The escalation of global terrorism, crime, immorality 00:00:09.34\00:00:12.75 and natural disasters, seems to indicate our world 00:00:12.78\00:00:15.53 is spiraling towards its ultimate hour with destiny. 00:00:15.56\00:00:18.49 Who, if anyone, will survive Earth's final events? 00:00:18.52\00:00:21.53 Discover what Bible prophecy reveals about the rapture, 00:00:21.56\00:00:24.49 the mark of the beast, and Armageddon. 00:00:24.52\00:00:26.87 Though shrouded in mystery for centuries, 00:00:26.90\00:00:28.73 the book of Revelation can be understood today. 00:00:28.76\00:00:32.58 Peer into the future, and see what wonderful things 00:00:32.61\00:00:35.33 God has planned for His people. 00:00:35.36\00:00:38.29 And now, Pastor Brian McMahon presents the powerful 00:00:38.32\00:00:41.36 Bible seminar "Revelation Speaks Hope". 00:00:41.39\00:00:46.03 Our subject for this evening is entitled: [text on screen] 00:00:46.06\00:00:49.81 People have a lot of questions about that word "Armageddon", 00:00:49.84\00:00:52.47 people wonder "well, who exactly is going to be on the earth" 00:00:52.50\00:00:55.59 "during the battle of Armageddon?" 00:00:55.62\00:00:58.07 Or they'll say "who is going to be fighting this battle?" 00:00:58.10\00:01:00.58 "Is it going to be between the Jews and the Arabs?" 00:01:00.61\00:01:03.32 "Between Russia and the US?" "Is it going to be fought" 00:01:03.35\00:01:06.04 "down at the end of time?" "When exactly is it going" 00:01:06.07\00:01:08.31 "to be fought?" 00:01:08.34\00:01:09.99 People know that the coming of Jesus is a momentous 00:01:10.02\00:01:14.47 event for this world, at least the Christians would know it, 00:01:14.50\00:01:17.47 and to the Christians the coming of Jesus should be the most 00:01:17.50\00:01:19.78 happy, hopeful thing that we could ever think of. 00:01:19.81\00:01:23.15 Turn with me, if you would, to Revelation 14 as we move 00:01:23.18\00:01:26.40 there together tonight, we start in verse 6, 00:01:26.43\00:01:29.77 Revelation 14:6, here the Bible teaches: "And I saw another" 00:01:29.80\00:01:35.68 "angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting" 00:01:35.71\00:01:39.02 "gospel to preach onto them that dwell on the earth," 00:01:39.05\00:01:41.79 "and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people." 00:01:41.82\00:01:45.17 So God's last day message then is to go to all the world 00:01:45.20\00:01:50.05 warning us to make a decision and be prepared for His coming. 00:01:50.08\00:01:54.77 We pick it up in verse 7, it says: "Saying with" 00:01:54.80\00:01:57.81 "a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour" 00:01:57.84\00:02:03.58 "of His judgment is come." In Psalm 119:126 00:02:03.61\00:02:08.81 this is what we read: [text on screen] 00:02:08.84\00:02:12.42 So when God's law is made law is made void by legislation, 00:02:18.20\00:02:23.43 God is going to step in and do His special work in the earth. 00:02:23.46\00:02:27.16 As you go back to Revelation 14:9, 00:02:27.19\00:02:31.30 it tells us here: [text on screen] 00:02:31.33\00:02:34.54 So the punishment that's going to come upon those wicked doers 00:02:45.62\00:02:50.45 is the wrath of God, but what exactly is the wrath of God? 00:02:50.48\00:02:54.35 Let's look at Revelation 15, and it helps explain it to us. 00:02:54.38\00:02:58.88 Revelation 15:1, here it says: [text on screen] 00:02:58.91\00:03:03.41 So what we're seeing is that in the 7 last plagues 00:03:13.67\00:03:17.15 we find God's wrath. We wonder, as this wrath 00:03:17.18\00:03:21.61 is poured out, where are God's people going to be? 00:03:21.64\00:03:24.87 Are they going to be on the earth during that time 00:03:24.90\00:03:27.08 or are they going to be, as some would teach, as many 00:03:27.11\00:03:29.09 would teach raptured off of this earth in some kind of great 00:03:29.12\00:03:32.57 invisible secret rapture. Turn to Revelation 16, 00:03:32.60\00:03:37.12 and we're going to cover something very very quickly 00:03:37.15\00:03:39.67 and then come back and study the chapter in a more detailed way. 00:03:39.70\00:03:43.50 In Revelation 16:1 it says: "And I heard a great voice" 00:03:43.53\00:03:47.95 "out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways" 00:03:47.98\00:03:50.59 "and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." 00:03:50.62\00:03:53.20 Now, in verse 2 the first angel goes out and pours out 00:03:53.23\00:03:56.58 the first vial. Then in verse 3 the 2nd 00:03:56.61\00:03:59.33 angel pours out the 2nd plague; in verse 4 00:03:59.36\00:04:01.50 the 3rd angel pours out the 3rd plague; 00:04:01.53\00:04:03.59 in verse 8 the 4th angel pours out the 4th plague; 00:04:03.62\00:04:07.50 and in verse 10 the 5th angel and the 5th plague are described 00:04:07.53\00:04:11.35 and then in verse 12 the 6th plague is poured out. 00:04:11.38\00:04:14.39 So that is a lot of tribulation, there is no one that won't 00:04:14.42\00:04:17.09 admit that by the time the plagues are poured out 00:04:17.12\00:04:19.13 the tribulation period has come to this earth. 00:04:19.16\00:04:22.01 But after 6 plagues are poured out notice what it says 00:04:22.04\00:04:25.02 in verse 15, it says: [text on screen] 00:04:25.05\00:04:28.60 So Jesus says after 6 plagues are poured out 00:04:35.98\00:04:38.45 "behold, I am coming as a thief." 00:04:38.48\00:04:40.93 Now here's my question to us all: what sense you it make 00:04:40.96\00:04:43.92 for Jesus to say after 6 plagues "Behold, I am coming" 00:04:43.95\00:04:46.99 "as a thief" if He had already come as a thief before 00:04:47.02\00:04:50.04 all the plagues were poured out? It just wouldn't make 00:04:50.07\00:04:53.08 any sense, and yet that's what most people teach. 00:04:53.11\00:04:55.62 They're teaching today in these various churches that Jesus 00:04:55.65\00:04:58.14 is going to come as a thief and steal His church away, 00:04:58.17\00:05:00.93 and then the tribulation's going to be poured out. 00:05:00.96\00:05:03.63 Here we find in the midst of tribulation Jesus is still 00:05:03.66\00:05:06.41 encouraging His church, He's saying "hang on," 00:05:06.44\00:05:08.97 "keep the faith, I'm almost there, it won't be" 00:05:09.00\00:05:11.68 "much longer, hold on to your garments." 00:05:11.71\00:05:14.29 What do the garments represent? Well, the garments represent 00:05:14.32\00:05:17.23 the imputed and imparted righteousness of Jesus 00:05:17.26\00:05:19.98 and so, we can see that it's a spiritual issue here, 00:05:20.01\00:05:22.66 that we're to hold on to our relationship with the Lord, 00:05:22.69\00:05:25.74 even in the midst of very trying times. 00:05:25.77\00:05:28.53 Now, I want you to turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians 10. 00:05:28.56\00:05:32.72 This issue of whether the church is going to be on the earth 00:05:32.75\00:05:35.67 during this time is a very hotly debated issue, 00:05:35.70\00:05:38.39 but really, the fact that we are going to be here 00:05:38.42\00:05:40.98 is the way that God has presented the issue all through 00:05:41.01\00:05:43.76 the Bible, even going all the way back to the times of Noah. 00:05:43.79\00:05:47.33 God could have raptured Noah off of the earth 00:05:47.36\00:05:50.22 when it was the time of the flood, but no, He allowed 00:05:50.25\00:05:52.87 His servant to be placed in an ark of safety, 00:05:52.90\00:05:55.75 and then God was with His servant as he rode out 00:05:55.78\00:05:58.49 the trials of the flood waters. So Noah was there in the midst 00:05:58.52\00:06:01.21 of tribulation and yet, he was preserved by the hand 00:06:01.24\00:06:04.93 of God. We find that in the time 00:06:04.96\00:06:08.46 of the 3 Hebrew worthies in Daniel's day, Daniel was allowed 00:06:08.49\00:06:13.12 to go into the lion's den. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us 00:06:13.15\00:06:16.57 he was raptured away from that time of tribulation, 00:06:16.60\00:06:19.10 God allowed His servant to go into the lion's den to show 00:06:19.13\00:06:22.14 his faithfulness to God, right? And of course, the 3 Hebrew 00:06:22.17\00:06:25.30 worthies themselves, they could have been raptured away 00:06:25.33\00:06:28.01 when Nebuchadnezzar ordered that furnace to be heated up, 00:06:28.04\00:06:30.96 but no, God allowed His servants to go into the tribulation 00:06:30.99\00:06:34.28 once again; and as they were in the tribulation God 00:06:34.31\00:06:37.18 delivered them. The Bible tells us that when 00:06:37.21\00:06:40.05 they came out of that oven, or out of that furnace as it says, 00:06:40.08\00:06:43.00 it says that that furnace was heated 7 times hotter 00:06:43.03\00:06:46.36 than it normally was, if that could be possible, 00:06:46.39\00:06:48.74 and yet, as they came out it says "not a hair of their head" 00:06:48.77\00:06:52.84 "was singed, and neither was there even the smell of smoke" 00:06:52.87\00:06:56.19 "upon their clothes." Can God deliver totally? 00:06:56.22\00:06:59.14 [Audience] Yes. You see, that is showing us 00:06:59.17\00:07:01.94 the incredible power of God to deliver people from tribulation. 