Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Here Comes the King of Kings Msg 815 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Here Comes the King of Kings Msg 815 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Today marks our thirty third message out of the Book
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Speaker 1: of the Revelation. If you have your Bible, i'd invite
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Speaker 1: you to turn to chapter nineteen. The message today takes
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Speaker 1: us into that great era yet future, called the Second
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Speaker 1: Advent or second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.
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Speaker 1: I'll read for you verses eleven through twenty one of
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Speaker 1: this nineteenth chapter, and you'll find the outline for the
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Speaker 1: message there in your worship folder. You could place it
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Speaker 1: here when we finish with the reading Revelation nineteen eleven.
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Speaker 1: And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse,
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Speaker 1: And he who sat on it is called faithful and true,
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Speaker 1: and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes
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Speaker 1: are a flame of fire, and on his head are
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Speaker 1: many diadems. And he has a name written on him
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Speaker 1: which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with
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Speaker 1: a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called
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Speaker 1: the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven,
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Speaker 1: clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him
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Speaker 1: on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword,
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Speaker 1: so that with it he may strike down the nations,
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Speaker 1: and he will rule them with a rod of iron,
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Speaker 1: and he treads the wine press of the fierce wrath
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Speaker 1: of God the Almighty. And on his robe and on
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Speaker 1: his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings
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Speaker 1: and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing
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Speaker 1: in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying,
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Speaker 1: to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, come
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Speaker 1: a symbol for the great Supper of God, so that
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Speaker 1: you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh
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Speaker 1: of commanders, and the flesh of mighty men, and the
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Speaker 1: flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them,
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Speaker 1: and the flesh of all men, both free and slaves,
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Speaker 1: and small and great. And I saw the beast and
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Speaker 1: the kings of the earth, and their armies assembled to
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Speaker 1: make war against him who sat on the horse, and
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Speaker 1: against his army. And the beast was seized, and with
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Speaker 1: him the false prophet, who performed the signs in his presence,
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Speaker 1: by which he deceived those who had received the mark
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Speaker 1: of the beast, and those who worshiped his image. These
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Speaker 1: two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which
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Speaker 1: burns with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the
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Speaker 1: sword which came from the mouth of him who sat
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Speaker 1: on the horse, and all the birds were filled with
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Speaker 1: their flesh. When you read verses like that, you find
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Speaker 1: yourself wanting to pause and sit quietly and sort of
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Speaker 1: let the wonder in. It's a scene that is frightening,
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Speaker 1: will occur only once yet future, and it reveals a
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Speaker 1: part of the Lord God that is rarely even mentioned.
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Speaker 1: That is his wrath, which must be embraced, just as
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Speaker 1: we embraces goodness and grace and love and mercy. Being just,
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Speaker 1: he must deal and hold accountable with those who live
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Speaker 1: their entire lives rejecting him. It's appropriate that we pause
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Speaker 1: for prayer before the time of offering. You bow with me, please.
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Speaker 1: There is no one else who deserves the title that
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Speaker 1: your son has claimed. King of Kings, Lord of lords,
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Speaker 1: and we, your followers, our Father, bow before you to day,
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Speaker 1: acknowledging him as the pre eminent one. The Lord of
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Speaker 1: the Church, the Lord of this Church, our supreme Savior,
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Speaker 1: our gracious Redeemer, are faithful, faithful Lord. We hear these
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Speaker 1: young men sing these songs for your glory today, and
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Speaker 1: we want to remember them as they continue their journey.
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Speaker 1: May they travel safe, May they touch lives that could
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Speaker 1: not be reached in any other way, but through song,
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Speaker 1: we pray you would keep each one of these young
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Speaker 1: men pure, strong in faith, good models in a culture
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Speaker 1: that has lost its way, in a time of confusion,
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Speaker 1: when morals are foggy and the standard has never been lower.
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Speaker 1: May they walk with you. May they serve you during
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Speaker 1: their years in school and far beyond, as faithful servants
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Speaker 1: of God, our Father. We come in a variety of needs.
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Speaker 1: Some so broken they can hardly speak to the one
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Speaker 1: sitting next to them, Some abused, hurt, offended, wounded almost
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Speaker 1: to the point of despair. And on the other end
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Speaker 1: of the spectrum are those who rejoice to day and
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Speaker 1: celebrate your good hand upon them. Some have no job,
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Speaker 1: some have no hope, Some have never known times better
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Speaker 1: than now. Some are older and fearing the end, some
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Speaker 1: young anticipating a full life. Even though we do not
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Speaker 1: know what a day may bring forth, meet our needs,
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Speaker 1: our Father, regardless of gender, regardless of emotional condition, regardless
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Speaker 1: of age, regardless of what we go home to meet
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Speaker 1: our needs today, remind us that your hand is upon
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Speaker 1: our lives, and you do all things well. And you
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Speaker 1: are not only the one to love and serve and
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Speaker 1: sing to and represent your one to be feared. You
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Speaker 1: are our holy, matchless God. There is another like you
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Speaker 1: in a world of many gods. There is only one
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Speaker 1: God of heaven, whom we know through your son, and
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Speaker 1: through him only Nothing but the blood of Jesus satisfies
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Speaker 1: for sin. So, Father, teach us today and deepen us
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Speaker 1: in our walk. We remember those who have fought a fight,
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Speaker 1: have been in harm's way, have followed the directions of
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Speaker 1: their commanders. Pray for those who make difficult decisions in
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Speaker 1: rooms without windows, in places deep within the bowels of
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Speaker 1: the pentagon, where hard decisions must be made. Give wisdom,
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Speaker 1: Give encouragement even in the midst of tough news from
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Speaker 1: the battle. Protect our commander in chief from harm, Give
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Speaker 1: him long life your guidance, and he and his wife
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Speaker 1: your favor. Now, our Father, we consider it a distinct
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Speaker 1: privilege of all things to give to your work. We
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Speaker 1: want to do that for all the right reasons. So
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Speaker 1: guide us, our Father, as we support the ministry that
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Speaker 1: you've called us to be a part of. Be honored
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Speaker 1: not only in the giving and the motive behind such,
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Speaker 1: but in the expenditures. May you superintend this with great care.
