Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000106A
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00:21 Hello, friends, welcome to another Bible study
00:23 here at 3ABN Worship Center. 00:26 Thank you for tuning in, 00:27 thank you for taking the time 00:29 to spend this thoughtful hour with us 00:30 studying the Word of God 00:32 and as you know if you've been following, 00:34 we're continuing on the topic of 00:35 "The Truth About Spiritual Babylon," 00:39 and because you're tuning into 3ABN 00:42 at the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, 00:45 we'd like to welcome you with a hearty amen. 00:46 Can we say amen? Amen. 00:48 And we're here ready to study 00:50 and we hope that your family and friends will get together 00:52 to spend this time with us 00:54 and in just a moment after we have prayer, 00:57 I'll tell you where you can get a copy of the lesson, 01:00 how you can follow along with us. 01:01 But before we do anything else, 01:03 even before our theme song, 01:05 let's begin with the word of prayer. 01:07 Our Heavenly Father, we thank You 01:09 for the opportunity that's presented to us. 01:11 Lord, we know that without You, 01:13 we can do nothing. 01:14 And so, Lord, tonight 01:16 we call on Your precious name. 01:18 We ask You to send Your Holy Spirit 01:20 to come into our hearts, 01:22 and to be our teacher to inspire us 01:24 to not only learn, 01:26 but also to impart to our hearts 01:30 that which we need to know, 01:31 but give us the strength also to live 01:34 by the knowledge that we gain this evening. 01:37 And may it increase our desire to serve You 01:39 and to be ready for Your soon return. 01:41 We pray in Jesus name, amen. 01:45 Now, for a copy of the lesson, 01:46 go to this website, asf.3abn.org, 01:52 it appears on your screen 01:54 and download lesson number 29. 01:57 Now, some of you may say, 01:58 I already did that. 02:00 Well, there was something I had up my sleeve, 02:03 I needed to make some adjustments 02:04 or additions to that. 02:06 So if you downloaded the first page, 02:08 you're fine, 02:10 but go to that website and download both pages 02:13 because there's some additional questions 02:15 I added to the second page 02:17 and you definitely are gonna need that 02:19 to follow us along tonight 02:21 in our study. 02:23 Are you all ready? 02:24 Are you ready? 02:26 Let's sing our theme song together, 02:27 "Victory in Jesus." 02:38 I heard an old, old story 02:42 How the Savior came from glory 02:46 How He gave His life on Calvary 02:49 To save a wretch like me 02:53 I heard about His groaning 02:57 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:01 Then I repented of my sin 03:05 And won the victory 03:08 O victory in Jesus 03:12 My Savior forever 03:16 He sought me and bought me 03:20 With His redeeming blood 03:23 He loved me ere I knew Him 03:27 And all my love is due Him 03:31 He plunged me to victory 03:35 Beneath the cleansing flood 03:39 I heard about a mansion 03:42 He has built for me in glory 03:46 And I heard about the streets of gold 03:50 Beyond the crystal sea 03:54 About the angels singing 03:57 And the old redemption story 04:01 And some sweet day I'll sing up there 04:05 The song of victory 04:08 Key change. 04:09 O victory in Jesus 04:12 My Savior forever 04:16 He sought me and bought me 04:20 With His redeeming blood 04:24 He loved me ere I knew Him 04:28 And all my love is due Him 04:31 He plunged me to victory 04:35 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:39 He plunged me to victory 04:43 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:49 Amen. 04:51 Wow, I'm glad I'm getting over my cold, 04:54 it's still kind of trying to hang on. 04:56 The spring has sprung, 04:58 and included in that are allergies and pollens 05:01 and all those other things. 05:03 But regardless of your health tonight, 05:05 if you have your Bibles and your ears 05:07 and eyes are working, 05:08 we praise the Lord for that. 05:10 Amen to that? 05:11 And so tonight 05:12 we're gonna continue in our study. 05:14 If you're just joining us 05:15 after our theme song, 05:17 you want to go to ASF, 05:19 this is the web address, asf.3abn.org 05:24 and download lesson number 29, 05:27 "The Truth about Spiritual Babylon." 05:31 You know, I noticed something 05:32 as I was preparing for the lesson. 05:34 This happened last time 05:36 I talked about Spiritual Babylon. 05:37 This happened again today. 05:39 Every time I'm studying 05:41 or preparing for the lesson 05:44 to present, something goes wrong. 05:48 But the Lord always brings me through, 05:50 what do you say? 05:51 Amen. 05:53 And so even though sometimes 05:54 I'm running up to the last second 05:56 to get ready, 05:57 I don't need to tell you this, 05:59 but let me just go ahead and say 06:00 just for the fun of it. 06:02 Just minutes before we went on air, 06:04 I realized 06:06 I didn't have my right contact lenses in. 06:09 And I had to go home 06:10 with just 10 minutes before the broadcast began, 06:13 drive home with somebody else's car, 06:15 change my contact lenses, 06:17 and run back here and get ready. 06:20 Then I realized 06:21 the batteries in my remote were dead 06:23 and I grabbed new batteries and put that in. 06:26 And then I realized I misnumbered 06:29 some of the questions on the lesson. 06:31 And I thought, well, they'll make it. 06:33 And then I realize 06:34 slide number six was missing 06:36 and I had to drop it in there real quickly. 06:39 But the Lord is still our victory, 06:40 what do you say? 06:42 All those things have been corrected. 06:43 So tonight we are ready 06:45 to go ahead and lay some more coal 06:47 on the devil's head. 06:49 Now, I'd like you to open your Bibles 06:50 to Revelation 18 with me very quickly, 06:53 and I wanna springboard. 06:55 I wasn't sure if I covered lesson, 06:58 question number five 06:59 but where we don't have that on the screen tonight. 07:01 So I'm just gonna and use question number five 07:03 to lay some foundation. 07:05 And question number five takes us to Revelation 18. 07:09 Now, don't look for that to come up on the screen, 07:11 it's not there. 07:12 But I wanna go ahead 07:14 and lay the foundation by... 07:16 First of all pointing to Revelation Chapter 18 07:21 and I wanna look at verse 2, 3, 4 and 5. 07:26 Now, one of the reasons why this lesson 07:29 is so vital important. 07:31 Let's go ahead and look at verse 2, 3, 4 and 5 07:34 in Revelation Chapter 18. 07:38 Revelation Chapter 18, begins in verse 2. 07:41 Well, let's go ahead and start with verse 1 07:43 because that's important. 07:45 "After these things I saw another," what? 07:50 "Angel coming down from heaven, 07:54 having great authority, 07:55 and the earth was illuminated 07:58 or lighted with His glory." 08:00 So what happens now what you wanna notice is, 08:03 there's a bright, bright, bright, bright light 08:06 coming on all around the world, 08:08 which means up until this point, 08:11 there was light, but at this point, 08:13 it gets brighter and brighter, 08:15 it covers the entire earth. 