PART 1
How Did We Get Here?
 

Key to understanding the Bible.

 

Many people struggle with understanding what the Bible truly is about, here it is made simple. God created the whole universe, He made it perfect in every way, the earth was created to be His personal residence. Yet someone came along and thought that His perfect creation could be better. 

 

God is currently allowing us to see what happens when we are determined to do things our way. The question is question, “how is it working for you”? That is the key to understanding the Bible, God is a God of evidence.

 

One day all the evidence will be finished, it will be overwhelming and man will have no more excuses. At that time God will send His Son to bring His people out of all of this. 

 

Daniel chapter twelve verse one is the foundation of this study, “How did we get here”, it says, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great Prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there will be a time of trouble such as never been experienced, and at that time your people will be delivered”.

 

The context of this verse is that something catastrophic has come to an end, yet something worse is about to happen.

 

There should be two questions that come to mind, 

 

#1 How did we get to this point?
#2  When does this happen?

 

This study is about how we got to the point where “Michael shall stand up”.

 

The Bible says in Genesis 1:1,2 that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth but the earth was incomplete and the spirit of God was hovering over it. That word “spirit” is one to remember, it means breath.

 

The Bible tells us that God created the universe, the heavens, the worlds (that’s plural) and everything in them. It is probable that they were created instantly. The earth was also created but was not completed at that time. Because the earth was not completed, the context of these two verses give cause to believe there is something much bigger going on and God being a God of evidence is about to reveal what that is.

 

It goes like this, before the universe came to be there was God and Michael His son. Michael was His given name, we know Him as Jesus. Colossians 1:15 identifies Him as the representative of His Father when it says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Colossians 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

 

“All things hold together” means that all things are established and sustained by Him.

 

When God created the universe He also created one called Lucifer, an angel. He was second in command. The Bible says he was the “seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty”. He walked in the presence of God, He led the choir with the best of voices. He was perfect in every way until pride and selfishness was found in him. 

 

Michael doesn’t appear to have the credentials that Lucifer had. The Bible doesn’t say he was incredibly wise, talented and beautiful. Lucifer’s was insanely jealous that Michael was given this recognition, his pride was out of control. He began to cause discontent in heaven, he believed he should hold a higher position.

 

God was already ahead of Lucifer, as discontent began to increase it was time for God to confirm Michael. It would be Michel that would stand before the whole universe and through the power of the most High God, Michael would complete the creation of the earth.

 

The earth was completed in six days, it was spoken into existent.  Psalms 33:6 says “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host”. 

 

On the sixth day God made man. This was done differently than the others days of creation, the first five days the things that were created were spoken into existence. But on the sixth day the Bible says He took the dust of the ground and made it in the shape of a man. He literally used what was considered rubbish, genesis two verse seven says He formed man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  (again we see the power of the breath of God revealed).

 

The Bible’s says that after each of the six days of creation Gods said it was good, good and finally very good. When it was completed the book of Job says the angels shouted with joy. 

 

At the completion of the creation of the earth, Michael that would be confirmed as God’s representative. But that wouldn’t be enough to satisfy Lucifer in fact it only made matters worse.  

 

Colossians 1:16 tells us why, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him.” 

 

Matthew 28:18  Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. 

 

This was an insult to Lucifer, he didn’t believe he should be under the authority of anyone, it was his desire was to be like God. God didn’t answer to anyone.

 

The Bible tells us that on the earth God created this incredible placed called the garden of Eden, man and woman were put in the garden to take care of it. In this garden there was a special tree, a fruit tree, called the “the tree of life” and they should eat from it.

 

The Garden also had another special tree, it was call the”tree of good and evil”. Here Lucifer would be given the opportunity to prove his cause before the universe. God would have no choice but to let him, not because He couldn’t stop him, He could even destroy him but to do so would cause the whole universe to reconsider the validity of Lucifer’s claim, maybe he was right. Maybe we could live by our own authority without repercussions. 

 

God would allow Lucifer access to this earth only at the one tree and He warned mankind not eat or touch the fruit of this tree, to do so would cause certain death.  

 

One day the woman’s curiosity got the best of her and she wandered close to the tree, she saw that it was a beautiful tree, with lots of fruit, not unlike the others. She thought, how could this tree be so dangerous that it could kill? Lucifer began to speak to her, take some he said, do you not have permission to eat from every tree in this garden? The woman new that this was the tree she had been warned about, but she was intrigued. Lucifer told her not to worry, he had been there since the beginning and he wasn’t dead. Lucifer told her, God knows that in the day you eat from it you will realize that you can do what you want and it changes nothing. So the woman took the fruit and ate it. 

