Participants: David Down
Series Code: DUTP
Program Code: DUTP000017
|
00:01 Beside the old Elomite city of Shushan there flows the small
00:04 river of Ulai and on the bank of this river is the traditional 00:09 tomb of the prophet Daniel. If Daniel could wake up and look 00:13 around him, I am sure he would immediately say, I must be 00:17 in the last days of this world's history. You see, when his 00:20 visions were ended, the angel said to him, and I quote 00:24 from Daniel chapter 12 and verse 4 But you Daniel shut up 00:29 the words and seal the book until the time of the end. 00:33 Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. 00:37 Well, right over his tomb are fluorescent electric lights 00:40 and nearby traffic roars up and down between Abidjan and Tehran. 00:45 So indeed, knowledge has increased and men are running 00:50 to and fro. So these were the days the great Medo Persian 00:54 empire and David will be showing you around Persepolis 00:58 which means the Persian city. 01:35 I wish I could take you to Persepolis. Its a fantastic 01:39 place. And its a wonderful place to visit. I've been there 01:43 many times. But it so happens that just at the present time 01:48 the Ayatollah Khomeini is the man in charge of Iran and its 01:53 not a healthy place to be unless you're a Muslim 01:57 and a fundamental one at that. However I've been there many 02:02 times. Let me show you some pictures of what is to be seen 02:06 in these fantastic ruins of Persepolis. 02:09 Looking out over the city from the nearby hilltop, you can 02:14 see the ruins spread out beneath you. 02:16 And there's a lot of it, acres and acres of it. 02:19 And then looking close up, you walk up these steps, 02:24 you got to pay your money of course to get into the ruins, 02:27 at this little box office, and then up the steps onto the right 02:32 platform on which the city was built, A man made platform and 02:37 here you see the steps leading up and the reliefs on the wall 02:42 as you go, strange to say or interesting it is, 02:45 that here you can see the soldiers of the Medo Persian 02:49 allies, a Mede and a Persian, a Mede and a Persian, 02:53 You see them? Side by side. And so it was the Medes and 02:56 Persians who ruled at this time. And then you come to the great 03:01 Apidona or audience hall, two great winged bulls stand at the 03:07 entrance. And there's a lot of pillars here. I just wonder how 03:11 long they're going to stand there, You know. Some of them 03:13 look as though they could fall over with a decent breeze. 03:15 And an earthquake will surely bring them down. 03:18 And then there's this picture of Darius. That's a relief of 03:22 Darius fighting the Persian symbol of evil. 03:25 And then you see him, of course being victorious and then you 03:33 see the reliefs of the Persian king Darius and behind him is 03:39 his son XerXes. You will notice that in the hand of Darius 03:43 there is a scepter and if he holds out the scepter to you 03:49 you're in good luck. You can have an audience. If not, well, 03:52 it's bad news for you. And so the king of Persia is depicted 03:56 here with his scepter. Now not very far away from Persepolis 04:00 are the tombs where the great Persian kings were buried. 04:05 And up on the face of the cliff here you can see the tombs 04:10 where Artaxerxes, Darius and other kings were buried. 04:14 Then we notice not very far from here is an interesting 04:19 fire altar. You see the Persians were not idolaters. 04:23 They worshiped the elements, fire, water, air and the earth. 04:29 And these were sacred symbols to them and so when somebody 04:33 died, you couldn't contaminate or defile any of these elements 04:37 by a dead body. So what to do with a dead body? 04:41 If you can't burn it, if you can't bury it, if you can't 04:44 throw it into the river, what can you do with a dead body? 04:46 Well, they had the answer. And that is they exposed it for the 04:52 vultures. Now when the Persians were driven out of Persia, 04:56 that is, those who adhered to the old Zoroastrianism religion, 04:59 they fled to India and they are now known as the Parsis. 05:04 Now the Parsis also have this problem, 05:07 and so they have what they call towers of silence. 05:11 and I've been to these towers of silence. You can't go inside 05:16 of course, not even Persians are allowed inside there. 