[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn with me to Revelation chapter 12 through 16. How do you review however many chapters that is of Revelation with all those details?
[0:23] Well, we're going to try. We are not going to try to focus on every detail today, obviously. Not what a review is all about. We've looked at details. Now we're going to step back and kind of see the whole forest.
[0:37] We're going to step back and see the big picture. What is God revealing to us in all of this detail? What is the impression He wants to make upon us?
[0:49] And so we're going to look at two things this morning. We're going to look at verses 12 to 14, which are the seven visions. And then, thank you.
[1:03] I was supposed to do that. Yeah, I know. I always forget. Oh, I forgot to take the garbage out. Oh. Sorry.
[1:14] And then the plagues. The seven last plagues in 15 and 16. So we'll take it in two parts. To start, I just want to read chapters.
[1:29] Smokey in here. Sorry. It was an illustrated smoke of the pit coming up. No. Just read chapters 12 and 13 since those are the farthest from where we've recently been.
[1:47] So we kind of have to remember. There's the most drama as well. Chapter 12 and chapter 13 kind of give us really the heart of spiritual warfare there.
[1:59] And then recently we've just, last week we did all of chapter 16 and week before chapter 15. So those hopefully are a little bit more recent to our memory.
[2:11] So if you're able, if you'd like, please stand as I read from Revelation 12 and 13. Revelation 12, 1.
[2:23] And a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.
[2:36] She was pregnant, was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Then behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
[2:54] His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.
[3:08] She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
[3:22] And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1260 days.
[3:33] And war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated.
[3:45] And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. That ancient servant who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth.
[4:02] And his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.
[4:16] For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.
[4:30] For they love not their lives even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.
[4:49] And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a season and seasons and half a season.
[5:14] The serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from its mouth.
[5:34] Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
[5:48] And he stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
[6:05] And the beast I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's. Its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.
[6:19] One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. And the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.
[6:29] And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? And who can fight against it?
[6:41] And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words. And it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling.
[6:59] That is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given to it over every tribe and people and language and nation.
[7:16] And all who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
[7:31] If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the slurred must he be slain.
[7:43] Here is the call for the endurance and the faith of the saints. Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.
[7:54] It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
[8:09] It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
[8:32] And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
[8:47] Also, it causes all, both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
[9:07] This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man.
[9:20] And his number is 666. So it reads, let us pray. Father, grant us insight today.
[9:32] As we step back and look at all of this, make plain to us, Lord, what you want us to walk away with, what you want us to grasp.
[9:45] You do not intend for us to understand every little detail here because this is picture, picture language. And so help us to see the picture that we might understand what the battle is we're in and that we might understand you better, that we might get a bigger picture of who you are because clearly it's all about you and not about us.
[10:13] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. So it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
[10:29] Right? This is Christmas season, so it should be a Christmas message, should it not? It is. It is. We celebrate today and this month God's love.
[10:42] For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him might have eternal life. It is a gift, a greatest gift, and it proves God loves sinners.
[10:58] God so loves sinners that he sent his son to pay our price, right? So we have different candles that represent this season.
[11:09] We have a white candle that represents what? The purity, the holiness. God said to Mary, you're going to have a son. She says, how can this be?
[11:19] I'm a virgin. God says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and will overshadow you. And for this reason, the Holy Spirit overshadowing her, the child shall be holy. He shall not inherit the sin nature of Mary and obviously not Joseph.
[11:37] Holy child, red candle, red candle for what? The redemption, the blood of Christ. Mary was told one thing.
[11:47] Joseph was told another thing. You shall call his name what? Not Emmanuel. He will be called Emmanuel, but that's not what... What was Matthew the father...
[11:58] Excuse me, sorry. Joseph, the father, told to name his child. Jesus, which in Hebrew is? Joshua, which is Yehoshua, which means Savior.
[12:13] God saves. You should call his name Jesus' wife, for he shall save his people from their sins, not their enemies. And ultimately, not just from their sins, but from the wrath of God.
[12:26] With a pink candle, we remember... What do we remember with a pink candle? What's pink stand for? Isn't it girly things? Joy.
[12:37] We chose to have pink represent joy. Joy from what? What in the Christmas story tells us of joy? Who else was told about the birth of Jesus?
[12:49] Shepherds in their... washing their socks. No. Watching their flocks. In the fields, right? They were told, we bring you good news of great joy.
[13:02] For a Savior's been born today for you. Shepherds were told that, not priests. Shepherds were told that. And then today, we looked at the gold candle, right? The gold candle reminds us of...
[13:13] Wise men. Worship. Wise men who come to worship. And bring Him gifts, who worship Him. All of that is in Revelation 12 to 16.
[13:26] You see, Revelation 12 starts with what? The woman. Who is what? Pregnant. Who gives birth to who? The Messiah.
