Participants: Ivor Meyers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000010A
|
00:31 The next church is Thyatira... sacrifice and penitence.
00:35 Millions of people are sacrificed for their faith 00:39 during this church period, it's the period of the dark ages 00:44 and it follows what we studied in our last session 00:46 and that is... the period of compromise 00:48 right after the persecution of pagan Rome, 00:51 it ends in 313... Diocletian goes out... 00:54 Constantine comes in and the church is elevated, 00:58 all the properties are given back, 01:00 they become rich... people come in... 01:02 compromise takes place 01:03 by 321, we have the first Sunday Law, 01:05 a combination of paganism with worship of God 01:08 and so you've got the church compromised, 01:11 the faithful now are moving in a different direction, 01:14 they're against the fathers, 01:16 they're not willing to make these compromises... 01:18 Antipas... and that moves us 01:20 into this next church... sacrifice of penitence, 01:24 many people losing their lives 01:26 and martyred through the Dark Ages. 01:27 So let's begin with a word of prayer... we'll jump right in, 01:29 Jason, pray for us would you? 01:30 Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father, 01:32 thank you for another day of studying, 01:34 we are covering some deep material 01:35 but you're making it possible for us to make it practical 01:39 and we ask that you be with us once again 01:43 and help us to comprehend what we're studying 01:45 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. " All: "Amen... " 01:48 So let's just begin by reading the verses 01:51 and Jason, start us out... 01:52 we'll read... starting with verse 18 of Revelation chapter 2 01:58 we're going to read all the way through to verse 29 02:00 and so we got quite a few verses here and just read... 02:02 I don't know... read about half of them... 02:04 Okay, "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; 02:08 These things saith the Son of God, 02:10 who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, 02:13 and his feet are like fine brass; 02:16 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, 02:19 and thy patience, and thy works; 02:21 and the last to be more than the first. 02:24 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, 02:27 because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, 02:30 which calleth herself a prophetess, 02:33 to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, 02:37 and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 02:39 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; 02:43 and she repented not. 02:45 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, 02:47 and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, 02:51 except they repent of their deeds. 02:53 And I will kill her children with death; 02:57 and all the churches shall know 02:59 that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: 03:03 and I will give unto every one of you 03:05 according to your works. " 03:07 James: Yvonne, you want to finish these verses? 03:09 "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, 03:12 as many as have not this doctrine, 03:14 and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; 03:18 I will put upon you none other burden. 03:20 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 03:28 And he that overcometh, 03:29 and keepeth my works unto the end, 03:31 to him will I give power over the nations: 03:34 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; 03:37 as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: 03:41 even as I received of my Father, 03:43 And I will him the morning star. 03:46 He that hath an ear, 03:47 let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. " 03:51 Twelve verses now, 03:52 there's a lot of information in here, 03:54 but there is some really beautiful stuff, 03:56 some powerful stuff. 03:57 I like the way that it opens up, 04:00 Jesus identifies Himself here, 04:02 He's the son of man in chapter one 04:04 but the same description is used that is found in chapter one 04:09 "the eyes like a flame of fire" 04:10 and it says that his feet are like fine brass 04:13 and here he's identified as the Son of God 04:15 and so we know that the Son of man is the Son of God 04:18 and we know that the Son of God is, of course, Jesus Christ 04:21 and so we see here a description of Himself 04:25 that connects us back to chapter one... why? 04:28 Well, I think one of the reasons why is because 04:31 we want to remember that as bad as the church is 04:35 and it's really getting bad now, this is worse... 