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[0:00] Well, let's have a word of prayer. We're grateful, Father, for this new day that you've given us and for the opportunity to be together. And thank you for the facility that we've enjoyed here in the past.

[0:12] And thank you for the presence of each one here with a spiritual interest in what you've been pleased to reveal. We ask your blessing upon this time of investigation and study.

[0:22] We pray for lucidity of thought and mind as we engage the material. And give us an appreciation of what is to come upon the earth. We bless you for your revelation to us.

[0:33] We thank you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, we welcome you to the June session of our Revelation class. And today we intend to undertake chapters 15 and 16.

[0:48] And you'll see that chapter 15 is really introductory to chapter 16 and the content that is to come. And if I were doing this and making the chapter divisions, I probably wouldn't even make a division between 15 and 16 because there is obvious continuity between them.

[1:05] We have taken the position from the outset that the book of the Revelation is, for the most part, chronological. And that the events that are described herein are going to come in succession one to another.

[1:20] And you will recall that as we opened the book and as we got beyond the letters to the seven churches, we discovered that there are groups of sevens all the way through the book.

[1:35] And that, of course, is indicative of the fact that God is behind it and that seven is the number of completion. Seven seems to be the number specifically reserved for deity and completeness.

[1:47] So we open with the seven sealed scroll. And we noted after taking the information that was provided us for the opening of the first six seals, the seventh seal consisted of an introduction to the seven trumpets.

[2:10] And then after we engaged the content of six of the seven trumpets, we noted that the seventh trumpet introduces us to the seven vials or the seven bowls as they are referred to.

[2:28] And that brings us to chapter 15. So if you will take your notes, please, you will note at the bottom of page 1223. There are only a couple of verses included in this page until we have to get into material on the second side.

[2:44] And I'm I'm thinking that everybody has a set of the notes that they need. And maybe you've got multiple copies or you had some from last week. But I know some of you had them and some of you didn't have them.

[2:55] So if you've got double, it won't hurt anything. So let's begin, if we may, with chapter 15 and verse one. The entirety of the revelation, of course, is made up of successive visions.

[3:09] This all began when John exiled on the Isle of Patmos on what we believe to be the Lord's day. And that is the day of the Lord, not Sunday, but the day of the Lord, which is a time encompassing the judgment of God brought upon the earth.

[3:30] That is the great and terrible day of the Lord. And John is taken up into heaven and is given a panoramic view of what is going to transpire on the earth in the days to come.

[3:46] And then he is commanded to write what he has seen in this book. And what he has written is what we are studying.

[3:57] This is the apocalypse. It is the unveiling, the revealing, the disclosing of the plan and program of God for planet earth in the last days.

[4:08] And consequently, we have another sign or another vision with which chapter 15 opens. And we've got the same continuation here.

[4:21] We've got another set of sevens, if you will note. Reading from the bold print, which is the King James Version. John says, And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous.

[4:39] And by the way, he is going to use this term great, I believe, some 11 times throughout this chapter.

[4:50] It is the word in the Greek that is mega. It's going to be great this, great that, and great something else. And each one of these is indeed going to be great.

[5:01] It will be all surpassing. Another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. Seven angels having the seven last plagues.

[5:12] That's very significant. And what that indicates is, this is the end. There will not be any more judgment on earth once this is dispensed.

[5:27] This is the conclusion thereof. And it is indescribable beyond words. You will see what I mean.

[5:38] Seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them is filled up the wrath of God.

[5:56] That is a really sobering expression. One gets the impression that the wrath of God has been stored up, held back, kept in abeyance.

[6:18] Guess since when? Since the wrath of God was dispensed upon the antediluvians in the first destruction of the earth.

[6:38] That was the wrath of God that had accumulated to that point when God saw that the whole earth was given over to violence and wickedness.

[6:52] He selected Noah. He brought judgment upon all the rest of the earth, wiped it out through the great flood. Everything was devastated. And then, Noah, his wife, sons and wives, disembarked from the ark and began a new civilization of humanity all over again.

[7:19] And what we have today is the result of those eight couples. All the rest of humanity.