[13:37] The Messiah. The one who's to rule. Not just any child, but a male child who is the one they've been waiting for. The birth of Jesus. Chapter 12 starts with the birth of Jesus.
[13:51] And His escape from the dragon. The dragon wanted to devour Him. We remember the story of the birth of Christ was surrounded by lots of drama.
[14:01] Of drama. Herod seeking to kill the child, right? The wise men come and warn them. And the family gets away. But the devil never stopped trying. He tried all through Jesus' life to kill Him.
[14:14] Finally does on a cross. Only because Jesus allowed that. Gave Himself. Laid down His love. But the victory was short.
[14:24] Because as Revelation 12 tells us, the son was caught up. And He not only raised, but ascended to His throne.
[14:34] He took His throne. Right? So the dragon tries to get Him, but the dragon loses. He ascends to His throne. And then today we're remembering the wise men in worship.
[14:45] And worship is all through the book of Revelation. It's all through. It kind of keeps interrupting the story. So we see the redeemed in heaven and chapter 14 who are singing a new song.
[15:02] The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb singing praise to God. Then we see chapter 15, more worship. Chapter 16, more worship.
[15:12] Wise men still worship Him. So in Revelation 12 to 16, we actually have a review of the life of Christ from the birth all the way to His second coming.
[15:24] Because chapter 16, right before the ending, Jesus says in verse 15, Behold, I am coming as a thief.
[15:35] Which means suddenly, unexpectedly, you'll not know when. Therefore do what? Be vigilant. And keep your garments on.
[15:47] This is a way of saying stay faithful. Stay faithful. So this really is a Christmas message. This really is a Christmas book.
[15:59] Though we wouldn't tend to think of it that way. But it is. So we're going to review two parts. Let's do parts at a time. We're going to look at the seven visions in verses 12 to 6, excuse me, 12 to the beginning of 15.
[16:18] And then we'll look at the seven last plagues. Chapter 15 and 16. We're not going to look at all the detail. I just want to kind of remind you what's there. So the first part, we see the seven visions.
[16:30] Now it's not called seven visions. But there are, and grammatically with the text, you can identify the seven visions by the wording, and I saw, and I saw.
[16:46] So here comes another vision. I saw, and I saw, and I saw. So we have seven distinguished visions there, different visions. So chapter 12 is one whole vision.
[16:58] Though there's parts to it, it's one whole vision. I saw. Actually, actually the word I saw isn't there, but the word sign is the same word for I saw. It appeared.
[17:10] Something appeared. A sign appeared. A vision. Okay? So he had the vision of the woman and the vision of the dragon. But it's all one story, right?
[17:22] So chapter 12 of Revelation actually goes all the way back to the first century. This is something we're recognizing in the book of Revelation. It keeps repeating. Each new vision kind of goes back and starts over again.
[17:37] So the sealed judgments start with the beginning with Christ and goes all the way to the picture of the end. The trumpet judgments do the same thing. The bowls are a little bit different.
[17:48] So we'll take a look at that. But here in chapter 12 it begins with Christ, right? Chapter 14 shows us all the people in heaven. So chapter 12, as we read, we see there's a war.
[18:00] The dragon seeks to devour the child. He loses. Defeat number one. Strike number one. In heaven, he's cast out. Strike number two.
[18:11] He's defeated again. He casts down to earth. So he seeks to take it out on the woman who is basically the Jewish and Gentile church, right?
[18:22] It's all those who keep the commands of God and those who have the testimony of Jesus. That's the woman. It's a picture of the whole people of God. And so he seeks to get the woman.
[18:35] What does he do? Does he get her? She's given two wings and she flies to the wilderness. What does that mean? It's symbolic. God's protecting her. As long as he wants her, she's going to be protected.
[18:48] She's nourished. Now, it's not a lovely place. It's a wilderness. Right? You learn lessons in the wilderness. Remember that? Then we come to chapter 13 and we see how does the dragon keep fighting?
[19:01] Now he's going to work through earthly servants. So we see a sea beast in the first part of chapter 13 and then we see a land beast. They're described very strangely.
[19:12] Right? The sea beast has seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems. One of the heads was slain or seemed to be slain and then come back to life.
[19:27] Well, it kind of shows us that this beast, seven-headed, not literally seven-headed, but had different heads over time. And so one Caesar would pass away, another Caesar would replace.
[19:40] So seemingly, you know, Alexander the Great goes away and in comes Caesar. In fact, several Caesars for 500 years. He goes away and in comes what?
[19:53] I don't know, Till of the Hun and whoever's next. I don't know. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a one person. So we have this sea beast who are world rulers.
[20:04] Clearly, this sea beast in the first century was Rome. To the churches in Asia Minor, right? Rome is across the sea.
