Latest / Admonition Podcast / Revelation 6 (Lesson 1) - Aaron Cozort - Feb. 15, 2026

Transcript

Revelation 6 (Lesson 1) - Aaron Cozort - Feb. 15, 2026 · Admonition Podcast

• 0:00
  Good morning.
• 0:01
  m
• 0:09
  Good to see everyone out this morning.
• 0:12
  We're going to be picking up in Revelation chapter 6 with the opening of the seals.
• 0:23
  after we begin with a word of prayer.
• 0:31
  Let us pray.
• 0:33
  Gracious Father in heaven, we come before your throne grateful for the day that you blessed us with, for the life that you have granted to us, for the liberty that we have in
• 0:43
  Christ, the freedom that we have to be obedient to you.
• 0:47
  to know that we have the grace that is found in the blood of Christ through the redemptive work that you have done in your son.
• 0:55
  Lord, we pray that as we consider the text of scripture that is before us that we might open our eyes and our minds to what you have done through your word, that we might stand
• 1:06
  in awe of your wisdom and your knowledge, the way that you speak the things that are as if they've already been.
• 1:14
  Lord, we pray that you will be with us as we go.
• 1:17
  through our time on this earth.
• 1:19
  May we always realize that you are reigning, that Christ is on the throne, and that we have nothing to fear from those who are around us or from the powers of this world or from
• 1:32
  Satan.
• 1:33
  Rather, we need just to be those who are overcomers and faithful to you.
• 1:37
  Lord, we ask that you forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.
• 1:41
  We pray for those who are struggling because of injury or illness.
• 1:46
  We pray for their
• 1:51
  In Revelation 6, have the scroll that was in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne in chapter 5.
• 2:07
  that John sees in the vision as he looks back there at the throne, he then sees in the vision the search over heaven and earth and under the earth, the grave, everyone who's
• 2:19
  ever lived, everyone who's ever been born, everyone who's ever lived in eternity and in heaven, and there's no one worthy to open the scroll.
• 2:29
  So John begins to mourn and to weep over the fact that there is no one worthy to open the scroll.
• 2:35
  Then one of the elders comes to John and says, do not weep, for we have found the one who is worthy.
• 2:40
  It is the lamb who was slain.
• 2:42
  It was the lion of the tribe of Judah.
• 2:44
  And he looks again at the midst of the throne and there is the lamb, seven eyes, seven horns.
• 2:51
  And it looks as though it has been slain, yet it is standing upright.
• 2:55
  It is the lion of the tribe of Judah and it is a he.
• 2:59
  It is a person.
• 3:01
  It is Christ.
• 3:03
  And so the lamb takes the scroll.
• 3:09
  And the moment he receives the scroll, because he's worthy to take the scroll, there's a worship scene that opens up in heaven, in the vision.
• 3:19
  And he is described in the same terminology as the one who sits on the throne.
• 3:25
  He is declared to be equal with God in his worthiness.
• 3:32
  So, then chapter 6 opens.
• 3:36
  Chapter 6 opens and the scroll is getting opened.
• 3:39
  So if you were to think about this uh visually speaking, I've seen one image and I was looking for it this week and I didn't find it, but it pictures a scroll but with a set of
• 3:51
  seven seals running down the scroll.
• 3:53
  Basically the idea is you took the first seal off and you'd get kind of part of a page.
• 3:58
  But that's all you could see.
• 4:00
  Then you take the second seal off and you could get the next part of the page.
• 4:04
  Then you take the next seal off, you could get the next part of the page.
• 4:07
  And so that's the idea is this is a progressive revelation.
• 4:12
  You're seeing a little bit and then a little bit and then a little bit and then a little bit, okay?
• 4:18
  So, we're gonna start back just reading through chapter six and we're gonna pick up down near the fifth seal.
• 4:26
  Now, when I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see.
• 4:35
  And I looked and behold a white horse.
• 4:38
  He who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer.
• 4:45
  Now, I mentioned uh there was
• 4:48
  was a nation at this time that was a competitor to uh Rome for power that was the Parthian nation.
