The Tribulation

Our subject for this evening is the Tribulation.

There are four principle parts in the scriptures dealing with it: in the book of Daniel we see the tribulation from a political point of view; in the gospels, particularly in Matthew 24 and its kindred parts in Mark and Luke we see the tribulation from the point of Israel's persecution; in 2 Thessalonians we see the tribulation from the point of view of the church's problem; and in the book of Revelation we see the tribulation from the point of view of Christ's power. I notice a brother looked at me when I said the second epistle to the Thessalonians deals with the tribulation from the point of view of the church's problem, I still say it, we'll deal with it a bit later on.

Now, here in the tribulation God is going to bring an end to Gentile rule, but it will be the nefarious and evil intention of the first beast under the power of Satan to prolong the times of the Gentiles, and so they are going to cry out 'Peace and safety'. So God has got to deal with the first beast and his evil intention of prolonging the times of the gentiles, because it's in God's purpose to bring it to an end.

The second beast is the Jew. And of course, God is going to take up the Jew again, and here He is going to bring them into blessing - the faithful remnant that comes through the tribulation, and it will be the business of the second beast to try and destroy that nation so that God's purpose to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob falls to the ground in defeat, unfulfilled.

Basically, Satan’s intention in giving power to the first beast - it's to prolong the times of the gentiles in defiance of God's limits, and giving his power to the second beast to destroy that nation that God has promised to bring into millennial blessing. So we can see some design behind the tribulation. It is not just a time of great trouble, it is that, but there is a design behind it and Satan is going to seek to bring it to pass.

Now will you notice that when he used his own power he failed and was cast down. He failed to reach the throne of God and to sit as God, so now he is cast out of the heavens into the earth, and that is mid-way in Daniel's 70th week. I am surprised but some will include that first 3½ years among the 3½ years referred to, but the 3½ years referred to always have to do with the second part of Daniel's week. You'll discover it is spoken of as 1,260 days, as 42 months, as 3½ years, as time, times and half a time. But it's 3½ years and it has to do with that definite period.

The church is going, and the church is the salt of the earth. When the salt of the earth is gone then corruption is going to come in. Now brethren when that temple is going to be built I'm not going to tell you, because I'd only be speculating, and you don't know either. But there is nothing to stop that temple being built while the church is here. Nothing to stop it at all. After all, the Knessett has already come to the conclusion that they are not a political nation, they are a religious nation, and their future does not revolve around a political place but it revolves around a religious place, a temple. So I wouldn't be surprised at any time, a temple is going to be built.

But most certainly there is going to be a temple built and sacrifices are going to be offered in unbelief. So that when the middle of the week comes the sacrifices and the oblations are going to be made to cease.

I've heard it said that a covenant is going to be made between that first beast and that second beast, for 7 years. And that is the last week of Daniel's 70 weeks. In the midst of the week the first beast is going to break that covenant. Now I've asked quite a number of my good brethren to give me the text where it says that that covenant is going to be broken, and they are not able to give me a text at all. All that they can refer to is Daniel 9, that in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblations to cease. But when you come to the end of Daniel's 70th week and the Lord is coming in the brightness of His coming, King of kings and Lord of lords, you will still find the first and the second beast together, ready to fight hand in glove, the one with the other.

So that if a covenant had been made and broken you'd have found these two men separated and going their separate ways. But they are still united in the destruction of the One that is going to spoil the efforts of the political man, the first beast, and He's going to spoil the intentions of the second beast, to make an end of the Jewish race. So they are still together, because their purpose is the same.

Now, I'll leave that for your own consideration and your own meditation. But it is strange that you've only got to start something and you'll get a crowd ready to follow it, and they won't look in their Bibles to see whether the thing is right or not. Now it's not very often that you come across those lovely Berean believers that search the scriptures daily to see whether these things are so, and we can do with a few more with us today.

In the book of Daniel we see things from a political point of view. When we come to Nebuchadnezzar's image it's the only dream that God gave a man and made him forget it. Have you thought about that? Why did God give a man a dream and then make him forget it, and still leave the repercussions with him?

Have a look closely, it affected him body, soul and spirit. Do you know why?

