What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean? 00:00:01.96\00:00:06.20 When will the antichrist appear and make his final move? 00:00:06.23\00:00:10.64 How can I be ready for the final events of earth's history? 00:00:10.67\00:00:15.04 You'll be amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. 00:00:15.08\00:00:19.81 Welcome everyone to our Prophecy Unsealed Seminar. We're so glad 00:00:25.55\00:00:32.33 you've chosen to join us. A warm welcome to all of you at home. 00:00:32.36\00:00:35.66 Thank you. We're delighted that you're also here in our study. 00:00:35.70\00:00:38.73 Our topic tonight is Unlocking Revelations Mysteries. Now as we 00:00:38.77\00:00:43.51 meet together today it does not matter if you have a Baptist 00:00:43.54\00:00:47.48 background, a Methodist background or a Muslim 00:00:47.51\00:00:50.18 background, there is still something we would all agree on. 00:00:50.21\00:00:52.81 I wonder if you know what that something is. You may believe in 00:00:52.85\00:00:56.52 God, you may not. You may believe there's an entity called 00:00:56.55\00:00:59.29 the devil or you may not but there is still something we 00:00:59.32\00:01:02.79 would all agree on. Every thinking person acknowledges 00:01:02.82\00:01:05.69 that something has gone very terrible with our world. It 00:01:05.73\00:01:09.40 doesn't take a lot to look around and see the chaos that 00:01:09.43\00:01:11.93 this world is in right now. There's continued violence, 00:01:11.97\00:01:15.00 extreme forms of chaos, famines and pestilences. There's all 00:01:15.04\00:01:20.51 kinds of things going on in our world today, severe economic 00:01:20.54\00:01:24.21 uncertainty. Instability is everywhere. Governments are 00:01:24.25\00:01:27.88 changing. The state of communication is changing. It 00:01:27.92\00:01:30.42 seems that even the state of marriage is changing and 00:01:30.45\00:01:34.19 businesses are changing. And because of all of this 00:01:34.22\00:01:36.02 instability people are looking for something that is secure. 00:01:36.06\00:01:39.49 They're looking for something that they can rely on and 00:01:39.53\00:01:42.60 because of that millions of people today are turning to the 00:01:42.63\00:01:46.13 Bible. It seems like in the Bible God gives unmistakable 00:01:46.17\00:01:51.14 evidence that there's not much time left for planet earth. In 00:01:51.17\00:01:54.38 the Bible God is warning us that great events are about to take 00:01:54.41\00:01:56.41 place. In the Bible, God is giving us evidence that time is 00:01:56.44\00:02:00.48 running out for this world. Prophecies are shouting to us 00:02:00.52\00:02:05.35 telling us that the time of Jesus' return is near at hand. 00:02:05.39\00:02:08.96 And as we meet together here friends I am convinced that our 00:02:08.99\00:02:12.63 world is poised on the brink of a precipice and if God was to 00:02:12.66\00:02:16.56 take his hand away just for a moment it would go hurtling over 00:02:16.60\00:02:19.20 to its destruction. It seems as though someone who knows the 00:02:19.23\00:02:23.27 future is selecting the headlines and matching them up 00:02:23.30\00:02:26.54 with Bible prophecy so that we would know the times in which we 00:02:26.57\00:02:30.85 live. Bible seminars like this can be part of that preparation. 00:02:30.88\00:02:34.32 Taking time to come apart from the mad rush of this world and 00:02:34.35\00:02:38.29 recognizing the things that are important to God should be also 00:02:38.32\00:02:41.09 things that are important to us. It's amazing friends that not 00:02:41.12\00:02:44.29 only Christians who are reading the Bible are talking about the 00:02:44.33\00:02:48.16 nearness of some great crisis but even those who do not 00:02:48.20\00:02:51.87 believe the Bible non-Christians are saying something great and 00:02:51.90\00:02:55.67 decisive is about to take place. Now they may not know what that 00:02:55.70\00:02:59.44 something is but they feel it. And I'm wondering if you have 00:02:59.47\00:03:02.58 felt it as well. It would seem that the God of heaven would try 00:03:02.61\00:03:06.25 to alert us to help us to understand the times in which we 00:03:06.28\00:03:09.12 live. This world is truly, as the apostle Paul said, waxing 00:03:09.15\00:03:13.69 old as a garment. The God of heaven realizes the crisis that 00:03:13.72\00:03:16.96 we're in. The question is do we realize it as we should? Let's 00:03:16.99\00:03:20.03 take a look here at 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7. And here 00:03:20.06\00:03:23.87 the scriptures say, For God has not give us the spirit of fear; 00:03:23.90\00:03:27.64 but of power, and love, and of a sound mind. Now a sound 00:03:27.67\00:03:31.04 mind is a stable mind which means a peaceful mind in the 00:03:31.07\00:03:33.94 midst of all of the chaos we're in. God is telling us that he 00:03:33.98\00:03:37.25 wants us to have a stability about us. We put that verse 00:03:37.28\00:03:40.78 together with Jeremiah 29 and verse 11 where it says: For I 00:03:40.82\00:03:44.42 know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, 00:03:44.45\00:03:46.32 thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected 00:03:46.35\00:03:50.13 end. Now ladies and gentlemen I'm here to tell you that God 00:03:50.16\00:03:52.63 has a rescue plan. An expected end is a planned end. God has a 00:03:52.66\00:03:58.13 plan for everybody on planet earth. And there is hope for you 00:03:58.17\00:04:02.30 And there is hope for our children. God desires to give 00:04:02.34\00:04:05.71 us peace amongst the storm. He wants to give a peace to a 00:04:05.74\00:04:10.85 hurting world. And when you think of the book of Revelation 00:04:10.88\00:04:13.15 I wonder what comes to your mind What thoughts do you have. Do 00:04:13.18\00:04:16.35 you think of that entity called the beast? Do you think of the 00:04:16.38\00:04:19.12 event called Armageddon? Do you think of the New Jerusalem? The 00:04:19.15\00:04:23.19 book of Revelation has puzzled people for some 2000 years since 00:04:23.22\00:04:27.80 it's been written. It is a challenging book. And if you've 00:04:27.83\00:04:30.17 been involved in the book of Revelation for any period of 00:04:30.20\00:04:32.60 time you will know that quite often people do not agree. In 00:04:32.63\00:04:36.87 fact it is said that if you get any 12 people in a room you'll 00:04:36.91\00:04:40.28 get about 13 opinions when it comes to the book of Revelation. 00:04:40.31\00:04:42.88 In fact, if you have been studying at all you'll know that 00:04:42.91\00:04:46.48 quite often Christians do not agree with each other when it 00:04:46.51\00:04:49.38 comes to the study of the Bible and in particular the study of 00:04:49.42\00:04:52.85 the book of Revelation. Some will say that Revelation is 00:04:52.89\00:04:55.42 important, that it is a book for our time, that we need to get in 00:04:55.46\00:04:58.36 and really understand what it says. Other say no it's a closed 00:04:58.39\00:05:02.03 book. God never intended us to understand it. It is off 00:05:02.06\00:05:04.73 limits for us. And after having taught this book for many years 00:05:04.77\00:05:08.20 I will tell you that the biggest reason for people not 00:05:08.24\00:05:12.44 understanding the book of Revelation is not what you might 00:05:12.47\00:05:14.54 think. It isn't the difficulty of the book that is the problem. 00:05:14.58\00:05:17.71 It's because people come with preconceived ideas of what they 00:05:17.75\00:05:21.78 think the Bible is saying rather than what it really says or what 00:05:21.82\00:05:25.55 they think the book of Revelation says rather than what 00:05:25.59\00:05:28.09 it really has for us. They've done some study. They've come 00:05:28.12\00:05:34.30 with what I call excess baggage. They've done some study and 00:05:34.33\00:05:38.87 perhaps even no study and then they try to impose their 00:05:38.90\00:05:41.64 understanding upon the book rather than what it really says. 00:05:41.67\00:05:45.54 In other words, they come to the book trying to find what they 00:05:45.57\00:05:50.45 believe rather than simply believing what they find. Why is 00:05:50.48\00:05:55.65 it that so many people do not understand it. Well perhaps in 00:05:55.68\00:05:58.75 this article there's an answer. It's found in Fox News back in 00:05:58.79\00:06:03.36 February 2016. It said: Most Christians know enough about the 00:06:03.39\00:06:06.29 Bible to be dangerous. The Bible in America is a massive industry 00:06:06.33\00:06:11.07 ($2.5 billion) yet it is the best seller few read and fewer 00:06:11.10\00:06:14.50 understand. The Bible has become a moving target. One can strip 00:06:14.54\00:06:17.87 it down, twist it, misread it, add to it, supplement it, and 00:06:17.91\00:06:24.18 even overrule it, and unfortunately, 95% of the 00:06:24.21\00:06:26.85 congregation will not realize it. Why? Because Americans no 00:06:26.88\00:06:30.59 longer know the Bible. The evidence is overpowering that 00:06:30.62\00:06:33.32 contemporary Christianity is Bible-ish, at best and at worst, 00:06:33.36\00:06:36.89 in some cases, Bible-less... Everyone has an opinion about 00:06:36.93\00:06:40.66 the Bible. Politicians attempt to use the Bible, Grammy-award 00:06:40.70\00:06:43.87 winners quote it and Hollywood has portrayed it on the big 00:06:43.90\00:06:46.53 screen. Yet one problem remains: most are oblivious to the 00:06:46.57\00:06:50.87 Bible's basic content, meaning and message. 