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[0:00] I want to thank you all for being here this morning. It's a beautiful day and you could be out tinkering in the flower bed or something like that this morning, but you're here instead and we're glad that you are. So feel free to move your chair or move around however you need to in order to be comfortable.

[0:14] We will be considering Revelation chapter six and you've got your notes before you want to remind you once again that this is taken from the 26th translation New Testament and it provides us with a lot of alternative readings so that if one of them does not connect, there is always a possibility that another will.

[0:37] So I really appreciate this and we use it for the men's class as well, this particular translation and seems to work very well. So let's have a word of prayer.

[0:50] Father, we are grateful for the day that you've made. We want to give it back to you now with Thanksgiving and ask you to take it and use it in our lives however you see fit. We know that whatever your plan is for our lives, it cannot be improved upon and we take great comfort in that.

[1:06] Thank you for the meal we've enjoyed. Thank you for the spiritual meal that lies ahead. Thank you for the spiritual interest manifested by those here simply by their presence.

[1:17] We commit our time to you with Thanksgiving in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, in opening Revelation chapter six, the first thing I would like you to do is turn, if you will, please, to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61.

[1:38] Isaiah chapter 61. Because this is really background to where we're going in Revelation 6.

[1:52] And I think it is safe to say that of all of the prophets in the Old Testament, Isaiah, which is not the longest book of the prophets, although it has a greater number of chapters.

[2:05] Isaiah has 66 chapters and Jeremiah, I think, only has 52. So we tend to think that Isaiah is longer than Jeremiah, but it isn't. Jeremiah is longer than Isaiah.

[2:18] And yet they are both very lengthy and Isaiah contains more prophetic instruction, particularly along the Messianic line than all of the other prophets.

[2:32] It is just saturated with Messianic truth. And the first one that we want to look at is in the first few verses of Isaiah 61.

[2:44] The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.

[3:14] I want you to note that phrase in particular. The acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.

[3:26] Now vengeance if it means anything it means retribution retaliation payment that is due justice all of these things are incorporated in that word vengeance and you will recall that verse in Romans 14 where we are to repay evil with kindness because vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord that's partly what we're going to be talking about today because with the opening of the seals in Revelation chapter 6 the day of grace is gone.

[4:15] now it is a time of vengeance there is no more return good for evil now it is return in kind because the opening of these seals has to do with the day of grace having already concluded and it is a time of judgment so I want you to note the contrast here in verse 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn now be reminded also that this that Isaiah wrote is approximately 700 years before Christ was born in Bethlehem and now in fulfillment or at least partial fulfillment of this we need to come back to Luke's gospel chapter 4 before we go to the revelation Luke's gospel chapter 4 to me this is one of the most electrifying events that ever transpired in the earthly life of our

[5:27] Lord Jesus it is just remarkable chronologically Christ has been introduced to Israel officially by John the baptizer he has already been to the wilderness and has endured the temptation 40 days and 40 nights at the hands of Satan and now we read in Luke chapter 4 as he begins his earthly ministry this is right at the very beginning it is interesting to note that here in Luke 4 and wait a minute beginning with well we can't we can't read all of it so let's just jump in if we may with verse 14 of 4 414 Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about and he taught in their synagogue being glorified of all and he came to Nazareth where he was well known where he grew up everybody was familiar with him where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue and there would have only been one synagogue in town in order to establish a

[7:00] Jewish synagogue all that is required is a minyan and the Hebrews call it a minyan is M-I-N-Y-A-N a minyan consists of 10 adult Jew males and if you have 10 adult Jewish males you have enough to start a synagogue well they probably had a whole lot more than that but there was likely no need for more than one synagogue and you've got to understand that in the Jewish economy especially during the time of our Lord the synagogue was not only the place of spiritual instruction and teaching from the Torah but it was also a place of social concourse it was a place where business deals were struck it was a place where children were educated it was a place where families met and all kinds of social interactions so that if you as a Jew did not have access to involvement in the synagogue you were isolated you were cut off and you remember in John 9 the man born blind said that the scribes and