05:19 Only two men carry the naked body through the gate into the 05:23 Tower of Silence and then the vultures swoop down and within 05:27 about 10 minutes there's only dry bones left. 05:30 And so you have the city of Persepolis. You have the 05:34 burial place of the kings, the fire altar. All this 05:38 in connection with the great city of Persepolis. 05:42 But then they had another great city. It was called Shushan. 05:46 Let's go there. Well here we are at Shushan. 05:51 and the archaeologists have been at work here. 05:54 The town itself is quite large. It's about a square mile, 05:58 nearly 4 kilometers in area. And here the archaeologists 06:05 have dug down really deep. They've exposed the old streets 06:08 and the houses and villages that were once here, but up on top of 06:13 this hill, they built themselves a castle. 06:16 Now this was not just for their comfort. It was for their 06:19 protection so that they wouldn't be bothered by the 06:21 local people who were always very curious, you know, 06:24 want to see what's going on. But its not altogether helpful 06:27 for the archaeologists and also a place to store the things that 06:31 they found from this place. And so the French archaeologists 06:35 have been working here since the year 1901. Now over on the far 06:40 side of the tower is the river Ulai. And here is the tomb of 06:48 the prophet, Daniel. Of course Queen Esther lived in this place 06:52 and it was here that the graphic events of the book of Esther 06:57 occurred. Archaeologists have exposed what was the palace 07:02 of the great kings of Persia in this place. 07:04 And you can even see the place where the harem was. 07:08 that would be where Queen Esther was. Well, Daniel the prophet 07:12 is said to have been buried here. And this is his tomb 07:15 by the river Ulai. I suppose if Daniel was to awaken today 07:19 he'd say, Well, this is it. You know he said, or he was 07:24 told by the angel. Shut up the words and seal your book, Daniel 07:27 until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro 07:29 and knowledge shall be increased. And he'd look up 07:32 and he'd see these fluorescent lights. He would see the jets 07:37 zooming overhead because this is on the direct route between 07:40 Abingdon, the great oil center and Tehran the capitol of Persia 07:44 or Iran today. And so the prophet Daniel was here, 07:49 right by the river Ulai when he had an interesting vision. 07:53 Its recorded in Daniel, chapter 8. He says, In the third year 07:58 of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel 08:01 after the one that appeared to me the first time. 08:04 I saw in the vision and is so happened while I was looking 08:08 that I was at Shushan the Citadel which is in the province 08:12 of Elam. And I saw in the vision that I was by the river 08:15 Ulai. So here's the setting right here by this little river, 08:19 Ulai near the city of Shushan, today called Shush. 08:23 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw and there standing beside 08:28 the river was a ram which had two horns. You know there's 08:33 some people that would say, Well you can make bible prophecy 08:36 mean anything. Well, no you can't. There are some prophecies 08:39 which are a little vague; but let me tell you, there's a lot 08:42 of prophecies that are very, very specific. 08:44 And you can't make this mean anything but what it says. 08:47 Here in verse 20 it says, The ram which you saw having the 2 08:52 horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. 08:55 You can't do anything else with that. So here's a symbol of the 08:58 great Medo-Persian empire. Now we are told, I saw the ram 09:06 pushing westward, northward, southward, so that no beast 09:09 could stand before him. He did according to his will and became 09:14 great. Then it says in verse 5, As I was considering suddenly a 09:19 male goat came from the west across the surface of the whole 09:23 earth without touching the ground. The goat had a notable 09:27 horn between his eyes. Again, you can't make this mean two 09:31 things. Its only one. And the goat represents the Macedonian 09:36 invasion. It came from the west, you see. And that's where 09:38 Alexander and his armies came. And this is not just guess work 09:42 because it says here in verse 21, The male goat is the kingdom 09:47 of Greece. The large horn that is between his eyes 09:50 is the first king. That is Alexander the great. 