Revelation Now: Episode 11 "The Devil’s Dungeon" with Doug Batchelor

so where is the biggest desert in the world you might normally think that would be saudia arabia or the gobi desert or the sahara desert but actually the biggest desert in the world is in antarctica it's the antarctic polar desert and it's out there in the middle and in the winter time when the sun goes down winds can get up to 200 miles an hour and the temperature can drop 129 degrees below zero fahrenheit very cold very dark and it's very dry it only gets about two percent precipitation or two inches of precipitation in a year but strangely it is sitting on top of 70 of the world's fresh water it's just all frozen yet it's a desert you know the bible in revelation talks about a time when the world again is going to be cold and dark stay with us we're going to talk about it in this presentation of revelation now good evening friends we'd like to welcome you all back to revelation now everything is about to change we're about halfway through the series of presentation dealing with some very important bible prophecies we'd like to welcome all of those joining us across the country and around the world like to remind you if you missed any previous programs you can find them at the revelationnow.com website where they're all archived so we'd encourage you take a moment to look at that and bring yourself up to speed we're getting into some very important and very deep prophecies of the bible from here on out through our series so it'll be helpful to get a background by viewing those archive programs we'd also like to remind you that these presentations are being translated live into spanish as well as sign language for the deaf and if you'd like more information about that again revelationnow.com or if you'd like the spanish one it's revelation now latino and you'll be able to get more information there we'd also like to greet the many people are joining us from countries around the world we've been contacted by folks watching in fiji abu dhabi argentina ghana austria rwanda singapore south korea barbados vanuatu norway bolivia colombia guatemala mexico venezuela panama spain ecuador cuba belize and indonesia and of course that's not all of them but those are the ones that have contacted us and saying hey we're here we're watching so a very a warm welcome to all of you uh we got a testimony from roz from jamaica he says i am blessed by these meetings they are amazing and chris from south dakota says thank you for these meetings my friends in canada are being inspired by each of these presentations so greetings chris and roz we are glad you're part of the program uh and then we got a picture that came in from a family in the philippines we got the lamongo family and they're watching all three of them and they participating in our revelation now series so if you have a picture of your family group or maybe if you're part of um a group that's meeting maybe in a church send us a picture you can upload the picture at revelationnow.com tonight's topic is entitled the devil's dungeon and we have a lesson that goes along with the topic it's one of our landmarks of prophecy studies it's entitled the devil's dungeon and this is available to you for free you can download the lesson at the revelation now website just revelation out dot com as well as our free gift our gift is entitled satan in chains and we'll be happy to send you this little book if you'd like to receive it you just need to text the word chained to 40544 if you're in north america and you'll receive a digital download of the book or otherwise if you're outside of america again it's available at the revelationnow.com website and it's free you can download the book and we encourage you to do so you can read it share it with your friend it goes along with the topic that we're going to be looking at today i'd like to invite pastor doug to come forward and we will prepare for looking at a fascinating study we talking pastor doug about that one thousand year period that we read about in revelation chapter 20. yes and very important to understand because it affects the concept that so many people have about last day events well before we get to it as we always do let's have a word of prayer dear father we thank you once again that we're able to be here and thank you for health and strength and the opportunity to gather together and open up your word and so we ask you a special blessing as we delve into the last book of the bible and we look at a very important passage in revelation 20 and we ask this in jesus name amen amen thank you pastor ross and once again pastor ross will be joining me again immediately after our study and our presentation and we'll be answering your bible questions so we'd encourage you if you have bible questions on the subject tonight then you can facebook send them on in to us and we'll be delving with them in our time after the program well we're going to be studying today the theme of the devil's dungeon which is based on revelation chapter 20 and we're going to be basically covering that whole chapter that talks about some of the last day events dealing with the millennium but we were very interested to kind of get out on the streets and ask the average americans what do you think or what do you know about the millennium so here's some of the responses that we received what i think about when i hear about the millennium is all of the many times throughout my long life where people have thought that the millennium was coming and they were wrong satan would be bound into the bottom of the pit for 1 000 years why they call it millennia it'll be peace on earth the sheep will lay with the lamb and therefore be a lot of peace but after he's led out of the ball in the pit like i referred to earlier then he's going to cause havoc again upon mankind and upon this earth i believe that we who have a relationship with jesus will be raptured in other words we'll be taken up with him and then after a thousand year reign millennium then he will come back what's the most important is humanity like how we treat each other and what we're doing to to be better people not just to ourselves but to others around us i mean i don't know any more than that well in accordance with the book of revelations they said the thousand years is when shaytan and satan is going to be released to the earth you know i'm not sure but i think that last gentleman was videotaping our cameraman as they were videotaping him so he could share the interview with his friends a lot of different perspective different uh comments about the millennium we're going to find out what the word of god has to say and before we even delve into the lesson i'd like to just set the background by opening our bibles together go to revelation chapter 20 and i won't read the whole chapter but i'm going to read the first segment of this revelation 20 verse 1 then i saw an angel coming 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 serpent of old who is the devil and satan and bound him for a thousand years and he cast them into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished but after these things he must be released for a little while and i saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was committed to them then i saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to jesus and for the word of god who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their forehead or their hands and they lived and they reigned with christ for a thousand years but the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years are finished this is the first resurrection blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power but they shall be priests of god and of christ and shall reign with him a thousand years and that's the first section we're going to be covering all of that and uh hopefully we're going to take what some people think is a difficult subject and and simplify it now the bible stories are the key to understanding bible theology the bible stories are there as the key to understanding some of these complex prophetic issues revelation once again is a kaleidoscope that is pieced together from a lot of other bible stories we're going to go back to the beginning and i want you to just know that in the garden of eden when god first made paradise everything was good good very good the ground was so lush and vibrant and fertile it produced just so many exotic fruits that we can't even imagine and man had to do very little in the way of work he did work but it was very pleasant it wasn't grueling but then after sin and man was evicted from the garden of eden god said and you read this in genesis 3 17 cursed is the ground for thy sake so something happened the earth wasn't going to be quite as vibrant and productive then you get to genesis chapter 4 and well god told adam in genesis 3 19 in the sweat of your face you will eat bread then you go to genesis 4 and after cain killed his brother the curse was even furthered for cain it said when you till the ground it will henceforth not yield unto thee her strength and then of course even after the flood the the earth and the ground and farming became even more difficult because it seems like the natural vitality was diminished so by the time israel came on the scene god told the people of israel through moses that they were to farm the land for six years and then let it rest on the seventh year it was like a seven year sabbath and give it a chance to kind of regain its nutrition and you would basically leave it fallow and it would sort of heal itself and develop more vitality and the organic material would build up the soil you know i i know about the end of the 19th century uh george washington carver became famous because he showed a lot of the plantation growers that they were just they weren't able to produce the cotton anymore because cotton took so much nitrogen out of the soil he said you've got to plant other things like sweet potatoes and peanuts and they said what are we going to do with peanuts he said i'll think of something you thought of a lot of things to do with peanuts including asphalt he had all kinds of things he invented but the whole idea was