Prophecy & the End Times | Sermon by Tony Evans

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.

revelation 19 beginning with verse 11

and I saw heaven opened and behold a

white horse and he who sat on it is

called faithful and true and in

righteousness he judges and wages war

his eyes are a flame of fire and on his

head are many diadem’s and he has a name

written on him which no one knows except

himself he is clothed with a robe dipped

in blood and his name is called the Word

of God and the armies which are in

heaven clothed in fine linen white and

clean were following him on white horses

from its mouth comes a sharp sword so

that with it he will strike down the

nation’s and he will rule them with a

rod of iron and he treads the winepress

of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty

and on his robe and on his thigh he has

a name written king of kings and Lord of

lords then I saw an angel standing in

the Sun then he cried out with a loud

voice saying to all the birds which fly

in Midheaven come and assemble for the

great supper of God so that you may eat

the flesh of kings and the flesh of

commanders and the flesh of mighty men

and the flesh of horses and those who

sit on them and the flesh of all men

both freemen and slaves small and great

and I saw the beast and the kings of the

earth and their armies assemble to make

war against him who sat on the horse and

against his army and the beast was

seized with him the false prophet who

performed the signs in his presence by

which he deceived those who had received

the mark of the beast and those who

worshiped his image

these two were thrown alive into the

lake of fire which burns with brimstone

and the rest were killed with the sword

which came from the mouth of him who sat

on the horse and all the birds were

filled with their flesh and now Lord as

we anticipate the return of the son of

the Living God would you awaken us to

this reality because of the accuracy of

your word and Jesus name we pray amen

maybe any of you who have watched the

movie The Terminator with Arnold

Schwarzenegger knows that one of the

iconic phrases that have come out of

that series of films is the phrase I’ll

be back that despite the chaos and the

turmoil that he faced in spite of the

fact of him being melted he promised a

return that he would come back when

Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead

he stood on the mountain of Olives just

outside of Jerusalem and he told his

disciples I’m coming back he said I’m

coming back to the same place from which

you’ve seen me ascend Jesus prophesied

his second coming as we continue in our

series on prophecy today I want to as

best as I can recognize the limitation

of time that I have to summarize for you

the greatest and most epic event that

will occur in human history and that

event

is designated the second coming of Jesus

Christ it will be the most spectacular

the most dynamic it will be the most

jaw-dropping thing that has ever

occurred in history that was real Sony

Pictures can’t compete with it

sci-fi will be embarrassed by it because

this will be real Jesus made it clear

that if I arrived if I rise from the

dead then everything else must in fact

be true of course if Jesus has not risen

from the dead we shouldn’t even be here

today but if the resurrection is true

then everything else he has prophesied

is equally true the second coming of

Jesus Christ will come at the conclusion

of an event to understand and appreciate

the second coming of Christ you have to

understand the event that leads up to it

you’ve all heard about it you’ve seen

movies about this event this event is

not unknown it is recognized it’s used

in common everyday lingo it’s called the

Battle of Armageddon the Battle of

Armageddon will be the world war 3 to

put it in language we can relate to that

will lead to the second coming of Christ

and so to introduce the second coming I

need to talk about World War 3 that was

prophesied in the scripture the Battle

of Armageddon is not one battle it is a

series of battles

or a campaign if you will that will

culminate in the second coming of Christ

let me lay it out for you show you a

couple of key scriptures so that you can

grasp it because there’s so much to it

that as best as I can I want to

summarize it for you the tribulation is

the 7-year period of time after the

rapture of the church where God will

reestablish his program with Israel now

the reason he must reestablish his

program with Israel is because God’s