• 4:58
  And the Parthians were, uh they had a different mindset towards battle.
• 5:05
  Their primary uh mode of battle was on a horse with archers.
• 5:13
  They were skilled archers to such a degree that they could ride while shooting arrows, okay?
• 5:20
  You think of, for me, my brain goes back to the American Indians and the early West, and their skill on a horse was such that they could shoot an arrow accurately while riding a
• 5:31
  horse.
• 5:32
  Quite a skill.
• 5:34
  Well, the Parthians were that type of culture.
• 5:39
  But as you look at this, you go, wait a minute, okay, so it's the Parthian Empire.
• 5:43
  No, it's not the Parthian Empire.
• 5:45
  It's the Holy One who sits on the throne.
• 5:51
  It's the Lamb.
• 5:52
  It's the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
• 5:54
  It's the one in the entire book who rides a white horse in a singular fashion so much so that he represents everything that's going on.
• 6:04
  It's Christ, but he's pictured as the dominant enemy of Rome.
• 6:13
  Now, Rome had multiple enemies.
• 6:16
  They had the Germanic tribes that were enemies, but they weren't coalesced as an imperial nation.
• 6:24
  The Parthians were an imperial power.
• 6:28
  And they were an imperial power that Rome had gone up against during the days of Julius Caesar and lost thousands of soldiers and decided they needed to not mess with these
• 6:38
  people.
• 6:39
  By the way, the region that these people were from, if you were to put it on a modern map, is the area of Iran.
• 6:47
  So the Iranian powers, which would have been the ancient Persian powers, are the Parthians that, again, the picture here is something
• 6:58
  first century person would have gone, that's a Parthian.
• 7:02
  I know what that looks like.
• 7:04
  Just the same way if you saw a picture of an American Indian, you would have said, I know what that is.
• 7:09
  I know what it tells me about them.
• 7:15
  So it was true as he opens the first seal and he sees the one who's on the white horse, but notice he's conquering
• 7:26
  and conquering.
• 7:30
  There's not a picture of him ceasing to conquer.
• 7:35
  He goes out everywhere he goes, he conquers.
• 7:39
  Okay?
• 7:41
  That is a message to the Christian that there's no defeat here.
• 7:47
  They're about to transition from a picture of holiness conquering to war,
• 7:53
  tumult, economic injustice, and death.
• 7:59
  But the verbiage of the first horses, he didn't quit conquering.
• 8:04
  He's not losing when all this happens.
• 8:07
  He is still conquering.
• 8:09
  Okay?
• 8:09
  Now notice, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, and see.
• 8:16
  Another horse, fiery red, went out, and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another, and there was given to him
• 8:27
  a great sword.
• 8:28
  Okay?
• 8:29
  So this horse comes out, and war begins.
• 8:32
  People are killing one another.
• 8:35
  Now,
• 8:36
  There's only ever been one time in history where people were in war and killing one another, right?
• 8:40
  No.
• 8:43
  But the point is, this is going to begin and you're going to see as the pages begin to continue to open, as the seals continue to open, that the people who are caught up in it
• 8:56
  in our account are the Christians.
• 9:01
  they're the ones that are going to be suffering as a result of the things that transpire.
• 9:07
  the first, sorry, the second horse pictures war.
• 9:12
  Verse five, number three.
• 9:15
  When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come and see.
• 9:19
  So I looked and behold a black horse and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.
• 9:26
  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil in the wine.
• 9:36
  And we mentioned uh last week that this is a picture of economic pressure.
• 9:41
  Okay, it's not total
• 9:45
  devastation and total annihilation and total starvation, but you could still buy food.
• 9:54
  But if you look at the monetary values, the monetary value for uh there in verse uh six for a quart of wheat, the idea is a day's food was a day's wage.
• 10:10
  The denarius was a typical laborer's wage in that time.
• 10:14
  So you worked all day long and all you got was just enough food to stay alive.
• 10:20
  That's the picture.
• 10:22
  But notice there's a portion of the economy that's not being touched.
• 10:25
  What portion of it is?
• 10:26
  Or what portion is it?
• 10:31
  All right, the oil and the wine.
