Sabbath School Study Hour

The Bible and Prophecy

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Program Code: SSH022024S


00:00 ♪♪♪
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00:36 Jean Ross: Good morning, friends.
00:37 I'd like to welcome all of you once again to "Sabbath School
00:39 Study Hour," coming to you from the Amazing Facts offices in
00:42 Sacramento, California.
00:44 We'd like to welcome all of those joining in, in our online
00:46 interactive lesson study this morning.
00:50 I know we have folks joining us from our local area, our local
00:53 church members from Granite Bay, but also those who are across
00:55 the country and even in other countries around the world that
00:59 are tuning in to study the lesson today.
01:01 We have a very exciting study.
01:03 It's dealing with the subject of the Bible and, in particular,
01:06 we're on lesson number 11 and it's "The Bible and Prophecy."
01:09 So Pastor Doug and I were just talking before the program about
01:12 some of the things we want to highlight in the lesson.
01:15 There's a lot of information but it's very important and
01:18 good information.
01:20 We do want to tell you about our free offer today.
01:22 It's one of the Amazing Facts study guides and it's dealing
01:24 with time prophecy.
01:26 It's entitled, "Right on Time!"
01:28 And we'd be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks.
01:30 The number is 866-788-3966 and you can just ask for offer
01:36 number 131 and we'll get that in the mail and send it to you.
01:40 You can also order the digital copy of the lesson by texting
01:45 the code "SH057" to the number 40544, and you'll be able to get
01:53 a digital copy of the lesson entitled "Right on Time!"
01:57 And I think you'll really enjoy it.
01:59 It' a lot of important fascinating information.
02:02 Well, Pastor Doug, it's just a joy to be able to study this
02:04 very important lesson and, of course, before we get into it,
02:07 let's start with a word of prayer.
02:08 Doug Batchelor: Amen.
02:10 Jean: Dear Father in heaven, we thank You once again that we're
02:12 able to open up Your Word and study some of the passages in
02:13 the book of Daniel, also some of the prophecies in Revelation.
02:15 And Father, it's important for us to understand these truths.
02:18 They're relevant for our time, so we do ask for Your leading
02:21 and Your guiding.
02:23 Be with those who are joining us as well, for we ask this in
02:25 Jesus' name, amen.
02:26 Well, our lesson, "The Bible and Prophecy," and Pastor Doug, our
02:29 memory verse is a very well-known Bible verse to a lot
02:33 of Adventists.
02:37 Doug: Yes, any Seventh-day Adventist worth their salt knows
02:39 this one and it's from Daniel chapter 8, verse 14: "And he
02:42 said unto me, Unto 2300 days; then shall the sanctuary
02:49 be cleansed."
02:52 And we're--actually, later in the lesson, there's a whole
02:55 section that goes into that verse so we'll talk a little
02:57 more about that then.
02:59 So--go ahead.
03:01 Jean: Yes, I was just going to add to that.
03:03 Our memory text, there's a couple of important
03:04 themes there.
03:06 We've got a time prophecy, 2300 days.
03:08 We've got a judgment theme, talking about the cleansing of
03:09 the sanctuary.
03:11 It's really a verse relating to Bible prophecy but also
03:13 end-time, the time that we're living in right now.
03:17 So it is significant for us as people living near the
03:20 Second Coming.
03:21 Doug: And one of the longest prophecies in the Bible as well.
03:23 Well, under the first section, we're going to take a minute and
03:26 talk about this.
03:28 We have something that's called historicism and prophecy, and
03:30 it's really important at this stage in the lesson to take a
03:34 moment and explain that when you read the Bible, for more--most
03:38 Christians there are three real perspectives.
03:42 There's three modes or sciences of interpretation that are
03:46 usually used by various denominations.
03:50 One is called historicism.
03:53 There's the historicist view of prophecy.
03:56 One is preterism and one is futurism.
04:00 Let's take a minute and just talk about what that is.
04:03 The historicist and this is, you know, what this section is
04:07 dedicated to, this is a group of people who take the prophecies
04:11 and we believe they go from the time of the prophet's utterance
04:15 and it's a continuous line of prophecies up 'til the final
04:20 fulfillment, often being the Second Coming of the Lord or the
04:23 earth made new and heaven.
04:26 Then you get preterism and I'll come back and we'll say more
04:31 about historicism in a minute.
04:32 Preterism, you can tell from the word, "pre," it often takes the
04:36 prophecies and it believes the prophecies of Daniel, they're
04:40 all fulfilled and, you know, the evil king was Antiochus
04:45 Epiphanes and when you get to the prophecies of Revelation,
04:49 they think the Antichrist power was Nero, and that all of the
04:52 prophecies of Revelation met their fulfillment by 100 AD, and
04:56 so the preterists say it's all in the past.
04:59 Now, they accept that, you know, the Resurrection and the Second
05:02 Coming and these things have not happened yet.
05:04 And then you've got futurism.
05:06 Now, I should mention, futurism is a fairly new
05:09 interpretation prophecy.
05:11 Actually, both preterism and futurism are less than 500
05:15 years old.
05:17 They're fairly new views of how to interpret prophecy.
05:20 Futurism was really born from out of the Reformation.
05:26 As the different reformers, and I should mention that people
05:30 like Luther, Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, Roger
05:35 Williams, Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley,
05:38 Spurgeon, and many more, they believed in the historicist view
05:42 of interpretation.
05:44 But because Luther and others, in using the historicist view,
05:47 they looked at the papacy as the little-horn power, millions were
05:54 flocking out of Romanism into the Reformation movement.
05:59 The Jesuits basically engaged a couple of priests to write what
06:05 they called a counter interpretation.
06:08 And their names were Manuel Lacunza.
06:11 He lived actually 1731 to 1801.
06:15 Then before him was Francisco Ribera.
06:18 He's really the main source, a Catholic Jesuit, and he wrote
06:22 from 1537 he lived 'til 1591.
06:25 And basically, they took most of Revelation from Revelation
06:30 chapter 4 where it says: "I heard a trumpet and a voice
06:33 said, 'Come up hither.'"
06:34 They say that trumpet is a secret Rapture and that's--the
06:37 people--and everything from Revelation 4 on, they say, is in
06:40 the future.
06:42 Well, that eliminates a lot of Revelation.
06:44 And so, now here's the interesting part of the story.
06:47 This Jesuit interpretation of prophecy was adopted by Darby
06:51 and then Scofield included Darby's interpretation in the
06:59 Scofield Bible.
07:01 That really made it popular.
07:02 He included it in his notes of revelation.
07:05 He had adopted it.
07:07 Then people like Hal Lindsey, 40 years ago, they read that and
07:10 they put it in their bestselling books called "The Late Great
07:13 Planet Earth" and "Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth."
07:16 That was read by evangelicals everywhere and all of a sudden
07:19 you see that even Billy Graham's preaching went from historicism
07:23 to futurism.
07:25 And it just shifted so that now, by far, the left-behind books,
07:30 the left-behind movies, evangelicals who haven't
07:34 understood Revelation, they've pretty much embraced the
07:36 futuristic view of prophecy.
07:38 Jean: And we can also see that, Pastor Doug, by a de-emphasis of
07:41 the Protestant position on, well, the little-horn power of
07:45 Daniel chapter 7, talking about the beast of Revelation
07:48 chapter 13.