 

Because of this one act the whole world would get to experience what Lucifer desired, (now we know him as satan).

 

The first repercussion would be when mankind was put out of the garden of Eden because of the tree of life, God was not going to sustain the evil that was about to come on the earth. 

 

Today mankind has to endure every calamity imaginable all because one person took a bite from a piece of fruit that she was given explicit instructions not to.

 

Accept, it wasn’t her actions that caused it, it’s what took place just before. The Bible says she reasoned in her mind that it was not dangerous and doing so would give her a sense of total freedom, her thoughts can be summed up this way, What difference does it make!

 

Repercussions continue.

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When God completed the creation of the earth His crowning act was the creation of man. God said let us make man in our image but it wasn’t about the physical image, it was about the ability to reason and the freedom to think for ourselves. He then placed around him a crown. It was not a crown on their head it was a crown of covering light. This was how they were covered or dressed. When they made the choice not to trust God when He warned them about the tree the covering of light went away and they realized they were naked. When the light went away they were totally exposed before the universe. They lost the very thing that identified them as Gods crowning act of creation, they lost their dignity. The whole universe could see that something happened and they would be judged by all who saw them. So they fashioned for themselves coverings from leaves in an attempt to hide the shame they brought on themselves.

 

Jesus came to them, He already knew what they had done and after hearing all the excuses, and the appropriate actions had been applied He told them there was already a plan in place. He told them that the coverings they had made for themselves wouldn’t be sufficient to cover their shame. He told them about the coming war that would take place, the battle between good and evil, that selfishness would have to die and they would have to learn to trust Him or there would be no hope. He told them that one day a savior would come and save them from what would be a tragic end. 

 

The Bible says that He made coverings for them from skins. For this to happen something had to die, it would be something that was completely innocent. After it was killed the skin from its body was used to cover their’s and to hide their nakedness. This was the first sacrifice, it must have been traumatic to know they were the cause for the loss of an innocent life.

 

The Bible tells us they had two sons, Cain and Able, Cain was a master gardener and Able was a shepherd. They also knew about the required sacrifice and one day they each brought an offering to God, Cain brought his best fruits and vegetables and Able brought the best from his herd. God honored Able’s offering but not Cain’s, outraged by this rejection Cain killed his brother. 

 

The Bible tells this story because it is again evidence of the problems that this world is suffering from. God explained the significance of the sacrifice, that it could not be from the efforts of man it had to be from the life of one that is innocent. Cain made the same mistake his mother made back in the garden of Eden when he thought, what difference does it make?

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The pathway of mankind’s demise is predictable, it starts with compromise, “what difference does it make”,  then when we see it does make a difference, it moves into rebellion, ultimately it becomes hate, because we cant have our own way without a negative result, that’s called accountability, the results are obvious and sometimes disastrous. Finally the hate is directed to the one’s we believe are judging us. This has become human nature.

 

The Bible can be divided into three parts.

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The first part is the period of time between creation and Noahs flood, about two thousand years. During this period you see just how depraved man had become and how their actions also negatively affected the earth.

 

Genesis 6:5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

 

The Bible says “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, the survival of the world would rest on this one man. Through Noah mankind could be saved if they would believe him but they would not.

 

The evidence was overwhelming, the earth as God created it would not survive the evil that man had brought on it, but man refused Noah’s invitation to change their ways. Their human nature had become so rebellious there was no hope for them and God would have to start again with Noah and his family.

 

The second part of the Bible is from the flood to the birth of Jesus, that’s also about two thousand years.

 

It wasn’t long after the flood that humanity returned to its previous state of rebellion, this time God would call on a man named Abraham. Like Noah he was a man that God could trust, after several hundred years and lots of growing pains the descendants of Abraham became the nation of Israel and Israel would be the representative of God on this earth. He took these people out of four hundred years of slavery and called them His own. 

 

He said build Me a sanctuary so that I can be with you. Remember God is a God of evidence and this sanctuary wasn’t just a place where God could hang out it was a visual display of the pathway to salvation and He chose Israel to show the world how it was to happen. 

 

Through Israel God re-established His requirements in written form, these are the commandments and they are the key to life. They are the only way that man can identify what has become human nature, selfishness, what the Bible calls sin!

 

It was through Israel that God would show the world what could happen if man would give up his human nature. God fought all their battles, provided all their needs. He miraculously provided food and water in impossible circumstances, he provided heat at night and cool in the day while they traveled through the desert on their journey to a place he had promised them. 

