Well, we are in Hour 23 of Learn the Bible
in 24 Hours. And in which, we will attempt to go from Revelation
Chapter 4 to the end of the book, Chapter 22. And you may recall that Revelation is
one of the unique books that gives you the outline of the book in verse 19 of Chapter 1. John has told to write the things which thou
hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be μετὰ ταῦτα Hereafter or after these things. It's past, present and future
tense, in effect. What he has seen and what's past at this point
in Chapter ... by Verse 19 of Chapter 1 is the vision of Christ. And every little label,
every detail in that vision is used then as an identity somewhere later in the book. And some of the identities are very obvious. Some are very subtle. And then he says, "Write the things which
are," that actually exist now. And that's, obviously, the 7 churches. Chapters 2 and 3 are 7 letters
penned by Jesus Christ to 7 churches. When we count epistles, we often say there's
21 epistles. 14 ascribed to John and 7 others. And no, there's actually another 7
that often get overlooked. And that's the ones by Jesus Himself
[laughs] in Chapters 2 and 3. Probably the richest material in the entire
book. But at this point, we're going to see what
shall be hereafter. What follows after the churches and the word
hereafter in the Greek is μετὰ ταῦτα. And because I've taught this way for
many years, there's a society in Utah called the Meta Tauta Society, which basically hosts a national speaker once a month. But the guy that organized that picked this up from these presentations, actually. But in any case, so when you get to Chapter
4 Verse 1, not surprisingly, the first words you're greeted with in the Greek is μετὰ ταῦτα,
after these things. It's translated after this in your English
translation. So John continues saying, "After this, I looked
and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice, which I heard was as
it were of a trumpet talking with me which said, "Come up hither." And I will show thee things which must be
what? μετὰ ταῦτα, after these things. Oh, and another point, that comes up in Verse
5 of Chapter 4. And there were 7 lamps of fire burning before
the throne. Jesus identified those 7 lamps in Chapter
1. What were they? The churches. Where are they in Chapter 4? In heaven. That's significant. All right. These subtleties are the kinds of things I
want to attune you to. And don't ... again, I want to remind you put
Acts 17:11 at the top of your notepad. Acts 17:11 is where Luke tells you, "Don't
believe anything Chuck Missler tells you." “Receive with openness of mind, but
search the scriptures daily to prove whether those things be so.” So we're entering, in Chapter 4, we're actually
entering the throne room of the universe. We actually have a vision of the throne of
God in the first couple ... second or third verses. And by the way, the throne of God, you see
that in Isaiah 6. You'll see it in Ezekiel 1 and 10. These are major
passages that you can read and compare and, you'll see the things that are consistent and you'll also notice some subtle things that are different. And in those, there's great
lessons. But we also find ourselves confronted here
in Chapter 4 with 24 elders. 24 elders. And we'll discover as we get into
Chapter 5, that they will identify themselves as kings and priests. And I'm going to
suggest to you that they represent the redeemed. And that may sound like a strange representation. Some people say, well, gee, there's 24 elders. 12 apostles and 12 patriarchs. I don't think it has anything to do with that. I think it has ... the only place 24 appears
in the Bible is when David organizes the priesthood. The Levitical priests were organized into
24 ... what's translated courses. And each course officiated in the temple for
1 week. And on Shabbat, they shifted to the next one. And they cycled that way. Sort of like a watch bill in the Navy
in a sense, except that you were a priest. You were the course of so and so. There's 24 of those. The course that you were in is the one you
always served with throughout the year. And you'd serve every 24 weeks, in effect. Once every 24 weeks in that, in a formal sense. And certain holidays had them all. But any case, we also find in Revelation 4
the 7 lamps burning. And I'm going to suggest to you they are the
same lamps that Jesus identified in Chapter 1 as the churches. What's interesting is we also encounter in
the description of the throne room of the universe a sea of glass that the elders are standing
on. And I think this is kind of interesting because
the whole throne room of the universe is modeled by the tabernacle. In many ways, and I won't go through all that here,
but it's interesting the correlative part of that in the tabernacle was the molten
sea, this huge laver that they bathed them. Molten sea is a clumsy translation of a brass
wash basin. Large, it was ... 5 cubits deep, 7 and a half feet deep. They could actually immerse and have their ritual washing there. And so, it's interesting in the tabernacle,
it represented the word of God. Now you're cleaned by the washing of the word. Ephesians uses that expression. But here, the elders are standing on it. They're standing on the word of God. Right here, you and I, we wash in it. There, we'll stand on it. And you said, "Chuck, that's a pun." Yes, it is. It's a figure of speech and it's interesting
the consistency. But in any case, we also encounter that whenever ...
we see the throne of God, we always seem to encounter these 4 living
creatures. Some unfortunate translations label that beasts. And that causes them to get confused with Chapter 13 of Revelation. It's a different Greek word, the Zoe. It's the ... they're living creatures. These are the Cherubim. They're probably similar to or maybe the same
as the creatures in Isaiah 6, which he calls seraphim. But they are characterized by a number of
things. They have wings and so on, but they have 4
faces. The lion, the calf, the man and the eagle. And we felt that was very significant both
in terms of the camp of Israel and its 4, the 4 camps that make up, you know, 3
tribes each. That we looked at in Numbers 2 and then also
they're idiomatic of the 4 gospels, interestingly enough. But the 24 elders I believe are foreshadowed
in a sense by David's 24 courses. In 1 Chronicles 24 you can check that out. It shocks many Bible students to discover
there are other priesthoods besides the Levitical priesthood that is so prominent of course
in the Torah. In the Book of Leviticus and all through the history of Israel, the priesthood was separate from the ruling line. The ruling tribe was Judah. The priesthood was Levi and they were not
to cross. It's interesting though, if you study your
Bible carefully, the most prominent, non-Levitical priest is Melchizedek. He shows up incidentally in Genesis 14 and
he would disappear into oblivion if it wasn't for Psalm 110 and about 3 chapters
of the book of Hebrews. Where they emphasized that Jesus Christ is a priest and a king after
the order of, or in the fashion of, in a sense, of Melchizedek who is both a king and a priest. What many people don't notice is that Jethro,
Moses' father-in-law, was a priest of Midian. He wasn't a Levitical priest but he was a
priest. And Jacob also gives tithes in Genesis
28 to whom? It was long before, long before any of
these. That could be related to Melchizedek. It might be something else. Those are, you know, perceptions. So be aware of that. But the main point is, there are only 3 people
in the scripture that are a king and a priest. Melchizedek, Hebrews 5, the writer
to Hebrews 5, 6 and 7 hammers away that Jesus is unique and that He's a king and a priest. Non, non-Levitical and there's a third category
that is, that's us. The 24 elders are kings and priests as we'll
see. When you get to Chapter 5:9-10. It says they sang, they sung a new song that
the elders are singing. Saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book,
to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out
of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And has made us unto our God, kings and priests. And we shall reign on the earth." Now it's interesting. I'll just summarize it now, but you'll follow
as we go. The tribulation doesn't start until the Lamb
starts opening the seals of the book. He doesn't receive the book to open it until
after the 24 elders have crashed, put their crowns on the glassy sea. The main point is, the elders are up there
worshiping Christ before the tribulation starts. Very interesting and it's consistent with
a number of other passages, obviously. Notice how often it's us and we. Something I should point out to you that
we know that the elders are not angels because of Chapter 7:11 it makes it clear they're
distinct from angels. They identify themselves here by saying, "Thou
has redeemed us," they're saying. "Thou has made us and we shall reign on the
earth." This is the expectation of the elders. And it's obviously ... now, there are
some that say, gee, there's some manuscript. You'll hear some Bible footnotes will say, but
there's some manuscripts makes that third person. You know, thou has redeemed them and so forth. That's misleading. Only one manuscript out of 24 renders it that
way. Clearly, the abundance of the scriptural evidence is exactly the way it's been translated. And that's why it's been translated that way
in our Bible. But you get to Chapter 5, we have this pivotal
event. An event that you really won't understand
if you haven't studied the book of Ruth. To understand what a kinsman redeemer is.