I'll tell you why', because Nebuchadnezzar had a crowd of Chaldeans, sorcerers, magicians, and wise men. There's a young man about 18 years of age, Daniel, and that man has pressed his exams with honour, and he's 10 times wiser than them all, and Nebuchadnezzar's put him over them all. When Nebuchadnezzar calls for his wise men, his sorcerers and the rest of them he tells them he has dreamed a dream and doesn't know what it is, they were to tell him. Daniel was not there. That man had to be taught a lesson. He was a lovely man, wasn't he? You w-ill remember there is only one man in the Bible that never needed to be moulded, and that's the Lord Jesus. Everybody else, yes.

The first thing that Daniel knew about Nebuchadnezzar having a dream was the captain of his host coming ready to kill the wise men, the sorcerers and the rest of them, and that included Daniel and his three friends. Why the trouble, why the haste? That's when they went into the presence of the king and asked for a stay of execution. He said I'll tell you the dream and I'll give you the interpretation, and back home he went, and he told Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, our backs are up against the wall, we've got to find the dream and the interpretation, and my, they prayed, and they got it. Brother and sister they stayed long enough to thank God for giving it to them. Some of 'us don't stay that long, do we? He went back and said O king live forever, in the visions of thy head upon thy bed thou sawest a great image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. This is the interpretation thereof, thou art this head of gold. Brother and sister, you'll never find Daniel missing after that. He's learned his lesson. For 70 years after that, and at least for 2 years in the reign of Darius, and at least for 3 years in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, 75 years Daniel was faithful to his ministry for God. He'd learned his lesson, and I believe that's the reason why God caused Nebuchadnezzar to forget what he dreamed, so that Daniel might realise his responsibility before God.

God has got to do that to us sometimes. It's not all plain sailing. The trouble is, when it is all plain sailing, with some Christians they forget to put the oars out.

Here then, we find a political scene. You'll find there is a deterioration in the political scene, for silver is less than gold and brass is less than silver and iron is less than brass, and iron and clay is far worse than iron.

So we have had the best of political governments, until the King of kings comes, and that will be the best.

When you come to chapter 7 you are not coming to dead metals but to living creatures. You are not coming to deteriorating values, but to increasing ferocities, to the beginnings of the empires and to the ends of the empires.

You see, the first one is a lion, but it's a lion with wings. Go to the British museum, you'll still find them there, the relics of Babylon. But when you come to the end of it it's wings that have been plucked off; it's not standing with all the 'dignity of a lion it's standing in ridicule on its hind legs. The heart of a man is given to it, and that word there is 'enoch', frail, mortal man. That's how the Babylonish empire went out, with Belshazzar.

Then we come to a bear, that's a terrific beast. But you will notice that it's not a Mede it's a Persian, and the .Medes are giving way to the Persians, and he's rising up upon one side. Its got three ribs in its mouth, the Egyptian, and the Assyrian, and the Babylonian, and they are all helping him , and that was the end of the Medo-Persian empire, because it was just like that when Alexander the Great went in.

Then will you notice the next one is a Leopard. The leopard is known for its swiftness. Twenty years of age Alexander was when he came to the throne. Do you know how old he was when he dies? 32. In twelve years he had subjected the habitable world to himself. Do you know, brethren he was making it his business to march and to sell to the end of the world. Thought it was flat, thought he could reach the end of it. He got to the far end of India and his own soldiers revolted against him because they had been so long away from their own country and their own homes, that he had to go back again. When the ships came back then Alexander told them to make a design of the coast as they passed by, and that's the beginning of your maps and the like. When that man dies his two sons had been killed in battle. At the age of 32 there was no one to take his place, but his rule was such that it carried on for another 20 years, and then four generals took it over. In chapter 11 there are two of those generals that are notorious, the one is Antiachas and the other is Tholomy. Antiachas the king of the north, (sorry brother, it's not Russia then, is it?) Tholomy, Egypt, you'll find them both in the 11th chapter of the book of Daniel.

Then when you come to that wild beast that defies a description, a wicked thing it is, it develops ten horns, that's the end of it, and out of the ten horns, not from one of the horns, but out of the ten horns there arises a little horn with eyes and a loud voice, speaking great things against God and against Messiah. So that Nebuchadnezzar sees the kingdoms coming politically, but Daniel sees the kingdoms going out morally.