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Speaker 1: This is your work, and we acknowledge you our father,
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Speaker 1: as our Lord, and we submit to you now in
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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, our Savior. Everyone said Americans have
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Speaker 1: never been much on public pomp. By that, I mean
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Speaker 1: when royalty is on parade. Well, there's just probably too
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Speaker 1: much American revolution still in our blood to put a
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Speaker 1: lot of emphasis on the crown. I have a friend
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Speaker 1: who traveled in England several years ago in a summer,
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Speaker 1: and he said he happened to be in a large
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Speaker 1: store as word passed, almost as a buzz through the
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Speaker 1: store that the Queen was soon to come by. He said,
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Speaker 1: it was interesting to watch the Brits immediately fled to
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Speaker 1: the streets, Americans finished their shopping and got their cameras
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Speaker 1: ready for a Kodak moment. And he said, you could
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Speaker 1: tell when you walked outside who the Brits were and
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Speaker 1: who the American tourists were. Americans standing back, sort of
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Speaker 1: with the grin on their face, looking at all of this,
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Speaker 1: the sunshades on, and their camera's ready and their arms
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Speaker 1: full of shopping bags, and the Brits are right right
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Speaker 1: up on the curb, just standing waiting for her to pass.
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Speaker 1: By in all of her splendor, and the Queen comes
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Speaker 1: by and her horse drawn carriage, and he said, if
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Speaker 1: you listen closely, you could hear the Brits suck in
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Speaker 1: their breath and clasp their hands under their chin and
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Speaker 1: just enjoying it. He said, Americans were kind of checking
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Speaker 1: their watches and seeing how long this is gonna last,
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Speaker 1: or they go to the next door and they got
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Speaker 1: their shot, and that's great. We're probably more like cats
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Speaker 1: than dogs when it comes to something like that, really independent,
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Speaker 1: like the little nursery rhyme. Pussy cat, pussy cat, where
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Speaker 1: have you been? I've been to London to see the Queen.
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Speaker 1: Pussy cat, pussy cat? What did you there? Right in?
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Speaker 1: A little mouse under the chair? What kind of a
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Speaker 1: cat is that? There's a chance of a lifetime to
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Speaker 1: see Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, the Queen of all things
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Speaker 1: and she's looking for mice. Well that's because she's got
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Speaker 1: a pussy cat heart down deep inside. She's a mouse hunting,
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Speaker 1: mouse eating animal. And the Crown is not gonna change
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Speaker 1: your mind. As someone has said, what you are determines
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Speaker 1: what you see. What you see determines what you do,
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Speaker 1: and when you're a cat. They can put you in London,
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Speaker 1: but it's hard to get London into you, because down
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Speaker 1: deep inside you're looking for mice. You're not really that impressed.
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Speaker 1: Neither are we. Until one day every deed will bow
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Speaker 1: and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord, to the
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Speaker 1: glory of God, the Father. That could have been a
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Speaker 1: great day, Well depends on what you are. Now. If
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Speaker 1: you're John the verse ten of chapter nineteen, you fall
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Speaker 1: at his feet and you worship. When you come upon
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Speaker 1: a scene like that, Even though it's an angel that
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Speaker 1: John bows before, and the angel corrects him, you'll recall
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Speaker 1: and says, get back up. I'm a creature like you.
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Speaker 1: I am a fellow servant. But John had seen him
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Speaker 1: who is high and lifted up, and there was no
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Speaker 1: time to remain on his feet taking pictures. It was
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Speaker 1: a moment to bow and to worship, because deep inside
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Speaker 1: John is still the heart of a devoted disciple who
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Speaker 1: walked with this one for three and a half years,
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Speaker 1: who watched him die, saw him after he was raised,
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Speaker 1: and lives his life anticipating when he will see him
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Speaker 1: in glory, coming back as he promised to do at
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Speaker 1: his ascension. Just as you have seen me go up
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Speaker 1: into heaven, I will come from heaven. This is the moment.
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Speaker 1: And John, being who he is, bows in worship. Verse
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Speaker 1: nineteen shows another kind of person of all things, the
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Speaker 1: same coming, the same majestic king of kings. But these
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Speaker 1: people have a symbol to do, what to bow? No,
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Speaker 1: They come to make war against him who is sitting
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Speaker 1: on the horse, and against his army. What a difference.
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Speaker 1: What you are determines what you see, and what you
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Speaker 1: see determines what you do. Hearing me today are two
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Speaker 1: different kinds of people, those who follow Jesus Christ as
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Speaker 1: Master and Lord. Word and we read these verses and
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Speaker 1: we live in anticipation of an event yet future, when
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Speaker 1: there will be no question that the world will acknowledge
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Speaker 1: him as King and Lord. But there are a few
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Speaker 1: of you who've not come there yet. You're still deciding
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Speaker 1: who is Lord, who is Master. I especially want your
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Speaker 1: attention because this is your future. Should you choose to
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Speaker 1: live the rest of your life without Christ. And we
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Speaker 1: pray that won't be your choice. This is you in
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Speaker 1: the text, assembling with your false leaders, taking up arms
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Speaker 1: against him who, with one word from his mouth will
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Speaker 1: slay you. Interesting. Christians have realized all through our lives
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Speaker 1: that Jesus is coming back, but we've seldom stopped and
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Speaker 1: really looked in depth at his coming. So we want
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Speaker 1: to do that today. We're looking at the central section
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Speaker 1: that talks about what has popularly come to be known
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Speaker 1: as the Battle of Armageddon. I think it's interesting that
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Speaker 1: books are written on it and movies are made about it,
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Speaker 1: especially in this generation.