But let's jump in. John says, "And I saw the right hand of Him
that sat on the throne a scroll written within and on the backside, sealed with 7 seals." What's written on the backside? That wasn't
normally done, but it was done with title deeds. Because on the backside was written the requirements
that it took to open it. If you're going to redeem it, the requirements
to redeem it were spelled out on the outside. And if you were qualified, then you could open it and claim it. So this is a scroll written within and on
the backside, and it was sealed with 7 seals. Not 1 seal, 7 of them. So you break 1 and you can unroll it partway. You break another one, it's sequential in
that sense. Remember, it's not like a book we think of. It was not a ... what we call a book would be formerly called a codex. They were starting to emerge in the 1st Century.
But this is in the Old Testament idiom in a sense, and it's a scroll as you visualize it. John continues, "And I saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose the seals thereof?" "And no man," notice that. "No man." We're talking about a man here. Had to be a kinsman of Adam. Adam forfeited it. If you're going to redeem it, you have to
be a kinsman. "No man in heaven or in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the scroll, neither to look thereon." And you and I might not fully understand
this, but John did. Because in Verse 4, John says, "I sobbed convulsively." He really ... he didn't sniffle. He really ... he wept much is the way it's translated
typically. "Because no man was found worthy to open and to read the scroll, neither to look thereon." This is a huge tragedy. This is a cosmic tragedy if it was left undone. At this point though, it's a huge cloud on
the proceedings. But fortunately, one of the elders said unto
me, John says, "Weep not. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the
Root of David hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the 7 seals thereof." I want you to notice one of His qualifications
to do that wasn't just that he was God and He was perfect. He also was man. Part of His mission was to become man to be
qualified to redeem that which man had forfeited. John continues, "And I beheld, and, lo," In other words, I visualize the elder telling
you is going to be, "look, The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed." And as John turns, he doesn't see a lion. These are idioms of title. These aren't visual. You know, it's not a lion with mane. It's a title of Christ. But as he turns, "as I beheld, and, lo, in the
midst of the throne and of the 4 living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood the Lamb as
it had been slain." And this isn't a 4-footed lamb as you sometimes
see artist's renderings. This is a title of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist introduced Him publicly. When he first introduced Him, he said, "Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." That's the way John the Baptist introduced His
first appearance publicly. So "the Lamb," not a lamb by the way, "the Lamb
as it had been slain, having 7 horns and 7 eyes, which are the 7
spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." It's interesting to see, interesting to me
to see where the Lamb is. He is in the midst of the elders. That's precious. That's precious. "The Lion of the tribe of Judah," also "the Lamb
as it had been slain." "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the" ... now
we're going to. Now this is going to start a sequence of 7
seals. The book's got 7 seals. We're going to open them one by one. John says, "I saw when the Lamb opened one of the
seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, and one of the 4 beasts," that's 1 of these 4
cherubim "saying, come and see." "And I saw, and behold a white horse: And he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown
was given unto him: And he went forth conquering, and to conquer." You know, it's interesting how many expositors
will publish a book and because he's riding a white horse, they think he's a good guy. And they try to identify him with Jesus Christ. And if this is Jesus Christ, we've got a problem,
because he's in bad company. The other horsemen are pretty grim as you'll
see. No, just because it's a white horse does
... it's interesting that he is a poser. He is a phony. He is the false Christ. And ... he does such a good job of it. He misleads many commentators. "He that sat on him had a bow." The word bow - technon in the Greek, is ...
in the book of Genesis, God gave Noah a bow. A rainbow in that case. It was a token of a covenant. And I believe the word bow here is also a
token of a covenant. It's the covenant that defines the 70th week
of Daniel, but let's go on. "And a crown was given unto him. And he went forth conquering and to conquer." And if that's all we knew, it'd be ambiguous
but let's go see what happens next. So we have the 1st seal, a white horseman
going forth to conquer. We're going to have 4. The first 4 seals are the famed 4 horsemen
of the apocalypse. The first one is riding a white horse. "When he'd opened the 2nd seal, I heard the second
beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red. And powers given to him that sat thereon to
take peace from the earth that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword." And so, we have the red horseman which represent
wars. So conquering and going forth with wars. These
are turbulent times, obviously. Going forth here. "And when he opened the 3rd seal, I heard the third beast say, 'Come and see.' And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that
sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the 4 beasts
say, 'A measure of wheat for a penny, and 3 measures of barley for a penny. And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'" The term, the denarius here, that's
translated was a day's wage. And one measure of wheat ...
you get one meal for a day's wage. You get, the less expensive grain you can get 3. But ... all luxuries are out of the question. This seems to be, in the minds of most analysts, an idiomatic way of describing inflation and
famine. It may shock you to discover that most famines
in the history of the world, are ... due to political maneuvering not a shortage
of resources. That's a very cynical, disturbing discovery
but ... there are scholars that will support that. So we have conquest, wars, famine, "and when
he had opened the 4th seal, I heard the voice of the 4th beast say, 'Come and see.' And I looked and behold a pale horse:" The word pale is ... the word in the Greek is
actually chlorous. It's a pale green. Behold a chlorous horse. "And ... his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell," or Hades, "followed with him." Let me comment quickly here. I think most of you should ... recognize it.
