Participants: Pr. John Lomacang (Host), Pr. John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL080022
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00:01 Hello friends grab your Bible in front and
00:03 sit back as we explore God's word together 00:04 on this edition of House Calls. 00:22 Welcome to another House Calls program 00:23 where we begin our journey together 00:25 through the word of God and it's a 00:26 journey where there's always new discoveries 00:28 and I am glad you've chosen to tune 00:30 in. You may want to record right now 00:32 because I am not myself; I have 00:34 my good friend John Stanton. 00:36 It's good to be here John. Once again 00:37 studying the word of God with a new subject 00:40 today, we're kind of excited about. Yeah 00:42 the Great Controversy, you know people 00:43 have heard that term the Great Controversy, 00:46 the Great Controversy, but a lot of people 00:48 I don't think know what that means. 00:49 We're going to talk about that today. That's right. 00:50 And so this is a program you don't want to miss. 00:52 If you have friends in the house just walking 00:54 around, call them and say sit down and listen 00:56 to the program, hit record, share it with 00:58 your church, your community whomever, but 01:00 this is something that's going to open your eyes 01:02 to what God is doing to win this great battle. 01:04 But before we do anything we're going 01:06 to have prayer. John, pray for us. 01:08 Let's do that. Dear Father in Heaven, again 01:10 we are so thrilled to be able to come before you, 01:12 and open up your word and we ask that you 01:15 will send us your Holy Spirit, so that we may 01:17 understand it, and that we may draw near 01:19 to you, and understand your plan for us better. 01:21 Well thank you for spending this time 01:23 with us, in Jesus name, amen. Amen. 01:27 Friends, you also know that we have a lot 01:29 of Bible questions that makes the difference, 01:31 so continue sending your Bible questions. 01:33 Some of you send snail mail that's just 01:35 perfectly fine. But if you want to send it 01:38 over the Internet, here's the Internet address 01:39 housecalls@3abn.org. That's 01:42 housecalls@3abn.org. We download those, 01:45 print those and we pray for God to lead us 01:47 to give you the answer to that, is important 01:49 and in harmony with his words. So John 01:51 what's our first question for today. 01:53 Well we got a question here with regard to 01:56 disciples and apostles. Okay. The person 02:01 writing in here lets see here name is Carol. 02:03 She says while watching your show this morning, 02:06 you said apostles, and then you said disciples, 02:10 and my husband and I got into a discussion as to 02:13 the difference of the words, and his 02:16 understanding is that apostles are leaders, 02:17 and disciples are followers, and she 02:19 agrees with that. But she's saying what are 02:22 your comments about this. How would you 02:23 explain the difference? Well there clearly is a 02:27 difference, they use, seem to use in the 02:30 scriptures disciples in the context of those 02:33 following Christ and learning from Christ, 02:36 and not that apostles aren't following Christ, 02:39 it's just that as disciples they are in 02:41 this learning mode. They're following the 02:44 master, they're watching the master and 02:45 everything he does, and they're seeking to 02:47 learn, and allow their characters and their 02:50 life to be formed after him. As apostles, 02:53 the word there is really a disciple send 02:57 forth for a specific purpose, to be an 02:59 ambassador and so when Jesus sends 03:01 forth his disciples they go as apostles. 03:05 They're sent forth as ambassadors for him 03:08 to grow his work, and they in turn to a 03:11 degree become the leaders of the church, 03:13 that's right, ones sent forth lead and 03:15 to create other disciples as the Great 03:18 Commission tells them you know make other 03:20 disciples, make other disciples out of those 03:23 that you minister to, and as you grow 03:26 the church. So apostles are those who had been 03:29 disciples, who continue to be disciples because 03:32 they're continuing to follow Christ, but yet 03:34 they have taken on the work of leadership as 03:37 one sent forth by God to be ambassadors for 03:39 him to grow his kingdom. So that's the 03:42 main difference between the two words. 03:43 Yeah, that's very good I think you said it 03:45 best really well, and the apostles carry the 03:49 epistle, which is the message, and so I can't 03:53 add very much to that. Don't their wives 03:55 have names too. Somebody thought that 03:58 the apostles wives were epistles, no that's 04:01 not so. Epistles is the message, documents, 04:05 the clarion call that they carry, and so 04:08 you'll read the epistles in the word of God. 04:10 Okay, that was a good one John. But there 04:13 is one other thing that a lot of times people 04:14 think that disciples are only New Testament, 04:17 but in the Old Testament Isaiah 8:16, 04:19 the Lord said "Bind up the testimony, and 04:23 seal the law among My disciples." So there 04:26 were Old Testament disciples, and then just 04:30 before the John the Baptist introduced Jesus 04:33 there was some controversy that John 04:35 had disciples. So when John Stanton described 04:39 what a disciple is, simply in any context it 04:42 means as one that is being taught, being 04:44 prepared and in the gospel sense to be an 04:47 apostle. Yeah. For the message, so thank you 04:49 John for that. Cecilia and I am assuming 04:53 Cecilia is from the large city because of 04:56 the context. Cecilia is from New York, 04:58 that's where I was born and raised, it's a 05:01 huge city, and New York thank you for 05:03 tuning in this morning. When the time of 05:06 trouble hits or comes, how will we get out of 05:12 these cities, that's the first one. Well, let me 05:18 just make it this way, put it this way, try to 05:19 get out before then, because you know 05:22 I am a native of New York city and I live 05:24 there when they had the black out in the 05:25 sixties, there was another black out in the 05:28 seventies, and New York tends to make some 05:31 kind of, they make money out of any tragedy 05:34 that happens you know I survived the black 05:35 out of sixties, I survived the black out 05:37 of seventy seven. We tend to joke about 05:39 those things but the time of trouble that's 05:41 coming, is something of unimaginable extent, 05:45 unimaginable impact, so if you think about 05:49 New York city, it's not going to be just an 05:50 overnight black out, but crime and violence 05:53 in any large major city at an accelerated 05:57 rate, when men's hearts are now no longer 06:00 under the restraining spirit of God. John, I 06:04 remember when I lived in New York city 06:05 in 1977 and that's before I was converted 06:10 and I was in a pool hall and playing billiards, 06:12 and I was just about ready to take a shot 06:15 and all the lights went out, and a friend of 06:18 mine said turn the lights back on, and we 06:21 walked outside of the pool hall only to see 06:23 the lights in the city going off like a domino, 06:25 in fact just block after block, and it was just a 06:29 matter of minutes before total mayhem just 06:33 broke out. We heard windows crashing, 06:35 cars being turned over, we saw fires being 06:38 started. There was a bicycle shop at about 06:40 16 they said about I am just exaggerating 06:44 here may be few thousands bikes and it 06:46 was a bike factory, and the next day we were 06:49 wondering why the police were driving around 06:50 asking people to show their receipts to their 06:52 bikes because all these bikes have been stolen. 