[8:05] Pharisees had already decreed that if anyone if anyone believed that Jesus was the Messiah or embraced that concept they should be put out of the synagogue that meant that socially you were dead I mean you were just completely cut off so keep in mind that virtually every Jew who was serious about his faith which was the vast majority of them would all congregate in the synagogue on the Sabbath day and one of the common things that always took place was they would stand for the reading of the scriptures everybody would stand and then after the scriptures were read they would sit down and very often if there happened to be an out of towner a guest in town who of course also would be Jewish it was considered very normal and appropriate to invite the guest to say a few words or to elaborate upon the scripture that was read well this day we've got a situation where local boy makes good

[9:14] Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Mary is in town and he has already established quite a following his name is being bandied about in several places and we read that in verse 16 he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah now this is just a little different spelling spelled here with an E but it's still talking about the prophet Isaiah with a different spelling and when he had opened the book and this by the way was a scroll we'll be talking about the scroll back in Revelation it wasn't a book bound like yours and mine with the pages and the binding and all the rest it was a scroll it was a lengthy sheet that was all rolled up about 16 or 18 inches wide and all rolled up so you would unroll part of it and read and as you continued reading you would unroll a little more and read a little more and unroll a little more and so on this is the book of Isaiah and he stood up to read and he found the place where it was written and here's what he read the spirit of the

[10:40] Lord is upon me because he has appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and he stopped there almost mid sentence to what Isaiah had said because Isaiah added and the day of vengeance of our God Christ didn't say anything about that to preach the acceptable year of the Lord he abruptly stopped there without finishing it and the reason he did

[11:41] I am convinced is because during his earthly ministry this was all he was going to preach was the acceptable year of the Lord what was the acceptable year of the Lord it was the time of the Messiah being on site and later in this same gospel when Jesus comes to Jerusalem he is going to weep over it and he's going to say Jerusalem if only you had known the things that belong to your peace but now they are hidden from your eyes because you knew not the day of your visitation and what was the day of their visitation then that was it Christ on sight on the scene and he is about to ride into Jerusalem and there he is going to be received but only by a minority of the people officially he is still in a posture of being rejected by the elite and by the shakers and movers of

[12:46] Israel he's going to be rejected and we know he's going to end up crucified and what happens then of course after his crucifixion after his ascension Israel as a nation is consigned to God with judicial blindness blindness in part is happened to Israel until the time of the Gentiles become in we're told in Romans 9 10 and 11 and a whole new age has been ushered in and what this age is is the age of grace it is also called the times of the Gentiles it is not a day of vengeance of our God it is a day of grace visitation where the gospel goes forth and Jew and Gentile alike are free to embrace Jesus Christ as their personal savior and when they do they are added to the body of

[13:49] Christ then when the grace age concludes the body of Christ is going to be removed and the day of vengeance of our God that Christ purposely omitted is going to begin that's where we are in revelation 6 so if you will note that please that is precisely what is taking place now you will recall we've already looked at chapter five in fact we spent more time on it I think we had a couple of sessions on it because one of them I know was not recorded and we discovered that Jesus Christ as the Lion of Judah as the Lamb was the one who the only one who was able to open the scroll to break the seals of the scroll remember John wept and we described this this scroll as being the title deed of the earth that's what chapter five is all about and

[14:51] Jesus Christ was the only one eligible to open the scroll because he was the creator of the earth and he was the redeemer of the earth he is entitled to the deed of planet earth if you will and what is transpiring here in the book of revelation has to do with the age of grace coming to a conclusion and the day of vengeance of our God is going to start in revelation chapter six it is going to continue all through the book until you get the chapter 19 of revelation so this incident that is taking place here is really really tremendous remember this this is a seven sealed scroll each of these seals here the scroll is like this much larger of course it's rolled up like so and then there is a seal put here on the edge and then it is rolled up some more with more content and the seal put on that edge and then it is rolled up more and then sealed again so each time you break the seal you expose more of the writing there are going to be seven seals in this scroll he opens the first reads that then opens the second unfolds a little more and it goes all the way through seven seals these seven seals and their implications are going to provide the content of almost all of the book of revelation that is going to follow and in addition when the seventh seal is opened it will reveal seven trumpets and then there are seven trumpet judgments after six trumpet judgments the seventh trumpet judgment is open and then there are seven vials or seven bowls as some translations render it but the seven seals encompass all of the judgment and what we're talking about now is the 70th week of

