Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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Before the break, Mark, we
were taking a look at Jesus'
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instruction in the scriptures
pointing to his proof of
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messiahship right in the Bible.
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Right, the emphasis of the word.
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The emphasis of the word and the
clear evidence in the word and
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this is reflected in both
the beginning of Luke and the
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beginning of Acts. So before we
dive into that second motivating
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factor, let's go to the
beginning of the book of Luke.
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I just want to point something
out here. We're beginning in
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Luke chapter 1 and verse 1;
it says: Inasmuch as many have
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taken in hand to set in order
a narrative of those things
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which have been fulfilled among
us, just as those who from the
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beginning were eye witnesses and
ministers of the word delivered
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them to us, it seemed good
to me also (Luke is referring to
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himself) having had perfect
understanding of all things from
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the very first, (so he's saying
I've had perfect understanding
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and I know exactly the order
of things) to write to you an
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orderly account, most excellent
Theophilus, that you may know
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the certainty of those things
in which you were instructed.
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So in the beginning of the book
of Luke he makes his point clear
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that he's writing this book
so that Theophilus can have a
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certain factual evidence for
his faith. Then you get to the
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beginning of the book of Acts
and you find something that's
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very similar. Sorry, it took me
a moment here. But in the book
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of Acts in chapter 1 it says
the former account I made (he's
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referring to the book of Luke)
Oh Theophilus, of all that Jesus
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began both to do and teach until
the day in which he was taken up
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after he through the Holy Spirit
had given commandments to the
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apostles whom he had chosen, to
whom he also presented himself
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alive after his suffering
by many infallible proofs.
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Again he points to this
concept of proof or evidence or
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certainty. I like
my margin. It says
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unmistakable proof.
Unmistakable proofs. And I
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believe that Jesus gave the
disciples that confidence to be
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able to write that way. When
at the end of the book of Luke,
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right before his ascension,
he opened to their understanding
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the scriptures and gave them
such a clear conviction of the
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truth of his messiahship that
they were ready and excited to
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share that message with the
world. So now there's a second
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motivating factor there in the
book of Luke and I wonder if you
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could take us through that.
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Sure. So as you mentioned the
first motivating factor is the
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word of God is the foundation
for the proof of their faith,
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for the confidence that they're
to have. The other factor that
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we see, and I want to go back
to Luke again, Luke chapter 24
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and we're going to look at verse
45. One of the things we find,
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Jim, at the end of Luke is that
the last part of Luke, the very
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last verses of Luke,
are actually the experiences
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repeated in Acts chapter
1. So Luke reiterates the same
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picture again. He doesn't word
it exactly the same, but in Luke
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24 verse... of course, verse 45
we looked at him opening their
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understanding and then he says
in verse 46: Thus it is written
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and thus it was necessary for
the Christ to suffer and to rise
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from the dead the third
day (as you just read) and that
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repentance and remission of sin
should be preached in his name
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to all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. Now I can almost
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imaging the apostles thinking
here, wow, preached in all the
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nations. Who's going to do that?
Something we don't necessarily
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pick up on is that these guys,
we don't see them established
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as preachers in the gospels. You
know, even though we see Jesus
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sending them out here and there,
we see a commission being given
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and we see the same commission
in Matthew and Mark, and worded
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in different ways; go preach
the the gospel to all creatures.
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Matthew says, Go ye therefore
and teach all nations. So we see
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this commission. Luke's
recording it this way, Jesus
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says that the repentance,
the remission of sins should be
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preached in his name to all
nations beginning at Jerusalem
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and you are witnesses of
these things. Behold I send the
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promise of my Father upon
you. But tarry in the city of
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Jerusalem until you are
endued with power from on high.
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Now I want to look at that again
in the book of Acts. As I said,
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he repeats the thought and
we see a similarity here in Acts
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chapter 1 right after you were
reading there in verse 3 about
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how he presented himself alive
and gave the infallible proofs.
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In verse 4 of Acts chapter 1 it
says: Being assembled together
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with them, he commanded them not
to depart from Jerusalem but to
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wait for the promise of the
Father. Now we just read that.
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Now why are they waiting for the
promise of the Father? Because
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they have been given a
responsibility and that
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responsibility is to preach the
gospel. We're going to see that
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reiterated here. But I'm going
to say right now before we even
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look at this again that the
second motivating factor of the
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church in the book of Acts
is their, I was going to say
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understanding, but it's not just
their understanding, but their
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embracing of the mission to
preach the gospel to the world.
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Because of them embracing that
mission, and keep in mind this
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is a mission that they knew was
way bigger than they were, but
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they embraced it anyway.
But because they saw it was more
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than they could do it drove them
to their knees pleading with the
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Lord for that promise. And of
course we find as we go through
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the book of Acts the Holy Spirit
poured out in power and then
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we see the church just expanding
all the way through the book of
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Acts but none of it ever
would have happened if these
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disciples of Christ did not
embrace the mission of the great
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commission. So we see it here.