08:17 And I like in the way 08:19 that my good friend, Marvin Moore. 08:23 Some of you know him. 08:24 He's the editor of Pacific Press magazine. 08:27 If you don't know his name, it's not very important. 08:29 But he talked about how God has established His church 08:33 around the world, 08:34 like lights on a Christmas tree. 08:36 And I like that analogy because what it says 08:38 is every year in America, 08:40 whenever the Christmas season is coming, 08:43 there's a tradition 08:44 at Radio City down in Rockefeller Center 08:47 and also in Washington DC, 08:50 and does anybody know what those two traditions are? 08:53 What is it? 08:54 The lighting of the Christmas tree. 08:56 Now, we never... 08:57 They always tell us, "Well, there are thousands of lights." 09:00 But you don't really get the impression 09:02 until they plug it in that there are thousands of lights. 09:05 Until they plug it in, 09:06 it's just a spruce tree or evergreen tree, 09:09 it just looks like a big old tree. 09:11 But when they plug the lights in, 09:13 what the people usually do? 09:14 They go what kind of expression, 09:16 they go, "Ah, wow!" 09:20 And the eyes of the children are just pinned 09:23 to the blinking colors of this tree. 09:26 And it's just seemed to capture 09:28 the minds of Americans all from coast to coast north 09:31 to south, east to west. 09:33 When people go to Radio City Music Hall district, 09:35 the tree, you see the tree, 09:37 it's the central focus. 09:39 Not just because of the tree, 09:40 but because of what? 09:41 The lights that are on the tree. 09:44 And so something is happening at this particular point 09:46 that God decides, 09:48 this is the hour to light the whole world up 09:52 with something that they up until this point 09:55 have not experienced. 09:56 So He sends an angel. 09:58 And specifically in this context, 10:00 this is not a literal angel with a flashlight. 10:03 But the word angel here means messenger. 10:06 The Lord chooses this particular time 10:08 to make this message resonate all over the world, 10:12 and lights begin to come on in every country. 10:15 Lights begin to come on in every denomination, 10:17 lights begin to come on in the minds 10:19 of those that were wondering, 10:20 "What does this mean?" 10:22 And all of a sudden, now I know what it means. 10:25 Lights begin to come on in every church. 10:28 Lights begin to come on in every political hall. 10:31 The Lord says, 10:32 "At this moment the earth will know." 10:35 And let me go ahead and tell you 10:36 how the earth is gonna be lighted up. 10:38 Go with me very quickly to Isaiah. 10:40 Isaiah Chapter 60, then we'll come back here. 10:43 How is the earth gonna be lighted up? 10:46 And what is going to be the result of that? 10:49 Because I mentioned to you a moment ago, 10:50 it's not literal angels but its messengers. 10:53 And the question is, 10:56 who will the messengers be? 10:58 All right? 10:59 Isaiah Chapter 60. 11:01 I'm going there now. 11:02 I'm almost there. 11:04 All right? 11:05 Here we are. 11:06 I'm there. 11:08 Okay. All right. 11:09 Beautiful text. 11:11 It fits perfectly into the setting 11:12 of what we just talked about in Revelation 18:1, 11:17 here it is. 11:18 Let's say the two words together, 11:20 ready? 11:21 "Arise," and what else? 11:22 "Shine." 11:24 That's what happens when the lights come on, 11:25 they start to shine. 11:27 "For your light has come!" 11:31 Remember Revelation 18 says, 11:32 the earth shall be lightened with the glory of God. 11:35 Here it is, 11:36 here's how it's gonna happen. 11:38 "Arise, shine for your light has come! 11:40 And the glory 11:42 of the Lord is risen," where? 11:44 "Upon you." 11:45 In other words, God is gonna let the glory be seen on us. 11:49 He's gonna light His church up. 11:51 Let me go back to the analogy that Marvin Moore used. 11:55 He says, "You will never know 11:58 how many messengers 12:01 God has around the world. 12:03 You'll never know 12:05 where God has established His people 12:06 that will proclaim the truth 12:08 at that hour, until God plugs the power in." 12:12 Amen? 12:13 The day of Pentecost, 12:15 the world did not know 12:18 what was gonna take place that day 12:19 until the disciples 12:21 and those who prayed in the upper room 12:23 got plugged into the power. 12:25 He said, "Wait until the day of Pentecost." 12:28 And the Holy Spirit fell. 12:29 And there was cloven tongues as of fire, 12:32 the Lord lit them up. 12:33 And now here's the good news. 12:35 If you think the day of Pentecost 12:36 was something that just happened in Jerusalem, 12:39 this is gonna happen where? 12:40 In the entire world. 12:42 The earth is gonna be lighted. 12:43 And then who is gonna be 12:45 the ones illuminating this light. 12:47 It says you. But let's keep going. 12:49 "For behold..." 12:50 Here's the hour that is gonna happen. 12:53 "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth." 12:56 Now first of all, that's physical darkness, 12:59 there's something that's gonna happen 13:00 that there's gonna be a physical darkness 13:02 surrounding this earth. 13:03 But secondly, 13:05 there's a second type of darkness. 13:06 "Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth 13:09 and deep darkness, the people." 13:11 The people are gonna be in dark. 13:13 So those who are in dark up until this point... 13:17 And let me ask another, I gotta, I gotta plug this in. 13:20 This is just very potent. 13:23 When does a Christmas tree look best, 13:26 in the daytime or at night? 13:28 At night. 13:29 They don't say, 13:31 "Hey, we're gonna plug the tree in at noon." 13:33 They wait till... 13:34 Even a firework show, 13:36 they wait till it gets really, really, really dark. 13:38 Even though they set the time 13:39 they wait till the sun completely disappears, 13:42 and begins the firework show 13:43 because it's at the darkness of the night 13:46 that the light is appreciated. 13:47 It's at the darkness of the night 13:49 that the light really makes an impact. 13:51 And so when the earth is at its darkest place, 13:54 physically and spiritually, 13:57 God is gonna turn the light on. 14:00 And what's gonna 'cause the world 14:01 to pay attention is the physical darkness 14:04 that proceeded their spiritual darkness. 14:10 Now get this, up until that point, 14:12 many people that love the Lord, 14:13 many people that don't even know 14:15 about the message will be in darkness. 14:17 But God is gonna plug the power in. 14:19 And what do you think the power is? 14:21 Somebody tell me. 14:23 The Holy Spirit. 14:24 The very next chapter, 14:26 Jesus made it clear, 14:27 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." 14:29 So He proceeds it in Isaiah Chapter 60 14:31 by talking about the impact on His people. 14:33 What's gonna happen when the Lord does that? 14:35 Let's look at verse 2 again. 