In the Hebrew, it's called Sheol. In the Greek it's called Hades. It's not hell as we think of hell. It's the ... domain of the departed souls. It's not the grave, the grave's the body. Graves can be owned by people, have a
name on it. No, no one owns Sheol or Hades. And Hades has 2 compartments, the good guys
and the bad guys. It's all out of Luke 16. You can study it. When you see hell often in the English Bible,
it really should be translated, it's a translation of either the Sheol of the Hebrew in the Old
Testament or the Hades of the Greek. And Hades will be cast into hell at the
end of the Book ... of Revelation. Hades and Sheol are temporary reservoirs. And their ... the idioms are geocentric. Gehenna or the thing that we think of
as hell is just the opposite. It's in the outer darkness. Anyway, "Death and Hades followed with him. And
power was given unto them over," them, see, it's plural. It's all 4 of these characters. "Over a 4th part of the earth." "A 4th part of the earth, to kill with sword,
and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." And the word beasts there, by the way, don't
jump to the conclusion you're talking about 4-footed mammals. Those beasts might be microscopic. This could ... include in its overview
pestilence, disease of different kinds. So we have the 4th. So these 4, white, red, black and green are
the fabled 4 horsemen. In literature, these 4 horses when they're
riding are idiomatic of wars and dark times. There've been many novels and fiction
items that lean on the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse as idiomatic of just trouble,
turbulence, death, conquer, conquering, going forth wars,
famine, death and so forth as a group. And to try to identify the white horseman
as Christ will just give you confusion trying to make sense of the rest of it. Let's move on. "When he had opened the 5th seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which
they held: And they cried with a loud voice saying, 'How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth.’ And white robes were given unto every one
of them." That's interesting because these martyrs must
have been resurrected to wear robes. And it was said unto them that they should ... rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their
brethren, should be killed as they were should be fulfilled." So that's ... the martyrs is the
5th seal. "And I beheld when he opened the 6th seal,
and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island ... were moved out of their places." It's fascinating to me that there are scholars
that try to argue the Book of Revelation's already been fulfilled. I don't think so. Not so you'd notice. "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and
the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the
mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us. Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on
the throne, and from the,'" what? "The wrath of the Lamb." I want you to notice that this trouble is
more than just persecution. It is the wrath, not of Satan. There are those
that paint that picture in their books that they write. No. The wrath is whose? Jesus’. "The wrath of the Lamb." I want you to notice this occurs all through
the book, but it's showing up here in Chapter 6, at the front end of all these things. It isn't something left to the very end. Follow me? "And who shall be able to stand?" Now those of you who were paying attention
when we went through Joshua, remember that's … What did the enemies of Joshua do? They tried to ... hide in the caves,
rocks fall on us, and so forth. There's a parallel, the Book of
Joshua, the Book of Revelation have the same outline. It's very worth your ... comparison, comparative study. So we have these cosmic changes. I'll just summarize it with. Now then, I want you to notice something else. This is a pattern in the book. When there's 7 things, you'll notice there'll
be 6 things and then a break. A parentheses, as the subject seems to change,
they talk about something else for a while and then they give you the 7th one. It's always 6, a break, and the 7th. And in this case, we have after Chapter 6,
the trumpets that are going to follow. They don't start until Chapter 8. Chapter 7 is sort of like an insert, or like
a ... like catching your breath. These things are building up. And it's as if ... it's almost as if the screen director gives you a chance to catch your breath and talk about
something else for a moment. So what comes in here is that, in Chapter
7, is the sealing of the 144,000. What is listed there are the 12 tribes. 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes
make up this peculiar special number of 144,000. And I think it's 144,000 because that's what
it says. And as if to emphasize that, the Holy Spirit
says there's 12,000 from Judah, 12,000 where ... He goes through the tribes. So when somebody rings your doorbell, and
claims they're one of the 144,000, ask him what tribe he's from. There are, ... I don't, I'm not to disparage
some of these other cults and things, but there's a real fixation by some on the
... being one of the 144,000. The 144,000 are clearly Jewish and they're
sealed after the rapture. There are 2 tribes missing. I thought there's 12 tribes. Well, there's 12 tribes here aren't there? Name one of the tribes that's missing. Ephraim. Good, that's good. Many people miss that. Ephraim is there but it's in disguise. You see, you've got Joseph in here. But by the time you get to Joseph, you've
already mentioned Manasseh. The tribe of Joseph consists of Manasseh and
Ephraim. Well, Manasseh's listed. So, what's left is Ephraim, but it's called
the tribe of Joseph. It's as if the Holy Spirit's giving him the back
of His hand. He's there, but not by his personal name. Do you follow me? But there's somebody else even more conspicuous
that's totally missing. Tribe of Dan. And this is a legend. People have speculated about this way back
even in the Old Testament period, strangely enough. As you study the tribe of Dan throughout the
scripture, you'll notice that the more you study and the stranger that tribe is. And
so, we're going to wonder where is the tribe of Dan? Where's Ephraim? Well, Ephraim I've mentioned. Why is Dan not here? Well, the general consensus by theologians is
it's the tribe through which idolatry entered the land. The golden calf up north and all of that. Jacob in Genesis 49 prophesies over each of
the 12 tribes and when he talks about Dan, he calls ... he alludes to him as a serpent. And, that's ... in the Levitical
idioms, that's pretty disparaging. And so, the tribe of Dan has as its symbol ... an eagle with a serpent in its mouth. And, Ahesur the head of the
tribe of Dan during the time of the Exodus didn't like the serpent. So he had an eagle with a serpent, and that
later becomes the symbol of the tribe or simply the serpent, simply the eagle without the
serpent. But Moses also, just like Jacob did in
Genesis 49, Moses in Deuteronomy 33 also closes his book by prophesying over each of the 12
tribes. And when he talks about Dan. He makes a strange remark. He says, he shall leap from Bashan. Bashan is what you and I would call the Golan
Heights, up north. What makes that prophecy rather strange, after
Moses, of course, Joshua takes over when they conquer the land. They finally, after 7 years, they succeed. And then the land is allocated among the tribes. And the allocation of Dan was west of Benjamin.
