Participants: Jac Colon
Series Code: RNN
Program Code: RNN000001
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00:17 My wife and I did a Revelation Now in Havana, Cuba.
00:23 One of the first Protestant teams 00:25 to preach the gospel in Cuba. 00:30 And every morning we would go 00:31 to take our morning walk, to get a little exercise 00:36 and it wasn't long until I noticed 00:40 that almost every single person 00:43 walked along the side walk with their heads down. 00:51 Rarely would someone be looking up. 00:57 Every once in a while, we would see someone looking up. 01:02 When we did, I saw what I called hollow eyes, 01:12 emptiness, nothingness, despair 01:19 because they had no hope for anything better. 01:30 And, you know, the disturbing thing about that to me 01:34 is that I'm beginning to see those hollowed eyes, 01:41 right in our own country. 01:44 People living without a hope. 01:49 Just this morning I saw in the news 01:53 economy looses 85,000 more jobs 01:59 as the economists were disappointed, 02:02 they're expecting it to show growth. 02:05 The sharp drop in the work force 661,000 fewer people 02:11 showed that more of the jobless are giving up. 02:18 You see the 10% unemployment 02:20 only shows those who are trying to find the job. 02:24 Once you give up and quit trying to find the job, 02:27 you don't count anymore. 02:29 It should be in 17% instead of 10. 02:34 But people are giving up, 02:36 giving up because they have no hope 02:39 fear striking the hearts of men and women. 02:41 Just last October Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom said, 02:46 he warned that "The UK faces a catastrophe of floods, 02:50 droughts and killer heatwaves 02:52 if the world fails to agree on a deal on climate change. 02:57 Negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming. 03:02 They are afraid, men and women are afraid, 03:06 afraid of climate change, afraid of global warming, 03:09 afraid of the economy, afraid of homelessness, 03:12 afraid of loosing jobs, afraid of swine's flu. 03:22 I remember one of my neighbors. 03:25 He happens to be the editor of the local newspaper. 03:28 After Katrina, after tsunami, 03:31 after Katrina, after almost every disaster, 03:35 he says, "Jac, what's going on?" 03:43 Does the Bible have anything to say about this? It's scary. 03:53 And I said the Bible does have something to say. 03:55 You need to come to Revelation Now. 04:00 Scary, the disciples ask Jesus, what are the signs-- 04:05 how we're gonna know when the end comes? 04:06 And Jesus said in Luke 21. 04:10 He said, "You'll see these signs." 04:11 Verse 10, "Nation will rise up against nation 04:14 and kingdom against kingdom and there will be earthquakes 04:17 and famines and pestilences in various places, 04:20 and fearful events and great signs from the heavens." 04:23 Mathew said these are just beginning of the birth pains. 04:27 There will be signs in the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, 04:30 the nations will be in aguish, perplexity at the roaring 04:34 and the tossing of the seas, sounds like tsunamis, 04:37 sounds like hurricanes, sounds like Katrina's. 04:41 Men will faint from terror, 04:43 apprehensive of what is coming on the world 04:45 for even the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 04:48 Jesus said, "There will be disaster after disaster, 04:51 war after war, nations after nations." 04:56 The Bible is telling us that we should expect 04:58 something terribly wrong with our planet 05:03 and look around, you're seeing it. 05:05 Now lot of these things have been going on for a lot of times 05:08 and that doesn't mean that these are prove 05:10 that Jesus is coming right now. 05:12 He said, it's like birth pains coming on to a pregnant women. 05:15 Birth pains take time and everyone is a reminder 05:19 that, yes, it hurts now but it's going to get better later. 05:23 And everyone getting closer and closer 05:25 and more and more intense remind us 05:27 that we're getting closer and closer to the end. 05:30 It is going to be bad, 05:31 bad things are gonna happen Jesus said, but there's hope. 05:39 And that brings us to the last book of the Bible. 05:42 In fact the last chapter of the last book. 05:45 In Revelation 22, Jesus says, 05:48 three times with steadfast firmness, 05:51 He says, "Behold, verse 7, I'm coming soon. 05:55 Blessed is the one who keeps the words of this book." 05:57 Verse 12, "Behold, I am coming soon," Jesus said. 06:01 Verse 20, "He who testifies to these things 06:03 says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.'" 06:06 Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 06:09 The bad news is that things are getting worse 06:13 and worse and worse. 06:14 The good news is that Jesus is coming soon, amen. 06:19 He is coming soon. 06:21 And more and more people are becoming aware 06:24 of the fact that Jesus is coming soon. 06:28 Millions of people are beginning to turn to faith in Jesus. 06:34 But I know also the Bible says 06:39 in the last days there will be scoffers. 06:41 In 2 Peter 3:3, "First of all, you must understand, 06:45 in the last days scoffers will come, 06:48 scoffing and following their own evil desires. 06:51 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' that you have promised? 06:55 Where is this 'coming?' Jesus hasn't come yet." 06:59 Church, you have been saying for 2000 years, 07:01 Jesus is coming soon not here yet, I don't see Him. 07:05 The astronaut Yuri Gagarin years ago flying up in space 07:08 looked out of his capsule and said, 07:10 "I didn't see God out there." 07:12 Where is this coming? They're skeptics? 07:17 Maybe you can write here in your own town. 07:19 If there are any skeptics, I hope you're here 07:21 because I've got good news for you. 07:24 Jesus is coming again and you can know that. 07:30 You can know without a doubt 07:32 that we are living in the end times 07:33 that this is the word of God and that Jesus is coming soon. 07:38 But you know sometimes we do things. 07:43 Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea, 07:45 I don't make it a habit of buying these. 07:48 I call them grocery store scandal sheets. 