Participants:
Series Code: RAD
Program Code: RAD170021A
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00:01 What does the future hold?
00:02 Where can we find certainty in a world of uncertainty? 00:05 The Book of Revelation provides hopeful answers for today, 00:09 tomorrow and forever. 00:11 Join Mark Finley, author and world-renowned speaker 00:14 on a journey into the future with 00:17 "Revelation's Ancient Discoveries." 00:23 The Book of Revelation is a book of contrasts. 00:27 It talks about two leaders, the Lamb and the Dragon. 00:31 Two harvests, harvest of golden grain, 00:34 the saved, and the harvest of gory grapes, the lost. 00:37 It talks about two cities, Jerusalem, from above, 00:41 and Babylon, from beneath. 00:42 It talks about two spirits, 00:44 the Holy Spirit that possesses men 00:46 and women at the time of the end, 00:48 and the unholy sprit of demons. 00:50 The Book of Revelation talks also about two women, 00:53 and it's those two women, 00:55 it's the topic of our discussion 00:57 for this presentation. 00:58 Let's pray together. 01:00 Father in Heaven, as we study 01:02 the two great women of Revelation, 01:04 notice the difference between the two, 01:06 help us constantly 01:08 to distinguish between truth and error, 01:11 help us distinguish between error, falsehood, 01:15 deception that is so gripping the minds of people 01:19 and the clarity, the certainty, the definiteness of your truth. 01:23 Come Jesus, speak to our hearts 01:26 and reveal yourself in this presentation 01:29 in Christ's name, amen. 01:31 The topic for this telecast is "Revelation's Last Appeal." 01:36 As we go to the Book of Revelation, 01:38 it's the Revelation of Jesus, 01:40 and Jesus loves us so much 01:43 that He desires us to know the road ahead. 01:48 If there were a bridge out on a rainy night 01:52 because of the swelling of some river 01:55 that knocked it out, and you knew your son, 01:58 your daughter was traveling that road, 02:00 and they had a cell phone, 02:02 wouldn't you call them and warn them 02:04 that the bridge was out? 02:05 Would you think, 02:07 "Well, I don't want to offend them, 02:09 that's the shortest way home. 02:11 I don't want to upset them. 02:13 I don't want to trade any trouble, 02:14 I'm just gonna let them drive." 02:16 You wouldn't think that way at all. 02:18 If there were an emergency, 02:19 you would want to warn your son, 02:22 your daughter about that emergency. 02:25 In the Book of Revelation, God warns us of what's coming. 02:29 He does it in Revelation in a variety of ways, 02:33 but particularly by contrasting two women. 02:36 Let's look at them both. 02:38 In Revelation 12, a woman arises. 02:42 She is beautiful. 02:44 Dressed in white, 02:45 she has a crown and 12 stars upon her head. 02:48 She is pure, righteous, 02:51 iridescent with the glory of God. 02:54 What does a woman represent in Bible prophecy? 02:57 Jeremiah 6:2 says this, 02:59 "I have likened the daughter of Zion," 03:01 now Zion is of course the church, 03:03 "to a lovely and delicate woman." 03:06 God likens His church to a woman. 03:10 You find that throughout scripture. 03:12 In the Book of Isaiah, He says, "I have adorned you, to myself. 03:17 I've embraced you as a precious bride." 03:21 This bride imagery is used in Jeremiah, 03:24 it's used in Isaiah, 03:26 certainly used throughout the New Testament as well. 03:29 Ephesians 5 talks about 03:31 the church as the bride of Christ. 03:35 Christ is the husband, the church is the bride. 03:39 So a pure woman, a chaste woman, 03:41 in scripture represents the church 03:43 or the bride of Christ. 03:45 When the church goes out after the world, 03:48 according to James 4:4, the prophet says, 03:54 "You adulterers and adulteresses 03:56 who have gone out after the world, 03:59 so if the bride of Christ, the church, 04:01 leaves her true lover Jesus, 04:03 and goes out after the world 04:05 that is called Spiritual adultery." 04:08 So in the Book of Revelation you have this woman, 04:11 "The Faithful Bride of Christ." 04:14 She is faithful to Jesus. He is the passion of her life. 04:19 She is faithful to His Word. 04:22 His Word becomes her guiding principle. 04:25 She is faithful to His law, 04:28 and just like a loving wife desires 04:30 to make her husband happy, so the bride of Christ desires 04:34 to make Him happy by pleasing Him. 04:37 But the scene quickly changes, 04:40 and we go from Revelation 12 to Revelation 17. 04:45 There is another woman presented here 04:48 in Revelation 17, 04:50 and this is not the true bride of Christ, 04:53 not the faithful church of Christ, 04:55 but this describes an Apostate Religious System. 04:59 The New Testament church is radiant with Christ, 05:02 the Son of Righteousness. 05:03 The apostate church has drifted away from Christ 05:08 and she is not clothed in the garments 05:11 of Christ's righteousness like the bride of Christ is. 05:15 The bride of Christ stands on the moon. 05:19 You know, the moon reflects the light of the sun, 05:22 and so that would reflect in New Testament language, 05:26 the Old Testament. 05:27 So the New Testament church emerges standing 05:31 on the foundation of the Old Testament. 05:35 This woman has 12 stars upon her head. 05:38 The church guided 05:39 by its leadership are 12 disciples 05:41 or 12 apostles. 05:43 She is clothed with white raiment, 05:46 she has the righteousness of Christ 05:48 and according to Revelation 19:9 and onward, 05:51 that the righteous Christ 05:53 is the righteous deeds of the saints. 05:54 So what do I see, and what do we see 05:57 from the biblical symbolism of Revelation 12? 05:59 We see the bride of Christ, faithful to Christ, 06:02 basing her teachings on the Word of Christ, 06:05 guided by divine administrators, 06:07 the apostles, and clothed 06:10 with the righteousness of Christ 06:11 that leads her to do good works. 06:14 Here, in Revelation 17, 06:16 we see quite a different picture. 06:18 Revelation 17:1, 2, 06:20 "Then one of the seven angels 06:22 who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, 06:25 saying to me, 'Come, and I will show you 06:29 the judgment of the great harlot 06:31 who sits on many waters." 06:33 Now notice this woman is called a harlot. 06:35 She has left her true lover, Jesus. 