Revelation Bible Study Part 18 (Signs & The Introduction of Satan Chapters 11-12)

[Music] you [Music] further thank you once again that we have this privilege tonight of just spending some time in your presence of allowing to allowing us to worship You Lord by your Holy Spirit and allowing us to study your word father open your word once again to us let us hear with ears to hear what the Spirit is saying and let us act according to your will for the glory of God in Jesus Christ amen amen praise the Lord if you'd like to take your seats thank you team we're going to come to Revelation Bible study we are in chapter 11 just to remind you what we looked at last time just to recap we looked at last time we looked at the rebuilding of the temple we looked at how the outer Court was given to the Gentiles and we looked at two witnesses who were prophesying the halfway period of the seven-year tribulation we know it's the half wave period because it tells us so and so we're remembering that what the Apostle John has been told if you remember in chapter 10 he was told that he must prophesy again so just remember the the chronological outline of Revelation right back at the beginning two years ago when we started this study John was told in Revelation chapter one and verse 19 that he has to write what he has seen what now is and what is yet to come and we looked at how what he had seen was the life of Christ and the revelation of Jesus that he had seen in his life because remember he wrote the Gospel of John as well what now is is the church age which was up to chapter four but then at the beginning of chapter four it starts by twice stating we are now in the after this period the meted out or in Greek the hereafter what is yet to come so we are obviously in the what is yet to come period tonight chapter 11 but we've seen that there is a pause at the half-way period and John has been told to say it again in other words give amplification give more information more detail more narrative about what has already been going on as well as continuing the narrative and the chronology so it's still in a broad chronology but he's now at the halfway stage filling in information about what's been going on because there's so much obviously he sees he's very hard to record it without having to pause and stop and give details about a specific period of time this is what's happening in Chapter eleven he's describing what's happened you're in the first half of the tribulation the two witnesses how they've been giving a testimony of what true knowledge of God is remember Antichrist is already here at this time and so they are pointing people towards the truth and we got down to verse 6 of chapter 11 so if we go to Revelation chapter 11 and verse 7 let's pick up from where we left off last time okay so they're doing everything that they have been commissioned to do we looked at who they were now in verse 7 it says now when they have finished their testimony that's a three and a half years exactly halfway through the week as we know this is when Antichrist reveals himself when they have finished their testimony the Beast that comes up out of the abyss we look to him in Chapter nine who he really is he's Satan himself but in an incarnate form from the abyss we'll attack them and overpower and kill them they have finished their ministry their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt look at what that means in a moment where also their Lord was crucified let's read down for three and a half days some from every tribe nation language and nation will gaze on their bodies so the whole world if you read the King James Version the whole world can see these bodies which in itself is a revelation of something reviews them burrial the inhabitants the earth will gloat over them we'll celebrate by sending each of the gifts because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth but after three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them and they stood on their feet and terrorists struck those who saw them let's just read down right to the to the end of the chapter they had a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here and they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on at that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven the second war has passed the third war is coming soon actually I think who I think will just stop there we'll stop at verse 40 and we'll pick up after that in a moment okay so what's happening Antichrist is going to kill the two prophets the two testimony is going to wipe out a testimony to the truth at that point everyone sort of will have to live by the knowledge they've got because Antichrist is going to follow the example of all Antichrist previously he's going to technically make it illegal to be a true believer anywhere on the earth and he's going to kill anyone as we'll see later in chapter 13 onwards who does not worship him because at the middle of the week in the middle of the seven-year period as we've seen he's going to demand that people worship Him as God so the two witnesses are here we looked somewhat at what the witnesses represented throughout the Bible remember when Jesus died there were two witnesses there was two thieves on either side of him testifying to who he was when he rose from the grave there were two men at the two doesn't tell us who they are we tend to think they're angels for all I know it could be the same witnesses when he ascended to heaven two men appeared and told the Apostles where he gone so related to Jesus ascension and returned as oh there's going to be two witnesses and then we looked at lots of other examples last time so I'll not go I'll not go into that so they're killed the Antichrist kills them and so what we've got now happening is a bit of narrative about what's going on in this period now it's the Beast that comes out of the abyss that kills them right we go to verse 7 it's this beast this thing that we looked at this Fallen cherub this angelic being apollyon who claims to be the Son of God we looked at who he is is a representation of Satan himself he is Satan himself so he kills them he attacks them and he over powers them now remember what we've just read at the beginning of chapter 11 the temple has been rebuilt yeah you remember he was told to go and measure the temple even though at the time of writing there was no temple there still isn't a temple but they're getting ready to rebuild it at any moment so at this moment exactly halfway through Antichrist as is prophesied decides he is going to put himself in the temple it may be that this is the point where the temple is finally finished could be because if you follow the narratives throughout the Bible whenever God builds a temple there is always an antichrist there waiting in the wings have you ever noticed that there always is when Solomon built his temple the king of Tyre was helping with the building program he was actually providing the the Cedars of Lebanon to build the temple he was providing the stonemasons the Phoenicians and if and when you read Ezekiel and Isaiah chapters 14 and 28 you'll see that he's a please he's actually the devil himself the king of Tyre is a picture of Satan so Satan's helping build the temple why would Satan do that if it's God's temple why does Satan always help building the temple in Jesus time who rebuilt the temple Herod was Herod a good guy no he's an actual direct picture of Antichrist he's the one who claimed to be the King of the Jews but he wasn't the King of the Jews he was actually a false king of the Jews and what do you do when the true King of the Jews appeared tried to kill him try to kill all the children in Bethlehem what did he do to do one of the witnesses were John the Baptist killed him so can you see the pattern is continually repeated whenever the temple is going to be built when God's God's going to reinstitute the temple Satan knows what's happening Satan might even finance the building of the temple don't think just because someone is gonna help the Jews that means he's a good guy Satan's gonna help the Jews he needs to help the Jews because he needs to build this so that he can project himself into that position you'll often find that the King of the Jews often turns out to be a nun type of Antichrist King Saul you got King David the true anointed king you got King Saul what's he trying to do kill the true king because he wants to be king Satan is not dumb don't go along with all the political nonsense that's in the media just because someone pretends they're on God's side doesn't mean they are they might be using that to project a platform for themselves that they're going to seize at some future time be very careful when you start getting involved in politics it's very dangerous I'll tear that no further all that not mention in names and I don't want to do that was the same when Nehemiah and Ezra came back to build the temple the king of Persia yeah it was the time at same time in the Greeks Antiochus Epiphanes the Greeks started to help the Jews to start with and then he decided he'd make himself God it was the same with the Romans they gave the Jews Liberty to start with but by the time of Hadrian he destroys it all and he builds a temple to Jupiter which was his god Jupiter is actually a picture of Satan himself the Bible tells us as we read there in the letters to the churches he was the the Roman version of Zeus who is a picture of Satan so can we see what's happening now he's got what he wants so he kills the people he seizes control he puts himself in the temple and as prophesied in Daniel he doesn't show them even public dignity they lets the bodies die in the like square the great city he gloss over them he claims he's now got rid of these interfering believers who are pointing people towards God he's killed them he's got rid of them now what we need to understand is John is now giving us narrative and he's giving us preparation for what is going to happen the Beast kills the two witnesses because he needs to establish his own two witnesses so this is the preparation the foundation for what he's going to do next so if you go to chapter 13 and verse 1 where John gives us even more detail about the Antichrist so he kills the two witnesses what does this beasts from the abyss who's Satan himself what does he do the dragon stood on the shore of the sea I saw a beast coming out of this sea ten horns seven heads ten crowns we'll look at those another time we can't cover them tonight on his horns each had a blast furnace blasphemous name right so he establishes one beast then if you go to verse 11 we went get on to this tonight then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth it had two horns like a lamb but it spoke like a dragon we'll look at that next time so can you see he gets rid of two true witnesses that a prophet signed to the whole earth and he establishes two false witnesses two beasts who were in his image they look like a dragon and it's the dragon that appoints them we'll look at the dragon in a minute so can you see what John's trying to get us to see the Antichrist is removing all that everything that's good so that he can implement everything that is of him we seen that happen in our society now don't think