revelation was to come through Israel

his written and living revelation was to

come through his sovereign choice of the

nation Israel because of Israel’s

rejection of Messiah God has placed them

aside for the time being to work with

the church the church will be raptured

as we have seen introducing the 70th

week of Daniel or the last seven years

of history as we now know it there will

be a peace treaty signed we’ve already

seen this by the Antichrist and he will

seem like the answer to the Middle East

conflict he will establish a peace

treaty this Antichrist will arise out of

Europe the ten toes of Daniel overseeing

the now already built European

Confederacy Confederation of Nations

that now exist in Europe where the Bible

prophesied that there would be a common

currency it’s now in place the euro and

so the Antichrist will arise and he will

be this peacemaker in the first half of

the tribulation

Satan understands that to block the

second coming of Christ he’s got to get

rid of Israel because Israel is the one

thing stay

in the way of him nullifying the

promises of God because God promised it

would come through Israel Israel has

rejected him therefore he must get rid

of Israel so that they they do not

respond to him and so when you get to

this part of prophecy Israel is on

center stage and the Middle East is on

the front page so let’s bring it now to

the middle of the tribulation those of

you on Wednesday night have seen over

and over again the meant the mention of

three and a half years or 42 months

over and over and over again that’s

called in the Bible the Great

Tribulation the last half of the

seven-year period during this period of

time the last three and a half years

something is going to occur that

something is summarized for us in Daniel

chapter 11 verses 40 to 45 and I will

summarize for you that for you now

because this will occur as we come to

the middle of the tribulation which will

set in motion Armageddon

the prophet Daniel prophesying about the

Antichrist who is to come

says in chapter 11 at the end of time

the king of the south will collide with

him the Antichrist and the king of the

north will storm against him with

chariots with horsemen and with many

ships and he will enter countries

overflowing overflow them and pass

through he will also enter the beautiful

land Israel and many countries will fall

but these will be rescued out of his

hand

verse 42 then he will stretch out his

hand against other countries and the

land of Egypt will not escape but he

will gain control over the hidden

treasure and gold and silver and over

the precious things of Egypt verse 44

but rumors from the east and

from the north will disturb him and he

will go forth with great wrath to

destroy and annihilate many Daniel now

prophesying about the endtime at the end

of time says that there will be a

reaction to the rise of the Antichrist

the Antichrist is going to arise as its

worldwide peacemaker and he will say

like Hitler today Europe tomorrow the

world and he will lay claim to world

rulership the king of the north Russia

and the communist bloc is going to react

to that not wanting the Antichrist to

rule and will attack the Antichrist so

you should not be surprised today when

you open up the newspaper and see that

Russia has now come to the aid of Syria

joining Iran against Israel he says

there will now also be a reaction from

the king of the south that’s Egypt and

the Islamic contingency which is also

against Israel

so Egypt the Arab nations and the

religion of Islam is going to come

against Israel and the Antichrist who

has positioned himself initially as a

friend of Israel so you’ve got these two

groups coming against the Antichrist the

Antichrist is going to defeat them

causing another army to come into the

play you read it it’s the army from the

east that’s China

that’s the eastern bloc which seeing the

power of the Antichrist and not wanting

to be overruled will move the book of

Revelation the book of Revelation says

with an army of 200 million strong to

come up against the Antichrist who has

set himself

up to rule the whole world so you got

all this stuff happening and it’s all

happening in one location the Middle

East look at Revelation chapter 16

here’s what we read verse 13 and I saw

out of the mouth of the Dragon and out

of the mouth of the Beast and out of the

mouth of the false prophet that is the

unholy trinity three unclean spirits

like frogs and they were 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 behold I am

