Revelation Now (new)

Armageddon And You

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jac Colon

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Series Code: RNN

Program Code: RNN000023


00:17 Revelation 16:16,
00:23 "Then they gathered the kings together
00:29 to the place that in Hebrew
00:33 is called Armageddon".
00:39 Armageddon, ever since John penned these words
00:45 on the Isle of Patmos 2000 years ago,
00:51 men have pondered the significance,
00:54 the meaning of Armageddon.
00:57 Where is Armageddon?
00:59 When is Armageddon, the last Great War,
01:03 the war that will end all wars?
01:06 Practically every major war has been called Armageddon.
01:12 World War I was thought to be Armageddon,
01:15 World War II Armageddon
01:17 the war that was supposed to end all wars.
01:22 There are so many get it so wrong.
01:28 And how can we be sure that we get it right.
01:34 The answer to that question is
01:35 that we have to apply the keys to understanding Revelation
01:41 and cracking the code.
01:43 We have to apply the keys
01:44 that we got from the Book of Revelation itself.
01:48 It begins with the words the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
01:54 that means Revelation must centre in
01:57 and focus on whom?
01:59 Jesus Christ.
02:01 The Book of Revelation quotes or alludes
02:02 to the Old Testament over 600 times.
02:06 You got it.
02:08 Therefore we have to have an Old Testament foundation
02:11 before we will ever understand Armageddon of Revelation.
02:15 No private interpretation, let the Bible interpret itself.
02:18 We do that by comparing scripture with scripture.
02:23 Very good, Revelation is a symbolic book
02:27 and we have to interpret the symbols.
02:29 How do we know we get the symbols right?
02:31 By comparing scripture with scripture.
02:35 Armageddon is found only one time in the Bible,
02:40 this is the only place that you will ever see
02:43 the word Armageddon in scripture right here in Revelation 16:16.
02:48 You will not find it in the Old Testament,
02:51 you will not find it in any place else
02:52 in the New Testament, it's just right here.
02:55 Now, when a word is mentioned only one time in the scripture,
02:59 then you have to be exceedingly careful
03:03 in interpreting what it means in order to get it right.
03:10 First of all, we have to look at it in its immediate context.
03:16 The immediate context is that Armageddon
03:21 and the gathering for Armageddon
03:23 is the sixth of the seventh last plagues.
03:29 The actual battle of Armageddon
03:32 is the seventh of the seven last plagues.
03:37 The plagues are found in the 16th chapter of Revelation,
03:42 so we need to understand
03:44 Armageddon in the setting of the seven last plagues
03:50 within the largest setting of the Book of Revelation
03:54 and then within the even largest setting
03:57 of the entire Bible including the Old Testament.
04:01 So let's begin
04:03 with the immediate context of Armageddon
04:09 which is the sixth of the seven last plagues.
04:13 I want to start reading in verse 12
04:16 and I want you to picture in your minds what we read.
04:20 It's important to get a clear image
04:23 just sharp focus of this prophecy
04:26 of the sixth of the seven last plagues.
04:30 And I also would like for you to ask yourself
04:32 the question as we read through the sixth plague.
04:38 Where is Jesus?
04:43 Because He is the center of all the prophecies, right?
04:47 So ask yourself where is Jesus?
04:53 Revelation 16:12,
04:56 "The sixth angel poured out his bowl
04:59 on the great river Euphrates,
05:01 and its water was dried up
05:03 to prepare the way for the kings from the East."
05:07 And then I saw three evil spirits
05:10 that look like frogs
05:12 they came out of the mouth of the dragon,
05:14 out of the mouth of the beast
05:16 and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
05:18 They are the spirits of demons performing miraculous signs
05:24 and they go out to the kings of the whole world
05:27 to gather them for battle on the great day of God almighty.
05:33 Verse 16, they gathered the kings together
05:37 to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
05:40 So picture, three evil spirits
05:44 coming out of the mouth of the dragon
05:45 the beast and the false prophet performing miracles
05:49 and they gathered the kings together
05:51 for battle on the great day of God almighty
05:54 that is Armageddon.
05:55 Picture, the angel pouring out his bowl on the Euphrates River.
06:00 The waters of the Euphrates are dried up
06:03 and that prepares the way
06:05 for the kings that come from the east.
06:10 So where is Jesus in all of this?
06:14 Hold on, you are going to see
06:18 an awesome powerful prophecy.
06:23 The picture to keep in mind,
06:26 the angel pouring out his bowl in the Euphrates River.
06:29 The river dried up
06:31 and the drying up of the Euphrates
06:33 prepares the way for the kings from the east
06:36 and the battle of Armageddon.
06:41 The Book of Revelation quotes the Old Testament 600 times
06:45 and that's one place.
06:47 Daniel, the prophet Daniel
06:50 we are going to review a little bit.
06:51 Daniel 1:1. Look at it with me.
06:55 In Daniel the first chapter we review a little
06:59 and then we will see some new things.
07:01 Verse 1, "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim
07:05 the king of Judah,
07:07 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon
07:10 came to Jerusalem and he besieged it.
07:14 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim,
07:17 the king of Judah into his hand,
07:19 along with some of the articles from the temple of God."
07:22 Remember those golden cups.
07:25 "These he took back to the temple of his God in Babylon
07:29 and put them in the treasure house of his God."
