Salvation in Symbols and Signs

Introduction to the Trumpets part 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis

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Series Code: SISS

Program Code: SISS000031A


00:30 Revelation chapter 8... the seven trumpets...
00:34 it's the third part of this
00:36 repeat and enlarge epic that we find in Revelation,
00:39 we got the seven churches, we got the seven seals
00:42 and now we got the seven trumpets
00:43 and then we finally have the seven salvation signs,
00:45 and so there are four all together,
00:47 this is the third one, three... and then...
00:49 there's an introduction and a close,
00:50 and when you chop up Revelation like that
00:52 or let me put it this way,
00:54 when you organize Revelation like that,
00:56 it makes it a lot easier to understand
00:57 because once you've done the seven churches
01:00 and you've laid that foundation,
01:01 you're simply repeating now the same basic history
01:04 in the seven seals,
01:06 and that repetition is found again in the seven trumpets
01:09 and then again in the seven salvation signs,
01:12 so it's like... "Okay, now that we've worked out
01:15 a basic understanding of the churches,
01:18 that's going to help us with the seals...
01:20 oh, now that we've worked out a basic understanding
01:21 of the churches and seals,
01:22 that's going to help us with the trumpets,
01:24 oh! now we understand all those three...
01:25 that's really going to help us
01:27 with the last section of Revelation. "
01:28 That's how the Book of Revelation is written.
01:31 Ivor: Each section gives a stronger confirmation
01:33 for the following section. James: Yes.
01:35 Ivor: Now that we have two... churches and seals...
01:37 stronger confirmation for the trumpets
01:39 and it goes on like that throughout the whole book.
01:41 James: And as we opened last time... we learned
01:43 that we are back in the Apostolic Age,
01:46 we're back in the early Christian church era,
01:48 we are back in the time frame when Jesus Christ was born,
01:52 lived, died, was resurrected and then the Holy Spirit
01:56 was poured out in the early church
01:57 and they went forth to proclaim the gospel,
01:59 that's where we're going to begin
02:00 so, as we start to look at these verses,
02:03 we're going to be trying to decode the symbolism
02:06 in relation to that period of time
02:08 and it becomes easier because we can go to the Bible,
02:11 we can find verses that will give us
02:13 the understanding of the symbolism
02:15 but how... where do you apply that symbolism?
02:17 James: Does it apply to the future,
02:19 does it apply to the past or is it somewhere in the middle?
02:21 Well, the way the Book is structured
02:23 helps us to recognize that it applies to things
02:27 "which must shortly come to pass... "
02:29 when John wrote this he was told,
02:31 "I am showing you things that must shortly come to pass"
02:34 so we begin in John's time,
02:35 all right, we need to start with a word of prayer, yeah,
02:38 and then we'll get right into it.
02:40 All right, Jason, pray for us would you please?
02:41 Jason: Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father,
02:43 we thank you again for another day of study...
02:46 the opportunity to study your Word,
02:48 we thank you for the "repeat and enlarge" concept
02:51 so that we may continue to learn...
02:53 if we miss it on one part,
02:55 we can learn it on the next, Lord,
02:57 we ask that you'd be with our Viewers
02:59 and help them to study the Word as well
03:01 and to really gain insight as to what is to come
03:06 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. "
03:07 All: "Amen... "
03:08 James: So, just to re-cap a little bit,
03:11 we started in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 1
03:14 and we talked about how that applies to the seven seals
03:17 because it's the seventh seal... we kind of knocked that out,
03:20 then we went to Revelation 8 verse 2
03:22 and we saw here a new vision,
03:25 and the implication that is right in the first phrase,
03:28 "And I saw... " that usually...
03:30 takes us to a whole new picture that John is seeing,
03:32 John is being shown, "And I saw the seven angels,
03:35 which stood before God;
03:36 and to them were given seven trumpets. "
03:38 And how do we define the trumpets,
03:40 what are the trumpets representing or symbolizing?
03:42 Jason: A couple of different things.
03:45 James: Okay... like...
03:47 Jason: A couple of different things...
03:51 Yvonne: Alarm... a sign of war too...
03:55 Jason: One was like... Christ's voice.
