Rabbi Schneider - Foundations of the End Times: Return and Reign
Beloved on today's message Foundations of the End Times, the Reign and Return of Messiah Jesus, I'm gonna take you inside Lion of Judah World Outreach Center where I preached a message about the rise of the Antichrist, but also about the other events that lead up to the return and the reign of King Jesus. This is an important message and there's no time greater than our present time to hear it. I love you and shalom. When the anti-messiah arises like so many other dictators of the past, he's gonna try to conquer the whole world. We have so many, right? That have tried to do it in the past.
So many governments, the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, Germany, so many that have tried to conquer the whole world. The anti-messiah will try to do the same thing and he's gonna come against Jerusalem, a people that have maintained their tradition more than any other people group in the world. A people group that can not be explained except for the fact that the Red Sea really parted. A people group that somehow know who they are as a people, when every other peoples groups identity has gone, gone and faded into oblivion. The Babylonians have come and gone. The Persians have come and gone. The Medes have come and gone. The Roman Empire has come and gone, but the Jewish people retain their memory as a people group and are still here today retaining their identity.
We're Israelites, we're Jews. And this anti-messiah is gonna come against Jerusalem. He's gonna come against this people group that's God's first covenant people. I didn't say they were better, I just said they were His first covenant people, because they were the people that He made His first covenant with. But God said, "I'll never leave you, or forsake you and my gift and call on your life is irrevocable". So we read in the book of Zachariah chapter 14 verse 12, "Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth". It sounds like a nuclear explosion, doesn't it? A supernatural display of God's glory that will rot and cause the people that have gone against Jerusalem to wither.
This is the battle of Armageddon, also called Harmagedon. Har is the name for the mountain, or the tel, a city, built upon a city. Revelation 16:13 and 14 and also 16. John said, "I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet". As Zachariah's being fulfilled here this war called Armageddon. He saw coming out of these demonic spirits, three unclean spirits like frogs. "For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty". And they gather them together to the place which is called in Hebrew Harmagedon, or Armageddon.
It's the nations of the world trying to snuff out God's first covenant people, the Jewish people and it's at that point in history that Jesus steps in just as it looks like they're gonna be utterly obliterated. And they would have been if He didn't step in. And so we come now to Messiah's return. Daniel 7:13, Daniel says, "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him". And Daniel continues, "And the kingdom was given to Him that all peoples and nation should serve Him". The Lord said to Yeshua, "Sit here while I make Your enemies a footstool, a footstool at Your feet".
This is the prophetic vision of the coming of Jesus, of the world being turned over to the Son of Man. The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation that the nations of the earth have become the Kingdom of God as Jesus begins to reign over the world. Matthew 24 verse 30 Jesus said, "And then the sign of the Son of Man". Notice what Daniel said, "One like a Son of Man". You see the language. Daniel said, "To the ancient of days, one like the Son of Man was coming". Notice the phrase there, "Son of Man". Who did he come to? The Father. "He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And the kingdoms of the world were turned over to Him".
Now notice what Jesus said here. "And the sign of", who? "The Son of Man", the same one that Daniel saw, "will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory". And when it happens, when Jesus steps in and the sign of the Son of Man appears in the sky, the Bible says the dead in Christ will rise. And we're gonna be caught up and meet the Lord in the air, then we're gonna return with Him and reign on the earth. But in the midst of all this, the greater event perhaps in all of scripture takes place, it's called the marriage supper of the Lamb, that we arise. We meet Jesus in the air face to face.
We experience the us, He and us and us in Him. And there's a ring that's put on our finger so to speak and we experience something that Revelation 19 calls the marriage supper of the Lamb, that beloved one. God didn't send His Son to die on the cross just to save you from your sin, but His Son gave His life on the cross and shed His blood in order to marry you and I. He's looking for a divine partner in love. He's not looking for people that are you know part of that old song that we used to sing years ago, that saved a wretch like me. For such a worm as I, He doesn't see us that way.
That life is gone. That life is buried. He saw something very valuable in us. That's why the Bible says that we should pray to understand the riches of God's glory, of His inheritance in the saints. We're his inheritance. We're his partner in love. We're the ones that are gonna sit down with Him at the marriage supper of the Lamb and marriage is a divine exchange of love between two partners. The Lord has purchased us that we would love Him back with which the same, with the same love that He loves us with.
So we're raised and we become one with the Lord and we experience the marriage supper between God the Lamb, Elohim, which is the creator's name in Hebrew and His people. Isaiah the prophet and Ezekiel spoke about it. Isaiah 62:5, "For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and as the bridegroom", look now, "as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you". This is marriage language. "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you". I love from Ezekiel chapter 16, the Lord is speaking. He says, "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love". In other words the Lord said that at the right point in time the Son of God appeared and that we were predestined to adoption to Him. The time was ready for us for love.
"I saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine", declares the Lord God. "Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered with cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty".
This is about God beautifying His bride, we're called the bride of Christ and marrying her. Revelation 19:7-9 the counterpoint, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready". It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous act of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb". And he said to me, "These are the true words of God". We're destined for ultimate intimacy in relationship, where every need of the human heart is fulfilled and satisfied and is loved. This is where it's going. This is why Jesus says, "If you love Me", said in John 14, "I'm gonna come to you and disclose Myself to you and My Father and I will make Our home with you".