the people who pretend they're being neutral by saying we need to remove this don't think they're being impartial that will be replaced by something evil when you remove God from anything in society you don't have a vacuum you end up with something bad you end up with false testimony that's what we're seeing happening right now and so therefore when he does this in Chapter 11 before we get to chapter 13 there's another chapter in between chapter 11 and chapter 13 anyone know of that chapters called chapter 12 well done before chapter under chapter 11 and chapter 13 there is chapter 12 tonight we were going to focus on chapter 12 because chapter 12 many theologians think is one of the most if not the most important chapter in the Bible that's quite a statement especially since no one can agree and watch up to 12 means well well don't worry I'm going to tell you what it means tonight I will tell you what I think it means okay so let's just go back to chapter 11 round chapter 11 up then so verse 8 of chapter 11 say something bit strange here so this is happening in Jerusalem the temples built the the true believe that the true witnesses are killed their bodies will lie in the public square this great city what city is he talking about figuratively it's called Sodom and Egypt where also their Lord was crucified now there's only one cities talking about but why does he call it this now he's talking about Jerusalem because Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem but he calls it Sodom and Egypt we've got to understand that what's actually happening throughout this period and at this time of all the temple is rebuilt although the Jews are brought back to Israel although Jerusalem is established as the capital remember this is all done whilst the Jews are still in unbelief they're actually still following Antichrist they will choose the wrong leader Jesus says you don't accept me when I come in my father's name you will accept him who comes in his own name they will choose they chose Barabbas instead of Jesus that your Saul instead of David the Jews will always choose the wrong one before they get the right one it's the second time he comes that they choose the right leader and so it's called Sodom and it's called Egypt now Egypt is always a representation in the Bible of luxurious living whenever somebody wanted to get away for poverty and just living materialism and self-satisfaction that go down to Egypt that's why God told them don't go down to Egypt and Sodom is a representation of sexual immorality I think we pretty much aware of that so what God's showing us that this were at this time the Jewish nation Jerusalem this place is actually full of unbelief it's following the sexual immorality of the world it's seeking materialism and luxury just like everybody else and it's far from God it's only at the end of this period they're gonna turn back to God and we might see that tonight but we'll certainly see it before the end of the book of Revelation so the spiritual condition of Israel at this time although God has done everything he said restored the land restored the nation restored the capital city restored the temple they still in unbelief they're still not turning to God they still just want to do their own thing and that's why it's called Egypt and Sodom and reminds them that they had all that two thousand years ago and they still crucified their Messiah still followed Antichrist what did they say Caesar is our King who's Caesar is the Antichrist he was the Antichrist of the day they wanted peace at all costs and they didn't want the true Messiah now it says everyone sees this now some people latch on to this and say this must be a technology statement because there has been no moment in time where everybody could see what was happening in Jerusalem until literally now only our generation can you press the TV and you can watch what's happening in Jerusalem you cannot there's actually live cameras on the Temple Mount and on the Kotel the western wall area you can log on your your internet go onto the webcams you can watch live what's happening right there right now that's only been possible in the last few years it's never been possible in the previous six thousand years of human history so it shows that the technology is there for this to be happening right now okay they don't burry them everyone's happy everyone's glad they finally got rid of these people who keep confronting them with the truth notices it's there it's Sodom in Egypt so what are the two things that are being confronted on they don't want to be confront false sexual ideas and they don't want to become confronted on the worldly standards that they're living in that's the two things today that people will not let Christians talk about you can have your beliefs but don't talk to us about sexual immorality or sexual behavior and don't tell us that our world system is wrong but they're the two things God is going to confront so all those notice verse 10 the inhabitants of the earth are in the Greek the the earth dwellers are happy not the heaven dwellers not those who are heavenly people they're not happy but the earth dwellers are happy those whose home is on this earth they're all happy but what does God do verse 11 after three and a half days the breath of life from God the ruh act the Spirit of God breath spirit Numa it's the same word stand on their feet everyone's terrified and they hear her loud voice from heaven saying come up here they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on it's the same word for rapture her pot so they're taken up to heaven remembers there's lots of raptures in the Bible they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on clouds are always a picture of ascending and descending between heaven and earth clouds will be evident at the second coming of Jesus so we see the crowd there also now what happens next verse 13 so they've been testifying to the truth at that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven the second woe has passed the third woe is coming soon so John is here reminding us that we're still in a chronological system he's just given a lot more detail actually chapters 11 through to 14 actually in brackets parenthesis and he's giving us detail between the actual that the final set of judgments the BAL judgments are not actually going to come for three more chapters yet we're in this big gap the gap between each event gets bigger in Revelation and that's where sometimes people lose their lose their bearings and forget the chronology okay now look at what happens in verse 13 a tenth of the city collapsed and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake now why those two figures why does it give us two different numerical values they're a tenth and seven thousand I think the reason that God uses those two mathematical numbers is because in the Old Testament what did those two numbers mean what is a tenth is the tithe but what is the tithe you see all the way through the Old Testament especially if you look in the in the Levitical code of chapter 27 will not go there God says the tenth is his the tithe is actually a means of grace it's a means of you recognizing you belong to God yeah God says I will take the Levite Levites as his tithe in fact God when God brought judgment through Isaiah chapter 6 when he prophesied judgment was coming he said a tenth will remain in the land in other words there's always 10% that belongs to God and is protected and his his that's why when you tithe you recognizing that you are God's you belong to him so the tenth belongs to God in the time of Moses now remember who were the two witnesses Moses and Elijah so when God showed Moses what belonged to him he showed him the tenth the tithe the tithe is mine when Elijah was shown who belonged to God what did God show him he said there are 7,000 who belong to me I have reserved them they are mine they don't bow the knee to BHEL BHEL is a picture of Antichrist they don't worship him they don't belong to him and that's in first Kings chapter 19 so the two witnesses were told that these two numbers were the representation of what belongs to God yeah Moses and Elijah Moses was shown it's the 10th in 10th whatever Jerusalem the income whatever is always a tenth of whatever and Elijah was shown it was 7,000 now instead of God saying this is mine he does the opposite he destroys the tenth and instead of reserving 7,000 he kills 10,000 what is God doing he's showing the under the old dispensation of grace where the tenth Wolf's days and the remnant was saved his God is now showing grace is over there is no tenth there is no 7000 that's going to be destroyed and this is going to die the period of grace has ended you've killed the witnesses just like you killed the Messiah it's Sodom in Egypt now there is no more grace you can't now give a tithe and say this belongs to God no you don't belong to me this world now become Satan's you can't say this this all 7,000 reserved as a remnant no no no no no you're all worshiping bail now the ones who were wish me you've killed them I've had to take them to heaven so God again is reinforcing through another again another rapture he's taking it to heaven he's now saying right now judgment is coming the second woe is past the third one's coming there's only three now the final set of judgments are coming these are going to be horrendous but we're not going to see them until chapter 14 onwards because he's still gonna give us the narrative of what's happening in the world because John's prophets saying again and explaining what's going on through this chronology so go to verse 15 so he's told as it's now accelerating so the seventh angel now is gonna sound the trumpet remember the end of e7 there's a pause and another set of seven is coming so out of the seventh trumpet there's gonna come seven balls but we're not going to see them for a few more chapters he's filling in the narrative in between so when the seventh trumpet sounded loud voices in heaven the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign forever so this voices are in heaven so heaven is now preparing for the return the kingdom is now coming there's just the final stage this final three and a half years that the Bible talks about more than any other period of history there now in that final preparation stage so in heaven the same right this is it now the kingdom's coming but there's still going to be this period of three and a half years on earth and so they're just reinforcing it before all this happens they're reinforcing what's gonna happen the 24 elders who were seated on the thrones before God fell on their faces and they worshiped God so this is it now what's God still showing us before this final judgment comes we give thanks to You Lord God Almighty the one who is and who was because you have taken your great power and have begun Terrain he hasn't come to reign yet there's still three and a half years but Jesus is now beginning this final preparation of this three and a half years is going to return in chapter 19 but he's now showing us what's happening in heaven they're getting ready you know they're putting the settles on the horses whatever they're doing in that final and that's metaphorical but whatever