03:58 James: Yes... that was Revelation 1,
04:00 "and I heard the voice of a trumpet
04:02 and turned around and saw the Son of man... "
04:04 so we've got alarm, we've got war,
04:06 we've got Christ calling to us, the Word of God calling to us,
04:10 we've got also the Day of Atonement,
04:13 the trumpets blowing, calling people to atonement,
04:15 that's to repentance, to reconciliation with God...
04:19 and all of these verses, we looked at Joel chapter 2,
04:22 we referenced 1st Corinthians 14:8...
04:25 Leviticus 23, 24... so all of these verses
04:30 identified for us why God would use a trumpet
04:34 as a symbol in the Book of Revelation,
04:37 He is giving us a message now in the seven trumpets
04:40 that is a message that is of alarm,
04:42 it's a message about destruction and war,
04:45 it's a message where Jesus is working through all of that,
04:48 God is working through all of that
04:49 to call us to repentance, to atonement,
04:52 to reconciliation, it's a message...
04:54 it gives this trumpet a certain sound
04:56 that we can prepare ourselves for the battle.
04:58 Ivor: I want to add something in here,
05:00 if you all just hold your place in Revelation 8
05:03 and just turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 33,
05:06 and Ezekiel 33 beginning with verse 1,
05:11 the Bible says here,
05:15 "Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
05:18 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people... "
05:20 James: Where are you?
05:22 Ivor: Verse 2, chapter 33... verse 2,
05:24 "Son of man, speak to the children of thy people,
05:27 and say unto them,
05:28 When I bring the sword upon a land,
05:30 if the people of the land take a man of their coasts,
05:35 and set him for their watchman:
05:37 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land,
05:41 he blow the trumpet, and... " what?
05:44 "warn the people;
05:45 Then whosever heareth the sound of the trumpet,
05:49 and taketh not warning;
05:50 if the sword come, and take him away,
05:52 his blood shall be upon his own head.
05:54 He heard the sound of the trumpet,
05:56 and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him.
06:00 But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. "
06:03 So we see here this concept of the trumpets
06:06 also signifying warning, judgment is coming,
06:09 I'm going to find this theme present...
06:13 James: All through the trumpets.
06:14 Ivor: That's right... when we go through the trumpets
06:15 so, we've got the story of Gideon,
06:17 we've got the story of Jericho, we've got the Day of Atonement,
06:22 all these different stories relating to the trumpets,
06:25 help us to know what we should be looking for
06:28 when we get to the trumpets,
06:30 of which proceed in Revelation chapter 8
06:33 as well as chapter 9.
06:34 James: Now, here's something interesting...
06:36 that we already know...
06:37 but we're just going to review it a little bit,
06:38 right after he sees this vision
06:41 of this seven angels giving these seven trumpets...
06:43 "And another angel comes
06:46 and this angel comes and stands at the altar,
06:49 having a golden censer and he was giving him much incense,
06:52 that he should offer it with the prayers of the...
06:55 all the saints... upon the golden altar
06:57 which was before the throne.
06:59 And the smoke of the incense,
07:00 which came with the prayers of the saints,
07:02 ascends up before God out of the angel's hands... "
07:04 now, I just want to stop right here,
07:06 this is a separate vision, we noted this,
07:09 not a separate vision, it's part of the seven trumpets
07:11 but it's a prelude before the trumpets sound
07:15 because if you look in verse 6, it says,
07:18 "And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets
07:20 prepared themselves to sound. " Yvonne: Hmmm...
07:22 James: So up until this point, up until verse 6,
07:25 all the previous verses...
07:26 the trumpets haven't started sounding yet,
07:28 so John is showing us something that is taking place
07:31 before the trumpets sound, before the judgments come,
07:35 before the alarm, before the war,
07:36 before the devastation, before all this happens,
07:38 there's something else that we need to look at right here
07:41 and what we learned was this is a picture
07:43 of the work of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary
07:46 because you've got one altar which represents the cross,
07:51 and He's going to another altar which is the golden altar
07:55 which represents the altar of incense
07:57 in the Holy Place of the Sanctuary,
07:59 so He's going from the Cross which was in the Courtyard,
08:02 to the Holy Place and the Golden Altar in the Sanctuary
08:05 and He's taking something from this altar into this altar
08:08 and that something is described as incense
08:11 and we looked in Ephesians 5:2,
08:13 and we noted that the incense
08:15 represents the sacrifice of Jesus,
08:17 it's a "sweetsmelling savour" so, the picture is this,
08:21 what age are we in?