07:50 You know, the early Reformers all identified this as the Roman
07:53 power, the papal power, but of course, today, even in the
07:57 evangelical world, in the Protestant world, many people
07:59 have forgotten the roots, the foundation, of why they
08:03 are Protestant.
08:05 But if you look at what the Bible says, you know, and
08:07 remember we let the Bible interpret itself.
08:09 If you look at the pattern that's established in Scripture,
08:11 there's no room for a preterist view or a futuristic view.
08:14 The Bible itself teaches a historicist view of Bible
08:19 prophecy, and probably one of the clearest foundations of
08:22 this, at least, one of the main foundations to understanding
08:25 this, is Daniel chapter 2.
08:27 It's a passage that we know: Nebuchadnezzar the king has a
08:29 dream and in his dream he sees this giant image made of these
08:33 various metals.
08:35 Daniel then explains the meaning of this dream to the king and he
08:38 uses the historicist method.
08:40 In other words, he says, "You are the head of gold and after
08:42 you will come another kingdom, represented by the chest and
08:44 arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass is the third kingdom.
08:48 The legs of iron is the fourth kingdom.
08:50 And then it talks about the kingdom being divided up.
08:53 The feet of iron and clay, and then of course, the stone that
08:55 comes and strikes the image.
08:57 That is the establishment of Christ's kingdom, that is the
08:59 Second Coming.
09:01 Well, Daniel is very clear, not only in Daniel chapter 2 but
09:03 it's repeating Daniel chapter 7 and then again in Daniel
09:07 chapter 8.
09:09 So we have three times that Daniel himself--
09:10 Doug: And even Daniel 10 through 12 is still using the
09:12 historicist method.
09:13 Jean: So Daniel himself, he's saying, "This is the way you
09:15 need to interpret these symbols and prophecies."
09:18 There is no thousand-year gap between, for example, the belly
09:22 and thighs of brass and the legs of iron.
09:27 Matter of fact, Rome immediately follows Greece and Greece, of
09:32 course, follows Medo-Persia, so the gap theory or the gap
09:35 teaching which you need to apply with a futuristic interpretation
09:38 of Bible prophecy is not supported in the Scripture
09:41 itself, it's just not there.
09:44 Doug: Yes, Daniel gives an unbroken panorama of history
09:49 from his time 'til the kingdom of Christ is set up in
09:52 the earth.
09:54 And you see that in Revelation 2.
09:56 They both use a series of prophecies where they back up
09:57 and they retell.
09:59 But each prophecy gives--it's an unbroken sequence and, you know,
10:03 this last week that many futurists take--they say, "Well,
10:07 there's this last seven years of Tribulation."
10:09 They break that off of Daniel chapter 9, the 490-year
10:14 prophecy, and they've got it floating away from the rest of
10:18 the prophecy and they really can't give any reason for that,
10:20 where everything else in the book tells us it's this
10:23 sequence, it's uninterrupted.
10:25 Jean: Yes, absolutely, and it's important for us to remember
10:27 that because there's a lot of confusion and all kinds of
10:29 strange interpretations of Scripture when you take the
10:33 symbols in Revelation and Daniel and you apply it to some
10:36 futuristic power.
10:38 It could really represent anything.
10:40 And that's one of the dangers of the futuristic interpretation.
10:43 It's also important for us to know, Pastor Doug, that when we
10:45 study Bible prophecy we want to use the historicist method
10:49 because--and that's what we find even Daniel using, but it's also
10:53 important that we recognize that there are certain time elements
10:57 or keys to unlock time prophecy.
10:59 And that's what's brought to light in the next section of our
11:03 lesson but just before we do that we also need to remember
11:06 that Bible prophecy isn't really there for us to try and guess
11:10 what's going to happen in the future but, rather, Jesus said,
11:13 "When these things come to pass your faith will be," I'm
11:15 paraphrasing, "your faith will be encouraged," in
11:17 the Scriptures.
11:19 Doug: Yes, two times there in John 13, verse 19, and John
11:22 14:29, Jesus said, "I told you before that when it comes to
11:26 pass then you'll know."
11:28 So how do we know the historicist's view is the right
11:31 view, is we look back and we see it works.
11:34 It's like my teacher used to say, "Use the multiplication
11:38 table," and I thought, "Why?"
11:40 She said, "It works.
11:42 It's been proven."
11:44 And so the historicist view, you can look back and say, "This
11:46 is--it all happened."
11:48 Most Adventist evangelists, somewhere in their first few
11:51 presentations, they do Daniel 2 and the reason is it is so
11:53 effective in proving the validity of the Bible 'cause you
11:57 can look in the history book, you look at the Bible, you say,
12:00 "The Bible was right."
12:02 Jean: All right, well, we've got some questions coming in.
12:03 Again, if you have a Bible question, maybe relating to
12:05 prophecy or a passage of Scripture, be sure to type it
12:09 there on Facebook and we'll try to answer as many as we can.
12:12 So James is asking, Pastor Doug, "What is the falling away that
12:16 the Bible is talking about?"
12:18 So I'm assuming what Paul says: "The day of the Lord won't come
12:22 unless there be a falling away."
12:24 What is that referring to?
12:25 Doug: Yes, well, Paul also said, "After my departure," in Acts,
12:28 he says, "grievous wolves will enter in, not sparing the flock
12:31 to draw away disciples after themselves."
12:34 The falling away he's talking about is not a falling away in
12:38 the world.
12:39 The world fell away back in Adam's day.
12:41 He's saying that there would be a falling away in the church and
12:44 that's what you read about in the prophecies of Daniel and
12:47 Revelation with the--it's that little horn power or that
12:51 Antichrist power that began in a special way in 538 or even began
12:56 during the conversion of Constantine, where there was a
13:01 great compromise that came into the church where they started to
13:03 co-mingle paganism with Christianity and the religion
13:07 became corrupted from the inside.
13:10 Jean: Of course, that's an important theme that you find in
13:13 Daniel chapter 7, is this falling away from the truth of
13:15 God's Word by this religious, political power that rules for
13:20 1260 days and we'll probably talk about that a little later.
13:23 Another question that's come in, Pastor Doug, is "Who are the
13:26 Israelites today, according to the Bible?"
13:30 Who are the Israelites today?
13:32 Doug: Yes, and this is a very--it's a sensitive subject
13:35 because if you say that it's not all literal Israel, people
13:40 accuse you of what they call "replacement theology," meaning
13:43 there's no role for Israel, they've all been replaced now by
13:46 the church.
13:48 We believe that the Bible teaches if you are Christ's, you
13:52 are Abraham's seed.
13:54 Now, that means that if a Jew does not accept Jesus, they are
13:59 not saved by virtue of having Hebrew genetics.
14:03 Christ is, the Bible tells us, God is not a regarder of people.
14:07 He's--looks on the heart.
14:09 He is not a Jew which is worn outwardly.
14:12 He is a Jew which is worn inwardly.
14:14 Now, Jew or Gentile, and even Paul said, you know, "Salvation
14:18 comes to the Jew first and the Gentile on those that believe."
14:23 And so, yes, we believe there's a special place for Israel, even
14:26 in prophecy today, as they believe.
14:30 But the Gentiles are grafted in, Paul tells us.
14:34 We are grafted in to the stock of Israel and it's not now
14:37 circumcision in the flesh, it's circumcision in the heart.
