The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation - The Final Showdown Begins

[0:00] We have reiterated time and again in the past, and I sense that there is a need to do this again and again because of the seriousness and the importance of the issue.

[0:11] And that is, while it is true, the book of the Revelation is laden with symbols. The symbols all mean something.

[0:24] They are not there just to entertain a reading audience. There is reality that is behind the symbols. They all mean something.

[0:35] And John is being given these symbols in panoramic display in the visions that God is revealing to him, and he has been ordered to write what he sees.

[0:51] That's what the Revelation is all about. Now, the natural tendency on the part of so many is to discount these symbols so much so that they are removed from any possibility of being fulfilled as they are.

[1:08] And the general rule of thumb, and you can gather this from reading the commentaries, and there are an abundance of them, is that nobody really has any concrete kind of idea of what these things mean.

[1:21] Because one thing is for certain. You can't take them literally. And that's precisely where so many go astray.

[1:31] Because they are intended to be taken literally. Now, that does not mean that the symbols with the animals that are described and the animal parts and the human parts and all the rest.

[1:47] I'm saying that they have a literal meaning behind them. And that's what we have to understand. The tendency is because of the bizarre nature of some of the things, many of the things found in the Revelation, we discount those as ever having been able to take at face value.

[2:06] And that, as I say, is where we really go astray. Because they are intended to be taken precisely as they are given. And the response is, but that means that they are so wild, so bizarre, so precisely.

[2:27] The whole point of understanding and approaching the Revelation is realized in the idea that there is a dramatic return to the supernatural, to the miraculous.

[2:43] Don't try to read and interpret the Revelation in light of your own frame of reference as regards the things that are described. Because they just do not compute.

[2:58] They are of an entirely different order. They are, as I said, supernatural. And that's the only way that we can approach these things.

[3:09] They are not to be looked upon as any kind of the norm with which we are familiar. Virtually all of these things, in connection with prophecy, have a supernatural element to them.

[3:23] You see that in the Old Testament. With the miracles performed by God on behalf of Israel in Egypt, the Red Sea, manna from heaven, ministry of Elijah, all of these things are miraculous in the Old Testament.

[3:40] They are continued in the Gospels where Christ was performing all of his miracles. Where are they now? I know some of our charismatic brethren believe that they're still in vogue and they insist on healing miracles and raising the dead and all the rest, which we do not believe is supposed to be even part of this administration, which is the administration of the grace of God.

[4:07] And no, we're not saying that God cannot or does not perform miracles today. We know that he can do anything he wants, anytime he wants. But the miraculous is not the coin of the realm today.

[4:19] It was when Christ was here. It was during the Old Testament. And it will return in the Revelation once the church is gone. We are the people who walk not by sight, but by faith.

[4:34] Israel, they are the people who walk by sight because they were conditioned to do so. This is why Paul said that the Jews require a sign.

[4:50] And they ask of Jesus, what sign show us thou? And he gave them multitudes of signs, miracles, one after another. And finally, he became perturbed with their demand for signs.

[5:02] And he said, that's it. That's enough. No more signs are going to be given you except the sign of Jonah, which, of course, referred to his own resurrection from the dead. And Christ rebuked the people of Israel by saying, at least people of Capernaum and Chorazin, by saying, if the mighty miracles that I have done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented.

[5:28] And they're Gentiles, but not you. And the point is, and this is the essence of Revelation. The point is, for anyone who does not want to believe, there is never enough evidence.

[5:48] There is never enough evidence. You can pile it on top of piles and they will not be satisfied. They will always have a, yes, but they will always have that.

[5:59] But that's going to be the climate through the Revelation. There is going to be one miraculous manifestation after another that would lead anybody who is open to truth to believe.

[6:16] And there will be many who do. That's why this will be a time of great revival through the efforts of the 144,000. But there will still be a solid majority group of people who will not repent.

[6:34] And they will shake their fist at the Almighty and defy Him. That's the contrast that we see in Revelation. So, all I'm saying is this. Despite the fact that there is one evidence of miraculous manifestation after another, it isn't enough.

[6:52] It will not convince those who refuse to be convinced. The problem is not a lack of evidence. The problem is the posture of the heart.

[7:03] Now, Gary is going to come and read. We've got unfinished business in chapter 11. I hope to finish the chapter. Also hope to have a Q&A this morning. So, Gary, come with you.