those were crops that would put nitrogen back into the soil and build it up god knew the ground needed to rest so that it could recover and retain its vitality well for a little while the jews followed that law but as near as we can tell studying bible history it was largely forgotten he told them the seventh year you shall let it rest in life fallow that the poor of your people may eat the whatever came up volunteer the poor were allowed to glean but they kept harvesting year after year and they neglected to let the land rest so god said look if you're not going to let the land rest i will make you let the land rest finally after 490 years of disobedience they were carried off to babylon the bible tells us that they burnt the house of god this is the babylonians burnt the temple of god in jerusalem they broke down the wall of jerusalem they burnt all the palaces thereof with fire notice this the second chronicles 36 19. a very important verse and then that escaped the sword he carried away to babylon now don't miss this important point the people that were in jerusalem that didn't escape the city they were destroyed and that city was burnt with fire those who were spared and shown mercy were taken off to babylon to that golden city remember we studied babylon was like the golden city and they were able to then come back after the time in babylon which was 70 years it says until the land had enjoyed her sabbath this is the part i wanted to underscore until the land had enjoyed her sabbath as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill three score in 10 years or we would say 70 years so while the land around jerusalem was desolate nobody was in the land it tells us that it was keeping sabbath you can read nehemiah 1 that during that time it says the walls of jerusalem also are broken down the gates thereof are burned with fire now when we go to revelation and we start reading about this 1000 years in revelation keep in mind that the bible says a day with the lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years or lack a day and we know that god works on a principle through the bible of six days you work and one day you rest there's going to be a thousand year period of time when the planet rests and recovers from the curse of sin and it is going to be desolate during that time and so you stay with me friends and i think you're going to see how this all fits together and makes perfect sense as we go through it i'm going to give you a lot of scripture it'll be in your lesson i hope you're using the lessons you can download them for free if not take some notes and you can look these things up all right so we've got question and answer to study the subject of the millennium question number one what events mark the beginning of the one thousand year period of time well you go to first thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 and there the apostle paul tells us for the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout the voice of the archangel and the dead in christ rise first so the lord is coming down and the dead are rising this is obviously a climatic moment in history this marks the beginning of the one thousand year period of time we just read about this in revelation chapter 20 it says they live and reign with christ for a thousand years and it said blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection the dead in christ rise first so that's the starting point for when this thousand years begins the coming of the lord the resurrection those of us who are alive and remain being transformed and caught up to meet the lord in the air sometimes called a rapture but it's not a secret rapture everyone's going to know when that happens the rest of the dead revelation 20 verse 5 now wait if the dead in christ rise first who are the rest of the dead the wicked you've only got two choices once you've taken the good out of the equation you've only got the bad there's only two categories jesus said you're either with me or against me you're saved or lost there are two roads in life you're on the straight road on the way to heaven that straight gate or you're on the broad and they call it broadway you're on the broad road to destruction so the rest of the dead don't live until the thousand years are finished which what does that imply after the thousand years are finished they do live right it says this is the first resurrection meaning those who are raised the first resurrection when jesus comes what else will happen at the first resurrection first corinthians 15 51-52 we will not all sleep but we'll all be changed in a moment at the last trump for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed you know i used to wonder what that word incorruptable meant it means we then have these glorified bodies that do not get old and decay and corrupt but we've got immortal eternal vigorous bodies and we're transformed and it it doesn't happen slowly like a butterfly it happens instantaneously and the lord can do that for this corruptable must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality the bible tells us flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god meaning our regular flesh and blood bodies they get old that's not the body that inherits eternal life but more about that to come who will change our vile body that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body so if we're wondering what kind of bodies do we have we've got bodies like the body that jesus had when he rose from the dead now he had a glorified body that was let me back up and say this differently god made adam and eve with real bodies they were meant to live forever but they ate and they worked and they were able to rest not because they were exhausted but it was a it's a pleasant rest and they're real physical bodies god is going to accomplish his original plan plus an upgrade but when adam and eve sinned they lost that fourth dimension that we will call the spiritual side of their nature see right now wherever you are and here in the studio there are angels here probably good and bad there's angels all around we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers and heavenly places and so there's a spiritual realm that we don't see if our eyes could have the veil removed like the servant of elisha we would see the hills are surrounded with chariots of fire but when man sinned that sense that spiritual sense was destroyed or damaged we're going to have bodies that will be physical and spiritual but these are glorified immortal bodies that have powers and abilities that we just don't have now but they're real when jesus rose from the dead he ate he said touch me see that flesh and blood doesn't um that a spirit doesn't have flesh and bone as you see that i have now and it says and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the lord will consume with the brightness of his coming and um the lord is gonna burn up then the wicked and uh when he comes so when jesus comes when the resurrection takes place when we are transformed we are caught up to meet the lord in the air with glorified bodies and reunite with the saved who are the dead in christ at the same time what happens to the wicked this is at the beginning of the 1000 years the wicked who are alive says they're destroyed by the brightness of his coming you have one group that says lo this is our god we have waited for him and he will save us then you got the other group and they flee from his presence calling for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from his face and then the whole creation sort of implodes at that time when christ comes the earth is it's in bad shape it says and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great and notice what else every island fled away and the mountains were not found and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven now this picture of a hailstone that you see i understand someone sent this to me yesterday and it is from australia and it looks to me like it's a five pound block of hail and i know the gentleman and uh that's one example there's some big hailstorms i i heard that the biggest hail on record was softball size but that looks soft bible size to me there and it was in pakistan and it killed people you read about the hail one of the plagues of egypt it killed man and beast that were out in the field but this hail that's coming says every hailstone is the weight of a talent that would be approximately 75 pounds by today's measurement so you've got the earthquaking mountains are being swallowed up the dead in christ are rising those who are alive are being caught up to meet the lord in the air the wicked are fleeing from his presence trying to hide in the surface of the broken earth being killed by the hailstones that are pummeling from the sky and at that moment is when the millennium begins we read in revelation chapter 20 it says a an angel now this is an angel that's got to be more powerful than lucifer now and many suspect this is might be gabriel it's the angel of the lord he comes down and he lays hold on the dragon he calls him the dragon and the serpent who is that that's satan and he's got a great chain in his hand now when we talk about satan and chains we talk about the devil's dungeon these are kind of metaphors i don't think you can handcuff the devil because it says we don't wrestle with flesh and blood we don't use carnal weapons in fighting the devil the weapons of our warfare are spiritual but they're mighty to bring down those strongholds he grabs that old serpent that is the devil and satan and he binds him for a thousand years satan is bound where is he bound and how is he bound and this is where a lot of people misunderstand i'm going to spend a few moments on this it says that he's bound in the bottomless pit that word in greek is the word abusos you probably use the word before the abyss it's the same root word and you find that word for instance if you read in um the septuagint which is the greek version of the old testament that was translated even before the time of christ when it talks about god making the world in the beginning it says the world the earth was without form and void and it says it was abusos