[20:15] So coming across the sea is Rome who rules over them and sets up temples in their towns of the image of Caesar to be worshipped.
[20:29] that was enforced by the second beast who were the false prophets, the religious-oriented people, if you call it religion, but they sought false worship.
[20:43] All right? They made people build an image of the first beast in their temples. It's exactly what you had in the first century. What does that look like today? I don't know.
[20:53] I don't think the image is the same. I don't think it's a thing so much as an idea. Concept. So you have that.
[21:04] You have the land beast who seduces, right? You see that language. It's things coming out of the mouth. And so remember, the dragon, what comes out of the dragon's mouth, the dragon, the serpent, the devil, is deception.
[21:16] It's lies. So the same thing with his servants. Out of their mouth comes lies. So it talks about a flood coming. It's a flood of lies. All right?
[21:28] And the church is protected from that flood of lies because the earth, the people of the earth, come up and swallow those lies. All right? So you have that kind of language going on. And then snapshots of the eternal destiny.
[21:43] Chapter 14, you have the 144,000 on Mount Zion who are more likely not a specific number of people who are virgin, perfect, perfect elite group of people but more likely are symbolic of the whole church redeemed who sing a new song.
[22:06] Chapter 14, 6 through 14, we see three different messages. He sees an angel, right? In the sky, I saw an angel and he has a message and then another angel and another message and then a third angel and a third message.
[22:22] So three ultimate issues. The first angel talks about fearing God. He has the gospel. He calls all to fear God and give him glory. The second message is Babylon will fall and Babylon is a symbol of all who are anti-God.
[22:38] All who are substituting God for something false. Okay? And just says all who are anti-God will fall and then finally the third message is about judgment.
[22:53] All will face judgment. All who take, all who identify, take the mark, who identify with the false God and who want worship.
[23:06] Who bow down and worship. And it doesn't mean they're going to a church of some sort worship. It means they're they're aligning with they're giving honor to their, that's their idol.
[23:18] They're placing value and security in that idea, that person, that image. That's what this is about. So. And then it ends the seventh vision actually carries over into chapter five where we kind of have we see in Revelation this kind of ending of one vision and then moving on to the next.
[23:40] So we kind of have this transition. chapter 15 where it ends giving glory to God who is holy and righteous and then preparing for the next series of seven judgments.
[23:52] So that's kind of a wrap up quickie over your head view hopefully not of 14, of 12 to 14. So let's talk about that one first.
[24:02] Let's discuss. I would like to hear from you. what have we learned and let me focus the questions here a little bit. What have we learned about spiritual warfare? These chapter seven, keep in my mind where we are, chapter 12 through 14 shows a spiritual warfare.
[24:22] All right, we see the dragon attacking the child, the dragon attacking heaven, the dragon attacking the church and now the offspring. What do we learn about spiritual warfare?
[24:34] What is, remember, this is a revelation. It's showing us behind the scenes. He's showing us what we don't see. When we read the gospels, we saw Jesus born right in a manger and all this.
[24:47] Revelation is showing us something else. There's a dragon in the background. There's a, not Herod, but a dragon behind Herod seeking to kill the child.
[24:59] Right, so, and then a war in heaven. We never saw that but we're told there was a war in heaven after Jesus ascended and took his throne. No more, no more dragon in heaven.
[25:10] No more room for a dragon. No more reason for the dragon to accuse the brothers night and day because why? They have a savior now who has freed them from accusation.
[25:21] Right, so the devil's thrown down. So you get all these pictures behind the scenes. That's what we're given. What does it show us? What are we seeing? What does God want us to see about spiritual warfare?
[25:33] Doesn't it say that the dragon is not done, it's continuing? Oh yeah. He doesn't get thrown away until chapter 20. Yeah, he's not, he's thrown down but now he's limited to earth.
[25:51] He does not, he has no business going before the throne of God anymore. He cannot stand in the presence of Jesus. So he's limited now and it says he's mad because now he knows his time is short.
[26:06] He used to be able to go, right, remember the story of Job and et cetera, you know, he used to be able to go before God and say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, now he can't do that anymore because Jesus has cleared everybody. Yeah, right?
[26:17] Yeah, just to follow up on what John's saying too, and I'm going to use the advantage that I have here playing with the video system today. So, that last section there, you know, certainly he's thrown down but I thought it was interesting, the tense of this, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.
[26:38] Who accuses them day and night? So, it looks like his venue has changed. He's no longer in heaven. Right. He's on earth but he's still accusing. Yeah.
[26:49] So, it's... Oh yeah, we hear that, right? Yeah, so, and that was my question. It's certainly, we hear that. Does God continue to hear that or is it just us that hears that?
[27:01] Because the dynamic of this is interesting. I can visualize an image of Satan continuing to accuse us before God and God saying, no, they're forgiven.