[7:23] Good morning. Good morning. As Marv mentioned, we are in Revelation 11 this morning. And we will be looking at verses 1 through 14.

[7:41] Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff. And someone said, Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it.

[7:57] Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it. For it has been given to the nations. And they will tread underfoot the holy city for forty-two months.

[8:11] And I will grant authority to my two witnesses. And they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.

[8:26] These are the two olive trees and two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies.

[8:44] So, if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying.

[8:59] And they have power over the waters. And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood. And to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire.

[9:12] When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.

[9:27] And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is mystically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

[9:42] Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

[10:00] And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate. And they will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

[10:17] But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them. And they stood on their feet.

[10:28] And a great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here.

[10:41] Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in that hour there was a great earthquake.

[10:53] And a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake. And the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

[11:10] The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming. And that third woe has to do with the balance or the beginning of the balance of chapter 11.

[11:29] And is not this that he just read, as I said last week, about the strangest, most bizarre thing you have ever heard or read?

[11:42] And this is precisely why so many people are eager to say, Yes, it is too bizarre to ever actually happen.

[11:53] That's why you cannot take it literally. And that, again, is where the biggest mistake is made. All we are considering in the book of the Revelation is the period of seven years.

[12:09] That's what this is all about. These 22 chapters in Revelation encompass an actual time of seven years, 360 days to the year.

[12:23] And they are prophesied by Daniel in chapter 9 of his book. This is referred to as the 70th week of Daniel, 69 of which, of course, have already passed.

[12:37] And it comprises the entirety of Revelation, as I just mentioned, seven literal years, broken down in its two segments of three and a half years, or 1260 days, or a time, times, which is two plus the one, and half a time, which equals three and a half.

[13:01] So we've got the same time period referred to as three and a half years, 1260 days, a time times and a half a time, or 42 months, all speaking of the same calendar time.

[13:16] And the three main purposes for this time, which is also referred to as the time of tribulation, or the time of Jacob's trouble. Jacob is a synonym for Israel, and it means this is the time when God's focus is going to be on Israel as a nation.

[13:37] And all of the other nations of the earth are going to focus on Israel also. And eventually, they are all going to a mass in a super army in the plains of Ezra, or Armageddon, and march south to meet the Lord coming up from the north, from Basra and Teman.

[14:01] And there they will clash before the holy city in the valley of Jehoshaphat. There are three main purposes for this time that is coming upon the earth that have been declared by Daniel.

[14:12] And prophetically, they are in Daniel and Isaiah. And the first is to make an end of wickedness and wicked ones. And that's what this time of revelation is going to do.

[14:23] It's going to be a time of severe, very severe judgment, when humanity is going to be dealt with by virtue of the justice of God.

[14:34] This is also depicted in Isaiah 13 and verse 9, chapter 24, verses 19 and 20. That is the first purpose of the tribulation period.

[14:48] It is to make an end of wickedness and wicked ones. The second purpose that it will serve is to bring about a worldwide revival.

[15:00] Because there are going to be people who will be living during this time of incredible extremity. And their situation and what is happening in the world will drive these people to their knees in repentance and belief.

[15:23] They will be those for whom the prophecy and the events and the supernatural will be very sufficient. They will know that God is behind this and God is calling upon men to repent of their sin.

[15:40] And they will repent. And they will be saved. And many of them will also be martyred. This will be the end result of the ministry of the 144,000.

[15:53] They are going to have a tremendously successful ministry of evangelizing. They are going to be Jewish people who have come to faith in Yeshua HaMashiach as their Messiah.

[16:05] And they are going to be flaming evangelists for the cause of Christ. They will have the seal of God in their forehead. I don't know what that will consist of. But it will make them virtually immune to death or to destruction.

[16:19] And that's the only reason they will be able to survive. That's one more supernatural aspect. And by the way, in our last session, I must apologize because I misspoke about something.

[16:30] I just gave you something off the top of my head. And when I do that, it's usually not worth very much. And this was the case. I ventured the possibility that the 144,000 may have all been martyred and that there were two survivors.

[16:44] So that the 144,000, 143,998 of them are now dead. And the two witnesses here in chapter 11 are the only two left.

[16:56] Well, that might make good preaching, but it's not true. Because we know that because the 144,000 surface again in chapter 14.

[17:07] So they obviously are not simply immune from the difficulties that are going to happen during the tribulation.

