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Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000016S
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00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean? When
00:07 will the antichrist appear and make his final move? How can I 00:12 be ready for the final events of earth's history? You'll be 00:16 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:21 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:31 Hello and welcome everyone to Prophecy Unsealed. We're so glad 00:33 again, you're joining us here. Our topic today is Armageddon 00:37 and the Seven Last Plagues. Now Armageddon is found only once in 00:43 the Bible. It's found in the book of Revelation and people 00:45 wonder what exactly is that event all about? Is it some kind 00:48 of battle between Russia and the United States, between the east 00:51 and the west. We're going to find out tonight. The term 00:55 itself is a very mysterious term too many and they really don't 00:58 understand the bigger picture. So we're going to study the 01:02 bigger picture tonight and find out what exactly this subject 01:05 really entails. True Christians I believe friends should be the 01:10 most hopeful, happy people on the face of the earth. Do you 01:13 believe that? And many times we know, Christians know, that no 01:19 matter how bad the world gets that there's a solution to all 01:23 these problems and that of course is Jesus' coming. But 01:27 many Christians will say well Jesus may come today or Jesus 01:31 may come tomorrow, so you need to be ready. Now for the Bible 01:35 student, we know that that is not true. Because we know there are 01:39 certain things in scripture that must take place between where we 01:42 are now in the stream of time and the coming of Jesus. They 01:45 will be fulfilled, and knowing what those things are can help 01:48 us be better ready for Jesus' coming. Now, having said that, we 01:52 should live as if Jesus was coming today, shouldn't we, 01:55 right? We should live our lives as if we were to die today, the 01:59 next thing we would know is the resurrection and Jesus' coming. 02:02 So, we need to be sure we're ready by how we live. God's last 02:07 day message found here in Revelation 14, starting in verse 02:10 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having 02:14 the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the 02:17 earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 02:21 saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for 02:25 the hour of his judgment has come So here we have a message. It's 02:28 going to go to all nations before Jesus comes back, pleading 02:32 with them to accept the Lord as the Creator and it says saying 02:37 with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him for the hour 02:38 of his judgment is come. We took this up in a previous session of 02:43 our Prophecy Unsealed seminar. When could it be said that the 02:48 hour of his judgment has come. At the end of the 2300-day/year 02:52 Prophecy and it ended in what year friends? In 1844 absolutely 02:57 And it's telling us to worship him that made the heaven and 03:00 earth, the sea and the fountains of waters. What do we call the 03:03 one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of 03:05 waters? The one that made all things is called the what? The 03:09 Creator, sure. So we're living in a time when God is asking us 03:14 to worship him as the Creator and what is the sign that he 03:18 left us to remember him by as the Creator. He gave us the 03:21 what? The Sabbath, right. So would there be a class who 03:26 honors God and keeps his commandments, including the Bible 03:29 Sabbath. And then there are those that reject the 03:32 commandments of God, and they receive the mark of the beast. 03:34 Revelation 14 verse 9: And the third angel followed them, saying 03:37 with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image 03:40 and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the 03:43 same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. So what do we 03:45 have here in a quick review. We've got two classes of people 03:48 two groups. One group was worshipping God as the Creator 03:51 The other one is rejecting God as the Creator and they're 03:54 worshipping the beast power. Now it's interesting to note that 03:58 when people do not follow God most of the time, they do not 04:04 just reject God, but they start persecuting the people of God. 04:06 It's almost as if they can't stand the fact that others 04:12 would be faithful when they are not. And God, of course, takes 04:15 not of that. His church is the apple of his eye, and when they 04:20 persecute his people, God is going to go and do a special 04:24 work for his church. Two classes again: Ones that are worshipping 04:28 the Creator and ones that are worshipping or following the 04:31 beast. The entire issue of the great controversy centers around 04:34 the issue of worship. What will we do on the subject of worship? 04:37 Where will we be faithful? Where will we give our 04:40 allegiance? Psalm 119 verse 126 says: It is time for thee, Lord, 04:47 to work: for they have made void thy law. When the law of God is 04:52 voided in a legislative manner the resulting penalty coming 04:56 upon those who continue to obey God and be true to God, then God 05:01 is going to work in an amazing way for his people. He'll work 05:02 in an amazing way for his people Back to Revelation 14 here for 05:05 just a moment. Notice it says that the wicked receive the wine 05:09 of the wrath of God. What is this wine of the wrath of God 05:13 that we can receive. We go to Revelation 15 to get an answer 05:16 to that. Verse 1: And I saw another sign in heaven, great 05:20 and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; 05:22 for in them is filled up the wrath of God. So what is the 05:26 wrath of God according to this scripture? The seven last 05:30 plagues. Now here's the question that comes to us. Will we be 05:33 here and be alive on earth during those seven last plagues 05:38 or will Jesus come, as many teach, and snatch his church out 05:41 of the world, so they don't have to be present during that time. 05:44 Many teach that. We'll all we have to do friends to get an 05:48 answer to that is say how has God worked down through time? 05:52 What has been the pattern that God has for his people. We see 05:57 here in Revelation 16 verse 15 this text. We're going to look 06:01 at this in more detail tonight but we go all the way to verse 06:05 15. It says: Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 06:08 watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see 06:11 his shame. Now don't miss this friends. This is after six 06:15 plagues have been poured out. What sense would it make for 06:17 Jesus to say after six plagues, that's a lot of tribulation, 06:21 Behold, I am coming as a thief, if he'd already come as a thief 06:25 before the plagues to snatch his church away. It wouldn't make 06:29 any sense. Now truth is logical. He would not say to his church 06:31 Hold on, keep the faith, I'm almost there, right, if he'd 06:36 already come for his church. So, let's go back to the time of 06:40 Noah. If in the flood of Noah he was going to snatch his 06:47 church off the earth wouldn't we know about it, right? Did he 06:51 snatch Noah away so that Noah didn't have to face it? No. He 06:54 took the family of Noah, and he put them inside an ark of safety 06:57 and during the time of the tribulation all around them, God 07:00 guarded faithfully over that family and kept them protected. 07:04 So, the earth was destroyed, but Noah was not raptured away. We 07:09 come down to the time of Daniel and of course in the time of 07:11 Daniel, we have three Hebrew faithful men who went into a 07:14 fiery furnace. God could have raptured them away. He could 07:17 have taken them away from that tribulation. But no, he was 07:20 honored by the fact that his servants went into the fiery 07:24 furnace and God delivered them in that tribulation. In fact, it 07:28 says that when they came out of that furnace friends that there 07:31 wasn't even a hair of their head singed or the smell of smoke 07:35 upon their clothes. Can God deliver completely? Oh I mean 07:38 God is showing us that story so we can see there's nothing too 07:41 great for God. And of course, we know the story of Daniel. He 07:46 went into the lions' den. God could have raptured Daniel away 07:48 and not face that time of trial. But no, he allowed his servant 07:53 to go into the lions and he delivered him amongst the lions. 