04:38 this is the worst condition right here 04:39 in the sense of compromise, 04:41 in the sense of turning away from Christ, 04:43 that Jesus still pictures Himself... 04:45 among the candlesticks. 04:47 In fact, He says right here in the context of this verse 21 04:51 He says, "I gave her space to repent," 04:52 now we're talking about Jezebel, not Jezebel literally 04:56 but Jezebel-type actions... Jezebel-type spirit... 04:59 do you remember the story of Jezebel and Ahab? 05:02 One of those stories is pretty clear to me, 05:06 it's a story of when Ahab coveted a vineyard 05:10 that was connected to his property 05:12 and he wanted it 05:14 and he asked the owner of that vineyard to sell it to him 05:17 and the owner said, "I can't sell it to you 05:18 because this is in my family... " 05:20 in fact it was forbidden for him to sell it... 05:22 it had to go back to him at some point even if he did sell it, 05:24 "this is in my family and I can't sell it... " 05:27 and so Ahab went home and he had a pout party... 05:29 and in the middle of this pout party, 05:32 Jezebel comes in and sees the king pouting and says, 05:35 "What's wrong, why are you so pouty?" 05:38 And he basically explains that he wanted this vineyard 05:41 and he offered money for the vineyard 05:43 and the owner wouldn't sell it... and then she says, 05:45 "Don't you worry... I'll take care of all of that" 05:47 and she goes down there 05:49 and she has this guy falsely accused before the townspeople 05:52 and killed... so that she can take that vineyard 05:56 and give it to her husband 05:58 and he takes ownership of the vineyard 06:00 and along comes Elijah and Elijah basically rebukes Ahab 06:05 and when he rebukes Ahab, Ahab responds and repents 06:10 and the Lord is talking here, I'm just reading the last verse 06:13 in 1st Kings chapter 21, 06:15 "And the word of God came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 06:18 Seest thou how Ahab humbles himself before me, 06:22 because he humbles himself before me, 06:24 I will not bring this evil in his days: 06:26 but in his son's days will I bring this evil upon his house" 06:30 that is how gracious God is, 06:32 this was wicked... this was pure wickedness that took place 06:36 and yet as he humbled himself, God was gracious, 06:39 God was merciful... "I'm not going to bring this" 06:41 and the thing He was talking about bringing was... 06:44 judgment and justice to Ahab's whole house, 06:47 he was going to take out Ahab's whole house 06:50 because of this and so, "I gave her space to repent," 06:53 Jesus is among the candlesticks, He's trimming them up, 06:57 He wants them to burn, He wants them to repent. 06:59 We should make sure that it was not just this one incident 07:02 that Ahab did that God said, 07:05 "Okay, your house is going to be punished... " 07:07 they were... they had done much wickedness... 07:09 this is kind of like the final straw... 07:11 James: Years and years... Ivor: Exactly... exactly... 07:13 James: God is long suffering... Ivor: Long suffering... 07:14 James: And we want to bring that into the story here, 07:16 into the church here, 07:17 we've got hundreds of years of compromise 07:19 and God is suffering long... suffering long, suffering long 07:22 through these hundreds of years. 07:23 Ivor: I just want to... this is a pop test... 07:26 for you guys because... 07:28 we don't want to tell you the time period 07:31 but we just want to remember something 07:34 that the first church we were looking at... 07:36 the 70-Week Prophecy... 07:38 church number 2 and 3... we were looking at the interim 07:41 so, church number two from 100 to 313... 07:44 church number 3 from 313 to a certain period of time, 07:50 so, this 4th church... what do you think 07:54 in terms of where we are in time... 07:58 and where would this fourth church bring us? 08:00 Yvonne: Would this be the 1,260? 08:03 Ivor: Absolutely, this would be the 1,260... 08:05 and now, without us saying that, 08:07 because of the principles we've laid out, you're able to say, 08:11 "Yeah, that makes sense because that's what's coming next, 08:14 next, we know where we are in time, 08:16 we know that... the 70-Weeks have passed... 08:19 we saw the church numbers 2 and 3 were the interim... 08:22 so yeah... church number four... 08:24 is going to be in the period of the 1,260... 08:28 so that's why we talked about that measuring stick, 08:30 that it helps you to be able to say, 08:32 "Okay, I'm able to see this now more... in my mind... 08:35 in terms of where we are in prophecy 08:38 and what's coming next. 08:40 James: Very important... I love that. 08:42 Yvonne: this thing with Jezebel calling herself a prophetess, 08:48 now, how is that... it... 08:51 there's some relation to the church here, 08:53 this whole kind of spirit... this attitude... what is it? 08:58 Ivor: What is a prophetess? One who speaks on behalf of...? 09:02 Yvonne: God... Ivor: God... 09:04 so this woman is claiming... 