it describes the earth as a busos if you read in the bible when jesus was talking to the devils when this demoniac man was possessed there by the sea of galilee he asked him what his name was and and they said our name is legion for we are many and they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep see that word they're deep it's exactly the same word that you find in revelation translated bottomless pit now i remember when i first read this in the bible i thought satan is cast into a bottomless pit and you know baby christian i'm reading the bible and taking a lot of this stuff literally and i'm trying to picture a bottomless pit and i remember going to carlsbad caverns when i was younger and uh if you've never anyone here been to carlsbad caverns yeah it's really something to see i wish i could have discovered it discovered by a 15 year old boy named james white jim white and he thought he saw smoke coming up out of the hills and he got a little closer and it turned out it was a vortex of bats and there were so many of them that they dark in the sky and he thought i got to check this out very brave that young man made a barbed wire ladder with some fence posts and barbed wire climbed down himself with nothing but you know a primitive torch began exploring he came back several times and ended up being sort of a guardian of carlsbad caverns the rest of his life well when they were taking people on the early tours of carl's bad caverns they had kind of a walkway to develop to keep people somewhat safe and they had this one precipice with a big old gaping hole that had been there and they called it the bottomless pit and the reason is they said watch this and they take a stone they'd throw a stone over the side and go i said the bottom was pit somewhere in china it came out the other side or something i don't know what they thought well after they got equipment that was more sophisticated they they climbed down and i forget what the depth was it was like you know 200 300 yards down they found the bottom which was filled with this very fine limestone dust and a lot of little pebbles because what was happening is the pebbles were going poof but they didn't hear that and so they thought it was bottomless well of course bottomless pit you know what is that black hole where is the lord putting the devil that is the same word abusos that was used to describe the world when it was first created in its chaotic condition it means the emptiness these demons that said to jesus do not cast this into the abusos it means the emptiness with nothing to possess see even in the time of christ it says it was there because they said don't cast us there see the devil's a workaholic if he has nothing to do it drives him crazy well he's probably already crazy but it really makes it difficult for him and the way that the devil and the demons manifest themselves is not by you know haunting houses i mean what devil wants to get excited about possessing a two by four it's not that's not what excites them what excites them is manipulating people and animals living creatures and when they are cast out and they have nothing to possess they even said to jesus don't cast this out of the man into the business let us go into the pigs at least they're alive we can do something with them and so uh yeah jesus actually let them go into the pigs and they all ran off the cliff so satan when he is bound in the bottomless pit he is bound on this world with nobody to tempt or manipulate for a thousand years now think about it this all makes sense where are the dead in christ when jesus comes what direction do they go they go up what about the dead who are wicked what happens to them when jesus comes they're staying dead there's no resurrection for them it says the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years are finished and the living in christ where do they go they go up the wicked who are living when jesus comes what happens destroyed by the brightness of his coming so how many people are alive on earth when jesus comes after he comes i should say nobody so what has the devil got to do you know the bible says that when christ comes the heavens depart as a scroll the sun goes dark the moon turns to blood so the planet is cold it's not going to be global warming it's going to be global freezing the planet is cold and dark and desolate and it's covered with destruction let's just take a minute here and look at some of the verses that deal with this question three who will be raised in the second resurrection and when will that take place the rest of the dead we've discovered their who the wicked they don't live again until the thousand years were finished which means at the end of the thousand years they do come out of the graves it says they that are in their graves will hear his voice and come forth they that have done good the resurrection of life now notice jesus says there's two resurrections this is by the way john 5 28 and 29 they that have done evil the resurrection of damnation it's going to be like the zombie apocalypse at the end of 1000 years all of them are going to come out of the graves and someone says well pastor doug it's pretty clear that when jesus comes the righteous get immortal glorified bodies but if the wicked when they're raised at the end of the 1000 years you know they may have been in pretty bad shape what kind of bodies do they get not exactly sure but i just suspect god's going to put them back together enough so they know what's going on and if you come out of the grave and your back still hurts that doesn't bode well you're probably not in the right resurrection you're going to have the old body is what that would mean so what is the condition of the earth what condition will it be left in during this thousand-year sabbath when the earth is resting it's a desolate the bible says after the devastating earthquake and the hailstorm that begin the one thousand years behold the lord makes the earth empty he makes it waste he turns it upside down the earth is utterly broken down now isaiah is he talking about something in the past or is he looking into the future notice he's talking about what the earth is going to look like during the millennium in the future i beheld the earth jeremiah 4 23. now when you first read this you're going to think you're in genesis i beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void sound familiar but keep reading and the heavens and they had no light i beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and there was no man and the birds of heaven were fled and the picture is they were once there but they're gone now i beheld on the fruitful place was a wilderness a place that was once fruitful is now a wilderness and all the cities are broken down it's not talking about genesis all the cities are broken down why at the presence of the lord and by his fierce anger the lord says he will come and he'll make an end but not a complete end so here jeremiah is describing a time a condition when the world is empty all the cities are broken down there is no man on the earth let me give you more verses i know this is new for some people the slain of the lord shall be in that day from one end of the earth even to the other they will not be lamented or gathered or buried you know typically after a battle when there's a lot of slain some family or some agency comes in and they take care of their bodies and they bury him out of sight so life can go on but here it says there'll be a day i know it's not a pretty picture but there's going to be a day when the slain and the of the lord cover the earth from one end to the other no one to lament mourn or bury by the way i didn't put any slides in on this but you read in revelation 19 it talks about the lord calls all the birds of carrion the eagles and the vultures to the feast and it's it's talking about the feast of vicarian and it's describing a time often after battles when the slain would cover the fields the sky would grow dark with those birds of caring they often talk about this you remember what um goliath said to david he said i'm going to kill you and i'm going to feed you to the buzzards i'm paraphrasing and david basically said no it's going to be the other way around but that was a common sight the sky would grow dark with all of the birds of carrion and here it's saying the whole earth is covered and it says the lord says come to the birds and eat the flesh of captains and great men and mighty men because whole earth is covered with a slain at that point they're not lamented gathered or buried where will the saints be during the 1000 years and what will they be doing jesus said i will come again let me back up you all know this in john 14 3 it says in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i love this promise i will come again he promised that he's going to keep his word i think it's very soon by the way i'll come again and receive you to myself that where i am you might be also now i just need to pause take a breath and explain why this is such an important issue there are two competing views on the millennium that do not you can't reconcile them one group and this is it's a fairly new theology meaning in the last 150 years or so they believe that the millennium is going to be spent here on earth that what will happen is the rapture will be a secret the church is caught away but life continues to go on here on earth during those seven years of tribulation then after the seven years of tribulation then jesus comes back with the saints and then the saints are here on earth ruling over the wicked for one thousand years and i would not want that i don't know who would ever think that be good to rule over the wicked satan is somehow bound so i guess it's not as bad but we've got glorified bodies but the wicked don't so i guess they keep having funerals but we don't it just doesn't seem to make sense and in that scenario this is the left behind hal lindsey tim lahaye scenario and you know i don't question the sincerity of these men i just respectfully disagree because in their scheme of last day prophecy they've always got someone alive on earth they don't have a place for all these verses that say that the