07:57 Once again, God allows his servants to go into tribulation 08:01 but God is glorified by delivering them in the midst of 08:05 that tribulation. Here is the Psalm of David, Psalm 23, the 08:08 shepherd's psalm. Does he say: Yeah, though I get raptured out 08:11 of the valley of the shadow of death? Is that what he said? 08:13 No. Yeah, though I walk what? Through the valley of the shadow 08:17 of death, he says, I will fear no evil: Why? For thou art with me; 08:22 thy rod and they staff they comfort me. God is going to be 08:25 with his people. David knew it. He says, God, as long as you're 08:29 with me, there's no way that I can't go. In fact, Jesus himself 08:32 said in John 17 verse 15 before he went to the cross. He said: 08:36 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but 08:39 thou shouldest keep them from the evil. So it wasn't Jesus 08:43 prayer that he's going to rapture us away somewhere where 08:47 we don't have to face any kind of end time trial but rather that 08:50 he's going to allow his people to be present, but he will 08:53 protect them during the final tribulation. We'll see that 08:56 tonight. Let's go back to this expression here, and we're 09:00 talking tonight about the great final tribulation period, but it 09:04 says the seven what kind of plagues? Last plagues. Were 09:09 there any plagues before these plagues in the Bible? Yes there 09:12 were and where were those plagues? In Egypt. And how many 09:15 plagues were there in Egypt? Ten right? Ten plagues in Egypt, 09:19 seven last plagues at the end of time. What is the connection 09:24 there? Well, let's go take a look at this verse right here. 09:27 First Corinthians 10 verse 11: Now all these things happened 09:29 unto them for examples...that means an example...and they're 09:32 written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are 09:35 come. Now the word admonition, that's kind of a big word that 09:38 simply means our learning or our instruction. What was written 09:41 or what happened way back in the time of ancient Israel was there 09:46 written down for our learning and we can be instructed by it. 09:50 So what happened to Israel then is a scale model. It says that 09:56 they went through certain trials certain circumstances and what 10:00 they went through, we can learn from that. So we have to ask 10:02 ourself this question. What happened to ancient Israel. Well 10:04 back in the time of Egypt, they were enslaved there weren't 10:07 they? And just as people today are enslaved in sin. But they 10:11 were commanded to work on the Sabbath. And God is going to 10:14 deliver his people, so what did he do? He started to rain 10:17 plagues down on Egypt. Were they present there during those 10:21 plagues? Yes, they were. They were present there. Now after 10:24 the third plague God said I'm going to separate out the land 10:27 of Goshen. No more will any plagues fall where these people 10:31 are. The last seven of the 10 fell only on the wicked 10:36 Egyptians. This is a promise to us. This is an encouragement to 10:40 us that when God pours out the seven last plagues their not 10:45 going to poured out indiscriminately upon the whole 10:48 land where his people are going to suffer along with them. The 10:51 seven last plagues are going to fall only on the wicked. But 10:55 when they fell on Egypt back then, the 10 plagues did, of 11:00 course, Pharaoh for a time decided that he was distracted 11:01 and he said, Oh no, we got to let these people go. But did 11:04 Pharaoh leave it at that? No. He chased after them eventually 11:06 with his army. He wanted to wipe them out. Evil is like that 11:09 right? They can't just be content. They have to wipe out 11:13 the righteous. So then Israel's going toward the Red Sea. 11:17 They've got the Red Sea in front of them. They can't go forward. 11:20 They've got Pharaoh's army behind them, they can't go back. 11:22 God allows his people to get into dark circumstances 11:25 sometimes, doesn't he? Do you ever wonder why is that? I think 11:29 the answer to that is that when God brings a deliverance we 11:32 won't take credit for ourself. We'll give glory only to God 11:36 because the only way they could be delivered is if God delivered 11:39 them and that way we'll say God it's all of you. And he opened 11:42 up the Red Sea and his church went through the sea, and they 11:47 were delivered and the same miracle that delivered his 11:50 people brought destruction upon the wicked. Now we can learn 11:54 from all that, and we're going to see that God has end-time lessons 11:58 for us in the plagues. We're going to start in Revelation 16 12:01 and in verse 1. Here it says: And I heard a great voice out of 12:06 the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour 12:09 out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the 12:12 first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there 12:15 fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark 12:18 of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. This 12:21 terrible sore comes over the whole body here a large swelling 12:25 boil of some kind afflicting the body. God does nothing by 12:28 coincidence, right? Why would the Lord choose in the first 12:31 plague to give the wicked a physical punishment. We just 12:35 have to say to ourself what did the wicked try to do to the 12:38 righteous when they tried to coerce them to take the mark of 12:41 the beast? Let's go back and find out. Revelation 13 verse 15 12:44 It says: He had power to give life unto the image of the beast 12:47 that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause 12:50 that as many as would not worship the image of the beast 12:54 should be killed. So they came to those who were wanting to be 12:59 faithful to God, and they said unless you take the mark of the 13:02 beast or the image of the beast we will physically punish you. 13:04 Now God wasn't sleeping when that took place. He understood 13:08 what they were doing, and he says Okay, you want to put a physical 13:12 punishment upon my people, you will be the one to get a 13:15 physical punishment in the first plague. The sores that come are 13:20 an affliction of a physical pain because they tried to put that 13:24 same thing upon his people. Why is it that some will take the 13:28 mark of the beast because they don't want to suffer any 13:30 physical affliction for Jesus' sake, right? Their faith is such 13:34 that as soon as they get threatened with anything 13:37 physical they say no, no, I don't want that. The great 13:39 lesson in the first plague is this friends. All physical 13:43 security is found only in Jesus. Don't trust in man to deliver 13:48 you in that day. In fact, let's go a little bit deeper into it 13:51 shall we. Romans 12 and verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren 13:54 by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living 13:59 sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 14:02 service. Which means your expected service. Have you done 14:07 this friends? Have you gone to the Lord and said Lord, this 14:09 physical body belongs to you. I'm giving you all my eating 14:12 habits, I'm giving you my drinking habits, any smoking 14:16 habit, any drug habit. I'm giving this physical body to 14:18 you. I want to be your temple. I want your Holy Spirit to 14:23 reign in my body and folks, unless we do this, unless we 14:26 make a complete surrender now we will not make a surrender 14:30 then. Because when they threaten people physically a 14:33 lot of people are going to say we have already given this body 14:36 over to the Lord, right? We've already given it to you, God. 14:38 And though they may threaten to take our life, our physical 14:41 life, our eternal life is safe in heaven. So they've already 14:46 made that surrender. But then there are those that say no, we 14:48 want these vices, we want these things. I want to hold 14:51 onto these things. And Jesus said, He that is faithful in 14:54 little will be faithful also in much. If we're not faithful 14:56 in little and we don't make any kind of physical denial 14:59 to the body, now we will not make it then. So when the 15:02 crisis comes, they sell out cheap. Right? They say no, no, 15:07 I don't want to have any kind of affliction whatsoever. 