07:33 So Nebuchadnezzar that wicked,
07:35 pagan king captured God's people,
07:37 captured God's city, he captured the temple,
07:40 he took the golden cups from the temple,
07:43 he took the people of God captive back to Babylon
07:46 and put those cups in the Babylonian temple.
07:48 As we learned in another lesson
07:51 we saw Belshazzar in a middle of a drunken orgy
07:54 asked for those golden cups filled them with Babylonian wine
07:58 began to drink to the Babylonian Gods,
08:01 taking the cups that God had set aside
08:03 and made holy and using them
08:05 in a common ordinary way as though they were not holy.
08:09 Just as he lifted the cup to his lips,
08:11 he saw a man's hand cut off and writing on the wall,
08:15 "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin".
08:18 I am just reviewing from the previous lesson.
08:21 Daniel came before the king to interpret the message
08:26 that was written on the wall
08:29 and he said remember the words verse 22,
08:32 "Your father acknowledged that the Lord was God
08:35 but you O Belshazzar, you knew all of this
08:40 and in spite of that you have set yourself up
08:42 against the God of heaven.
08:44 And you had those goblets from his temple brought to you,
08:47 and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines,
08:49 you drank wine from them.
08:50 You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron,
08:53 wood and stone that cannot see, hear or understand.
08:56 But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life
08:59 and all of your ways."
09:00 That's why he sent a message what did it say?
09:03 "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin."
09:05 Mene, God has numbered the days of your reign
09:07 and brought it to an end.
09:09 Tekel, you have been weighed on the balances and found wanting.
09:13 In other words the hour of God's judgment
09:15 has come, isn't it?
09:18 Your kingdom is divided
09:19 and given to the Medes and the Persians."
09:22 In other words Babylon has fallen.
09:25 Here are the Three Angels' Message
09:27 already in a little bit of a nutshell preview form
09:32 in the Old Testament.
09:33 He knew what he was doing in spite of the fact
09:37 that he knew it was wrong,
09:39 he trampled on those holy cups
09:41 and therefore the hour of God's judgment has come,
09:45 he was judged and Babylon has fallen,
09:48 your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes
09:50 and the Persians. Why?
09:53 Because he didn't believe God, because he didn't trust God,
09:59 God said those cups were holy
10:02 and he said no I can do with them as I please,
10:05 it's up to me to decide, which day to keep holy.
10:11 Are you beginning to see the picture here?
10:15 Babylon has fallen,
10:17 he has brought your kingdom to an end,
10:19 but Babylon was still standing when he made that announcement.
10:25 How can God say Babylon has fallen
10:28 when Babylon is still there?
10:30 In fact it wasn't until later that night in verse 30,
10:34 "That Belshazzar of the Babylonians was slain
10:37 and Darius the Mede of the Medo-Persian Empire
10:41 took over his kingdom, at the age of sixty-two."
10:46 So Babylon fell that very night, Darius the Mede took over.
10:53 Now, how did Babylon fall
10:55 that's what we need to understand,
10:57 how did Babylon fall?
11:01 You see the Bible tells us and history confirms it.
11:07 Babylon was a city that was built on the Euphrates River.
11:14 The Euphrates went underneath the gate into the city
11:21 and then out underneath the gate on the other side of the city.
11:27 The Euphrates River was the lifeline of Babylon,
11:32 without the waters of the Euphrates,
11:35 Babylon would die.
11:39 So how did Babylon fall?
11:44 King Cyrus one of the Medo-Persian kings
11:48 from the east built a dam.
11:55 Did you catch that?
11:57 One of the kings from where, from the east
12:01 because that's where the Medo-Persian Empire was,
12:03 it was at the east of Babylon.
12:05 He built a dam across the Euphrates River,
12:10 diverting it around the city of Babylon
12:15 and drying up the waters of the Euphrates.
12:20 That enabled Cyrus's armies to march into the city of Babylon
12:27 on the dry river bed of the Euphrates
12:30 underneath the gate into the city catch them
12:34 in the middle of their drunken orgy
12:37 and capture Babylon without firing a shot so to speak.
12:44 Now does that sound familiar to you?
12:48 The kings came from the east
12:50 dried up the Euphrates and captured Babylon.
12:54 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the Euphrates River,
12:58 its water was dried up
13:00 to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
13:03 Wow!
13:05 Now we can begin to understand this prophecy
13:09 except for one more thing, Cyrus.
13:15 Who was that king Cyrus who came from the east
13:20 and dried up the Euphrates River?
13:23 That's the exciting part of this prophecy.
13:26 Turn to Isaiah, in Isaiah 41:1,
13:34 He speaks and says "Let us meet together
13:37 at the place of judgment."
13:40 Now he is talking about a place of judgment.
13:43 Watch verse 2, "Who has stirred up one
13:45 from the east calling him in righteousness to his service?"
13:51 So here is one serving God in judgment
13:54 and he comes from the east.
13:56 Chapter 42:1, "And he comes in righteousness from the east."
14:01 Chapter 42:1, "Here is my servant,
14:05 whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight."
14:11 So he is called a servant, He is called the chosen one.
14:16 Watch this, Chapter 44:27, "Who says to the watery deep,
14:21 be dry, and I will dry up your streams."
14:25 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd
14:30 and he will accomplish all that I please
14:33 he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,
14:37 and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."
14:40 Remember when Israel was captive in Babylon
14:42 Jerusalem was in ruins and the temple was in ruins.
14:46 So here he says Cyrus let it be rebuilt.