06:54 When you think of the time of trouble it's 06:57 going to be on such a magnificent proportion, 06:59 no way to get out of cities at that 07:01 particular time. I think we talked about 07:04 this prior to the program. There are going to be 07:05 martyrs at that time, those who stand firmly 07:08 for the Lord in the cities, some of them 07:10 may be martyrs, but some of them may need 07:13 to be there to proclaim the message to those who 07:17 still need to hear it, that is the time of 07:19 trouble before the close of probation. 07:21 Yeah, I would say living out of the 07:22 cities, but not abandoning the cities. 07:24 We're not talking about that, abandoning the 07:26 cities because there are people who need to 07:28 hear the gospel, but living out of the cities 07:31 and then doing our missionary work 07:32 there in. Well, some people, the other part 07:37 of the question says not all people have the 07:38 funds to go to the country and live. 07:40 I live in New York City, it seems so impossible 07:44 for so many people. When I lived in 07:48 New York city John, it didn't seem like 07:49 there was anything outside of New York 07:51 city. It's so huge, you have everything you 07:54 could think of, and when I got on the plane, 07:56 on the airplane for the first time was going 07:58 to college, and it was an amazing thing to me. 08:01 I thought do they have to fly so fast, I never, 08:05 it's really a strange feeling going to 08:07 college, and getting on a plane for the first 08:09 time which living out in the country or living 08:11 outside of suburban New York city, it doesn't 08:15 seem unusual. There's another world 08:17 outside of New York city, but it's hard to 08:19 think about that when you live in that great 08:21 metropolis. But the key would be also 08:24 you will know and I believe if you're in 08:27 tune with God you will know when you 08:29 have the absolute last moment when I 08:32 say absolute last moment you'll know when it's 08:34 time to get out, I mean you'll know, and its 08:36 getting to the point now where 08:38 look at the real estate going down. 08:40 Jesus talks about that in Matthew 24 doesn't 08:42 he. Right, that's a good application, as a matter 08:45 of fact lets look at that, in Matthew chapter 08:47 24, there is a good scripture to go along 08:49 with that. Thank you John, for suggesting 08:51 that. In Matthew 24, Jesus talked about the 08:53 destruction of Jerusalem and one of the reasons 08:57 why the historian Josephus points out that 08:59 no Christians lost their lives when the 09:01 destruction came. It was, there was a 09:04 brief period where the Roman armies retreated, 09:08 so that the Christians could get out, and 09:10 they didn't do it for that purpose, but when 09:14 they retreated the Christians took 09:15 advantage of that and they left the cities. 09:19 Now I believe that there is going to be a 09:20 short period of grace where the people of God 09:23 would have an opportunity to get out. 09:25 But notice what it says here in Matthew 24, 09:28 verse 15. "Therefore when you see the 09:33 abomination of desolation spoken of 09:35 by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy 09:38 place whoever reads let him understand. 09:41 And let those who are Judah flee to the 09:44 mountains." Let me put the word New York 09:46 there just for the application. When you 09:48 see the abomination of desolation, in another 09:50 words when you see that the world has hit 09:53 its lowest point, when you see that 09:56 everything that could sustain our liberties 09:58 have been thrown out. You'll know that 10:01 its time to get out of the cities before they 10:03 become, or years ago there was a 10:05 movie entitle Escape from New York. 10:07 Yeah. When the cities are no longer able 10:10 to be, when one is just able to get out. 10:14 The other key part of this here is talking 10:15 about spoken this abomination of 10:21 desolation standing in the holy place. 10:22 It seems to be a reference to Second 10:23 Thessalonians 2, where this man of sin is 10:27 coming, he set himself up as God in the 10:31 place of God commanding to worship, and we 10:33 find the command to worship in Revelation 13 10:35 as well. So when this all comes together 10:37 there seems to be whether it's a law or 10:39 something like that suggested, but there 10:41 is an opportunity to get out, get out. Right. 10:43 That's the last change to get out I would say. 10:45 Now if you can get out now get out, but that's 10:49 the last opportunity it really looks like. 10:51 And you know John I think that Cecilia 10:54 alluded to the fact that its hard and not 10:55 able to afforded. It is a lot, lot less 10:59 expensive to live outside of New York City 11:02 and in the country for that matter than it is 11:04 to be living in the cities. And so rest of 11:07 it says let him who is on the housetop, 11:09 Matthew 24:17, not go down to take 11:13 anything out of his house. In another 11:14 words that means if you're out by car or 11:18 if you're outside and all of a sudden 11:19 something tragic happens kind of like a September 11:22 11th, you notice people careless what was 11:24 in the office building, they just left it there, 11:27 they weren't going back to get anything, 11:29 the tragedies was so great that they 11:30 just whatever is behind is not my concern. 11:32 So that's what's being said there. When it gets 11:34 to that point you'll know when its time for 11:37 the Lord and the Lord will impress you as 11:40 to what's more important. They say on 11:43 the airplanes in the case of emergency leave 11:46 all your carry-ons we will know whether it's 11:49 our life or the things that we have that's more 11:50 important. Thank you Cecilia, 11:52 what else you have for us John. 11:53 Well Virginia sends in a question somewhat 11:56 related here it says, lets see please 12:00 explain Revelation 17:12 specially the one hour, 12:04 so she wants to know about the one hour 12:07 found in Revelation 17:12, so lets turn 12:12 there. And I'll read that scripture here 12:17 for us. Okay. The ten horns which you saw 12:20 are ten kings who have received no kingdom 12:23 as yet but they receive authority for one hour 12:27 as kings with the beast. So evidently there 12:31 is a time where ten kings' additional powers 12:34 receive some authority for this "hour" to do 12:39 something that brings about this last beast 12:43 powers great last stand against God's people. 12:46 Now Jesus referred in several times to the 12:51 last hour and the hour in which he would come, 12:55 the hour that was the last hour. One of those 12:59 references is Matthew 24:44, I am not going 13:02 to turn there but you can look that up. But I 13:04 want you to see one thing that is kind of 13:06 interesting here in First John 2 verse 18, 13:09 First John 2 verse 18, it says this, 13:13 "Little children, it is the last hour; and as 13:17 you have heard that the antichrist is 13:20 coming, even now many antichrists have come 13:23 by which we know that it is the last hour." 13:26 Couple of references to the last hour there 13:30 which I believe is this hour of the last days 13:33 when these ten kings receive their power. 13:35 Now one of the interesting things we 13:37 find here in this verse is that it is not 13:40 connected to all antichrists, it seems 13:42 to be connected to the antichrist. 13:45 Right. Now we're going get into a subject 13:47 today called on the Great Controversy, and 13:51 that Great Controversy is the battle between 13:53 good and evil, it is a battle between Christ, 13:55 the head of good, and Satan, who is the head 13:59 of the evil. And so the antichrist, the 14:03 ultimate antichrist, and we have shared 14:05 this before many times in our programs. 