09:06 now remember... 09:08 and this is a principle that we really need to hit 09:11 but in the Old Testament, things that are literal... 09:13 are applied spiritually in the New Testament 09:16 particularly in the Book of Revelation, 09:18 so for example, Old Testament... literal lamb slain... 09:21 New Testament... Jesus, "behold the lamb of God... " 09:23 right? Old Testament... literal candlestick... 09:26 New Testament... "You are the light of the world. 09:28 A city set on a hill cannot be hidden... 09:30 Neither do men light a candle... " 09:31 right, so, we can go through many examples... 09:34 James and Ivor: Literal Israel, spiritual Israel... 09:37 Ivor: literal circumcision, 09:38 New Testament... circumcision of the heart... 09:41 so, Jezebel... Old Testament... literal... 09:43 James: Literal woman... Ivor: Literal woman... 09:45 New Testament... spiritual church, 09:48 James: Spiritual woman... church... 09:51 Ivor: That's right, a woman in Bible prophecy 09:54 symbolizes a church, 09:56 so Christ says, "Husbands, love your wives... " 09:58 it's a love story... husbands love your wives... 10:00 even as Christ loved the church... 10:02 so, Jezebel then would represent a church 10:06 claiming to speak on behalf of... God... 10:09 who... while doing this, 10:14 is putting the people of God to death. 10:17 Yvonne: Hmmm... Jason: Wow! 10:20 Ivor: Ah... and all of that... based on principle... 10:23 not, "okay, let's see what fits so what sounds good... " 10:27 no... because of the timing... 10:29 now we can say, "Okay, what church 10:32 would have arisen... 10:34 or would have been present at this time 10:36 1,260... that would claim to be speaking on behalf of God... 10:40 what power... what authority... 10:42 would claim to be speaking on behalf of God 10:45 and yet persecuting the people of God 10:48 as literal Jezebel did in the Old Testament? 10:51 James: And even adding to that, it says here in verse 20, 10:53 "Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, and teaches... 10:58 to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication," 11:02 again... that's spiritual fornication... 11:03 faithfulness to God... 11:04 so she's teaching doctrines that lead to unfaithfulness to God. 11:07 Ivor: Which points us to Revelation chapter 17 and 18 11:11 where the woman is described as "Mystery Babylon... " 11:16 James: Right... and then it goes on to say, 11:18 "and eats those things sacrificed unto idols. " 11:21 So, what you have here... 11:23 is you have this spiritual fornication that's taking place, 11:25 you have seducing... teaching things that are 11:28 seducing people to be unfaithful to God, 11:31 you have "spiritual idolatry" taking place, 11:34 so, in the context of this, you have a church 11:37 that is worshipping idols and teaching false doctrines 11:40 and yet claims to be a follower of God. 11:42 Ivor: While persecuting the people of God. 11:44 Yvonne: Hmmm... 11:45 Ivor: So that's how that Old Testament story 11:48 now sheds light... 11:49 we're not looking for a literal Jezebel here, 11:52 now, who was named Jezebel... during the 1,260... 11:55 what woman... no, there was no woman... 11:57 who carried that name... right? 11:59 I mean... you know in terms of literal history 12:02 that the Bible is talking about, this is symbolic... symbols... 12:05 we're understanding the symbols and saying, 12:07 "Okay, this is what this symbol is explaining to us. " 12:11 James: And then you're looking at verse 19... 12:13 now, this is another aspect of the characteristic 12:16 of this "woman," okay, verse 19... 12:19 "I know thy works, charity, service, faith, 12:22 and thy patience, and thy works; 12:24 and the last to be more than the first. " 12:26 So, now you have a system, a religious system... 12:30 that is filled with works and faith and patience 12:33 and more works at the end than at the beginning, 12:36 so, what kind of religious system 12:38 is professing to speak for God 12:41 while seducing his servants into apostasy and fornication 12:46 but at the same time, you're filled with charity 12:49 and works and faith... in other words... 12:51 honest people... people who follow God... 12:54 who serve God... who are honestly seeking after God 12:56 and yet are being deceived and seduced 12:58 by the teachings of this church 13:01 that are not in harmony with the Word of God. 13:02 Ivor: And... and to add to that, 13:04 for the time period we're looking at 13:07 which would be the 1,260 years, right? 