[27:14] So, Satan's still trying to do his thing and God's making me even madder by saying, yeah, I hear what you say but they're forgiven. Yeah. Is that reason?
[27:26] Well, I think that's, I think that's real, yeah. Yeah, I think that's valid. I mean, he can't go, of course, there's not a physical presence of where God is, right?
[27:37] Right, right. We have, we picture as a separation but, God is omnipresent, obviously, so, we don't want to think necessarily spatially.
[27:48] So, but, in terms of where God's throne is, a throne room, the symbols that were given in Revelation, he can't go there. Right, just like we couldn't go there and tell Christ.
[28:00] Right, that's a, the picture's God's throne room as a, like the old temple, it's a temple and you go into the Holy of Holies, right, nobody could go. Now, we can go right in. It's just absurd.
[28:13] We can go right in because we know Jesus and the veil's gone and all that. Anyway, so, yeah. So, yeah, he's still calling to God. Yeah, he knows God can hear him at all times, so he's certainly calling and, you know, this person, Lord, how can you have forgiven him?
[28:30] He doesn't even live like, you know. And I know I'm leaning way ahead. I can't wait to see when we get into Revelation 21. But, men are redeemed.
[28:41] Chosen men are redeemed. Angels are not redeemed. Correct. There is no cleaning up of heaven or earth. God creates a new heaven and a new earth.
[28:55] It's, we're really in a unique position being redeemed. And, as Peter says, angels long to look. They're fascinated that God would so treat his creation who are, at this point, lower than angels.
[29:13] Right? And he redeems them and, as Paul says, someday we'll judge the angels. I'm like, well, I don't want to do that. Apparently, that'll be our job.
[29:26] Yeah? This section that we are reviewing today, it kind of brings out more of the idea that Satan has decided to, and has been, engaged in a more of a frontal attack.
[29:46] And that, it seems to bring that more out to me, and I'm not seeing what I would have thought would have been more of his strategy, which would have been kind of going in the side door of deception and subtlety.
[30:02] You're not seeing that? I'm not seeing that as much in these verses as I am the frontal attack all on assault, you know. Well, I think it is a, yeah, I think it's given us both. I think it's a frontal attack, but he does it by deception.
[30:15] He does it by lies. It's coming out of his mouth, right? So he pours a flood from his mouth, right? And remember the image. We're already told that he's a deceiver. He's a serpent of old who, who sent a flood on Eve in a sense by lying, right, twisting the truth.
[30:32] So that's what he's going to do. He's, he's going to do it through false religion. He's going to do it through false teachers, false prophets. And the world will follow that.
[30:44] They'll, okay, that's what he says. The earth comes up and swallows it, right? The earth, those who are not believers are going to, they're just going to take it in. Yeah, that sounds good to me. Yeah, we should worship ourselves.
[30:55] We should better ourselves. It's all about us. That's the message of the world, right? I need to rely on myself. I got to look within and bring out my strength because then I'll be an overcomer.
[31:06] That's what the world tells us. And we can kind of, wait a minute, is that right? Wait a minute, is it really up to me? Is it really all about me? If I listen to the world, that's what it says.
[31:19] I listen to God, I say, nope, nope, nope, nope. In fact, that's really off. But it's said in such a way that it's, it's seductive. It's seductive.
[31:31] And you hear it all over in the world. So that's how he's working. He's working through, you know, media. He's working through music. He's working through Hollywood.
[31:42] He's working through whatever avenue gets the message out and turns people away from God. And tries to capture believers in the middle of it. Because believers who get closer and closer to the world will hear that message more often or not distinguish it and fall for it.
[32:01] So how do we in this spiritual battle, what is our focus? He tells us about this dragon, tells us about these beasts, right?
[32:13] Mostly it's the world's going to follow that. And the church is kind of described as this woman, right? Who's shuffled off to the wilderness for a time. So how does the, how do we overcome the devil?
[32:28] How do we defeat him? How do we, it talks about being conquerors. They conquer him. They conquer the devil. How? Focusing on Christ.
[32:39] Focusing on Christ. So chapter 12, verse 11. They, if you had the next verse there, they conquered him by the blood of the lamb.
[32:51] So their victory is not in themselves. Their victory is in Christ. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and, what?
[33:03] Word of their test. So in other words, they speak it too. We're witnesses. We're not, we're not private believers. Jesus said, if you don't speak before man, you won't speak before the father.
[33:17] So we speak. Scary as that is, it doesn't mean we do big speeches, but we do say, yes, my king is in heaven. Right? Word of their testimony.
[33:31] That doesn't mean it'll get accepted. May get laughed at and frowned upon or thrown down or rolled eyes at, but we speak because that's who we are.
