Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 882. Bible Study: Zechariah 4 (Golden Lampstand - Yeshua - 7 Lampstands -Churches in Revelation)

Transcript

882. Bible Study: Zechariah 4 (Golden Lampstand - Yeshua - 7 Lampstands -Churches in Revelation) · Faith by annm2705

• 0:00
  Chapter 4 from the book of Zechariah.
• 0:02
  First let's pray. Dear Lord, please let your Holy
• 0:06
  Spirit give us eyes to see, ears to hear what you have to say
• 0:13
  through your prophet Zechariah and what was recorded.
• 0:17
  We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. The gold lampstand and the 2
• 0:23
  olive trees. Then the Angel who talked with
• 0:27
  me returned and woke me up like someone awakened from sleep.
• 0:33
  He asked me, What do you see? I answered.
• 0:37
  I see a solid gold lamp stand with a bowl at the top and seven
• 0:43
  lamps on it with seven channels to the lamps.
• 0:48
  Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right side of
• 0:52
  the bowl and the other on its left.
• 0:55
  I asked the Angel who talked with me, What are these?
• 0:59
  My Lord, he answered, Do you not know what these are?
• 1:04
  No, my Lord, I replied. So he said to me, This is the
• 1:08
  word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, Not by might nor by power, but
• 1:15
  by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty, What are you mighty
• 1:21
  mountain before Zerubbabel, you will become level ground.
• 1:26
  Then he will bring out the cornerstone to shout of God
• 1:31
  bless it, God bless it. Then the word of the Lord came
• 1:35
  to me. The hands of Zerubbabel have
• 1:37
  laid the foundation of this temple.
• 1:39
  His hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord
• 1:46
  Almighty has sent me to you who dares despise the day of small
• 1:52
  things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout
• 1:56
  the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the
• 2:01
  hand of Zerubbabel. Then I asked the Angel, what are
• 2:05
  these two olive trees on the right and the left of the
• 2:07
  lampstand? Again I asked him, What are
• 2:10
  these two olive branches beside the 2 gold pipes that pour out
• 2:15
  golden oil? He replied, Do you not know what
• 2:19
  these are? No, my Lord, I said.
• 2:21
  So he said These are the 2 who are anointed to serve the Lord
• 2:27
  of all the earth. And that is the end of chapter
• 2:30
  4. But there's a lot more.
• 2:32
  There's a lot to discuss in this chapter.
• 2:35
  So going back to the the beginning, he sees a solid gold
• 2:41
  lampstand. Well, this solid gold lampstand
• 2:44
  is something that is repeated throughout the Bible.
• 2:48
  If you search for gold lampstand, you'll see that it
• 2:50
  first shows up in Exodus 31. I just searched gold lampstand
• 2:56
  and it's one of the articles inside the temple and it's I'll
• 3:03
  just read the verses because it's an Exodus, Leviticus,
• 3:07
  second Chronicles and then Zechariah 4/2.
• 3:10
  So Exodus 31 eight says the table and its articles, the pure
• 3:15
  gold lampstand and all of its accessories, the altar of
• 3:18
  incense. This was part of the description
• 3:21
  that was given to Moses from God about how to how to worship him
• 3:26
  on seriously. Then in Exodus 39, verse 37, the
• 3:32
  pure gold lampstand with its row of lamps and all of its
• 3:37
  accessories and the olive oil for the light.
• 3:41
  There's a lot of symbolism in this.
• 3:43
  Everything that God gave to Moses, you will notice all the
• 3:47
  symbolism, and there's probably even more things that we don't
• 3:51
  discover. But things that happen, like
• 3:53
  literal events that happen in history, have symbolical
• 3:57
  significance. Like the Passover, for example.
• 4:01
  That was a literal event and it has symbolic significance about
• 4:06
  Jesus. Then let's see in Second
• 4:10
  Chronicles 13 verse 11, every morning and evening they present
• 4:14
  burnt offerings and fragrance, fragrant incense to the Lord.
• 4:18
  They set out the bread on the ceremonial clean table and light
• 4:23
  the lamps on the gold lampstand. Every evening we are observing
• 4:28
  the requirements of the Lord, but you have forsaken Him.
• 4:31
  That's from Second Chronicles chapter 13, verse 11.
• 4:35
  So this was a part of an ongoing worship that they did to the
• 4:41
  Lord. So then in Zechariah 42, it's
• 4:45
  what we are reading about now, which says, you know, he asked
• 4:49
  me, what do you see? I see a solid gold lampstand
• 4:51
  with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it with seven channels
• 4:54
  to the lamps. Now he's seen this gold
• 4:57
  lampstand, A singular gold lampstand, but there's more
• 5:01
  surrounding it. Zechariah seeing things that
• 5:03
  are, there's more surrounding it.
• 5:06
  And I found a, a really good image that represents visually
• 5:12
  what you see. And I said what you see.
• 5:16
  But I guess, oh, shoot, I lost the the let me find that again.
• 5:23
  It's all scripture inspired.com. That's where I found it.
• 5:28
  And so if you want to look that up, all Scripture inspired.com
• 5:34
  and it was an let's see, it was an image that was uploaded in
• 5:38
  2020 in June and it's called Gold Lampstand Zechariah 4.
• 5:43
  So I don't know if you can just search that and find it, but it
• 5:48
  just it has a visualization of what is described in Zechariah
• 5:53
  4. And the visualization is is
• 5:56
  helpful. So of course it describes it, it
• 6:01
  within the text, but then when you see it, it's helpful.
• 6:04
  So these two olive trees, the remember the we read in in the
• 6:11
  Old Testament how olive oil was used to light the lamps.
• 6:17
  So these two olive trees, they're providing the oil.
• 6:22
  And then within the Scripture in verse 6, the Angel tells
• 6:30
  Zechariah, he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to
• 6:34
  Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit says the
• 6:42
  Lord Almighty. So all of this is happening by
• 6:44
  the Spirit of God. And if you think about it,
• 6:48
  everything in the Old Testament, think about all the kings, the
• 6:51
  past kings, like Saul, he was anointed with olive oil.
• 6:57
  Then David, he was anointed with olive oil.
• 7:02
  Solomon was anointed with olive oil.
• 7:07
  And it's not just a the oil, but the oil signifies the Holy
• 7:13
  Spirit. So God put his Spirit on those
• 7:17
  he anointed. And just like here in verse 6,
• 7:21
  it says that not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.
• 7:26
  So when God anoints someone, he anoints them with the Holy
• 7:30
  Spirit. And that symbolism is the olive
• 7:33
  oil. And so it the olive oil goes
• 7:38
  into a bowl. That golden bowl then feeds each
• 7:43
  one of the seven lamps that are on the lampstand, the singular
• 7:48
  lampstand, the gold lampstand. So it's like a menorah that has
• 7:53
  seven different lights on it. And again, this is this is very
• 7:57
  symbolic again, and we'll see more about it.
• 8:00
  I'm going to read a little bit of the image that I found on
• 8:04
  that all scripture inspired.com because it references other
• 8:08
  scripture. The purpose of the lampstand was
• 8:12
  to shed light. So think about that.
• 8:15
  Jesus is Jesus is the light. So the purpose of the lampstand
• 8:21
  was to shed light. Later in the Book of Revelation,
• 8:26
  we see that the lampstand is defined.
• 8:31
  It's it's symbolic, but it's defined as the church.
• 8:37
  It represents the church this there are 7 churches in the Book
• 8:41
  of Revelation. Now on this book in Zechariah,
• 8:45
  we're talking about 1 lampstand. We're not talking about 7 in the
• 8:50
  Book of Revelation. It's talking about 7 different
• 8:52
  churches. So, but the purpose of the
• 8:55
  lampstand was to shed light just like the purpose of the church
• 8:59
  or, and it, and it, you know, it's not anything denominational
• 9:04
  or even, you know, Judaism versus Christianity, you know,
• 9:09
  whatever. I mean, it's like 1 church,
• 9:12
  God's church, it's all the believers.
• 9:15
  But the purpose is to shed light, to bring light forth, to
• 9:20
  reflect the image of God, to represent that to people.
• 9:24
  And so symbolically, that's inside the temple or the
• 9:28
  Tabernacle and it's giving light.
• 9:31
  So symbolically it's showing what the church should be doing,
• 9:36
  what the the believers should be doing is showing the light of
• 9:39
  Christ. It says the the seven lamps
• 9:44
  constantly lit up the holy place and especially the table, table
• 9:49
  of the showbread with its 12 loaves.
• 9:53
  Now this is getting back to the Old Testament where it was they
• 9:58
  had to bring they had bread that was there on the table.
• 10:02
  This image says the 12 lobes representing the 12 tribes of
• 10:08
  Israel and that God's presence is always with his people.
• 10:14
  The High Priest was responsible for its never ending light and
• 10:20
  perpetual observance. So I believe it was the Levites.
• 10:25
  They had charge of the temple and they were, they were chosen
• 10:30
  by God to serve in that function and to make sure that the lights
• 10:34
  remained on and that was part of their responsibility.
• 10:40
  The olive tree, the 2 olive trees that are, you know, giving
• 10:44
  this are, if we go back to chapter 3, it says that in verse
• 10:54
  8, chapter 3, it says, listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your
• 10:59
  associates seated before you who are men symbolic of things to
• 11:05
  come, I am going to bring my servant the branch.
• 11:10
  So that's really significant. Remember the trees, they have
• 11:14
  branches, but these are the High Priest Joshua and Zerubbabel.
• 11:21
  Those are the 2 anointed ones in verse 14 they represent Joshua
• 11:28
  and Zerubbabel. Now Joshua in Hebrew is said
• 11:34
  Yeshua and if if you've heard it before in Hebrew Jesus's name is
• 11:40
  Yeshua. So again they are symbolic
• 11:45
  Joshua at the time the high priest.
• 11:47
  Jesus is the high priest, Yeshua is the high priest.
• 11:51
  So this was symbolic of that. And they were pouring into this
• 11:55
  bowl. So Zerubbabel was like a
• 11:58
  governor, was like the king at that time, and significant
• 12:05
  governmental authorities were like Samuel, like David, like
• 12:13
  Solomon. Those were all like governors.
• 12:16
  They weren't priests, they were the kings.
• 12:20
  But then what you're looking at is, is in this golden bowl,
• 12:25
  there is a symbolic high priest and there's a symbolic governor
• 12:32
  or king. And they are, they are combined
• 12:36
  in this bowl that that anoints these lamps.
• 12:41
  That's Jesus. That bowl is that combined, the
• 12:46
  combined, you know, the combining of the high priest and
• 12:50
  the governmental ruling authority.
• 12:52
  When Jesus returns, he is going to be both the high priest.
• 12:57
  His death on the cross was the sacrifice for all of us and he
• 13:01
  is going to reign as king. So it's combined and, and as
• 13:07
  this chapter 3 says, High priest Joshua or Yeshua is symbolic of
• 13:16
  what is to come. The branch.