14:49 Cyrus said let the foundations be laid.
14:52 Verse 1 in Chapter 45,
14:54 "This is what the Lord says to his anointed one to Cyrus,
14:59 whose right hand I take hold of."
15:03 Verse 13, "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness,
15:07 I will make all his ways straight.
15:09 He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free."
15:16 Interesting that Isaiah refers to Cyrus
15:24 as a servant,
15:26 the shepherd, the righteous one the chosen one,
15:33 the one who God took his right hand.
15:40 But the Bible says in the New Testament
15:43 that Jesus is a servant, Jesus is the righteous one,
15:49 Jesus is the chosen one,
15:52 Jesus is the one whose right hand God took.
15:59 You see Cyrus is a type
16:03 or a shadow of a greater king
16:07 who would come from the east King Jesus.
16:13 And dry up the Euphrates River and set his people free.
16:20 Why did God raise up the pagan king Cyrus
16:25 to capture Babylon dry up the Euphrates, capture Babylon.
16:30 Why did God raise up this pagan king to do that?
16:33 Because Jerusalem was in ruins and the temple was in ruins.
16:39 And as long as the temple is in ruins,
16:42 then the true worship of the true God
16:46 doesn't exists on the earth
16:48 Because the temple is the center of God's worship
16:53 and so Cyrus was raised up by God
16:56 in his righteousness to capture Babylon
16:59 and to set God's exiles free,
17:02 so they could go back rebuilt the city,
17:05 rebuild the temple and restore the true worship of a true God.
17:11 That's the purpose
17:12 every prophecy has to have a purpose.
17:16 God doesn't just predict the future
17:19 like Sun magazine tries to predict.
17:23 God's prophecies are for a reason, for a purpose.
17:27 Why did he raise up Cyrus?
17:29 He raised him up, so that he could capture Babylon,
17:33 rebuild Jerusalem, let God's people free
17:36 to restore the temple
17:38 and restore the true worship of God.
17:41 That's God's purpose for the prophecy.
17:48 You know there is something else
17:49 about this prophecy that I really like.
17:54 Did you notice it called Cyrus by name,
18:01 who says of Cyrus he is my shepherd to Cyrus,
18:08 whose right hand I take hold of?
18:13 It mentioned Cyrus by name.
18:17 Now why is that so exciting?
18:21 Well to me it's exciting because Cyrus wasn't born
18:26 till hundreds of years later.
18:30 So that means that God knew Cyrus by name
18:34 hundreds of years before he was even born.
18:40 Why is that exciting?
18:42 It's exciting because if God knew Cyrus by name
18:48 hundreds of years before he was born,
18:51 then God must know you by name
18:54 even before you were born God knows you,
18:59 He knows everything about you.
19:00 He knows your name.
19:02 He knows what you do.
19:03 He knows where you are before you were born.
19:06 He knew you would be sitting right here
19:08 listening to the word of God.
19:09 He knew what your decisions would be
19:12 as you heard the word of God unfold.
19:14 He knew whether you would follow the lamb or not.
19:17 God knows you, that doesn't take away your choice,
19:20 He just knows us
19:22 and He knows what we are going to do
19:24 but we still have a choice.
19:27 Wow!
19:28 What a God.
19:30 He knows me, He knows you,
19:33 He knows the disappointments,
19:36 the heartache that you are suffering right now
19:38 at this very moment.
19:42 He has walked that path; He knows what rejection is like.
19:46 He knows what abuse is like, He has been here.
19:52 And He knows what you're feeling right now.
19:54 What a God, amen?
20:00 So picture it again,
20:03 Cyrus King from the east dries up the Euphrates River,
20:08 captures Babylon, sets God's exiles free
20:12 back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple
20:16 and to restore the true worship of God.
20:22 Cyrus then is a type or a shadow foreshadowing
20:30 a greater king who would come from the east.
20:36 Didn't Jesus say as lightning flashes
20:40 from the east to the west,
20:42 so will the coming of the son of man be.
20:46 Cyrus foreshadowed the coming of a greater king
20:51 who sees his end time people captive in Babylon.
20:59 Dries up the Euphrates to deliver His people
21:05 and restore the true worship of the true God.
21:13 How does it all unfold?
21:16 Now we are ready to see it.
21:17 Let's go back to Revelation, this time Revelation 19,
21:23 in Revelation 19...
21:32 verse 7, "Let us rejoice and be glad
21:40 and give him glory!"
21:43 Why, what's the big event?
21:46 "Because the wedding of the Lamb has come,
21:51 and the bride has made herself ready,
21:55 fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear."
21:58 Fine linen stands
21:59 for the righteous acts of the saints.
22:03 Who is the bride?
22:05 Verse 9:21, "One of the seven angels
22:09 who had the seven bowls."
22:12 So one of the angels with the last plagues
22:14 came to explain things and he said to me "Come,
22:20 and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
22:24 Who is the bride?
22:25 Verse 10, "He carried me away in the Spirit
22:28 to a mountain great and high, and he showed me the Holy City,
22:33 coming down out of heaven from God."
22:36 So who is the bride?
22:37 It's the Holy City, it's the New Jerusalem.
22:40 The Heavily Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven from God.
22:48 But when we compare scripture with scripture
22:51 and we go to Hebrews 12:22 it tells us
22:56 "You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem,
23:01 to the city of the living God."
