Latest / Admonition Podcast / Revelation 7 (Lesson 2) - Aaron Cozort - March 08, 2026

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Revelation 7 (Lesson 2) - Aaron Cozort - March 08, 2026 · Admonition Podcast

• 0:00
  Good morning.
• 0:06
  Good to see all of you this morning.
• 0:10
  I'm running a few minutes behind because I had to do my job, Eddie's job, James and Isaiah's job.
• 0:17
  poor, poor me.
• 0:19
  But I also forgot that if I set up a PowerPoint the way I set it up, it's gonna hang off the edges behind me.
• 0:25
  uh for those who are watching online or watching this later, you won't have that problem, but the people in the room, you're gonna see it kind of hang off either side.
• 0:34
  And I apologize in advance.
• 0:36
  All right, we are in the book of Revelation.
• 0:38
  We are in chapter seven.
• 0:45
  And we're going to begin with a word of prayer as we get into our study.
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  Let us pray.
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  Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day you've granted to us, grateful for the blessings that we have.
• 1:04
  We're grateful for the opportunity that we have to come together to have the energy and the ability to assemble together to study your word, understand your will and how you
• 1:15
  would have us to live.
• 1:16
  Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go throughout this day.
• 1:21
  We pray that you will be with us as we strive to serve you and we pray that you will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.
• 1:29
  Lord, we pray that we might open the words of this book, that we might apply our hearts and our
• 1:34
  to read it, to understand it, that we might know how to uh learn from it and how to apply the things that you've placed here in it for uh us to learn and for our lives, for wisdom.
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  Lord, help us to open the text and to read it in its context and not add things to it, but rather gain what is in it.
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  Lord, we pray that you be with the church throughout the world.
• 2:02
  We pray that you be with mission.
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  and we pray that we might always be attentive to those opportunities here in Collierville and in this congregation.
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  And we pray for open doors in our service and in our evangelism as well.
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  Lord, we ask that you be with this nation, with its
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  leaders and with nations throughout the world.
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  May they make the decisions that lead towards that which is good, that they might lead towards peace, but also that they might uh act in a way that is proper in accordance with
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  your word and your will.
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  All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
• 3:00
  So just a quick review, and this was actually the slideshow that I intended to have up last week and put the wrong one up.
• 3:07
  So we're gonna utilize this a little bit this morning.
• 3:11
  Chapter one is introductory.
• 3:14
  It introduces John, his circumstance, and who is speaking to it.
• 3:19
  It also introduces the...
• 3:21
  uh
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  time perspective of the book, that is to say that twice in the first three verses, God says the events that are being discussed are going to happen soon.
• 3:37
  These things were at hand.
• 3:40
  Okay?
• 3:41
  Then chapters two and three, you have Jesus and the Spirit writing through John to the seven churches and many of the types, many of the figures that you're going to see later
• 3:55
  on.
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  you're going to see alluded to in chapters 2 and 3.
• 4:00
  Just like when we opened up chapter 7 and we saw God's name being written on the Christians or being written on individuals, it would have been much harder to interpret
• 4:12
  who is getting the name of God written on their forehead had it not been for the fact that chapter 3 told us who it was.
• 4:18
  Okay, so many of the figures have clues in those first two or chapters 2 and 3.
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  Chapter four and five, you have the groundwork for comfort.
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  God is on the throne.
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  God the Father is not changed.
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  He's not moved from the throne.
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  He is not diminished in power.
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  And God the Son, God the Lamb is right there before the throne and He is equally worthy of praise.
• 4:44
  Chapter six, the seals of the book that were in the hand of the one who's on the throne and the lamb was worthy to open begin to be opened.
• 4:55
  Seal one, seal two, seal three, seal four, seal five, seal six are all opened in chapter six.
• 5:05
  Chapter six ends with the question, who is able to stamp?
• 5:12
  And that's uh what chapter seven is answering.
• 5:16
  So chapter four begins with the open door.
• 5:18
  Chapter four, you see the throne.
• 5:21
  You see, and I was gonna go through all this last week, we're gonna go through all of it again.
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  Chapter five, you see the lamb.
• 5:28
  That was the image of the scroll.
• 5:29
  I told you a few weeks ago, I had seen one, I knew I had one of my notes that just kind of gives you a visual of the idea of uh the scroll with seven seals where it's progressively
• 5:39
  able to be opened.
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  That was the image I was trying to find.
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  and think of just a useful mental image for you.
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  Chapter five, you have the lamb and uh Christ standing as if he was slain and yet being alive, you have the praise given to him.