07:52 I didn't buy this one, my wife did. 07:58 She brought it because she knew, I would want it those. 08:03 Several years, 10 years ago, 08:04 over 10 years ago now, July 20, 1999. 08:11 The world will end in the year 2001, Bible scholars. 08:17 Did you hear about that? Sure, you did. 08:20 All over the place leading up to 2001. 08:22 Look at the headlines here. 08:24 Caution to readers, the message is published inside 08:28 warned about the end of the world 08:30 and they maybe terrifying to some people, 08:33 be careful when sharing it with others. 08:36 So I'm trying to be careful 08:38 if you don't' want to hear this, plug up your ears. 08:41 The world will end in the year 2001, Bible scholars. 08:48 Look at that, 12 of them. 08:51 Twelve top clergymen tell, 08:54 why the world must end by the year 2000. 08:58 No wonder my wife brought this for me. 09:01 And I began to read through this Reverent Roger Clairpool, 09:04 chairman of the Anglican Institute for Bible study. 09:07 He should know careful reading of the Book of Revelation 09:10 makes it clear that doomsday will occur 09:12 at the end of the second millennium, the year 2000. 09:15 Here is another one, Father Vincent Donatello. 09:19 librarian at the Vatican, surely, he should know. 09:23 The Book of Revelation indicates 09:24 the world will end in the year 2000. 09:28 Twelve scholars, 09:29 Dr. Hameed Saeed, Islamic minister. 09:32 Professor Joan merchant of Tulsa, Oklahoma, 09:35 Rabbi Herzl Rosenblum, author of Interpreting 09:39 the Dead Sea Scrolls. 09:40 The Jewish scholar says, 09:42 the world will end in the year 2000. 09:45 But here is my favorite one. 09:47 My favorite one, Professor Huang Trang Wa, 09:55 Buddhist monk and special envoy 09:59 of the Dalai Lama in Hanoi, Vietnam. 10:03 The Dalai Lama has told me 10:06 that the world will end by the year 2000. 10:14 Someone asked him, what should we do to be prepared? 10:23 And the word from the Dalai Lama 10:25 through Professor Huang Trang Wa, 10:28 you gonna like this. 10:34 Except Jesus Christ as your savior 10:38 even if Jesus was not really God 10:40 it's no harm in hedging your bets. 10:53 Folks, you don't have to hedge your bets. 10:56 Jesus is God. This is His word. 11:01 I'm gonna prove it to you. 11:04 But how can 12 Bible scholars get it so wrong. 11:10 How can they get it so wrong? They make two mistakes. 11:14 First of all Jesus said, no man knows 11:18 the time when He's going to come. 11:22 So I don't care if they're a PhD 11:25 or any kind of diddly bop at all behind their names. 11:28 If they say that the Bible teaches the world will end 11:32 by the year 2000 or 2010 or 2020 11:36 or whenever they're wrong because no man knows. 11:43 But the second reason is that many people don't understand. 11:47 Revelation is not like any other book. 11:51 But Revelation is written in code 11:56 and you have to know how to crack the code. 12:01 But the problem is that so many people are trying 12:04 so many different methods of cracking the code 12:07 when the answer to the code is found in the book itself. 12:11 I'm gonna show you nine keys to understanding Revelation. 12:18 It begins with these very words 12:21 that give us the most important secret. 12:23 It begins with the words the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 12:29 So that tells me 12:30 that the Book of Revelation reveals Jesus Christ. 12:35 He's the center of the book. 12:37 The hero of the Book of Revelation 12:39 is not the beast, it's the Lamb. 12:42 Everybody wants to know about the beast. 12:44 Everybody wants to know about the Mark and those 666 12:48 and the false prophet and Armageddon. 12:50 Everybody wants to know about these thing, 12:53 but it won't do you any good to know about the Beast 12:56 and the Mark and Armageddon, if you don't know the Lamb. 13:00 The Book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, 13:03 the Lamb of God and you need to know Him first. 13:06 So all of the prophecies must center through 13:09 and pass through Jesus Christ, if you want to get them right. 13:13 And then the second key to understanding Revelation 13:17 and this one is almost always overlooked. 13:21 But I have a scholar friend in the seminaries, 13:25 written a lot of books on Revelation 13:27 and studied it for 35 years. 13:30 And he has found that the Book of Revelation, 13:34 the last Book in the Bible quotes refers to 13:40 or alludes to the Old Testament 13:43 over 600 times, over 600 times. 13:52 In fact a friend in Australia just published the new Bible 13:55 where he highlights all of the references 13:58 in Revelation to the Old Testament. 14:00 He claims they're over 900 allusions 14:04 or references to the Old Testament. 14:06 Now I don't know about that, 14:08 haven't had time to check them all out yet, 14:10 but I'm sure about 600, 600 times. 14:14 Now for those of you that are not to up to speed on the Bible, 14:18 the Bible has two main sections. 14:21 The Old Testament and the New Testament. 14:25 The Old Testament consists of 39 books 14:28 that were written before Jesus came. 14:31 The New Testament consists of 27 books 14:35 that were written after Jesus came, 14:38 that's the difference between the two. 14:39 66 books, 37 of them in the Old Testament. 14:43 The Book of Revelation quotes 14:45 those Old Testament texts over 600 times. 14:47 So here's the key. 14:49 You have to have a foundation in the Old Testament 14:54 if you ever going to understand the Book of Revelation. 14:58 Every three verses in Revelation quotes 15:01 or alludes to the Old Testament at least two times. 15:05 So you have to know something about the Old Testament. 15:09 And then the third key. 15:12 No private interpretation allowed. 15:15 All of the interpretations you read from the enquirer 15:20 were private interpretations. 15:25 The only kind of interpretation I'm interested in 15:28 is the one that God intended for us to get. 15:33 Well, how can you be sure that you're doing it? 15:38 By letting the Bible interpret itself. 15:43 Oh, how do you let the Bible interpret itself? It's easy. 15:49 Just compare scripture with scripture. 15:54 Line up all the Bible verses that talk about the topic 15:58 that you're studying and you watch, 16:00 they all point in one direction and that is to Jesus Christ. 