00:07:01.97\00:07:05.22 We do not have to fear if God is on our side. 00:07:05.25\00:07:08.19 This next text we're going to look at in 1 Corinthians 10 00:07:08.22\00:07:11.30 really sets the foundation for everything else that we're 00:07:11.33\00:07:13.96 going to study tonight. It says: [text on screen] 00:07:13.99\00:07:18.47 "for ensamples" - that's the King James way of saying 00:07:18.79\00:07:21.94 "examples", [continues reading] 00:07:21.97\00:07:24.52 "admonition" - that's kind of a big word, what does that mean? 00:07:24.55\00:07:27.60 That means our learning, or our instruction, it says: 00:07:27.63\00:07:30.87 [continues reading] 00:07:30.90\00:07:33.51 So what happened to ancient Israel was an example 00:07:34.46\00:07:38.08 of what will happen to us. You see, these plagues that 00:07:38.11\00:07:41.42 we're talking about tonight are called in Scripture 00:07:41.45\00:07:43.70 the seven last plagues, were there any plagues before 00:07:43.73\00:07:47.52 these plagues then? Yes. 00:07:47.55\00:07:49.54 Where were the other plagues talked about in the Bible? 00:07:49.57\00:07:52.05 Back in ancient Egypt, and how many plagues were there there? 00:07:52.08\00:07:54.84 10, 10 plagues in ancient Egypt, but 7 last plagues here. 00:07:54.87\00:07:59.13 You see, back in the days of ancient Egypt, the first 3 00:07:59.16\00:08:02.82 of the 10 were poured out over all the land, but after the 3rd 00:08:02.85\00:08:06.46 plague God drew a line and He said: "No more will these" 00:08:06.49\00:08:09.17 "plagues fall upon the land of Goshen where My people are," 00:08:09.20\00:08:12.18 He says "they will only fall upon the land where" 00:08:12.21\00:08:14.73 "the Egyptians dwell, the wicked Egyptians." 00:08:14.76\00:08:17.60 So this is an assurance to you and to me tonight 00:08:17.63\00:08:20.72 who study Scripture and want to be ready, that when God pours 00:08:20.75\00:08:23.69 out the 7 last plagues they won't be poured out 00:08:23.72\00:08:26.72 indiscriminately upon all the land, but rather, they will be 00:08:26.75\00:08:29.99 poured out only upon the wicked, God will hold His hand 00:08:30.02\00:08:33.31 over the righteous. 00:08:33.34\00:08:35.03 In the last days church and state are again going 00:08:35.06\00:08:38.05 to unite just as they did over there in Egypt's time. 00:08:38.08\00:08:40.57 And at the end it's going to look dismal for a while, 00:08:40.60\00:08:43.21 it's going to look like there's no way out, but God's people 00:08:43.24\00:08:46.55 have faith, and that's a mighty weapon, amen? 00:08:46.58\00:08:50.14 [Audience] Amen. We're going to see it 00:08:50.17\00:08:52.87 again tonight, and as they exercise that faith, 00:08:52.90\00:08:55.75 God is going to pour out the 7 last plagues upon the wicked. 00:08:55.78\00:08:58.67 Again, God's people are going to be delivered, and again, 00:08:58.70\00:09:02.13 they're going to go on towards the promised land. 00:09:02.16\00:09:05.10 The very miracle that brings down the destruction upon 00:09:05.13\00:09:08.65 the wicked and salvation for God's people. 00:09:08.68\00:09:11.70 Let's go back to Revelation 16 and let's see how these plagues 00:09:11.73\00:09:14.50 are poured out, because there is lessons in each one 00:09:14.53\00:09:17.40 of these plagues. It says: [text on screen] 00:09:17.43\00:09:21.38 So here is this sore that is poured out, a terrible thing, 00:09:37.68\00:09:41.33 a physical punishment comes upon those that tried to enforce 00:09:41.36\00:09:45.11 the mark of the beast, or the image of the beast. 00:09:45.14\00:09:47.41 Why would God give them this physical punishment? 00:09:47.44\00:09:50.61 Well, hold your place here, and you can keep a mark 00:09:50.64\00:09:53.64 in Revelation 16, we're going to be here all night, 00:09:53.67\00:09:56.46 but we are going to go to some other places as well, 00:09:56.49\00:09:59.18 but go with me just 3 chapters back to Revelation 13 00:09:59.21\00:10:02.14 and in Revelation 13:15 it tells us this: [text on screen] 00:10:02.17\00:10:07.52 So think about it with me, those that tried to enforce the mark 00:10:15.95\00:10:18.98 of the beast, of the image of the beast, they said: 00:10:19.01\00:10:21.66 "unless you take this mark we will physically harm you", 00:10:21.69\00:10:25.43 so what is the lesson in the first plague? 00:10:25.46\00:10:28.22 The lesson in the first plague is this dear friends: 00:10:28.25\00:10:31.25 if you want physical security, put your trust in God, not man. 00:10:31.28\00:10:38.97 We need to make a full and total surrender to Jesus, 00:10:39.00\00:10:42.62 and Revelation 16 is the chapter of the plagues 00:10:42.65\00:10:45.48 that helps us to come to commitment. 00:10:45.51\00:10:48.30 Revelation 16:3, it says: [text on screen] 00:10:48.33\00:10:52.20 Can you imagine if something even remotely like this 00:10:57.87\00:11:00.45 took place? If God looked at the oceans 00:11:00.48\00:11:03.56 and seas of this world and turned them into blood, 00:11:03.59\00:11:06.48 and not just turned them into blood, but turned them into 00:11:06.51\00:11:09.04 what the Bible calls the "blood of a dead man", 00:11:09.07\00:11:11.55 a coagulated mess. You see, the seas, 00:11:11.58\00:11:14.26 or the oceans are the great avenues of commerce, it's where 00:11:14.29\00:11:18.38 the grain shipments move, and the oil shipments move, 00:11:18.41\00:11:21.39 and just an enormous amount of other economic cargo 00:11:21.42\00:11:24.81 moved by the avenues of the sea. If the sea became as the blood 00:11:24.84\00:11:28.36 of a dead man and impassible, the economy of the world 00:11:28.39\00:11:31.60 would collapse over night. In fact, that's what 00:11:31.63\00:11:34.44 Revelation 18 tells us, it tells us that there's going 00:11:34.47\00:11:37.32 to be a great economic collapse, and the merchants of the earth 00:11:37.35\00:11:40.30 are going to wail because of it. What about God's people, 00:11:40.33\00:11:43.43 what's going to happen to them? 00:11:43.46\00:11:45.97 Let's take a look, go to Isaiah 33. 00:11:46.00\00:11:48.48 We can have hope in God, dear friends, what a confidence. 00:11:48.51\00:11:51.52 Do you know that weak character will always side 00:11:51.55\00:11:55.51 with the multitude in a crisis. Let me say that again: 00:11:55.54\00:11:59.15 weak character will always side with the multitude in a crisis 00:11:59.18\00:12:03.36 because there'll be those people that will take the mark 00:12:03.39\00:12:06.42 and they will take the image of the beast, and why will those 00:12:06.45\00:12:08.80 people take the image of the beast? 00:12:08.83\00:12:09.80 Because they are going to say "We have to take it," 00:12:09.81\00:12:12.47 "we have to take our risk, Lord, we may not agree" 00:12:12.50\00:12:15.43 "with what's going on, but we've got a house payment," 00:12:15.46\00:12:18.14 "we've got a car payment, we've got other kinds of bills." 00:12:18.17\00:12:21.04 "We have got to be able to buy and sell", and in the time 00:12:21.07\00:12:23.93 of the crisis because their faith is so weak, 00:12:23.96\00:12:26.54 they will take the mark. 00:12:26.57\00:12:28.77 They're going to say "Lord, we're going to bail out" 00:12:28.80\00:12:31.71 "right now because we're going to go with the multitude." 00:12:31.74\00:12:34.53 What is God going to do with His people? 00:12:34.56\00:12:37.16 Isaiah 33:14, it says here: "The sinners in Zion" 00:12:37.19\00:12:40.37 "are afraid" - you see, in the end the sinners will be afraid. 00:12:40.40\00:12:44.15 [text on screen] 00:12:44.18\00:12:46.47 It's a way of saying "who is going to survive the great" 00:12:51.13\00:12:54.10 "crisis to come?" Verse 15 is the answer: 00:12:54.13\00:12:57.67 [text on screen] 00:12:57.70\00:12:59.82 Is that a beautiful promise? Here is real security. 00:13:26.28\00:13:30.25 God is says our bread and our waters are going to be sure. 00:13:30.28\00:13:33.99 God has shown that He can provide for His people. 00:13:34.02\00:13:36.64 In the time of the ancient Israelites wondering around 00:13:36.67\00:13:39.47 in the wilderness, did God rain manna from heaven 00:13:39.50\00:13:42.11 for 40 years? You bet. 00:13:42.14\00:13:44.52 When Elijah, His servant, went out into the wilderness, 00:13:44.55\00:13:47.37 did God send food in the beaks of birds to bring to him? 00:13:47.40\00:13:50.09 Yes He did, didn't He? You see, God can provide 00:13:50.12\00:13:52.98 in marvelous ways. There's a beautiful promise 00:13:53.01\00:13:56.01 that I've been longing to share with you, but I've waited 00:13:56.04\00:13:58.99 until tonight to do it, so let's go to Psalm 91, 00:13:59.02\00:14:01.70 we're going to begin in verse 1, we're not going to read it 00:14:01.73\00:14:04.36 all the way through, although I with we could. 00:14:04.39\00:14:07.05 It's a Psalm that I think was written just for the time 00:14:07.08\00:14:10.11 of tribulation in a special way. It's comfort for us now 00:14:10.14\00:14:13.00 and we can read it now, but it's especially for the great time 00:14:13.03\00:14:15.83 of tribulation that is to come. Psalm 91:1, here it says: 00:14:15.86\00:14:19.43 [text on screen] 00:14:19.46\00:14:21.51 That is the basis for what comes next, it is trusting in God 00:14:30.86\00:14:33.91 and not our self; it's trusting in God and not what man 00:14:33.94\00:14:37.06 will do in the time of tribulation. 