[17:19] But they obviously are incapable of being put to death, at least up to that point. Because otherwise, they certainly would have been. And then the third reason, which most people cannot appreciate, and I'm sure most Jews cannot appreciate, but if you were ever to become a very serious student of the Old Testament, you wouldn't have any difficulty believing this.

[17:47] And the third purpose of the tribulation is to break the will and the power and the stubbornness of the Jewish people.

[18:01] And that is borne out in Daniel chapter 12, verses 5 through 7. Surely all the day long I have stretched out my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people.

[18:16] God makes statements like that time and again all through the Old Testament regarding His people Israel. And when they come into the New Testament period and the Messiah is there among them, they turn a deaf ear to what He has to say and they do not accept Him as the Messiah.

[18:34] And when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in the midst of those miracles that accompanied it and announced that Jesus was the Messiah, they rejected that. Peter preached it again in chapter 3.

[18:46] They rejected that. Stephen preached it to the Sanhedrin. That was the official guidance party for the whole nation of Israel in Acts chapter 7.

[18:57] And they stoned Stephen to death and they rejected it again. And as Paul preached this message that Jesus was the Messiah, they rejected that. They stoned Paul. They did all kinds of things.

[19:09] Turned him over to the Romans. Eventually you know the end of that. So Israel has been in a posture of incredible stubbornness and unbelief. And this tribulation is going to break the back of their unbelief.

[19:29] And Zechariah tells us that they, Israel, in that day, will look upon Him whom they pierced.

[19:42] And they will mourn. They will mourn. God has subjected the people of Israel to all kinds of persecution.

[19:53] Not that He caused it, but He permitted it. And yet, despite the severe chastisement, the severe persecution the Jewish people have undergone throughout thousands of years.

[20:12] They still remain in a defiant posture against the God of heaven. And today, as I speak, there is an inordinate number of Jewish people throughout the world who are confirmed atheists.

[20:31] So, this time of Jacob's trouble will be a real wake-up call for them. And many of them will come around.

[20:41] Many of them will embrace the truth. This is in part what Paul meant when he said in Romans 9, that they are not all Israel that are Israel. In other words, there are a lot of Jews.

[20:54] Oh, yes, they've got the genealogy. They've got the bloodline. They can trace themselves back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They've got the pedigree. But they are not Jews after God's own heart.

[21:08] They are just Jews biologically. They have circumcision, yes. But God is looking for a circumcised heart. And that they did not have.

[21:19] And most of them do not have. So, be reminded, as I have reminded you often, and will continue to do so, there is an absence of obvious miracles noticeable today.

[21:35] Look around you. How many miracles do you see? I don't see anybody being raised from the dead. I don't see anybody who was born from his mother's womb unable to walk, leaping up and praising God.

[21:48] I don't see that. Now, you can get staged things like that if you go to the right charismatic type movements where they advertise healings and people bring their wheelchairs and crutches and all of that.

[22:00] And so much of that has been dismissed as nothing but pure charlatan. And you ought not to be taken in by it. But the time is coming when, as opposed to today, there is an obvious absence of miracles.

[22:16] The time is coming when the presence of obvious miracles will be undeniable. And that's during this time of tribulation.

[22:28] During the 70 weeks of Daniel, the age of grace will have been completed. The church is closed and gone. The age of Israel returns. And miracles will be the norm.

[22:42] They will be everyday occurrences. They will happen in great abundance during that time. We will not be here to see them. But the people who are living during that time, who are left behind when the rapture occurs, they will see them.

[22:58] And this frequent appearance of the miraculous will become the new norm. It's very difficult for us to think of that in our present setting.

[23:13] Such will also, the presence and the abundance of these miracles, will also add to the culpability of unbelievers. Because the evidence will be in great abundance and will be indisputable.

[23:29] And anyone who remains in unbelief in that vein will have their guilt and their culpability magnified.

[23:40] Because they will deny the very obvious. And again, that's an indication of the position of the heart. Have you ever given any thought to the idea? And this has intrigued me a number of times.

[23:52] The multitudes that followed after Jesus when he went from town to town, performing these miracles of healing. And we read things like, And they brought to him many who were afflicted with many diseases and many maladies, and he healed them all.

[24:16] Have you never really thought about that? What effect did that have upon the people who were watching? There's no indication that anybody denied. Oh, well, there was a crowd.

[24:28] Yes. There was a crowd that said, Well, yes, he performs these miracles. But you know how he does it, don't you? He does it through the power of the devil.

