End Time Preparation
Or
Being Prepared To Endure To The End
Part 4 – Study Lesson 4
An End Time Warning To Consider:
The article we have been discussing in our mid-week messages that was written by Justin D. Ridgeway, dated July 8, 2020, reported; “The ant is a small creature without human intelligence, yet it teaches an important lesson in preparing for future disasters. Ants treat each coming winter as a natural disaster. If they are caught above ground during the freezing temperatures, they will die.”
The article continued, “To survive the winter, an ant colony must prepare and store a surplus of food during the summer; then its members can live below ground and survive on their provisions. How does this relate to us?”
According to the above-mentioned article, “God admonishes us to consider the ant and to be wise, which having no captain, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. The ant diligently prepares to survive the winter. Its lesson for us is to be industrious and proactive in our preparations. Begin making a plan now. Do not wait! Like the ant, your very survival may depend on it.”
Scripture To Consider:
“Therefore, when you [end time believer] see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.”
“And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.”
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days [the days of great tribulation] were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” Matthew 24.15-22
Something To Consider:
According to Jesus, great tribulation is on the future horizon of the final end time generation. And Jesus gives us the actual starting point as He declared; “Therefore, when you [end time believers, whether Jewish or Gentile] when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place…”; and then Jesus emphasizes our need to understand what He is teaching and what we are reading!
Therefore, what was it that Daniel, the Old Testament prophet had to say concerning this abomination of desolation, standing in the holy place? Daniel, speaking of a prince that was to come, declared in Daniel 9.27; “Then he [prince or Antichrist] shall confirm a covenant [peace agreement] with many for one week [a biblical 7 years]; but in the middle of the week [3-1/2 years later] he [Antichrist] shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”
And Daniel continued by stating, “And on the wing of abomination shall be one who makes desolate is poured out on the desolate.” So, when does this abomination of desolation take place?
Something Else To Consider:
According to Jesus, the abomination of desolation, the entering of the Antichrist into the temple of God, and his ceasing the sacrifices and offerings, does happen in the end times. To be precise, the angel Gabriel informed Daniel that this end time event will take place 3-1/2 years before the end of the days of man’s rule upon the earth.
This abomination of desolation is the revealing of the Antichrist as proclaimed by Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This revealing takes place prior to the second coming of Jesus and before the gathering or rapture of the saints. And with the coming and revelation of the Antichrist, the lawless one, comes the promised by God strong delusion because the majority of the world’s population refuses the truth of the Word of God, but would rather believe the lie of the Father of lies. How incredibly sad!
Something More To Consider:
Therefore, according to Jesus in our Scripture to consider, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation [the revealing of the Antichrist], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place [standing in the yet to built Jewish temple], let him [or her] understand.”
And for emphasis and biblical clarity, Daniel and Gabriel repeated in Daniel chapter 12 what was first covered in Daniel chapter 9. In Chapter 12 Daniel was inspired to write, speaking of end times, “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.” We know Daniel and Gabriel are speaking of end times as Gabriel describes the persecution and the resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous in Daniel 12.1-2.
Daniel then writes what Gabriel revealed, “And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book [the book of life]. And many of those who sleep [or have died] in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” And in verse 4, Gabriel commands Daniel to shut up the words and to seal the book until the time of the end.
A Few Final Words:
We know this is important because Gabriel repeats Himself in verse 9 of Daniel chapter 12, when he explains, “Go your way Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Then Daniel describes one more time, the abomination of desolation in verses 11-12, and gives some very important biblical time lines to understand concerning the final approx. 3-1/2 years of human rule on earth.
Gabriel declared and Daniel wrote, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up [the Antichrist proclaiming himself to be God], there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days [1,290 days, 30 days more than 3-1/2 biblical years]. Blessed is he [or she] who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days [75 days more than 3-1/2 biblical years].”
Many of the pre-tribulation rapture theory attempt to teach that these things happened in 70 A.D., approx. 37 years after Jesus predicted this end time abomination of desolation. If that were true, we have well surpassed the biblical 3-1/2 years that Gabriel spoke of and that Daniel the prophet wrote about.
In Closing:
Therefore, what will we believe? If we believe the lie of a pre-tribulation rapture, we will not be prepared and we will see no need to endure to the end of the coming end times! But we have the written and preserved for our benefit Word of God. What then will we believe?
Next week we will attempt to close out these lessons pertaining to end time preparation and our being prepared to endure to the end of our lives or to the end of this age. We will be exploring the second coming of Jesus Christ and the gathering or rapture of God’s people from a biblical perspective and according to Jesus, the Word of God who has come in the flesh!
Let’s Pray:
Our Father in heaven, help us O Lord to be more like the ant as described in Your Word, who cannot help but to be prepared. May we not be deceived by the many false prophets, but may we heed Your in advance warnings within the Word of God. May we observe all that Jesus has commanded and taught concerning end times. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 