coming like a thief blessed is the one

who stays awake and keeps his clothes so

that he will not walk about naked and

men will not see his shame and they

gather them together to the place which

in Hebrew has called her mageddon or the

valley or the mountain of Armageddon

Armageddon is a huge plain Napoleon

Bonaparte when he saw the valley of the

valley of Megiddo he said this is the

most natural battlefield in the world it

is huge and it will be the staging area

or central control for this battle where

these armies are coming initially

against the Antichrist so that is a

summary of what we’ll set in motion this

battle of Armageddon now when all of

this is taking place

God is not silent Zechariah chapter 14

puts it this way in describing the same

battle through another prophet and

that’s some of the challenge of this

because it’s scattered throughout the

Bible but verse 2 says for I will gather

all the nations against

Jerusalem to battle and the city will be

captured the houses plundered the women

ravished and half of the city exiled but

the rest of the people will not be cut

off from the city the Lord will go forth

and fight against those nations and when

he fights on the day of battle so let me

explain this lucy all these nations are

coming together in the middle east

because satan has got to get rid of

israel that’s that’s his last hope for

victory against God but Zechariah says

God is bringing the nations together but

revelation 16 says that the unholy

trinity is bringing the nations together

so who is bringing the nations together

both Satan is doing it for his purposes

and God is doing it for his purposes so

you have to understand something about

God and that is God can use the devil to

accomplish his purposes okay

the many illustrations of that in the

Bible but for our sake today God is

allowing the devil to be the devil in

order to accomplish the will of God so

whenever you think of the devil just

remember he’s God’s devil okay and so

God is using the rebellion of Satan to

accomplish his purposes so now the whole

world is centered on the Middle East

when this happens see it in Fox News

MSNBC all of them are going to be

talking about this some of you may ask

well where is the United States in all

of this well remember the Antichrist is

over Europe the military of Europe is

NATO the United States is the power and

economic support for NATO so when the

anti

nice rises in Europe the United States

is swallowed in that because the United

States supports the European Union so we

become in fact the United States was

born out of Europe so it’s naturally

would be the support for this European

activity that takes place so now you

have the whole world Senate in Israel

you have now the leaders of the nation

of the world coming together initially

against the Antichrist who begins to

defeat some of them and as we saw last

time in the midst of all of this the

Antichrist in the middle of the

tribulation is going to break his

agreement with Israel it’s called the

abomination of desolation Daniel chapter

9 verse 27 he’s going to come in and

he’s going to now try to destroy Israel

at the beginning of the tribulation he

was Israel’s friend now he becomes

Israel’s enemy that’s why in Revelation

chapter 12 we read in verse 13 and when

I saw the dragon he saw that he was

thrown down the earth he persecuted the

woman Israel who gave birth to the male

child Jesus and God has to protect

Israel from the Antichrist decision to

destroy them so he provides us

protection for Israel we see in verse 15

and the serpent poured our water like a

river out of his mouth after the woman

Israel so that he might cause her to be

swept away with the flood he’s trying to

drown or destroy Israel because if he

does not destroy Israel he cannot keep

Christ from coming back and if Christ

comes back he’s doomed now this sermon

is on the second coming of Christ but

you have to understand that we’re

setting the stage and the stage is being

set by all the world now coming together

in the Middle East for the destruction

of Israel and the reason that they are

doing that is because Satan has to stop

the return of Christ by destroying

Israel now with that backdrop you ever

been in a play in a play and the screen

is closed and you know you’re talking

because the play is not ready to start

yet and then the lights begin to dim and

begin to get a little darker a little

darker and a little darker you know what

that means it means it’s show time turn

to Matthew chapter 24 let me show you

show time not at the Apollo

but on planet Earth verse 29 but

immediately after the tribulation of

those days the Sun will be darkened and

the moon will not give its light and the

stars will fall from the sky and the

powers of the heavens will be shaken and

then the sign of the Son of Man will

appear in the sky and then all the

tribes of the earth will mourn that they

will see the Son of man coming on the

