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[0:00] Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we appeal to you now for a wisdom that is beyond ours. We recognize our inadequacy in approaching the book once again.

[0:11] It is a very present inadequacy because none of us is truly competent to open and examine the scriptures that you've provided. But along with the guidelines that we have of comparing scripture with scripture and allowing the Bible to the extent that we can to interpret itself, we believe that you have provided for us the information that we need.

[0:35] So we look to you for that direction. We ask that as we engage the text, you will stimulate our thinking and our mind and give us a renewed sense of appreciation for who you are and what you have provided for us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:49] To this end, we commit our study today with thanksgiving in Christ's name. Amen. First thing I want to remind you of as we engage this chapter is that we are dealing with a truly extraordinary period of time in the history of the earth.

[1:13] There is nothing normal about the content we are engaging today. It is abnormal. It is supernatural.

[1:26] We today who live in what is characterized as the age of grace requires a walk by faith, not by sight.

[1:37] It wasn't that way previously when our Lord was here. And during the apostolic age, it was it was the norm to walk by sight because they had the miracles.

[1:52] They had the obvious acts of God to attest as to what was going on. We don't have that today. When the scriptures say in 1 Corinthians that we walk by faith, not by sight, it simply means that we are to realize that God has provided ample information to enable us to take him at his word.

[2:19] And this is not the age of the miraculous. This is the age of grace. And to walk by faith and not by sight simply means that we do not require signs and wonders.

[2:35] We take God at his word and we operate on the basis of what God has said in his word. Many times I have told you more than anything else, God wants to be believed.

[2:46] And for those of us who are living in this present day of grace, we are supposed to walk in and order our lives after simply what God has said in his word.

[3:00] However, the content we are engaging in the book of the Revelation is not characterized by an age of grace.

[3:11] Remember when Jesus appeared at the synagogue in Capernaum and opened the scriptures to Isaiah chapter 61 and he read from it about the spirit of the Lord is upon me.

[3:30] He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the scroll and sat down and said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

[3:54] He did not go on and quote the remainder of the verse that Isaiah gave, which was, And the day of vengeance of our God.

[4:07] Because that was not it when he was here. It was not the day of vengeance of our God. It was the day of the acceptable year of the Lord. It had to do with the first advent of Christ.

[4:22] But what we are talking about now in the book of the Revelation is the day of vengeance of our God.

[4:32] And it is a time when wrath is being poured out upon the earth. In the first instance, we see beginning with Revelation chapter 6, it is the wrath of man.

[4:49] And it is pretty bad. This encompasses the four horsemen of the apocalypse. One is a pretender of peace.

[5:01] But really there is no peace, even though he is saying, peace, peace, there is no peace. And the second is the red horse. The white horse was the antichrist who brings a semblance of peace.

[5:16] And then there is the red horse. And it is all about war. And then there is the black horse that is about deprivation, starvation, calamity, shortages, etc.

[5:33] And then the last one is the pale horse, which depicts death. And that is man wreaking havoc upon his fellow man.

[5:46] It is also characterized by the opening of the seals. Then the second series of earthly onslaughts will be from Satan himself.

[6:00] As the demonic spirits are loosed from the bottomless pit and they wreak untold havoc upon humanity, it is devastation that we cannot imagine.

[6:14] But that is not the worst to come. The worst to come will be seen later in chapter 11 as it begins there with the sounding of, or we've had the sounding of the trumpets, that's what we're engaged in now.

[6:35] Then there will be the pouring out of the vials or the bowls. And these represent direct retribution from God himself.

[6:47] So the tribulation is going to consist of three elements. The first will be man at his worst and most evil upon his fellow human being.

[6:59] The second is Satan and his minions. And then the third intensifies because it is the very wrath of God.

[7:11] And it is the worst of all. Each of these is represented by a period of lull or quiet in between.

[7:23] It is almost as if the earth gets a breather. As if the inhabitants of the earth have another opportunity to assess what is happening and repent.