08:23 Are we in the age of pagan Rome or papal Rome
08:25 or are we in the age of atheism
08:27 or are we in the time of the end,
08:28 or are we in the Millerite Movement,
08:30 where are we in history right now... in this?
08:31 We're starting a new epic so we are back in the Apostolic Age,
08:36 we're in the early Christian era.
08:38 Yvonne: Okay.
08:39 Ivor: Let's clarify that a little bit...
08:41 just for the purpose of our study,
08:44 let's remember that these three articles of furniture,
08:48 which all start off the seals, the trumpets and the churches
08:53 are all found in the Holy Place when the High Priest ministered
08:58 it was a simultaneous ministry which lets us know
09:02 that whatever happens under the seals
09:05 must unfold simultaneously with the trumpets
09:08 and the churches, so that's how we know
09:10 the first church and the first seal
09:13 unfold in the Apostolic Age...
09:16 then the first trumpet must parallel... right,
09:20 the first seal and the first church.
09:23 James: I really like that, I like that because
09:25 yeah, the Holy Place Ministry was a three-fold ministry,
09:28 it was all happening at the same time
09:29 and then you go to the trumpets, churches and seals
09:31 and the articles of furniture in the Holy Place
09:33 where the priest ministered at the same time
09:36 are all found there, I really like that point, Ivor,
09:38 I think that's really significant.
09:40 Yvonne: And it helps keep things...
09:42 helps to keep things in order so that you can kind of
09:46 follow... it connects the dots, yeah.
09:48 Jason: Checks and balances. Yvonne: Yeah.
09:50 James: That's really important.
09:52 Ivor: We know that the first trumpet is not something
09:53 that unfolded in the Dark Ages, for example.
09:56 Yvonne: Hmmm... James: Yeah.
09:58 Ivor: Or something that we should be looking in the
09:59 future for... when is that first trumpet going to blow?
10:01 James: Because we're in the Holy Place.
10:02 Ivor: That's right.
10:03 James: We're pre-1844... we're back here and plus...
10:06 we know... that after Jesus Christ died,
10:10 which is what we saw in the beginning of the seals,
10:12 after He had come down to this earth
10:14 is what you saw in the beginning of the churches,
10:16 we know that He went to heaven to intercede for us
10:19 and we know when He went to heaven,
10:21 He took His sacrifice from the cross
10:22 first altar... into the Holy Place... Golden Altar...
10:26 and He applied that sacrifice to our prayers.
10:28 In our last program we were talking a little bit
10:31 about how those prayers... when they first came up
10:35 were the prayers of the early disciples,
10:36 remember when they were in the upper room,
10:38 they were praying earnestly...
10:39 and they were confessing their faults
10:41 and their... the way they had mistreated one another,
10:44 I'm sure Peter was saying, "I was so stupid when I said,
10:46 'Oh, yeah, they may forsake you but I won't... '
10:50 forgive me for doing that, James, John, I'm sorry,
10:54 that was wrong of me, I'm worse than you guys... "
10:57 now that prayer went up to heaven but not by its lonesome,
11:00 it headed to the throne of God and Jesus snatched it,
11:03 applied His perfect righteousness to it,
11:06 and it was acceptable to God, right there
11:08 and when all those prayers came up
11:10 something happens in response and that's where we left off,
11:14 what happens in response to all those prayers?
11:17 Well, we can go to the text and we can look at the text
11:20 and it will tell us in symbolic language
11:21 and then we're going to go to the Scriptures
11:23 and we're going to break down the symbols
11:25 and we're going to see if those symbols
11:27 break out in the Apostolic Age,
11:29 it's going to be amazing to see this.
11:31 Yvonne: Good, good, good.
11:32 James: So Jason, read for us Revelation chapter 8
11:37 and let's just read... pick up with verse 4
11:40 and verses... verse 5...
11:42 Jason: Okay, "And the smoke of the incense,
11:45 which came up with the prayers of the saints,
11:47 ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
11:49 And the angel took the censer,
11:52 and filled it with fire of the altar,
11:54 and cast it into the earth: and there were voices,
11:59 and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. "
12:01 James: Okay, here's the symbolism,
12:03 here's the symbolism,
12:05 we've got the picture... Apostolic Age...