16:04 So let's put these principles together and start using them. 16:08 I'm gonna start with one of the most difficult themes 16:11 in the Book of Revelation, just a little order, 16:14 just a little introduction, Revelation 16. 16:18 In Revelation 16, the Bible says, 16:22 verse 19. "The great city split into three parts, 16:25 the cities of the nations collapsed 16:27 and God remembered Babylon the Great 16:31 and gave her the cup filled with the wine 16:34 of the fury of His wrath." 16:36 Now God is not happy with Babylon for some reason. 16:40 Why and what is the meaning of Babylon and the fall of Babylon? 16:45 What does it care about us? Why do we care? 16:50 These are questions that you're gonna understand 16:53 as we dig in to Revelation now. 16:55 Remember the Book of Revelation quotes 16:56 or alludes to the Old Testament over how many times? 16:59 600. Over 600 times. 17:01 So that's one of the places, let's go. 17:03 One of my favorite spot to talk about the fall of Babylon, 17:06 Daniel, the Book of Daniel. 17:08 So turn there to Daniel 1. 17:12 In the first chapter you're gonna discover 17:14 Daniel in Revelation go together 17:16 like a hand fitting into a glove. 17:18 Daniel 1:1. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim 17:26 the king of Judah, that's Gods people. 17:30 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon 17:34 came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 17:40 The Lord delivered--'' 17:42 Now notice God is doing something here. 17:46 "The Lord delivered Jehoiakim, the king of Judah into his hand, 17:51 along with some of the articles from the temple of God. 17:55 And he took these articles, golden cups, 17:58 he took them back to Babylon 18:01 and put them in the treasure house of his God." 18:04 So what's happening? 18:05 This wicked pagan wild king, Nebuchadnezzar, 18:08 who had nothing to do with God sent his armies to Jerusalem. 18:12 They captured the city. 18:14 But even worse than that, they captured the people 18:17 and even worse they captured the temple of God 18:20 and went into the temple and took some cups 18:22 that God had said were holy and brought them back to Babylon 18:27 and put them in the Babylonian temple 18:29 and used them to drink to the Babylonian gods. 18:33 That was the ultimate insult in your face 18:36 attack to the power of the Most High God. 18:40 And the people believed in those days 18:43 that when one nation came in 18:45 and attacked another nation and defeated it, 18:48 that was the proof that that nation's God 18:51 was stronger then the other God. 18:54 So picture in your mind, God's people 18:57 the people of the all mighty God, 19:00 captive, walking on burning hot desert sands 19:04 to Babylon leaving their homes in rubbles, 19:08 leaving everything behind, prisoners in Babylon. 19:12 What do you think they are thinking 19:16 as they walk through the desert? 19:19 I will tell you what they were thinking. 19:22 They're thinking, where is God, 19:32 where is God, people are wondering that today. 19:39 We did Revelation Now 19:40 on the Soviet Union on the eastern edge. 19:43 A lady came up to me and said, you know, about 50 years ago, 19:46 the German armies came in through here 19:49 and they took my son, he was only 18 years old. 19:55 And they made him join the army 19:56 and march to fight against the Russia 19:59 and I have been praying for my son for 50 years now 20:03 and your God has never answered. 20:05 Tell me where is God? 20:07 Cuba, the folks that we were staying with in their homes, 20:12 said, we have been praying for 40 years 20:14 that God would deliver us from this horrible dictator. 20:18 Where is God? 20:21 Have you ever wondered where is God? 20:26 Cancer strikes, planes crash into the twin towers, 20:30 where was God? 20:32 He could have prevented that, couldn't He? 20:34 Where was God when that happened? 20:37 It seems like no time when the twinkle in the bride's eye 20:40 turns to tears in a divorce court, 20:43 where is God? 20:44 A baby dies before he has time to take his first breathe, 20:49 where is God? 20:53 Have you ever wondered, where is God today? 21:01 Unemployment soars, foreclosures soar, 21:05 people are loosing their jobs, loosing their homes, 21:09 loosing their family, destitute, 21:11 hungry and homeless. Where is God? 21:17 That's what they were wondering 21:19 as they wondered through the desert sands, captive. 21:24 But there's always a little glimmer of hope in the darkness 21:28 when you study God's word. 21:30 God is the God who can turn defeat in the victory, 21:33 did you know that? 21:36 And there were four young men 21:38 Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach, Abednego, 21:41 they were among those taken captive. 21:43 The king saw something in them. 21:45 God impressed him to see something in them. 21:49 And verse 5 tells us, that they were 21:51 to be trained for three years and enter the king service. 21:55 The king assigned them daily amounts 21:58 of food and wine from the king's table. 22:01 So these four young men 22:03 are ray of lightness coming into the darkness. 22:07 They were selected to be trained to serve in the king's court. 22:11 But the problem was they had to eat at his table 22:14 and there were things on the table 22:15 that God had asked them not to eat and not to drink. 22:19 What would you do if you were the guest of a king 22:22 and you sat at his table and he says eat 22:24 and there were things there that God said not to eat. 22:27 And he says drink and there were things there 22:30 that God said not to drink. 22:31 What would you do if you were there? 22:36 But Daniel, the Bible tells us purposed in his heart 22:39 to stay faithful to God, in verse 8. 22:43 He trusted God and so he said in verse 10. 22:51 We don't want to eat some of those things at the table. 22:54 Can you give us permission not to eat that? 22:57 And the God says, "Well, no." 22:59 He says, "I am afraid of my lord the king, 23:03 who has assigned your food and drink. 