14:37 I'll finish verse 2, 14:38 "For behold, the darkness 14:40 shall cover the earth, 14:41 and deep darkness the people, 14:42 but the Lord will rise over," who? 14:45 "You, and His glory will be seen upon," who? 14:48 "You." 14:49 God is not gonna just send some arbitrary person, 14:52 but God is going to turn the power on 14:54 in His people, 14:56 as He did on the day of Pentecost. 14:58 He's gonna turn the light 14:59 on in the lives of His servants. 15:01 And we'll talk about what servant's lives 15:04 and how those lives qualify for the light to come on. 15:07 And what's gonna be the end result of that. 15:09 This is beautiful. 15:10 Verse 3, 15:12 "The Gentiles shall come to your," what? 15:16 "Light, and the kings 15:19 to the brightness of your," what? 15:22 "Of your rising." 15:24 When the Lord turns the light on... 15:26 Now, why the word Gentile? 15:29 A Gentile in the Bible is one who doesn't know the Lord. 15:33 At that moment, they're gonna be people 15:35 all over the world, 15:37 they're gonna gravitate to the light. 15:39 They're gonna come out of darkness 15:40 into this what? 15:41 Marvelous light. 15:43 It's gonna be marvelous 15:45 because it's gonna be illuminated 15:46 by the power of God. 15:48 And if you think the day of Pentecost, 15:49 I repeat myself was something, 15:51 you wait till God turns the light on 15:52 all over the world. 15:54 Now go back with me to Revelation Chapter 18. 15:57 Revelation Chapter 18. 15:58 I'm going now 16:00 and it said Gentiles, 16:01 and then it also says, 16:02 "And the kings shall come to the brightness 16:05 of your rising." 16:07 This is so significant. 16:08 The word kings is so significant 16:10 in the study of the topic about Spiritual Babylon 16:13 because when we lay the foundation 16:15 in Revelation 17, 16:16 we discovered that the kings have formed a coalition 16:23 with the Babylonian harlot. 16:25 The kings have been affected by the wine 16:29 that the Babylonian harlot 16:30 has been sharing to everybody on the earth. 16:33 The kings of the earth 16:35 have committed fornication with her, 16:37 the kings... 16:39 The good news is, 16:40 there are some kings 16:42 that had accepted the lie of Babylon 16:44 that will one day 16:45 accept the light of God's glory, amen? 16:48 So not everybody is gonna fall for it 16:50 all the time. 16:51 There's some people that are in darkness now, 16:53 but when the Lord turns the light on, 16:55 how glorious is that light gonna be? 16:58 The beauty of that is, 16:59 I don't wanna settle in my heart that, 17:00 "Hey, I'm the only one." 17:02 Or that, "Hey, we're locked in." 17:03 But there are those the call 17:05 that God has placed on our lives 17:07 is to allow our light to shine 17:08 so that others who are in darkness 17:11 may come out of that darkness 17:12 into this marvelous light. 17:14 But there's an hour coming. 17:15 Look at the next verse in Revelation 18. 17:18 We're gonna go to verse 2. 17:21 "And he cried mightily," 17:23 the message now that's gonna be proclaimed 17:25 at that time. 17:26 "He cried mightily with a loud voice saying," 17:28 let's read this together, what? 17:30 "Babylon the great is," what? 17:32 "Is fallen, is fallen, 17:34 and has become a habitation of demons, 17:38 a prison for every foul spirit, 17:42 and a cage for every unclean 17:44 and hated bird!" 17:46 I got to make some comment right there. 17:47 If you see the stuff that's happening 17:48 in some churches today, it's insane. 17:51 I mean, periodically, some people send me pictures 17:55 or link me to videos on YouTube, on websites, 17:58 there are churches that are just partying 18:00 harder than clubs. 18:02 You can go to some churches nowadays 18:05 that will be so far advanced beyond clubs. 18:08 The kind of dancing and stuff that's going on in there, 18:14 I don't wanna be too graphic. 18:16 But there are places 18:18 that have such an absence of truth 18:20 that they've gotta substitute it with something. 18:23 So you know what they substituted with? 18:24 Emotion, they get the people riled up, 18:28 fired up so they think 18:30 that they have a spiritual feeling, 18:32 when in fact, it's nothing but a substitute 18:35 for the darkness 18:37 that really has grasped their minds. 18:39 But God is saying even among them, 18:42 He's gonna call them out 18:43 because we're gonna continue to read. 18:45 But the Bible is in essence saying, 18:46 there's a reason why God wants to turn the light on, 18:49 because He wants His people to come out of the places 18:51 that are affected by demons, 18:53 by foul spirits, and unclean and hated birds. 18:56 Now you wonder why he says unclean 18:57 and hated birds. 18:59 Unclean and hated birds are scavengers. 19:03 And scavengers eat dead things. 19:05 The scavengers are feeding there 19:07 because they find dead things there. 19:10 That's why he says that. 19:11 The scavengers are going there 19:13 because the things that are there are dead. 19:16 That's why the scavengers are described. 19:18 Look at verse 3. 19:20 How wide is the impact of Babylon? 19:24 Together. 19:25 "For all the nations have drunk of the wine 19:29 of the wrath of her fornication." 19:31 And here's the good news. 19:33 But the kings, 19:34 not all the kings gonna stay in darkness. 19:35 It says, "The kings of the earth 19:37 have committed fornication with her, 19:39 and the merchants of the earth had become rich 19:42 through the abundance of her luxury." 19:45 That means she's been selling goods 19:48 that are not really from God's Word. 19:49 That's simply what that means. 19:51 She's been selling things that seemed like, "Whoa! 19:53 What a powerful message? 19:55 What a wonderful doctrine?" 19:56 But when you trace it back, 19:57 that doctrine has no foundation in God's Word. 20:00 And there are many doctrines existing today 20:02 that has no foundation in God's Word. 20:04 But when you listen to television, 20:06 they will be preached like they come 20:07 from the throne of God. 20:09 Like the rapture has no foundation 20:11 in God's Word. 20:13 Dying and going right to heaven, 20:14 no foundation in God's Word. 20:17 But almost every funeral 20:19 that happens on television, 20:21 every church I've gone to, 20:23 with the exception of maybe a percentage, 20:26 a small percentage. 20:27 You hear they're in heaven now, 20:28 they're looking down, 20:30 and then on the heels of that, 20:31 the doctrine that they're burning 20:33 in hell forever. 20:34 Sounds like a doctrine from the Bible, 20:36 but it's not from God's throne. 20:38 And the list goes on and on and on. 20:41 But that's what's being proclaimed today 20:42 from the pulpits 20:44 that represent Babylon's habitation. 20:47 Let's go on further. 20:48 What does God say about this? 20:50 And this is the good news 20:51 for those in Babylon, verse 4. 20:53 Let's read this together. 20:55 And the Bible says, 20:56 "And I heard another voice from heaven saying," what? 21:00 "'Come out of her," who? 21:01 "My people, 21:03 lest you share in her sins, 21:06 and lest you receive of her," what? 21:08 "Plagues.'" 21:09 Verse 5, "For her sins have reached into heaven, 21:11 and God has remembered her iniquities." 