The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation - Angels Reaping Judgment

[0:00] and he will be starting with verse 6. And just before he does that, I want to read this brief paragraph we've inserted into the bulletin regarding today's study.

[0:13] It is angels reaping judgment. The horrific scene of devastation on earth and its rebellious dwellers continues in the 14th chapter of Revelation.

[0:28] The ripeness for this judgment has been a long time coming, but now has finally arrived. It is so sad to realize it could have been averted, for so many had repentance been in place.

[0:46] The scenes described give us no pleasure, but ought to intensify our efforts to reach those for whom Christ died, lest they belong to this number of the doomed.

[1:03] Gary, would you come, please? We'll be looking at Revelation 14, verses 6 through 20.

[1:26] And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.

[1:44] And he said with a loud voice, Fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.

[1:56] Worship him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters. And another angel, a second one, followed saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.

[2:21] Then another angel, a third one, followed them saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger.

[2:49] And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.

[2:59] And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night. Those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

[3:16] Here is the perseverance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Right.

[3:29] Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.

[3:44] Then I looked, and behold a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.

[3:59] And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.

[4:19] Then he who sat on the cloud, swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reeked. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.

[4:40] Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.

[5:04] So the angel swung his sickle to the earth, and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

[5:20] And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the winepress up to the horses' bridles for a distance of two hundred miles.

[5:36] Thank you. Angels reaping judgment. And we have noted repeatedly throughout the Revelation to this point, chapter 14, how active angelic beings are going to be during this time of great tribulation that is going to befall the world.

[5:58] There is a tendency for us to discount angels, supernatural beings, though they are, and not give them much credence because they are so unlike ourselves.

[6:10] We tend to consider them as the abnormal ones, if you will. But I would remind you that angels were here first. Angels were created, so far as we can determine, before man was ever created in Genesis chapter 1, on the sixth day.

[6:30] Exactly when, we do not know, but the fact that they predate humans is pretty obvious as you study the scriptures. So, these angels that are referred to in Hebrews as ministering spirits are, first of all, just that.

[6:49] They are spirit beings. That, in and of itself, escapes us because we are familiar only with physical beings. and it is very difficult for us to get our minds wrapped around a spirit being that is not possessing of a body like we are, although angels have made it quite clear that they also have the ability to assume a human-like form and appear as men.

[7:23] We do not have any record of angels ever appearing as female whenever they do take on a human form. It always seems to be in the masculine.

[7:34] But that happens a number of times in the Old and the New Testament. And those humans who are witnessing the presence of these angels for the most part do not know them to be angels at all.

[7:47] They look like just another human being. And that's how they are taken. Sometimes the text will reveal that they go on to discover that they were in fact angels, but that is not the case at the outset.

[8:00] So what we have here that continues in the Revelation has to do with a whole lot of events that cannot be described in any other way other than bizarre, weird, odd, different, supernatural in every way, shape, or form.

[8:20] They just seem to break all molds. And the reason for that coming across that way to us is because we have determined what is normal and natural.

[8:35] And of course that's us. Anything or anyone else is abnormal. We become the standard. So we tend to evaluate everything else by ourselves.

[8:48] And that is a big mistake because the God of creation is a God of incredible creativity. And he has brought into being all kinds of beings, shapes, sizes, forms, etc.

[9:05] And the one that we tend to give the most credibility to and the most importance to, of course, is the one that we belong to. It's the human race. And we tend to think of ourselves as we are the big cheese on the stage.

[9:18] We are the ones, you know. But in point of fact, angels have something to say about that. And they are far wiser than we are. They are far more powerful than we are.

[9:31] And they have an ability to exist in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine. And they surface repeatedly throughout the Revelation.

[9:43] And we've told you that when the 70th week of Daniel gets underway, it is going to be a time where what we generally consider as being normal and natural goes right out the window.

[9:58] Everything, not everything, but so much is going to be described as supernatural, really different. And this, by the way, is what tends to lead a number of expositors and a number of interpreters of the Revelation to take a figurative approach to these things because we just can't conceive of these things being literal.

[10:28] And we want to make them figurative, and that way, when you make them figurative, then you can translate that into anything you want. And that, of course, is the major fallacy, that is the major fallacy of refusing to take the Bible at face value and interpret it literally as it should be in most cases.

[10:51] Because when you do not, when you insist that it is not literal, it is figurative, then you have to come up with, well, what does it figure?