clouds of the sky with power and great

glory and he will send forth his angels

with a great trumpet and they will

gather together his elect from the four

winds from one end of the sky to the

other okay so if you here which means

you weren’t saved because if you were

saved you wouldn’t be here because you’d

have been part of the rapture so for all

y’all that’s going to be here let me

describe what’s get ready happen as

these battles are being fought first

between the Antichrist and those who

coming against him and then the

Antichrist going against Israel as well

all of this world war three stuff is

occurring and news that’s being fed

about it all around the world through

through media and through all of the

technology that that now we understand

why God waited for the return of Christ

because he wanted technology set in

place so that what he prophesied could

take place that people before the

technology did not know was part of

God’s plan but all of this is part of

God’s sovereign plan and so what is

going to happen is God is going to block

the light of the Sun the darkness will

begin to to descend upon the earth cuz

it’s Showtime the Bible declares and

every eye

we’ll see him when Jesus Christ makes

his return in some way whether he loops

around the Sun so that in a in a 24-hour

period the whole world will see him

because of the rotation of the earth on

its axis or whether technology has

become so sophisticated by then that it

is seen by everybody whether on a on a

telephone or whether on an iPad or

whether on a computer or whether on

television some kind of way God is going

to give a worldwide manifestation that

the Son of God has arrived and that is

now Showtime now you can dismiss this to

sapphire if you want to but the

declaration is clear that on this

occasion and in the words of the fite

announcer Jesus was coming and saying

let’s get ready to rumble he will make

his descent from heaven into history he

will make his presence seen and so the

scripture says in Revelation 1:7 and

here in Matthew 24:31 that the whole

world will see this as Jesus Christ

manifests himself and as the scripture

that we read in Revelation chapter 19 he

is going to descend it says on a white

horse now to appreciate this you have to

understand that that he didn’t that

wasn’t just something made up when a

Roman general went out to defeat a

nation in biblical times he would always

ride a white horse the reason he rode a

white horse is that was the horse of

victory so whenever you see a Roman

general coming back from a victory

he’s on a white horse to symbol the

battle is over the battle has been won

victory has been held so when it says

Jesus

is coming back on a white horse it says

he’s coming back victorious he’s coming

to victory why because he has now gotten

the whole world everyone on the same

page it says he’s going to call all of

Israel back to Jerusalem and in the

midst of that he will descend from

heaven with eyes verse chapter 19 verse

12 says a flame of fire now let me

explain this this is not Jesus meek and

mild this is not sweet little Jesus boy

no you have two ways you can relate to

Jesus you can relate to him on the cross

where he’s the savior or you can relate

to him on the throne where he is the

judge every parent or most parents have

two sides to the good she got your GU

side and I’m aware you outside all right

we’ve already seen on Wednesday night

we’ve seen they refuse to repent they

refuse to repent they even curse God in

the book of Revelation so at that point

Jesus is now coming back as judge to

judge the world and their rejection of

him as the Son of the Living God and

when he comes his robe is dipped in

blood verse 13 says his name is called

the Word of God and the armies that are

with him now that’s where you and I come

in

that’s where you and I come in you get a

white horse

okay the armies that are with him

remember we go with him in the rapture

we then go through the judgment seat of

Christ where we are given rewards we

then get ready for the marriage supper

of the Lamb that’s next week that’s a

that’s a big event and we come with him

at the rapture we go to him as the

second coming we come back with him okay

the rapture we caught up the second

coming he comes down he does not come

down the earth of the rapture he comes

down earth of the second coming at the

second coming the armies that are with

him those who are dressed in with with

the the linen of our Redemption come

with him verse 13 says on white horses

and in his mouth is a sharp sword that

he might strike down the nation’s so

here’s what’s going to happen the world

has converged on the Antichrist the

anti-crisis had victory over many of

those nations the East comes because of

what they’ve seen him do with the king

of the north and the King of the South

in the middle of all this Armageddon

confusion Jesus Christ leads heaven with

the Saints he comes down and he makes

his presence seen by the whole world and

