PROPHECY FAIL Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick Prov. 13:12

This is William Bell. I want to welcome you back to All Things Fulfill. This is our radio broadcast we do, where we just kind of have a conversation about some of the things that relate to the end time, to the world that's going on around us, and how we apply the end time, which is a realized or fulfilled end time, to the events of the world, and whether or not we should be in a state of perpetual expectation, or operating from a state of fulfillment, and therefore confidence with the insights that we need in order to impact and affect the world around us. Today I have with me Brother Simon Hayes, and he is going to be co-hosting with me, and we're just going to be engaged in a conversation. In the future, we're going to be inviting others to come on and share some of their information. We also have a phone number that you can call into to ask questions about the lesson. That number is 657-383-1045. Again, that's 657-383-1045, so we hope that you tune in. If you have a question, you can ask the question, and we'll do our best to give you an answer, and we may eventually get a chat room open, so if you want to interact in the chat room, you can do that. Now, the broadcast will be available within about 15 minutes after we're done, and it's a very short broadcast. It's only about 30 minutes for now, and this is the format. We've been discussing Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick from Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 12, and so why are people in a perpetual state of waiting? They are like frozen in time, in expectation, looking for the end time events to occur, and every time we hear something in the news or a war or a natural catastrophe, it's always an imminent sign of an end that never shows up, so this is what we are addressing in this series of broadcasts at the moment. So, Simon, tell us how you're doing today. I'm great today, Mr. Bell. I'm having a great day and forever learning. All right. Well, very good. Well, we appreciate that. It's always good to be learning. Now, we on yesterday, as we started talking about this, and I'll set it up again where we talk about the one state people are in is one of expectation, so they're looking forward to these events taking place, and then after a time or when they read the Scriptures and see that they didn't occur in the time frame that God said they would occur, and even with some of the pseudo prophecies that have been made throughout the centuries, and many of them were made back in the 20th century, the close of the 20th century, back in the 80s, and all the way up to Y2K, and even thereafter, and they continue to be made today, yet they do not occur, and so some people go to a state of exasperation and frustration, depression. Some of them have even committed suicide because these things did not occur as they were told, and many of the prophets who teach these things bank big money, people having given up their houses, their cars, their jobs, and everything because they think they're going to be swept off the earth and raptured up in the air and carried off from all the problems and conditions that we face in this world, and we have some otherwise very intelligent people, scripturally wise and knowledgeable in terms of their understanding of many things, who are likewise swept up in these pseudo prophecies, believing that they're going to be delivered from the earth or someone is going to come out of the sky and relieve them of their current oppression condition, or whatever the case may be. So this is why we're talking about it. Proverbs 13, 12, hope deferred makes the heart sick. When you are expecting something and you do not receive it, you're in a state of stress, you're in a state of expectation, you're in a state of anxiety, and that's understood for a period because, you know, it takes time, just like the Bible says in Hebrews 11 and verse 1, hope or faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence or conviction of things not seen, and that means things not realized, not having come into being, but once they do, we don't walk by faith anymore. That was written prior to 70 AD in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, when it says, for we walk by faith and not by sight, as Romans 8, 24 and 25 says, hope that is seen is not hope, for if a man sees it, why does he yet hope for it? We are not hoping for anything in terms of salvation because salvation has now been realized, and when I say salvation, I'm speaking of it from an eschatological point of view that all things have been fulfilled according to the scriptures, and therefore we operate from a position of realization and not expectation and certainly not exasperation. So, Simon, yesterday, I think we were talking a little bit about Revelation chapter 1, where you mentioned that text, and you also mentioned Matthew 16, 28, 27 and 28, so let's talk about those because actually, Matthew 16, 27 and 28 is also found in Revelation 22 and verse 12, which means they have to be talking about the same thing. Would you agree with that? I definitely do. Okay, all right, so why don't you introduce Matthew 16, 27 and 28 to us again, and let's talk about that in light of this expectation, this perpetual expectation that people have, where they have this deferred hope, and many of them are living frustrated, and