06:38 She has drifted away from the one 06:42 that woos her and desires her to come back. 06:46 "Come, I will show 06:47 the judgment of the great harlot." 06:50 This fallen church system, this apostate church system, 06:54 who sits on many waters, 06:57 "with whom the kings of the earth 06:58 have committed fornication, 07:01 and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk 07:03 with the wine of her fornication." 07:06 Now let's look at every phrase in that passage. 07:10 This woman sits upon a scarlet colored beast. 07:15 She is decked out in her scarlet in purple. 07:18 She is ornamented. 07:20 She has a wine cup in her hands, 07:23 and she passes it around, 07:26 and the world gets drunk with it. 07:28 What does the beast represent? 07:30 What does the wine cup represent? 07:33 What about this woman, who does she represent? 07:37 Revelation 17:15, 07:39 what about these waters that she sits on. 07:42 "Then he said to me, 'The waters which you saw, 07:44 where the harlot sits, 07:46 are peoples, multitudes, nations, 07:49 and tongues.'" 07:50 What then does the water or the sea represent? 07:54 Multitudes, nations, or tongues. 07:57 So this woman dominates multitudes of peoples, 08:02 this must be an international power, 08:05 a power that has deceived peoples, 08:07 multitudes, nations and tongues. 08:10 Now what is fornication? 08:12 Fornication is an illicit union. 08:15 So this woman, the fallen church power unites 08:19 with the state in an illicit union, 08:23 rather than uniting with her husband, 08:25 Jesus Christ, in a legitimate union. 08:28 So what we are seeing here 08:29 is a picture of a compromised church, 08:33 a church in apostasy, 08:35 that has united with the state powers. 08:39 In the fallen church system, 08:41 the church is united with the state. 08:44 In the true church system, 08:46 the church is united with Jesus Christ. 08:50 In the true church system, 08:52 you have one thing and that is union with Jesus, 08:57 oneness with Jesus, fellowship with Jesus. 09:00 In fallen church system, betrayal of Christ, 09:03 union with fellowship, cozying up to the state powers. 09:08 The fallen church looks to the kings 09:11 and political leaders of the earth for power, 09:14 and anytime the church does that, 09:17 it indicates apostasy, 09:19 and certainly the spiritual weakness 09:22 of the church. 09:23 When the church turns to the state for its power, 09:26 it indicates that it has lost the power of God. 09:31 So Revelation 17:3, 09:34 "So he carried me away in the Spirit 09:36 in the wilderness. 09:38 And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet colored beast." 09:42 Beast representing the state. 09:44 Fallen woman, the church. 09:46 The church then governs or drives the state 09:50 which is full of names of blasphemy, 09:53 having seven heads and ten horns. 09:55 The harlot woman of Revelation 17, 09:58 of course, represents that false system of religion. 10:03 The beast on which she rides, represents what? 10:06 The state. So church, state, union. 10:10 In the Bible Commentary, 10:11 page 593, by Fausset, and Jamieson, and Brown. 10:16 The comment is made very insightful. 10:19 "State and Church are precious gifts of God. 10:23 But the State being desecrated becomes beastlike, 10:28 the Church apostatizing becomes the harlot." 10:31 So Bible commentators down 10:34 through the ages have recognized 10:37 this symbolism of church, state, union. 10:41 Now "The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet," 10:44 so here we have a fallen church system 10:47 that unites with the state in the period of the dark ages, 10:51 whose colors are purple and scarlet. 10:54 "And she is adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, 10:59 having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations 11:01 and the filthiness of her fornication." 11:04 So here is a church state union, 11:06 the church becomes wealthy, 11:08 its churches become lavish and it grows up 11:12 in the dark ages out of Rome. 11:15 Now notice it says, 11:16 there is a golden cup full of abominations. 11:20 The golden wine cup in her hand, 11:22 of course, represents the intoxication 11:25 of false doctrine. 11:27 When you drink wine or alcohol, it impacts the brain. 11:31 It impacts conscience, reason and judgment, 11:34 so you can't think well. 11:36 One night I was outside of Chicago, 11:38 preaching in LaGrange, Illinois... 11:41 Actually it was in a YMCA, and I was preaching away, 11:43 I was young 11:45 and I was preaching enthusiastically 11:47 on the wine of Babylon, 11:48 and a drunk man walked in to the meeting, 11:51 fell asleep in the back, and I'm preaching along, 11:54 and I'm saying, "Wine defiles your conscience, 11:58 you can't think straight, you can't reason straight, 12:01 you become irrational," and the old drunk woke up. 12:05 And as he woke up, he stood up again 12:07 shaking his finger at me saying, 12:09 "That's enough young man, that's enough young man." 12:13 He didn't care about the rest of the sermon 12:14 but when I said something 12:16 about wine affecting your brain, 12:17 that old guy stood up, "That's enough young man." 12:20 It's one of those memories 12:21 I have in my preaching down through the years. 12:24 You see, wine does affect the brain. 12:27 So it's a good representation of false doctrine. 12:31 People get so confused, 12:33 so befuddled with the false doctrine of the world 12:36 that they need to be sobered up by the Word of God. 12:39 They become so confused and inebriated, 12:42 intoxicated 12:44 with the false teachings of Babylon. 12:46 So what's the prediction? Church and state would unite. 12:49 The wine cup of Babylon, 12:50 false doctrines would be passed around, 12:53 millions of people would take those false doctrines 12:56 and they would be religiously confused. 12:59 Notice Revelation 17:5, 13:02 "And on her forehead a name was written: 13:05 Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots 13:09 and of The Abominations of the Earth." 13:12 Now notice the expression, The Mother of Harlots. 13:15 So here you have the great mother church, 13:18 that would grow out of Rome, church and state would unite, 13:22 she would pass around her wine cup of false doctrines, 13:26 people would be confused, and this mother church 13:29 would also have many daughter churches, 13:32 Protestant daughter churches 13:34 who hadn't always broken for mother, 13:37 they haven't come all the way out of mother. 