23:04 So you church when you come to Jesus he said,
23:08 you have come to Mount Zion,
23:11 you have come to the heavenly Jerusalem,
23:13 you have come to the city of the living God.
23:15 Verse 23 "You have come to the church of the firstborn,
23:19 whose names are written in heaven.
23:22 You have come to God, the judge of all men,
23:25 you have come to Jesus."
23:26 So the moment we come to Jesus
23:28 our names are written in heaven
23:30 and we are citizens of the New Jerusalem
23:33 the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God,
23:36 we are citizens in that city, our names are written there,
23:40 but we are still down here.
23:44 But, the bride has made herself ready.
23:52 The New Jerusalem is the bride but the people aren't,
23:55 their names are just written there.
23:59 And so Jesus is saying it's time for Me to go
24:02 and to get My bride.
24:04 It's time for Me to go and to get My people, they are ready.
24:10 The Three Angels' Messages have gone to the whole world,
24:13 my people have responded, they are following the Lamb.
24:17 They have demonstrated what it means to follow the Lamb.
24:20 I am going to go and get my people.
24:24 Problem is His people are in the claws of Babylon,
24:32 trying to destroy them.
24:35 No problem because verse 11 tells us,
24:40 "I saw heaven standing in open
24:42 and there before me was a white horse,
24:44 whose rider is called Faithful and True.
24:48 With justice he judges and makes war.
24:50 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.
24:54 He has a name written on him that no one
24:56 but he himself knows,
24:58 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
25:00 and his name is the Word of God.
25:04 The armies of heaven are following him,
25:05 riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen,
25:08 white and clean.
25:09 And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword
25:12 with which to strike down the nations.
25:14 And He will rule them with an iron scepter.
25:17 He treads the winepress of the fury
25:19 of the wrath of God Almighty.
25:21 And on his robe and on his thigh he has this name written,
25:24 King of kings, Lord of lords,
25:27 Jesus Christ is coming riding on a white horse
25:31 to capture His people from Babylon,
25:34 to snatch her from the jaws of death
25:37 and to bring her to the New Jerusalem
25:40 to the wedding Supper of the Lamb.
25:44 Wow!
25:47 Revelation is all about Jesus,
25:50 He is the king who comes from the east.
25:58 Verse 19, "I saw the beast
26:02 and the kings of the earth all of them,
26:06 and their armies gathered together
26:09 to make war against the rider on the horse and his army."
26:15 Now you got to picture this.
26:17 Jesus is coming for His bride, He is coming for us.
26:22 The kings of the earth, the beast,
26:26 the false prophet all their armies
26:29 are gathered together to make war against whom?
26:34 Not against Israel,
26:37 it never says the war is against Israel,
26:40 they are gathered together
26:42 to make war against the rider on the horse, that's Jesus.
26:48 Armageddon is the devil and his armies against Jesus
26:52 or Jesus against them, however you want to look at it,
26:55 because they are trying to crush the life
26:59 out of the bride of the Lamb and He is coming to deliver us,
27:04 that's what Armageddon is all about.
27:06 It's not over geographic boundaries
27:09 set by the United Nations
27:11 and fought over by the Middle Eastern countries.
27:14 It's not about that, it's about Jesus
27:17 and His bride
27:18 and those who are trying to crush the bride of Christ.
27:26 So watch it again,
27:28 "Saw the beast and the kings of the earth
27:30 and their armies gathered together
27:33 to make war against the rider on the horse."
27:40 If you ever gets discouraged read Revelations 17:15,
27:47 actually read Revelation 17:12 and following,
27:53 "Ten horns you saw are ten kings
27:55 who have not yet received a kingdom,
27:57 but who for one hour will receive authority
27:59 as kings along with the beast.
28:00 They have one purpose, they will give their power
28:02 and authority to the beast."
28:04 All the kings of the earth,
28:05 they are not fighting against each other.
28:07 No, they give all of their authority to the beast,
28:10 they are fighting against whom?
28:12 Verse 14, "They will make war against the Lamb,
28:16 don't get discouraged.
28:18 Sometimes he attacks us, he is going to attack us,
28:22 he is going to keep attacking us,
28:25 but watch, "But the Lamb will overcome them,
28:31 because he is King of kings and Lord of lords
28:35 and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
28:39 Follow the Lamb.
28:41 You want to win this war, follow the lamb,
28:43 He is going to win.
28:47 So the dragon, the beast, the false prophet,
28:51 the kings of the earth and all of their armies
28:54 are gathered together to make war against the Lamb,
29:00 against Jesus.
29:02 The rider on the white horse where they gathered to?
29:07 We have already read that but let's read it again.
29:12 Verse 13, "I saw three evil spirits
29:14 that looked like frogs;
29:15 they came out of the mouth of the dragon."
29:17 You know what, I want to start at verse 12
29:19 because that gives us a bigger picture here.
29:21 Verse 12, "The sixth angel poured out his bowl
29:24 on the great river Euphrates."
29:26 Is it getting clear to you now?
29:28 "He poured out his bowl on the great River Euphrates,
29:30 its water was dried up to prepare the way
29:32 for the kings from the East."
29:34 That's Jesus "And then I saw three evil spirits,
29:37 they looked like frogs,
29:38 they came out of the mouth of the dragon,
29:39 the beast, the false prophet.
29:41 They are spirits of demons
29:42 and they perform miraculous signs,
29:44 they go out to the kings of the whole world,
29:46 to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty."
29:51 So where are they gathering them to?