all you have to do is listen to them. I don't care who they are, they're frustrated if they think somebody's going to come out of the sky with, you know, myriads of armies and deliver them because they are in this perpetual state of waiting. So, why don't you go ahead and kind of set that up for us in terms of Matthew 16, 27 and 28. Okay, no problem. Jesus, in Matthew 16, 27 and 28, is speaking to a crowd. He has the disciples there, and it reads, For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angel, and then he shall reward every man according to his work. 28, Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Would you like a little narration? Yeah, yeah, let's hear a little bit of narration on that. Okay, well, from this perspective, this would indicate that for Jesus not to be a lie, someone in this crowd must be present at the time of his coming. And so, by making that statement, we must be able to go into the Bible and establish the revelation of this verse. And so, I believe that's where you just kind of mentioned, what was it, Revelation 22, you said? Yes, and verse 12. And verse 12. So, I'd like you to read that so we can hear the conclusion today. Okay. So, in that chapter, and we're going to go back in the Old Testament and talk about this little bit as well. But in Revelation chapter 22, and you know, we talked about the puzzle yesterday, where you have a framework for all the pieces that go inside the framework. And in the same manner, you have a time or chronological framework for all the pieces of biblical prophecy. And Christ gave that to us in Luke 21, verses 20 through 22, when he says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded or encompassed by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the countries enter her, for these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. So, there's the chronological parameters for the fulfillment of all things written. And in verse 31 of the same chapter, and also verse 32, speaking of the kingdom, which a lot of people say has not yet come, he says, so likewise, when you, speaking to his disciples, just like he was in Matthew 16, 27, and 28, which we're coming back to, see all these things, know that the kingdom of God has drawn near. And then in verse 32, he says, assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. So, we've got Matthew 16, 27, and 28, that says there are some standing here who were in the very presence of Christ, who would not die until they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And now we have Luke that says all things would be fulfilled when Jerusalem was destroyed, and he says the kingdom would have drawn near, and therefore, that generation couldn't pass until all of it was fulfilled. And now we go to the book of Revelation, and we have the first verse, which you could say, formed the bookends of prophecy, in terms of that particular prophecy, which was, as I said before, a singular prophecy, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bore witness of all the things that he saw, and he says, blessed is he who reads and who hears the words of this prophecy, and keeps those things which are written in it, for the time has drawn near. So, here again, we have the time is shortly to be done for those things to come to pass, and the time was near. And then we go to Revelation chapter 22, where we have the second bookend for the prophecy, which he gives you several statements there. In verse 6, he says, then he said to me, these words are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I am coming quickly, the Lord says. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. And then in verse 10, he tells them, and he said to me, do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is drawn near. Now, you remember, Simon, in the book of Daniel chapter 12, when Daniel was given the vision, after he asked, when will these things be? He was told to seal up the book for the time is for the end. He says, seal it up until the time of the end. You remember that? I do. Okay. So if he tells Daniel to seal it up for the time of the end, and we know that the book of Revelation is speaking of the things that are found in the book of Daniel, the timeframe between Daniel and the book of Revelation is around 600 years, or just under, but roughly. So that if 600 years was the timeframe that God said, seal it up, for it is for the time of the end. And then in the book of Revelation, he says, do not seal it. That means that the timeframe for fulfillment has to be less than 600 years. So even on that frame, we're talking about something that would have occurred a long time ago. The only difference is, it was a period much shorter than that. And for that reason, verse 11, the Bible says, he who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still. You see, the minds of the people were going to be so set, they weren't going to change anyway. Thus Christ said, let them be just like they are. As a matter of fact, I was reading Josephus this morning, and Josephus talked about the generation that he was writing his history about, the destruction of Jerusalem. And he said, the people were so wicked. He said, it was the most atheistical generation that had ever lived on the earth. And he said that had it not been for the Romans destroying Jerusalem, because of their wickedness, he says, the earth would have opened up and swallowed