14:40 So if you are Christ's, you are able to partake of all the
14:45 promises made to Abraham.
14:47 There is a spiritual component of the Gentiles being grafted in
14:51 as well.
14:52 Jean: And that's probably an important point to remember.
14:54 When you're studying the book of Revelation 'cause, Pastor Doug,
14:56 correct me if I'm wrong but I believe in Revelation there's
14:58 only two groups of people: you're either saved and you're
15:02 an Israelite or you're lost and you're a Gentile.
15:05 Now, of course, Revelation is a symbolic book and we're not
15:07 saying that, you know, obviously, literally, you have
15:09 to be a descendant of Abraham to be saved but spiritually
15:12 speaking, Israel are those who receive Christ, those who have
15:16 the seal of God.
15:18 So it's a symbol that we find in the Bible.
15:20 Doug: You know, but that--I think people are surprised to
15:22 remember that was even true in the Old Testament.
15:24 You know, God had people that--He had people that loved
15:27 Him that maybe were not part of Israel.
15:29 Jesus emphasizes that but Ruth, Rahab, Tamar, they all were
15:35 grafted into the stock of Israel.
15:38 Uriah the Hittite, you know, there's a lot of people that
15:41 they came in and they said, "We are going to accept the God."
15:44 In the New Testament we have a new covenant.
15:47 It's a new testament.
15:48 Let's read the new testament: "I will make a new covenant after
15:51 those days with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."
15:55 God makes no saving covenant with Gentiles.
15:58 Every Christian is grafted into--they become spiritual Jews
16:01 under the new covenant.
16:03 They receive the promises by--'cause the promise is only
16:06 made with the house of Israel.
16:08 So we're really grafted in and we read a Jewish book.
16:11 And--but it's not physical circumcision.
16:14 It's in the heart.
16:16 It's not sacrificing lambs.
16:17 Jesus is our lamb, so there's some differences now.
16:19 Jean: All right, one more question, then we'll get back to
16:21 the lesson here.
16:23 Angela is asking, "Can we actually quicken the
16:24 Lord's Coming?"
16:27 Doug: You know, Peter tells us, "Looking for and hastening unto
16:30 the Coming of--"
16:32 And that's 2 Peter chapter 3, "The Coming of the Day of God."
16:34 If Jesus said, "The gospel," Matthew 24:14, "the gospel of
16:37 this kingdom will be preached in all the world, then the end will
16:40 come," clearly He wants everyone to have an opportunity to hear
16:43 before the end comes and, based on what Peter says, that as
16:47 we're filled with the Holy Spirit and we preach the gospel,
16:51 we cooperate with the Lord in giving everybody a chance to
16:56 hear and also even in our own lives.
16:58 As we live to allow Christ to reproduce His image in us, the
17:03 Lord is going to come for a church that has reproduced His
17:06 image before the world, His character.
17:08 And so, in that respect, we can participate and it appears that
17:15 the day's going to come sooner.
17:17 God knows when it's going to be, so it's not like we're--God does
17:20 not have a big shifting line in eschatology.
17:24 Jean: Okay, well, that leads us to our next subject in the
17:26 lesson and it's called, "The Year-Day Principle" that
17:29 we find.
17:31 Important principle because not only do we find this referred to
17:34 in Bible prophecy but even some Old Testament stories use the
17:36 day for the year principle and then we're even finding Jesus
17:40 using the day for a year principle so, Pastor Doug, what
17:43 exactly is the day for a year in principle and maybe there are
17:46 some examples you can use.
17:48 Doug: Well, very simply, in Bible prophecy most of the time
17:52 when you're calculating times you apply a day for a year.
17:57 Now, I've got to be very clear, it's not every time.
17:59 It's like, often in Bible prophecy a woman represents
18:02 a church.
18:04 You read the context.
18:06 For example, if you go to Daniel chapter 4 where it says: "Seven
18:08 times Passover Nebuchadnezzar," those are seven literal seasons.
18:12 That's seven literal years and how do you know that?
18:16 It says, "Nebuchadnezzar was crazy for seven years, then
18:19 insanity came."
18:21 Daniel says, "You are the tree."
18:23 It's very clear that he says, "This is the fulfillment," and
18:26 it's literal.
18:28 But in those other prophecies where a date is given, off in
18:31 the future, and it uses a year or a day, that would be a day
18:35 equaling a year.
18:37 And we have three verses where God illustrates that.
18:39 And sometimes, the only way the prophecy will fit is if you use
18:44 the day for year prophecy.
18:46 You've got one in Numbers chapter 4 and I'll let you read
18:49 Ezekiel 4:6, one.
18:51 Numbers 4:34: "According to the number of the days in which you
18:55 spied out the land, 40 days, for each day you will bear your
18:58 guilt, namely one year, namely 40 years, and you will know
19:02 My rejection."
19:05 The unfaithful spies, they spend 40 days looking at the
19:07 Promised Land.
19:08 They didn't believe God would bring them in.
19:10 He said for every day you're going to now wander for a year
19:13 so that's one.
19:14 Jean: Ezekiel chapter 4, verse 6, it says: "And when you have
19:18 completed them, lie again on your right side and you shall
19:21 bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days.
19:24 I have laid on you a day for each year."
19:27 And it's an interesting story here in Ezekiel 4.
19:29 You have the prophet who was told to make a miniature of
19:33 Jerusalem and then in a prominent place in the city he
19:37 was to lie on one side, representing the enemy
19:40 surrounding Jerusalem and then the principle each day for
19:44 a year.
19:46 So 40 days he would lie there and then it says, "I have given
19:48 you each day for a year."
19:50 So we find the principle even in a historical experience that
19:53 Ezekiel did, the principle is being taught.
19:56 Doug: Yeah, and then another one is from Jesus Himself.
20:00 And this is sort of a bonus verse.
20:02 Luke 13, verse 31.
20:04 Not long after John the Baptist was arrested, it says: "On that
20:08 very day some Pharisees came, saying, 'Get out and depart from
20:12 here, for Herod wants to kill You.'"
20:14 And so they said, "Look what he did to John.
20:16 You better run for cover."
20:18 And Jesus said, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out devils
20:22 and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I
20:28 will be perfected,'" or completed.
20:31 This happens, John was killed about six months into
20:34 Christ's ministry.
20:36 Jesus taught 3 1/2 years, so He says, "The third day
20:38 I'm completed."
20:40 It wasn't three days, it was three years.
20:42 So even Christ here uses the day for the year principle.
20:45 And I got another couple.
20:47 I don't know if you want to say something about
20:48 Revelation first.
20:50 Jean: Next one that you have there is Revelation 12, verse 6.
20:51 And here we're getting into actually some prophetic
20:53 time periods.
20:54 And we have that in Daniel chapter 8.
20:56 We have some, Daniel 9 has prophetic time periods.
20:58 Also, of course, Revelation does.
21:00 Revelation 12:6: "Then the woman," the woman here is the
21:03 church, "fled into the wilderness where she had a place
21:06 prepared of God that they should feed her there for 1260 days."
21:11 Very important time period.
21:13 We're talking about the 1260 years of papal supremacy from
21:16 538 all the way through to 1798.
21:20 If you do the math, it's exactly 1260 years, if you do the
21:26 fulfillment there of what that is.
21:28 So using the day for a year principle fits into
21:32 prophetic time.
21:34 Doug: Why don't you read the next verse too.