[24:40] That's how he does it. There was that crowd. And of course, there are those who can look smack dab in the face of evidence and still turn a blind eye.

[24:55] Because the evidence, or lack thereof, is not the problem. There are people who will not believe because, because, they know what that will require of them.

[25:09] If they believe, they're going to have to make a number of changes, and they don't want to. Why don't they want to? Because men love darkness rather than light, and will not come to the light lest their evil deeds be revealed.

[25:28] See, that's a posture of the heart. Having more evidence results in more culpability. And God is just going to pour on the evidence. I mean, as you read through this content in the Revelation, it is, oh my, it's just one calamity after another.

[25:48] One miraculous manifestation after another. And each one is designed to convince those who are capable of being convinced.

[26:00] And for those who aren't capable because their minds are not only closed, they're bolted shut. Then their guilt and their culpability will be compounded.

[26:12] And so will their punishment. Because unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. This, that I have just shared with you, is in large part what the book of the Revelation is all about.

[26:30] It is a kind of showdown between God and man in his unbelief. This is what it's coming down to.

[26:41] This is the culmination of all of the ages of humanity, of thousands of years. It's going to be boiled down to just seven years.

[26:52] Quite remarkable. Now, we've already dealt with the seven seals. And there were opened the seven trumpets.

[27:06] We are working on the last trumpet. And they are sounding. They are sounding warning. And yet to come is what is referred to as ho-phlipsis.

[27:18] Tribulation, the great one. That is the second half of this seven-year period, which is 42 months, 1260 days, three and a half years. And it is going to be so intense that much of those who are living will succumb in death.

[27:39] There will be a number who will become believers. It is God's final effort to gain man's repentance before he releases the greatest justice and devastation that is yet to come.

[27:53] And this is realized on the part of these two witnesses. You see, God in his grace. Think of it. God in his grace is providing this manifestation of evidence that needs to be confronted by these people.

[28:10] And anyone with a half-open heart and mind is going to be convinced and is going to turn in faith and repentance to the true God of Israel. And that is going to be the ministry of these two witnesses.

[28:24] And God is going to make them indestructible because he wants their witness to be able to continue to reach and impact as many people with a positive result as possible.

[28:35] And that's why they are rendered indestructible. And if they weren't indestructible, the Antichrist and the evil crowd that would be living on the earth at that time would do away with them in a heartbeat.

[28:47] In fact, they attempt to. They make all kinds of efforts to stamp these two witnesses out. And they are unable to do so. You mean these are two human beings that apparently can't be killed?

[29:05] Yes! Yes! That's what we're saying. That's what the text is saying. That's the only reason they are preserved is because they can't kill them. Not that they don't try.

[29:17] Not that they don't want to. But they can't succeed. And God giving them that kind of indestructibility allows them to continue on their ministry.

[29:28] And that is all an act of the grace of God that allows that message to keep coming out from them. While there is an element that despises them and hates them and are hell-bent on destroying them.

[29:45] But they can't. They can't. So, this is reflected. And in verse 14 of chapter 11, we are told the second woe is past and the third is about to come quickly.

[30:03] Much of this is accompanied with earthquakes and thunder and lightning. These gain the full attention of humans. Because with thunder, get your ear.

[30:18] With lightning, it gets your eyes. And with earthquakes, it gets your feeling. This is going to impact every part of our being.

[30:30] There will be no one who will escape this message. Wow. These will gain the full attention of humans.

[30:41] And all of these physical manifestations are designed to show forth the power of the one they are dealing with in the most dramatic fashion possible.

[30:52] And each of these evidences is another act of God's mercy. When the seventh angel sounds in 1115, a huge chorus breaks forth in declaration of the ultimate and undisputed rule and reign of Jesus Christ over all of creation.

[31:14] Look at that, if you would, please. It's in chapter 11. And it begins with verse 15.

[31:30] And the seventh angel sounded. That is, he sounded his trumpet, his shofar. And there arose loud voices in heaven saying.

[31:44] They're not singing. They're saying. They're speaking. And we don't know who these are. They're just loud voices. We do not know who is behind. The person is behind the voice.

[31:55] But what they are saying is. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.

[32:06] And he will reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders, whom I mentioned earlier, I am still unable to identify.

[32:20] They sit on their thrones before God. They fall on their faces and worship God saying. We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who was because.

[32:37] Thou has taken thy great power and has begun to reign. Now, I've got a question to ask about that.