[17:08] Daniel getting underway that is what is transpiring on the earth and at the very outset it does not seem to be all that bad because things are going to be relatively peaceful I take it that the pact has been signed by the antichrist and by the representatives of Israel this is the pact that is mentioned in Daniel chapter 9 that begins the 70th week and 69 weeks are already past and I would like now for you to turn to the notes that you have with chapter 6 on it from the 26 translation and we'll see what John says and I saw when the lamb this of course is Christ opened one of the seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder now he doesn't say it was thunder but he said that's the closest thing that

[18:09] I can relate it to it was a very loud voice and when the expression is used as it were it means that's not what it was but that's what it seemed like in fact my guess is that he is at a loss to describe exactly what it was because he could not identify it it was something he never experienced before but the closest thing he has experienced to it is thunder and that's what he uses one of the four beasts saying come and see now you'll see the American Standard Version says one of the four living creatures and I would prefer that it be translated that way because when you what do you think of when you hear the word beast you think of some ugly monstrosity some ogre some terrible looking fearsome looking individual or thing or something indescribable beast is not a good rendering here it ought to be rendered a living creature probably a creature unlike any creature that anybody has ever seen but it doesn't mean that it's grotesque or ugly or fearsome looking or anything like that it just means that it is a created being of a different order of anything that I've ever seen and I can't really identify it with anything and we'll just settle for calling it a living creature and I saw verse 2 well I'm sorry

[19:47] I left off the end of verse 1 and that's important one of the four living creatures say come and see now this is a minor point but it is important this living creature is not talking to John who is writing this the living creature is talking to a horseman that is on this white horse and he is beckoning this horseman come and there is no and see and if you'll note some of the other translations the and see is left off one of the reasons I think it got put in there is because that is an expression that was used more than once for John he was told come and see and come and see and write but in this case John is not the one being addressed John is just a witness of what has taken place it is this living creature that is beckoning the rider on the white horse as if to say now come it is time he is saying come and go come and ride or come and do your thing that you are appointed to do and I saw and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer now it is probably the common point of view that this is Christ and the white horse is a giveaway we all know that good guys ride on white horses right except if they are bad guys trying to pass themselves off as good guys they can ride on white horses

[21:46] Christ is going to appear on a white horse in Revelation 19 and I think because of that many jump to the conclusion that the rider on the white horse is automatically identified as Christ but he is not this is the antichrist this is a false Christ this is not the real Christ this is a counterfeit and he has a bow in his hand but no arrows just a bow and that speaks of potential for war but he's not armed he's not ready to fire arrows or shoot arrows he just has a bow so there is a semblance of peace involved here or at least we would say a cessation of hostility one gets the impression maybe that he is semi prepared for war was just a bow and all he needs of course is something to put in that bow and we are told that a crown was given unto him and that indicates that he did not win this in some kind of contest or battle it was given to him and it's very significant because later in the revelation we are going to see how that power is given to the beast the antichrist nations of the earth are going to voluntarily subjugate themselves to this one's authority and they are going to grant him give him powers relinquish powers glad to do so because of the crisis they are in and the promise that this one holds for smoothing things out they are going to surrender autonomy voluntarily and give it to him and we are told that he is wearing a crown and the Greek word here is Stephanos from which we get the male name

[23:52] Stephen and that means it is a crown that is not the same as the crown that is spoken of that Christ will be wearing in Revelation 19 and both words in the English are translated crown but this is the word Stephanos in the Greek and the crown that Christ will be wearing is diadema from which we get the word diadem and Christ will be wearing a different kind of crown so he is not to be confused with this he went forth conquering and to conquer and Norley's translation says he set forth as a conqueror to win victories and when he had opened the second seal I heard the second in my estimation the living creature say come in other words these riders on these four horses are all standing there at the ready prepared to do their thing and by the way these are all symbols these are all symbols there need not be and there will not be a white horse like this the symbol it's kind of difficult to explain

[25:12] I'll do the best I can with it some people are of the opinion that everything in the book of revelation is to be taken figuratively that none of it is literal the position that we have taken from the outset when we defined the principles of interpretation and why we arrive at the literal recognizes that there is a lot of symbolic language and figures in the revelation that is obvious but here is the point the symbols all speak of a literal reality we are not talking about the necessity for a literal white horse with a literal rider like this but this is what it's pointing to this is what it refers to and John is being given this picture by way of symbol each of these is going to represent something different this one is going to represent peace but it will be a false peace now I want you to look at verse 4 and there went out another horse this is the second in other words now he is saying he said to the first rider come and he came and