That is, visualize it between Jerusalem and the Coast. And they can't cut it there. Their big hero was Samson. He did a lot, he made a lot of colorful pranks
on the Philistines, which are the adversaries there. But he didn't really accomplish much. And when he dies, they can't hold the turf. So they send a military group up
north. They find a town called Laish, which they
capture and take over and they move up north. So during the history of Israel, they say
from Dan to Beersheba, the way we would say from Maine to California in other words Dan up north
to Beersheba down the extreme south. But that wasn't where they were allocated. And it's so fascinating to look back and see
that Moses predicted that they would leap from Bashan because they not only went up
there. They then leave from there. And strangely enough, they left, when you
get to Judges 18, Deborah and Barak, this huge victory over Sisera and she compliments
the tribes that helped and she disparages the tribes that didn't help. And about Dan, she says, "He wouldn't
even leave his ships." His ships? What's he doing in ships? So we get the impression that Dan sought their
future separate from the Commonwealth of Israel very, very early. Even in the days of Exodus and on. And so, it's interesting that something that may shock many historians is to discover that Sparta and Troy
were Jewish. You can find letters from, in the book of Maccabees, between the high priest and the king of Sparta acknowledging
their common ancestry. So it's very ... there's a whole side here
to study. But Deborah's indictment gives us a hint there's far more going on here. And so Dan is, in any case for whatever
reason, you'll also discover throughout the text that where there is ... where
they go through. Like in 1 Chronicles, they give the chronologies,
the genealogies, excuse me. The genealogies of each of the tribes, they skipped Dan. The Holy Spirit seems to have something against
Dan from the get go. And so he's omitted from the genealogies and,
of course, he's not sealed during the tribulation which is what Revelation 7 is all about. Okay. So we have this, parenthetical topic, Chapter
7 and then we get to the 7th seal. It picks up in Chapter 8 Verse 1. "And he had opened the 7th seal, there was silence
in heaven about the space of half an hour." This leads to the speculation that there's
no attorneys in heaven. Or politicians, but that's, of course,
being flippant. But it's interesting that there was silence
in heaven for about half an hour. And it's interesting that if you studied, again
studied Jericho and the 7 times they marched around the city, they keep silent. The 7th time, they do it 7 times, and then they
shout and the walls come down. But you'll notice that the patterning is very deliberate. And then he goes on "and I saw 7 angels which
stood before God and to them were given 7 trumpets." We've been through 7 seals. Now we're going to go through 7 trumpets. And so, the 7th seal is silence in preparation
for the 7 trumpets. "The 7 angels which the 7 trumpets prepared
themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of the trees was burnt up,
and all the green grass was burnt up." Some scholars try to make those symbols. Some of them take them very literally. It's your choice as you get more familiar
with it, with the thing. That's the first trumpet. The second trumpet, "the second angel sounded,
and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and a third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which
were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed." Now people have different views as to what
these visions and symbols mean. But I can tell you after 50 years of study,
every time I go through it, every time I think I've learned a little bit more, it's always
nudged me in the direction of taking it more literally than before. So, that doesn't mean I'm right. but I can tell you, I have come more and more,
to believe that God means what He says and says what He means. Within the framework of figures of speech. But I think that when you see them,
when you've got creatures in the sea that died because of this and a third part of the ships
are destroyed, I tend to think that that's real water and real ships and real oceans. But that's just my view. There are good scholars with different views. "And the third angel sounded, there fell a
great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp, and it fell up on the third part of
the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they
were made bitter." So we have 3 trumpets and we'll
go to the 4th. "The 4th angel sounded, and the third part of
the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the
night likewise." So we have the 4th, the darkness. A third of the sun and stars, "and I ... beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice," Get this. "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason
of the other voices of the trumpet of the 3 angels, which are yet to sound." In the vernacular I'd say, "you haven't seen
anything yet. The next 3 are real doosers." The inhabiters of the earth. You'll notice
all through the Book of Revelation, you have the earth dwellers. They're the losers. The term is used of those that are going to
experience this judgment. You're going to see, God isn't through. There are people that get saved and so forth
after the rapture, many. But, it's ... understand that
the earth dwellers are the inhabiters of the earth. I don't believe that means everybody that happens
to be here. I think it's the people who inhabit the earth. That's their focus. That's their dwelling. That's their commitment. In contrast to us who are pilgrims passing
through. But, anyway, this is a warning of what
the so-called ... the last 3 trumpets are called 3 woes. So we've got 3 woes coming here. "The 5th angel sounded, and I saw a star
fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key to the ἄβυσσος, the bottomless
pit." Now there's only one place that a pit can be
bottomless. Think about it. Where is the only place you can have a pit
that has no bottom? Let me ask you another kind of question. Suppose I had a house and each side of the
house faced south. And I looked out the window and saw a bear. What color would the bear be? Mm-hmm (affirmative) White. Good. Because the only place I could have a house with 4
sides, all of which are south, is at the pole. Using that same logic, where is the only place
you can have a bottomless pit? The center of the earth. Center of the earth, all directions are up. So I'm one of these crazies that I really
think the abussos is geocentric. At least it certainly is idiomatically,
and it's interesting to me that Hades and Sheol and abussos are all geocentric terms
when the Gehenna is in the outer darkness. Just a thought. Anyway, moving on. "And he opened the bottomless pit; and there
arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; And the sun and the air were darkened by reason
of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions
of the earth have power." Now are these real locusts? I don't think so, and
I'll show you why. These are idiomatic locusts and I'll show
you why. In Revelation 9, it goes on for many, many
verses describing these creatures. And they are strange creatures. And it goes on, "they had tails like scorpions, and
their head stings and their tails and their power was to hurt men 5 months. And they had a king over them." A-ha. There's the clue. "They had a king over them, which is the angel
of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath
his name Apollyon." Both mean destroyer. Proverbs 30:27 tells us that the locusts have
no king. It happens to make that remark, but I think
the Holy Spirit put it in there to help us unravel this. These locusts have a king. So are they locusts? Not in the natural sense. Those are idioms for some kind of demon creatures
because these have a king. And that's kind of interesting, because if
you study Amos 7:1 in the Septuagint, you'll discover that there is a very big difference
in the Masoretic, the Hebrew and the Greek translation three centuries before Christ
of that particular verse. The law ... cut right through it is
that the name of the king of the locusts, his name is Gog. Gog and Magog. Gog is a title. It's a demonic title. Magog is a people. Anyway, moving on. This is, at this point, though, "One woe
is past; and, behold, there come 2 woes more hereafter." So we have ... now the 1st of
the woes there. "The 6th angel sounded, and I heard a voice
from the 4 horns of the golden altar which is before God." So, that's idiomatic, of course, of the golden
altar in the Tabernacle. "Saying to the 6th angel which had a trumpet,
loose the 4 angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the 4 angels were loosed, which were prepared
for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." This is a strange passage because it seems
to underscore the fact that demons, demon hosts are geographically bounded. What on earth, the fact that there's these
demon creatures, fine. What has it got to do with the river Euphrates? The River Euphrates will show up several times
in the Book of Revelation. The River Euphrates was the Eastern boundary
of the Roman Empire. When it seems to have a ... it's
very strange because there's major negotiations going on between Israel and Turkey over the water rights and so forth. The water is more precious in the Middle East
than oil in some respects. You can't drink oil. "The rest of the men which were not killed by
these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship
devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see,
nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their
sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." One of the cloudy, gloomy aspects of the Book
of Revelation - nowhere in the book is there repentance. As these things come and they get worse and