13:11 Now how would we know that 1,260-year period? 13:13 Again, going back to the Book of Daniel, 13:16 we see Daniel describing a power that is just like this, 13:19 it's called the "Little Horn," it's supposed... 13:22 it's a religious power that persecutes the people of God, 13:24 that claims to speak on behalf of God 13:27 so when we have this understanding 13:29 of who this little... what this Little Horn is 13:31 and the time period allotted to it... 1,260... 13:33 we again go, 13:34 "Okay, as I'm reading this description of this woman, 13:38 this sounds just like the Little Horn of Daniel 7, 13:42 this must be the 1,260-year period we're looking at. 13:46 Yeah, I really need to review that area of interpretation 13:52 because I really just guessed that 1,260... 13:55 I know, praise the Lord, it was a good guess 13:58 but I really want to know, like, how do I know 14:01 that it's in the 70 or the 1,260 or the 2,300? 14:04 Ivor: So, we can say that any time you see... 14:07 you can identify... that power 14:09 that persecutes the saints of God, 14:11 speaking on behalf of God, that is 1,260... 14:15 Yvonne: Why? 14:16 Ivor: That's the time period allotted to it 14:18 in the Book of Daniel chapter 7 14:20 in other places in the Book of Revelation, 14:22 the same time period is described 14:24 as 42 months... okay... 14:28 it is described as "a time, times and a half" 14:32 in several different places, 14:34 so you're looking at the same time period 14:36 being revealed in different places in Revelation 14:39 and in the Book of Daniel, so once you... 14:42 if I say, "1,260... " 14:45 you should say, "Mystery Babylon" 14:46 if I say, "Mystery Babylon," you say, "1,260... " 14:49 right, so wherever you see "Mystery Babylon" 14:52 doing these things to the people of God, 14:55 you can assume... this is 1,260... 14:58 unless it's in the context of what's coming after... 15:02 at the very end of time. Yvonne: Okay... 15:05 James: And that's 2,300... right? 15:06 Ivor: So, think about it like this... 15:08 the days of the week... 15:09 you don't go from Sunday, Monday, Tuesday 15:12 and then skip Wednesday and jump to Thursday... 15:14 same with the churches, 15:16 we started in one period, in 31 A.D. to a 100... 15:19 the second period... 15:21 and now we saw that relating to the 70-Week Prophecy... 15:24 31 A.D. connects us to the 70-Week Prophecy, 15:27 but then the second church from 100 A.D. 15:30 when Roman persecution really hit the church, 15:33 and lasts till about 313... this is an interim... 15:35 this is not the 70... it's not the 1,260... 15:38 right, so after that second church 15:41 you have the third church which is Pergamos, 15:43 where a compromise began 15:45 but this woman isn't on the scene yet, 15:46 it's not the little horn yet so we can't say, 15:49 "this is the little horn" this is only pre-little horn... 15:53 pre-Jezebel... 15:54 once we get to Jezebel... 15:56 and we identify what she's doing, 15:58 we're going, "Wait a minute, 15:59 yeah, this is exactly what's described in Daniel 16:02 under the 1,260-year Prophecy 16:05 so this must be beginning in 538, right, 16:09 and extending throughout the dark ages. " 16:13 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... okay... 16:15 Ivor: Okay... so that... 16:17 that's why I said those three time prophecies 16:19 70... 1,260... 2,300... 16:22 if you can get those in your mind, 16:24 and hammer those down and it may be new... 16:26 "Okay... how do I... " but once you get those, 16:29 70... 1,260... 2,300... 16:31 everything in the Book of Revelation, 16:34 revolves around those three prophecies... 16:36 James: Yeah, and they're consecutive... 16:38 they're consecutive... so in other words, 16:40 when you start with the 70... 16:41 the next thing you do is 1,260... 16:43 and the next thing you do is 2,300... 16:44 you're going to go from one to the next to the next... 16:47 so if you're in the 70... 16:48 and you see that coming to an end... 16:50 then you know you're moving toward the 1,260... 16:51 as you see that coming to an end... 16:53 you know you're moving toward 1844... 16:54 because it's all progressive 16:55 and then we get to the Seals... 16:57 we start all over... we go back to the 70... 16:58 Apostolic Age and then we go through the same time periods 17:01 all over again, and they're just one indicator, 17:04 we have a number of different indicators 17:06 that we're using on this... that's one indicator, 17:08 so... and it's a good one, it's a really good one because 17:11 it is outlined again in Revelation chapter 12... 