23:05 Why he would see you looking 23:06 worse than the other men your age? 23:07 And because of that he would have my head 23:09 because of you, eat it. 23:13 Now what are they gonna do? 23:16 Sooner something really neat happening in verses 9. 23:19 God calls the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel. 23:25 You see God isn't just a God up there and we're down here 23:30 but God interacts, He intervenes in our lives. 23:34 He can set things up for us just like He did for Daniel. 23:37 I'm gonna show you how He does that. 23:40 And so Daniel in bold and said in verse 12, 23:43 "Test us for ten days. 23:44 Give us nothing but vegetables to eat 23:47 and water to drink and see, 23:49 ten days and he said, okay, ten days." 23:52 Verse 15, "At the end of the ten days 23:54 they looked healthier and better nourished 23:56 than any of the young men who ate the king's food." 23:58 Now I want to tell you, Gods way is always the best way. 24:02 Amen. God's way is best. 24:05 When God says something you can trust Him. 24:07 Daniel trusted Him. You can trust Him. 24:10 God's ways is the best, 24:11 no matter what you'll see on T.V except Revelation Now. 24:16 No matter what you read in the news paper. 24:19 No matter what anybody tells you, 24:21 God's way is the best way. 24:27 The were wiser then the rest of the men. 24:30 Verse 17, "To these four young men 24:33 God gave knowledge and understanding." 24:35 You see God will do things for us. 24:37 Verse 18, "At the end of the time set by the king, 24:40 they were to appear before Him." 24:43 Final exam time and in every matter, verse 20. 24:47 "In every matter of wisdom and understanding 24:49 about which the king questioned them, 24:50 he found them ten times better than all the magicians, 24:54 wise man, enchanters in his kingdom.' 24:56 Would you like to be ten times wiser 24:59 then the wisest people on earth? 25:02 You can be if you too like Daniel 25:05 purpose in your heart to trust God. 25:10 Now in Chapter 2 we're gonna look at some of the wisdom 25:12 that will be good for the world leaders today to understand. 25:17 I call it God's road map 25:21 to help us navigate through the confusion 25:25 and the morass that we see around us today. 25:30 Daniel 2:1. "In the second year of his reign 25:34 Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, his mind was troubled." 25:36 So he called his magicians, his wise men, his astrologers, 25:39 tell me what my dream was and interpret it for me? 25:42 So they got their crystal balls out, 25:45 they plotted, they got their charts of the stars 25:47 and they got their tarot cards 25:49 and whatever out say wanted to bring out to the table 25:52 and they pondered over them 25:54 but they couldn't come up with the dream. 25:55 So they finally went to the king. 25:57 Tell us what the dream is 25:58 and we'll tell you the interpretation. 26:00 Oh, I know you guys. 26:02 If I tell you the dream, you'll make up an interpretation 26:04 and I won't know that is true. 26:07 So tell me the dream 26:08 and then I will know that the interpretation is true. 26:11 If not I would just cut you up in little pieces 26:14 How do you like to live in a place like that? 26:19 Well, they couldn't tell him even though they boasted 26:21 they would be able to do all of these things. 26:23 They couldn't do it. 26:26 King ordered them to be all chopped into pieces 26:29 and finally, Daniel said, 26:32 make an appointment with the king for me. 26:34 Now Daniel did not know the dream when he did that. 26:39 He didn't know the dream but Daniel knew God. 26:47 Make an appointment for me. So they made an appointment. 26:51 And the Bible tells us Daniel went home and prayed, 26:54 I believe that, in his three friends 26:57 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they prayed, 26:59 just listen to a little piece of this prayer, verse 20. 27:02 "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever, 27:05 wisdom and power are his. 27:07 He changes times and seasons; 27:09 he sets up kings and deposes them. 27:11 He gives wisdom to the wise, knowledge to the discerning. 27:14 He reveals deep and hidden things. 27:21 Praise be to the name of God." 27:25 God knows everything and all power is His. 27:32 God can do anything. 27:37 And He doesn't ask you to accept it blindly. 27:41 But in Daniel 2 is ample proof for anyone 27:46 who really wants the answer to that question. 27:52 He gives wisdom to the wise, knowledge to the discerning. 27:56 He reveals deepen and hidden secrets. 28:00 I'm gonna show you how to tap in to that power. 28:05 To probe into those deep and hidden secrets, 28:08 experience it in your own life. 28:10 And those of you that are watching on TV 28:13 be sure you check the television record, 28:15 see when we are on again next time, 28:16 put a circle around that day, 28:18 you're not gonna want to miss it. 28:25 So he goes into the king and the king asked him, 28:28 tell me the dream are you able? 28:31 And Daniel replied in verse 27. 28:34 "No wise man, magician, enchanter diviner 28:37 can explain to the king 28:39 the mystery that he has asked about, 28:42 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries 28:47 and He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar 28:50 what will happen in the days to come." 28:53 No man can tell you, O king 28:55 but there is a God in heaven and He can tell you. 29:01 He didn't go in there and said, 29:02 oh, I'm so much smarter then these magicians. 29:05 He gave all the glory to God. 29:09 And then He began to tell him the dream. 29:11 I want you to watch this. 29:13 Just picture in your mind what Nebuchadnezzar saw, 29:17 verse 31, "You looked, O king, 29:19 and there before you was a large statue, 29:23 dazzling, awesome in appearance." 29:25 Can you see it a big tall statue awesome in appearance. 29:29 Verse 32 "The head of the statue was made of pure gold." 29:33 Look at it big statue, pure gold head 29:36 shining in the sun, get it in focus. 29:38 "The head of your statue, pure gold, 29:40 its chest and arms with silver, flashing in the sun, 29:44 belly and thighs were bronze, the legs of iron, 29:47 and its feet were partly iron and partly clay. 29:50 And while you were watching that image, 29:53 a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. 