• 13:19
  It's a the branch. Like you look at Jesus's
• 13:22
  ancestry and he comes from Israel, ultimately from the
• 13:28
  tribe of Judah. And so you look at all of his,
• 13:31
  all of the descendants are his, his prior ancestors.
• 13:34
  And you see where he came from, the olive tree, which represents
• 13:39
  Israel. And you can see that the olive
• 13:42
  tree represents Israel in Jeremiah 1116 and Romans 11/24.
• 13:50
  So that further supports. I'm going to read that in a
• 13:53
  little bit. I guess I'm going to go through.
• 13:55
  So I don't miss anything that I wanted to talk about because
• 13:59
  this is a very short chapter, but there's so much in this
• 14:02
  chapter. So when we go to the Book of
• 14:07
  Revelation, in Revelation chapter 4 verse 5, it says from
• 14:13
  the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals
• 14:18
  of Thunder. In front of the throne 7 lamps
• 14:22
  were blazing. These are the seven spirits of
• 14:27
  God. And then always that seven
• 14:31
  spirits always made me question 7 spirits.
• 14:34
  You know, I think about the Holy Spirit, but what is the 7
• 14:38
  spirit? And we know the number 7 is
• 14:41
  completion because there were seven days of creation that was
• 14:45
  like 7 days of the week. And the number 7 is significant
• 14:50
  throughout the Bible, but it's in total, it's the completion of
• 14:54
  things. And so the seven spirits of God.
• 14:59
  This is interesting too, because it talks about that in the book
• 15:02
  of Isaiah in reference to Jesus. So I think I want to kind of go
• 15:08
  through that first I will like I will summarize it and then I'm
• 15:12
  going to read actually the Isaiah Chapter 11 because the
• 15:16
  entire chapter is something that is really significant.
• 15:20
  So the sevenfold attributes that you can find in Isaiah Chapter
• 15:25
  11, verse 2, the seven spirits are often associated with the
• 15:29
  seven aspects of the spirit of the Lord that rest upon the
• 15:34
  Messiah. Now think about this, when we
• 15:37
  see Jesus represented as the Lamb in the Book of Revelation,
• 15:42
  he has seven eyes on him. So the seven eyes are, they are
• 15:51
  the, the spirits that roam the earth that are God's, you know,
• 15:57
  sight oversight over everything. So we see that there is a
• 16:02
  spiritual attribute and they are on the Lamb, they are on Jesus,
• 16:07
  his eyes. They are the Spirit of the Lord.
• 16:09
  We see in Isaiah he prophesied that the Messiah, that Jesus
• 16:15
  would have these seven spirits rest on him.
• 16:19
  So here's the enumeration of the seven spirits #1 the Spirit of
• 16:27
  the Lord. So I'm thinking the Holy Spirit,
• 16:30
  it's the Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of the father #2 the
• 16:35
  Spirit of wisdom, 3 the spirit of understanding, 4 the spirit
• 16:44
  of counsel, 5 the spirit of might or power 6 is the spirit
• 16:53
  of knowledge. 7 is the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
• 17:01
  So I sometimes, well in the past I would would get confused like
• 17:07
  wisdom and knowledge, don't they seem like they're kind of the
• 17:10
  same and they're, they're related, but they're not the
• 17:12
  same. So knowledge is one thing,
• 17:15
  knowledge is the well and then understanding, I think they,
• 17:20
  they all kind of intertwined together.
• 17:22
  But knowledge, like we can get knowledge from a book, we can
• 17:25
  get knowledge from scripture. We can learn things that are
• 17:29
  said in scripture. But wisdom, I mean, there's
• 17:34
  another step there, understanding.
• 17:36
  Do we understand the knowledge that is presented to us in
• 17:40
  Scripture? And then I've heard this
• 17:44
  described before. This wasn't me that came up with
• 17:46
  it, but I thought this was very helpful to to remember the
• 17:50
  difference between these different attributes.
• 17:54
  Wisdom is the application of knowledge.
• 17:58
  So you get the knowledge first you have to understand what
• 18:01
  you're reading, but then when you apply it to your life,
• 18:05
  that's wisdom. And it says something in the
• 18:08
  Bible, I think it's in Proverbs that there's like no greater
• 18:11
  thing than to obtain wisdom. There's a lot of things written
• 18:15
  about wisdom, which I believe really is talking about Jesus.
• 18:21
  It's it's in a it's personified as a woman.
• 18:23
  But when you read it, there was one time when I was reading
• 18:26
  through, you know, like above everything, seek wisdom.
• 18:30
  And when I was reading through it, all of a sudden when I went
• 18:33
  through everything, I thought this describes Jesus.
• 18:37
  It just it, it's him, you know, And I don't know if it could be
• 18:41
  anything other than Jesus, but everything in Scripture
• 18:44
  ultimately points to Jesus. And I really believe that wisdom
• 18:47
  is Jesus. I mean, the Spirit of the Lord
• 18:50
  that rests upon the Messiah. So it's all these things and the
• 18:55
  seven things that I just mentioned.
• 18:57
  So now going to the actual scripture that talks about this
• 19:01
  and it does reference Jesus. So Isaiah Chapter 11, a shoot
• 19:06
  will come up from the stump of Jesse.
• 19:08
  Now Jesse was in the ancestral line of Jesus.
• 19:14
  So he was actually the the father of David.
• 19:17
  So from his roots, a branch will bear fruit.
• 19:22
  Now fruit is produced in a symbolic way from the Holy
• 19:28
  Spirit. So there's a lot in the Bible
• 19:33
  about branches producing fruit, and that's kind of proof of the
• 19:38
  Holy Spirit working within someone is that you will see
• 19:42
  fruit come from it. It's not just going to stay the
• 19:45
  way that it is. It's going to change and it's
• 19:49
  going to produce fruit. And in Galatians chapter 5,
• 19:55
  verse 22 and onward describes the fruit of the Spirit.
• 20:01
  There's kindness, patience, gentleness, self-control.
• 20:08
  Oh gosh, I should have these things memorized by now, but I I
• 20:12
  don't. I kind of know them but I
• 20:16
  actually wrote them down but I haven't committed all of them to
• 20:19
  memory which I'll go through them now.
• 20:22
  There's actually 9 fruits of the spirit and that is Lovejoy,
• 20:27
  peace, forbearance, or patience, kindness, goodness,
• 20:32
  faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
• 20:36
  So those are the the nine things from the fruit of the Spirit.
• 20:42
  So verse 3 from Isaiah 11. And he will delight in the fear
• 20:48
  of the Lord. He will not judge by what he
• 20:51
  sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears, but
• 20:57
  with the righteousness he will. But with righteousness he will
• 21:02
  judge the needy. With justice He will give
• 21:05
  decisions for the poor of the earth.
• 21:08
  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with
• 21:13
  the breath of his lips He will slay the wicked.
• 21:17
  Now there's a lot here. So Jesus said that he did not
• 21:24
  speak on his own, but he spoke what he saw the Father doing.
• 21:31
  He did exactly what the Father did did, and I should have
• 21:35
  looked up that scripture, but I know what's in there.
• 21:38
  I paraphrase these things, but it's in the Bible.
• 21:40
  It talks about Jesus was the one who said this, that he doesn't
• 21:44
  do things on his own, but he does only what he sees the
• 21:47
  Father doing. So this is just like what Isaiah
• 21:51
  was prophesying about Jesus, that he will not judge by what
• 21:56
  he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears,
• 22:01
  but he is getting all of this from God the Father.
• 22:06
  And then he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
• 22:10
  with the breath of his lips. He will slay the wicked.
• 22:13
  When Jesus returns, he, it says in the Book of Revelation that
• 22:18
  he comes with the sword coming out of his mouth.
• 22:21
  So there's the the rod out of his mouth and he is coming to
• 22:25
  slay the wicked, the final separation between good and
• 22:30
  evil. It's the final battle with with
• 22:33
  Jesus and when he returns. And then this also describes
• 22:39
  more about what is also written in Revelation.
• 22:42
  It says righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness, the
• 22:47
  sash around his waist. So in righteousness and
• 22:52
  faithfulness, those attributes describe Jesus.
• 22:56
  Now, this is something that I, I absolutely love this chapter
• 23:00
  because I just cannot wait for this to happen.
• 23:03
  But this is talking about the millennial reign of Christ.
• 23:07
  When Jesus returns, this is what's going to happen next.
• 23:11
  Isaiah 11/6 The wolf will live with the lamb.
• 23:17
  The leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion
• 23:22
  and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them.
• 23:28
  The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down
• 23:32
  together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
• 23:39
  The infant will play near the cobra's den, and the young child
• 23:44
  will put his hand into the viper's nest.
• 23:46
  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.
• 23:53
  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
• 23:58
  as the waters cover the sea. Think about that.
• 24:02
  Like I'm sure there's symbolism in here.
• 24:05
  And but I do believe there's also literal, the literal
• 24:10
  aspect. And just think about the wolf
• 24:13
  and the lamb laying down together and a child that you
• 24:16
  know, can put his hand into a viper's nest and not be bitten,
• 24:21
  harmed or anything. And just the peace and the
• 24:25
  serenity that all of this describes.
• 24:28
  And if we can take this literal, which I do believe scripture is
• 24:32
  both literal and symbolic, I can't wait.
• 24:36
  I mean, just think about like we'll be able to Co-op and like
• 24:39
  pet animals that we couldn't do today because out of fear that
• 24:44
  they might attack us or something.
• 24:47
  But it's going to be changed when Jesus returns.
• 24:50
  And I just can't even imagine how wonderful it's going to be
• 24:54
  and how at peace we are going to be with all the animals.
• 24:58
  I just, I don't know. That's just one aspect of it.
• 25:01
  OK. In verse 10, then it says in
• 25:04
  that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
• 25:08
  peoples. The nations will rally to him
• 25:11
  and his resting place will be glorious.
• 25:15
  In that day, the Lord will reach out His hand a second time, the
• 25:21
  second coming a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of
• 25:27
  His people. Now listen to this, where these
• 25:29
  people are from, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper
• 25:34
  Egypt, from Kush, from Alam, from Babylonia, from Hemeth, and
• 25:40
  from the islands of the Mediterranean.
• 25:43
  These are the surviving remnant of his people.
• 25:47
  It sounds like they're going to Israel is going to be dispersed
• 25:53
  into Assyria, Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Kush, Elam, Babylonia,
• 26:00
  Hamath, and from the islands of the Mediterranean.
• 26:04
  He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the Exiles of
• 26:11
  Israel. He will assemble the scattered
• 26:14
  people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
• 26:18
  He's going to bring everyone back to him.
• 26:20
  I mean, a lot of people talk about that happening now, but I
• 26:23
  think it's ultimately going to happen when Jesus returns
• 26:27
  because it'll be a safe place to go.