[7:35] And each time the vast majority of the population of the earth does not. They dig their heels in. They shake their fist at the God of heaven.

[7:48] And they refuse to repent. And each time God tightens the screws a little bit more. And it is an incredible time. So let us begin now with chapter 11.

[8:01] On the sheet that you've got from the 26th translation. And I'll be reading from the bold print. Which is the King James Version. And occasionally we will appeal to other translations for some help.

[8:15] John says, Unto the Gentiles.

[8:47] And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. Now, this is the fourth temple.

[9:02] And it is going to be constructed at a time yet future. There is a group right now referred to as the Temple Mount Faithful.

[9:14] They are Orthodox Jews. They live in Jerusalem. They have already engaged in and have succeeded in building a number of the articles of furniture for the temple.

[9:30] They have already created the garb, the paraphernalia that the priest and the high priest is supposed to wear. They have these things on display. And if you go there as a tourist, you can visit the Temple Mount Faithful as they are referred to.

[9:45] And you can actually see these items. They are reconstructions, of course, not the original. But they are constructed on the basis of the specifications of the originals.

[9:59] And they have these all ready to go. And this is a group that is very excited about the rebuilding of the temple. You will recall that the original temple was built by King Solomon.

[10:13] David secured the site. David purchased the threshing floor of Arunah. And it is an elevated area that is referred to as Mount Zion.

[10:26] And David's dream was to one day build the temple there on Mount Zion, this elevated piece of land. And, of course, the Lord would not allow him to do it.

[10:39] But he did allow him to begin laying in supplies for the temple. And eventually Solomon would build the temple. And it was when he finished an absolutely gloriously architecturally superb structure.

[10:54] And from all descriptions, it was just breathtaking in its beauty. But we know that that temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.

[11:09] It was leveled to the ground. And the children of Israel were carried off into Babylonian captivity. Then when they returned under Zerubbabel, when Nehemiah was building the wall, Zerubbabel was charged with the commission of rebuilding the temple.

[11:25] And they did. They rebuilt the temple. And the time it was dedicated, the elderly men came to the dedication. And they stood there and wept.

[11:37] Not for joy that the temple had been rebuilt. But they wept because the older men had a memory of the original temple. And what it looked like.

[11:48] And apparently this was a great disappointment. Did not even come close. But that was Zerubbabel's temple. And then it was destroyed in 186, 168 B.C.

[12:01] By Antiochus Epiphanes. And he, of course, was a Greek. And they leveled that temple. Then Herod undertook the responsibility of building and expanding the temple.

[12:14] And the temple area that is referred to as what's just called the Temple Mount.

[12:27] The Temple Mount is a huge area. It is the equivalent of about 12 or 14 football fields. It's really large.

[12:39] Of course, the actual physical temple itself was only 45 feet long by 15 feet wide. And it was 30 by 15 was the major part of the temple.

[12:55] And then the Holy of Holies was the back part. And it was really only 15 by 15 so far as dimensions are concerned. And that's where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.

[13:07] That was referred to as the most holy place. And Herod undertook the rebuilding of that. And then it was completely destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans under Titus, the Roman general.

[13:20] So it lay in waste for several hundreds of years. Then when Islam invaded and Muhammad took over the temple site area, they built today what is known as the Mosque of Omar.

[13:36] And it is the blue structure that you see with the golden dome sitting on it. And it is debatable as to whether that is the exact site. And I don't want to get too far afield here.

[13:48] But some are of the opinion that that Mosque of Omar has to be torn down so that the new Jewish temple can be built on that site. It is debatable whether that was actually built on that site because there are ancient rabbinical records that say when you enter the city of Jerusalem by way of the eastern gate, the Holy of Holies is located on a straight line due north lined up with the eastern gate.

[14:19] If that is true, then the present site where the dome of the rock is is not actually on the original site of the Holy of Holies and the original temple.

[14:33] But that's something that scholars still argue about. And frankly, I don't know for sure what the answer to that is. But at any rate, this is the temple and it is going to be rebuilt.

