Participants: Stephen Bohr
Series Code: BOT
Program Code: BOT000001
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00:30 This series is composed of ten presentations.
00:33 I'm just going to give you the titles as we begin. 00:36 The first one this evening is The Eyes of Wisdom. 00:41 The second one is titled, The Jewish View of Tradition. 00:45 The third one is Tradition Versus Scripture, 00:50 a case study in Mark 7. 00:52 The fourth one is Jesus and Theological Conflict. 00:56 Number five will be The Roman Catholic View of Tradition. 01:00 And six will be Part 2 of that. 01:03 Number seven will be Sabbath Controversies and Tradition. 01:08 Number eight will be Sunday's shaky foundation. 01:12 Number nine is titled The Acid Test. 01:15 And number ten is a summary presentation titled, 01:20 Word of God or Traditions of Man. 01:22 And so for the next ten sessions we are going to study what our 01:28 source of authority should be. 01:29 Should it be the Bible and the Bible Only, Sola Scriptura, 01:34 or should it be tradition, or a combination of both? 01:38 I'd like to begin our study, of course, with a word of prayer. 01:42 We always need to pray before we open God's word. 01:45 So I invite you to bow your heads with me 01:47 as we ask for the Lord's presence. 01:50 Father in heaven, we thank You for the privilege of being here 01:53 to study Your word. 01:54 We ask for the presence of Your Holy Spirit. 01:57 I ask, Lord, that You will give us understanding, 02:00 and give us clear minds. 02:01 Give us hearts that are ready to receive the seed of truth. 02:06 Take away every preconceived notion that we might have in our 02:09 minds, and in our hearts that we might hear Your voice. 02:12 And we thank You Father for hearing our prayer, 02:15 for we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. 02:18 I'd like to begin our study at a prophecy that is probably 02:23 well known by practically everybody that is present here. 02:28 The prophecy of Daniel, chapter 7. 02:31 Now we're not going to read the prophecy of Daniel 7, 02:35 because that would take us too long, and we don't have the time 02:39 to read the whole chapter. 02:40 So I'm just going to summarize the sequence of powers 02:44 that are mentioned in Daniel, chapter 7. 02:46 If you remember, you have four beasts in this chapter. 02:51 The first beast is a lion, and the lion has eagle's wings. 02:56 There's no doubt that this beast represents Babylon. 03:00 You see, in ancient Babylon there are lions with wings 03:05 all over the place; at the entrances to the gates 03:07 of the city. So we know that the lion with eagle's wings 03:11 represents the kingdom of Babylon. 03:13 And then you have a bear, and this is a unique bear 03:17 because it's higher on one side than on the other side. 03:20 And, of course, this kingdom represents the kingdom 03:24 that took the place of Babylon; the kingdom of the 03:26 Medes and Persians. 03:28 The reason why the bear was higher on one side than on 03:31 the other is because the Persians became predominate 03:35 in the relationship between these two kingdoms. 03:38 In fact almost all of the kings after the first two or three 03:42 were Persians and not Medes. 03:44 And then we have a third beast. 03:46 And this third beast is a leopard. 03:49 And the leopard has four heads. 03:51 Now the leopard represents the kingdom that conquered 03:54 the Medes and Persians. 03:56 It represents Greece. 03:58 And the reason it has four heads is because the kingdom of Greece 04:02 was divided into four kingdoms upon the death of the founder 04:06 of the Grecian kingdom, which was Alexander the Great. 04:09 And so in the first three beasts we have a sequence of kingdoms: 04:13 Babylon, Medo Persia, and Greece. 04:16 And then you have a fourth beast in Daniel 7. 04:19 This is called a nondescript beast. 04:22 I like to call it a dragon beast. 04:24 And this dragon beast has three successive stages of existence. 04:30 And I'd like to just review what those three successive stages 04:34 of existence of this fourth beast are. 04:38 First of all we have the fourth beast, which is a dragon. 04:42 And that dragon represents Rome. 04:45 It represents the Roman empire, the iron monarchy of Rome, 04:49 as it was called by historians. 04:51 But then the prophecy tells us that from the head of this 04:56 fourth dragon beast come forth ten horns. 04:59 And, of course, this represents the fact that the kingdom 05:03 of Rome was divided into ten kingdoms as a result of 05:07 the barbarian invasions from the northern sector of the empire. 05:10 And then we're told that among these ten horns rises a little 05:16 horn, and this little horn is very, very unique. 05:20 It's still Roman because it comes from the head of the 05:23 fourth beast, which is Rome. 05:25 But it's a different kind of Rome. 05:27 It's a different type of Rome. 05:28 And we're told several interesting things about this 05:32 little horn. We're told, for example, that it speaks 05:35 blasphemies against the Most High. 05:37 We find that it persecutes the saints of the Most High. 05:41 And also, it rules for a period of 1,260 years. 05:47 So in this fourth beast we have three stages of existence. 05:51 We have, first of all, the iron monarchy of Rome, which is the 05:55 Roman empire undivided. 05:56 Then Rome is divided into ten kingdoms; that's Rome divided. 06:01 And then you have another Rome that rises among the 06:05 ten kingdoms, which is a different kind of Rome. 06:08 And that little horn represents the Roman Catholic Papacy, 06:13 we're going to notice in our study. 