00:06:50.91\00:06:55.34 Here's a Time Magazine article some years back they 00:06:55.38\00:06:58.15 said it's called the Bible and the Apocalypse. And the subtitle 00:06:58.18\00:07:01.48 is Why more Americans are reading and talking about the 00:07:01.52\00:07:03.95 end of the world. So there is an interest in the scriptures in 00:07:03.99\00:07:06.76 spite of the fact that many people don't know what they say. 00:07:06.79\00:07:09.66 The book of the Bible so mysterious actually reveals 00:07:09.69\00:07:14.13 God's love for us. Did you know that friends? But in order to 00:07:14.16\00:07:15.73 really grasp the future we have to also understand the past. 00:07:15.76\00:07:19.03 History is prophecy in reverse and prophecy is history in 00:07:19.07\00:07:23.74 advance. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and 00:07:23.77\00:07:26.61 verse 21 and here the scriptures say: Prove all things; hold fast 00:07:26.64\00:07:30.58 that which is good. When we've proven something true from the 00:07:30.61\00:07:33.68 Bible what does God ask us to do friends. He asks us to hold 00:07:33.72\00:07:37.75 onto it, to consider it precious to not let it go. Now not 00:07:37.79\00:07:40.76 everything that is good is easy to hold on to. What happens 00:07:40.79\00:07:43.59 if we been raised with something that is not good, 00:07:43.63\00:07:45.39 something that is false, 00:07:45.43\00:07:46.76 something that doesn't agree with the Bible. In order 00:07:46.80\00:07:48.96 to truly hold onto what is good we have to first let go of 00:07:49.00\00:07:52.30 something that may not be correct. So the same holds true 00:07:52.33\00:07:56.00 with various beliefs and teachings. In order to have 00:07:56.04\00:07:59.81 the Bible enshrined in our hearts and our minds we have to 00:07:59.84\00:08:02.34 always be willing to accept truth. In John 7 verse 17 it 00:08:02.38\00:08:07.78 says: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the 00:08:07.82\00:08:09.78 doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 00:08:09.82\00:08:13.19 Now I want you friends to be able to understand the Bible 00:08:13.22\00:08:15.66 for yourself because me standing here telling you what I believe 00:08:15.69\00:08:19.39 it says doesn't make it say what I'm saying it says. In other 00:08:20.50\00:08:23.43 words all of us here agreeing on something doesn't 00:08:23.47\00:08:24.83 change the Bible. All we can do is come to the Bible 00:08:24.87\00:08:27.44 with open hearts and minds and say 00:08:27.47\00:08:29.17 what are the facts of what it really teaches. All we can do 00:08:29.20\00:08:33.17 friends is open our minds to the Lord and know what he has to 00:08:33.21\00:08:38.65 teach us is right. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 3: For this is good 00:08:38.68\00:08:42.78 and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all 00:08:42.82\00:08:45.72 men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 00:08:45.75\00:08:50.09 Now in the Bible friends God is equated with truth. So the 00:08:50.13\00:08:53.90 purpose of studying the Bible, the purpose of coming to a 00:08:53.93\00:08:56.73 prophecy seminar is to discover truth so we can understand 00:08:56.77\00:09:00.04 further what the will of God is for our lives. God wants to take 00:09:00.07\00:09:03.57 us and put us on the highway of truth. If we're not on that road 00:09:03.61\00:09:08.08 now God wants to make sure that somehow we find that highway. 00:09:08.11\00:09:11.45 In fact, many people today they're telling us that it 00:09:11.48\00:09:14.22 doesn't matter what truth is. That you don't really have to 00:09:14.25\00:09:17.12 find truth. Let's go to the Bible again friends. 1 Peter 00:09:17.15\00:09:20.26 chapter 3 and verse 15. It says: But sanctify the Lord God in 00:09:20.29\00:09:24.06 your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man 00:09:24.09\00:09:27.30 that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you 00:09:27.33\00:09:29.96 with meekness and fear. 00:09:30.00\00:09:31.33 So is it important according to the Bible to find 00:09:31.37\00:09:34.80 truth. Absolutely friends. Is it important in the Bible to give 00:09:34.84\00:09:37.84 an answer for what we believe. Absolutely it is. This is one of 00:09:37.87\00:09:41.48 the first verses I ever memorized as a Christian. You 00:09:41.51\00:09:43.68 see friends, wrong teaching leads to wrong thinking and 00:09:43.71\00:09:47.82 wrong thinking leads to wrong actions and wrong actions lead 00:09:47.85\00:09:53.59 to a wrong character and a ruined character leads to a 00:09:53.62\00:09:54.96 ruined life. It can all be traced back to correct teaching. 00:09:54.99\00:09:56.83 You have to be able to be taught correctly. Sadly today 00:09:56.86\00:10:00.83 many Christians are following after things that are written 00:10:00.86\00:10:04.23 for sensationalism or maybe for book sales rather than a sincere 00:10:04.27\00:10:09.64 intelligent study of the word of God. So we're going to go 00:10:09.67\00:10:13.07 tonight and we're going to really find out how to study the 00:10:13.11\00:10:15.54 scriptures. How can we correctly understand end-time prophecy? 00:10:15.58\00:10:19.35 We're going to be going to scores and scores and scores of 00:10:19.38\00:10:22.82 texts. So it's absolutely imperative that we study the 00:10:22.85\00:10:26.32 Bible correctly. We're going to begin in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and 00:10:26.35\00:10:30.56 in verse 16, a verse that many know of by heart. It says: All 00:10:30.59\00:10:33.86 scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 00:10:33.90\00:10:36.23 profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 00:10:36.26\00:10:40.10 instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be 00:10:40.14\00:10:42.24 perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Thoroughly 00:10:42.27\00:10:47.21 furnished means fully equipped for all good works. So according 00:10:47.24\00:10:52.35 to scripture how much... according to the Bible how much 00:10:52.38\00:10:54.45 scripture is inspired. All of it Some people say to me, Pastor 00:10:54.48\00:10:58.49 Brian, I only believe in the Old Testament. And some have said, 00:10:58.52\00:11:00.79 in fact many have said, I only believe in the New Testament. 00:11:00.82\00:11:02.72 Some have said to me I only believe in the four gospels. 00:11:02.76\00:11:05.79 According to what we have just read, how much scripture is 00:11:05.83\00:11:08.73 inspired? All of it is inspired. You see friends the Old 00:11:08.76\00:11:12.73 Testament is revealed more fully in the New and the New is 00:11:12.77\00:11:16.10 concealed in types and shadows in the Old but if you throw out 00:11:16.14\00:11:17.57 The Old Testament you throw out the only scriptures that we have 00:11:17.61\00:11:20.91 when Jesus was on the earth. So, all of the scripture is 00:11:20.94\00:11:25.18 profitable for it. The two sections of the Bible are called 00:11:25.21\00:11:30.42 Old Testament and New Testament because they both testify of 00:11:30.45\00:11:33.72 Jesus and that's valuable to us isn't it? You see friends I 00:11:33.76\00:11:36.62 don't want to just be an Old Testament Christian and I don't 00:11:36.66\00:11:39.06 want to just be a New Testament Christian. I want to be a Bible 00:11:39.09\00:11:42.46 Christian, don't you? Absolutely So the Bible doesn't know the 00:11:42.50\00:11:46.27 terms old scripture, new scripture. You might hear 00:11:46.30\00:11:47.94 Christians say that but to the Bible and Bible writers 00:11:47.97\00:11:50.54 scripture was scripture. 00:11:50.57\00:11:53.78 So again dear friends with so many people deciding to throw 00:11:58.11\00:12:01.45 out the Old Testament, at least in their mind, with so many 00:12:01.48\00:12:04.59 people making a mental decision to throw out the Old Testament 00:12:04.62\00:12:07.22 and 270 of the 404 verses of Revelation are taken from the 00:12:07.26\00:12:12.23 Old Testament can you see why they might not understand the 00:12:12.26\00:12:14.70 book of Revelation. The book of Revelation rests upon the 00:12:14.73\00:12:17.43 foundation of the Old Testament. So when you take out the Old 00:12:17.47\00:12:21.24 Testament you are leaving yourself open to all kinds of 00:12:21.27\00:12:24.47 what the Bible calls private interpretation. Let's go take a 00:12:24.51\00:12:28.61 look. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 20. It says: 00:12:28.64\00:12:32.21 Now private friends means belonging to an 00:12:35.98\00:12:39.42 individual. If I got up here and said well here's what I think 00:12:39.45\00:12:41.89 the antichrist is and I just gave an opinion that would be a 00:12:41.92\00:12:44.56 private interpretation not based on the Bible. But you're not 00:12:44.59\00:12:47.10 going to see that in this seminar. We're going to get it 00:12:47.13\00:12:49.43 from the scriptures. So the emphasis or the usage of the 00:12:49.46\00:12:52.73 word "first" here is emphasizing priority. In other words, Peter 00:12:52.77\00:12:56.20 is saying put this on the top level of your priority list. No 00:12:56.24\00:13:00.48 scripture is of any private interpretation. Then it goes on 00:13:00.51\00:13:03.14 and says this: 00:13:03.18\00:13:06.72 So this reminds us again that it's not up to a man. 00:13:10.79\00:13:14.72 It's not up to a church to say what they think it is. God will 00:13:14.76\00:13:18.23 tell us in his word. You know there's an old saying friends 00:13:18.26\00:13:20.96 that goes like this: The teachings of men so often 00:13:21.00\00:13:24.47 mislead us so this my only question be, what says the 00:13:24.50\00:13:27.70 Bible, the holy Bible to me? When we get our own personal 00:13:27.74\00:13:31.27 opinions involved that's when you get church traditions and 00:13:31.31\00:13:33.24 you get prejudices and you get biases and you get all kinds of 00:13:33.27\00:13:36.91 errors coming in when it comes to doctrine. Proverbs 16 and 00:13:36.95\00:13:40.22 verse 25 says: 00:13:40.25\00:13:43.85 Now why does it seem 00:13:43.89\00:13:46.96 right to this individual though it's going to lead him on a path 00:13:46.99\00:13:49.76 of destruction. Because he's probably told himself over and 00:13:49.79\00:13:53.09 over again that he is right and he hasn't checked it out from 00:13:53.13\00:13:56.13 the scriptures. Two biblical keys I'm going to share with you 00:13:56.16\00:13:59.17 now friends. Number 1: The book of Revelation rests upon the 00:13:59.20\00:14:03.94 broad foundation of Old Testament history, imagery and 00:14:03.97\00:14:07.81 prophecy. The New Testament again, we've said it before, is 00:14:07.84\00:14:11.98 standing on the foundation of the Old and particularly the 00:14:12.01\00:14:14.98 book of Revelation is standing on the foundation of the Old. 00:14:15.02\00:14:18.42 Much of the language of Revelation, the symbolism, the 00:14:18.45\00:14:22.42 imagery is taken right from the Old Testament. In fact, all of 00:14:22.46\00:14:26.19 the books of the Bible meet and have their ending in the book of 00:14:26.23\00:14:30.77 Revelation. Revelation was written some 600 years after 00:14:30.80\00:14:34.70 Daniel and so it is to be understood that when you come to 00:14:34.74\00:14:38.11 the book of Revelation the book of Daniel has already been read. 00:14:38.14\00:14:41.18 If you try to understand Revelation without first reading 00:14:41.21\00:14:44.81 Daniel and understanding what Daniel has for us there it would 00:14:44.85\00:14:48.22 be like trying to study college trigonometry or algebra without 00:14:48.25\00:14:51.39 having basic mathematics. Now calculus or any of those 00:14:51.42\00:14:55.26 colleges courses can be understood but it's very 00:14:55.29\00:14:58.56 important that we first, understand arithmetic. And it's the same way when it comes 00:14:58.59\00:15:02.33 to the study of the Bible. If we go to Revelation and we don't 00:15:02.36\00:15:04.97 have that knowledge of the Old Testament first, we're never 00:15:05.00\00:15:08.34 going to unlock it's mysteries for us. So Revelation builds 00:15:08.37\00:15:14.74 upon the words that were previously written there. We 00:15:14.78\00:15:16.75 need some basic knowledge before we go into it. Now there's 00:15:16.78\00:15:20.12 another key of understanding I want to bring before you right 00:15:20.15\00:15:23.59 now. The principle forever lock in your mind is let the Bible 00:15:23.62\00:15:26.76 interpret the Bible. We're going to compare scripture with 00:15:26.79\00:15:30.86 scripture. Let's see this principle in 1 Corinthians 00:15:30.89\00:15:33.23 chapter 2 and verse 13. And here the Bible says: Which things 00:15:33.26\00:15:37.53 also, we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but 00:15:37.57\00:15:41.10 which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with 00:15:41.14\00:15:44.27 spiritual. In other words, there's a comparison process 00:15:44.31\00:15:47.71 here. In order to see the big picture of what these Bible 00:15:47.74\00:15:50.18 verses are telling us we have to compare verse with verse. Now 00:15:50.21\00:15:53.82 that was a verse from the New Testament. Let's see how it says 00:15:53.85\00:15:56.22 the same thing in the Old Testament by going to Isaiah 00:15:56.25\00:15:59.55 chapter 28 and here it says in verse 9: Whom shall he teach 00:15:59.59\00:16:03.93 knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? 00:16:03.96\00:16:06.19 (Doctrine there is something he's teaching) them that are 00:16:06.23\00:16:09.26 weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. So the idea 00:16:09.30\00:16:12.00 here is if we're going to advance in our study and go 00:16:12.03\00:16:15.27 through a spiritual weaning so to speak then we've got to get 00:16:15.30\00:16:18.47 off the simple things and we've got to understand how the 00:16:18.51\00:16:22.64 scriptures explain themself and it tells us in the next verse. 00:16:22.68\00:16:25.38 It says: For precept must be upon precept; (and the way of 00:16:25.41\00:16:31.65 saying that would be Bible instruction upon Bible 00:16:31.69\00:16:33.59 instruction) Precept upon precept; line upon line, line 00:16:33.62\00:16:37.39 upon line; here a little and there a little: So another way 00:16:37.43\00:16:41.33 of saying that is put the principles of God together with 00:16:41.36\00:16:45.57 the principle of God. Find everything the Bible says about 00:16:45.60\00:16:49.44 a topic; finding out what the Old Testament said, what does 00:16:49.47\00:16:52.37 the New Testament say, what did Peter say, what did Paul say, 00:16:52.41\00:16:55.51 what did Jesus say? And put all of these assembled verses 00:16:55.54\00:16:58.38 together and then you get a very well-rounded picture of the 00:16:58.41\00:17:01.78 truth of that topic. Now if that is the truth, and it is if that 00:17:01.82\00:17:07.12 is the way of proper study then we should be able to see that 00:17:07.16\00:17:09.29 in the scriptures themselves and actually, friends we do by none 00:17:09.32\00:17:13.80 other than Jesus. Jesus showed us that comparison process and 00:17:13.83\00:17:16.43 we're going to pick it up here in Luke chapter 24 where Jesus 00:17:16.46\00:17:20.70 is meeting with these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 00:17:20.74\00:17:22.90 And he said to them in Luke 24 verse 25: Then he said unto them 00:17:22.94\00:17:28.61 O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 00:17:28.64\00:17:31.58 have spoken. Let me pause there. They had made up a theory based 00:17:31.61\00:17:36.85 on selected texts from the Old Testament and they made 00:17:36.89\00:17:38.65 up their own ideas 00:17:38.69\00:17:40.02 of how the Messiah would come. We'll look at that again in our 00:17:40.06\00:17:43.46 next message. He goes on: Ought not Christ to have suffered 00:17:43.49\00:17:46.49 these things, and to enter into his glory? In other words, if 00:17:46.53\00:17:49.06 you had been studying the scriptures as you should you 00:17:49.10\00:17:50.93 would have known that this was to be expected of the Messiah. 