[26:40] John saw the significance of it recorded the significance of it and then the second beast is saying alright now it is time for rider number two come and he comes and now rider number three and each one has a mission to accomplish each one of these means something different but the point is each one means something they don't mean nothing they are not just fluff they are not just to add intrigue to the story each of these has a very vivid reality behind it and it is just symbolized in what he is seeing here and the reality that this one has look at verse 4 another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth now he cannot take peace from the earth if there isn't any peace there to take but there will be where did the peace come from the rider on the white horse he brought the peace he brought a time of relative calm and peace and tranquility and prosperity and everybody is saying hey you know what this guy is the best thing that has ever happened to us he's got all the answers every program he puts into place works it clicks things have never been so good it is just great and nobody is at war nobody is dying on anything it's really looking good and it is all the false peace it is all an orchestrated tranquility because the rider on the red horse has power given to him sat there on to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword we know that in the middle of the tribulation period 42 months into it three and a half years the pact that the antichrist and israel signs is going to be violated in the 70th week of daniel this is spelled out in chapter 9 of daniel and we spent quite a bit of time there some time ago and halfway through the seven year period the antichrist is revealed for who he is this will be the abomination the desolates stand in the holy place and when you see that happen all hell is about to break loose then run for your life head for the hills because then this time will really heat up this is the beginning of the rider on the red horse given to him a great sword and when he opened the third seal

[29:42] I heard the third beast say come and behold a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand you see a pair of balances scale with a thing here and a thing here and one holds it and whichever way the weight is that's the way the scale is ticked well this rider has a pair of balances now it doesn't mean that he has to have a pair of real balances but the balances are what they are symbolic symbolic just like the horses and the scales are going to be symbolic of the scarcity of supplies of food etc there is going to be a tremendous upheaval in the world's value system everything is going to be turned topsy turvy and that is described as he goes on

[30:45] I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny what does that all mean look at some of the other translations way but says a whole day's wage for a loaf of bread a whole day's wage for three barley cakes we are talking about inflation that is super inflation where a man is going to have to expend labor for a whole day to earn enough money for one day's supply of food for one person and if he has a family what happens scarcity famine deprivation desperation what's happening it's a natural progression look we start with peace everything is okay the red horse comes in and power is given to take peace from the earth and what does that mean war conflict international and what happens then same thing that always happens where there's a war there are always shortages some of you remember the shortages of world war ii we didn't have many shortages in korea or vietnam they were different kinds of conflict but i can remember where you had to have ration stamps issued by the government for five pounds of sugar or for red meat or for gasoline the only ones who got enough gasoline during the war were farmers and they got a special seal because they had to run their tractors and equipment and produce the food stuff etc these are natural consequences of war there is always a scarcity of war remember when when american gi's were in europe after the invasion and they went into france into normandy and began scattering and and taking up conflict with the with the german army in the battle of the bulge and all of that there's one thing that all of the civilians had in common they were all hungry everybody was doing without food a couple of potatoes brought a premium price women sold their bodies to gi's for a can of k rations or c rations or a hershey's chocolate bar because food was that hard to come by and there are all kinds of horror stories that gi's brought back about the deprivation and what was going on that's the natural consequence of food wherever you have war and conflict that's always one of the first things that becomes scarce and what's the natural progression after that see thou not hurt the oil and the wine and what does that say what are the food stuff that are mentioned here in the in the measure of wheat for a penny and the measures of barley for a penny do you know anything about those particular items those grains these are food items of the average of the ordinary person of the poor and of what we call maybe middle class eat the barley eat the grain eat the wheat but who eats and drinks the oil and the wine the wealthier people those who have the wherewithal to afford it and in the midst of all of this deprivation there's still going to be the

[34:45] high priced commodities available for those who are able to afford them and that too has always been true and it will be true here hurt not the oil or the wine in other words they are not damaged they are not changed and Philip surrenders it but no tampering with and verse 7 when he opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say come and you can forget the come and see that isn't there it's just come each one of these he's summoning forth okay now you now you now you now you and now it's time for the fourth one and it is a pale horse and guess what he does he brings death can you not see that this is nothing really new this is just a logical progression of what is always the case when you have conflicts except this time it's on a universal scale this time it isn't in one country this time it's all over the globe it's the whole planet is going to be inundated in this folks we are talking about a time that will have been exceeded only by one other event when you are talking about the destruction of human life and property it's only one other time in all of human history that ever approached anything of this magnitude and believe it or not it was even greater and that was the