14:07 Satan himself making an appearance as Christ, 14:10 so this hour John seems to be identifying with 14:14 the appearance of the antichrist, so 14:17 apparently when it says here in Revelation 14:19 17:12 that these ten kings or these ten 14:23 horns, and ten kings are represented there 14:26 have their power given to them in this last hour. 14:28 It seems to be at a time when the antichrist 14:30 has appeared and is doing his last work. Right, okay. 14:35 And so this hour I don't take so literally 14:38 or even symbolically as to meaning okay 14:40 well how will we calculate that out in 14:42 symbolic terms. I see this as just the last 14:44 opportunity, that last time finally before 14:47 Jesus comes, because he does come at the 14:49 end of that last hour. So somehow at the 14:51 beginning the antichrist appears, somehow at 14:53 the end of that last hour of time Jesus appears, 14:56 so that's what I find here from the scriptures. 14:58 You many have some things to say about that 15:00 too John. That's fit so wonderfully, you will 15:03 notice that when the Bible uses the word hour, 15:05 it sometimes refers to just a short duration of 15:09 time in the ministry of Jesus in Matthew and 15:12 Luke 22:53, there were many opportunities 15:16 that the rulers of the temple, the Romans, 15:19 the advisories of Jesus tried to trap him, 15:22 and then he made the statement, lets 15:24 use a few. I think Galatians 4:4 was one, 15:28 Paul says, "In the fullness of time, when 15:31 the fullness of time had come, God sent forth 15:33 his son." So there was a particular time frame 15:35 that Lord was going to sent forth Jesus to 15:38 begin his work. When they tried to trap Jesus, 15:40 Jesus said a number of times my hour 15:43 has not yet come. Right. It was not yet time, 15:45 but when he was finally seized Luke 22:53 15:51 read as follows. "When I was with you daily 15:54 in the temple, you did not try to seize Me, 15:57 but this is your hour and the power of darkness." 16:01 And so the power of darkness had an hour 16:03 in Jesus' day. And John as you alluded to, 16:06 the power of darkness is going to have another 16:08 hour in the end time. How strange it is 16:11 that Jesus came at one of the lowest points 16:13 of human history, and when he comes again 16:15 his name, as it was then we believe is 16:17 going to be almost removed from the earth 16:19 an hour of great darkness. So that 16:21 those give their power and authority to this 16:23 antichrist, something you said and I want 16:26 to reiterate this, so that our listeners and 16:29 viewers don't miss this. Is that Satan will 16:31 have appeared on the scene to personate 16:34 Christ. He's going to look like the Christ, 16:36 that why Matthew 24 says, when they says 16:39 here's the Christ or there don't believe it. 16:40 He's going to look the Christ, and when 16:43 you show up in a crisis situation, then people 16:46 are looking for answers, and somebody that 16:48 looks like Jesus says I have the answer then 16:51 all the powers stand behind him because they 16:53 believe he is the one with the answer and that 16:56 what you were suggesting just a moment 16:57 ago, am I correct. Yes, that's right. 16:59 And so you clearly see here, its going to be 17:01 but of a short duration of time and I like that 17:04 Paul says it,. God is going to finish the 17:07 work and cut it short. So this is going to 17:09 be a short reign they're going to have. 17:11 It's going to look like a glorious one because 17:13 all the authorities, all the Kings of the earth 17:15 that have not yet received his authority 17:17 are going to stand behind this peace for a 17:19 short time. And with the modern teaching 17:20 of this day that says in the last times, or the 17:23 last days when Jesus appears he's going to 17:25 set up his kingdom on this earth, that is 17:27 going to fit right into the scenario that Satan 17:31 is going to pull off, or try to pull off here as 17:33 he impersonates Christ. So that teaching even 17:35 is put out there by Satan himself to set 17:39 up and establish what he is going to do to 17:41 deceive in the end of time. So if you have 17:44 heard teachers teaching that Jesus comes 17:47 to set up his kingdom on this earth. Really what 17:50 that is, is just falling into this deceptive 17:55 teaching that really fits in the Satan's plan, 17:58 when he personates Christ, and seeks to 18:01 establish kingdom, and people at that time will 18:03 say. Well look Christ is here to establish 18:05 his kingdom. We got to get behind it, and look 18:07 all these major teachers that we see on 18:10 television, these wonderful godly pastors, 18:13 and all these individuals that have taught 18:15 us for years are verifying that this is 18:18 happening, we got to jump on it. We got to 18:20 follow and endorse it, and you will find the 18:22 world wandering after that beast power 18:26 that we find describe there in Revelation 18:28 13 at that time. Yeah. So this is going 18:31 to be a big reception. It's huge. 18:33 And the only safe guard you have is your 18:36 Bible to really read and study to understand 18:39 that when Jesus comes, he is not coming to 18:41 set up the kingdom on the earth. He's coming 18:43 to get a saints, and get out, take them to 18:47 heaven for that thousand year period, and then 18:49 he'll come back to recreate the earth and 18:52 leave us here, not leave us here but 18:54 come down and live with us here forever. 18:56 Yes, so what's beautiful about that you 18:58 just pointed out, and I am only reiterating 19:01 this because some times when you hear it 19:02 for the first time it doesn't stick. John 19:04 pointed out clearly that Jesus when he returns 19:06 he will not touch the earth, but so many people 19:10 have been teaching that when Jesus comes 19:12 he is going to establish a kingdom here on earth. 19:13 They're called pretribulation 19:17 premillenialists. They believe that there 19:22 is going to be a secret snatching away of the 19:24 saints before the tribulation, 19:27 pretribulation and they believe that Jesus 19:29 is going to establish his kingdom on the earth 19:31 to begin the millennium, premillenialists. 19:34 He is going to come before the tribulation 19:36 and before the millennium to 19:39 establish his kingdom here on earth. 19:40 Yeah. But Satan has people believing that so 19:42 when Satan shows up looking like Christ. 19:45 All the Kings who have not yet received 19:48 authority will stand behind him, but 19:51 according to what it says is. Its going to be a 19:53 short duration of time, as a matter of act 19:55 verses just a few verses down that 19:58 was verse 12 of Revelation 17, verse 14. 20:03 Lets read verse 13 and 14, Revelation 12, 20:05 Revelation 17, sorry verse 12, 13 and 14. 20:10 Revelation 17 verse 12, 13 and 14, 20:14 it says well since you read verse 12, verse 13 20:17 says "These are of one mind, and they will 20:21 give their power and authority to the beast." 20:23 And these, this is the ultimate victory will 20:27 make war with the lamb, and the lamb will 20:30 overcome them for his Lord of Lords and 20:33 King of Kings. And those are with him are 20:36 called chosen and faithful. See, so that's 20:40 God's, that's the Lord's kingdom there, 20:43 so there is another question, should I just 20:47 segue to that question right now John, that 20:50 somebody asked another question along 20:51 those lines. You wrote in script so I 20:58 can't see it, I think its Hazel, yeah Hazel. 