00:17:50.97\00:17:54.40 And now verse 27: And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, 00:17:54.90\00:17:58.87 he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things 00:17:58.91\00:18:02.54 concerning himself. Wouldn't you have loved to have heard that 00:18:02.58\00:18:05.65 Bible study. Oh I know I would have. But Jesus didn't start in 00:18:05.68\00:18:10.75 Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. When it say beginning at Moses, 00:18:10.79\00:18:14.66 now Moses wrote first five books of the Bible. So what it's 00:18:14.69\00:18:17.76 basically telling us is it's saying and beginning at the 00:18:17.79\00:18:21.03 beginning he went through the scriptures and they only had the 00:18:21.06\00:18:25.43 Old Testament back then. He went through the scriptures and he 00:18:25.47\00:18:29.50 took out the selected texts that dealt with his work as the 00:18:29.54\00:18:32.97 Messiah. And oh friends, again, what a study that would have 00:18:33.01\00:18:36.85 been coming right from the lips of Jesus himself. So he didn't 00:18:36.88\00:18:40.15 start in Genesis 1:1 and read the entire Old Testament to 00:18:40.18\00:18:43.72 them. Now the road to Emmaus was only about six miles long. It 00:18:43.75\00:18:46.59 wasn't time enough to do that. He simply took various texts 00:18:46.62\00:18:49.36 that dealt on him as the Messiah and put them together for them. 00:18:49.39\00:18:53.46 You see in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15. It says: Study to shew 00:18:53.50\00:18:57.97 thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be 00:18:58.00\00:18:59.93 ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now the word 00:18:59.97\00:19:05.21 rightly dividing it really means in the actual literal Greek it 00:19:05.24\00:19:08.24 means to cut straight but in practical terms it means to 00:19:08.28\00:19:10.85 expound correctly. There's a right way to study the Bible and 00:19:10.88\00:19:14.08 there is a wrong way to study the Bible. The wrong way is to 00:19:14.12\00:19:17.72 simply say this is what I think this text is saying. I'm going 00:19:17.75\00:19:20.66 ignore all the other texts in the Bible because I don't want 00:19:20.69\00:19:23.76 to hear what they have to say. And to simply make a whole 00:19:23.79\00:19:26.80 doctrine based on one verse. Now that's the wrong way. What is 00:19:26.83\00:19:30.23 the right way. Again we go back to the scriptures, comparison 00:19:30.27\00:19:33.44 process scripture with scripture line upon line, precept with 00:19:33.47\00:19:36.91 precept. So where is the safety when it comes to studying the 00:19:36.94\00:19:41.08 Bible? The Lord answers us very clearly, find out what Jesus 00:19:41.11\00:19:44.38 said, what did Peter say, what did John say? It's sort of like 00:19:44.41\00:19:46.88 this friends, if I could make an analogy for you. If a farmer 00:19:46.92\00:19:51.05 went out to make a fence he would put a fence post down on 00:19:51.09\00:19:53.56 the ground and then with just on fence post you could take a 00:19:53.59\00:19:56.26 look at it from where you are and you could say maybe the 00:19:56.29\00:19:58.13 fence is running this way. And I could take a look at it here and 00:19:58.16\00:20:00.63 I think maybe the fence is running that way. But we don't 00:20:00.66\00:20:02.00 know because there's only one fence post. Think of the one 00:20:02.03\00:20:04.57 fence post as one verse of scripture. But then the farmer 00:20:04.60\00:20:09.60 puts another post down and then he puts another post down and 00:20:09.64\00:20:12.17 every time he puts a post down it becomes more easily seen 00:20:12.21\00:20:15.54 exactly where that fence line is running to. In the same way, 00:20:15.58\00:20:19.11 every time we add a verse of scripture, verse upon verse, 00:20:19.15\00:20:21.92 line upon line, it becomes very clear where the Bible is leading 00:20:21.95\00:20:25.29 us on that particular topic. So, when you use a text of scripture 00:20:25.32\00:20:29.96 in such a way that it contradicts another text of 00:20:29.99\00:20:32.49 scripture somehow you should know that you've misused the 00:20:32.53\00:20:35.96 Bible. You've taken it out of context. Somehow you've 00:20:36.00\00:20:39.80 misunderstood it because the Bible does not contradict itself 00:20:39.83\00:20:42.54 Jesus said it this way. He said: The scriptures cannot be broken. 00:20:42.57\00:20:46.64 I like to say it this way friends: Whatever is true in the 00:20:46.68\00:20:49.88 Bible is true all through the Bible. It's not going to be true 00:20:49.91\00:20:53.18 in one place and contradict itself in another place. So when 00:20:53.21\00:20:58.59 Revelation uses a phrase, let's make it practical to the book of 00:20:58.62\00:21:00.56 Revelation now then. Ask yourself, where else in the 00:21:00.59\00:21:03.69 Bible do I see that word? Where else in the Bible have I heard 00:21:03.73\00:21:07.26 that phrase? And then go to that place in the Bible, and this is 00:21:07.30\00:21:11.73 where a concordance can really help you out, read it there, 00:21:11.77\00:21:13.17 understand its meaning there and take that meaning all the 00:21:13.20\00:21:16.71 way back into the New Testament or into the book of Revelation 00:21:16.74\00:21:19.94 and usually, Revelation helps to apply it in a symbolic or a 00:21:19.97\00:21:23.38 spiritual type of way and then you can see its true meaning. 00:21:23.41\00:21:26.58 Once again all the books of the Bible meet and have their ending 00:21:26.61\00:21:29.68 in the book of Revelation. But let's give a couple of examples 00:21:29.72\00:21:33.36 here today just to give us an idea of how this works. We'll 00:21:33.39\00:21:37.13 give an easy one first. Back in ancient Israel's time the 00:21:37.16\00:21:41.16 economy centered around what we call the sanctuary and its 00:21:41.20\00:21:44.17 sacrifices. The lamb was the most prominent sacrifice of all 00:21:44.20\00:21:47.54 of the sacrificial animals. Now how many of you've read the book 00:21:47.57\00:21:50.41 Exodus or the book of Leviticus? You can see again that that 00:21:50.44\00:21:54.44 sanctuary service was a very very prominent part of Israel's 00:21:54.48\00:21:59.11 economy. But you cannot be struck with the fact that they 00:21:59.15\00:22:03.32 constantly sacrificed every day every year all through the year 00:22:03.35\00:22:08.39 for centuries and one day there was a man named John and he was 00:22:08.42\00:22:12.79 baptizing people in the Jordan river. Then he looked up and he 00:22:12.83\00:22:16.06 saw a presence coming before him He said, behold the Lamb of God, 00:22:16.10\00:22:19.30 which takes away the sins of the world. Now was he looking at an 00:22:19.33\00:22:24.01 animal. Of course not. He was looking at Jesus but what would 00:22:24.04\00:22:26.64 come to his Jewish listeners' mind a perfect, spotless 00:22:26.68\00:22:31.18 sacrificial lamb. You see the book of Revelation uses the word 00:22:31.21\00:22:35.58 lamb 27 times. Of those, 26 times it refers directly to 00:22:35.62\00:22:39.99 Jesus. That might not strike you as important till we understand 00:22:40.02\00:22:43.43 that the lamb is used in the entire New Testament only 31 00:22:43.46\00:22:48.50 times. So 27 of the 31 times it's referred to in the book of 00:22:48.53\00:22:53.97 Revelation, 26 of those 27 times it's referring directly to Jesus 00:22:54.00\00:22:57.91 and, therefore, because the word Lamb is so prominent in the book 00:22:57.94\00:23:02.01 of Revelation, you would think it's important to understand 00:23:02.04\00:23:05.05 what that lamb is all about and it is, friends. We're going to 00:23:05.08\00:23:07.18 know about it right here at the Prophecy Unsealed Seminar. Now 00:23:07.22\00:23:09.95 let me give you a more detailed example number 2. In Daniel 00:23:09.98\00:23:14.32 chapter 7 which we're going to look at on another night, the 00:23:14.36\00:23:16.99 prophet Daniel sees four beasts out of the water. The first 00:23:17.03\00:23:20.26 beast was like a lion. The second beast was like a bear. 00:23:20.30\00:23:23.57 The third looked like a leopard and the fourth is a dreadful and 00:23:23.60\00:23:26.77 terrible beast with 10 horns. And so now when we come down to 00:23:26.80\00:23:31.54 the book of Revelation what do we see? We see a creature. He's 00:23:31.57\00:23:34.01 coming up out of the waters just like those other ones in Daniel 00:23:34.04\00:23:36.24 and what does he look like? He's got the body of a leopard, 00:23:36.28\00:23:38.85 he's got the feet of a bear. He's got the mouth of a lion and 00:23:38.88\00:23:42.72 he's got 10 horns. In other words, the student of the Bible 00:23:42.75\00:23:45.35 will say, Oh I have seen those symbols before and they're 00:23:45.39\00:23:49.99 drawing...it's drawing their attention back into the Old 00:23:50.03\00:23:53.19 Testament, back to the book of Daniel. The only way to make 00:23:53.23\00:23:56.36 sense out of these symbols in Revelation is to know and go 00:23:56.40\00:23:59.33 back into the Old Testament. Now it is this beast power that you 00:23:59.37\00:24:04.51 presently see. God says don't worship it, don't worship it's 00:24:04.54\00:24:07.68 image or don't take its mark or you'll be forever lost. Now when 00:24:07.71\00:24:10.05 you think about it this is kind of a strange creature; don't you 00:24:10.08\00:24:13.05 agree? Let me ask you an intelligent question. Have you 00:24:13.08\00:24:15.12 ever seen anything like this down at your local zoo? Is this 00:24:15.15\00:24:18.39 a literal animal, yes or no? No of course not. It's symbolic and 00:24:18.42\00:24:22.69 that means