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Speaker 2: That presents it as this incredible, huge battle where there
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Speaker 2: are weapons, and there are missiles, and there are nations
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Speaker 2: fighting against one another, and explosions and upheavals and these
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Speaker 2: mammoth the nuclear events.
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Speaker 1: This holocaust, all described as armageddon, when in fact there
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Speaker 1: is no such series of events. This will be a war,
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Speaker 1: one without a shot. In fact, one word is spoken
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Speaker 1: in the enemy is finished. We have the Bible to
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Speaker 1: thank for truth, and so we turn to it confident
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Speaker 1: that will be guided into truth. Let me make a
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Speaker 1: clarifying comment and then talk about four reasons Jesus must
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Speaker 1: return before we get into the text itself. Please do
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Speaker 1: not mistake this coming to Earth as the next event
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Speaker 1: of the future. I'm convinced in my study of the
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Speaker 1: scriptures that The next event yet future, will be the
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Speaker 1: Lord coming in the sky in the clouds to meet
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Speaker 1: his own in the air. The Lord himself will descend
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Speaker 1: from heaven with a shout, writes Paul in First Thessalonians four.
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Speaker 1: He will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
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Speaker 1: voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God. And
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Speaker 1: here we are the dead in Christ shall rise first,
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Speaker 1: and we who are of live and remain shall be
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Speaker 1: caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
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Speaker 1: the Lord in the air, not on the earth, in
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Speaker 1: the air. In the air. We'll meet him there, and
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Speaker 1: so shall we ever be with the Lord, and we
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Speaker 1: return with him. There follows the judgment seat of Christ,
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Speaker 1: the rewarding of the saints, leaving only unbelievers on the
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Speaker 1: earth to begin that time called the tribulation period, which
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Speaker 1: runs its course a number of years, climaxing at Armageddon,
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Speaker 1: which is where we are today, where Christ, yet the Difference,
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Speaker 1: comes to this earth, defeats the enemies and sets up
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Speaker 1: his kingdom. These are two separate events. Don't think of
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Speaker 1: them as one and the same, or you'll be confused. Now,
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Speaker 1: why must he come back? I mean, why don't he
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Speaker 1: just leave him to themselves and say good riddance, and
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Speaker 1: go back with us, and we live forever with Oh,
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Speaker 1: there are good reasons he must come back. Four come
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Speaker 1: to mind. First, to fulfill numerous promises in the Bible,
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Speaker 1: Old and New Testaments speak of his coming back to earth.
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Speaker 1: If he doesn't come back, then those have been false promises.
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Speaker 1: He will have lied. He must come back to fulfill
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Speaker 1: his promises. Second, he must come back to judge the nations.
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Speaker 1: You do not sin against the living God without being
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Speaker 1: held accountable. Don't think that in this era of grace
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Speaker 1: that because you get by with it for a little while,
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Speaker 1: you can sort of sail off into the sunset and
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Speaker 1: God will say, well you met well, Solomon writes in
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Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes eight eleven. Because sentence against an evil work is
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Speaker 1: not executed speedily. Therefore the heart of the sons and
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Speaker 1: men is fully said in them to do evil. Because
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Speaker 1: there is not instant judgment with sin, and people get
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Speaker 1: the idea that God really doesn't care. There'll not be
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Speaker 1: a day of accountability. Oh, this ultimate day will be
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Speaker 1: a day of final judgment. He must come to judge
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Speaker 1: the nations. Third, and it must take place there must
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Speaker 1: be the removal of Satan from this culture and from
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Speaker 1: his throne that he has usurped from Christ. Paul calls
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Speaker 1: Satan in second Corinthians four the god of this age.
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Speaker 1: For this period of time, Satan and his demons seem
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Speaker 1: to be on the winning side. Some of you followed
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Speaker 1: him a good portion of your life, and you know
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Speaker 1: the truth of that. You have fallen into demonic interests.
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Speaker 1: You know how powerful that can be. All of that
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Speaker 1: will stop when Jesus comes back. As we'll learn next time,
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Speaker 1: he's going to bind Satan for a thousand years. Chapter
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Speaker 1: twenty tells us of that in the first three verses.
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Speaker 1: We'll look at that next time. So first, to fulfill promises,
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Speaker 1: second to judge the nation's Third, to remove Satan from
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Speaker 1: this earth scene, and imagine without any satanic or demonic influence.
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Speaker 1: Here's the fourth reason. Jesus sets up his earthly kingdom,
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Speaker 1: to establish himself as the king of the earth. Fourth reason,
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Speaker 1: and what a great one righteousness shall cover the earth
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Speaker 1: as the waters cover the sea, writes the prophet Aback.
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Speaker 1: It'll be a time of enormous blessing and peace and prosperity.
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Speaker 1: That's when the lion will lay down with the lamb.
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Speaker 1: That's when they will beat their swords into plowshares and
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Speaker 1: their spheres into pruning hooks. Not until then, even though
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Speaker 1: the United Nations puts that on their cornerstone, it will
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Speaker 1: not happen in this life or in this era. It
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Speaker 1: is yet future when Jesus shall rain where the sun
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Speaker 1: doth its successive journeys run. His kingdoms spread from shore
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Speaker 1: to shore, till moon shall wax and wane no more.