[14:45] And of course, we have to have the temple rebuilt in order for the Antichrist to desecrate the temple. And this is referred to in Daniel 9 and repeated again by our Lord in Matthew 24.

[14:58] When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, when you see him stand in the holy place, and that of course is the temple area, and the holy place was reserved for deity only.

[15:13] High priest could go there once a year, not without blood, and there he represented the children of Israel, sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, etc. That was referred to as the physical manifestation or dwelling place of God.

[15:26] The Antichrist is going to stand in that place, proclaim that he himself is God. Well, in order for him to do that, there has to be a temple. And in order for there to be a temple where there is no temple now, it has to be rebuilt.

[15:39] So this is why scholars are generally agreed on the rebuilding of the temple. And this is the temple, I believe, of which John is speaking here in Revelation.

[15:51] And the court that is not to be measured is the court of the Gentiles. And the reason for that is because the Gentiles are going to have jurisdiction over this whole area, and they are going to trample it underfoot.

[16:05] And this will be primarily at the behest of the Antichrist. So the court that they are not to measure is the furthest.

[16:19] It's the Gentiles. There are four courts in the temple. First, there is nearest to the holy place, and the most holy place is the court of the priests.

[16:30] It was a perimeter around the holy place. Only the priests were allowed to be there. And then there was called another court of larger perimeter, if you just envision a circle getting bigger and bigger as it goes out.

[16:46] The second court was called the court of Israel. Any Jewish man could go there and be in that court. And then expanded out still further was the court of the women.

[17:01] And Jewish women could go there. Expanded out still further was the court of the Gentiles. If you were not a Jew, you were allowed in that area.

[17:13] There was a sign posted there, a barrier, saying that no Gentile could proceed beyond this point at the penalty of death.

[17:25] And if you recall, in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 20 something, I don't remember which one it is, the apostle Paul was accused of having taken a Gentile beyond the court of the Gentiles and into the court of Israel, and it caused a big hubbub and a big stir.

[17:42] Of course, he did not do that, but that was the accusation that was laid. So this court, this area is going to be trampled under by the Gentiles.

[17:54] When it says they shall tread under foot, forty and two months, refers to Gentile dominion over that area and Gentile occupation of it.

[18:05] And now we come to verse 3, which gets into the area that we want to focus on today. I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy.

[18:17] I want you to see that the word prophesy here is not used as a noun, it's used as a verb. And it is akin to the idea of preaching or proclaiming.

[18:29] Because prophesying always has a two-edged sword about it. There is prophecy, prophecy, and then there is prophesy. To prophesy simply means to preach.

[18:42] And prophecy is that which has to do with the prediction of the future. That's the way most people think about it. But very often, especially in the Old Testament, the word prophesy simply means to proclaim or to preach.

[18:55] And this is exactly what they are going to do. They are not particularly going to be predicting the future. They are going to be speaking in regard to the very presence in which they live.

[19:07] They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days. And what does that turn out to be? It turns out to be three and a half years. It also turns out to be 42 months.

[19:18] It also turns out to be a time, times, and a half a time. And in each of those instances, it always works out the same. It is one half of seven.

[19:31] It is the three and a half years. And they are going to prophesy for three and a half years, clothed in sackcloth. This is the garb of mourning.

[19:44] It is the garb of humiliation. It is that which Job clothed himself in when he sat on the ash heap and scraped his sores with a potsherd.

[19:57] He was clothed in sackcloth. When a widow was in mourning for a loss of her husband, she wore sackcloth. And when David, when David repented of his sin with Bathsheba and fasted and went through the experience of the loss of a child, David, the king, was robed in sackcloth.

[20:19] So these gentlemen are going to be clothed in sackcloth. And these are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

[20:30] What in the world does that mean? Well, we're not going to go back there for time's sake. But if you want to make a note, I would suggest you consult Zechariah chapter 4 and chapter 5.