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  Chapter six, you have the seals, the white horse, the three horses with destruction, the souls under the altar.
• 6:06
  And then the figures in the end of chapter 6, which by the way, if you go read Joel chapter 2 and the destruction of Edom, you're going to see most all of the exact same
• 6:16
  figures given in view of the destruction of Edom in Joel chapter 2.
• 6:22
  Okay, so a lot of the similarities in that passage are right there.
• 6:27
  So the question is answered at the end of chapter six.
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  The question is, who is able to stand?
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  That gets us into chapter seven and the Mark of the Faithful.
• 6:38
  We went through some of this uh last week.
• 6:41
  We're going to continue with it, but uh the first thing that we need to understand is this isn't the first time this question's been asked.
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  Turn to Zechariah.
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  The Old Testament prophet Zechariah as he is writing...
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  nearing the end of uh the Old Testament.
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  He's living in the days of the Persian kingdom.
• 7:12
  Darius is on the throne in chapter 1 verse 1, but you'll notice in chapter 1 verse 12, then the angel of the Lord answered and said, "'O Lord of hosts, how long will you not
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  have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which you were angry these seventy years?'
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  And the Lord answered the angel who talked with me, and with good and comforting words.
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  So the angel who spoke with me said to me, Proclaim saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal.
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  I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease, for I was a little angry, and they helped, but with evil intent.
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  Therefore, thus says the Lord, I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy,
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  My house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem, and uh again proclaims saying, thus says the Lord of hosts,
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  my cities shall again spread out through prosperity.
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  The Lord will again comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem.
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  Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns.
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  And I said to the angel who talked with me, who were these?
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  So he answered,
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  These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
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  Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen, and I said, what are these coming to do?
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  So he said, these are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could lift up his head, but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations
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  that uh lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it." Now the direct question isn't found here in Zechariah 1, but what you have
• 8:59
  is kind of a parallel situation and a parallel description.
• 9:03
  In Zechariah God is asked the question, how long is this going to continue?
• 9:11
  How long until Israel and Jerusalem is going to see peace, bearing in mind there are people who have gone back to the land of Jerusalem because it's in the days of Cyrus, it's
• 9:23
  in the time of the Persians, they've been allowed to go back but they've had trouble.
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  and difficulty and persecution nonstop since they got there.
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  So Zechariah is asking the question, how long, Lord, is this going to go on?
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  Sound like seal number five?
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  Sound like the soul's under the altar?
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  How long are you going to let this continue?
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  And God says, he answers them with comforting words, rest a little bit.
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  You see the parallel?
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  Rest a little bit and I'm gonna take care of it.
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  And so he,
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  uh In Zechariah's vision, Zechariah sees four horns.
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  And he says, what are these?
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  And God says, those are the people who've been causing Israel trouble.
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  Then he sees four craftsmen.
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  And he says, what are those?
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  He says, they're my answer to the four horns.
• 10:14
  So you remember when chapter seven opens, you've got the what?
• 10:19
  You've got the four angels at the four corners of the earth holding back what?
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  the wind.
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  And we're told God's going to bring judgment, the fifth angel comes up, says God's going to bring judgment, but wait a minute, you can't start the judgment until God's people are
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  marked.
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  God's people are not going to be the recipients of the judgment.
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  They are going to be those who are going to endure and who are going to be found faithful.
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  in the midst of the judgment.
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  So the fifth angel comes up and says, not harm the earth, verse 3 of chapter 7, the seed, the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.
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  And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.
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  Now, if anyone's paid attention to our Facebook page in the last week, there's been a number of people who would like to disagree about the fact that
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  the text is either literal or it's not.
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  And they want it to be half literal.
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  They want it to be figurative only where they desire for it be figurative.
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  But if the text is not literal, and by literal we mean this, if the number is 144,000, then it's literal.
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  If the number is 144,000 and that is literal,
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  then the tribes are literal.
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  You can't have one without the other.
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  By the way, after AD 70, how many Jews could prove their tribe?
• 12:04
  Surely there's gotta be something with AI right now that can go back and prove what tribe they came from?
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  DNA research?
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  Nothing?
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  No, nothing.
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  There is not a Jew alive today who can prove what tribe they came from.
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  And they haven't been able to for 2,000 years.
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  As a result, if the passage is literal and John wrote after AD 70, it's nonsense.
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  The whole book is worthless if the passage is literal.
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  Because you can't prove a tribe in Israel today.
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  So certainly can't be literal and in the future.