06:15 Now it's very important for us to realize that in Daniel 7 06:20 we are dealing with symbols. 06:21 It is a symbolic portrayal of church history from the days of 06:26 Nebuchadnezzar till the second coming of Jesus Christ. 06:29 And, you know, you have symbols such as the sea, where the four 06:33 beasts come up from. 06:34 You have the winds beating on the sea. 06:36 You have four beasts. 06:38 You have four heads. 06:39 You have wings. 06:40 You have ten horns. 06:41 You have a little horn. 06:42 You have a mouth that speaks great things. 06:44 You have all kinds of symbolic actions. 06:47 You have a time period that is symbolic. 06:49 In other words, in Daniel 7 you're dealing with symbols. 06:53 We need to keep that in mind because the one verse that we're 06:57 going to focus on has a symbol which has rarely been dealt with 07:02 in the study of this prophecy. 07:04 I'm referring to Daniel 7:8, which will be the focus 07:10 of our study; one particular detail in this verse. 07:13 I'm reading now from Daniel 7:8, where Daniel explains: 07:25 This is the third stage of the fourth beast. 07:30 That is among the ten. 07:39 Now here comes the characteristic 07:41 I want to underline. 07:51 Now I'm not a betting man, but I would be willing to bet, 07:56 if I were, that you have not really taken the time to study 08:01 what is meant by the eyes of a man in this particular prophecy. 08:06 Perhaps you have. 08:08 And if you have you would be the exception to the rule. 08:11 Now the question is, what do eyes represent 08:15 in Bible prophecy? 08:17 Why is this little horn depicted as having eyes 08:21 like the eyes of a man? 08:23 Well, we need to understand what eyes represent 08:26 symbolically in Bible prophecy. 08:28 Now as we examine the Bible, we discover that 08:32 eyes represent wisdom. 08:34 They represent knowledge. 08:37 They represent understanding. 08:39 Now the Bible gives us many examples of how 08:42 eyes represent wisdom, knowledge, or understanding. 08:47 You know, when these examples are used with reference to God, 08:51 it means God's all encompassing knowledge and understanding. 08:56 The fact that He's omniscient. 08:58 The fact that He's all wise. 09:00 The fact that God knows everything. 09:01 Now lets notice several verses where the eyes are used 09:06 with reference to God. 09:08 The first example is from Revelation 5:6, Revelation 5:6. 09:14 Here Jesus is described in a very interesting symbolic way. 09:18 It says there, and of course John is seeing this in vision. 09:36 Now we're not going to talk about the seven horns, 09:38 but the number 7 represents totality, or completeness, 09:42 and horns represent power. 09:44 They represent power to rule. 09:46 In other words, Jesus is all powerful. 09:50 And it continues saying there: 10:00 Now there not seven Holy Spirits. 10:02 What it represents is the fact that the Holy Spirit is totally, 10:06 and completely omniscient. 10:08 He knows all things. 10:09 He understands all things. 10:11 He is all wise. So when the eyes are used with reference 10:16 to God, it means the fact that God is all understanding, 10:19 all wise, and all knowledgeable. 10:22 He's omniscient in other words. 10:23 Now in the last part of Zachariah 4:10, and I am reading 10:29 now from the New International Version, which I believe is 10:33 a little clearer in the translation. 10:35 The last part of the verse says, speaking about the seven lamps 10:40 on the candlestick of the sanctuary, it says: 10:48 In other words, the eyes of the Lord range all over the earth. 10:52 Nothing escapes His attention. 10:54 He's all wise, He is all understanding. 10:56 In Ezekiel 10:12, 13 we have a description of four living 11:02 creatures, which are symbolic of the angel hosts. 11:06 And, of course, God rules in this earth through the 11:10 ministration of the angels. 11:12 The angels are the emissaries of God on this earth. 11:15 And I want you to notice how these angels are described 11:18 in Ezekiel 10:12, 13. It says there: 11:34 Now what does it mean that these four living creatures 11:37 have eyes all over their bodies? 11:39 It simply means that they perform their missions wisely 11:44 with understanding, because they're the emissaries of God, 11:48 and they do things according to the way that God determines. 11:52 Now we also have another verse where we find that eyes 11:56 represent the omniscience, or the all knowing nature of God. 12:00 Hebrews 4:12, 13, Hebrews 4: 12, 13 is speaking about 12:08 the Bible, which is the sword of the Spirit, 12:11 which is the word of God. 12:12 It says there in Hebrews 4 and verse 12: 12:29 Now notice the word that is used. 12:32 In other words, it sees, it knows, 12:36 it understands. So it says there: 12:55 So once again, eyes represent the fact that God is 12:58 all knowing. God is all wise. 13:00 God is understanding in its fullness. 13:04 So eyes represent wisdom or understanding 13:08 when they refer to God. 13:10 But they also represent understanding or wisdom 13:13 when they are used with reference to man. 13:16 The only difference is that God's understanding 13:19 and wisdom is omniscient, whereas the understanding 13:22 of man is limited and finite. 13:25 Let's read a few verses where eyes are used 13:29 symbolically of human beings. 