[32:50] How is it that Christ here in chapter 11 is said to begin reigning and have reigned when all of this devastation and negative activity of the Antichrist and his henchmen have yet to transpire in the subsequent chapters that will be all the way from chapter 13 and the beast rising out of the sea, the Antichrist, clear through chapter 19 until Christ returns?

[33:22] There's a lot of really horrendous content yet to come. And here in chapter 11, the record states that Christ has begun to reign.

[33:38] If he is reigning, then how do you account for all of the mayhem that has taken place during the subsequent chapters? There are a couple of things that I want to consider.

[33:51] Number one is we are dealing with a God who very frequently calls things that are not as though they are. That is because God has a perspective that we do not have.

[34:02] With God, there is no such thing as the future or as prophecy. Everything is the present. He doesn't have a past, present, and the future.

[34:14] With God, everything is up front right before him all the time. So, we humans with our limited perspective have to deal with time, and that involves a past, a present, and a future.

[34:29] But God, in his infinite knowledge, in his omniscience, has a handle on things in such a way and has such a perspective that there is no future with him.

[34:41] Everything is the present, and sometimes that's the way he speaks. In fact, if we were to consult, and we'll not take time to go there, but if we were to consult with Romans chapter 8, we see that those whom God called, he also glorified, he sanctified, he did all of these wonderful things for us, and yet, as far as we are concerned, we are not seated with him in the heavenlies.

[35:07] We are seated right here on planet Earth in this auditorium. But as far as God is concerned, it's over. We are seated with him in the heavenlies.

[35:19] We are already glorified. Now, I know, to look at one another, we don't seem to want to pass that test, because we are here in our fallen flesh, and we are anything but occupying a glorified body right now.

[35:33] But as far as God is concerned, it's over. There is no contest as to whether or not. It's just a done deal. And that's the way he sees it.

[35:44] He is the Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the earth. That's how God viewed it.

[35:57] And that's how he is viewing this. And not only that, but I have a sneaking suspicion that chapter 12 is going to reveal to us exactly how it is that God is going to orchestrate and bring all of this to pass, in particular, this 70th week.

[36:21] And you know what he's going to do? He's going to reach way back, even beyond the creation of man, to the creation of angels.

[36:33] And reveal how that, the angelic rebellion against God, that occurred apparently before man was ever created, becomes the impetus for his creating humans and providing a Messiah Redeemer.

[36:52] It's all part of the package. And John is going to be taken way back to the origins, earthly origin, of the Messiah.

[37:05] And I didn't plan it this way, but I thought this would really make a beautiful Mother's Day message. So that's what it's going to be. Revelation chapter 12.

[37:16] But before we get there, we have to finish with chapter 11. So, we've got this paean of praise, and in verse 15, he talks about the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

[37:32] And those of you who are music aficionados will appreciate that it was from this verse and from like verses in Revelation 19 that we'll be considering momentarily that George Friedrich Handel penned his immortal Messiah.

[37:48] And he shall reign forever and ever. And it is a glorious composition of music, and it was based upon what John is saying here in Revelation 11 and the Hallelujah Chorus that will be found later that we were referred to in chapter 19.

[38:11] So let us finish this, if we may, and we'll see if we can possibly wrap up this chapter. It depicts the ultimate and undisputed rule and reign of Jesus Christ over all of creation.

[38:25] This declaration indicates that all the judgments yet to come that appear to be under the power and authority of Satan and the Antichrist are yet under the authority of Christ himself, the supreme potentate.

[38:42] Here is one more example of the sovereignty of God whereby he uses and allows the evil of men and angels to run their course.

[38:56] God did that with the Egyptians, with the Babylonians, with the Assyrians, with the Romans, and even with the Hitlers.

[39:10] God never caused these people to do what they did, but he permitted them to do what they did because he respected the free volition that he bestowed upon human beings, and he is not going to reach in and withdraw it so that men cannot do evil things.

[39:33] They can. God doesn't orchestrate it. God doesn't initiate it. God doesn't cause it. But God does permit it. And if he didn't, then of course there wouldn't be any evil.

[39:46] So, while evil in all generations appears to have free reign, it never does in actuality, but always remains under the authority of God.

[40:00] Satan and his minions are accurately described as mad dogs on a leash, but can go no further than that which the leash holder will permit.

[40:12] As far as they do go, which is to realize unspeakable horror and evil perpetrated upon humanity, it is all proof positive of the great depths of evil to which man and angels are capable of going.