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  When we say literal, we're not meaning, and it's important to point this out, we're not meaning God doesn't mean what he says.
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  We're meaning God gave it in the form of verbal pictures.
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  And God instructs us, just like he instructed the Old Testament recipients of those Old Testament prophets, to interpret the meaning of the picture.
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  Jesus would criticize
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  the Pharisees and the Jews and even at times the disciples over and over for not being able to interpret the Old Testament when they could interpret the sky and the color of the
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  sky and know whether or not it was going to rain or whether the seasons were changing.
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  He would fault them because they could interpret nature and they couldn't interpret the Word of God.
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  And we can't be guilty of that.
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  John makes it clear that the things in the vision are visionary language.
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  So we're supposed to ask the question, that's what I see, what does it mean?
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  And when we see 144,000, we see 12,000 from each tribe.
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  When we see 12,000, we see 12 multiplied by the number 1,000.
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  When we see the tribes, we see a figure from the Old Testament of God's people.
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  When we see the number 12, we see a figure of God's
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  people.
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  And when we see anything multiplied by a thousand in the book of Revelation, it is all of them.
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  When you see thousands multiplied by thousands, you see God saying, and I didn't miss one single person.
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  Ezekiel chapter 9, similar figures to what you see in chapter 7 verses 3 through 10.
• 15:05
  We're not going to get into all these passages as we go, but I do want to spend some time with the markings that exist in the book of Revelation.
• 15:13
  I want to show you a few of these things because when you see it, we're not going to be in all these contexts yet, but you're going to see the markings over and over and suddenly
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  when you get to that context you go, yep, I know exactly what's going on.
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  So let's start in chapter three.
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  Chapter 3, beginning in verse 12, he who overcomes, this is said to the church at Philadelphia, he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of God.
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  Now, hold on real quick.
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  I know I'm harping on a couple of things, but let's just be fair with the text.
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  If all of the book of Revelation should be understood literally,
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  then we're going have a real problem with this passage because the one who overcomes is literally going to have to stand around and hold up the ceiling.
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  because that's what a pillar does, If we do not appreciate that figures can be used that are visionary, that do not, are never intended to be literal, when he says the person who
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  overcomes, they are going to be a pillar in the temple of God, either he means that literally or he means it figuratively.
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  He means it metaphorically.
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  And when, by the way, Paul said that there were certain of the apostles and elders who seemed to be pillars in the church in Jerusalem, in Galatians, he was not meaning that
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  they had a regular practice of standing around holding up a ceiling.
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  We know that because we use the type of terminology all the time.
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  And he uses it here.
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  Okay, now, who overcomes, will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.
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  All right, again, if we're gonna be literal, just take it 100 % literally, let's see if we can do that.
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  All right, he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of God.
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  He's gonna stand and hold up the ceiling, and he shall go out no more.
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  He literally will never leave the building ever again.
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  All right, let's see what else it would say.
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  And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God.
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  So he's gonna have the literal name of God and the literal name of Jerusalem, if we're going to interpret it that way, written on his head as he holds up the ceiling and never
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  leaves the building again.
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  Do we really think that's what John means?
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  No.
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  So if the pillar is figurative, and if the never leaving the building again is a metaphor for never leaving God's presence,
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  then why can't the name and the writing on the forehead be figurative?
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  Why can't that be a picture that we are to interpret?
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  The answer is it has to be because it had two figures in front of it that we knew were not literal.
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  You don't pick and choose text and go sentence phrase one,
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  is figurative.
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  Sentence phrase two is figurative.
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  Sentence phrase three, which matches the figures that we need to interpret literally.
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  Nobody does that in everyday language.
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  Nobody does that if they're honest unless the person as they're writing or speaking says something to say, hey, by the way, I'm changing from figurative to literal.
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  But notice what else.
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  He says, I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new
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  for the individuals who sadly, even some within the body of Christ, have begun teaching the idea that the New Jerusalem is the renovated earth where the Christians are going to
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  live because we're not going to go to heaven when this world is over.
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  God's going to renovate the earth and we're going to live forever on a perfect earth.
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  By the way, you don't have any more right to change
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  figures into literal statements in the middle of the text than the person who argues that the name of God is physically going to be written on the forehead of the people.
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  It's not a renovated Jerusalem and it's not a renovated earth.
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  And if we would go back and read Isaiah, Isaiah 66 specifically, and we would understand what Isaiah was saying to the Israelites in that day in anticipation of the kingdom, we
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  would know better.