09:54 And so we have the Macedonian invasion. And then we find 09:59 here it was to be followed by the break up of the Macedonian 10:03 empire. It says in verse 7, I saw him confronting the ram. 10:09 He was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, broke his 10:12 two horns. Therefore the male goat grew very great. 10:16 Remember Persia was to be great Macedonians were to be very 10:19 great. And when he became strong the large horn was broken. 10:26 Now kings don't usually die when they're strong. 10:29 Its when they're weak and old and feeble. But here was a king 10:33 who was to be deposed or he was to die when he was strong 10:37 and that's what happened to Alexander. He was only 32 years 10:40 of age, just in the peak of his manhood when he died in Babylon. 10:44 And of course he didn't have any child, any son to succeed him. 10:49 And so it says, The large horn was broken. In place of it 10:53 four notable ones came up, one toward the four winds of heaven. 10:57 And so there ought to be four kings in the place of the one. 11:01 And that's exactly what happened because his kingdom was divided 11:05 among his four Generals. Cassander of Greece, 11:10 Lysimicus of Turkey and Seleucus took the land of Syria 11:16 and Palestine, and Ptolemy took Egypt. So you've got these four 11:23 subdivisions of the Macedonian empire. Just exactly as the 11:27 bible says. Now it says, Out of one of them came a little horn 11:33 which grew exceeding great. Now its only a little horn, but 11:37 it became exceeding great. You see, first you've got great 11:40 then you've got very great, then you've got exceeding great. 11:42 And that, of course, very aptly describes the great empire of 11:48 Rome, which became the greatest of all these empires of the past 11:52 Now we are told concerning Rome, He even exalted himself as high 11:58 as the prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifices were 12:02 taken away, and the place of his sanctuary were cast down. 12:05 Now the Romans came to Jerusalem and completely destroyed the 12:10 temple at Jerusalem. And so the place of the Jewish sanctuary 12:14 was cast down. Then a question was asked. Verse 13. 12:20 Then I heard a holy one speaking That would be one of the angels 12:25 and another holy one said to the certain one who was speaking 12:28 How long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices 12:33 and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both 12:36 the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot? 12:39 In other words, How long would this destruction of the 12:44 sanctuary go on and the sanctuary be obscured? 12:47 The great sanctuary truth be obscured? And the answer was 12:52 given, Unto 2,300 days or evenings and mornings 12:58 means the same thing, you know. In Genesis 1, it says, 13:00 that the evening and the morning was the first day. 13:02 So 2,300 days. Now in Ezekiel 4, and in verse 6, we are told, 13:09 that a day in prophecy symbolizes a year. 13:12 So here is a period of 2,300 years. Let's put that on the 13:18 board so that we can just illustrate it and see what we 13:21 are talking about, right? 2,300 years. 13:28 Alright now where do we begin? 13:32 What marks the commencement point of this 13:34 prophecy? You can read Daniel chapter 8 right through and you 13:39 won't get a clue as to when it begins and of course 13:42 therefore you can't work out when it ends. Why? 13:46 Why would God give a prophecy and not give a beginning 13:48 or an ending? The reason is given in verse 27, and I Daniel 13:53 fainted and was sick for days. Afterward I arose and went about 13:58 the kings business. I was astonished by the vision 14:00 but no one understood it. Of course they couldn't because 14:03 no beginning date had been given. Daniel and his friends 14:07 could not understand it. Well, some years went by. 14:12 And then Daniel was praying and he had another vision. 14:15 The angel appeared to him again. It says in chapter 9, verse 21, 14:20 While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel whom I'd seen 14:24 in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly, 14:27 touched me about the time of the evening oblation, and he 14:30 informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now 14:33 come forth to give you skill to understand. Now remember 14:38 he said nobody understood the vision. Now the angel says, 14:42 understand. Aha. So here was to be given the final information 14:47 about this time prophecy. He says, Consider the matter and 14:52 understand the vision - that is this vision of the 2,300 days. 14:56 Alright. Now here is given this shorter period that we've 15:02 already discussed. 