• 26:29
  Right now, it's not necessarily safe, but when Jesus returns,
• 26:33
  it'll be safe. Ephraim's jealousy will vanish
• 26:38
  and Judah's enemies will be destroyed.
• 26:42
  Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward
• 26:46
  Ephraim. Now Ephraim was I I believe that
• 26:50
  was the main city of the 10 tribes because the tribes were
• 26:55
  separated, 10 of them went together and then two of them
• 27:00
  were in the South and 10 of them were up in the north of of
• 27:04
  Israel. And the 10 northern tribes were
• 27:07
  called Israel and the southern ones were called Judah.
• 27:10
  But all of that is going to go away on they couldn't.
• 27:14
  I mean the original separation happened after Solomon and who
• 27:19
  is going to be king next? And there was disagreement.
• 27:22
  So 10 tribes went to the north and two tribes went to the
• 27:26
  South, and they had parallel kings, but neither one of the
• 27:29
  king. The whole line, the entire line
• 27:33
  of kings, neither one was, was ultimately good because they
• 27:39
  eventually all turned evil and God got rid of them.
• 27:42
  And that's why there hasn't been a king since then.
• 27:45
  But Jesus will return someday and will be king as prophesied.
• 27:50
  So in verse 14 of Isaiah 11, it says they will swoop down on the
• 27:54
  slopes of Philistia to the West together.
• 27:58
  They will plunder the people to the east.
• 28:01
  They will subdue Edom and Moab and the Ammonites will be
• 28:04
  subject to him. That land is actually the land
• 28:07
  of the of Jordan currently today.
• 28:10
  And then the slopes of Philistia to the West, that's where Gaza,
• 28:15
  the Philistines, where they actually settled, That's the
• 28:18
  current land of Gaza right now that it's referencing.
• 28:22
  The Lord will dry up the Egyptian Sea with a scorching
• 28:26
  wind. He will sweep his hand over the
• 28:29
  Euphrates River. He will break it into 7 streams
• 28:34
  so that anyone can crossover in sandals.
• 28:37
  There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is
• 28:41
  left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up
• 28:47
  from Egypt. So this is talking about like
• 28:50
  just this, the travelling and among different nations.
• 28:56
  Like he's going to bring his people.
• 28:59
  Like before this happens, I think there's going to be a
• 29:02
  great scattering because of a threat that comes because when
• 29:08
  you know, it's I guess when this Antichrist person or this
• 29:12
  lawless man proclaims to be God and it says flee to the
• 29:19
  mountains. Well, the people who are in the
• 29:22
  city, they're supposed to flee and not even take a break, not
• 29:25
  get their coat, not come back to their home from the fields.
• 29:29
  If they are out in the fields, wherever they are, they are
• 29:31
  supposed to flee. And if you think about anything
• 29:35
  of if you saw any of the unfortunate video coverage from
• 29:40
  October 7th, you could see people fleeing.
• 29:43
  And I, I did think about like this, this end times event that
• 29:47
  will happen very similarly. And so when Jesus returns, he
• 29:52
  will gather his people because there will be people that escape
• 29:55
  and flee. And it looks like they're going
• 29:57
  to be in lots of different places where Jesus is going to
• 30:02
  gather them up finally for safety where it hasn't, there
• 30:06
  hasn't been safety all these years.
• 30:08
  And they're really, truly won't be according to Scripture until
• 30:12
  Jesus returns. Now, I don't, I'm kind of making
• 30:18
  a segue from this study, which now we're already 30 minutes
• 30:22
  into it, but the Book of Revelation, I think reveals a
• 30:26
  lot of what this is talking about.
• 30:30
  And often prophecy has an not often, but sometimes it has an
• 30:37
  immediate fulfillment and then it has a later fulfillment or
• 30:41
  maybe an immediate almost complete fulfillment, but not
• 30:45
  fully 100%. And then later it has 100%
• 30:48
  completion. So obviously the Book of
• 30:51
  Revelation will be the 100% completion.
• 30:54
  But in this book of Zechariah, it's it's talking about the
• 31:02
  rebuilding of the second temple and that God used Joshua and
• 31:07
  Zerubbabel to be the instruments, the witnesses, the
• 31:12
  two who were anointed at that time basically for the
• 31:16
  lampstand, which was the church, even though it wasn't a church,
• 31:19
  it was a temple. But it's, you know, the presence
• 31:24
  of God and these two people were anointed by God to for this
• 31:30
  specific purpose. Now, when we get to the Book of
• 31:33
  Revelation and you know, there's there's one lamp stand and then
• 31:37
  in the Book of Revelation, there's seven.
• 31:40
  And I don't really, there's a lot of questions that I have
• 31:42
  about the seven lamp stands, but a lot of some people describe
• 31:50
  it. And these are all speculations,
• 31:52
  though they think that it's different churches throughout
• 31:55
  the ages. And then they are, there's a
• 31:57
  progression there, but that's an assumption.
• 32:01
  It doesn't say that in Scripture.
• 32:04
  It it just specifically says the seven different churches.
• 32:09
  And it's interesting because this the Book of Revelation and
• 32:13
  the vision that John had occurred after Jesus had died.
• 32:18
  And so it was died and resurrected.
• 32:21
  And so a lot of these things were in the, you know, had
• 32:25
  already happened. And for example, in the Church
• 32:29
  of Thyatira, they talk about it says you tolerate that woman
• 32:35
  Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet.
• 32:38
  Now I don't know if there was a new person at that time named
• 32:41
  Jezebel, but in reference like Jezebel died in 842 BCE, She was
• 32:49
  married to Ahab and she was he was king in the 10 tribes of it
• 32:56
  within the 10 tribes of Israel. He was the leader for a period
• 33:01
  of time, but he was from what they called Israel was, which
• 33:05
  was the northern Kingdom that represented the 10 tribes.
• 33:10
  And so why is John talking about Jezebel unless there was another
• 33:16
  one? But it, you know, it just said
• 33:20
  that I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but
• 33:24
  she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of
• 33:28
  suffering and I will make those who commit adultery with her
• 33:32
  suffer intensely unless they repent of her ways.
• 33:37
  I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know
• 33:41
  that I am he who searches hearts and minds and will repay each of
• 33:46
  you according to your deeds. There's so much in that's
• 33:50
  written to the book, are written to the churches in the Book of
• 33:55
  Revelation. And even though I'm kind of, you
• 33:59
  know, expanding on this book of Zechariah, because Zechariah was
• 34:02
  only about that one. I think Zechariah was just about
• 34:05
  the temple. It was about rebuilding the
• 34:07
  temple and God chose Joshua and Zerubbabel to do it.
• 34:13
  And those were symbolic of things to come.
• 34:17
  Like we said, this is going to be Jesus.
• 34:20
  And but then you get into the book of the Book of Revelation
• 34:25
  and there were some things that I'm going to again, expand this
• 34:29
  to bring it to the current, but these two books tie together.
• 34:34
  And so it first of all, the churches, this is really
• 34:41
  interesting. There's in Revelation one, verse
• 34:45
  11, it Jesus says right on a scroll what you see and send it
• 34:53
  to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
• 34:59
  Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
• 35:05
  And he said, I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me
• 35:08
  and when I turned, I saw 7 golden lampstands.
• 35:12
  So and then it gets into more description about it.
• 35:15
  But the in verse 20, it explains all of this, that he saw the
• 35:24
  mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of
• 35:29
  the 7 golden lampstands is this. The seven stars are the angels
• 35:37
  of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven
• 35:42
  churches. So we see that Scripture
• 35:47
  interprets Scripture even though people say, oh, this is so
• 35:51
  complicated. If you read it carefully, it
• 35:54
  tells you what it's about. So there's Jesus, and he is very
• 35:58
  similarly to the book of Zechariah, where Jesus is the
• 36:02
  the bull, the anointing that's coming out over all of the seven
• 36:06
  lamps are the seven lamps on that singular lampstand.
• 36:11
  The same thing holds true here. Jesus is holding this.
• 36:15
  He, he has in his right hand the stars.
• 36:18
  So the stars of the angels repeatedly throughout the Book
• 36:21
  of Revelation, stars represent angels over and over again
• 36:26
  symbolically. So Jesus is in charge of these
• 36:31
  angels, the angels. What this is like speculation on
• 36:36
  my part, tying it to scripture. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12,
• 36:41
  it says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the
• 36:44
  powers and the authorities and the principalities in the
• 36:47
  heavenly realms. And there are other books that
• 36:53
  are not part of the Canon, such as Enoch.
• 36:59
  But in the book of Enoch, it talks about these angels
• 37:02
  basically having oversight over certain territories.
• 37:07
  And I know that's not incorporated into the Bible, but
• 37:11
  it does explain, and it kind of expands upon this, like if Jesus
• 37:16
  is over all of the authority, but then he's given different
• 37:21
  authority to different entities over certain areas.
• 37:26
  We see this in the book of Daniel as well, because Daniel
• 37:30
  is told that Michael is the Angel who is over Israel.
• 37:34
  He's the Angel who's protecting Israel.
• 37:37
  And it's also talks about a Prince of Persia, which is
• 37:41
  modern day Iran, that was preventing Michael from coming
• 37:46
  to talk to Daniel to give Daniel the interpretation of the dream.
• 37:51
  So there's there's this authority structure that God has
• 37:58
  put in place. It is evidenced in scripture.
• 38:01
  Just the references that I just gave right now, but like this
• 38:05
  non canonical book of Enoch supports it.
• 38:10
  It also says kind of the same thing like there are territories
• 38:13
  that are that have angelic oversight.
• 38:16
  Now some of this angelic oversight is not necessarily
• 38:19
  good or obedient angels to Christ.
• 38:22
  They are ones who rebel against Christ.
• 38:25
  And we see that. That's why I believe there is a
• 38:27
  spirit over different lands because if you look all the way
• 38:31
  back to the BC time frame and you see that that same spirit,
• 38:37
  that same is affecting the world today.
• 38:42
  Just look back in history and see like ancient Persia, there
• 38:47
  was a time where they were at peace during when Cyrus was
• 38:51
  there and Israel had peace with Persia.
• 38:54
  In fact, that's how that second temple got built.
• 38:58
  And so even though Persia had been at war, but they were kind
• 39:03
  of like more of a friendly 1. So again, looking at what's
• 39:06
  happening in the world today, is the current leadership going to
• 39:11
  get removed on by God and will the next leader actually bring
• 39:21
  about some short lived peace? Perhaps?
• 39:26
  You know, all the people of Iran.
• 39:28
  It seems like they want a leadership change because they
• 39:32
  have their own people who are being executed for not being in
• 39:36
  strict obedience under a very controlling authority that's
• 39:42
  currently there. And so we don't know at this
• 39:46
  point, this is March 9th, 2026, how this is actually going to
• 39:51
  unfold. But we're in the middle of a
• 39:56
  significant war right now in the Middle East, and we don't know
• 40:01
  the outcome. Of what God's will is or how
• 40:05
  this is going to happen. But I do think this is spiritual
• 40:08
  and I think it does sure seem like God is with Israel right
• 40:13
  now. And as he, he was, I guess on
• 40:18
  the 12 day war with some of what happened then and, and just the
• 40:23
  different wars with all the different enemies of Israel,
• 40:26
  they've been having success against their enemies.