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  Now, if we use proper interpretation, we'd also know better.
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  Chapter seven, verses one through eight we've just read, so we're not gonna go back and read those again.
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  Go to chapter nine.
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  Chapter 9, this is when the fifth angel is sounding.
• 20:41
  We're gonna get into the trumpets, we're not gonna go through all of that, but chapter 9 verse 2, he opens the bottomless pit, smoke arises out.
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  Verse 4, they were commanded not to harm the grass or any green thing, this is the scorpions by the way that are in chapter 9 verse 3, they were commanded not to harm the
• 21:00
  grass over the earth or any green thing or any tree or, sorry, but only,
• 21:07
  those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
• 21:13
  Okay?
• 21:14
  So there's a picture in chapter nine, scorpions come out and they're gonna hurt the earth, they're not gonna hurt the green things, they're not gonna hurt anything living on the
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  earth, they're only gonna hurt the people who don't have the name of God written on their forehead.
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  Okay?
• 21:29
  Let's see another one, Revelation 13.
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  Revelation chapter 13 verses 16 and 17, causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive the mark on their right hand and on their foreheads, that no
• 21:48
  one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name.
• 21:56
  Now we are seeing markings on the hand and on the forehead, but it's not the marking of God.
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  It's not the name of God, it's the number of the beast or the name of the beast.
• 22:08
  Now if we're honest with chapter 3, when we see that the people of God who were the Christians alive in the church in Philadelphia were going to have the name of God written
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  on their forehead, then we would have to be equal with our interpretation that there were going to be people in the days of the church of Philadelphia who were going to have the
• 22:34
  name of the beast written on their forehead
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  and the number of the beast written on their hand and on their forehead.
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  So if it's literal in chapter one, if it's physical in chapter, sorry, chapter three, then it's literal and physical in chapter 13.
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  But if it's not there, is it here?
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  If it's a figure in chapter 3, is it a figure here?
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  Yes.
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  If it's a figure in chapter 7, is it a figure here?
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  Yes.
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  If it's a figure in chapter 9, is it a figure here?
• 23:07
  Yes.
• 23:08
  So should we be waiting for a day where some government comes along and starts putting things on the back of people's hands to declare that they're allowed to do commerce and
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  something written on their forehead that says they belong to that government?
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  No.
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  m
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  But if you talk to a premillennialist, boy, they're going to tell you how it's going to work out.
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  And they're looking for every new tech device coming out that's going to be the mark of the beast.
• 23:40
  Chapter 14, verse 1, we're back to the 144,000, by the way.
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  Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their forehead.
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  Now where is Mount Zion?
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  Jerusalem, if we're talking about the physical Mount Zion, but is that where John saw this individual who's known as the Lamb, which means it's who?
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  Christ.
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  Is John seeing him on the earthly Mount Zion with 144,000 people behind him, or is he seeing him in the visionary Mount Zion?
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  Visionary.
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  Alright, notice the 144,000 are with Jesus and they all have the Father's name written on their head.
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  Chapter 14 verse 9, then the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark, he himself shall also drink of the
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  wine of the wrath of God which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation.
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  He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and
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  they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name." Now I'm going to go from preaching and teaching to meddling.
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  In verse 8, chapter 14, the proclamation is made, another angel followed saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of
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  the wrath of her fornication.
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  Alright, question.
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  If we were interpreting the book,
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  should we assume that the physical, literal city of Babylon is the one under consideration here?
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  Or should we consider that Babylon's a figure?
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  The answer is we should consider it a figure.
• 26:04
  By the way, as we go down the verse, let's see if we can identify which thing is a figure and a picture and should be interpreted such and which one should be interpreted
• 26:16
  literally.
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  All right?
• 26:19
  So Babylon, literal or figurative?
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  Figurative, okay?
• 26:25
  Let's go to the next one.
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  The wine of the wrath of her fornication.
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  Literal or figurative?
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  literal line or not.
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  the one who worships the beast and his image and receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand.
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  First of all, is the worship done in a real sense?
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  In other words, allegiance to the enemy of God.
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  Is that a uh figure we understand?
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  Let me ask you this way.
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  uh Would a person have to fall down before an idol?
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  in order to worship the enemy of God?
• 27:18
  No.
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  How do we know that?
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  Well, Paul tells us that covetousness is idolatry.
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  So, if a person loved money, would they qualify under this figure?
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  Absolutely.
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  They don't have to fall down and worship before an idol or worship before Satan himself or go about their daily lives practicing devil worship.