15:12 Those who make a commitment to Jesus, now physically, you'll 15:15 be able to make a commitment then. So the plagues in 15:18 essence, folks, they are appeals ahead of time to make 15:21 a surrender to God. Let's go take a look at this next text 15:26 here. Revelation 16 verse 3 now: And the second angel 15:30 poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the 15:32 blood of a dead man: and every living soul...that means 15:36 creature...died in the sea. Notice, it doesn't just become 15:39 blood, it becomes as the blood of a dead man, a coagulated 15:43 mess. Now, can you imagine friends if anything even 15:46 remotely like this took place the sea is the great venue of 15:50 commerce isn't it. I mean, the grain ship is moved by the 15:53 sea. The oil ship is moved by the sea. Most of the world's 15:56 commerce moves by the sea. If the sea became as the blood of 16:00 a dead man, a coagulated mess, it would become impassable by 16:04 ships. And the world's economy would collapse overnight. And 16:09 if it collapsed overnight friends, there's no buying and 16:15 selling. Why would God do that? Why would God put that 16:19 kind of plague? Nothing is done by coincidence. Let's go 16:23 back. Revelation 13 verse 16. When they try to enforce the 16:27 mark, what did they say to the righteous: And he causeth all, 16:28 both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to 16:31 receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 16:34 and that no man might what? Buy or sell, save he that had 16:38 the mark, or the name of the beast. So those who tried to 16:42 enforce the mark, said, Unless you take the mark of the beast 16:46 you won't be able to buy and sell. They're going to say we 16:50 have control over the commerce, we have control over the 16:52 banking system, we have control over the finances and 16:55 we can control what you do. And God says, All right. If 17:01 that's the case when the second plague comes 17:03 Revelation 18 says the merchants of the earth, they wail over the 17:07 loss of their ships and their merchandise and the very thing 17:10 they said they could provide, mainly financial security, 17:14 they can't provide it at all, right? And they're the ones 17:20 wanting. And there'll be people folks that are going to 17:22 say, Well, we've got to go along with the mark, right? 17:25 We've got bills to pay. We've got that mortgage. We've got 17:26 these other kinds of payments. We need to be able to buy and 17:29 sell. And because they haven't built the faith, now that it 17:34 takes to know that God is going to provide, there again 17:37 they're just going to go right out and they're going to say 17:39 no, nope, they're going to compromise during that time. 17:43 Remember this, friends. Weak character will always side 17:49 with the multitude in a crisis. Can I say that again? 17:53 Weak character will always side with the multitude in a 17:57 crisis. When the whole economic bottom falls out, the 18:02 very thing they said they could accomplish by giving 18:04 financial security, they can't accomplish it at all. But what 18:07 about God's people? How are they going to be? Isaiah 33, 18:11 love this promise, verse 14: The sinners in Zion are afraid; 18:14 fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall 18:16 dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with 18:20 the everlasting burnings? A way of saying who is going to 18:22 survive the crisis and be able to live in the presence of God? 18:24 It goes on: He that walketh righteously, and speaks 18:28 uprightly; he that despises the bane of oppressions, that 18:31 shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his 18:33 ears from hearing of blood, shuts his eyes from seeing of 18:36 evil. In other words, that this person is an honest person, 18:39 integrity of their heart. It says he shall dwell on high: 18:42 his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread 18:45 shall be given him; his waters shall be what friends? Sure. 18:49 What a promise. As the world is facing disaster, God says our 18:53 bread and our water will be sure. Just as he fed Elijah, 18:57 his servant, by putting food in the mouth of birds, right? 19:01 And delivering it over to him. Is God original? Is God 19:04 creative? It's amazing, you know. You know, just as he rained mana 19:07 from heaven down for 40 years to the Israelites, God has 19:10 many inventive ways to feed his people during that time. 19:14 He says our bread and our water are going to be sure. Now I 19:17 I don't think during that time he's going to give us doughnuts 19:20 and ice cream, Amen? I don't think that's probably going to 19:24 be that way. But we do know it's going to be enough. I do 19:27 know this, friends: Whatever God gives us in that time, it will 19:30 be exactly what we need. Would you agree? Absolutely. It may 19:34 not be three meals a day, but it will be exactly what we 19:37 need. It goes on. It says: Thine eyes shall see the king 19:39 in his beauty: They shall behold the land that is very 19:42 far off. So, those again that hold on and trust God. God will 19:46 feed his people. He fed his people of Israel in the desert. 19:49 He'll feed us now. The plagues again are appeals to give our 19:52 heart to him a second time. Surrender your body to him. 19:55 Surrender your finances to him. Verse 4 of Revelation 16: And 19:59 the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and 20:01 fountains of waters; and they became blood. Verse 5: And I 20:05 heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O 20:07 Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because thou has 20:11 judged thus. Why would God choose to now turn the fresh 20:15 water to blood. Can you imagine what that would be? 20:18 How terrible, you know, it would be for someone to go 20:21 into their house, maybe their kitchen. They turn on the tap 20:24 and blood comes out. And they think, Oh my! But you see God 20:27 has a purpose for this. He goes on, and he tells us. Why 20:31 would he turn drinking water to blood? It says in verse 6: 20:34 But they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and 20:36 thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 20:40 You have to say no matter what squeeze is put on me from 20:44 friends or anything else, my eyes are on Jesus. My heart is 20:47 with him. Jeremiah 12 and verse 5: If thou hast run with 20:49 the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst 20:51 thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, 20:54 wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt 20:56 thou do in the swelling of Jordan? What is the prophet? 