Jesus says wait for the promise
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which you've heard from me,
verse 5, for John truly baptized
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with water but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit
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not many days from now. Now
verse 6 says: Therefore when
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they had come together they
asked him saying, Lord will you
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at this time restore the kingdom
to Israel. And this goes back to
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their misunderstanding of the
role of the Messiah and we see
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that all through the Jewish
nation, even the disciples of
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Jesus, even after he opened
their understanding of the
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scripture. They had a tendency
to think that the Messiah's role
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was to come and establish them
now as a kingdom. But that time
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hadn't come yet and Jesus says
in verse 7: It is not for you to
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know times or seasons which
the Father has put in his own
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authority, but you shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit has
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come upon you and you shall be
witnesses unto me in Jerusalem
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and in all Judea and Samaria and
to the end of the earth. So we
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start in Jerusalem, Judea,
the surrounding area, Samaria,
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further out and we see these
concentric circles rippling
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outward and Jesus says basically
start at home and then preach
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this gospel to the whole
world. So once again we see this
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commission. It's interesting to
me, Jim, that he says it's not
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for you to know times or
seasons. This is the same Jesus
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who in Matthew 16 actually
rebuked the religious leaders
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and said: You hypocrites, you
know how to discern the face of
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the sky but you can't discern
the signs of the times. And what
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he's saying here is Jesus is not
negating the importance of signs
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Matthew 24 we know is one
of the most well-known chapters
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for the signs of his coming. But
the point he's making here is
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don't get so focused on the
signs that you forget the work
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that I've given you to do. Don't
forget the mission. So we see
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that the second motivating
factor here in the early church
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is, and I maybe want to flesh
this out a little bit further,
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it was the passion for souls
that their master had. That love
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for souls drove them forward and
drove them to their knees and
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drove them to preach the gospel
and give the opportunity for the
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world to come to know
Jesus Christ and be saved.
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That's powerful. And both of
those motivating factors were
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basically Jesus instilling them
in the apostles. So before the
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book of Acts could become a
reality Jesus had some important
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business he wanted to take
care of right there at the end.
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How valuable those last moments
after his resurrection but
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before his ascension were with
his disciples where he opened up
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the scriptures, gave them clear
conviction for their faith so
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that they were ready and had the
resources in their heart to go
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and then gave them a clear
mission. I love what you said,
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they embraced the mission. They
accepted the mission. It was
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something that seemed impossible
or seemed beyond their reality
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but because of their growing
faith in Jesus they were willing
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to accept it. Absolutely.
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Well I think about another
aspect of this and that is that
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as Seventh-day Adventists,
we're both Seventh-day Adventist
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ministers and many of
our viewers are Seventh-day
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Adventists, the book of Acts
has a very special significance
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as well. I want to explore this
a little bit by going to the
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last book of the Bible, the
book of Revelation. Let's go to
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Revelation chapter 12.
Revelation chapter 12 and in
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Revelation chapter 12 we see
a symbolic picture of the church
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and the church is described
using the symbol of a woman.
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and in the beginning of chapter
12 it says: Now a great sign
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appeared in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun with the
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moon under her feet and on
her head a garland of 12 stars.
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So this pure woman the Bible
speaks about how we are the
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bride of Christ. The apostle
Paul talks about being presented
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as a chaste virgin to Christ and
so we understand that in Bible
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prophecy a woman represents the
church. So this church that in
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fact is talking about the early
church because later it goes on
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to say that she gives birth to
a male child who will rule all
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nations with a rod of iron which
is talking about Jesus himself.
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So this would be the church
at the time that Jesus came.
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That's right. This is a
transitional moment where we see
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the birth actually of
the New Testament church.
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There you go. And if you follow
the narrative here, the account
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here in the prophecy, something
fascinating happens. I'm going
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take us all the way to the end
of chapter 12 in Revelation and
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it says in verse 17: And
the dragon was enraged with the
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woman. Now if we were to look
at verse 9 in Revelation 12 it
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would tell us that the dragon is
that serpent of old, the devil
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and Satan. And the dragon was
enraged with the church and so
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he went to make war with the
rest of her offspring. Now if
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the woman is the church and
it describes her as existing for
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this period, or being nourished
for this period of a time, times
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and half a time, or 1260 days
and in prophetic time that's
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actually a day which equals
a literal year, so that's 1260
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years. During the whole period
of the middle ages we see the
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picture of the church as the
woman. But then it speaks of the
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woman having offspring and not
only offspring but the rest of
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her offspring. It gives a clear
indication that the rest of her
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offspring would be the last
church, the church at the end
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of time. Well
another reason for the rest
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is because in Revelation 12
it shows the devil trying to
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corrupt and
extinguish the church.
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That's exactly right and these
are the ones who remain. In the
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King James in this verse it
says the remnant of her seed and
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that's an interesting rendering
because remnant is not a word we
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use very often anymore, but we
sometimes refer to a remnant of
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cloth. It's a piece of cloth
that may be the last remaining
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piece of an original bolt
of cloth. It helps give us an
00:12:05.09\00:12:08.86
understanding that the Seventh-
day Adventist Church and the
00:12:08.89\00:12:14.02
church at the end of time should
ultimately be a piece of that
00:12:14.06\00:12:18.05
original, it should look like
that original church. So when
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we're reading the book of Acts
we need to recognize that it
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is a prescription, it's very
helpful to us to know what the
00:12:25.78\00:12:30.01
church today should look like.
It's a model for us. And you
00:12:30.05\00:12:33.45
know when I look I think does
the church look like that today?
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Not totally, when you see
the power in the book of Acts.
00:12:36.89\00:12:40.59
But I'd like to share a
statement in closing that I find
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very encouraging from a book
called the Great Controversy.
00:12:44.63\00:12:48.57
It's a wonderful statement.
It says: Before the final
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visitation of God's judgments
upon the earth there will be a
00:12:52.25\00:12:55.79
revival of primitive godliness
as has not been witnessed since
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apostolic times. There will be
a revival in the church at the
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end of time that hasn't been
seen since the book of Acts.
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That's right. So
we're looking forward to
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seeing that revival in the book
of Acts. But for today we're
00:13:09.02\00:13:12.64
out of time. So thank you for
joining us today for our study
00:13:12.67\00:13:16.27
on Books of the Book. Join
us next time as we continue and
00:13:16.31\00:13:19.87
dive into the book of Acts
00:13:19.91\00:13:21.28