[7:30] And from the time of the disembarking from the ark and the heinous crime committed by one of Noah's grandsons, which appears to have been a sordid sexual act of perversion shortly after they came off the ark, that's when the wrath of God began anew to be accumulated.

[7:58] And with each succeeding generation of humanity and the contribution of their evil and their rebellion, the wrath of God begins building again.

[8:15] And it has been building for over 4,000 years. And this is going to be the end thereof.

[8:27] this will be a virtual demonstration of the wrath of God having come to fulfillment or fruition so that God is saying I'm not going to take it anymore.

[8:47] I've reached my limits of long suffering. That's what is beginning to transpire here in chapter 15. for in them in these last plagues is filled up the wrath of God.

[9:02] The authorized standard version says in them is finished the wrath of God. Another says the wrath of God is ended. Weymouth translates it in them the wrath of God has reached its climax.

[9:19] And Knox says by which the vengeance of God is finally achieved. And that's an interesting use of that word because as you go throughout scripture we are reminded that vengeance is mine saith the Lord I will repay.

[9:38] And this is why we are not to exact vengeance upon one another because our vengeance will never be really just. But God's vengeance is.

[9:50] And when God's vengeance is loosed it is that which corresponds to absolute perfect justice and righteousness so that what he meets out is completely totally deserved.

[10:08] There is no overpayment. There is no underpayment. That is what is in store for the world. And this wrath this wrath is so great because the sin and rebellion of humanity upon which it is visited is so great.

[10:33] It has been stored up and accumulated and one gets the impression that the generation of humanity that is going to occupy the earth when these things transpire is the lowest of the low.

[10:47] the vilest of the vile. The most corrupt of the corrupt. The absolute ultimate in evil and rebellion and God brings down the curtain.

[11:01] This is going to be humanity at its very worst and God's punishment is going to fit it completely.

[11:14] God's wrath is climaxed because evil is climaxed. Humanity's evil will have built up to a crescendo and finally God will say that's enough and what will happen is these seven angels having these seven last plagues will be called forth and as you look at the opposite side John says and I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire and we pointed out to you before that John so often uses terms like like and as it were and we indicated that means that it is not to be taken literally but it does mean that John is laboring to give an accurate description of what he is seeing but he has never seen anything like this before so he is as it were in his humanity at a loss for words trying to describe what he is seeing so the best he can do is say it looks like or it reminds me of or it has an appearance of but that doesn't mean that is exactly what it is and yet this is the way it looked to him as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire here are two extremes glass now he doesn't say it's glass he says it looks like a sea of glass and it is mingled with fire and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass now these are clearly

[13:16] I think tribulation saints these are people who have already been martyred for their faith during the earlier part of the great tribulation and this of course is what we are into right now probably in the latter part maybe even the last year or the last couple of years but these are those who overcame the enemy by the blood of the lamb and over his mark and over the number of his name these were people who refused the mark of the beast and they would not worship the beast and they paid for it with their life they were martyred and there's going to be a huge number of them they may very well number in the millions we are talking about an aggregate of people here the likes of which we can't even imagine when Billy Graham years ago was in

[14:18] Seoul South Korea and they held one of his worldwide famous crusades there they had for the first and only time in his ministry an estimated one million people in attendance and it was a staggering sight to see the picture of it was just overwhelming just this sea of humanity of a million people but that's nothing compared to what these numbers are going to be and John sometimes is at a loss for words and he says myriads myriads of people thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands of tens of thousands we don't know what that number is going to look like but it's going to be really significant and they have the harps or the lyres of God and they are singing they are singing a song of that they were allowed to achieve by the blood of the lamb and it is the song of

[15:24] Moses and I think the reason this is so significant is because God is here I think through John wanting to make a connection with history and God's miraculous deliverances and he goes all the way back to the exodus and the children of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt Pharaoh and his army in hot pursuit and they come to the crossing of the Red Sea and you are aware of the miracle that we won't take time to explore but the sea is parted and the children of Israel pass through on dry land and the army is in hot pursuit and then of course God lets loose with the walls of water the army is consumed Israel is safe on the other side and one of the first things they do is they offer their thanksgiving to God and they sing a song that's called the song of Moses and thanksgiving for deliverance from the sea great and marvelous are thy works