worse and worse, people still don't repent and acknowledge God. Very dismal forecast. Okay. So we've got these 6 trumpets. Now again, we would expect a parenthesis, and
there's a substantial parenthesis here of a handful of chapters, 4 chapters. We have Chapters 10 through 14. Chapter 10 is, has a strange episode of the
mighty angel comes down to the book and has, asked John to digest it. In Chapter 11, we have this interesting episode
of these 2 witnesses. And then you have Chapter 12. It's an interesting chapter. It's a summary of the history of Israel. And then Chapter 13 introduces us to these
2 beasts that we collectively call the anti-Christ. Remember, there's 2 guys. A political leader and religious leader. We'll
see in these 2 beasts of Chapter 13. And Chapter 14 is sort of an echo of Chapter
7. We had those 12, the 12 tribes, the 144,000
sealed. The fruits of their preaching will show up
in Chapter 14. So we have this interesting parenthesis. "And
the second woe is past; behold, the 3rd woe cometh quickly. The 7th angel sounded; and there were great
voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever. And the 4 and 20 elders, which sat before God on
their seats, fell down" excuse me, "fell upon their faces, and worshipped God." And so the 7th trumpet is a declaration
that the mystery of God is finished. That's pretty exciting. Let's take a look at this parenthetical passage. See the 7th trumpet ushers in, will usher
in, when you get to it. The 7 bowls that are coming. We have seals, trumpets, then bowls. The bowls that are coming. This mighty angel that shows up in Chapter 10. He has a book that is now unsealed. He tells John to digest it. It also is written within on the backside. Many scholars feel that the book he's talking
about is just the book we've just seen opened. It also says thou must prophesy again. Some people feel, well it's turned over. It's a repeat or it's an overlay. There's different views on that part of it. Then we have this peculiar passage of the
7 thunders uttering their voices. 7 thunders utter their voice and John is about
to write what they said when he's instructed don't write it. So he crosses it out. He removes it. And that's puzzling. Why on earth did he even mention it then? And I have a theory. I think the 7, I think the word of God will
not be complete until those 7 thunders utter and are recorded. Any Bible doctrine that's built on the premise
that there is, the Canon is complete is thus frail. I don't think there's anything else missing
other than the 7 thunders. Don't misunderstand me. But there are people who try to make an argument
that the gifts of the Spirit were only until the Canon was complete. The gifts of the Spirit didn't end. You can't find a Biblical basis for saying they ended. There are lots of different gifts. There's a whole study. We went through that when we're in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14. But I think what's interesting about
the 7 thunders, if nothing else, is that it puts to silence any attempt to make a doctrine
that the Canon is complete. But that's a speculation. Let's go on. In Chapter 11, we have the temple featured. The first 2 verses. And because of that,
this is a good, this would be a good place to insert background on the temple except
we covered that pretty well last time, a while ago. Jesus, Paul and John, all make runners to
the fact that the temple will be standing. Jesus does in Matthew 24. Very key, the key
to End Time prophesy. Paul alluded to it 2 Thesalonians that we looked
at last time and that's why we went into it last time. Although it shows up here in Revelation in
the first 2 verses of Chapter 11. The temple is standing. But the rest of that
chapter deals with these 2 characters that show up. The temple's measured as I indicated. The outer
court is given to the Gentiles for 42 months. That's the first half of the, or the last
half of the ... 70th week of Daniel. These 2 witnesses show up and they're
empowered for 1260 days. Though again, we have the 42 months,
these are the half weeks of Daniel's 70 weeks. They can do 4 different ... together, they
can do 4 different things. They can call down fire from heaven, one. They can shut down, shut the heavens so there
will be no rain. They can turn water into blood and they can
smite the earth with plagues. It's for that reason that I'm among those
that believe that these 2 witnesses are literally the 2 guys that had those 4 powers. I'll come back to that in a minute. Elijah and Moses. Elijah called down
fire from heaven. He's the only one that did that I can find. Remember at Mount Carmel. He also shut heaven down for no rain. And what's fascinating about that to me, you
won't find this recorded in the Old Testament but you'll find allusions to it in the New
Testament. How long did he shut down heaven for no rain? 3 and a half years. I think that's interesting. And, of course, Moses turned water into blood
and smit the earth with plagues. So these particular powers that
are listed there are indicative of Elijah and Moses. And both Elijah and Moses had their ministries interrupted. So you can make ... there's a whole study you
can get into. Other people have different views, but
for what it's worth. What's interesting about this is that, they will, when they're
through ministering, they will be killed by the anti-Christ. And this is the only celebration that occurs
on the earth in the Book of Revelation. When they're finally killed, the world exchanges
gifts thrilled that these troublemakers are finally killed. And the bodies lay in the street for
3 and a half days. I assume it's featured on television. Then the big scene occurs as they're resurrected
and taken up to heaven. I can just imagine CNN covering that
right now. I could just visualize that. But that clearly is tough stuff. Chapter 12 is a fascinating summary of the
history of Israel in idioms. There's a woman identified with the sun and
the moon and 12 stars and she's with child. The first thing you need to understand is
who is the woman. Some people try to make her the church and
as Chuck Smith likes to point out, if the woman is the church she's in big trouble
because she's pregnant. The church is supposed to be the virgin bride. No, the sun and the moon and the stars is
an identity that none other than Jacob himself identifies her with. Back there in Genesis 37. The beginning of the whole story, the
whole story of Joseph and his dreams and so forth. Jacob recognized the identity. She is opposed by the red dragon
who is identified in Verse 9 of Chapter 12 as Satan. He has 7 heads and 10 horns and 7 crowns,
which are, of course, idiomatically all through the Book of Revelation. His goal is to devour the Man-child,
as soon as He's born. And the Man-child is the one that's going to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Who is that? Jesus Christ. So identified in several passages in the scripture. He's caught up to God and His throne. The woman flees into the wilderness for 1260
days. Now it's kind of interesting about this, most
people assume that when the Man-child is caught up to God and His throne, that that's the ascension
of Christ. And that may well be what's in view. I think it was G. H. Pember back in 1814 that
first noticed the possibility that maybe an allusion to the rapture. Because the body of Christ is caught up. In other words, idiomatically speaking, those are
lumped together. We're in this parenthesis between the church,
the church's birth and the church's rapture. So ... there are those views embedded
in the ... passage here. The ... woman, I believe, is Israel because
of Genesis 37:10. The red dragon is a serpent, the devil, Satan, so Revelation 12:9. The Man-child is none other than the Kinsman-Redeemer as will be exemplified in Revelation 19 when we get there. And so that's pretty clear. Satan has been trying to devour the Man-child
or certainly thwart the plan of God. We reviewed that during our study. The corruption of Adam's line back in Genesis 6. The attack on Abraham's seed in Genesis
12 and 20. The famine in the earth in Genesis 50, the
destruction of the male line by the Pharaohs in Exodus 1. Pharaoh's pursuit of Israel even after stating
they could go in Exodus 14. The 400 years that Satan had to lay down a
mine field in Canaan with the Rephaim and the populating with his ... again with more Nephilim
and all of that. And then as God reveals His plan, it's going
to be through David, then David's line gets singled out for special treatment. Again and again and again, there are plots
to kill all the heirs to the throne. But there is always one that slips away or is ... hidden by a servant or what have you. And so, and even when you get to
the Persian period, under Haman, under the Persian Empire, Haman tries to wipe out all
the Jews. So these are always Satanic. Prejudice is always bad, but the anti-semitism
is very specifically Satanic from Revelation Chapter 12, it becomes very clear. And it occurs, it continues in The New Testament. Joseph's fear with Mary when she turns
out to be pregnant. Herod's attempts to kill the babes at Bethlehem. The attempts at Nazareth to throw Him off a cliff. The 2 storms on the sea in Mark 4 and Luke 8. I don't think were normal, natural storms. These fishermen that knew those waters that were
terrified. And then, of course, the ultimate strategy was the cross. And the summary of all of this is what we
see in Revelation 12. But the real point is he's not through yet. He's still at it. You need to understand why and how ... he operates. We get to Revelation 13, we have the 2 beasts introduced. The beast out of the sea is the first one. He's the political guy with 7 heads and 10
horns. On his heads are the ... with the name of blasphemy,
because he's taking up against God as 2 Thessalonians 2 highlights for us. One of his heads was ... he had a deadly wound. And that wound was healed. And I think it's a literal wound, by the
way. I think that's the description. We'll come to that in a minute. He is powered by the dragon. Who's the dragon?