29:52 Verse 16 says, "Then they gathered the kings together
29:55 to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon."
30:00 The beast, the kings of the earth,
30:03 the false prophet all of their armies
30:07 are gathered together to a place called Armageddon
30:12 to make war against the Lamb.
30:18 He is going to loose that one every time.
30:22 But where is Armageddon?
30:25 When we did Revelation now over in the Middle East
30:29 after we are finished we went to--towards through Israel
30:33 and went up to the northern parts of Israel
30:37 to a little place called Megiddo.
30:39 You may have heard about it,
30:42 and there is a little hill
30:44 overlooking the big valley of Esdraelon
30:46 and we were there on Megiddo and there was a sign,
30:53 this is Armageddon, the place of the last Great War.
31:01 But it was a plane in the little hill
31:08 and it was Megiddo not Armageddon,
31:14 so do we want to trust the Rabbis
31:21 who don't accept Jesus Christ as their Savior
31:25 to interpret a New Testament prophecy
31:28 that centers on Jesus Christ,
31:32 practically the whole Christian world does.
31:36 But I see something else there
31:38 when I look through the eyes of Jesus.
31:43 Where is Armageddon?
31:45 Remember that word is only found in one place in your Bible
31:48 that's Revelation
31:51 and actually John gives us a clue,
31:53 He said, "They gathered the kings together
31:57 to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon."
32:04 Now this is a New Testament.
32:07 The New Testament was not written in Hebrew.
32:12 So I think John is telling us
32:14 if you want to understand Armageddon,
32:16 you better know a little Hebrew.
32:18 At least one word or actually two words,
32:24 Armageddon is from the Hebrew Har there H is silent
32:29 and it means mountain.
32:32 Magedon, the Megiddo means slaughter.
32:40 The dragon, the beast,
32:43 the kings of the earth and their armies,
32:48 all the wicked are gathered to the mountain of slaughter
32:55 to make war against the Lamb.
33:01 God's people are gathered to Mount Zion
33:08 to worship the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
33:13 There are two mountains in Revelations,
33:17 two gatherings in Revelation.
33:20 One to Mount Zion, the Lamb is there
33:25 and one to Armageddon, the mountain of slaughter
33:31 and the beast is there.
33:37 That's the last Great War and it will end all wars.
33:49 Now, we're ready to go
33:51 to the broader scope of that prophecy
33:55 in the wider context of Revelation.
33:58 Now I want to kind of sweep through
34:00 from Revelation 12 up until the end.
34:05 I am going to paint in broad strokes the big picture,
34:09 because when you have the big picture
34:12 then you can go through and study the details.
34:15 Then the beast and 666 and the mark
34:19 and Armageddon all fall into place.
34:21 But if you just take one here and one there,
34:24 without a big picture you don't know where to hang it
34:28 and it gets confusing.
34:30 But watch how simple and clear Revelation is now Chapter 12:7,
34:36 "There was war in heaven.
34:38 Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,
34:40 and the dragon and his angels fought back.
34:41 He was not strong enough,
34:42 they lost their place in heaven."
34:44 We know about that war,
34:46 that war was over who is going to rule,
34:48 Satan want to sit on God's throne,
34:50 God's laws are laws of love.
34:52 Satan wanted to put his laws in place of God's laws.
34:56 God could have destroyed Satan rights then in heaven remember?
35:00 We talked about all this, why didn't he?
35:02 When Lucifer that perfect angel in heaven
35:04 was trying to deceive all the angels
35:07 into following him instead of God,
35:09 and trusting him instead of God,
35:11 God could have walked in and destroyed him right then.
35:14 Why didn't he?
35:15 Wouldn't it had been better
35:16 if He would have stopped this thing before it started?
35:19 No, because if He would have destroyed Lucifer,
35:21 then all the other angels would be worshipping God
35:24 out of fear instead of love
35:26 and they would have never known
35:27 that God's laws are laws of love.
35:31 So, He had to let Lucifer go.
35:33 He had to give him time to demonstrate
35:36 what it would be like if he really had a kingdom to rule
35:40 and the bad news is that he was hurled down to the earth
35:43 and his evil angels with him, bad news for us.
35:47 You say, well, that's not fair.
35:48 Why didn't He send him to some other Pluto or some place out.
35:53 There is nothing fair about sin,
35:57 but there is everything fair about God
36:00 and He is going to make it up to you far greater than what-
36:03 what you could ever dream or imagine.
36:08 Verse 13, "When the dragon saw
36:10 he had been hurled to the earth,
36:11 he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child."
36:15 Now remember we studied
36:17 and learned that the woman symbolizes God's people
36:23 if she is the pure woman.
36:25 That harlot dressed in scarlet and purple,
36:29 the adulterous woman symbolizes a counterfeit to God's people.
36:36 So this time we see a woman
36:38 is a pure woman clothed with the sun.
36:42 In the Old Testament that woman is a nation of Israel.
36:46 In the New Testament
36:48 that woman symbolizes the church of Jesus Christ.
36:54 So we have to ask ourselves
36:56 when John saw the dragon pursuing this woman
37:00 is it in Old Testament time or is it in New Testament times.
37:04 Old Testament, it would be Israel,
37:06 New Testament, it would be the church.
37:08 You see the cross is the determining factor
37:12 as to how to understand Revelation.
37:16 When we see that "The dragon had been hurled to the earth,
37:20 and he pursued the woman
37:21 who had given birth to the male child."
