Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP190012A
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00:01 The Bible tells us in the beginning was the Word,
00:03 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:07 It says to receive with meekness, 00:09 the implanted word, 00:11 which is able to save your souls, 00:13 and to be diligent 00:15 to present yourself approved to God, 00:17 rightly dividing the Word of truth. 00:20 Join us now 00:22 for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:24 Our study today is the Book of Revelation. 00:31 Hello, and welcome to the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:34 We are so excited that you are able to join us 00:36 again for another week of study. 00:37 We are studying the Book of Revelation. 00:40 Aren't we having a good time with this? 00:41 Oh, yeah. 00:42 This has been an exciting study. 00:44 I've learned so much from each one of these final, 00:46 this fabulous panel, 00:48 and we are actually approaching 00:50 the final couple of weeks of this study. 00:52 In fact, I want to let you know 00:54 how you can get a hold of this study. 00:55 The Book of Revelation, 00:57 you can go to ABSG.Adventist.org 01:00 that stands for Adult Bible Study Guide. 01:04 And you can go there and get a copy for free, 01:06 or just simply contact 01:07 your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:09 I'm sure they would be more than willing 01:10 to put one in your hands. 01:12 And as we said, 01:13 we're so excited for you to be here with us. 01:15 We were approaching the final couple studies, 01:17 a few studies of this particular series, 01:19 and I know you guys are excited about it. 01:21 In fact, let me go ahead 01:22 and introduce this fabulous panel 01:24 to my direct left. 01:26 We have Ms. Shelley Quinn, good to have you here with us. 01:27 It's lovely to be here. Amen. 01:29 And then of course, my pastor, John Lomacang. 01:31 How are you brother? I'm excited. 01:33 This has been an excursion, hasn't it? 01:35 Yes, it has. And then of course... 01:36 A blessed one. 01:38 We have the wonderful Ms. Jill Morikone. 01:39 How are you? 01:40 Oh, excited about the lesson 01:42 and the study of the Book of Revelation. 01:43 All right. 01:44 And last but not least, brother Kenny Shelton, 01:47 always on fire for the Lord. 01:48 Good to be here. Amen. 01:50 This is going to be a really, really good lesson. 01:53 A deep lesson though. 01:54 We're talking about judgments on Babylon. 01:57 This is lesson number 12, 02:00 and I'm not going to spend too much time 02:03 going into Sabbath afternoon's lesson 02:06 but before we dive directly 02:08 into Sunday's lesson, 02:09 I would like for Ms. Jill Morikone, 02:11 if you don't mind would you pray for us as we prepare? 02:13 Absolutely. 02:14 Holy Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. 02:16 And we thank you that 02:18 you are revealed throughout the entire Bible, 02:20 especially the Book of Revelation. 02:22 And as we study just now, 02:24 we ask that we can see you in a greater way 02:26 than we ever have before, 02:28 that you would instruct us and teach us, 02:31 and that we would walk in obedience to the truth that 02:34 we learn and we thank you, in Jesus' name. 02:37 Amen. Amen. 02:40 I find that the Book of Revelation 02:41 has an interesting layout. 02:43 It's an interesting outline. 02:45 We have, just as a really quick recap, 02:47 we have been through a lot. 02:49 We've studied the introductory chapter of Revelation, 02:53 obviously, which reminds us that 02:54 this is the revelation of whom? 02:56 Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. 02:58 And of course following that introductory chapter, 03:01 we launch ourselves into Revelation Chapter two, 03:04 where we start talking about 03:06 the seven churches of Asia Minor. 03:08 And we learn so much about that. 03:09 And then of course, following the seven churches, 03:11 we have the seven seals. 03:13 And then of course, following the seven seals, 03:15 we have the seven trumpets. 03:17 And then we start getting 03:18 into a little bit of the history of the church, 03:21 the Revelation Chapter 12 and Revelation Chapter 13. 03:24 Now, once you get into Revelation 13 and onward, 03:27 then you start getting into 03:28 some very direct last-day events stuff. 03:32 We just came out of last week 03:33 when we've been talking about the seven last plagues, 03:36 we've also covered the three angels' messages, 03:38 which all of this ties in together. 03:40 And it's such an exciting, 03:42 so exciting to study these things. 03:44 I learned something every single time, 03:46 I revisit the Word of God on these topics. 03:48 But this week we're going to jump 03:50 right into Revelation Chapter 17 and 18. 03:54 We follow up kind of from the 7 last plagues, 03:57 because if you read Revelation Chapter 15 and 16, 04:01 those plagues are poured out 04:02 on those who have worshiped the beast 04:04 and have received the mark of the beast. 04:07 Now by the time you get to Revelation Chapter 17 and 18, 04:09 it's almost like God kind of pushes 04:11 the rewind button and says, 04:12 or the pause button, at least and says, 04:14 wait a second, let's backtrack a little, 04:16 let me show you why Babylon has fallen. 04:19 Let me give you some details behind that. 04:21 So with my study, I want to start actually 04:24 in Revelation Chapter 14 04:26 in the second angel's message 04:28 to kind of set the groundwork for this Babylon topic. 04:32 Revelation 14:8 tells us, 04:36 "And another angel followed, saying, 04:39 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 04:44 because she made all nations drink 04:47 of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.'" 04:50 And I like to just mention there, 04:52 most people get really confused 04:53 when they read this particular text 04:55 because they think, "Wait a second, 04:56 Babylon has fallen, that great city." 04:58 And if you know anything about history, 05:00 you know that the ancient city of Babylon 05:01 fell many, many, many years ago. 05:03 So that's why you have to understand that, 05:05 you have to understand 05:06 there's a spiritual application here, 05:08 lots of symbolism. 05:10 I think the greatest context clue 05:11 of this particular verse is where it says, 05:14 "...because she," when I hear the word, "she," 05:17 I think of a woman, right? 05:19 And so I can imagine that as John was seeing this envision, 05:23 when it says, when he heard "she has made all nations," 05:26 I'm sure he said, "Wait a second. 05:28 Who is this woman? Who's she?" 05:29 But of course, God would reveal 05:30 who that she was in a later chapter. 05:33 And of course, now we find ourselves 05:35 in Revelation Chapter 17, 05:36 where we are introduced to this great Babylon, 05:40 the mother of harlots. 05:42 I'm not actually going to get into the title or the name, 05:44 the mother of harlots, 05:46 but my particular assignment on Sunday, 05:48 which is entitled "The Harlot Babylon" 05:50 is just to kind of introduce us to who she is, 05:54 where she's coming from, 05:55 what's kind of happening in the background here. 05:57 Notice I'm going to begin reading 05:59 in Revelation 17:1, 06:01 and the Bible says, "Then one of the seven angels 06:04 who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, 06:07 saying to me, 'Come, and I will show you 06:11 the judgment of the great harlot 06:13 who sits on many waters, with whom the kings 06:17 of the earth committed fornication, 06:20 and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk 06:23 with the wine of her fornication.'" 06:26 Now there's a lot in that verse, 06:28 but obviously verses three and onwards, 06:30 really going to begin to unpack the characteristics 06:34 and a little bit of the history 06:36 and also future of this Babylonian character. 