21:02 It says I have a question, Daniel 2 verse 21:05 41 to 45 specially verse 44. Lets look at that, 21:09 and I am going to keep myself here in 21:11 Revelation because it lends itself to this 21:13 very thing. In Daniel 2 verse 41 to 45 you 21:17 find a picture of the kingdoms being 21:19 established. You'll find the dream that God 21:21 gave to Nebuchadnezzar. But verse 44, 21:25 you have it John, read it for me. 21:28 Verse 44, "And in the days of these kings 21:32 the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which 21:35 shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall 21:37 not be left to other people but it shall break 21:40 in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, 21:42 and it shall stand for ever." Okay, so the 21:45 question I asked was are these kings 21:49 the ones in Revelation 17 verse 12 to 14 21:53 which have received no kingdom as yet, 21:55 but receive power and authority as kings 21:58 one hour with the beast. They will 22:00 definitely be included. Yes. Okay, now what you 22:03 have here in Daniel 2, is you have Daniel writing 22:07 about the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had of 22:10 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 22:12 You will have reminisce of Babylon because 22:14 this is a Babylonian system. Revelation 17, 22:16 you'll have a tyrannical power of the Medo 22:19 Persians, you will have the skill and the 22:21 mastery of the generals of Greece, and you 22:24 will have the power and the overwhelming religious, 22:28 religio-political coalition of Rome. So 22:32 you're going to have reminisce of all those 22:33 kingdoms there, but with all those powers 22:35 coalesced together and they by the way 22:37 is so much in Revelation 17. But with all 22:40 those powers coalesced together, you are going 22:42 to have one kingdom of Christ and let me just 22:45 give you an overreaching you very, very briefly, 22:48 since you did bring up Revelation 17 about 22:51 the Kings. These ten Kings haven't received a 22:55 kingdom yet and as John pointed out and we just 22:58 discussed, they are going to stand behind 22:59 this beast, this authority which is Satan 23:02 himself for one short time, but there are 23:06 seven heads that are part of that entire system, 23:08 spiritualism, hedonism, atheism, Judaism, Islam, 23:13 Catholicism, apostate, protestantism, all 23:17 coalesced together under the leadership of Satan, 23:20 the head of Babylon. So the answer is that yes 23:24 and no, yes Daniel 8:44, all these kings 23:28 will be included in that but in the direct way 23:31 they are not referring directly to the kingdoms 23:35 that have not yet received authority or 23:38 the kings that have not received authority. 23:40 Right, kind of direct prophetic connection. 23:41 Right because there was a kingdom Babylon, 23:42 Medo Persia, Greece, and Rome, they had 23:45 authority in the past, but reminiscence of 23:47 those kingdoms would be once again 23:49 represented in the end. Yeah, good, good. 23:52 Anything else. No, I think we're good, 23:55 it's time I think to get into our subject. Yes. 23:58 The Great Controversy. I tell you John 24:01 that is a passage that is of magnificent 24:05 proportion. If you have your Bibles, 24:07 and by the way, I know we brought up a lot 24:09 of questions, if you have any comments you 24:11 like to send to us or any questions about anything 24:13 we just talked about, send them to 24:15 housecalls@3abn.org, That's 24:16 housecalls@3abn.org. And once again we'll 24:22 try our best by God's grace to make sense 24:25 of it, and answer it according to the 24:27 scriptures. Thank you so much for sending 24:28 those questions, and I like the fact John that 24:30 our viewers and our listeners challenge us, 24:33 and that's good. You know there are 24:36 some questions that are repetitious, if you 24:38 haven't heard the answer before send them 24:40 anyway, but thank you for your correct 24:42 questions and comments, and even for the 24:44 ones that come in as snail mail. 24:46 We like them all. That's right. 24:48 Revelation 12. You know, yeah we want 24:52 to start with Revelation 12, so if you have 24:53 your Bible in hand open it that's where we're 24:56 going to spend some of our time here today at 24:59 least it will be our spring board passage into 25:01 the Great Controversy. Now John, lets talk about 25:04 this title here the Great Controversy. 25:07 Controversies are conflicts. That's right. 25:13 You know there are two forces at odds 25:16 with each other. They don't agree, and 25:19 obviously the word great there tells us 25:22 that it is the supreme controversy, it's the 25:25 highest, it's the greatest of all or it's 25:26 the highest controversy that exists. That's right. 25:29 You know before we even get to Revelation 25:33 12, I think Revelation 12 opens up something 25:37 that another text clearly points to in a 25:40 very quick reference I'll just read that. 25:42 Don't leave Revelation 12 there John. 25:43 Okay, I will wait for you. From Ephesians 25:47 chapter 6. Okay. And it says here in verse 12. 25:57 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, 26:01 but against principalities, against powers, 26:05 against the rulers of the darkness of this age, 26:08 against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the 26:11 heavenly places." So speaking of a battle 26:14 of wrestling of this controversy. What we're 26:18 talking about there is not a controversy that 26:21 we can necessarily see with our own eyes 26:24 but one that exists behind the scenes that 26:27 if you are looking you will clearly see that. 26:30 And Revelation 12 opens up that controversy 26:33 where it began, the parties that are involved 26:36 and that's where we like to spend time doing 26:39 here in the next couple of programs is breaking 26:41 down this Great Controversy, so we can 26:43 understand it. Yes. What are these principalities 26:45 and powers and rulers of darkness that are 26:49 warning against us that we cannot see? 26:51 Jeremiah does his part to bring in the word 26:54 controversy and I want to read that passage 26:57 to you Jeremiah 25, and verse 30 and verse 31. 27:02 Jeremiah is one of the probably it is a huge 27:09 book but his prophecies are not read very much. 27:12 You know Jeremiah, Ezekiel, their prophecies 27:16 sometimes presents to the reader a quandary 27:18 saying well, what does Jeremiah mean, and 27:21 they mentioned nations and kings that seem 27:25 to be so irrelevant to the contemporary person 27:27 that's reading the Bible. Moresheth and Zimri 27:33 and they talk about names that you'll think 27:37 well what does it have to me with me at all today. 27:39 But when you look at what is actually being 27:42 said in an overreaching fashion, you'll see 27:44 that the Lord in the midst of this, is 27:46 talking about the stand he has with the world 27:49 and the condition that it is in. Jeremiah 27:52 25 verse 30, "The Lord says therefore 27:55 prophecy against them all these words 27:58 and say to them. The Lord will roar 28:01 from on high, roar from on high, and utter 28:05 His voice from His holy habitation; He will 28:08 roar mightily against His fold. He will 28:12 give a shout, as those who tread the grapes." 28:17 Language used in Revelation, language 28:19 used in Isaiah against all the inhabitants 28:22 of the earth. First 31 the key verse, 28:25 a noise will come to the ends of the earth 28:30 for the Lord has a controversy with the 28:34 nations. He will plead his case with all flesh. 28:37 He will give those who are wicked to the sword 28:41 says the Lord. So notice what's happening here, 28:43 the Lord is saying. In another words if you 28:46 would summarize this and paraphrase it, 28:48 God is saying I am shouting as loudly as I 28:50 possibly could, I am pleading with you 28:52 because the problem here in the word controversy 28:55 there is the word pleading. That's another 28:58 application in the Greek for the word, Hebrew 29:00 for the word controversy. I am 29:02 pleading, there is strife here, I am 29:06 chiding, I am trying to, I am contending 29:09 with you, I am trying to get your attention, 29:10 I am trying to save you. I have got an issue here 29:12 that's great in significant paramount 29:15 issues, but this controversy the reason 29:19 why the word controversy is the word that we've 29:20 chosen is because Satan is saying on one 29:23 hand it doesn't matter. Christ is saying it's of 29:25 utmost importance. Satan is saying don't worry. 