they're doing in that final stage they're getting ready three and a half years isn't long to get ready when you've got to destroy the earth and rebuild it again so it's all getting ready in heaven the nations were angry you're off has finally come these lust judgments are going to be the consummation of God's wrath where most of the planet is going to be annihilated this time has come for judging the dead for rewarding your servants the prophets rewards are going to be being given out in heaven your people who revere on name both great and small and for destroying those who destroy the earth God is going to destroy everything that causes destruction remember one of the names of the Antichrist is the destroyer he's going to destroy everyone who belongs to the destroyer then God's temple in heaven was opened and within his temple we've seen the Ark of the Covenant there flashes of lightning rumblings peals of thunder an earthquake and a severe hailstorm you remember when we looked at what the thunders are whenever you see this thunder in heaven it's now saying we now approach we're now at the next stage yeah we looked at seven thunders and we looked at God is now moving on to the next stage and then there's going to be hail storm rocks hail falling from the sky remember God's method of punishment wasn't cutting someone's head off or crucifixion how did God punish people it's not a trick question it's in the Mosaic law when someone blaspheme what had to happen to them they threw stones at them all the way through the Bible you stoned someone God's punishment on the earth is stones are gonna fall on the earth that is proof that God is doing it stones lodged on some of these stones a huge will we'll look at them another time though so the earthquake the Thunder that we've looked at before this is a seal now of what's happening but what have we just seen then God's temple in heaven was opened within his temple was seen the Ark of the Covenant so the temples opened by the way how many things do you how many things are opened in heaven in the book of Revelation how many things are opened in the book of Revelation seven were an interesting concept 7 anyone want to guess what seven things are opened in the book of Revelation heaven is opened yeah that's there ok study that in your own time seals doors Scrolls anyway study that in your own time I don't want to go down a rabbit trail looking at the seven seven different things are open in the book of Revelation so when heaven is opened what is seen the temple and the Ark of the Covenant yeah have you seen any of these documentaries on where the Ark of the Covenant is you can log on YouTube there's been lots of documentaries on people looking for the Ark of the Covenant where is the Ark of the Covenant in heaven when did it go to heaven yes it was always in heaven when Moses went up the mountain what did God tell him he said make on earth a copy of everything you have seen in heaven the temple has always been in heaven the Ark of the Covenant was always in heaven the altar was always in heaven the incense the worship was always in heaven it was always in heaven the replica was on earth so the Ark of the Covenant is in heaven it always has been where was the where's the replica then on earth anyone know where that is there's three theories of where the Ark of the Covenant is on earth you want to know what they are okay the first Theory there's lots of people got ideas about where this is there's like lots of Indiana Jones is out there trying to find the Lost Ark I imagine so I know where it is it's in heaven I asked R&D where it was only told me theory number one is the Ark is in Ethiopia now there is circumstantial evidence that that could be so the theory is that mineral Menelik who was the son of the Queen of Sheba who was the illegitimate son of Solomon took the ark down into Ethiopia for safekeeping there is a city called Aksum in Ethiopia where they have a fortress compound and no one's allowed in except special priests and the priests say the Ark of the Covenant is in there but we're not going to let you look at it now that's a total theory it's total conjecture there's no more evidence other than that so I'm not saying it's there the other theory is it's in Jerusalem probably under the Temple Mount there are some rabbis claim they have found it but they're not going to let anyone see it because they haven't got anywhere to put it now is that is that true I have no idea it is possible is it probable I don't No third theory is that temple nickel when he conquered Jerusalem took the ark to Egypt now that is that evidence for that is in the Bible but whether he brought it back or not nobody knows and that's why in Raiders of the Lost Ark they think it's in the city of Tani's because that was the main treasure city of the Pharaoh at that time and so before the Nazis got it the Jones has got it so whether the Jones has got it I don't know I don't know which one of those is true I'm not really that bothered which one is true I do believe that the mercy seat of the Ark will be recovered for when Jesus returns because that is the throne of David on which God is seated so I do believe that there will be the replica of the true Ark in heaven for Jesus to reign on when he returns about how that happens where that happens I don't know and no one does it's circumstantial evidence believe any or neither of them whichever you want okay so why is the Ark of God shown why what does anyone what I mean it's called the out what's its real name that the mercy seat is the lid that goes on it the Ark of the yeah why is it called the Ark of the Covenant what is a covenant it's it's it's it's it's a con it's it's more legal than just a contract it's the ultimate contract it's called the covenant because God made a covenant with man and forth for a covenant to be ratified there has to be two parties that's why there's the ark in heaven that's why there's the ark on earth when you sign a contract both parties have to sign it when you get married you've both to agree you can't you know if their husband signs the covenant of contract of marriage and the wife doesn't you're not married and so God is showing her well why does he show us the ark at this moment because despite everything that's going to happen on earth God is still going to keep his promise and he says look I've got the Ark I know what I promised I know what I covenant it with my own blood I know what I promised now who was the Covenant made with the original covenant was made with Abraham yes but it was ratified then throughout the Old Testament who was it made with it was a ridge it was it was made with Moses keep going you'll get there the Jews the children of Israel the Covenant was for Abraham and his children Abraham Isaac Jacob ratified through Moses the Covenant God gave a covenant to David one of your sons from your own lineage your physical descendant of David will sit on David's throne will always reign over Jerusalem for ever God made a covenant made a covenant with the priests made lot made made several cut made a covenant with Noah the work the earth wouldn't be destroyed by water again I bet he's going to be destroyed by fire but God will keep that covenant so God made these covenants right now here's an interesting question when we take communion we ratify the Covenant made in his blood jesus said the new covenant who does he make the new covenant with it's a bit of a trick question yes it is with the believers definitely but who's the new covenant with you see the new covenant was prophesied in the Old Testament Jeremiah prophesied it behold the days are coming when I will make a new covenant that's the Covenant Jesus is making the new covenant who's the New Covenant made with because a lot of people think the new covenants made with the church and you know what it isn't it's still the new covenant with Israel with Israel and the house to do to that of the Bible says Jesus is now ratifying that but when he made that covenant in the Upper Room everybody there was Jewish the church as we've seen in our studies recently is grafted into that covenant so now we have access to it but not in spite of the Jews not instead of Israel no no no if God can break his gift God can break that covenant then he can break any one is made with you we are grafted into the promises of Israel we don't replace them doesn't God doesn't now say oh I've now got my church forget every promise I made to Israel absolutely not that's called replacement theology that's what most Christian denominations teach that the church has replaced Israel you will not find in the New Testament that the church has replaced Israel we now share in the promises of the New Covenant but we must not boast over the branches that were broken off because we are grafted into that olive tree that's what Paul talks about in Romans chapters 9 10 and 11 Israel shall be saved why God made a promise and this is why at this moment he's showing that covenant he's showing the Ark of the Covenant he's saying look despite what's happening on earth despite the turmoil and genocide lanai elation that is coming remember I've got a promise and I'm gonna keep it you've rejected me I will still save you in the end or at least save those who turned to me in the end okay God keeps his covenant so he carries on then to the end is that the final verse of chapter 11 can we go down one more verse so we go into chapter 12 okay so that's the end of chapter 11 so now John is gonna give us amplified information a more extensive narrative and exposition if you've liked or what now God is going to show him so it's still chronologically in sort of the same order but he's now gonna show us something and so we get into chapter 12 so can we go to chapter 12 verse 1 so the witnesses are dead Antichrist is now seated in the temple all this stuff's happening heaven has just declared now what's going to happen we enter the final stage of the tribulation we past the halfway point right at this point John is just explaining something or God is just getting us to understand again what this is all about before he just gives us more information about what's going on he says right let's just remember what all this is about you need to grasp what the entire history of the world has been about a great sign appeared in heaven all right we'll just stop there I hope to get through chapter 12 tonight we'll see how we're going on we're not doing too well so far so what does John see the third word a sign yeah can we all read that we all know what you know what a sign is because sometimes you've got it when you read revelation especially understand the difference between something John sees something the happens something that's a description and metaphor something that's a sign he sees a sign signs are important signs are beneficial but signs have to be understood in the correct context signs of funny things aren't they just some signs you get so used to you know what that sign means I'm just talking about natural size now no signs and wonders you just think of a sign in fact put that put one other put that first one up please okay can you see that you're driving along in your car that sign appears on your dash but okay what does that sign mean hazard warning