Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 9, 2022 | End Times: Follow the Signs with Patty Diliberto - Session 7: Gospel Influencers & Judgment

Transcript

March 9, 2022 | End Times: Follow the Signs with Patty Diliberto - Session 7: Gospel Influencers & Judgment · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray and we'll get we'll get started.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Father God, thank you so very much for this evening, uh for bringing us all together.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: And we just thank you again so much for your word, Lord.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: We would be so lost without your word.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you that you have prepared us in advance for the things that are coming upon the world.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: And um, Holy Spirit, I just ask that you would lead and guide us tonight, that you would manifest yourself here amongst us in in just significant ways for each person here tonight, Lord.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: So I pray these things and thank you in Jesus' name.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: All right.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: In your homework this past week, and no, there's no homework, but if I if I do some, I'll I'll email it to you all this week.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: But um, in your homework, you saw the evil end time players, right?
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Which was the Antichrist, the false prophet, um, and and that that evil trinity.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Tonight we're gonna see some of the holy end time players.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Yay, there's some of those.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: The first ones that we're gonna see are the gospel influencers.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: And after opening the first six seals on the scroll, there's an intermission in chapter seven.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: Remember how we saw that back and forth intermission stuff that was going on all through the book of Revelation.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: And so this is one of the intermissions, and before it happens before the seventh seal is broken, which takes place in Revelation chapter eight.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: During this intermission, we're introduced to the 144,000.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: And this group is a group that God singles out and seals, and they will be the evangelists for the world with the message of Christ the Messiah during this time.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: So during the tribulation, it will not be the church age believers who will be doing that, right?
2:08
SPEAKER_00: It will be these select people that God is going to raise up and use.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: They're going to be sharing the gospel and they're going to be very effective.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: The 144,000 are introduced in Revelation chapter 7 by an angel who says the following words Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: So twelve thousand from each tribe of Israel makes 144,000 witnesses.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: And that number 12 is significant in the Bible.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: If you've done the chronological study with me, you know that all of these numbers are significant.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: But the number 12, the the the high priest had 12 uh rare stones or precious stones on his his ephod, the garment that he wore.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: The tabernacle and the temple in the and the temple inside of them had a table of showbread, and there were 12 loaves on that table of showbread, and each one of those represented Israel.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: And then the heavenly city in Jerusalem, we get a description about that, and it will have a 12-layered foundation with the name of the apostles on it.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: It will have 12 gates, and the name of all the 12 tribes, one each gate of the 12 tribes of Israel will be on that.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: There's 12 angels standing at each one of those gates.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: And so we we see how significant it is.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: And these Jewish witnesses are sealed and protected.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: They are sealed and protected.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: And later John tells us this in Revelation 14:1.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: So that's another piece of the description for these for these witnesses.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: John sees the 144,000 in heaven at the end of the tribulation where they have miraculously been preserved through the tribulation.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Mark Hitchcock says, notice John doesn't say 143,000.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: All 144,000 have been divinely preserved by the Lord.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: How cool is that! Not one of them has been overlooked.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: These witnesses that will be preaching the gospel of Christ, they will be all over the world, and they will have a huge, huge success in that.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: We see that in Revelation 7, 9.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: I always thought and was taught, I'm not sure I was taught it here at TBC, but I've been taught that there was going to be a great revival before the rapture.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And that I always believed that the gospel would be preached to everyone in the world, and then the rapture would happen.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: But I was wrong.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: And actually the opposite is true.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: What we're going to see is a great falling away or apostasia, which in the Greek, a great falling away during this time.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: The um the during the tribulation is when the great revival is going to happen.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: It's during this time that the gospel is going to be preached to the whole world, and then the end will come.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, like like Jesus said in Matthew 24.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: So the scales are going to fall off of people's eyes.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: They're going to put the puzzle pieces together, and they are going to understand and see what is going on, and they are going to come to Christ.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: A great multitude that nobody can even number.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 7, 13 through 17.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Then one of the elders asked me, These in white robes, remember, they're standing on Zion with the lamb, these in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?