13:39 So the Protestant Reformation raised up by God, 13:44 anointed by God, truth restored. 13:47 But here is the challenge. 13:49 Most of those Protestant churches 13:52 did not go far enough. 13:54 They still imbibed some of that wine cup, 13:57 still accepted 13:59 some of the false doctrines, some of them, 14:01 baptism of infants 14:02 that has no foundation in the Bible, some of them, 14:04 the idea the immortality of the soul, 14:07 the soul going on, pagan philosophy, 14:10 no foundation in the Bible, Greek philosophy. 14:13 Some of them retain idols in their worship, 14:16 again no foundation in the Bible. 14:18 And most of them retain Sunday worship 14:20 which again not founded in scripture. 14:23 So here in Revelation 17, 14:26 Babylon is a term used by God 14:30 to describe apostasy, falsehood, 14:34 the teachings of men coming into the church, 14:36 or more accurately religious confusion, 14:40 where human beings 14:41 and their teachings become the center. 14:43 Now did you notice the expression, Babylon, 14:46 The Mother of Harlots. 14:48 If you are going to understand this prophecy, 14:53 it's necessary to understand Babylon. 14:56 Why does the Bible say Babylon 14:58 when Babylon had long been destroyed? 15:01 Babylon ruled from 605 B.C 15:07 to 539 B.C. 15:10 In 539, the Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon. 15:13 So what does the New Testament mean 15:15 when it talks about Babylon? 15:18 You have in the Bible, Literal Babylon 15:21 that was the Old Testament phenomenon. 15:25 Literal Babylon was this power in the days of Daniel 15:29 that was a world ruling, world dominant power. 15:32 In the Book of Revelation, you have Spiritual Babylon. 15:36 Spiritual Babylon is to revive many of the teachings 15:41 of Old Testament Pagan Babylon. 15:44 Spiritual Babylon is a false religious system 15:48 just as Literal Babylon was a false religious system 15:51 that stood against the Israelites. 15:53 But if you are really gonna understand Spiritual Babylon 15:57 and understand the Book of Revelation, 15:58 you have to go back 16:00 and look at Literal Babylon and say, 16:02 "What was the very foundation of Literal Babylon's beliefs?" 16:06 If I can understand Literal Babylon's beliefs, 16:10 then I can understand something about Spiritual Babylon 16:14 and particularly I can understand 16:16 God's call out of Spiritual Babylon. 16:20 "False doctrines would come into the church 16:22 through this false religious system 16:24 called Babylon." 16:26 So Jesus said in John 17:17, 16:30 "Sanctify them through Your truth. 16:32 Your word is truth." 16:34 Babylon always, Old Testament, New Testament has turned 16:38 from the truth of God's Word to falsehood, 16:41 turned from the certainty of God's Word 16:44 to the teachings of man. 16:46 Christ is leading us back to His Word. 16:50 He is leading us back to the truth of His Word. 16:52 So let's go back to Old Testament Babylon. 16:55 What's its origin? 16:57 Its origin was at the Tower of Babel. 16:59 You remember God said 17:00 that He would never destroy the world with a flood again. 17:05 After the Noah's flood, 17:08 the Babel builders came to build that tower, 17:11 they built it in defiance of God. 17:15 They said, "If God ever destroys the world 17:16 with flood again, 17:18 we will build a tower up into heaven 17:20 and we will be able to survive that flood." 17:24 Of course that was contrary to God's Word 17:26 because He promised with the rainbow in the sky 17:28 that He'd never set a flood again. 17:30 So the Tower of Babel was built by human beings 17:33 in defiance of God. 17:36 What happened at the Tower of Babel? 17:38 Genesis 11:9, 17:39 "Therefore its name is called Babel, 17:42 because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth." 17:46 So the builders were building in defiance of God 17:50 with human pride, and arrogance, and authority 17:52 that they're gonna build this tower to heaven. 17:54 God confuses the languages. 17:56 It was on this site that Babylon, 17:59 the city of Babylon was built. 18:02 So what does Babylon represent? 18:04 It represents confusion. 18:06 Confused religion 18:08 rather than the clarity of God's truth, 18:10 the light of God's truth, the Word of God. 18:13 It represents confusion, represents distorted religion, 18:17 it represents the religion of man 18:20 rather than the religion of Christ. 18:23 We at the church used to proclaim truth, 18:26 not babble in confusion. 18:29 Now there are at least five major characteristics 18:34 of this Old Testament Babylon, 18:36 and to understand the foundation of Babylon 18:40 is to understand Revelation 17 18:43 and what's happening in the Christian church. 18:44 The first characteristic 18:46 of Old Testament Babylon is this, Daniel 4:30. 18:50 So in Old Testament Babylon, 18:51 Nebuchadnezzar speaks and it says, 18:53 "The king spoke, saying, 'Is not this great Babylon, 18:58 that I have built for a royal dwelling 19:02 by my mighty power for the honor of my majesty?'" 19:06 Here's point one, 19:07 Babylon represents a humanist system. 19:12 Nebuchadnezzar says, 19:13 "Is not this great Babylon 19:18 that I have built?" 19:19 So the false religious system of Revelation 17 19:24 is built on the teachings of man. 19:27 It is built on the word of man. 19:30 It's built on the traditions of man 19:33 rather than the living Word of God. 19:37 So Babylon is a man-made system of religion. 19:41 It's a human system of religion. 19:43 It's kind of interesting 19:45 when the archaeologists Robert Koldewey 19:48 and his team excavated Old Testament Babylon. 19:52 They excavated the procession way 19:55 which leads into the Ishtar Gate 19:58 that lead into the city and as they did, 20:00 every brick had Nebuchadnezzar's name 20:03 written on it. 20:04 So Nebuchadnezzar was filled with pride, 20:07 filled with egotism, 20:08 and Nebuchadnezzar dominated Babylon. 20:12 So New Testament spiritual Babylon 20:16 would represent the teachings of man 20:18 rather than the teachings of Christ. 20:20 Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, "I will build My church, 20:25 and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." 