21:14 You know, when you look at the language, 21:17 it says, "Her sins have reached on to heaven." 21:21 Why did God come down 21:22 and destroy the Tower of Babel? 21:25 Because it reached into the, what? 21:28 Heavens. 21:29 They built it so tall, 21:31 they thought that if the next flood came, 21:33 that they would escape it 21:34 because they built it up to the heavens. 21:37 We don't really have any reference 21:38 to how tall it was, 21:39 there were no pictures taken of it, 21:41 there is no architectural drawings of it, 21:43 there is no reference to how tall it was. 21:45 But when Genesis says 21:47 it reached unto the heavens, 21:49 it must have been tall. 21:51 And these were people that were great stature, 21:53 much larger in size than we are today. 21:56 So it must have reached great into the heavens, 21:58 and you only have the pyramids as a reference, 22:01 and some of the Mayan ruins as a reference. 22:03 You climb the steps of some of the Mayan ruins, 22:05 you better go down on your knees 22:07 to come down because it's just so nosebleed high. 22:11 But that's why the same language is used here 22:13 because it's comparing to the Babylon of Genesis, 22:16 the Tower of Babel, 22:18 the beginning of Babylon. 22:19 That tower is brought down 22:21 and Spiritual Babylon is also gonna find its end 22:24 and God is gonna bring it down. 22:26 Amen just somebody? 22:27 Now, let's go to question number six. 22:30 When you get it, 22:31 go ahead and give some example here, 22:32 so the reason why God calls His people out of Babylon 22:35 is because it is everything 22:37 that God does not want His people 22:39 to be affected by. 22:40 Spiritual Babylon represents false doctrines, 22:44 false precepts, false concepts. 22:48 But the only good thing about Babylon 22:50 is God's people are in there. 22:53 And He wants them out. 22:54 Amen? Amen. 22:56 Oh, that's a very insipid weak amen. 22:59 If your family was in the fire 23:00 and the fire department showed up, 23:01 wouldn't you want your family out, amen? 23:04 So God is sending a fire department, 23:06 in the persons of His Holy Spirit, 23:09 in the persons of saints 23:11 that are waiting for that great hour 23:12 to proclaim to the world 23:14 a message that will rescue people 23:16 from a system that will not be reformed. 23:20 Babylon cannot be reformed. 23:21 Babylon cannot be fixed. 23:23 It's messed up. 23:25 God didn't come down 23:26 to fix the Tower of Babel. 23:28 God came down to destroy it. 23:29 In the very same way, 23:31 God's not coming down to fix Spiritual Babylon. 23:33 He says, "Been around too long, 23:35 the entire world has been affected by, 23:37 there's nothing good in it, I gotta get rid of it. 23:39 But after I get My people out." 23:41 Praise the Lord to that. 23:42 So when you see people in other denominations, 23:44 don't write them off. 23:45 Don't think that you're better than they are. 23:48 Don't think that, "I know this and they don't." 23:52 Because the Lord reveals something to me 23:53 in John 10:16. 23:54 Now you know the text. 23:57 "Other sheep I have, which are not of," what? 23:59 "This fold, them also I must bring, 24:02 and they will hear My voice. 24:04 There'll be one fold and one shepherd." 24:08 Now here's the application 24:10 that the Lord recently gave me on that one. 24:13 And I must say that 24:14 because I never thought about it this way before. 24:17 Other sheep I have that are not of this fold, 24:20 which means He has some sheep 24:21 that are in the correct fold. 24:23 Let me use example. 24:25 He had Judas. 24:28 Judas followed Jesus, 24:29 he was in the right fold, 24:31 but Judas was in the wrong relationship. 24:34 So there are those in the right location 24:37 in the wrong relationship. 24:40 But there are some 24:41 who are in the right relationship, 24:44 but in the wrong location. 24:47 And the Lord is saying, "They're in Babylon, 24:49 and I love them, and they love me, 24:50 I gotta get them out, 24:52 before I destroy that whole system." 24:54 So God's got a message 24:55 that is for every nation, every kindred, 24:58 that's why this message is so vitally important. 25:00 It's for everyone to hear about it. 25:02 But you cannot proclaim a message 25:04 to come out of Babylon 25:05 unless you know to whom to proclaim it 25:08 and what Babylon is. 25:10 Go to question number six, 25:11 our first question on the screen tonight. 25:13 Here it is. Question number six. 25:16 And here it is. 25:17 With what description 25:19 does the Bible describe the rise of Babylon? 25:23 With what description 25:25 does the Bible describe the rise of Babylon? 25:30 I just made reference to it, 25:31 but it's good now to go ahead and see it in Genesis. 25:34 Let's go back to the beginning. 25:36 You know, in Genesis most of the teachings 25:38 that are proliferated 25:40 and solidify throughout the Bible, 25:43 have their inception, 25:44 their roots in the Book of Genesis. 25:47 Genesis 11:9. 25:51 Let's go ahead and look at Genesis 11:9. 25:55 And I gotta go to verse 5, 26:00 'cause you wanna get the context. 26:01 Well, verse 4. 26:06 I'll tell you the context, 26:08 they did not trust God 26:09 after the flood, 26:11 this is on the other side of the flood. 26:14 They said, and by the way, 26:17 this is amazing. 26:19 This is a powerful concept. 26:24 The system of false doctrines exist 26:29 not because people necessarily 26:32 want to produce false doctrines, 26:36 but for the same reason the Tower of Babel was built, 26:39 they don't trust. 26:42 They don't trust God. 26:45 If you think about that, 26:46 this whole system was built on a lack of trust. 26:49 Well, just in case, God decides to send another... 26:53 We can't trust His word, 26:55 so we have to establish our own word. 26:58 Because if God's word were accepted, 27:01 as He proclaimed it, 27:03 "I will never destroy the world by flood again." 27:06 They would have no need to build a Tower of Babel. 27:09 The Tower of Babel was built 27:13 for the same reason as Spiritual Babylon is built. 27:15 And that is, they didn't trust His Word. 27:21 Salvation by works. 27:22 They said, "Just in case, 27:24 we can't trust what God said, 27:26 we need to build our own system." 27:28 Look at the verses. 27:30 So verse 4, Genesis 11. 27:33 And we'll bring the answer up in just a moment 27:34 when we get on to verse 9. 27:36 "And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, 27:40 and a tower, whose top is in the," where? 27:44 Talk to me, it's in the where? 27:46 "Heavens.'" 27:48 That's why Revelation 18 says, 27:49 "Her sins have reached unto heaven." 27:52 He said, "Let's build a tower whose top is in the heavens, 27:55 let us make a name for ourselves." 27:58 Whoo! That's huge. 28:00 Isaiah 4, 28:02 "Only let us be called by your name." 28:05 Ain't that powerful? 28:07 It's all popping out, it's just coming out. 28:09 Let's make a name for ourselves. 28:11 We don't really want the name 28:13 that you've given to us. 28:14 Let's make a name for ourselves. 