29:27 Christ is saying your life is at stake, 29:30 you see. That's right. Well lets go into this 29:35 Great Controversy as far as Revelation 12 29:37 perspective here because it does tell the story 29:41 way back when as sin began, this controversy 29:45 began and we have already spilled the beans about 29:48 who the controversy is between, so we don't 29:50 have to necessarily do that, but lets unfold 29:52 here what Revelation 12 has to say about 29:55 those two parties and how this battle ensured. 29:57 Okay, let's break it down. We will start with 29:58 verse 1. Start with verse 1, start from the 30:01 beginning. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: 30:02 a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon 30:06 under her feet, and on her head a garland 30:08 of twelve stars. Okay. We don't necessarily 30:11 want to break down every single symbol. 30:13 This one is already. But this is good one 30:16 to start with because these symbols are 30:17 very important to the Great Controversy. 30:19 The woman is the first sign that appears 30:24 in heaven in. We find in Jeremiah 6 verse 2 30:27 that God had spoken there and considered 30:32 his people as, people Zion has a lovely and 30:36 delicate woman. So a woman that is pure 30:40 seems to indicate God's people. Okay, so I 30:44 don't think we have a big dispute about that. 30:46 I think that most people can agree with that. 30:47 In Ephesians 5:25 right about there I think 30:51 it says that husbands love your wives as 30:56 Christ love the church, so Christ even considers 30:58 the church, his people as a woman. There is a 31:02 intimate relationship with, so clearly the 31:04 Bible over and over goes back to his 31:07 people as being this beautiful woman, this 31:09 woman that he is, he is moving and 31:11 he is trying to draw to him. This passage 31:13 uses the word woman so many, many times. 31:15 Just to get an idea of how pure she is, 31:19 I want to read, matter of fact what read verse 31:24 2 John and we'll break that down, and I think 31:26 to some degree its good to break it down 31:28 as we go along because if we're going to spend 31:30 a couple of programs, I think we will be able 31:32 to cover all the passages here which are 31:33 only, which are only 17 verses. So we'll try 31:36 our best to go through those methodically, 31:38 so that you can understand the 31:39 controversy that's going on here. This woman 31:42 is beautiful, she has a crown on her head, 31:45 the glory of God, but a moon, moon doesn't 31:48 have any light of its own, a moon reflects 31:51 the light of the Sun. So the woman doesn't 31:55 have any light of her own. She's reflecting 31:58 the glory of God. The church doesn't have 32:02 any light of its own, it's reflecting the 32:04 message of God to glory of God's word, 32:08 the truth of God's word. It does not originate 32:10 with us anymore than it originated with this 32:13 woman who is clothed with the Sun. And by 32:17 the way how amazing it is John that the woman 32:19 is referred to us as clothed. Eve, Adam were 32:23 clothed before they fell. When they fell 32:26 they lost their clothing. This 32:27 woman hasn't lost her clothing. That's right. 32:30 And then you go later on Revelation, I think 32:32 its Revelation chapter 19 or 16 verses, 32:34 I'll find the verse. It says "Blessed is he 32:36 that keeps his garments, lest he walk 32:38 naked, and they see his shame." 32:40 Well it's a direct reference here to also 32:42 the Sun. In Malachi 4 verse 2. Okay. 32:46 To you who fear my name the sun of 32:48 righteousness. There you go. Shall arise 32:51 with healing in its wings, and you shall go 32:53 out and grow fat like stall fed calves, so the 32:56 reference there is the sun, and that's sun 32:58 is used in that passage. The sun of 33:01 righteousness, so. What verse again was that. 33:03 Malachi 4:2. Okay. So, the Sun there is 33:08 similar to what we see is reference 33:10 here that is emanating from this woman, 33:12 this brightness tends to be what we see 33:14 as being her righteousness, not 33:17 that she is a literal sun but that she is 33:19 righteous in her way. She's pure, 33:22 she does things that are pleasing to God 33:24 and that are righteous in his sight. So, 33:27 we're already seeing a very positive start 33:30 to Revelation chapter 12, but with that 33:34 positive start also we have then 33:36 the opposition. Okay. That we're going 33:39 to get to here in just a minute, but you've 33:41 identified the moon there, the sun and the 33:42 moon, head, on her head a garland of 33:45 twelve stars. Now what would that refer to. 33:48 Well twelve refers to the kingdom number, 33:51 you'll find in Revelation 12, gates to a 33:53 foundation, twelve apostle, twelve 33:54 disciples. The number twelve is the kingdom 33:56 number, and the reason why it says twelve 33:58 stars the glory of the New Testament 34:01 church emanated from the work of the Old 34:04 Testament church twelve tribes, twelve disciples, 34:09 twelve apostles, so the glory of God carried 34:12 through from the beginning in his Old 34:14 Testament church and in the New Testament 34:16 church, twelve being the kingdom number of God. 34:19 That's why the glory of this woman is 34:22 reflected in her past, and in her future. 34:24 That's right. The glory of God. He has never 34:26 been without a message. God has never 34:29 been without a people, and so that's 34:30 what he is talking about, the kingdom 34:32 of God is fully established. You said 34:33 something very quickly there that I want 34:36 to emphasize, God has never been without 34:37 a people. Okay. This is important because 34:40 where God had a people from way back when 34:43 and most recently to the context of this verse, 34:46 the twelve tribes of Israel, and how his 34:50 people at this time that he was using or 34:54 trying to use to share the gospel with all 34:56 the world. We find as transitions to the 34:59 church in the New Testament era, the 35:03 twelve is still a very applicable number 35:05 because it so refers to God's people, 35:06 this is in some new covenant in the context 35:10 of completely replacing the old. The old 35:13 transitions to the new, it is all the everlasting 35:16 covenant. It's all one long covenant that 35:18 God has with a people that he has chosen. 35:20 So they don't coexist in some dual covenant 35:24 state. You know, the twelve tribes 35:27 along with the twelve churches that you 35:29 know we've heard all kinds of scenarios out 35:32 there that are given today. But God's people, 35:34 he's always had a people, and in this date 35:37 as we begin to read Revelation chapter 12. 35:39 We're finding that the state of the church 35:42 prior to the literal church, the early 35:44 church. This is prior to Christ birth, and 35:47 we'll see that here in the next couple of 35:48 verses. Okay, go to verse 3 then. 35:50 Then being with child, she cried out in labor 35:54 and in pain to give birth. And another sign 35:57 appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery 36:00 red dragon having seven heads and 36:02 ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 36:05 Okay, now you'll notice, he had seven crowns 36:11 because he had seven heads. Right. Right, you 36:16 notice there is something important here and this 36:21 dragon had a particular function and I want to 36:25 go down to that verse and then come back 36:27 because of what he attempted to do. He was 36:31 waiting for something to occur, and you will 36:33 understand the historical application 36:35 of this. As we begin you find the Great 36:38 Controversy and I want to point out to the fact 36:41 that Isaiah does his part, Isaiah does his 36:45 part to give ear to this Great Controversy. 