00:14:37.09\00:14:39.50 So, because we have trust in God and not man, 00:14:39.53\00:14:42.09 look what it says in verse 5: [text on screen] 00:14:42.12\00:14:46.41 Notice again, the wicked are here and we're there too, 00:15:07.59\00:15:10.67 but we're not affected, [continues to read] 00:15:10.70\00:15:14.65 Let's go back to Revelation 16:4,5. 00:15:27.76\00:15:32.33 It says: [text on screen] 00:15:32.36\00:15:35.46 Why would it be that God would cause blood to flow out 00:15:47.10\00:15:50.22 of the faucets of homes in such a way at this time? 00:15:50.25\00:15:54.04 Well, we keep reading here and it tells us the answer. 00:15:54.07\00:15:56.81 In verse 6 it says: [text on screen] 00:15:56.84\00:16:00.23 God gives them blood to drink because they have tried to take 00:16:06.73\00:16:09.65 the blood of his people; they've tried to kill His people. 00:16:09.68\00:16:14.01 At first they might have just been threatened, 00:16:14.04\00:16:17.00 at first they might have just been boycotted, but eventually 00:16:17.03\00:16:20.11 things will progress to the point where they will even 00:16:20.14\00:16:22.89 try to take the lives of those that want to be faithful to God 00:16:22.92\00:16:26.07 at the end of time. Isn't it amazing 00:16:26.10\00:16:29.54 what religious people can do? In John 16:2 Jesus says: 00:16:29.57\00:16:36.23 "They shall put you out of the synagogues", the modern 00:16:36.26\00:16:39.08 equivalent of that would be "churches", He says: 00:16:39.11\00:16:41.81 [text on screen] 00:16:41.84\00:16:44.20 You can have a lot of religious activity without really knowing 00:16:49.88\00:16:53.42 the one who they profess to serve. 00:16:53.45\00:16:56.22 Here, these people who say they serve God, who say they know 00:16:56.25\00:16:59.16 God, they're willing to put people to death even though 00:16:59.19\00:17:02.36 they're serving God, it's an amazing thing, and yet, 00:17:02.39\00:17:05.17 we see it even today in this world. 00:17:05.20\00:17:08.15 So God satisfies their bloody thirsty desire and says: 00:17:08.18\00:17:10.92 "You try to take the blood of My people, you're going to have" 00:17:10.95\00:17:13.20 "blood to drink." What's the lesson 00:17:13.23\00:17:15.12 of this plague? The Bible tells us 00:17:15.15\00:17:17.91 that in Jesus Christ we live, we move and we have our being. 00:17:17.94\00:17:23.10 In the 3rd plague it's telling us: put your entire life 00:17:23.13\00:17:27.44 into God's hands, give everything, put your entire 00:17:27.47\00:17:32.03 life into God's hands because it's going to come down to this 00:17:32.06\00:17:35.16 dear friends: the powers that be before it's all said and done 00:17:35.19\00:17:38.12 are going to say "if you want physical protection, you better" 00:17:38.15\00:17:44.23 "take the mark; if you want financial protection," 00:17:44.26\00:17:47.17 "you better take the mark of the image of the beast;" 00:17:47.20\00:17:49.84 and finally they're going to say "If you want to live," 00:17:49.87\00:17:52.50 "you better take the mark." If there already is 00:17:52.53\00:17:55.35 within the human mind the tendency to compromise, 00:17:55.38\00:17:59.81 then it's going to come out at that time. 00:17:59.84\00:18:03.46 People are going to say "Well Lord, this is where" 00:18:03.49\00:18:07.95 "I bail out, I may have suffered here, I may have done a little" 00:18:07.98\00:18:11.03 "denial there, but when it comes to my life Lord, I'm not" 00:18:11.06\00:18:13.91 "going to risk that", and they're going to take 00:18:13.94\00:18:16.79 the mark, but God's people, and this is the good news, 00:18:16.82\00:18:19.36 and I pray this is all of us here tonight, 00:18:19.39\00:18:22.25 God's people are going to say "Lord, no matter what" 00:18:22.28\00:18:25.29 "economic hardships are put on me, no matter what social" 00:18:25.32\00:18:28.00 "pressures are put on me, no matter what physical" 00:18:28.03\00:18:30.90 "pressures are put on me, no matter what family or peer" 00:18:30.93\00:18:34.85 "pressure is put on me, I will not sell my soul" 00:18:34.88\00:18:38.57 "like Judas did for 30 pieces of silver." 00:18:38.60\00:18:41.65 "I will not sell out cheap, I am putting my entire life' 00:18:41.68\00:18:45.47 "in Jesus' hands", and then we can say to the authorities 00:18:45.50\00:18:48.60 that be "you may choose to take my life, my physical life," 00:18:48.63\00:18:54.78 "but my eternal life is safely hid in Jesus, and you can never" 00:18:54.81\00:18:59.57 "take that away." Once we have that kind 00:18:59.60\00:19:01.85 of faith, then we're ready. Let's go to Jeremiah 12, 00:19:01.88\00:19:08.53 it says: [text on screen] 00:19:08.56\00:19:11.64 So the prophet is saying if you're racing against 00:19:21.71\00:19:24.49 the footmen and you're getting tired, what are you going 00:19:24.52\00:19:27.23 to do when you start racing against horses? 00:19:27.26\00:19:29.90 And then Jeremiah says: "If you're living in a time" 00:19:29.93\00:19:32.71 "of peace and it's difficult for you to take a stand" 00:19:32.74\00:19:35.36 "for God, what are you going to do when the crisis breaks?" 00:19:35.39\00:19:38.57 If you had a little child, 5 years old, that wanted 00:19:38.60\00:19:42.26 to get strong, would you throw him a 100 pound barbell 00:19:42.29\00:19:44.96 and say "here, curl this"? No. If you really wanted 00:19:44.99\00:19:48.48 to exercise his muscles you might give him just a very 00:19:48.51\00:19:51.10 small weight and say "Well, you work your muscles" 00:19:51.13\00:19:54.03 "with this, and then when you get a little bigger, a little" 00:19:54.06\00:19:56.87 "stronger, I'll give you a little more, and when you" 00:19:56.90\00:19:59.87 "get bigger I'll give you a little more." 00:19:59.90\00:20:02.64 You start out small and you work up to it. 00:20:02.67\00:20:05.61 If you knew that you were going to be in the Olympics 00:20:05.64\00:20:08.27 and in the Olympics you were going to have to lift 00:20:08.30\00:20:11.25 a 500 pound barbell above your head because that was what 00:20:11.28\00:20:14.00 the competition had and you are going to want to exceed that, 00:20:14.03\00:20:16.77 when would you start practicing? The day before? 00:20:16.80\00:20:19.60 The week before? Well, if you knew that test 00:20:19.63\00:20:22.33 was coming, you would start a long time before 00:20:22.36\00:20:24.85 because you knew that you would have to exercise your muscles. 00:20:24.88\00:20:28.29 Well guess what, God wants us to exercise spiritual muscles 00:20:28.32\00:20:32.65 because if we don't ever have an opportunity to exercise 00:20:32.68\00:20:35.08 our spiritual muscles, we're going to be very 00:20:35.11\00:20:36.67 weak Christians. I'm going to ask you a question: 00:20:36.70\00:20:39.73 have any of you here experienced some difficulty as a result 00:20:39.76\00:20:43.27 of coming to this seminar? I mean, you've started to come 00:20:43.30\00:20:46.68 to the seminar and all of a sudden people that didn't 00:20:46.71\00:20:49.69 even show an interest in you before, all of a sudden 00:20:49.72\00:20:52.49 they're showing all this interest in you and saying 00:20:52.52\00:20:55.12 "Oh, are you sure you want to go?" 00:20:55.15\00:20:57.70 Or "that might not be the right thing", 00:20:57.73\00:21:00.16 "Oh, I'm really concerned about you because of what you're" 00:21:00.19\00:21:03.21 "learning there", and "you're wanting to change" 00:21:03.24\00:21:06.01 "you life, why are you changing your life?" 00:21:06.04\00:21:08.77 "Don't go back!" And all of these things 00:21:08.80\00:21:11.51 are all of a sudden being said. Are you experiencing 00:21:11.54\00:21:14.30 some trials maybe at home, maybe on the job, maybe economically 00:21:14.33\00:21:17.32 because you're wanting to pay tithe, or something like that? 00:21:17.35\00:21:20.30 Friends, don't despair. God allows trials to come 00:21:20.33\00:21:23.18 into our life to put us through the laboratory of Christian 00:21:23.21\00:21:25.99 experience, to exercise our spiritual muscles so we can be 00:21:26.02\00:21:28.92 strong Christians, what do you say? 00:21:28.95\00:21:31.41 So we can be prepared for things to come. 00:21:31.44\00:21:34.26 You see, Jesus said "blessed are you when men" 00:21:34.29\00:21:36.98 "shall persecute you, revile you, say all manner of evil" 00:21:37.01\00:21:39.89 "against you falsely for My name's sake," 00:21:39.92\00:21:42.66 "rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward" 00:21:42.69\00:21:45.58 "in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets" 00:21:45.61\00:21:48.14 "who were before you." Friends, I wish every time 00:21:48.17\00:21:50.83 somebody persecuted me I could rejoice and be exceeding glad, 00:21:50.86\00:21:53.43 I'm not quite there yet, but I sure want to be 00:21:53.46\00:21:56.34 by God's grace. By God's grace I want to 00:21:56.37\00:21:59.05 see it as a blessing, I want to see it as God's way of helping 00:21:59.08\00:22:01.96 me to be able to exercise spiritual muscles and get to be 00:22:01.99\00:22:04.85 a stronger Christian. I did go through a lot 00:22:04.88\00:22:07.47 of things when I became a Christians, a lot of things, 00:22:07.50\00:22:10.20 I'm going to share them with you next Sabbath morning, 00:22:10.23\00:22:13.07 but I will tell you now that I'm thankful that I went 00:22:13.10\00:22:15.93 through them; I will tell you now that I'm a lot stronger 00:22:15.96\00:22:18.81 Christian than I used to be because of it. 00:22:18.84\00:22:21.56 So don't despair when you have trials come into your life, 00:22:21.59\00:22:24.21 especially when you want to follow God, because Jesus 00:22:24.24\00:22:26.89 is your friend, and if Jesus is your friend, you have 00:22:26.92\00:22:29.59 something very very precious. We're going to go to 00:22:29.62\00:22:32.83 Revelation 16, we're going to look at the next plague. 