13:31 Let's go to Ephesians 1:15-19, Ephesians 1:15-19, 13:39 where you're going to see that the eyes represent knowledge 13:41 or understanding, with reference to human beings. It says: 13:53 Paul says: 14:06 Now notice the words that I use: 14:14 So you notice the word wisdom is used and the word 14:17 knowledge is used. 14:18 And then in verse 18 it says: 14:26 So what do the eyes represent? 14:28 The eyes of your what? 14:30 The eyes of your understanding, it says here. 14:41 And so clearly the Apostle Paul speaks about the spirit of 14:45 wisdom, the revelation in the knowledge of Him, 14:48 and then he refers to the eyes of our understanding. 14:53 So eyes represent understanding, or represent wisdom, 14:57 or knowledge. Notice also Proverbs 3:19-21, 15:02 Proverbs 3:19-21. Here it speaks about the absolute wisdom 15:07 of God, and the fact that human beings should reflect that 15:12 wisdom, of course on a finite level. 15:14 It says there, in Proverbs 3: 19-21, which was written by 15:19 the wise man, Solomon: 15:29 So notice you have the parallel there. 15:38 Notice three words: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. 15:48 And then comes the council. 15:53 That is wisdom and understanding. 15:58 So what are the eyes related to? wisdom and understanding. 16:03 So it says: 16:11 So notice once again the idea that eyes are connected 16:16 with wisdom, with understanding. 16:18 Let me read you just also Acts 26:17, 18, where we have another 16:26 text that uses the eyes in a symbolic way, 16:29 in a spiritual sense. 16:30 Acts 26:17, 18. Here God is describing the mission 16:36 that He has for Saul of Tarsus after his conversion. 16:39 Of course he becomes the apostle Paul. 16:41 Notice what God had in mind as a mission for Saul of Tarsus, 16:46 or for Paul. In Acts 26:17, 18 He says: 16:56 Now notice this. 17:04 What? This is spiritual talk, isn't it? 17:07 Not open their literal eyes, but it says: 17:21 So once again opening the eyes represents the fact that people 17:25 are going to be turned from spiritual darkness 17:28 to spiritual light. 17:29 They're going to understand the gospel, in other words. 17:32 So when Scripture refers to eyes, it's speaking about 17:36 understanding, wisdom, and knowledge. 17:39 With God it is infinite. 17:41 He is omniscient. With man it is finite, and it is limited. 17:46 By the way, there's an interesting animal which we 17:49 use to represent wisdom, and that is the owl. 17:54 What is the most outstanding characteristic of an owl? 17:58 The eyes, of course. 18:00 And you've heard the expression, wise as an owl? 18:04 See the owl, because of his eyes, is connected with wisdom. 18:09 And, by the way, you now, many times you find graduation cards 18:13 with an owl on front of them, because the graduates 18:15 are very wise, and very intelligent, 18:17 and knowledgeable now. 18:18 At least they think they are after they 18:20 graduate from high school. 18:22 By the way, did you know that an owl can turn his head 18:25 270 degrees? It's almost like the owl is all knowing, 18:29 and all seeing, of course, in a very limited sense. 18:33 The owl is a symbol of knowledge, or wisdom, 18:36 or understanding. Now if eyes represent wisdom, 18:41 or understanding, then human eyes, which is the 18:46 characteristic of Daniel 7:8, must represent what kind of 18:50 wisdom? God's wisdom? 18:53 No, human or manly wisdom. 18:57 Now we need to remember that the little horn is a usurper. 19:01 He's not faithful to God. 19:04 He's a usurper. He actually claims to be God. 19:09 If you look at all of the passages that speak about 19:12 the little horn, the beast, the man of sin, the king of the 19:15 north. You know, this is a power that claims to be all wise. 19:19 It claims to exercise the power and prerogatives of God. 19:22 But because it's wisdom is based on human wisdom, 19:26 His wisdom is actually foolishness. 19:29 And so this characteristic of the little horn in Daniel 7:8, 19:35 represents the fact that this system, which represents the 19:39 Papacy, depends not on the wisdom that comes from God, 19:43 it comes from the wisdom and knowledge that comes from man. 19:48 Now in Daniel 8 we have another little horn. 19:52 It's the same little horn, but it's described 19:56 in different terms. 19:58 In other words it represents the same power. 20:00 It still represents the Papacy. 20:02 And I want you to notice in several Biblical translations 20:07 what this little horn is like. 20:09 Once again we're saying that eyes represent human wisdom 20:13 and knowledge. And I want you to see what this little horn 20:16 in Daniel 8 is like. 20:17 It's the same power as Daniel 7, but it's described 20:21 in different terms. 20:23 I'm going to read from Daniel 8: 23, and then I'm going to read 20:27 verse 25 in several different versions, so you catch the 20:31 picture of what this little horn is like. 20:33 First of all, I'm going to read from the King James Version, 20:36 and I'm reading in verse 23. It says: 20:49 Now listen carefully. 20:56 Now that word, understanding, a king of fierce countenance 21:00 and understanding, in Hebrew is translated discernment. 21:05 It's translated insight, and it is translated understanding. 21:10 In other words, this power, it has discernment, or insight, 21:15 or understanding into dark sentences, 21:18 according to the King James translation. 21:21 Now in verse 25 this power is further described, 21:26 and I want you to notice, once again, what the King James 21:29 describes this power as. 21:30 It says there in the first part of verse 25: 21:35 That is this little horn's policy. 21:37 Incidentally, the Hebrew meaning of this word policy 21:40 is translated prudence. 