[20:43] And these olive trees are identified. And the first thing that we need to know about these is that they symbolize something. These are not just trees to bear olives.

[20:57] These olive trees mean something. What do they mean? The olive trees are two persons. They are identified as persons in Zechariah chapter 4 and 5.

[21:09] And they are identified as persons here. They are symbolized with an olive tree. I suspect one of the reasons of it's an olive tree is because the olive tree is so characteristic of Israel.

[21:24] The olive trees were referred to were thought of as trees of great strength and great virility and great productivity. And these men are going to be very, very productive.

[21:38] They are men. and they are assigned this special responsibility so that verse 5 if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies.

[21:56] And if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed. Well this is really a stretch no matter how you slice it.

[22:06] And there is a tendency you know I am a great one for taking the scriptures literally and I am not saying that this is not literal. This may be literal.

[22:17] I cannot imagine what kind of ability or power that these men could possess that would enable them to breathe fire like a dragon.

[22:32] we tend to think of fire as in a flamethrower that exudes an ignited kind of gelatinous substance as napalm.

[22:46] We just cannot imagine something like this coming from human beings. So it may not be literal. I will give you a wise man's suspicion okay which should send up a flag a red flag of warning because it could very well be wrong.

[23:04] But there are times when literal things are meant to are meant to indicate something else. In Revelation 19 when Christ appears on the scene on a white charger we are told that a sharp sword goes out of his mouth.

[23:27] I don't see the necessity to take that literally that Christ has an actual sword a blade with a hilt on it proceeding out of his mouth.

[23:41] I wonder if what isn't being referred to there is simply the spoken word of Christ.

[23:52] We read it in Hebrews the word of God is alive and sharper than any two-edged sword and that it is the word of God that cuts and severs and penetrates as a sword and I rather suspect that rather than a literal sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ it is Christ's spoken word that slays men that divides mountains and oceans and whatever it is this is after all this is the same one who said let there be light and there was light he spoke the worlds into existence he commanded and it stood fast he spoke and it was done and I wonder if that isn't the same analogy that ought to be applied to these men it is that their words are going to carry such incredible authority and power that any who try to harm them are going to be dispatched simply by their spoken word and that all opposition that comes against them will be to no avail they are going to be supernaturally protected so

[25:15] I think it was yes it was Dr. Lehman Strauss who referred to these men these two men with a list of Ps they are persons they are prophets they are powerful they are persecuted and they are preserved and we find all of this here in chapter 11 they have power verse 6 they have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and who does that remind you of Elijah remember he closed heaven for three and a half years so that there was neither rain nor dew now you can survive a long time without rain if you get the dew to help a little bit but when there is no dew even it is really curtains and there is not going to be any dew there is not going to be any rain here these men have power to shut heaven we look at this somewhat askance and say come on now does it does it really mean this

[26:23] I think it really means this we are living in a supernatural time the church is gone the day of grace is over this is the dispensation of the judgment of almighty God and nothing is normal nothing is business as usual there is going to be one supernatural manifestation after another some demonic and some godly and those who dwell on the earth are going to be recipients of all of this of course we cannot help but ask who are these men and for years I have thought that they are probably Moses and Elijah and I still kind of lean that way and one of the reasons I do is because Moses is the supreme representative of the law of God the standard bearer for morality for humanity embodied in and encapsulated in the ten commandments if you will and Elijah seems to be the supreme representative of the prophets and he is spoken of in Malachi about Elijah coming before the Messiah

[27:47] Christ said John the Baptist is Elijah if you will accept it but we know they did not accept John as Elijah Jesus wasn't saying that John was Elijah reincarnated not at all he was saying that John is coming in the spirit and power of Elijah and he will fulfill the role the promise of Elijah if you Israel will accept it but Israel did not accept it and John was beheaded so there is a possibility that Elijah and then remember the transfiguration when our Lord went into the mountain and was transfigured before Peter James and John and there were there with them Moses and Elijah and why them I don't know unless again it is Moses as representative of the law of God and Elijah representative of the prophecy or the prophets of God but you see both of those