21:35 Jean: The next one is also chapter 12, verse 14: "But the
21:37 woman was given two wings as an eagle, that she might fly into
21:40 the wilderness to her place, where she should be nourished
21:43 for a time times and a half a time, from the face or the
21:46 presence of the serpent."
21:48 Now, a time in Bible prophecy is a year, right?
21:51 Doug: A cycle of the seasons.
21:53 Jean: And Bible prophecy has 360 days.
21:56 They would have to adjust their calendars every so many years to
22:00 make up for a slight difference but Bible prophecy is 360 days.
22:05 She got time, two times, that's three years and a half, that's a
22:11 total of 1260 days, representing 1260 years.
22:15 It's talking about the same time period in Revelation 12:6: 538
22:19 'til 1798.
22:21 Doug: Yeah, and it also in Revelation I believe it says
22:24 42 months.
22:27 So the only way that 42 months equals 1260 and 3 1/2 years is
22:33 if you have 30-day months so people thought, "Well, how do
22:36 you know that they--it was a lunar calendar
22:38 and they're using 360 days to the year?"
22:40 Well, they're putting it in: 42 months is 1260.
22:46 The only way that works is if the months are 30 days
22:49 and so the Jews did use a lunar calendar.
22:52 They didn't use a solar calendar like the Romans.
22:54 And you might say, "Well, wait, if they had a year with 360
22:57 days, wouldn't that be out of synch with the rotation of the
23:01 earth around the sun?
23:02 Or, you know, the orbit of the--"
23:04 Yeah, well, they knew that.
23:06 They were very precise.
23:08 They would add a month every 13 years to compensate.
23:10 And so they kept their calendar actually very accurate.
23:12 Jean: And then we find the same principle, remember, Revelation
23:15 and Daniel are two sister prophetic books.
23:18 We find the same principle in Daniel chapter 7, verse 25.
23:21 It's talking about the little-horn power that
23:24 persecutes the saints for a time times and a half a time.
23:28 Again, 1260 years.
23:30 And again, in Daniel chapter 12, verse 7: "And I heard a man
23:35 clothed in linen, who was above the waters, and he held up his
23:37 right hand, his left hand to heaven, swore by him who lives
23:40 forever and ever that there should be a time, times, and a
23:43 half a time."
23:45 Again, that 1260-year time period, 538 'til 1798.
23:49 Doug: Yeah, and I should say, if it says a time, well, that's one
23:53 cycle of the season.
23:54 A times meant a pair or a couple.
23:57 It was--it's a dual word.
23:59 That means two.
24:00 So you got one plus two and the dividing or half which is, of
24:04 course, three and a half.
24:06 Now, this time three and a half appears several times in
24:08 the Bible.
24:10 How long was the famine in Elijah's day?
24:12 Three and a half years.
24:14 You can also read about that in James.
24:16 He prayed and the heavens were shut up for the space of three
24:18 years and six months.
24:19 How long did Jesus teach?
24:21 Three and a half years.
24:23 And how long was it from the death of Christ until Stephen
24:27 was stoned and the gospel went to the Gentiles?
24:30 Three and a half years.
24:32 How long was it before they had the beauty pageant to find
24:35 Esther in the book of Esther?
24:38 It says: "In the third year of the reign of Ahasuerus there was
24:41 a feast 180 days."
24:43 If you have 360 days to a year, half of 360 is 180, 3 1/2 years.
24:47 You find this time over and over again in the Bible.
24:51 So it then says in the same way, during the time of Elijah--this
24:57 is very important for revelation.
24:59 In the same way in the days of Elijah,
25:00 there was 3 1/2 years when Jezebel persecuted
25:04 the prophets, Elijah fled into the wilderness.
25:07 You go to Revelation, it says there are 3 1/2 prophetic years
25:10 where this woman in Revelation, Babylon, she persecutes the
25:15 prophets, she's drunken with the blood of the saints, and the
25:19 woman flees into the wilderness.
25:20 So knowing the Old Testament story, it fits perfectly, except
25:25 this is 538 to 1798.
25:28 It's 1260 years, not 3 1/2 literal years.
25:33 Jean: And then if you look in the Gospels, and this is just
25:36 fascinating, Pastor Doug.
25:38 You can talk about this as well, but the 3 1/2-year period is
25:41 also found when talking about Jonah.
25:44 And the verse here is Matthew chapter 12, verse 39.
25:46 This is Jesus speaking, and He says, "An evil and adulterous
25:50 generation seeks after a sign; no sign will be given them,
25:53 except the sign of the prophet Jonah."
25:56 Now, of course, if you go to Jonah chapter 3:3-4, it talks
26:00 about how that Jonah was called of God to go to Nineveh but he
26:03 went and boarded a ship heading for Tarsus and ended up having a
26:07 ride in a fish but finally he gets to Nineveh and he preaches.
26:10 Well, the time period of the preaching is interesting there.
26:14 Doug: Yeah, Jesus said--you've really got to pay attention to
26:17 Jesus to understand prophecy.
26:19 Jesus said, "No sign is given but the sign of Jonah."
26:21 He talks about Jonah's sufferings, three days and three
26:24 nights, as a type of His sufferings that began
26:27 Thursday night.
26:29 It's not just the time in the tomb.
26:31 Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, Christ was
26:33 paying for the sins of the world.
26:35 And then there's another time period given.
26:37 It says Jonah goes to Nineveh, an exceeding great city of three
26:40 days' journey.
26:42 Now, the scholars aren't even sure does that mean that he rode
26:45 like crazy to get from the coast of the Mediterranean to Nineveh
26:48 in three days?
26:50 Could be done but you'd have to ride night and day.
26:52 Or is he saying it's such a big city it took three days to go
26:54 around the city?
26:56 And then it says: "And he enters the city, a day's journey."
26:59 That means during the daylight hours.
27:01 And then he preaches in 40 days it'll be destroyed.
27:05 So you've got 3 1/2 and then 40.
27:08 Jesus said Jonah is the sign to his generation.
27:12 Jesus preached to the Jewish nation 3 1/2 years and then He
27:16 said, "This generation will not pass away until there's not one
27:19 stone left upon another in the temple."
27:21 Forty years later, the temple was destroyed.
27:25 So there you see again, a day for a year being applied.
27:29 Jean: All right, we've got some questions, Pastor Doug, that's
27:31 come in.
27:33 This question is relating to Matthew chapter 24, verse 17,
27:35 and Nicole is asking, "Is this passage of Scripture literal
27:40 for us?
27:42 In other words, do we need to drop everything and literally
27:45 flee to the hills as we have it described in Matthew 24,
27:49 verse 17?"
27:51 Doug: Yeah, I know the verse that they're talking about and
27:52 there's parallel verses that you find in, I think, Luke 21 and
27:55 also in Mark.
27:57 But, yeah, I believe there's going to come a time when we're
28:00 going to say, "This is it.
28:02 We need to head for the hills."
28:03 And what is that, when you see the abomination of desolation
28:05 spoken of by Daniel the prophet: "Let him who's on the housetop
28:10 not go down and take anything out of his house.
28:13 Let him who is in the field not go back and get his clothes."
28:16 And then he goes on to say, "Remember Lot's wife," and I
28:20 think that's in Luke.
28:21 Remember when he said, "Don't even look back," and he
28:24 told--the angels told Lot, "Get out of Dodge right now."