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  They could just worship money in their actions, in their life, and in their lifestyle.
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  And they'd fit the qualification.
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  All right?
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  So, we understand even the picture of worship is a figure.
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  Hold on.
• 28:08
  So if the worship is a figure, then is the mark that they receive literal, physical, or figurative?
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  Figurative?
• 28:17
  Alright, here we go.
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  Verse 10, He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation.
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  The wine and the cup of the wrath of God and his indignation, are they physical or literal?
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  Sorry, physical, literal, or figurative?
• 28:40
  Get my words out.
• 28:42
  Figurative.
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  Okay.
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  See, I'm going to start meddling.
• 28:46
  and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels of God, in the presence of the Lamb, is the fire and brimstone literal, physical, or
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  figurative.
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  You see, this is where we also have to be honest.
• 29:06
  This is where we also have to be fair with the text.
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  You don't get to have six figures and read Fire and Brimstone and jump to literal.
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  You don't get to do it.
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  And this is where we sometimes trip up, okay?
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  Now.
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  Question.
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  Does flesh inherit eternity?
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  Is fire a physical thing that is an attribute of this physical earth?
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  Yes.
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  Should we assume that fire is going to be transported into eternity?
• 30:00
  No.
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  But is that a figure that we can consistently understand on the concept of torment that never ends?
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  Anybody who's ever been burned, they get that figure real quick.
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  Anybody who's ever been near a fire and felt the heat, they get the figure real quick.
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  So is the torment
• 30:30
  is the wrath of God and the judgment and the punishment figurative in the text?
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  No.
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  That's what the figures are pointing to.
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  That's the thing being pictured so you can understand it in human terms.
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  See, whenever there's figures, there's a point behind them.
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  And the point of the figure here is there are people who have allegiance to God's enemy and they're going to be judged.
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  And God's judgment, while the nature of the judgment is humanized, given in earthly terms, given in a picture, by the way, a picture from Isaiah 66.
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  Is the judgment real?
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  Is the judgment guaranteed by God to actually occur even though it's pictured so we can understand it?
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  Yes.
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  Just like the tabernacle was a picture of the church.
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  It doesn't make the church not real.
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  It means it was a picture that had a meaning.
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  Yes, Ava, did you have a thought earlier?
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  correct.
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  All right, chapter 16 verse 2.
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  So the first went and poured out his bowl.
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  This is another set of judgments on the earth.
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  And a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
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  There's another marking, chapter 17 verse 5.
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  And on her forehead a name was written.
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  This is the great harlot that's riding the terrible beast.
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  On her name was written mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.
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  So she's got a name written on her forehead.
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  Chapter 20 and verse 4, we have, I saw thrones and they that sat on them and judgments committed to them.
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  Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on
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  their foreheads or on their hands.
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  And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
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  You know?
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  We really have to be careful about all these figures.
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  because if this one is accurate, the only Christians who are going to reign with Christ, which the New Testament describes over and over as being an attribute of regular
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  Christians, are the Christians who are beheaded while they're still on the earth.
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  If they die by...
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  they could be crucified upside down like Peter, but Peter's not going to qualify to reign with Christ.
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  He wasn't beheaded.
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  James probably not going to qualify.
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  He wasn't beheaded.
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  Wait a minute.
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  Was there a significant person in New Testament history that was beheaded for his testimony of Christ?
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  Hoo!
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  John the Baptist.
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  Here's a figure, and it's a figure of faithful spokesmen of God who speak truth to rulers in this world.
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  And God said, on the other side of eternity, you're going to be ruling, while on this side of eternity, they're going to be killing you.
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  Okay?
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  It's a picture.
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  It's a picture of John the Baptist.
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  in that text.
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  Chapter 19 verses 12 through 16, ah let's go to verse 11, now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in
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  righteousness he judges and makes war.
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  We mentioned like umpteen times the white horse in chapter 6 and we've mentioned later on in the text you're going to see a white horse and you're going to see the person riding on
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  him is Christ.
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  Here it is.
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  Chapter 19 verse 11, saw in heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true.
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  Who's that?
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  Christ.
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  and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
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  Huh, what did the white horse in chapter six do?
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  It went out conquering.
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  It made war.
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  It's kind of consistent, isn't it?
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  Anyway, chapter 19 verse 12, his eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no one knew except himself.
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  This individual, Christ, has a name written on him and no one knows what it is.
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  Now, notice, he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called
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  John doesn't want you to miss this one.
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  The Word of God.
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  Now, anybody who had ever read anything John wrote wouldn't have missed that one, would they?
