Participants: David Down
Series Code: DUTP
Program Code: DUTP000013
|
00:01 For this program, we take you to Rome,
00:03 where we have a look around St. Peter's Cathedral, 00:06 one of the most magnificent church buildings in the world. 00:09 Here, David will explain the bible prophecy of the Antichrist 00:47 We are now in St. Peter's square I figure it should be 00:51 more accurately described as a circle. And here St. Peter's, 00:55 one of the greatest churches of Christendom. 00:58 At the entrance of the church, there is a door. 01:02 Its called the Jubilee Door because its only open about 01:05 once every 50 years. The pope comes and walks through this 01:08 door and that is just a jubilee occasion. Inside the church 01:14 not very far inside, there is a statue of St. Peter. 01:17 This is a very ancient statue, although, of course, 01:20 it doesn't go back to St. Peter, himself. 01:22 But there are occasions when this statue is clothed 01:27 with the papal robes - the pope's robes, 01:29 and is worshiped. Then further inside, there is a magnificent 01:34 Basilica, and it is believed that beneath this basilica 01:38 are the bones of St. Peter. There's no archaeological 01:40 evidence to support this; but this is what is commonly 01:44 believed. Down below the church, the floor level of the church, 01:47 the popes are buried and there are some magnificent statues 01:51 down there. Before a pope dies, he chooses his place 01:54 to be buried and the statues that should surmount his 01:58 burial place. Well, the Roman Catholic church is a very 02:02 important church. And it figures very largely in bible prophecy. 02:06 On one occasion the prophet, Daniel, dreamed that he was 02:09 by the seashore and had a dream in which he saw this 02:14 church. In Daniel, chapter 7, the prophet says, 02:18 I saw in my vision by night, and behold the 4 winds of heaven 02:23 were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts 02:27 came up from the sea, each different from the other. 02:30 The first was like a lion. Now these 4 beasts are symbolic of 02:35 four great kingdoms, or empires which would come on the scene of 02:39 action in the middle east; because it says in verse 17, 02:41 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings 02:46 which shall arise out of the earth. Now a king symbolizes 02:50 a kingdom, because in verse 23 it says, The fourth kingdom 02:53 on earth would be the fourth beast. So here are four kingdoms 02:58 that would arise. And it tells us that the first was like a 03:02 lion and had eagle's wings. Well now here we have artist's 03:07 concept of what this first beast must have looked like. 03:11 And I think he's done a very good job, too, hasn't he? 03:13 And so Daniel saw a lion with eagle's wings coming up out 03:17 of the water. The water represents the warring nations. 03:21 And what nation is represented by this particular beast? 03:25 You know, whenever you come to bible prophecy you need to allow 03:29 the bible to interpret itself and that's exactly what we can 03:32 do with this particular kingdom; because in Jeremiah, chapter 4, 03:36 the prophet, Jeremiah, was speaking about the invading 03:41 Babylonian armies that were approaching Jerusalem. 03:43 And he says in verse 7, A lion is come up from his thicket, 03:48 the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way. 03:51 He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate. 03:55 Your cities will be laid waste without inhabitant. 03:58 And so Babylon was referred to as a lion. 04:02 And the eagle's wings? well it says here in verse 13, 04:05 His horses are swifter than eagles. And so the wings 04:10 denote the fact that the Babylonian invasion will be a 04:13 very swift invasion. Well, the Babylonians came on the scene 04:16 in 612 BC, when together with the Medes, they conquered the 04:22 great city of Nineveh. And then in 605 BC, the Babylonians 04:26 conquered Jerusalem and were masters of the middle east. 04:30 Nebuchadnezzar, the architect, of the great Neo-Babylonian 04:34 empire, remained on the scene for more than 40 years. 04:38 And so the Babylonians were rulers of the middle east 04:41 right up until the year 539 BC. Now what was the next kingdom 04:48 on the scene? In verse 7 it says Suddenly another beast, a second 04:53 like a bear. It was raised up on one side and it had 3 ribs 04:57 in its mouth between its teeth. So, here we have the artist's 05:01 concept of what the bear must have looked like with the 3 ribs 05:04 and what does this represent? Well obviously this would 05:07 be the next kingdom that came on the scene. 05:09 And that was the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. 05:11 King Cyrus marched his forces down the Euphrates river 05:15 and found the gates open of Babylon, marched in, 05:19 in the year 539 BC and occupied the city. And so Medo-Persia 05:26 became the next great empire. The three ribs? Well, no doubt 05:29 that symbolizes the 3 nations that the Medo-Persians 05:33 conquered. One, of course, was Babylon, the other was Libya 05:37 and the other was Egypt. And so the Medo-Persian empire 05:40 is symbolized by this bear with the 3 ribs, lifting itself up on 05:45 one side? Well, at first, the Medes were the stronger 05:50 of the 2 nations; but afterwards Persians 05:52 became the stronger. And so you've got the two sides 05:55 of this empire, fittingly symbolized by the bear 05:58 with the two sides. Then came the next beast. 