06:39 But what I would like to do 06:40 is just first establish just a few foundational items. 06:44 And one of those is, we're studying about a woman. 06:46 When it says she has made all nations, 06:48 obviously Babylon, 06:49 this Babylon character is a woman, 06:51 and we want to make it very clear that 06:53 in Bible prophecy, 06:55 a woman represents a church. 06:59 Now let me just give you a few proof texts for that 07:01 because the Bible makes it very clear in Jeremiah 6:2. 07:05 The Bible says, obviously coming from the Lord, 07:07 "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely 07:10 and delicate woman." 07:11 Zion in the Bible, of course, was God's people, God's church. 07:14 So again, he likened them to a woman. 07:17 Paul writes to us in 2 Corinthians 11:2, 07:20 "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. 07:24 For I have betrothed you to one husband, 07:27 that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 07:30 And when I hear these words, chaste virgin, 07:32 I think of the 25, actually in Matthew Chapter 25, 07:35 the 10 virgins, those virgins, obviously they're women, 07:38 but they are waiting for their bridegroom. 07:41 And of course we know that bridegroom is Christ. 07:42 Christ is going to return for his church, 07:45 the bride, again, likened to a woman. 07:47 But interestingly enough, I found this verse here, 07:49 I've read it many times, never really connected it, 07:51 but I'm going to connect it in this study. 07:53 And that is we're studying about a harlot. 07:57 Now this woman hasn't always been a harlot, 07:59 but she became a harlot. 08:01 Notice James 4:4 here, James 4:4 tells us this, 08:07 "Adulterers and adulteresses! 08:11 Do you not know that friendship 08:14 with the world is enmity with God? 08:18 Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world 08:21 makes himself an enemy of God." 08:25 And when you this particular passage of the, 08:28 you know, Babylon the great, 08:29 the mother of harlots, there's no doubt 08:31 the context makes it very clear. 08:32 This is an enemy of God. She is an adulterous. 08:35 She has committed spiritual harlotry against God. 08:39 I just want to kind of pick 08:40 apart a few of the details here, 08:42 because some people, again, 08:43 dealing with these deep symbolic words and concepts, 08:46 we're going to allow the Bible to interpret itself. 08:48 Amen. 08:49 So let's go here and let's look and see 08:50 where it says that she says, 08:52 it says here "Come and I will show you 08:53 the judgment of the great harlot 08:55 who sits on many waters." 08:56 I think Shelley or someone in one of the previous lessons 08:59 kind of covered this, 09:01 but I just want to establish here 09:02 that Revelation Chapter 17, 09:03 in fact, you don't have to go very far 09:05 in the exact same passage, Revelation 17, 09:08 it tells us here in Verse 15, notice, 09:11 "Then he said unto me, 'The waters which you saw, 09:14 where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, 09:17 nations, and tongues.'" 09:19 We're talking about a mass group, 09:21 a large body of people that this harlot 09:24 is almost very influential over. 09:27 She's controlling. She's very manipulative. 09:29 And of course she is sitting amongst, 09:31 she is dwelling amongst 09:33 all of these many masses of people. 09:36 Now we're going to get into the identity of this beast. 09:39 And I think we kind of all agreed ahead of time 09:41 that we would probably be 09:43 stepping on each other's lesson. 09:44 But there's no doubt that the appropriate identity 09:47 of this particular beast is none other than 09:49 that of the Roman papal church. 09:51 And I think, Pastor John, you're going to really unpack 09:54 that and show us the evidence for that in just a few moments. 09:56 But I just wanted to give this quick truth here, 09:59 the Roman papal church state, 10:01 again I want to make it very clear, 10:03 we're not talking in a negative way 10:06 against the people of the Catholic church. 10:09 You know, God is not at war with people. 10:10 He's at war 10:12 with these counterfeit institutions 10:13 that steal away and take away His glory. 10:16 And so we're talking about the system, 10:17 the Roman papal church state, 10:19 we're talking about this counterfeit system 10:21 that is at war against God's kingdom. 10:23 And so right here talking about this counterfeit system, 10:27 the Catholic papal system, 10:28 there are more than 1.2 billion Catholics 10:31 in the world today. 10:32 And that's not including all of the influence 10:34 that this system has all across the world. 10:37 We're talking about a mass huge group of people 10:40 across this planet. 10:42 You will notice that in verse five, 10:43 she's referred to as "Babylon the great." 10:46 Just as ancient Babylon, talking about the waters again, 10:50 these mass group of people that she sits with, 10:54 just as ancient Babylon depended 10:55 on the River Euphrates, 10:57 okay, notice the connection, for its existence. 11:00 You know, if you go back and study the history, 11:01 ancient Babylon depended on the River Euphrates. 11:05 So will spiritual Babylon rely on the masses 11:08 for support in the last days. 11:10 And I think, Shelley, you've done a wonderful job 11:12 in one of the previous lessons 11:13 talking about how that River Euphrates 11:15 has dried up and those six plagues 11:17 or those seven last plagues, 11:18 that is definitely a great prophetic point 11:21 that you made there. 11:23 Let's talk about the kings of the earth 11:24 committing fornication. 11:25 My time's running away, 11:27 but I think we can make this point very clear. 11:28 Notice in Revelation Chapter 17, 11:30 again, Verses 1 and 2, it says, 11:32 "'...with whom the kings 11:33 of the earth committed fornication..." 11:36 The kings of the earth here, of course, would symbolize 11:39 or signify all of the leaders of the known world, 11:42 the political leaders, such as the presidents, 11:44 prime ministers, 11:45 kings and queens, things like that. 11:47 Obviously this Babylonian system 11:48 has great influence and has a special, 11:52 not a very good relationship, 11:54 but an interesting relationship 11:56 with the kings and the leaders of the world. 11:58 And of course they have committed fornication 12:00 with this church. 12:02 And I just made this point here. 12:03 The church is to be married to Christ. 12:06 Amen. That's right. 12:07 We are married to Christ, 12:08 but when she leaves her allegiance to Jesus 12:11 and forms a connection with the world, 12:14 she is guilty of spiritual adultery. 12:16 Let me read to you Ephesians 5:31-32, 12:19 just to make this point. 12:21 "'For this reason a man 12:22 shall leave his father and mother 12:23 and be joined to his wife, 12:25 and the two shall become one flesh.'" 12:27 Notice what he says in Verse 32, though. 12:29 "This is a great mystery, 12:31 but I speak concerning Christ and the church." 12:33 When he made that point of saying, 12:35 "Look, you know, Christ is the bridegroom, 12:37 my church, they are my bride, they're my people." 12:40 He wants us for Himself. And He certainly deserves so. 12:43 It says that the inhabitants of the world are also affected. 12:46 They are drunk with the wine of her intoxication. 12:49 Notice there in Verse two, 12:51 "And the inhabitants of the earth were made 12:52 drunk with the wine of her fornication." 12:55 I found this verse and it was very interesting. 12:57 Isaiah 28:7. 12:59 Notice what the Bible says here in Isaiah 28:7, 13:03 "But they also have erred through wine, 13:07 and through intoxicating drink are out of the way, 13:10 the priest and the prophet 13:11 have erred through intoxicating drink, 13:14 they are swallowed up by wine, 13:16 they are out of the way through intoxicating drink, 13:18 they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." 