[16:27] Lord God almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints and I don't know if you've heard this or not but it is in modern music now and I have a group of messianic jews who sing the song of Moses set the music and it sends a tingle up my spine it is incredible they just take this song of Moses and set it to music and the accompaniment and the orchestration is just blissful I mean it just lifts you right up and it is just amazing and this is what they will be singing great and marvelous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints this phrase Lord God

[17:27] Almighty is used only in the book of Revelation the three terms together Lord God Almighty and it is used five times in Revelation but it isn't found any place else in scripture and one gets the impression that here at the culmination of all things God is as fully described as three words can fully describe him Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints and this by the way is the only time this expression is used where God is ever referred to as the king of saints and it is here in the revelation who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorify thy name these are all part of the lyrics for only thou art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest and this of course is what is going to transpire eventually prophet

[18:28] Isaiah talks about Gentiles throughout the world people will take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew and say we will go with thee for we have heard that God is with thee and they of course are going to the temple to worship and Gentiles are going to flock to the temple to worship and pay obeisance to God also and then it continues in verse 8 and after that I looked the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened now this is quite remarkable I don't know exactly what to make of this and I haven't found any satisfying answers from any of my commentator friends there are two possibilities here one of which is that this is the what we would call the original tabernacle in heaven because when God instructed

[19:29] Moses in the book of Exodus beginning I think with chapter I think chapter in the 20s anyway devoted about 15 chapters in Exodus 15 or 20 chapters to the construction and service of the tabernacle which was of course a temporary thing a temporary place where God was to meet with his people during this wilderness time and Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle after the pattern of the one in heaven so if that was the blueprint then that's probably this same original tabernacle some are of the opinion that this is the earthly tabernacle and that God removed it from earth and took it to heaven but I don't see the need for that if the original was in heaven and the one on earth was and I don't have anything to really back this up but

[20:30] I'll just give you a wise opinion this is nothing more than a gut feeling it's just speculation that's all but I think that the original tabernacle its parts the silver sockets the posts the items of furniture and all of those things are tucked away under the temple mount where they know they've used sounding devices and they know that there is a huge hollow under there they don't know what's in it and I suspect that in part it was the stone quarry from which these massive stones were taken limestone so it was a quarry but these items of the original tabernacle that were no longer in service once they built the temple may be stored there and one day they may be found wouldn't that be an archaeological discovery but that's just speculation we don't know that but at any rate this is an amazing thing because the seven angels came out of the temple having the seven plagues in pure and white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles and one of the four beasts now we have seen these surface before they are strategic players in these heavenly scenes we don't know much about them they are very mysterious

[22:03] I don't think it's at all a good translation to translate them beasts because when you use the word beast at least in my mind it construes something grotesque ugly undesirable whatever I much prefer the translation the four living creatures they may in fact be extraordinarily beautiful or attractive and I don't think it's a proper translation to render them as beasts I would call them four utterly unique living creatures specifically created by God to be what they are and it's hard for me to assign any kind of ugliness or grotesque appearance to them under those circumstances but these four beasts give to one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials probably better translated bowls b-o-w-l-s vials is not necessarily incorrect but when I think of a vial

[23:10] I think of an elongated test tube type thing but I think the impression that is created here is that these are shallow widened bowls with a large surface to them so that when they are dumped the content of the entire receptacle comes out almost all at once it isn't dribbled out it isn't poured out it's just overturned and dumped on the earth in one fell swoop so that all of the contents come raining down at the same time and as these seven angels are standing there one of the four beasts takes one of these bowls and one gets the impression that one of the seven angels passes by and he hands him a bowl and he walks on a second angel comes by he hands him a bowl and so on for seven angels and they all stand there each one with a bowl in their hands and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of