[33:42] That's our identity. We speak from our identity. community. Who am I? I'm a pastor. No, that's not who I am.
[33:53] That's what I do. Not what I, who I am. Who am I? Well, I'm a child of Leroy and Millie. No?
[34:04] Or as he calls her, Shorty. Yeah, what? You're a saint. I'm a saint. I don't really think I'm a saint, do I?
[34:15] But I believe I am. I'm not a saint by earning it. I'm a saint by declaration. That's my identity.
[34:30] I'm a saint who still sins. Yeah. That makes me feel a little better because it's more accurate. but I am clean not by my actions of any way.
[34:44] Sir, is there something in there about forgiveness? What do you mean? Keep going back to, it's like, the blood of the Lamb for us is forgiveness.
[34:57] Yes. Oh, so by the blood of the Lamb you mean? The most, I think that probably the most powerful tool that we have for the spiritual battle that we go through is forgiveness.
[35:16] Accepting it and giving it. Yes. And I think that's why Jesus intentionally put it into our daily prayer. Forgive us as we forgive. Give us this day our daily bread, so it's a daily prayer.
[35:29] And forgive us our debts as? You know, the first time we're forgiven it's not, I have to earn it, I have to, right?
[35:40] So I'm given forgiveness unconditional. But then as a child of God, it's, I've been forgiven, so as a good child I'll act like my daddy and forgive.
[35:57] It's hard. But yeah, I think that's super powerful. I think it's rare. And it's hard even for believers. We all can say there's been times we've carried grudges we've, just like, I can't, I can't forgive that.
[36:15] You don't know how bad they treated me. They don't deserve it. Well, yeah, that's the point. Neither did you. And that whole, that's, that's an opportunity.
[36:29] Satan holds us. Right? That's one of his footholds. He can keep us in bitterness and anger and unforgiveness. Oh, yeah, that's, I've been there.
[36:42] I think that's why it's in our daily prayer because I need to go through that often. Because it's funny how that creeps back.
[36:52] I forgave that person a long time ago. And something happens and I remember them and it's like, oh, yeah. Oh, shoot. There we go again. Just like we forget the gospel.
[37:06] Yeah, so absolutely. I think that's powerful. Yeah, that phrase, conquered him by the blood of the lamb. That's, that's, that's the whole gospel right there. Yeah. What else?
[37:21] So, there's several application statements in these chapters. So, chapter 12, four, or excuse me, 12, 11, had that statement about conquer by the blood.
[37:33] Chapter 13, at the end of the description of the sea beast, 13, 10, says, what? Actually, 9 and 10. He who has an ear, what?
[37:45] So, what are the implications for the believer of this sea beast, of this seven-headed tyrant who serves Satan? What are the implications?
[37:59] If you're, if you're to go to prison, you go to prison. If you're to be killed with a sword, you're going to be killed with a sword. Here is the call for what?
[38:12] Well, what's verse 11, or 10, say there? Endurance. Here's the call for endurance. What does this sea beast mean to me as a believer?
[38:26] Endurance. And if I'm going to suffer, I'm going to suffer. Don't fight it. If you're going to captivity, you go to captivity. Just like John, just like Peter, just like Paul, just like everybody else in this whole historic time of the church.
[38:45] Luther, whoever. Bonhoeffer. Right? If you're going to go, you're going to go. You're going to be killed, you're going to be killed. because then you win.
[38:56] Right? If you're killed, where do you go? I'm free. I'm free. I'm good. Right? Then I'm one of the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion singing a new song.
[39:10] Right? And I can sing all day long because I don't get tired anymore. Right? And my voice and my chords are always right on the harp. I wonder if they, you're going to learn the harp? Yeah. I wonder if you have to restring those.
[39:26] Tune them with a sharp, or what do you call it? Snarky. I'm trying to get my old guitar out and talking to Ron. So you got that. Then look at the end of chapter 13, verse 18, another application.
[39:40] Here's the other beast, this false prophet, the one that, you know, doesn't look as grotesque. He looks more innocent. He's just got two horns like a lamb. So he looks pretty tame.
[39:52] You know, this isn't a scary beast. He looks like a lamb, but he talks like a dragon, which means he lies. Which means he's false.
[40:03] He seeks to deceive you. And he uses miraculous signs. He does all kinds of things to get you to worship the beast, to get you to take the mark, to get you, right, to make an image, all that stuff.
[40:17] He coerces, he seduces, he deceives to do all that. So that's the world system we live in today. Right? Is that one person today?
[40:29] I think it's a whole system of what the enemy uses to seduce the world, to stray from God, to take a substitute God.
[40:43] Right? To suppress the truth, no longer worship the creator, but worship the creation. Give us anything but him. Because then we can mold the God into what we wanted.