[28:49] Moses and Elijah both of those were information providers both of those gave fair and full warning and information from God and both of them have had their word discounted ignored denied both starting as early as with the children of Israel and what Moses gave them all the way up to the present time where the word of God as it is written and the word of God as it was incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ is by most of the world discounted and disregarded not taken all that seriously and it's been that way so these two may be representative of that I don't know some think it's going to be Enoch and Elijah because they are the two they are the only two men that we know of that did not die

[29:56] Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him and all the others it says they died and he died and he died and he died and he died in Genesis 5 but it comes to Enoch and it says Enoch walked with God and he was not for he took him and there is a decided difference between Enoch and all the others and we know that Elijah did not die because he was and some scholars are of the opinion that it is appointed unto man once to die after this the judgment so Enoch and Elijah who never died have to come back to earth they are the two witnesses and they have to die because it is appointed unto man once to die but I'm not sure that argument holds water because if our Lord comes today in the rapture as we suspect he may well we're not going to die either it is those who have died in Christ but we will not die we will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and we will be caught up with them to be with them in the

[30:58] Lord so here's a whole generation of people whoever are alive at the rapture who aren't going to die either so I think the Hebrew Hebrews passage that appointed unto man once to die I don't think that necessarily requires and there can be no exceptions because I think Enoch and Elijah were an exception I think all the verses saying it's kind of like the Proverbs when you read a proverb it doesn't mean that it is always that way without exception hard and fast a proverb is a general rule that means that in most instances this is the way it is and I suspect that it might be that way in that passage in Hebrews 9 too so who are these two men consider this a possibility it could very well be that these two men are contemporaries they may be alive today we don't know that they may not fulfill this function for a couple of generations or another 500 years before this comes to pass or these two men could be alive today somewhere in the world and they may not even know probably don't that they are going to fulfill this role or this responsibility

[32:32] I have no idea who they could be but I do insist on one thing they are Jews of that I am 99 and nine tenths percent certain they are Jews and they are going to have an enormous impact on the 144 thousand in fact it may even be their ministry that will give rise to the 144 thousand and convince them of the legitimacy of their claim and of their mission because they are going to be in Israel and they are going to evangelize from Israel the entire world and it could be that these two witnesses are going to play a powerful role because here's what they're going to do these two witnesses are going to proclaim information and judgment that is going to make the world at large so livid and so angry and so vengeful toward these two men they are going to hate these men like no one has ever been hated before

[33:48] I don't know exactly what they're going to be saying all we are told is that they are going to prophesy but do you know something if they do nothing but prophesy the truth loudly and clearly nothing penetrates and nothing hurts evil doers more than the truth and I suspect that's what they are going to be about they have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and when they shall have finished their testimony note that we are not told the essence of their testimony we know that they are representing God we know that they are going to be giving the world an earful that it will not want to hear and I take it that the world is going to be watching these two men international television is going to be focused on these men and throughout the world people are going to be saying can't anybody shut these guys up we've heard enough of this kill those

[35:04] SOBs destroy them do whatever you have to do eliminate them we can't take it anymore they make me sick they are terrible they and the invective is just going to be worldwide and everyone is going to be cheering for their demise but as we have often said every believer is indestructible until God is finished with you and when God is finished with you you're going doesn't make any difference how good your doctor is you're still going these are not going to go until their testimony is finished until they have fulfilled the obligation that God laid upon them and they have delivered their message and when they shall have finished their testimony the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit and can anybody remember his identity

[36:09] Satan himself shall make war against them against these two men and shall overcome them and kill them I have no idea how he's going to do that nobody has been able to do it up till now they have been miraculously preserved we don't know what methodology they have tried to use to kill these men obviously bullets and whatever other kind of instruments they may use technologically advanced instruments of destruction whatever nothing has worked these two men are indestructible you can't kill them and that probably just makes the world hate them all the more but the beast is going to devise some kind of successful methodology that will result in their death how long they are going to prophesy we aren't told it could be for the entire three and a half years if you can imagine that three and a half years of their pouring forth this information that the world absolutely despises but can't shut up it is going to be a breath of fresh air to the world when these two are done away with and he will succeed in doing that shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called