When John see that first beast, will you please notice he doesn't describe it as gold and silver and brass and iron, he describes it in the way that Daniel saw it, because it has to do with the end times. So that it's got the' mouth of a lion, that's Babylon. It's got the paws of a bear, that's the Medo-Persian.

It's got the body of a leopard, that's the Grecian. But overall it's described as a wild beast, and that's Rome. When we come to the book of the Revelation we are seeing the end of gentile rule with all its moral characters brought out in its defiance of God and the people of God, and you'll see that in the first beast. So you'll see it from a political point of view.

We'll stay in the book of Daniel for a little while. Now when we come to Daniel 11, ( I remember being at a Bible reading, it was in Liverpool, and I was asked to speak on the first twenty verses of Daniel 11. When I got to the Bible reading I said to one of the elders why have you only given me up to verse 20? 'Well, after that it's antichrist', he said. But I said I don't agree with you. I can trace history a lot further on than Daniel 11v20. I can trace history right to the end of verse 35. The one that he was thinking was antichrist was Antiochus Epiphanes, which more than once becomes an example - of what antichrist is going to be like. That's why you get him in chapter 8 as well. So at the end of the Bible reading this brother shouted up to the front 'Mr Harrison, let's have your thoughts on the rest of the chapter to verse 35.' You'll find that there is a man there, and he's making schemes and plots, the king of the north, and he's got a fifth columnist, there in the court of the palace of the king of the south. The king of the south has married the king of the north's sister, and the king of the north is Antiochus Epiphanes, and his sister is Cleopatra. The king of the south sends to that rising empire, Rome, 'will you please come and help us.' Scivio, the general, he comes, and of course Antiochus Epiphanes recognizes him, and thinks he's going to take his part. In stead Scivio tells him to pack his bags and go.

Because he refused to do it, Scivio drew his sword and he drew in the dust a circle round Antiochus Epiphanes, and he told him he would not get out of the circle alive until he promised to leave. Antiochus had to do it, and because he had to do it that's why he went back to Jerusalem, and created such havoc there, and that's why the days of the Macchabeus came into being. So in John 10 they were still keeping the feast of dedication, when Antiochus was sent out, and they cleansed the Temple again. So it's history, brother and sister, and I'm only going to this length to show that it is history.

Now brethren will you please notice, when you are in chapter 11 it's not the king of the north, and it's not the of the south. The definite article is always in italics. It's king of the north, king of the south, but when you come to verse 36 there is the definite article there, and it's the king. He's distinct from the king of the north, and the king of the south, because the king of the south is going to come up and push against him, and the king of the north is going to come down as far as Ethiopia and Lybia, and down to the gates of Egypt. Then he's going to come up again and hear news out of the north and out of the east, and he'll put his tents there in the pleasant mountains and God will deal with him.

Now who is this man? Turn to 1 John 2 now, 'who is antichrist, he that denieth both the Father and the Son.'

So there you get the one determined to hold what he has got in defiance of what God says, and there you've got the other one, with no desire or regard for the God of his fathers, or yet for Messiah, he wants to destroy the nation.

Now, we see the picture, I trust, a little more clearly.

So here are times that are going to come. I know some of my good brethren say that there is going to be about 40 years between the rapture and the great tribulation, but I don't agree with you.

If this period is a parenthesis, and it is, there's the end of the 69th week, and there's the start of the 70th week, and here is a period of time in between the 69th and the 70th, so it must be a parenthesis that has no reference at all in the Old Testament scriptures. You are not going to tell me that God is going to put another parenthesis between this one and prophecy.

I'll ask you something else, brethren, why in 1 Thessalonians 4 does the apostle Paul say, 'For the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall be raised first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up.' The word is not strong enough, snatched away is the word. Snatched away, as though it is imminent danger that is threatening, as though there is the readiness to break into the prophetic future, but before it can the Lord with a shout snatches away those that belong to Him. I don't see any reason for any period of 40 years. I know one of the ideas that they give, and I think we ought to take a little bit of time to explore some of these things.