[11:03] What does it prefigure? What is it actually speaking of? And then when you say that, you open Pandora's box to the imagination of humanity and it goes all the way from here to here.

[11:15] There is no check or balance on man's imagination once you get away from the literal and the actual. And that is one of the dangers that we see when you come to the Revelation.

[11:26] Everybody, just not everybody, but so many just kind of want to shift gears and when you get into the Revelation, now, you don't take these things at face value because these are a bunch of symbols and a bunch of figurative stuff and doesn't mean that literally at all.

[11:42] But then, like I said, when you get into the figurative, even if it is figurative, it prefigures something. What is it that it figures? Symbols.

[11:53] Symbols are symbolic of something. They are not symbolic of nothing. And symbols, as they are used in the Bible, are always consistent.

[12:06] There is continuity and they are consistent within themselves, whether Old Testament or New. So, as we look at this, we once again want to say on what basis do we take these things literally?

[12:22] And we've already addressed that a little bit. And then there is an even bigger item. There is even a greater reason for taking what is predicted here in a literal fashion.

[12:34] And that is because the Bible has an incredible track record of prophetic items that were given sometimes thousands of years before their fulfillment.

[12:50] But when they were fulfilled, they were fulfilled in a very literal fashion. Greatest reason we have for believing that the events depicted in the Revelation are going to come to pass as prophesied has to do with the hundreds and hundreds of items that have already come to pass as they were prophesied in the Old Testament.

[13:17] And we could look at the ministry of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, and there are no less than 50 items concerning him that were prophesied, that were fulfilled within a 72-hour period in incredible detail and with great literality, so much so that there is no possible way that you can dismiss those as coincidental.

[13:42] So that's our reason for believing that the balance is going to be literal also. And as we come to Revelation 14, we've already dealt somewhat with the first five or six verses, and we'll try not to spend any time on those, but I just want to remind you that these 144,000 divinely sealed Jewish evangelists first surfaced in Revelation 7, where they are described as 12,000 Jews from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, comprising 144,000 in total, and we suggested that these 144,000 will arise out of their conviction that the God of the Bible is the true God of Israel, and he has fought for Israel in destroying the Russian invasion that we earlier considered in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

[14:50] Now, I just say that and inject that here because it's a very logical question when you read about these 144,000. that arrive on the scene first of all in chapter 7 and by the way, just because they're only in chapter 7 and chapter 14 doesn't mean that their activities are not ongoing.

[15:12] They surface very early, even earlier than what is recorded in chapter 7 and their ministry continues all through this seven year period.

[15:24] So, even though we see and hear of them only in these two chapters, their ministry is ongoing in a regular basis, day in and day out. And when people ask the question, well, what in the world, what in the world would convince 144,000 Jewish young men who are described as virgins who have not defiled themselves with women?

[15:52] and that defilement we explained would be a defilement of fornication because the Bible describes fornication as illicit sexual activity between unmarried people.

[16:07] These 144,000 are single Jewish men who have maintained their sexual purity and they are going to be charged with the responsibility of proclaiming the gospel throughout this tribulation period and they will have a tremendous measure of success because and only because they're indestructible.

[16:36] What do we mean indestructible? We mean these 144,000 cannot be dispatched. They cannot be done away with. They cannot be martyred.

[16:48] They cannot be killed. You say, well, now, wait a minute. Anybody can be killed if you're a human being. Well, not when you're dealing with revelation material because once again, may I remind you, it is the supernatural that is injected throughout this book and the angelic activity and things like the two witnesses who are also going to be indescribable or they are indescribable but they're also going to be indestructible and we talked about them as they surfaced in Revelation chapter 11.

[17:21] And these are two Jewish prophets who are going to preach the truth that will not be appreciated and every attempt will be made to do away with them and no one will be able to kill these guys.

[17:35] And I cannot imagine what kind of weaponry is going to be used to try to destroy them but whatever it is, it is not going to succeed until, until one who is referred to as a beast who arises out of the sea is going to be identified as the Antichrist and he is going to succeed in doing away with those two witnesses and he will earn the eternal gratitude of the entire planet.

[18:11] because due to these two witnesses God has shut up the heavens and there has been not a drop of rain on earth for three and a half years and the earth is in great turmoil.

[18:28] And when these two are killed the whole planet is going to rejoice over their demise and they are going to elevate the one who killed them to a supernatural status and give him more power and more authority than you can imagine and that of course will be the Antichrist.