70 weeks are determined for your people 15:06 and it says in verse 25, Know therefore and understand that 15:11 from the going forth of the commandment to restore 15:14 and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, shall be 7 weeks, 15:18 and 62 weeks. Now here is a period of 69 weeks, and its 15:23 obviously marking the beginning of the both periods. And it says 15:29 >From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to 15:32 rebuild Jerusalem. Now the decree was issued by king 15:36 Artaxerxes of Persia in the year 457 B.C. Now the 457 B.C. 15:43 would be 456 complete years before Christ. Now this period 15:51 of 69 weeks do a little rapid multiplication by 7 and you'll 15:57 find that that comes to 483 days or years. My writing is terrible 16:04 isn't it. Eh? But if you subtract 456 from 483 16:11 What do you get? You get 27 A.D. In other words-We'll put here 16:18 27 A.D. and that is the very year in which Jesus Christ was 16:24 baptized. Alright now seeing as the first part of it is 16:29 confirmed by fulfilled prophecy we can have confidence in the 16:33 rest of it. Subtract 456 from this and what do you get? 1844. 16:42 So the termination of this point is 1844 A.D. 16:49 Now, don't forget the question that was asked. How long 16:54 will the truth concerning the heavenly sanctuary be obscured? 16:58 Unto 2,300 days, in other words until 1844. What happened then? 17:04 That was the year in which a lot of people were expecting 17:08 Jesus Christ to return. You see they had studied this very 17:12 prophecy. They knew it was going to be fulfilled in 1844. 17:15 And they thought that the cleansing of the sanctuary 17:19 was the return of Christ to this world to purify the world 17:23 by fire. You see, they hadn't done their homework 17:26 quite enough. They had the dates right but they had the wrong 17:30 event. And they were expecting Christ to return in 1844. 17:33 He didn't come. It was a bitter disappointment to them. 17:37 So, what did they do? Well they had another look at the 17:40 prophecy. And what does it say here? Then shall the sanctuary 17:45 be cleansed. What is the cleansing of the sanctuary? 17:49 Remember, the sanctuary is in heaven. The earthly sanctuary 17:53 had been destroyed in 70 A. D. It must be referring to the 17:56 heavenly sanctuary. And what is the cleansing of the heavenly 18:01 sanctuary? Well, they discovered the truth of the heavenly 18:07 sanctuary in 1844 and then they went on to understand what is 18:12 meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary. Let's have a look at 18:15 Mr. Winterdon's model of the sanctuary. 18:17 to understand that. Once a year there was a special ceremony 18:22 conducted at the tabernacle or the sanctuary. 18:24 And this was the one occasion in the year when the high priest 18:29 went into the inner apartment of the sanctuary. 18:32 Before he did that he was required first of all to take 18:36 a bullock and sacrifice this. You see, a priest had a 18:40 bigger responsibility than the common people and so his 18:44 sacrifice had to be bigger because he was more guilty 18:47 if he did make mistakes. He had more responsibility. 18:50 And so he took this bullock and sacrificed it and the blood 18:55 was taken into the inner apartment of the sanctuary 18:58 and sprinkled on the mercy seat, as it was called 19:01 which was where the ten commandments were. 19:04 Now, just so we can see what happened here, let us ask 19:08 Mr. Winterton to remove these, four coverings that were over 19:12 the sanctuary and then we get a good look inside. 19:15 Now you'll notice that there were two veils, one here and 19:18 one at the entrance to the inner apartment of the sanctuary. 19:21 Okay, so we'll take this one off first. Thank you, Mr. Winterton. 19:25 And then we'll take the other one off so that we can see 19:29 right inside there. Alright, now you'll notice that inside here 19:34 there is the ark of the covenant where the 10 commandments 19:37 were and this is all symbolic of the presence of God. 19:41 So, the blood of the bullock was taken in there and sprinkled 19:45 and then the high priest came out and then he took two goats. 