(logo zaps) (suspenseful sinister music) - [Narrator] After the people of God powerfully witness to the world, the anti-Christ will rise, and he too will have supernatural powers. Revelation 13 says that he also will cause fire to fall down from the sky, and will have miraculous signs going on with him as well, and so the world will see this and they will join him. He will be their savior, their Messiah, and then he will fight against the people of God.
(somber music) And after many of the witnesses are captured and defeated, the world will celebrate. (fireworks popping) They will believe that they have won, and then. .
. (electricity surging) (earth trembling) (lights zapping) (sinister music) (creature growling) (woman screams) (electricity zapping) (horn blows) (lightning strikes) (horn blows) just when it seems like the anti-Christ has won and defeated the people of God, Jesus will return, and every believer who has ever existed will be raised to life will cover the sky, and will take the Earth over. (suspenseful orchestral music) You see how God gives glory in resurrection.
(suspenseful piano music) (somber music) The number one question believers and non-believers have is why hasn't Jesus returned yet? What is the delay? When is he going to come and gather up his church, and then reign on the Earth?
Is it been almost 2,000 years, what's going on? Well, in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus explains exactly what must happen before he returns. At the beginning of chapter 24, Jesus was with his followers, and they had the question that many of us have today.
They wanted to know, "Lord, when will you return? When is it gonna happen? " So in Matthew 24 verse three, it reads, "Tell us," they said, "When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?
" Jesus answered, "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Christ, and will deceive many. " You see Jesus wanted to make it clear to them when they should expect his return.
And so in verse six, he's going to begin to let them know exactly what must happen before he return. Verse six, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
" Verse seven, "Nation will rise against the nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquake in various places. " And then he says this in verse eight, "All of these are the beginning of birth pains.
" You see Jesus was telling them basically, "My return will not come until there have been wars, and nations rise against nations, and kingdoms rising against kingdoms. " The first thing that must happen is wars, and kingdoms rising against each other, and nations rising against nations. Well, that's happened.
I mean, the Crusades, kingdom were rising against kingdom, World War I. (guns firing) - You had your best chance. - World War II, (guns firing) Vietnam.
(gun firing) Nation rising against nation, and even today wars and nations are clashing, so that has already happened. (gun firing) So what is the next thing that he says must happen before he returns? Well, in verse nine, he says this, "You will be handed over and persecuted, and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
" Well, check that off the list that has already happened too. It happened to the disciples. They were killed for their faith, and even today, believers all over the world are being killed because of their of faith.
And notice how he said that you would be hated by all nations. You see when he said that you would be hated by all nations, he wasn't just speaking to the disciples, he was speaking to us, because at that time, all of the nations didn't even know about Jesus. But to us, we are living in days where if you even claim to be one of those Jesus followers, you will get hate from every nation.
So what is the next thing? What is the next thing he says must happen before he returns? Verse 10, "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
And because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. " And this also we see today, I mean, how many have abandon the faith? Do you see more people hating each other now than it used to be?
I think so. You see hate like it hasn't been in a long time. You see false profits and people who make claims that don't come true.
(scoffs) Okay, let's check that off a list. So what is the next thing that he says must happen until the moment of his return? We've experienced the wars.
Okay, we've had the wars. We have seen believers killed for their faith. We've seen hatred among people.
What is the final thing that he says must happen before his return? Here it is, verse 14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come," and that's it, that's it. He says his return doesn't happen just after there have been wars and earthquakes.
No, he says his return happens when every nation has heard the gospel of the kingdom. Wow! Now I wanna show you something here, when you look at the word for nations, it is the Greek word ethnos, and in the Greek you will see that in the Bible that word ethnos primarily refers to Gentiles, and Gentiles refers to non-Jewish nations.
You see when Jesus was on the earth talking to his 12 disciples, only the Jewish people in Israel knew about him, but he wanted them to know that he wouldn't return until every nation, even those who aren't Jewish nations has heard about his message. Fast forward, nearly 2,000 years, and what has happened? Exactly what he said would happen.
Jesus did not fade away in history. The writings of his disciples, they didn't disappear. And we now live in a world where just about every nation knows who Jesus is.
That he is a king, and that he has a kingdom, and that he will return. Now, that was one of the last things Jesus said would happen before he returns. He said that there would be wars, there would be a lot of hate, and then he said that when every nation has heard the good news of the kingdom, then I am going to return, and we are living in times today where most nations, especially the Gentile nations know that Jesus is the king of kings, and if you say, "Who is the son of God?
" They will say, "Oh Jesus. " If you say, "Who is the king of Kings? " They will say, "Oh Jesus.
" They know that he has the kingdom. They know that he is promised to return. The nations know.
By and large, we are living in the fulfillment of what he said would happen. We have had the wars. We have had the hate, and now for the first time in history just about every nation knows who he is.
In fact, with YouTube, just this video alone is reaching every nation. Think about that. You see Satan thought that YouTube would be a tool to spread hate, and yeah, that's happened, but God has flipped it, and used YouTube as a tool to spread the kingdom.
- God's kingdom. - [Narrator] In these last days, it has become one of the number one tools that is reaching every nation with gospel centered teaching explaining the kingdom of God. Remember, Jesus never said that every person would hear his message, what he said was every nation would hear.
And in this generation, God has allowed technology to advance for the purpose of doing what the people in Jesus' day would've thought impossible. and that is reach every nation with God's kingdom in a single day. Jesus said it, the last thing that would happen is that the world would hear the gospel, and we're there, we are getting there, if we're not already there.
(tense suspenseful music) If you have found yourself somehow watching this video, (static hissing) it's not coincidence. The gospel is reaching the world. Spread this message wherever you can, share it, spread the gospel.