• 10:32
  The luxuries of life, untouched.
• 10:37
  In other words, you seem to have, if we were to talk to a modern economist, they'd call it a K-shape economy, right?
• 10:43
  The rich are getting richer, the poorer are getting poorer.
• 10:47
  Those who are at the bottom end of the spectrum are getting devastated and those who are living in luxury are not even affected, okay?
• 10:58
  So we have war.
• 10:59
  We have economic pressure.
• 11:01
  Number four, when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, come and see.
• 11:07
  So I looked and behold, a pale horse.
• 11:10
  The idea we mentioned this last week, the idea of this is sickly and green, okay?
• 11:16
  ah And I think I said uh pimento last week and somebody said a cheese horse.
• 11:24
  Palomino is what I meant.
• 11:25
  ah Yeah, sometimes it just comes out wrong.
• 11:29
  Anyway, that horse that's pale, you know, one of those.
• 11:34
  So he said, so I looked and behold a pale horse and the name of him who sat on it was Death and Hades followed with him and power was given to them over a fourth of the earth
• 11:48
  to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
• 11:52
  So you've got war, you've got economic pressure, you've got
• 11:59
  plague and you've got death.
• 12:02
  You've got partial judgments.
• 12:06
  Now if you were to go back into the book of Ezekiel, you would see these as the four judgments in the book of Ezekiel.
• 12:14
  This is not new language.
• 12:15
  This isn't just original with John.
• 12:18
  This is Old Testament imagery that God had previously used with the Old Testament prophets.
• 12:28
  that he's using again.
• 12:30
  This isn't the first time this has ever happened.
• 12:32
  This isn't prophesying a day unlike any other that would ever exist in all of humanity's history.
• 12:39
  This is saying God is allowing this to occur.
• 12:42
  You're going to come under fire.
• 12:44
  We're about to see that in the fifth seal.
• 12:46
  And you're going to die because of the testimony of Jesus Christ, but...
• 12:53
  Do not assume that means that the one who came out first is not still conquering.
• 12:59
  Do not assume just because the servants of God are dying that Christ is losing.
• 13:06
  Verse five, seal five.
• 13:10
  Verse nine, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God.
• 13:20
  and for the testimony which they held.
• 13:22
  Who are these people?
• 13:27
  Say again.
• 13:28
  Martyrs.
• 13:30
  These are Christians.
• 13:33
  These are those who died for the testimony of the Word of God.
• 13:39
  They would not change the message to save their own life.
• 13:47
  You go back to the very first martyr that we read about in the book of Acts.
• 13:52
  Who is it?
• 13:54
  Stephen.
• 13:55
  Why did Stephen get stoned to death?
• 14:01
  because he spoke the truth and he wouldn't change it.
• 14:06
  Because he told the counsel of the Jews the honest truth about their own history and their own present rebellion against God.
• 14:19
  Jesus is going to tell the disciples, he's going to tell the apostles, they hated me, they'll hate you too.
• 14:27
  Now, when you look at this scene though, what is pictured in the scene with the Christians who are dying?
• 14:54
  beginning of verse 9.
• 14:58
  Where are they positioned?
• 15:01
  Under the altar.
• 15:02
  So, you've got to go back into your Old Testament history and think about the fact that there was a day in time for the Israelite, there was a day in time for the person who was
• 15:18
  familiar with the Old Testament that you would have said altar, they would have known immediately what you were talking about.
• 15:25
  They would have pictured the tabernacle.
• 15:27
  they would have pictured the temple in the tabernacle when God gives the instruction to Moses as to how to build the altar it was a raised altar where the sacrifices were made as
• 15:43
  a matter of fact it was raised and the the priests were told to wear linen breeches underneath their robes so that their nakedness wouldn't be seen because they were raised
• 15:54
  up above the people as they were
• 15:56
  bending over and making the sacrifices and doing all of this.
• 16:01
  It was a raised altar.
• 16:02
  So as you look at this vision, John is seeing something like the altar of Israel, the altar of the temple, the altar of the tabernacle, and he's looking and down underneath the
• 16:16
  altar are Christians who've been slain.