37:25 Jesus had already come,
37:27 so it must be the New Testament woman
37:30 the church of Jesus Christ.
37:32 Shouldn't surprise us because we had already studied
37:35 that "the woman was given in Verse 14
37:37 the wings of the great eagles,
37:38 so that she might fly to the place
37:39 prepared for her in the desert,
37:41 where she would be taken care of for a time,
37:42 times and half a time" same thing that Daniel saw
37:46 the antichrist would be in power time,
37:48 times and half a time.
37:51 So during that time, times and half a time
37:53 that we have already studied was 1260 years from 538 until 1798.
37:58 The woman is hidden in the desert;
38:01 God has always had followers,
38:04 believers who would follow the Lamb.
38:07 Always, even in the darkest times of the Dark Ages.
38:11 So now we are through the Dark Ages 1798 after that,
38:15 "From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river,
38:18 to overtake the woman sweeps her away with the torrent."
38:21 And we know that symbolizes war,
38:23 trying to destroy the people of God
38:26 that happened during the Dark Ages.
38:27 Europe just about wiped the true believers
38:31 off the face of the earth.
38:32 During the Spanish Inquisition St. Bartholomew massacre
38:37 and all the other times when those who stood
38:40 on the scripture were slaughter their blood
38:42 was flowing in the streets,
38:43 "But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth"
38:47 the first beast came up out of the water
38:49 representing multitudes of people,
38:51 but this second beast comes up out of the earth,
38:54 after the deadly wound so around the turn of the century
38:58 the late 1700s we see another beast rising,
39:02 quite uninhabited part of the world.
39:04 Relatively compared to Europe
39:07 and he had two horns like a lamb
39:09 we already identified that one is protestant America.
39:12 The United States of America
39:14 when the pilgrims came to this country
39:16 to escape the persecution, establish a nation
39:20 where they have the freedom to worship God as they choose.
39:25 "But, she spoke like the dragon."
39:31 America is going to change.
39:35 America is changing and we are seeing our freedoms
39:41 eroding away slowly but surely.
39:49 We still have the right to worship as we please.
39:53 Praise God for that.
39:57 But there are some in very influential circles
40:00 in government that would consider
40:03 the prophecies that we have been talking about
40:05 as hateful, and would even ban them.
40:11 Did you know that your United States Senate
40:15 and your United States House of Representative
40:18 had a motion on the floor to ban
40:23 and make it illegal any interpretations of prophecy
40:28 that pointed to the Vatican as the antichrist and the beast?
40:32 Fortunately it was voted down
40:36 but one of these days it's going to be voted up.
40:39 We have already seen as I read to you from the document
40:43 produced by the Department of Homeland Security,
40:46 we have already seen that
40:49 those who focus on end time prophecies
40:53 are more likely to be candidates for terrorism
40:57 than other parts of the population.
41:01 We've already singled out.
41:05 Our freedoms are being stripped away.
41:08 I want to show you some things.
41:11 How could that ever happen here in the United States of America?
41:16 I found this when I was reading a book
41:20 that was written about 300 years before Christ was born,
41:27 wasn't written by a Bible prophet,
41:30 it was a written by a pagan philosopher,
41:33 his name was Plato, the book was The Republic.
41:39 And I had chills going up and down my back when I read it.
41:43 See if you think he wasn't talking about our times.
41:48 It's a little long but bear with me.
41:52 All forms of government destroy themselves
41:56 by carrying their basic principles to excess.
42:02 The first form is monarchy, that's a king ruling,
42:08 and the principle is unity of rule.
42:12 Carried to excess, the rule is too unified.
42:16 And the monarch or the king takes too much power to himself.
42:23 Leading families' rebel and they establish an aristocracy
42:29 whose main principle is that selected families rule.
42:35 The principle of selection is carried to excess
42:38 and somewhat large numbers of able men are left out,
42:42 the middle class join them in rebellion,
42:45 and they establish a democracy,
42:48 whose principle is liberty and that's us.
42:54 But, this principle too
42:56 is carried to excess in the course of time.
43:00 The democracies become too free.
43:03 Now this was written 350 years before Christ.
43:08 This principle is carried to excess in the course of time.
43:12 The democracies become too free until at last,
43:17 even the puppy dogs in our own homes
43:20 rise on their hind legs and demand their rights.
43:27 Watch out now, it's called animal rights.
43:34 Now don't misunderstand me.
43:37 I believe that God made us stewards over this earth
43:42 and the animals and we need to take care of the animals
43:47 and protect them, they're God's creatures.
43:53 But it's possible to go to extremes and excess
43:57 and people have done jail time
44:01 for plowing up accidentally, a Kangaroo rat.
44:06 It was an endangered species in that cornfield.
44:12 And there are so many things now that can't be done
44:15 because it might infringe on animal rights
44:19 and scare the rattlesnakes out of their natural habitat.
44:26 Some people don't even want me to go scuba diving,
44:29 because when I jump off the boat it causes trauma to the fish.
44:35 Now, we can go to extremes
44:38 and that's what Plato was talking about.
44:42 So everybody is demanding their rights, picture this,
44:46 everybody thinks they have something comes to them.
44:51 So what happens when they don't get,
44:53 what they think they have coming to them?
44:57 That's when you start seeing demonstration
45:00 that turn into riots and anarchy.
45:05 We have almost had that a few times
45:07 in some of our elections
45:09 when people thought their vote wasn't counted.