21:42 It's translated insight, and it's also translated 21:46 understanding. So: 21:54 In other words, this is a power that is sly. 21:57 It is a power that is slithery. 22:00 It is cunning. It is a crafty politician, in other words, 22:04 if you can perceive it in that way. 22:07 Now I want to read from the New King James Version 22:10 these two verses, also the description that is 22:12 given of this little horn. 22:13 It says in verse 23, in the New King James Version: 22:31 Interesting, who understands. 22:33 See understanding again, by it's sinister schemes. 22:36 This is not godly understanding. 22:37 This is human understanding. 22:39 This is even diabolical understanding. 22:42 Verse 25, in the New King James Version says: 22:51 So what does he use his wisdom, and his understanding for? 22:54 to deceive people. 22:55 I want to read now from the New International Version. 22:58 I want you to catch the picture in all these different 23:00 translations about what this little horn is like. 23:02 How he uses wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge 23:05 in a sly cunning way, as a politician to deceive. 23:09 It says in the New International Version, verse 23, that: 23:14 ...will arise... 23:18 And in verse 25 of the New International Version, it says: 23:25 So, once again you have the idea of intrigue 23:29 and of deception. The New American Standard Bible, 23:32 in verse 23 says: 23:39 And verse 25 says: 23:47 In the English Standard Version, which is one of the most popular 23:51 versions in the world today, it speaks about: 23:58 You know, do you need wisdom to understand 24:01 and to interpret riddles? 24:02 Of course, absolutely! 24:04 And in verse 25 it says: 24:09 So he uses his wisdom, his understanding in a crafty, 24:14 and a sly way, with the intention of deceiving people. 24:17 That's the picture. 24:19 The New English translation says: 24:24 ...will arise. Once again, the idea of deception. 24:28 And in verse 25 it says: 24:33 ...by his treachery he will succeed through deceit. 24:36 The God's Word translation, in verse 23 says: 24:45 And in verse 25 it says: 24:52 The New Revised Standard Version says: 25:00 And in verse 25 it says: 25:08 The Living Bible, which is not a translation, is actually not 25:13 even a paraphrase. 25:14 It's an interpretation. 25:15 It's interesting to find this translation in verse 23: 25:24 See, there you have the eyes of the little horn. 25:28 And we find in verse 25, it says: 25:34 In the American Standard Version, verse 23 reads: 25:44 And, of course, this power is a power that 25:47 comes from darkness. 25:48 And in verse 25 it says: 25:56 And maybe I can read one more translation. 25:59 This is actually a paraphrase. 26:00 The Amplified Version says, in verse 23: 26:10 So he uses his knowledge and his understanding to trick 26:13 people, and to deceive people. 26:15 And in verse 25 it says: 26:23 Now the King James translates verse 25, as we notice, 26:28 by saying that this king will have understanding 26:33 in dark sentences. 26:35 He will have understanding in dark sentences. 26:37 Now I looked up that word, because it's actually one word 26:41 that translates dark sentences. 26:43 And I looked it up in the Hebrew, and this word is used 26:47 for example of Solomon's riddles. 26:49 Do you remember Solomon was an expert in proposing riddles 26:53 to the Philistines? 26:54 And they had to use their wisdom, and understanding 26:56 to decipher the riddles? 26:58 In other words, it deals with craftiness in being able to 27:03 interpret, and being able to present things in a way that 27:07 will deceive people. 27:09 And, of course, Sampson was always intent 27:12 on deceiving people, wasn't he? 27:14 And then it's also used of the Queen of Sheba, 27:17 in 1 Kings 10:1 where it says that she asked Solomon 27:21 hard questions. In other words, riddling questions, 27:25 if you please. So the picture here is of a power that is 27:29 crafty, sly, uses its intelligence, its knowledge, 27:34 and its wisdom, with the intention of causing treachery, 27:37 and deceit. That is the characteristic 27:40 of this little horn. 27:42 Now Proverbs 1:5, 6, uses this same word, dark sayings, 27:50 that we noticed in the King James Version, dark sentences, 27:54 and I want to read those two verses. 28:10 Do you notice the emphasis on wisdom here? 28:13 And then it says in verse 6: 28:23 That word riddles, once again, is the word that is used in 28:26 Daniel 8:23 of this sly power. 28:31 So in Daniel 7, and Daniel 8, this little horn 28:35 is a wise little horn. 28:36 I mean this little horn understands dark things. 28:41 It understands riddles. 28:42 It understands mystical things. 28:44 But its wisdom and understanding is used not for good, 28:49 but for evil, because this is an evil power. 28:52 In other words, this is human wisdom that is used in order 28:55 to deceive people. 28:57 By the way, this is very similar to the description that is given 29:02 of Lucifer in Ezekiel 28. 29:04 I want to read several verses in Ezekiel 28:2-5, and then 29:10 verse 12 and verse 17. 29:12 And you're going to notice the number of times that the word 29:14 wisdom is. And at the end there's a word that is connected 29:18 with wisdom, which I want you to notice. Very important! 29:20 Ezekiel 28:2-5 says, and it's speaking about Lucifer here, 29:25 it's quoting Lucifer. 29:30 Did the little horn lift himself up? 29:34 Just read Daniel 7 and Daniel 8. 29:36 He's an arrogant little horn. 29:50 And then it says: 29:58 And then comes a little sarcasm. 