[36:20] Noahic flood when there were eight survivors on the whole planet how many there were whose lives were taken in the great flood we do not know because we don't know what the population of the world was then but we know there were eight survivors and from the standpoint of ratio there were more killed then than what will be killed now and this will be this will be absolutely horrendous and the reason that this is of such incredible magnitude the reason that this is so hard for you and me to accommodate mentally to get our brains around this because we just cannot fathom these kind of numbers and the tendency is to dismiss it oh come on that's an exaggeration it's going to be that bad it's going to be that bad I mean maybe a few thousand people okay maybe a few hundred thousand people we've got we can see a hundred thousand corpses from a tsunami but that's different yeah that's different but a tsunami is what we would call an act of nature this is different this is intentional this is deliberate this is going to wipe out a huge percentage of the world's population and we just cannot imagine it we just cannot imagine it like I say there is a tendency to want to dismiss it and say well it's just it's it's it's just an intended hyperbole exaggeration

[38:11] I think not I think it's going to be quite literal that's the pale horse so we've got a progression we've got peace war famine death nothing new about that that's the way it's always been you know that's the way it was in the south when the north invaded the south and grants and Germans marched to the sea that's exactly what happened in the south you probably saw the movie or read the book gone with the wind and Scarlett O'Hare what did she say when she closed I'll never never be hungry again remember because they were starving during this time and it was a time of war when all ability for the enemy to make war has to be taken from him and that's exactly why they went in and burned the fields and destroyed the crops and they earned the bitterness of the south ever since but they knew that if they didn't take from the enemy the ability to make war he would continue to make war so that's the nasty business of warfare and death of course is that which follows and Hades followed the grave followed the lord of the place of death rode behind him power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beast or the wild beast of the earth not to be confused with the four living creatures that we've seen earlier these are animals on the earth and when he had opened the fifth seal

[40:01] I saw under the altar now this is really different because now we are back in heaven he has given all of these vivid pictures of these riders on these four different horses as events that are going to transpire on earth but the symbols and the scenes that he is seeing are in heaven and now something different the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying how long oh Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth now do you see what these are crying out for justice judgment retribution where is the grace in this there isn't any it's devoid of grace they are asking for judgment never mind grace and we might think that's a little difficult because aren't we supposed to turn the other cheek aren't we supposed to return do you know what this is reminiscent of this is reminiscent of the imprecatory psalms

[41:35] David the psalmist uttered a number of these where he asked God curse my enemies break their teeth which would just be a pretty painful thing wouldn't it and so many psalms and I could just enumerate just a couple of them we won't have time to look at them but if you're taking notes you might want to consider psalm 74 verses 9 and 10 psalm 79 verse 5 psalm 89 verse 46 psalm 94 verses 3 and 4 and there are others as well but these are called imprecatory psalms they deliver an imprecation or a request for the cursing of one's enemies it is completely contrary to a grace based message but it is fitting with the time is taking place because the day of grace is past there is only going to be judgment man had opportunity for God's grace for centuries and for the most part spurned it now it is payday and even with this time of judgment there are going to be periodic times of mercy extended between some of these judgments and it will become clear as we move on through revelation why these periods of mercy are extended and it is nothing more than the sheer mercy of

[43:16] God providing mankind with one more opportunity and you know what the results will be the same as they've always been some will take it most will not and we will see the phrase used over and again where it says that men refuse to repent of their evil deeds and it is as if God is saying okay I've given you a little more time now we're getting on with the program you've had your opportunity and that's going to happen two or three times between these judgments and they are going to be referred to as them that dwell upon the earth and that's a curious expression but I want to set the stage for it because it will be recurring where earth's inhabitants are referred to as them that dwell upon the earth well what does that mean it means in the context and in keeping with the expression it means those who view earth as their only home or interest or place of habitation these are people with no aspirations regarding eternal things or heaven earth is everything to them they are earth bound everything they want everything they desire is on the earth these are crass materialists and all they think about and all they care about is the earth the present the now no thought of the future no thought of heaven no thought of eternity it is everything they put all their eggs in this basket on earth and they are referred to as those who dwell upon the earth and in the midst of that there of course will be some who are believers so let's hasten on