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  Let's see.
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  John chapter 1 verse 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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  The same was in the beginning with God.
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  All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made, and the Word
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  became flesh and dwelt among us.
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  And the one riding on the white horse is the word of God." Now notice, now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, sorry, verse 14, I skipped that one, and the armies in heaven,
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  clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.
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  Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, with it, and that with it
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  He should strike the nations, and He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.
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  He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty.
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  He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
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  which names, on which places, on which people are physical and earthly.
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  None of them.
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  None of them.
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  There's not going to be a bunch of Christians going around with Christian tattooed on their forehead.
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  There's not going to be a bunch of devil worshippers roaming around with 666 tattooed on their forehead either.
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  And if a doctor gives you a shot of anything, it's not the mark of the beast.
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  It may kill you but it's not the mark of the beast.
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  Well, I'd add that one in for your benefit.
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  All right.
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  Chapter 7 of Revelation.
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  who are the marked and the sealed ones?
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  They're all the people of God.
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  Every single one of them that could possibly be affected by the judgment that was coming on the earth.
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  Verse 9.
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  catch up here alright first night after these things i looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations tribes people's tongue standing before the throne
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  of before the lamb clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our god who sits on the throne and to
• 39:29
  the lamb you go back to chapter six and the question
• 39:35
  until God's gonna deal with it.
• 39:37
  Chapter 7 says, everybody in heaven's shouting out, God's got it dealt with.
• 39:45
  Assurance to the church in the first century, God has the situation under control.
• 39:54
  Verse 11, all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped saying, Amen, blessing and
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  glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.
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  Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, who are these, arrayed in white robes, and where do they come from?
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  Now isn't that strange?
• 40:18
  Here's one of the people in the vision, and he's asking John about the vision.
• 40:27
  It's kind of like the teacher who wrote the test asking the questions of the students who didn't write the test, isn't it?
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  I guess maybe he's asking to make sure John doesn't miss a point.
• 40:39
  So one of the elders comes to John and says, who are the people in white robes?
• 40:45
  Is it because John needs to know or because the first century Christians need to know?
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  Notice, and I said to him, sir, you know.
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  Sometimes when a teacher asks you a question, you should answer in such a way as to get the teacher to answer the question, because you don't know the answer.
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  John says, why don't you answer that for me?
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  You asked it, you answer it.
• 41:24
  He says, sir, you know, so he said to me, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes.
• 41:32
  and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
• 41:35
  Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple and he who sits on the throne will dwell among them."
• 41:48
  Hmm.
• 41:51
  Do we think we can understand that?
• 41:54
  Let's turn to Isaiah chapter one real quick before we run out of time.
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  Isaiah chapter one, we'll get to the rest of these passages that are on the slide later.
• 42:13
  As Isaiah opens his prophecy to Israel in 800 BC, he writes to them, verse 16, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes,
• 42:32
  cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
• 42:42
  Come now and let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet."
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  They shall be as white as snow.
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  Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
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  Turn to Romans chapter 6.
• 43:11
  Romans chapter 6 verse 4, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should
• 43:22
  walk in newness of life.
• 43:24
  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with
• 43:33
  Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
• 43:40
  for he who has died has been freed from sin." Go back to chapter 5 and you'll get the context of being freed from sin.
• 43:50
  Chapter 5 verse 6, "'For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
• 43:57
  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
• 44:03
  But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'"
• 44:09
  much more than having now been justified by His blood.
• 44:18
  We shall be saved from wrath through Him.
• 44:23
  Where are we justified in our sins washed away?
• 44:28
  in the blood of Christ.
• 44:29
  Where do we come in contact with the blood of Christ according to chapter 6?
• 44:33
  Same place we come in contact to it is death in baptism.
• 44:40
  Someone says, Aaron, you're just trying to work your way to heaven.
• 44:43
  No, sir.
• 44:44
  No, sir, I'm not.
• 44:45
  First John chapter one.
• 44:50
  Verse five, this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
• 44:57
  If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
• 45:06
  another and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
• 45:17
  John gets asked, who are these people in white robes?
• 45:21
  John says, Mr.
• 45:24
  Elder, sir, do you mind answering that question for me?
• 45:26
  The elder says, it's the one who faithfully obeyed God, having become a Christian, having the blood of Christ wash away their sins and remained faithful until death.
• 45:41
  Romans two, verse 10, or sorry, Revelation two, verse 10.
• 45:46
  and they now have received a crown of life.
• 45:55
  That's all we got time for.