28:16 Let's establish our own fame. 28:17 And Babylon is a famous city. 28:20 Babylon in the spiritual sense is famous, 28:22 in the spiritual sense. 28:23 He goes on to say, 28:25 Genesis goes on to say, down in verse 4, 28:30 "Let us make a name for ourselves, 28:33 lest we scatter abroad over the face 28:36 of the whole earth." 28:38 I like verse 5. 28:40 "But the Lord came down to see the city 28:43 and the tower 28:44 which the sons of men had built." 28:46 There's another thing 28:47 for the application of Babylon 28:50 is not what God built, but who built it. 28:53 Talk to me, who built it? 28:55 Man built it. 28:56 The sons of men built it. 28:58 God built His church on this rock, 29:01 I build my church, 29:04 but men built Babylon. 29:06 Notice the comparison again, 29:08 going to verse 6. 29:11 "And the Lord said, 'Indeed, 29:13 the people are one. 29:15 And they all have one language. 29:18 And this is what they begin to do. 29:22 Now nothing that they propose to do 29:26 will be withheld from them.'" 29:27 Now, I want you guys to circle that verse 29:29 because I'm gonna show you, 29:30 circle that verse 29:32 because I'm gonna show you in Revelation, 29:33 that just before Babylon comes to its end, 29:35 there's gonna be a unification one more time, 29:39 there's gonna be a oneness 29:40 that's gonna happen in Spiritual Babylon. 29:42 There's gonna be a coalition. 29:44 There was a coalition again, 29:45 they were one, they had one language, 29:48 and they had their minds 29:50 fixed to accomplish their purpose. 29:52 But now let's work our way down to the verse 29:54 that we have the answer for. 29:55 So they said in verse 7, 29:57 for God said, "Come, let us go down 29:59 and confuse their languages 30:02 that they may not understand one another speech." 30:05 Today, this is huge. 30:08 If you go to Babylon, you cannot. 30:09 If you know the Bible, 30:10 and you go to Babylon and you can understand 30:12 what they're saying. 30:13 Amen? Why? 30:15 Because another sign of Babylon is a confusion of tongues. 30:19 Today, this false speaking in tongues, 30:22 it's not of the Bible, 30:23 it's Glossolalia. 30:24 That's the Greek word Glossolalia, 30:27 mean the confusion of tongues, 30:30 not languages, as the Bible speaks of tongues. 30:35 But let's keep going. 30:36 Verse 8, 30:38 "So the Lord scattered them abroad, 30:40 from there over the face of," 30:42 how much of the earth? 30:43 "All the earth, 30:45 and they ceased building their city." 30:48 Therefore, here's the answer to number 6. 30:52 "Therefore, its name is called," what? 30:55 Write it down. 30:56 "Babel, because there the Lord confused 30:59 the language of all the earth, 31:02 and from there the Lord scattered them abroad 31:04 over the face of," 31:06 how much of the earth? 31:07 "All the earth." 31:08 So here it is, 31:10 with what description does the Bible 31:11 describe the rise of Babylon? 31:13 What is it called? 31:15 What answer would you put? 31:18 Babel or Babel, there's another word, 31:21 it's better to say Babel. 31:22 Because when a baby's first born, 31:23 what do they do? 31:27 You don't know what they're saying. 31:28 Matter of fact, somebody once said, 31:29 you should record it and ask them later. 31:31 "What did you mean by that?" 31:35 They don't know what they're saying. 31:36 In the very same way, 31:37 when you listen to things nowadays, 31:39 when you begin to compare 31:40 what some people teach by the Word, 31:42 it's babble. 31:43 It has no foundation in Scripture. 31:45 But let's go to the second definition. 31:47 So with what description does the Bible 31:49 describe the rise of Babylon? 31:51 Babble, confusion, you wanna write that down? 31:54 Confusion, babble. 31:57 And then also the act of man, 32:01 not the trust in God. 32:02 But just write down babble and confusion. 32:05 Now let's go to Daniel Chapter 4. 32:08 Daniel Chapter 4. 32:10 And here we are, Ezekiel, 32:14 right after Ezekiel find Daniel. 32:16 All right? 32:19 Daniel Chapter 4. 32:24 Okay, here's the next description 32:25 the Bible gives about Babylon. 32:28 And this was the literal city of Babylon 32:31 built by king named Nebuchadnezzar. 32:37 All right, we're gonna look at verse 30. 32:39 The proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar 32:41 at the rise of, 32:43 at the highest point of his pride, all right? 32:46 There's so much you can say about pride. 32:47 But truly, 32:48 he is the epitome of it because just as he said this, 32:51 his fall came right after that. 32:53 Here we are. 32:54 Look at verse 30. 32:55 Are you ready? 32:57 "The king spoke saying 'Is not this," 33:00 say the next two words. 33:02 "Great Babylon, that I have built.'" 33:07 There it is again. 33:08 "Babylon of old that I had built 33:10 for a royal dwelling by my mighty power 33:14 and for the honor of my majesty?" 33:19 Babylon was not built for God's honor, 33:22 Babylon was not built for God's majesty. 33:26 Therefore, the second description 33:27 we get for Babylon is this great Babylon. 33:33 It's a great city. It's a great city. 33:36 Matter of fact, if you look at the writings of antiquity, 33:39 Babylon is the greatest city that was ever built. 33:42 The most glorious city, 33:44 gold encompass much of the building 33:47 of the city of Babylon 33:49 because at that time, 33:51 gold and diamonds were just as free as grass. 33:54 They were so accessible 33:56 during that time in human history. 33:57 God has pretty much 33:59 taken care of that for us today. 34:02 Much of that was lost and buried in the flood, 34:05 but still post flood still many of these elements 34:08 were accessible. 34:11 Okay, about Babylon. 34:13 So lot of these the building 34:15 or the excavation of where Babylon used to be, 34:18 they're discovering how greater city it really was. 34:20 Babylon is great city. 34:21 You wanna write that down. 34:23 The second description 34:24 that the Bible gives about Babylon, 34:25 great, great Babylon. 34:28 And the third one, Jeremiah 51. 34:30 Let's go to Jeremiah. 34:32 Right before Ezekiel you find Jeremiah, 34:34 go two books back, 34:36 Daniel, then go back, Ezekiel, 34:38 then go back, Jeremiah. 34:40 All right? 34:41 Jeremiah 51:47. 34:45 All right? 34:47 Wow! 34:49 The third description, Jeremiah 51:47. 34:55 Here it is. 34:58 "Therefore, behold, 35:00 the days are coming that I will bring," 35:02 what? 35:04 "Judgment on the carved images of Babylon, 35:08 her whole land shall be," what? 35:11 "Ashamed, and all her slain, shall fall in her midst." 35:17 The third description the Bible gives about Babylon, 35:20 it's a place of carved images, 35:25 carved images, 35:28 and Babylon also mean judge. 35:32 So the judgment that will come upon Babylon 35:34 is because she has established 35:36 and align herself against the powers of God, 35:39 she will be judged. 35:41 Three things we get, 35:43 one, the place of babble or confusion. 35:46 Secondly, a great city. 35:48 And thirdly, a place of carved images, 35:52 which is false worship. 35:54 Images were established 35:55 for the purpose of false worship. 