17:14 actually 11 and 12 and Daniel chapter 7 as well 17:17 and Daniel chapter 12... all talk about the 1,260 17:20 and in different ways... 17:21 Okay, so, 17:23 verse 21, "I gave her space to repent 17:25 of her fornication; and she repented not. " 17:27 This is what we saw God going with Ahab and Jezebel. 17:30 "Tell them I'm going to judge them and let's see what he does" 17:34 He repents... wow... but she doesn't repent... 17:36 now the space that God gives her to repent is 1,260 years... 17:40 Yvonne: Hmmm... 17:41 James: Why did God allow His people 17:43 to be persecuted for that long? 17:45 Because He had people in there 17:46 that were faithful and charitable 17:48 and had good works and faith and He's moving through this 17:49 and giving them the opportunity to repent and to come around 17:52 and to come around... but they wouldn't... they wouldn't. 17:54 Yvonne: Not the literal Jezebel but the spiritual Jezebel... 17:56 James: The Spiritual Jezebel... 17:58 Ivor: So, James, do you remember 17:59 in our last program, we talked about... 18:01 I don't know if it was the last one or before... 18:03 we talked about how Christ said "if you have ought against 18:06 your brother, go to him yourself... " right... 18:09 Christ comes to humanity Himself 18:12 70-Week Prophecy... 18:13 all right... you don't listen... you reject me... 18:15 all right... I'm going to send two witnesses, 18:17 that takes us to Revelation chapter 11 18:20 that introduces those two witnesses 18:22 who prophesied for guess how long? 18:24 1,260 years, right, 18:28 so what are those two witnesses doing? 18:30 they're pointing to Jezebel, right, saying, "Repent... " 18:33 so, just as you're saying, "He gave them space to repent" 18:37 that space is 1,260 years, what does she do? 18:41 She rejects the two witnesses. 18:43 James: Which is the Word of God. Ivor: Which is the Word of God. 18:46 James: And in that context, He brings her into tribulation. 18:50 Now, we're going to jump ahead a little bit here 18:52 but I just want to bring this out 18:54 because it's going to be... recapitulate this... 18:57 it's gong to be in the Trumpets... 18:58 we're going to see this in the trumpets 18:59 but it says in verses 22 and 23, "But I will cast her into a bed, 19:03 and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, 19:07 except that they repent of their deeds. 19:09 And I will kill her children with death; 19:11 and all the churches will know 19:12 that I am he which searcheth the reins and heart: 19:14 and will give unto every one of you according to your works. " 19:16 Part of this tribulation that this power went through 19:20 was... came in the form of Islam... 19:24 it came in the form of a group... 19:27 a religious group that rose up in the Middle East 19:30 and came against the Medieval Church 19:32 that was worshipping idols 19:34 in the form of chastening and judgments, 19:36 in fact, a lot of the leaders of the Muslim armies 19:39 said... as they went to battle 19:41 against this compromising Christian church, they said, 19:44 "Kill only those 19:46 who are worshipping idols and have shorn heads... 19:48 don't kill those who worship God without worshipping idols... " 19:51 and that's what it talks... in Revelation chapter 9 about... 19:55 "don't hurt those that have the seal of God, 19:57 don't hurt those who are settled into the truth, 19:59 who not worshipping the idols... " 20:00 so this was affliction... this wasn't a time... 20:02 and we'll look at this more in Revelation chapter 9... 20:05 Ivor: Let's point out James a verse you pointed out to me 20:09 a little bit earlier, let's just read that 20:10 in the context of Islam 20:12 and their attack on apostate Christianity 20:16 and we won't go into detail 20:17 but the last verse in Revelation 9:21 says, 20:20 "Neither repented they of their murders, 20:22 nor of their sorceries, 20:23 or their fornication, nor their deeds... " 20:25 that ties in with the verse that was just read about Jezebel 20:31 and her children not repenting of their deeds 20:34 even though they were cast into great tribulation. 20:37 James: The one before that... 20:38 "the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues 20:41 yet repented not of the works of their hands, 20:43 that they should not worship devils, 20:44 and idols of gold, and silver, brass and stone, 20:46 and wood which can neither be seen nor walk nor hear... " 20:49 and that goes back to the Old Testament 20:51 and all this idol worship that God's people got into 20:54 being repeated... that's why Jezebel is being used, 20:56 "I'm giving her space to repent, she's not repenting... " 20:59 now you got to understand... what we're looking at here... 21:01 what Ivor just pointed out is... 21:02 this is another recapitulation of the same history, 21:05 Revelation 9 are the trumpets... is recapitulating 21:08 the same history we're seeing here 21:10 in Revelation chapter... 