30:28 Notice once again the idea of arrogance and pride. 30:33 And then we find in verse 17, actually verse 12, 30:37 and then verse 17 it says: 30:44 And then verse 17 tells us what happened with his wisdom. 30:47 It says: 30:56 So what kind of wisdom are we talking about here? 30:59 A corrupted wisdom, because it is a wisdom 31:02 that depends upon man. 31:04 It is an understanding that depends upon man, 31:07 with the intention of deceiving people, and leading them astray 31:11 from the word of God. 31:12 Now it's interesting that there are two other places 31:16 in Scripture that speak about this same little horn power. 31:20 We noticed in Daniel 7, and Daniel 8. 31:22 Now we want to go to the same power as it is described 31:27 in Revelation 13:18. 31:29 There's a very mystical number involved with this power. 31:33 It speaks about the beast. 31:35 By the way, the beast is the same as the little horn. 31:38 If you read Revelation 13:1-10, you're going to find that the 31:42 beast does the same things that the little horn did. 31:44 You're going to find that the beast speaks blasphemies. 31:47 You're going to find that the beast persecutes the 31:49 Saints of the Most High. 31:50 You're going to find that the beast tramples on the sanctuary 31:54 like the little horn in Daniel chapter 8. 31:56 You're going to find that the beast has a mark 31:58 of his authority and of his power, and he rules 32:01 for the same time period. 32:03 He rules for 42 months, which is 1,260 years. 32:07 So, in other words, the beast is the same as the little horn. 32:10 Now we're told that the little horn had eyes like a man. 32:14 In other words he depended on human wisdom. 32:17 Now I want you to notice a characteristic of the beast. 32:21 Revelation 13:18. And we're going to come back to this 32:25 a little bit later on. 32:41 Notice, eyes of a man. 32:42 Now it says what? the number of a man, 32:45 and his number is what? 666. 32:49 What day of the week was man created? 32:51 He was created on the sixth day. 32:54 The number 6, in symbolic prophecy, represents man 32:58 independent from God. 33:00 Now I want you to remember this verse, because we're going to 33:03 come back to it at the very end of our study today. 33:06 Once again, the emphasis is that it's the number of a man, 33:10 just like we noticed that they were the eyes of a man. 33:15 The same power. Now this same power is described in another 33:19 passage of Scripture. 33:20 In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, and I want you to notice, 33:25 once again the emphasis on the word man. 33:27 This is a system that depends on man. 33:29 It is the number of a man. 33:31 It has the eyes of a man. 33:33 And now we're going to notice that he's called the man of sin. 33:36 Notice 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. It says: 33:44 That is the day of Christ's coming. 33:49 The expression falling away translates the word 33:52 apostasia in Greek. 33:55 In other words, before the apostasy comes. And it says: 34:00 What? Interesting! 34:15 Is that the same characteristic that we just read in Ezekiel 28? 34:18 Is it the same characteristic of the beast 34:21 and the little horn power? Absolutely! 34:23 And you noticed that he is called the man of what? 34:28 the man of sin. Let me ask you, what is sin? 34:31 Sin is the transgression of the law. 34:35 In fact notice what we find in verse 7; 34:38 how this power is described. It says: 34:52 So this power is called the man of sin, and he is also 34:56 called the mystery of what? the mystery of lawlessness. 35:02 Now there's another way of looking at this. 35:05 Lets go to Revelation 17, and we're dealing with different 35:11 symbols, but the meaning of the symbols is the same. 35:14 In other words a different symbolism, but the same lesson 35:17 that God wants to teach. 35:18 Revelation 17:4. It's describing here a harlot. 35:24 Now what does a harlot represent in prophecy? 35:29 A woman represents a church. 35:33 A pure woman is a pure church. 35:34 A harlot represents an apostate church. 35:37 Now notice Revelation 17:4 says: 35:57 So what does this woman have in her cup? 35:59 In her cup she has abominations, according to this, 36:04 and the filthiness of her fornication. 36:07 Now Revelation 17:2 emphases the same thing. 36:12 It tells us that the abominations that she has 36:15 in her cup are really the wine, fermented wine. 36:19 It's not grape juice. 36:21 It's not Welch's grape juice we're talking about here. 36:24 We're talking about corrupted grape juice. 36:27 We're talking about fermented grape juice. 36:28 In other words the truth of God has been turned into a lie, 36:31 is basically the idea. 36:33 Notice Revelation 17:2, speaking about the harlot it says: 36:47 So what's in the cup? 36:48 In the cup is her wine, but her wine are her what? 36:51 her abominations. A very important point. 36:54 And what does the wine do? 36:56 The wine actually makes people angry. 36:59 It keeps them from thinking straight, spiritually speaking. 37:05 Notice Jeremiah 51:7, Jeremiah 51:7. 37:10 It's talking about Babylon, and Babylon giving wine to the 37:13 nations, and the nations getting drunk as a result. 37:16 It says here in Jeremiah 51:7: 37:35 So what does the harlot give the nations? 37:38 She gives them her wine, and her wine makes them drunk. 37:43 Now what does the wine represent? 37:45 Well, actually if you read Revelation 14, you're going to 37:49 see there's a contrast. 