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Speaker 1: Isaac Watts wrote to the Kingdom, Jesus comes to this
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Speaker 1: earth to establish his kingdom. Now, it's a good thing
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Speaker 1: to remember. Until Jesus returns to this earth. As we'll
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Speaker 1: read about here, all of those things are on hold.
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Speaker 1: The promises remain to be fulfilled. The nations are yet
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Speaker 1: to be judged. Satan continues to have his way, always
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Speaker 1: under the permissive will of God, admittedly, but he still
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Speaker 1: has a lot of his way on this earth. And
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Speaker 1: there is no peace. There will be no kingdom until
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Speaker 1: Jesus comes to rule and reign. As we read today
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Speaker 1: as a rod. He will rule with a rod of iron.
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Speaker 1: So all that being said, let's look at his arrival.
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Speaker 1: If you like, marking your Bible. You have a you
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Speaker 1: have a good place to do that. Here. I want
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Speaker 1: you to observe what John saw. Verse eleven. I saw
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Speaker 1: heaven opened mark verse seventeen. Then I saw an angel,
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Speaker 1: and then up in verse nineteen, I saw the beast
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Speaker 1: Verse one, chapter twenty. I saw an angel coming down
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Speaker 1: from heaven. Verse four, Chapter twenty. I saw thrones, and
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Speaker 1: they set on them. Verse eleven. I saw a great
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Speaker 1: white throne. Twenty eleven. So all the way through John
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Speaker 1: is seeing this, Remember, centuries ahead of time. John is
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Speaker 1: standing at the end of the first century, and he's
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Speaker 1: looking beyond the twenty first, or who knows it may
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Speaker 1: be in the twenty first. He's seeing, we know for sure,
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Speaker 1: twenty centuries ahead, which is still future to our day.
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Speaker 1: It's not yet occurred. John sees it unrolled, like a
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Speaker 1: preview of coming attractions at a movie. It all begins
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Speaker 1: to show itself before John, and I think it's interesting too.
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Speaker 1: In this section we are in the flow of the
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Speaker 1: text coming from heaven to Earth, and then with the
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Speaker 1: beast and false prophet going under the earth into the
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Speaker 1: Lake of fire. So this is quite a section of
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Speaker 1: scripture to look at first time John saw Heaven open,
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Speaker 1: chapter four verse one, it was to let John in
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Speaker 1: so he could see all of this here, it's to
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Speaker 1: let Jesus out. Nineteen eleven. I saw heaven opened, and
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Speaker 1: behold a white horse? Is that great? The first thing
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Speaker 1: he sees is a white horse. I checked a very
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Speaker 1: trustworthy reference called the Complete Idiot's Guide to the Book
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Speaker 1: of Revelation, which is becoming dog geared now because of
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Speaker 1: my frequent reading of it. And to lead this section
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Speaker 1: of scripture, I read these words, look up in the sky,
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Speaker 1: it's a horse. So that's the kind of stuff you
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Speaker 1: read in a Complete Idiot's Guides and Revelation. Now, if
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Speaker 1: you're the type person that thinks there will be no
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Speaker 1: animals in heaven, you're gonna have to do a lot
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Speaker 1: of semantic footwork with the white horse who appears in
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Speaker 1: verse eleven of chapter nineteen, and we too return on horses.
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Speaker 1: Verse fourteen concludes, So there will be animals there. How
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Speaker 1: does that work? Since they have no souls? Beats me.
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Speaker 1: We don't know how that could be. We don't know
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Speaker 1: how soulless creatures could be there. Some would even say
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Speaker 1: they have souls, but I'll leave that up to animal
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Speaker 1: lovers and not go there. But we have Jesus returning
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Speaker 1: on a white horse. Please observe his title verse eleven.
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Speaker 1: He is called faithful and true. Faithful to his promises,
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Speaker 1: he won't break one of them. True to his word,
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Speaker 1: he will never relinquish truth. No one has ever been
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Speaker 1: more of either than Jesus Christ. He is the faithful
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Speaker 1: and true, and on top of all that, in righteousness.
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Speaker 1: He judges and wages war. If your education in theology
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Speaker 1: has taken you only as far as the goodness and
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Speaker 1: grace and love and mercy of God, your education is
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Speaker 1: lacking because the God of the scriptures, even though critics
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Speaker 1: and cynics have a field day with this thought, is
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Speaker 1: also a god of judgment and anger and wrath and
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Speaker 1: justice and righteousness. If he were not, he would not
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Speaker 1: be holy God. So we see him now in the
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Speaker 1: person of his son, as the personification of righteousness, judging,
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Speaker 1: and waging war. He comes for the specific purpose of both.
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Speaker 1: When He first came to this earth in Bethlehem's manger,
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Speaker 1: there was not a hint of judgment. He came as
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Speaker 1: the lamb of God to take away the sins of
27:41
Speaker 1: the world. He came full of grace and mercy and
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Speaker 1: hope and truth. He came gentle and lowly in heart,
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Speaker 1: and people were drawn to him because of his compassion
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Speaker 1: and grace and understanding such vital characteristics of the true God.
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Speaker 1: But when he comes again, there will be no mercy,
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Speaker 1: there will be no compassion. There will be judgment. Hear it,
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Speaker 1: hear the truth. He will come to judge and to
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Speaker 1: make war. It's a frightening thought. We're given almost an
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Speaker 1: anatomical survey of this one who returns. We're told of
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Speaker 1: his eyes, his head, his clothing. We're told of his mouth.