35:57 Now, a lot of people today will say, 35:59 "Well, we don't worship images." 36:02 Call it what you may, 36:03 when you call on things that have eyes but can't see, 36:06 and ears that can't hear, and hands that can touch, 36:09 when you trust in these images for your protection. 36:12 And they don't even... 36:13 They were made in the factory somewhere. 36:16 They were produced on an assembly line I saw, 36:20 once again, you know, 36:22 Facebook and YouTube are just replete with this, 36:24 somebody put a video on YouTube where in a church service, 36:28 they were walking down the aisle 36:29 and they had this huge, huge tall statue on a view, 36:32 I wanna be respectful of people that are where they are. 36:36 Huge, tall statue, 36:38 and four men were carrying it on a platform 36:40 hoisted on their shoulders. 36:42 And as they got toward the front, 36:43 one of the men kind of stumbled some 36:45 and this tall, lifelike, larger than human statue fell 36:50 and broke in front of the church. 36:52 And the shock, 36:54 and the response of the people were overwhelming 36:56 it was like, "Whoa." 36:59 And they were kind of reaching like to say, "Oh." 37:01 And I was saying to myself, "God is not dead." 37:04 Amen somebody? 37:06 God is not dead. 37:08 Just order you another one, if you needed that badly, 37:10 but God is still on His throne. 37:11 And God is not a cynical God. 37:15 But if you read in the Bible Dagon, 37:16 remember Dagon, when the ark was stolen, 37:21 and they refused to return the ark, 37:23 and every day you go to God, Dagon. 37:25 Today, his hands are cut off, then his head is cut off, 37:29 then he's pushed over, and his feet are cut off. 37:31 God does not give any allegiance, or loyalty, 37:35 or recognition to things that are made by man's hands, 37:39 carved images. 37:41 That's the third description. 37:42 Let's go to number seven. 37:44 We're gonna move right along. 37:46 We're gonna move right along, number seven. 37:48 And we might be able to get to number 16 37:50 if we move at the speed of light, 37:53 but probably not tonight, but let's keep going. 37:56 Number seven, here it is. 37:58 What does the Bible describe 38:00 as the territory of the woman's power? 38:08 That is the woman of Revelation Chapter 17. 38:10 Let's go to Revelation Chapter 17. 38:14 We read her description last week, 38:16 she is sitting on a scarlet colored beast. 38:20 But how wide and how broad is her influence? 38:23 We talked about that the kings of the earth 38:25 and the whole world. 38:27 But where is her support system found? 38:30 Here it is, Revelation 17:15. 38:33 Here's what the Bible says. 38:38 Okay, let me go on. Yeah, here it is. 38:40 "Then he said to me, 'The waters, which you saw, 38:46 where the harlot sits, 38:48 are peoples, multitudes, nations," 38:52 and what else? 38:54 "Tongues." 38:55 That means all of humanity, peoples, multitudes, nations, 39:00 and every language, tongues. 39:04 So this system of Babylon, its influence is far and wide. 39:10 And right now, I'm trying to contain myself. 39:16 Right now, it's getting the support of people, 39:20 multitudes, nations, and tongues, 39:23 meaning if it has a support of nations, 39:26 it has the support of the nation's leaders. 39:29 Am I right? 39:30 If it has the support of people, 39:32 its influence is so powerful that the people of nations, 39:36 regardless of their language is supporting this system. 39:42 But the very people 39:43 that are supporting this system, 39:45 as we go further in our study, 39:47 and I don't think we gonna get to this tonight. 39:49 As we get further in our study, 39:50 you're gonna see the very people that support 39:53 the system right now will one day stand back 39:55 and watch it burn. 39:58 That's why the Lord is saying before this happens. 40:00 And this is such a sincere message, 40:02 I praise God for His longing, 40:04 His love, and desire to save people. 40:07 Because sometimes we can say, "You wanna stay there?" 40:10 Fine. 40:11 But Lord is saying, "No, no, 40:12 I'm not willing that any should perish, 40:15 but that all should come to repentance." 40:18 So don't give up 40:20 because the final call is gonna be made at a time 40:24 when everything 40:26 that seemed to be credible to that point, 40:29 will immediately lose its credibility. 40:32 And God is gonna turn the light on. 40:34 When you turn the light on, you can see anything. 40:36 I have this flashlight, that 700 lumen, that's bright. 40:42 You can't look into that light, it's huge, bright. 40:45 God is gonna turn the whole world. 40:48 Few nights ago, matter of fact, 40:49 I think it was either last Wednesday 40:51 or Sabbath evening, 40:54 when we had a lightning storm, we went outside. 40:58 And it just took one great big flash, 41:01 Marlene, to get us to run back in the building 41:04 because it lit up the sky for about two seconds. 41:07 And it was so bright, 41:08 it looked like we were back at noon. 41:11 The whole place was lighted up. 41:12 Now I'm thinking, I'm thinking to myself, 41:14 when the world is completely dark, 41:16 and God lights up the world with His glory. 41:19 It's not gonna just pierce the physical darkness, 41:24 but the spiritual darkness is gonna fall, 41:26 and be seen for what it really is 41:29 when God illuminates the world with the power of the gospel. 41:32 Amen? 41:33 That's the beauty of the message. 41:34 So write the answer down. 41:36 What does the Bible describe 41:37 as the territory of the woman's power? 41:39 Write it down, peoples, multitudes, 41:41 nations, and tongues. 41:43 The entire world is involved in this support system. 41:48 And you know what? 41:49 Right now, it seems hard to go against that. 41:51 If you would go outside today, 41:52 and I've tried this as a pastor now 28 years, going on 29. 41:57 Some pastors preach the truth with their hearts, 42:00 with all those strength they can muster up, 42:02 you know what kind of reaction you get, 42:04 yeah, whatever. 42:07 If it's, if that's what you want that's fine, 42:08 this is what I want. 42:10 But the day is gonna come when people are gonna realize 42:12 that the thing that they believe 42:14 has let them down. 42:16 And they're gonna see the glory and the beauty of the message 42:18 that God has been storing up for that particular hour, 42:21 just like the day of Pentecost. 42:22 How many were baptized on the day of Pentecost? 42:25 Three thousand. 42:27 Just like that, then after that 5,000, 42:29 then after that 42:30 so many that the Bible just simply says in Acts, 42:33 multitudes were added to the church. 42:34 If you think 42:35 the day of Pentecost was something, 42:37 you wait till God 42:38 turns a light on and lights up the world. 42:40 Let's go to number eight. 42:42 Number eight. 42:43 Here we are. 42:45 How does the Bible describe the power 42:47 behind the harlot woman? 42:51 The territory, now let's look at the power 42:55 behind the harlot woman. 42:57 Revelation Chapter 17, 43:00 we're going to start by verse 7, 43:05 with verse 7. 