[40:55] We can make him a manageable God. We can make him a, you know, a comfortable God. One that just loves us and doesn't, you know, get mad or something.
[41:10] So it talks about, verse 18, it talks about wisdom. And this whole thing, he doesn't say, he does use the word calculate, but it's more like, this isn't a math problem.
[41:25] This isn't calculus. Right? If I just figure out the angles and the pie of this and that, I don't know what calculus is. I'm way over my head. I have enough trouble with addition.
[41:40] But it's more like, use wisdom and understanding. Be careful about this. It's not the number of a man, it's the number of man.
[41:54] This is about man's centered stuff. Self-reliant, self-promoting, self, right?
[42:04] Whatever, self-image, self, right? It's about self. And if there's anything that this book of Revelation is showing us is, it's really not about self.
[42:19] It's about him. He's going to make that absolutely crystal clear. There will be no mistake. Right?
[42:32] So, and then again, you have it in 1412, another, another application, endure by faith. Right? Endure by faith. And you have another one in chapter 16, right?
[42:45] Where Jesus says, I'm coming as a thief, therefore stay awake and keep your garments on. The end will be sudden, so be vigilant and faithful. So the message to the church through all of this, which implies the church will be there through all of this.
[43:02] Right? Or believers will be there through all of this. The message is what? Endure. Faith. Right? Keep plugging on.
[43:14] Accept your circumstances. Keep your clothes on. In other words, it's just a biblical way of saying, not time to go to bed, not time to go sleep, not time to go cruise.
[43:26] Stay vigilant, stay awake. Right? These are tough times. And the deception will be subtle. As we see, you've got pay attention.
[43:37] It's subtle. Watch those teachers on TV. Watch those preachers that are so popular. Watch them carefully. Why are they so popular?
[43:50] It doesn't mean they're all wrong. There are some tremendously faithful guys that have big audiences. But for the most part, watch it.
[44:03] You can see it. Would they dare preach here? How do you get your best life now out of Revelation?
[44:14] You can't find your best life now in Revelation. Joel Osteen. J.O. on the pulpit. I pick on him because he's easy.
[44:26] He's easy picking. Yeah? Yeah, you know, it talks about the beast and its disguise and it says it comes with two horns. It looks like a lamp. Right. But it speaks like a dragon.
[44:38] Right. So I think it's the deception that's put forth. Yes. The visual is easy to fall for but it's the words. It's speaking the truth from the word. So the devil is not very creative.
[44:50] Right? I think Mark pointed this out to me several weeks ago. He copies everything. So he has a trinity too. He has a dragon and then a beast and then a beast.
[45:01] Right? He has a trinity too and he copies. So he has God has a mark. He gives us a seal. Right? God marks us first.
[45:13] Oh! I know! Devil says I'll use a mark. It's just copying. It's all counterfeit. Yeah, so the horn. Yeah. So he's like a lamb.
[45:24] Oh, he's just a lamb. Nothing to worry about. Yeah. Well, it's not the looks that you'd have to worry about. It's the words.
[45:35] That's where you mark it. What does he say? What's the message? Where's the message going? Does the message glorify man and make man feel good?
[45:47] Or does the message glorify God? Which will ultimately make us feel good too if we understand the message. Right? So that's what we watch.
[46:02] Any other thoughts, questions on chapter 12, 13, 14? Okay.
[46:13] Let's go to 15, 16. Ready for judgment? Sorry. No. Dylan and I have been saying the last few weeks we were like I can't wait for chapter 21.
[46:24] I can't wait for chapter 21. I can't. I want to get to the end. I want to get to the really blessed heaven stuff. Right? Which tells me it's right that we take our time going through scripture because we have to cover some things I may not want to naturally.
[46:44] Because it tells me something about God that I still need to understand. It's right. Just because I don't like to hear it doesn't mean it's not valuable. So, chapter 15 we have really a worship scene.
[46:58] Right? God's wrath is just, true, holy, righteous, full of glory and power. So that's kind of an interlude that brings us into chapter 16 which are the bowl judgments.
[47:09] And the bowl judgments kind of go really fast. When we saw the seal judgments we had seals one through four. The four horsemen come out really fast.
[47:20] and then we see seals five and six are a little bit longer. And then there's a big interlude between six and seven when the seventh seal is finally open and everything ends.
[47:34] Right? And then the same thing with the trumpets. The trumpets begin with four quickies. Right? Go to the earth, to the sea, to the water, to the sun. Right? And then so those go real fast.
[47:46] And then the fifth and sixth trumpets are more all of chapter 9 are devoted to those. And they kind of all of a sudden they get a little bit more obviously demonic involved.
[47:58] They're more the judgments are escalating. And then again there's another delay between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet because then we have chapter 10 and half of 11 give us these interlude visions of the two witnesses and the scroll and all those different things.