28:28 That's a paraphrase.
28:29 He said, "You've got to get out of Sodom right now," and
28:31 they lingered.
28:33 The angels took them by the hand and said, "Run for the hills
28:34 lest you be consumed."
28:37 So what is the abomination of desolation?
28:39 What is that sign for us, Pastor Ross, when we're supposed to
28:40 do that?
28:42 Jean: Well, we know back in Matthew 24 when Jesus was
28:44 talking about it was the armies of Rome surrounding Jerusalem
28:47 which was a sign of a destruction being near.
28:50 Well, in a spiritual sense, Rome has a counterpart, not literal
28:55 Rome but we have spiritual Rome or symbolic Rome which is
28:58 papal Rome.
29:01 It's still referred to as the Roman Catholic Church.
29:02 There will come a time when we will have a sign given to us and
29:07 those who know the Word of God, it has to do with the enforcing
29:10 of the mark of the beast.
29:12 Again, in Revelation, the key issue is worship.
29:14 Who do we worship?
29:16 Do we worship God and keep His commandments or do we worship
29:17 the beast power and keep the commandments and the traditions
29:20 of the beast?
29:22 God's people in the last days will have to make a choice, like
29:24 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
29:26 Do we obey God and keep His commandments or do we set aside
29:30 the commandments of God to honor manmade traditions?
29:33 And when laws are passed in the United States and then quickly
29:37 spread round the world, enforcing a particular day of
29:40 worship that is contrary to the 4th commandment, the Sabbath
29:43 commandment, then we know that the end is near.
29:47 And I think to us Christians who are studying the prophecies, we
29:50 will recognize in that a sign when it's time to start moving
29:53 out of the big cities and make our way to smaller towns and
29:57 more country settings because we know after this mark of the
30:02 beast issue comes and there's the final judgments that come
30:05 under the seven last plagues.
30:07 You don't want to be in the big cities when the plagues begin
30:10 to fall.
30:12 You want to be in a rural, more country setting.
30:14 Doug: You know, Pastor Ross, I just can't let this subject pass
30:18 without mentioning, well, just look at the times we're living
30:21 in right now where governments are saying to churches, "You
30:25 can't gather," and this week the president said it is a
30:30 national right.
30:32 Churches are now able to get together and if the governors
30:34 say they can't, we're going to have a federal statement to
30:36 overrule the governors.
30:38 And just the fact that there is so much attention being given to
30:41 whether or not Christians can gather, right now, just makes us
30:46 see that this could happen someday, yeah.
30:49 Jean: Very quickly.
30:51 Look how quickly they closed the churches and gatherings; in a
30:53 matter of weeks it happened, so.
30:55 All right, we have a question from Lacticia and she is
30:57 calling--or she is asking, I should say, "Pastor Doug, what
31:01 is your advice on studying the Bible and how do we read it
31:03 in context?"
31:07 Doug: Well, it's probably the same thing that your English
31:09 teachers would tell you when it came to reading, is if you're
31:13 going to study a particular verse, make sure you've got the
31:16 background that's happening historically, understand
31:20 something about the times, know who the characters are, read in
31:24 the context who are the characters involved.
31:27 It sometimes helps to know what their positions are, 'cause that
31:29 gives us context for why they're saying what they're saying.
31:32 And then read the verses before and after, so that you really
31:36 see where the verse is coming from, where the passage is
31:39 coming from and where it's going.
31:40 And that's what it means really, to read--that's a simple answer.
31:44 Jean: And comparing Scripture with Scripture, helping to get
31:45 the context.
31:47 Doug: Yeah, read other similar verses on the same subject.
31:50 Jean: All right, here's an interesting question.
31:52 This person is asking, Pastor Doug, if you can comment about
31:53 the "Great week of time," and they're referring to the earth
31:57 being about 6000 years old.
31:59 Doug: Yes, the great week of time is a theory that's been
32:05 around for hundreds of years that I think has some validity
32:08 and most of the Protestant Reformers and Adventist founders
32:13 believe that the plan of salvation would be consummated
32:16 in 7000 years, meaning the end of the millennium and the earth
32:20 made new, that God was going to fit that all in.
32:23 And because, right now, we're living near the end of the 6000
32:27 years, some are beginning to try and pick dates.
32:30 Now, that's the danger of talking about this.
32:32 No man knows the day or the hour.
32:34 Don't try and fix this to a date.
32:36 But I do think that you do see a pattern where, for the first
32:40 2000 years of the world's history, God presents the gospel
32:43 through the patriarchs, you know, Noah, Adam,
32:48 Methuselah, Enoch.
32:51 Then Abraham is born.
32:53 For the next 2000 years, God presents the gospel through the
32:55 nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, and then
32:58 Jesus comes 2000 years after Abraham, and now here we are,
33:01 2000 years after that, God presents the gospel through the
33:05 last epic, through spiritual is really the church.
33:07 And then you're supposed to live and reign with Christ's
33:11 revelation for 1000 years.
33:13 It's like a 1000-year Sabbath and so people have said, "Well,
33:17 if Christ comes at the end of the 6000 years and we're going
33:21 to live and reign with Him," there's a lot of Bible stories
33:23 to kind of bear this out, where you've got six days of work, a
33:26 day with the Lord's like 1000 years.
33:28 They farmed their land for six years, they let it rest
33:30 the seventh.
33:32 Jesus said, "I've been sowing the seed."
33:34 Revelation: He's coming to harvest when He comes.
33:36 There's a lot of--a servant could serve Jewish--could have a
33:42 Jewish slave for six years.
33:44 At the end of six years, he'd go free.
33:46 And it's just a lot of analogies so people have said, "This
33:50 is--we're living very close to the end."
33:52 But don't try and fix a date 'cause it could be sooner than
33:54 you think, "except those days be shortened, no flesh would
33:57 be saved."
33:59 Could be a little later than you think 'cause look at all the
34:01 parables Jesus talks about delay.
34:03 When it looks like it's later than you think.
34:05 So we've got to be ready but I think we are living in the
34:07 last generation.
34:10 Jean: Okay, that brings us to our next section and an
34:12 important theme that we find in Bible prophecy.
34:15 We're identifying or talking about the little horn power.
34:18 Now when we say the little horn power, we're really focusing on
34:21 a passage of Scripture that we find in Daniel chapter 7 and,
34:25 just to give the context to this, in Daniel chapter 7 you
34:28 have a repeat of the kingdoms described in Daniel 2.
34:32 You've got Babel and Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and
34:36 then you've got Rome divided up amongst ten horns which
34:40 represents the ten divisions of western Rome, the ten Germanic
34:44 or barbarian tribes that carved up the territory of western
34:48 Europe that Rome controlled.
34:50 And then it talks about a little-horn power that would
34:52 arise after these ten horns.
34:54 So after Europe was divided up amongst these various Germanic
34:59 kingdoms, a power would arise.
35:02 It would uproot three of the kingdoms but it would end up
35:06 persecuting the saints for 1260 years.
35:09 Now, this was a very important prophecy, especially during the
35:13 time of the Reformation because they identified that little-horn
35:16 power as being the papal church, the papacy that did rise up
35:19 after the division of western Europe.
35:22 There were three tribes: the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, and the
35:25 Heruli, that were uprooted in order to make way for the power
35:28 of the Pope, not only to be a religious power but now also a
35:32 political power and we have the establishment of the Vatican and
35:37 the papacy in 538 as a power that could also exercise civil
35:43 authority and not just religious power.