[24:28] God and from his power and no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled now I'm not real sure what the significance of that is but I'll just throw this out to you as a possibility I get the impression that until justice has been dispensed it is not possible to approach God the way is closed off it is obscured there is no entry that is granted the smoke that fills the area be clouds the presence of God no one can go in no one can enter no one can see everything is covered with this thick smoke and we see the same kind of event taking place on Mount Sinai when smoke enveloped the mountain in addition to the fire that came down and we see smoke filling the tabernacle and filling the temple when it was dedicated by Solomon and the

[25:45] Shekinah glory came down and there was thick smoke indicating of course the presence and the unapproachability of God because of that and no man was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled and we get the impression that once justice has been poured out then the way of access to God there is open now we see a counterpart in the death of Christ on the cross because there is a very real sense in which the justice of God was poured out on Christ and the veil in the temple was rent and that meant that because justice was exacted upon the Son of God and he paid the penalty God can be approached by man through

[26:46] Jesus Christ and the death of Christ opened the way of access to us and I think we might find a similar kind of application here so now all that we have given you in these eight verses of chapter 15 is merely introduction to what is going to come now the action begins and the pouring out of the bowls I don't know but that's a good question and that could very well be the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and that a new dispensation is now underway this is the dispensation of Israel returned because it has been held in abeyance during the time of the mystery which is the church now the church is gone and it could very well be that another whole cycle has begun because of the principles involved and because of the church having been removed excellent observation any other comment or question about that before we go on all right let's move on into chapter 16 and here we find the megas repeated again and this is the word in the Greek it is mega it's translated great here and I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth this great voice obviously the voice of deity is telling the angels each one of which now has a bowl and he is saying go ahead the time has come this is it and the first went and poured out his bowl or vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore or loathsome and painful sores amplified says foul and painful ulcers rhames douay roman catholic translation says a baneful and painful ulcer lamza renders it a severe and malignant sore whereupon loathsome and malignant ulcers attacked philip's translation upon the men and i think this means mankind it doesn't mean that women are exempted upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which worshipped his image this is a selective plague it seeks out only those who have the mark and who have worshipped the beast now once again curiosity overcomes us and we cannot help but wonder how are these singled out how does this plague distinguish between these people i submit because this is deity involved here that's no problem but there may be a very logical explanation we don't know exactly what this mark of the beast is like we know that it involves the numerical 666 we don't know how this is inscribed in the forehead or on the hand but consider if you will if it is some kind of a tattoo or a marking or some kind of

[30:46] irradiation that is impregnated into the skin in a radiated kind of way that could possibly even be invisible so you wouldn't be able to see the mark yet it could release something in the bloodstream that could be of a toxic substance that whatever this element is that is poured out of the bowl could interact with that and produce well we all know that there are medications that can cause severe side effects you know when you see these things this medication isn't for everyone if you have liver terrible or blah blah blah it could lead to suicide or your left arm could drop off or something like that you know well there are some pretty negative consequences that can happen when certain chemical compositions get in your body and people react in different ways and it could be the coalescing of some kind of a chemical property that would affect those who have this mark because they have this in their skin or in their blood stream and those who have not taken the mark would be immune from that now this is just speculation but it's going to come about some way and

[32:10] I don't know if what I've given you is accurate or even close but it is just one possibility and I'm sure that God is not stumped by this he'll work it out very well and we read that it was upon them which worshipped the image and the second angel now that's the first angel these are loathsome boils ulcers they are going to be painful they're going to be aggravating they're going to be 24 hours a put yourself where you can sleep without pain or aggravation it's indescribable and the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea and it became as he doesn't say it is but it became as the blood of a dead man or turned into a fluid like the blood of a corpse is the way Phillips renders it amplified says turned into blood like that of a corpse corrupt ill smelling and disgusting this is not going to be a good place to be it is no wonder that