29:58 And that rock struck the statue on its feet 30:00 of iron and clay and it smashed them. 30:02 And the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver 30:04 and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time 30:07 and they became like chaff on a thrashing floor in the summer. 30:11 The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. 30:14 But the rock that smash the image, 30:18 that rock became a huge mountain that filled the whole earth." 30:22 That's it, Nebuchadnezzar says, that's exactly what I saw. 30:25 Now tell me what it means. 30:26 Did you see a big image, a head of gold, 30:29 the breast and arms of silver, body and thighs of bronze, 30:31 legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. 30:34 And the big rock comes and it smashes that image. 30:38 All the nations and it becomes big enough 30:41 to fill the whole earth. That's what I saw. 30:47 Now what does it mean 30:50 and Daniel gives in the interpretation. 30:53 Look at it with me verse 36. 30:56 "This is the dream, now we will interpret it to the king. 30:59 You, O' king, are the king of kings. 31:02 The God of heaven has given you dominion 31:04 and might and power, you are the head of gold." 31:08 Oh, Nebuchadnezzar like that interpretation 31:10 well, his chest was sticking out his buttons popping off. 31:14 I'm the head of gold. 31:17 He represented his kingdom Babylon. 31:22 He was the head of gold, the king over all the kings. 31:27 Babylon did rule. 31:29 Practically the entire civilized world at that time. 31:33 Nebuchadnezzar like that interpretation. 31:37 605 B.C, Babylon captured God's people 31:41 and that established him over to the even the people of God. 31:46 But he didn't like what came next, verse 39. 31:50 "After you, another kingdom will rise inferior to yours. 31:53 Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, 31:55 will rule over the whole earth. 31:56 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, 31:58 as strong as iron." 31:59 So the head of gold the breast and arms of silver, 32:02 the body and torso of bronze, the legs of iron. 32:05 They all represent kingdoms 32:06 that will dominate and rule over God's people and over the earth. 32:14 We know the head of gold symbolized Babylon, 32:16 so who's next? 32:18 I could tell you who's next, 32:20 but you see that would be my interpretation. 32:23 Remember we need to let the Bible interpret itself 32:26 and we compare scripture with scripture. 32:29 And so hold your place in Daniel 2 32:31 and let's find out who's next. 32:32 Who is symbolized by that breast and arms of silver? 32:36 And we go to the fifth chapter of Daniel 32:39 at the end of Daniel 5:30, that night Belshazzar, 32:43 now Nebuchadnezzar by now had died. 32:45 His son Belshazzar was the king. 32:48 "Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians was slain, 32:51 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, 32:54 at the age of sixty-two." 32:56 So the Bible tells us that Babylon was overthrown by Mede 33:00 and Mede joined together with Persia 33:03 was a Medo-Persian empire. 33:06 And that's exactly the way it happened. 33:08 History confirms in the year 538 B.C. 33:13 Medo-Persia overthrew the Babylonians umpire 33:15 and ruled over God's people, 33:17 just the way God said it would happen. 33:22 Well, then, what is symbolized by the torso, 33:25 the body of bronze and the thighs of bronze. 33:28 The third kingdom, who is that? 33:30 I could tell you but we're not interested in my interpretation. 33:34 We want God's interpretations, 33:35 so let's apply the principle again 33:37 compare scripture with scripture, Daniel 8. 33:40 And there it is, in Chapter 8:4. 33:43 "A ram charging to the west." 33:45 Verse 5, "A goat with a big horn between his eyes 33:48 came from the west and he charged towards that ram 33:52 and trample the ram under his feet and then the goat-- 33:56 verse 8, became very great, 33:58 but at the height of his power that large horn was broken off, 34:03 and in its place four prominent horns grew up 34:05 toward the four winds of heaven." 34:07 So now we see this goat symbolizing the third kingdom 34:11 trampling the Medes and the Persians under foot. 34:14 Who is that goat? Well, the Bible tells us. 34:17 verse 20, "The two-horned ram that you saw 34:20 represents the kings of Media and Persia. 34:22 The shaggy goat the king of Greece." 34:25 And so now the third kingdom is Greece 34:27 and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. 34:30 You know, everyone knows the first king 34:33 of Greece was Alexander the Great, 34:36 the big horn between his eyes, 34:37 but it was broken off at the peak of its power. 34:40 32 years old Alexander conquered all that he could conquer. 34:44 Nothing more to do, turn to alcohol, 34:47 died in the drunken stupor at the peak of his power. 34:50 The horn broke off exactly the way the Bible said 34:53 it would happened hundred of years in advance 34:56 God knows the future, 34:58 God reveals the future and here's the proof. 35:06 That horn was broken off, 35:08 four little horns came up in its place, 35:10 dividing the kingdom of Greece among his four generals, 35:13 Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucas and Ptolemy, 35:16 just the way it said would happen. 35:17 Now Greece is weakened and weakened Greece 35:21 paves the way for that fourth kingdom, 35:24 the iron legs as every school child knows 35:28 the iron monarchy of Rome. 35:33 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome rising and falling 35:39 just exactly the way the Bible said it was gonna happen. 35:43 By 169 B.C Rome rose to power dominating over Gods people 35:52 and ruling practically the entire civilized world. 35:58 But it is not over yet. There's more in the prophecy. 36:03 Verse 41, "Just as you saw the feet and the toes 36:05 were partly baked clay and partly iron, 36:07 so this will be a divided kingdom." 36:11 In verse 42, "As the toes were partly iron and partly clay." 36:15 So here is a divided kingdom, divided into the ten toes. 36:21 And we know, history confirms the massive barbarian invasions 36:27 dividing the mighty Roman empire 36:31 into the nations that today have become Europe. 