it represents something. As we look at this 00:24:22.72\00:24:25.09 beast the first thing we see is that it is a composite animal 00:24:25.13\00:24:27.86 and we want to know how to understand it. And then of 00:24:27.90\00:24:30.97 course we realize we have to go back into the Old Testament. We 00:24:31.00\00:24:34.94 have to leave the book of Revelation for a little while 00:24:34.97\00:24:37.01 and we pick up on the prophet Daniel. Now a key to 00:24:37.04\00:24:41.01 understanding prophecy is to know the book of Revelation and 00:24:41.04\00:24:42.81 the book of Daniel goes hand in glove. Very tightly related each 00:24:42.84\00:24:46.95 one helps to explain the other Both of them prophets, John and 00:24:47.52\00:24:52.29 Daniel. Both of them called beloved of God and both of them 00:24:52.32\00:24:54.59 writing what we call apocalyptic prophecy. Prophecy that pulls 00:24:54.62\00:24:58.66 back the curtain and shows us the future in advance. So, we go 00:24:58.69\00:25:02.93 here to Daniel chapter 7 and verse 2. And it says: Daniel 00:25:02.96\00:25:05.63 spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the 00:25:05.67\00:25:08.47 four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea. It says in verse 00:25:08.50\00:25:11.94 2 and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from 00:25:11.97\00:25:16.68 another. Now our next obvious question is what does a beast 00:25:16.71\00:25:21.25 represent in Bible prophecy. Now we don't have to guess at it, we 00:25:21.28\00:25:23.35 don't have to speculate at it. The Bible will explain itself 00:25:23.39\00:25:26.52 and we get that by going to verse 17. And here it says: 00:25:26.55\00:25:30.03 These great beasts which are four are four, what friends, 00:25:30.06\00:25:34.56 Kings which arise out of the earth. So there you have the 00:25:34.60\00:25:38.70 Bible interpretation of a beast. It says a beast represents a 00:25:38.73\00:25:40.94 king. But we want to broaden that interpretation some by 00:25:40.97\00:25:44.37 going to verse 23. And here it says: Thus he said, The fourth 00:25:44.41\00:25:47.58 beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth. Now a 00:25:47.61\00:25:52.25 kingdom is simply a shortened form of king's dominion. So a 00:25:52.28\00:25:54.72 king rules over a kingdom. So when it says the fourth beast 00:25:54.75\00:25:57.62 shall be the fourth kingdom then what would the first three 00:25:57.65\00:26:00.36 beasts represent? Well the first three kingdoms starting in 00:26:00.39\00:26:03.73 Daniel's time. Kingdom one, kingdom two, kingdom three and 00:26:03.76\00:26:06.46 finally the fourth beast represents the fourth kingdom. 00:26:06.49\00:26:09.20 So in Bible prophecy a beast represents a king and a kingdom. 00:26:09.23\00:26:13.50 You know we do the same thing today. We use animals to 00:26:13.54\00:26:17.24 represent nations. In other words today we have a rooster 00:26:17.27\00:26:18.97 that represents France and a bear represents Russia and I 00:26:19.01\00:26:21.74 guess a kangaroo represents Australia and of course we have 00:26:21.78\00:26:24.88 the great eagle that represents the United States. Now I come 00:26:24.91\00:26:27.48 from the great white north of Canada originally and what 00:26:27.52\00:26:31.35 symbol is that? Now I know many of you'll say maple leaf, but 00:26:31.39\00:26:34.59 it's not the leaf when it comes to animals right? Of course, we 00:26:34.62\00:26:37.19 know about the maple leaf but we're talking animals tonight. 00:26:37.23\00:26:39.43 and so what animal is it that represents Canada? Well it 00:26:39.46\00:26:42.86 usually takes a Canadian to know it but it is the beaver. And so 00:26:42.90\00:26:48.30 ...yeah I know it's not as majestic as the great eagle that 00:26:48.34\00:26:49.67 we love from up there anyway. He's an industrious fellow. So 00:26:49.70\00:26:53.91 we got that idea from the word of God. God has for a long time 00:26:53.94\00:26:57.45 used animals to represent nations. Now sometimes people 00:26:57.48\00:27:00.18 ask me this question. They'll say Pastor Brian why did God 00:27:00.22\00:27:02.52 choose to put these truths in coded language in the Bible? 00:27:02.55\00:27:07.42 The answer to that friends is that God did this to protect his 00:27:07.46\00:27:12.96 word from people that would corrupt it, people that would 00:27:12.99\00:27:15.90 think to destroy it. God coded certain things in scripture and 00:27:15.93\00:27:19.60 they can be un-coded by scripture and therefore the 00:27:19.63\00:27:24.61 sincere and the earnest can understand it by doing some 00:27:24.64\00:27:28.41 diligent study and the insincere and the corrupt and the evil 00:27:28.44\00:27:30.58 will never understand it. So the lazy, the insincere will never 00:27:30.61\00:27:35.35 understand it. So the student of the Bible is going to know the 00:27:35.38\00:27:38.85 language of the Bible and they are going to be able to unlock 00:27:38.89\00:27:41.02 it for themself. Now let's see what we've learned already 00:27:41.06\00:27:43.69 tonight. Unlocking Revelation's Mysteries What have we found 00:27:43.73\00:27:47.96 out? Number Take the whole Bible as the inspired word of God. 00:27:48.00\00:27:52.40 Number 2: Understand the book of Revelation is meant to be 00:27:52.43\00:27:55.30 understood. We're going to look at that shortly. Number 3: Be 00:27:55.34\00:27:57.31 willing to let go of preconceived ideas that are in 00:27:57.34\00:28:00.04 error, 1 Thessalonians 5:21- Prove all things hold fast that 00:28:00.08\00:28:03.51 which is good. Number 4: Seek truth with a humble heart and 00:28:03.55\00:28:07.38 have a mind that is open to be taught by the Spirit of God. 00:28:07.42\00:28:11.25 John 7:17- If any man will do his will he will know of the 00:28:11.29\00:28:15.06 doctrine. Flee from any private interpretations of Scripture 00:28:15.09\00:28:19.19 number 5 and number 6: Understand that Revelation rests 00:28:19.23\00:28:21.26 upon the board foundation of Old Testament history, imagery, and 00:28:21.30\00:28:25.63 prophecy. Number 7: Use scripture to interpret scripture 00:28:25.67\00:28:29.30 Find as many verses as you can which speak on the topic and 00:28:29.34\00:28:32.57 study them together as a whole. Number 8: Learn from the Bible 00:28:32.61\00:28:36.28 the meaning of the symbols that will unlock Revelation's code to 00:28:36.31\00:28:39.85 us. In Amos 3 and verse 7 it says: Surely the Lord God will 00:28:39.88\00:28:43.69 do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the 00:28:43.72\00:28:46.59 prophets. So why is spending time like this in a prophecy 00:28:46.62\00:28:50.66 seminar so important? Because God has said to us that he's not 00:28:50.69\00:28:54.66 going to do anything of a major import in the earth until he 00:28:54.70\00:28:58.47 first declares it through his prophet. The prophets wrote down 00:28:58.50\00:29:01.80 what we now call prophecy. And so God is working his will in 00:29:01.84\00:29:06.37 the earth and he desires his people to understand it. Back to 00:29:06.41\00:29:09.41 the scriptures now. 2 Peter 1 verse 19: We have also a more 00:29:09.44\00:29:13.45 sure word of prophecy; says Peter, whereunto ye do well 00:29:13.48\00:29:16.89 that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark 00:29:16.92\00:29:20.16 place. We live in a very spiritually dark world tonight 00:29:20.19\00:29:23.12 don't we friends? Because of that we need the light of the 00:29:23.16\00:29:26.80 word, we need the light of prophecy to show us exactly 00:29:26.83\00:29:29.83 where God is leading us. Now let's go to the second major 00:29:29.86\00:29:35.00 Biblical key that we're looking at tonight. We looked at number 00:29:35.04\00:29:39.97 The book of Revelation rests upon the broad foundation of Old 00:29:40.01\00:29:41.34 Testament history, imagery and prophecy. The only way to make 00:29:41.38\00:29:44.58 sense of it is to go to the Old Testament and use it as our 00:29:44.61\00:29:48.78 foundation and now Biblical key number 2: Jesus Christ is the 00:29:48.82\00:29:53.59 foundation and the focus of apocalyptic prophecy, and 00:29:53.62\00:29:57.26 particularly the book of Revelation. Have you ever heard 00:29:57.29\00:30:00.33 that old saying, friends, he couldn't see the forest for the 00:30:00.36\00:30:03.77 trees. I'm sure you have. Now what exactly does that mean? 00:30:03.80\00:30:06.47 That means that a person can be so up close to a certain tree 00:30:06.50\00:30:12.41 examining all the details of that tree that they miss the 00:30:12.44\00:30:14.81 fact that beyond it is a great and magnificent forest. In a 00:30:14.84\00:30:18.71 similar fashion someone can be trying to find certain things in 00:30:18.75\00:30:21.65 the book of Revelation, looking at certain symbols and examining 00:30:21.68\00:30:24.45 them in all the detail that they miss the broad idea of what 00:30:24.49\00:30:28.36 Revelation is trying to tell us. They're looking at dragons, 00:30:28.39\00:30:31.36 they're looking at beasts but they're missing the main point. 