Satan. He's empowered by Satan for 42 months. And he overcomes the Saints. Now that's a very strange thing. You find that in Daniel 8, and you'll
find it here in Revelation 13, which is contrary to what Jesus said in Matthew 16 at Caesarea Philippi. When He told Peter that the gates of hell
shall not prevail. Overcome. Same word, by the way, overcome or
prevail. And so, my argument, these saints
are not the church. They're post-church saints as scholars use the term of tribulation saints. The earth dwellers worshiped the beast of
the sea. That is, all those that are not written in the Book of Life. And then we have the second character shows
up, the beast out of the earth. Elsewhere called the False Prophet
in the Book of Revelation. He has 2 horns like a lamb. And there was the, the horns are a symbol
of authority. He speaks, he has authority of the lamb,
like the lamb, but he speaks as the dragon. He has used Satan's words. He causes the earth to worship the first beast. So it's a duet. You got a political leader and you got a religious
leader bringing people to worship him. He deceives the earth with miracles. The world is not ready for this. Are you ready to have a major satanic leader
do miracles? Well, they're fake miracles. Not necessarily. Some may be. It doesn't matter. Everybody ... they're apparently very
effective. He forces. He apparently has the power to force
the worship of an image of the first beast. That's what's so parallel with the analogy
with Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel Chapter 3. Everyone that receives the mark in their right
hands or their foreheads worship him. No man may buy or sell without the
name or the number of the first beast. And, of course, that Number is 666 which is, of course,
become very fabled throughout literature. The 666. And let's take a look at it. "He causeth all, both the small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:" And I have a theory why it's a right hand and a
forehead, I'll come to in a minute. "And that no man may buy or sell, save he that
hath the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Notice it's his number or name, not yours. It's not your pin number. You may not be able to get a pin number unless
you take his number, in allegiance with him, but okay. And then Verse 18 is the famous verse. "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast: For it is the number of a man; and his number is 600 threescore and 6. And I think there's the only physical description
we have in the Bible of the anti-Christ is in Zechariah 11:17. "Woe to the idol shepherd." That's I-D-O-L shepherd. "that leaveth the flock,
the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: His arm shall be cleaned dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." It's my suspicion that he has a head wound
and it's miraculously healed somehow. But he still has an incapacity from that. His right eye and arm I believe are darkened. So people who are pledging allegiance to him
take his mark on the right hand or on their forehead. And ... it's a conjecture, but it's intriguing that the scripture is so interconnected on these things that I suspect
that the one reaffirms the other. The 666 of course, the word in Greek for Christos,
in Greek is Christos. The first and last letters of that, if
you take ... and there's this funny number in between the ... first letter
has a value in Greek is 600. The last letter has 6, and the little one in
between is 60. So it turns out that the Gematria or the
numerics of the Greek also happen to be 666, which is kind of interesting. But again, I don't look at bar codes. There's all these interesting little things
floating around that miss the point. And people who are taking ... it's not something
subterranean, something very conspicuous. They take. They deliberately pledge allegiance to him
by taking his name or number. And the word in the Greek
is Anti Christos, which is a pseudo Christ. Not against Christ in the tense of opposite of Christ. He is, of course, but the word actually means
in place of. The pseudo Christ. Anyway, a lot of people get into Gematria. And let me just dismiss it by pointing out there are numerical values for both Hebrew and Greek letters, interestingly enough. And people like to play with those. But turns out if you get into this, you'll discover
there's so many rules that you can actually make it say anything you want. There are all kinds of people who have all kinds
of strange conjectures. There's an expression in the computer industry
that, I think, fits the situation. If you torture the data long enough, it'll
confess to anything. And that's pretty much true of mysticism in general,
and certainly Gematria. But, let's move on. We've got the 7 bowls of wrath in Chapter 16. "I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, 7 angels having 7 last
plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God." Now this is the final wrath being poured out,
literally poured out of these bowls. "I heard a great voice out of the temple saying
to the 7 angels, Go your ways and pour out the vials of wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured out his vial upon
the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of a beast, and
upon them which worshiped his image." So we have the 7 bowls of wrath. The first bowl is sores on the men with a mark. Okay. "The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and
it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." So we have the second bowl, the sea of blood,
all died. "The third angel poured out his vial upon the
rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say,
Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou has judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and
prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; For they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord
God Almighty, true and righteous are thy ... are thy judgments." It's interesting, all through this, you never hear anyone making the claim to not judge, not just, not deserving. So anyway, we have the third bowl which is
the rivers and waters become blood. "The 4th angel poured out his vial upon the
sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with
great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they
repented not to give him glory." And so we have the 4th bowl, the sun scorched
in fire. "And the 5th angel poured out his vial upon
the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; And they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." So we have the 5th thing was darkness on the
beast's kingdom. "And the 6th angel poured out his vial upon
the great River Euphrates;" There it is again. "and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East
might be prepared." That's kind of interesting. It's actually kings of the rising sun, but
that's the traditional way of referring to the East, incidentally. So we have anyway, the Euphrates and the kings
of the East. Now this time we have a break, but the break
is just a little brief one. "I saw 3 unclean spirits like frogs come
out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of
the false prophet. For they are spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the
battle of that great day of God Almighty." So we've got these 3 spirits like frogs. This may be just idioms like locusts on the
one hand, but it's interesting to me that when you get into the UFO literature. That the heavy ones are these reptilian creatures. So I think that's kind of fascinating to me. That may be part of the previous bowl. Verse 15 of this sequence is really the
parenthesis, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, keepeth, his garments,
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." That little phrase is sort of a break, if you will. "Then he gathered them together," where? "Into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Meggido was the place, Har Meggido is the
Mount Meggido. Armageddon is a Har Meggido. It's the mount that ... conspicuous mount there. If you've visited the area, it's an incredible place to visit. Anyway, so we have, "the 7th angel poured out
his vial into the air;" And why the air? Because who's the prince of the power of the air? Satan. See, first it was the beast thrown, now it's Satan himself. "The 7th angel poured out his vial into
the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of Heaven, from the throne, saying,
'It is done.'" So that takes care of the bowls. Now, something kind of interesting, if
you take the 7 trumpet judgments we went through, you'll notice that there's a parallelism between the organization of the trumpet judgments and the bowls. The trumpet judgments are pretty, in a sense,
they are like a 1/3 of the bowl kind of thing. They call these the judgments of the thirds. And whether it's the burning of the
ground or the sea of blood and rivers, so forth, it's the judgments ... the trumpet judgments seem to be very parallel to that. But 1/3 of the trees and grass, 1/3 of the
sea, 1/3 of the waters made bitter, 1/3 of the sun, stars and so forth, 1/3 of the men
slain. There's something else you should be sensitive to. What I call the heptadic structure. We went through the 7 sealed scroll and it had
a ... Chapter 7 was the, that was Chapter 6. Chapter 7 had the little parentheses. The 7th seal, Chapters 8 and 9 led to 7 trumpets,
which also had an interlope between, you know, before the 6th and 7th, Chapters 10
through 14 in this case. The 7th trumpet then breaks down, into
7 bowls. And it, too, had a little one verse parenthesis. But I think this design is deliberate. I think there's structure there and there's
much more to it than this. I'm just giving you the overview. There are ... I challenge you to make a list
of the 7's in the Book of Revelation. And every time you think you've got them all,
you'll find one more. And many of them are sort of hidden. Some are very obvious and some are hidden.