37:51 Revelation 14 presents, in verses 6 and 7, what are known 37:56 as the first angel's message. 37:58 And then verse 8 has the second, and verses 9 through 11 have 38:01 the third angel's message. 38:03 Now the first angel's message, we don't have time to study all 38:06 of the details of it, but I'm going to summarize what the 38:08 first angel's message contains. 38:10 First of all, it presents the everlasting gospel. 38:13 And the gospel is that Jesus was sacrificed once 38:16 for all, for our sins. 38:18 Also, there we find that we should care for our body, 38:25 and for our mind, because it says give glory to God. 38:28 And the Apostle Paul says, Glorify God in your body, 38:32 and in your spirit, which are God's. 38:33 So, in other words, this angel calls people to be careful 38:36 with their body, and with their mind. 38:38 It also teaches that we're supposed to reflect 38:41 God's beautiful character, because the angels says, 38:44 Give glory to Him, and God's glory is His character. 38:48 This angel also attracts attention to God's holy law, 38:52 because the angel says, Fear God. 38:55 And if you read that expression, Fear God, in Scripture, 38:58 you'll find that many, many times it's linked 39:01 with keeping God's commandments. 39:02 For example in Ecclesiastics 12: 13, 14 it says, Fear God and 39:06 keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 39:10 So the first angel attracts the attention of God's 39:13 people to His law. 39:14 But it also attracts the attention of people 39:18 to God's judgment, because the first angels says, 39:20 the hour of His judgment has come. 39:22 And it attracts their attention to the holy Sabbath. 39:25 Because we're supposed to worship the God who made the 39:28 heavens, the earth, the seas, and everything that is in them. 39:31 In other words, the first angel's message presents God's 39:35 pure grape juice, so to speak, unfermented by human 39:39 traditions, and human ideas. 39:41 The harlot, in contrast, presents her wine to the world; 39:46 her human wisdom. That's why this system has human eyes. 39:51 Because it depends on human wisdom. 39:53 In other words, the human eyes basically are parallel 39:57 to the wine that she gives to the nations. 39:59 And what kind of wine does she give? 40:01 Well, the second angel's message says, Hey, she has made 40:05 everyone drunk with the wine of her fornication. 40:07 So there's a contrast between the first angel's message, 40:10 which is God's pure message, and the second angel's message, 40:13 which says that Babylon is fallen. 40:15 And, by the way, later on in Revelation it says 40:18 you'd better get out while you can. 40:19 You'd better get out of the system. 40:21 Notice Revelation 14:8. It says: 40:28 And then we find the reason why she fell. 40:37 Her traditions, her ideas based on human wisdom. 40:41 That's what her wine represents. 40:43 Revelation 18:2, 3 presents a final warning, right before the 40:48 second coming of Jesus Christ, right before 40:50 the close of probation. 40:51 And, once again, it's the message that Babylon is fallen, 40:54 because she gave her wine to all of the inhabitants of the earth. 40:57 It says there in verse 2: 41:14 And now comes the reason why she's fallen, 41:16 why she's basically possessed by the evil powers, 41:20 according to this. Notice it says: 41:28 Does that sound like a place that you would want to be? 41:31 Certainly not me! And now it gives the reason in verse 3. 41:47 So why did Babylon fall? 41:49 Because she refused the first angel's message. 41:56 Now, how can we be sure that fermented wine represents 42:00 false doctrine, or human traditions in contrast 42:03 to God's truth as it's found in Scripture? 42:06 You know, for a while I struggled with this, 42:09 because I looked up in a Concordance the word wine. 42:11 And every reference that I could find to wine 42:15 simply spoke about literal wine. 42:17 And so how do you determine what the wine in the cup 42:22 of the harlot represents, if in every reference that we find 42:26 in Scripture it seems to be referring to literal wine? 42:29 Well, I struggled with this until I realized 42:31 something very interesting. 42:32 And that is that in Revelation, chapter 17, 42:36 the wine is explained as her abominations. 42:40 Did you notice that when we studied, when we read these 42:43 verses a few minutes ago? 42:45 The wine are in the cup of her abominations. 42:48 But in the cup is her wine. 42:50 So her wine are her what? her abominations. 42:53 So I said, Well, why not look up the word abominations 42:56 instead of looking up the word wine? 42:58 Because they're used interchangeably. 43:00 And when I looked up the word abomination, Oh a whole new 43:04 scenario opened up. 43:05 Do you know what the Bible explains abomination to be? 43:08 what the wine of abominations is? 43:11 I'm just going to give you a summary, and we're going to talk 43:14 more about these things as we go along. 43:15 This is just the introductory subject that we're studying now. 43:20 But it's very interesting that the abominations in the Bible 43:24 are the following: bowing down before idols, 43:27 attempting to communicate with the dead (including praying to 43:33 the dead, by the way), turning away one's ear from hearing 43:38 God's law, believing you can be saved by your own works, 43:43 spiritual fornication with a political power, 43:50 a church fornicating with the political powers of the world. 43:53 In other words union of church and state. 43:54 Shedding innocent blood is called an abomination. 