That's what this is about here, the marriage supper of the Lamb. So we started out with the tribulation. We saw the rise of the Antichrist. We saw the Antichrist leading the armies of the world in a plot to take all over the world, but when he came to Jerusalem just as he was about to wipe them out Jesus stepped in and returned. His people met Him and became one with Him and the covenant was sealed in the marriage supper of the Lamb. But it's not just beloved about everything that He's done. As I indicated, He also wants us to love Him back.
And so there's something that we read about in the book of Revelation will also take place in this season where we become one with God, where we're taking out of the world to meet Him and to experience Him. If you have a hard time believing this, let me ask you where you come from. Where did you come from? Where did your personality come from? You came from somewhere. You're gonna return to meet the One that you came from. When you look at the mirror you see an intelligent being, you see your eyebrows and your beautiful face. You can't explain human personality, our capacity to have consciousness, to be aware, to love. We can't explain these things. No we were created by an intelligent designer in His own image. We're gonna meet Him again and we're in this world to develop our relationship with Him.
I'm preaching to the choir, most of you. And what happens is there's gonna be an account, when we stand before Him He's gonna say, "Okay how did you live your life"? Because He said, "Even a glass of cold water that was given out of our love for Him is gonna be rewarded". There's gonna be a reward. Jesus said, "Store up for yourself treasure in heaven". Many that are first will be last and many that are last shall be first. It's called the judgment seat of Messiah, or the judgment seat of Christ. We meet the Lord in the air. The marriage takes place and then rewards are given out. "Behold", from Isaiah 40 verse 10, "the Lord will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him". The Lord will come with might and His reward is with Him.
2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed". We just saw that word, didn't we? "Each one may be recompensed", there's that word, "for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad". Did you know in the last chapter of the New Testament, Revelation 22, Jesus said, "Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done". Where you and I are in the millennial kingdom and heaven is up to us, because it all depends on what you and I choose for our lives today and there'll be no excuses. The millennial kingdom. Isaiah 65 verse 25, "And the wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and the dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all my holy mountains, says the Lord".
Time of peace on earth where the peace covers the world like the oceans cover the earth today. It's gonna be a beautiful time of harmony. Revelation 20 verse 2 tells us about Satan being bound during this time. We call it the millennium, because it last for a thousand years. A thousand means millennium. "He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years". But at the end of that thousand years once again conflict on earth takes place, because people that are born during the Millennial period will not automatically walk with God, because to walk with God you have to experience the new birth.
Jesus said, "That which was born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of spirit is spirit. Truly, truly do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again". And so people that are born during the millennial period will be born the first time of flesh, but unless they receive God's spirit they're gonna be led astray by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And so many will be born during the millennial period and people will live, remember it's a thousand years long. There's gonna be a lot of people on the earth that populate the earth that don't know Jesus. It's gonna keep increasing and at the end of the thousand years Satan's gonna be released and Jesus is gonna step in, destroy the devil once and for all, change everything in a climatic event that begins with what is often referred to as the white throne judgment.
At the end of the thousand years Satan, he launches a final assault against the Lord, when Satan is released. And those that are not born again yield to his power and they march against the powers of light, so it's a conflict between light and darkness. But Jesus once again steps in, crushes the rebellion, just like that and that's the end of it and the beginning of a brand new beginning. And what happens at this time is that there's a second resurrection. Remember the first resurrection was when Jesus returns and we meet Him in the air, but this is only for believers.
At the second resurrection all mankind will stand before Him, the great and the small, the good and the bad and the books will be opened. And everyone's name that is not found written in the Lamb's book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. The Bible says that there are two sets of books. On the one hand there's the Lamb's book of life, those that have been purchased by the blood of the lamb, that belong to Jesus. Then there's another set of books and the other set of books have recorded all the thoughts, all the actions, all the deeds, all the words of those that have not received Jesus and they will be judged by their words, by their thoughts, by their deeds. And there'll be no atonement for their sin, because the only atonement for sin there is, is Yeshua that died in the place of the guilty.
So without being in Him people are judged for their own sin and the Lord already gave the warning. People didn't repent and what happens is they're gonna be eternally separated from God in a place called the lake of fire. I know it's horrifying and terrifying, but we have to be true to God's word and that's what it teaches. Beloved did you know that the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom? In other words, God tells us of these horrifying events that will happen in the lives of those that don't know Him. The reason He tells us this, is because He loves us so much and He doesn't want us to be in that position.
So I want to say to you now the first thing that Jesus said as He began His ministry. He said, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand". To repent means to change directions. I want to ask you today, are you, you examine yourself, are you really living for God? Are you really seeking to put Jesus first in your life? He's not just to be one of the things that we add on to our life, because He doesn't want us to be lukewarm about it. He wants to be the center of our existence and if we're not seeking and striving to make Him first then we need to repent.
Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God". You see the message that you heard today, beloved, the point of the message is to get you and I to repent. For those of you that have never repented it's to bring you to repentance for the purpose of salvation. For those of us that already know the Lord, God wants us to continue to repent at deeper levels. He wants us to continue to examine our thoughts, examine our motives and to more and more become like Him.
So right now let's just ask Jesus to come into our lives. Those of you that don't know Him just ask Him to forgive you, to come into your life and save you. Those of us that do know Him, let's just say, "Jesus I want to be ready for Your return. I want to bear much fruit for You and I want to glorify You in my life with the amount of time that I have left on this earth". So Father together we just say to You, Father God we desire to repent right now Father God. We place ourselves before You. We ask You to come into our lives, sanctify us, because we want to be consumed for Your glory. Father we give You our lives for Your purposes. In Jesus name.