00:22:32.86\00:22:36.29 Yes, God is teaching us to build the muscles of faith. 00:22:36.32\00:22:39.41 He wants a group of people who are going to be loyal 00:22:39.44\00:22:42.10 no matter what is going around, even plagues falling. 00:22:42.13\00:22:45.60 God has promised that our bread and water is going to be sure 00:22:45.63\00:22:48.50 during that time. So we've got the first plague: 00:22:48.53\00:22:51.31 sores; the second plague: the salt water turning to blood; 00:22:51.34\00:22:54.23 the third plague: the fresh water turning to blood; 00:22:54.26\00:22:57.00 and now the 4th plague starting in verses 7,8. 00:22:57.03\00:22:59.50 It says: [text on screen] 00:22:59.53\00:23:02.13 What significance would this plague have right here? 00:23:25.85\00:23:28.92 Notice, back in the time of ancient Egypt, when God sent 00:23:28.95\00:23:32.22 the 10 plagues upon ancient Egypt, God plagued them 00:23:32.25\00:23:36.71 with many of the exact same things that they 00:23:36.74\00:23:39.32 worshipped falsely. They worshipped insects, 00:23:39.35\00:23:43.03 and God plagued them with insects, they worshipped 00:23:43.06\00:23:45.62 the Nile, and God turned the Nile to blood so it stank, 00:23:45.65\00:23:48.66 they worshipped the cattle, He put a plague upon 00:23:48.69\00:23:51.25 the cattle. Now, I don't know if they 00:23:51.28\00:23:53.61 worshipped everything that they were plagued with, 00:23:53.64\00:23:56.62 but they certainly worshipped a lot, then God sent them 00:23:56.65\00:23:59.16 some extra things. They worshipped the sun, 00:23:59.19\00:24:01.75 and God plagued them with that. 00:24:01.78\00:24:04.21 Now we come back to the sun here. 00:24:04.24\00:24:06.98 Do you know that the sun has always played a prominent 00:24:07.01\00:24:09.94 part in false worship, from the time of ancient Babylon 00:24:09.97\00:24:12.69 all the way down through the stream of time? 00:24:12.72\00:24:15.68 I've shown you that last night during our slide presentation. 00:24:15.71\00:24:18.45 Egypt worshipped the sun, they called the sun god Ra, 00:24:18.48\00:24:21.20 Babylon called Bel-Marduk, Romans had a form 00:24:21.23\00:24:23.79 of sun worship. Sun worship has always 00:24:23.82\00:24:26.39 played a part, and sun worship came into the Christian church 00:24:26.42\00:24:29.48 in the early Dark Ages under the disguise of honoring 00:24:29.51\00:24:33.54 the resurrection day of Jesus. So, because the Pagans 00:24:33.57\00:24:36.98 were already doing it, part of the ways of evangelizing back 00:24:37.01\00:24:40.96 then was to accept the Pagan rites into the church 00:24:40.99\00:24:44.42 as a way of allowing the Pagans to do what they were already 00:24:44.45\00:24:47.49 doing, only doing it in the name of Christ, so sun worship 00:24:47.52\00:24:50.21 was brought right into the church in honoring 00:24:50.24\00:24:52.84 the first day of the week. But God has always 00:24:52.87\00:24:55.17 had a way to counter that, and that is to keep the Sabbath 00:24:55.20\00:24:58.11 holy, by keeping the 7th day Sabbath, it was a way of always 00:24:58.14\00:25:01.08 remembering that God is the one that made the sun, 00:25:01.11\00:25:04.02 and we're not to worship the creation, but the Creator. 00:25:04.05\00:25:07.06 Yet, God sends a message in the last days, and in sending 00:25:07.09\00:25:09.83 a message in the last days, He is going to waken 00:25:09.86\00:25:12.84 people's understanding to the fact that we're to give glory 00:25:12.87\00:25:15.63 to God and not to man. Yet, many people will not 00:25:15.66\00:25:19.61 listen to that message, they insist on holding on to 00:25:19.64\00:25:22.62 their traditions, they insist on holding on to the things 00:25:22.65\00:25:25.58 as they used to be, because that's what they're comfortable 00:25:25.61\00:25:28.19 with, that's what the popular way is, that's what they 00:25:28.22\00:25:31.03 want to do. Finally, when all the information has been given 00:25:31.06\00:25:35.44 and God has done everything He can to help people 00:25:35.47\00:25:38.87 to give glory to God, if people still hang to the day of the sun 00:25:38.90\00:25:44.41 He will say "if it's the sun you want, it's the sun you" 00:25:44.44\00:25:47.72 "shall have", and He turns up the heat in the 4th plague. 00:25:47.75\00:25:51.94 People will realize how awful a thing it is to worship 00:25:51.97\00:25:57.07 the creation rather than the Creator. 00:25:57.10\00:25:59.82 It's not so much that God arbitrarily puts plagues 00:25:59.85\00:26:03.27 down upon the earth, but people are reaping the consequences 00:26:03.30\00:26:06.22 of their action, that's a Biblical principle, 00:26:06.25\00:26:09.07 the Bible teaches "whatsoever you sow, that shall you" 00:26:09.10\00:26:11.83 "also reap." They're just reaping 00:26:11.86\00:26:14.30 the consequences of their actions. But God's people 00:26:14.33\00:26:17.60 will have allowed God to fully write His law in their hearts. 00:26:17.63\00:26:21.46 We studied last night in Hebrews 10:16, 00:26:21.49\00:26:24.82 the new covenant experience is that God will write His laws 00:26:24.85\00:26:28.03 in to our hearts and in our minds. 00:26:28.06\00:26:31.78 So God's people said: "Lord, write all Your commandments" 00:26:31.81\00:26:34.68 "there, not just 8, not just 9, but all 10," 00:26:34.71\00:26:37.98 "including Your holy Sabbath." Let's go back to 00:26:38.01\00:26:41.28 Revelation 16:10. It's no coincidence that these 00:26:41.31\00:26:48.75 2 sides are brought out, those that worship the Creator, 00:26:48.78\00:26:51.72 and those that are worshipping the beast, because this is 00:26:51.75\00:26:53.78 an issue over worship that's been with us for hundreds, 00:26:53.81\00:26:56.61 yea, even thousands of years, now it's just coming 00:26:56.64\00:26:59.31 to a climax in this chapter on the plagues. 00:26:59.34\00:27:02.34 Revelation 16:10,11. It says: [text on screen] 00:27:02.37\00:27:07.14 Here we find that darkness is poured on the very seat, 00:27:22.83\00:27:27.14 or the kingdom of the beast power. 00:27:27.17\00:27:30.86 Up to this time, why would God put a plague right here? 00:27:30.89\00:27:34.36 Especially here? Because up to this time 00:27:34.39\00:27:37.03 men and women have been deceived into wondering after 00:27:37.06\00:27:41.10 the beast power, as we read in Revelation 13:3. 00:27:41.13\00:27:44.89 So many have followed the traditions of the beast power 00:27:44.92\00:27:47.79 rather than the commandments of God. 00:27:47.82\00:27:50.14 So the beast power for centuries and centuries has been 00:27:50.17\00:27:53.82 spreading spiritual darkness over all of the earth. 00:27:53.85\00:27:58.40 Finally in the end, God is going to put a great literal 00:27:58.43\00:28:02.93 darkness on that kingdom. Friends, you don't want to be 00:28:02.96\00:28:05.88 there during that time. That's going to be such 00:28:05.91\00:28:08.75 an incredible darkness that it says it's going to be a darkness 00:28:08.78\00:28:11.63 that can be felt it's going to be such a powerful darkness. 00:28:11.66\00:28:14.71 It's really a darkness that shows that people have been 00:28:14.74\00:28:17.61 looking in the wrong direction. God wants us to follow 00:28:17.64\00:28:22.65 the light: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light" 00:28:22.68\00:28:27.73 "unto my path." So rather than following 00:28:27.76\00:28:30.18 the light of God's word, they've been looking to traditions 00:28:30.21\00:28:33.91 of men. 00:28:33.94\00:28:35.83 Jesus said "walk while you have the light, lest that light" 00:28:35.86\00:28:38.70 "turn to darkness." 00:28:38.73\00:28:40.56 When God's light is with us, we should follow it. 00:28:40.59\00:28:43.39 When God's light is with us it's a dangerous thing to say 00:28:43.42\00:28:45.84 "No Lord, I don't want that, I'm going to follow" 00:28:45.87\00:28:48.66 "what I want to do." Do you know that there is 00:28:48.69\00:28:51.44 a tremendous famine that's going to be coming upon this world? 00:28:51.47\00:28:54.39 In some ways it's already here, but it's going to get 00:28:54.42\00:28:57.24 even worse, I'm going to show it to you. 00:28:57.27\00:28:59.85 Go it Amos 8. To go to Amos you can go 00:28:59.88\00:29:02.79 to Daniel, and it goes Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. 00:29:02.82\00:29:05.75 Amos 8. 00:29:05.78\00:29:08.82 Those that have been following the beast power, even though 00:29:08.85\00:29:11.50 God has sent a clear message warning them to turn 00:29:11.53\00:29:14.50 from this, finally the Lord will say "If it's darkness" 00:29:14.53\00:29:17.36 "you want, it's darkness you shall have." 00:29:17.39\00:29:20.45 The literal darkness represents the spiritual darkness 00:29:20.48\00:29:23.22 that is there. Amos 8. 00:29:23.25\00:29:27.23 Do you realize that what the Bible is teaching us here 00:29:27.26\00:29:29.19 in plague Nr.4 and plague Nr.5 is that all religious security 00:29:29.22\00:29:33.28 is in Jesus Christ? Amos 8:11,12. 