[40:33] You see, part of our problem is we have little or no appreciation how evil really does lurk in the human heart of every fallen individual.

[40:44] evil. And we have little appreciation of the extent that is involved of holiness that belongs to God.

[40:56] The separation between us in our fallenness and our sin and God in his holiness and purity is infinite. We cannot begin to bridge that.

[41:09] Evil is put on display for all of history to experience. Such removes all doubt as to the volition of men and angels in their ability to act contrary to the will of their creator.

[41:25] The book of the revelation is a capstone, a culmination of the evil fallenness of man and angels and it also depicts their doom and end as well as the inevitable triumph of the creator God that will be declared in the last chapters of the revelation.

[41:46] Right now we are on our way to getting there and we have arrived at chapter 11 in this book. So let us return there if we may please. Chapter 11 and in verse 18 we see that the nations were enraged.

[42:04] These are the Gentiles. The Gentiles are enraged and this is a hearkening back to Psalm 2. Let's go there for just a moment. Keep your place here in Revelation and I want you to go to Psalm 2 simply because I just want to give you a very brief and simple example of how connected everything in the Bible is and how the Bible is its own best interpreter and in Psalm 2 the question is asked why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing or an empty thing.

[42:40] The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed that is against his son and they say let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us and God's response to that will be he who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord scoffs at them then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury when is he going to do that in revelation seven years of it that's exactly what he's going to do but as for me I have installed my king upon Zion my holy mountain there he is speaking from the standpoint of being a believer and as he goes on it is a beautiful messianic psalm that is depicted in the birth and life and ministry of our

[43:48] Lord Jesus Christ so this all ties in with Psalm 2 and we go back now to Revelation 11 the nations were enraged and that's what the psalmist is talking about and thy wrath came and the time came for the dead to be judged and the time to give their reward to thy bondservants the prophets and to the saints and those who fear thy name the small and the great and those of course will be believers and to destroy those who destroy the earth through their evil activities etc and the temple of God which is in heaven was opened this is the vision that John is seeing and this is what he's writing he's writing what he's looking at and the ark of the covenant appeared in his temple now the last time that was heard anything of was way back in the Pentateuch but here it is the ark of the covenant appeared in his temple and there were flashes of lightning here we are again the visible the sounds and the peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hail storm and later we will see the significance of this hail storm which will be enormous and let me just give you a bird's eye view of what is coming as part of this tribulation there is going to be a time of climactic activity the likes of which the world has never seen and the likes of which global warming will not begin to compare neither will global cooling the atmosphere that is going to be created on the earth partly because of what is happening in the heavens is just going to be so unlike anything the world has ever experienced there is going to be intense heat on the earth it will be global warming the likes of which you cannot imagine and there are several climactic things that are going to trigger this possibly in some of the stellar activity that is out there but the temperature of the earth is going enormous sized hail fall to the earth but it will not get all the way to the earth because the heat that will be coming off the surface of the earth will be rising and it will drive that hail stone back up into the atmosphere before it can make contact with the earth and then as soon as it reaches a certain amount of height up there its weight will cause it to reverse and it will start to fall back down to the earth again but before it contacts the earth the heat will send it back up again and this is going to be repeated a number of times each time each cycle will add additional weight and an additional layer of ice to the hail stone and they are going to approximate one hundred pounds in weight can't fathom that can you hundred pound sections of ice falling all over the place one of those hits you it will ruin your whole day can you envision a hundred pound block of ice and of course the tendency is you don't believe that stuff do you that's just drama that's just to scare you that's just that's just good theater no it isn't good theater it's bad reality that's just one more indication of this

[47:48] intense supernatural aspect where nothing is going to be quote unquote normal everything's going to be abnormal and supernatural wow well let's consider chapter 11 concluded but I suspect that you may very well have questions I can't guarantee you that I have answers but I can just guarantee you an honest effort if you want to provoke a question provoke us to thought we will do our best to give you an answer and I may have to reserve it until later until I have more time to think about it but we'll try okay clear in the back there

[48:49] Lee has a question or a comment just a quick question where where are you getting the information about how much the hailstones are going away I'm sorry repeat that please where are you getting the information about how heavy those hailstones are going to be okay how heavy the hailstones are going to be it is in a later chapter I don't know if I can put my finger on it but if any of you come up with it bark out the reference pardon me revelation 16 15 5 15 5 15 there is no 15 21 16 21 oh yeah thank you thank you huge hailstones about 100 pounds each came down from heaven upon men and men blasphemed