7:06
SPEAKER_00: I answered, Sir, you know.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: And he said, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: Never again will they will they hunger.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Never again will they thirst.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Ministry, doing ministry, is hard.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Right?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Amanda says, mm-hmm.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: It's hard in our day.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: But we can't compare how hard it is in our day to how difficult, how incredibly extremely difficult it will be in that day.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: During this time, these witnesses are going to be ministering to people.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: And there's I think these verses indicate just how difficult their calling is going to be.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: They will have suffered hunger, like bordering on starvation, I'm sure.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: They are going to be dying of thirst.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: The scorching heat is going to be affected, affecting them, and they are going to be shepherding the people through this.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: I just can't even imagine how difficult this is going to be.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: And I think that this is this is what we are seeing here.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: And then they are going to love these people, and then they are going to watch them become martyrs for their faith.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that nothing except God is going to prepare them to be able to do that ministry.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: Nothing would be nothing that they would bring of themselves would be able to equip them.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Only God is going to equip them.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: And at the end, Jesus is going to shepherd them and care for them.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: And he will lead them to refreshing water and he will wipe away all their tears.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: All the tears of their ministry that they had.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: One of Jesus' well-known promises at the end is found in Matthew 24, 14.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: Most prophecy scholars locate that worldwide revival right here in the end time of the tribulation.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: This army of 144,000 Jewish evangelists, how cool is that, will um will spread the gospel around the globe and they will bring in a soul harvest that no one can number.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Their preaching of the everlasting gospel will be so clear and it will be so powerful that people will just accept it and and have life-altering conversions to Christ.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: It will be amazing.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: The prophet Daniel asked this question How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?
10:45
SPEAKER_00: And he asks, What will be the outcome of all of this?
10:49
SPEAKER_00: And he was told that the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: So, of course, the only way to be purified and be white, made white, is by the blood of the Lamb.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: And that's going to be their testimony, right?
11:18
SPEAKER_00: I believe we could very well be the last generation of the church, and that we may be passing the baton, the gospel presentation baton, to these 144,000 witnesses.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: What an amazing time that will be.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now let's shift to the trumpet judgments.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 8 begins, Revelation chapter 8 begins, where we left off last time with the seventh seal being broken and the silence in heaven for a half an hour.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: You remember that?
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Then the trumpet judgments begin.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: And these judgments take place, of course, after the seal judgments and most likely occur in the last half of the Great Tribulation.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: So this is probably after the abomination that causes desolation has taken place.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Not just the trumpet judgments and then the bold judgments, which we will see the bold judgments next time we're together.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: So the first trumpet, Revelation 8 7.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down to the earth.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: So one third of all vegetation on the earth will be destroyed, and this will intensify the famine that is already taking place on the earth because of the third rider on the on the black horse.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: Remember, because his was that represented famine.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: The second trumpet, Revelation 8, 8 and 9.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: This could be a giant meteor that is that is um comes onto the earth, or it could be something else.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: But um, it's going to have cataclysmic results as well.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: One-third of all the life in the sea, in the ocean, is going to be wiped out, which is a major, would be a major food source.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be gone.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: And not to mention all of the ships that are on the sea.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: All of the commerce will be destroyed as well as the crews on those ships.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: The third trumpet, Revelation 8, 10 and 11.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: The name of the star is wormwood.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: So this judgment will ruin the taste and the quality of the water, and um which is just an essential part of life.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: The result is that many people are gonna die because of this punishment.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: The fourth trumpet is um darkness.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the moon, uh a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: So this darkness and lack of light will bring bone-chilling cold to everyone, and it will impact any crops that might be being raised at that time and produced.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: So it would impact the food chain as well.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Then there is a brief intermission, another intermission in the action, and then this happens, Revelation 8, 13.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: I, as I watched, I heard an angel that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: So these three woe announcements are for the inhabitants of the earth.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: The first four trumpets affected nature, and these last three trumpets are going to affect the people.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's going to be affected by the supernatural world through demons.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: So the fifth trumpet.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 9, 1 through 6.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: The star was given the key to the shaft of the abyss.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: When he opened the abyss, smoke rose from it like a smoke from a giant furnace.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the abyss, and out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth, and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: They were not allowed to kill them, but only torture them for five months.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: During those days, people will seek death but will not find it.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: They will long to die, but death will elude them.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: So you've got all of these things falling from the sky, one after the other.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And we don't know how quickly each one of these judgments come upon the earth, but it's just one wave after another, after another, after another.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Don Stewart says the grotesque appearance of these creatures that come down on the earth during this fifth judgment will be terrifying to the people living at this time.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Could this description be drones or something like drones or um like helicopters that give electric 5G shocks to people?
17:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm just putting it out there.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: Because we know that that is happening, that people are getting um electric shocks from 5G, and that it's burning them.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Um the description of these locusts is here in Revelation 9, 7 through 11.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: On their heads, they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Their hair was like woman's hair, and their teeth were like lion's teeth.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: They had tails with stingers like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: They had oh as they they had as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek is Apollyon, that is destroyer.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: We don't know exactly what these creatures are.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: They could be demons, very, very well could be demons that are inflicting this pain.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: They could be, they could be drones, they could be those helicopters, and John described them in the terminology that he could understand.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, because how would he explain something that was mechanical flying in the air doing all of this?
19:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, he he wouldn't have had words for that.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what these are, but anything is possible at this point.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: The sixth trumpet, Revelation 9, 13 through 16.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, and it said, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates, and the four angels who had been ready, kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: The number of mounted troops was twice 10,000 times 10,000.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: So 200 million soldiers is what this represents.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Are they human or are they demonic?
20:04
SPEAKER_00: That's a debate among theologians of what they are.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Many argue that they that they are human and that it is a massive, massive army.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, I won't go into all of the arguments, but I will read what Don Stewart's conclusion is.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: It's right here on the screen.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: While a case certainly can be made for understanding the army of 200 million as literal human beings, it may be better to see them as a demonic army that will kill one-third of the people of the earth.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: When I think about that, I always think about in Lord of the Rings, what are those guys called?
20:43
SPEAKER_00: The orgs?
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Orcs?
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Orcs that come up out of the ground, kind of people things.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I think of.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: China alone has the capability to have 200 million um soldiers.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: And um, but but I think with how depleted the world will already be because of the rapture, and then because of all of the death that's already taken place up to this point, I'm not sure that a human army could actually do that.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: I tend to think that it's demonic and/or demons or AI or drones or something like that.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Anything is possible again.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: Now we have two more people that God is gonna use to preach the gospel, and it's the two witnesses.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Just like we saw the break between the sixth and seventh seal, we now have an intermission before the seventh trumpet is sounded.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
21:46
SPEAKER_00: John sees a powerful angel holding a scroll who puts one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, and he roars like a lion.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: And seven thunders speak back to him.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: When he roars.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: But John is not permitted to write down what the seven thunders say.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And so he seals that up.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: That's that powerful angel, though, that powerful angel announces Revelation 10:7.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: There will be no more delay.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the mystery of God will be fulfilled during the time of the seventh trumpet.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: But before we see that, we need to learn about the ministry of these two incredible witnesses.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 11, 3 through 6.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: It's not on your screen.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: So I mean it's not on the screen.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: So just listen.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: It says, and I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like an Old Testament prophet, right?
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Clothed in sackcloth.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, and they stand before the Lord of the earth.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I guess that is on the screen.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: So 1,260 days equals 42 months or three and a half years.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: So these Jewish witnesses, who could be Moses and Elijah, and possibly even Enoch, will exhibit supernatural powers during those three and a half years, and they are empowered by God to do this.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: They will absolutely shoot straight to the heart of what they are what they are sent to do, and they will warn of judgment, that judgment is coming, which we know that all of the Old Testament prophets warned of judgment.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: And so, once again, they're going to be warning of judgment that's going to come.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: And they will denounce and refute the claims of the Antichrist.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: They will be very vocal about the Antichrist, and they will proclaim truth and salvation in Jesus Christ.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: So they're going to be enemy number one by just about everybody.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: And when they finish their testimony and their assignment from God, he allows the Antichrist to destroy them, to kill them.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: This is the first time we hear of the Antichrist being referred to as the beast, but he's going to be referred to as the beast 35 more times in the book of Revelation.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Halfway through the tribulation, the beast, halfway through their time, halfway through the tribulation, the beast will kill them.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: And this act will expand his popularity because everybody hates these two witnesses.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like God is going to harden everybody's hearts against these two witnesses.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 11, 7 through 10.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: The beast that comes up from the abyss will attack them and overpower them, overpower and kill them.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: So we are talking about Jerusalem here.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: For three and a half days, some from every people, tribe, language, and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: So they're going to be having a Christmas type celebration because these two witnesses have been murdered.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of the celebration, when it's going strong, suddenly these two mighty men of God come back to life.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 11, 11 through 12.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: But after the three and a half days, the breath of life came from God, entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I bet it did.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say, Come up here.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: So the same breath that came into the Lord Jesus Christ on the third day comes into these two and they ascend just like Jesus did.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Coincidence or a sign?
26:47
SPEAKER_00: With as many times as we have heard God in the book of Revelation say, Come up here.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed?