You see, brethren, people that are alive today, and that have rejected the gospel, cannot have the opportunity of trusting Christ after the Lord has come to take His church. So God has got to wait until all that generation is dead. So there's the generation, 40 years. Just like those in the wilderness, those because of their unbelief, God waited until they all died, and God took the new generation into the land of Israel. Let me ask you a question. I've heard it said God isn't going to give a second chance. How many chances have you had? You read 2 Thess. 2 carefully, because it has nothing to do with them that haven't believed in this church age, it's got to do with those that haven't believed in that period, and those that don't believe in that period, then God will send strong delusion, that they shall believe the lie. The second beast will give all deceivableness of wonders. So you'll get deceivableness from the devil, and you'll get delusion from God, then tell me, whose going to be saved in the last three and a half years of Jacob's trouble?

There's the period that they are going to be saved, and that's the period when they will prove their hate, when the beasts are in authority, and they will seal their testimony with their blood, many of them.

Now, that covenant is going to be made, so they are going to be in existence when the covenant is made, and that covenant is going to run until the sacrifices and oblation are taken away, and in its place an image is going to be set. When ye see that which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place. It's an image made by the second beast of the first beast.

Does that seem like a breaking of the covenant? The second beast will give life to the image, so that it is able to speak, and woe betide the person who does not worship the image, he'll seal it by his own life.

So that in a measure there will be a comparative quietness, a deception, a man that can answer the problem, and a man that can bring peace to the East and the West. A man that can reconcile the Jew with the nations, and bring them into league and into covenant, and I tell you, brother and sister, there is not a man in all the earth that can do that today.

Alright now, we are just talking on the realm of human level, aren't we? God's interested, of course. Now brethren, we come to 7 seals. We come to 7 trumpets, then we come to 7 vials. Now which are the most important? There's a question for you. Let me put it like this. Angels can blow trumpets; angels can come out of the holy place with the bowls of wrath; but there is not an angel that can break a seal. 'No man ,was found worthy in heaven, or earth, or under the earth to take the book and loose the seals thereof. Then I, John, wept much for no man was found worthy.' When you look at it like that the seals have got some importance. One of the living creatures says, 'weep not, for the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to take the book and loose the 7 seals thereof.' When John looked he never saw a lion, he saw a lamb. He saw a young lamb, as it had been freshly slain. The only one that can deal with the seven seals that enclose the scroll and whatever is on that scroll within and without, is the one that went out to Golgotha's tree and died as a sacrifice, because it's sin that has put the seals there. Only one that was dead to sin can remove the seals.

Which of the seals is it that's broken before the wrath of the lamb has arrived? Have a look at it, you'll find it there in the 6th chapter. It's the 6th one, isn't it? The 6th seal. When the 6th seal is broken open then the skies are opened like a scroll, then kings and nobles and the rest of them are able to look right up, and they are going to cry to the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, for the wrath of the lamb has arrived. So it's only arriving when the 6th seal was broken. What about the other 5?

Was there any trouble on the earth when the 5th one was broken? It's the voice of the martyred ones crying: 'how long, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon the earth?' There's nothing happening there. Is there any trouble on the earth when the sixth one is broken? Except it be fear because they see the face of the lamb in His wrath. Is there any trouble on the earth when the 7th one is broken? There's silence in heaven for the space of half an hour.

Will you have a look at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and the 5th. They are conditions that prevail today. Have a look at the first one, and there's a crown on his head. Now God never put it there, God has only put the crown upon one head, and that was Adam's, and that crown is saved for the Christ of God.

That's a usurper. Before sin came into the world the crown was on the right head. When sin came into the world the crown is fallen from Adam.

Have a look at the second horseman. This man has got a naked sword, and he's going forth to conquer. Before sin came into the world there was peace. Right with God, right with himself, right with everything round about: peace. But when sin came into the world then war came in its wake. Cain became a murderer, and there's been wars and rumours of wars ever since.

Have a look at the third one, and here we find famine and all the rest of it.

Before sin came into the world it was never known. 'Of all the trees that are in the midst of the garden thou mayest freely eat.' But when sin came into the world, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, thorns and thistle shall it bring forth unto thee.'