 

Eventually Israel would turn their back on God. They didn’t think they did, they thought that since they were the descendants of Abraham they were automatically the people of God and nothing could change that. 

 

Gods desire is that we will take the opportunity to come to Him, to become one of His representatives, doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done. Israel who became the Jews changed that from the open invitation or come as you are and made it an impossibility. If you were not born a Jew, salvation was not in your future. If you were born a Jew they took it upon themselves to add to the commandments that God had established making them an impossibility. The sacrificial system was the basis for salvation, they perverted it by turning it into a marketplace, they were selling salvation. They went from a nation that was given the sacred task of giving the gospel of hope to the world to totally misrepresenting God, even turning God into a tyrant. They were so caught up in their religion that when Jesus came to this earth they rejected Him, when He started His mission of showing the world who God really is, they wouldn’t believe Him.

 

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

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Jesus did everything He could to change the hearts of the Jews but it couldn’t be done and finally He said “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”

 

It was just a short time after this that the ones that were called to represent God would kill the Son of God. 

 

Lucifer or satan is the cause of all of this, he has claimed that living as God has required is not not necessary or even possable.

 

This controversy began in heaven and Lucifer would not leave it alone and as the evidence began to pile up against him, he would not concede. At some point the Bible says that Lucifer and his angels fought with Michel and his angels and Lucifer was cast out of heaven and bound to this earth.

 

This is what the Bible says in Revelation 12:12 “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows his time is short.” 

 

He also brought with him one third of the angles, he goes around like an angry lion with the intent to destroy everyone he can, he is the father of lies. With his lies he will attack the church and in the end the whole world and they will believe him. This attack on the church is not an army coming to destroy, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A church that has been compromised is easily identified, it is the one that says that God’s law has been fulfilled and is no longer required. Imagine that, a law that could maintain harmony within all of society is no longer necessary.  

 

The war that started in heaven moved to this earth and Christ would face satan on his own ground. Earth had become a place that satan had molded into his own.

 

Satan knew that he would face Christ and in order for him to defeat Christ he would have to kill Him or get Him to admit that Gods requirements were not possible, he was ready for Him, or so he thought.

 

When Christ was born satan tried to have Him killed, when the king had all male children up to two years old killed. God protected His Son so satan would have to wait.

 

The next opportunity would be several years after Christ became a man, He would be baptized and at that time God would introduced Him to the world as His Son. This was not just an introduction, it was an admonition for the universe to take notice. 

 

The battle with satan would resume after HIs the baptism, the Bible says that the spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. He would be tempted by the devil himself, it would last forty days, he would be without food. When He was at the very weakest point a body could be He faced the ruler of the underworld but it could only be as a human being. It had to happen that way because if Jesus had used His supernatural power then satan would have cried foul and have won.

 

When Jesus was at his weakest satan tried the same tactic he was successful with in Eden. He said if you really are the Son of God turn these stones into bread, making it appear that it would be no big deal. 

 

When that didn’t work satan took Him to a place where He could see all the kingdoms that ruled and would rule the world. He told Jesus that they were all his and he could do with them as he pleased, he would give them to Jesus if He would acknowledge that satan was right. 

 

That didn’t work either, satan was getting desperate so he took him to the top of a pinnacle on the temple in Jerusalem and again challenged Him as being the son of God. He told Jesus to jump off and if He was truly the Son of God the angels would save Him. This temptation was different from the others, this temptation was designed to cause Him to question if His Father could be trusted.

 

Jesus Prevailed, and at no time did he give into temptation. Jesus won this round and He did it in the weakness of humanity. At no time did He use His circumstances as a man to use His power as the Son of God to save Himself.

 

The Bible says that satan left knowing they would meet again. At this point Jesus was near death and the angels had to come and care for Him.

 

During this time of temptation satan was not allowed to assault Jesus physically, it wouldn’t be that way the next time.

 

The Bible says that Jesus returned to Galilee by way of the Spirit to continue His mission of showing the world who God really is. His message was astonishing to His listeners, they couldn’t believe the gospel really is good news. The message that Jesus was preaching was not the one the church folks were preaching. They were losing credibility so they conspired against Him, made up things that were not true to turn the hearts of the people against Him.

 

He would be turned over to the Romans to be crucified, just as the Bible had prophesied.

 

Satan would have one last chance to cause Jesus to fail and prove himself to be right about how God is unfair, and his commandments are unreasonable. He was in the middle of this battle, stirring up animosity against Jesus by these church leaders, this time he would be allowed to get physical.