12:07 we've got the intercession of Christ,
12:09 we have prayers of God's people going up,
12:11 they're mingled with the righteousness of Christ
12:13 and all of a sudden we've got fire off the altar,
12:16 put into the censer... cast into the earth,
12:18 we've got lightnings and voices and thunderings and earthquake,
12:24 what is that, what is going on there?
12:28 Yvonne: Before that... where we have the smoke of the incense,
12:32 is that... is that something significant,
12:34 the smoke of the incense?
12:37 Ivor: Yeah, I think there is a...
12:39 just the incense altogether, remember,
12:42 what does the incense represent?
12:43 Yvonne: Prayer... Ivor: It represented prayers
12:45 and it represents the righteousness of Christ,
12:46 you know, the prayers of the saints
12:48 mingled with the righteousness of Christ
12:49 so when that symbol... when you see that symbol
12:53 you need to be thinking... prayer...
12:57 you need to be thinking prayer
12:59 but also... intercession...
13:00 because that's what our High Priest is doing
13:03 on our behalf... He's interceding...
13:05 Yvonne: So, when you see the smoke,
13:07 you think of the intercession.
13:10 Ivor: You think of intercession mingled
13:12 with the righteousness of Christ
13:14 you think of prayer and that's going to be important
13:17 for us to understand what happens... in other words...
13:20 saints are praying... fire falls,
13:24 saints are praying... fire falls...
13:28 right, what does... does that bring to memory
13:33 anything that we could think of in the Scripture...
13:37 saints praying...
13:39 prayers ascending... fire falls, so, go ahead James.
13:46 James: Well, I'm thinking that we are in a situation here,
13:50 first of all, we want to go right into...
13:52 I want to go right to Revelation,
13:53 and I want to notice something in Revelation
13:54 and then we're in a situation here
13:56 where we have to go to the Bible,
13:58 we have to find out what are these...
13:59 if these are symbols, what do they mean?
14:01 Okay, so first of all I want to go back to
14:03 Revelation chapter 4
14:05 and I want to you to notice something here
14:06 that we've already studied but just to remember
14:11 because we're again... we're rehashing...
14:13 we're "repeat and enlarging" right here,
14:15 in Revelation 4 there's a picture of the throne scene
14:19 and I want, Yvonne, read for us in Revelation 4 verse 5.
14:22 Yvonne: "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings
14:26 and thunderings and voices:
14:28 and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
14:31 which are the seven Spirits of God. "
14:33 James: Okay, out of the throne of God,
14:35 this is the throne of God...
14:37 is represented right here in this verse,
14:40 voices and... or lightnings and thunders and voices
14:44 and the Spirit of God, the seven-fold Spirit of God...
14:48 the Holy Spirit, so there's the throne of God
14:51 and there's lightnings and thunders and voices,
14:53 so we need to understand the throne of God is represented
14:57 as having lightning and thunders and voices and the Spirit of God
15:02 okay, that's the throne of God.
15:03 Jason: Why is there seven Spirits though,
15:05 like, what is that about?
15:07 James: Seven represents complete or perfect
15:09 so, if you look in Genesis, for example,
15:11 it says that on the seventh day God finished His work,
15:14 He completed His work, His work was very good,
15:16 it was perfect... so seven is a number that is used
15:19 to represent the completeness or the fullness
15:22 of the Holy Spirit, seven eyes, seven Spirits...
15:26 represents completeness or fullness
15:27 so this is the full power of the Holy Spirit
15:29 surrounding the throne of God,
15:30 the throne of God is symbolized,
15:32 all the power, all the presence of the throne of God
15:36 is symbolized with lightnings and voices and thunders
15:40 and the Spirit of God, okay,
15:41 then Jesus is presented in Revelation chapter 5,
15:44 as the Lamb that is slain, right after He's presented
15:48 Jason, read Revelation chapter 6 now,
15:52 Revelation chapter 6 and read verse 6.
15:55 Jason: And I heard a voice in
15:58 the midst of the four beasts say...
16:00 James: No... Revelation 5 and verse 6...
16:03 Jason: Oh... okay, let's see here,
16:07 "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne
16:10 and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
16:13 stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
16:15 having seven horns and seven eyes,
16:16 which are the seven Spirits of God
16:18 sent forth into all the earth. "
16:20 James: Okay, in Revelation 4,
16:22 the seven Spirits of God are before the throne,
16:25 in Revelation 5... the seven Spirits of God...