36:47 We will see what happens. We're at 36:50 verse 3. Yes. We were at verse 3. 36:53 Another sign appearing in heaven. 36:55 Now identify the child though. Okay. That's 36:58 verse 2, so this woman has, she is with child, 37:02 she's in labor and she's in pain about to 37:04 give birth. Okay. Okay and so there is a child 37:07 here that is introduced that is going to come 37:10 upon the scene here that this fiery 37:12 red dragon is in great opposition to. Did you 37:15 read verse 4? No, let's read on verse 4. 37:17 Because that's fits in good. The tail drew a 37:19 third part of the stars, this is the tail 37:21 of this dragon, a third of the stars of 37:23 heaven and threw them to the earth, 37:25 and the dragon stood before the woman 37:27 who was ready to give birth to devour her 37:29 Child, capital seed child in many of 37:32 our Bibles as soon it was born. 37:36 And who is this child verse 5. She bore a 37:39 male child who was to rule all nations 37:42 with a rod of iron. And her child was 37:45 caught up to God and His throne. That 37:48 child is Jesus, and you will find that under 37:50 Pagan Rome, you not only see the controversy 37:54 in the very beginning of Satan being caste out 37:56 to the earth, but you'll see that this woman 38:00 who represents the New Testament church and in 38:03 particular in this particular story when 38:06 Mary was about to give birth to Jesus. 38:08 It was Satan's attempt through Herod to 38:12 find out where Jesus was being born. 38:15 You remember the story of the three 38:17 wise men. Well they didn't say how many 38:19 wise men but the wise men, you know we have 38:20 to say three, but the wise men when they went 38:22 to Jerusalem, they asked where is the birth of, 38:25 where is the King, where is the messiah, 38:26 where is the Jesus, where is the one that 38:27 was said to be born and they said we heard that 38:31 it was supposed to be in Bethlehem of Ephrata. 38:34 They didn't even have the experience, 38:36 they didn't know where it was going to be, 38:37 but they just gave reference and so from 38:39 there the wise men went to Bethlehem where 38:41 they found Jesus lying in a manger. But before 38:44 they went Herod heard about this and he was 38:46 troubled and he says when you find out where 38:48 this child is bring back the news, and 38:53 I thought it was amazing. He used 38:54 worship the same way, Satan uses worship. 38:56 Bring back the news and I will go and 38:58 worship him. He didn't want to worship 39:00 this child, what did he want to do? 39:01 He wanted to kill him. He wanted to 39:03 devour that child as soon as he was born, 39:05 and I thought how amazing when you 39:07 read the story in the book of Matthew that 39:09 Jesus and Jesus is kept safe by the Lord 39:15 revealing to Joseph to take the child and 39:18 go to Egypt. Now we say Egypt today 39:21 but that's Northern Africa. Take this child 39:23 to Northern Africa and stay there until danger 39:26 is past, and he stayed there until 39:28 Herod the very King that want to kill him 39:30 was now dead. Yeah. But you know the story 39:33 John and this is where history fits so 39:35 wonderfully that Herod showed his 39:39 intend because he killed all male children 39:42 two years old and under, which means he 39:45 waited about two years before the wise men to 39:48 come back and they never did, so he says 39:50 go to Bethlehem and kill all the male children 39:53 two years old and under. And then the Bible 39:55 has another prophecy of the weeping, 39:57 Rachel is weeping for his children and she 40:00 would not be comforted. See all this bloodshed 40:03 because Satan was determined if we kill 40:05 all the children two years old and under, 40:07 chances are we kill Jesus, but can 40:10 you kill Jesus? No, no And that's where 40:12 we are so far. And yeah the interesting thing 40:14 is here is notice how closely that this dragon 40:19 which we'll read is clearly Satan here 40:21 coming up. How closely he is related to this 40:25 power of Rome to do his work. That's right. 40:30 You see when Revelation speaks as it goes 40:32 through and it talks about this beast and 40:34 these powers that are opposing Christ. 40:36 How Satan is in the mix in all of them. 40:39 In all of them, that's right. Okay, so he 40:41 closely identifies, in fact if you look at 40:43 Revelation 13, it says the first piece of 40:45 13 is given authority by Satan himself for 40:49 the dragon. The next beast starting in verse 40:51 11 works in with the same authority as the first 40:54 beast, okay. So clearly we find Satan 40:58 in the midst or so involved with these 41:01 kingdoms. Pulling the strings. He speaks 41:04 of him as doing the work. That's right 41:05 That's important, that's an important 41:08 key to the rest of the Revelation as 41:09 it talks about these different things 41:11 because Satan is clearly identified, and often 41:15 Revelation will back and forth between 41:16 talking about that nation and Satan 41:18 himself. You know what's wonderful 41:21 about this also John as we're talking about this 41:22 and I believe the Lord impresses upon my mind 41:24 is that had Satan known where Jesus was, 41:29 he would not have wasted his time to just 41:32 kill all the kids that are two years old or under. 41:34 He would have gone directly to Jesus. 41:35 But such is so beautiful about that is this great 41:39 time of trouble that came upon Bethlehem 41:41 and all the mothers that are there. The Lord 41:44 hid his son from the one who wanted to 41:48 destroy him. So what that says to me 41:50 is in the time of trouble and Psalms 41:52 91 says it: "Under his wings shall we trust: 41:57 his truth shall be our shield and our defense." 42:00 So when difficulty comes the Lord has, Satan 42:03 lost all cool if I could use the word there. 42:06 He just decided to go onto this great 42:08 slaughter of killing all the children two 42:10 years old and under, but he couldn't find Jesus. 42:12 Jesus was in fact being protected by his Father; 42:18 the holy angels protected Jesus during 42:20 this time of great slaughter. But then 42:23 he says in verse 5 just to make it very, 42:25 very clear what happened to Jesus. 42:27 She bore a male child who was to rule 42:31 all nations with the rod of iron, and then 42:33 ultimately and her child was caught up to God 42:37 and his throne. So Jesus is the one sitting 42:42 at the right hand of the Father not that 42:44 he just sat there for the first time, 42:45 but after he finished his earthly work he 42:48 ascended back to where he came, and I like that 42:51 in John 8, I think it's John 8:44. 42:53 Where Jesus said I am the bread that 42:57 came down from heaven. When they 42:59 wondered well how could you give me bread. 43:00 He says Moses was not that bread, 43:02 but I am the bread that came down from 43:05 heaven. So where he came from is where 43:07 he went back to, came down incarnate in 43:10 that child, and then when he has done his 43:12 work, but Satan couldn't kill and 43:13 that's the good news here. That's right. Now 43:15 verse 6 talks about how this woman after he 43:20 was caught up to his throne to sit at the 43:22 right hand of his Father. How this 43:24 woman fled into the wilderness. 