44:00 And teaching that it's alright to eat anything and everything 44:04 is called an abomination. 44:06 Are all those false doctrines, and false practices? Absolutely! 44:11 Scripture tells us just the opposite. 44:14 So what does this harlot have in her cup? 44:16 She has all of these false teachings. 44:18 She has all of these ideas that are based on human wisdom, 44:22 not based on the wisdom of God. 44:25 In other words, she has human eyes, not divine eyesight. 44:29 I want to read you a statement that we find in the book, 44:33 Testimonies to Ministers, pages 61, 62, where Ellen White 44:38 describes the wine. She says this: 44:59 That is that when you die, if you were bad, 45:01 you go to burn in hell forever. 45:03 And she says that's part of the wine. 45:10 And here comes a very important one. 45:18 Then she says: 45:55 Now do you know the Bible categorizes the abominations? 45:59 Do you know what the Bible categorizes as the worst 46:03 abomination that individuals could commit? 46:07 Well, in Ezekiel, chapter 8, we have what is called 46:12 the abominations chapter. 46:13 And God shows Ezekiel an abomination that's being 46:18 committed in Jerusalem. 46:20 And Ezekiel says, Wow Lord, that's bad! 46:23 God says, You haven't seen anything yet! 46:25 I'm going to show you one that's worse than that. 46:27 So then God shows him another abomination. 46:30 And Ezekiel says, Certainly, this is the worst of all! 46:33 God says, You haven't seen anything yet! 46:35 I'm going to show you an abomination that's 46:37 even worse than that. 46:38 And do you know what is at the very top of the list? 46:42 The Bible says in Ezekiel 8:15, 16, that the very leaders 46:50 in the temple were bowing towards the East, 46:55 and they were worshipping the sun. 46:58 Sun worship was the greatest abomination that was committed 47:05 by those who professed to be God's people 47:08 in Old Testament times. 47:09 Now does that have any parallel with the Christian world today? 47:13 It most certainly does! 47:15 Which day of the week do Christians keep today 47:18 as the day of worship. 47:19 They keep Sunday as the day of worship, 47:21 and what does Sunday mean? 47:22 It means the day of the what? the day of the sun. 47:25 And some people say, Well, it's not the same thing to worship 47:28 the sun as it is to worship on the day of the sun. 47:31 And I sustain that in principle it's the same thing. 47:34 And let me explain why. 47:35 Let me ask you, who created the sun? God did. 47:40 Did He create it for worship? No. 47:42 So what happens if you make the sun an object of worship? 47:46 What is that called? Idolatry. 47:49 Now let me ask you, who created the first day of the week? 47:52 God did. Did He create the first day of the week for worship? 47:55 No, He made the seventh day for worship. 47:57 Did He create the first day of the week for worship? No. 48:00 So what if man makes it a day of worship? 48:03 What is that called? That is idolatry. 48:05 It doesn't matter whether it's an object or a day. 48:09 Anything that man makes for worship is idolatry. 48:13 Are you understanding me? 48:14 Now I want to read you a couple of statements, 48:18 very interesting statements, from an author who wrote back 48:23 at the end of the 1900's. 48:25 This is actually the 1884 and 1898, these two quotations. 48:29 The first one is in Review and Herald, March 18, 1884, 48:33 where the writer says, The Lord has a controversy with His 48:37 professed people in these last days. 48:39 She's not talking only about Seventh-day Adventists, 48:42 she's talking about the Christian world. 48:43 She says, In this controversy men in responsible positions 48:48 will take a course directly opposite to that 48:52 pursued by Nehemiah. 48:53 Remember Nehemiah was involved in building 48:56 the wall of Jerusalem. 48:57 They will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, 49:02 but they will try to keep it from others. 49:05 Listen carefully now. 49:07 They will try to keep it from others by burying it beneath 49:12 the rubbish of custom and tradition. 49:14 Hum! In churches and large meetings in the open air, 49:21 ministers will urge upon the people the necessity of keeping 49:26 the first day of the week. 49:27 And she says it's based on what? the rubbish of 49:31 custom and tradition. 49:33 Human wisdom, not divine wisdom. 49:36 The second statement is in Review and Herald, 49:40 March 8, 1898, and this is a powerful statement. 49:44 She says, Sunday is a child of the Papacy. 49:49 And listen carefully now. 49:50 It has been nourished and cradled by the Protestant world 49:56 as a genuine requirement of Jehovah. 49:59 But it has no foundation in the word of God. 50:02 Interesting, it's a child of the Papacy. 50:05 And then she says, It has been nourished and cradled 50:08 by the Protestant world. 50:10 In other words, she's comparing Sunday to a baby. 50:13 The baby was born from Roman Catholicism, but the Protestants 50:18 have cradled it, and they've nourished it. 50:21 She continues saying, The Christian world is tested by 50:25 their relation to this matter. 50:27 God moves upon men to search the Scriptures for evidence 50:31 to sustain Sunday. 50:33 Those who search with a desire for truth... 50:36 Notice. Those who search with a desire for truth will see that 50:40 in the past they have been relying on tradition, 50:44 and have accepted an institution of the Papacy. 50:48 Those who with contrite hearts search the word of God for truth 50:54 will receive a blessing from God. 50:57 In another statement that we find in Review and Herald, 51:01 she says this: Satan has taken the world captive. 