20:29 Jesus said, "I am gonna build my church." 20:32 So Babylon is a system built by man and here, 20:36 the New Testament church is built by Christ. 20:38 I've had some people say to me, 20:40 "I don't want anything to do with the church, 20:42 the church is a bureaucratic institution, 20:45 I want to worship at home. 20:47 I don't trust organizations." 20:49 But Jesus says, "I will build My church." 20:53 The true church of Christ 20:55 is not man-made, it's Jesus-made. 20:58 What did Jesus say about the church? 21:00 He said, "I will build My church, 21:02 the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." 21:05 Down through the ages, 21:06 Satan has persecuted the church. 21:08 Satan's brought falsehood into the church, 21:10 but Jesus, as already he has had a faithful remnant, 21:15 a faithful body of believers 21:18 that would not compromise their integrity. 21:21 Jesus said, I'll build my church in what? 21:23 The gates of hell will not prevail against it. 21:28 So two systems of religion, two streams of religion. 21:32 One man-made, one God-made. 21:34 One built on confession to a man, 21:37 the other built on confession to Jesus. 21:40 One built on the pre-earthly priesthood, 21:42 the other built on Christ death, resurrection, 21:45 and His heavenly priesthood. 21:46 One that directs our attention to lavish, earthly temples, 21:50 the other that directs our attention 21:52 to the heavenly temple where Christ reigns for us. 21:57 Jesus says, through the Apostle Paul, 22:00 that we have a high priest 22:02 that we can come boldly too to find grace 22:05 and help in the time of need. 22:07 Hebrews 4:15,"We can come." 22:10 It opened our hearts to Christ, 22:12 we can come and find in Him salvation, 22:16 in Him forgiveness, in Him freedom from guilt, 22:20 in Him a high priest who meet our every need. 22:24 We've sinned. 22:26 We cannot approach God, 22:28 we are not worthy to approach God. 22:30 But in Jesus, 22:31 and through Jesus is our priest, 22:34 we can come before the heavenly courts knowing 22:37 that Jesus is there for us. 22:39 Jesus is calling us 22:41 from all human systems of religion. 22:44 He is calling us to put Him first in our lives. 22:50 He is calling us to the church that He has built. 22:52 Scripture is plain on the authority of Christ. 22:56 Colossians 1:18, 22:58 "And He is the head of the body, the church, 23:02 who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 23:05 that in all the things He may have preeminence." 23:09 Christ is the head of the church. 23:10 You see, in true Christianity, 23:14 the church does not have an earthly head. 23:17 In true Christianity, there may be spiritual leaders 23:20 that guide the church and we praise God for them. 23:23 They may be spiritual leaders 23:25 that give governance to the church, 23:26 we are thankful to them. 23:28 But in true Christianity, 23:31 the only true head of the church, 23:34 the one who has preeminence over all, is Jesus Christ. 23:38 "The true church of God is the only organization 23:42 so big that its body is upon earth, 23:46 but its Head is in heaven." 23:48 The church of God looks to Jesus for its salvation. 23:54 The church on earth, the earthly Babylon, 23:58 a man-made system looks to a human being 24:02 who has decreased our declaim to be infallible. 24:06 So there is a major shift of emphasis from the total, 24:11 absolute, 100% dependence on Christ 24:15 and a looking to an earthly leader. 24:19 "In the last days a church state system 24:21 would arise called Spiritual Babylon 24:23 that would have a spiritual leader, 24:25 that would claim to speak" ex cathedra, 24:28 that is out of the chair infallibly for God. 24:32 But yet God calls us from the lavishness, 24:35 God calls us from the authority of man, 24:38 God calls us 24:40 from the preeminence of human leaders, 24:42 God calls us from the authority of human leaders 24:46 to the preeminence of Christ, to the authority of Christ, 24:50 to believing that there is only one leader 24:54 and that's Jesus Christ. 24:55 Now the second thing about Babylon, 24:56 second great principle is this, 24:58 Babylon was the center of image worship. 25:03 When you look at Babylon in the Old Testament, 25:06 it is filled with idols and images. 25:09 "Christ invites us to come directly to Him. 25:13 He is our intercessor. 25:16 He is our priest." 25:19 We need not come to Jesus through idols. 25:23 We need not come to Jesus through images. 25:26 The Bible says this in Exodus 20:4, 5, 25:29 "You shall not make for yourself any carved image, 25:33 any likeness of anything in heaven above, 25:36 or that's in the earth beneath, or that's under the earth, 25:39 you shall not bow down to them or serve them. 25:42 For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." 25:45 What is one of the major dangers 25:47 of making images? 25:49 One of the major dangers of making images 25:52 is people consider those images sacred. 25:55 They consider those images 25:57 as having some intrinsic internal holiness. 26:01 So they come, they light candles 26:04 before the images, burn incense before the images. 26:08 Some of them, 26:09 in these great churches in Rome, 26:11 come and kiss the feet of the images, 26:14 and the images take on a certain sense of holiness, 26:18 they take on a certain sense of worthiness. 26:23 Christ is the only one 26:24 who had nails through His hands for us. 26:27 Christ is the only one who hung on a cross for us. 26:30 Christ is the only one who died for us. 26:33 We can come to God through Christ, 26:36 not with the intercessors of images as intercessors 26:42 between us and God. 26:44 Jesus stands before 26:46 the throne of God in our behalf. 26:49 Jesus stands before the throne of God for us. 26:54 We approach God directly, not through images or icons, 27:00 we approach God through Jesus Christ. 27:03 One of the key characteristics of Babylon 27:06 is that Babylon 27:07 would have false teachings about death. 27:11 The immortality of the soul from ancient Pagan Babylon 27:17 would come directly into the Christian church. 27:21 Now we find that as well in the Old Testament, 27:25 that the idea of immortality, 27:28 the worshipping of the dead did impact Israel at one time. 27:33 You go to Ezekiel 8:13, 14 and it says this, 27:38 "And He said to me, 'Turn again, 27:41 and you will see greater abominations 27:43 that they are doing.'" 