35:47 So the Reformers identified this and that was a big part of the
35:50 Reformation, calling people to a renewed commitment to the Word
35:54 of God and not the traditions of the church.
35:56 Doug: Yeah, I remember when I first started studying these
35:59 prophecies, I thought why is it comparing these world empires
36:02 to horns?
36:04 To me, that seemed a little bizarre if you grew up in New
36:07 York City.
36:09 But you've got to keep in mind that the Hebrews, it's like when
36:12 Moses told the Pharisees, he says, "These people
36:15 are shepherds."
36:17 They had sheep and goats and bulls and they saw that it was
36:19 often the ram with the largest rack of horns that would rule
36:25 the roost.
36:27 And so they portrayed these powers with the different horns.
36:31 You got the ram and the goat that are fighting together.
36:34 You got the beast.
36:36 Matter of fact, the beast with seven heads and ten horns
36:38 appears several times in Daniel, Revelation 12, Revelation 13,
36:43 Revelation 17, the woman sits on it.
36:46 So knowing that those horns don't represent any one
36:50 particular king, but kingdoms, and one reason you know that is
36:54 when Alexander the Great died, he was that one notable horn,
36:59 but then his four generals, they began four kingdoms.
37:04 It wasn't just them; it was also their posterity.
37:07 And so it just represents these four kingdoms.
37:10 So the little horn is not just any one particular pope.
37:12 It's talking about, really, the papacy, that power that there
37:16 would be a supreme bishop that would be ruling over church and
37:20 state in Europe.
37:22 Jean: Just to give you a few little identifying marks, if
37:24 you're new to this, maybe you've never heard this little-horn
37:27 power as representing the papacy, let me just give you a
37:29 few identifying marks quickly.
37:31 Number one, Daniel chapter 7, verse 7 and 8, tells us that the
37:34 little-horn would arise from the fourth beast.
37:37 We know the fourth beast is Rome and we know that the papal power
37:40 did arise from Rome.
37:43 Of course, its capital is still situated in Rome today.
37:46 It would arise amongst the ten horns and that's the divisions
37:50 of western Europe.
37:52 And, of course, the Vatican did arise right in the heart of the
37:54 Roman empire.
37:56 It arose after the horns.
37:58 The papacy arose to power, really, to the height of its
38:00 strength was 538.
38:02 This was after the other kingdoms had already established
38:05 and carved up the Roman empire.
38:08 It was different from the other horns.
38:09 This is Daniel 7:24.
38:12 It was not just a political power or a secular power.
38:14 It was also a religious power.
38:16 It didn't have its own military but it used the militaries of
38:19 the other nations that it controlled.
38:23 It had a look more stout than its fellows, meaning it would
38:26 have more power, it would rule a much wider territory.
38:30 The amazing thing about the Vatican or the papacy, not only
38:33 did they rule in Italy, but they ruled in France, in Germany up
38:37 until the time of the Reformation, even in England for
38:41 a period of time, and many of the other, Spain, Portugal, so
38:45 the papal power controlled secular powers and the kings
38:49 would have to get the permission of the Pope in order for them to
38:52 get married or get divorced or sometimes even go to war.
38:55 So it was a very powerful entity during the Dark Ages.
38:59 We spoke about this little-horn power uprooting the three horns,
39:03 that's the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, and the Heruli.
39:06 "It spoke great words against the Most High," this is
39:09 Daniel 7:25.
39:12 It's not a secret that the Pope does claim to be the
39:14 representative of God on earth, Vicarius Filii Dei or Vicar of
39:19 the Son of God.
39:21 We also note that when there is an official statement from the
39:25 papacy, a written statement, that that claims to
39:28 be infallible.
39:30 So in the same authority of the Word of God, so many examples of
39:34 where the papacy and the Vatican claims equality with God, the
39:38 ability to forgive sins, to put people out of heaven or bring
39:43 people in.
39:44 Doug: Now, you mentioned something there.
39:46 I thought you were going to keep going but you said the official
39:48 title for the Pope is Vicarius Filii Dei, and it says the
39:51 number of his name would add up to 666 and it's interesting that
39:56 when the Caesars were ruling, the first six Roman numerals add
40:02 up to 666.
40:04 You've got, you know, the I, the V, the X, the D, I'm leaving
40:11 something out here.
40:13 And then you have the M or is it the C, yeah.
40:15 Anyway, first six Roman numerals add up to 666 and the name of
40:20 the official title of the Pope and if you doubt that this is
40:24 the title, you can read that book that John Paul II wrote,
40:28 called "Threshold of Hope."
40:30 It's in the first or second page, said, "Our title is
40:32 Vicarius Filii Dei."
40:34 The Latin name adds up to 666.
40:37 Jean: And of course, there's a lot of additional information we
40:40 don't have time to deal with all of that but the Bible clearly
40:43 identifies the little-horn power as being the papacy, but then
40:46 that brings us to the next theme and this ties in with our memory
40:49 verse for our study today, "Unto 2300 days, then the sanctuary
40:53 shall be cleansed."
40:55 Now, this is a very important truth but it's somewhat of a
40:57 forgotten truth amongst Protestants today.
41:00 Really, it's the Adventists that are the ones who are
41:02 proclaiming this.
41:05 Many of the other Protestant denominations have pretty much
41:07 forgotten their original roots where they came from.
41:09 But the subject of the investigative judgment.
41:11 Of course, we find it in Daniel chapter 8.
41:14 We also find it in Daniel--well, it deals with it in chapter 7.
41:17 Why is that important?
41:20 And what's the significance of the investigative judgment?
41:22 Doug: Well, when you think about it, Jesus said, "Behold, I come.
41:24 My reward is with Me."
41:26 He knows what the rewards are when He comes.
41:29 So clearly, some judgment or investigation takes place before
41:32 he comes.
41:34 And you can read where Peter says, "Judgment must begin at
41:37 the house of God."
41:39 So there is a judgment.
41:41 He doesn't need to have a pre-Advent judgment for the lost
41:44 'cause Jesus says, "They're already condemned."
41:47 He says, "I didn't come to condemn you.
41:49 The lost are condemned."
41:51 He said, "I came to save them."
41:53 But those who have taken the name of Christ, are they
41:55 genuinely converted?
41:58 And there's a judgment that takes place for them.
42:00 And you can find also this is in Ezekiel 9, talks about those in
42:04 the sanctuary that receive a special seal or mark.
42:07 They're saved from this final judgment.
42:09 So there's what they call a pre-Advent judgment that you
42:13 read about and it's foretold in Daniel chapter 8 where it says:
42:17 "The beast's power would cast the truth to the ground and
42:20 practice and prosper," and then in verse 14, there'll be 2300
42:25 days and then the sanctuary will be cleansed.
42:28 Jean: Now, of course, that 2300-day prophecy begins in
42:31 Daniel chapter 9 with the decree for the Jews to go back and
42:35 restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
42:37 That was given in 457 BC, before Christ.
42:40 Adding 2300 years to 457 BC, you come to the amazing date
42:46 of 1844.
42:48 So something very significant occurred in 1844 and that
42:51 corresponds with the Great Awakening.
42:53 We call it the Great Advent Awakening and Revival around
42:56 that same time period, where people started studying the
42:59 prophecies, especially the prophecies of Daniel.