20:58 saying? He's saying if you're racing against the footmen and 21:00 you're getting tired, what are you going to do when you get 21:03 to race against the horses? Right? Jeremiah is saying if 21:05 live in a time of peace, it's difficult for you to take a 21:08 stand for God, what are you going to do when the crisis 21:10 breaks? That's what he's really saying there. So, if we 21:16 can't be true to God in a time of peace and prosperity, what 21:19 are we going to do when the trials come? You know people 21:22 come to this seminar, friends and when they do, they'll say 21:24 boy, things are going okay and I wanted to start keeping the 21:27 Sabbath and I wanted to start, you know, getting my diet 21:30 under control, and these kinds of things and then all of a 21:31 sudden I've got all these people giving me a hard time 21:34 and persecuting me, and my friends don't want me. Friends 21:37 I want you to know that God puts us through the laboratory 21:40 of human experience, and he does it so we build muscles of 21:43 faith, right? He wants us to build strong spiritual 21:45 muscles. If everything went great all the time, we would 21:48 not get strong as Christians. If we never had any kind of 21:51 opposition, you wouldn't learn how to stand up to that 21:54 opposition. If you were going to go to the Olympics and pick 21:58 any category of sport, it doesn't really matter, let's 22:02 just say weight lifting. If you knew that you were 22:04 going to have to press 500 pounds above your head in 22:07 order to have any kind of chance during that competition, 22:09 when are you actually going to start training? The week 22:13 before? Right? No. These athletes start years before, 22:17 right? They know that test is coming. They know what they're 22:20 going to have to go through and they start a long time 22:23 off. And so it is, friends. God puts us through the laboratory 22:25 of human experience, so we build the strong muscles of 22:28 faith, because we know he knows that the trial is going 22:31 to come and he wants us to stay true to God in that time. 22:35 Maybe you've learned some things right here in this 22:38 seminar that have caused you to make some decisions in your 22:41 life that at times it's going to cause some economic trial, 22:45 right? You want to keep the Sabbath and you may have had 22:49 to sacrifice a job at the beginning to do that. But the 22:52 Bible says I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his 22:54 seed begging bread. Amen. That's Psalm 37:25. I claimed 22:57 that for my own life when I went through that trial. But 23:00 these are little tests that God gives us now so we can lift 23:03 the barbells of faith and make strong spiritual muscles. Back 23:06 to Revelation 16, verse 7: And I heard another out of the 23:08 altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous 23:11 are thy judgments. Verse 8. And the fourth angel poured 23:15 out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to 23:18 scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, 23:22 and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over 23:24 these plagues: and they repented not to give him 23:27 glory. So, what significance would that plague have right 23:30 there? Well, we go back to the time of ancient Egypt and back 23:34 in the time of ancient Egypt when God poured 10 plagues 23:37 down upon that land a lot of the things he plagued them 23:40 with were things that they worshipped, right? They 23:43 worshipped the Nile, and he put a plague upon the Nile, so it 23:45 turned to blood, and it smelled horrible, too. They worshipped 23:48 insects. He plagued them with insects. They worshipped the 23:51 sun. He put a plague upon the sun. I'm not saying that they 23:52 worshipped everything that he plagued them with. But 23:56 certainly God...Egypt was attacked at the time of the 23:58 plagues with things that they put their trust in. And God 24:01 was saying don't put your trust in those things, right? 24:04 Paul says in Romans, they put...they started to worship 24:06 the creation rather than the Creator. So, nevertheless now 24:11 we have a plague upon the sun in the latter time of earth's 24:17 history. Do you know the sun has always had a very, very 24:20 prominent part in false worship? From the time of 24:22 Nimrod all the way down through time, right to our very 24:25 day. And there are people in lands all across this world, 24:28 sometimes it's subtle and sometimes it's more noticeable 24:31 but they give honor to the sun. And God in the last days 24:35 of earth's history is shining the full spotlight of 24:38 scripture down in our generation and he's saying, 24:40 No! He's saying give glory to him who made heaven and earth. 24:43 the sea and all that in them is. And yet there'll be those 24:47 that insist on holding onto the day of the sun for their 24:50 worship. When God shines the understanding of his 24:53 commandment on our generation, and again, past generations 24:55 didn't always have this understanding. But today we 24:58 have the Bibles, we have it in our own language. We have the 25:02 opportunity to look at it and to see what it says, and when 25:03 people insist on holding onto the first day of the week when 25:06 they know it's tradition and it was given originally to 25:11 give honor to the sun God, and they say no I'm going to hold 25:14 onto it. It's as if God finally, says you want the sun? 25:18 You want to give honour to the sun instead of me? He says all 25:21 right, it's the sun you'll have. And he turns up the 25:24 heat. And this is why he does this friends. God said unto 25:30 his people, I will put my laws into their hearts, in their 25:31 minds will I write them. You know back in the days of 25:34 ancient Egypt, they called the sun God Ra. In the days of 25:37 Babylon, they called it Bel Marduk. And the Romans, they 25:40 worshipped the sun god as well and back here, Ezekiel 8 verse 25:44 16, we see a group of people. Their faces were toward the 25:46 east, and they worshipped the sun. This is common. And what 25:49 did God say here in Ezekiel 20 and verse 7? Cast ye away 25:51 every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not 25:54 yourselves with the idols of Egypt. Ezekiel 20 verse 12: 25:57 Moreover, also...which means in addition to this...I gave 26:00 them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them. The 26:03 Sabbath was a special sign between God and his people 26:06 that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. 26:09 And yet there are still some that say No. And so if God 26:15 says if you're wedded to the day of the sun, you've passed 26:18 laws in honour of the day of the sun, so I will give you the 26:22 sun. Well, what does this teach us? All true worship has 26:29 to be centered in the Creator. Right? All true worship is 26:34 found only in Jesus. Back to Revelation 16 verse 10: And 26:38 the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the 26:40 beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they 26:42 gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of 26:45 heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented 26:47 not of their deeds. Now here's where things really get 26:50 fascinating. Darkness has been poured on the seat of the 26:52 beast, right? Men and women have been deceived into 26:56 following the traditions of that power. They've looked to 26:59 the beast, they've looked to the papacy, for light and for 27:04 worship and now in the place when they looked for worship 27:07 and instructions, what do they see? Nothing but darkness, 27:11 right? Nothing but darkness. The darkness that is there 27:15 physically represents the spiritual darkness that they 27:18 have been spreading for hundreds and hundreds of years. 27:21 And so he takes this institution called the papacy, and he puts 27:26 a plague especially upon it. That dense darkness, oh 27:30 friends, it's going to be horrible when that takes place. 27:33 You do not want to be part of that kingdom when that takes 27:36 place. People who have been looking at that institution for 27:42 years and years and years, then they finally see they've 27:46 been looking in the wrong direction, right? God says: 27:50 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a what? Light unto my 27:54 path. It's a dangerous thing when God sheds his light upon 27:58 our path not to walk in it. When God sheds that light in 28:01 our path, he's saying I'm giving you a privilege to have 28:03 truth and walk in that truth. You know, Jesus said that in 28:07 John, didn't he? John 12. He says walk while the light is 28:10 with you lest that light turn to darkness. Back to Amos 8. 28:13 Did you know a famine is coming friends: Behold the 28:16 days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in 28:17 the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 28:20 but of hearing the what? Words of the Lord. Verse 12: And they 28:25 shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north, even to the 28:26 East, they shall run to and for to seek the word of the 28:29 Lord, and shall not find it. A famine of indifference. They 28:34 could have known, they could have understood. They had the 28:38 opportunity to learn when God's word was available, but 28:40 they turned from the teachings of the Bible to the traditions 28:44 of men. And now, when this verse takes place at the time that 28:49 it occurs, we have two classes Of people who have developed. 