• 16:22
  as if their bodies had just been piled up over and over and over again.
• 16:27
  But notice in the picture
• 16:32
  We have the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held, but you know what?
• 16:41
  Just like the lamb.
• 16:45
  They're slain, but they're not dead.
• 16:51
  Pay attention to that because they're going to be talking.
• 16:56
  You look in the vision and it's a pile of dead bodies.
• 17:01
  You look again and it's a group of people crying out to God.
• 17:08
  Notice we read verse 10, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?
• 17:25
  Those who had been killed for the testimony and the witness of Christ, the testimony of the Word of God, are now crying out on behalf of themselves to God saying, God, how long
• 17:39
  are you going to let this continue?
• 17:47
  Notice the reply.
• 17:51
  Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren
• 18:03
  who would be killed as they were was completed.
• 18:09
  as the Christians who are dying as a result of the persecution?
• 18:16
  Cry out to God, how long are you going to let this continue?
• 18:21
  The answer is, it's not done yet.
• 18:27
  but for you.
• 18:30
  your persecution's over.
• 18:33
  So they're given a white robe.
• 18:34
  Now if we go back to the very first scroll and we open up that picture and we say, look, here's a white horse and somebody conquering, and we say, this is the Antichrist and
• 18:46
  Satan's winning.
• 18:49
  And that's how we interpret white over here, it's the Antichrist.
• 18:52
  Why is it we're gonna come over to the fifth seal and we're gonna go, and these white robes picture holiness.
• 18:59
  That wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, now would it?
• 19:01
  But for the premillennialists, they've got to have the white horse be the Antichrist.
• 19:07
  You take away the Antichrist, which by the way, the term Antichrist is not mentioned anywhere in the book of Revelation, not one single time.
• 19:16
  Yet if you read someone writing from a premillennialist background, they will insert the Antichrist over and over and over and over again.
• 19:25
  Yet John never even uses the term.
• 19:32
  The fact of the matter is, white all the way through the book, and even in this chapter, holiness.
• 19:43
  And as those saints that have been killed for the testimony of the Word of God arrive there at the throne room of God under the altar, those who are in heaven say, allow me to
• 19:57
  clothe you in holiness.
• 20:01
  and you rest until it's over.
• 20:09
  When the saints are being killed and being persecuted and crying out to God, how long are you going to let this continue?
• 20:26
  notice their cry.
• 20:30
  They cry, long?
• 20:32
  But notice they said, how long, O Lord, holy and true?
• 20:42
  And there's a lesson there for us.
• 20:45
  That sometimes persecution comes and people who are faithful, who are righteous, who are the servants of God are going to take the brunt end of it and they're going to be killed
• 20:56
  and they're going to be persecuted and they're going to be put to death and it's going to look like evil is winning.
• 21:05
  But these Christians realized no matter what it looked like when they were dying, evil wasn't winning.
• 21:13
  It was a question of them trying to understand God's plan.
• 21:19
  because they know He's holy, they know He's true, they know He has the power to intercede, they just don't know why He hasn't done it yet!
• 21:30
  But what they're told is because it's not time yet.
• 21:35
  Because the number isn't complete yet.
• 21:37
  Wait a minute, God's sitting up there tallying, you know what, think there ought to be 100 million Christians die for my testimony.
• 21:45
  We're only at 990,000, so we gotta wait for another 10,000.
• 21:49
  Is that what the number being completed means?
• 21:53
  That God arbitrarily wants a bunch of good people to die?
• 21:58
  No.
• 22:00
  If you go back into the Old Testament, into the days of Abraham, you might remember that as God told Abraham to leave his home, to leave his country, to leave his people, to go to
• 22:13
  a land that he would give to Abraham and to his descendants, as Abraham comes into the land of Canaan,
• 22:23
  that continued relationship and covenant relationship proceeds between Abraham and God.
• 22:32
  God will tell Abraham the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
• 22:43
  God is both protecting, providing for, and comforting the persecuted Christians, while at the same time giving those who are doing the persecuting an opportunity to repent.
• 23:01
  because he's a long-suffering God.