lights how do you know how would you know it doesn't mean you are approaching two pyramids how do you know it doesn't mean campers ahead how how do you know it doesn't mean you know a vertex into a fourth dimension you are approaching how do you know that means has it warned in lies if you showed that to an Indian in the Amazon jungle who'd never met anyone and you says there you know would eager ah hazard warning lights no he would have no context or frame of reference it would have no way of not only way you know that mean has it warning lights is it's a uniform signal on car dashboards but out of that context it's meaningless it's just a sad word what do you mean you don't know what it means now most signs we use in our entire society operate according to that principle without a frame of reference or a context the sign doesn't mean anything no one would guess what it means you just wouldn't understand it look at the look at the next one having of put a few of these just to try and get as to understand okay what does that mean you've all seen that sign you've been on holiday yeah what does that sign mean it means Airport what how does that mean Airport what are you saying that's an aeroplane really I mean to me that looks like a giant hand coming down out of the sky to pick up a pizza how how do you think that means airplane because you have been conditioned through the symbolism and the context of being in an airport it actually it's the thing is the sign of departures I think arrival it looks like the planes crashing you know the other way around but you only know the context I mean if you flip that on its side can you flip that on its side next one down right now if you sure that looks like a giraffe running away from a stick yeah you wouldn't look at that your friend in the Amazon jungle again say what is that our departures at an airport we are going to miss our flight he'd never come up with that interpretation because he has no understanding of what the sign means we do now signs all signs signs around the building signs traffic signs car size home signs and we live in the world of emojis you know people now send you stuff don't they and I mean you've got to now apparently my children have told me unless I send like a kiss kiss I mean what is a kiss sign how does that mean kiss I mean when I was at school now go into trouble the teacher would put that at the side of me getting something wrong I mean why should I have thought you were giving me kisses well what does an X mean you know X rays clocks have an X on them don't they means tend but the context of the sign designates the meaning of that symbol you'll see why I'm explaining this in a moment cuz the signs John sees have lots of weird interpretations yeah when you vote you put an X it don't mean your kissing you candidate it means you put in an X it means yes but my te teacher it meant no but I said it me wife it means I love that well it's not a clock it means ten right how can it mean all those different things it's the context in which it is placed that designates the symbol what does that mean disable sign how do you know that means a disabled sign how do you know that I mean even if it means a disabled sign well what does it mean does it mean you can park there if you disabled so someone could pack the car in our disabled toilet because this is disabled sign so as long as they're disabled they can park the car in the toilet no that's not what it means well that well make your mind up what does the sign mean the context designates what the sign means now you know that means a disabled sign but it doesn't really look like a person in the wheelchair does it I know you think it does cuz you're used to stick people but if that means a person in a wheelchair then what does the next sign mean what's that well that's obviously a wheelchair yeah go back go back if that's a person in a wheelchair if the person gets out of the wheelchair yeah that's the wheelchair so that's a wheelchair well you don't look anything like a wheel there's no one you couldn't forget the Amazon jungle Indian show that to the the person in charge of disability grants in bousley council and they wouldn't think that meant a wheelchair why because it's out of the context of the symbol yeah I don't know if I've done anywhere if I don't know another one oh yeah that's a good one isn't it what does that mean food it does it doesn't it's a symbol for food isn't it food ahead if you see a you know on the motorway or you know food here but how does that mean food because it's in the pay from pork well it looks a bit like a fork I don't think if you ever saw something like that I think it was a knife but if you showed it again to the person in the Amazon jungle they wouldn't think that meant food now what it meant in fact even any you surely took someone in China in the 17th century how would they know that meant food they didn't even know what a knife and fork was yeah symbols revelation uses them a lot the Bible uses them a lot what's that as a heart is it that's a heart okay what's the next one then [Music] which one's the heart because they don't look the same do they I mean we go back to the nice one you know you put that on your text don't you and your facebook messages you know I I you wouldn't put the next one down would you girl of blood every night it's a heart i high lock I love you right so why ever done that I've done that to get us to understand how symbols work signs and symbols because when we come to Revelation chapter 12 let's go back to the the text Revelation chapter 12 and verse 1 a great sign okay you have to interpret the sign within the correct context when we looked at those signs and we saw the the hazard warning light now in modern cars I have just bought a new car there's loads of signs come out of my dashboard I don't deaf I don't know what any of them mean so what do i do how do I know I can see what the symbol is but I don't know what it's supposed to represent how do I know I go back to the manual the manual will tell me what that sign is yeah how do we know the signs that John is now gonna see and he's going to record to us he knows we've got the manual so you interpret the sign according to what it says in the manual not according to what any Tom Dick or Harry try to tell you what that sign means it means what it says in the manual it doesn't mean what the latest fruitcake on on YouTube claims to interpret it means it means what the manual says it means and we got that clear we're only going to look at what the manual says these signs are the Bible not what people try and interpret them to mean because this I'll show you one in a moment this this sign that we look at here there's all kinds of weird explanations and interpretations about what this sign is but the Bible's actually very clear about what it is I saw a great sign in heaven appeared a great sign in heaven a woman clothed with the Sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head what John is now going to see is an overview of the entire history of mankind from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation because it starts with this sign a woman okay let's read down let's read in the next verse she was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth then another sign appeared ok these are signs an enormous red dragon with seven heads ten hordes seven Crown's on his heads we don't look at the heads horns and the Crown's tonight we'll look at them another time each tail swept a third of the stars these are signs does it mean literally the stars in the sky are gonna be swept down to earth by a dragon their signs swept a third of the stars out of the sky flying flings the stars to earth the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour her child the moment he was born she gave birth to a son a male child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter and her child was snatched up to God and to his throne the woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God where she might be taking care of 1260 days forty-two months three and a half years then war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon the dragon and his angels fought back but he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven the Great Dragon was hurled down that ancient snake called the devil of Satan who leads the whole world astray he was hurled to the earth and his angels with him then I heard a loud voice in heaven say now have come the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah his Christ for the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down keep going they triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony they did not love their life so much as to shrink from death therefore rejoice you heavens and you who dwell in them but walk to the earth and the sea because the devil has gone down to you he's filled with fury because he knows that his time is short when the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child the woman was given two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness where she will be taken care of for a time times and a half a time 42 months three and a half years 1260 days out of the snakes reach for the snake dragons now called a snake then from his mouth the snake spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent but the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon spewed out of his mouth remember these assigns then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony of Jesus go down one more verse I know it's in to the next chapter then the dragon stood on the shore of the sea I saw a beast coming up out of the sea it at ten horns seven heads this is where we see the Antichrist being revealed more but that's in chapter 13 so let's go back to the beginning of chapter 12 so what is this sign who is this woman most theological Bible colleges and theological seminaries teach something that the Bible doesn't really agree with now there's lots of different interpretations about who this woman is I'm not gonna cover what they all are I've already had emails from people who I don't know from other countries who told me I better give the correct interpretation of this or they're going to expose me as a heretic well I'm very sorry but I'm gonna give the biblical interpretation of what it is not what everyone else wants me to say that it is who is this woman right first of all first of all here's what she's not can you put up the next slide please Ruth lots of people lots of Christians use this interpretation they claim the woman is a horoscope zodiac sign now here's the thing whilst you might think I don't agree with horoscopes and zodiacs you've got to understand something the original zodiac going back into history the Hebrews called the master of the 12 signs of the zodiac were actually 12 symbols of the 12 tribes of Israel that's been a lot of synagogues you will see that they the 12 signs of the zodiac are in synagogues they didn't believe in horoscopes they believed that the Sun Moon and stars were signs of God's plan for redemption of the earth now there is some biblical mandate for that because God himself in Genesis when he created the world said Sun Moon stars are symbols and signs for seasons and especially