[18:45] So what is going to bring about the loyalty of these 144,000 as we explained earlier has to do with what God did on behalf of the nation of Israel in Ezekiel 38 and 39 with the Russian army that is going to invade Israel and they are going to be absolutely devastated on the mountains of Israel.

[19:09] Israel. It will not be because of the military prowess of the Israeli defense force. It's going to be because of supernatural elements that God will bring into the picture that's absolutely going to devastate that entire Russian army and all of the allies that are with them and there will be fallout that will be felt as far back as Russia itself.

[19:34] So Russia is going to be literally incapacitated at that time and they are going to be supernaturally destroyed in a way that will be undeniable and there will be 144,000 young Jewish men who are going to say, golly, look what the God of Israel has done and they will sign on.

[20:02] they will sign on to be evangelists for this God of Israel. They will themselves be indestructible, each of them having the seal of God on their forehead and the enemy will attempt to destroy them but without any success.

[20:22] These 144,000 are going to evangelize the entire world, the world in general and the Jewish community in particular. and it will be a time of great revival throughout the world.

[20:36] That is the second purpose for the tribulation period. We told you that the first purpose is that God is going to deal with wickedness firsthand and the second reason is that he will bring about a worldwide revival through people's deprivation and desperation because people tend to be more vulnerable people to truth.

[21:01] When desperation sets in, you would be surprised how closely a person may be willing to listen who wouldn't give something the time of day before, but they will when their back is to the wall.

[21:13] And that's what's going to happen during this time. And then, of course, the third reason for the tribulation coming will be to break the back, the will, the mind of the Jewish people to relieve them of their abject stubbornness for which they have been so well known throughout the centuries.

[21:33] And it's going to be a great time, a great time of devastation. their sealing, 144,000 sealing, will result in that tribulation success for many coming to faith during that time.

[21:53] And we've got an interesting situation that is going to be created because they will continue, 144,000 will continue all during the tribulation, and they will constitute the gospel message delivered on earth while an angel delivers the gospel from above the earth in chapter 14 and verse 6.

[22:22] And if you would look at verse 6, please, here we have, and I saw another angel flying in midheaven having an eternal gospel.

[22:34] This is an eternal good news, and this good news has to do with the salvation that is available through Jesus Christ, to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.

[22:51] I can't imagine this scene. And so far as the text is concerned, this is one angel, one angel. And we've got a globe here that is what, 25,000 miles, something like that, in circumference.

[23:09] And we've got one angel who's going to be dispatched, flying all over this globe, delivering this message. What kind of a voice is he going to have?

[23:22] Supernatural voice. How is he going to cover all of this kind of territory? Supernaturally. I mean, the natural and the ordinary, they're gone.

[23:34] They don't belong to this period. Virtually everything is supernatural. This supernatural is going to become the new norm. And there won't be much about it that is ordinary.

[23:47] So we've got an incredible thing. And, you know, it might be a little easier to digest if we're talking about we've got 144,000 evangelists. Why can't we have 100,000 angels?

[24:00] We've got one angel. One angel traversing the world, and he is going to be preaching this everlasting gospel. And the 144,000 are going to be on the ground.

[24:11] And they're going to be preaching this gospel. And I can attribute this to nothing more than the last ditch effort from the grace and love of God to get out this gospel.

[24:28] While there is yet time on a world that is writhing in agony and pain because of their sin, and God's grace is being extended to them through an angel from the heavens and the 144,000 on earth, and they are dispensing this good news with the result that great multitudes will come to faith.

[24:55] But there's going to be opposition to that. And the opposition is going to come from the Antichrist. Now, I want you to get this scene because here's what's going to be taking place.

[25:08] It's going to be an incredible worldwide task of recruitment that is going on. And the angel is flying in the atmosphere, and the 144,000 on the ground are recruiting agents to bring men and women to faith in God during this time.

[25:33] they are going to be opposed by another recruiting agency, and he is going to have wares to display that will be mind boggling.

[25:51] And they will not only center about his deeds and his activities, but they will center about a geographical location that the scriptures are going to describe as being absolutely outstanding.

[26:09] And it's all going to focus upon a site that is very ancient and very early mentioned in the Bible, and it's called Babylon. This is where evil began, in Babylon, way back in Genesis, sometimes called the plain of Shinar, S-H-I-N-A-R.