13:22 You know, what part of the body is affected most 13:23 when someone becomes inebriated 13:25 or drunk from alcoholic beverages? 13:27 Obviously the mind. 13:28 Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you 13:32 which was also in Christ Jesus." 13:34 You see spiritual Babylon, 13:36 the war that she's waging across the world 13:39 is to deceive, to confuse. 13:42 In fact, that's what the root word of Babylon, 13:44 Babel means or Babel means obviously confusion. 13:48 Romans 12:1-2. 13:50 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, 13:51 by the mercies of God, 13:53 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, 13:55 holy and acceptable to God, 13:57 which is your reasonable service. 13:58 And do not be conformed to this world, 14:00 but be transformed and renewed by your mind." 14:03 The renewing of your mind. 14:05 Spiritual Babylon is waging a war on God's people 14:09 by her spiritual wine and confusions. 14:10 That's right. 14:11 But I'm going to pass it on to Shelley at this point, 14:13 because Shelley's going to take us on into, 14:15 I believe Monday's lesson, 14:16 the harlot riding on the scarlet beast. 14:18 Absolutely. 14:20 And thank you for that 14:21 wonderful, wonderful, wonderful foundation. 14:23 So let's just go straight to it. 14:26 Revelation 17:3, it says, "So he carried me away 14:30 in the Spirit into the wilderness. 14:33 And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast 14:36 which was full of names of blasphemy, 14:39 having seven heads and ten horns." 14:42 Four times in Revelation, 14:43 John talks about being in the Spirit. 14:47 And this indicates that what he hears, 14:49 what he sees is not an act of human will, 14:52 but rather it is being led 14:54 through the power of the Holy Spirit, 14:56 because we know that 2 Peter 1:20-21 says that 15:02 no word prophecy, it comes through 15:05 private interpretation, rather, 15:08 holy men were moved by the Holy Spirit. 15:12 So it's interesting that he says, 15:14 "I was carried away in the Spirit 15:17 into the wilderness." 15:20 Now the wilderness is an appropriate setting 15:23 for the end-time Babylon, 15:25 because this is where 15:27 the red dragon with the seven heads 15:30 and the 10 horns pursued the virtuous woman, 15:35 the true church of God 15:37 during the 1,260 prophetic days, 15:42 which we know are prophetic years 15:44 from 538 to 1798. 15:47 Now the prostitute, as you said, 15:51 represents a religious entity 15:55 who has been unfaithful to her mate, right? 16:00 She has been unfaithful. 16:03 The beast symbol is symbolic of the powers we looked, 16:07 we've been studying in Daniel, 16:09 that these are the political powers 16:12 that support this end-time Babylon. 16:14 And you notice that 16:15 the language here is remarkably similar 16:20 to the description of the sea beast 16:21 in Revelation 13, 16:23 who persecutes and oppresses God's people 16:25 for those 42 months. 16:27 This suggests to me that the prostitute Babylon, 16:32 this false church is sitting 16:35 on the resurrected beast of Revelation 13, 16:40 the political religious power 16:43 that has had a long time history 16:47 of persecuting God's people 16:50 is who we're talking about here. 16:52 And the Scarlet, the red color 16:54 is the color of blood and oppression. 16:56 And I just want to establish 16:58 that from scripture in Isaiah 1:15-18. 17:03 God says, "When you spread out your hands, 17:04 I will hide My eyes from you. 17:06 Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. 17:08 Your hands are full of blood. 17:11 'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. 17:13 Put away the evil of your doings 17:15 from before My eyes. 17:17 Cease to do evil, learn to do good, 17:19 seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, 17:22 defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.'" 17:25 Now catch this, "'Come now, 17:27 let us reason together,' says the LORD, 17:30 'Though your sins are like scarlet, 17:34 they shall be as white as snow. 17:36 Though they are as red like crimson, 17:39 they shall be as wool.'" 17:41 So when we're talking about this color, scarlet, 17:44 this is the oppression and the blood oppression. 17:48 So what prophecy is showing us here is that 17:51 the church and the state will join together 17:54 at the end of the time 17:56 and the concept of writing this beast 17:59 denotes a political dominance and the fact that 18:03 she's sitting on the waters, the people, 18:06 and the beast indicates that she, 18:09 this end-time religious system is going to dominate secular 18:16 and political systems 18:18 and she will exercise control over them. 18:20 So it says she was full of blasphemous names. 18:24 Now, Joe, I know you covered this 18:26 and I'm going to touch on it again. 18:27 Blasphemy in the New Testament refers to two things. 18:31 The act of claiming equality with God, as in John 10:33, 18:36 when the Jews said to Jesus, 18:38 "'For a good work we do not stone You, 18:40 but for blasphemy, 18:42 because You, being a Man, make Yourself a God.'" 18:45 So when you claim equality with God 18:48 and we have certainly quoted 18:50 many, many publications 18:55 from the Roman papal system that is claiming this, 19:00 or it's an act if you claim, 19:04 a prerogative of an act 19:07 or something that is a prerogative of God alone. 19:10 As in Mark 2:7, they said about Jesus, 19:14 "'Why does this Man speak blasphemies? 19:18 Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" 19:21 So again, we see the papal system 19:24 has set up a system where the Bible tells us 19:27 there's only one mediator 19:29 between us and God, and that is Christ Jesus. 19:32 But the papal system has set up a system 19:36 where you go through a man, 19:40 the priest to forgive your sins. 19:42 Now Revelation 17:4 says, 19:44 "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, 19:46 and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, 19:49 having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations 19:53 and the filthiness of her fornication." 19:57 So the prostitute is pictured as being extravagantly arrayed 20:03 in this purple and scarlet cloth adorned 20:07 with ornaments of gold and pearls and precious stones. 20:11 Did you know, this was a practice 20:13 of the prostitutes in antiquity, 20:16 that they would dress themselves 20:17 in such a way to make themselves 20:19 more seductive to their clients. 20:23 So, but the harlot's dress also reminds us 20:26 of the priest attire in the Old Testament. 20:29 And that included the colors of scarlet and purple. 20:32 So we see with a cup in her hand, 20:35 it's replicating the drink offering 20:37 in this sanctuary and her appearance also, 20:42 it's interesting to me, contains almost 20:45 identical elements as the bride city, 20:48 the new Jerusalem that comes down 20:50 that we see in Revelation 21. 20:52 So what this is suggesting once again is that 20:54 the prostitute here that is depicted here 20:58 has a religious pedigree. 21:00 So Revelation 17:5 says, 21:02 "On her forehead a name was written, 21:06 Mystery, Babylon the great, 21:09 the mother of harlots 21:11 and of the abominations of the earth." 21:13 The Roman custom in the public brothels 21:17 was a prostitute who wore a frontlet 21:20 with her name written on it. 21:22 Isn't that interesting? 21:24 This also recalls Exodus 26:36-38, 21:28 where the high priest in the ancient Hebrew temple, 21:32 God said, "'You shall make a plate 21:33 of pure gold and engrave on it." 21:36 The engraving of the cygnet, "Holiness to the Lord, 21:39 and you shall put it on a blue cord 21:41 that it may be on the turban, 21:42 it shall be on the front of the turban, 21:45 it shall be on Aaron's forehead." 21:48 So now her title, Mystery, Babylon the great. 21:52 Mystery could either be part 21:53 of the inscription of her title. 21:55 But I think more likely it's a prefix indicating 21:58 that Babylon was the cryptic name 22:02 and this mystery is now being revealed. 