27:45 So the Ezekiel, the prophet, 27:47 comes to the Old Testament sanctuary 27:50 and there the prophet says, 27:53 "Look at what you are going to see. 27:55 Look at the abominations." What abominations? 27:59 What was taking place at the Old Testament sanctuary? 28:03 Pagan influences actually had impacted Israel. 28:07 False teachings had actually impacted Israel. 28:12 The pagan ideas of immortality and the pagan gods 28:17 had actually impacted the people of God. 28:20 "So He brought me to the door of the north gate 28:24 of the Lord's house." 28:25 What's the Lord's house? Of course, the temple. 28:28 And it says, here, "And to my dismay, 28:32 women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz." 28:37 Now why would you have, in ancient Israel, 28:41 women weeping for Tammuz? 28:43 First you have to ask yourself the question, "Who was Tammuz?" 28:48 Tammuz was the God 28:49 of the resurrection they believed. 28:52 So the idea was, 28:54 when the sun was up, and the crops died, 28:58 that's because Tammuz had left or died. 29:01 Gone. 29:02 Then, when the crops revived, then Tammuz returns, 29:06 so the God of the resurrection. 29:08 So they are weeping for Tammuz. 29:11 They are weeping, and they believe in this idea, 29:13 the immortal nature of Tammuz, that it live on. 29:17 So you have the idea of the immortality of the soul, 29:20 you have it all through ancient paganism. 29:24 The Egyptians believed 29:25 in the idea of the immortality of soul. 29:27 They believed in the idea of the Ba and the Ka, 29:30 and Ba stays by, the Ka leaves the body at death 29:34 and then the Ka comes back looking for the Ba, 29:37 idea of immortality of the soul. 29:39 You find that as well in the Greek philosophy. 29:43 They believe that the body was a prison house of the soul 29:46 and that when the individual died 29:49 that the soul could live on immortally. 29:51 That's why some of the Greeks accepted suicide 29:54 because they believed you couldn't impact 29:56 the soul which was immortal within that body. 30:00 You find this very, very prevalent, 30:03 of course, in Babylonian culture. 30:06 The idea of spirits, the idea of immortality, 30:09 the idea that people live on in this immortal soul. 30:13 Now when you look at the Bible, 30:15 you have something quite different. 30:17 Ecclesiastes 9:5, 30:19 "The living know that they will die, 30:22 but the dead know nothing, 30:24 neither have they any more reward, 30:27 for the memory of them is forgotten." 30:30 Notice the living know that they will die, 30:32 but the dead don't know anything. 30:34 So here the Bible is very plain, 30:37 that dead is but asleep. 30:39 Fifty three times 30:41 the Bible mentions death as a sleep. 30:43 You look at the Old Testament and here's the phrase repeated 30:46 again and again, "They slept like their fathers, 30:48 they slept like their fathers." 30:50 You look at Psalm 17:15 where David speaks. 30:53 He says, "One day I sleep 30:55 but then I'll wake in His likeness." 30:57 In other words, 30:58 David understood the idea of sleep. 31:00 You look at Acts 2:30 and onwards, 31:05 it says that, 31:08 "David is not yet ascended up into heaven." 31:11 So why not? David was sleeping. 31:13 You look at the Book of Job and it says there, Job says, 31:18 "Shall mortal man," Job 4, "be more just than his maker?" 31:22 Job says, "I'm mortal." 31:23 Then Job 19:25, he says, 31:26 "For I know at the latter day 31:28 my redeemer will live on the earth 31:30 and no worms destroy this body and my flesh, I'll see God." 31:33 What was Job looking forward to? 31:35 The glorious day of the resurrection 31:37 when Christ would come. 31:39 You find this all 31:40 through the Old and New Testament. 31:44 1 Corinthians 15, for example, 31:46 "We are not all asleep, 31:48 but we will wake in a moment in the twinkling of an eye." 31:51 This corruptible must put on incorruption. 31:53 This mortal must put on immortality. 31:55 1 Corinthians 15:51-55. 31:58 You find 1 Thessalonians 32:00 4:16-17, it says, 32:05 "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, 32:08 with the voice of the archangel, 32:09 the trumpet of God, 32:10 the dead in Christ," shall do what? 32:12 "Rise first. 32:13 We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together 32:16 with them to meet the Lord in the air." 32:18 Comfort one another with these words. 32:20 So the Bible always is talking about this idea. 32:23 There is a glorious resurrection 32:25 when Christ comes, 32:26 and when He comes He's gonna resurrect the dead. 32:28 This is contrary to the Babylonian idea 32:32 that there is this immortal soul 32:34 that leaves the body, 32:36 that actually prepares the way for spiritualism 32:39 because if there is a soul that leaves the body at death, 32:42 then under unusual circumstances 32:44 might that soul not communicate back 32:47 with the living. 32:49 So the Bible is very clear, it's very plain. 32:51 Satan came to the Garden of Eden 32:56 and he said to Eve, 32:58 "If you partake of this tree, of knowledge of good and evil, 33:03 you will not surely die." 33:05 She said, "But God said if I take it, will die." 33:09 The devil's first lie was over death. 33:12 He said you are naturally immortal. 33:15 John 8:44,"He is a liar." 33:19 The devil is a liar and he is the father of lies. 33:22 First lie was over this subject of death. 33:26 The Bible teaches that when Christ comes, 33:29 the dead will be resurrected. 33:31 Fifteen hundred times in the Bible, 33:34 it mentions the second coming of Christ. 33:37 The second coming of Christ is lightning shines 33:40 from the east even to the west, Matthew 16:27, 33:43 "So shall the coming of the Son of man be." 33:46 Here, in scripture, all of history is moving, 33:51 all of the events of this earth are moving 33:55 to one glorious climax, 33:57 the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 34:01 Contrary to the Bible, the Babylonian system, 34:05 church and state unite. 34:08 The Babylonian false system passes 34:10 around its wine cup, people are drunk with that. 34:13 They look to popes, and priests, and prelates. 