45:11 You remember the Chads,
45:13 we were on the brink of anarchy in some places in rioting.
45:19 Disorder grows to such a point,
45:22 that a society will abandon all of its liberties
45:25 to anyone who can restore order.
45:28 And then comes the fourth form of government,
45:31 tyranny, dictatorship.
45:33 And the monarchy may be restored,
45:35 and the process begins all over again, not this time.
45:40 There will be a monarch, there will be a king
45:43 but this process isn't going to happen all over again.
45:49 In this kind of environment and then the political
45:53 and economic crisis that we are facing in this country
45:57 and are oing through now
45:59 it doesn't take much of an imagination to see
46:03 people believing that they are not getting their rights.
46:08 Getting anxious, demonstrating
46:11 and even rioting to get what they believe is their right.
46:19 The stage is ripe for a powerful political leader
46:24 to emerge performing miracles, saying I have the answer,
46:31 people will abandon their freedoms
46:33 to anyone who can promise them order.
46:38 The stage is set folks for a worldwide super church.
46:45 And this is from an email newsletter
46:47 that I get from Dr. Robert Moynihan from Rome
46:50 called Inside the Vatican.
46:52 He announced that the Protestant Anglican Church
46:57 is now being invited by Rome to reunite with Rome
47:01 and keep their Anglican traditions,
47:04 the priest can continue to marry,
47:06 these things will still be okay,
47:08 but they must recognize
47:10 the authority of the pope in matters of truth.
47:16 He said this will be seen as one of the historic documents
47:18 of Pope Benedict XVI pontificate,
47:21 we are watching history unfold here.
47:24 But this he said, is just one part
47:26 of a larger papal strategy in vision
47:28 which opens outward towards orthodox churches,
47:31 other protestant churches
47:33 and which also has to do with mysterious message from Fatima.
47:37 An appearance of Mary with prophecies
47:39 they were locked up and no one really knew what they were
47:44 but now they are beginning to unfold those prophecies.
47:48 But Mary died 2000 years ago.
47:52 Messages that come from beyond the grave.
47:55 Remember I saw demon spirits performing miracles
47:59 gathering the world together bringing them together
48:03 for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
48:06 Are you seeing what's happening?
48:08 And that isn't all, the next day he said,
48:12 He was on a train approaching Tatarstan,
48:15 gateway to the Stan countries,
48:18 beyond Tatarstan is Kazakhstan,
48:20 Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan
48:24 countries that are all part of the Muslim world,
48:26 He was going to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan
48:30 and Kazan reflects that it's half of its population is Muslim
48:34 and the other half Orthodox Protestant Russians
48:38 of the Orthodox Protestant Church.
48:42 The first glimpse of Kazan that I catch at dawn
48:45 as the train pulls into the city is the mosque with its minarets
48:49 and the domes of the cathedral, side-by-side.
48:53 Mosque and the protestant cathedral side by side.
48:57 But the fascinating thing about Kazan
48:59 is that it is known throughout the world
49:01 as a city of tolerant coexistence.
49:04 There is no evident tension whatsoever
49:07 between the Muslims in the city and the Christians in the city.
49:11 And this, I believe is part of the mystery
49:13 of the icon of Kazan which came from Fatima.
49:19 So here we are using spirits from beyond the grave
49:23 to bring peace and harmony between Muslims and Christians
49:29 and they are attributing it to a vision from beyond the grave.
49:37 I don't know how prophecy can unfold
49:39 any clearer than it is right now.
49:41 We are living in the last days
49:43 and folks our freedoms are going to be stripped away
49:45 and you are going to be forced to worship
49:48 in a way that is contrary to the word of God
49:51 and you will be threatened with boycott,
49:53 you will be threatened with a death decree.
49:55 And there are miracles happening all over the place,
49:58 the devil is the master at making
50:00 wrong look right and right look wrong.
50:02 Everything inside of you is going to say
50:04 that it must be right, that you are following the lamb
50:06 when it's actually the beast
50:08 and the lamb is going to be made to look like the beast
50:11 only those who know the lamb from the scripture
50:15 can tell the difference between the two.
50:22 In Chapter 14, here comes a good part,
50:25 Verse 6 "I saw another angel flying in midair,
50:28 he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to every nation,
50:30 tribe, language and people".
50:32 Every living being on earth is gonna hear the truth about God
50:36 when the beast is doing his deceptions
50:38 to try to gather the world into worshipping the beast,
50:41 God has a message, the hour of God's judgment has come.
50:44 Now is the time, worship the creator not the creature.
50:48 The beast is the creature, God is the creator,
50:51 Worship him who made the heavens,
50:52 the earth, the sea and the springs of water,
50:55 because the hour of God's judgment has come."
50:57 Second angel Babylon has fallen,
50:59 come out of her my people.
51:01 Third angel, if anyone worships the beast
51:03 and his image and receives his mark,
51:04 he will also drink the wine of the wrath of God.
51:07 The whole world is forced to choose
51:09 either worship the beast, the beast says or die,
51:12 there will be a death decree
51:14 or God says, worship the creator of the heavens and the earth
51:18 or you will drink the wine of the wrath of God.
51:21 There will be no straddling offence, just follow the Lamb,
51:24 don't follow me, don't follow grandma, grandpa,
51:27 anyone, follow the Lamb.
51:30 It's the only safety we going to have through times like this.