earth is is desolate that it's resting and jesus said what direction do we go when he comes he says i go i'll come receive you unto myself that you may be at the mansions he's prepared the place i've gone to be and so we clearly go up when jesus comes it says when jesus comes the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of his coming the slain of the lord covered the earth you can't reconcile those two ideas so we do not spend the millennium on earth we spend it in heaven i'm going to give you more verses on that in a minute revelation 20 verse 4 and i saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and they live and reign with christ a thousand years well there you have it pastor doug the righteous are reigning over the wicked i don't want to reign over the wicked what does it mean that we're reigning well jesus is the king of the universe we were made in his image he has not only redeemed us but we are going to be living in the capital of the universe with the almighty god reigning with him over all creation it's not the kind of rain where you have a despotic king it's a reign of love and so the idea that we're going to be bossing around the wicked during the thousand years that's not my idea of heaven living and reigning with christ and extolling his goodness and love to all the unfallen creatures now that is an exciting thought it says they will be priests of god and of christ and reign with him for a thousand years this is revelation 20 verse 6 it's going to be up in heaven so where is the sea of glass here's the key that will help us understand this now i don't have a slide on this but i'm going to take you in in our bibles and uh i think i marked this ahead of time so we can try and find it pretty quick in revelation chapter 4 i'll start there and you'll see that and then we're going to go to revelation 15. here's the key revelation 4 verse 1 after these things i look and behold a door standing open in heaven where i need the help of my studio audience because i know there's a a lot of people studying along with us out there and i want to make sure that we're all tuning in and keying in on these things a door is open in heaven and the first voice was like a trumpet speaking with me saying come up what direction come up here and i'll show you things much which must take place so he's gone to heaven he sees this throne of god and the 24 elders go to verse 6 behold the throne before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal all right so there's a sea of glass like crystal before the throne now we're going to go to revelation 15. then i saw another sign in heaven this is revelation 15 verse 1. great and marvelous seven angels having the seven last plagues for in them is the wrath of god complete and i saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who have gotten the victory over the beast over the image over his mark now the people who have to get the victory over the mark of the beast have they lived in the past or is this still present and future that's talking about the last days isn't it mark of the beast so these are the people where are they sea of glass i saw them on a sea of glass those who had gotten the victory over the beast and his image of the mark over the number of the name standing on the sea of glass having harps of god and they sing the song of moses and the lamb so when jesus comes it says we go up we just read that we go up to heaven we're on the sea of glass these are the ones who have gotten the victory we're not down here and so i just wanted to emphasize that point and what are we doing first corinthians 6 2 do you not know the saints will judge the world do you not know first corinthians 6 3 that you will judge angels now what does this mean first of all i want you to divest yourself of your typical idea of what judgment means in the typical american western mind if i say picture a judge okay if you were to close your eyes and picture a judge what color says robe black what's he got in his hand a gavel see we're all united on that and what's he doing guilty innocent guilty innocent right that's a screw so you know you picture a judge going around you're just always declaring people guilty and innocent and saying 40 years you're free or whatever the penalty and the in the jewish mind judgment didn't mean that you've probably said before they're a person with good judgment that doesn't mean they walk around going guilty innocent innocent guilty it means that they're evaluating they've got good evaluation skills so when it says that we'll be judging now when we're in heaven isn't it pretty clear that if that we're caught up to meet the lord when he comes we're saved and the wicked they're lost so we are not deciding which is probably a good thing we're not deciding who is saved and lost that's already decided but we're going to have a lot of questions when we get to heaven during that 1000 years i've got a thousand years of questions and for one thing someone said there'll be three surprises when you get to heaven surprise number one you're there surprise number two there are some people there you never thought you'd see there for example you've got stephen gets to heaven i just always try to picture this i think that'll be you know stephen the martyr and he gets to heaven he's rejoicing and he's with his angel who's giving him a private tour because he's a martyr he's got special rank you know and and then he sees a parade and he said what's that he said oh that's they're taking saul on a parade because of all what stephen last time he saw saul he was killing christians and i could just picture stephen saying to the angel you know i don't embarrass you guys you usually do really good work but you've made a mistake this guy's not supposed to be here i mean don't you know he was he was the hit man for the the pharisees and and this oh glad you asked steven come with us and i used to say they're going to go look at the video together i can't say it anymore and then i would say they go look at a dvd but that hardly works anymore now i guess you're just going to download with fiber but anyways he'll come to the library and god's got everything's on record and those things that you know every idle word we speak is recorded the bible tells us everything we've done is recorded and so he takes him to this heavenly library says let me show you what happened he shows stephen paul on the road to damascus that dramatic conversion the repentance of paul three days weeping and crying over what he had done he forever had remorse over what he had done to stephen the angel said stephen your last prayer was do not lay this sin to their charge god heard your prayer forgave saul he said oh wow what do you know and so there's that surprise that there's people there you never thought would be there and then the third surprise is some people you'd say where's deacon jones i want to say hi to deacon jones and the angel says i've got some bad news come with me if you want to know deacon jones looked really good on the outside but you know he always hugged his bible walking around and smiled real big and he could sing the loudest and said but uh he had some secret sins the bible says those things then in secret will be shouted from the house top and you go oh because suppose you've got a loved one that's not there and god wants you to love and trust him if they're not there he wants you to know that he did everything he could to save them but he had no other choice and so he's going to let us look at the record books to show i wanted to save them more than you wanted them to be saved but i had no choice based on my law and the gospel that's what i had to do so god we're going to be looking at and judging evaluating the judgments of god that's at least part of it and which says you'll judge angels well the saved angels we're not judging them the wicked angels were affirming that judgment and that'll make more sense as we continue with the lesson what will happen at the close of the 1000 years it says behold the day of the lord comes and his feet will stand in that day on the mount of olives which is before jerusalem on the east you know jesus said to the disciples i'm going i will come again the angels told them in acts chapter one this same jesus will come back in the same way you've seen him go he left the mount of olives one bible version says our one gospel says bethany bethany's on the mount of olives so it's the same place and he's coming back the way he left so at the end of the 1000 years the bible tells us he comes down his feet touch the mount of olives which is before jerusalem on the east by the way that is the most expensive real estate for a cemetery in the world every jew wants to be buried on the mount of olives because of this old testament verse they want to see the messiah when he comes and it will cleave it splits and it forms an enormous valley don't think grand canyon i'm talking about a valley that's going to be 300 miles across because into that valley the new jerusalem sits down and i john saw the holy city the new jerusalem coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband so who's in the city the redeemed jesus the good angels this has been the dwelling place of god he's bringing it to our world and it is going to set down on the very territory that encompasses the promised land so everything god told the patriarchs abraham isaac and jacob this land is going to be yours and your descendants forever is god keeping this promise it's all the the whole border the extended big border that he gave in his promise to david and abraham of the promised land will all be contained within the walls of the new jerusalem and we're in the city so this is at the end of the 1000 years what happens next to free satan from his prison well why was he in prison because he's a workaholic and he had nothing to do he was bound by circumstances can you imagine that devil he told all those uh other angels he said if you trust me i've got a better plan than god just trust me we're going to win and during that 1000 years they're probably chasing him around the planet going we listen to you we lost eternity because of you and he's got to listen to that and finally