for were called the modes to say time's the appointed times the appointed feasts the problem is although that is true Jesus said there will be signs in the heavens signs in the Sun Moon and stars although all that is true that has been so corrupted especially by the Babylon system system of what we would call the horoscopes that I do not think you should be looking at that to try and work out what the future is or whether the signs in accordance with anything now this happened last year and the prophetic community was very excited because Virgo the woman okay was surrounded by the crown of stars and the Sun and the moon came into the right this all happened on one day and out of where the woman the inner being of the woman the King star Jupiter would come out from where the woman was that was the the logic and that hadn't happened for hundreds of years and so people were saying this is the sign as it comes at the Rosh Hashana the mo ed this is the sign that Jesus is coming or the rapture is happening or whatever whatever now some of you were here when that happened last year and I did actually mention it and I actually told you don't believe it okay because the Bible doesn't tell us that that's what it is okay however much you try and work at stuff like that we don't study the stars to understand the future there might be signs but that is not what we do so I do not believe it's got anything to do with that despite what a lot of people are talking about I don't think you take up the astrological system of looking at things at all I think we have to stick with what the manual tells us yeah there's lots of symbols come up on my dashboard and I thought it meant something but when I've checked the manual it meant something else I mean something came up Carolyn told me the other day we were on there and they sign came up and I thought it was a really big thing apparently I take my seatbelt off for the carrot stopped and that's all the symbol meant I thought I needed to take the car back to the you know to the garage and get it fixed but no I just got to keep my seatbelt on until we come to a total stop so some people think it's that some people think it's Mary the calf people especially people in the Catholic Church they think that now Mary has been glorified she's the woman in heaven and she's the one with the star the crown of stars on her head a lot of catholic iconography actually petraeus mary in that way that we can pray to Mary because she now glorified in heaven I don't believe it's that either now some people think it's the church which Mecca was a shock to you but I don't think it's the church either for a variety of reasons one that she's pregnant and the church is supposed to be a virgin bride so you know who's made a pregnant secondly the church didn't give birth to Jesus and then Jesus get ascended into heaven it was where the bride not not this woman and so what is this woman well if we go to Genesis chapter 37 and verse 9 Genesis chapter 37 and verse 9 the Bible tells us what it is if you want to know what something is in Revelation a good rule-of-thumb go to Genesis and find out what it originally meant you know because what is the conclusion of the Bible is the understanding of what God said in the beginning so if what God said it was in Genesis that's what could it be the conclusion is in Revelation so here in Genesis can you remember Joseph's dreams what did he have a dream of he said listen I had another dream and he told it to his brothers listen he said I had another dream and this time the Sun and the moon and the Eleven stars were bowing down to me okay read down when he told his father as well as his brothers his father rebuked him and said now listen to what his dad says the dream means what this dream you had will your mother and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the matter in mind now who was Joseph's dad Israel who what is this according to Israel Jacob and Joseph what are the stars and the Sun of them what is this sign it's the nation of Israel because this is the first time in the Bible that the nation of Israel exists Abraham had existed Isaac had existed Jacob had existed on his own but he wasn't called Israel until here the actually the the the previous chapter is where God changes his name to Israel and he has the twelve tribes of Jacob the twelve tribes of Israel so this is the first time the Israel as a nation there's still only 70 of them if you include all wives and children the twelve stars so this is the first time Israel exists and we're told that according to Joseph the prophet and his prophecy is that it's the stars the Sun and the moon it's a picture of Israel now when you understand that and it's mentioned elsewhere in the Bible the whole logic of the signs in Revelation 12 makes sense where does the manchild come from Israel everything revolves around Israel especially at this time in the three and a half-year period in Revelation so we understand Israel himself Jacob says it's Israel yeah not a horoscope we looked at the manual oh it's a Jacob saying oh it's about of this Joseph he's seen a dream about his family the nation of Israel the Stars the Sun the moon this woman now it's interesting that throughout the whole Old Testament Israel is always described as in travail as of the pains of labor ready to give birth over and over again especially Isaiah and Jeremiah repeat this repeatedly Israel is in labor until the time that she who gives birth and who does Israel birth the Messiah the Son of God Jesus himself right right back at the beginning of Genesis what was the original promise genesis 3:15 what was the original promise what was the original curse what was the original instruction to Satan I will put enmity between you and the woman which woman between you and her your offspring and hers he will crush your head you will strike his heel to the woman he said I will make your pains in childbearing very severe with painful labor you will give birth to children you your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you that was said right at the beginning while he was still in the garden what we get in Revelation is the consummation of that now everything is going to be fulfilled the child's been born he's come out of Israel he's ascended into heaven he's going to come back and rule Satan knows this that's why he has to kill the child and if he can't kill the child he'll kill the woman now a lot of this does apply to the church a lot of it does apply to the church you'll see why in a moment but if you go to Micah 4 in verse 9 Mike Micah chapter 4 in verse 9 this is another prophet describing this now he's describing Israel why do you cry aloud have you no king has your ruler perished that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor was Micah saying here he's saying you think you've know King speaking to Israel but the King has been born but now you're going through the labor pains again because she have not accepted him and that's why the time of Jacob's trouble the Great Tribulation this period of terrible destruction that's coming on earth is described by the prophets as the woman in labor pains because she has to now come to the point where she's going to accept her Messiah has to come right in agony daughter of Zion like a woman in labor for now you must leave the city where does the woman go in Revelation 12 leaves the city goes into the desert so all been prophesied previously you must leave the city camp in the open field you will go to Babylon there you will be rescued there the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies but now many nations are gathered against you they say let her be defiled let our eyes glued over Zion and Micah goes on to describe is describing this terrible time at the end where Israel is going to go into severe convulsions until Jesus comes so we see that this woman is primarily a picture of Israel yeah now throughout the Bible and especially if you've read my book you understand the woman is also a picture of the church why is that what is it Israel or is it the church well you've got to understand I like to put it like this there's two women in God's life yeah I know we wouldn't want that that would be a nightmare well it was for Jacob actually when he had two wives it it wish did not but because they just got jealous of each other now you'll notice in the Bible Genesis to know Genesis 20 in verse 11 you'll notice that the woman to start with has two descriptions of her abram apply to as I might to I said to myself there is surely no fear of God in this place they will kill me because of my wife besides she really is my sister the daughter of my father though not of my mother and she became my wife it's very interesting that the first and God uses in the nation of Israel is described as sister and bride right which according to our understanding your current it can't be both you've got a sister or you've got a bribe you can't marry your sister and in the beginning this is sort of what happened and so you find this phrase sister bride it's in the Song of Songs an awful lot Song of Songs chapter 4 in verse 12 now if you've read my book you'll understand a lot of what I'm gonna say you are a garden locked up my sister my bride well which one is she she can't be a sister and your bride yeah but the woman is because God's got two women in his life you see Israel is his flesh and blood Jesus was a Jew his sister and he intended to take his people as his bride Israel in fact in the Old Testament Israel is called the wife of Yahweh but in the New Testament the church is called the Bride of Christ which is is different the wife of Yahweh is slightly different than the Bride of Christ God still wants to save his flesh and blood the Israelites his sister but his bride is the one he's going to take to possess for himself now remember the bride is made up of Jew and Gentile it's not excluding the Jews it was supposed to be the Jews but it includes Gentiles that's why you find Abraham Isaac and Jacob all married their close relatives Jacob married is how Abraham married his half-sister Isaac married his cousin Saudi Jacob but have you noticed when God had got Israel the patriarchs all married their close relatives but as soon as Israel was born and became a nation Judah Joseph then the generations down Moses who did they marry Gentiles now was that an accident or is God showing as a prophetic destiny because Jacob actually told his sons they must have marry a Canaanite who did Judah marry the most important of his sons he married a Canaanite and then he had children through Thema a Canaanite and the tribe of Judah through Jesus came through a woman that was never supposed to be married in the first place and then you got Boaz marrying Ruth who was a Moabite you weren't supposed to marry Moabites yeah moses married Zipporah who was a Midianite of Midianites for israel's enemies and then Joseph married an Egyptian a Senath what a mess yeah but you see God showing us the sisters and the bride and that he actually wants them to be the same can we see that and so when we say the woman the woman is usually a picture of the church certainly in the New Testament and symbolically in the Old Testament but remember it's also a picture of Israel