[45:05] I'd like to really get through this chapter if we can so they cried with a loud voice how long before you will avenge those on them that there's that phrase again on them that dwell on the earth and white robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be killed as they were should be fulfilled in other words your ranks are filling up relax just wait patiently more are going to be added to your number who will have died the same way you died and we are simply waiting for that to transpire and when that has happened then the time of judgment will fall and verse 12 I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sack cloth of hair and the moon became as blood now I don't think that the text is requiring that these things be this but the text does require this is all you can see when you look at the sun and you look at the moon it is black and the moon is red there are going to be cosmic disturbances in the atmosphere that are unparalleled to anything humanity has ever seen this is going to be not only earthly but it's going to be cosmic as well stars of heaven these are apparently these are meteors or meteor like fell unto the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their place picture if you will the globe the planet earth undergoing convulsions earth that's what it's going to be one of the old testament prophets says that the earth is going to reel to and fro like a drunken man walking down the street trying to maintain his balance that's what's going to happen to the earth and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come the great day of his grace is gone now it's payback wrath is come and who shall be able to stand the rhetorical question means nobody who can stand who can oppose him who can stand up against him no one now for the time that we have left which is just a few minutes we've got to go to

[48:35] Matthew chapter 24 and see what I think is an undeniable parallel to all of this in the Olivet discourse that our Lord gave Matthew chapter 24 and who will will just have to jump in with verse 4 the disciples have asked when will these things be and what will be the sign of the end of the world or the end of the age and in verse 4 Jesus answered and said unto them take heed that no man deceives you for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many who is that that is the rider on the white horse that gets underway as soon as that seven year pact is signed with the

[49:38] Antichrist he is presenting himself as a peaceable individual and then verse 6 ties in with Revelation 6 you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars and what is that that is the rider on the red horse that comes and power is given to him to take peace from the earth and see that you be not troubled all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom that's more activity of the rider on the red horse and it is all about war and there shall be famines and pestilences what's that that's the rider on the on the other horse which color was he the black got my horses mixed up here that's the black and that too is followed by verse nine they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name sake this is all tribulation content and it is wait wait a little while until the rest of your brethren who are going to be slain as you are undergo the sword and then that time will come and this is exactly what he is talking about here and many false prophets shall arise and deceive many because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold but he that shall endure and to the end the same shall be saved and this is talking about just surviving this time of great tribulation because survival is going to be the name of the game and it's going to be a very difficult thing to do people are going to die not only from war and pestilence and disease starvation you can imagine what what animal like qualities are going to be brought out in people when people are starving to death they are capable of almost any kind of behavior from cannibalism to you name it and we've got a history of that this is a time of conflagration upon the earth the likes of which

[51:58] Christ said the world has never seen anything like it before we'll never see anything like it again questions or comments yeah okay the seals are going to reveal the trumpets and the vials as the seals are broken and the scroll is unrolled there's going to be more content and the last of each gives rise to seven more and the last of that gives rise to and that's going to be the way it is all the way through chapter 19 hearts do прилож you know What was happening in the end, the great tribulation.

[53:00] Right. But they underwent a tribulation at that time. And that's what the provis of revival to say that that was the great tribulation.

[53:14] Right. Well. But some of the other things that followed have not occurred. You're right. Right. There are characteristics that took place in the destruction of Jerusalem when the enemy surrounded them, et cetera.

[53:30] And there were a number of things that were fulfilled there in Matthew 24 that Christ was speaking of. And yet, as you read the whole Olivet Discourse, it becomes apparent that there is nothing in human history, including the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

[53:48] that even begins to answer to the worldwide conflagration. Because that thing in Jerusalem was very local with the Romans. That was very local.

[53:58] That was just Jerusalem and its immediate environment. What we are talking about here is a worldwide scoop. It is all over the earth. And it is just incredible to behold.

[54:10] We just cannot. We cannot imagine this. And probably the biggest reason we cannot imagine it is because none of us has a frame of reference for this. None of us has anything in our experience or anything that we can read about that we say, yeah, well, I can understand that because back in the year 1600, thus and so happened, thus.