at the end of the 1000 years the city the world that's been dark is illuminated because the bible says the city is as bright as the sun you remember our study on that it comes down it illuminates the prison and jesus when his feet touch the mount of olives he calls forth all the dead who have ever lived kind of like a big hypodermic needle coming into the planet the new jerusalem coming down christ says come forth and all the wicked who have ever lived through the ages to be billions will come out of their graves and when that thousand years are expired satan shall be loosed from his prison now he has a vast number of people to tempt and manipulate once again he goes back to work and he's got all this pent up energy what will satan do when the wicked are raised he will go out to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth gog and magog to gather them together to battle and i think i've got a verse here that talks about gog and magog i'm not going to read that one yet if you have your bibles those who are watching you might have one here if you're with me you turn to the book of ezekiel chapter 38 and i want to just highlight a couple of verses remember who are gog and magog i know i've got some dear friends they say well that's russia and china nothing in the bible it says gog and magog from what the four corners of the earth doesn't say there's north it's talking about something global you find gog and magog mentioned in genesis chapter 10 they were ancient enemies of god's people please remember this and revelation will make a lot more sense all of the proper names in revelation are symbolic it talks about egypt it's not real egypt talks about sodom sodom's gone talks about balaam balaam was dead talks about jezebel it's talking about the characteristics of these people not literally them but they're famous in the bible for their deeds gog and mega gog or other magog simply means from the matrix of gog or out of gog or the children of gog so it's saying gog and its children it's like babylon and her daughters herodias made her daughter dance you can read about jezebel and her daughter athaliah all persecuted the prophets of god and so it's like the this leader and their children that's all what gog and magog means they were the ancient enemies of god's people they represent the wicked of all ages that have been fighting against god says uh let me see here ezekiel 38 verse 1 now the word of the lord came to me saying son of man set your face against gog of the land of magog the prince of wrath and meshech and tubal and prophesy against them can't read all of chapter 38 but i want to go to verse 16. you will come up against my people israel like a cloud what word did i say like a what a cloud to cover the land it will be in the latter days when is it going to happen and i will bring you against my land so the nations might know me that i am hallowed in your eyes oh god before their eyes then go to verse 22 and i'll bring him into judgment with pestilence and bloodshed i will reign down on him and his troops and on the many peoples who are with him so it's not just him and his troops the many peoples other nations all the tribes will mourn because of christ the lost i will rain down on him flooding rain great hailstones fire and brimstone well has that happened in the past no so this is a prophecy of the future isn't it and got to read the whole chapter it's amazing how this unpacks revelation for us so the devil what do we just read cover the earth like a cloud numbers like the sand of the sea the devil sees this vast army all the wicked billions who have ever lived are brought forth from their graves and he said you know there's a lot more of us outside the city than there are of them inside the city and someone said hope spring's eternal i guess that's even true of the devil he thinks maybe he doesn't give up you know i remember this uh story about gal worked at an office and she was a christian and she worked with an atheist and he was always pessimistic and negative and she was always positive and he'd come in and he'd be saying man the weather it is awful it was raining cats and dogs she said oh they're going to be beautiful flowers later no matter what he said she always had a positive spin on it used to drive him crazy one day he got an idea i got her i know she can't say anything good about this and he came in he said oh man the world is full of so much misery that devil boy he's just really awful isn't he she said well he certainly is busy the devil is a workaholic he is busy he doesn't stop and so as soon as he sees that he's got people to manipulate he tries to rouse them now who does he have in that group does he have some military geniuses probably alexander the great you know he kind of drank himself to death i don't expect he's in heaven napoleon great military leader i did not include hitler because he wasn't that good a military leader he's just a motivational speaker but so you got these geniuses and you've got all of the science from the people who lived before the flood and last days and and they take whatever resources in the world they say let's make weapons and let's launch an attack on the city of god and they went up on the breadth of the earth and they come past the camp of the saints about what is the camp of the saints the new jerusalem comes down from god out of heaven it's the new jerusalem and it says they surround the city the beloved city we know what it is and i want to pause here all right this is what you call cliffhanger station identification all right we've been studying the millennium what does milli mean it's a thousand annum years the word millennium is not in the bible the teaching is it's called the thousand years you don't really find the word trinity in the bible not sure you find the word bible in the bible i think the word biblios is in the greek but um so it's a teaching that talks about this thousand year period when the earth is desolate let's review where we are so far the millennium begins with the first resurrection jesus coming the wicked are destroyed a thousand years we live and reign with christ in heaven during that time and then at the end of that when the new jerusalem comes down the wicked are raised and the devil tries to get them to launch an attack upon god's people this is again ezekiel 38 16 thou shall come up against my people of israel as a cloud to cover the land the bible says the number of them is like the sand of the sea and even revelation uses the word cloud imagine right now we got 8 billion people in the world unfortunately most of them were not saved broad is the way that leads to destruction and they're going to surround the city of god and the devil is going to infuse them with his own enthusiasm and power you know he's a powerful angel and say we can take the city you see the last time they saw satan he was impersonating christ and uh he's going to say i'm the rightful owner of that city those folks are the ones who took it from me but we can take it back i will give you powder follow me trust me and it's they're desperate it's their last hope and they cover the earth at this crucial moment what will stop everything and i saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works so just as they're getting ready to launch this attack on the city of god christ is elevated above the city sitting on a white throne and the glory that emanates is brighter than the sun and the power it just makes everyone freeze the power of god is so awesome that um all they're gonna do it's like you know when the fire came down from god in the days of elijah what did israel do they fell down on their knees and they said the lord he is god the lord he is god they saw the power of god when he gave the ten commandments the people coward they said moses don't let god talk to us anymore when christ in his glory rises up on his white throne there's a everyone freezes in their place and this is the time of what you would call the great white throne judgment and during this time the bible says everyone is judged out of those things that are written in the books and if our names are not in the book of life then we will be cast into a lake of fire that's coming in just a moment but when we think about the judgment when it talks about the white throne judgment i used to have this idea god's going to line up everybody who ever lived in a very long queue and he's going to say okay one by one let's get the books and get the witnesses and testify you get defense attorney prosecuting attorney and who knows how long one case might take if it was america it'd be a long time i mean there's some people here that are clearly guilty and they're on death row for 20 years and but that's not how god's going to do it follow me can the lord save 20 people at one moment at pentecost were 3 000 saved in one day five thousand a few days later can the lord judge millions at a time he can as everyone stands before the lord in a panorama in the sky the lord is gonna show the plan of salvation and how he has done everything he could to save every individual but they could not they would not participate they did not surrender they did not trust him and they're not saved and their deeds the places where in great detail where they were led the right way and they turned against god is going to become clear i think there's going to be people outside the city they're going to look around them and they're going to say i'm here because of you i'm here because of you why did you mislead me and the people outside the city are going to look up on the walls and see the redeemed and they're going to say oh that's the one i persecuted there in the city and i'm on the outside of the city it is going to be the time of mega reckoning for everybody we've always said you know vengeance is mine god says i will repay there is a day of justice and judgment now i don't know exactly how long it'll be but i think everybody is going to be coming to terms with the secrets of life at that time we're going to be coming to terms with the people that we treated right and they're in the city because of our proper influence and our love for them and there'll be people we'll have to look at that are