them, or a flood would have overtaken them. That's how wicked Josephus said that generation was. Now, you know what, Simon? Josephus is simply echoing the words of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse five, as well as verse 20, when Moses prophesying of the terminal generation, he's telling Israel, what's going to happen to you in the last days? He said, they are a perverse and crooked generation in whom is no profit. In addition, Christ and the apostles picked up that same connotation to talk about the generation in which they live, the very one you're talking about in Matthew 16, 27 and 28. As a matter of fact, Jesus said of them in Matthew 12 and verse 39, when they asked of him, master, we would see a sign from you. He said an evil and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign would be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now that's a sign referring to Jonah being in the in the whale's belly for three days and three nights and referring to Jesus being in the heart of the earth or in the tomb three days and three nights. In other words, his resurrection. Now, Simon, do you know anyone who would take the resurrection, the death and resurrection of Jesus, the death, burial and resurrection out of the first century and try to extrapolate it into the 21st century and beyond and say, it's never been fulfilled. The futurists, this is a often position that they make. Yeah. It's the people who do not believe the scriptures who would say such a thing, but you see, Christ was put to death in that generation and that's the same generation of which we're speaking. And so Mark eight 38 calls them a wicked and adulterous generation. Matthew 16 for Jesus does it again when they talk about the weather, et cetera, and how they couldn't recognize the signs of the times. He was telling them at that time, the signs of the times are already here. The Messiah is standing in your presence. And then we have, um, Acts two in verse 40, where he said, Peter told them on the day of Pentecost, following Jesus's death, barely resurrection on the Passover. Uh, he said, save yourselves with many other words that he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves from this perverse and crook generation. And then here's Paul in, uh, Philippians two and verse 15, he said, uh, uh, that they, and he was quoting from Daniel 12, by the way, because he told them that they shined as lights. And remember Daniel 12 in verses two and three, when he said many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake and, um, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt. And then he made the statement that those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever. Well, Paul quotes that in Philippians chapter two and the verses 15, he tells them, uh, in verse 14, do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. So they all said that was the generation, but now to, to verse 12 of revelation 22, Jesus said, and behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give everyone according to his words. That's what you quoted in Matthew 16 and verse 27 that said, uh, this for the son of man will come in the glory of his father with his holy angels. And then he will reward each according to his works. And he said, there are some standing here. Those people were standing in the very presence of Christ. There are some standing here who will not taste death. They would not die physically until they had seen the son of man coming in his kingdom. They, some of them, not all of them would live to see it. Now that is a quote. Go ahead. Do you have something to say? Oh, I was just, I probably was, I was trying to catch this verse, but I believe it's verse nine. No, I'm sorry. Uh, where he, Oh, this is verse 15 where he, uh, picks up from Daniel and he says, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the Daniel, the prophet stand in the holy place. Now, this particular holy place, this is where he wants them to reside at that time. So it's like, in order for this particular verse to be a future prophecy, that means that that temple would have to be rebuilt. And this particular holy place would have to be back in its place. And, uh, in order to fulfill Daniel's prophecy here, that Jesus Oh, that is a very, very powerful point that you made. Uh, as a matter of fact, that temple is mentioned in Matthew 24 and the parallel chapters, such as Mark 13 and Luke 21, as we, we just saw earlier, but it's also mentioned in second Thessalonians. When we talk about the man of sin who sits in the temple of God. And so you have people talking about the man of sin coming, but they have no temple for him to sit in or in which he is to sit. And then in revelation 11 and verse two, when John is given a read like unto a measuring rod, and he is told to measure the temple of God or, and the altar and those who worship there in, but he says, but leave out the court, which is outside the temple and do not measure it for it has been given to the Gentiles and they will tread the holy city under foot 40 and two months. Now the 40 and two months is a simple calculation of three and a half years. It is the 1,260 days. It is the time times and a half time that Daniel spoke of in Daniel, both in chapter seven, but also in chapter 12 in verse seven, when he said, uh, when they asked, when they, uh, they asked, when will these things be? He says