[48:18] Right? Before chapter 11 15 to the end give us the seventh trumpet. So now we come to the bowl judgments which are not drawn out like the others.
[48:31] It's all in one chapter. There's no interlude. No break. There's two messages in the middle of these seven bowls.
[48:42] After the third bowl there's a message from the angel that just poured out the bowl on the water. The angel over the water. So apparently angels different angels have different duties.
[48:53] There's an angel over the water. There's probably an angel over the sea. There's probably an angel over the earth. There's probably an angel over the sun. And Satan probably has counterparts to all of those because they're all those different images get worshipped by false worship.
[49:09] Right? So after the third after the angel of the water pours out his bowl on the water to turn the drinking water to blood then he makes a statement.
[49:23] He declares he gives praise to God. He is just and righteous and holy. He is right to do this. The judgment fits the crime.
[49:38] They will he will pour out blood. He will pour out a plague on those who poured out the blood of the saints.
[49:50] So he uses the exact word. Our translation reads on those who shed the blood of the prophets and the saints. It's actually those who poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets.
[50:03] Pouring out for pouring no eye for eye blood for blood. Mark for mark. He gives sores on those who what?
[50:14] Who are those who received the mark? Mark for mark eye for eye he gives just dessert. And then the other statement is at the at the end of the sixth bowl right where he pours out the bowl on the Euphrates the Euphrates dries up and the kings of the east can come.
[50:37] By the way the kings of the east disappear at that point and then it becomes demonic frogs right who who deceive all all the kings of the earth to come to the battle.
[50:50] But there's a message there too. That's where Jesus says I am coming as a thief right stay awake keep your garment on and then comes Armageddon.
[51:03] Essentially he just interrupts that one the brief statement. So the bowls other than those two statements have no interruption they just flow unlike the seals and the trumpets which have kind of breaks in them.
[51:18] It's a little different flavor to it right notice different parts of the world are are targeted bowl one earth bowl number two the sea bowl number three the waters drinking water bowl number four is the sun bowl number five now five and six take more of a demonic realm to them right so bowl number five is on the throne of the beast right where there's darkness just like Egypt had darkness right darkness on the all just on the throne of the beast not on the not on believers remember Egypt how'd the plagues go remember all the plagues went on the people of Egypt right and and God's people lived over in the land of Goshen and they weren't affected by the plagues remember that God separated right even the darkness it was light over in Goshen so if these are symbolic because I don't think they're physical I don't think it's a physical darkness I think it's a symbolic darkness because this darkness leads them to anguish a mental right so I think it's a darkness of the eyes it's a darkness of understanding as I think all of these are symbolic I think that's most likely in terms of how this makes so then so those who are sealed right those those believers who are sealed are not affected by this dark plague they're not affected by the sores they're not affected by the sun scorching those kind of things if they're symbolic of more of a mental suffering okay so there you go and then bull seven on the air right which just really leads to catastrophic end of the world because then everything falls apart right the ginormous earthquake that no one's ever seen since the beginning of man the enormous hail now how does somebody get hit by hundred pound hail and still get up and say ow you know
[53:33] I defy you God it's symbolic I think just like Armageddon is symbolic because there is no such physical place there is no mountain in ghetto it's a plain so now God can create a mountain there could be sudden volcano and there's a mountain and that's where they gather I'm not saying God can't do that I'm just saying it's unlikely it's probably symbolic like Euphrates is symbolic because Euphrates turns into right these demonic frogs thing just like in the trumpet judgment where the four angels were held back at the river Euphrates right because they're going to really start go kill people and so it's the four angels all of a sudden the four angels disappear and you hear this oh there's this whole demonic horde that are invading this cavalry of horses and demonic demeanor things not real horsemen so you have that in Revelation you have he kind of hears one thing like remember chapter five he heard lion oh don't worry the lion of Judah is worthy to open the seal it's the lion he turns around what does he see not a lion at all he sees a lamb that's as if it's slain and then chapter seven we have oh he hears 144 thousand from every tribe of Judah or every tribe of
[55:07] Israel and when he sees what he sees is a multitude innumerable from every nation so you got this this keeps happening and he he hears one thing and then what he sees see what's revealed is bigger so he hears angels at the river it's really a demonic horde he he hears oh Euphrates that's the border that's where the invasion comes from over the northern east border because that's where Babylon came from that's where Assyria came from that's where you know now Alexander came the other right but that's where most of them come from and then but it turns into a deceptive way for the dragon to get all the kings of the earth gathered at Jerusalem for the final battle it's just that's kind of seeming the way that revelation works so any thoughts on what do we learn about God in these judgments anything new or let me put it this way here's another question what how do you feel and think about God's wrath as it's revealed here be honest thankful for Goshen!