• 23:05
  For the Christian who dies, what is the negative of their death?
• 23:15
  There isn't The picture here, they're dying.
• 23:20
  Yes, was it painful?
• 23:21
  Yes, was it excruciating?
• 23:23
  Yes, were they persecuted?
• 23:24
  Yes, were there more who were going through it and were their hearts breaking for those who were?
• 23:29
  Yes!
• 23:31
  But as soon as they're dead, they're out of the touch, they're out of the hand of the persecutor.
• 23:40
  For the Christian who dies, they're now untouchable.
• 23:46
  and they're told, you rest.
• 23:50
  he's got it under control.
• 23:55
  And then, the next seal is open.
• 24:01
  So we've had conquering by one who is holy.
• 24:05
  We've had war, we've had economic pressure, we've had partial judgment and death brought forward by death and Hades.
• 24:15
  This isn't a picture of God bringing judgment, this is a picture of war and destruction and persecution.
• 24:23
  Remember who's the last enemy to be defeated according to the book of Hebrews?
• 24:29
  Death, according to the book of Hebrews, the last enemy defeated was death.
• 24:35
  Satan's already been defeated, by the way.
• 24:38
  Satan's defeated in the cross, death is defeated in the resurrection.
• 24:44
  So the last enemy was death, okay?
• 24:48
  Now, there are six seals open, and if you get to this seal and you start reading and you go, the world...
• 24:58
  coming to an end.
• 25:02
  You're going to miss it.
• 25:05
  because this isn't the world coming to an end.
• 25:07
  This is John borrowing Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, all of their Old Testament language for the fall of a nation.
• 25:21
  This is John using through the revelation of the Holy Spirit the same language the Old Testament prophets use to declare that Babylon was going to be judged, that Edom was going
• 25:32
  to be judged.
• 25:33
  that Judah was going to be judged, that Judah was going to be, multiple times in multiple generations, how Judah was going to be judged.
• 25:43
  This is the language of the fall of a nation and a world power.
• 25:51
  He says, looked and he opened the sixth seal.
• 25:55
  And behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
• 26:05
  And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
• 26:13
  Then the sky receded as a scroll.
• 26:16
  we must have nuclear warfare going on here, right?
• 26:20
  The atom bombs being dropped all over the planet.
• 26:23
  No.
• 26:24
  Hold on, we'll get there.
• 26:27
  Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
• 26:35
  And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man,
• 26:41
  hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said that the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from
• 26:51
  the wrath of the Lamb.
• 26:54
  For the great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand?
• 27:02
  Now don't take my word for it that this is normal prophetic language.
• 27:08
  Let's go to Isaiah chapter 13.
• 27:18
  Isaiah chapter 13 verse 1, let's find out who he's talking about.
• 27:23
  The burden, that's the prophecy, against who?
• 27:28
  Babylon.
• 27:30
  Which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
• 27:33
  Lift up a banner on the high mountain, raise your voice to them, wave your hand that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
• 27:39
  I have commanded my sanctified ones and I have called my mighty ones for my anger.
• 27:45
  Those who rejoice in my exaltation, the noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together.
• 27:56
  The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle." Now, who's coming to war against Babylon?
• 28:07
  Who's calling the soldiers together?
• 28:09
  Who's mustering them up?
• 28:12
  Lord is.
• 28:15
  Now question, when Babylon falls, is it a great big army of angels that topple it?
• 28:23
  Who is it?
• 28:25
  Medo-Persian Empire.
• 28:27
  God did the defeating.
• 28:30
  The Medo-Persian Empires did the fighting.
• 28:33
  Okay?
• 28:34
  It's the same way Israel would go out to war and they'd go out and they wouldn't lose a man.
• 28:41
  Now, if they hadn't gone out to war, would they have won the battle?
• 28:44
  No!
• 28:46
  But did they do the winning?
• 28:48
  No!
• 28:49
  God did.
• 28:50
  Alright, so notice the picture.
• 28:53
  Let's go down just a few verses.
• 28:56
  Behold, verse 9, the day of the Lord comes, cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and He will destroy its sinners from it, for the stars of heaven and
• 29:08
  their constellations...