16:29 the seven-fold Spirit of God is sent forth in all the earth,
16:32 this is the first picture that we see
16:35 of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
16:37 the Holy Spirit is before the throne,
16:40 Jesus is presented, inauguration takes place,
16:43 the Lamb slain is presented,
16:44 Jesus says, "When I go to the Father,
16:46 I'm going to send the Holy Spirit... "
16:47 and so His Holy Spirit is sent forth into all the earth,
16:50 that's going to be repeated now in Revelation chapter 8,
16:52 so you get to Revelation chapter 8, what's taking place?
16:55 Jesus is again, presented
16:57 as the One that's presenting His righteousness to God
17:00 mingling with the prayers of the saints
17:03 and when His righteousness is mingled with our prayers,
17:06 we want to be praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
17:07 He takes fire which is the symbol of the Holy Spirit,
17:10 casts it into the earth, and the voices
17:14 and thunderings and lightnings that are in Revelation 4
17:16 around the throne, guess where they are now?
17:19 They're in the earth, they're in the earth,
17:22 the whole power of God now around His throne
17:25 is now being cast out into the earth,
17:26 is that what we see on the Day of Pentecost
17:29 in the early church? Let's take a look.
17:30 Yvonne: Hmmm...
17:32 We want to go look now, the first place we want to look,
17:34 Ivor already mentioned it and let's just look at the verses,
17:36 the first place we want to look is in Acts...
17:39 Acts chapter 2:1 through 4, if someone wants to read
17:43 Acts chapter 2:1 through 4.
17:44 Ivor: I'll go ahead and read it, Acts 2...
17:47 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
17:51 they were all with one accord in one place.
17:54 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
17:57 as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house
18:01 where they were sitting.
18:03 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
18:08 and it sat on each of them.
18:10 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
18:12 and began to speak with other tongues,
18:15 as the Spirit gave them utterance. "
18:18 James: Okay, I'm just going to read the verse again,
18:20 Ivor just read Acts 2:1-4...
18:21 now I'm going to read this verse again, Revelation 8:5,
18:23 "Now the angel took the censer, filled with fire off the altar,
18:25 and cast it unto the earth: and there were voices... "
18:28 what does the verse say?
18:30 They had the Holy Spirit... it came in the form of fire
18:33 and they began to do what?
18:34 Yvonne: Speak in tongues.
18:35 James: Do you see the connection there? Yvonne: Hmmm...
18:38 James: You see... and when you look up the word,
18:40 here, in Acts as "tongues" it will say, "other languages"
18:46 that's the actual Greek word,
18:48 "other languages... " they spake in other languages,
18:50 because there were so many people there in Jerusalem
18:51 from different parts of the world,
18:53 that were Jews but they were... you know...
18:54 they spoke these different languages...
18:56 where they had moved...
18:58 and they were just coming to visit, basically,
18:59 they were residents of these other...
19:01 they couldn't understand... all understand Hebrew...
19:03 or even Greek and so,
19:05 the Holy Spirit gave the gift of languages
19:07 to the disciples so that they could speak
19:09 and everyone could understand.
19:10 Yvonne: So, this is different from "Glossolalia"
19:12 which is... ecstatic utterances, charismatic utterances,
19:17 not tongues as in manifested in some churches today...
19:21 we are talking about tongues... other languages...
19:24 James: Right, as in the gift of languages.
19:25 Yvonne: So, I don't understand Russian,
19:30 but I might have spoken to Sveta in Russian
19:34 even though I wasn't... I wasn't speaking it consciously...
19:37 James: It's a gift... Yvonne: it's a gift...
19:38 James: It's a gift and God gave that gift to the disciples
19:41 and they spoke fluently in these other languages.
19:43 Jason: I was going to ask something along those lines too,
19:46 like, why is it that some churches think that
19:48 they can speak tongues and that...
19:52 like, I don't understand that.
19:53 James: That is something we can get into
19:55 as we move through this because we are going to be
19:57 hitting on some of those aspects
19:59 as we get further into the Book of Revelation,
20:01 everything that God has given,
20:04 every gift that God has given, let me just say this for now,
20:06 every gift that God has given... Satan has counterfeited.