[37:55] Sodom and Egypt now this city unmistakably is Jerusalem it is not to be identified with any other city this is Jerusalem but spiritually what condition is Jerusalem in that of Sodom and of Egypt a worldliness 20th century says the mystically spoken of and good speech is figuratively called or allegorically called Sodom and Egypt but we know it to be Jerusalem which of course is where the temple is and that's where these men are and then it's clinched by the phrase where also our Lord was crucified and that of course removes all doubt and when these two men are killed and their dead bodies are lying in the street for kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half if you know anything about about

[38:59] Jewish law or the practices in Israel to this day it goes something like this if you die in the morning you're buried in the afternoon if you die in the afternoon they will bury you before sunset if at all possible in other words you may have been dead only a couple of hours and you'll be in the ground if they can arrange it if you die at night you'll be buried the next morning there is none of this in fact they don't practice embalming they do not embalm bodies we do that for the preservation because uncle phil has got to fly in from wherever to be here for the funeral and you need to preserve the body and make it presentable for showing and so on none of that in Israel so when you get the jerusalem post which is a weekly publication that comes from Israel you read the list of deaths they are people who have been dead and buried and they just let you know that they're gone they won't tell you about you know you read our newspaper and somebody dies on

[40:07] Monday and the funeral is going to be on Thursday etc it's not like that but in this case these bodies are going to lie three and a half days and do you know why anybody got any idea why disrespect disrespect and the name of the game is these two men are to be as disrespected as we can possibly make them we tend to think of caring for the body embalming the body burying the body showing respect for the individual who inhabited that body while they were here and this is going to be a supreme cause of disrespect and a great cause of rejoicing people are going to be loving it and they are going to relish seeing those decaying bodies there because the hatred and the animosity the resentment against these two men is going to be so great they are going to relish their being on display for three and a half days and they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another

[41:29] I don't know exactly the essence of that but may I suspect that these will be gifts these will be congratulatory gifts gifts of appreciation perhaps given to those in anti-Christ leadership positions for having prevailed over these two men for having shut them up and having done away with them they will be gifts of appreciation gifts of congratulation and they will make merry send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth and the way they tormented them was shut off rainfall can you imagine can you imagine how scarce drinking water is going to be during this time just water to survive on plus the preachments that these men proclaim is just going to be like salt in the wound they are going to thunder their message everything they say is going to be absolutely true and it is going to impact an unbelieving world in ways that is going to evoke such rage and such hatred because they are going to be exposed for what they are and it is going to be an incredibly difficult time comments or questions anyone we've got got a few minutes left anyone okay let's move on and after three days and a half the spirit of life from

[43:16] God entered into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them you know it has been said that and the issue has been made a point of before but years ago when we would read these things people would look at this and say how can that be how can that be talks about the whole world seeing this how can that possibly be that the whole world well we know that it's not a problem now you've got cable television and you've got satellites and everything and you can see remember we we watched the gulf war as it was prosecuted remember that we even saw the bombs fall and all the rest of it and saw the tanks moving and everything else and it was right there in your living room all over the world you could see this it's not going to be any different now it's going to be the same way they're going to be their television crews and the satellites and all the rest of it there and everybody is going to see this and it's going to be

[44:25] I could I could imagine I think there's only two words that came to my mind when these cameras all over the world are focused on the decaying remains of these two witnesses and who knows they may even consist of body parts we don't know how they were slain we don't know how they were ultimately put to death but it may look like a pathetic mass lump of humanity even with flesh mingled together not even being able to distinguish one from the other just a pile of human rubble and all the world is looking and rejoicing at it laughing at it gloating over it and all at once the flesh begins to move cannot envision that and these two decedents stand to their feet feet