51:04 He has introduced an idol Sabbath. 51:07 Notice that she calls it an idol Sabbath. 51:11 Why? Because it was created by man for worship. 51:14 Anything that man creates for worship is an idol. 51:17 She says, Satan has taken the world captive. 51:19 He has introduced an idol Sabbath, apparently giving 51:22 to it great importance. 51:23 He has stolen the homage of the Christian world away from 51:28 the Sabbath of the Lord for this idol Sabbath. 51:32 The world bows to a tradition, a man made commandment. 51:38 Wise words! Very penetrating words. 51:43 Those are really words of divine wisdom, not of human wisdom. 51:48 Now as we draw this to an end, I'd like to say that in the 51:52 Greek language letters of the Greek alphabet 51:56 stand for numbers. 51:58 In other words, in the times of Christ the Greeks did not have 52:02 the number system. 52:03 Basically they used letters that stood for numbers. 52:06 And you're going to see on the screen a list of the letters 52:12 in Greek, and what their numerical equivalent is. 52:15 Now this is very, very important because they also 52:18 wrote words with numbers. 52:22 You remember the number 666? 52:25 It says it's the name of the beast, 52:27 and it's the number of the beast. 52:30 Well, somehow the number gives us a name, 52:33 or the name gives us a number. 52:34 Now it's interesting to notice that if you look at the 52:40 numerical value, for example, of the name Jesus, which in Greek 52:44 is Jesous. And you look at this chart where you have all of 52:49 these Greek letters, and what their number equivalent is. 52:54 You'll find that the word Jesus, Jesous, comes out to 888. 53:00 And I don't have time to get into the meaning of 53:03 the number 8. The number 8 is the number of the resurrection. 53:06 It's the number of eternal life in symbolic prophecy. 53:10 The word cross in Greek, which is stauros, comes out to 777. 53:20 Interesting! And I'm not creating this number system, 53:25 by the way, folks. 53:26 It's on the screen, and you'll be able to do the 53:28 calculating yourself. 53:31 Stauros comes out to 777. 53:33 But the word that I particularly want to focus on 53:37 is the word tradition in Greek. 53:40 I bet you can't guess what the numerical value 53:44 of the word Paradosis is. 53:46 It is 666. And you know, you can see it on the screen. 53:53 The Greek word Paradosis... 53:55 I'm not creating this. 53:56 I'm not inventing this. 53:57 This is the number value of the letters. 53:59 In other words, the word tradition in Greek 54:02 comes out to 666. It is the number of man. 54:07 Because it is a system that is based on the wisdom of men, 54:11 not on the wisdom of God. 54:13 Now as we close, I'd like to show you a clipping that I 54:16 got from a newspaper a few years ago. 54:19 This was in Colombia in a Presidential election. 54:22 And if you look at this picture carefully that came out 54:27 in the newspaper, it shows a priest coming to a voting table. 54:33 By the way, back then they didn't use computers 54:36 or anything. This is back in the 60's, late 60's, early 70's. 54:40 So you didn't have the computerized system of votation. 54:44 You had these tables with big numbers on them written on 54:48 cardboard. And then people would come 54:50 to the tables and vote. 54:51 Now as you look at this illustration, you'll find 54:54 that at the table to vote is a Roman Catholic priest. 54:59 His sleeve is covering one of the numbers on the table. 55:05 But the three numbers that are visible are 666. 55:12 Now what are the odds? 55:16 You know you say, Well, this is just a coincidence. 55:19 But you know, God has a sense of humor, doesn't He? 55:22 You know, there were four numbers at the table, 55:26 but his sleeve, you can tell, is covering one of the numbers. 55:28 And you can clearly see in huge numbers 666 55:33 as the number of the table. 55:35 The newspaper was oblivious to the meaning of that number. 55:39 And the photographer didn't have the foggiest idea about the 55:43 importance of that number. 55:45 And yet at that particular time, and that particular place, 55:49 there was an appointment for the photographer to go to that 55:53 specific place to take that picture. 55:56 I believe that that is very, very significant. 55:59 So in Scripture, folks, eyes represent wisdom. 56:06 When they refer to God it has to do with divine wisdom 56:11 that God imparts to human beings, if you pray 56:13 and you ask for wisdom. 56:15 But eyes can also represent human wisdom 56:18 independent from God, like as with the little horn. 56:21 And this system that we've discussed this evening 56:25 as we introduced this subject, is a system that bases 56:28 almost all of its practices, and all of its beliefs, 56:32 not on the word of God, not on the wisdom that we find 56:37 in the book of God, but depends on the wisdom of human beings. 56:42 Cunning wisdom of man instead of the wisdom of God. 56:48 And in this series we are going to discuss the difference 56:52 between basing our life, and our faith on the word of God, 56:55 or on the traditions of men. 56:57 And we're going to see that to follow the traditions of men 57:01 we are building on the sand. 57:02 But following the word of God, we are building our character 57:07 and our life on the solid rock that will not fall 57:11 when the tempest comes. 57:14 And so the question we ask: word of God, 57:17 or traditions of men? |
Revised 2015-01-07