43:01 They recognized that something significant would happen at the
43:03 end of the 2300 days.
43:05 Now, they understood the cleansing of the sanctuary as
43:07 being the Second Coming of Christ but they didn't
43:10 understand the sanctuary as being representing a heavenly
43:13 work of judgment that Jesus does in heaven prior to the Second
43:16 Coming and the cleansing of the sanctuary in Bible prophecy, the
43:20 church is sometimes likened unto the sanctuary.
43:22 So there's a cleansing in the hearts and the lives of people.
43:25 And this is a judgment that precedes the Second Coming.
43:29 So we're living in that time right now.
43:31 We don't know when it's going to end.
43:32 It's been going on for over 150 years but it's a sobering
43:35 thought to think that this is one of the final works of
43:38 intercession and cleansing that Jesus does as our high priest
43:42 before probation closes.
43:44 Seven last plagues fall and Jesus comes.
43:48 Doug: You know, when you read in Revelation 2 and 3, it gives the
43:50 seven ages stages of the church history from Ephesus and the
43:55 last one being Laodicea.
43:57 We entered the last age of the church in 1844, and the word
44:02 "Laodicea," what's that mean?
44:03 Jean: People being judged.
44:05 Doug: People being judged.
44:07 And it's an interesting year in 1844.
44:09 Just a couple of tidbits.
44:11 First electronic message, first email, was 1844.
44:14 Samuel Morse who was a painter but he also invented Morse Code,
44:18 he sent the message, "What hath God wrought?"
44:22 That's when they invented the telegraph wires.
44:25 In 1844 you have the birth, really, of the communist
44:28 manifesto, atheism.
44:31 In 1844 you have the birth of evolutionism with Darwin's
44:34 Origin of Thesis*.
44:36 He went on his Beagle journey.
44:38 And so this was just a massive turning point, plus you've got
44:41 the great Advent movement.
44:43 So not only in 1844 did Jesus enter into the last phase as our
44:47 high priest in heaven of judgment, something happened
44:51 here on earth in 1844 so the sanctuary would be cleansed.
44:55 Now, we know he's cleansing up above but it's harder to get a
44:56 video of that.
44:59 We see something happened on earth in 1844.
45:01 When Jesus didn't come as many of the--these are
45:05 Sunday-keeping Adventists.
45:06 It's not the Seventh-day Adventists.
45:08 They thought Christ was coming.
45:10 He didn't come.
45:12 They all began to come together, many of them, from different
45:13 churches and study the Bible and say, "Where have we gone wrong?"
45:16 And they began to rediscover Bible truths that had been cast
45:19 to the ground during the Dark Ages: the truth about salvation
45:24 by faith, baptism by immersion, your body being the temple of
45:28 the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath truth that had been lost, that
45:31 wicked people or the lost are not burning in hell as soon as
45:35 they die, the Resurrection doesn't take place until after
45:38 the judgment.
45:40 There are just so many truths that had been lost and this
45:43 movement began where he was cleansing his earthly sanctuary
45:46 during that time.
45:48 Jean: Well, Pastor Doug, in just the last few minutes that we
45:50 have, we want to take just a few moments to talk about one of
45:52 your favorite subjects and that's typology in prophecy.
45:55 How the stories of the Old Testament point to Jesus and how
45:58 it helps validate that Jesus was the Messiah.
46:02 Doug: Absolutely, and there are so many examples of Christ in
46:06 the Bible.
46:08 You know, I'm not going to have time but to talk about just a
46:09 few of them.
46:11 Paul gives the principle here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
46:14 He said, "Brethren, I don't want you to be unaware that our
46:17 Fathers were under the cloud and they all passed through
46:19 the cloud.
46:21 They were baptized into Moses."
46:23 Now, nobody's baptized into Moses.
46:25 Who's saved by Moses?
46:27 Moses is a type of Christ.
46:28 He was a great mediator.
46:30 He's a great law-giver.
46:32 He's a great judge, the great prophet, the great savior.
46:34 "They were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."
46:36 So in the same way the children of Israel were saved from Egypt,
46:40 the Pharaoh being like the devil who held them in slavery, Moses
46:43 comes, says, "Let them go."
46:46 And then the people are baptized in the Red Sea so that's like
46:48 baptism, and then the pillar of fire comes.
46:51 It's like the fire baptism.
46:53 Jesus said, "You must be born of the water.
46:55 You must be born of the Spirit or you cannot enter the kingdom
46:57 of heaven."
46:59 That's the Promised Land that He led them into.
47:01 Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
47:04 so the Son of man must be lifted up," Christ on the cross.
47:09 People had to look at Moses holding that defeated serpent on
47:12 a pole, and Jesus on the cross reminds us that through His
47:16 blood He has defeated the devil.
47:18 And when John the Baptist says, "Behold the Lamb that takes away
47:22 the sin of the world," Christ is that Lamb.
47:25 So you see the typology in the Passover Lamb.
47:28 Jesus is that type.
47:29 David is a type.
47:31 Jesus is called the Son of David.
47:33 He's a type of Christ.
47:35 Joseph is a wonderful type of Christ.
47:37 He's sold by his brothers and yet he forgives them.
47:39 And he feeds the whole world bread.
47:43 It comes through Joseph.
47:45 And he comes to his own, his own don't know who he is.
47:48 They don't recognize him, but he recognizes them.
47:50 And it's just--there's so many analogies in the Bible of
47:53 Christ, so much typology of Christ, in the plan of
47:57 salvation, that it's just wonderful to think about.
48:01 Jean: You can find that throughout all of the Old
48:03 Testament where so many of the stories and experiences point to
48:05 Jesus as being the Messiah and the Savior.
48:07 We're running out of time but we wanted to thank you for all of
48:11 the questions that you sent and I was just looking through some
48:13 of the questions that came in.
48:15 Really good questions where we're not going to have time to
48:18 deal with all of them today.
48:20 Hopefully, next week, we want you to tune in again and if we
48:22 didn't get to your question, go ahead and send it again.
48:24 I know there was a question asking about the two witnesses
48:26 and some of these great Bible questions.
48:29 We'd love to answer it and hopefully next week we'll have
48:32 some time to deal with that.
48:34 Again, we just want to remind you about our free offer.
48:36 It is one of the "Amazing Facts" study guides, entitled "Right
48:38 on Time."
48:40 And we'll be happy to send this to anybody who calls and asks.
48:43 All you have to do is call the number 866-788-3966, ask for
48:48 Offer number 131 and we'll send it to you.
48:52 You can also get a digital copy of the lesson by just texting
48:56 the code "SH057" to the number 40544, and we'll send you a
49:03 digital download of the lesson.
49:05 And again, Pastor Doug, what an important study, dealing
49:07 with typology.
49:10 Maybe you want to just close with a word of prayer?
49:12 Doug: Absolutely, loving Lord, we thank you for this great
49:14 study that we've had today and there's so much more to learn.
49:18 Help us to be ready as we're entering the last days and to
49:20 follow your Word.
49:22 We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
49:28 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing
49:31 free resource.
49:32 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can
49:34 download a digital copy straight to your computer or
49:36 mobile device.
49:38 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text
49:40 the key word on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address
49:46 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the digital
49:49 download option on the request page.
49:52 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with
49:55 "Amazing Facts," wherever and whenever you want and most
49:58 important, to share it with others.