00:29:33.31\00:29:37.35 It says: [text on screen] 00:29:37.38\00:29:40.38 This is going to happen in the future, but when I said 00:29:58.65\00:30:01.58 it's happening in some ways now, it's a famine of indifference. 00:30:01.61\00:30:04.29 People have multitudes of Bibles available, and yet, 00:30:04.32\00:30:07.15 they don't read it. 00:30:07.18\00:30:09.74 But in the end, they will search for it, but it'll be too late. 00:30:09.77\00:30:12.63 When this verse takes place, 2 classes of individuals 00:30:12.66\00:30:16.68 have developed, and fully developed. 00:30:16.71\00:30:19.26 What are those 2 classes of individuals? 00:30:19.29\00:30:22.14 Let me review them for you: there'll be the class that fully 00:30:22.17\00:30:24.94 accepted the word of God, and there'll be the class 00:30:24.97\00:30:27.56 that accepted the word of man over the word of God. 00:30:27.59\00:30:30.61 Those that accepted the word of God will accept 00:30:30.64\00:30:33.40 the true commandments of God, and those that fully accepted 00:30:33.43\00:30:36.28 the traditions, or word, of man will accept the substitutes 00:30:36.31\00:30:39.09 that man gives. Those that accepted 00:30:39.12\00:30:41.48 the commandments of God will accept the true Bible Sabbath 00:30:41.51\00:30:44.35 as a sign of a covenant relationship with the Lord. 00:30:44.38\00:30:47.23 Those that accepted the traditions of man 00:30:47.26\00:30:49.98 will accept the counterfeit Sabbath and receive 00:30:50.01\00:30:52.69 the mark of the beast, or the image to the beast. 00:30:52.72\00:30:55.79 Remember that these 2 days, Sabbath versus Sunday, 00:30:55.82\00:31:00.84 are not really the issue at all, it's not a 24 period of time 00:31:00.87\00:31:05.03 versus a 24 hour period of time, it's what stands 00:31:05.06\00:31:09.13 behind those 2 days that is the issue. 00:31:09.16\00:31:11.74 The issue is: who are we going to worship? 00:31:11.77\00:31:14.31 Are we going to worship the Creator? 00:31:14.34\00:31:16.69 Or are we going to worship what man has to say? 00:31:16.72\00:31:20.09 And really, who's behind man? It's the Devil himself, 00:31:20.12\00:31:23.08 who wants worship for himself. At this time probation 00:31:23.11\00:31:25.95 is closed, people are searching for truth, they had 00:31:25.98\00:31:28.94 the opportunity, they could have followed the light, 00:31:28.97\00:31:32.06 but they turned from that. Do you realize that there was 00:31:32.09\00:31:34.94 a time many many years ago when Noah was building 00:31:34.97\00:31:37.89 that ark, and preaching was going on on this earth, 00:31:37.92\00:31:42.17 and as Noah was building that ark, finally at some point 00:31:42.20\00:31:44.65 in time a door was put in that ark, and as the door was put in 00:31:44.68\00:31:48.15 I'm sure a ramp was put up to that door, and Noah said 00:31:48.18\00:31:53.25 "Time is up, the animals have gone in, all the food" 00:31:53.28\00:31:56.93 "provisions have gone in, is anyone else going to go in?" 00:31:56.96\00:32:01.78 Well, Noah's wife went in, his 3 sons and their wives 00:32:01.81\00:32:05.31 went in, and then Noah said "I'm going in, is there" 00:32:05.34\00:32:09.38 "anyone else that will go in?" and no one else did. 00:32:09.41\00:32:12.50 So those 8 people went in and the door of the ark was shut 00:32:12.53\00:32:16.35 by the hand of God, and those that were in were in, 00:32:16.38\00:32:19.58 and those that were out were out, and God drew 00:32:19.61\00:32:21.96 a line for that world. Probation closed. 00:32:21.99\00:32:26.42 Did the floodwaters come that very day that the door 00:32:28.62\00:32:31.41 of the ark shut? No. 00:32:31.44\00:32:33.72 You're Bible students, I can tell. 00:32:33.75\00:32:36.52 No, the flood waters actually came 7 days later. 00:32:36.55\00:32:40.87 All the time that Noah and his family were in that ark, 00:32:40.90\00:32:44.21 the sun was shining for those 7 days. 00:32:44.24\00:32:47.60 Can you imagine the test that they went through. 00:32:47.63\00:32:50.36 I'm sure there were man people on the outside 00:32:50.39\00:32:52.95 of that ark yelling and screaming to them, 00:32:52.98\00:32:55.72 pounding on the sides saying "Noah! Noah!", 00:32:55.75\00:32:58.42 mocking him and ridiculing him in every kind of derisive way. 00:32:58.45\00:33:01.00 Yet, they sat there in that ark for those 7 days 00:33:01.03\00:33:03.70 because they knew that God was going to bring those waters, 00:33:03.73\00:33:06.43 and God did, on the 7th day. 00:33:06.46\00:33:09.20 Now, in the end of time God again, will close probation 00:33:09.23\00:33:11.83 for this world when all have made their choice 00:33:11.86\00:33:14.54 and no one from the one side is crossing to the other, 00:33:14.57\00:33:17.38 they've made their decisions about who they're going 00:33:17.41\00:33:20.56 to serve. Probation will close, 00:33:20.59\00:33:23.34 that line will be drawn, but the Lord will not come that day. 00:33:23.37\00:33:26.00 Rather, there won't be 7 days, but there'll be 7 last plagues 00:33:26.03\00:33:31.03 that will be gone through, and then Jesus will come 00:33:31.06\00:33:33.57 and deliver His people. Friends listen, 00:33:33.60\00:33:36.39 I want to appeal to you. Because we know that day 00:33:36.42\00:33:39.53 is coming and we know that line is again going to be drawn, 00:33:39.56\00:33:42.64 is there anything worth hanging on to that's going to keep 00:33:42.67\00:33:45.43 us out of that ark of safety? 00:33:45.46\00:33:48.12 Is there any tradition that you're holding into your life 00:33:48.15\00:33:50.96 right now that you know keeps you from a close and abiding 00:33:50.99\00:33:54.07 relationship that's worth hanging on to more than 00:33:54.10\00:33:57.08 the favor of God? 00:33:57.11\00:33:59.64 Friends, if we have something in our life that we know 00:33:59.67\00:34:02.37 is not right, let's give it up tonight. 00:34:02.40\00:34:04.97 Give it up, it's not worth it. Is there anything 00:34:05.00\00:34:07.60 that could possibly be worth hanging on to more than 00:34:07.63\00:34:11.10 the approval of heaven, and knowing His hand is over us? 00:34:11.13\00:34:14.48 I dare say not. 00:34:14.51\00:34:16.79 Let's go back to Revelation 16. God is giving His final call, 00:34:16.82\00:34:22.40 eternity was going to close its door once again, 00:34:22.43\00:34:26.51 and verse 12 and onwards is where we're going to read. 00:34:26.54\00:34:29.43 Revelation 16:12 and onward. It says: [text on screen] 00:34:29.46\00:34:34.39 Have you ever wondered how to make sense out of that passage? 00:35:10.00\00:35:13.90 It's amazing to me, with the book of Revelation so filled 00:35:13.93\00:35:16.52 with symbolic language, that people will take those 4 00:35:16.55\00:35:19.84 verses right there, and they will apply them to the literal 00:35:19.87\00:35:23.00 drying up of the literal River Euphrates. 00:35:23.03\00:35:27.29 There's a book that was published a long time ago, 00:35:27.32\00:35:29.91 Hal Lindsey's "Late Great Planet Earth". 00:35:29.94\00:35:32.56 In that book the author talks about how China is waiting 00:35:32.59\00:35:35.68 with a 200 million man army, and they're going to sweep 00:35:35.71\00:35:38.58 across the nations west, and they're going to come 00:35:38.61\00:35:41.36 upon the land of Israel, but they're waiting for 00:35:41.39\00:35:43.95 for the River Euphrates to dry up. 00:35:43.98\00:35:46.59 He's, of course, trying to comment on this passage, 00:35:46.62\00:35:49.35 and he's saying the Euphrates river is going to dry up, 00:35:49.38\00:35:52.10 and then they're going to move their army, but they can't 00:35:52.13\00:35:54.75 do it until the river dries up. 00:35:54.78\00:35:57.50 Friends, let's think about this: China is a nuclear power. 00:35:57.53\00:36:01.96 Does China need a river to dry up before it can move 00:36:01.99\00:36:05.04 an army? The US can fly their army 00:36:05.07\00:36:08.69 half way around the world in a matter of days, 00:36:08.72\00:36:11.80 I think China could build a bridge if they wanted to. 00:36:11.83\00:36:14.66 [Audience laughs] 00:36:14.69\00:36:16.79 They're certainly building a lot more than that right now 00:36:16.82\00:36:19.57 over there. It doesn't make sense. 00:36:19.60\00:36:22.07 Let's look at it in an understandable and Biblical way. 00:36:22.10\00:36:24.82 One of the great problems people have in understanding 00:36:24.85\00:36:27.52 end time events in Bible prophecy is that there are 00:36:27.55\00:36:30.48 very few people that are really deep students of the word, 00:36:30.51\00:36:33.67 and can take passage like this and take the time 00:36:33.70\00:36:36.38 to work it through. Time doesn't allow me to go 00:36:36.41\00:36:38.91 into all the detail, but listen to this principles here 00:36:38.94\00:36:41.67 and you're going to gain a lot by it. 00:36:41.70\00:36:44.32 Many of the prophecies that were fulfilled in the Old Testament 00:36:44.35\00:36:47.28 on a literal and local basis to Old Testament Israel 00:36:47.31\00:36:50.70 have a double, or dual, application, as we sometimes 00:36:50.73\00:36:53.38 say, and they are fulfilled in the last days to spiritual 00:36:53.41\00:36:58.12 Israel, which is God's church, in a worldwide way, 00:36:58.15\00:37:02.01 in a very dramatic sense. For example, and I'm going 00:37:02.04\00:37:05.56 to run down a number of these for you, in Old Testament 00:37:05.59\00:37:08.55 times ancient Israel was persecuted by literal Babylon. 