43:07 Okay? 43:08 Because remember now, 43:09 when we talked about in earlier part of Revelation, 43:13 we saw a woman sitting on a scarlet colored beast. 43:17 The Bible goes further to describe this scarlet. 43:22 What's another word for scarlet, 43:23 someone tell me? 43:25 Okay, nowadays, you don't go to restaurants, 43:26 say, can I have a scarlet colored ice cream cone. 43:29 We don't speak that way, but that's scriptural language. 43:31 Because it was clear scarlet was not just red, 43:35 it was deep red. 43:37 It was unmistakable red. 43:40 I believe if you go back, you call it persimmons, 43:43 some people call the Chinese apple. 43:45 But whatever you call it, 43:46 my wife likes those Chinese apples. 43:48 You break those things up 43:50 and it's not like a regular apple, 43:51 you don't just bite into it. 43:52 Pomegranates, like pomegranates, 43:54 like those apples, pomegranates, 43:57 and the persimmons and the Chinese apple, 43:59 the red is so red, 44:00 they used to use this to dye clothing. 44:04 And I wanna be honest with you, if you have an outfit, 44:06 be careful when you eat those things 44:08 because if sometimes you get on your outfit, 44:09 it's not gonna come out. 44:13 But the only thing that can remove the stain, 44:14 though your sins be as scarlet, 44:18 they should be as what? 44:20 White as snow. 44:21 Only God can remove from humanity 44:24 what the scarlet woman 44:27 and the scarlet beast has done to them. 44:29 Amen to that? 44:31 So there's still hope. 44:32 But let's go on. 44:34 How does the Bible describe it? 44:35 Revelation 17:7, here it is. 44:40 "But the angel said to me, 'Why do you marvel? 44:46 I will tell you the mystery of the woman 44:50 and of the beast that carries her. 44:53 Now the beast, which has," together, 44:57 "seven heads," and what? 44:59 "Ten horns.'" 45:00 So let's start with the power behind the woman. 45:04 When you look at the power behind the woman, 45:06 we're gonna find out a little bit more 45:07 about the woman in just a moment. 45:09 We're gonna talk about her children 45:10 and how the world is being affected by her. 45:13 But let's go ahead and start with the power 45:15 behind the woman. 45:16 Now, what is the power behind the Christian? 45:22 Okay, you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit 45:28 has come upon you, right? 45:29 Acts 1:8. 45:31 The Holy Spirit is the continual power 45:34 that the Lord says, I will never leave you, 45:36 I will abide with you forever. 45:38 The church without the Holy Spirit 45:39 is a church without power. 45:42 But the power behind Babylon is not holy at all. 45:47 So let's write the answer down, 45:49 the power is the beast with seven heads, 45:55 and what else? 45:56 Ten horns. 45:58 Write that down. 46:00 Now, we're gonna walk methodically 46:01 through this description because it is unmistakable. 46:04 And I wanna make this point before I go to the next text, 46:06 which you can turn there, it's in Revelation Chapter 12. 46:09 The reason why I wanna go there 46:11 and the reason I wanna make this prepared 46:14 or segue into this very effectively as this. 46:18 The Great Controversy or the power between 46:20 or the battle between light and darkness, 46:24 truth and error is between Christ and who? 46:30 Satan. 46:31 Revelation 12 describes that battle 46:33 very carefully. 46:34 The dragon fought with his angels against Michael 46:39 and his angels. 46:40 And Michael is Christ, 46:42 is the preexisting Jesus before He was called Jesus. 46:45 He is Michael, the archangel, the one above all the angels, 46:49 the commander of the heavenly hosts. 46:52 But now let's go ahead and find out 46:54 what other description the Bible gives to this beast 46:58 with seven heads and ten horns. 46:59 Revelation Chapter 12, let's go there now. 47:02 Because here's one of the very important principles 47:04 of Bible prophecy, whenever a symbol is given, 47:07 you must get the description 47:09 or the definition of that symbol from the Bible. 47:12 You follow that? 47:14 You cannot make up a symbol. 47:15 I can't say, 47:17 "Well, let me tell you what I think it means." 47:19 The only place that you find safety 47:20 is you allow the Bible to define its own symbols. 47:26 Anytime you find a definition anywhere else, 47:28 it could sound good but if it ain't scriptural, 47:31 it's just a good sounding description. 47:33 Let's find out what the Bible says 47:35 about the beast with seven heads and ten horns. 47:37 And by the way, this is the first time 47:39 the beast with seven heads and ten horns 47:41 is described in the Bible. 47:43 Period. 47:44 Period. 47:46 Here we go Revelation 12. 47:48 And let's go ahead and start with verse 3. 47:52 I'll just dive right into it, 47:53 because before that we find the woman, 47:55 the pure woman clothed with the sun, 47:57 the moon, the stars. 47:58 Now verse 3, here it is. 48:01 "And another sign appeared," where? 48:08 "In heaven: behold, a great, fiery," 48:13 what's the next word? 48:14 "Red dragon having together seven heads and ten horns," 48:20 and what else? 48:22 "Seven diadems or crowns on his heads." 48:26 This is huge. 48:27 Seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on his head. 48:32 Another, there will be no crowns on the horns. 48:35 There'll be crowns on the heads, 48:38 seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns on his heads. 48:44 All right? 48:45 That's vitally important. 48:47 So now let's see how the Bible describes who this is. 48:51 Let's go to verse 9. 48:53 Let's go to Revelation 12:9. 48:58 Are we ready? 49:00 So the great dragon was cast out, 49:06 that serpent of old, called the Devil," 49:11 and what else? 49:12 "Satan, who deceives the whole world, 49:15 he was cast to the earth, 49:18 and his angels were cast out with him." 49:21 What is the connecting point between verse 3 and verse 9? 49:25 Someone tell me I don't often ask. 49:27 Thank you, the great red dragon. 49:31 The dragon, fiery red. 49:36 Red is another word for scarlet. 49:38 It always amazes me that whenever you see pictures, 49:41 a lot of times you see a woman sitting on a leopard. 49:43 Bible doesn't describe her leopard, 49:44 it describes a beast with seven heads and ten horns, 49:48 more specifically a dragon, 49:49 which you look at ancient Asian art, 49:52 it's more like a Leviathan. 49:54 And you've seen the picture. 49:55 You see that very common in Asia in their culture, 49:57 you see the dragon, sometimes you see the dragon, 50:00 they all... 50:01 During certain ceremonies and celebrations of the year, 50:04 in certain parts of Asia, they put the head on, 50:07 the fireworks going on, and they have the moving dragon 50:09 as people under them. 50:10 That's a very symbolic representation of the language 50:14 in that region of the world 50:16 because the Bible comes out of Asia, 50:17 Asia Minor, very significant. 50:19 So they use a language 50:20 that they understand in a better word, 50:22 as talked about in the Book of Job as the Leviathan. 