[33:26] Christ describes this as a time such as the world has never seen before and will never see again and every living soul every living thing died in the sea we're talking about all fish all marine life all shrimp all lobster all whales all sharks all everything dies and this may also be in conjunction with meteorite activity that will have preceded this that could create an enormous pollution pollution of the oceans because some of these meteors can be as large as a continent and when one of these things lands in the Atlantic or Pacific ocean could just be absolutely incredible or it could be of human doing it could be nuclear activity and radio activity could pollute these oceans and make it impossible for any marine life to survive everything dies the odor the stench there is nothing on earth that smells so repulsively and so odorously as decaying flesh whether it is human or animal if you've ever had a mouse in your house crawl up some place and die well it's pretty bad isn't it well that's just a little mouse the kind that ladies jump up on the table and say eek from you know but this is going to be monumental this is going and do you realize do you realize that out of all of the animal life that exists in our world most of it is in the oceans not on land but in the oceans can you imagine oceans filled with surfacing bloated rotting corpses of all of this marine life you will not be able to escape the odor no matter where you go it will walk over the planet like the sun covers the earth it will be incredible the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became blood well it could be and this again is just speculation

[36:17] I don't know if this means red like blood or blood like red or if it actually means blood because there is possibility depending on what this marine life dies from the cause of death exactly these corpses could be I hate to be so graphic but bloated and exploding blowing up literally and scattering all of these remains everywhere and easily enough turn to blood red color and then there are such things such phenomena as red tide and we don't know exactly what the nature of all of that is but we know that red tide takes its toll on marine life and they die because of it and this could be much more severe on a much larger scale and

[37:21] I want you to note why the significance of this blood and verse five I heard the angel of the water say thou art righteous O Lord now it is as if the angel is confirming this judgment that God is pouring out on humanity and the angel is saying this is exactly as it should be the angel is not saying oh hold off Lord this is too much none of that but the angel is confirming the righteousness and the justice of God in light of what is being dispensed upon the earth this is an angelic way of saying amen to what is happening and we read that verse six the basis for this the reason the angel is saying this and by the way this is the angel of the waters and we get the impression that each of these angels are responsible for his jurisdiction is of the same certain area and this in verse five is the angel one of the seven angels of the waters and he says thou art righteous

[38:34] O Lord which art and was and shall be because thou hast judged thus and William says you are just in passing such a sentence for because the reason why you are pouring out this on them and turning all of this to blood the rationale for that is because they the recipients have shed the blood of saints and prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy it is what they deserve now here is what he is saying and this is really significant the angel is saying oh Lord you are pouring out this wrath resulting in all of this blood because these are a blood thirsty people that's been their modus operandi kill kill kill shed blood innocent blood the blood of martyrs perhaps by the millions they are a blood people and

[39:54] I don't know if this ties in or not if this is at all significant and I just want to give you a heads up that there may not be any validity here but one of the things that characterizes Islamic terrorism that they thrive on is blood shed blood shed and they have actually made the bold statement that you people you infidels you love life that's why we will defeat you because we love death and to them the greatest thing that any Muslim can do is die shed his blood in the cause of jihad in the cause of furthering Islam by taking the lives or attempting to take the lives of anyone who is not a

[41:04] Muslim who is therefore an infidel and those of you who were with us for the Wednesday evening studies will recall that passage in Ezekiel that we looked at Ezekiel 35 and God is talking to Edom and Mount Seir these are the descendants of Esau they are Arab they are partakers of the the eternal hatred against God's covenant people and God says to them to the Edomites and these by the way are present day Jordanian people they are Jordan in the north the mid and the bottom where it is Edom it's present day Jordan and Ezekiel 35 6 says therefore he's addressing Edom and he says as I live saith the

[42:04] Lord God I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee because thou hast not hated blood even blood shall pursue thee and what God is saying to Edom here and the enemies of Israel is this because you have not hated blood and that means you have not hated blood shed but you have been eager and willing to shed blood I'm going to give you blood but it's going to be yours you want to traffic in blood you want to traffic in death you're going to be up to your eyeballs in it and I'm going to bring it your way you love death you're going to get a lot of it to love that's exactly what I'm going to give you and I don't know if these are going to be these particular people or if they will be part of it it may very well be humanity because in the tribulation period mankind is going to revert violence corruption bloodshed and death that was prevalent when

[43:19] God brought the first judgment in the flood only this time it's going to be even on a larger scale because humanity is going to be so much greater it is going to be even more intense so that is why they are going to be the recipients of this and I heard the angel of the waters in verse 5 I heard the I heard another out of the altar say even so Lord God almighty true and righteous are thy judgments and the fourth angel poured out his bowl or vile upon the sun now this is an angel who's in charge of the sun I can't imagine that but the sun is a very manageable thing if you happen to be an angel who's managing it otherwise we can't do anything about it but this angel can and