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Speaker 1: We're told of his ruling track that with me Verse twelve,
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Speaker 1: his eyes or a flame of fire on his head.
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Speaker 1: Are many diadems. The Edematah Paullah Diadem's Many Many Crowns
29:04
Speaker 1: was back in the nineteenth century that Matthew Bridges wrote
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Speaker 1: the hymn based on this very section, Crown Him with
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Speaker 1: many crowns, the lamb upon his throne. Hark, how the
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Speaker 1: anthem drowns all music but its own. It was a
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Speaker 1: century before that ed Perronet wrote the song that we
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Speaker 1: love to sing to this day, all hail the power
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Speaker 1: of Jesus' name, Let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the
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Speaker 1: royal diadem, and crown him lord of all, both based
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Speaker 1: on this very section of scripture. Observe, he who wears
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Speaker 1: many crowns will have a name written on him. Verse
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Speaker 1: twelve concludes, which no one knows except himself. I'm intrigguing
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Speaker 1: observe what it says. No one knows. I have probably
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Speaker 1: twenty five volumes on the Book of Revelation in my library,
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Speaker 1: and I research them regularly. In my study. Most of
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Speaker 1: them take time with verse twelve to tell you the name.
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Speaker 1: They got an inside line that I don't have, because
30:20
Speaker 1: if I read this correctly, no one knows, not even
30:24
Speaker 1: doctor so and so, not even students so and so. So.
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Speaker 1: If you're waiting to hear what that name is, you'll
30:33
Speaker 1: have to wait a little longer. I have no clue.
30:37
Speaker 1: No one knows. It is shrouded in mystery. I don't
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Speaker 1: even have a guess, and I don't know why. I
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Speaker 1: just know there is a name that is written on
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Speaker 1: him that's not revealed. But we do know what he's
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Speaker 1: clothed with. He's clothed with a robe dipped in blood.
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Speaker 1: Now the blood is not the blood of martyrs, and
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Speaker 1: it isn't his own blood from Calvary, It is enemy blood.
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Speaker 1: It is time for judgment, and the blood will splatter
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Speaker 1: on him. The robe is dipped in blood. And his
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Speaker 1: name here is called the Word of God Alagas. John
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Speaker 1: loves that word. He calls him the word of life,
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Speaker 1: calls him the Word of God. He even calls him
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Speaker 1: in his first in his Gospel first chapter. In the
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Speaker 1: beginning was the Word. The word was with God. The
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Speaker 1: Word was God, the same who was in the beginning
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Speaker 1: with God. All things came into being through him, and
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Speaker 1: apart from him, nothing came into being. That came into
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Speaker 1: being in him was life, and the life was the
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Speaker 1: light of man. Verse fourteen. The Word became flesh. So
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Speaker 1: we know the word of verse one, verse two. Is
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Speaker 1: Jesus the Word, the living word. Now Here, some of
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Speaker 1: you say, but I thought the Bible is what we
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Speaker 1: call the word. We do, it's the written word. But
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Speaker 1: the person of Jesus is the living Word of God,
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Speaker 1: the Word of life, the word of light. And here
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Speaker 1: his name will be prominent, as he will be known
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Speaker 1: by his followers as Halagas the Word. Now we come
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Speaker 1: into this scene in verse fourteen. You may recall we
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Speaker 1: mentioned this earlier in our study. We're a part of
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Speaker 1: the armies which are in heaven. Now observe we are
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Speaker 1: clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and we are
32:53
Speaker 1: following him on white horses as well. We're not armed. Yeah, uh,
33:02
Speaker 1: we're just wearing white robes riding white horses. We look
33:07
Speaker 1: like we're gonna fight, but we're not gonna fight. We're
33:10
Speaker 1: like the French in August. We wear the garb of fighting,
33:19
Speaker 1: but we don't fight. So we're there. We're we're his armies,
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Speaker 1: and we're coming to be a part of this battle.
33:29
Speaker 1: And all we're gonna do is watch. We're gonna we're
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Speaker 1: gonna witness it, and it's not gonna last long. So
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Speaker 1: we don't dare blink as we follow him on our horses,
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Speaker 1: and we read how he fights. It's from the word
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Speaker 1: of his mouth. Verse fifteen tells us from his mouth
33:51
Speaker 1: comes a sharp sword, so that with it, with what
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Speaker 1: with that sword, he may strike down the nations. I
34:00
Speaker 1: rather believe this is symbolic in that it will be
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Speaker 1: his word. It will be his word, and perhaps only
34:09
Speaker 1: one someone suggested it will be the word enough enough,
34:20
Speaker 1: and the battle will have screeched to a halt, as
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Speaker 1: death stretches across humanity. When he came the first time,
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Speaker 1: wicked men judged him, remember herod Annas Caiaphas Pilot, They
34:44
Speaker 1: being wicked, judged him, who is righteous. When he comes
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Speaker 1: this time, he being righteous, will judge the wicked. There'll
34:52
Speaker 1: be no escape. Don't let your evening pass thinking that
34:57
Speaker 1: somehow you're going to dodge this. If you reject the
34:59
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus and spend the rest of your life doing so,
35:03
Speaker 1: you will not escape, nor will your friends. It won't
35:10
Speaker 1: be fun and games. There's nothing funny in this section.
35:15
Speaker 1: From his mouth comes a sharp sword, and with it
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Speaker 1: he strikes down the nations, and we're told immediately of
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Speaker 1: his rule. He will rule them with a rod of iron.