• 40:30
  And the only way that they would have had success is if God
• 40:33
  allowed it, if God was with them.
• 40:35
  Therefore, I believe that God is with Israel in this time and
• 40:40
  anyway, getting back to these golden lampstands from the Book
• 40:44
  of Revelation, we talked, we were talking about there's like
• 40:47
  angels over certain territories. But then this is what was
• 40:51
  confusing to me was that all of these churches because I looked
• 40:57
  this up, all of these churches were in modern day Turkey, but
• 41:02
  it was in the Roman Asia Minor at the time when John was there.
• 41:06
  So all 7 churches, which I don't know the significance of it, but
• 41:12
  I think it's important to be aware of that because maybe God
• 41:17
  will reveal something in the future of why we why he gave
• 41:23
  this vision to John. So the seven churches in
• 41:26
  Revelation, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Byotyra, Sardis,
• 41:31
  Philadelphia and Laodicea we're located in Roman Asia Minor or
• 41:36
  modern day Turkey along with ancient well worn trade route
• 41:41
  and were key early Christian centers.
• 41:45
  Their location is significant because they represent crucial
• 41:50
  thriving early Christian communities in a region
• 41:54
  characterized by significant cultural and religious
• 41:58
  challenges, including idolatry and persecution.
• 42:04
  So it says the key aspects of the seven churches in in Turkey
• 42:10
  strategic location. These cities were hubs of
• 42:12
  commerce and communication, enabling the messages from John
• 42:16
  to spread efficiently. The order of the cities in
• 42:20
  Revelation follows a logical Courier route from Patmos.
• 42:25
  That's really interesting because, you know, people have
• 42:28
  often said that these are different times, which it
• 42:32
  doesn't say in Scripture somebody's conclusion, but this
• 42:36
  is another conclusion too, that it was a logical Courier route,
• 42:39
  like from here to here to here to here, like there was a
• 42:41
  pathway. So maybe John knew these places
• 42:45
  and maybe these were churches that John knew of and he wanted
• 42:48
  to get a message to them. Or maybe it was just Jesus
• 42:51
  wanted John to relay this message to him and it was a
• 42:55
  message at the moment that these things were happening.
• 42:59
  But as like everything else in the Bible, even though it was
• 43:03
  written a long time ago, we can take the same messages because
• 43:07
  things don't often change. History, as Mark Twain said,
• 43:12
  rhymes it. It doesn't necessarily repeat,
• 43:15
  but it rhymes. Similar things happen generation
• 43:19
  after generation. So individualized messages, Each
• 43:23
  church faced unique specific challenges, for example,
• 43:28
  persecution and Smyrna, lukewarm faith in Laodicea.
• 43:34
  So today these locations in Turkey are primarily
• 43:38
  archaeological sites. So I was curious to like when
• 43:42
  what was going on at the time of John.
• 43:44
  So when John was exiled to Patmos around 95 AD, modern day
• 43:49
  Turkey or the Roman Asia Asia Minor was under the intense
• 43:54
  reign of Emperor Domitian, marked by forced imperial cult
• 44:01
  worship and persecution of Christians.
• 44:04
  Seven key churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira,
• 44:09
  Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea faced intense social
• 44:14
  pressure and religious conflict, leading to John's banishment for
• 44:19
  his faith. The Christians were targeted by
• 44:23
  the Roman authorities for refusing to worship the emperor
• 44:28
  as a deity. Again, history repeats itself
• 44:31
  didn't happen at during Nebuchadnezzar's time, he put up
• 44:35
  a statue and in order well with the hopes that Daniel would be
• 44:43
  eliminated. The people who didn't like
• 44:45
  Daniel and the other Hebrews that were there, they put a law
• 44:51
  they convinced Nebuchadnezzar to have a law that everybody at
• 44:54
  this certain time would bow down and worship the statue.
• 44:57
  And if they didn't, they would be killed or put into a dungeon
• 45:01
  or something like that. That's how Daniel got in the den
• 45:04
  of the lions, because he didn't bow down and worship.
• 45:07
  So we also will see this in the future with the Antichrist, that
• 45:13
  there is some image that is given words by a religious
• 45:19
  figure, is given the ability to speak.
• 45:21
  Actually, it's all empowered by Satan, but people are going to
• 45:25
  be forced to worship it and they're going to have to take
• 45:29
  some sort of mark of the beast as what it's called, whatever
• 45:33
  that is. That's going to be in their
• 45:34
  right hand or their forehead, forehead.
• 45:37
  And whether that's literal or symbolic or maybe both.
• 45:44
  We certainly have RFID chips that people have been
• 45:47
  installing. I think Sweden was the first
• 45:49
  country that was doing that. So is it something like that
• 45:52
  that happens or is it also like a metaphorical, like in your
• 45:58
  thoughts and in your actions, you know, your thought, your
• 46:01
  mind, and in your hand, your actions, your strength, Like
• 46:04
  what do you do with your actions and your thought?
• 46:08
  But whatever it is, it is certainly, it does seem like
• 46:12
  it's going to be something physical because it says that
• 46:14
  you cannot buy or sell without it.
• 46:16
  So there's some sort of an alliance that people are going
• 46:20
  to be forced to make in order to operate in this world, in order
• 46:27
  to buy and sell. And that's future prophecy.
• 46:31
  So it's going to, again, history repeats itself.
• 46:34
  Apparently Domitian did the same thing back in that time.
• 46:38
  So this can also give us some encouragement from Jesus about
• 46:44
  what he told the seven churches back then.
• 46:47
  If we can relate these seven churches the way they were
• 46:51
  conducting themselves, we can look at it today.
• 46:54
  How are we conducting ourselves and what would Christ say to us
• 46:58
  today? In fact, I'm probably going to
• 47:00
  read from the Book of Revelation each one of those churches
• 47:04
  because I think it is important today.
• 47:07
  So the seven churches, John was instructing the seven churches
• 47:11
  of Asia, modern day Turkey, to remain faithful despite
• 47:15
  tribulation. The region was a hub of early
• 47:21
  Christian activity, but also a place where Christian leaders
• 47:24
  were considered political troublemakers.
• 47:28
  Like we went through a time recently in the United States
• 47:31
  where, and I think actually today still, because there's
• 47:36
  this, this rhetoric that's talking about like Christian
• 47:41
  Zionist. And so they're considered
• 47:44
  political troublemakers, just like back in John's day.
• 47:49
  So again, there's so many things that seem to be like biblical
• 47:53
  prophetically unfolding here in 2026.
• 47:58
  So following Domitian's death in 96 AD, the Emperor Nerva revoked
• 48:04
  the sentences of those banished along, allowing John to return
• 48:09
  from the from the nearby island to Ephesus.
• 48:13
  So that kind of gives a summary of what was happening back in
• 48:16
  that time. And so I want to let's see,
• 48:22
  there's I had a tab and I don't know if I should just cover this
• 48:29
  now, but it was from that image that I was talking about in
• 48:31
  Zechariah about the olive tree. So if you go to Jeremiah Chapter
• 48:37
  11, verse 16, this is how the olive tree is, is connected to
• 48:44
  Israel. It says the Lord called you who
• 48:48
  is speaking to Israel, a thriving olive tree with fruit,
• 48:53
  beautiful in form, but with the roar of a mighty storm he will
• 48:58
  set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.
• 49:03
  So that was Jeremiah was was This is what the Lord was saying
• 49:10
  to Jeremiah or through Jeremiah and then in then Paul talked
• 49:17
  about this too, which let's see he was saying after all in
• 49:25
  Romans Chapter 11 verse 24. After all, if you were cut out
• 49:30
  of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature
• 49:36
  were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more
• 49:41
  readily will these the natural branches be grafted into their
• 49:45
  own olive tree? So the Gentiles would be like, I
• 49:49
  guess the wild cut out of a wild olive tree, and then a
• 49:56
  cultivated 1 would be the final one.
• 49:58
  But the branches, like the branches are grafted back in.
• 50:04
  Like God breaks off the branches.
• 50:07
  Just like Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branches,
• 50:11
  and apart from me, you cannot do anything.
• 50:13
  And if you don't bear fruit, the branches get cut off.
• 50:17
  So if there's no fruit that's bearing, the branches are cut
• 50:20
  off and it's to prune it so that hopefully can be brought back in
• 50:25
  like God can graft us back in if we were cut off because we did
• 50:31
  not bear fruit. So this is what he's doing to
• 50:36
  Israel in the end is that he will graft them back in.
• 50:43
  So let's see, there was, I was looking at different things and
• 50:47
  I there were things that I didn't talk about that I had
• 50:50
  tabs open. And I guess there was just one
• 50:54
  thing about going back to Zechariah chapter 4.
• 51:02
  It's this part about a mountain, because mountains are literal,
• 51:08
  but they're also symbolic in prophecy.
• 51:11
  And I wanted to point that out and I forgot to, but it's
• 51:14
  chapter 4 verse 7 and it says what are you mighty mountain
• 51:19
  before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.
• 51:23
  Then he will bring out the capstone to the shouts of God
• 51:27
  bless it, God bless it. So kingdoms and power in
• 51:31
  prophecy, mountains can symbolize earthly nations.
• 51:36
  Kingdoms are powers such as Babylon when it was referred to
• 51:42
  as a ruinous mountain in Jeremiah 51 verses 24 through 25
• 51:49
  or the Kingdom of God as a mountain that fills the earth in
• 51:54
  Daniel chapter 2 verse 35 S mountains are most of the time
• 52:00
  they're literal, but sometimes they are symbolic of certain
• 52:06
  powers as we see through Scripture.
• 52:08
  That's so that's something to know that you know before Jesus
• 52:12
  reigns, that huge mountain is going to be leveled.
• 52:17
  And in the Book of Revelation, whether it's it's literal, but
• 52:21
  it says like all the mountains will be leveled.
• 52:25
  Is that a literal thing or is it symbolic?
• 52:29
  Book of Revelations very symbolic.
• 52:32
  So it could potentially be literal, but I also think it's
• 52:38
  probably very much spiritual that there are these mountains,
• 52:43
  these strongholds, these powers that have been affecting the
• 52:47
  earth that Jesus is going to level.
• 52:49
  They're going to be nothing when he returns.
• 52:51
  That's what I really believe is in the Book of Revelation.