22:05 So it's the name 22:07 for an end-time confederation of, 22:11 it's a religious confederation 22:14 that is made up of the dragon, 22:17 the sea beast and the earth beast, 22:19 the Satanic trio that unites all the false 22:25 and apostate religious systems, all of them. 22:29 And this act makes her the mother of prostitutes. 22:33 Now this is interesting. 22:35 To be a mother means you have your daughters. 22:37 So what has happened in this case, 22:40 in particularly in the end of the world, 22:42 we're going to see that this religious system 22:45 has spawned offspring, if you will, 22:50 and they will be 22:51 following the practices of the mother 22:55 with its historic religious appearance. 22:59 This end-time religious system 23:01 becomes Satan's powerful tool 23:04 to seduce people away from God. 23:08 And then in the Bible, 23:10 a name stands for what, the character, right? 23:14 So what we see here is that 23:17 this end-time religious power has the character of Babylon. 23:23 It is taking people away from God, 23:28 having them rebel against God and His Word. 23:32 Babylon the great, 23:34 doesn't that remind you of what 23:35 Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel 4:30? 23:37 "'Is this not great Babylon, 23:41 that I have built for a royal dwelling 23:45 by my mighty power and the glory of my honor?'" 23:49 See Babylon is boasting about herself 23:54 and just as he did and what happened 23:57 to the kingdom 23:58 because of his arrogant boasting, 24:00 God took him off at the knees, didn't he? 24:02 So he said, "I saw the woman, 24:03 drunk with the blood of the saints 24:05 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. 24:07 And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement." 24:12 Babylon, drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs, 24:17 this links Babylon to the medieval, 24:20 apostate Christianity of Western Europe, 24:24 which was led by the papacy and responsible 24:28 for the deaths of millions of Christians. 24:30 But I want to end with this point, 24:33 the mother of all rebellion 24:35 is going to be responsible 24:36 for the end-time death decree of those who 24:40 do not worship the beast will have a death decree. 24:44 And the judgment of Babylon is simply God's answer 24:47 to the plea of God's oppressed people, 24:49 remember, into the fifth seal 24:51 when they were saying, "How long, O Lord." 24:54 Wow. Man, that's a lot to consider. 24:57 Well, we're going to take a short break. 24:59 We'll be back just a moment. 25:05 Ever wish you could watch a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel 25:08 again, or share it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? 25:12 Well, you can! 25:13 By visiting 3abnsabbathschool panel.com, 25:17 a clean design makes it easy 25:19 to find the program you're looking for. 25:21 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 25:25 so you can follow along. 25:27 Sharing is easy, just click share 25:29 and choose your favorite social media. 25:31 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 25:38 Welcome back to the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 25:40 We're going to go ahead on 25:42 and move on to Tuesday's lesson. 25:43 Pastor Lomacang, tell us 25:44 who this scarlet-colored beast is. 25:46 You know, this is an amazing continuum 25:48 because we are all doing our part 25:50 to try to make this as clear as we possibly can. 25:53 And thank you for bearing with us. 25:55 As we have talked about 25:56 the beast of Revelation Chapter 17, 26:00 what I want to begin by saying is as this beast 26:03 is participating in the last push 26:07 against God's message, this is the last hurrah, 26:14 but what is being portrayed here 26:15 has been building for thousands of years. 26:18 And what is true about Satan 26:21 is true about this system he established. 26:24 Genesis 3:15, the first prophecy in the Bible 26:27 given when the Lord said that 26:30 His triumph will bruise the devil's head, 26:35 but the devil will only bruise his heel. 26:38 Well, how amazing 26:40 when the devil is defeated the Lord crushes his head. 26:47 When Rome received its defeat, 26:53 it says one of his heads were wounded. 26:58 So what's true about Satan 26:59 is also true about the system he established. 27:02 The other thing is what's true 27:04 about Satan once again it's true about his system. 27:07 In Satan's former state before he apostatized, he was. 27:12 When he apostatized 27:14 and was cast to the earth is not, 27:16 no longer in that form of state but then it's, 27:19 in his continuing onslaught 27:20 against Christ while he's not in the position 27:23 he was in, he yet is. 27:26 Because he's active in all of human history 27:28 from the Old Testament to the New Testament, 27:30 to the persecution of Christians, 27:32 doing the rise of the church as Shelley pointed out 27:34 in emphasis for the 303 to 313 AD 27:39 and per Diocletian, 27:40 his participation in all of human's affairs, 27:44 yet it is. 27:45 He yet is. 27:47 When Rome rose during the paganistic times, 27:50 as Daniel introduced in Daniel 2 through 27:53 Nebuchadnezzar's dream, this iron kingdom, 27:57 then later the beast with iron teeth 28:00 in Daniel Chapter 7 but then the Bible talks about 28:04 this beast again, 28:05 reintroducing the 7 heads and 10 horns 28:07 in Revelation Chapter 13, 28:09 and going back over the course 28:11 of its existence receives a deadly wound. 28:14 So the rise from pagan Rome to papal Rome 28:18 that transition in 538 AD, then it rains for 1,260 years, 28:24 receives a wound just like Satan did. 28:28 And for a short time from 1798 to 1929, 28:34 it's like it's on the stove, 28:36 but there's no fire under it until then it starts to be 28:40 healed yet is, 28:42 and today we are living in the yet is of Satan 28:45 and the yet is of Rome. 28:48 That's where we're living today. 28:50 So when Revelation introduces this woman 28:53 he is saying a couple of things. 28:55 She is as responsible 28:58 as the one who gave her, her power. 29:01 Because the onslaught, 29:02 the Great Controversy has begun between Christ and Satan. 29:05 And I want to make that very clear. 29:07 The Great Controversy is not between Christ and Rome. 29:11 The Great Controversy is between Christ and Satan. 29:15 But I want to also point out something else 29:16 because we talked about this 29:17 and I've seen a broader picture of these, 29:20 you know, there are many systems 29:21 that Satan works through. 29:23 He doesn't just work through Catholicism. 29:24 We're almost saying if you're, 29:26 we almost say if you're part of a system of Catholicism, 29:29 well, as long as you're in Catholicism, 29:30 you could be atheist and you're safe. 29:33 No, that's not what we're saying. 29:34 Satan works through spiritualism, atheism Judaism, 29:37 which eventually kicked out Christ, Islam, 29:39 which doesn't look to Him as the savior, 29:41 but just a good prophet, 29:43 Catholicism, we know secularism 29:45 and also apostate Protestantism. 29:48 Spiritualism takes into the whole reign of, 29:51 you know, these Eastern religions 29:52 where they have thousands and thousands of gods. 29:54 Like we saw when my wife 29:56 and I came from Myanmar a number of months ago, 29:58 and from Bangkok 30:00 where they have 33,000 Buddhist temples. 30:04 These are all spiritualism encompasses all these Shakti, 30:08 yoga, all these aesthetic religions that have 30:13 spiritualism at its base, including Darwinism. 30:19 That's true. That's the spirit. 30:21 The attempt of Darwinism, 30:22 the attempt of the theory of evolution 30:24 is to get rid of the creator. 30:26 That's right. 30:27 So under spiritualism all these systems exist. 30:30 Secularism where money is the focus 30:32 where money is the God, where materialism is the God, 30:35 where man thinks his life consists 30:37 and what he possesses, all these systems. 