00:30:31.39\00:30:34.10 Let's go to Revelation 1 and verse 1 and here it says: The 00:30:34.13\00:30:38.33 Revelation of Jesus Christ... It's the revelation of who 00:30:38.37\00:30:42.27 friends? Of Jesus...which God gave unto him, to shew unto his 00:30:42.30\00:30:46.17 servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he 00:30:46.21\00:30:49.04 sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. 00:30:49.08\00:30:52.68 So I want to ask you a question. Are you one of his servants 00:30:52.71\00:30:54.98 tonight, friends? And if you are and God gave this to you to 00:30:55.02\00:30:59.49 understand. And it says, things which must shortly come to pass. 00:30:59.52\00:31:02.26 Let's go to verse 3: Blessed is he that readeth...now you're 00:31:02.29\00:31:05.16 going to see a threefold blessing in this verse...and 00:31:05.19\00:31:08.26 they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things 00:31:08.30\00:31:11.77 which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Now did 00:31:11.80\00:31:14.77 Jesus tell us to read this book? Absolutely he did. Did he tell 00:31:14.80\00:31:18.57 us to hear it. Now hear in this context means understand. When 00:31:18.61\00:31:25.18 my daughters were smaller I might say to them, do you hear 00:31:25.21\00:31:27.65 me? Now what am I telling them? Am I asking them if they're 00:31:27.68\00:31:29.68 deaf? Well of course not. I'm saying do you understand me and 00:31:29.72\00:31:32.82 they got the point. So understand is one of the things 00:31:32.85\00:31:38.03 the Lord wants us to do in Revelation. And then it says Keep those things...keep 00:31:38.06\00:31:42.63 them means obey. So we're to read the book, we're to 00:31:42.66\00:31:45.77 understand the book and we're to obey the things that are in 00:31:45.80\00:31:48.74 that book. And it says if you do you'll be blessed and that means 00:31:48.77\00:31:52.54 happy or content. So for studying the book of Revelation 00:31:52.57\00:31:56.24 friends and we're trying to find the whole meaning of it 00:31:56.28\00:31:58.28 the key is that Revelation is to lead us to a saving 00:31:58.31\00:32:03.15 relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ. Folks do you know 00:32:03.18\00:32:07.22 that in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, it is 00:32:07.26\00:32:11.23 said to refer to Jesus over 140 times, just in the first three 00:32:11.26\00:32:16.00 chapters. And it says if we do that that we can have a blessing 00:32:16.03\00:32:21.04 Now friends I need that blessing in my life, don't you? Every day 00:32:21.07\00:32:23.61 is so filled with uncertainty. You know we don't know if the 00:32:23.64\00:32:26.71 stock market is going to go up or gas prices are going to go 00:32:26.74\00:32:29.14 down. We don't know what's coming. We do know the Bible is 00:32:29.18\00:32:32.28 true and we do know that Jesus is faithful, don't we? So 00:32:32.31\00:32:35.65 Revelation testifies or witnesses to it about Jesus. 00:32:35.68\00:32:39.69 Some just want to know about the mark of the beast. They want to 00:32:39.72\00:32:42.22 know about that number 666 or they want to know about 00:32:42.26\00:32:45.49 Armageddon. Now we're going to get to those things in this 00:32:45.53\00:32:47.00 seminar but first we want to understand what the purpose of 00:32:47.03\00:32:49.63 Revelation is which is to lead us to Jesus Christ. You see 00:32:49.66\00:32:53.37 friends, being smart is not enough for salvation. God wants 00:32:53.40\00:32:58.31 that intimate understanding of his relationship with us and 00:32:58.34\00:33:02.34 Revelation is what we call a Christocentric book and that's 00:33:02.38\00:33:05.25 why friends that Satan attacks Revelation with every ounce of 00:33:05.28\00:33:09.55 his might. He tries to get people to misunderstand it, to 00:33:09.58\00:33:15.79 be confused by it or to simply reject it so it has no part in 00:33:15.82\00:33:20.03 their life. He works overtime to try to discredit it or to 00:33:20.06\00:33:23.37 discourage people from reading it. So does the book of 00:33:23.40\00:33:30.64 Revelation has beasts in it? Yes. Does the book of Revelation 00:33:30.67\00:33:33.01 talk about certain creatures like dragons? Yes. But who is it 00:33:33.04\00:33:36.14 we're really trying to find in the book of Revelation? We're 00:33:36.18\00:33:38.51 really trying to find Jesus, right? That's what the whole 00:33:38.55\00:33:40.92 purpose is. If you don't you don't find Jesus in the book of 00:33:40.95\00:33:44.05 Revelation you've missed the entire purpose of what prophecy 00:33:44.09\00:33:46.72 is all about. Now let's go take a closer look at this book shall 00:33:46.76\00:33:49.82 we. There are 22 chapters in the book of Revelation. Let me 00:33:49.86\00:33:53.80 suggest to you that in these 22 chapters is a wonderful 00:33:53.83\00:33:57.47 outlining of the great battle between good and evil, between 00:33:57.50\00:34:00.64 Christ and Satan. Now in highly symbolic literature like the 00:34:00.67\00:34:04.37 books of Daniel and Revelation, God tries to drive home a 00:34:04.41\00:34:08.21 specific point. We're going to start in chapter 1 and here John 00:34:08.24\00:34:12.55 is given this wonderful vision. It's like this most incredible 00:34:12.58\00:34:16.55 movie you've ever seen. He's asking John to write down the 00:34:16.58\00:34:21.36 things that he has shown. Chapters 2-11 present a history 00:34:21.39\00:34:25.26 of Christianity from the first coming to the second coming. 00:34:25.29\00:34:28.16 We have seven letters to the seven churches. We've got a 00:34:28.20\00:34:31.47 spiritual profile there of the Christian church for the last 00:34:31.50\00:34:35.90 2000 years. In Revelation 6 and 7 now we've got history but from 00:34:35.94\00:34:39.94 a different perspective. Now we see Satan's attacks on the 00:34:39.97\00:34:43.41 church through compromise, through apostasy, through heresy 00:34:43.45\00:34:47.18 And then we've got seven trumpets. It's another history 00:34:47.22\00:34:50.55 of the Christian church but from another perspective. Here we see 00:34:50.59\00:34:53.82 Christianity against the backdrop of major political and 00:34:53.86\00:34:57.89 military events. And then we've got Revelation chapter 12. 00:34:57.93\00:35:01.43 Revelation chapters 10 and 11 are mainly historical chapters 00:35:01.46\00:35:04.53 We won't go into them right now for the sake of time. Revelation 00:35:04.57\00:35:08.17 12 shows us the great dividing chapter of Revelation. This 00:35:08.20\00:35:13.11 amazing chapter focuses on the battle between good and evil. 00:35:13.14\00:35:15.84 Between Christ and Satan. Everything before chapter 12 00:35:15.88\00:35:20.78 is mainly but not entirely history. Everything after 00:35:20.82\00:35:26.32 chapter 12 is mainly but not entirely prophetic. So scholars 00:35:26.35\00:35:32.76 look at chapter 12 as the great dividing chapter. Revelation 13 00:35:32.79\00:35:36.87 describes a beast power, we're going to look at this also in 00:35:36.90\00:35:39.60 our seminar, who enforces his mark trying to establish an 00:35:39.63\00:35:42.90 economic boycott upon those who refuse to take the mark of the 00:35:42.94\00:35:45.77 beast. And there's another power spoken of in Revelation 13. This 00:35:45.81\00:35:48.88 power comes out from the land. We're going to also study this 00:35:48.91\00:35:51.38 in our seminar together. Revelation 14- Tremendous 00:35:51.41\00:35:56.38 chapter. It focuses on God's last warning message that goes 00:35:56.42\00:36:00.62 to all the world before Jesus comes back, telling them to 00:36:00.66\00:36:04.26 worship the Creator and not to worship the beast. Revelation 15 00:36:04.29\00:36:07.43 shows us the close of probation for this world. Revelation 16 00:36:07.46\00:36:10.90 shows us the seven last plagues which we will also take up in 00:36:10.93\00:36:14.60 our seminar. Revelation 17 shows us a magnification of the events 00:36:14.64\00:36:20.94 of Revelation 13 and it further details the union of church and 00:36:20.98\00:36:25.45 state before Jesus returns. Revelation 18 graphically 00:36:25.48\00:36:28.85 details the total collapse of false religion and God's call to 00:36:28.88\00:36:33.82 come out of it and then Revelation 19 shows us the 00:36:33.86\00:36:36.62 second coming, Jesus coming in in Glory vividly portrayed by 00:36:36.66\00:36:41.03 Jesus riding on a horse. Revelation 20- We're going to 00:36:41.06\00:36:42.90 look at this in a few subjects from now. It shows us the 00:36:42.93\00:36:47.27 millennial period. It