[50:20] God because of the plague and the hail and like I said you know most people when they read this today say you don't take that literally do you well yeah I do I take it very literally and what's more those who are experiencing it will know that it's quite literal I don't know that they're going to have to run out and weigh them but they'll get the point and is there anything is there anything that is heavier than water I mean water is really heavy and it's going to be a pretty nasty experience little wonder that people are going to be hiding in dens and caves and wherever they can find a hideout in thank you thanks for the reference to whoever provided that someone else comment or question okay verse 18 looks like it's almost referring to the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne judgment verse 18 of what of 11 chapter 11 given their rewards and the dead judged well yeah yeah well there there is there is obviously there's obviously some reward there but there's going to be multiple occasions for the awarding of rewards and also for the determination of punishment there'll be multiple cases of that but you're right there will be there will be a number of people that are going to be rewarded for different things during this time yes another comment

[52:05] I'm pretty sure it was Jerry Farwell Jr. who just yesterday was being interviewed and said that the global warning that so many people are worried about is not coming from what man does but what comes from the heavens and it comes from the sun and the sunspots and what have you and it's going to be the work of the Lord okay well I don't know that there's any reason to subscribe to any of these things as being supernatural activity now what's happening and I don't I doubt seriously that anybody can deny that there is really global warming I don't think there's any question that there is global warming there's always been global warming and global cooling and the earth has undergone a cycle of cooling and warming for as long as records have been kept and it appears to be a divinely provided phenomena that

[53:17] God has made for the planet to cool it down and warm it up and it goes through these cycles and it's been doing that forever the question is whether the global warming that we are experiencing is caused by humans as opposed to being caused by just the normal cycle that's the real issue and of course those who are touting the idea of global warming say it's because of our fossil fuels it's because of the incandescent light bulbs it's because of all of these things that that we are doing that we are responsible for warming the planet and causing the icebergs to melt and the poor little polar bears aren't going to have a home and all the rest of it so that's as far as I know nobody's denying that the planet is warming it is always warm and when it gets through warming it'll cool and it'll cool and it'll cool and there'll be huge amounts of ice created and then it'll start warming again and I don't know how long these cycles last but but they do they are cyclical like that and I think that what science we have as long as they've been keeping records have been able to demonstrate that that the earth is always warmed and cooled and warmed and cooled and warmed and cooled so what else is new anything else

[54:34] Gary in verse 15 where it says the world has now become the kingdom of our Lord I know you I think you explained that but I'm still a little fuzzy on exactly what that means does that mean just then it was becoming the kingdom of our Lord or is that always the case or what well I mentioned as I mentioned earlier sometimes the Bible speaks and sometimes God is referenced from his point of view rather than from the human point of view and from God's point of view he has always reigned and he continues to reign and the time will never come when he isn't reigning that's from God's point of view from our point of view temporal and transient as we are we look at Satan reigning I mean after all that passage in 2nd Corinthians 4 says that the God of this age that's quite an appellation to give to Satan Satan the devil is referred to as the

[55:47] God of this age 2nd Corinthians 4 and he blinds the minds of those who believe not so he is the God of this age and of this world from a human standpoint his activities and his involvement it's all detrimental and and all the rest of it and we sometimes look at the evil that he and his henchmen bring upon this world and we think that the world's gone crazy and and and is out of control and God can't do anything about it but what God wants us to know is he has given man the ability to make moral choices he has given man free will and if he is going to step in and prevent man from using it and doing really stupid hurtful things then that defeats the whole purpose of his giving man free will he has given us free will and that produces a lot of evil and a lot of pain and a lot of suffering but in the midst of that God has provided a remedy through redemption and through the buyback and through the promises that he has given that he ultimately is going to reign in evil in the meanwhile he's going to let it have its full sway so that it can be put on display for what it really is and there won't be any doubt and what that will do it will make us all that more appreciative of the great redemption that we have in

[57:27] Christ wow well here in revelation 19 we read after these things I heard as it were a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments are true and righteous for he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his bond servants on her and a second time they said hallelujah her smoke rises up forever and forever and verse six and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of many peals of thunder saying hallelujah for the Lord our

[58:34] God the almighty reigns and would you stand for our musical benediction oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Alleluia.

[59:15] Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

[59:28] Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

[59:40] The End The End The End

[61:10] The End The End The End

[62:40] The End The End And the people said, Amen.