30:39 So Satan continues to work through spiritualism, atheism, 30:42 Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, secularism, 30:45 and apostate Protestantism. 30:48 But the only one that was wounded 30:49 and I'm making a parallel connection here. 30:52 The only one that received the wound was Rome. 30:55 And Rome, therefore now 30:56 became the kid in the room that was crippled 30:58 and everybody now focuses on that 30:59 and all the world wanders after Rome 31:01 when they start coming up, rising up again. 31:04 So when we walk through that, 31:06 we begin to see in Revelation 17:3, 31:08 look at that very quickly. 31:10 And it says so he carried me away into the spirit, 31:12 into the wilderness. 31:14 By the way, when John sees this woman, 31:17 one of his responses is talked about in verse six. 31:21 "And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, 31:24 full of names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns." 31:29 The scarlet colored beast is the one's that 31:32 full of names of blasphemy having 7 heads and 10 horns. 31:36 That same scarlet beast 31:37 is introduced in Revelation Chapter 12, 31:39 that stands before the woman ready to devour her child. 31:42 That's the power of Rome in its paganistic form. 31:45 Wasn't yet papal Rome, it was pagan Rome. 31:47 So once again, now this woman look at Verse 6 in John, 31:52 well, Verse 4, because he now identifies 31:55 by the way, the woman appears 16 times 31:58 in Revelation, 31:59 16 times the woman is talked about. 32:01 But in Verse four, it says, 32:02 "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, 32:04 and adorned with gold and precious stones 32:06 and pearls, having in her hand 32:08 a golden cup full of abominations 32:10 and the filthiness of her fornication. 32:13 And on her head was a name was written, 32:16 Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots 32:18 and of the abominations of the earth." 32:20 A very important point. 32:21 She could not be guilty of harlotry 32:24 and prostitution and unfaithfulness, 32:26 unless at one point she was faithful. 32:30 She couldn't be guilty of these things. 32:32 And John says, "And I saw the woman," 32:34 in Verse 6, 32:35 "drunk with the blood of the saints 32:36 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. 32:38 And when I saw her, I marveled..." 32:40 In the Greek, there it says, 32:41 "I was shocked with great amazement." 32:42 I'm shocked at what I see. This is not what I expect. 32:46 I'm going into the wilderness. 32:47 The angel has taken me to the wilderness 32:49 to see this woman that was protected. 32:50 But now I go on and I find a different woman. 32:52 And now all of a sudden she's got a support system that 32:56 she didn't have before. 32:57 She's sitting on this scarlet beast. 32:59 The beast that instituted itself 33:01 through the dark ages, 33:03 that became the prominent power during the dark ages, 33:05 the beast that practically tried 33:08 to annihilate Christianity 33:10 read about those who had to hide in the mountains 33:13 and rocks of Europe, read about the Waldensians 33:15 and the Burgundians, not the Burgundians, 33:18 but the powers of people that here, 33:20 they had to read the Bible on the slide. 33:23 They couldn't really be open in their evangelism, 33:26 but the Lord hid that woman. 33:27 But during the time of her hiding 33:30 Rome gained access to her. 33:32 But the Lord still had the final say. 33:36 That's the beauty about this Word. 33:37 So we have in Revelation 6, 33:40 Revelation, 17:6 he says, "I'm amazed at what I see." 33:45 And the amazement comes in the transition 33:48 that is taking place. 33:49 And today when you look at Christianity 33:51 and I'm going to go ahead 33:52 and prepare the way for transition to Jill. 33:56 When you look at Christianity today, 33:58 the Lord will look at Protestantism 34:00 and have the same reaction. 34:02 I am shocked. Yes. 34:04 I'm a preacher. And I'm shocked. 34:06 That's right. 34:07 When I look at what happened 34:08 between the Protestant reformation in 1565, 34:10 that Martin Luther catapulted in Protestantism today, 34:14 I hear religious, I hear preachers today. 34:18 One very, very famous one, I won't mention his name. 34:21 His last name is Copeland, I won't mention first name. 34:24 It's Kenneth. 34:27 But also people like Rick Warren, 34:29 they're saying we have more in common with Rome 34:33 than we don't have in common. 34:34 That's true, man. 34:36 And I can never forget when Kenneth Copeland said, 34:39 "Can you imagine we have been known as protestors?" 34:42 Well, you know what? 34:43 I will be known as a protestor 34:44 when I'm protesting against error. 34:46 That's right. They're not protesting people. 34:48 That's right. 34:49 They're protesting against error. 34:50 And Martin Luther did the right thing. 34:52 He protested against the violation of God's Word 34:56 and the establishment of a man as God on earth. 35:00 So yes, Protestantism today will make you shocked 35:05 when you hear things being talked that are not scriptural. 35:07 Sunday is not scriptural. 35:09 The immortality of the soul is not scriptural. 35:12 The secret rapture is not scriptural. 35:14 I'm shocked! 35:15 Eternally burning hell is not scriptural. 35:17 I'm shocked! 35:18 That's what the Lord is saying, 35:20 "How did this get into My church?" 35:21 She drank the wine that was given to her, 35:25 this Babylonian wine. 35:27 And the sad reality is religious leaders, 35:30 political leaders in America and around the world 35:32 are drinking the wine of Babylon. 35:34 All the system of false worship under 35:36 which Satan through the power of Rome 35:39 has given wine to all the world. 35:41 And sadly enough, 35:43 the woman that the devil is upset 35:45 with that keeps the commandments of God 35:46 and has the testimony of Jesus will triumph in the end 35:51 because she holds in a true un-perverted relationship 35:55 with the man Christ Jesus. 35:57 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor John. 36:01 Each one of you, what an incredible study. 36:03 I like the parallelism that you brought out 36:07 about the beast that was, and is not 36:09 and yet is talking of course about the papal system. 36:12 When the papal power reign supreme 36:14 as you already talked about 538 to 1798, 36:19 and then the beast is not meaning it received 36:22 that deadly wound and right now, 36:24 we see the beast re-emerging, 36:27 but he hasn't completely re-emerged yet 36:29 until we see that complete union 36:32 of church and state again, 36:33 until we see that persecution 36:36 come again against God's people. 36:38 But I like the parallelism that you brought out, 36:41 not only the Roman Catholic church, 36:42 but also Satan. 36:43 He was, is not, and yet will be in the future. 36:47 And we're going to look at that in part of my day as well. 36:50 Wednesday, we look at the seven heads 36:52 of the beast. 36:54 And so we pick up right after that passage, 36:55 which you just said, 36:57 this is Revelation 17:8, at the end of that. 37:01 It says, "Those who dwell on the earth will marvel, 37:04 whose names are not written in the Book of Life 37:06 from the foundation of the world, 37:07 when they see the beast that was, 37:09 and is not, and yet is." 37:12 In the Greek, yet is actually means 37:14 it's about ready to come up. 37:16 It's about ready to come. 37:19 So then we pick up with Verse nine. 37:21 "Here is the mind which has wisdom. 37:24 The seven heads are seven mountains 37:27 on which the woman sits." 37:29 Now the seven heads meaning 37:31 the seven heads of the beast there. 37:32 "...Are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 37:35 There are also seven kings. 37:38 Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. 