• 52:55
  Now to get back to the churches, because I think that's
• 52:59
  important, and I know it's a little off topic, but the
• 53:02
  churches are the lampstands. And Zechariah was talking about
• 53:05
  the one lampstand, the new temple that was it's being
• 53:07
  built. But now in the Book of
• 53:09
  Revelation, there are 7. And of course they, they
• 53:12
  probably were meant for the people in John's time, but they
• 53:18
  could very well have the application today because God
• 53:23
  doesn't change if he said it back then and if he describes
• 53:26
  the people in a certain way back then, then he would be
• 53:30
  describing this to us today. And, and we have to remember
• 53:34
  this is not written to non believers.
• 53:39
  These are the churches. These are God's people.
• 53:44
  And this is what Jesus was telling John to tell the people
• 53:51
  of the churches. So we can't sit, we can't point
• 53:54
  fingers out there and say, oh, that's for all these other
• 53:57
  people. No, this is for the people who
• 53:59
  call themselves believers. And that's why I think this is
• 54:02
  so important because I think we have a lot of incorrect theology
• 54:08
  out there right now where Christians, you know, think
• 54:14
  they're they're safe because they call themselves a believer.
• 54:18
  But read what Jesus said, told John to tell all the apostles.
• 54:25
  And then the other thing about the Book of Revelation, it says
• 54:28
  that if you read this you will be blessed.
• 54:30
  You will probably be be blessed because if you get the knowledge
• 54:36
  and then you obtain the understanding and then you apply
• 54:41
  it through wisdom, it will bless you because of the consequences.
• 54:48
  Now I'm going to point out these things as I read it, but this is
• 54:52
  really important. So again, verse 20 from the Book
• 54:57
  of Revelation in chapter 1, it says the mystery of the seven
• 55:00
  stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden
• 55:03
  lampstands in this, the seven stars are the angels of the
• 55:07
  seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven
• 55:11
  churches. This is written to believers, to
• 55:15
  the Angel in the Church of Ephesus.
• 55:18
  Now, maybe it's written to the Angel because maybe the Angel
• 55:21
  has a responsibility over this territory.
• 55:23
  Maybe the Angel is supposed to, you know, get everybody on the
• 55:28
  right track and maybe God is rebuking the Angel to a certain
• 55:33
  degree, like, hey, this is what you need to do.
• 55:36
  This is your area, you're in charge of this.
• 55:38
  You got to get this going. I don't know.
• 55:40
  I mean, that's just kind of what it seems like.
• 55:42
  But it is to the church. It says that this is a message
• 55:45
  to the angels and the churches. So these are the words of him
• 55:52
  who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the
• 55:56
  seven golden lampstands. So that's Jesus.
• 55:59
  These are the words of Jesus. I know your deeds, your hard
• 56:03
  work, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate
• 56:08
  wicked people that you have tested those who claim to be
• 56:12
  apostles but are not and have found them false.
• 56:17
  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name
• 56:22
  and have not grown weary. So God starts out with a Jesus
• 56:27
  starts out with a really good, you know, compliment to them.
• 56:30
  Like here's all the things that you're doing well, but then
• 56:33
  listen to what he says. Yet I hold this against you.
• 56:37
  You have forsaken the love you had at first.
• 56:42
  Consider how far you have fallen.
• 56:45
  Repent and do the things you did it first.
• 56:50
  If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your
• 56:56
  lampstand from its place. Think about that.
• 57:01
  Jesus is saying, I will remove your lampstand from its place.
• 57:06
  When the throne of God was described, the seven lampstands
• 57:10
  were in the front of the throne of God.
• 57:14
  They were in God's presence. What happens if you remove a
• 57:18
  lamp stand from the presence of God?
• 57:21
  Where does it go? Think about that.
• 57:26
  But you have this in your favor. You hate the practices of the
• 57:30
  Nicolations, which I also hate. They, the Nicolations were
• 57:35
  people that they, it was about sexual immorality.
• 57:39
  I know I read that before, but but they're saying like you hate
• 57:43
  that and that's good, just like I do.
• 57:45
  I hate that too. But there's other things.
• 57:47
  They don't have the love. Maybe they're like the the
• 57:50
  Pharisees, like they do all the actions because it talks about I
• 57:54
  know your deeds, your hard work, your perseverance.
• 57:57
  You know, you're doing all these things like you've got the
• 57:59
  actions, but where's the love? So they are missing out on the
• 58:05
  love and it says whoever has ears, let them hear what the
• 58:09
  Spirit says to the churches, to the one who is victorious, I
• 58:14
  will give you the right to eat from the tree of life which is
• 58:19
  in the paradise of God. So this is another thing that I
• 58:24
  will, I just feel like I need to say this to Christians.
• 58:27
  This is written to Christians, this is written to churches.
• 58:30
  Now why this is, I don't, I'm not going to answer this, but
• 58:33
  I'm just going to let you answer this or struggle with this or
• 58:36
  pray to God about this. Like I will give you the right
• 58:39
  to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
• 58:44
  So if you're victorious, if and it says if you do not repent, I
• 58:50
  will remove your lampstand from its place.
• 58:53
  But if you're victorious, you get to eat from the tree of
• 58:55
  life. Does that contradict to with the
• 58:59
  doctrine of once saved, always saved?
• 59:01
  These are churches. These are believers.
• 59:03
  You have to remember, these are people who are professing their
• 59:05
  faith. They're called the church.
• 59:07
  And Jesus is saying, I think people are getting too confident
• 59:12
  in their ways, maybe because they're doing all the deeds,
• 59:15
  they're doing the hard work, they're doing all these things
• 59:17
  and, and Jesus is complimenting them and they're seeing that
• 59:21
  there's false apostles and they're getting rid of them, but
• 59:24
  they don't have love. And just like another scripture,
• 59:27
  it says if you don't do things out of love, you're just like a
• 59:30
  clanging cymbal, like that's not what you know, you can do all
• 59:34
  the actions in the world, but if you don't have love in your
• 59:37
  heart. And it said like there had there
• 59:40
  had been one time there was love and it says, you know, like you
• 59:44
  have forsaken the love you had at first.
• 59:46
  So at one point in their time they did have love, but then
• 59:50
  they let it go and they were going through all the actions,
• 59:54
  but they didn't really have it in their heart.
• 59:56
  That's where we also see that God searches the heart of
• 59:59
  people. It's what the intention is
• 1:00:01
  behind the action. It's not the action.
• 1:00:04
  So you don't get anywhere, you don't get applaud from the
• 1:00:07
  action. It's like what is motivating you
• 1:00:09
  and your heart? Is it truly love that's
• 1:00:12
  motivating you? Are you looking for recognition
• 1:00:16
  for that? Is it selfish or selfless?
• 1:00:19
  Is the is the motivation behind your actions selfish or
• 1:00:24
  selfless? OK, so that's the first church,
• 1:00:28
  Ephesus, and that's where John was.
• 1:00:31
  It said, you know, what we were reading is that John went back
• 1:00:34
  after Patmos to Ephesus. This was his church that he was
• 1:00:37
  talking to. So then to the church in Smyrna,
• 1:00:40
  to the Angel in the Church of Smyrna, right?
• 1:00:43
  These are the words of him who is called the 1st and the last,
• 1:00:46
  who died and came to life again. That's about Jesus.
• 1:00:50
  I know your afflictions and your poverty.
• 1:00:54
  So these are poor people that are being afflicted.
• 1:00:57
  And he says, yet you are rich. That's why we should be content
• 1:01:02
  in all circumstances if we don't have much think about this.
• 1:01:07
  God is, you know, Jesus is saying that I see this, you're
• 1:01:13
  afflicted you you have poverty, but you are rich.
• 1:01:17
  Sometimes people who come from wealthy lands, like generally
• 1:01:23
  speaking, the United States of America and goes to an
• 1:01:27
  impoverished country and they see the love of God.
• 1:01:31
  I've heard this from so many people who have visited
• 1:01:34
  countries that don't have as much as the United States has,
• 1:01:38
  and they see the spirit of joy, of happiness when these people
• 1:01:42
  have nothing. Like in the United States, we
• 1:01:45
  have nice buildings that people live in and other people in
• 1:01:50
  other countries have dirt floors.
• 1:01:52
  And yet they are more joyful and more connected to the Spirit of
• 1:01:57
  God than the people who have what people in the United States
• 1:02:03
  have. And it's just, and, and Christ
• 1:02:06
  sees that. He sees the people who are, who
• 1:02:10
  know that they're poor, but yet they are rich.
• 1:02:12
  They are rich in their rich in spirit in their relationship
• 1:02:16
  with Christ. I know about the slander of
• 1:02:20
  those who say they are Jews but are not, but are a synagogue of
• 1:02:25
  Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are
• 1:02:29
  about to suffer. So, you know, talk, let's talk
• 1:02:31
  about the synagogue of Satan. I hear that thrown all around a
• 1:02:34
  lot. And also a reminder to all
• 1:02:37
  Christians, we are not given the authority by God to judge other
• 1:02:43
  people. So we, it's, it's not our
• 1:02:49
  position. This is God.
• 1:02:50
  God will take care of this. And it says, I know about the
• 1:02:54
  slander of those who say they are Jews but are not, but are a
• 1:03:00
  synagogue of Satan. So God's chosen people have
• 1:03:06
  never been perfect or unblemished.
• 1:03:09
  But that's not going to be that way forever because God made a
• 1:03:13
  covenant with Abraham that then went on to Isaac, that then went
• 1:03:17
  on to Jacob and, and God is going to restore the people.
• 1:03:23
  But there are people like anywhere else, there are
• 1:03:27
  hypocrites. There are Christian hypocrites.
• 1:03:30
  Yes, there are Jewish hypocrites.
• 1:03:32
  There are hypocrites in every religion, to be honest.
• 1:03:35
  And, and so God doesn't like the hypocrites.
• 1:03:39
  He doesn't like the people who want everybody to see that they
• 1:03:43
  are godly and maybe they go to church or to synagogue and they
• 1:03:49
  they want everybody to say, oh, this person's so righteous.
• 1:03:52
  Look at how often they do this or they give to the poor.
• 1:03:54
  Are they serve? You know, they provide service.
• 1:03:57
  I mean, they go through all these actions.
• 1:03:59
  But then in their heart, what are they like?
• 1:04:01
  Are they doing it outward, outward actions for their
• 1:04:05
  appearance so that they get applauds from people applauding,
• 1:04:10
  You know, is it what is the motivation?
• 1:04:13
  Is it selflessness out of servant, like feeling like a
• 1:04:17
  servant? Are they doing it out of joy to
• 1:04:19
  serve other people or are they doing it selfishly to get
• 1:04:22
  recognition for their acts? So God is, you know, God sees
• 1:04:29
  all of this and, and he, he acknowledges this and he doesn't
• 1:04:33
  have favoritism. So if he's saying this about the
• 1:04:37
  the Jewish people, calling them the synagogue of Satan, I think
• 1:04:41
  he would say the same to the churches that there's, you know,
• 1:04:46
  don't, don't be like that. Don't be the hypocrite.
• 1:04:50
  And in fact, that's what he kind of said to Ephesus.