28:52 And the two classes are these: Those who fully accepted the 28:55 Word of God with their heart, and those that accepted the 28:58 word of man. Those that accepted the Word of God 29:01 accepted the true commandments of God. Those that accepted 29:04 the word of man, they will accept the traditions of man 29:06 in place of it. Those that accept the commandments of God 29:08 will accept God's true Sabbath and his seal of his 29:12 whole law in our hearts. Those that accept the traditions of 29:15 man, they will insist on rebelling against that, 29:18 and they'll receive the mark of the beast. 29:20 And the Bible says they'll 29:22 wander to and fro from the North to the east. They're 29:24 going to say, Oh, what is the truth. They'll be too late 29:27 during that time. What a tragedy it would be to come 29:30 Right up to that time, and say what is truth, but it's too 29:35 late. When they could have known. When we have Bibles by 29:39 the millions and opportunity galore. But they put it off 29:43 and they put it off, and they put it off until finally 29:48 probation closed. Back in the days of Noah, there was a time 29:54 before the flood, when Noah built the ark, I mean, the 29:58 ramp was there, the door was there. Everything was there 30:02 for people to get in. Noah was still preaching. Probation was 30:07 open. But finally, the food was all in, and the animals had 30:12 gotten in, and Noah was preaching his last sermon, and 30:15 he says you know my family's getting in. Is there anybody 30:19 else? Nobody moved. And Noah said, Well, I'm getting in, and 30:25 he walked up that ramp and some hand from heaven came 30:28 down and closed that massive door, and when that door closed 30:33 those that were in were in and those that were out were out 30:35 and there was no changing sides. That was it. Probation 30:38 closed for the time of those people. Now, those of you who 30:43 know your Bibles, help me out here. When the door of that 30:47 ark shut did the rains come that day? No, they didn't. You 30:51 know this. So the rains came how many days later? Seven 30:54 days later. So Noah was safe and his family was safe under 30:57 the protective care of God. Probation had closed, but the 31:01 rain had not come, the destruction had not come yet, 31:03 but they had to go through seven days, I'm sure, of trial 31:08 and mocking. Can you imagine all of those people? The sun 31:10 still shining, no clouds yet and they're banging on the 31:13 side of that ark, saying Noah you terrible fool, right? Come 31:16 on out of there. But they stayed. They trusted God, and 31:21 God finally brought their deliverance. So Noah entered 31:25 that ark under the protection of God and God now puts his 31:28 people in an ark of protection so to speak. He's got his 31:32 angels all around them protecting them, as you read 31:35 in Psalm 91. And now it is not seven days they go through, but 31:39 seven last plagues they go through before finally Jesus 31:43 comes. But we go back to Revelation 16 verse 12. And it 31:47 says: And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the 31:49 great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, 31:51 that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 31:54 And I saw three unclean. spirits like frogs come out of 31:57 out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth 31:58 of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 32:00 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, 32:03 which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole 32:05 world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of 32:08 God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 32:13 watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, 32:16 and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a 32:19 place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Have you 32:22 ever wondered how to make sense out of that passage? 32:24 What is so amazing to me is that with so many people 32:29 trying to say they want to know what Revelation is, they 32:32 take those four verses and they apply them in an overly 32:36 literal manner to the actual drying up of the actual, 32:40 excuse me, the literal River Euphrates. In the book Late 32:43 Great Planet Earth, the author there says that there's this 32:47 River Euphrates, that's over there, and he says that 32:51 there's a 200-million-man army in China, and they're going to 32:53 march over into Israel, but they got to wait for the 32:56 Euphrates River to dry up and then China can go on the move. 32:59 I guess someone failed to tell him that China is a nuclear 33:04 power. They've got jets. They've got aeroplanes. They've 33:08 got technology. I think China could get over a river, don't 33:10 you? You see, when you take it in an overly literal sense, it 33:15 doesn't make sense. So, if United States can fly its army 33:20 halfway around the world to the gulf when it wants to, 33:22 China could build a bridge, right? And they're built much 33:25 better than that. So, it doesn't make sense when you 33:29 just apply it in a literal way. So let me share with you, 33:31 time doesn't allow me to go into great detail here, but 33:33 let me share with you how prophecy works here. Many of 33:37 the events that are in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the 33:41 Old Testament in a literal and local basis to literal Israel, 33:45 God's people then are fulfilled again in the New 33:49 Testament to a different Israel, spiritual Israel, in a 33:55 worldwide sense at the end of time. So let me give you some 33:58 examples here. Ancient Israel on the left and spiritual 34:01 Israel, God's church, on the right. Ancient Israel is 34:06 persecuted by literal Babylon, Jeremiah 50:33,34; but spiritual 34:10 Israel, his church, is also persecuted by a type of 34:12 Babylon, a spiritual Babylon, Revelation 17:6. Ancient 34:16 Israel is forced to worship a 34:17 real, literal image in Daniel 3:13, but the church is also 34:19 forced to worship a type of image in Revelation 13:15. 34:25 Ancient Babylon was called Babylon the Great, Daniel 4:30; 34:28 but there's another Babylon the Great in Revelation 17 verse 5, 34:31 a spiritual one. Ancient Babylon sat on the many waters, 34:35 Jeremiah 51:13,14; and there's another Babylon sitting on the 34:38 waters, Revelation 17:1. Ancient Israel is rescued by 34:42 the drying up on the Euphrates, Isaiah 44:27,28; and yet the 34:46 church is also rescued by a type of drying up on the river 34:48 in Revelation 16:12. Ancient Israel was called out of 34:52 literal Babylon there in Jeremiah 51:6-8; and there's 34:57 another calling out of Babylon, Revelation 18:4. We'll look at 34:59 that on a future session. The Rescuer of ancient Israel is 35:03 called "the anointed." It was Cyrus the Great in Isaiah 45:1; 35:07 but there's another Rescuer of Israel called "the anointed." 35:09 That's Jesus in Daniel 9:24, and both of them are said to 35:12 come from the east. Cyrus in Isaiah 42:1,25; and of course, 35:16 Jesus will come from the east in Matthew 24 and verse 27. 35:20 It's an amazing parallel between what happened to 35:23 ancient Israel and what happens to spiritual Israel in the book 35:27 of Revelation. There are other astonishing parallels here, 35:29 but that's enough just to get the point across here. 35:31 John sees three unclean spirits coming out. The fact that 35:35 they're unclean shows that they're demonic spirits, right? 