outside the city because of our influence but there'll be a day notice this this is the grand finale jesus says in matthew 25 the day is coming when like a shepherd i will gather all nations before me the sheep and the goats the good angels the bad angels one group on the right hand well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the lord the other group into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels so after this judgment is complete what happens as i lift says the lord every knee will bow to me and every tongue confess to god this is the time when everyone outside the city inside the city they're going to see the justice and the goodness of god in this whole plan of salvation they'll confess to god and at the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven everything above and things on earth everyone below and things under the earth every creature will bow down that every tongue does that mean the tongue and the saved the tongue of the lost the good angels and the devil and even the bad angels the devil probably against his inner desires or his pride he is still going to be compelled to acknowledge god was good jesus is lord see the devil said to jesus if you fall down and worship me i'll give you the world jesus said i'm not taking it from you that way i'm taking it by my blood i'm going to redeem them and now instead of jesus revering the devil the devil is going to fall down and recognize and revere jesus and i heard a great voice of many people in heaven declaring true and righteous are his judgment so what is it that we're declaring we're declaring his judgments are good this is what it means when it says judgment is given to the saints we're going to declare that god is fair what happens next well what happens next before the fire comes down as we just read in ezekiel satan still as they get up off their knees he said follow me we can take the city it's our last chance he still can't stop himself now i might i might just pause here and try and answer a question you're thinking why does god go through this whole charade of giving the devil another chance why why doesn't he let him just be destroyed or judge him when he comes keep in mind the whole universe and unfallen angels they once loved lucifer he had lived maybe eons before his fall in rebellion maybe a million years we don't know but god is getting ready to destroy the highest creature that ever lived that was ever created god is demonstrating even after lucifer has a thousand years to consider the results he's walking around this broken desolate planet he's looking at the results of his rebellion he said my government will be better and he's all the angels said yeah really look even after all of that he can't change he's lost all redeemable qualities god is going to say before i rain that fire down i want everyone to know i had no choice satan once again tries to get everyone to launch attack against god and they all probably turn on each other and they try and turn on this great confusion and finally god executes what you call the third phase of judgment the executive part of judgment the sentence is passed fire comes down from heaven and devours and this is the fire and brimstone we just read in ezekiel 38 and as that fire rains down it creates a leak of fire and everybody is punished according to what they deserve in that lake of fire and he who did many things is beaten with many stripes so to speak few things few stripes and so there are varying degrees of punishment satan is going to suffer the longest it says at least day and night until he's all gone and whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire now this is the strange act god does not like casting the lost into the lake of fire but keep in mind the bible describes this as the second death does the world burn forever no let's review what we've learned millennium begins first resurrection second coming during the thousand years we live and reign with christ in the city it's like a thousand year sabbath the earth is a desolate during that time at the end of the one thousand years you have the second resurrection the holy city descends and this great judgment takes place during the millennium the righteous are in heaven the earth is desolate after the fire goes out what will god do it for his people for behold i create a new heavens and a new earth blessed are the meek they will inherit the earth and i saw a new heavens and a new earth for the first heaven and earth were passed away and there was no more sea no big barrier separating we according to his promise second peter chapter 3 verse 13 we look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness and this is the point where god says he will revelation 21 he will wipe away all tears from their eyes where will god and the righteous finally live behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he will dwell with them blessed are the meek they will inherit the earth friends this is just a i think a beautiful study it shows the justice of god it shows the culmination of the plan of salvation how god is going to do everything he can to save as many as he can but at some point he has to purge sin from the universe there'll be no more devil no more demons no more wicked sinners all things are made new everyone will be punished in the lake of fire according to what they deserve and then on the ashes of the purified planet god makes a new heavens and a new earth where there's no more pain sorrow death all things are new he wants you to be part of that kingdom but if you're going to be part of that kingdom then he wants to give you a new heart now and you get that by coming to jesus just like you are and he can transform you and give you that new birth we're all going to meet again someday i hope that you want to be inside the city friends when that day comes jesus has paid your ransom he paid your fare to get you inside the city you need to accept that by faith invite him into your heart and let him create you into a new creature he will do it let me pray with you before we go to our question time loving lord we thank you for this encouraging study that there is coming today when there'll be no more sin there'll be no more suffering and that all things will be made new there'll be no more devil and lord we're glad to know that the universe can enter eternity purified from all pain and i pray lord that we can have that experience be with each person watching i pray for some who have not made that decision that right now they'll say matter of fact they may pray with me at this moment lord jesus i want you to come into my heart forgive my sins i repent of them give me a new heart and begin to show me through your word how to live for you amen now friends if you prayed that prayer i hope that you're going to go and download the studies that we've been sharing especially the one on salvation don't go away coming back with 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to go into all the world millions of individuals and over 150 countries have been blessed by the word of god amazing facts has spawned new spheres of influence in india africa china and indonesia with each new country come hundreds of translated booklets study guides and video presentations produced in each region for the people of that region armed with these precious truths gospel workers are empowered to spread bright rays of light on every path they travel please visit reachtheworld.amazingfacts.org to learn more about amazing facts international and how you can participate in this exciting soul-winning ministry that website again is reachtheworld.amazingfacts.org thank you for your support welcome back friends i'd like to welcome you to our revelation now you all missed a really good blooper pastor ross leapt into his chair just before the camera went live we were supposed to keep that a secret pass today well it's more fun to share i was trying to get a free offer book so i'm trying to catch my breath here just a reminder our gift today is entitled satan in chains and this is the free gift that we'd like to make available to those who are watching if you'd like to receive this all you have to do is get your bread text the word for text the word chained to four zero five four four and you'll be able to get a digital copy of the book if you're outside of north america just go to the revelation now website and you can download the book okay faster when you run to the back forty i did run a little ways searching for the book all right well i was gonna have to do my pastor ross impersonation i'm glad you're here all right questions yes uh we have some questions that we'll put up on the screen okay first one is will the wicked be able to see the righteous people who are inside the new jerusalem i believe yes and you know this is one place where you look at the parable of the rich man and lazarus there is at least a brief period of time where the people who are redeemed can see those who are lost and those who are lost can see those who are redeemed it's kind of like a great day of reckoning and it's going to be a difficult time but yeah i think so um we're all going to be there and uh there's going to be people that we knew that are outside the city um i think that there's going to be some martyrs in the city they're going to look outside and they're going to get to see and the the persecutors the inquisitors are going to look in the city and say these are the ones that we tortured and there's going to be that contact that's going to happen that's really the justice of god and that'll occur it's a vindication yeah that'll occur with the great white throne judgment scene that we read about yeah so every case will be open for examination of the wicked time sobering time our next question that we have is how long will be the time period from the day the holy city descends until the wicked or destroyed by fire from heaven you know i'm glad this question is in here usually i mentioned it in the lesson i forgot today we don't know it says that satan is loose for a little season now that's an an unspecific period of time the closest thing we can find uh is when it tells us in hebrews and i think it's chapter 11 where it says