36:36 The Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Heruli, the Alemanni, 36:39 Anglo-Saxons, the Burgundians, the Suevi, the Visigoths, 36:43 the Franks swarmed over the empire. 36:47 Three of those the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, 36:49 and the Heruli were uprooted and taken out of the way. 36:53 But the Anglo-Saxons settled in the England 36:56 and the goths in Spain, 36:59 forming the modern nations of Europe as we know it today. 37:02 Hundreds of years in advance, God said there would be Babylon, 37:07 Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and Rome would be divided 37:11 and precisely the way God said it would happen, it did. 37:16 You can trust the Bible, 37:18 you can trust God's word, it's true. 37:22 And some say, well, how do we know 37:23 it was written hundreds of years in it? 37:25 Hold on, I'm coming to that 37:29 because the prophecy isn't over yet, there's still more. 37:33 Look, verse 43, "Just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, 37:38 so the people will be a mixture 37:39 but they will not remain united." 37:42 Now, I like the way 37:43 the King James Version says it there, 37:45 it says there will not cleave one into another. 37:48 They will mix, they will mingle but they won't stick together. 37:53 Up until that time there was Babylon, 37:55 Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 37:56 169, Rome rose to power and then by the year 496 A.D 38:01 the massive barbarian invasions were complete. 38:04 Rome was divided and God said no more, 38:06 never again, no single nation 38:09 will ever dominate and rule over the earth. 38:13 They will not cleave one unto another. 38:19 Many world leaders tried to weld those toes back together again 38:25 and to form a United Europe and many world leaders failed. 38:30 Men like Charlemagne, Louis the XIV, 38:32 Charles the V, Charles V. 38:36 Mighty warrior, rode on a battlefield 38:38 till he was 70 years old, had nine horses killed 38:42 from underneath him while he was fighting 38:45 and his goal was to build the United Europe 38:47 and it looked as though he was going to succeed 38:50 but then finally towards the end of his reign, 38:52 revolutions broke out all over his empire. 38:55 He was finally forced to abdicate his throne. 38:57 He gave to his son Phillip II, the Central Europe 39:01 and his brother Ferdinand all of the rest 39:04 and Charles the V, the mighty warrior 39:07 retired to a lonely castle, 39:13 no doubt tormented by the words, 39:17 "They shall not cleave one into another". 39:25 And no man can ever change 39:27 one word that comes from the word of God. 39:34 Napoleon, they called him the little giant 39:40 little because he was only five feet two, 39:44 giant because he was a military genius. 39:46 He put together a military that began to pulverize 39:49 the surrounding nations of France. 39:52 His goal was to build the United Europe 39:55 and it looked as though nothing was going to stop Napoleon. 39:59 In fact when he was in prison, Napoleon said, 40:01 I wanted to found the European system, 40:03 a European court of law, a European court of appeals. 40:06 There would be one people throughout all Europe. 40:08 Europe would sooner become one nation. 40:12 But Napoleon met Lord Wellington at Waterloo 40:17 and there in the form of torrential rain storms, 40:20 Napoleon met his waterloo and was defeated. 40:27 But I want to suggest to you tonight 40:28 that it was not Lord Wellington who defeated Napoleon. 40:35 Look Magazine put together a team of researchers 40:40 and they studied that Battle of Waterloo. 40:43 They got all the information they could get, 40:45 put it into the computer with some new software 40:48 and finally when they had all of that information together 40:53 they clicked the mouse and the computer said, 41:00 Napoleon cannot loose 41:04 but the computer couldn't see God 41:09 standing with one foot in France 41:12 and one foot on the continent of Europe 41:14 saying they shall not cleave one into another. 41:22 And no man, not even Napoleon can change one word 41:27 that comes from the word of God. 41:32 Guys like William boasted, I'll build my rear road 41:35 all the way from Berlin to Baghdad 41:38 and he called his men sons of destiny 41:41 because he believe that God commissioned him 41:45 to unite those ten toes together again, sons of destiny. 41:53 But William was defeated on the first battle of the march 41:58 because he couldn't see God standing 42:00 with one foot in Germany 42:01 and one foot on the continent of Europe 42:03 saying, "they shall not cleave one unto another." 42:09 William was sincere. 42:12 He believed with all of his heart 42:14 that his men were sons of destiny. 42:16 He believe God wanted him to build the United Europe. 42:20 He was sincere but he was wrong. 42:23 You see, you can be sincere and wrong, 42:26 we need to be sincere and right, amen. 42:32 And then finally Adolph Hitler rose out of nowhere 42:38 repudiated the Versailles Treaty 42:41 and began to build mechanized army 42:44 and air force bombing and capturing 42:46 all of the surrounding countries of Germany. 42:49 He said, I'll build an empire 42:51 that will last for thousand years 42:55 and it looked as though he would. 42:57 He had Norway, Denmark, Holland, 42:59 Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland. 43:02 Now his appetite for conquest was wedded 43:05 and he launched his mighty blitzkrieg 43:07 against the Scandinavian countries of Belgium and France. 43:11 And when he was in France, 43:12 he visited Napoleon's tomb and he scarf that Napoleon. 43:17 He said Napoleon, you fool, I will succeed where you failed. 43:24 And it looked as though Hitler would succeed 43:27 because there was only one nation left 43:30 and that was a tiny Island of England. 43:35 The German scientists were 43:37 on the brink of building an atomic bomb. 43:42 And Wernher von Braun who defected, 43:45 he came to America later. 43:48 Their leading scientist was building a rocket 43:51 capable of delivering that atomic bomb. 43:57 Now we didn't have long range bombers in those days. 44:01 I was assigned to a bomb crew in a strategic air command, 44:06 Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. 