50:07 Diana Dixon: My name is Diana Dixon.
50:09 I'm a professional truck driver.
50:11 In August 4, 2011, I stopped to help in an accident.
50:15 male: Diana Dixon also tried to help.
50:17 She parked her semi, jumped out, and headed toward the pick-up.
50:21 That's when she saw vehicles barreling toward her so she
50:23 reacted by jumping off 475 to a road below.
50:28 Diana: Well, a pick-up had clipped a semi, and I stopped to
50:31 help and I saw it in the mirror, so I walked back.
50:33 A gentleman told me, he says, "Hey, you know,
50:34 everything's okay.
50:36 Call 911."
50:38 And I looked over at the pick-up and there was a black pick-up
50:40 over there and he was okay.
50:41 At about that time, I don't know how far I walked, but I walked
50:44 far enough and a semi hit him and it imploded.
50:49 I knew it was going to hit me.
50:50 I had 30 seconds to decide and I decided to jump."
50:54 Diana: [recorded phone call] Yeah, I jumped off the bridge.
50:56 My back's broken.
50:59 dispatcher: Where are you at?
51:00 Diana: [recorded phone call] I don't know.
51:02 Diana: Fractured my pelvis in 24 places, 5 broken ribs, C5 neck
51:07 fracture, I had a collapsed lung, I had a lacerated bladder,
51:11 I was bleeding internally, I had no marks on the outside of me at
51:15 all but a scrape where my arm had scraped the concrete.
51:18 From the chest down, I was on fire.
51:20 I was a dispatcher for a year after the accident and I went
51:24 back, finished my degree, and I went to Pittsburgh.
51:28 Threw a backpack over my back, walked like all the
51:30 other students.
51:32 I ran a marathon and I'm--since then I've been back to
51:36 truck-driving.
51:37 There was a gentleman I worked with and one day he was walking
51:40 in and he walked up to my desk and I was reading my Bible.
51:43 And he says, "Are you a believer?"
51:46 And I said, "Yes."
51:47 And he gave me some "Amazing Facts" study guides and it
51:52 just--it was an eye-opening experience for me.
51:55 I mean, I started reading them and I had a bunch of questions
51:57 to ask him, so I got online and I got on the "Amazing Facts" web
52:01 page and I just found information just that I'd
52:05 never known.
52:07 I went back to work as a truck driver because that was
52:09 my ministry.
52:11 It was my ministry before the accident and I was driving down
52:14 the road and I just needed a connection and I was flipping
52:18 through and somehow I ended up on YouTube and next thing I
52:21 know, "Amazing Facts," one of those things would come up there
52:24 and I listened to it.
52:26 I'm driving down the road, I got 11 hours of driving.
52:28 So I listened to one, I listened to another one.
52:32 And the more I listened to him, everything that I thought in my
52:35 heart, I'd just click on to one of these YouTubes and there he
52:38 was giving me the answer.
52:40 I walked in Seventh-day Adventist Church for the first
52:42 time and I felt at home.
52:45 I was baptized in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
52:47 because I had found the truth that I just was searching for
52:50 and I'd been praying about.
52:53 "Amazing Facts" has been such an inspiration and important for my
52:57 coming back into ministry that I want to be able to give back to
53:02 anyone that I can and "Amazing Facts" is the backbone of
53:07 my ministry.
53:09 My name is Diana Dixon.
53:11 Thank you for changing my life.
53:23 announcer: "Amazing Facts" Changed Lives.
53:32 male: I had a lot of pressure as a pastor's kid to perform.
53:37 They're not allowed to make the same mistakes as everyone else.
53:40 Not only are people looking at you, but they're judging your
53:45 father according to what they see in you.
53:49 After a while, you get tired of carrying that load as a child.
53:52 By the time it got time for me to leave home, I was pretty much
53:58 finished with all that.
54:00 I just--I wasn't good enough and I didn't belong in there.
54:03 So when I left home, I went to the world, at a dead run.
54:10 You know, I partied and went to work and, you know, was living
54:13 my life as the way I wanted to.
54:16 And I just wanted to be left alone.
54:19 One day, I was driving my motorcycle with some buddies
54:21 of mine.
54:23 All of a sudden, I had oil running everywhere, all up and
54:25 down my arm and across my legs, and rippling down the tank in
54:28 the wind.
54:30 And we loaded it up on a trailer and sent it to the shop to have
54:33 it fixed.
54:35 So I went to pick it up and the mechanic came out.
54:37 He said, "You know," he said, "we got your front end rebuilt."
54:40 He said, "That wasn't the bad part."
54:42 He said, "The bad part was the only thing holding the front
54:45 tire on was the weight of the motorcycle."
54:47 So all I would have had to have done was accelerate quickly and
54:51 front tire would have came off.
54:53 And it got my attention, it got me to thinking, "You know, you
54:57 hear a lot of people talking about, you know, the
55:00 relationship that they have with Jesus and all that, and I didn't
55:03 even know what that was supposed to look like.
55:06 It began to work on my mind.
55:08 I think God was beginning to speak to me.
55:10 I believe that you can say I may be a poster child for
55:14 the shepherd lost sheep story because I wasn't looking
55:18 for God.
55:20 I didn't really care.
55:22 But He cared about me.
55:24 And He came and got me.
55:29 ♪♪♪
55:37 announcer: Together, we have spread the gospel much
55:39 farther than ever before.
55:42 Thank you for your support.
55:49 ♪♪♪
56:00 Doug: Hello, friends.
56:02 We're here in the Philippines overlooking the Taal Volcano and
56:05 Lake, which is one of the most interesting pieces of geography
56:08 in the whole world.
56:10 For one thing, this great caldera was once the biggest
56:13 volcano in the world and now it holds a lake that holds another
56:17 volcano that has another little lake in it that has another
56:21 little island in it.
56:23 This volcano has erupted six times in a major way since the
56:27 1500s and even in 1911 there was an eruption where over 1300
56:32 people died, killed by the smoke and the ash that covered
56:36 the community.
56:38 There were tsunamis that came from the lake and destroyed the
56:41 villages that surrounded the borders of the lake.
56:43 In fact, this is one of the most carefully monitored seismic
56:47 places in the Philippines.
56:49 This volcano's being watched all the time and they've noticed as
56:51 of 2006 that it appears that the water temperatures are going up.
56:56 There's increased seismic activity.
56:58 In other words, they know that this volcano is a ticking time
57:02 bomb prepared to blow.
57:05 And it's very interesting because this place is a place of
57:08 great seismic activity but, in spite of the fact that
57:11 volcanologists know this is going to blow again someday, it
57:14 is a popular tourist destination.
57:16 They're fighting for the real estate, they're building like
57:19 mad, and sit on the edge of disaster.
57:21 It makes us think about how God has given us so many warnings in
57:25 his Word that the world is going to end, that Jesus is going to
57:29 come, that the heavens will dissolve with a great noise, and
57:31 the elements will melt with fervent heat.
57:34 Seeing then that all these things will be dissolved, what
57:36 kind of people should we be?
57:38 In all holy conversation and godliness.
57:41 Friends, are you becoming distracted with the tranquil
57:44 views of the world?
57:46 Or are you preparing for the next world?
57:48 Are you getting ready for the big bang?
57:50 ♪♪♪
57:57 ♪♪♪


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Revised 2020-06-05