Jesus came to save Israel just like Jacob came to get Rachel and ended up marine layer and then had to get rich or seven years later it's a direct picture of the Great Tribulation Jesus takes his bride and then seven years later gets the other bride the other woman Israel he came to save so that they could all be united to their Messiah so can we see that hope have tried to explain that a little bit and that's why you'll find Moses had a big argument in his family do you know who it was between his sister and his bride Miriam didn't like Zipporah yeah the Jews don't like the church Paul says they're aroused to jealousy the Jews don't like the church because we love the Messiah and they don't and if there's anything that winds someone up it's when someone that you should have loved loves somebody else more than you am i right ladies men who ever yeah if you love somebody and that person loves somebody else more than they love you you don't like that dear maybe didn't like the para because she was not a Jew and what did God say when he came down he said port Miriam outside the camp for seven days put Israel outside the camp for this Sevenfold process till they learn I do love them but they should have been my bride I don't love them more than my bride remember that's why the Jews hated Jesus because he loves Samaritans and then he liked Samaritans so we see the symbolism if you've read my book you understand all that so the woman is a picture of Israel okay I know she's usually a picture of the church but in this instance she's a picture of Israel especially going back to the promise of Eve that the woman is going to birth the child okay so Israel is going to birth the son who is the son Jesus okay Revelation chapter 12 and verse 5 she gave birth to a son a male child who will rule all the nations with a iron scepter and a child was snatched up to God to his throne the woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God where she might be taking care of 1260 days so the woman gives birth to a son Israel gave birth to the Messiah Jesus was born just as what was prophesied exactly at the right time in the right place in Bethlehem of the right line of the tribe of Judah born of a virgin just as been prophesied by Isaiah came to crush the Serpent's head just as have been prophesied back in the in the garden the woman had birthed the child then the woman had to flee into the desert yeah when Jesus ascended up to heaven what happened to Israel they had to flee into the desert they were destroyed as a nation the very same generation where did they actually flee the the Jewish believers does anybody know they fled of it over the Jordan to play pehle into the the place of Jordan actually what is now Jordan Moab and a bomb on it was in the time of the Old Testament and so they were fled there into the wilderness and they were protected that happened in the past it happened in the ancient past it's gonna happen again in this seven-year period one of the important things to understand about we've already looked at this in the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 12 especially when is all this happening as he and in the past is it happening now is it going to happen in the future and the answer is all three it happened it's happening it's going to happen again on a much bigger scale remember prophecy always follows that pattern don't just try and limit it so in the time of Jesus this is exactly what happened the manchild Jesus was ascended up into heaven yeah the Jewish believers had to flee into the desert where they were protected by God for that period when Elijah fled to the same place the other side of Jordan how long was he protected for him fed for three and a half years 1260 days you see they're following the same Old Testament pattern and they will do in the future Jesus says when you see these things What did he say flee to the desert to the mountains or the other side of the Jordan which is a desert region Jesus prophesied it it happened it's gonna happen again so she gives birth to the manchild now there are different interpretations of who the manchild is now I think it's self-evident who the manchild is because if you go to Revelation 19 verse 50 if you go to Revelation 19 and verse 15 when Jesus returns the rider on the white horse whose name is the word of God this is obviously Jesus the king of kings lord of lords and no one disagrees for a minute that this isn't Jesus coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword strike down the nation's he will rule them with an iron scepter yeah so the manchild is the one who rule with an iron scepter well Jesus in the very same book is the one who rules with an iron scepter actually that phrase occurs four times in the Bible it's always referring to Jesus even where back in Genesis Judah was told that the one from the line of Judah he was called Shiloh she law that the ruler until the scepter comes to him that I incepted to rule comes to the one who he belongs it was a prophecy all the way through the Bible he was the man child who will be born it will be the seed of the woman who would crush the Serpent's head so I think a self-evidently is Jesus there are some people who claim that the manchild is the church now just bear with me now cuz it does follow some sort of logic because just as the manchild is raptured up to heaven so the church is raptured up to heaven and although the manchild is Jesus we are the body of Christ so we are raptured up to heaven and so they they did they follow this logic that this is actually the look talking about the rapture of the church who came out of Israel the woman now I think you have to do some theological gymnastics to make that fit now I don't disagree with the ultimate theology of it the church is going to be raptured and we are the body of Christ and we I don't disagree with it in its its ultimate logic I just think the manual clearly points out that this is Jesus so I think it's obvious that you stick with Jesus because he's not just repeated here is repeated in in other places as well the one who rules with this iron scepter the the son of God Himself Jesus Christ okay so this is who I think it refers to now what does the dragon want to do kill the child as soon as he's born when Jesus was born isn't that exactly what the Antichrist right to do what it hadn't want to do kill him as soon as he was born killed the children this patterns repeat repeated all the way through the Bible even in the time of Moses what did Pharaoh want to do kill all the babies yeah so that no one would come to redeem Israel it's that anti-semitic pattern of destroying the children before they are born we have a similar thing in operation in our society there the number of abortions who knows who we've killed who God might have sent to help as we don't know so this is the child Isaiah 9 verse 5 the prophets talked about this child that would come and all this is obvious to us but it's still important just to reinforce what revelation is talking about here everywhere he is built used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning will be fuel for the fire now he's actually talking about the Tribulation Period but this is where naysha says this we repeat this at Christmas it's naturally got anything to do with Christmas for unto us a child is born the to us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father Prince of Peace go down of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end he will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom where's David's throne Jerusalem yeah has Jesus ever reigned on David's throne no he's Isaiah telling the truth was Gabriel telling the truth was God telling the truth well they all said he Jesus is coming to reign on David's throne so that means he's going to be the king of Israel and he's gonna reign from Jerusalem not just in heaven remember the acts in heaven is also gonna be on earth Jesus in heaven but he's coming back to earth so he's going to reign establishing a holding with justice and righteousness from that time on for ever for ever okay so it's clearly been prophesied this is going to happen so Jesus here in this vision is caught up to heaven here in Revelation chapter 12 in Revelation 19 exactly the same description the one who rules with an iron scepter is going to come back I conquer all evil finally so this is what we're seeing here it's a reference to the first coming and the second coming you'll find in the Bible the first coming in the second coming are often stated at exactly the same time foreign to us a child is born unto us a son is given that's just a poetic way of saying the same thing no no no he's talking about two different things there was a child born but then his son's gonna be given yeah two comings that many times in the Bible that something said but it said twice in two different ways and he actually is referring to both separate events but it's said in one statement so we think it's all the same thing that's why the Jews didn't understand the difference because they thought it all happened when he came the first time there's actually a gap between the first and the second coming and so what is the gap he's ascended into heaven with the iron scepter before he comes back with the iron scepter to rule okay so let's go back to Revelation chapter 12 Revelation chapter 12 verse 7 so what happens at this point past present and future it's always the same pattern war breaks out he never Michael and his angels fought against the dragon the dragon and his angels fought back but he was not strong enough they lost their place in heaven okay they just read down a little bit the great dragon was hold down the ancient snake or the devil or Satan who leads the whole world astray he was held to the earth and his angels with him and then we hear a loud voice will not look at that okay next person in this vision the next sign is a great red dragon yeah so we've seen the woman we've seen the manchild now we see the great red dragon so God goes into detail describing what's going to happen with this great red dragon remember what we've said throughout this study God's got bigger problems than you I mean you're a big enough problem for God but he's got bigger problems than you he's not just dealing with my sin is dealing with the heavenly rebellion of Satan he's dealing with the angelic rebellion of the Fallen Angels and he's dealing with man's rebellion Babylon on earth is going to deal with that next but he's giving us an overview of everything that happened so we can grasp what this is okay who is the big red dragon Satan how do you know it's Satan because he says so yeah good answer yeah right now who is this big red dragon if you go to verse 3 of chapter 12 we're not going to look at this tonight we'll look at this next time we're going to chapter 13 chapter 13 is where it really gets wild then another sign appeared in heaven enormous red dragon seven heads ten horns seven Crown's what are the seven heads what are the ten arms what are the seven Crown's it will tell us in the next section it represents kings kingdoms empires nations okay we'll look at that next time by the way the crown Z's got it's a totally different word than the Crown's the church gets the church gets