35:39 Demonic power, and they're working miracles, so it's 35:43 miracle-working power through demonic spirits. It's shows 35:46 you who's associated with it. And the prophecy says to us 35:50 that the River Euphrates is going to dry up. So Revelation 35:54 then, with amazing accuracy applies the dusty history of 36:01 the Old Testament to the New Testament time and there's 36:05 going to be another type of Babylon and another type of 36:08 of deliverance and another type of Israel and another 36:14 type of Euphrates and another drying up on the River 36:15 Euphrates. Striking here what Revelation does. So let's take 36:19 a look at what happened here. The Greek historian Herodotus 36:24 describes the overthrow of ancient Babylon. Here we have 36:27 an artist's conception of what the city might have looked 36:29 like. And Cyrus led his forces by Darius the Mede, and they 36:34 came upon these mighty walls of Babylon. Babylon sat there 36:40 thinking they're secure because their walls were so high and 36:42 so thick an army could not penetrate them. They had an 36:45 enormous amount of food stocked up inside. They had the fresh 36:49 water Euphrates runs through it so they had the drinking 36:51 water that they needed. So, they thought nobody can come 36:53 against us. So the forces of Persia and the Medes come 36:56 again. They look at those walls. They say no, we're not 36:59 not going to attack it that way. And they set their 37:00 engineering corps to work and according to the historian 37:04 they were able to divert the water away from its normal 37:07 channel, and when the water level dropped. What was going 37:10 on inside of Babylon? They were having a drunken party, right? 37:13 They thought nobody can touch us. We're safe here of any kind 37:19 siege an army could put around this city. So they have a 37:23 drunken party inside. They think they're safe. And now 37:28 when the river level drops, the armies go through that lowered 37:31 water, and they go underneath the inner river gate and 37:34 rather than being years and years-long siege mighty 37:37 Babylon fell in one night, one night. So again Revelation 37:44 picks up on this with what we call stunning apocalyptic force 37:46 and it's saying there's going to be another drying up, 37:51 Revelation 14 verse 8 says there's going to be another 37:53 Babylon that's going to fall. Now this is, of course, not 37:56 talking about ancient Babylon, but a different kind of 37:59 Babylon. Back to Revelation 16 for a moment, verse 14: For 38:04 they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 38:07 forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world. 38:08 So, what do the demons do? They go forth to the rulers of 38:13 the world, false miracles are worked, the rulers are deceived 38:18 into thinking that God is with these false miracles, so they 38:22 give their allegiance unto the beast power, who is associated 38:27 with these miracles. And once they do that, friends, they 38:32 have given their allegiance over to a combination church/ 38:37 state system here. And what is the result of that? We've 38:40 already taken up in our seminar, but God's people will 38:43 again be oppressed. The spiritual Babylonians, those 38:46 who have united together in what we call apostate religion, 38:51 false doctrine, religion, they oppress God's people. The 38:55 Bible says Babylon is fallen, is fallen. I'll give you a 38:56 quick review here if you weren't here just the other 38:58 night, if you think this is good. In this book, The Keys of this 39:01 Blood, the insider Jesuit Malachi Martin writes on the 39:05 goals of the papacy, and he says, and this is going back 39:08 to the time of John Paul II, But the next popes just 39:11 further the agenda of previous popes, but they say: John 39:15 Paul's goal is a geopolitical structure for the society of 39:17 nations designed and maintained according to the 39:18 ethical plans and doctrinal outlines of Christianity as 39:21 taught and propagated, propagated means to spread 39:25 abroad, by the Roman Pontiff as the earthly vicar of Christ. 39:28 So, they're saying that the goal of the papacy is to have 39:31 a worldwide structure that's designed to maintain according 39:34 to the ethics and teachings of the papacy. Then a more recent 39:39 Pope said: Pope Benedict XVI today called for the reforming 39:43 of the United Nations, establishing a true world 39:45 political authority...same idea...with real teeth... 39:50 meaning they can enforce what they desire...to manage the 39:51 global economy with God- centered ethics. He said it 39:54 would need to be universally recognized...all the nations... 40:00 and be invested with the effective power. In other words, 40:02 they can do as they desire to do. And here, 2011, it says: 40:08 The Vatican called for the a global authority on the 40:10 economy. The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment 40:12 of a global public authority and a central world bank to 40:16 rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and 40:19 often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. What are 40:22 banks controlling? The buying and the what? The selling, 40:24 sure. He said: 40:26 Of course, this transformation will be made at the cost of a 40:29 gradual, balanced transfer of a part of each nation's powers 40:32 to a world authority and to regional authorities, but this 40:35 is necessary. What world authority is he talking about? 40:38 Of course, he's talking about the Vatican. What does 40:41 Revelation say about it? He says: These have one mind... 40:46 The nations, the rulers, the kings have one mind. That 40:49 means they have one purpose... They give their power and 40:51 strength unto the what? The beast. So they're giving their 40:55 allegiance over because they see the miracles worked, they 40:57 believe that God is leading this power and they're deceived 41:00 by it, and so they say okay we'll support you. Revelation 41:04 said it this way in Revelation 13 verse 7: and power was 41:08 given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 41:12 They're deceived by the means of those miracles which he had 41:15 power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that 41:18 dwell on the earth...So, they're going to say to those 41:21 because of these miracles, this is the path that they're going 41:24 to take. Now we go back to Revelation 17. Revelation 17 41:28 is really a magnification of the events of Revelation 13, 41:30 the latter events. Verse 14, it says: These shall make war with 41:34 the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord 41:38 of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are 41:41 called, and chosen and faithful. Isn't it good to know who's 41:44 going to win the battle ahead of time? The Bible's saying 41:48 that Jesus is going to win. And again, that's good to know 41:51 because we can win with him, right? We just have to make sure 41:54 we're on the right side in all of this. So, when earthly 41:58 governments are going to make war with the Lamb, Jesus is in 42:02 heaven. So, how are they going to make war with the 42:04 Lamb when Jesus is in heaven? Jesus says, you touch my people, 42:08 you touch the apple of my eye. You touch the church, it's as 42:13 if you're warring against Jesus himself. So these verses in 42:17 Revelation 13 and Revelation 17, they're describing to us a 42:20 short and apparent victory for the beast, right? False 42:26 religion is supported by the people. They come against 42:29 God's people, and then verse 15 says, we just read verse 13 42:34 and 14. Verse 15 says: And the waters which thou sawest, 42:37 where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and 42:40 nations, and tongues. When you first read it in that context 42:43 it almost seems out of place. He's talking about warring and 42:48 oppressing and kings and horns and all these things, and all 42:50 of a sudden, he talks about what water represents. It 42:53 seems at first a little out of place, but actually it's 42:56 perfectly placed, and we expect it would be. In the midst of 43:01 it all God tells us about the waters and what the waters 43:04 represent. Well, let's go find out again. What was taking 43:08 place previous to this? In Revelation 17 verse 1, he says: 43:11 Come hither, and I will show thee the judgment of the 43:12 great whore...that is that big false system of religion... 