• 1:04:52
  He's like, don't let it just be in your actions.
• 1:04:54
  Let your heart, your love needs to come through that.
• 1:04:57
  Now he's talking to the Church of Smyrna and he's saying do not
• 1:05:01
  be afraid of what you are about to suffer.
• 1:05:03
  I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test
• 1:05:08
  you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days.
• 1:05:13
  I don't know if that was something that literally
• 1:05:15
  happened in those days. And the people that read this
• 1:05:18
  maybe said, oh, wow, this is what it was.
• 1:05:20
  We got put in prison. We were there for 10 days.
• 1:05:23
  Maybe that happened back in John's day.
• 1:05:25
  I don't know. I don't have any proof of that,
• 1:05:28
  but you know, it could just be symbolic for a short period of
• 1:05:32
  time that there's going to be testing.
• 1:05:35
  And I think a lot of Christians do experience that when they
• 1:05:37
  start to get close to Christ. The devil does come.
• 1:05:41
  Satan does come or his demons or his fallen angels, whatever you
• 1:05:46
  want to call them, do come against those who are seeking
• 1:05:50
  Christ and try to test them and put them through suffering to
• 1:05:56
  see if they can, like if he can separate them from God, like
• 1:06:00
  there's a testing period. And then so Christ is saying be
• 1:06:05
  faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you life
• 1:06:11
  as your victor's crown. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 1:06:15
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 1:06:17
  The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second
• 1:06:22
  death. The second death is final
• 1:06:24
  judgement, where people who are, you know, judged to have that
• 1:06:34
  outcome, they will be thrown into the burning lake of sulfur.
• 1:06:38
  That's what the second death is. So what Jesus is saying here is
• 1:06:44
  that you're going to have to suffer this church specifically.
• 1:06:48
  You're going to have to suffer. You're going to be tested, but
• 1:06:52
  even if you have to die for it, persevere is what he's
• 1:06:57
  ultimately saying. Persevere because the one who's
• 1:07:01
  victorious in this perseverance will not be hurt by the second
• 1:07:04
  death. Like, don't worry about what
• 1:07:07
  happens here on earth because there is a Kingdom of God.
• 1:07:10
  That's eternity, and you're going to gain that.
• 1:07:13
  Those who love their life will lose it, and those who try to
• 1:07:16
  keep their life, I mean, wait, those who yeah, those who love
• 1:07:22
  their life will lose it. I mean, you, you have to have
• 1:07:26
  that, that amount of faith during times like what these
• 1:07:30
  people were experiencing. When you when it comes against
• 1:07:34
  Christian persecution and against, you know, agreeing to
• 1:07:38
  take the mark of the beast in the future, you have to have so
• 1:07:42
  much faith in God that what the Bible says is true and that
• 1:07:45
  there is a Kingdom of God that is forthcoming that you resist,
• 1:07:49
  even if if it comes to your own personal death.
• 1:07:53
  Like you have to know that you know that there's the Kingdom of
• 1:07:57
  God and you're not living for this life here on earth, but
• 1:08:01
  there is a promised life in eternity.
• 1:08:04
  And the only way you can have that is by reading the Bible.
• 1:08:08
  And prophecy is really important because what it says in the
• 1:08:11
  Bible to see where the prophets said something and then it
• 1:08:17
  actually happened like the Bible is true.
• 1:08:19
  The more you're in the Bible, the more you'll realize it is
• 1:08:23
  truth. It's not a made-up fairy tale
• 1:08:25
  fable or anything like that. It is the truth.
• 1:08:28
  And when you see that it's the truth and you understand the
• 1:08:31
  promises that are made in it, then you can know that in the
• 1:08:35
  future you have God's word. And He does not change.
• 1:08:39
  He remains the same. We can count on Him.
• 1:08:42
  He is trustworthy. OK, now there's another one.
• 1:08:47
  This is the third church, Pergamum to the Angel of the
• 1:08:51
  church in Pergamum, right? These are the words of him who
• 1:08:55
  has the sharp double edged sword.
• 1:08:58
  Remember, this is the sharp sword coming out of his mouth
• 1:09:01
  from the rod that Isaiah 11 says, the rod coming out of his
• 1:09:05
  mouth. This is Jesus.
• 1:09:07
  I know where you live, where Satan has his throne.
• 1:09:12
  So Pergamum is Bergama in Turkey, in modern day Turkey.
• 1:09:17
  And so I just don't know, like where Satan has his throne.
• 1:09:21
  I didn't know that Satan has his throne.
• 1:09:23
  So is Satan in Turkey? Does he have a throne in Turkey?
• 1:09:27
  I don't know, but this is what it says here in this verse.
• 1:09:32
  Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith
• 1:09:37
  in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who
• 1:09:42
  was put to death in your city where Satan lives.
• 1:09:46
  So twice talks about Satan living in Pergamum, which is
• 1:09:50
  Bergama today in Turkey. So I don't get that, but I don't
• 1:09:58
  know. That's what it says in
• 1:09:59
  Scripture. And this is the words of Jesus.
• 1:10:03
  And, and at that time he said you did not.
• 1:10:06
  So this is past tense. You did not renounce your faith
• 1:10:09
  in me, not even in the days of Antipas or Antipas, which my
• 1:10:15
  faithful witness who was put to death in your city.
• 1:10:17
  So people's lives, they were giving up their lives because
• 1:10:22
  they would not renounce their faith.
• 1:10:25
  And that's what he's talking about.
• 1:10:27
  He's writing to this church, but nevertheless he said even those
• 1:10:31
  things that were good, he always brings out the good first.
• 1:10:34
  And then he's like, OK, but here's what else I have to say.
• 1:10:37
  Nevertheless, I have a few things against you.
• 1:10:39
  There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam,
• 1:10:45
  who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin.
• 1:10:51
  So they ate, sacrificed our food, sacrificed to idols and
• 1:10:56
  committed sexual immorality. So he, you know, the Israelites
• 1:11:02
  had clean and unclean food and Balak enticed them to eat food,
• 1:11:08
  sacrifice to idols, to fake gods and committed sexual immorality.
• 1:11:14
  So he was the one. Balaam was the the prophet or
• 1:11:21
  the, I don't know, diviner, I don't know.
• 1:11:24
  He was like he could hear from God, but he could also hear from
• 1:11:28
  the enemy of God. And he was doing both.
• 1:11:31
  He had some sort of spiritual connection.
• 1:11:33
  And so the king Balak asked Balaam to curse the Israelites
• 1:11:38
  when they came in because Balak, the king didn't want, he was
• 1:11:43
  threatened by the Israelites, the number of the Israelites
• 1:11:47
  that were coming nearby and he didn't want to lose his Kingdom.
• 1:11:51
  So he gets this guy who hears from the the gods, the little G
• 1:11:55
  gods plural, plus the true God. And he says, I want you to curse
• 1:12:00
  them so that they can't basically take my land.
• 1:12:04
  And so Balaam says I can only say what God gives me to say.
• 1:12:08
  And seven times the number 7 again, he tries to curse or
• 1:12:15
  Balek, the king is hoping that Balaam will curse them, but only
• 1:12:20
  blessings come out of Balaam's mouth and he's King Balak is so
• 1:12:26
  frustrated with Balaam because he's not getting what he wants
• 1:12:30
  out of it. And he was promising Balaam all
• 1:12:33
  the something, I can't remember something of value.
• 1:12:36
  And so of course Balaam's not going to get anything because he
• 1:12:39
  didn't do what the king wanted him to do.
• 1:12:41
  So then Balaam, I think he was, he was looking for his hand out
• 1:12:46
  and he was like, OK, I can't get it.
• 1:12:48
  I keep ruining everything I'm trying to do and I'm not getting
• 1:12:50
  what the king has offered me. So instead he's probably they
• 1:12:55
  consulted with the enemy and like, I got an idea.
• 1:12:59
  I got a good one. You can, this is what you can do
• 1:13:01
  with the Israelites. This is how you can get them to
• 1:13:03
  fall. Sexual immorality.
• 1:13:07
  At the time, it was probably like temple prostitution.
• 1:13:10
  And so sex sells. Yeah.
• 1:13:13
  That was the way that he was able to get somebody to fall.
• 1:13:18
  And do we not have that today? Is not everything in our world
• 1:13:22
  like sexually driven and and just look at that and just be
• 1:13:27
  aware. And this is the ancient way that
• 1:13:31
  the enemy crushed God's people. They could maybe be strong in
• 1:13:38
  every other aspect, but they weren't strong sexually.
• 1:13:41
  They didn't. They would break what God said
• 1:13:45
  as the commandments he gave. And they thought, oh, this isn't
• 1:13:48
  so bad, you know, this isn't going to do anything any harm to
• 1:13:51
  me. But yet it did.
• 1:13:53
  It completely destroyed them. And that's the one thing, not
• 1:13:57
  the one and only. There's lots of things that can
• 1:13:59
  be appealing to people, but you have men and women and God put
• 1:14:03
  that desire for one another in people.
• 1:14:05
  There's nothing wrong with that, but God has a specific way that
• 1:14:09
  it is a blessing and not a curse.
• 1:14:12
  And unfortunately, the enemy of God uses that to get people to
• 1:14:20
  separate themselves from God. And then the enemy can start
• 1:14:23
  wreaking havoc in their life. I mean, people that do this are
• 1:14:26
  not happy. They go from one heartbreak to
• 1:14:28
  another and they just have like disasters and, you know, it just
• 1:14:34
  it never seems like it turns out well.
• 1:14:37
  And you can just look at lots of examples in the world today, but
• 1:14:41
  it's because of people not knowing about this and the
• 1:14:45
  world's making all of this. Like, I guess back in the 60s
• 1:14:49
  where it was all this like free love kind of theme that came out
• 1:14:53
  was really maybe the beginning, the sexual revolution where it
• 1:14:59
  it was the demise of people. And it's only expanded because
• 1:15:04
  it just has grown, you know, more and more against what the
• 1:15:08
  Bible says. And it's the enemy of God trying
• 1:15:12
  to destroy people that way. So it's something that people
• 1:15:15
  don't like to hear about because most people appreciate what God
• 1:15:21
  designed. But when it's used improperly,
• 1:15:25
  that's what the enemy does. He takes good things and uses
• 1:15:28
  them improperly, which destroy people.
• 1:15:33
  So likewise you also have those who are hold, who hold to the
• 1:15:38
  teaching of the Nicolatians. Repent therefore, otherwise I
• 1:15:44
  will soon come to you and will fight against them with the
• 1:15:47
  sword of my mouth. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 1:15:49
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 1:15:52
  To the one who's victorious, I will give some of the hidden
• 1:15:55
  manna. I will also give that person a
• 1:15:58
  white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the
• 1:16:02
  one who who receives it. So this is telling us that
• 1:16:07
  people in the church are still, again, it's kind of being a
• 1:16:11
  hypocrite. Like you know what God asked of
• 1:16:14
  you, but you're not obeying it. Well, be careful because not
• 1:16:19
  just be careful, but repent of it because that's what God says.