Look at the fourth one, there's death upon the pale. horse, and hell is following in his wake. Before sin came into the world the man had access to the tree of life. But when sin came into the world, 'in dying thou shalt die.'

It's the consequences of sin that have put the seals upon that scroll of God's purpose in relation to the earth. Before those seals could be broken then the cause of those seals had got to be removed, and that was sin. The Lord Jesus dealt with sin upon the cross, and it gives Him the right to break the seals, so that the purpose of God concerning the earth may reach its culmination.

When He has dealt with the thing that hinders then the scroll will have its fulfilment in the millennium. So we find the seals demand the sacrifice of Christ, His resurrection, and His exaltation, before they can be broken, and the scroll opened, and God's purpose to be realised.

Let us come to the trumpets, now. This is from God, this is from the aspect of the power of Christ. These are preceded by another angel, and this other angel has got a golden vial, or censer. He is pouring it out upon the earth.

We are told what is contained in that golden censer: it's the prayers of the saints. So that here is one pouring out the prayers of the saints, and the trumpets are God's answer to the cries of His people down through the years, 'How long, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon the earth?' The trumpets are recompensing judgements upon a world that is guilty of the blood of His people. Have a look, it's a third of this, it's a third of that, it's a third of something else.

But now come to the vials, and will you notice there's something preceding the vials? There is war in heaven, and Satan is cast into the earth. So that now Satan is limited to the earth, he has no access at all to heaven. God has now got Satan, the first beast, and the second beast, He's got the instigators and the perpetrators of the mischief against Himself and His purpose and the well being of His people. He's got them in one place, and He's going to deal in retributive judgement. When God has finished in retributive judgements there'll be an earth like it was in Genesis chapter 1. Except there won't be water, but my, there'll be darkness covering the face of the earth. The sun refusing to shine, the moon turned to blood, the stars of heaven falling, and here there will be a place of desolation, as God through Christ deals in retribution against the instigators and the followers of the mischief that has stood in the way of God's purpose down through the years, and reaches its culmination in the latter half of Daniel's 70th week. There amidst the darkness, there comes that bright shining light, at the coming of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Now brethren, let's come to 2 Thessalonians, shall we? Here's the problem. 'I beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him.' 'The coming,' that is 'parousia' that's the word I , ¯ beseech you by the parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him. He's talking about the rapture, the saints being called home. In the light of that, he says 'the day of Christ,' now you'll have a look at your margin, or you'll have a look at your pretext, it's not the day of Christ.

It's the day of the Lord. There is a distinction: the day of Christ is the unfolding of His glory; the day of the Lord is the unfolding of His judgements.

The day of the Lord cannot come except the apostasy comes first. Now, I know it doesn't say that in your Authorised, 'except there be a falling away.' It is not the indefinite article, it ought to be the definite article. It's the falling away, and you'll be acquainted with it, I'm quite sure, that falling away is just one word 'apostasis', from which we get our word Apostasy.

Paul says this, 'I beseech you, in the light of the coming of the Lord Jesus and our gathering together unto Him, that day which is worrying you, and there are those going about teaching it, and saying I have sent a letter confirming it, that trouble that you are passing through is not the Great Tribulation, it's not the day of the Lord. I am pleading with you in the light of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and your gathering together unto Him, that the Day of the Lord can't come except there be the landslide first.' Of course, we pass through tribulation, they that will live godly must suffer persecution. We will suffer tribulation, but we're not going through the Great Tribulation. Here because they were going through tribulation, and going through persecution, there were some just turning it about and calling it the Great Tribulation, like we have some Christians today doing it. But he says no, there must be the apostasy first, and then that wicked one shall be revealed.

That wicked one could not be revealed now. Are you looking for Christ on the earth?Or are you waiting for the shout to be caught up to meet Him? This is where a world doesn't know its Bible, that these Gurus, or whatever they call themselves, kangaroos, I'd say, they just hop here there and everywhere, and they are deceiving the people all over the place, just because they don't know the Bible.

We are not looking for a man upon the earth, we are looking for a blessed man coming in the air and calling us home. If a man tried to take that position now then the child of God would have such spiritual intelligence to know that he was a fraud, because we are not waiting for Him here, we're waiting for Him to take us up.