• 29:11
  will not give their light.
• 29:14
  What happened?
• 29:15
  God says, I'm going to blank out the sky.
• 29:18
  All right, what else?
• 29:20
  The sun will be darkened and it's going forth.
• 29:23
  I'm going to take the sun away.
• 29:25
  Now, was there a period of time, let's go, if we would take our mind back to the record of Daniel, of the fall of Babylon, did the sun just not show up for a day?
• 29:35
  Is that how Babylon lost in the war?
• 29:37
  No.
• 29:39
  Did the stars disappear in the night as the Medo-Persian Empire?
• 29:43
  No.
• 29:45
  This is prophetic language.
• 29:48
  By the way, Isaiah's prophesying this before Babylon's even a world power.
• 29:57
  They haven't even arisen as a power yet, and Isaiah's already telling you how they're gonna fall.
• 30:03
  They're gonna fall because God's going to do it.
• 30:06
  Okay?
• 30:07
  Notice what else he says.
• 30:09
  For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light, the sun will be darkened and it's going forth, and the moon will cause its light to...
• 30:16
  will not cause its light to shine.
• 30:18
  I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.
• 30:23
  I will halt the arrogance of the proud and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
• 30:28
  I will make uh a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
• 30:36
  Therefore I will shake the heavens."
• 30:38
  and the earth will move out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger.
• 30:46
  Is the indication from Old Testament text and from history that when Babylon fell the trajectory of the planet changed?
• 30:55
  No, but that's what God just said He was going to do.
• 31:01
  What's Isaiah doing?
• 31:02
  Isaiah is prophesying and speaking like a prophet.
• 31:07
  Isaiah is giving imagery to represent the impact of God taking action on the earth.
• 31:22
  when a general starts planning to go to battle, or when an admiral starts plotting to go across the ocean.
• 31:37
  What is the very first thing they have to deal with before they ever deal with the enemy?
• 31:53
  Alright, preparation to go out to battle, involves are we fighting on a mountain?
• 31:59
  Are we fighting on hill?
• 32:01
  Are we fighting in a valley?
• 32:04
  Are we fighting in snow?
• 32:06
  Is it dry as a desert?
• 32:09
  They have to plan for what are the earth-topographical circumstances I've got to deal with in the battle.
• 32:20
  If you ever have visited Gettysburg, it is a great testimony to what happens to a battle when the topography is against you.
• 32:33
  There's a reason why the Union spent so much time and effort trying to control one little tiny hill.
• 32:44
  It's because the difference in holding that hill and not holding that hill.
• 32:50
  was the difference in the battle, okay?
• 32:54
  Now, when God goes forth to battle, you know if there's a mountain in the way, what does He do?
• 33:02
  Move the mountain.
• 33:04
  Water's in the way, move the seat.
• 33:08
  Hill in the way, move the mill.
• 33:10
  I don't care.
• 33:12
  There's not gonna be anything that you can put in my way from the earth that's going to stop Him from winning.
• 33:20
  Okay?
• 33:22
  When Rome went out to war, they said, all right, we've got to build the roads out there because we've got to get the soldiers out there.
• 33:27
  We've got to do this, we've got to do that, because if we don't do that, we're going to lose.
• 33:33
  And God says, I don't need your roads.
• 33:36
  I don't need your preparations.
• 33:38
  I don't need your warfare.
• 33:40
  I'll just move it all.
• 33:42
  And by the way, I'll take the sun out at the same time, take the moon out at same time, take the stars out at same time.
• 33:46
  I'll do any of it because I'm in control of...
• 33:50
  all of it.
• 33:53
  Now he didn't have to do any of that to cause the Medo-Persian empire to defeat the Babylonians.
• 34:01
  The point was for God, if we use Jesus's analogy, Jesus asked the question with the lame man who's let down through the roof, which one's easier?
• 34:12
  Tell a man get up and walk or your sins be forgiven you.
• 34:16
  For one, for anyone other than Christ telling them your sins be forgiven you is impossible.