34:17 The traditions of man take the place of the Word of God. 34:21 They look to human tradition 34:24 and works for salvation rather than the sole, 34:28 total, only, all, sufficient grace of Christ. 34:33 They use idols in their images, in their worship system. 34:38 They misunderstand the whole concept of death 34:42 and have the idea, 34:43 the immortal soul and worship through those images, 34:47 where the Bible teaches 34:49 the glorious truth of the resurrection, 34:52 that husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, 34:56 sons and daughters, 34:58 families will be reunited again. 35:01 Think about that glorious day. 35:03 Have you lost some husband or wife by death? 35:06 Some father, mother by death? 35:08 Some sister, brother by death? Some baby by death? 35:10 One day there will be 35:13 a glorious resurrection morning. 35:16 Now Babylon was also the center of sun worship. 35:21 Babylon worshipped the sun gods, for example, 35:26 the God Bel Marduk was a sun God of Babylon. 35:31 If you look at Ezekiel 8:16, this is quite surprising. 35:36 In fact, in my view, 35:37 this is one the most surprising texts 35:39 in all the Bible 35:40 because Israel at this period of time 35:44 were turning their backs toward the temple of God, 35:48 turning their backs toward 35:49 the law of God in worshipping the sun. 35:51 The scripture actually says that, Ezekiel 8:16, 35:54 "So He brought me into the inner court 35:56 of the Lord's house, 35:58 and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, 36:02 between the porch and the altar, 36:04 were about twenty-five men 36:06 with their backs toward the temple of the Lord 36:10 and their faces toward the east, 36:12 and they were worshipping the sun toward the east." 36:17 Did you catch that? 36:19 What were these worshippers doing? 36:22 Where did they have their backs turn toward? 36:24 Notice it says, their backs 36:26 were toward the temple of the Lord. 36:30 Here, in the temple of the Lord, 36:33 in the inner sanctum of that temple, 36:35 you have the most holy place of the sanctuary, 36:38 and there in that most holy place 36:40 you have the Ark of the Covenant. 36:42 Above the Ark of the Covenant, you have two angelic cherubim. 36:46 Between the cherubim, 36:48 you have the Shekinah glory of God. 36:51 At the base of that Ark of the Covenant 36:54 or within the Ark of the Covenant, 36:56 you have the Ten Commandment law. 36:59 The Ten Commandment law, that law written 37:02 with God's own finger on tables of stone, 37:05 that law that is the foundation of His government, 37:09 that law that is the eternal code 37:12 of heaven's conduct. 37:13 And here, it says about twenty-five men 37:17 with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, 37:19 so their backs are turned away, 37:22 their faces are turned away from the sanctuary, 37:24 their backs are turned toward the sanctuary, 37:27 toward the law, symbolizing the disregard of, 37:31 the rebellion against God's law. 37:33 Their faces were toward the east, 37:36 and what were they doing? 37:37 Worshipping the sun toward the east. 37:39 You see that's Ezekiel 8:16 37:42 but you remember Ezekiel 20 says, 37:44 "My Sabbaths as I given them as a sign between me and them." 37:49 So you have two forms of worship, 37:51 the sun worship in Ezekiel 8, Sabbath worship in Ezekiel 20, 37:56 as a sign between God and His people. 37:59 So Babylonian worship was actually sun worship. 38:03 The worship of the sun, the sun was the largest luminous body 38:08 in the heavens, and so naturally, 38:10 they thought the sun brings light, 38:12 the sun brings life 38:14 and they turned from the Creator 38:16 to the object of His creation. 38:18 They turned from the one 38:20 who had made and fashioned to the things 38:23 that were made and fashioned. 38:25 They turned from the truth of God, 38:28 in worshipping Him on the Sabbath 38:31 as a symbol of His creative authority, 38:33 in harmony with the commandments of God 38:36 to worshipping 38:37 the object of creation, the sun. 38:39 Sun worship crept into the Old Testament 38:45 Israelite believers 38:46 during this time of apostasy and paganism. 38:49 What does the Bible predict? 38:51 That in the last days of earth's history, 38:53 church and state would fully unite, 38:56 sun worship would be enforced by law again. 38:59 We'll study more about that in another presentation. 39:02 It was in those early centuries of compromise, 39:05 down in the fourth century, that Constantine united, 39:10 church state united to win the pagans, 39:14 sun worship came into the church. 39:16 In The Worship of Nature, volume 1, page 529 39:19 by James G. Frazer, we read, 39:21 "In ancient Babylonia the sun was worshipped 39:25 from immemorial antiquity." 39:28 Here, sun worship was part of Babylonian culture. 39:33 Sun worship would then again, unwittingly, 39:37 unknowingly by many. 39:39 Let me make it plain. 39:41 There are many people today, wonderful, lovely, 39:45 committed Christians, 39:47 and many of you are watching this telecast, 39:51 and you may have no idea of the history 39:53 or the background of sun worship 39:56 that was part of Babylonian culture, 39:58 part of pagan culture, 40:00 that it came into the Christian church 40:03 uncompromised, and you say, 40:05 "Is the Sabbath a matter of salvation?" 40:09 Does this mean if I am keeping Sunday, 40:11 I'm not saved? 40:12 It doesn't mean that at all. Only Christ is our savior. 40:16 Jesus is the one that redeems us by His grace, 40:20 but when we are redeemed 40:21 by His grace, we long to obey Him. 40:24 And when God sends a message calling us 40:27 from the Babylonian teachings of this world, 40:31 our hearts long to respond 40:33 as genuine authentic Christians. 40:37 We long to respond 40:39 and do exactly what Christ said. 40:41 We long to be free from deception. 40:44 We long to be free from falsehood. 40:47 In the two Babylons, 40:48 that is the Babylon in the Old Testament 40:50 and Babylon in Revelation, 40:52 author Alexander Hislop, page 105, says this," 40:55 To conciliate the Pagans," that's to make them feel good, 40:59 "to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, 41:05 took measures to get the Christian 41:07 and Pagan festivals amalgamated," 41:10 that is to unify the Christian Sunday 41:13 with the Pagan Sunday. 