So brother and sister, those with the knowledge of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the order of scriptural doctrine and precedence, they must be removed out of the situation before the platform, the stage can be set for that wicked one, that lawless one, to stand there in his deception over a poor, wicked, deluded world. Here is the church's problem, because they'd got tribulation, someone was persuading them it was the great tribulation, but now Paul is telling them no, the Lord is coming first, and as long as we are here we can't have that great landslide of apostasy. But when the church is gone them there will be that apostasy, and it will make the stage for that lawless one, that man of sin, that son of perdition, to stand in his place. He is a wicked, a wicked man.

Will you please notice, it says this: He that letteth, he that withholdeth, will withhold, until he be taken out of the way. Now, I've heard a number of thoughts. Some have said that will be the Roman empire; then the Roman empire's finished, so the Roman empire won't be able to withstand it. I've heard it said that it is civilisation, and the culture of civilisation that will hold back the apostasy. When the church is gone, what kind of civilisation is there going to be? He's called the lawless one. If God says thou shalt have none other Gods but me then he will demand to be worshipped as god. He'll take the 10 commandments, and he'll break all of them. Can you see the stealing, the profanity, the adultery, the killing, the false witness, the covetousness? When the salt is gone, the lawless one will prevail. What kind of a civilisation do you call that? That will be a civilisation that will be ready to receive the wicked one, the lawless one.

Well, we must have someone to withhold from the beginning until the time of his appearing. My answer to that one of course would be the Spirit of God. As long as He is here He will resist, He will withhold, He will keep in abeyance.

But the spirit of lawlessness is still here. But the personification of lawlessness is held back until He be taken out of the way.

If the Spirit of God has been taken away then it means that the church has gone. We are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise until the day of the redemption of the purchased possession. He's the earnest of our inheritance, He's like the nameless servant who won't be satisfied until the bride is in the presence of our spiritual Isaac.

Have a look closely. He that withholdeth will withhold until he stand in the midst. Now have a look at your concordances, and the Spirit of God will withhold until the situation is ready for that wicked one to stand in the midst. The withholding power will be removed, and the church will be gone, and the world will be overtaken by its godlessness and its wickedness. So there's the first beast, the Gentile, the revived Roman empire.

The Common Market. You'll have a spot of bother if another country wants to join, and if England wants to leave, that you are. You could be right, but don't you ever say' that it is right, because you could be wrong, and very wrong. I'll give you a clue. In chapter 17 of Revelation it's the only time that you'll find the colour of the beast. He's got seven heads, he's got ten horns, and there are ten crowns on those ten horns, they're all kings. And it's the colour of scarlet. Where does he get his colour from? You won't find his colour in the book of Daniel. Just a little horn. Where does he get his colour from? I'll tell you where he gets his colour from, from the woman that sat on his back. She's clothed in scarlet. So she's the one that gives the colour to the beast. It's the one that rides the beast that is in power.

The ten kings comprising the revived Roman empire, God puts it in their hearts to make war against that woman, and they destroy her, and burst the city called Babylon open, and they see all the spoil that is rightly their own, and then they see what Satan sees, the beast. He sees the beast now rising in strength among the gentiles, coming up out of the water. When Satan sees that beast who has triumphed over the woman, and all her mischief and her sorcery and harlotry, then Satan gives his power to that beast. He can use that beast to his own ends, his own purposes.

Except those days should be shortened, no flesh shall be saved. Some say they'll be 22 hours long instead of 24! They will be the same length as what there are today. I'll tell you the length of time that they've been shortened to, they've been shortened to 1,260 days. When the first and second beast think they have reached the pinnacle, and the last voice of testimony has been exterminated and silenced, and they say ' peace, peace, ' then shall sudden destruction come upon them as a woman in travail.

God says thus far, and no further. So for a little while this world is going to know trouble the like of which it's never known since the beginning of the world, and will never know the like afterward.

Nevertheless, the one who died upon that cross is the One who is going to deal with this world in retribution because it's stained with the blood of His people, and He'll deal with this world in retribution for its rebellion against the throne of God. When He has dealt with it, He will come, King of Kings and Lord of lords, and He’ll set up His own kingdom.