26:57
SPEAKER_00: He says it a lot.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking that when the rapture takes place, that the trumpet simultaneously with the trumpet, we're going to hear a come up here.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: We're going to go, woo! We're out of here.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: I just think that's how it's going to happen now that I've just seen this over and over and over.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Come up here.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: John Phillips vividly describes this event.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: He says, picture this scene.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: The sun-drenched streets of Jerusalem, the holiday crowds flown in from the ends of the earth for a firsthand look at these corpses of these detested men.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: The troops of the beasts' uniforms, the temple police.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: There they are, devilish men from every kingdom under heaven, come to dance and feast at the triumph of the beast.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: And then it happens.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: As the crowds strain at the police court and to peer curiously at the two dead bodies, there comes a sudden change.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Their color changes from a cadaverous hue to the blooming rosy glow of youth.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Those stiff, stark limbs bend, they move.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a sight! They rise.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: The crowd falls back in shock and fear.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Three and a half days of festivities are about to be followed by another three and a half years of judgment more severe than ever.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: And what does God do at that point to make his point?
28:31
SPEAKER_00: At that very hour, there was a severe earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: The second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what David Jeremiah says.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: He says the word translated people actually means men of name.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: This indicates that the 7,000 fatalities will likely be famous people or political leaders, those who most responsible for the persecution of these two witnesses.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: Interesting, isn't it?
29:18
SPEAKER_00: So we resume the trumpet judgments with the seventh trumpet.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 11, 15.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: The seventh trumpet is connected with the third woe, which announces that the kingdom of the Lord is coming.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: And then we have a scene change, and we go back to heaven.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: This is what we hear.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 11, 16 through 19.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: And the 24 elders who were seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thanks to you, Lord, God Almighty, the one who is and was, and because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: The nations were angry, and your wrath has come.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants, the prophets, and your people who revere your name, both great and small, for destroying those who destroyed the earth.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: Don Stewart says, The unbelieving nations have been angry at the Lord, and have tried their best to prevent Jesus' coronation as King of kings.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: However, now the time has come for the Lord to be angry with them.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: I think he's already been angry with them.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: I think it means he picks up his anger toward them.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: The destroyers are about to be destroyed.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, the Lord is going to reward his servants and his prophets, both the small and the great ones, the big and the little ones.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: And basically, the time for the final judgment on earth is at hand.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: The next section is a very debated one.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: And you can find some really crazy explanations of this next one, the great sign.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: Believe me, I've heard a bunch of them.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: And they're kind of wack-a-doodle, some of them.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 12, 1 through 6.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: Then another sign appeared in heaven, an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its head.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: So there are many ideas about who this woman is and who the dragon is and all that.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: But the one that makes the most sense to me out of all the ones I've seen is that the woman represents Israel, or is Israel, the nation of Israel.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: And remember, when Joseph had his dream about the sun and the moon and the twelve eleven stars who were bowing down to him.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: Remember that dream that he has?
33:00
SPEAKER_00: So the sun and the moon represented Jacob and Leah, his mother and his father.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Jacob is the father of Israel.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: And then the eleven stars represented his brothers, and Jacob would have been the twelfth, the twelfth son.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: So there are also many figurative references to Israel as as travailing in in pregnancy and in childbirth.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: But I like what Dr.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: David Jeremiah says the most.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: And thank you for that book.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: It's really good.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: This is what he says, and this makes so much sense.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: Three of Christ's roles in human history are mentioned in those verses.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: First, Christ's incarnation.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: She gave birth to a son, a male child.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: Second, Christ's ascension, her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: And third is Christ's second coming.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: He will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Makes so much sense, doesn't it?
34:11
SPEAKER_00: It is Israel.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 19, 15.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: This is when Jesus is coming back at his second coming.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: He will rule them with an iron scepter.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: That is Jesus and Israel and Israel and what a great sign he has given to them.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: That's what it represents.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: I want to read something to you from Dr.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: David Jeremiah that I just thought was astounding.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: From the beginning, Satan's obsession has been the eradication of God's people.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: In Eden, he seduced the first couple into disobeying God, no doubt thinking God would destroy them for their disobedience.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: But to his dismay, God promised redemption to the couple and told Satan he would eventually be crushed by a descendant of the woman, Genesis 3.15.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Naturally, the devil began plotting to prevent the fulfillment of that prophecy.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: He learned from God's promise to Abraham that his nemesis would arise out of Israel.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: So he strove to abort the formation of that nation.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: He ignited in Esau's heart a murderous rage against Jacob, who would beget Israel's twelve tribes.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: But Esau failed to kill Jacob.