[56:30] thankful for Goshen I mean our world would call these judgments inhumane wouldn't they not?
[56:43] we wouldn't even treat pets like this right? we wouldn't treat our enemies like this we lock up prisoners we don't want to treat them the way they treated their victims that's inhumane we don't want to be on their level right?
[57:01] isn't that the world's method? and we can sympathize with that say I don't want to be you know like that but what is true justice? eye for an eye right?
[57:19] you hurt that pregnant girl you're paying for that you know that's the old time that is justice eye for an eye tooth for a tooth blood for blood but our world would say no that's that's inhumane so coming from our world we read this and we go is that too severe?
[57:47] is God inhumane? well he's not human at all so he is holy and righteous and just and blameless so we read this and we kind of we feel a little uncomfortable don't we?
[58:08] I do I'm with Delinda I want to get to chapter 21 I don't like hearing this but I know it's right huh?
[58:20] I know he is holy so in Sunday school we talked about what about it's punishment forever and ever is that right?
[58:30] is that just? is eternal punishment and I'm raising a hard one here I don't have an answer for it is eternal punishment just for those who committed finite sin in a 70 year God says it is so I defer how do we deal with that?
[59:02] what I know at the end of the day he is holy he is righteous he is just he is fair so it has to be right I can't explain it from my view from my puny little view right?
[59:16] I don't even know how much I offended him in my 62 years I have no clue how many times I have spurned him ignored him if I am ignoring him how would I know?
[59:34] and not just what is right but I have spurned his grace forgiveness and his kindness his forgiveness we see in in these in chapter 16 right these plagues come out and there three times we see the response of the people what do the people do?
[59:56] they blaspheme him they don't give him credit and they refuse to repent which means they could still repent so they refuse his forgiveness I don't want his forgiveness they refuse his kindness we say how are the plagues kind?
[60:24] because they can save their life the plagues can save their soul so they physically or mentally are in anguish for some time but how does that compare with eternal peace?
[60:40] we're rejecting so eternal punishment for rejecting eternal peace what it tells me I guess what I learned is he's so much bigger than my understanding his justice is so much grander than my little puny understanding of justice especially because I've been warped by the world well that doesn't seem right right any other thoughts I'm doing too much to talk I think it just goes to show that we can't try to stand behind our own righteousness and we have to stand behind Christ's righteousness because you go through seasons and you will fall knowing that his death on the cross was for me, for us, for everyone better better better!
[61:48] better! better better better and wrong.
[62:14] Yeah. We need to change ourselves and that's trying to change God. Great point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, if I'm uncomfortable, it just means I need to move some more. I need to, yeah.
[62:29] Great point. Okay. Any other thoughts? Any questions? Any answers to 666? Okay, just kidding.
[62:42] Very good. So, we are blessed. We're flying in a famous, famous speaker next week. All the way from Monument. Mr. John Mark.
[62:58] Well, Mark. We're grateful, Mark, for your service next week. Looking forward to it. I wouldn't miss it. He's talked to me about it.
[63:09] Sounds really fascinating. So, I hope you'll be here. And then in two weeks, next year, we'll come back to Revelation 17.
[63:20] We're getting closer to 21. Yay. Oh, I forgot about the chart. Did you see the chart? Did all that work on the chart? I forgot. Yeah. So, you can have fun with that.
[63:31] I had it. This helped me. Because it's like comparing kind of helps me. Okay, what's similar? What's different? Kind of see the point. And you can see the parallels all the way across. All right.
[63:41] So, anyway. And I added some fun stuff, too. Under the historical, so I did a search on historical conquerors. Remember Revelation 6, 2? Talks about those conquerors and they keep coming, right?
[63:53] So, I got all the historical major conquerors that came. These aren't all of them, but the major, major ones. And then I got to thinking, well, famines were part of that ongoing thing.
[64:04] So, I looked up historical famines. And there's more than here, but they pretty much line up with each of these conquerors, which fits Revelation 6.
[64:16] A conqueror comes, followed by bloodshed, followed by famine, followed by death. Just fascinating. Even back in Judea, in 14 B.C., there was a famine connected with Caesar's invasion that killed at least 2 million.
[64:39] And you're like, how do you have records back then? Well, there were people writing back then. Remember? So, anyway. Interesting. It does fit.
[64:49] In terms of a historical progression, a historical recurrence, all through time. So, when's the next one?
[64:59] Okay. We pray, and we can close. What are we closing with today? Oh, God with us?
[65:10] Yeah. Okay. Father, thank you for our time. We pray, Father, that what we have thought about, what we have looked at here today, will, what you want, will sink into us.
[65:24] Particularly thoughts about who you are, and us readjusting to who you are, and what we thought you would be. Father, keep us alert, and those who endure, not by our own strength, but endure by faith.
[65:44] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.