• 1:16:23
  Otherwise there's consequences of it.
• 1:16:27
  All right, the next church to the church in Thyatira, to the
• 1:16:31
  Angel in the Church of Thyatira write, these are the words of
• 1:16:35
  the Son of God. So each time it's it's
• 1:16:38
  describing Jesus. I've noticed this, all these
• 1:16:41
  different aspects about who is giving this message.
• 1:16:44
  This is the Son of God giving the message whose eyes are like
• 1:16:48
  blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
• 1:16:53
  I know your deeds, your love and your faith, your servants,
• 1:16:58
  service and your perseverance, and that you are now doing more
• 1:17:04
  than you did at first. So he's coming in with a
• 1:17:06
  compliment nevertheless. OK, here it comes again.
• 1:17:10
  I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel,
• 1:17:14
  who calls herself a prophet by her, her teaching, she misleads
• 1:17:20
  my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of
• 1:17:26
  food sacrificed to idols. This is exactly what he talked
• 1:17:30
  about to the Church of Pergamam, the Church of Thyatira.
• 1:17:34
  They also have this sexual immorality and they are eating
• 1:17:37
  food sacrificed to idols and they are probably participating
• 1:17:41
  with temple worship and, you know, the temple prostitutes or
• 1:17:45
  whatever other kind of sexual immorality there is.
• 1:17:50
  But here's what he's saying about her.
• 1:17:51
  It's like she's being tolerated. This woman, Jezebel, now the
• 1:17:54
  Jezebel woman from the past who was married to Ahab, she was
• 1:17:59
  like an 842 BCE. So it was a long time ago.
• 1:18:03
  So it says I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but
• 1:18:08
  she is unwilling. So think about this.
• 1:18:12
  This is written to a church and there's a woman in the church
• 1:18:17
  and she calls herself a prophet. And Jesus is saying I have given
• 1:18:23
  her time to repent of her immorality, but she is
• 1:18:27
  unwilling. Do you?
• 1:18:30
  This is to a church. Can I say that again?
• 1:18:34
  This is to a church, somebody who's in church, who's a part of
• 1:18:37
  the church, who calls herself even more so a prophet, somebody
• 1:18:42
  who hears from God. And she is not repenting of her
• 1:18:49
  immorality. Like there's a couple things.
• 1:18:52
  I have given her time to repent of her immorality.
• 1:18:56
  So God is patient with us and he said he's doing it for this
• 1:19:02
  woman too, but she is unwilling. Like how long are people going
• 1:19:06
  to be resistant to God and listen, listen to what you know,
• 1:19:11
  like we don't know. This is one of the things that
• 1:19:13
  kind of scared me when I first read the Bible.
• 1:19:15
  The fear of the Lord said in is because I recognized that some
• 1:19:20
  of the things that I read about were things that I was doing.
• 1:19:24
  And, and so then I thought, you know, God has given me like many
• 1:19:28
  chances because I'm not super young.
• 1:19:32
  So I've been through a lot of different things.
• 1:19:34
  And so therefore I had a lot of different opportunities to
• 1:19:38
  change my ways, but I didn't. And, and so then I thought it,
• 1:19:45
  you know, when, when is God going to say, this is it?
• 1:19:49
  This is your last time. You know I am.
• 1:19:52
  I'm trying to reach you. And if you don't listen to me,
• 1:19:55
  just like this woman, Jezebel here, like he says, I have given
• 1:20:00
  her time to repent of her immorality.
• 1:20:02
  But she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of
• 1:20:07
  suffering. I will make those who commit
• 1:20:11
  adultery with her suffer intensely.
• 1:20:16
  So think about this. The people who she's with, this
• 1:20:19
  is not just to her, but then everybody she has a she's a
• 1:20:23
  partner with, they're going to suffer intensely with her unless
• 1:20:30
  they repent of her ways. So the suffering comes on a
• 1:20:35
  person until repentance. God is so merciful and forgiving
• 1:20:40
  like, but he's going to discipline his children because
• 1:20:44
  he disciplines those He loves. So if you are in sexual
• 1:20:48
  immorality and you're suffering, it could very well be a more
• 1:20:53
  likely it's God trying to turn up the heat, turn up the
• 1:20:57
  pressure so that you repent. And people don't like to hear
• 1:21:01
  repentance. And repentance isn't talked
• 1:21:03
  about in many churches. So why does Jesus like so far we
• 1:21:07
  have church #1 repent, church #2 persevere, church #3 repent,
• 1:21:15
  church #4 repent. God certainly says it a lot.
• 1:21:19
  Why are churches not saying it? OK, then all the churches will
• 1:21:24
  know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will
• 1:21:29
  repay each of you according to your deeds.
• 1:21:34
  Think about that judgement. What you sow you will reap.
• 1:21:39
  This is there's evidence in the scripture.
• 1:21:41
  And remember, this is the church that Jesus is talking to.
• 1:21:45
  These are not unbelievers. These are people who claim to be
• 1:21:49
  believers who are in the church. Now I say to the rest of you in
• 1:21:55
  Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not
• 1:22:00
  learned Satan's so-called deep secrets, I will not impose any
• 1:22:06
  other burden on you except to hold on to what you have until I
• 1:22:12
  come. Now, Jesus hasn't returned yet,
• 1:22:16
  so this is probably also evidence that this is a message
• 1:22:22
  to modern day churches. So hold on to what you have
• 1:22:27
  until I come to the one who is victorious and does my will, OK?
• 1:22:35
  A lot of people don't like this whole obedience thing.
• 1:22:37
  They say, oh, you're trying to earn your way to God's Kingdom.
• 1:22:41
  No, this is a response to what Jesus did for us.
• 1:22:45
  It's a response to how I mean, God has a will, God has a way,
• 1:22:51
  God wants us to live a certain way.
• 1:22:54
  This is obedience to God. We have to make Jesus our Lord.
• 1:22:59
  He is going to be king. He is going to rule.
• 1:23:03
  Do you think he's he wants a bunch of subjects who don't obey
• 1:23:07
  him. That's what he did to Saul.
• 1:23:10
  He anointed Saul. Then he took his Holy Spirit
• 1:23:13
  from Saul and sent and let allowed a spirit of torment to
• 1:23:19
  affect Saul because Saul would not be obedient to God.
• 1:23:23
  He would do part of it and say look, look what I did.
• 1:23:26
  I did part of what you said, but I thought this part was better.
• 1:23:29
  So I did it my way on this part. Well, if God did that to someone
• 1:23:34
  he personally anointed through Samuel, like he chose Saul
• 1:23:40
  because the people wanted Saul as the very first king of
• 1:23:43
  Israel. And if God, that anointing on
• 1:23:47
  him, the anointing of the Holy Spirit gave it to Saul and then
• 1:23:52
  Saul was like, he still had free will, you know, like God chose
• 1:23:57
  him to be king. God could have, you know, just
• 1:24:02
  forced him to be the king. That would be perfect.
• 1:24:07
  But no, God let his free will happen.
• 1:24:11
  And Saul didn't want to obey God 100%.
• 1:24:15
  So he said, I'll do some of what you say, but not everything
• 1:24:18
  because I know better. I mean, how many people in this
• 1:24:21
  world today, in churches today think, OK, well, what God says
• 1:24:25
  is good, but I think this is like part of the Old Testament.
• 1:24:29
  Like it doesn't apply to me anymore because you know, like I
• 1:24:34
  pick and choose from the Bible. Well that's not what God says.
• 1:24:37
  He does not change what he says. Like Jesus said, heaven and
• 1:24:42
  earth will pass away, but my word will remain.
• 1:24:45
  So this is what Jesus said to the one who is victorious and
• 1:24:50
  does my will to the end. I will give authority over the
• 1:24:54
  nation's that one will rule them with an iron.
• 1:25:01
  Wait, did I read the right? Yeah, that one will rule them
• 1:25:06
  with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like
• 1:25:09
  pottery. Just as I have received
• 1:25:12
  authority from my father, I will also give that one the Morning
• 1:25:17
  Star. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 1:25:19
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 1:25:22
  OK, This is this is something that I don't know.
• 1:25:25
  I'll have to look at other translations.
• 1:25:27
  But to the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I
• 1:25:31
  will give authority over nations that one will quote, rule them
• 1:25:37
  with an iron sceptre and will dash them to pieces like
• 1:25:39
  pottery. And it has a little subscript
• 1:25:43
  that says Psalm 29. So I guess I'll have to look up
• 1:25:48
  what that is. But just as I have received
• 1:25:51
  authority from my father. So I guess the people who Jesus,
• 1:25:56
  you know, tests and finds that they are doing the will, they're
• 1:26:01
  obedient to the Father in this earth.
• 1:26:04
  There is going to be some sort of reward for those people and
• 1:26:07
  they're going to be ruling other nations under Christ.
• 1:26:10
  You know, that's they're not separate from Christ, but
• 1:26:13
  they're proving themselves here on earth.
• 1:26:15
  That's something else that I came to the, the realization to
• 1:26:17
  of is that I believe that our time here on earth is God's
• 1:26:22
  testing to see where we are going to be placed in his
• 1:26:26
  Kingdom or if we're even going to enter his Kingdom based on
• 1:26:30
  how we respond to Christ. So now we're moving on to the I
• 1:26:38
  think it's the 4th or the 6th, 5th church. 5th, 5th, yeah.
• 1:26:43
  Fifth Church, Sardis, to the Angel of the Church of Sardis,
• 1:26:47
  write These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of
• 1:26:51
  God and the seven stars. I know your deeds.
• 1:26:54
  You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
• 1:26:58
  Wake up. So they think they're alive, but
• 1:27:02
  they're dead. This is what I get concerned
• 1:27:05
  about with Christians. Again, this is talking to a
• 1:27:07
  church. You think you're alive, but
• 1:27:10
  you're dead. Wake up, strengthen what remains
• 1:27:15
  and is about to die. For I have found your deeds
• 1:27:20
  unfinished in the sight of my God.
• 1:27:22
  Now I want to ask anyone who starts saying, well, obedience,
• 1:27:28
  you're trying to earn your salvation.
• 1:27:30
  Why would Jesus say I have found your deeds unfinished in the
• 1:27:35
  sight of my God? Why would Jesus require anything
• 1:27:39
  more of us? I mean, people say, well,
• 1:27:41
  Jesus's death on the cross was all we need and we have grace
• 1:27:45
  because of that. We do have grace because of
• 1:27:47
  that. But why then would Jesus say, I
• 1:27:53
  have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God?
• 1:27:57
  What deeds? What are we supposed to do?
• 1:27:59
  Like why? Why would Jesus lay another
• 1:28:02
  level on any people when he already died on the cross?
• 1:28:06
  You know, John had this vision after Jesus died on the cross.