37:42 And when he comes, 37:44 he must continue a short time." 37:45 We'll pause before we go to Verse 11 here. 37:48 Now the seven heads 37:50 and the seven kings we could say are synonymous. 37:53 The seven kings, kings in Bible prophecy 37:58 represent a kingdom, not a king, but a kingdom. 38:02 Let's look at Daniel Chapter 7, turn back with me 38:05 to Daniel Chapter 7 38:08 and read Verse 17. 38:13 Daniel... You have that, Pastor? 38:14 You want to read that? Daniel 7... 38:16 Sure. Daniel 7:17. 38:18 "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings 38:22 which arise out of the earth." 38:24 And then if we jump down to Verse 23, 38:26 it says, "The fourth beast shall be 38:28 a fourth kingdom on earth, 38:32 which shall be different from all other kingdoms." 38:35 We know that this is talking 38:36 about seven successive kingdoms, 38:38 not kings, but kingdoms. 38:41 Daniel was talking here about the four kingdoms 38:43 over which they were ruled. 38:44 You think about Daniel 2 in the image, 38:46 you think about Daniel 7 and Daniel Chapter 8 38:49 with the beast, 38:50 those are all kingdoms or we would say 38:52 world empires that are being discussed there. 38:55 Now let's jump back to Revelation Chapter 17. 38:58 There are, I just want to preface 39:00 what I'm going to say here, by saying this, 39:02 there are many different interpretations 39:06 for this passage right here. 39:09 Not only in Christiandom 39:10 and many different Protestant churches, 39:12 but even within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 39:14 there are different interpretations to this. 39:17 I know, I just want to give a couple of viewpoints 39:19 that I'm not subscribing to, 39:22 and then we're going to give a different viewpoint. 39:24 So one of the viewpoints, and this is commonly taught, 39:27 that the five have fallen. 39:28 Now you notice here the seven kings 39:30 or the seven kingdoms or world empires, 39:32 it says five have fallen, 39:35 one is, and one is coming still. 39:37 One is still to come, Pastor Kenny. 39:40 So the five have fallen. 39:41 Some people say that that would be Egypt, 39:43 Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. 39:47 The reason I'm not subscribing 39:49 to that viewpoint is that 39:51 if you look at the prophetic world empires, 39:55 everything you look at and read in Daniel, 39:57 everything you look at 39:59 and read in Revelation Chapter 13, 40:03 Egypt is never mentioned. 40:04 Syria is not mentioned in reference 40:07 to these world kingdoms. 40:09 It always begins with Babylon. 40:11 Babylon is the head of gold. 40:13 Babylon is the first beast in Daniel 7, 40:15 Babylon's the first beast 40:17 and it's mentioned in Revelation 13, 40:20 the sea beast Babylon's mentioned there as well. 40:23 The other viewpoint and actually, 40:25 interestingly enough, 40:26 I was taught this 20 years ago when I went to school, 40:28 I was taught the second viewpoint 40:31 which is that the seven heads 40:33 or the seven kings are actually seven popes, 40:36 that five have fallen. 40:37 Meaning... 40:39 Now when I was taught this Pope John Paul 40:40 the Second was the ruling pope at that time. 40:43 So five have fallen and they said, 40:44 "Well, Pope John is, and then one's yet to come 40:47 and that's the end of the world." 40:49 The reason I don't subscribe to that either 40:51 is that these seven heads 40:52 and seven kings represent kingdoms, 40:54 not people, not individuals. 40:57 In addition, that's almost getting into date setting 41:01 because we could almost say, 41:03 "Okay, now the next one, okay then we know Jesus 41:06 is going to come within a couple of years 41:07 or within whatever." 41:09 So we're almost in the date setting. 41:10 So what I'm going to present here, 41:12 as far as the five who have fallen, 41:14 the one is, and one who is yet to come, 41:16 we begin with Babylon. 41:17 That is the same as the lines of Bible prophecy that 41:20 we always teach as Seventh-day Adventist Christians. 41:24 So we're going to begin with the kingdom of Babylon. 41:27 That would be Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, 41:31 pagan Rome, and papal Rome. 41:33 Now if you think about 41:35 what we just said with the beast, 41:36 the beast who was that continues 41:38 all the way from 1798, right? 41:40 That's 538 to 1798. 41:42 That's the time that was-was, 41:44 when he reigned supreme. 41:46 And then he is during the deadly wound time. 41:48 So if you parallel these, 41:50 then the five who have fallen have to be prior 41:53 to the deadly wound time. 41:55 You know, if you parallel that, the beast who was 41:57 and is then the five who have fallen 41:59 are synonymous with the time of who was, 42:02 and then the one is synonymous with the beast who's not, 42:05 who had the wound at this time. 42:07 And then what is coming. 42:09 So we have those five kingdoms who have fallen and one is. 42:13 Now this is while the beast is not functioning 42:15 because he's received a deadly wound. 42:18 But at the same time, 42:19 this is when apostate Protestantism, 42:22 this is the beast of Revelation Chapter 13, 42:24 we call it the land beast who arose out of the land, 42:28 who enforces worship to the sea beast 42:31 or to the papacy. 42:33 This is when apostate Protestantism is and lives. 42:37 And then we have the beast that is not yet come, 42:40 the beast who will come in the future. 42:42 I mean, the king, I'm sorry. 42:44 Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. 42:47 That is again, when the Roman power 42:50 will unite with the state and that papal, 42:53 that deadly wound would be healed 42:55 and the persecution will come again 43:00 against the people of God. 43:02 Now let's look at the last verse 43:03 in the remaining time we have. 43:05 Verse 11, "The beast that was, and is not, 43:08 is himself also the eighth, 43:10 and is of the seven, and is going to perdition." 43:13 Now I know Pastor John 43:14 talked about that with the papacy, 43:16 but if we also look at it, 43:17 as you also talked about with the illustration of Satan, 43:22 first of all, I think of Revelation, 43:24 let's jump back there Revelation 1:8, 43:27 it says, this is about Jesus. 43:29 "'I am Alpha and the Omega, 43:30 the Beginning and the End,' says the Lord, 43:32 'who was and who is and who is to come.'" 43:36 The same words used there for Jesus. 43:39 Now, Satan, we know is the counterfeit. 43:42 Okay? That's right. 43:43 So he uses the same language there. 43:45 And we know right now, Satan is, 43:47 as it were dominion, 43:48 he has the dominion over this world 43:50 and he's ruling, 43:51 but he, there will come a time when he is not. 43:53 And that's when he goes into the bottomless pit. 43:55 Let's look at that, 43:57 turn over to Revelation Chapter 20. 43:59 Revelation 20:1. 44:01 "I saw an angel coming down from heaven, 44:03 having the key to the bottomless pit 44:04 and a great chain in his hand. 44:07 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, 44:09 who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years." 44:14 And then we know he will come up again. 44:16 And we see that in Verse 7," 44:18 When the 1000 years have expired, 44:21 Satan will be released from his prison." 44:24 And when he's released, what is he going to do? 44:27 He's seeking to deceive the nations 44:29 for that final battle against Christ. 44:33 So if we go back to Revelation 17:11, 44:35 "The beast that was, and is not, 44:37 is himself also the eighth, 44:39 and is of the seven, and is going to perdition." 44:43 Satan, when he comes back up again, 44:45 Pastor Kenny, at the end of the 1000 years, 44:48 and he seeks to deceive the nations, 44:49 what's going to happen? 44:51 He's going to perdition. 44:52 We know his end will be in the lake of fire. 44:56 Amen. Praise the Lord. 44:58 Well covered. Yes. 44:59 Yeah. 45:00 That's pretty heavy duty stuff 45:02 when we're looking at these things here. 45:03 Yes, it is. 45:05 We're going to be looking on, 45:06 I have Thursday's lesson, is the judgment of Babylon. 