20:09 The Sabbath has been counterfeited,
20:11 remember, we read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11,
20:13 another Jesus, another gospel, another Spirit,
20:16 so there's the true
20:18 and there's the false and there's the counterfeit,
20:19 now, Paul deals with this in a letter to the Corinthians,
20:23 he talks about how they were
20:25 perverting the gifts of the Spirit,
20:26 specifically, the gift of tongues... and then he lays out
20:29 how the gift of tongues should be manifested in the church,
20:32 how when it's present,
20:34 it should be done with one or two,
20:35 there should be an interpretation,
20:37 it should be done decently in an order
20:38 and so, if we're violating those principles
20:41 which are God-given Biblical principles,
20:43 we can know... we're not manifesting
20:45 the gift of tongues as it's offered by the Holy Spirit
20:48 and we'll look at that... we can look at that a little bit later.
20:51 Ivor: One easy way to put this is that
20:53 we know the gift of tongues is at least different languages,
20:57 so, if anyone claims to have the gift of tongues,
21:00 they should at least be able to speak
21:02 a couple of known languages and if they don't have...
21:05 you understand what I'm saying,
21:07 if they can speak everything else
21:08 that everyone can understand,
21:09 they can't speak another language,
21:11 that's not the Biblical gift of tongues.
21:12 James: And it's a gift, it's not a learned language.
21:14 Ivor: That's right... it's not a learned language
21:16 it's a gift, there's something that you never practiced
21:19 and suddenly you're able to speak that language
21:21 and one of the things I always find interesting is that
21:24 those who... who say that they speak in tongues,
21:28 have never been able to speak in another language
21:32 that was just... in other words, they've never manifested
21:35 as it is manifested in Acts 2,
21:37 the ability to speak in another language,
21:39 so, yeah, I know we're kind of digressing... yes.
21:43 James: It's good, it's good, we want to read another verse
21:44 that's going to help us with that,
21:46 so the other verse that I want us to read
21:48 that's going to help us with that is going to be
21:49 Acts chapter 2 verses 5 and 6.
21:51 Acts 2:5 and 6... Yvonne, do you have that?
21:54 Yvonne: "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men,
21:58 out of every nation under heaven.
21:59 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together,
22:03 and were confounded,
22:04 because that every man heard them speak
22:07 in his own language. "
22:08 James: Now that's very clear isn't it?
22:10 Yvonne: That's very clear. James: That nails it.
22:11 Yvonne: Yeah. James: So these voices...
22:13 now I want us to read another verse,
22:15 and I'm going to read it for us,
22:16 it's in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 11,
22:18 get this... this is...
22:19 this is way before Jesus leaves and sends the Holy Spirit,
22:24 "I indeed baptize you... " this is John the Baptist,
22:28 "with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me
22:32 is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
22:36 he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire... "
22:40 this is predicting the Day of Pentecost.
22:44 John the Baptist is speaking about the water baptism,
22:47 he's saying, "Now when Jesus comes,
22:48 He's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. "
22:51 And so, we're looking forward now...
22:53 that's Matthew 3:11, we're looking forward now
22:55 to what's taking place right here on the Day of Pentecost
22:57 and so we've got an idea so far, of the symbols,
23:02 the fire represents the Holy Ghost... the Holy Spirit.
23:05 That is confirmed for us in Revelation chapter 4...
23:09 chapters 4 and 5, but also it's confirmed for us
23:12 in Acts chapter 2...
23:13 let's see, Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4
23:16 and Acts chapter 2 verses 5 and 6.
23:19 The Holy Spirit was poured out and we're told that
23:23 it looked like fire,
23:24 and then they spake in these other languages,
23:26 that second symbol then we got figured out is the voices,
23:29 Yvonne: Hmmm...
23:31 James: The voices that we see in Revelation chapter 8
23:33 are the other tongues
23:36 the disciples spoke in their languages the disciples spoke
23:39 and so we've got those two symbols figured out,
23:41 what about the thunderings and what about the lightnings?
23:43 Yvonne: Hmmm...
23:46 James: I want you to look here
23:48 and by-the-way... well, we'll get to that,
23:51 I want you to look here in relation to the thunderings
23:54 in John chapter 12 verse 28... John chapter 12 and verse 28,
23:58 Jesus is at the Temple and He's preparing for Calvary
24:08 and as He's preparing for Calvary,
24:10 the Greeks come and they want to have a moment with Him
24:13 to talk... to meet with Him,
24:15 and that's the context of verse 28.
24:17 Yvonne: Did you say John 12? James: John 12:28.
24:20 Jason: I'll read it. James: This is Christ speaking.
