote a maximum worldwide spirit of anti-Semitism, and the result is that the nations are going to move in to plunder Israel, and to plunder the Jewish people.

Zechariah 14:1-2 refer to this plunder: "Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured; the houses plundered; the women ravaged (raped); half the city will be exiled; and, the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

So, centuries ago, Zechariah is describing this very thing that we are seeing here in the book of the Revelation. The antichrist is rising up and creating a great spirit of anti-Semitism, and the world is joining him.

In Hitler's day, this is what happened. With the terrible memory of what happened in World War II, you can imagine that the tribulation Jews are going to view this development with great panic. What are they going to do? It's Nazi Germany all over again. It's open season on any Jew – kill him, and take what he has. There's only one thing they can do, and that is to flee.

The Woman Flees

So, the time is coming in the seven-year tribulation when the nations of the world will be swept into a spirit of intense anti-Semitism. Jesus spoke of this mid-tribulation persecution, and warned the Jews that it was coming, in Matthew 24:15: "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken out through Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand." Do you understand, readers? We have read in Daniel this prediction that the antichrist, Satan's man, will set his own image up in the temple, that he has permitted the Jews to rebuild during the first three-and-a-half years of the tribulation. He will set himself up as the object of their worship and as their God.

That is an abomination that causes desolation and destruction. The Jewish people are told that when they see this happening (and boy, they'll see it happening), it'll be nightly news. It'll be clear, because all the world will respond with worship. Jesus says, "When you see what Daniel predicted happening, this is what you should do: Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to get things that are in his house. Let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But to those who are with child, and those who nurse babies in those days. Pray that your flight may not be in winter, or on the Sabbath day, for then will be great tribulation." This is where we get our term for calling the last three-and-a-half years "the great tribulation." The first part is the tribulation, but this is the great tribulation: "For then will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." They thought they had it bad with Hitler.

Notice verse 15. This refers to Daniel 9:27. The antichrist performs the abomination of setting himself up in the Jews' temple as their God. This abomination of blasphemy makes the temple desolate of any true contact with God. This will be an event in time, and it will be clearly identifiable to the Jews who are living in the tribulation era.

Verse 16 says that as soon as they see this, they should get out of Judea and flee to the mountains. When you tell somebody something like that, you must understand what he's saying. He's saying that you're watching television; you see this happening; you get the word; you grab your family; you head down the road as fast as you can; you don't pick up anything; and, you don't get anything. In fact, the next verse says that if you're on the housetop, and you happen to be resting on these flat roof houses; you're watching TV; you get the news; or, somebody comes and says it to you, don't even go down inside your house to grab anything. Don't grab a cloak. Don't say, "I need money." He says that you should just get out – down the road. You'll see in a minute why. The roads are going to immediately be under great surveillance. They're immediately going to be under the antichrist's control. The Jews will not be able to move anywhere without being picked up by his agents unless they move quickly, and unless they take immediate action. That's the reason for the urgency of these directions from the Lord.

Verse 18 says that those who are away from home (out in the field), don't even go back to your house. Get on your way.

Verse 19 says that it would be a pity if you're pregnant, or if you're nursing a child, because this kind of panic refugee running is going to be hard on a woman in that condition. He says, "And pray that it won't be wintertime, because those conditions will make your flight even more difficult, because you can't go in the house (if you're paying attention to Me), to even get your coat." And you may be pretty cold, especially at night. He says, "Pray that it won't be on the Sabbath day," because what transportation may be available will not be operating then. If you are moving on the roads on the Sabbath day, where the Jews have re-instituted their no-Sabbath travel rule, you're going to be noticeable. You're going to be obvious. So, Jesus says just hope that it doesn't happen under those obvious conditions.

Verse 20 encourages them to pray that the event does not take place in these severe conditions.

Verse 21 tells them that the reason for this urgent fleeing from Jerusalem and from the antichrist is that he is going to institute the most violent persecution the Jews have ever experienced – and he means a persecution to kill them. It's Hitler and Nazi Germany all over again.

Well, what's going to happen is that the whole world will rise up in uninterrupted (an unrestrained orgy of) anti-Semitism. But God is going to preserve a remnant of Jews from annihilation because of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Jews are going to be terrorized, and they are going to experience terrible physical agonies, as you can well imagine.