44:09 We flew B-52s, we could take off, 44:12 meet up with the tanker in the air KC-135 44:15 full of fuel and he would offload fuel to us 44:18 and we could just keep going and going 44:19 till the wings fell off the airplane 44:21 but they couldn't do that back then. 44:25 Didn't have the range, 44:26 the capabilities that we have now. 44:29 So in order to bomb that research facility, 44:32 we had to launch our bombers from England. 44:38 If Hitler would have captured England, 44:40 we wouldn't have able to launch our bombers. 44:43 Instead of the bombs falling on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, 44:46 it would have been New York and Washington D.C. 44:51 And you know an interesting thing, 44:52 I was talking about this one night. 44:54 And after the service a man came up to me 44:56 and he said pastor, you're right on. 44:58 I said, well, I know but why do you think so? 45:02 Is that because I flew that bombing machine, 45:06 I dropped my bombs on that research facility 45:08 and bomb that facility that was building an atomic bomb. 45:16 Well, Hitler had driven the allied armies 45:19 clear up the coast and it looked like nothing was gonna stop him 45:22 once again till a dense fog settled in 45:25 and the allies were able to evacuate 45:27 there forces against the English channel, 45:29 across the English channel and then 45:31 going against everything that he had ever written in his books 45:33 when he said, you should never fight a war on two fronts. 45:36 For some reason even his leading generals never understood. 45:39 Hitler divided his army. 45:42 Kept half of them in Europe, 45:43 the other half marching across Russia towards Moscow, 45:46 slaughtering the Russians all the way. 45:48 It looked as though nothing was gonna stop them 45:50 until the weather entered the picture once again. 45:52 This time the coldest winter in over 75 years. 45:55 Hitler's gun froze up, his men froze, his tanks froze 46:00 and the mighty Hitler was defeated by a snowflake. 46:06 I have been to the Soviet Union, 46:08 I was there when it was still the Soviet Union 46:10 doing Revelation Now meetings. 46:12 And they took us on a tour out to the outskirts of Moscow 46:15 and showed us this big huge concrete tank trap. 46:19 They like to make big monuments and it was huge 46:23 reaching way up in the air. 46:24 A tank trap, concrete and the sign said, 46:27 this is the very spot where the mighty Russian army 46:31 stop the Germans but they didn't understand 46:35 that it wasn't Russia, it was the Almighty God 46:38 standing with one foot in Germany 46:40 and one foot in Russia saying, 46:42 "they shall not cleave one into another." 46:45 And no man can change one word that comes from the word of God. 46:50 And even Hitler wrote to his people, 46:57 we don't need anything from God, 46:58 we don't ask anything from him except that he let us alone. 47:02 We want to fight our own war with our own guns without God. 47:05 We want to gain our own victory without the help of God, 47:08 signed, Adolf Hitler. 47:09 But Hitler knew the prophecies of the Bible. 47:12 He knew about Daniel 2 and his nurse tells us a story 47:16 that one day Hitler was sick lying in bed reading 47:19 and his Bible was opened to Daniel 2. 47:22 And when he got to the words, 47:24 "they shall not cleave one into another". 47:27 Hitler sprung out of bed, picked up his Bible 47:30 threw it across the wall, hovering, ranting 47:34 and raving like a mad man, I will, I will, I will. 47:44 Today Hitler is dead, but God word still stands. 47:50 Amen. You can't change. 47:57 No one can change one word in the word of God. 48:02 In more modern time, I remember 1958, 48:05 my old high school's loudspeaker begin to crackle 48:08 and the announcement came Russia launched the satellite 48:10 Sputnik going around the globe and everybody got scared. 48:14 We didn't know for sure what that meant. 48:15 I don't know about up here but down in New Orleans, 48:17 Louisiana, we built bomb shelters. 48:19 Did you do that up here? 48:21 None of you were around back then. 48:23 We built bomb shelters, 48:24 we knew Russia is going to bomb the world 48:26 and we're gonna all be destroyed. 48:28 So we built bomb shelters, we was scared. 48:31 The Bible says no more. 48:32 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. 48:34 Rome divided and they will not cleave one into another, 48:37 there will be no more. 48:39 Two years later 1958, Nikita Khrushchev, 48:42 I know some of you remember that. 48:43 He came over here to United Nations, 48:45 took off his shoe and banged it on the desk and he said 48:49 United States of America, we will burry you, 48:53 while the Soviet Union is history today 48:55 and the United State of America still stands. 48:57 God's word cannot change. Trust Him, trust Him. 49:05 But some people asking, Pastor, how do you know 49:08 that Bible wasn't written, 49:10 how do you know that the Bible wasn't written 49:11 way back after all of these stuff had happened? 49:16 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and wrote it like it was 49:18 a prophecy but it wasn't really, it's just the history. 49:21 No way, that's impossible 49:23 because the way we predict the future 49:25 is to look at what happened in the past. 49:27 Isn't that right? We don't know the future. 49:30 We just look at the past and extrapolated into the future. 49:33 I can tell you at 8:30 tomorrow morning 49:35 my breakfast is going to be on the table 49:36 and my wife who have it ready, 49:38 how do I know that because she's done it all the time. 49:42 But that doesn't prove it's gonna happen. 49:45 You see we predict the future by looking into the past. 49:48 So suppose if Daniel wrote this after it all happened. 49:53 And he's writing Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. 49:57 Rome divide as a history. 50:01 That makes it even worse for the skeptic. 50:04 Because we predict the future by looking at the past. 50:07 He would have seen four nations 50:08 rise and fall in a brief period of time, historically speaking 50:12 and then 1,600 years have passed 50:15 and they have not cleaven one onto another 1,600 years. 