The Heptadic structure. Mount Meggido, the site of
Armageddon, of course, is about 60 miles north and slightly west of Jerusalem. That's where Jabin and his 900 chariots were
overwhelmed. That's where Gideon's 300 defeated the Midianites and all that. That's where Samson triumphed over the Philistines and Barak and Deborah defeated Sisera that I mentioned before. Saul was slain by the Philistines there at Gilboa near there. Ahaziah was slain by arrows of Jehu. Pharaoh Necco slew King Josiah there. And throughout history, the Saracens, Christian crusaders, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, Arabs all through history you'll discover this is a
very favored battle field. Napoleon had his disastrous march from Egypt
to Syria there. So Meggido has become almost a fable or an
idiom in literature. But don't let that confuse you. I believe there's a literal destiny at Meggido. And we have things that, this is all detailed
for you in Daniel Chapter 11, the kings of south, the kings in the north. And then we have, by some people's rendering,
the anti-Christ being a Western confederacy who's troubled when he hears tidings of the East. But I personally suspect from Micah
5 and Isaiah 10 and some other passages that the anti-Christ is not part of the Western culture. He's part of the Roman empire. But he comes out of Eastern part. So I believe he's associated somehow with
the kings of the north coming in. But that's a whole 'nother study. We know the believing remnant in Jerusalem will
seek refuge in Edom at Petra. And then petition His return. And Jesus will return by rescuing the remnant. He comes back first in Edom before He comes
to the Mount of Olives. That's all in Isaiah 63 and elsewhere. And then
He'll return to the Mount of Olives as Zechariah 14 talks about Him returning and so forth. Also Chapter 17, 18 has Mystery of Babylon. We talked a little bit about that last time. The Great Whore. She rides the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. She's described as the mother of harlots and abominations. She's drunk with the blood of the saints. Don't confuse her with the beast. She's the woman that rides the beast. There's a big difference. And, Babylon the Great is a city that
reigns over the kings. The kings, merchants, and those who trade by
sea, bemoan her catastrophic demise. I think it's a literal city, yet to arise to power. And it's interesting to see the contrast
of 2 women. Israel is the woman in Chapter 12, Babylon is the woman in Chapter 17. One is Israel's ... the woman in
Israel is in heaven. The other one's riding upon many waters. One is the mother of the Man-child. The other is the mother of all harlots. One is clothed with the sun. The other one is clothed with purple, scarlet,
and gold. Israel's identity is with sun, moon and
stars because of the comments that Jacob made. The woman riding the beast reigns over
the kings of the earth literally and certainly has tried throughout the last 2000 years. The enemy of Israel was the dragon. The enemy of the woman riding the beast is
the beast itself. The 10 kings ultimately will devour her. And Israel's hated by the world. The woman riding the beast is caressed by the world. The woman in Israel is sustained
by the wings of heaven. The other one's sustained by the dragon. It contrasts all the way through here. It's interesting that Israel is described in the Old Testament as widowed and divorced in Hosea and elsewhere. The woman riding the beast in Chapter
17 brags that she's not a widow. I think she's deliberately drawing the contrast there. The final location of Israel, of course, associated
with the new Jerusalem. The final location of the woman riding the beast is the habitation of demons. So it's interesting. It's black and white, different contrast. The Destruction of Babylon we've talked about
before. That if you contrast Isaiah and Jeremiah, they describe it as catastrophically being destroyed. Like it's never been through history. Many nations attacking, and Israel's
in the land forgiven. Both describe being destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. And never again to be inhabited. Bricks never to be reused. And that's why we attach such importance on
the re-emergence of Babylon in today's history. This destruction that's described ... occurs
in the day of the Lord, which is yet future. And we're talking about a literal city
on the banks of the Euphrates. Not a symbolic rendering of Rome or Paris
or New York or Hollywood or whatever. The king's fornication, drunk with wine, scarlet and purple, golden cup. All those idioms are common to Isaiah, Jeremiah and the Book of Revelation. So, I think we see the same thing in view here. This paradox is resolved. Is it really an idiom of Rome, or is it something more literal? I think both are true. I think it's resolved for us in Zechariah 5:5-11. There Zechariah sees a Ephah, a big bushel measure. And in the Ephah is confined a woman labeled wickedness. She's sealed in with a talent of lead. The Ephah is the standard commercial volumetric
measure in those days. And the lead is the measure of weight,
about 97 pounds. This Ephah then is carried by 2 women with
wings of a stork. Now that's a strange idiom for a Jewish vision, because a stork is an unclean bird. And they carry it between earth and heaven. It's a vision remember. They carry it "to build it a house in the land
of Shinar: and there it shall be established and set on her own base." I believe the centroid of power that represented
Babel under Nimrod that becomes Babylon the Great. That then moved to Pergamos under
the Persians and to Rome under the Romans. Which is the fountain of all idolatry on the planet
earth is the Babylonian system package in either Latin or Greek or whatever. And I believe it returns to where it started
to receive the judgment of God. If that premise is correct, we'll see the
literal city of Babylon re-emerge. And it's presently guarded by Marines. Trying
to get there is foolish because it's very, very dangerous ... what's going on. Watch your news and see what happens over
the coming year to Babylon. And I think it'll be very surprising to
most people. Because it's there, it's being rebuilt. So it has not been ... it's never been destroyed
in the way that fulfills the Biblical prophecies. Okay. So we have 7 bowls of wrath. We finally have the 7th one. "The 7th angel poured out his bottle in the
air; and there came a great voice out of heaven, and from the throne saying, 'It is done.' " And indeed it is. Okay. And then we have the 5th, what I call the
5th horseman. The horseman everyone overlooks. Not only Chapter 6, Chapter 19. "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse;" This is the real one now. "and he that sat upon him was called Faithful
and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." Make war. In Numbers, we have this strange phrase that
the Lord will go against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle. Yes, He has fought in the day of battle. In Joshua, the end of Joshua 5 will explain that to you. "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head
were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood:
and his name is called the word of God." That's not His blood. It's the blood of His enemies. That's all described in Isaiah 63. But we'll move on here. "The armies which were in heaven followed him
upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron:
and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Who is this guy? Any doubt? Okay. This ... now we get into the next topic. It's the Millennium. This is the strangest period of all periods in the Bible. The thousand year reign. This is all in Revelation Chapter 20. "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent,
which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut
him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
years should be fulfilled: And after that, he must be loosed a little
season." Wow. This is the thousand year reign. This is the thousand years that Satan is bound. I take it literally. I don't think it's symbolic. I think it's real. It's not permanent. He's going to be turned loose after a
thousand years ... to deceive the nations one more time. The Millennium is not out of Revelation
20 alone. It was promised to David in 2 Samuel and under
oath in Psalm 89. It was predicted throughout the Old Testament.