Here are the amazing prophets of old, looking down the corridors of time, and giving us a precise description that this is coming. You would think that the Jews, who knew their Scriptures, could have put two and two together, but they didn't seem to be able to connect.

Jeremiah 30:4-7 describe how the men are going to react when the word comes that the antichrist has set himself up as their God in the temple, and they are trying to flee. Jeremiah sees them in this condition: "Now these are the words which the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus says the Lord: "I have heard a sound of terror, of dread, and there is no peace. Ask now, and see if a male can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? Alas, for that day is great. There is none like it, and it is the time of Jacob's distress. But he will be saved from it."

The context of this passage is the tribulation era, and Jeremiah is describing men who are grasping themselves in their agony. Their arms are around themselves as if they were having greater internal pains, like a woman in childbirth experiencing labor pains. They are pale. They are in great fear. Some of them are paralyzed, not knowing what to do. And Jeremiah says, "It's a terrible sight, but it's the time of Jacob's trouble." That is the Bible's description for the last part of the tribulation, when the antichrist makes his move.

However, there is always the voice of hope and of grace. It is a bad time, but God says that they will be preserved out of it. What will happen is that the Jews will see their families and countrymen robbed, raped, tortured, and murdered. There will be no refuge for the fleeing Jews and the surrounding nations of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, which directly surround Israel. Revelation 13:7 indicates that all of the countries of the world will be under his control, so they can't go there. How in the world will they flee?

The nation of Israel is on the Mediterranean Sea. Toward the eastern part of the country is Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Israel is surrounded by all these Arab nations. The Lord says, "Get out." He says, "As soon as you hear the news, you flee to the mountains." Well, they can't flee outside of the country to other nations. That's obvious. They can't flee to northern Israel for the simple fact that that is a part of the country that has many good roads and rapid transportation, and the agents of the antichrist will be moving rapidly on this network of roads. They would be easily picked up if they try that.

What they have to do is to try to flee someplace where the antichrist cannot get at them. Is there a geographic place on the face of the earth in this part of the world where Jews in the multiplied thousands could find refuge? It is going to have to be a place that will provide care for a specific number of Jews, because Zechariah 13 gives us a shocking statistical bit of information as to how many Jews will escape the agents of the antichrist. The nation of Israel has a population of about three-and-a-half million. How many of those are going to make it to a place of refuge?

Zechariah 13:8:9: "'And it will come about in all the land,' declares the Lord." And he is again, by context here, speaking of this tribulation event. Two parts in it will be cut off and perish. Two-thirds of the nation of Israel, of all the Jews fleeing, will be killed. The antichrist will get them. That means that a third will be left, which means that about a million Jews who live in Palestine in the Promised Land today will be all that will make it: "And I will bring the third part through the fire, refining them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested, and they will call in My Name, and I will answer them, and I will say, 'They are My people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.'"

Here again is the telescoping of events. The Lord says, "Of the people who are living in the restored country of Israel, three-and-a-half million, about a million of them will survive. They will escape because they go in the right place and they go in the right direction. At the end of that time, there's going to be a great reconciliation between Me, their God, and the Jewish people, My earthly people. That reconciliation is going to come, of course, through the fact that they will have their eyes opened, and they will come to realize that their forefathers were wrong. Jesus was the Messiah. They will now trust in Him, and as the Scriptures say, "A nation will be born in a day."

However, this is going to happen in a very interesting spot on the face of the earth. There is a haven of rest. Three-and-a-half million people are in this little tiny enclave on the Mediterranean Sea, the Promised Land. The agents of the antichrist, with all the sophisticated technology of the day, will be looking for every one of them. They get the word that Daniel's abomination has taken place, and those who take it seriously will start moving. North is no good. They would be easily captured. Outside is also no good. All of surrounding Arab nations are under the antichrist's control. It's got to be someplace within the land of Israel that she now has access to – that in that day, they can get to safely. And when they get there, they will be in a position of being in an impregnable fortress.

Guess which direction they go? Guess where they go? Guess what, of all things, God has prepared; dropped out of human sight; and, suddenly in the beginning of the 19th century, brought back to rediscovery so that it is now a prepared place that they are aware of. If you'd like to know where that place is, please come back for the next session, and we will tell you.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1990

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