[54:29] No, no. Nothing like that. This is end time, one time, cataclysm, worldwide, scope never before imagined.

[54:41] And none of us here, including myself, can begin to enter into the breadth and the depth of this destruction. It is just unbelievable.

[54:54] Other comments or questions? And has the government announced that we will not see all that destruction. He is. He's given.

[55:06] He's sheltering us like he didn't know of. In the ark. We are. The church is gone. That's true. The church is gone.

[55:17] And the main reason the church is gone is not because we are so much better than everybody else we deserve to be removed. This is ridiculous. And some say, well, we just believe that the church is gone because that's a form of escapism and we just don't want to think of being here for that.

[55:33] Well, that's nonsense. The church is gone because that's what the plan and program of God requires. The day of grace is gone. The day of grace is over. When this happens, it is now the time of vengeance of our God.

[55:49] And God is not going to exact vengeance upon us because we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation. And we are going to be removed not because we deserve to be removed but because the times of the Gentiles.

[56:04] So the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and the body of Christ is complete and we are removed. And then what takes place here on the earth is going to be after the rapture.

[56:18] Now, not everybody believes that, but I'm confident that that's what the scriptures teach. So we are removed. Again, we are removed not because we do not deserve to go through.

[56:29] In fact, we all know what we deserve, don't we? So it's not a question of that. It's a question of the plan and program of God and the timetable that he has set up.

[56:41] Any other comments or questions? Well, we did bite off the whole chapter and you've been very patient with me. I appreciate your attending this and we will continue right on in this vein.

[56:55] And remember, next meeting will be the second Tuesday of May and we'll meet right here and we'll try to get back on schedule with the first Tuesday.

[57:08] Yes. I have a question, please. Okay. It's the church, the presence of the Holy Spirit within the believers that is holding back this great tribulation.

[57:25] The presence or the knowledge of the enemy is appearing. Is that true? That's what's holding it back?

[57:35] Well, that's one possibility. It's as good as any of the others that I've heard. Well, it's taken the Holy Spirit insofar as the way he indwells the church.

[57:52] But the Holy Spirit is omnipresent and he will still be here in some sense, but not in the sense that he is now. Because believers, believers are, whether we do a very good job of it or not, we are the salt of the earth.

[58:08] And one of the things that salt does is that it retards corruption. And let's face it, if you follow anything about politics here in the United States, and I'm not talking about worldwide.

[58:21] I'm just talking about here in the United States. And I think it is undeniable that the USA is a principal player, shaker, mover on the world scene. But let me ask you a question and try to answer with all of the honesty and at the same time the modesty that you can.

[58:38] Do you know of any single group of people who corporately present greater opposition to the powers that be, to government run wild, to corruption, to everything from abortion to you name it, do you know who the biggest group of naysayers are?

[59:04] You're one of them. And there are many in high echelons that consider us and our value system and our principles the problem.

[59:19] We are the enemy to them, to many of them. Well, their principal opposition is going to be removed. And they'll probably say, we'll pack your bags, you know.

[59:33] We'll be glad to see you go. And there is going to be a lack of restraint for every kind of evil that you can imagine.

[59:46] The lid's going to come off. And this is not going to be a pretty place to be. That's what's coming.

[59:58] And you know what? Most of us are convinced that it seems to be overdue. Billy Graham's wife Ruth used to say, if God doesn't judge this nation, he's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

[60:14] Someone else? Yes. That's true.

[60:34] That's true. That's true. And there will be opportunity for others.

[60:46] Oh, absolutely. There will be great hosts of people come to faith in Christ during this time of conflagration.

[60:57] In fact, that's partly what the next chapter is about, because we have the sealing of the 144,000. These are going to be indestructible evangelists, going to have the seal of God in their forehead, and there's going to be multitudes of people come to faith in Christ during this time, and many of them are going to pay the ultimate price for doing so.

[61:20] So it will be a time of unrestrained wickedness and evil, and it will also be a time of incredible evangelistic realization and opportunity, and they will take advantage of it.

[61:31] So there will be a lot of people saved, and there will be a lot of people martyred during this time. The confusion will be incredible. Well, thank you all again for being here.

[61:43]  We need to forfeit this room. We're already five minutes late. So thank you for your kind attention.