06:02 In verse 6 it tells us, After this, I looked, and there was 06:07 another like a leopard, which had on its back, 4 wings of a 06:11 bird. The beast also had 4 heads and dominion was given 06:15 to it. The kingdom that followed the Medo-Persian 06:19 kingdom was that of Alexander the Great, of Macedon 06:22 And he is very fittingly symbolized by a leopard. 06:25 You know, a leopard can move fast. One of the fastest 06:28 moving animals there is in the world. And in contrast, 06:32 to the bear, the bear is very strong but very unwieldy. 06:36 And that's the way it was with the vast Medo-Persian army - 06:39 Strong, powerful, but very hard to maneuver. 06:42 Alexander's strength laid in the fact of his maneuverability 06:48 and so he is very fittingly symbolized by the leopard, 06:51 with the eagle's wings for swiftness. 06:54 Why the four heads? Because when Alexander died 06:58 prematurely, at the age of only 32 years of age, in Babylon, 07:02 he had no heir to succeed him. And so he was succeeded 07:07 ultimately by his four generals. Cassander, Lysimachus, 07:11 Selucus, and Ptolemy. And they divided the Macedonian empire 07:16 between them. Hence this beast has four heads. 07:20 And so it was in the year 331 that Alexander finally 07:25 defeated the Medo-Persian Darius the third and became 07:29 the master of the middle east. Now comes the fourth beast. 07:34 Daniel had just never seen anything like this in his life. 07:37 It says in verse 7, After this in the night visions, behold a 07:42 fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong 07:47 It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces 07:52 and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different 07:55 from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns. 08:00 Now this obviously represents the great iron monarchy of Rome. 08:05 And so Rome came on the scene in the year 168 BC when they 08:11 finally ousted the Greeks at the battle of Pidnah. 08:14 Rome is very fittingly symbolized by this beast; 08:17 because it was an iron monarchy. It was very fierce. It was very 08:22 strong, and it strode across the Mediterranean, all over Europe, 08:26 and established an empire, stretching from the United 08:30 Kingdom or England in the top and right down to Africa and to 08:35 Mesopotamia in the east and south. Now why the 10 horns? 08:39 Simply because there is no 5th beast. Did you ever stop to 08:44 think that prophecy not only tells us what is the future, but 08:49 it is able to predict the limit to what will happen. 08:52 And so there are not 5 beasts here; because there wasn't a 08:56 5th empire. The 5th stage of affairs was simply the division 09:02 of the empire of Rome into 10 pieces The barbarian invasions 09:08 of that whole. And so these are fittingly symbolized 09:11 by the 10 horns on this beast. Now after Daniel had seen these 09:18 10 horns, he describes another horn that came on the scene. 09:23 It says in verse 8, I was considering the horns and there 09:29 was another horn, a little one, coming up among them before 09:34 whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. 09:37 Now it gives us further information over here in 09:41 verse 24. He says, The 10 horns are 10 kings and another shall 09:47 arise after them and he shall be different from the first ones. 09:51 I want you to notice 3 distinctive identification marks 09:55 here. The first is, it came up among the ten. 09:59 Secondly, it came up after the 10. And thirdly, 10:04 it plucked up 3 of the horns by the roots. 10:08 Now, its very significant that it says, this little horn was 10:13 different from the others. Now the others were political 10:16 kingdoms and that must surely mean that this is a religious 10:20 kingdom. Now there's only one religious kingdom that fits this 10:23 prophecy, and that is the Roman Catholic Church. 10:26 Now that doesn't mean that we're criticizing 10:29 Roman Catholics. There are some very pious Roman Catholics 10:33 in the Catholic church, very fine people. 10:34 But we're talking about a religious system. 10:37 And this particular system is the only one that fits the 10:41 prophecy. In the first place of course that we're here in Rome, 10:45 and this was right among these 10 kingdoms. And it is true that 10:50 the Roman Catholic church was responsible for plucking up 10:54 3 of these kingdoms. There were the Vandals. There were the 10:58 Ostrogoths and the Alemanni, all of whom were destroyed 11:02 as the result of papal influence. Now it also says 11:06 here, in verse 25, the saints shall be given into his hand 11:11 for a time and times and half a time. In other words, 11:13 it was to be a persecuting power. It was to be responsible 11:18 for the destruction of many of God's people. 11:20 And I regret to say that the Roman Catholic church 11:24 has certainly fulfilled this specification. 