shows us the great thousand years and 00:36:47.30\00:36:49.74 what's going to happen to Satan during that time and where the 00:36:49.77\00:36:51.77 church is during that time. We're going to be studying that 00:36:51.81\00:36:54.64 in detail. And finally chapters 21 and 22, they show us the end 00:36:54.68\00:36:59.35 of the great controversy, the great battle between good and 00:36:59.38\00:37:00.72 evil and the ultimate restoration of all things. So 00:37:00.75\00:37:04.05 there's a wonderful outline of Revelation. Let's examine more 00:37:04.09\00:37:08.36 closely this great dividing chapter, chapter 12. It says in 00:37:08.39\00:37:11.76 verse 7: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels 00:37:11.79\00:37:14.80 fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels 00:37:14.83\00:37:18.40 and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in 00:37:18.43\00:37:21.30 heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, 00:37:21.34\00:37:25.24 called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: 00:37:25.27\00:37:27.48 he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out 00:37:27.51\00:37:29.74 with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is 00:37:29.78\00:37:33.72 come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and 00:37:33.75\00:37:36.58 the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast 00:37:36.62\00:37:39.95 down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they 00:37:39.99\00:37:44.19 overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their 00:37:44.23\00:37:47.10 testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 00:37:47.13\00:37:50.67 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe 00:37:50.70\00:37:53.03 to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil 00:37:53.07\00:37:55.67 is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth 00:37:55.70\00:37:58.64 that he hath but a short time. So here we've got this overview 00:37:58.67\00:38:04.78 of the battle between good and evil. And I want to ask you a 00:38:04.81\00:38:07.18 question friends. What is the greatest war that has ever been 00:38:07.22\00:38:10.69 fought on planet earth. Some might be tempted to say World 00:38:10.72\00:38:12.92 War I. It was called the war to end all wars. Some might say 00:38:12.95\00:38:16.56 World War II because of course the amount of carnage that was 00:38:16.59\00:38:19.79 present in that era. Some might say the war against communism 00:38:19.83\00:38:23.30 or even more present-day war against terrorism but folks let 00:38:23.33\00:38:25.83 me share with you the greatest battle that has ever been fought 00:38:25.87\00:38:29.74 is being fought and ever will be fought in the battle over our 00:38:29.77\00:38:34.31 mind. The devil is trying to take control of our allegiance. 00:38:34.34\00:38:38.05 The devil is trying to take control of our loyalty and God 00:38:38.08\00:38:42.42 is fighting back trying to get us to surrender to him. This 00:38:42.45\00:38:46.99 background of the mind is where the great controversy's 00:38:47.02\00:38:49.59 taking place for 6000 years now since sin has entered planet 00:38:49.62\00:38:53.13 earth. Now have you ever wondered why in Revelation the 00:38:53.16\00:38:57.47 adversary of all mankind is called a serpent and a dragon? 00:38:57.50\00:39:00.00 The answer is because the serpent deceives us and the 00:39:00.04\00:39:04.94 dragon destroys us. Jesus said of Satan, He's a liar and a 00:39:04.97\00:39:08.04 murderer. And this has been the devil's constant effort to get 00:39:08.08\00:39:12.98 us to be deceived so eventually we could be destroyed. And the 00:39:13.01\00:39:17.09 devil hates the book of Revelation with a passion. He 00:39:17.12\00:39:19.49 hates Jesus' death on Calvary. He hates his ministry for us in 00:39:19.52\00:39:23.19 heaven. He hates the eternal truth of scripture. Now don't be 00:39:23.22\00:39:27.16 discouraged by this. Why? Because the Bible tells us the 00:39:27.20\00:39:32.50 Lamb is going to win the battle, that's Jesus. And we are all in 00:39:32.53\00:39:35.47 the midst of that battleground. In the midst of this battle 00:39:35.50\00:39:39.04 we're told this in Luke 19 and verse 10. For the Son of Man is 00:39:39.07\00:39:42.98 come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now friends I 00:39:43.01\00:39:50.92 have two children. They're grown up now but when my youngest 00:39:50.95\00:39:55.32 daughter was quite small, maybe she was about five years old, we 00:39:55.36\00:39:57.99 were at a pastors' conference I remember it was in Florida, a 00:39:58.03\00:40:00.76 very high hotel and there we were in the very basement with 00:40:00.80\00:40:03.70 a crowd of people waiting to get on an elevator. And while we 00:40:03.73\00:40:06.94 were there I had my two daughters with me and my wife 00:40:06.97\00:40:09.10 a little family of four and the doors opened and a press of 00:40:09.14\00:40:12.77 people pushed into the elevator and I could see it was too full 00:40:12.81\00:40:14.88 for us to get on so I thought I'd just wait for the next one. 00:40:14.91\00:40:17.28 So I was watching the elevator and then when the doors closed 00:40:17.31\00:40:19.68 I looked around and in my family of four there was only present a 00:40:19.71\00:40:24.35 family of three. And I thought, Oh no! My youngest daughter 00:40:24.39\00:40:29.89 walked into that elevator. Now let me tell you something, Dad 00:40:29.92\00:40:35.76 sprang into action and I started to run because I knew it wasn't 00:40:35.80\00:40:37.87 going to be very long before she figured out Dad and Mom weren't 00:40:37.90\00:40:40.24 with her and that wasn't going to work out very well. So I ran 00:40:40.27\00:40:42.74 up the stairs as fast as I could and the elevator wasn't on that 00:40:42.77\00:40:45.87 floor. So I ran up to another one. I tried to find where the 00:40:45.91\00:40:48.38 elevator was and I thought maybe it'd gone back down so I ran 00:40:48.41\00:40:50.75 back down again because there was more than one elevator. And 00:40:50.78\00:40:53.15 let me tell you friends you just have to be a parent to know what 00:40:53.18\00:40:56.32 you feel like at that moment. I knew my daughter was in that 00:40:56.35\00:40:59.89 hotel but I didn't know where and this father was going to 00:40:59.92\00:41:03.89 find her. I don't know how many minutes went by but it seemed 00:41:03.93\00:41:06.16 like a long, long time. And so finally, some kind soul figured 00:41:06.19\00:41:09.26 out what was going on and they took her by the hand and got her 00:41:09.30\00:41:12.67 all the way down to the main lobby and we got reunited, but 00:41:12.70\00:41:15.27 the reason I tell you that story friends is that if I as a father 00:41:15.30\00:41:19.74 can feel such anguish over my child who's only lost for 00:41:19.77\00:41:24.71 supposedly minutes. How does God the heavenly Father who loves 00:41:24.75\00:41:28.58 far more than we can love, who loves far deeper and broader 00:41:28.62\00:41:34.89 than we ever could, how do you suppose he feels friends when he 00:41:34.92\00:41:38.43 sees a whole world going down to destruction. No matter how big 00:41:38.46\00:41:43.47 or small your home is God knows where you live. He hasn't lost 00:41:43.50\00:41:48.44 your address. God is watching over you even tonight. Folks I 00:41:48.47\00:41:54.28 don't leave my warm home simply because I like travel. I leave 00:41:54.31\00:41:59.78 because the Lord of heaven is trying to find more people who 00:41:59.81\00:42:03.55 want to go to heaven. Would you agree? Right now in the 00:42:03.59\00:42:08.09 spiritual realm and the reason I leave my home friends is for one 00:42:08.12\00:42:14.36 reason. The Bible is the road map to heaven and I want to help 00:42:14.40\00:42:17.83 more people read the road map right. Right now in the 00:42:17.87\00:42:22.94 spiritual realm which the natural eye cannot see we've got 00:42:22.97\00:42:26.27 holy angels doing battle with unholy angels and we would call 00:42:26.31\00:42:29.81 them demons. And the book of Revelation is not about who is 00:42:29.84\00:42:32.71 fighting who in the Middle East or even here in North America. 