[44:34] I get the impression that from what the angel pours out upon the sun it is going to be if I may use the analogy like pouring gasoline on the fire it may cause the sun to erupt in enormous solar flares where the irradiation of heat and light from the sun will become very very intense and as a result men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God and what that means is they know the source from which this is coming now they've got this intense heat to contend with in addition to a body that is covered with loathsome putrid boils and ulcers and yet they repented not to give him glory and you know that is really difficult for me to understand how could they possibly be subjected to this kind of punishment and not cry out for release not utter oh

[46:04] God I'm sorry I repent I acknowledge you there won't be any of that and you stop and think about it if a human heart is unwilling to respond to the grace and love and mercy of God don't want it won't have it he's not going to respond to the wrath of God he's not going to respond to the justice and the anger of God this is a heart that is locked in to disobedience and rebellion against the maker Marietta we do see some of that intense hatred of God today people who have suffered they are not sorrowful they are angry oh yeah oh yeah absolutely well there's always been that element

[47:17] I mean there has always been that element and it is intensifying now but the point here is this is going to be standard operating procedure this is going to be virtually the corporate view of humanity with the exception of those who are still alive who have not received the mark of the beast nor worship the beast they will be the only ones since they can't control God what oh yeah they'll hate him even more and guess who they are going to vent their hatred on because they can't get a God but they can get at anybody who doesn't have the mark because they're one of the enemies and it's going to be open season on anybody without that mark you won't be able to buy you won't be able to sell you won't be able to trade and many will not be able to survive period their lives will be taken from them and they will be those who are in the sea of glass in chapter 15 they repented not to give him glory and the fifth angel sounded

[48:31] I got to hurry along here and his bowl was upon the throne of the beast this is the beast that is the antichrist and his kingdom was full of darkness his kingdom was darkened plunged into darkness now we don't know whether this is really localized and whether it is just there in his immediate realm or temple complex or whatever or whether it is worldwide I cannot tell but it is entirely possible that there will be extreme heat from the sun so that men will be scorched and burned by it but there may not be the light from the sun because the atmosphere is going to be inundated with contaminants possibly fallout from volcanic action and ash we know what all that can create folks this with each angelic dumping of this bowl it just gets worse and worse this is as bad as things can be because it is as bad as

[49:56] God can make it and yet it is utterly completely just and deserved and they gnawed their tongues for pain or in agony and blasphemed the God of heaven I tell you this is rebellion locked in cursing God blaspheming the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds and the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river euphrates I don't know how far apart these are going to be I get the impression that they are in rather rapid succession I don't think there's going to be six months of time lapsed in between it seems to be bang bang bang bang and each one is a new complication and a new judgment I cannot be dogmatic about that of course because we are not given any kind of a timetable we're just given the order in which it happens but my suspicion is that each extraordinary and difficult circumstance is merely compounded by the next one and there is a build up of judgment a build up of the wrath of

[51:19] God and the pouring out and the consequence and the suffering is just indescribable the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river euphrates and the water thereof was dried up now this is a very principal waterway in fact it is the principal geographical barrier that divides the east from the west the euphrates river is a natural kind of borderline and in the original granting of land to the children of Abraham and his seed God said I'm going to give you land from the river of Egypt all the way to the great river the river euphrates and that encompasses much of what we know as the mid east to this day and they are going to occupy that and that by the way when this time comes to pass everything west of the euphrates will be part of the land of

[52:20] Israel and all of those east of the euphrates once they cross the euphrates river they will be in Israel this river is going to be dried up there are places where this river is miles wide it's a big river and it's going to be dried up which will eliminate the major obstacle for 200 million man army marching from the east these are the kings of the east and we can conclude nothing other than that it is Russia and China and Japan and they are moving into Israel and God said I am going to gather all nations together to battle they'll all be moving across the river coming into Israel and they will collect they will organize themselves on the plain of