[26:35] And this has to do with Nimrod and his wife Samarimus, and the illicit worship and idolatry that they developed, with which they tarnished the whole known world at that time.

[26:50] That ended up, by the way, in the great flood, and it's just a time of devastation, the likes of which we cannot begin to imagine. So we've got these two elements vying for the loyalty of man.

[27:05] We hear every now and then that there is a great conflict going on now, even in this nation, and even in the world, and the conflict is over the hearts and minds of men.

[27:19] Well, this is going to be intensified during this time, because there will be angels vying for the allegiance, the hearts and minds of men, and there will be the Antichrist who will be doing the same thing.

[27:34] So, it is going to be utterly remarkable. This Antichrist is going to be recruiting by providing the mark of the beast, as revealed in Revelation 13, and his number of 666, and his great appeal to humanity is going to be this.

[27:55] You want to live, don't you? You want to eat, don't you? You want to buy and sell, don't you? Well, then you need to receive this mark of ownership, and we talked earlier about the mark, the 666, and how the numbers play out in the various languages, and that's going to be his great appeal.

[28:20] And the name of the game, of course, will be survival. And the surest way to guarantee your survival will be to receive that mark. And all the while, the angel, the angelic sphere is going to be announcing to people, you don't want to receive that mark, because along with the mark comes the whole nine yards of Babylon and all of that, which is going to be restored, and I think this too will be a supernatural thing, the way Babylon is going to rise out of virtually nothing, and it is going to become the, not a, not a, it's going to become the world power, politically, religiously, governmentally, and every other way, this is going to be the new center spot of the globe, and it will be Babylon.

[29:16] And what is there now there in Babylon? Virtually nothing. Saddam Hussein envisioned himself as being the new Nebuchadnezzar, and he rebuilt the gates of Ishtar, and started making a huge tourist attraction there, but he was dispatched before he, you know, got too far with that.

[29:38] But what I'm saying is, this Babylon is going to rise out of nothing, and it is going to be so awesome, and so dramatic, and so mind-boggling, that the whole world is going to be impressed with this Babylon, and it is going to rise virtually overnight.

[30:04] When you look at some of the things that have been accomplished in the Mideast by way of structures and buildings and so on, and you look at places like Dubai and the Arab Emirates Republic and so on, and these other places where they have huge amounts of money available to them through their income from oil, and what these people have succeeded in doing overnight and putting up is just absolutely amazing.

[30:35] Well, that's kind of like what this Babylon is going to be, only it's going to be just overnight, like I said, come out of nowhere. And it is going to be, it is going to be the hope and the promise and the future of the whole human race is going to be vested in this Babylon.

[30:56] And the Antichrist is going to have a sales program and public relations that will be absolutely unbelievable, that will cause everybody to anticipate and put all of their eggs in this basket, and it's going to be wonderful.

[31:11] This is going to be the solution to all the world's problems, and peace and justice is going to prevail and it's going to begin right here in Babylon. And this man, the Antichrist, of course he won't be called by that, but that's who he will be, is going to superintend the whole thing, and these nations are going to stand in line to relinquish their power and authority and give it to the Antichrist.

[31:33] And he will willingly take it, and he will have one success after another, one major wow after another, and this Babylon is going to be something to behold that you can't even imagine in your wildest dreams.

[31:49] And everybody, well not everybody, but those who buy into it, those who drink the Antichrist Kool-Aid, are going to put all of their hopes and dreams in this Babylon.

[32:07] And one of the things that one of these angels is going to be telling the dwellers on earth is, don't do that. Babylon is toast. Babylon is not going to survive.

[32:23] Don't put your hopes and dreams in Babylon or anything connected with it. Put your trust in the living God, because Babylon is a bad story, and it's going to have a bad ending, and you don't want anything to do with it.

[32:38] Let us read now, if we may, please. Beginning with verse 7. He said, with a loud voice, this is the tongue, this is the angel in his tongue in the heavens.

[32:51] Fear God, give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters. And another angel, a second one.

[33:03] By the way, there are going to be six before this is finished. The second one followed, saying, fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great. She who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.

[33:21] And what is going to raise this place and the people in it to this level of immorality is going to be an intensification of what we are dealing with today.

[33:34] And it is called moral relativism. I know I've made much of this in the past, but probably not nearly as much as needs to be made of it.