[45:42] I think there is a corporate response all over the world two words everybody is saying oh no can you imagine that I can't it's beyond my imagination I think I've got a pretty active one but it's just hard for me to get my brain around this and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them I suppose their thinking is they're going to resume their activities the thing that brought the whole world against them but no that is not to be their ministry is completed God recognizes that and they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them come up his and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud

[46:46] Christ went up in a cloud remember the ascension in Acts 1 and their enemies beheld them it's all they can do is behold them all they can do is just stand there and gawk and just watch them as they go up as the twelve apostles watched Christ when he ascended until finally he was out of their sight and in the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city fell and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand now none of the translations render this but observation has been made as regards the Greek and we've got a rendering here that says something to the extent that and there were slain ten thousand men of name so my suspicion is and again this is just a wise man suspicion may or may not be right

[47:55] I think there are a lot more killed than ten thousand is not unusual at all for ten thousand people to be killed in an earthquake that happens during our lifetime in fact many more than ten thousand have been killed in one earthquake during our lifetime many more I mean there have been sixty thousand killed in an earthquake you know so these ten thousand I think the way this ought to be rendered is ten thousand men of name and what does that mean it means ten thousand dignitaries of some sort important people not just your ordinary everyday people there were probably a whole lot more people than ten thousand killed but there were ten thousand killed that we would call some bodies not just ordinary people dignitaries people of rank people of station and with the

[48:56] Antichrist and the world government centered there there is good reason to believe that there would be an exceptional number of really important people there for different reasons global reasons but making connections exercising authority power etc these are going to be strategic individuals slain of men 7,000 and a whole lot more probably besides them and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven and we've got I can't let this go without some explanation too they are not giving glory to God in the way you and I think of giving glory to God whereby we honor him recognize him praise him etc that is not what this means at all all this means is they are acknowledging and recognizing this is not an act of nature this is

[50:00] God God is behind this he is behind this they acknowledge that men can attribute all kinds of things to what we would call natural causes things to natural causes but they will not be able to attribute this to any kind of natural cause they will acknowledge that the God of heaven is behind this and by the way they will give him credit for being behind it but not in any positive kind of way they will blame him for being behind it and the second woe is passed and behold the third woe cometh quickly and the seventh angel sounded we've got here a bad chapter division you know the chapters were not divided in the

[51:22] Bible until the 1500s not long before the King James version came out and some of the chapter divisions are not at all good but we have to deal with what we've got so the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices saying great voices saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever and this of course is a beautiful expression that is repeated so joyfully and handles great Messiah part of the words of it there and the four and twenty elders we see them surfacing again we never have identified these beings we still don't know exactly who they are but they are sitting before God on their seats and fall upon their faces and worship God saying we give thee thanks O Lord

[52:22] God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned and the nations were angry and thy wrath is come here are the four and twenty elders acknowledging that the period of God's wrath is coming upon the earth thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou should give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints and them that fear thy name small and great and should destroy them which destroy the earth and here then in verse 19 we have and the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of the covenant there are several openings that are referred to that we've already seen in revelation revelation 4 1 says there is a door opened in heaven and 6 1 says the seals are opened and 9 2 says the abyss is open and 11 19 says the temple of

[53:40] God is open later we will see in 15 verse 5 the tabernacle of testimony is open 19 11 heaven is open and 20 and verse 12 the books of judgment are open and we should not be surprised for all of these openings because after all it is the book of the revelation which means the book opening that which is closed and it goes all the way through the revelation so there are then lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail these are all extreme phenomena weather phenomena that John would be familiar with he uses these to describe these things we don't know about this hail he's talking about this being in heaven but later on we'll see in the revelation that there will be hail stones hail stones that will be the equivalent of a hundred pounds can you imagine that a hundred pound hail stone and what what causes hail stones is my understanding is this starts out as water as just rain and it's coming down heading towards the earth and as it gets closer and closer to the earth there is an updraft of heat and the heat from the earth forces it back up into the atmosphere and it goes back up and it's very cold up there and it collects ice it starts to freeze and then when it reaches a certain density the weight of it lets it go earthward again and it starts down and then the heat from the earth sends it back up and it's just like a little ball of ice but each time it goes up it collects more water and it gets bigger and bigger and it comes back down and there is going to be an enormous amount of heat on the earth generated during this time and these hailstones are going to be monsters created by this abnormal weather condition the likes of which we've never seen and just can't begin to imagine so we've got a few minutes questions or comments anybody