35:26
Speaker 1: As he treads the wine press of the fierce wrath
35:29
Speaker 1: of God, the Almighty puts a chill up my back
35:35
Speaker 1: when I read that. Every time I feel the chill
35:40
Speaker 1: the Almighty. Our generation and previous generation have cheapened the
35:49
Speaker 1: authority of the living God. He isn't our body upstairs.
35:56
Speaker 1: That's a blasphemous statement. He is our awesome, almighty, Holy God.
36:09
Speaker 1: Whom the Jews to this day, those who are Orthodox,
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Speaker 1: will not even call him by name, for the name
36:14
Speaker 1: itself is holy. They substitute Yahweh with the word ad
36:20
Speaker 1: on Ay. We could learn from them the great God
36:27
Speaker 1: the Almighty will pour out the wine press of his
36:31
Speaker 1: fierce wrath, and Jesus will carry it out with the
36:36
Speaker 1: sharp sword of his mouth. On his robe, he repeats
36:40
Speaker 1: another scene. On his robe, and on his thigh he
36:44
Speaker 1: has a name written. Look closely, Bassi legae bassy laon
36:57
Speaker 1: kaikourios Kourion of kings, Lord of lords. No one else
37:05
Speaker 1: deserves such a title.
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Speaker 3: King overall who call themselves king and lord above all,
37:10
Speaker 3: who consider themselves lord, every knee will bow, and every tongue,
37:15
Speaker 3: even though forced, will confess.
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Speaker 1: He alone is king, he alone is lord. By the way,
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Speaker 1: this setting of violence could very well be rated are
37:31
Speaker 1: there is nothing pleasant about it. In fact, the details
37:37
Speaker 1: of it given in a few moments which will cover,
37:39
Speaker 1: are enough to shock you. Before we get there. Let
37:44
Speaker 1: me mention this name that is written across his thigh
37:47
Speaker 1: and on his robe. Could it be a banner? Could
37:51
Speaker 1: it be a banner that stretches across chest abdomen, and
37:55
Speaker 1: thigh with this bassi legae bassi leone curia courian. Could
38:08
Speaker 1: that be that? Could it be written, Could it be
38:11
Speaker 1: actually in tapestry as a part of the robe. We
38:17
Speaker 1: don't know, but we do know that he comes under
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Speaker 1: the banner of this supreme title. Suddenly, John turns his
38:30
Speaker 1: attention to the sun and he sees the angel standing
38:34
Speaker 1: in the sun, perhaps to stop time. Perhaps he is
38:40
Speaker 1: in that exalted location so that no one on earth
38:43
Speaker 1: will miss if he is in the sun. This angel
38:49
Speaker 1: has a proclamation. Interestingly, he doesn't speak to humanity. Humanity
38:53
Speaker 1: is about to be destroyed. He speaks to the fowls,
38:57
Speaker 1: the carolon birds who eat dead putrefying flesh. She speaks
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Speaker 1: to the vultures and the hawks, the large birds of
39:10
Speaker 1: prey in the sky. And he says to all those
39:14
Speaker 1: that fly in mid heaven, come assemble for the Great
39:19
Speaker 1: Supper of God. You read that. You think, how in
39:25
Speaker 1: the world could he talk to a bird? Well, he
39:30
Speaker 1: made them. He knows their language. They do this funny
39:36
Speaker 1: flight all over the world to carry out their journey
39:40
Speaker 1: every season. How do they know? It's built in But
39:45
Speaker 1: they won't know to do this until they're instructed, and
39:49
Speaker 1: now they assemble. How many millions of them will there be?
39:54
Speaker 1: You've seen the documentaries as I have vultures that prey
39:58
Speaker 1: on dead animals, the marcass of animals that are left,
40:01
Speaker 1: and they just come by the scads. This is a massive,
40:06
Speaker 1: two hundred miles scene of that. And he announces why
40:12
Speaker 1: they're to do it. You're to assemble so that you
40:15
Speaker 1: may eat the flesh of kings and commanders and mighty men,
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Speaker 1: and flesh of horses and those who sit on them,
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Speaker 1: and the flesh of all men, both free, slaves, small
40:26
Speaker 1: and great. What a setting. Well, Cynthia and Chris and
40:34
Speaker 1: I were away at the conference recently. We had the
40:39
Speaker 1: pleasure of sitting at the table with officers in the military.
40:47
Speaker 1: Some of them, interestingly, as they ate, were not able
40:51
Speaker 1: to fold their fingers around their eating utensils because their
40:56
Speaker 1: hands had been broken in prison camps in years past.
41:04
Speaker 1: It's something to sit next to people like that and
41:09
Speaker 1: to put your arms around them, to hug them and
41:11
Speaker 1: thank them for their patriotism, and to feel the bones
41:15
Speaker 1: that weren't ever set right on their backs. Grand men
41:23
Speaker 1: and women who defend our country, you shake their hands.
41:27
Speaker 1: It's like shaking a small bag of bones. In some
41:32
Speaker 1: of them, you see in their eyes stories, And if
41:36
Speaker 1: you wait long enough and push hard enough, some of
41:40
Speaker 1: those stories will come out of blood baths they've lived through.
41:46
Speaker 1: This is like nothing they or anyone has ever seen.
41:54
Speaker 1: The birds flood to the setting to devour the flesh
42:02
Speaker 1: of all of these dead. It's over. Verse nineteen. The
42:11
Speaker 1: spirit of God's Spirit of God puts the fine tuning
42:17
Speaker 1: on the limbs and focuses on two the most blasphemous
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Speaker 1: people who have ever lived on earth. Satan possessed, Satan inspired.