24:23 Jason: "Father, glorify thy name.
24:25 Then came there a voice from heaven, saying,
24:28 I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. "
24:31 James: And verse 29, sorry.
24:34 Jason: Verse 29, "The people therefore,
24:36 that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered:
24:39 others said, An angel spake to him. "
24:41 James: Okay, God is speaking here...
24:43 God is communicating with Jesus... he's saying,
24:46 "This is my Son, listen to Him" and people are standing by
24:49 and they hear this... this voice...
24:51 and what does it sound like? Yvonne: Thunder...
24:52 James: Thunder... thunder is a symbol of the voice of God.
24:55 Yvonne: Ah...
24:56 Jason: So we've got the fire representing the Holy Spirit,
24:59 we've got the voices representing
25:00 the gift of languages,
25:02 and we've got the thunder representing the voice of God,
25:03 now, we want to apply this again to...
25:06 and there are a number of other verses,
25:08 I'm just going to give you the references,
25:09 Job 26:14... but we want to apply this again to the...
25:15 to the Christian church... to the Apostolic Age,
25:16 were there times when the voice of God
25:19 was manifested in the early Christian church?
25:22 And one of those examples I want to give you is
25:25 Acts chapter 9 verse 4,
25:26 remember when Saul was persecuting the church?
25:29 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm...
25:30 James: And he was going from Jerusalem to Damascus?
25:31 He's riding along with the soldiers...
25:33 and there's this bright light and then what does he hear?
25:37 he hears this voice... and I'm just going to read verse 4,
25:41 "He fell to the earth,
25:42 and he heard a voice saying unto him,
25:44 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"
25:46 Who is that, who is speaking to him?
25:48 Yvonne: It's God.
25:49 James: Yeah, Jesus is speaking to him,
25:51 see, he hears the literal voice of Christ,
25:53 so here again is another manifestation
25:55 of the actual outpouring of God's power in the earth,
26:01 God wants Saul to be on His side,
26:04 He wants him to be converted, He wants him to become Paul,
26:07 He wants him to take the message to the Gentiles,
26:09 and so, we've got the fire on the day of Pentecost,
26:11 that's the symbol of the Holy Spirit,
26:13 we've got the voices...
26:14 that's the symbol of the gift of languages,
26:16 and then we've got this thunder
26:17 which represents or symbolizes God's voice,
26:19 God, at times... came directly down to individuals
26:24 and spoke to them, now He also...
26:26 in the early church, He also used lightnings,
26:29 we haven't identified that symbol yet
26:31 and we're not going to in this program,
26:33 Yvonne: Ah... going to give us a cliffhanger?
26:35 James: Because we're out of time.
26:37 Yvonne: Laughing...
26:38 James: But we'll pick up with the lightnings,
26:40 the lightnings are really significant also
26:43 and when we see the whole package...
26:45 this is going to be so powerful because
26:47 what we're seeing so far is that heaven comes down to earth,
26:50 heaven comes down to earth.
26:51 So, I know there are going to be people
26:54 who are going to be wondering about
26:55 some of these symbols... perhaps... have questions.
26:58 Jason: The best way for them to get that to us is
27:00 to send an e-mail to sss@3abn. org
27:03 Salvation in Symbols and Signs.
27:06 James: Salvation in Symbols and Signs,
27:08 Ivor, close us out with a word of prayer, would you?
27:10 Ivor: Let's pray, "Heavenly Father, we thank you
27:12 for continuing to give us insight into your Word
27:15 and we pray, Lord, that you will continue to open our eyes,
27:18 continue to make these things plain
27:20 and Father, may they move us
27:22 to put our faith and trust in you,
27:24 we pray it in Christ's name, amen. "
27:26 All: "Amen... "
27:27 James: "Amen," so, basically what we're looking at here is,
27:30 we're looking at all of these symbols...
27:32 this is not literal, lightning, thunder, fire,
27:35 natural disasters,
27:37 spiritual things are spiritually discerned
27:39 so we see these symbols in Revelation
27:41 and we take them back to the Apostolic Age,
27:44 we let the Bible break them open
27:46 and we see how they apply in Biblical history,
27:49 Biblical history shows us how these symbols apply
27:51 to the early Christian church, it's powerful, it's beautiful,
27:54 got to have more.
27:56 Yvonne: Amen...


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Revised 2016-10-06