00:37:08.58\00:37:12.97 Jeremiah 50:33,34, and yet, New Testament Israel, 00:37:13.00\00:37:18.18 or the spiritual Israel, the church, is also 00:37:18.21\00:37:20.69 persecuted by spiritual Babylon, Revelation 17:6. 00:37:20.72\00:37:24.19 Ancient Israel was forced to worship a literal image, 00:37:24.22\00:37:26.74 Daniel 3:13, but spiritual Israel, the church is also 00:37:26.77\00:37:30.59 forced to worship an image, Revelation 13:15. 00:37:30.62\00:37:33.98 Ancient Babylon was called "Babylon the Great", 00:37:34.01\00:37:36.63 Daniel 4:30, and yet, spiritual Babylon is called 00:37:36.66\00:37:39.31 "Babylon the Great", Revelation 17:5. 00:37:39.34\00:37:41.48 Ancient Babylon sat on the many water, that's found in 00:37:41.51\00:37:44.23 Jeremiah 51:13,14, and yet, spiritual Babylon sits 00:37:44.26\00:37:48.24 on the many waters in Revelation 17:1. 00:37:48.27\00:37:51.64 Ancient Israel was rescued by the drying up of the River 00:37:51.67\00:37:54.65 Euphrates, we'll look at that in just a moment, 00:37:54.68\00:37:57.29 that's Isaiah 44:27,28, spiritual Israel is rescued 00:37:57.32\00:38:00.06 by the drying up of the River Euphrates, Revelation 16:12. 00:38:00.09\00:38:04.28 Then we find that ancient Israel was called out of Babylon, 00:38:04.31\00:38:13.82 Jeremiah 51:6-8, and spiritual Israel is called out of Babylon, 00:38:13.85\00:38:17.45 Revelation 18:4. Ancient Israel was rescued 00:38:17.48\00:38:22.39 by one called "the anointed", Isaiah 45:1, 00:38:22.42\00:38:26.45 and the rescuer of spiritual Israel is called "the anointed", 00:38:26.48\00:38:29.43 Daniel 9:24. 00:38:29.46\00:38:32.20 Both the rescuers came from the east, for ancient Israel 00:38:32.23\00:38:34.99 it was Cyrus the Great, he's talked about in Isaiah 41:2,25, 00:38:35.02\00:38:37.82 and for the church it's Jesus coming from the east, 00:38:37.85\00:38:40.49 Matthew 24:27. 00:38:40.52\00:38:43.25 Those are some of what we could go over. 00:38:43.28\00:38:46.08 Even the 144,000 plays into this, in that in the Old 00:38:46.11\00:38:48.67 Testament there were 12 tribes, in the New Testament 00:38:48.70\00:38:51.73 there's 12x12x1000; it's talking about a worldwide church, 00:38:51.76\00:38:57.27 it's not talking about literal Jews, as many think it is. 00:38:57.30\00:39:00.77 So what we're seeing here is that in the last moments of time 00:39:00.80\00:39:06.53 spiritual Israel is again going to be persecuted by 00:39:06.56\00:39:11.90 the evil forces. 00:39:11.93\00:39:14.36 It tells us that the River Euphrates is going to dry up. 00:39:14.39\00:39:19.19 Remember what we learned opening night, 00:39:19.22\00:39:22.26 if you something in Revelation like this, the River Euphrates 00:39:22.29\00:39:25.06 drying up, ask yourself the question: is there anywhere else 00:39:25.09\00:39:28.04 in the Bible where a river was dried up, 00:39:28.07\00:39:30.73 where we can then use that information to see what 00:39:30.76\00:39:33.61 Revelation might be talking about? 00:39:33.64\00:39:36.32 Well, actually there was. When Cyrus the Great 00:39:36.35\00:39:39.04 came with the armies of the Medes and the Persians, 00:39:39.07\00:39:41.93 they came up to the walls of ancient Babylon. 00:39:41.96\00:39:44.80 Now, ancient Babylon was a mighty city, 00:39:44.83\00:39:47.46 it was heavily, heavily reinforced with very tall 00:39:47.49\00:39:50.22 and very thick walls. It says that the walls were so 00:39:50.25\00:39:52.80 thick they could have chariot raves along the tops of them, 00:39:52.83\00:39:55.64 and they had lots and lots of food stored in. 00:39:55.67\00:39:58.31 Some scholars think that they had enough food stored in there 00:39:58.34\00:40:01.25 to outlast a siege for 20 years, and they had the fresh water 00:40:01.28\00:40:04.19 Euphrates running through it, so they had all the fresh water 00:40:04.22\00:40:06.95 they needed, so it looked like they were impregnable, 00:40:06.98\00:40:09.94 in other words, no army could possibly come against it. 00:40:09.97\00:40:12.61 Well, Cyrus the Great came up against those walls 00:40:12.64\00:40:15.39 and he said "We're not going to try to go through it," 00:40:15.42\00:40:17.90 "we're going to be smarter than that", he backed off his army 00:40:17.93\00:40:20.74 out of sight of the walls and he set his engineers to work. 00:40:20.77\00:40:23.42 One historian writes about it and says they actually 00:40:23.45\00:40:26.14 diverted the waters away so the water level dropped. 00:40:26.17\00:40:28.86 God prophesied that the inner gate would be left open. 00:40:28.89\00:40:31.50 You see, Babylon was so sure of itself that in the time 00:40:31.53\00:40:34.35 when the enemies armies were actually surrounding them 00:40:34.38\00:40:37.14 they had a great big party, a drunken party. 00:40:37.17\00:40:40.96 In that night that they were so sure of them self 00:40:40.99\00:40:43.57 that they would never have a problem, rather than having 00:40:43.60\00:40:46.75 a siege that would last years and years and years, 00:40:46.78\00:40:50.24 the river level dropped, the river gate was left open 00:40:50.27\00:40:56.35 and Cyrus the Great marched his army down that lowered 00:40:56.38\00:41:00.85 river bed under the gate, and Babylon fell in 1 night. 00:41:00.88\00:41:06.23 Because of the River Euphrates drying up, so to speak, 00:41:06.26\00:41:11.22 Babylon fell. In the last days we're going 00:41:11.26\00:41:14.83 to see something very similar, only in the symbolic, 00:41:14.86\00:41:17.50 or spiritual sense of it. How does that work? 00:41:17.53\00:41:20.04 In Revelation 16:14 we read this: [text on screen] 00:41:20.07\00:41:26.29 That's the political powers right there. 00:41:29.39\00:41:31.84 So the religious powers go out towards the political powers 00:41:31.87\00:41:37.02 and because of the miracles that are worked, it draws them 00:41:37.05\00:41:40.46 together in this coalition of evil. 00:41:40.49\00:41:44.03 Things are supposed to get better, religious laws 00:41:44.06\00:41:48.06 are passed, laws the conflict with the principles and laws 00:41:48.09\00:41:52.18 of heaven, so persecution starts coming upon those 00:41:52.21\00:41:55.81 that try to serve God, and want to keep His commandments, 00:41:55.84\00:41:57.95 but things don't get better in the earth, 00:41:57.98\00:42:00.24 rather, they get worse and worse and worse, 00:42:00.27\00:42:03.72 and finally look what takes place in Revelation 17. 00:42:03.75\00:42:10.37 When they see that the plagues are falling, and God has not 00:42:10.40\00:42:13.33 been with them, but rather they have been working 00:42:13.36\00:42:16.06 against the hand of God, Revelation 17:16-18 says: 00:42:16.09\00:42:20.70 [text on screen] 00:42:20.73\00:42:22.79 This is talking about the political powers now, 00:42:23.61\00:42:26.15 [text on screen] 00:42:26.18\00:42:28.25 So here you find that the political powers were supporting 00:42:41.76\00:42:44.48 the beast power for a time, they united with the beast 00:42:44.51\00:42:48.13 power for a short period of time, but then when they see 00:42:48.16\00:42:51.09 that they've been deceived, they've been tricked into 00:42:51.12\00:42:55.14 this coalition, and they really weren't on the side 00:42:55.17\00:42:57.93 of God, now they withdraw their support. 00:42:57.96\00:43:01.82 What props up spiritual Babylon? 00:43:01.85\00:43:05.47 What is it that supports false religion? 00:43:05.50\00:43:07.59 It's the masses of people that are deceived by the miracle 00:43:07.62\00:43:10.28 working, they think it's the moving of the Holy Spirit. 00:43:10.31\00:43:13.08 We're seeing some of that even today in some of the false 00:43:13.11\00:43:16.02 revivals that are going on. People are doing all kinds 00:43:16.05\00:43:19.00 of things under what they say is the Holy Spirit. 00:43:19.03\00:43:21.99 Many of those things contradict the Bible, it's not the moving 00:43:22.02\00:43:24.97 of the Spirit, not in all those cases, there is the genuine 00:43:25.00\00:43:27.71 working of the Spirit, but not all the things you see 00:43:27.74\00:43:30.57 going on the TV are the workings of God, so be careful 00:43:30.60\00:43:33.41 what you watch. 00:43:33.44\00:43:34.41 Then it goes on in verse 18 and it says: [text on screen] 00:43:34.42\00:43:39.01 That can be only 1 city talked about there, and that is 00:43:39.04\00:43:41.81 the Vatican that has controlled the kings of the earth 00:43:41.84\00:43:44.62 for centuries. When the masses of the people 00:43:44.65\00:43:47.55 realize for the first time that they have been duped, 00:43:47.58\00:43:52.20 they have been tricked and deceived, they're going 00:43:52.23\00:43:54.56 to withdraw their support and spiritual Babylon is going 00:43:54.59\00:43:58.62 to fall once again, they're going to fall. 00:43:58.65\00:44:02.95 I'm going to tell you something, people are going to be angry 00:44:04.06\00:44:07.19 in that day, people who have gone to their ministers 00:44:07.22\00:44:11.45 to try to ask questions about what is right, and their 00:44:11.48\00:44:14.37 ministers many times... and please, I'm not against 00:44:14.40\00:44:16.70 all ministers, don't think that I am, but friends, 00:44:16.73\00:44:19.40 there are many ministers that are wolves in sheep's clothing, 00:44:19.43\00:44:22.18 there are many ministers that are more interested in their job 00:44:22.21\00:44:25.07 than in what is right. There are many ministers 00:44:25.10\00:44:27.77 that are more interested in keeping other people back 00:44:27.80\00:44:30.51 than surrendering their own hearts and doing what is right, 00:44:30.54\00:44:33.27 and I've seen this over the years that I've preached. 