43:25 That's right. For a period of one 43:28 thousand two hundred and sixty days, 43:30 and we know a day equals a year in prophetic 43:33 times, so this is a twelve hundred and 43:34 sixty year period which is the same, 43:39 which is a direct reference to verse 14 as well. 43:42 So we got to connect these, so in between that passage 43:46 and verse 14 on, we are going to find this story 43:51 back up just a little bit, and here's probably is 43:54 the easiest way to explain what we are reading here. 43:56 Whenever you read a book, you're reading a nice story, 44:00 you open a book and it's a story about a family 44:04 and the different people involved in the story 44:06 and the characters that come into this story are 44:09 introduced one by one often and as you're reading 44:11 this book you get to maybe a new chapter 44:13 and all of a sudden it will shift gears a little bit 44:16 because it wants to bring another character in. 44:18 Right, okay. So it will say well and there was 44:21 this man who you know completely out of story 44:23 you've already read and he was from Omaha 44:26 and he rode his chariot in and so forth and so on. 44:29 So that new chapter will back up and give 44:32 you a different perspective from someone else's angle, 44:34 and another character's angle coming in, 44:36 what we find here is this war that broke out in heaven 44:39 is the story backing up a little bit and saying okay 44:43 now to where we got, where were you just read, 44:45 we need to give you the rest of the story. 44:47 So we are going to go back, way back when 44:50 and we are going to talk about what happened 44:52 in the beginning. To get this dragon to where 44:55 he is today doing what he is doing with this 44:56 male child. Here's where we start and that's verse 7. 45:01 Did you finish, you read verse 6 right, 45:03 I just read verse 6 and emphasize this point here, 45:05 I wanna bring out is this women talked about here. 45:08 I think we know by now but it I think it bears 45:10 repeating for those who may not catch it. 45:12 This is the existence of the Church, how she survived, 45:16 right, how the Church survived? 45:18 The New Testament Church on to the Roman powers 45:21 where Christians were being slaughtered by the 45:24 thousands, there was a ten year period Roman 45:27 emperor Diocletian tried to wipe out the Christians 45:29 Church from 303 to 313 A.D, tried to wipe them out, 45:33 but they couldn't wipe them out and then 45:35 you find later on and this is where we're going now. 45:38 To verse 7 taking us way back to the beginning 45:41 but this one thousand two hundred and sixty year 45:43 period where the Church thrived and continued to go 45:45 on, is because the Lord, the Lord prepared to place 45:51 for her. Yeah, in the wilderness, 45:53 and that's verse 14 what I was saying, 45:55 we're gonna come back to that, okay, okay 45:57 great and so I just wanted to say. 45:58 There is the connection of 6 to 14 now, right. 46:01 It backs up in verse 7, so we're gonna see this 46:03 great controversy begin in verse 7 with a war. 46:09 And where does this war begin it could have 46:11 started in heaven could it. Wars are part of earth, 46:14 that's right you know that's where bad thing 46:17 happen you know. You know a good way of seeing 46:19 it before you read 7 John. Is wars happen where the 46:22 warrior is, people that are contentious you know 46:26 they can go into a perfectly peaceful environment 46:28 and you know somebody said you know if you were 46:30 not here everything would have been just fine. 46:32 And I think that's the situation here, 46:33 which John could you do me this favor. 46:35 Let's see the warrior in his true element before 46:39 we see what he did, go to Isaiah 14, okay I think 46:42 it's important to go there because we have to see his, 46:44 in order for there to be a war, we got to see 46:47 what they're fighting over, what are you fighting 46:48 over. You know sometimes the police show up 46:49 and says can somebody tell me how this argument 46:51 started and you know people that are there were 46:53 I don't know I mean I just saw, I just saw 46:55 glasses flying , I just heard plates breaking, 46:58 I don't know what happen and then the two people 47:00 step forward and say. When I was sitting down, 47:02 this is what he said and this is my response. 47:05 So, that's what Isaiah 14 I think around verse 12. 47:07 Am not mistaken let's go ahead and put the 47:09 clearance, yes and just see you know 47:11 why we're reading Isaiah 14 beginning with verse 12 47:15 because this dragon is introduced as Satan in 47:17 verse 9, so okay let's go back and find out 47:20 how Satan began his whole issue with God. 47:24 His controversy, his controversy, 47:26 Isaiah 14 verse 12: "How you are fallen from heaven, 47:30 O Lucifer, son of the morning! Okay, 47:33 How you are cut down to the ground, 47:36 You who weakened the nations! For you have said 47:39 in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, 47:42 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; 47:46 I will also sit on the mount of the congregation 47:49 on the farther sides of the north, I will ascend above 47:53 the heights of the clouds, I will be 47:55 like the Most High. Verse 15 and 16 and then here 48:00 is the response. Yet you shall be brought down to 48:03 Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. 48:08 Or quite opposite of what he wanted, 48:10 but clearly here what is, what is Satan's goal. 48:12 His goal is to be like God, like God. 48:16 Yeah, we've talked about this in our question period 48:20 John and this is so much here me you've got to 48:22 really stop some times and say okay. 48:24 Let's take a breathe because we're giving you a lot, 48:26 we want you to understand the great controversy 48:29 rather than just us communicating it to you 48:31 with our own pre-understanding 48:33 because it seems sensible to us. So, what we want 48:36 you to see here is Satan made a claim, 48:38 Satan made a claim and says you know what. 48:40 I'm going to replace your God and I'm sure 48:45 I'm going to do this but the Lord says: no you 48:48 will not, I'm gonna cast you down to the earth. 48:52 So, you clearly see when he was cast to the earth, 48:55 Revelation is gonna give us a portion now so go 48:58 to Revelation 12 verse 7 and then we're gonna shoot 49:00 all the way back to the Genesis 3 and see what 49:02 happen when he was cast to earth. It's beautiful, 49:05 how it stitches the Bible together from beginning 49:07 to end but now Revelation 12 verse 7: 49:10 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his 49:14 angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon 49:17 and his angels fought. But they did not prevail, 49:20 nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 49:24 Okay, don't go to verse 9 yet, because we're gonna 49:25 see his accelerated, we're gonna see his accelerated 49:28 approach to the great controversy. 49:30 He was kicked out, the question is we know that 49:34 he was kicked out; he was cast down to the earth. 49:37 And his angels were cast down with him. 49:39 But when he was kicked out the question is 49:42 if he has a problem and this is what I'm posing 49:45 before we go down to Genesis. This deceiver is 49:49 the one that is kicked out, matter of fact, 49:51 First Timothy 7 verse 14 I believe is where that is, 49:57 check that out for me John and hold that passage 50:00 because what I'm gonna do now is after we just 50:02 read this seeing that there was a war in Heaven Satan 50:05 and his angels fought against the dragon 50:07 and the dragon fought and his angels. 50:09 When you go back to verse 4, Revelation 12 50:11 you see one third of the angels joined him in 50:14 his rebellion, which means two third of the angels 50:17 remained. Is that the one about deceived, 50:20 which chapter you said? 2 verse 14. 50:27 Adam was not deceived, okay, good, don't read 50:28 it yet. Okay, great, you got it. Now you'll see 50:31 clearly when he was cast out, it would be one thing 50:34 to be cast down to the earth but the question is 50:36 How did we get into his predicament? 