42:29
Speaker 1: These vile, evil people who have led the world against
42:34
Speaker 1: God are now specified by name. Verse twenty. The beast,
42:42
Speaker 1: there's no fight. He ceased, and with him, the false
42:49
Speaker 1: prophet is ceased, the one who performed those miracles and
42:56
Speaker 1: deceived those who had received the mark and worshiped his image.
42:59
Speaker 1: These too, notice, don't get away with it. Judgment finally
43:06
Speaker 1: rolls down and we read they are thrown into the
43:11
Speaker 1: lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. It's a tough
43:21
Speaker 1: section of scripture, folks. When I get to a passage
43:27
Speaker 1: like this, I remember our church's mission. It's to encourage
43:30
Speaker 1: all people to pursue pursue a lifelong, joyous relationship with
43:34
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. You know why, because that's the alternative. You
43:43
Speaker 1: don't like to think about it, and I may not
43:46
Speaker 1: like to dwell on it. But I'm telling you, without Christ,
43:50
Speaker 1: there you are. The teaching of annihilation is out and
43:57
Speaker 1: about where individuals won't really last for any eternity. But
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Speaker 1: I read here that they're thrown alive, and I find
44:03
Speaker 1: them later after a thousand years, still alive. I don't
44:06
Speaker 1: see much annihilation there. Even though I can't explain it
44:11
Speaker 1: and have a hard time imagining it, I believe it
44:14
Speaker 1: is eternal punishment, torturous and dreadful, beyond imagination. Listen to
44:23
Speaker 1: several scholars. Nowhere else is there such a gory picture
44:27
Speaker 1: as the birds devouring the flesh of kings, generals and
44:30
Speaker 1: mighty men, of horses and their riders, the flesh of
44:34
Speaker 1: all people, free and slave, small and great. This can
44:37
Speaker 1: be none other than another prediction of the final global
44:40
Speaker 1: worldwide catastrophe. Earlier, in earlier, a third of the human
44:45
Speaker 1: race has suffered death by the plague. Now the surviving
44:49
Speaker 1: two thirds have a date with death. That was Max Anders,
44:55
Speaker 1: Robert Mounts writes the Final conflict. In the Final con flick,
45:00
Speaker 1: no preference will be given to rank or station. The
45:04
Speaker 1: bodies will lie on a field of battle, to be
45:06
Speaker 1: devoured by birds of prey. To remain unburied for the
45:09
Speaker 1: pleasure of the predators was considered by the anxious to
45:12
Speaker 1: be an ignominious fate. The scene is one of universal
45:16
Speaker 1: dishonor and destruction. John MacArthur adds the brief but catastrophic
45:21
Speaker 1: day of the Lord destruction will result in an unprecedented slaughter,
45:26
Speaker 1: with uncounted millions of dead bodies strewn throughout its entire
45:30
Speaker 1: two hundred mile length. And the birds will descend verse
45:39
Speaker 1: twenty one because the rest were killed with the sword
45:43
Speaker 1: which came from the mouth of him who sat on
45:46
Speaker 1: the horse, and all the birds are filled with their flesh.
45:56
Speaker 1: John Phillips, British writer, portrays it suddenly it will all
46:03
Speaker 1: be over. In fact, there will be no war at
46:05
Speaker 1: all in the sense that we think of war. There
46:09
Speaker 1: will be just a word spoken from him who sits
46:11
Speaker 1: astride the great white horse. Once he spoke a word
46:15
Speaker 1: to a fig tree, and it withered. Once he spoke
46:18
Speaker 1: a word to howling winds and heaving waves, and the
46:21
Speaker 1: waves fell still. Once he spoke to a legion of
46:25
Speaker 1: demons bursting at the seams of a poor man's soul,
46:29
Speaker 1: and instantly they fled. Now he speaks a word, and
46:32
Speaker 1: the war is over. The Blasphemo's loud mouthed beast is
46:38
Speaker 1: stricken where he stands. The false prophet, the miracle working
46:42
Speaker 1: wind bag from the pit is punctured. And still the
46:46
Speaker 1: pair of them are bundled up and hurled headlong into
46:51
Speaker 1: everlasting flames. Another word and the panic stricken armies reel
46:56
Speaker 1: and stagger and fall down dead. Thus ends the battle
47:00
Speaker 1: of Armageddon. And then what then? Jesus shall reign where
47:11
Speaker 1: ere the sun does its successive journeys run. Then people
47:16
Speaker 1: in realms of every tongue will dwell on his love
47:19
Speaker 1: with sweetest song, and infant voices shall proclaim their early
47:25
Speaker 1: blessings on his name, perfect environment, peace, true peace, as
47:33
Speaker 1: he will rule over the earth with a rod of
47:39
Speaker 1: iron for one thousand years. There are several lessons to
47:51
Speaker 1: be learned, and I'm limiting my comments to three, just three,
47:59
Speaker 1: and all three appropriately revolve around the person of Jesus.
48:03
Speaker 1: Since this passage is all about him. First, his presence
48:08
Speaker 1: will set the final stage, just his presence. Interestingly, John
48:15
Speaker 1: never describes Earth and what it will look like. John
48:18
Speaker 1: never mentions mountains and valleys, never mentioned seas and oceans.
48:23
Speaker 1: He just mentions the one whose presence fills the stage.
48:28
Speaker 1: It'll be all about Jesus. It'll be all about the King,
48:31
Speaker 1: all about the Lord. It'll be what we have awaited
48:36
Speaker 1: all these years. Second, his name will be the final authority.
48:42
Speaker 1: There'll be no other name above that King's name, no
48:45
Speaker 1: other lord more important than his name as Lord. His
48:50
Speaker 1: presence will fill the final stage. His name will be
48:53
Speaker 1: the final authority. Third, his word will win the final battle.