 

Back in the Garden of Eden, Jesus revealed to our first parents the true meaning behind the sacrifice, a perfect and innocent little lamb was bound and its throat cut and its life’s blood ran out. It was a quiet and personal ceremony. It must have been catastrophic for our first parents to see they were the cause of something that was so ghastly and unfair, surly they wept greatly in humble repentance. 

 

Jesus didn’t have the luxury of the experience of the first sacrifice, it was not a quite moment before repentant sinners begging for forgiveness. To those that were ignorant of what was really happening, all they saw was violence. Here was an innocent man that had done incredible things in the name of God, he raised the dead and healed the sick. The Bible says He had done so many good things that there are not enough books to contain them.

 

The good church folks, the Jews were angry. He challenged their religion, their understanding, their motives, their credibility, their sincerity and they plotted to kill him. Clearly satan was in the middle of all of this spreading his influence. This wouldn’t be an unseen murder in a back alley as the Jews wanted, it had to be very public because the whole universe was watching.

 

Jesus would be arrested and brought before the religious leaders, he would be found guilty of their ridiculous laws and sentenced to death. Because the Jews were under the authority of the Roman’s they could not carry out the death sentence so He would be turned over to the Roman’s. Ironically the Roman court found no guilt in Him but the Jews demanded the sentence be carried out. Satan would have his last chance and this time it would be physical. The Roman’s and the Jews hated each other so the guards took great pleasure in being extra cruel to a Jew, guilty or not.

 

Jesus was stripped of his clothes and beaten with whips that were designed to tear the flesh from the body, his body was already weakened from His wilderness experience. He would be spit on and mocked, a crown was fashioned out of thorn branches and forced on his head. One of the things the Roman soldiers would do to cause humiliation to their prisoners was rape them, Jesus was no exception. He was then forced to carry his cross to be crucified, when He couldn’t He was beaten some more. When he reached the place He was to be crucified He would be nailed to His cross causing an extraordinary amount of pain and it would take place on top of a hill for all to see. Usually death didn’t come quickly, execution by the cross was intended to cause intense pain and suffering for several days, Jesus died that same day.

 

During this whole experience there was not a single time that Jesus thought what difference does it make and reacted against His captors. If He had satan would have proved his position and won. 

 

The truth is, for the earth it didn’t make any difference. The evidence was absolute, satan was in control of the earth and it’s annihilation would be justified. Jesus truly could have called ten thousand angels and destroyed the world and the universe would have never questioned it.

 

Today we are living in the third part of the Bible timeline.

 

We have talked about the first and second parts of the Bible. The first part was between creation and the flood. We saw how mankind became so evil that God had to step in or humanity would have been wiped out. That would have been a good time for God destroy this earth and satan with it but he didn’t, we’ll see why shortly. 

 

The second period is between the flood and the cross. God would raise up a nation to educate the world about who God is and His plans for a new Kingdom where evil has no place. They destroyed the reputation of God and perverted His law and made salvation impossible.

 

Now we are in the third part of the biblical timeline, the time after the cross and His resurrection. Jesus came to this earth and proved to the universe that satan is a liar, God’s commandments can be kept even in the most cruel of circumstances. 

 

It’s the time between the cross and where Michel stands up and says there will be a time of trouble like never before. This is a very critical time for humanity. Remember God is a God of evidence and the evidence is conclusive, it is not possible for anyone to question the love of God or the insanity of evil. 

 

The book of life!

 

Daniel chapter twelve says that Michel stands up and a great time of trouble begins, He also says that everyone that is written in the book will be rescued.

 

The book of life is a topic that reveals just how gracious God really is, it also explained why He didn’t totally destroy humanity at the flood or at the cross. Again the whole universe was was watching and they saw how evil mankind had become so what difference would it make.

 

Understanding the book of life explains why it makes a difference.

 

Many believe that the book of life contain the names of all that will be saved, and at the end of time that will be true however it did not start out that way. The book of life was written at the foundation of the world. The term “foundation of the world” is a reference to the planning stage of the world. God is not only a God of evidence He is a God of order and when He planned the world He wrote in a book the name of every person that would ever draw a breath on this earth. 

 

In Psalms 139:15,16 David says it this way. 

 

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

 

It made no difference what kind of person God knew you would be if you were born you were written in the book of life.

 

Ephesians 1:3-6 says that we have been predestined by God to live forever.

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved”. 

 

Romans 8:14 "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

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Because of man’s ability to reproduce, theoretically this book could go on forever, but it won’t because the hearts of humanity will again become evil just like before the flood. The actions of humanity will cause the earths rapid deterioration rendering it unlivable, it will be more evidence that we can’t survive without God.