• 34:24
  There's not a chance they could do it.
• 34:27
  But for anyone else who was not on God's side telling them get up and walk is also impossible.
• 34:33
  The point Jesus makes is if I can tell him to get up and walk I can also tell him his sins are forgiven.
• 34:42
  For God, this prophetic language means humanity, there's not a thing you can do to stop this judgment from happening.
• 34:57
  Let's go over to Isaiah chapter 34.
• 35:01
  By the way, actually before we leave, I just want to end this last part in chapter 13 in Isaiah.
• 35:09
  Verse 15, everyone who is found will be thrust through and everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
• 35:17
  Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be plundered, their wives ravished.
• 35:24
  Behold, I will stir up the meads against them who will not regard silver
• 35:30
  and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
• 35:33
  Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb.
• 35:39
  Their eye will not spare the children, and Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah."
• 35:54
  in the 800 BC time period.
• 35:59
  Isaiah writes the prophecy of Babylon's fall, Babylon the nation who has not even risen to power yet, and names the nation that will cause it to happen.
• 36:15
  That's God saying, I'll tell you what's gonna happen long before it does.
• 36:21
  And I'll tell you who's gonna do it.
• 36:23
  And I'll tell you how I'm going to accomplish it.
• 36:26
  Okay?
• 36:27
  Isaiah chapter 34.
• 36:32
  Isaiah chapter 34, Isaiah writes another prophecy.
• 36:35
  This one says, come near you nations to hear and heed you people let the earth hear and all that is in it the world and all things that come forth from it for the indignation of
• 36:47
  the Lord is against all nations his fury against all their enemy all their armies he has utterly destroyed them and has given them over to the slaughter
• 36:56
  Also their slain shall be thrown out, their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood." Have you ever seen a mountain just melt
• 37:06
  because a bunch of people died on it?
• 37:09
  No.
• 37:11
  but that's the terminology of prophet.
• 37:14
  He says, the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved.
• 37:17
  Did you notice that when God brought forth this judgment that He's going to be talking about that there were no more stars left, we had to rebuild the whole universe?
• 37:25
  No.
• 37:26
  He says, all the hells of heaven will be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll.
• 37:33
  Must be a nuclear attack, right?
• 37:35
  No.
• 37:39
  He says, "'All their hosts shall fall down.
• 37:42
  The leaves fall from the vine as the fruit falling from a fig tree.'" Wow, we've even got the fig tree analogy here in Isaiah.
• 37:51
  Verse 5, "'For my sword shall be bathed in heaven.
• 37:54
  Indeed it shall come down.'" Oh, what nation are we dealing with?
• 37:58
  "'It shall come down on Edom.'"
• 38:05
  when this prophecy from Isaiah is given, when it is pictured that God has annihilated the stars of heaven in his fury and in his judgment, we're dealing with a little tiny nation
• 38:19
  that's a little tiny sub-area of the land of Palestine.
• 38:23
  We're not even talking about the whole planet being overthrown.
• 38:28
  One nation the size of Edom with one
• 38:33
  primary mountain of power on the whole planet.
• 38:37
  And God uses this language to describe the fall of a nation.
• 38:47
  not the disruption of all the world's economies and all the world's powers and every part of the planet being at war.
• 38:57
  This is the fall of a nation terminology.
• 39:00
  Jeremiah chapter 4.
• 39:13
  Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 1, "'If you will return to me, O Israel,' says the LORD, "'return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not be
• 39:23
  moved.
• 39:24
  And you shall swear the LORD lives in truth, in judgment, in righteousness, the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.
• 39:33
  For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground and do not sow among the thorns.'"
• 39:41
  circumcise yourselves to the Lord take away the foreskins of your heart you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn so that no one can
• 39:51
  quench it because of the evil of your doings declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say blow the trumpet in the land cry gather together and say assemble yourselves and
• 40:02
  let us go into the fortified cities set up the standard towards Zion
• 40:07
  take refuge, do not delay, for I will bring disaster from the north and great destruction.
• 40:13
  The lion has come up from his thicket and the destroyer of nations is on his way.
• 40:18
  He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate.