45:09 And so just kind of in a nutshell 45:10 and go over some of the things 45:12 that have been discussed and discussed again 45:14 and more have been put to it. 45:15 I think it's very interesting for us to do that. 45:17 So I'm going to read Revelation 17:12-15. 45:21 I don't think we spend a whole lot of time on this, 45:23 but Revelation 17:12-15. 45:28 It says, "And the 10 horns 45:29 which thou sawest are ten kings, 45:32 which have received no kingdom as of yet, 45:34 but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 45:38 They have one mind, 45:40 and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 45:44 These shall make war with the Lamb, 45:45 and the Lamb shall overcome them." 45:47 That's good news. 45:48 "For he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings, 45:50 and they are with him are called, 45:52 the chosen, and faithful." 45:54 Verse 15, "And he saith unto me, 45:57 'The waters which thou sawest, 45:59 where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, 46:01 and nations, and tongues.'" 46:02 So let's go on over something, what I found 46:05 something in the Second Advent library 46:07 track number 39, just a couple of lines. 46:09 Notice what it says. 46:11 It says, "The truly righteous are diminished from the earth 46:15 and no man layeth it to heart." 46:18 What a time, what food for thought to think 46:21 on the truly righteous time is coming 46:23 when the enemy tries to lay down the righteous here. 46:27 The great saying charged against Babylon is what? 46:30 She made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath. 46:33 It's what's been brought out here beautifully here, 46:35 is that Babylon is going to fall 46:37 because she's made everyone drunk with these lies 46:40 with these false, you know, 46:41 prophecies, with these false teachings 46:43 and doctrines and the commandments of man. 46:47 This cup of intoxication, 46:49 we know represents false doctrines 46:51 and teachings of Satan's deceptions, 46:53 it's been talked about here, uniting the world together. 46:56 So we realize, and now people would disagree, 46:59 but there's coming a time 47:00 that the world is going to seem to be united together. 47:02 We'll talk about that a little bit more in a minute. 47:05 And they're united together by the miracles 47:06 and the false teachings. 47:08 So on and so forth, Revelation 13:13-14, 47:11 and also Revelation 18:23. 47:14 We know fornication, 47:15 prostitution that is an elicit alliance, 47:19 is what is happening in the world. 47:21 It's coming together apostate Christianity 47:24 and also we have to say, to me, 47:25 the political powers going to all be involved here, 47:28 the nations of the earth, Babylon, 47:30 the kings of the earth. 47:32 They're going to fall in together 47:34 and then they're all going to fight 47:35 against God's people. 47:37 Now remember we go back, we remember a little bit 47:39 Rome's still up to her old tricks. 47:42 We have to realize that same old tricks is 47:44 what did Rome did, you know, during the dark ages. 47:46 They took the Word of God away from the people. 47:49 And they said, "This is what it says, 47:51 and this is what you will do, or else..." 47:53 I think it came pretty much to that. 47:55 The Reformation, praise God, 47:57 came along and along with that Reformation 47:59 was restored there was what? 48:01 Thus saith the Lord. I'm so thankful for that. 48:05 And rather than the creeds of man, 48:07 but you know, I'm finding out more and more, 48:08 there's an awful lot of creeds that's going on. 48:10 Lots of things of man, 48:12 rules and regulations of man's and Rome and Babylon. 48:15 And we talked about Protestantism, you know. 48:20 These groups, as they come together, 48:22 evangelicals, we could even put that in there, 48:24 they've tried to tie themselves up 48:26 and they've done it with all of their creeds 48:29 and the teachings and doctrines of men. 48:31 They no longer preach the Bible. 48:34 Now this is my opinion, 48:35 and I'll just throw it out there. 48:37 I don't believe they teach the Bible 48:38 the way they ought to teach, 48:39 be preaching and teaching the Bible today. 48:41 One of the reasons is because, 48:43 as Rome as always, 48:44 they put out so many different, we call them creeds. 48:46 They're not Bible truths. 48:47 They're just creeds 48:49 and teachings of doctrines of men. 48:51 And it prohibits actually teaching the Word of God. 48:54 How does it do that? 48:55 Because you can't really preach 48:57 what the truth is because it goes against 48:58 one of their teachings and their church. 49:00 So they just got can't really do that anymore. 49:01 So they just stay 49:03 on the soft ground a little bit. 49:04 You know, they can't do it. 49:06 Same thing as Rome did 49:07 only we're doing it now in a little more subtle, 49:10 subtle way where it confuses the minds of the people. 49:13 The sin of the world lies at the door of the churches. 49:19 Read that in the Great Controversy, 49:20 if you will, in page 389, a lot more about that. 49:23 It just almost blow your mind. 49:24 The second angel's message, Revelation 14, what did it say? 49:28 Someone's mentioned here, 49:29 proclaimed in 1843 and '44 second angel become what? 49:34 Babylon is? Fallen. 49:36 Babylon is fallen, notice that. 49:38 Did it reach its complete fulfillment in 1844? 49:41 Absolutely not. We have to think about it here. 49:44 It didn't reach its complete fulfillment. 49:47 What was happening the church just continued to refuse light. 49:51 As God began to bring light upon the churches, 49:54 many of the churches, they refused it. 49:56 They didn't want to accept. It's no different today. 49:58 Today the more light is shining up on the world. 50:00 The light is shining upon the churches 50:02 and people refuse to take the light. 50:04 They love, the Bible says, darkness, what? 50:07 More than they do light. 50:09 They continue to reject the light 50:11 that God sends our way. 50:12 Special truths for this time. 50:14 And we're falling, you know, we've been following, 50:15 the churches have been 50:16 falling lower and lower and lower. 50:18 That's right. 50:20 And so the Babylon or the complete fall of Babylon 50:22 will not be reached until that 50:24 she's made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath 50:27 of her fornication here yet. 50:29 So the apostasy in the church is simply doing what? 50:32 It's simply gaining ground every day, 50:34 because the apostasy knows and the apostasy, we... 50:38 It's possibly simply means we abandoned 50:40 what we believe may be once was the truth. 50:42 We've apostatized 50:44 what we understand may be was true. 50:45 We've abandoned our faith. 50:47 We've abandoned the principles in God's Word. 50:50 We've abandoned a lot of our pillars. 50:52 And I'm talking about all of us. 50:54 If mom says, if the shoe fits, wears it. 50:56 We have to look at it, 50:58 many have abandoned even the pillars of our faith. 51:00 We need to get back to it. 51:02 We have a profession of religion. 51:04 We realize that. 51:05 It's become popular in the world. 51:07 Well, we profess to be, 51:08 we're a Christian, high-positioned people. 51:10 You mentioned a few high-positioned people 51:12 and religious leaders, leaders, politicians, 51:16 even talented ministers, 51:19 ooh, be careful with this and are paid high salaries, 51:23 you know, to entertain the people, 51:25 not to preach what is truth and call sin by its right name. 51:28 But they called what, 51:29 they want to entertain the people, 51:31 make them feel good. 51:33 They do not preach against open popular sins in the world. 51:37 They just won't do that. 51:38 They can't keep a congregation if they do. 51:41 Their preaching and teaching what? 51:43 The smooth things. 