[53:23] Ezdraelin referred to as Megiddo or Armageddon this is in northern Israel not far from the Mediterranean coast that's where the armies will amass and they are intent on eliminating the nation of Israel that will be their game plan and I do not understand the significance of this other than the fact that there is just massive deception and John says and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs he doesn't say they are frogs but he says they're ugly I've never seen a pretty frog yet you know that I guess that's why a girl has to kiss a frog to find her prince because there's quite a contrast between an ugly wart filled frog and a prince but these are ugly things and you know everything having to do with Satan is ultimately ugly even though it may have an appearance of beauty and be deceptive and even though he can appear as an angel of light underneath he's as ugly as sin itself because that's what he is and these unclean spirits that will come out of the mouth of the dragon the dragon here is not to be confused with the with the beast of verse 10 the beast in verse 10 is as he was earlier this is the antichrist but the dragon is none other than satan himself one of the unholy triad like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet here all three of these of the unholy trinity are involved and that means that each of them each of them is going to be spewing lies and falsehood and who are they going to deceive all the rest of the world that's why they are coming and massing there in

[55:35] Armageddon because of the lies of these three they are going to believe the lies and it of course has to do with the elimination of Israel and that is what the lie is going to be about and they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world these are the movers and shakers these are presidents vice presidents these are prime ministers these are kings these are heads of state all over the world and these three evil individuals Satan the false prophet and the beast the antichrist are all going to have a bill of goods that the rest of the world is going to buy and they are all going to convene upon their suggestions and their solutions to meet there where they are and we are told that they are the spirits of devils or demons working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather of that great day of

[56:48] God almighty behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watches and keep his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame and go if you will to your next sheet and we must hasten along our time is just about gone and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon and the seventh angel this is the last one poured out his bowl into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done this is it it is over it is finished and there were voices and thunders and lightnings there was a great earthquake here's another mega great earthquake such as was not since were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great you say how great was it this earthquake is going to be so great the whole globe is going to convulse mountains will tumble valleys will be exalted enormous enormous fissures in the earth are going to open tectonic plates all over the globe are going to be shaken and rattling and moving together mount everest will be no more mount mckinley will be no more mount rainier will be no more they are all going to be lowered and flattened the valleys are going to be elevated we are told in isaiah 40 prepare ye prepare ye the way of the lord make straight in the desert a highway for our god every valley shall be exalted every mountain will be made low that's what's going to happen it is going to be cataclysmic the earthquake is literally going to shake rattle and roll this earth it is going to be flattened it is going to be returned to the topography before the flood

[59:15] I am of the opinion that the mountains that exist today whether they're the Rockies or the Himalayas were all caused by the flood they were not originally created by god they were caused by violent volcanic action hydraulic power in motion so that when the flood was finished the water was so high and so deep that it did cover the mountains that existed then and they are going to be reduced and the earth is once again going to be as level as it was before the original flood and the great city was divided into three parts this of course is Jerusalem and the cities of the nations fell hey New York it's gone it's gone flattened there will not be a skyscraper standing anywhere

[60:15] Paris the Eiffel Tower down China Beijing gone flattened leveled everywhere all over the earth this is as worldwide as it can be there is no place no corner of the earth is going to be exempt do you realize that there are mountains in the ocean that are higher than the mountains that are on the surface there are mountains in the ocean do you realize that an island is nothing but a mountain with most of it underwater that's what an island is it's just the top of it sticking up out of the water the rest of the mountain is down below that's all going to be changed all of this is the seismology is going to be utterly incredible and the great Babylon came to remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath and

[61:22] Babylon stands for everything that opposes God whether it's commercial Babylon that we'll see in our next study or political Babylon both of which will be decimated in preparation for the coming of the king in revelation 19 and when verse 20 says every island fled away and the mountains were not found that is exactly what it means this is not poetic language this is literal the islands will flee away where are they going to go they'll sink they'll be gone that which is low will be elevated that which is high will be brought down the mountains were not found and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a talent and we just cannot imagine this and men blasphemed