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: So Satan induced Pharaoh to slaughter the male babies of the Israelites in Egypt, a plot which Moses survived.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Had Satan eradicated either Jacob or Moses, there would be no nation of Israel.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: During the reign of Judah's kings, Satan's schemes, Satan's scheme came within a hair's breadth of succeeding.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that the Messiah would emerge from the royal descendant of David, he set about to cut off that line.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: After the death of Jehoshaphat, Satan incited a series of assassinations that eradicated all but one family of David's line, King Ahaziah.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how you say it, but something like that.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: And his children.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: When Ahaziah was also murdered, his mother, Athaliah, ordered all his royal heirs slaughtered, which were her own grandchildren.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: And then she took the throne herself.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Finally, Satan had succeeded.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: The royal line of David was ended and would never produce the Messiah, or so he it seemed.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: But a sister to the murdered king managed to whisk away and hide his youngest son Joash until he could safely be revealed and crowned as the rightful king.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: Again, Satan was thwarted and the line of the Promised One preserved.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Next, Satan provoked a high Persian official, Haman, to plot the mass extermination of all the Jews.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: The brave Queen Esther exposed Haman's conspiracy, shattering Satan's scheme yet again.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: Despite the devil's machinations, Christ was born.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Frustrated but undaunted, Satan goaded the already evil Herod to slaughter all the baby boys in Bethlehem, thinking this insidious mass, infanticide, would take out the infant Christ.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: But through a dream, God directed Joseph to get the child out of Bethlehem before the killings began.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: The child was born and lived.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus neared the end of his 40-day wilderness fast, Satan laid before him three successive temptations designed to destroy his redemptive mission.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: But using no weapon other than Scripture, Jesus repelled Satan's attacks and sent him scurrying away in defeat.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: The devil made two more attempts on Jesus' life.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: He incited Nazareth's leaders to throw him off a cliff and the Pharisees to stone him.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Jesus miraculously escaped both attempts.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Finally, however, Satan succeeded.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: On Friday, before the Jewish Passover celebration, the hated, the hatred he infused into the hearts of the Jewish leaders finally paid off.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: He watched in gleeful triumph as they beat Jesus unmercifully and nailed his battered body to a cross to die.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: When that body was sealed within a tomb, Satan's victory was complete.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Or so he thought.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: How cool is that! It's amazing.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Sonic Light says Satan failed to destroy Jesus at his birth, and because he also failed to destroy him during his life and his death, Jesus Christ ascended victoriously into heaven.
39:20
SPEAKER_00: And one day he's gonna come back and avenge.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons we we um think a third of the angelic hosts fell with Satan when he fell was because of that, the verse four.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: This enormous red dragon with the seven heads and the ten horns and the seven crowns on its head is identified in verse nine as Satan.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: That's who it is.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: And since Satan can no longer harm harm Christ or the church during the tribulation, he goes after the Jews and Israel, God's chosen people, once again.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: We have another scene change, and I just lost my um thing, so let me get it back.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: We have another scene change, and this one takes us up to heaven, and we see war in heaven in Revelation 12, 7 through 9.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: Then war broke out in heaven.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: The great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: So Michael, the archangel, is Israel's prince and protector, defender.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: So what a scene this would have been for John to watch and to see.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Daniel 10, 5 and 6.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Daniel says, Daniel has been fasting and mourning for three weeks, for 21 days.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: When all of a sudden a man stood before him.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: Here's his description.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: He was dressed in linen with a belt of fine gold from Euphaz around his waist.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: His body was like Topez, his face was like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice was like the sound of a multitude.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: So this fearsome angel touches Daniel and helps him stand up, because Daniel is absolutely petrified, terrified.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: He helps him stand, and then he says, Do not be afraid, Daniel.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: How long had David been fasting and mourning?
42:15
SPEAKER_00: Twenty-one days.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: So as soon as he started, this angel was sent.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: So Daniel's three weeks of earthly prayer battle has influenced, has was influential in the spiritual heavenly battle.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: Victories there seem to be influenced by prayers here.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: We fight in the spiritual heavenly realm through our prayers.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: That's the unseen war that we are engaged in, and we can never, ever, ever underestimate what our prayers are accomplishing.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: We never know this side of heaven what our prayers are accomplishing, and we never know how it is affecting human history.
43:26
SPEAKER_00: And then this happened.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: For the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: And that is where we will pick up next time.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: Our God is in control, right?
44:17
SPEAKER_00: We can have confidence and we can have peace because we know that our God is in control.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: It always has been, it always will be.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for that assurance.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: We know you are in control.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: From the beginning of scripture to the end of scripture, you absolutely show us that you are in control.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: And we praise you.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: We praise you that that Satan's schemes will not overcome your plans.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: You are great and you are mighty.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: And we praise you for the comfort that that brings us today.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of all that we are watching, all that we are seeing.
45:08
SPEAKER_00: God, for those of us that are fearful, calm our fears.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: Draw us deeper to you and to your word so that we can have those those fears soothed away, Lord.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I'm I'm just telling you once again that we are looking forward to hear you say, Come up here, because we are ready to go.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: Amen.