that moses refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing instead to suffer affliction with the people of god rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and so for moses that season was 40 years of you know leading them from the wilderness to or from egypt to the promised land i don't know if there's 40 years they have enough time to you know probably organize it can't be that long you know what are they eating but i guess they're being sustained by just the power of god and by the way there is a time in the bible i forget the prophecy reference pastor ross where it says people will seek death and they can't find it so during the millennium those that are those that are resurrected by the lord they're just sustained spiritually by god's power during that time i don't know they're going to be able to engage in farming and eating and all the things we normally do the verse you're referring to i think is revelation chapter 9 verse 6 okay talks about a time when people are seeking death um we have another question and that is when we'll put on the screen how long will be the destruction of the wicked oh sorry let me read how long how will the destruction of the wicked angels and the people affect god yeah well i think after a thousand years of bible says we're judging angels and that we are judging the the loss the saints will judge the world that we're we'll be looking at the records and everybody who knows anybody that isn't in the city will have an opportunity to evaluate the reasons why they did not make it and we will all come to the place where we are perfectly satisfied that god was loving and just see god does not want us entering eternity second guessing or doubting his goodness his justice his love and so he said look i'm going to spread out before you everything i knew and how i dealt with this case it's called disclosure he's taught you know all these politicians talk about transparency god is going to be demonstrating the ultimate transparency and that all of the records of the lost are going to be available now we're trusting that all of our sins are under the blood and that he's pressed the delete button by the time we get to heaven but all of the loss that's not been the case and someone else asked they said now pastor doug whatever person lives as a christian for 40 years and then they turn away from the lord they backslide and live for the devil for 40 years do they still have to pay for that first 40 years of sins that they ask god to forgive him for and my answer would be yes because you know the parable in matthew 18 of the unjust servant when he would not forgive his fellow servant his entire forgiveness was revoked and so some people think well i've only got to pay for the sins that remain unforgiven between you know last time i sent him when i die some people think like that and i said no you're either saved or lost right and there's no middle ground okay so we have some questions that have been emailed in this person is asking the bible says all of the islands are going to disappear is this going to happen when jesus comes or sometime after that yeah a lot of our friends that live on you know south pacific hawaii they're thinking oh we're in trouble what's what are we going to do i if you're saved don't worry if you're not saved you get bigger worries then how's the island going to survive uh if you're saved when the lord comes we're caught up i think the earthquake that swallows up the islands happens you know shortly after the saints were all caught up so don't worry that god's gonna have to pluck you from the ocean somewhere as you bob around he's gonna you have nothing to worry about if you're saved i can promise you that okay somebody's asking um the good question why did jesus allow the demons to possess the pigs and they're referring to the story yeah demoniac i'm glad they asked that too because people always have that lingering question you read the rest of the story and people say well i think matthew tells us that there was a herd of 2 000 swine so when the devil said to jesus we are legion someone figured there may have been up to 2 000 devils in this man because all the pigs were possessed and they went berserk and just like an avalanche of pork chops they just went running off the cliffs and tumbled off and drowned in the sea of galilee now keep in mind the sea of galilee three quarters of it is surrounded by jewish territory pigs are unclean the sea of galilee is not that big if you want to talk about a toxic spill for a jew then you throw two thousand pigs into the sea of galilee and when these bloated pig carcasses began washing up on the shores of tiberius and capernaum and cana all these cities they're going what happened the story of jesus saving that man went that's why it's in matthew it's in mark it's in luke this was a a national event jesus crossed the ocean he saves one man turns him into an evangelist and the reason they all know the story is because the people who kept the pigs the demons thought we're going to destroy all their pigs and all these people will turn away the pigs ended up being the reason a lot of people turned to the lord when they wondered what happened it drew attention to the story by the way god doesn't want us raising pigs for food and that's what they were doing so he said you're better throwing that out of the fridge into the lake okay so all right somebody's asking is the thousand years prophetic use another good question you know when we're studying bible prophecy and we're getting to more of the prophecies this week by the way don't miss our coming presentation wednesday no meeting tomorrow we're giving everyone election day off a day to pray and maybe fast and pray for our country and vote and but then we do have a meeting wednesday night we're going to be talking about the sanctuary and the temple being rebuilt and you don't want to miss that but we have studies talking about time prophecies wednesday night and you'll know in time prophecy a day equals a year so someone's wondering if that thousand years if it's a spiritual thousand years really means 360 days in a jewish year that'd be 360 000 years i don't mind if it is if we're living and reigning with christ but i think it's a literal thousand years because it has literally been uh six thousand years roughly when i say literal the real years from the time of creation till our present day then it's like a thousand-year sabbath that we spend with the lord now we don't know when jesus is coming no man knows the day of the hour but we're sort of living at the end of that 6 000 years of epics and when the earth will then rest for a thousand years so i think it's a literal thousand year the other reason is um now where's the verse where it says time will be no more or there'll be delay no longer in revelation and it makes it sound like from this point on once we enter eternity god doesn't use the day for a year prophecy um method anymore it's the years or years at that point okay very good uh the verse you're referring to pastor i believe is in revelation chapter 10. you're talking about the little book yeah that's right um here's probably one of my favorite questions that's coming i've never seen this one before um this person asks if we are going to be young in the kingdom of heaven why does the bible speak of 24 elders i know that's that's cute i have never heard that one before either you know i remember when i first became a christian i was kind of surprised that the the church said uh doug i was in my twenties i said we'd like to make you an elder i said don't rush me i'm in my 20s i don't want to be elder elder doug and i used to you know no disrespect intended but when the mormon missionaries would come around they all wear the little badges and you know they do this when they're sometimes in their early 20s or late teens it says elder smith and elder jones what elder barely grown a mustache and so when you think about elder you think the word is presbytrose and it usually in the bible it means a person i think there's a feminine version of it too it means a person of age and experience that's where you get the presbyterian church it was led by the elders and so uh when it says they're elders it doesn't mean that they look old it means they are people who have great experience with god and even job talks about the elders in heaven so it goes back sons of god around the throne of god yeah that's right okay another question we have when does this tribulation take place that the bible speaks about in relation to the second coming yes now so and we've got studies coming on this so please did i mention if you were going to miss anything you should have missed the former lessons don't miss anything else from here on the tribulation is a time that begins when the beast's power is going to compel religious laws that will force us to choose between keeping the commandments of god or the commandments of men and of course peter says we ought to obey god rather than man and if we do not obey the there's going to be our political religious organization um the nations of the world will never merge as one nation daniel tells us that in daniel chapter two but there will be a religious confederacy that's going to happen and everyone out of fear is going to be making religious laws these leaders and they're going to tell us how to worship and the beast power will be behind that if we don't cooperate they'll say you can't buy or sell now that shouldn't surprise us because right now even governments issue sanctions where people cannot countries cannot buy or sell but then it will be on a personal level and i think we all know that uh we're on the verge of digital currency most people don't even use cash anymore and uh it'll be very easy to control buying and selling and then they'll finally be a and that's called the small time of trouble the big time of trouble is when they initiate a death decree at that point the seven last plagues fall that is the big time of trouble and it's going to be extremely severe blood and men scorch with great heat fresh water turns the blood and noise and sores and that's the great time of trouble such as has not been since men were upon the