[33:47] Because it simply means that each person becomes their own authority. Each person sets their own standards. And each person thinking with a fallen intellect and a warped mind is going to be able to justify in his own mind and heart anything he wants to do.

[34:06] And we've got people now who have no difficulty doing that. Here, this angel is saying, don't put your confidence in Babylon because Babylon is going down.

[34:18] Now this is the prophetic portion right here because it hasn't happened yet. But it's going to happen. And it will be in Revelation 16 and 17 upcoming. And people are going to stand and weep.

[34:34] weep great tears over the demise of Babylon that held all of their hopes and dreams. And they're going to see it with their own eyes go right down the tubes.

[34:48] And perhaps we'll get to that before we finish this morning. In Revelation 14 9 through 11, the third angel in succession is warning people against receiving the mark of the beast.

[35:03] He's going to be saying, don't do it. It's a deception that will cost you everything in this world and in the world to come. So the Antichrist is going to be marketing Babylon.

[35:17] And the ability to freely buy and sell and live and conduct your life as you see fit. Only by taking the mark of the beast. Christ. And all of the treasures and the future and the promise and everything that is wrapped up in Babylon is yours.

[35:34] It's part of the package. And it'll be wonderful. And the angel flying from heaven is saying, it isn't so. Babylon is going to be brought to naught.

[35:47] And you must resist the temptation to take the mark of the beast, even if it costs you your life.

[35:58] Because eternity is a long, long time. And the rest of your life on this earth is nothing compared to that. So there is this contest between good and evil, between these good angels and the fallen angels of which the Antichrist will be energized by none other than the fallen angel himself.

[36:21] Satan, Lucifer. This contest is coming right down to the wire. And it is who is promising the most. The one that is promised is promised based on the truth.

[36:33] The other that is promised is all based on lies and fabrications. But it's going to sound so good. So attractive.

[36:45] So appealing. So promising. And everything the Antichrist touches is going to turn to success and gold.

[36:55] Who wouldn't want to line up behind somebody like that? Don't you want to back a winner? And that's the way it's going to appear. And God is going to be pulling out all of the stops to warn humanity that it's not what they are proposing.

[37:14] So people will be torn between the two messages. One, the truth of God delivered by the angels and the 144,000.

[37:26] The other will be the lie that is delivered by the deceiver who will have accomplished absolutely astounding things. And he will be building a tremendous track record.

[37:38] And one of the things he's going to do, of course, will be placing under persecution and sentences of death. All of these people who have refused to take the mark of the beast, these will be people who have moral standards of righteousness.

[38:01] There will be no place for these people. They will be obstructionists. They will be the kind of people who would force their views on others and we all know what a no-no that is.

[38:15] So, he is going to nail them. He is going to reveal them. He is going to oppose them. And this will be the basis for the worldwide persecution that is going to take place.

[38:32] Many of those who dwell on earth will not succeed because because they will succumb to the temptations.

[38:45] It will not succeed and they will not survive because they will succumb to the temptations of the Antichrist. And those believers who do not survive will not survive because they have not succumbed to the temptation of the Antichrist but were martyred by him.

[39:05] And yet, their payoff, of course, will be the eternal life that they will enjoy in Christ. These will sorely regret their misplaced confidence as recorded later.

[39:20] And let's turn to that for the moments we have left and we'll open it for Q&A. Let's hasten back to Revelation 18 and look at that Babylon thing for a moment. I'm reluctant to get ahead of ourselves but I want you to see this all in one fell swoop so that it will be better fixed in your mind.

[39:36] chapter 18. After these things I saw another angel. Well, of course, what else but another angel coming down from heaven having great authority and the earth was illumined with his glory and he cried out with a mighty voice saying, Fallen!

[39:57] Fallen! Is Babylon the Great. Now this is not a prophecy. This is not a prediction here. Back in chapter 14 we had the prediction. of the fall of Babylon.

[40:08] Here we've got the fulfillment. This is when it actually happens. And it is within this same three and a half year period. And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.

[40:26] for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality.

[40:37] And the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her. This means political alliances. and the merchants of the earth.

[40:51] This is the economic aspect. The merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. This grand old gal called Babylon, the mother of harlots, she's going to deliver.

[41:07] Big time. Impressive. Wow. They're going to stand in awe. And here, it all comes crashing down.

[41:19] And great will be the fall thereof. Verse 4, And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.

[41:36] For her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back. Even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds in the cup which she has mixed, mixed twice for her.