for a time times and a half time, when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered. Now here's, what's interesting in, uh, revelation chapter 11, um, when he says the, the court that is outside the temple. Now, you know, in the actual physical temple, the court was where they had, you know, the sections of the court, they had one section for the Gentiles, one section for, uh, the women and another section for the people. And then of course you have the temple that was, uh, compartmentalized with the holy place and then the most holy place. But notice in this illustration, he calls the temple, he mentioned the temple and he says, measure that. But then it's the outer court is given to the Gentiles, which they would tread underfoot for 40 and two months. Well, if you read Luke 21, we already quoted the verse. We just didn't quote the entire part of the verse. He says, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And again, all of that was to take place in that generation. So that temple was critical to understanding when the events of the end time would occur. And that temple is a witness to this day lying in its ruins. Just like the Lord said, not one stone would be left upon another, um, that would not be thrown down. So any eschatology and in time that people have that does not recognize the fact that this was to occur, uh, within the temple. And, uh, as, as the temple being the object of its destruction and correlation with the Pharisee or the coming of the Lord is a false eschatology. And that's why people are caught up in this exasperation and a perpetual expectation because they do not align the things of the Now I wanted to touch on a couple of verses and one is from Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah 40, to give us the background. And we're going to have to explore Matthew 16, 27, because we're not, we're nowhere near being completed with just talking about this. We're still dealing with the hope, the false hope that people have. Uh, but Matthew 16, 27 and 28 is the coming of the Lord. It is the coming of the judgment. It is the coming of the kingdom. And we even have to delve into talking about whether or not this is the transfiguration, because see a lot of people want to, want to try to merge Matthew 16, 27, and 28 with an event that happened six days later and claim that was the fulfillment of Matthew 16, 27, and 28. So we need to talk about that. But anyway, in Isaiah 40, and I would recommend people go back and read this entire chapter because it is about the, um, the time of the coming of the kingdom. Uh, and, and it is John the Baptist who is spoken of as the one who is coming in preparation. Now here's a question for you, Simon. Um, and you know, just think about it, but can you tell the audience who was supposed to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord? What figure would come? The antichrist? Uh, well, that's one, that's one, but there was another one who was supposed to prepare the way. Yes. The, uh, uh, I believe that would be, um. Remember, uh, the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Wasn't that John the Baptist? That was. Yeah. In, in, uh, both, uh, Mark chapter one, when you read Mark chapter one, and also it's in, uh, Matthew chapter three, but Mark chapter one, uh, very specifically states, uh, that point when he says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, as it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. So that's a direct quote from Isaiah chapter 40. And here's one, what God said about John the Baptist in the, uh, so that we can put all of this together. So John the Baptist is a very central figure to of the Lord. And a lot of people ignore the significance of John's eschatological role as a precursor to the time of the end. As a matter of fact, even the people of the nation of Islam at one time used to say that Elijah Muhammad was the Elijah of the Bible. Do you recall? And the reason they did so was because of what's written in Malachi chapter four. Here's what the text says. Remember, this is verse four. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So the Bible says he was going to send Elijah the prophet. Now the question is, was this Elijah Muhammad who came in the 20th century, or was this the messenger that Malachi and Isaiah spoke about who would come to prepare the way of the Lord. And if in fact that is the case, why would he be coming in the first century, Simon, and not in the 20th century since he was to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord? Wouldn't God have been way too premature if the return of the Lord had not occurred or was not imminent in that timeframe? Why send John or send Elijah as a sign of the great and dreadful day of the Lord when it was not going to occur? How could it be a sign? Do you see what I'm saying? In the second chapter of Thessalonians, when the people were confused about the coming of the Lord, Paul said, here are a couple of signs so that you will know. Well, that's the same thing God did with the coming of Elijah. Here is a sign. So if Elijah comes on the scene in the first century, that's a sign the coming of the Lord was about to occur. Well, let's pick that up. First of all, let's read everything it says about him again in Malachi chapter four. He says, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Now here's what I'd like us to do at this point, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like us to turn to the first chapter of the book of Luke, to Luke chapter one. And at the time that John the Baptist is being born of Zechariah, the priest, we have some words stated about him. In verse 15, the Bible says, this is Luke one 15, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. Now, wait a minute. How could Elijah Muhammad be the prophet and turn the hearts of Israel to God when they don't even believe Israel are the people of God? Do you see what I'm saying? They have a religion that is opposite to the religion of Judaism. Notice verse 17, he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers, to the children and the disobedient, to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Didn't the Bible say in Isaiah 40, that he came to prepare the way of the Lord. Now watch this, turn to Matthew chapter 17. This is the transfiguration scene, which we'll cover in some later broadcast. When the, when Moses and Elijah was present with Christ and Peter, in his excitement said, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. And then there was a great voice that interrupted them, came out of heaven that said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear him. After they heard that Matthew 17 and verse six, they were afraid. They fell on their faces, but Jesus came and touched them and said, arise, do not be afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one, but Jesus only. Now that's a powerful point, Simon, because who was there with them at first? Moses and Elijah. What did Moses and Elijah represent? The Torah and the Tanakh. But when Christ, when the voice from heaven spoke, he said, this is my beloved son, hear him just like Moses predicted in Deuteronomy 32. I mean, Deuteronomy 18, when he would raise up a prophet like him. And he says that you should hear because he was going to put his words in his mouth. And he says, every soul that would not hear that prophet would be cut off from the people. So when this, when they saw this vision of the passing away of Moses and Elijah, that was representative of the Torah and the Tanakh passing away, leaving Jesus Christ as the only authority. Now watch verse nine. Now, as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no man or no one until the son of man is risen from the dead. Then in verse 10 and his disciples asked him saying, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Jesus answered and said to them, indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already. And they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the son of man is about to suffer at their hands. Now, John the Baptist had been murdered and his head was served up on a platter. He was put to death and Jesus said, they are about to do the same thing to me. How could that be Elijah Muhammad? Impossible. So they started on a lie and they continue on a lie. Now, as we close, because we already passed that 30 minutes, as we close, I'm just going to mention this verse and we'll have to come back to this again. But if you look in Isaiah chapter 40 and note verses 11 and 12, and it's also in chapter 60, but we'll just take it here because we're dealing with John the Baptist in this connection. In Isaiah 40, we have the foundation text for Matthew 16, 27 and 28. The Bible says, behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. So there's the text. And by the way, did you notice that he puts the gathering in the same context of this text, where he would reward them, which is Matthew 16, 27 and 28, that would occur before some of those who stood in his presence died. Now we don't have record of a single apostle dying in the six days from the time Jesus uttered that statement to the transfiguration. And we know that it was more disciples there than just the 12, according to Mark 10 and verse 34, because there were other people there as well. But many of them did die after that and before the destruction of Jerusalem. We know Herod put James, the brother of the Lord, to death with the sword, Acts chapter 12. But anyway, so we're going to stop there. Hopefully people can see why our confidence in the fulfilled word of God is unshakable. Why we have a hope that is realized and that hope doesn't cause perpetual expectation. It doesn't cause frustration or exasperation. It is one where you have blessed assurance, total confidence, and there's not a doctrine or teaching or group that can stand against this solid word of God, because the foundation of God stands sure and the Lord knows those who are His. Brother Simon, I want to thank you for being with us today. I want to thank the audience for tuning in and we invite you to leave us comments or criticism regarding the broadcast. Look forward to being with you again on Monday, same time at 10 30. And again, we have a number you can call in 657-383-1045. Simon, any closing words from you? Yes, this was an awesome action packed series today, full of verses. I really enjoyed learning about all these things and appreciate this. I just want to say blessings to the audience and to have a great day. All right. Well, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This is William Bell and Simon Hayes with All Things Fulfill, bringing to you this broadcast. We look forward to being with you on Monday for another exciting Word of God packed teaching and discussion on the Word of God.