earth so terrible at time and so great okay so very good we got another question pastor that jesus said in my father's house there are many mansions but in isaiah 65 it says we will build houses and dwell in them can you explain yes you will have a city home that god builds for you in the new jerusalem it may be a multi-level city you know all i know is god says that you can't imagine now keep in mind in a jewish wedding when a man proposed to a young lady and there was an agreement with the families and she accepted the proposal he then would go to his father's house and build a wedding chamber the honeymoon chamber there and when it was complete he would come and get his bride and take her back to the honeymoon chamber that had been built usually adjoining to their main home of the father so that's the language christ is using of a of a marriage and you don't have to worry that jesus will forget us any more than a groom would forget his bride after he builds a honeymoon house and so we got a city home but then we're going to he'll say go forth explore the earth the redeemed will and the meek will inherit the earth it says we will then build houses and the same way that joshua divided the promised land for the israelites god is somehow going to divide the world made new to with the 144 000 and the great multitude and we're going to have our our places and spaces and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them and build houses and and uh it says every man under his vine and his fig tree so we'll have a country home which i'm looking forward to okay um another question is coming it says at what time of earth history will the holy spirit be withdrawn from the earth you know there'll be a period where probation closes probably immediately after the small time of trouble during the small time of trouble uh god's people are going to be persecuted we can't by ourselves but we'll still be preaching jesus said you'll be brought before kings and rulers to give a testimony and he said don't worry in that hour the holy spirit will tell you what you need to say and people will still be converted during that time and some christians whose faith is not rooted well they're going to give up their faith so during the small time of trouble people are still being moved by the holy spirit to take a stand or to they're going to be laboring with temptation to lose their faith and at that time i think that at the end of that the holy spirit is finally withdrawn and it's going to the inhabitants of the earth that are lost they're going to be fully under the control of demons how would they go they'll still have the holy spirit though jordan yes we'll be sealed with the holy spirit okay uh another question is coming you mentioned a few weeks ago a few weeks few presentations ago about what happens to a person when they die and this question is what about the verse that says to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord how do you answer this yeah second corinthians chapter five and paul is you know paul is in and out of jail for his faith i think he knows his days are numbered and he says you know i could wish that i might depart and be with the lord but it's needful that i'm with you that i can you know serve you and he says absent from the body i'd rather be you know absent from the body and present with the lord if a believer dies their next conscious thought is the resurrection their glorified body and they're caught up to meet the lord in the air so a thousand years might go by from the time that you know john huss died or somebody in history i'm trying to pick and um they died a martyr from the time they close their eyes for them it just have you ever had a hard long day of work and you take a hot shower and you get into bed and you're exhausted and you close your eyes all of a sudden you hear the alarm ring and you think oh what's that doing ringing and you think that you've slept three minutes and it's actually been seven hours uh it's been a while since i had a night like that but i remember having when i was a teenager i woke up once i'd slept 10 hours i thought it was 10 minutes well that's how it's going to be life is still going on here on earth but for the dead there's no consciousness of time so you can rejoice for your loved ones that die in jesus because their next conscious thought is his presence but it hasn't happened yet they're not up there looking down on you okay another question in heaven there is no nights does this mean we won't need to sleep in heaven i don't think we're going to need to sleep because we're exhausted i do think that we're going to rest it says they'll run and not be weary they'll walk and not faint we'll always have energy to do whatever we want to do but i think there'll also be times of rest the bible says there's a sabbath in heaven in isaiah 66 that it tells us that from month to month and from one new moon to another and from one sabbath to another all flesh will come and worship before the lord not just jews all flesh part of the sabbath is resting and i think there will be days and probably it tells us that the light of the sun there and i think we referenced this before will be like the light of uh it'll be seven times brighter and the light of the at night there will be like the light of the sun today so there will be brighter and darker times and i think during the dark times we might want to go out in our country home and lay in a hammock made of vines and take a little snooze nothing wrong with that and just rest say i'm in heaven forever i never have to worry again never have a nightmare it'll be wonderful all right somebody's that this is a common question that we get uh what does the bible say about cremation is it biblical yeah well that's connected with the subject we had on death you know most of the time in the bible when somebody died they had a typical burial tells us abraham isaac jacob they were buried jacob was actually embalmed by joseph in egypt and then he was buried in the promised land joseph was involved in egypt then carried to israel and buried in ephraim david was buried the kings were buried there's a couple of exceptions you do find where king saul died and the philistines had taken his body and mutilated it well the men of jabish gilead rescued his remains and that of his sons that had been killed and they cremated them they burned them and then they buried their bones and and uh saul probably lost but jonathan his son is probably saved from what we read in the bible cremation does not prevent a person from being saved during the dark ages sometimes christians were burnt at the stake for their faith that doesn't prevent the lord some people say how is he going to find all the parts and put them back together again god's making them new old things are passed away all things are made new and so we don't need to worry that god can't raise us but typically in the bible because the protestants usually took the position because man was made in the image of god that even in death we bore the divine similitude so that that form should be respected but when you die ash is the ashes dust to dust eventually unless a person goes to special measures you're going to turn back into the elements of the earth okay very good another question that's coming what does the bible have to say about divorce and remarriage it seems that it's so common today even in the church yeah good question and um well you know we mentioned in i think our opening presentation that back in the 1800s there was only one divorce for 30 i think it was 35 marriages or is even better than that might have been one divorce for 50 marriages very rare and then it's progressively gotten worse over time and you know in the uh it seems like in the 60s it it ended up getting really bad in the 70s everyone was liberated and they got quickie marriages and quickie divorces and got to where fifty percent of the people that got married got divorced statistics are actually improving and the statistics among christians that go to church are even better but personally i think it's because the values of the covenant that we make with god and the misconceptions about what love is love is not the mushy feelings that people see in a hallmark movie love is actually a commitment a decision and you need to love a person that may not always be lovable otherwise karen would have never loved me but you made a decision it's a covenant before god and and so i think that's one reason the only biblical grounds for divorce according to jesus in matthew 5 i think it's repeated in matthew 19 is it says saving for the cause of fornication and so if those vows have been violated there's grounds but god that doesn't mean we have to get divorced i think we had a book people can even request on this if they've got questions on it called marriage divorce and remarriage i don't know if they can read that one online so they'll have to go to the website and look it up again just go to the amazing facts website and a number of the resources that we talk about here are available so if you want to go to the website you'll be able to look that up amazingfacts.org.com well pastor looking at the time you probably don't have time for another question but we've got a lot happening not tomorrow night but wednesday and then all the way through the weekend some very important subjects that are coming up and wednesday is yet to come that's right you're going to be talking about a temple a lot of people are wondering about a temple being rebuilt in jerusalem so you're going to be talking about that on wednesday evenings mysteries of the sanctuary we'll be unpacking that and you're going to be amazed at what we can learn from the three sanctuaries in the bible and how jesus reveals the plan of salvation some of the secrets of that in that in that study okay again it's not too late to invite your friends you can tell them to join us as we're getting to the meat of these presentations and of course no program tomorrow evening but we'll meet again on wednesday evening you

Channel: AmazingFacts

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Length: 88min 36sec (5316 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 18 2020