50:25 And the Bible gives the dragon also the description, 50:28 the serpent of old, so it's serpentine, 50:31 not leopard like. 50:33 The woman's not sitting on a leopard, 50:35 she's sitting on a serpentine beast 50:37 that looks like a dragon. 50:39 And that is described as Satan. 50:41 So let's go ahead and come to the conclusion. 50:44 How does the Bible describe 50:46 the power behind the harlot woman? 50:48 Revelation 12:3, 9, what word can we put there? 50:51 What singular word can we put there? 50:55 Say it again. 50:57 Satan. 50:58 Satan. 51:00 The Lord built His church on Christ, 51:03 the solid rock. 51:05 The woman has the support of the people 51:09 and the multitudes and nations, 51:11 but the one behind her is Satan. 51:13 He sets up a counterfeit, to try to counteract the truth. 51:17 But praise God, 51:18 the truth is more powerful than darkness. 51:20 What do you say? 51:21 So God is not gonna be offset by what Satan has established. 51:26 But it seems like it's got the whole world in his hands. 51:29 Every multitude, nations, languages, 51:32 tongues, peoples, kings, 51:35 seemed like the whole world is sucked in 51:37 by what's happening right now. 51:39 But the good news is Jesus the message of God's Word 51:43 will have the final hurrah. 51:46 And praise the Lord, how glorious it's gonna be. 51:49 All right now. 51:50 Gotta go transition. 51:52 So the answers you have seven heads and ten horns, 51:55 Revelation 17:7, 51:56 there's seven heads and ten horns, 51:58 first described in Revelation 12:3, 9, 52:01 and that is Satan. 52:03 He was against a woman from the word go. 52:06 And when you look at the rest of Revelation 12, 52:09 this did not just begin on the earth, 52:11 where did it begin, somebody tell me? 52:14 There was a war in heaven. 52:16 When Lucifer was cast out, he was no longer called. 52:20 This is huge. 52:21 He was no longer called the son of the morning. 52:24 He was a bright angel. 52:28 But his brightness will never supersede 52:30 the brightness of the glory of God. 52:32 So what appears to be light today 52:35 really is masked darkness, 52:38 because it's coming from the former Lucifer, 52:41 now Satan, that serpent of old called the devil, 52:43 the dragon, the Leviathan, 52:45 the one who is the master of deception. 52:47 He's the father of lies. 52:49 He lied from the very beginning. 52:51 And lies today are connected right back 52:53 to its original source. 52:55 Now, this is very important. 52:56 Let's transition to question number nine. 52:58 I say that a lot. 53:00 Every question is important. 53:01 But we're gonna show you some comparisons here. 53:04 And I think we'll get these two before we go on to the... 53:06 We'll get to number nine and ten. 53:08 Here it is, number nine. 53:10 In what manner does the Bible describe Jesus? 53:13 We're gonna go to Revelation 1:8. 53:16 In what manner does the Bible describe Jesus? 53:22 Revelation 1:8. 53:24 And here it is, in the interest of time, 53:26 we'll go ahead and bring it to the screen. 53:28 Here it is. 53:29 "'I am the Alpha and the Omega, 53:34 the Beginning and End,' 53:37 says the Lord who," together, 53:39 "who is, and who was, and who is to come, 53:43 the Almighty." 53:45 So write this down. 53:47 In what manner does the Bible describes Jesus? 53:49 Here it is, "Who is, who was, 53:54 who is to come." 53:57 Write that down. 53:58 He is, Jesus never... 54:00 Jesus has never passed. 54:02 So when you put this all together, 54:04 the only way that it was is saying, 54:08 yesterday, today, and forever. 54:12 When you go back to the days of Mary, 54:14 He was there. 54:16 Today, He is here, and He will be there. 54:19 That is the was, is, is to come. 54:22 Amen somebody? 54:23 He's never absent. 54:25 He's the ever present one, 54:27 the beauty of the presence of God. 54:28 So He is, who was, and who is to come. 54:30 Quickly now, number 10. 54:32 We can get it in there. 54:33 Number ten, I'm showing you the Great Controversy. 54:35 I'm showing you the battle between darkness and light, 54:38 which encompasses every darkness, 54:41 encompasses every false religious system, 54:45 every false denomination will be affected 54:48 under the auspices of Babylon, Spiritual Babylon, that is. 54:52 Okay, now quickly, 54:53 how does the Bible describes Satan's different states? 54:57 How does the Bible describe Satan's different states? 55:01 Question number 10. 55:03 All right, let's go to the answer. 55:05 And the answer is found in Revelation 17:8. 55:09 Revelation 17:8. 55:11 Here we are. 55:13 The Bible says, "The beast that you saw," 55:17 together, "was, and is not," and what? 55:23 "Will ascend out of the bottomless pit," 55:26 and what else? 55:28 "Go into perdition. 55:29 And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, 55:32 whose names are not written in the Book of Life," 55:36 go to the next slide, 55:38 "from the foundation of the world, 55:41 when they see the beast that," together, 55:43 "was and," what? 55:45 "Is not, and yet is." 55:48 We're gonna wind up on this, 55:49 let's put the answers together here. 55:51 How the Bible does describe Satan's different states? 55:53 Under A is, what is it? 55:56 Under A is what? 55:57 Was, put that down. 56:00 Secondly, is not. 56:02 Thirdly, will ascend out of the bottomless pit. 56:08 And fourthly on line a, go to perdition. 56:14 That means he's got destruction at the end of his short reign. 56:19 And I say short because it's short 56:21 compared to eternal life. 56:22 What do you say? 56:24 That's the first description of that verse. 56:25 And the verse ends by giving him a second, 56:27 it makes it very clear. 56:28 The second description it gives him 56:30 in that very same verse, 56:31 Revelation 17:8 is this. 56:33 Who was, is not, 56:39 yet is. 56:41 Was, is not, yet is. 56:45 I'll go back to that so you get that on the screen. 56:49 Last one, was, is not, yet is. 56:52 Prior to that was, is not, 56:55 and will ascend out of the bottomless pit 56:59 and go to perdition. 57:01 Satan has got... 57:03 Satan has an appointment that God has set for him. 57:05 And that is the what? 57:07 Lake of fire, that's the perdition, 57:10 that is the place of final destruction, 57:13 that all who align themselves with Satan. 57:16 And by the way, you know, nobody should be lost, 57:18 nobody has to be lost, 57:20 because the Lord has made provision 57:22 for everyone to be saved. 57:23 Forget this very quickly before we wind up. 57:25 Jesus was, is, is to come. 57:29 Satan was, is not, 57:31 and will ascend out of the bottomless pit, 57:34 go to perdition, and also was, is not, and yet is, 57:39 we're gonna leave that as a cliffhanger. 57:41 How was He was? 57:45 And why is He is not? 57:48 And at the same time, yet is. 57:50 We'll find out about that when we cover the lesson 57:53 on our next broadcast. 57:54 But, friends, I tell you keep studying God's Word. 57:57 if it doesn't make sense, I guarantee you one day 57:59 it will come into A Sharper Focus. 58:02 God bless you. |
Revised 2019-06-14