51:36 And then Chapter 15,
51:39 Three Angels Messages go to the whole world.
51:41 Everyone has been forced to choose one way or the other
51:44 and the Bible tells us verse 5, "I looked in heaven,
51:49 that's the tabernacle, the temple was opened
51:51 and out of the temple came the seven angels
51:53 with the seven plagues.
51:54 They were dressed in clean, shining linen
51:57 and wore golden sashes,
51:58 one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels
52:01 seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God,
52:04 who lives for ever and ever.
52:05 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God
52:09 and from his power, no one could enter the temple
52:12 until the seven plagues were completed."
52:15 In other words every decision has been made
52:17 everyone has had the opportunity to choose,
52:19 everyone you see is worshipping either the beast or the creator,
52:24 everyone has either the mark of the beast
52:26 or the seal of God on their foreheads,
52:28 then the plagues are poured out.
52:32 Why? What purpose could God have with these awful plagues?
52:38 Chapter 16:1, "I heard a loud voice from the temple
52:41 saying to the seven angels,
52:44 "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth.
52:48 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land,
52:50 and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people
52:53 who had worshiped the beast and his image."
52:56 Not on God's people,
52:57 only on those who worshipped the beast.
53:00 The great tribulation won't come to you
53:02 if you have a seal of God on your forehead.
53:06 "And then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea,
53:08 and it turned to blood,
53:09 the third angel on the rivers and springs of water,
53:12 and they became blood."
53:13 And verse 5, "Then I heard voice of the angel
53:16 in charge of the waters saying, You are just in these judgments,
53:19 you who are and who were, the Holy One,
53:20 because you have so judged,
53:22 for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,
53:25 you have given them blood to drink,
53:26 "Yes, Lord, just and true are your judgments.'"
53:29 Now God is showing that he is doing the right thing
53:32 and everyone agrees when he destroys the wicked
53:35 and delivers His people, Verse 8,
53:38 "The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun,
53:40 and was given power to scorch people with fire."
53:42 But look at the end of Verse 9
53:44 "They refused to repent and glorify God."
53:47 You see Babylon claims to be the people of God
53:50 but as the plagues are poured out
53:52 they are beginning to demonstrate
53:54 now they refuse to repent
53:56 "They cursed the name of God, they refused to glorify God".
54:00 Verse 10, "The fifth angel poured out his bowl
54:03 the beast was plunged into darkness.
54:05 Men gnawed their tongues in agony;
54:07 they cursed the name of God".
54:11 Now we can understand the sixth plague.
54:13 "The sixth angel poured out his bowl
54:15 on the great river Euphrates,
54:16 and its water would dried up
54:17 to prepare the way for the kings from the East."
54:20 There is only one thing
54:21 preventing Jesus from coming right now,
54:24 He has to give Satan time
54:26 to demonstrate what his kingdom was like,
54:28 he has to give his people time,
54:30 to demonstrate what it's like to follow the Lamb.
54:36 Watch this, Chapter 17:1,
54:39 "One of the seven angels who had seven bowls
54:41 came and said to me, 'Come,
54:43 and I will show you the punishment
54:44 of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.'"
54:47 So one of the angels with the seven bowls
54:49 is going to tell us about this prostitute
54:51 and interpret it for us, she sits on many waters.
54:55 What's her name? Verse 5.
54:57 "Mystery Babylon, the Great,
54:58 the mother of prostitutes and abominations of the earth."
55:01 So here is Babylon the harlot the counterfeit church
55:04 sitting on many waters just like Babylon of old.
55:08 What are the waters symbolize, Verse 15 "The waters you saw,
55:12 where the prostitute sits, are peoples,
55:14 multitudes, nations and languages."
55:16 So there is the harlot sitting on waters
55:18 the people are the ones who give her, her support,
55:21 they give her, her power,
55:23 but the prophet said that the waters were going to dry up
55:26 to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
55:29 So, Babylon will lose her power.
55:31 She will lose her support, the people will recognize it,
55:35 how does it happen, he continues on verse 10,
55:38 "The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute
55:41 they will bring her to ruin, they will leave her naked,
55:43 they will eat her flesh, they will burn her with fire."
55:46 Because the people finally recognize
55:48 that they have been lead astray by their leaders,
55:51 by their pastors, by their teachers
55:54 that's the darkness, the darkness of the plague
55:57 is the realization that the people they are persecuting
56:01 are not receiving the plagues we are,
56:04 we have been deceived, we have been lead astray.
56:09 And now, there are those who worship God
56:13 and those who worship the beast, they are marked,
56:17 they don't repent because they love God,
56:21 they don't repent because they trust God,
56:25 they repent because they want all the privilege of being saved
56:29 but they don't want to have to trust God
56:32 to live their lives the way He made us.
56:38 But it's too late now, everyone had their opportunity.
56:44 It's going to be a dark time for God's church,
56:48 it's going to be a time
56:49 where it seems like that if one more minute goes by
56:52 the church will be crushed away into darkness,
56:56 Babylon is so powerful and strong.
56:59 But at the darkest hour God's people are gonna look up
57:06 and see a rider on a white horse.
57:14 His name is the word of God, on his head are many crowns,
57:21 He is dressed in a robe,
57:23 spotless and white dipped in blood
57:27 and he has his name on his thigh King Of kings and Lord Of lords
57:32 and God's people are delivered
57:37 at a place that in Hebrews is called Armageddon.


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Revised 2014-12-17