41:15 Christians have been keeping the Sabbath, 41:17 some had begun keeping the first day of the week 41:20 and honor the resurrection, and therefore now, 41:23 the attempt was to unite those two days 41:26 "to get Paganism and Christianity, 41:29 now far sunk in idolatry." 41:31 So Christianity was drifting away 41:34 from its Lord. 41:36 Christianity was sunk in idolatry, 41:38 sunk in deception, sunk in false teachings. 41:42 This why it's called the dark ages. 41:44 In this, as in so many other things 41:47 to shake hands. 41:49 So here you see Christianity and paganism are shaking hands, 41:54 and what are they shaking hands over? 41:56 The Babylonian teaching of sun worship, 41:59 that indeed was happening. 42:01 Christianity and paganism 42:02 shook hands in those early centuries, 42:06 and Dr. Edward Hiscox, in The Baptist Manual, 42:12 the author of The Baptist Manual made 42:14 this amazing statement, he was lecturing 42:16 to a large number of Baptists up in Canada, 42:21 and he made this statement and it just shocked them, 42:24 its in shock waves 42:25 through that assembly of Baptist preachers, 42:28 he said, "What a pity that it, Sunday," 42:31 now this is Dr. Edward Hiscox, November 13,1893, 42:35 he is speaking 42:36 at this great ministry convention, 42:38 he is reading from the Baptist Manual, 42:40 "What a pity, that it, Sunday, 42:42 comes branded with the mark of paganism, 42:46 christened with the name of the sun god 42:49 and then adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, 42:54 and bequeathed as a sacred legacy 42:58 to Protestantism." 42:59 So Hiscox, author of Baptist Manual, 43:02 traces where Sunday came from. 43:04 It came from pagan apostasy, 43:07 it came from the days of paganism, 43:09 then it came into the early Christian church, 43:12 the papacy, then it came from there 43:15 into nominal Protestantism. 43:18 Do you see the call of God? 43:21 In Revelation 17, the woman, 43:24 the church who has betrayed her true lover Jesus 43:27 and committed spiritual adultery, 43:29 fills her wine cup with falsehoods, 43:32 she unites with the state in those early centuries, 43:35 particularly during 43:36 that wilderness period of 1260 years, 43:39 passes her wine cup around, 43:41 and the world wanders after the beast 43:44 and is drunk with those false teachings. 43:47 She has many Protestant daughters 43:49 who have not come all the way out, 43:51 and notice what the Bible says, Ezekiel 20:12, 43:56 "Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, 43:59 to be a sign between Me and them, 44:01 that they might know 44:02 that I am the Lord who sanctifies them." 44:04 God has given His Sabbath, His Sabbath is a sacred sign, 44:10 His Sabbath that is just distinguishes people, 44:14 His Sabbath is this flag of identity, 44:17 that in age of evolution 44:18 we worship the Creator and not the creatures. 44:22 Here, down through the centuries, 44:24 God has had godly men and women, the Waldensians, 44:28 godly people 44:29 who were persecuted for their faith, 44:31 John Hus, a godly man persecuted for his faith. 44:35 Martin Luther, godly man persecuted, 44:38 the Wesley, all these men had some light of truth. 44:44 But yet, they retained unfortunately 44:48 some Babylonian teachings. 44:50 And God at end time is leading us back, 44:54 leading us back just before the coming of Christ 44:57 to the fullness of truth, 44:58 leading us back 45:00 just before the return of our Lord 45:02 to the totality of scripture, leading us back just before 45:05 the final hours of earth's history, 45:08 back to the urgency 45:10 of total absolute commitment to Christ, 45:14 understanding 45:15 that grace leads us to obedience, 45:17 leading us back in an age of evolution, 45:20 to worshipping the Creator 45:22 by worshipping on the Bible Sabbath. 45:25 The Bible says in Ezekiel 22:26, 45:28 "Her priests have violated My law 45:32 and have profaned My holy things, 45:35 they have not distinguished 45:36 between the holy and the unholy," 45:39 that happened in ancient Israel, 45:41 when they turned their backs to the eastern worship, 45:44 the sun in Ezekiel 8, 45:47 that happened in ancient Israel in Ezekiel 20, 45:50 when they turned back to the true Sabbath as a sign. 45:55 You see, God was calling 45:56 the priest back to the true Sabbath as a sign, 45:59 so you see in Ezekiel 8, the sun worship, 46:01 Ezekiel 20, the Sabbath worship, 46:04 and you see 46:05 that conflict between good and evil, 46:07 that conflict between Christ and Satan, 46:09 but the priests, many of them, still violated God's law, 46:12 they profaned God's holy things, 46:13 they didn't distinguish between the holy and the unholy, 46:17 they didn't make a distinguish between the clean 46:18 and the unclean. 46:20 Now notice, "And they have hidden 46:21 their eyes from My Sabbaths, 46:23 so that I may be profaned among them." 46:25 Many in the days of ancient Israel, 46:27 when they went eeping after worshipping the sun, 46:30 hid their eyes from the true Sabbath. 46:33 Today, there are those hiding their eyes from the Sabbath, 46:38 and God reveals the truth. 46:40 He gave His Sabbath back at creation, 46:42 when He created the world, not simply to the Jews, 46:44 but to all humanity. 46:46 In fact, even Jesus said, 46:47 the Sabbath was made for man for all humanity. 46:52 Jesus says in the Book of Revelation, 46:53 that He's gonna have a final end time people. 46:56 That final end time people 46:57 gonna restore all the truths of the Bible. 46:59 They will come back to the Bible as the Word, 47:02 back to Christ as their preeminent Savior, 47:04 back to the call to live in harmony 47:07 with Christ and glorify their bodies 47:10 with only that which Jesus invites them to eat 47:13 or drink, just like, really, New Testament Christianity. 47:18 You see the Babylonian system of religion, Babylon was party, 47:21 wine, drink, eat, you know, unclean foods, 47:24 God's calling us back to treat our bodies as a temple 47:27 and not a play thing. 47:28 He is calling us back to deny those earthly cravings 47:32 that destroy these bodies of ours with unclean food. 47:34 Jesus is calling us back to the truth, about death. 47:38 The truth about the fact 47:39 that death is about asleep till He is coming. 