00:44:33.30\00:44:36.21 I've had ministers tell their congregation one thing 00:44:36.24\00:44:38.88 in public and then tell me something else in private 00:44:38.91\00:44:41.72 because they knew they couldn't fool me in the word 00:44:41.75\00:44:44.54 of God. But they said: "I can't preach" 00:44:44.57\00:44:47.52 "that to my congregation, if I do I'll loose my congregation." 00:44:47.55\00:44:50.26 Friends, don't think that a lot of ministers don't know 00:44:50.29\00:44:52.89 the very things that I'm sharing with you tonight. 00:44:52.92\00:44:55.61 Then there are the other kind, there are the sincere, 00:44:55.64\00:44:58.43 Godly ministers, that are yet to see these things, 00:44:58.46\00:45:01.09 and I believe God is going to show them and they are 00:45:01.12\00:45:04.00 going to follow it in the end if they are sincere. 00:45:04.03\00:45:06.73 Friends, before it's all over God is going to have 00:45:06.76\00:45:09.43 His people standing on His side. Many people today complain 00:45:09.46\00:45:12.17 that it's hard to be a Christian. 00:45:12.20\00:45:14.83 You show them the will of God and they say "Oh my, it's tough" 00:45:14.86\00:45:17.55 "and I have to go through this, and I have to got through that," 00:45:17.58\00:45:20.39 "and Jesus said bear the cross, and all these things." 00:45:20.42\00:45:23.01 Friends, let me tell you the difference between the cross 00:45:23.04\00:45:25.93 of Jesus and yoke of Satan. When Satan comes to you 00:45:25.96\00:45:28.47 he says "wear my yoke, because boy, it's a pleasure," 00:45:28.50\00:45:31.26 "it's delight, and I'm going to give you all of these things." 00:45:31.29\00:45:34.03 At first when you take Satan's yoke it seems pretty neat 00:45:34.06\00:45:36.80 because he gives you pleasure, he gives you things you want, 00:45:36.83\00:45:39.46 the carnal mind wants, rather. Jesus says "come unto Me" 00:45:39.49\00:45:42.38 "all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." 00:45:42.41\00:45:45.98 "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am" 00:45:46.01\00:45:48.59 "meek and lowly in heart, for My yoke is easy" 00:45:48.62\00:45:51.20 "and My burden is light." When you take the yoke 00:45:51.23\00:45:55.86 of Satan at first it seems easy, but Satan isn't even good 00:45:55.89\00:46:01.20 to his own. You start walking with the yoke 00:46:01.23\00:46:03.80 of Satan and it gets heavier, and heavier, and heavier, 00:46:03.83\00:46:08.31 and eventually it will crush out your life. 00:46:08.34\00:46:11.80 You take the cross of Jesus upon you, and yes, at first 00:46:11.83\00:46:14.48 it might seem difficult because you have to deny 00:46:14.51\00:46:16.55 the carnal nature, but Jesus says "don't you worry," 00:46:16.58\00:46:19.24 "I will give you power to become a son and daughter" 00:46:19.27\00:46:21.46 "of God, I will give you the power to bear that cross", 00:46:21.49\00:46:24.09 and you start walking with the cross of Jesus 00:46:24.12\00:46:26.84 and it gets lighter and lighter till finally you say 00:46:26.87\00:46:29.96 "Lord, what you're asking I want to do anyway." 00:46:29.99\00:46:34.84 That's the difference between the cross of Jesus and the yoke 00:46:34.87\00:46:36.89 of Satan. Revelation 16:16 says: 00:46:36.92\00:46:42.69 [text on screen] 00:46:42.72\00:46:44.86 What does this word "Armageddon" mean? 00:46:49.12\00:46:51.97 Many people who look at this word "Armageddon" 00:46:52.00\00:46:54.71 and they say "Oh, I know what that means, that has to do" 00:46:54.74\00:46:57.43 "with a battle over oil fields in the Middle East." 00:46:57.46\00:47:00.13 They've been reading too many novels if they think that. 00:47:00.16\00:47:02.93 No, it's not a battle over oil fields in the Middle East, 00:47:02.96\00:47:05.59 what does a battle over oil fields in the Middle East 00:47:05.62\00:47:08.45 have to do with your salvation and mine? 00:47:08.48\00:47:11.18 Nothing. God's last day events 00:47:11.21\00:47:13.21 in the book of Revelation, they do not center around oil fields, 00:47:13.24\00:47:16.81 God isn't about the geography, God is concerned about 00:47:16.84\00:47:20.44 people being saved into His kingdom. 00:47:20.47\00:47:23.13 What we see here is that the battle of Armageddon 00:47:23.16\00:47:28.09 has to do with the forces of evil mobilizing against 00:47:28.12\00:47:32.15 the forces of good. It has to do with God's army 00:47:32.18\00:47:35.66 battling with Satan's army, with the followers of both sides 00:47:35.69\00:47:38.55 being involved, that means you and I are going 00:47:38.58\00:47:41.40 to be involved in this battle right here. 00:47:41.43\00:47:43.79 When it comes to this particular verse, it's a little bit 00:47:43.82\00:47:47.58 of a strange verse because it harkens us back 00:47:47.61\00:47:50.09 to the Hebrew tongue. Here's where we get into more 00:47:50.12\00:47:53.51 of the subject tonight. The verse calls us back 00:47:53.54\00:47:56.11 to a Hebrew word for "Armageddon", Hebrew 00:47:56.14\00:47:58.85 is the word for the Old Testament. 00:47:58.88\00:48:01.74 To understand the battle of Armageddon, realize 00:48:01.77\00:48:04.56 that no place now, nor ever has been called "Armageddon". 00:48:04.59\00:48:07.43 Some people think that it comes from 2 Hebrew words, 00:48:07.46\00:48:10.12 [text on screen] 00:48:10.15\00:48:12.19 Some believe that the latter part, "mageddon", 00:48:12.22\00:48:16.77 comes from the word "mageddo". There was a city of Mageddo 00:48:16.80\00:48:21.39 and a Plain of Mageddo, and a Valley of Mageddo, 00:48:21.42\00:48:23.57 but there was no Mount of Mageddo. 00:48:23.60\00:48:26.28 Let's not put that one up yet Cheryl, I'm not there quite yet. 00:48:26.31\00:48:30.82 Let's go back to where we were, there we go. 00:48:30.85\00:48:33.32 The first part "har" means "mountain" or "hill", 00:48:33.35\00:48:36.20 so for it to be the Mount of Mageddo, there seems 00:48:36.23\00:48:39.16 to be something lacking there because there was no 00:48:39.19\00:48:43.32 Mount of Mageddo in the Old Testament. 00:48:43.35\00:48:45.84 Some think that could be, because from the Plain 00:48:45.87\00:48:48.87 of Mageddo there is a mountain off in the distance, 00:48:48.90\00:48:51.55 that's Mount Carmel, so maybe that's the mountain that's 00:48:51.58\00:48:54.22 being talked about, because on that mountain there was 00:48:54.25\00:48:57.19 a tremendous showdown between true and false worship, 00:48:57.22\00:49:00.44 and in the end the showdown is going to be between 00:49:00.47\00:49:03.27 true and false worship, so there could be a plausible connection, 00:49:03.30\00:49:06.34 but there does seem to be a little bit lacking. 00:49:06.37\00:49:08.79 We know that the battle isn't going to be about the literal 00:49:08.82\00:49:11.47 Plain of Mageddo because I've actually been over there 00:49:11.50\00:49:14.22 on the literal Plain of Mageddo, and it's very small 00:49:14.25\00:49:17.00 compared to the armies of this world. 00:49:17.03\00:49:19.66 A lot of people think the armies of this world are going to meet 00:49:19.69\00:49:22.57 in that plain and battle it out. Well, you couldn't even put 00:49:22.60\00:49:25.24 the army of the US in that plain, it's not that big, 00:49:25.27\00:49:28.05 let alone all the other armies of the world. 00:49:28.08\00:49:30.78 So yes, there's a possible connection between Mount Carmel 00:49:30.81\00:49:33.50 where there was a showdown between true and false worship, 00:49:33.53\00:49:36.42 but there might be another explanation, I want to show that 00:49:36.45\00:49:39.38 also to you tonight. Another possible explanation 00:49:39.41\00:49:42.05 to this word "Armageddon" would be that the latter part 00:49:42.08\00:49:44.77 of the word taken from the Hebrew over into the Greek 00:49:44.80\00:49:47.72 would mean "Har Mo'ed", that means "congregation", 00:49:47.75\00:49:50.35 or "assembly". Keep in mind that when you 00:49:50.38\00:49:52.91 take words from one language over into another, 00:49:52.94\00:49:55.96 sometimes letters are added and dropped, so that could 00:49:55.99\00:49:58.59 be the very case here for those who have studied out 00:49:58.62\00:50:01.15 that last word "mo'ed", or that last part "mageddon" 00:50:01.18\00:50:03.61 as the "g" is added to bring it into the Greek language. 00:50:03.64\00:50:06.93 But if it came from these 2 Hebrew words, 00:50:06.96\00:50:11.32 "har" and "mo'ed", the Bible says "in the Hebrew tongue". 00:50:11.35\00:50:15.67 There is only 1 place in the Old Testament where 00:50:15.70\00:50:18.27 those 2 words "Har Mo'ed" are used, and that is 00:50:18.30\00:50:21.22 in Isaiah 14:13. In Isaiah 14:13 Satan made 00:50:21.25\00:50:27.15 a tremendous boast. He said: [text on screen] 00:50:27.18\00:50:31.32 That term, "mount of the congregation" is the term 00:50:39.94\00:50:42.95 "har mo'ed". 