00:42:32.75\00:42:35.88 There might be interesting information there but that's not 00:42:35.92\00:42:38.02 the primary reason the book of Revelation was written. The 00:42:38.05\00:42:41.52 primary reason it was written is that God is showing us that he's 00:42:41.56\00:42:45.33 going to take this world that has fallen into chaos, he's 00:42:45.36\00:42:49.26 going to ultimately restore it back to its Edenic glory, back 00:42:49.30\00:42:54.40 to the glory that was once there in the garden of Eden and I want 00:42:54.44\00:42:57.51 to be part of that glory, don't you friend? Aren't you tired of 00:42:57.54\00:43:00.94 the violence of this world. Aren't you tired of the chaos 00:43:00.98\00:43:04.08 that we read every day in the news? I'm tired of this pain 00:43:04.11\00:43:07.18 friends and I believe you are too. Revelation wasn't written 00:43:07.22\00:43:10.09 to get us spiritually hyped up on some kind of sensationalistic 00:43:10.12\00:43:14.76 thing. It's trying to show us that God is leading a people out 00:43:14.79\00:43:19.93 of the chaos of this world into the peace of eternity. I want to 00:43:19.96\00:43:25.37 thank you for coming to this seminar. I know that you could 00:43:25.40\00:43:29.77 be in a lot of places here tonight. Those of you watching 00:43:29.80\00:43:32.74 at home, I know that you could be doing a lot of other things 00:43:32.77\00:43:35.24 too. You know, we go through this period of time through our 00:43:35.28\00:43:43.79 early years, we call it elementary school, 12 years of 00:43:43.82\00:43:47.36 it. Some of us then go into more education, four years of 00:43:47.39\00:43:51.93 university. Some even go beyond that into professional work. 00:43:51.96\00:43:55.36 Some of us take further education classes depending on 00:43:55.40\00:43:58.67 what our trade is. We can go years and years and years of study just trying to 00:43:58.70\00:44:04.24 get through 50, 60, 70 more years of this world, right? And 00:44:04.27\00:44:08.08 yet when you have a seminar and you tell them it's going to be 00:44:08.11\00:44:09.94 for a number of nights and you tell them how many, they go 00:44:09.98\00:44:12.48 Oh! I could never go that many. Folks if we can spend multiple 00:44:12.51\00:44:19.65 years of our life trying to navigate our way through this 00:44:19.69\00:44:23.39 world, it's worth it spending some time learning about 00:44:23.43\00:44:27.30 eternity, would you agree? It's worth it spending some time 00:44:27.33\00:44:29.60 learning how to prepare for Jesus' coming. You can't buy a 00:44:29.63\00:44:34.00 kit that tells you to get ready, right. You can't buy readiness 00:44:34.04\00:44:37.67 for the second coming. Look how Jesus finishes the book of 00:44:37.71\00:44:41.24 Revelation by giving us an appeal. Revelation 22 and verse 00:44:41.28\00:44:44.91 7. He says: Behold, I come quickly (the world quickly there 00:44:44.95\00:44:49.15 means suddenly); blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the 00:44:49.18\00:44:52.25 prophecy of this book. Now when God wants to emphasize something 00:44:52.29\00:44:55.16 he repeats it to us. So God is going to repeat it to us again 00:44:55.19\00:44:58.19 in verse 12. And here it says: ...behold, I come quickly; and 00:44:58.23\00:45:02.26 my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work 00:45:02.30\00:45:05.70 shall be. Now he's told us twice but even twice wasn't enough. 00:45:05.73\00:45:09.90 He's going to say it to us again in verse 20. And here we read: 00:45:09.94\00:45:14.64 He which testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly. 00:45:14.68\00:45:19.48 Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 00:45:19.51\00:45:23.05 Not once, not twice but three times God is sending us a clear 00:45:23.08\00:45:26.35 message isn't he friends? The book of Revelation is not a 00:45:26.39\00:45:28.69 message of beasts and dragons and gloom and doom. No way! 00:45:28.72\00:45:32.79 The book of Revelation is what has always been. It is a 00:45:32.83\00:45:37.47 revelation of hope for this world. It is God guiding us to 00:45:37.50\00:45:42.14 a beautiful conclusion if we will only put our trust in him. 00:45:42.17\00:45:45.61 Here in Matthew 24 and verse 44: Therefore be ye also ready; for 00:45:45.64\00:45:49.44 in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. We don't 00:45:49.48\00:45:54.05 know the exact day, we don't know the exact year, we don't 00:45:54.08\00:45:57.72 know if it's going to be this present year or the next but we 00:45:57.75\00:45:59.82 do know that we need to be ready for that great event. I 00:45:59.85\00:46:03.12 want to be ready, don't you friend? Once again, Satan will 00:46:03.16\00:46:07.53 do all he can to distract you from furthering your study in 00:46:07.56\00:46:11.17 this seminar. I'm glad you're here But I want you to know for 00:46:11.20\00:46:15.64 those of you who are more advanced in your study of the 00:46:15.67\00:46:18.57 Bible, we're going to have a lot for you too. We're going to deal 00:46:18.61\00:46:21.34 with some more basic things, that's true but for those of you 00:46:21.38\00:46:24.85 who consider yourself scholars we're going to have a lot of 00:46:24.88\00:46:26.48 information that you are going to be happy with as well. The 00:46:26.51\00:46:29.12 Old Testament tells of a Savior to come. The New Testament tells 00:46:29.15\00:46:32.52 us the Savior has come and both the Old and the New Testament 00:46:32.55\00:46:35.86 tells us the Savior will come again. The Lord came the first 00:46:35.89\00:46:40.10 time to redeem. He's coming the second time to restore. He came 00:46:40.13\00:46:44.13 the first time as a suffering servant. He comes the second 00:46:44.17\00:46:47.14 time as a conquering King. The first coming of Jesus was a 00:46:47.17\00:46:50.67 matter of history. The second coming of Jesus is a matter of 00:46:50.71\00:46:55.08 faith. Both the first and the second, coming go together 00:46:55.11\00:46:59.11 Without which neither one of them would be complete. 00:46:59.15\00:47:01.85 Friends you could be in a lot of other places tonight 00:47:01.88\00:47:03.22 but you've 00:47:03.25\00:47:04.59 chosen to come here. Would you make another good choice and say 00:47:04.62\00:47:09.29 Lord, I want to be ready with all of my heart and soul for the 00:47:09.32\00:47:11.89 second coming. If that's your decision friends would you just 00:47:11.93\00:47:15.30 put your hand in the air tonight God bless each and every one of 00:47:15.33\00:47:18.23 you. The devil doesn't want you to be here. The angels of heaven 00:47:18.27\00:47:23.34 want you here, God will work out your schedule. Our very next 00:47:23.37\00:47:27.44 session together we are going to look at the second coming of 00:47:27.48\00:47:31.25 Jesus. Why is that so important? Because the second coming of 00:47:31.28\00:47:33.98 Jesus is a pillar in the series of end-time events. There are 00:47:34.02\00:47:37.45 things that the Bible speaks about just before the second 00:47:37.49\00:47:40.72 coming and things that are just after the second coming. But the 00:47:40.76\00:47:44.33 second coming is absolutely essential that we understand it 00:47:44.36\00:47:47.20 correctly because if we don't understand that correctly we're 00:47:47.23\00:47:51.87 almost certain we'll be off on all the other things that 00:47:51.90\00:47:53.97 surround it. Father in heaven, we want our hearts to be filled 00:47:54.00\00:47:59.07 with joy for that second coming. For those of us that have made 00:47:59.11\00:48:03.11 that decision accepting Jesus into our life, this is a 00:48:03.14\00:48:06.61 wonderful thing. But for those listening to this message 00:48:06.65\00:48:10.95 whether here or at home, Lord there are many that have not yet 00:48:10.99\00:48:14.92 made that decision. For those who wish to just invite you into 00:48:14.96\00:48:19.39 their hearts right now we ask Lord that you would give us of 00:48:19.43\00:48:23.47 your Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus died for the 00:48:23.50\00:48:27.97 salvation of the world. We believe that you sent your Son 00:48:28.00\00:48:29.74 into this world to die on Calvary's cross. But we need 00:48:29.77\00:48:32.97 help Lord. We need power to live a changed life. So give us of 00:48:33.01\00:48:37.41 your Holy Spirit. Live in our hearts. Help us to walk out of 00:48:37.45\00:48:40.92 here tonight in peace looking forward with joy for your soon 00:48:40.95\00:48:45.05 second coming. This is our prayer and we thank you for 00:48:45.09\00:48:48.86 hearing it. In Jesus' name, Amen 00:48:48.89\00:48:52.56 ¤ ¤ 00:48:52.59\00:49:03.47 Hello everyone. I'm Pastor Brian McMahon the speaker of the 00:49:03.51\00:49:06.51 Prophecy Unsealed broadcast. We're so grateful you're 00:49:06.54\00:49:08.54 watching. We sincerely hope you've been blessed by what 00:49:08.58\00:49:10.28 you've heard. We're committed to sharing the good news of 00:49:10.31\00:49:12.95 salvation through Jesus Christ. If you would like to partner 00:49:12.98\00:49:16.12 with us, you can send a tax deductible donation to 00:49:16.15\00:49:19.05 The Evangelism Center P. O. Box 165, Liberty Lake, WA 00:49:19.09\00:49:21.49 99019. That's the Evangelism Center P.O. Box 165 Liberty Lake 00:49:21.52\00:49:26.80 WA 99019. We want to thank you for your generosity and your 00:49:26.83\00:49:33.03 prayerful support. 00:49:33.07\00:49:34.40