• 1:28:09
  We can't go back and say, well, you know, back in the Old
• 1:28:12
  Testament they had to be obedient to the commandments.
• 1:28:14
  But now Jesus died and we're under grace, so we're not.
• 1:28:18
  We don't have to obey those laws.
• 1:28:20
  I disagree because this verse right here, it's chapter 3,
• 1:28:25
  verse 2, it says I have found your deeds unfinished in the
• 1:28:30
  sight of my God. Why would Jesus say that?
• 1:28:35
  Remember therefore what you have received and heard.
• 1:28:40
  Hold it fast and repent. So what have they received?
• 1:28:47
  Perhaps they have received salvation through Christ.
• 1:28:52
  Perhaps they have received the Holy Spirit.
• 1:28:55
  Hold fast to that and repent. I don't, I don't know for sure,
• 1:29:00
  but it says like hold fast to what you have received and
• 1:29:04
  repent, repent. But if you do not wake up, I
• 1:29:11
  will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I
• 1:29:15
  will come to you. So it's going to take somebody's
• 1:29:20
  surprise if you're not, if you're not wake.
• 1:29:22
  If you don't wake up and you're not waiting for a Christ, he's
• 1:29:26
  going to surprise you like a thief.
• 1:29:29
  And I don't think anybody is excited to have a thief surprise
• 1:29:33
  them. So I don't think this is going
• 1:29:36
  to be a good surprise. Read chapter 3 of Revelation.
• 1:29:42
  Yet you have a few people in Sardis, this church we're
• 1:29:45
  talking about, who have not soiled their clothes.
• 1:29:48
  Now, soiled clothes represents sin.
• 1:29:51
  So this is talking about people who have not soiled their
• 1:29:55
  clothes. They will walk with me dressed
• 1:29:58
  in white, for they are worthy. We need to read the Bible.
• 1:30:05
  We need to get in the word of God and not be spoon fed by
• 1:30:10
  churches who just want to tell us good things so that they
• 1:30:15
  receive money from people and their attendance is is strong.
• 1:30:19
  We need to be in the word of God and reflect on what does God say
• 1:30:24
  because I don't know that churches are intentionally doing
• 1:30:27
  this, but in in trying to be kind and welcoming to everyone,
• 1:30:32
  they are not speaking the truth and they are not preparing.
• 1:30:36
  The people in the church. The one who is victorious will,
• 1:30:41
  like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name
• 1:30:48
  of that person from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge that
• 1:30:53
  name before my Father and his angels.
• 1:30:56
  So I have this question. I will never blot out the name
• 1:31:00
  of that person from the Book of Life, the one who is victorious,
• 1:31:04
  who's dressed in white. Does that mean that if somebody
• 1:31:07
  is not victorious and they're not dressed in white, their name
• 1:31:11
  might be blotted out from the Book of Life?
• 1:31:16
  That's a question I'd I just like.
• 1:31:20
  I think that's something that we need to wrestle with God on and
• 1:31:26
  and pray and make sure that we're not like getting a false
• 1:31:30
  doctrine because I think it does matter how we respond.
• 1:31:35
  We do not earn anything. We cannot earn because we are
• 1:31:39
  sinful. We can't be in the presence of
• 1:31:41
  God. We would melt, We would burn up
• 1:31:43
  in the presence of God because God is holy, but he says be holy
• 1:31:47
  because I'm holy. He doesn't want us to remain in
• 1:31:51
  that state and he gives us the tool to tool is probably a very
• 1:31:56
  bad word to even say, but he gives us the person of the Holy
• 1:32:00
  Spirit to help us to change so that we no longer have that
• 1:32:06
  soiled clothes on. We begin to change through our
• 1:32:11
  free will state, remaining in agreement with God and letting
• 1:32:15
  the Holy Spirit's power overcome our sinful nature.
• 1:32:22
  Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the
• 1:32:25
  church, to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right.
• 1:32:31
  These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the
• 1:32:36
  key of David. What he opens, no one can shut,
• 1:32:41
  and what he shuts, no one can open.
• 1:32:46
  I know your deeds. See, I have placed you placed
• 1:32:49
  before you an open door that no one can shut.
• 1:32:53
  I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my
• 1:32:58
  word and have not denied my name.
• 1:33:02
  I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to
• 1:33:07
  be Jews though they are not, but are liars.
• 1:33:11
  I will make them come and fall down at your feet and
• 1:33:14
  acknowledge that I have loved you since you have kept my
• 1:33:20
  command to endure patiently. I will also keep you from the
• 1:33:27
  hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test
• 1:33:33
  the inhabitants of the earth. Let's pay attention to that.
• 1:33:37
  There is going to come a test on the whole world and and God gave
• 1:33:46
  us this warning back in like 90 AD that there is going to be a
• 1:33:50
  future hour of trial that's going to come on the whole world
• 1:33:55
  to test the inhabitants of the earth.
• 1:33:58
  We can say I believe in Jesus, I am a follower of Christ.
• 1:34:03
  But when we come under pressure, when we are tested, what do we
• 1:34:08
  do? I mean that that's, that's what
• 1:34:15
  God is warning us. Like there's there's going to be
• 1:34:19
  a test on all the inhabitants of the earth.
• 1:34:22
  I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that
• 1:34:26
  no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious.
• 1:34:31
  I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.
• 1:34:34
  Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of
• 1:34:40
  my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem
• 1:34:46
  which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and I will
• 1:34:50
  also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 1:34:57
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 1:35:01
  So this is probably the best Church of all.
• 1:35:05
  They have the best report card. It just says remain obedient.
• 1:35:09
  Basically it just says remain obedient.
• 1:35:12
  And it also says that I'm going to keep you from the hour of
• 1:35:15
  trial. So these are talking to obedient
• 1:35:18
  people and any and and they're like losing their strength.
• 1:35:25
  And it says, but you have kept my word and not denied my name.
• 1:35:31
  And there's apparently the the synagogue of Satan that's coming
• 1:35:35
  after them, but they're liars. And Jesus is acknowledging that
• 1:35:39
  he's just like, endure patiently and I will keep you from the
• 1:35:43
  hour of trial. So this is like a a, you know,
• 1:35:48
  people want to be a part of the Philadelphia church where God
• 1:35:51
  doesn't really have a lot. Jesus doesn't have a lot to say
• 1:35:54
  about in in correction for them. He's just saying you have to
• 1:36:00
  patiently endure, keep doing what you're doing and and you
• 1:36:04
  know, just stay strong. Now we have the last church.
• 1:36:08
  That's the lukewarm church. So this is the to the Angel of
• 1:36:12
  the church in Laodicea, right? These are the words of the Amen,
• 1:36:17
  the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
• 1:36:22
  I know your deeds, that you are neither hot or cold nor hot.
• 1:36:27
  I wish you were either one of the one or the other.
• 1:36:31
  So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about
• 1:36:36
  to spit you out of my mouth. How would you like God to say
• 1:36:41
  that? How would you like to be in
• 1:36:43
  Jesus's presence and have him say you're lukewarm?
• 1:36:48
  You're not hot, you're not cold, you're just right in the middle.
• 1:36:51
  You're playing it safe. And I'm about to spit you out of
• 1:36:55
  my mouth. Would you?
• 1:36:57
  I wouldn't want to hear that from Christ.
• 1:37:00
  So there's these people who are riding the fence that are going
• 1:37:05
  to be lukewarm. They're not going to be like on
• 1:37:07
  fire for God. They're not going to be.
• 1:37:08
  They're just playing it safe. But apparently this is something
• 1:37:12
  that he's not really happy about.
• 1:37:15
  You say I am rich. I have acquired wealth and do
• 1:37:20
  not need a thing. So this is kind of like
• 1:37:23
  successful people, but you do not realize that you are
• 1:37:27
  wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
• 1:37:32
  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so you
• 1:37:38
  can become rich and white clothes to wear so you can cover
• 1:37:43
  your shameful nakedness. Now this one, they don't even
• 1:37:47
  have clothes on, not even soil clothes.
• 1:37:49
  They're naked. And he's going to give them
• 1:37:51
  white clothes to wear if they will buy from him the treasure,
• 1:37:56
  the gold, the Scripture that, you know, like God says, you
• 1:37:59
  know, that a servant who finds the treasure of heaven, or it's
• 1:38:04
  like a treasure of pearls that they find and they go and they
• 1:38:08
  sell everything else just to have the treasure eternity.
• 1:38:12
  And this is what to me, this is what this is saying essentially
• 1:38:17
  is that, you know, quit buying the earthly things, focus on the
• 1:38:20
  spiritual things, what God can give.
• 1:38:25
  Let's see, he says, and salve to put on your eyes so you can see
• 1:38:29
  like they're wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
• 1:38:33
  They don't even know it because they're successful in this
• 1:38:37
  earth. It's just like when Jesus says,
• 1:38:40
  you know, it's easier for a needle or for a camel to go
• 1:38:44
  through the eye of a needle than for someone wealthy to secure
• 1:38:49
  the, to secure eternity or God's Kingdom.
• 1:38:54
  And it's, it's because people put their reliance on their own
• 1:38:59
  self and they put their reliance on their wealth.
• 1:39:02
  And they think that because they're so wealthy, they have
• 1:39:04
  everything. They don't need anything else,
• 1:39:06
  but they don't realize that they don't have what is ultimately
• 1:39:12
  the most valuable thing anyone can have.
• 1:39:14
  And that's the relationship with God and and people, you know,
• 1:39:20
  they, they just, they're again, maybe it's the enemy, maybe it's
• 1:39:25
  own self selfish ambition, which like doesn't give any time to be
• 1:39:31
  with Christ, but yet you just go after the shiny glitter things
• 1:39:37
  of the earth. Those whom I love, I rebuke and
• 1:39:42
  discipline. So be earnest and repent.
• 1:39:46
  Here I am, I stand at the door and knock.
• 1:39:49
  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
• 1:39:53
  and eat with that person and they with me.
• 1:39:57
  To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with
• 1:40:00
  me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my
• 1:40:05
  Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 1:40:09
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 1:40:12
  So that's the end of chapter 3 in the Book of Revelation.
• 1:40:17
  And I know we got a little bit sidetracked, but I do think that
• 1:40:20
  this lampstand is relevant and does play a part for all of us
• 1:40:26
  in the future. And the Book of Revelation says
• 1:40:29
  that those who read it will be blessed.
• 1:40:31
  So it's an, it's an important book to read and it does tie
• 1:40:36
  into Zechariah or knowing about Zechariah helps us understand
• 1:40:42
  Revelation and it's very symbolic.
• 1:40:44
  But I hope that this this was a good study session.
• 1:40:50
  And, and if it was beneficial to you, please share with other
• 1:40:56
  people that you think it might be beneficial with.
• 1:40:59
  And if you haven't subscribed, please subscribe and we'll be
• 1:41:02
  back next time to discuss the next chapter.
• 1:41:04
  Thank you.