00:50:42.98\00:50:45.29 Satan had a desire to reign over God's people, 00:50:45.32\00:50:49.53 he wanted to put himself in God's place, that is only 00:50:49.56\00:50:52.41 the privilege of God, and Satan has always had that desire. 00:50:52.44\00:50:56.22 Down at the end of time Satan still has that desire. 00:50:56.25\00:50:59.27 He wants to put himself upon the mount of the congregation. 00:50:59.30\00:51:05.07 This brings us back to the end of time; in the end of time 00:51:05.10\00:51:08.93 this is the battle to end all battles, there's the forces 00:51:08.96\00:51:12.26 of evil, there's the forces of good, which is really 00:51:12.29\00:51:14.32 the forces of Satan versus the forces of God. 00:51:14.35\00:51:17.22 No other possibility is, that is a showdown 00:51:17.25\00:51:19.67 over worship, that's why we're all going to be involved in it. 00:51:19.70\00:51:23.39 The Bible tells us that this battle goes out to the kings 00:51:23.42\00:51:27.26 of the world, the kings of all the earth, 00:51:27.29\00:51:30.04 so we know it's a worldwide battle. 00:51:30.07\00:51:32.75 Revelation's focus is on the focus in heaven, 00:51:32.78\00:51:35.37 we've covered that already. Many people are trying 00:51:35.40\00:51:38.46 today that it's all about the temple, it's going to be 00:51:38.49\00:51:41.30 the 3rd temple that's going to be built in the Middle East. 00:51:41.33\00:51:43.95 Revelation doesn't focus on a rebuilt temple in 00:51:43.98\00:51:46.75 the Middle East, it focuses on a temple in heaven. 00:51:46.78\00:51:49.61 So again, we know it's a spiritual temple. 00:51:49.64\00:51:52.27 We see that the affects of Armageddon stretch far 00:51:52.30\00:51:55.03 beyond the Middle East. The primary system identified 00:51:55.06\00:51:57.91 and destroyed is spiritual Babylon, not literal Babylon, 00:51:57.94\00:52:00.53 so we realize it's going to be a spiritual battle, 00:52:00.56\00:52:03.18 and we also realize that in Revelation 16 it is the robes 00:52:03.21\00:52:06.18 of righteousness that are at stake, Jesus said: 00:52:06.21\00:52:09.60 "Keep your robe, don't let anyone take your garments away." 00:52:09.63\00:52:13.56 So it's a spiritual battle. When we see this battle 00:52:13.59\00:52:17.53 taking place, can you just imagine it for just a moment 00:52:17.56\00:52:20.06 with me dear friends? All the forces of evil 00:52:20.09\00:52:22.81 mobilizing at the end of time, just like Pharaoh mobilized 00:52:22.84\00:52:25.84 his army with the chariots, and the swords, and what other 00:52:25.87\00:52:29.84 weapons they had, and they raced against Israel, 00:52:29.87\00:52:32.69 and here's Israel with the shepherd, Moses, 00:52:32.72\00:52:35.94 as their leader, they don't have weapons of war, 00:52:35.97\00:52:39.27 they don't have chariots, they don't have anything to battle 00:52:39.30\00:52:42.28 back with, except 1 thing: they had their relationship 00:52:42.31\00:52:46.29 with the Creator, God. 00:52:46.32\00:52:48.53 So it is in the end of time. Satan will come with all 00:52:48.56\00:52:51.09 his forces of evil, they've got the tanks, they've got the guns, 00:52:51.12\00:52:53.66 they've got all these other kinds of great weapons 00:52:53.69\00:52:56.53 of man, but God's people don't need any of those things, 00:52:56.56\00:52:59.18 they only need 1 weapon, and that 1 weapon is their spiritual 00:52:59.21\00:53:02.54 relationship with their Creator, which God will certainly honor. 00:53:02.57\00:53:07.70 But God has weaponry, don't you think? 00:53:07.73\00:53:09.90 Look what it says in the book of Job 38:22. 00:53:09.93\00:53:15.38 The Lord says to Job: [text on screen] 00:53:15.41\00:53:18.99 So God says "Job, have you not seen all the hail I have here?" 00:53:29.34\00:53:32.33 He says: "Job, I've got the hail and I'm reserving it", 00:53:32.36\00:53:34.89 that means He's holding it back, "until the time of trouble." 00:53:34.92\00:53:37.85 Friends, this is the time of trouble right here. 00:53:37.88\00:53:40.58 Now let's see how God releases it. 00:53:40.61\00:53:43.34 Go back to Revelation 16 and we're going to read it out 00:53:43.37\00:53:46.18 to the end. 00:53:46.21\00:53:48.32 Keeping in mind, in essence, Armageddon, tremendous contest 00:53:48.35\00:53:51.13 between Christ and Satan and the followers of both sides 00:53:51.16\00:53:54.27 being involved, and now God is going to pour out 00:53:54.30\00:53:57.23 the heavenly artillery. Revelation 16:17, 00:53:57.26\00:54:01.03 it says: [text on screen] 00:54:01.06\00:54:03.45 Pause there with me for a moment. 00:54:08.97\00:54:11.63 At the creation God said "it is finished", and at the cross 00:54:11.66\00:54:14.46 Jesus said "it is finished", and here at the end God says 00:54:14.49\00:54:17.31 "it is done", which means "My people have suffered enough." 00:54:17.34\00:54:21.36 "Everything that needs to be demonstrated is demonstrated," 00:54:21.39\00:54:24.21 "no more is necessary, I am going to come again", 00:54:24.24\00:54:27.76 and the 7th plague starts to fall. 00:54:27.79\00:54:30.61 Let's keep reading: "And the 7th angel poured out" 00:54:30.64\00:54:33.64 "his vial, into the air and there came a great voice" 00:54:33.67\00:54:36.75 "out of the temple from heaven from the throne, saying," 00:54:36.78\00:54:39.68 "It is done." [text on screen] 00:54:39.71\00:54:42.52 So you can see the calamities that are going on. 00:54:53.44\00:54:56.03 [continues to read] 00:54:56.06\00:54:58.53 Keep in mind, this is spiritual Babylon, not literal Babylon. 00:54:58.56\00:55:02.39 It says: [text on screen] 00:55:02.42\00:55:05.04 You can see what's going on here, can't you? 00:55:09.95\00:55:11.91 It says: [text on screen] 00:55:11.94\00:55:14.89 So all nature is turned out, there's chaos in 00:55:15.39\00:55:18.77 the natural world, and it says: [text on screen] 00:55:18.80\00:55:23.20 I'll get back to that in just a moment, [continues to read] 00:55:28.80\00:55:34.31 When it says that hail came down from heaven the weight 00:55:35.72\00:55:38.83 of a talent, we're talking about 70 pound hail. 00:55:38.86\00:55:43.25 I've seen what little tiny sized hail can do, 00:55:43.28\00:55:45.68 it can damage cars, just little tiny hail; can you imagine 00:55:45.71\00:55:49.46 70 pound hail coming down, that's some kind of artillery 00:55:49.49\00:55:52.70 from heaven. It's going to flatten everything. 00:55:52.73\00:55:56.70 When God sends this artillery, we're in the very last moments 00:55:56.73\00:56:01.04 of time. Jesus is about to come, 00:56:01.07\00:56:04.99 and what do the righteous do at this time? 00:56:05.02\00:56:07.71 They don't have to worry, God's hand is over them. 00:56:07.74\00:56:10.03 A thousand can fall at one side, ten thousand on the other hand, 00:56:10.06\00:56:12.93 but it won't come near God's people. 00:56:12.96\00:56:15.72 They look up with open arms as it says in Isaiah 25:9, 00:56:15.75\00:56:18.58 they say: "Lo, this is our God, and we have waited for Him," 00:56:18.61\00:56:21.16 "lo, this is the Lord and we have waited for Him," 00:56:21.19\00:56:23.94 "and He will save us." Friends, you don't have 00:56:23.97\00:56:26.66 to worry, God is going to be with you during this time. 00:56:26.69\00:56:31.35 It is my prayer for you tonight that you will experience 00:56:31.38\00:56:34.28 that peace as you put your total trust in Him. 00:56:34.31\00:56:37.46 I'd like to have prayer with you as we close tonight 00:56:37.49\00:56:39.89 that we can all put out trust in Jesus in even a deeper way 00:56:39.92\00:56:43.50 after going through this night's subject. 00:56:43.53\00:56:46.27 Father in heaven, once again we can see that the mark 00:56:46.30\00:56:49.15 of the beast is coming, the image to the beast, 00:56:49.18\00:56:51.66 the time of trouble, all of these things are foretold 00:56:51.69\00:56:54.28 in Scripture, but we don't have to worry, for we have 00:56:54.31\00:56:57.55 a great God, and a great savior on our side 00:56:57.58\00:57:01.19 If God be for us, who can be against us? 00:57:01.22\00:57:04.17 So Lord, what we really ask tonight is for a greater faith, 00:57:04.20\00:57:07.78 and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word 00:57:07.81\00:57:10.53 of God, so help us to be students of Your word, 00:57:10.56\00:57:12.99 and help us to be living out which we learned, 00:57:13.02\00:57:15.80 putting into practical application the things 00:57:15.83\00:57:18.48 that we know are right. Help us to be building 00:57:18.51\00:57:21.41 the muscles of faith, even now, in the little things, 00:57:21.44\00:57:23.86 for Jesus said "he that is faithful in little will be" 00:57:23.89\00:57:26.56 "faithful also in much." Knowing this, we don't have 00:57:26.59\00:57:29.80 to worry about that time, for we know that You will give us 00:57:29.83\00:57:32.91 the courage that is necessary if we are faithful to Thee now. 00:57:32.94\00:57:36.49 So bless each one of us now and we thank You for this time 00:57:36.52\00:57:38.97 we could spend together in Your word. 00:57:39.00\00:57:41.01 Bring us back together again soon, we pray in Jesus' 00:57:41.04\00:57:44.12 wonderful name, amen. 00:57:44.15\00:57:47.19