43:16 that sits upon many what? Waters. So she's sitting on 43:20 a multitude of people that are giving her support. The reason 43:26 she's buoyed up into the position she has is because 43:27 the multitudes of people are deceived into giving this power 43:32 their allegiance. So that's why she's pictured as sitting 43:35 upon it. And then when we're told that the waters represent 43:37 these multitudes of people, it looks for a short time like 43:41 evil is going to triumph. They're told that by forming 43:46 this union it's going to solve the world's problems. In 43:50 order to do that, we need to pass laws. So let's just pass 43:52 this law and legislate Sunday. We've gone through this in a 43:56 previous session, haven't we? They're going to say if all of 43:59 the churches just unite together, and the state is 44:01 approving of it, everybody's going to worship on the first 44:03 day of the week, and if we do that then God will come and heal 44:07 our land, right? God will bless and bring peace where we've 44:10 had such chaos. And what does it tell us in Revelation 16:12? 44:14 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river 44:17 Euphrates, and the water thereof is going to do what? 44:20 Dry up. What is it telling us? It's telling us the support of 44:25 Babylon is going to dissipate. Why did it dissipate? What was 44:31 the previous plague. The previous plague was when 44:34 darkness fell upon the seat of the beast. They've been giving 44:38 the beast their support. They've been giving the beast 44:40 their allegiance and now all of a sudden, when they think 44:43 things are going to get better, they don't get better, they get 44:47 worse. The plagues start falling one, two, three, four, 44:50 the fifth plague falls, and it falls right on the seat of the 44:54 beast. And they now are looking to that, and what do 44:56 they see? Nothing but darkness and then finally it dawns on 45:01 them; Oh, we're on the wrong side! But it's too late as you 45:09 say. They're lost. The plagues are falling. Out of the sixth 45:14 plague, God is going to dry up this water. What that means is 45:15 he turns the hearts of the people right at the last 45:19 against the powers that they previously supported. And the 45:25 River Euphrates dries up. Mystery Babylon trusted in her 45:31 Euphrates just as ancient Babylon trusted in the literal 45:35 Euphrates and they found out that they could not last. So 45:40 at the moment when millions and millions of people around the 45:44 world are suddenly enlightened to the hypocrisy of these 45:47 religious leaders, right, they see through what was once a 45:51 veil, and now they understand their misplaced support for a 45:54 false system. That support vanishes and once again, Babylon 46:01 will be plagued indeed. What this whole section tells us, 46:05 friends, is that the world is eventually going to recognize 46:09 false religion for what it is. They don't know. But in that 46:13 time they're going to be angry let me tell you. Angry at all 46:15 the lies they've been told. Angry at the lies of theologians 46:18 and religious leaders have told them to pacify them, saying 46:22 you don't have to worry about God's law. It's been changed. 46:24 It's been done away with. God doesn't care. He's not that 46:27 particular. And all of these lies that they tell them to try 46:30 to show them that they don't need to honour the commandments 46:32 and especially that fourth one. Right? And now what they once 46:39 loved and even worshipped they hate because they're lost and 46:42 they're suffering the effects of the plague. Verse 16 of 46:45 Revelation 17: And the ten horns which thou sawest upon 46:48 the beast, these shall hate the whore,...this false system...and 46:51 shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, 46:53 and burn her with fire. Now they come at her with all their 46:57 fury because they realize how deceived they've been. For God 47:00 has put in their hearts to fulfil his will and to agree 47:03 to give their kingdom unto the beast, so the words of God 47:07 shall be fulfilled. And that woman which thou sawest is that 47:10 great city which reigns over the king of the earth. Satan's 47:14 last act is to wipe out the righteous. Just like Pharaoh 47:19 in his last gasp effort came against Israel. He says, let's 47:23 get our armies together. Let's go, let's just wipe them out, 47:26 right. In the same way, evil at the end, time will do 47:30 something similar. The wicked are bent on destroying God's 47:33 people. And in the last moments of time, what do we read? It 47:36 says: He gathered them together into a place called in the 47:38 Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Now this word Armageddon is very 47:42 interesting, and people look at that, and they say oh, I know 47:43 what that's about. That's a battle over in the middle east 47:46 right? And that has to do with oil fields over there, right? 47:50 No friends. What would a battle over in the middle east over 47:55 oil fields have to do with your salvation and mine? Nothing, 47:59 right? Nothing at all. So, why does Satan try so hard to get 48:03 people to think that the battle is all over there? Because they 48:08 miss then what the reality is in our preparation. God isn't 48:12 interested, friends, about battles over oil fields. The 48:16 battle of Armageddon is about the forces of evil mobilizing 48:19 against the forces of good. All of us here are going to be 48:22 involved if we live long enough. We'll be involved in the battle 48:24 of Armageddon because the forces of Christ, the armies of 48:28 Christ against the armies of Satan and both sides are going 48:30 to be involved, and Satan is focusing people today on the 48:34 wrong events, right? He's trying to get them to think, oh 48:36 it's all over there. We don't need to be worried about that. 48:39 By leading people to think it's all over in the middle east 48:41 I've been over in the middle east, where the plane of Megiddo 48:44 is. It's not that big. I don't even know if you could get all 48:46 the armies of the United States in that, let alone the armies of 48:48 the world. But Bible prophecy always focuses on God's 48:53 covenant people, right? In the Old Testament, it was the nation 48:56 of Israel. In the New Testament it's his church. But scripture 49:00 is not concerned with military battles. It's concerned with 49:02 God's people. That's the focus of the final battle. So it's 49:06 not nation versus nation, it's man versus God, good versus 49:10 evil, truth versus error. Revelation 12 verse 17 says: 49:13 The dragon was wroth with the woman, he went to make, what? 49:17 War with the remnant...Satan is at war against God's people. 49:22 So, Armageddon is Satan's last attempt to destroy the remnant 49:26 people of God, just as Pharaoh had a last attempt to try to 49:29 destroy ancient Israel. Why do we know that Armageddon is not 49:33 just a battle over there in the Middle East, that so many people 49:35 write about today, so many pastors preach about today. 49:37 Well, it says in Revelation 16 in the very chapter, it says 49:41 the battle involves the kings of the earth and of the whole 49:44 world. So right then, we know it's not just local. 49:49 Revelation's focus is on temple in heaven, not on some rebuilt 49:52 Jewish temple on earth, as people are being told. Number 49:56 The effects of Armageddon are global, so far beyond the 49:59 middle east. Number 4: We are to keep our robes of 50:02 righteousness. That's the key issue! Loyalty to God, 50:04 commitment to our Lord, King Jesus. And the armies of 50:09 heaven are warring against Satan and Mystery Babylon. 50:12 So, it's true religion and false religion, just as it was in the 50:14 days of Elijah, right? Elijah went up on Mt. Carmel and said, 50:18 Who's on the Lord's side, right? It's the same today. 50:21 The Lord will have that same battle. And then verse 15: 50:24 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, 50:26 and keeps his garments. So there again, Armageddon is a 50:29 battle for our minds. It's a battle for our allegiance. It's 50:31 a battle for our worship. Basically, it's a battle over us. 50:35 Right? In the last days, Satan sends out his forces. It looks 50:39 dark, it looks really dark. Did it look dark for Israel when 50:45 they came right up against the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army was 50:47 coming in from behind. It looked like, boy, this is going to wipe 50:50 us out. Well, during that time, during these final days, the 50:55 righteous have not accumulated weapons of war. They don't have 50:58 the big machinery, they don't have the jets, they don't have 51:00 the tanks. They don't have all of the modern weaponry that 51:03 worldly powers have. So what do they have? They've got one 51:08 mighty weapon, and that is their spiritual relationship with God. 51:13 And because of that, they don't need any of this worldly armour. 