50:19 How could he say no more when looking back, 50:22 he saw four rise and fall? 50:24 You can trust the Bible. 50:26 You can trust this book and it isn't over yet. 50:29 Watch this, best part coming, verse 44, 50:33 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up 50:35 a kingdom that will never be destroyed." 50:38 There will be another kingdom, not a nation on earth, 50:41 not by any leader or a potentater king, 50:43 it will be the Lord God, He will set up His kingdom. 50:46 In verse 44, "In the time of those kings, 50:49 the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, 50:51 it will never be destroyed. 50:53 It will crush all of those kingdoms 50:55 and bring them to an end, 50:56 but itself it will endure forever. 50:58 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock, 51:01 cut out of the mountain that smashed the image. 51:04 The great God has shown the king 51:06 what will take place in the future. 51:08 The dream is true, 51:10 the interpretation is trustworthy." 51:14 You can know the future as God reveals it to you, 51:19 the stone is gonna come. Who is the stone? 51:22 Peter said, come to him, the living stone. 51:27 The stone is Jesus Christ just as surely as there was 51:31 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 51:34 just as surely as Rome divided, 51:37 just as surely as 1,600 years have passed 51:40 and they have not joined together. 51:42 You can know the stone is gonna come. 51:47 But what about the European Union, 51:49 they've already joined together. No, they haven't. 51:53 Ask a French man, if he's a Spaniard. 51:57 Haven't joined together. 51:59 Every time they came up with a document, 52:01 somebody fusses and fights about it and they can't sign it. 52:06 But it's closed maybe, but what does that tell us? 52:10 That tells us, folks, that we are closed to the end 52:12 because in the days of those kings, 52:14 the stone is gonna come, Jesus is coming again. 52:18 We are living in the toe-nail time of that image. 52:23 And you can trust the word of God. 52:27 Daniel saw it and John saw it in the Book of Revelation. 52:32 Revelation 21, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, 52:36 because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. 52:40 A new heaven, a new earth. 52:42 I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, 52:44 coming down out of heaven from God." 52:47 And then verse 3, "I heard a voice, 52:49 "Now the dwelling of God is with men. 52:52 And he will live with him and they will be his people 52:56 and God himself will be with them and be his God." 52:59 Now we understand Babylon captured God's people, 53:03 marched them through the desert sand 53:06 and they were wondering where is God? 53:09 Finally God answers and says, I'm here, I'm with you, 53:13 I'm in the New Jerusalem and this is your home forever. 53:17 Hold on, I'm here. 53:26 "And then on each side of the river 53:27 was a Tree of Life bearing 12 crops of fruit." 53:32 I want to eat some of that fruit. 53:36 I don't know what it is. 53:38 Doesn't say, I used to think that some of them 53:40 on that tree had to Fuji apples. 53:45 But we did a Revelation Now in Wenatchee 53:47 about three years ago, right at harvest time 53:50 and they brought us a brand new honey crisp, 53:54 that's got to be right from the Tree of Life, right? 53:57 Mangoes, papaya, watermelon sweet as honey, 54:00 I can't wait to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life. 54:03 There will be no more hungry people. 54:07 Amen. You want to live there? 54:10 Doing only what you want to do, 54:11 never having to do anything you don't want to do 54:13 'cause you live forever like that? 54:15 Oh, man, imagine, the most exciting best thing 54:18 you've ever done in your life 54:19 and have that kind of experience 54:21 moment after moment after moment 54:23 forever and never getting tired, I want to live there. 54:28 These words are trustworthy and true. 54:31 The things that must soon take place, 54:34 behold I'm coming soon, Jesus is coming soon. 54:40 In the meantime, there will be trouble, there will be strife. 54:45 Hold fast, he says, I'm coming, in the meantime. 54:57 1866, I finished flight school before going to my assigned base 55:04 I had to go to survival training 55:07 in Spokane, Washington, Fairchild Air Force Base. 55:12 Part of my training the last week, 55:14 that the last few days, 55:16 they had us memorized a dummy mission 55:20 and then they put us in a simulated POW camp. 55:25 I was in a little cubical 4 feet square, 4 feet tall. 55:30 I couldn't even stand up in there. 55:33 And they wouldn't let us lay down 55:35 and there was no light and it was pitch dark. 55:39 Every once in a while they shove something 55:41 through a hole in the door, 55:42 they called it soup, it was awful. 55:46 I was in there for three days and they wouldn't let us out 55:49 except for when they wanted to interrogate us. 55:53 To see if we would tell that dummy mission, 55:57 but before they took us to the interrogators, 56:00 they put us in a box. 56:03 This was a little box about that tall, 56:07 not even as broad as my shoulders, 56:09 the hinge to the door was at the bottom 56:11 and then it made a ramp and a bag over my head 56:14 and I had to walk up that ramp, 56:16 duck walk in there, couldn't quite fit. 56:19 They picked up the door and forced me in and locked it shut. 56:23 And the way I got in there 56:25 was the way I was gonna stay until I got out. 56:28 I couldn't move a finger, I couldn't move anything, 56:31 it was so dark, I couldn't even scratch my nose when it itched. 56:38 I don't know how long I was in that box, seem like forever, 56:44 and the long I was in there, 56:45 the tighter it seemed to get and the harder I got. 56:51 And the more and more 56:52 the thought kept going in my mind, 56:55 let me out of this box! Let me out. 57:01 And the only thing that enabled me to survive 57:05 was that I knew someone was gonna 57:10 open that door and let me out, I had hope. 57:17 Sometime life is like that, 57:18 it squeezes us and we think let me out. 57:26 Hang on. Jesus is coming again. |
Revised 2014-12-17