[56:13] I know this is a lot to absorb but it's really pretty hairy stuff yes the openings yeah well okay okay there's a door in heaven opened in 4-1 and in 6-1 through 8-1 the seals are opened in 9-2 the abyss is opened 11-19 the reference in question here the temple of god is opened in 15-5 the tabernacle of testimony is opened in 19-11 heaven is opened and in 20-12 the books of judgment are opened yes marvis the question about if this is opened and the demons come up

[57:19] Satan comes up and the demons come up and all that Satan is in the world today you know I guess I'm a little confused I haven't thought about this are there not any demons today I mean the angels that have gone against god and so if there are are those worse ones that are already locked up I've wondered about the same thing I just can't answer that I really don't know I get the impression and again this is just a Wiseman opinion I get the impression that probably the vast majority of demonic beings are incarcerated I don't know how I don't know how you incarcerate somebody that can't be held by iron bars or anything like that but that's that's God's problem he's able to do that when when

[58:22] Christ cast demons out they appealed to him that they that he not send them to the abyss and that obviously was a place they were aware of and I don't know what it is that goes on there but they are not happy campers and I get the impression that that is where the preponderance of demonic falling fallen spirits are but I don't know that I do not know that I have ever seen an actual case of demon possession myself but I know there are missionaries who have some real credibility and they have ministered in some of the far-flung reaches of the world where the gospel has made little or no penetration and I'm talking about places like Nepal and Tibet and some of the extremes of Africa and they were absolutely convinced beyond any doubt that there was actual demonic activity and just weird bizarre things unexplainable and people seemingly possessed by demons

[59:40] I suspect that there are people who are mentally ill who may be thought of as demon possessed and they probably really are not they are suffering from some kind of brain disease a physiological problem with the brain and I also suspect that there may be some people who are thought to be insane and they are demon possessed but I just cannot speak authoritatively to that I know we don't see it like it showed itself during the lifetime of Christ when he was here on earth and I suspect then that might have been an intensification of demonic activity simply because he was here and they were trying to confront him and thwart him in any way they could got a lot of questions about that theory on that back when Jesus was on earth there were demons

[60:40] I don't see what would have caused demons to cease and people that commit horrible murders today that say they heard voices and things I think there's demons today we just don't recognize it that's entirely possible and I I can't say that that is not true and there is there is a commonality there is a commonality among many people who do really really super evil things mass murderers and what not and there have been numerous cases where these people say they heard voices telling them to do certain things but that can also be a characteristic of schizophrenia and schizophrenia is a mental disease and we don't know what causes it but I could see it being mistaken for demon possession and

[61:42] I would be very reluctant to offer any kind of a diagnosis and take somebody who knows a lot more about it than I do any other thoughts or comments this is great stuff to eat a meal on it's really really really mind bending but this is what this old world has in store for it and this is what's coming and I'll tell you what it all boils down to that we tend to keep losing sight of what it all boils down to is a very vivid distinction between the sinfulness of man and the absolute holiness of a righteous God how far apart they are how accountable man is for the manifold grace of God that man has had dispensed toward him by this benevolent

[62:44]  God only to be rejected by an ungrateful humanity and this is the ultimate payday that is coming there will not be one shred of judgment delivered on mankind that is not fully and richly and justly deserved think of that this will not be overkill on the part of God this will be a rebellious planet receiving its just desserts that's sobering thank you all good Lord willing and the creek don't rise we'll be here for January and that'll be next year