51:17 Right? They've got their own armor. What is the armour 51:19 according to Ephesians 6? It's truth, it is righteousness, it 51:23 is the gospel of peace, it is faith, it is salvation, it's the 51:26 word of God, it is prayer. These wonderful things taken together 51:28 is the armour that we have on because of what God give us. 51:32 But we have a relationship with him that gives it to us. The 51:35 wicked are about ready to destroy, and in Job 38 and verse 51:39 22, it says this to us: Hast thou entered into the treasures 51:42 of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which 51:47 I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day 51:48 of battle and war. What is the Lord saying to Job. Job have 51:52 you not seen my weaponry. Have you not seen the hail that I'm 51:57 holding back, I'm reserving it. He says I'm holding it there, 51:59 I'm reserving till the day of battle and war. So God's got 52:03 his weaponry doesn't, he? He's got it held back. Now he's 52:05 going to let it go. Verse 17: And the seventh angel poured 52:09 out his vial into the air; and there came a voice out of the 52:11 temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. So, 52:15 notice again, the focus is not a rebuilt temple on earth, but a 52:18 temple in heaven. Verse 18: And there were voices, and 52:21 thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, 52:23 such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an 52:25 earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into 52:29 three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great 52:31 Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her 52:34 the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Verse 52:38 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not 52:40 found. Can you imagine an earthquake that would bring 52:42 that about? We haven't seen anything yet, friends, like to 52:46 this earthquake. And there fell upon men a great...here it is... 52:49 hail out of heaven...He said to Job: Job, I've got it there, 52:52 I'm reserving it. Now God let's it go...every stone about the 52:56 weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the 52:59 plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding 53:00 great. The earth begins to shake and tremble. The greatest 53:04 earthquake ever comes. Mountains and islands are moved out of 53:06 their places. It says, the hail comes down. Now the weight of 53:10 a talent, that's disputed. Some say 70 pounds, some say 100 53:13 pounds. I don't care if it's 70 pounds or 100, that's big 53:16 hail, right? Ha, ha. I've seen what golf ball size hail can 53:21 do to a car, right? It can demolish a car. Can you imagine 53:24 blocks of ice, 70 pounds coming down? There'd be nothing left. 53:27 No wonder it says all the cities are broken down at the time of 53:31 Jesus' coming. Lightning shines in the east, even to the west. 53:33 There appears a cloud in the distance. It gets brighter and 53:36 brighter. Jesus is coming. A King of kings. He's returning 53:39 with the armies of heaven, right? When Christ descends in 53:45 that day, he's going to deliver the true Israel from the 53:50 clutches of Babylon. And which Israel? According to the 53:58 thematic genius of Revelation, and it is written in an absolute 54:02 genius way, it has to be the Israel, that is the Israel of 54:06 God. That is Galatians 6:16. So, the Israel of God is the 54:13 Israel that have their hearts and minds centered in Christ. 54:15 He is the Saviour, he is the true Lord, he is the Creator and 54:20 they've allowed Christ to write his new covenant law in their 54:24 hearts and in their minds and because of that, their real home, 54:28 their true home is not the earthly Jerusalem, but the New 54:32 Jerusalem, and that's where they'll be taken. So Revelation 54:36 let's go through it in a summary way, shall we? Let's 54:41 put it all together. Jesus' final end-time message will be 54:45 proclaimed. Millions will respond to it, and there will be 54:48 many millions that will reject it. Religion and state are going 54:52 to unite at a time of incredible crisis. The mark of the beast 54:55 during that time of church and state uniting will be enforced. 54:59 An economic boycott and death decree will be passed into law 55:02 trying to force those that want to be faithful to Jesus to 55:05 compromise their faith. God's people during that time will 55:09 face large persecution. Every human being during that time 55:12 will have an opportunity to accept or reject God's love and 55:15 God's truth, his commandments. Human probation eventually will 55:19 close, and everyone has made their choice, and no one is 55:22 changing sides. Their minds are sealed one way or the other 55:25 with the seal of God or the mark of the beast. Probation 55:28 closes a second time, the first time in Noah's day, the second 55:32 time before Jesus comes back. God will pour out the seven 55:34 last plagues during that time of tribulation. And then when the 55:38 plagues are ending. God returns in a blaze of glory as King of 55:42 kings. And folks, I want to be ready during that time, don't 55:45 you. I want to be one of those who looks up when Jesus comes 55:50 and says, Lo, this is our God and we have waited for him and 55:53 he will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for him, 55:57 we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. I want to be one 56:02 of those that when Jesus comes in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 56:04 that look up with glory and say Oh, this is it. This is the 56:10 event. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a 56:12 shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump 56:14 of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first: Then we which 56:17 are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in 56:18 the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever 56:23 be with the Lord. The first plague: All physical security 56:29 is found only in Christ. The second and third plague, all 56:31 economic security is found only in Christ. The fourth and fifth 56:35 plague, all religious security is found only in Christ. The 56:38 sixth and seventh plague, our final deliverance is found and 56:42 our eternal security is found only in Christ. You know why 56:49 Satan wants so badly to promote these falsehoods? You know, it's 56:53 all over in the middle east. You're going to be raptured 56:55 away, all of that. He promotes that friends, so we miss the 56:59 real preparation. The real preparation is Bible study. 57:03 The real preparation is prayer life. The real preparation is 57:06 sharing the gospel with those who do not know him. To think 57:10 the battle is anywhere else is a smooth deception, but because 57:15 the carnal nature is such that people will sit back and think 57:17 ah, well, if I have another chance after Jesus takes the 57:19 church away, I'll just kick it into gear then, right? I'll get 57:23 my spiritual life in gear then. And they miss it, friends. 57:26 They'll miss it. How can we be ready? Well, two things; Jesus 57:32 said he that is faithful in little will be faithful also in 57:35 much. You don't have to fear this time at all, folks. We 57:39 don't have to fear it at all. Take our little hand, so to 57:43 speak. Put it in the great big hand of the Lord. Hold on with 57:48 all of your spiritual weight and never let go of Jesus. Amen. 57:51 If you do that, friends, the plagues are coming. The mark of 57:53 the beast is coming, all of that is coming, but when we are 57:57 faithful to God, God will take care of us. 58:01 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2025-12-04