assist stefanos the word Stephen it means a crown that you've earned that is a diadem it's like a crown you've got just by your thought it like a king I mean you've earned it it just means you've got it okay it's different than the Crown's that the church guess so this is what this dragon is ultimately going to represent kingdoms and empires now who is he if you go to Daniel 8 in verse 9 remember Daniels already told us all about this Daniel 8 in verse 9 let's just read down so Daniels describing this beast and it describes this beast has horns as well and then out of them came another horn so despite this beast I'm in these halls there's another horn comes up this horn is the Antichrist we know this from the other chapters but we haven't got time to to go into that now which started small but grew in power to the south and the east towards the beautiful land that that's the land of Israel it grew until he reached the hosts of heavens it through some of the sperry hosts down to earth and trampled on them Daniel's already told us this beast this creature that has these horns is gonna pull this stars out of heaven what are the stars angels how do we know they're angels now she tells us in Revelation the stars represent angels now there's literal stars and then there's the representations of stars but we're looking at signs they're not literal stars because they're signs so the Angels it set itself up as great is the commander of the army of the Lord he claims he's the king of the heavenly hosts but who is the captain of the heavenly host Jesus took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord and he sanctuary was thrown down destroys desecrates the temple because of rebellion the Lord's people the daily sacrifice would given over to it he prospered in everything he did truth was thrown to the ground kills the two witnesses there's no truth everyone has to worship this beast is the Antichrist Daniel's already prophesied it we see in the sign here now in Revelation chapter 12 what he's going to do at this stage so we know he's Satan because it says he's Satan yeah yeah but what does Satan mean you see in Hebrew it wasn't a personal pronoun originally now I think I've put a little chart together of the things that are described here just in Revelation chapter 12 can you put up that next chart please chart number 10 okay so on the left there you've got a list of who this red dragon is we can see here who he is what he's doing okay he's a dragon he's Satan he's called the ancient serpent he's called the devil he's called the deceiver you read the King James he's the one who deceives the whole world he's called the accuser the accuser of the Brethren and he's a murderer he's killing people okay so you've got seven attributes of this dragon here yeah you've got to understand God uses a different term for the devil Satan this thing this being this fallen carob this Lucifer whoever we want to call him each one of these terms is an representation of his attribute now you need to understand how evil he is he's actually called the evil one Jesus called him okay he's got the Prince of the power of the air he's called the ruler of this world he's called the Prince of demons it's called the ruler of this age he's called the ruler of this whole world you've got to understand every something right I know you know this there isn't heaven hell and an in-between neutral ground no-man's land the earth that is a totally unbiblical way of looking at things there is those who belong in heaven and those who belong to Satan there is those only only those two realms Jesus said the whole world lies under the control of the evil one Jesus came to rescue us from that he didn't come to stop us from choosing to belong to the devil we were already under his control he runs this world that's biblical understanding it's actually very clear Satan rules this world he's been cast to earth he's going to be cast to earth again okay so who is the dragon what what is it dragon now we tend to think of dragons as like mythological creatures you know in Cinderella don't went guarding the castle where the princess is gonna be rescued from I think that mythology actually comes from the the original understanding is there such a thing as real dragons what do you think you don't answer do you what is a dragon huge reptilian creature yeah has there ever been huge reptilian creatures walking this earth okay did mankind ever meet any of them well paleontologists will tell you that we didn't do you know every single culture going back to the earliest recordings we have even going back to cave drawings of thousands of years ago every and this is a universal rule they all record these huge reptilian creatures doesn't matter where you go you can go to China Korea Japan they all in there ancient manuscripts and ancient past record things they call dragons huge reptilian creatures that were so fearsome you know everyone was terrified of them you can go to Latin America Aztecs Inca they have the same iconography huge reptilian creatures called dragons it's the same in Europe it's certainly the same in the Middle East as far back as we can go to the ancient Sumerians Acadians Chaldeans and mappers Mesopotamians paleo Babylonians they all recorded what they called dragons huge reptilian creatures now a lot of modern scientists not all of them a lot of modern scientists would say they just made it up they all made up the same lie that turned out to be true because we dug them up in the 1850s that they actually were huge large reptiles walk in the earth now you'd have to be an imbecile to believe that that just flies against all laws of probability if you have all this evidence and then you find out it's true guess what it's true right you can't dismiss it has all just been a hypothetical guess from thousands cultures that had no contact with each other and they all made up the same myth that's nonsense the laws of probability are just absurd to come to that conclusion so what does the Bible say about it well if you go to Sam 75 verse 12 there Sam 74 in verse 12 if you've read your Bible a lot you'll actually know the Bible talks an awful lot about these large reptiles now you can use whatever word you want I mean we tend to use the word dinosaur don't we which just means terrible lizard in the original language it just means a large a lizard-like creature that's what it means but to say that it's different just because she use different words that's just childish but God is my king of long ago he brings salvation to the earth it was you split open the sea by your power you broke the heads of the monster in the waters it was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert right you'll find that phrase there that word in verse 14 that word Leviathan which is repeated throughout the Bible what is there Leviathan now summon some by what else a it's a crocodile it is not a crocodile this thing was the monster that inhabited the earth it was huge it was this large reptilian creature I'll cook all cultures not just the Hebrew Bible but you go back into the the Mesopotamian manuscripts epic of gilgamesh child Chaldean Sumerian they talk about the same thing they call them that the taneema this these huge reptiles this dragon type thing that had authority that no one could tame they all talk about it it's called the sometimes it's called the sea monster it's called the chaos monster it's as if everything represented by this dragon this creature represents chaos that's why it's often linked has been in the waters because the waters become chaotic and it's a representation of everything that's bad but all ancient cultures talked about it as if it was real and I don't think they would dome I actually think they were clever of the nose I think they are hacking back to the original understanding of the original dragon Satan himself who was cast to earth now we know he was in Eden but he need and he wasn't called the dragon we know in Revelation 13 the dragon is going to bring another beast out of the sea but he's going to be a like a man Antichrist so he's called all these different things so if we go back to the chart he's called also in Revelation 12 he's called Satan now hasit an in Hebrew means the accuser it literally just meant someone who accused but then throughout the Bible from Genesis onwards it started to become a natural pronoun of a specific person this dragon this reptile in job he's there Satan and job again talks about Leviathan this reptile and in chronicles there we don't need to turn to it he's the accuser he rises up to accuse David and causes turmoil in Daviess Kingdom incites rebellion he's the Satan the accuser I've spoke to were Jewish people in in in Israel and they still call him the Satan to identify him as as one specific entity okay he's also called in Revelation 12 there these are all in just in Revelation 12 these there's lots of other names from throughout the Bible he's called the ancient serpent so it's the same thing dragon Satan he's the ancient serpent who's the ancient serpent he's the one who was in Eden remember serpent doesn't mean snake it came to mean snake the Hebrew word Nahash we don't really know what it was it was a large reptile type massive creature type thing kind of bean probably what did he do he was crafty and he brought lies to the woman right Satan is called a different name dependent on how he is acting he can be all these so he's called the devil the devil the root word of the word devil means slanderer the one who slammed us he appears there in Matthew 4 he's the devil who comes to even attack Jesus so if he's if he's if he's gonna attack Jesus he's gonna attack you okay he tempts he came to tempt Jesus I'll give you something if you listen to me he's called the deceiver they're in Revelation 12 he deceives the whole world Paul writes of the church and says I'm afraid that Satan has deceived you deceit is the single biggest warning we have received in the New Testament when Jesus talks at the end times and he talks about all these earthquakes and famines and terrible things the number one thing he talks about is being deceived believing something that's not true the horrible thing about deceit is you don't know you've been deceived you need someone else to tell you and your own pride won't let someone else tell you and that's why you're deceived we don't like it some of us would rather be deceived and say we write and be told the truth than have to admit we're wrong that's what the pride let's Satan to become this in the first place over and over again in job it says the Leviathans tongue cannot be tamed you can't stop him telling lies he tells you 90% truth and 10% lie to get you to act according to the 10% he got a third of the Angels to follow him he can certainly get a third of the church to follow him he's that deceitful he slanders he lies he's crafty he's manipulative he opens his mouth and brings a flood in Revelation chapter 12 he does the same now he alms his mouth and he brings this chaos he's the accuser the accuser of the Brethren there when you go to mark three and verse 12 you'll find that the world will belong to devil were always looking he actually uses this phrase they were looking they were asking Jesus questions they were looking