according to Zechariah chapter 14 verses

3 and 4 he lands on the Mount Olive

which is where he left which is what the

Bible says he’s coming back to the same

place he left it says when his feet hit

the ground the earth will split says

there will be an earthquake when Jesus’s

feet hit the ground that will go all the

way down to the Dead Sea when his feet

hit the ground on the Mount of Olives a

corral 14 says he will speak with his

mouth one of the things he will say and

you remember alfred hitchcock the birds

it says he will summon all the birds to

come and get ready for supper because

it’s mealtime

and through a spoken word out of his

mouth the Bible says he will speak the

word and he will slay the nation’s so

this is not going to be a long battle

that this part is real short those other

things will last a number of years in

the second half of the tribulation but

on this one Jesus Christ will speak the

word and he will summon in the most

dramatic act of warfare in human history

he will bring about the slaughter of

those who reject him the Bible says when

Jesus Christ does this Zechariah 12:10

says Israel will look at him on whom

they pierced and they will repent and

receive Jesus as Messiah or as Romans

chapter 11 verse 26 says and then all of

Israel shall be saved

they will receive Jesus Christ as their

Messiah and when they receive him as

their Messiah the Old Testament promises

will be fulfilled because Israel has to

accept him before they can be fulfilled

God allows these events to occur to

drive Israel to accepting him and then

the Bible says Jesus Christ will set up

his Millennial Kingdom which is our

discussion next week the Beast verse 20

was seized and with him the false

prophet who performed the signs in the

presence of him who deceived the folks

with the mark of the beast and they were

thrown alive into the lake of fire which

burns with brimstone so Jesus will

defeat men he will get the Antichrist he

will get the false prophet they’re cast

into the lake of fire and as you will

see next week he’s got a special program

for the devil

and you and I are with him all those who

come to Jesus Christ for salvation are

with him so what do we do with all of

this what what do we do with all this so

much when Jesus comes back he will come

back as king of kings and Lord of lords

it says today we got Kings for

everything you got Lion King he got the

king of soul the King of Pop the King of

Swing the king of the beasts

you got king of rock and roll but when

Jesus comes back it says with many

diadem’s that’s a whole bunch crowns

he’s king of kings and Lord of lords and

he will rule with a rod of iron you will

see a perfect dictatorship the world

will be under a dictator but a righteous

dictator which is why he’s called

faithful and true and Jesus Christ will

set up his Millennial Kingdom we’re

going to details on that next week and

he will rule the world from Jerusalem

the hold and based on the rewards that

you get based on your life now will

determine how you will be positioned

then if you are a faithful follower of

Jesus Christ you will be highly

positioned if you were an unfaithful

follower of Jesus Christ

you’ll be a streetsweeper now you’ll be

seeing why you sweep

you know because you know you you save

so you’re gonna be a happy street

sweeper but you will be assigned a role

based on your faithfulness now and your

commitment to Jesus Christ now and your

public confession of him now that will

determine the role you have so that’s

why even though this this Armageddon

stuff does not directly apply to you it

directly applies to you because what you

do now affects your role then when Jesus

Christ returns it also as I mentioned a

moment ago or to give you a different

perspective on the devil because what

you need to understand as evil as the

evii if he is limited now he can’t do to

you all he wants to do to you because of

what 2nd thessalonians calls the

restrainer holds him back the holy

spirit limits what he can do that’s why

the scripture says greater is He that’s

in you than he that’s in the world

because Satan right now is on a leash

when you have a dog on a leash it can go

somewhere but only as far as the leash

allows in the tribulation when the leash

is extended he will be able to do more

but right now what he can do to you is

lie trick you trick you and your

thinking trick you in your emotions he

can trick you to make you think he’s

bigger and badder than it really is but

he’s so good at it have you ever met

anybody that’s a born liar that meant

that mean they real good at it cuz

they’ve been doing it since they were a

child he’s a born liar and because he’s

the father of lies the scripture says he

can make you bleed you don’t have

victory you

have victory you won’t have victory you

are defeated you know he can do all they

can really do it then but he can do it

now but what God wants you to understand

is that the devil at his best is his