[41:54] To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow.

[42:08] You will never see mourning. For this reason, in one day, you see Babylon, modern Babylon, is going to rise virtually overnight.

[42:26] And she's going to die overnight. one day, her plagues will come, pestilence, mourning, and famine, and she will be burned up with fire.

[42:48] For the Lord God who judges her is strong. And the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her.

[42:59] It's not talking about physical sex. It's talking about political intrigue and political involvement and political domination and all that goes along with it.

[43:14] They weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning. Why will they do that? Because there goes her future. Right down the tubes.

[43:25] Everything that this old gal, this wretched, old whore, has promised that they put so much hope and trust in. It's going right down the tubes. And there goes their whole future and their whole life and their whole everything.

[43:40] Little wonder that they are weeping and mourning. And standing, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, whoa, whoa, the great city Babylon, the strong city.

[44:00] For in one hour your judgment has come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her.

[44:12] These merchants of the earth are the ones who see their assets drying up overnight. Their wealth is gone.

[44:22] everything that they had hoped and trusted in is gone. And they stand there weeping. We hear stories about people jumping from windows in the 1929 stock market crash.

[44:37] That's nothing compared to this. This is going to be a crash to end all crashes. This is going to be absolutely astounding.

[44:48] One hour your judgment has come and the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargos anymore.

[45:01] Cargos of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory. Every article made from very costly wood and bronze and all of this stuff.

[45:16] Verse 14, And the fruit you long for, the fruit you long for, everything you promised has gone from you and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them.

[45:37] Merchants of these things who became rich from her will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning and saying, Whoa, whoa, great city, she who has clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, in one hour, such great wealth has been laid waste.

[46:10] Every ship master and every passenger and sailor and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city?

[46:27] They threw dust on their heads. That's a sign of woe and sorrow. Were crying out, weeping and mourning and saying, Whoa, whoa, the great city in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste.

[46:45] You see these cargo ships, these container ships that ply the oceans, hauling vast amounts of cargo, the likes of which carry a payload that 50 years ago were not even dreamed imaginable, and look at what they're doing now.

[47:01] All of this is coming to a screeching halt. It's all coming down. It's payday, someday, has arrived.

[47:12] This is man's worst hour. And it's all been energized by the Antichrist.

[47:23] He sold them a bill of goods, and they bought it, despite the fact that there were many warnings not to. Now, when we get here to Revelation 18, and we'll be there within a few weeks, when you get to 18, actually, there's just one thing of consequence left for the earth.

[47:47] And that's Armageddon, and the second coming, and that surfaces in chapter 19. And it's just the logical outflow of the destruction of Babylon and what is coming.

[48:02] So, in a sense, we've got something that is really new and different, and in another real sense, we've got nothing but the same old stuff, only maybe in new garments.

[48:19] But the temptations are going to be the same, the remedy is going to be the same, nothing new under the sun, temptations are going to be the same, deception is going to be the same, only this is going to spell the end of it.

[48:36] this is going to be the climax of humanity. This is going to be, you know, someone said, this is going to be the world as we know it coming to an end.

[48:51] Yes, that's what it's going to be. And you know something? The choices that will exist for people then are essentially the same choices that exist right now.

[49:03] we either embrace the word of God and the truth of God and we take on what he has provided for us by way of the finished work of Christ and we make our allegiance with the God of heaven, the God of creation, the God who sustains everything, the God who provided his son.

[49:25] We put our everything into that or we hold out for what we think will be a better deal from this one who is going to bring Babylon to nothing.

[49:46] Choices, choices, we have options, we have a thing called volition. we have a God who has a track record that is worthy to be relied upon.

[49:58] We have a God in heaven who cannot lie and we can throw in our lot with him or we can do as many in the world will do. I want to keep my options open.

[50:10] I want to see what else is available. I want to see who else is offering what. Maybe I'll get a better deal. There is no better deal. This is the ultimate deal. This is what God has to offer.

[50:22] And you don't have to wait until then to take advantage of it. You can take advantage of it right now. Would you pray with me, please? Father, we recognize that this is a conflict that has gone on since Genesis 3 thousands of years ago.

[50:41] And even though there are new twists and turns to it, it is essentially the same now as it has always been. We either believe you and the record that you have given or we repudiate it and we go with an outside record.