49:02
Speaker 1: His word will win the final battle. I don't believe
49:08
Speaker 1: there will be a shot fired. Shots really have a
49:13
Speaker 1: hard time affecting omnipotence. As he returns, the battle ends
49:25
Speaker 1: as this enormous bloodbath occurs. Now, wait, what you are
49:35
Speaker 1: determines what you see. What you see determines what you do.
49:40
Speaker 1: I I know what I see. I just can't speak
49:44
Speaker 1: for you. And when I see this, I bow and
49:49
Speaker 1: I want to get quiet. Yeah, have you bowed before him?
50:00
Speaker 1: Have you submitted yourself to the authority of the Lord, Jesus.
50:09
Speaker 1: Joseph Seiss, in an outstanding book on the apocalypse, writes,
50:16
Speaker 1: with eloquence, the great Conqueror bows the heavens and comes down.
50:23
Speaker 1: He rides upon the cherub horse and flies upon the
50:26
Speaker 1: wings of the wind. He dashes forth in the fury
50:30
Speaker 1: of his incensed greatness, amid clouds and fire and pillars
50:34
Speaker 1: of smoke. The sun frowns, the mountains melt and cleave
50:39
Speaker 1: asunder at his presence. The hills bound up from their
50:44
Speaker 1: seats and skip like lambs. The waters are dislodged from
50:49
Speaker 1: their channels. The sky is rent and folds up upon
50:54
Speaker 1: itself like a collapsed tent. It is the day for
50:58
Speaker 1: executing an arm world, a world in covenant with Hell,
51:04
Speaker 1: to overcome and overthrow the authority and throne of God,
51:09
Speaker 1: and everything in terrified nature joins to signalize the deserved vengeance.
51:21
Speaker 1: Have you bowed before him? Have you acknowledged that he
51:27
Speaker 1: is your savior? Let's take care of that now. Will
51:34
Speaker 1: you please close your eyes. Let's set aside just a
51:39
Speaker 1: few closing moments. You've listened very carefully. Some of you
51:50
Speaker 1: would have to say, there's more here than I can
51:52
Speaker 1: take in. That's understandable in the infinite text of Scripture.
51:59
Speaker 1: There's always more than the mind can perceive and embrace.
52:05
Speaker 1: But there's enough. Let me just cut to the chase.
52:12
Speaker 1: If you've never trusted the Lord Jesus, how foolish of
52:16
Speaker 1: you to live another day without taking care of that,
52:20
Speaker 1: because you and I don't know what a day may
52:21
Speaker 1: bring forth. You may not see nightfall, you may not
52:28
Speaker 1: know the breath in your lungs next week. My responsibility
52:34
Speaker 1: is to speak truth, and I have done that to
52:36
Speaker 1: the best of my ability. Today it's now your move
52:41
Speaker 1: to bow before him. Don't wait. I loved it when
52:55
Speaker 1: we built our church here that we set aside a
52:59
Speaker 1: room we're so could be dealt with in private. We
53:03
Speaker 1: found that some folks have thirty minutes worth of questions.
53:08
Speaker 1: Not all decisions are made by standing up and walking
53:11
Speaker 1: down an aisle. Some time, it helps to be able
53:14
Speaker 1: to dialogue, to reason through your decision, to come to
53:20
Speaker 1: a conclusion in a place where you're not on display.
53:25
Speaker 1: Our prayer room is located to your right here on
53:28
Speaker 1: this main floor. Through that door. Go there. We have
53:36
Speaker 1: qualified and trained individuals and our sole care ministry who
53:41
Speaker 1: will sit with you and talk as long as you
53:43
Speaker 1: need to. At one woman's share with me as we
53:49
Speaker 1: began the service, that she is a victim of abuse.
53:52
Speaker 1: She lived in abuse in her marriage, beaten mercilessly. She
53:57
Speaker 1: sits in our audience today. You may be like that,
54:03
Speaker 1: perhaps not physically broken, but emotionally at an end. And
54:09
Speaker 1: you read a passage like this, and it just frightens you.
54:13
Speaker 1: No need to leave in fear, you know the Lord Jesus,
54:20
Speaker 1: you can no escape from this and even forgiveness. Now
54:30
Speaker 1: soon as you hear the organ begin to play, come on,
54:39
Speaker 1: come today, Father, Today, I confess to you that I
54:47
Speaker 1: have stepped into a scene so infinite and mind boggling.
54:51
Speaker 1: I have to pause and let the wonder in. I
54:57
Speaker 1: read of a name that no one knows. I see
55:00
Speaker 1: a scene that no one but John has ever seen.
55:04
Speaker 1: I witness birds that do what they've never done. I
55:10
Speaker 1: speak of a slaughter that the world has never known.
55:17
Speaker 1: We all hear of a war that's without a shot fired,
55:22
Speaker 1: and we are in awe of you, Great God, forgive
55:28
Speaker 1: us for wasting so many of our days in frivolous
55:32
Speaker 1: silly stuff, missing eternal things by focusing on the temporal,
55:41
Speaker 1: worrying over the non essentials, while the essentials slide by.
55:47
Speaker 1: To day we've read that which is essential to know.
55:52
Speaker 1: Help those, especially who are not ready to take care
55:56
Speaker 1: of that to day, now before it's too late, and
56:02
Speaker 1: now unto him who is able to guard you from stumbling,
56:04
Speaker 1: and present you faultless before the presence of His glory
56:07
Speaker 1: with exceeding great joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
56:12
Speaker 1: be glory and majesty, dominion and power now and forevermore.
56:21
Speaker 1: Through Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
56:26
Speaker 1: we pray, and everyone said Amen.