50:38 You see the war that started in the beginning 50:41 he was cast out unto the earth, 50:43 Revelation 12 verse 4 and his angels were cast 50:45 out with him. But what are they doing when they 50:47 got kicked out? Well, makes the statement 50:48 in here first, Michael's introduced and it's not 50:51 another player to the great controversy, 50:53 okay good one to go, okay because Michael here 50:56 who was fighting against the dragon, 50:58 Michael has angels as well. The dragon has his 51:03 angels on his side, Michael has his angels on his side 51:06 and we find that a third were cast out with Satan 51:09 so it's two thirds verses one third and Michael is 51:14 in charge he's the arch angel over the one, 51:17 the head, over all of his angels the two third 51:20 that were good, that remained. Now, Michael 51:22 some reference as some other super angel 51:25 you know head angel that had replaced Satan 51:27 or something at the time. But Michael we believe 51:30 clearly is a reference to Jesus Christ, right, 51:32 Michael means one who is like God. That's right, 51:35 okay so this is a reference to Jesus Christ, 51:39 not a reference to another angel. Not a reference 51:42 and if you want anymore detail on that send 51:44 us an email. And ask us about it because 51:46 we can answer that question in a lot more detail that 51:48 we just have. But there is reason why clearly 51:51 Michael is Jesus Christ not an angel, okay but 51:56 anyway so here we have two groups of angels 51:59 fighting the good and the bad. And then now 52:02 what we're doing, we're going to. 52:04 Now, and I think that it's good you talked about 52:07 Revelation 12:7 there, go to Revelation 12:9 52:14 and I stopped you before you got to that but 52:15 I think it's imperative to read it here because 52:17 we need to see something. Okay: 52:18 "So the great dragon was cast out, 52:22 that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, 52:25 who deceives the whole world; he was cast to 52:28 the earth and his angels were cast out with him." 52:30 Okay great now we have the devil lost the battle. 52:34 He was cast out to earth and who was he called, 52:37 he's called the great dragon, serpent of old. 52:41 Right, serpent of old, you know about him already. 52:46 You know, who is, John thousands of 52:51 years after the serpent of old had done his work. 52:55 John says, you remember that serpent of old, 52:58 lets see that serpent of old. Way back to Genesis 3, 53:01 because and then you have that second, 53:03 you have that First Timothy text right, yeah, right. 53:05 This serpent of old was busy long before John 53:09 talked about serpent of old. He says let me give 53:11 you a panoramic view here, Genesis 3 and we may 53:14 or may not be able through this. But I'm gonna try 53:15 my best, Genesis 3 verse 1: Now the serpent, 53:20 Genesis 3 verse 1: Now the serpent was more cunning 53:22 than any beast of the field which the Lord God 53:24 had made. And he said to the woman, 53:28 "Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every 53:30 tree of the garden?" But first of all you may not 53:33 get this but serpents don't talk. Okay, that's 53:37 the first thing that comes out, animals don't talk. 53:40 And I'm sure she thought that, right and it didn't 53:43 escape her, that was part of the lure. 53:45 If you went to the zoo and all of a sudden the 53:48 monkey said come over here, exactly. 53:51 You say, hey guys listen a talking monkey, 53:53 you know and the giraffe says could you pass 53:56 me a straw. You know, there's a talking giraffe, 53:59 you get thrown off right away you say this is 54:01 unusual so the part of the lure was this is the first, 54:04 this is the first reference in history to Satan 54:08 channeling through another entity and the reason 54:13 why we'll see later on the reason why the serpent 54:15 was punished is because it was not something 54:17 that was done against his will. The woman now 54:20 notice the serpent and the women here, 54:22 the same picture in Revelation 12 you have 54:24 the serpent and the women. The serpent that is Satan 54:27 said to the woman, the women said to the serpent 54:29 we verse 2, "We may eat the fruit of the trees 54:31 of the garden; but the fruit of the tree which is 54:34 in the midst of the garden, God has said, 54:36 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, 54:38 lest you die. That's the key: Then the serpent said 54:42 to the women, "You will not surely die." 54:47 You will not surely die and John when you begin 54:51 to put this whole thing and I'm gonna give you the 54:53 long broad picture of the Babylonian system. 54:55 When you think of this entire system of deception, 54:57 one of the greatest lies that is still held on to 55:00 this day. Is that when people die, they don't 55:04 really die. One of the instruments of this system 55:08 of deception and I want you read and I'm gonna 55:11 read this very quickly here. When the serpent said 55:14 that to the woman, he said to her something God 55:16 knows that day that you eat of the tree of knowledge 55:19 of good and evil. Your eyes will be opened 55:21 and you'll be like God, second lie you could be 55:23 like God. First one, you won't die, second one 55:26 you'll be like God and look at verse 6 Genesis 3: 55:29 So when the woman saw that the tree was good 55:31 for food and it was pleasant to the eyes, 55:33 and a tree desirable to make one wise, 55:35 she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to 55:38 her husband with her, and he ate. The eyes of both of 55:42 them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; 55:45 and they sewed fig leaves together and 55:47 made themselves coverings. Notice the difference the 55:49 woman in Revelation was clothed, she was clothed 55:52 until she believes the Satan, until she believes 55:55 Satan and she lost her clothing which is the 55:57 righteousness of God. Right, right and that's where 56:00 she spiritually died, that's where she spiritually 56:03 died and she didn't die immediately but spiritual 56:05 death precedes physical death, that's right. 56:08 And so I think instead of and I want you to read 56:12 First Timothy just to wind up this segment 56:14 because keep this in mind, she wasn't the reason 56:16 why sin entered the world. Read it in verse, 56:19 it says: "And Adam was not deceived, 56:21 but the woman being deceived, fell into 56:23 transgression." Nevertheless she will be saved in 56:27 childbearing if they continue in faith, love, 56:29 and holiness with self-control. Okay, so 56:31 you clearly see there so what we're going to 56:34 see next John and this is like our start 56:37 there is still some more we have to go back here 56:38 and recover. But kind of get us to where 56:41 we're going to be heading in the next passage, 56:43 before we wind up our program. 56:44 Well, we're at the point already right now 56:46 where Satan was cast out of Heaven right. 56:50 He's sent to the earth, because that's what 56:51 he was cast to and Adam and Eve fall into sin, 56:56 so the question is here in this controversy 56:59 what, where does Satan go from here? Okay, 57:03 okay. Where he's gonna go, what is he going to do? 57:07 Now, that he thinks he has the earth as his. 57:10 Okay, and this is where the battle occurs between 57:14 Christ and Satan, Christ is trying to get that, 57:17 get it back. And Satan who claims that it's his, 57:20 we're gonna go there and so friends, 57:22 don't forget we have a lot more to cover 57:24 but we thank you for tuning into this 57:26 House Calls program. The great controversy 57:28 continues but here's the nutshell, 57:29 Christ is the victor, choose him 57:31 today, live your life in Christ. |
Revised 2014-12-17