[62:25] God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great and you know what man's comeback is going to be it's the same as it is today nothing has changed man is going to be thinking and saying we don't deserve this we don't deserve this but he does and you know whenever you have an opportunity to share the gospel with somebody today and you explain to them how that through the mercy and grace of God and the death of Christ they can be saved and they think what do I need to be saved from I don't have to worry about hell because I'm better than that I don't deserve that and we all have this over inflated view of ourselves and it's the thing that causes us many times to reject the grace and mercy of God because I'm not that bad I don't need that you know now there may be people who do but I'm not one of them and we just do not this this has been one of the great maybe maybe folks let me close with this thought this may well be the greatest single difficulty that humanity faces and it is that of spiritual blindness 2nd

[63:50] Corinthians 4 if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost whose minds the God of this age has blinded lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ which is the image of God should shine unto them he is about the business of blinding the minds thinking process the reasoning powers of humanity he blinds that and it keeps man from seeing how sinful he is and how holy God is and if you ever get a good glimpse of either one of those the other tends to come in line and if you ever really get a picture of how corrupt we are in our Adamic nature it will cause you to say oh woe is me where is there help for me and that sets you up for the gospel or if you ever get a real good glimpse of the holiness of

[64:51] God you see the contrast between God's holiness and man's sin is just infinite but God bridged that God made mercy and peace and justice kiss each other in the death of Christ so that we have access to his grace and his mercy but we won't want it unless we see the sinfulness of our own condition because we think we don't need it that's the spiritual blindness questions or comments that you may have anybody we've covered a lot of material and I know there's a lot of unsaid too yes Carol good how are these people who are going to come into this battle of Armageddon going to be in any kind of physical shape to do that after they have experienced all these boils and all of this good question good question how are all of these people who are going to be involved in this conflict these 200 million plus others who are going to be there how are they going to function how are they going to move how are they going to bivouac how are they going to do anything

[66:11] I haven't any idea I guess they're going to do it very carefully very carefully and under great duress and they are going to be motivated by abject anger and hatred and determination and I suspect I don't know this for sure but I suspect that their thinking may well be we are gathering ourselves together to address that which is the root cause of all our problems and you know what it is Israel we eliminate them and we're going to solve our world problems we get them out of the way they are the problem and Israel has always been an international scapegoat and we are told by the prophet Jeremiah in the last days that Jerusalem will become a burdensome stone to the whole world and it is even right now nobody knows what to do about this place and the

[67:19] UN is you know what a mess what a mess John yeah oh yeah yeah yeah you're right yeah yeah isn't that something yeah yeah yeah I believe you're right I believe you're right and and and Job was probably as miserable as a human being could be you know and he took these broken pieces of pottery pottery that had been broken and took the pieces of it and scraped scraped his skin it was so itching and so painful with all of those boils it was just we just cannot imagine but I want you

[68:22] I want you to keep in mind and I realize this I realize this might not sound very clerical and it might not sound very nice but don't feel sorry for these people don't feel sorry for them they do not deserve your sympathy if they deserved your sympathy they most assuredly would deserve God's sympathy and they're not going to get it incredible isn't it well thank you all for being here go in peace the Lord bless thee what a session huh good night well I I feel somewhat apologetic for dumping this on you but at the same time you know full well that we cannot apologize for the word of God and I don't do that so anyway thank you all for being here today and and

[69:26] I don't know where we'll be next time but we'll try to get the word out and let you know where we're going to meet what we're going to do we could always meet at the church if we have to but that would be a last resort and yet maybe who knows maybe that's what we ought to do so we'll keep you advised let me put it this way no that's okay we ought to be able to get word to everybody we ought to be able to do that we know enough about who's here so we can do that all right I was going to give you a tentative thing but that might not work out so I don't want to do that so okay well let's pray father we are so grateful for the revelation you've given us and we recognize that in our humanity and in our fallenness we too are just as deserving as these people and what they are going to receive but you have not appointed us to wrath you have appointed us to salvation because our confidence and our trust is in the only one who can deliver even that of our

[70:34]  Lord Jesus and we are so grateful for him thank you again for providing this incredible savior in whom we can put our trust in his name we pray amen