47:41 He is calling us away from the whole idea, 47:42 the immortality of the soul, 47:44 that opens our minds for spiritualism, 47:46 Jesus is calling us back, back my friend to believe 47:50 that we are on the knife edge of eternity, 47:51 back to the fact to believe, 47:53 like the New Testament disciples did, 47:55 that Jesus Christ is coming again, 47:57 and Jesus is calling us back, back to His Sabbath, 48:01 back to rest in Him, 48:04 back to understand that in Christ worshipping 48:06 on the Sabbath 48:08 we can understand our true identity, 48:10 that we are His children, 48:11 that we did not evolve, that He created us, 48:14 He is calling us back, back to understanding 48:17 that He has a people, a people that are Bible believing, 48:22 Christ centered Sabbath keeping Adventist people. 48:24 And He is calling us to that people, 48:27 calling us to stand courageously for Him, 48:30 calling us back to His Word, calling us back to scripture, 48:34 calling us away from the apostate power. 48:37 Daniel 7:25, "The thought it could change 48:41 the very law of God." 48:44 You know, in the book, the Abiding Sabbath, page 123, 48:47 by George Elliott, he says this, 48:50 "What is proposed," that is in Daniel 7:25, 48:53 when it says you think to change 48:54 the time and the law, 48:55 "What is proposed is to make an erasure 48:57 in the heaven-born code? 48:59 Is the eternal tablet of the law of God 49:02 to be effaced by the creature's hand? 49:05 He who proposes 49:07 such an act should fortify himself 49:10 by reasons as holy as God, and as mighty as His power." 49:14 Another words, what he is saying is, 49:16 that no earthly power has the authority 49:20 to change the very law of God. 49:24 There is a call, a call going out, 49:28 to the world, tonight, today, this very day 49:34 that you are watching this telecast. 49:36 There is a call going out 49:38 for honest hearted men and women, 49:40 for men and women that love Christ everywhere, 49:43 to respond to His grace, to keep His commandments, 49:48 to come out fully 49:50 of the false teachings of Babylon. 49:52 Jesus is reaching out and tens and thousands 49:55 around the world are hearing that call. 49:58 They are making their decisions to follow the bride of Christ, 50:01 and not the Babylonian forces 50:04 in the confused religious system, 50:06 of that fallen church pictured in the woman 50:09 which sits on the scarlet colored beast, 50:12 dressed in purple and scarlet. 50:14 Here is God's final call, Revelation 18:2, 50:18 "And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 50:20 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, come out of her, 50:24 My people.'" 50:25 "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 50:27 'Come out of her, My people.'" 50:29 Where are most of God's people today? 50:31 They are in churches called Babylon. 50:34 They are in false religious systems, 50:37 churches that unknowingly have accepted error than truth. 50:42 God says, "Come out of her, My people." 50:43 Are you one of God's people? 50:45 One of God's people that never knew these truths, 50:48 one of God's people 50:49 that never understood these truths. 50:51 One of God's people, do you hear the call of God? 50:56 God says, "Come out, lest you share in her sins." 50:58 What is sin? 51:00 It's the violation of God's law, 51:01 "Lest you receive of her plagues." 51:03 The plagues are soon to full. 51:05 The plagues are coming, and Jesus has come. 51:08 Jesus says, "I love you. 51:10 I desire for you to live with me forever and ever, 51:13 I desire for you to be saved in my kingdom." 51:17 Then a commentary , 51:18 by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown it says this, 51:20 "In every apostate or world-conforming church 51:23 there are some of God's invisible and true church, 51:25 who, if they would be safe, must come out." 51:27 Jesus says, "Come out of her, My people." 51:30 His grace is sufficient for you, 51:32 His grace is greater than all your sin. 51:35 Listen, as Celestine comes to sing 51:38 about that marvelous grace of God, 51:41 "Were it not for grace, we would be lost." 51:44 God's grace is calling you. 51:48 God's grace is speaking to you. 51:50 God's grace is appealing to you, to follow truth. 52:14 Time measured out my days 52:21 Life carried me along 52:28 In my soul 52:29 I yearned to follow God 52:35 But knew I'd never be so strong 52:41 I looked hard at this world 52:45 To learn how heaven 52:49 Could be gained 52:54 Just to end where I began 52:59 Where human effort 53:02 is all in vain 53:09 Were it not 53:11 For grace 53:17 I can tell you where 53:21 I'd be 53:24 Wandering down some pointless road 53:28 To nowhere 53:31 With my salvation up to me 53:37 I know how that would go 53:43 The battles 53:45 I would face 53:51 Forever running 53:54 But losing the race 53:58 Were it not for grace 54:09 So here is 54:10 All my praise 54:16 Expressed with all 54:19 My heart 54:23 Offered to a Friend 54:26 Who took my place 54:30 And ran a course I could not even start 54:37 And when He saw in full 54:41 Just how much His Lord 54:45 Would cost 54:49 He still went the final mile 54:54 Between me and heaven 54:57 So I would not be 54:59 Lost 55:04 Were it not 55:06 For grace 55:13 I can tell you where I'd be 55:19 Wandering down some pointless road 55:24 To nowhere 55:26 With my salvation up to me 55:33 I know how that would go 55:39 The battles I would 55:42 Face 55:47 Forever running 55:50 But losing the race 55:54 Were it not for grace 56:00 Forever running 56:05 But losing the race 56:09 Were it not for grace 56:21 God's grace speaks to you right where you are. 56:26 God's grace reaches you right where you are. 56:31 It's no accident 56:33 that you turned in to this telecast tonight. 56:36 It is grace that brought here, to make an eternal decision, 56:42 to be done with falsehood, not to drink off the wine cup 56:46 of Babylon's traditions any longer, 56:50 but to accept God's truth 56:52 and walk in it through the grace of Christ. 56:55 Let's pray together. 56:56 Father in heaven, 56:58 we thank You that grace is sufficient, 57:02 grace is all strengthening, and that we can follow You 57:07 in Your grace and by Your grace forever, 57:09 we decide to do that right now in Jesus' name, amen. 57:13 My friend, you are a child of grace, 57:18 walk in grace today and forever. |
Revised 2018-07-03