51:44 This is what we're talking about. 51:46 We're talking about the fall of Babylon. 51:47 This is what's happening. 51:48 God's only going to put up with this so long. 51:51 Amen. 51:52 That He, one day, that will be enough. 51:54 His cup, people, we've talked about here, 51:56 is going to be full. 51:57 He's going to rise up and he's going to say, 51:59 "That is enough," 52:00 because he doesn't want us 52:02 preaching smooth things right now. 52:04 We are in the time of the end. 52:06 We know, over and over we say, "Yeah, Jesus is coming." 52:09 Don't get bored with that. Jesus is coming. 52:11 That's right. Probation is close. 52:13 That's what we've been going through 52:14 in all of these lessons right here. 52:16 The wrath of God is going to be poured out. 52:19 That's right. No mercy. 52:20 No. 52:21 Because God is going to pour it out. 52:23 And He's... We come to a point, 52:24 I believe we talk about 2 Timothy 4:3-4 52:27 that we just want smooth things. 52:29 We've turned away our ear from what? 52:31 The truth. 52:32 And the things that we need right now 52:34 is called present truth. 52:36 Hold it together. 52:37 If we don't, we're going to become part of Babylon. 52:39 Babylon's just running rampant in the world today. 52:42 And I think probably some of it could be 52:44 because of maybe somebody like me, 52:45 maybe somebody like you is not doing 52:47 what God has asked you to do. 52:49 What God has laid on your heart to do. 52:51 It may not be what somebody else does. 52:54 It may not be in the way that somebody else does it, 52:57 but God have mercy on us. 52:58 You better do it. 53:00 You better do what God's called you to do 53:01 and don't hold back. 53:03 You can't hold back because we will be accountable 53:07 for the truth that God has so beautifully given to us. 53:10 That's right. 53:11 You know, you're preaching 53:12 some of these things are going on. 53:14 We pray, preach in the name of God 53:15 and everybody we're Christian. 53:16 And we have names over the door post over there, 53:18 but we're lacking the power the Bible talks about. 53:21 They have a form of what? Godliness, but they're not. 53:23 This is what I'm what I'm talking about Babylon, 53:25 that's why it's falling. 53:26 All coming together. 53:28 We have a form of God, but there's no power there. 53:30 We come together, it's a power of man, 53:31 and maybe the power of man's word 53:33 or power of a song, whatever it might be. 53:35 2 Timothy 3:5. 53:36 Well, we have to look about, we need power 53:38 and we need it in the church 53:40 before Babylon completely falls 53:42 and goes down and it's going to be, quickly, 53:45 it's going to be short-lived. 53:47 But it talks about here 53:48 it's going to come together one hour. 53:49 That means for a very short time, 53:51 this is going to be a coming together, 53:53 it almost looks like, I'll be careful 53:54 with this one here, 53:56 but it's almost going to look like 53:57 it's another one world power. 53:58 Right. Absolutely. 54:00 How it all comes together. 54:01 But it's very short lived, it's for a very short 54:03 period of time, one hour. 54:05 And as the Bible says, these have what? 54:08 These have one mind, Revelation 17:13. 54:11 That's a confederacy of religious 54:13 and political powers 54:14 that give their allegiance to the beast. 54:17 Babylon the great is the name by 54:18 which inspiration refers 54:20 to this threefold religious power. 54:21 We've talked about it. 54:23 Let's say you're talking about United with the papacy. 54:25 Papacy is no more than baptized Christianity. 54:29 You think about it or baptized paganism. 54:31 That's my word. Baptized paganism. 54:34 That's kind of interesting. It's tough words. 54:36 I think we live in a time where we need to get 54:38 apostate Protestantism and certainly spiritism. 54:41 Babylon refers again to the what? 54:44 The organization. Not to leaders of the people. 54:47 The great body of Christ's true followers 54:49 is still in Babylon. 54:51 So when you hear these things, don't get hurt by it. 54:53 Check them out to see whether they'd be true 54:55 because God's calling you, "Come out of her, My people." 54:59 And the call is still given and it's given right now today. 55:02 "Come out of her, My people, 55:04 and be not partakers of her sins." 55:05 Amen. Wow. Praise the Lord. 55:07 You know, brother Kenny, really quickly just going 55:09 along with exactly what you just said, 55:11 I found a quote here 55:13 from Great Controversy, page 389. 55:15 Listen to what it says. 55:16 "When faithful teachers expound the Word of God, 55:19 there arise men of learning, 55:22 ministers professing to understand the Scriptures, 55:25 who denounce sound doctrine as heresy, 55:27 and thus turn away inquirers after truth. 55:30 Were it not that the world is hopelessly intoxicated 55:33 with the wine of Babylon, 55:35 multitudes would be convinced and converted by the plain, 55:38 cutting truths of the Word of God. 55:40 But religious faith appears so confused 55:43 and discordant that the people know 55:45 not what to believe as truth. 55:47 The sin of the world's impenitence 55:49 lies at the door of the church." 55:51 Amen. 55:52 It's the responsibility of the church. 55:53 That's heavy. Wow, man, that is powerful. 55:56 We certainly need a revival. 55:57 Amen. Amen. 55:59 With the time that we have left, 56:00 I want to turn it over to our panel 56:01 for any final remarks that you guys may have in 56:03 regards to the lesson. 56:04 One point that I wanted to make 56:05 is that we are going much deeper 56:08 than the quarterly actually does. 56:10 And when you go to the, if you're downloading this, 56:14 you will not find our sermon notes, 56:16 but you can go to YouTube and rewatch this 56:19 because I know that I'm going to go rewatch it 56:22 because you guys I'm learning things 56:24 and I hope I can retain them. 56:26 That's right. 56:28 You know, the beauty of this whole challenge is that 56:30 we serve a Lord who in the end, 56:33 He's victorious what we are previewing 56:35 and there's so many things we talked about kings, 56:37 nations, peace, don't get lost in all of that. 56:41 It's very important to the developing of a picture. 56:43 Don't miss Christ in all of this. 56:46 He's calling us, He's the focus. 56:48 And the Bible says in all of this, 56:49 "Look unto Me and be saved for, 56:51 I am God and there is no other. 56:53 I am God and there is none like Me." 56:55 Keep your eyes fixed on Christ. 56:57 Amen. Thank you, Pastor John. 56:58 Revelation 17:14. 57:00 "These will make war with the Lamb 57:01 and the Lamb will overcome them, 57:04 for He is Lord of lords and King of kings 57:05 and those who are with him are called chosen 57:07 and faithful." 57:08 So we know the back of the book is that Jesus Christ wins. 57:11 Amen. 57:12 Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 18:4. 57:16 "It's still sounding today. 57:17 Babylon is fallen. 57:18 Come out of her, My people." 57:20 The good news. 57:22 Majority of God's people are still in Babylon 57:25 and they will respond to the call 57:27 and they will come out. 57:28 Amen. Powerful. 57:29 Amen. 57:31 Hasn't this been an incredible lesson, 57:32 just this entire series on Revelation has been so fun, 57:36 so mind-opening to learn new things 57:39 each and every time I read the scriptures. 57:42 Well, we have come to the end of today's lesson, 57:44 but we want you to stay tuned with us next week, 57:47 because we're going to wrap this thing up 57:49 with our final lesson, lesson number 13, 57:52 which I think is entitled "I make all things new." 57:54 We're going to look at 57:56 how the story ends in the Book of Revelation. 57:58 So it's so good to have you join us today. 58:00 We will see you next week. 58:02 May God bless you abundantly. 58:03 Thank you. |
Revised 2024-08-26