devil and while the devil is trying to

mess over you God is doing something

else he’s constructing something else

Paul said it this way he said we look

through a glass darkly we don’t we don’t

see things clearly you

I got a watch you have a watch and I

look at the face of my watch so I can

take it a time because I look at my face

but but if you to ask me give me the

details of how all the parts work I

can’t I can’t explain that all I know is

it’s 9:20 I can tell you that much but

there are a whole lot of details in here

that I can’t explain those little teeny

parts and how they they relate to one

another I can’t explain all that I can

just tell you what time it is and

there’s a whole lot that whole lot of

details I’ve only touched the surface

all I can do is give you a summary

that’s so many details on this thing

through all the different prophets and

all the different predictions all all

I’ve done all I’ve done is showing you

the time okay cuz that’s all that’s all

I can do even after you study the book

of – you study the book of Revelation

all I’ve done is showing you the time

God has the parts and the details and

how they all intersect and relate to one

another and how they all how they all

connects but you know something you

really don’t need to know how it all

works you need to know what time it is

so what I’m trying to tell you is what

time it is yeah all the details and in

all of the in this country in Syria and

Lebanon and Persian all that all of

those will discuss they’re discussed in

Ezekiel chapter 38 Ezekiel chapter 29 38

and 39 gog and magog and and and it

talks about the iran in that the tree

all that’s all that’s in there and and I

get a headache I get depressed sitting

down to prepare the stuff for y’all I’m

my study looking at all this

stuff and reading all this stuff and I’m

I’m saying let me let me call pastor

Gibson tell him preach cuz it’s just

it’s just too much stuff but what I can

tell you is what time it is

and just in case you didn’t know it’s

getting late

that that much I can tell you so I know

next week we’re going to fall back but

eschatologically speaking you better

jump forward cuz it’s getting late who

would have thought who would have

thought that after Russia broke down and

broke up and disintegrated that that it

would be part of the prophetic scene

overnight reasserting itself as we back

up and they move forward in the bail

Russia now begins to ascend to take

charge in the Middle East who would’ve

thought that Iran would now emerge as a

dominant influence over there who would

have thought that overnight Isis would

arise in the midst of that who would

have thought all of this would occur the

reason why you must take prophecy

serious is God has already seen the

future and come back to notify us about

it and it says Israel will look on him

on whom they pierced they said crucify

him crucified

you and I will be with him everyone

who’s come to faith in Christ will be

with him you will never mistake him he

will stand out in the crowd

because Jesus Christ will be the only

scarred person you will have a perfectly

new glorified body you will be the same

race that you are you will be the same

gender that you are you will bow you

will simply be perfect humanity at your

most perfect age which I take to be 33 I

didn’t make that up I got that from the

the life age of Jesus Christ Adam

remember and Eve were created as adults

they weren’t created as kids so you will

be your perfect self but there will be a

scarred one for they will look on him

who they pierced when Jesus rose from

the dead Thomas said unless I see the

nail prints in his hand

and the scar in his side I will not

believe Jesus came to Thomas after he

rose from the dead and said see these

nails see this scar Thomas touched them

so you’ll never confuse who your Savior

is because from the time you meet him at

the rapture all the way through the

Millennium into eternity

those were be the eternal reminders that

you’re saved by these scars you’re

delivered by this star you’re delivered

by these scars the nail prints in his

hand

the scar and his side the nail prints

and his feet so that when I meet you at

the corner of Gulf Street and silver

Boulevard we will be giving praise to

the Savior who loved us gave his life

for us saved us raptured us redeemed us

returned with

and giving us eternal life with him and

that makes him worthy of praise let’s

stand to our feet with your head bowed

and your eyes closed no one moving we’re

gonna close in a moment

but if you need to come to the Savior I

mean come the church I don’t mean be

religious sometime or something else I’m

talking about giving your life to Jesus

Christ who is the center of God’s story

and you want to meet him and Savior not

as judge would you slip out of this seat

and come down and let me pray with you

as you make this decision to either come

to Christ or get right with Christ

anybody need to make that decision