for an occasion to accuse him yeah he's always adversarial he doesn't ask questions to gain information he asks questions to undermine your understanding of truth that's why he's called the adversary that's another one of his names the adversary Saturn and he's a murderer he's trying to kill the child he's going to kill the offspring the child he tries to kill the woman Jesus says you you are of your father the devil he was a murderer from the beginning Cain was said that he was of the evil one he murdered in the beginning it was it was Satan behind Kane's murder of Abel he's the destroyer he's the evil one so their attributes of Satan why is that important to know because they are the exact same age they're they are the exact opposite attributes of what a Christian should have yeah a Christian does not create chaos we don't create confusion we create unity and harmony a Christian does not incite people to take their side now I know some of you have been in lots of other churches and some of you have been in these churches and you have known Christians who were more like that than they are like Jesus because that's what Satan does what does he do he craftily incites people to take their side he uses slander he speaks against people especially people in leadership he gets you to be adversarial he's cunning to deceive you into thinking bad of the people God has sent you to do good and before you know it you are believing what they say so that you can't receive the good because you've already accepted the false because the person God sends to do you good you don't believe them you believe the person who slandered them even though the person who slandered them isn't helping you at all that's how Satan is and his ultimate intent is to is to kill the church kill the spirit of unity kill the spirit kill Christians destroy everything that God wants to build and he got a third of the Angels to follow him so he can certainly get a third of the church to believe him so we need to bear that in mind now his ultimate tactic is to destroy not just the church but to destroy Israel it will always lead to anti-semitism Satan's tactics always lead that way that's why I've just put up this next chart we'll just start to bring this to a close now throughout the Bible you will find that Satan's plan has been to kill the Jewish promise right from the beginning right to the end he did it in the garden he was going to try and kill what did he do he wanted to kill Eve son killed Abel why because he knew the seed of the woman was going to kill his head was going to crush him so he has to destroy everything that comes from Israel which includes the church Genesis 6 he tried to do it with the Nephilim the fallen angels he tried to infiltrate mankind so that he would pollute mankind's very DNA so that man would have to be destroyed mankind was almost destroyed God will always destroy everything satanic always remember that always in Exodus 1 he used Pharaoh to kill all the Jewish babies in Daniel 3 die Nebuchadnezzar made everyone worship a know they'll be thrown into the fire or then later into the Lions dead and the Persian kings he always works through the Satanic empires Egypt Babylon Greece Persia Rome and then the final Empire that's coming at the end in the Tribulation Period which may already be here ok I did it with the Persians remember Hammonds genocide there in Esther what did he do we're going to kill all the Jews but Esther petitioned the king and they were saved Matthew it's the same Jesus said when Jesus was born what it had to do try and kill all the baby boys you've got to kill the promise got to destroy this promise in Luke 19 jesus said the same thing they're gonna come they're gonna kill all your children don't cry for me cry for yourselves because she rejected God the only thing that's coming is destruction for your entire nation okay why is Satan doing this hasn't he already lost yes he has already lost he cannot take away your salvation but remember what the ultimate promise is the ultimate promise of the Covenant was Jesus to return to reign in Israel if he can destroy the Jews then Jesus can't come back so all of Satan's efforts now in the destruction of the Jewish nation and you don't need to be a genius to know that that is what the whole attention of the world is focused on this tiny little nation the half the world wants to go away and the church as well because we believe the promises the true church so he's trying to destroy it all he has to it's his only last hole the only hope he has he can't do anything about the church I mean he compares the commuters but the Church of the Living God is alive Jesus building his church the gates of Hell will not prevail against it he cannot do anything to anyone who's been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ but he thinks he can still destroy Israel so that's why the dragon is now persecuting the woman he's going to destroy Israel he's going to try he won't although it'll seem like he's almost achieved it and it's not just there that's just a biblical that's just the biblical examples and there's more than that even if you just take the last 2,000 years if you go to the next chart okay just as we as Jesus prophesied Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus but a lot of people fail to understand in the second century the Jews still existed in Israel but then Hadrian there was another revolt and Roman called Bar Kochba and when Hadrian put that down but that revolt down it cast all the Jews out of Israel he plowed Jerusalem under he set up his own city called iili a capital ina and he and the Jews had never been back to Israel since that time there'd be one or two living there but it was always under another Empire they were scattered throughout the nations that was 2,000 years ago they were scattered into Europe throughout the Middle Ages they were put into ghettos they were taxed did you know Britain threw them all out in the Middle Ages we expelled all the Jews from Britain persecuted them terribly they were allowed back on the Cromwell's room Cromwell understood from the Bible though we would be blessed if we bless the Jews so in the 1600 they were allowed back and they've been back since then and we're still thankfully most of our nation is still relatively friendly towards the Jews the minute we betray them we've had it as a nation by the way the Spanish Inquisition that so many people caught that was actually about persecuting Jews did you know that they then applied it to Protestants but it was originally in Europe it was about persecuting Jews killing Jews unless they converted Christianity that's that's really what the Spanish Inquisition was set up for everything else about it came after that then there was the pogroms in Russian if you're aware of that where the Jews were massively killed on a massive scale and persecuted then obviously the Holocaust that we're familiar with under the Nazis where they tried to obliterate the Jewish race presently we've got the Islamic threat most Islamic nations want all Jews dead you know I find it incredible when people are saying that you know Israel and Hamas should make peace well Hamas as aim is to kill every Jew how can you make peace with someone that wants to kill everybody in your nation I mean it's just nonsense isn't it and people say the peace process what peace process I mean I'm not saying all Muslims want that but Hamas and Hezbollah do that's their stated aim to wipe Israel off the map and that's happening right now and then there's the final one coming which we're already entering into where we you can read there in Zechariah 30 as a corral thirteen and Jeremiah 10 you go to Jeremiah 30 in verse 6 because this sort of just pulls together this vision in Revelation chapter 12 özkan see can a mad man bear children what's Jeremiah seeing labor pens why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor every first turn deathly pale he's talking about the the final day the day of the law of the end times for Israel how awful that day will be no other will be like it it will be a time of Jacob's trouble but he will be saved out of it why will they be saved because they'll cry out for Messiah they'll declare Jesus is Lord Yeshua and he comes that's at the end of the three and a half years and it's also Tory has talked about all the way through the Bible but we we don't have time to go into that Zechariah talks about it an awful lot so this is what's happening now even as someone who's no I've never read the Bible suppose someone's an atheist have never read the Bible if you summed up the last 3,000 years of human history there's one constant running through the entire history of this world this world wants to get rid of the Jews why there's hardly any of them I mean the nation of Israel is smaller than London the entire nation it's a tiny little speck you zoom out you can't even see the country why do they want to destroy the Jews you know King Frederick of Europe in the 1700s he wants to asked his physician he said I want you to give me an infallible proof that God exists and his physician came to him he says I have an infallible proof that God exists and he says what is it he said the Jews if you understand the Jews that is enough proof there's a God because for 3,000 years everybody on the planet has tried to eliminate them they've cast them out the land they've banned their Bibles they've banned their language they've persecuted them to annihilation and holocaust levels and yet they still exist they're still in Israel Jerusalem still the capital and they still speak in Hebrew and they're still reading the same Bible that is impossible there is no people group on earth that has gone anywhere near that most people groups after four generations they don't they can't speak the language they don't know where the country is they know nothing thousands of years since the times of the Gentiles since the Babylonians they've never been in control of their nation till now three thousand years that's the proof this is why the dragon wants to kill the woman but there's going to be a big battle Michael is going to arise Michael always fights on behalf of Israel and there's going to be a war a war in heaven a war on earth and Satan is going to be ultimately defeated when the King of Kings returns in Revelation chapter 19 that first John is going to give us descriptions of what happens in these battles and what happens in Revelation chapter 13 when he describes Antichrist Empire and the beasts the leviathans that take on human form and control this world but we'll look at that next time amen amen well god bless you all you

Channel: Royston Bethel TV

Views: 28,354

Rating: 4.7994099 out of 5

Keywords: End, Times, Pastor, Dave, Jones, Bethel, Community, Church, Royston, Barnsley, Revelation, Bible, Study, Preach, Judgement, Fire, Wrath, God, Jesus, Christ, Devil, Satan, Anti, Antichrist, Second, Coming, Signs, Days, Trumpets, Angels, Apocalypse, Maranatha, World, Final days, Prophecy, Prediction, Wars, Repent, Israel, Scripture, Word, Heaven, Hell, Holy, Spirit, Father, Eschatology, Theology, Future, Tribulation, Woman, Dragon

Id: ItvPPOz_KF0

Length: 108min 22sec (6502 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 04 2018