19:50 Now we have already pointed out that a sacrificial animal 19:55 whose blood was spilt was symbolic of the sacrifice of 19:58 Jesus Christ on the cross, wasn't it? 20:00 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world 20:04 John the Baptist said concerning Jesus, and 20:07 the little lamb or goat, the same thing. Now he took these 20:10 two goats and would you believe it? He cast lots over them. 20:14 And one of them was chosen to be the Lord's goat and the other 20:19 one was designated as the goat for Azazel. Or he was 20:24 a symbol actually of the devil, or Satan. 20:27 the reason I say that is because the Lord's goat was sacrificed. 20:31 The blood was spilt. The other goat was not sacrificed. 20:35 Its blood was not spilt and without shedding of blood, there 20:38 was no remission of sin. So there's now way that that 20:40 represents the Lord Jesus Christ you see. Now he took the blood 20:44 of this goat and took it into the inner apartment of the 20:48 sanctuary and sprinkled it there before the presence of 20:51 God and then he came out and confessed all the sins of the 20:56 children of Israel over the- this live goat and then he 21:01 committed it to the hands of a capable man, a strong man 21:06 who then led it into the wilderness and there it perished 21:10 with the sins upon it. Now what's the meaning of all this? 21:12 Its very interesting. This live goat of course being sacrificed 21:17 was a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the 21:20 cross. And the work that was done in here was a work of 21:25 judgment. You see this was the Yom Kippur, the day of 21:29 Judgment that was celebrated on this 10th day of the 7th month 21:34 And the Jewish people of today still recognize Yom Kippur as 21:39 the Judgment Day. And so this represented the blood of Christ 21:45 being offered as a sacrifice for our sins in the judgment 21:49 day and it was also referred to as the cleansing of the 21:54 sanctuary. The sanctuary was cleansed or the objects here 21:58 were purified on this day by this spilt blood. 22:01 Now after the work of judgment was finished then the high 22:06 priest came out and confessed the sins over the live goat. 22:09 This was not sacrificed. It represented the responsibility 22:14 of Satan. You see the devil is not only got a lot of his own 22:17 sins to account for, but he is responsible for the sins that he 22:20 has tempted other people to commit. He is not a sacrifice 22:24 on our behalf. He is simply getting the consequences of his 22:29 own temptations that he has imposed on God's people and 22:33 so he's punished not only for his own sins but for the sins 22:35 that he tempts others to commit. That's only fair enough, 22:39 isn't it? Serves him right. And so this animal was taken 22:43 away and it was allowed to perish in the wilderness. 22:46 Alright, now I have said that this represents the cleansing 22:49 of the sanctuary. We have already pointed out that the 22:52 sanctuary is a symbol or a model of the great sanctuary of God in 22:57 heaven. Therefore this work of cleansing or judgment that goes 23:01 on this inner apartment of the sanctuary symbolizes the great 23:05 judgment day in heaven. Now you might say just hold on a 23:10 minute. Do you mean to say that there's anything in heaven that 23:13 needs cleansing? Surely heaven is a clean place. Surely heaven 23:17 doesn't need any housekeeping to clean it out or anything like 23:21 that. Well just before you start using any reasoning, just let's 23:25 notice what the bible says about this. In Hebrews and in chapter 23:30 9 and in verse 23, now this is not I that am saying this, 23:35 This is what the Bible says. Listen. Therefore it was 23:38 necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens 23:41 should be purified with these but the heavenly things, 23:46 notice it mentions things in heaven. Heaven is a real place. 23:49 And its got these real items of the sanctuary up there, 23:53 including the ark of the testament with the 23:55 10 commandments. It says, But the heavenly things themselves 24:01 were better sacrifices than these. So, there you are, 24:04 the bible says that heavenly things were purified or cleansed 24:08 by something better than the blood of goats or animals 24:12 It was cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 24:15 Well, why did it need cleansing? What was there to cleanse? 