11:27 I'm standing in front of the church of St. Bartholomew's 11:31 in London. And on the front of the church there is an 11:35 inscription that refers to the noble army of martyrs 11:39 who perished in this place. You see, this church is in 11:42 Smithfield Mackas and over there under that archway, 11:46 is where hundreds of martyrs were burned at the stake 11:49 during the 16th century A.D. because of their faith in the 11:53 bible and because of their determination to follow 11:56 the bible even though it was in opposition to Rome. 12:00 We are in Oxford in England. And I am standing in front of 12:05 what is know as the martyr memorial. I'd like to read 12:08 to you the inscription that is on this memorial. 12:10 It says, To the glory of God and in grateful commemoration 12:14 of his servants, Cramer, Ridley, and Latimer, prelates of 12:18 the church of England who near this spot yielded their bodies 12:22 to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which 12:26 they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the church 12:30 of Rome. Now the actual spot is just around the corner, 12:33 and it's marked by a novel cross in the road where they were 12:37 burned at the stake, as were many other martyrs in this 12:41 city. They were godly men. And they believed in the bible. 12:45 But bloody Mary came to the throne and under her 12:50 many perished for their faith. This burning was a terrible 12:54 thing. You know sometimes they burned them slowly, deliberately 12:59 so that they would suffer longer. And if you want a 13:03 bad night's sleep, just read Fox's book of Martyrs where 13:07 some of these public burnings were described. 13:09 Now we are up on the roof of St. Peters and along the front 13:17 of the veranda, 13 statues. In the center of the statue 13:21 of Christ on his right hand is the statue of St. Peter, 13:25 who, it is claimed, was the first pope. 13:28 Now concerning the head of the papal church, who is the pope of 13:33 Rome, the bible says in Daniel 7:25, he shall speak great words 13:38 against the Most High. Now some people say, Yea, but look, 13:42 this is a Christian church and certainly that don't speak 13:45 against God. But I have in my hand here, a little book I 13:49 purchased in a Roman Catholic book shop. And it is about 13:53 priests. Its called A Priest. And it says here, 13:57 First then there is the priest's power over Christ's real body 14:00 the blessed Eucharist. A power which surpasses all others 14:04 ever given to men or angels. Clad in his priestly garments, 14:08 he stands, morning after morning at the altar of sacrifice 14:11 and summons the second person of the all holy trinity 14:16 from heaven and to his priest summons, Jesus Christ gives 14:20 his entire and instant obedience. 14:23 O, Priest, exclaims Saint Augustine, He who created 14:27 you gives you power to create himself. Makes us wonder 14:32 who creates who, doesn't it? Now how many Christ's do you 14:36 think there are? Here is a also on the same sort, that's called 14:40 Other Christ's. And it is about the Roman Catholic priesthood. 14:44 It says, Thus the priests as is said with good reason 14:48 is indeed another Christ. For in some way he is himself a 14:53 continuation of Christ. The Omnipotent greatness of 14:56 of the human priest stands forth in all its splendor; for he has 15:00 power over the very body of Jesus Christ makes it present 15:04 on our altars. In the ordination of a priest, the God seems to 15:09 part with His omnipotence. Christ seems to hand over the 15:13 merits of his life and passion and the Holy Ghost gives the 15:16 key to the immense treasure of spiritual life to a mere man. 15:20 Interesting statements, aren't they? 15:37 Behind me is an obelisk of Ramses the great of Egypt 15:41 and beyond that is what is known as the Pantheon. 15:44 Theos is the Greek word for God and Pan means many, and so you 15:48 got a place of many Gods. And its a great domelike structure, 15:51 very beautifully made, actually, from the very early 15:53 ages, in which were installed many pagan gods. 15:57 Now this very well illustrates how paganism came into the 16:01 Christian church; because this was converted into a Christian 16:06 church and instead of the pagan gods, there were now 16:09 installed images or statues of various saints, 16:13 the virgin Mary and so forth. And it was used as a church. 16:16 Well now, this illustrates how sun worship came into the church 16:20 too; because this was in particular a place of sun 16:23 worship. And so sun worship was adopted into the Christian 16:27 church. And, of course, with sun worship. A form of day was 16:33 observed, in other words, Sunday or the day of the sun. 16:35 Constantine the great was the first one who passed such a law 16:38 that Sunday should be observed. But later on in the council of 16:42 Laodicea in 331, the Christian council adopted Sunday as the 16:47 day of worship. Its interesting to notice what 16:50 Kennan's catechism has to say about this. 16:56 One day I went into Pelegrinos, you know the Roman Catholic 16:59 book shop. And I purchased this little book called the Convert's 17:04 Catechism of Catholic doctrine. And I was very interested in 17:09 what is says here on page 50. Which is the Sabbath Day? 17:13 Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath Day. Question: Why do we observe 17:19 Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday 17:23 instead of Saturday because the Catholic church in the council 17:26 of Laodicea, A.D. 336, transferred the solemnity 17:31 from Saturday to Sunday. Rather interesting, isn't it? 17:34 You know that prophecy we were talking about in Daniel, chapter 17:40 7, says, concerning the antichrist, in verse 25, 17:45 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall 17:49 persecute the saints of the Most High and shall intend to 17:53 change times and law. Now what law is he talking about? 