[50:58] And our prayer for each and every person here this morning, man and woman, boy and girl, is that they might recognize and agree with the reality that there is none greater, more reliable, more dependable, more loving, or more gracious than the very God of heaven who has brought us all into existence and provided the son to die in our place for our sin, to take upon himself the curse and the judgment that we so richly deserve in a way that we'll never be able to fathom.

[51:37] But you did this because the scriptures that cannot lie have recorded that this is precisely why you came and what you did. And our prayer right now for each and every one in these closing moments is that for anyone here who may not know the peace and the joy of sins forgiven, may they be willing to cast their lot even now with this loving Savior who has already told us what the end is going to be and how it's going to come about.

[52:09] May they be willing to say, Lord Jesus, there's so much about all of this that I don't understand. But I do understand that you are the true God.

[52:20] You are worthy of being believed. You can be trusted. You have a track record of dependability. And I want a God like yourself to be my God and my Savior.

[52:32] So here I am with all my questions and doubts and fears and wonders. I just know this. I have a need and you've promised that you can meet it if I put my trust in you and that's what I want to do right now.

[52:47] Best as I know how, I just want to deliver myself to you and ask you to come into my life and do with me whatever you choose to do because that would be the best thing for me.

[53:00] And that's what I want. Thank you, Father, for sending your Son to do for me what I could never do for myself, to pay for my sins. I'm so grateful he was willing to do that and I want to put all my confidence and trust in him even now.

[53:18] Dear friend, if you make that your prayer, I trust you well if you haven't. Tell someone. They'd love to hear your testimony. Let me know.

[53:28] I've got literature that will help you get started in the Christian life and will be good for your spiritual growth. life. Thank you, Father, for this time that we've shared together. Thank you for providing the scriptures in such a way that requires our diligent study and comparison and investigation of scripture with scripture.

[53:49] And we are so grateful for what we are able to learn. Use it, we pray, to stimulate us to learning further information that will be vital to us as well. In Christ's name we pray.

[54:00] Amen. Well, we do have about five or seven minutes and I would be happy to entertain any questions that you may have. And I realize that we've been going like a house of fire and we've tried to cover a whole lot of material, but some of the stuff I just really, I really dislike having to break it up in too many parts and I like to keep as much together as I can to give you a better perspective.

[54:29] In the back there's a hand I see back there. Okay. It'll almost be a miracle. It'll almost be a miracle if we don't destroy the earth before revelation begins.

[54:43] Well, you got a point there. But these things are going to happen. They are going to come about with great rapidity.

[54:55] And what we are studying here, this whole fell swoop in these 22 chapters of revelation, all going to transpire in seven years of time.

[55:10] Seven years of chronology. That's it. That is quite remarkable. But that's the way this is all going to play out.

[55:21] And it is, well, one of the prophets said that, one of the prophets put it this way. I don't remember which one it is, but I could look it up. You could find your concordance. that God is going to make a short work of it.

[55:34] Interesting expression. A short work of it. It's been going on for thousands of years. But when God says, that's enough, he's going to make a short work of it.

[55:46] And all of this that's going to be crammed into these seven years is just truly remarkable. Yes. Other comments or questions? Gene.

[55:56] Gene. I like to study this revelation, and it's horrifying so much to me.

[56:09] But it makes me so thankful that I live in the age of grace. Amen. I am so thankful. Amen. Amen.

[56:19] Thank you. And we have reason to be thankful, too. That's absolutely nothing like the grace of God. And because of man's fallen intellect and warped way of thinking, he is unable to see the greatness of God's grace.

[56:40] He's unable to appreciate it or latch onto it. Until and unless he really experiences it firsthand. And then it's like a wake-up call, like, where has this been all my life?

[56:56] Well, it's been here all of your life. And much before. It's just that you were never plugged into it. You never had any interest in it. No desire for it.

[57:07] Wouldn't give it the time of day. But once you taste the grace of God, it becomes the most major wow in your whole life. Amazing.

[57:19] Amazing. Amazing. grace. And I keep saying this, but I have to say it. John Newton wrote a hymn about it, didn't he? Called it an amazing grace.

[57:30] Never got over it. In his later years, when his mind was failing him, he was interviewed. Someone asked him about his earlier days, and he said, I'm an old man now, and many of the things that I once remembered, I can no longer remember.

[57:50] But I do remember this, that I was a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior. He remembers that. Amen.

[58:01] Other comments or questions? Anyone? All right. If you would please stand. Please leave.