 

Revelation 22:10-1 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”

 

Psalm 69: 27-28 Add iniquity to their iniquity, And may they not come into Your righteousness.28 May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.

 

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 

 

God could have destroyed the world at the flood and at the cross, but He didn’t because He knows the very last name of the person that will choose to accept His invitation, and He will not leave anyone behind.

 

With a planet so perverse and void of anything good how is it possible not to be drawn into this perversion and survive spiritually? The answer goes back to creation, God gave the earth something that didn’t exist previously.

 

A special blessing.

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When God completed the creation of the earth He did it with the intent that mankind should live and prosper. He created this incredible little spot in the universe that was so spectacular even the angels shouted with joy. In the middle of this planet was Eden. It would become the center of the universe, because in the center of Eden was a fruit baring tree, called the tree of life. Mankind would be required to eat from It to sustain his life eternally, it was to be a reminder that God is the only one that can give and sustain life.

 

God took seven days to complete His work on the earth, He could have done it in an instant except He had a plan. By all appearances the dividing of time began at creation. The day is defined by a period of sunlight and moonlight. The month is defined by the orbit of the moon around the earth. The year is defined by the time taken for the earth to make one revolution around the sun. But for the seven day week there is no solar explanation, it exist because it was established be God.  At the end of His work, the day after, He set that day, the seventh day aside and called it the Sabbath. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, God provided not only for our physical needs but also our spiritual needs. 

 

When it comes to the Sabbath their are many that say “what difference does it make”, or its been done away with. It’s been more than thousand years since creation and the seven day week still exists which means the Sabbath still exists.

 

After all this time the earth is rapidly deteriorating. The cause lies at the feet of mankind. Between greed and evil the earth wont survive much longer. That’s ok, God knew and He planned for it. On the sixth day God formed man with the dust of the earth, He didn’t use gold or silver because He wanted man to understand where his value comes from. The Bible says that God breathed on that pile of useless dirt and man was given life. The next day, the seventh day God rested and spent that day with man. After sin came into the world God could no longer do that physically, but the remedy was already in place.

 

The seventh day Sabbath is the representative of God in His physical absence. God wanted man to prosper not just physically but also spiritually and with what He knew was going to happen to the earth, He knew His people would need a place where we could find spiritual security, in a world that is imploding He gave us the gift of the Sabbath. 

 

The Sabbath is the pathway that leads back to the tree of life.

 

There are three words associated with the Sabbath that are used in the Bible. The first one is “Rested” as in God rested. God stopped what He was doing and He celebrated with mankind and the universe the completion of the earth. The Bible says the Sabbath is Holy, that’s because it is directly connected to God, and it will be that way through out eternity.

 
The next word is “Rest” as in God asks that His people would join Him in this rest. This again is because in a world that is falling apart we need to reaffirm where and what our priorities are. 

 

The third word is “Refreshed”. In the Hebrew language it is, “naphash”. This is the heart of the significance of the Sabbath! The word naphash in the Hebrew means “to be breathed on” . The same God that breathed the breath that sustains our physical life is the same God to breath the breath that sustains our spiritual life. And the only way to receive it is by going to the Sabbath, it was the same as with the tree of life, you have to make the trip, it has to be intentional. You can’t take for granted that because the Sabbath happens every seventh day that you are a participant. The Sabbath is the pursuit of a spiritual connection with God, but if your attitude is “what difference does it make” then your spiritual life will become something that is meaningless

 

In Daniel chapter nine. The angel told Daniel “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy “thing”. The word “anoint” means to acknowledge or make known, the “most holy thing” is not a reference to God but to His representative, the Sabbath.

 

In Daniel chapter ten the angel tells Daniel, “Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.” This will be an intense battle between God’s people and the beast led by the little horn.

 

Revelation 13 says that all the elements that make up the beast is complete and yet another one will rise up in support and he will establish his own sabbath (referred to as an image) and  he will breath life into it. This is satan himself, he will preform incredible miracles and the whole world will embrace this image, it will not be seen with the attitude of “what difference does it make “. It will project immense power and it will establish authority over God’s Sabbath. Those that take their relationship with God lightly will embrace this image. 

 

Understanding the significance of Sabbath is key to understanding the prophecy of Daniel!  

 

The answer to the title of this study “How did we get here” can be summed up in a single word, compromise. Satan has done a masterful job in convincing us that it doesn’t make any difference. It started from the beginning, after creation, and will continue until Michael stands up and say it is done.

 

Ironically Religion is supposed to be giving the final warning but it’s the one that has promoted compromise.