17:58 Obviously its talking about the law of God and speaking about a 18:00 time element in that law. And of course that is referring to 18:04 the Sabbath Day. So the prophecy said that the papacy would try 18:10 to change the law of God, particularly the time element 18:12 of it. And we ask Rome, Did you do it? And the Catholic church 18:17 says, Sure. Yea, we did it. In the council of Laodicea. 18:21 A.D. 336. Now of course there are some people who feel that 18:28 Christ must have changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. 18:31 But remember that sermon on the mount that he preached? 18:35 In Matthew 5 and in verse 17, Jesus says, Do not think that I 18:41 come to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to 18:44 destroy but to fulfill. That is he kept God's law, his father's 18:48 law. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, 18:52 one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all 18:57 is fulfilled. Now what did Jesus mean by a jot or a tittle? 19:03 Let me just explain something about the Hebrew alphabet. 19:08 It goes from right to left, you know, and its written something 19:12 like this. This is Aleph, Beth, and then Gimmal, and Daleth, 19:17 and Hey, yad, zayin, Hhet, Tet, yad and so forth, 19:21 you see. Now I want you to notice something about this 19:23 alphabet so as I can explain it to you. We come here to Hhet 19:28 yad. Now you notice that this letter is the smallest letter of 19:33 the Hebrew alphabet. Het is a yad or a jot. 19:38 What is meant by a tittle? There are some Hebrew letters, 19:43 for instance, here is the letter Hey which is very similar to 19:46 this, except for this little projection on the end there. 19:50 and that is a tittle. Another letter, for instance 19:54 Here you've got g or gimal, and here's the letter n. 19:58 Again, you'll notice there's not much difference 20:00 only this little projection here. Now Jesus said, 20:04 Not one yan, this smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet 20:08 or a tittle, just something that's just makes the difference 20:11 between one letter and another is going to pass away from 20:14 this law. Now, I'll show you something very significant. 20:17 Let's have a look at the ten commandments in particular 20:23 the fourth commandment where it says the seventh day is the 20:27 Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Let me write on the blackboard 20:31 for you, the Hebrew word that is used here for seventh. 20:36 And I want you to notice something here. 20:40 It's hashavikey and it has here two Yans in the word 20:48 seventh. You'll also notice there is a tittle. 20:52 Jesus did not change the 7th to the 1st - a totally different 20:58 word,? He said not even a yad or a tittle is going to 21:04 pass from this law. So certainly Jesus Christ 21:07 did not change the Sabbath from the 7th day to the 1st day, 21:12 from Saturday to Sunday. So we notice what the disciples or the 21:18 apostles have to say in Hebrews chapter 4, and in verse 9. 21:24 The great apostle Paul said, There remains therefore a rest 21:28 for the people of God. The word that is used there for rest, 21:32 literally means a Sabbath keeping - a keeping of Sabbath. 21:34 Paul said, There remains, it hasn't gone. 21:37 It hasn't been changed, it remains a keeping of Sabbath 21:40 remains as far as the new testament writers 21:44 are concerned. Well, now you might say, does it really matter 21:49 What does it matter whether its the 7th day or the 1st day? 21:52 Well, if you read the bible carefully, I think you will 21:56 notice that it does really matter; because here 22:00 for instance in the book of Romans, chapter 6 and in 22:03 verse 16, it says, Do you not know that to whom you present 22:08 yourselves slaves to obey, your are that one's slaves 22:12 whom you obey, whether its sin to death or of obedience 22:17 to righteousness. You see its the question of obedience. 22:19 If God says, and this law was spoken through Jesus Christ 22:24 that the 7th day is the Sabbath, and the Catholic church says, 22:29 the 1st day is the Sabbath, its a matter of obedience. 22:32 Are you going to obey the bible or are you going to do what 22:36 the Catholic church says should be done? 22:38 Well, I think you would say that we should follow the bible. 22:41 Shouldn't we? I also want you to notice what Jesus said, 22:45 in John, chapter 14, and in verse 15. He says, If you love 22:51 me keep my commandments. It is also the question of love. 22:56 See, its not just a matter of legal obedience. Its a case of 23:00 who do you love. And if the Lord Jesus Christ died for us on 23:04 the cross, and given his life for our sins, surely that should 23:09 provoke our love. And he says, If you love me, keep my 23:13 commandments. In our next program, 23:16 we'll be exploring the remarkable catacombs 23:19 of Bethsurin in Israel, Where the members of the Sanhedrin 23:23 were buried in the 2nd century A.D. And David will be talking 23:28 about some very strange burial places when he explains what 23:32 happens when we die. |
Revised 2014-12-17