21:11 Ivor: And we're checking our interpretation 21:13 but using a totally different angle, so let's check it, 21:15 are we right? Yeah... look... 21:17 James: And another thing we noticed in Revelation 9 21:21 is that this judgment comes from a voice 21:23 before the four horns of the golden altar... 21:25 which is pre-1844... it's the "rock of ages" time... 21:28 it's Holy Place time... 21:29 so there's now the Sanctuary image that tells us 21:31 time and location, where we are in History, 21:34 okay, so all we're going now is we're just seeing 21:36 how this continues to be confirmed, confirmed, confirmed, 21:39 as we go through this... you see... 21:41 what people do in the Book of Revelation is, 21:43 many times, they will read through the "church" and say, 21:46 "Oh, that applies to this... " 21:47 and then they'll start in the "seals" and say, 21:49 "Now, this has got to be something completely different" 21:50 and they start interpreting it and completely... 21:52 and then they'll come to the "trumpets... " 21:54 "Oh, and this is completely different... " 21:55 but the way that this actually interprets and reads is... 21:59 is as though I am giving you directions, 22:02 you know how it is when you give someone directions 22:04 and it can be difficult, you know, 22:05 and so you might say to someone... 22:07 "Well, yeah, what you do basically... " 22:08 if you were to come to my place, I'd say, 22:10 "Well, what you do basically... from the airport, 22:12 you get on I5... and you go south on I5... 22:15 until you hit 126... and when you hit 126, 22:17 you're going to take that to Main Street, 22:18 when you get to Main Street, 22:19 you're just going to go straight through the light 22:21 and you're going to be on Jasperville Road 22:24 and we're at mile four... that's... that's... that's... 22:27 that's the seven churches' directions 22:29 okay, so now I'm going to go over to the seven seals 22:31 and so now, when you are on I5, 22:34 you can drive 60... that's the speed limit 22:36 but when you get to 126... it's 55... 22:38 when you get on Jasperville Road, 22:41 you're going to have to go down to 45... 22:43 well, 55 at first but down to 45... 22:44 then down to 35 when you get into Jasper and be careful 22:47 because a lot of people get tickets right in there 22:49 so make sure you get down to 35, okay... 22:51 and then again route mile... Marker 4... " 22:53 that's the seals, I'm covering the same territory 22:55 but I'm giving you now some warning signals, 22:58 I'm giving you some speed limit warning signs, okay, 23:01 now I'm going to give you the seven trumpets, 23:03 now, as you're coming to my location, 23:06 you're going to see some big smokestacks, 23:08 not smoke... but steam... it's a big plant... 23:11 that processes hydro... electricity... and then 23:13 when you get to Main Street, there's going to be lights... 23:15 and there's going to be one lane going straight 23:17 and two lanes going left... 23:18 make sure you get in the far right lane 23:20 and as you get through there, 23:21 you're going to see a river 23:23 then you're going to see a bridge 23:25 and then you're going to see a store 23:26 and as you come past all of that, 23:29 you're going to go under a railroad crossing 23:30 and you're going to come out 23:32 and there's going to see a big wood mill on the left 23:34 and there's going to be a school on the right 23:35 and we're just past the wood mill... 23:36 that's the seven trumpets. 23:38 I'm giving you the same direction, 23:40 I'm covering the same ground 23:41 but I'm giving you different markers, 23:43 as you're driving down the road, you are going to go, 23:45 "Oh, we must be in the right place 23:46 but it seems like... are we there yet? 23:48 we're on 126... I don't know... oh, there's the light... 23:50 oh... there's the bridge or there's the river 23:53 or there's the... yeah... we are... " 23:54 if you've gone to mile marker 5, 23:56 you've been too far, turn around and go back 23:57 and so, this is what we're talking about, 23:59 and we're talking about all these different indications here 24:02 to give you those directions, in layers 24:05 helps you to have more information 24:07 about the direction you are going, 24:10 God is giving us directions to heaven 24:12 and He has given us these directions in layers 24:15 so we can have as much information as we want 24:17 and we start making the connections, 24:19 "Oh yeah, the bridge and the store, and mile marker 24:22 and the speed limit sign... and it's all coming together. " 24:26 Ivor: Time and location... time and location... 