• 40:21
  Your cities will be laid waste without inhabitant.
• 40:24
  For this, close yourself the
• 40:26
  ...sackcloth and lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us, and it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that the heart of the king
• 40:36
  shall perish, and the heart of the princes the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
• 40:42
  Then I said, Lord God, surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying you shall have peace, whereas the sword reaches to the heart.
• 40:51
  At that time it will be said,
• 40:53
  to the people and to Jerusalem.
• 40:56
  A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people.
• 41:01
  Not to fan or to cleanse, a wind too strong for those who will come for me.
• 41:06
  Now I will speak judgment against them.
• 41:09
  Behold, he shall come up like the clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind.
• 41:13
  His horses shall be swifter than eagles.
• 41:16
  Woe to us, for we are plundered."
• 41:19
  O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved.
• 41:23
  How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
• 41:26
  For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim.
• 41:31
  Make mention to the nations, yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, that watchers come forth from a far country and raise their voice against the cities of Judah like keepers of a
• 41:41
  field.
• 41:41
  They are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me, says the Lord.
• 41:48
  your ways and your doings have procured these things for you this is your wickedness because it is bitter because it reaches to your heart my soul my soul I am pained in my
• 42:00
  very heart my heart makes a noise in me I cannot hold my peace because you have heard my soul the sound of the trumpet the alarm of war destruction upon destruction is cried for
• 42:11
  the whole land is plundered suddenly my tents are plundered my curtains in a moment how long will I
• 42:17
  see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet.
• 42:20
  For my people are foolish.
• 42:22
  They have not known me.
• 42:23
  They are silly children and they have no understanding.
• 42:26
  They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
• 42:29
  I beheld the earth and indeed it was without form and void.
• 42:33
  And the heavens had they had no light." Wait a minute.
• 42:37
  Jeremiah just went from Jerusalem being judged, armies coming in, to wrapping all the way back to the picture of Genesis chapter 1 verse 1.
• 42:48
  He said, saw the planet as if it had been wiped out, as if it had been recreated, as if it was no more, and God was starting all over.
• 42:57
  But notice what he says.
• 42:59
  He says, I beheld the mountains and indeed they trembled and all the hills moved back and forth.
• 43:04
  He says, Jeremiah says, as I was looking at the vision, I was looking at the prophecies, I'm seeing the mountains just run around.
• 43:12
  Didn't happen when Babylon came.
• 43:15
  Not in the physical sense.
• 43:43
  because I have spoken, I have purposed and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
• 43:49
  The whole city shall flee from me, or from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.
• 43:53
  They shall go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks.
• 43:56
  Every man shall be forsaken and not a man shall dwell in it.
• 44:00
  And when you are plundered, what will you do?
• 44:04
  Though you clothe yourselves with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint in vain,
• 44:11
  You will make yourself fair.
• 44:13
  Your lovers will despise you.
• 44:15
  They will seek your life.
• 44:16
  For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself.
• 44:27
  She spreads her hands saying, woe is me now, for my soul is weary because of the murderers.
• 44:34
  Jeremiah as he pictures Babylon bringing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem again uses the same terminology.
• 44:45
  He uses the same pictures to paint it.
• 44:48
  This language, you're probably tired of me saying it, but this language is not the type of language that you sit down and have a Bible discussion with somebody
• 45:00
  who believes in premillennialism and they read all of this nonsense the denominations put out on the book of Revelation and End Times and they start spouting thing after thing
• 45:09
  after thing.
• 45:09
  This is not the language you should get hung up on and get scared of talking about.
• 45:15
  You should be writing Isaiah 13, Isaiah 34, Jeremiah 4,
• 45:23
  Micah 1, write those next to it and just go show them this is the fall of a nation, this is the fall of a nation, this is the fall of a nation, this is the fall of a nation.
• 45:31
  Guess what it is in the book of Revelation?
• 45:34
  It's the fall of a nation.
• 45:36
  Same as it's always been.
• 45:36
  Okay?
• 45:38
  We'll put a peg in it and we'll come back to their reaction to the events that come in the sixth seal.