In the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Zechariah, it's a whole study in its own right. People associate the Millennium with Revelation 20. That just mentions the exact duration. It was promised to Mary. In Luke 1 Verse 32. It's also in Micah 5, Isaiah 9 and so forth
that Jesus would rule on the earth. In the Lord's Prayer, you say "Thy Kingdom come." What does that mean? You're calling for it there. Jesus will rule. That's with Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 emphasize.
That it'll be by a rod of iron before whom every knee shall bow and so forth. And we're going to discover the creation
will be changed. There'll be physical changes. Zechariah talks about it. Zechariah 4, Isaiah 35. The curse of Genesis 3 will be lifted. According to Isaiah 11. And it's not just us -
mankind - that's redeemed. The creation is redeemed. Romans 8:20-22. Make reference - allusions to that. Creation which is subject to the
bondage of decay until the redemption takes place. The earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord. That makes this a very strange time, because
with Satan bound, there's no excuse. There's no shortages. There's no lack of knowledge about the Lord,
and yet given the chance after the thousand years, man will once again rebel and that's all she wrote. Yet, Millennium is not eternity. Don't confuse it with what comes after Chapter 20. It's not eternity because death and sin are present. And each person there has land. And it will be fruitful. This is strange. This is different than what we'll find in Chapter 22 following. Let's talk about the order of events. We talked about the 70th week of Daniel. We know that the first half of that week is a
false peace with Israel as as a result of this covenant. The last half is defined by none other than
Jesus Christ. His label is the Great Tribulation. Tribulation's 3 and a half years, not 7. And, of course, it climaxes, the tribulation
climaxes with the Battle of Armageddon. We believe the Rapture takes place
prior to the 70th week during that period of time in heaven, some things happen because
Jesus brings us back to interrupt the Battle of Armageddon and to establish His Millennium. His Kingdom. And what happens up in heaven is the
Bema Seat and the Marriage Supper. There are 3 different judgment seats that get confused. The first one is the Bema Seat, which is
an allocation of rewards. It's a judgment seat like judges in an athletic contest. They don't punish them. They reward them. The Bema Seat, in the Greek it's Bema, is the same term that's used in the Olympics etc. when you get your gold medal. It's that kind. That's where the faithful will get recognition. That's also up there that the Marriage Supper of
the Lamb takes place. Satan is bound when Jesus comes back. As you read, let's take a look, a little better
look at the Millennium here. We have Armageddon. Jesus comes back. The Kingdom is started. Satan is bound. Right after that, or about that time there's
the Sheep and Goat judgment. The judgment of the nations and how they treated
Israel. That's Matthew 25, the Sheep and Goat judgment. It's a distinctive judgment. It's not the Bema Seat. It's not the Great White Throne. It's a different thing. This is the beginning of the Millennium. It's those that survive and they get their judgment. Satan is bound for 1,000 years after which
he is released. The thousand year period is defined by his being bound and his release. And it's when he's released that he's
wiped out and the Great White Throne judgment takes place. And this is the judgment
of the unsaved dead and others. So the Great White Throne and then we have
New Heavens and a New Earth and down from heaven, we have the New Jerusalem. And that's the, what some people would call
the eternal state. Don't confuse the period after the Great White
Throne with the Millennium because they're very different. And, in fact, it's easier to talk about the eternal state than the Millenium has more mysteries about it. But the New Heavens and the New Earth, that's
the final ... that's in Chapter 21. John says, "I saw a new heaven and new earth: for
the first heaven and the first earth were past away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Wow. "There came unto me one of the 7 angels which
had 7 vials full of the 7 last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife. and he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven
from God." I have trouble trying to talk about this because
I don't have any reason to believe it's only in 3 dimensions. We may have a hyper space problem here. But anyway, it has 12 gates named with the 12 tribes. It's got 12 foundations named with 12 apostles. Those are different. And is it cubical? I don't know. It's 12,000 furlongs in each of 3 dimensions. 1500 miles I believe is what it adds up to. That's
a huge cube, if it's a cube. It has no temple because we're dwelling
with God Himself. There's no night because the Lamb is the light thereof. The tree of life is there and so the description
is quite similar to Eden and so forth in some respects. Except, instead of botanical things, it speaks
in terms of light. And the 12 stones are there categorized that
are probably parallel with the 12 stones of the breastplate of the high priest. But it's hard to compare them because the
idioms are very different in the ancient Hebrew versus the Greek. And there have been attempts to match them up, but it's a lot of speculation involved. Then we get to 22, which is really just an
epilogue to the whole book. "And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me,
to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and last. Blessed are they that do His commandments,
that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates in the
city ..." And it goes on much more and finally, "I, Jesus
have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the
bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water
of life freely. Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." And so ends the Book. Let's stand for closing word of prayer. And Father, we do thank You for this opportunity
to gather. We thank You that we have the privilege of
gathering in peace without harassment. We thank You, Father ... that we have this
chance to explore Your word. We pray, Father through Your Holy Spirit,
You'd open that word to our hearts and lives. That in all these things, we might grow in
grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. And be more fruitful stewards of these opportunities
You put before us as we commit ourselves without any reservation. Into Your hands, in the name of Yeshua,
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