24:29 I want to add something here, another marker, 24:33 the things that were written for ancient Israel, 24:37 are written for our admonition 24:39 upon whom the ends of the world are to come, 24:40 we saw the first church... purity... 24:42 then they lost their first love, 24:43 compare that to Adam and Eve... the creation of mankind... 24:46 we saw the second church... persecution... 24:48 we compare that to the next book, Exodus, 24:51 they're in... 400 years of captivity, 24:53 we saw the third church... 24:54 they had now come out of persecution 24:57 but they began to compromise, 24:58 we see that with the history of Israel 25:00 when they get into the Promise Land, 25:02 the fourth church is Jezebel... 25:05 land... when the children of Israel get into 25:07 the Promise Land and they're there for some time, 25:10 guess what happens next in their history? 25:12 You have Jezebel, the literal Jezebel... 25:15 and this literal Jezebel and Ahab 25:17 lead Israel into so much apostasy 25:19 that they end up in captivity to a power named "Babylon. " 25:27 Yvonne: Wow! 25:28 Ivor: This woman, Jezebel, according to Revelation, 25:32 her title is "Mystery Babylon. " 25:35 James: She brings God's people into captivity... her apostasy. 25:38 Ivor: She brings God's people into captivity to Babylon 25:41 so literally, in the history of the first four churches, 25:43 you have the entire history of the Old Testament 25:46 being repeated, which is another checkmark, 25:48 yeah, interpretation... correct 25:51 because all these checkmarks can't be pointing 25:54 to the same thing, by "coincidence. " 25:57 Yvonne: Right... right... 25:59 James: And then what God is going to do is 26:00 to get down into the last epic 26:02 which is Revelation chapter 12 all the way through chapter 22, 26:05 He's going to do stuff like, 26:07 He's going to actually identify now, 26:08 He's going to get specific, 26:09 He's going to blow it up, so he's going to say, 26:11 "Okay, this woman... Mystery Babylon... 26:13 identified... she's got a cup... she's... " 26:15 the details are spelled out, here it's... it's Jezebel... 26:17 she's going to... come into fornication 26:20 but then the details are spelled out. 26:21 Ivor: We need to mention that her daughters... 26:23 "I will kill her children... " 26:25 that death represents the daughters... 26:27 those churches that come out of her 26:29 Yvonne: Apostasy. 26:30 Ivor: Exactly and the promise, you know, 26:33 in verse 26, it says, "And he that overcometh, 26:36 and keepeth my works unto the end, 26:38 to him will I give power over the nations: 26:39 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; 26:41 as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: 26:44 even as I received of my Father. " 26:47 This points us to the fact that 26:50 as the nations were persecuting God's people, 26:54 during the Dark Ages, God is saying, 26:56 "I'm going to give you power over those nations 26:58 if you remain faithful to me. " 27:00 And then He says, "I'll give him the morning star. " 27:01 James: The Morning Star... 27:03 and darkness... brings a morning star, 27:06 when you see this first star 27:07 as it begins to dawn toward morning 27:10 and in the context of the Dark Ages, 27:12 the Morning Star was John Wycliffe, 27:14 John Wycliffe was... was understood 27:15 to be the Morning Star of the Reformation 27:17 why? he translated the Bible and got the Bible to the people 27:21 and, of course, the Morning Star is Christ 27:23 and Christ is the Word... and so he's bringing Christ... 27:26 bringing the Word to the people... 27:27 he was the Morning Star of the Reformation. 27:29 So that's basically the... 27:30 what we see here in the history of this fourth church 27:33 we are indeed out of time... All: laughter... 27:35 James: We're just moving through it, 27:37 moving through it, moving through it... 27:38 but we want questions, we want questions at: 27:42 Jason: sss@3abn. org James: sss@3abn. org 27:46 Yvonne and Jason: Video questions... 27:47 James: Absolutely, all right, 27:50 let's close out with word of prayer, Jason... 27:51 "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much 27:54 for allowing us to have another study together, 27:56 and as we depart from here, 27:59 please don't let 28:00 what we've learned depart from our hearts and minds, 28:04 please be with everybody that is watching this program 28:08 and help them to retain 28:10 the information studied as well 28:12 and inspire them to study this deeper 28:15 than what we've touched today, 28:16 we pray all these things in Jesus' name... amen. " 28:18 All: "Amen... " |
Revised 2016-08-09