24:19 Let me read to you what it says here in Acts, chapter 3, and in 24:23 verse 19. Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost 24:26 and he says, Repent therefore and be converted that your 24:30 sins may be blotted out so the times of refreshing may come 24:35 from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus 24:38 Christ who was preached to you before. Now notice, Before Jesus 24:42 Christ comes back to this world there's something needs to be 24:46 blotted out or cleansed from the books of record in heaven. 24:48 And that's the record of our sins. You wouldn't like to get 24:52 up there to heaven, would you? and find that the books up there 24:56 that have recorded all your sins have still got them all 24:58 recorded there? Why, somebody would say, Hey, your ought to 25:01 have a look at here. Here's all the sins of D. K. Downs. 25:04 I wouldn't want that, No. But in the great judgment day 25:07 when it is found that I have accepted Jesus Christ as my 25:11 Savior and I'm covered by his precious blood, my sins are 25:16 going to be not only forgiven they'll all be blotted out. 25:19 So there'll be no trace of them. That is what heaven needs 25:22 cleansing of, the record of our sins. So you see there is a 25:27 work of judgment. There is a work of cleansing, of 25:29 purification in heaven, of getting rid of the record of our 25:33 sins up there. Alright, well now what really goes on in this 25:38 great judgment day? In 1 Peter chapter 4, and in verse 17, 25:42 it says, For the time has come, or it should be really 25:47 translated, will come, The time will come for judgment to begin 25:52 at the house of God. You see, people who don't accept Christ, 25:56 are automatically condemned. They are condemned already 25:59 according to John 3:18. If you don't believe that Christ died 26:02 for you, you've got a pay the penalty of your own sins. 26:05 There's no question of whether you're going to be forgiven 26:08 or not if you don't choose to be forgiven. But if you have 26:12 been forgiven, it is possible to change your mind, you know, 26:16 and turn away from Christ. So when forgiveness is recorded 26:21 against your name, we've got to figure out or God has to figure 26:24 out whether that forgiveness has been maintained. And that's what 26:30 the judgment in heaven is for. Not to decide whether the bad 26:35 people are going to heaven or not, but whether the people- 26:37 judgment must begin at the house of God whether God's 26:41 people have lived up to their profession of faith or not. 26:44 And then if they have, their sins are blotted out. 26:48 Now the standard in this judgment is recorded in 26:52 James, chapter 2, and in verse 10. Listen to this carefully, 26:56 because we're all going to face up to a judgment. 26:59 For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in 27:03 one point, he is guilty of all. Some people say Well, it doesn't 27:08 really matter if you just keep don't keep one of the 27:12 commandments, just as long as you keep 9. Oh, no. 27:14 Here it says, If you stumble on one point you're guilty of the 27:18 lot. For he who said, Do not commit adultery also said, 27:22 Do not murder. You see. Its speaking here about the law of 27:25 10 commandments. So speak and so do as those who will be judged 27:31 by the law of liberty. Its a law of liberty. Keep it and you go 27:36 free. Break it and you're in bondage to sin and the devil. 27:40 And so, So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the 27:44 law of liberty. And so we're going to be compared by this 27:49 great standard in heaven, God's ten commandments and that 27:52 includes the fourth commandment, the 7th day Sabbath. 27:56 And so if we want our sins blotted out by Christ in that 28:00 great day, then the thing to do is choose to believe in Christ 28:04 for the forgiveness of sin so that your sins can be blotted 28:07 out and choose to keep all of his commandments by his grace 28:11 and by his strength, including the 7th day Sabbath, because 28:16 this is going to be the great standard in the judgment day 28:21 in heaven which has been going on since 1844. Who knows how 28:25 soon it will come to your name? Believe in Christ and choose to 28:31 follow Him and keep His commandments. 28:33 In our next program, we'll be showing you the ruins of 28:36 the city of Rome and telling you about the two great wonders 28:41 that the disciple John saw in the sky. |
Revised 2014-12-17