Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000055A
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00:30 We are moving right along,
00:31 Revelation chapter 13 is coming alive, 00:34 we've connected it with Matthew chapter 24, 00:36 we talked about all of the counterfeits 00:39 and how these counterfeits of Satan 00:41 and the human instrumentalities that he works through 00:44 are the "abomination of desolation" 00:46 putting man... 00:47 putting his counterfeits in the place of God 00:50 is an abomination that makes us desolate. 00:52 It takes away our salvation 00:53 and Jesus wanted us to watch out for this 00:56 and the final one of course, 00:57 putting Satan in the place of Christ 01:00 that counterfeit... coming... impersonating Christ 01:03 performing miracles... 01:05 deceiving, if possible, the elect... 01:06 the whole world "wondering after the beast" 01:09 pointing to that image... pointing to that false worship 01:12 and saying, "This is the genuine... " 01:14 that's the final abomination. 01:16 And it's going to be important for us to understand 01:18 the point you just mentioned James, 01:20 because... as we get into the Mark of the Beast, 01:23 that's going to lay for us a very good foundation 01:26 to understand, "Ah, that's what the 'Mark' is... " 01:29 James: So close to the truth. 01:30 Ivor: Absolutely. 01:32 James: The counterfeit is so close to the truth. 01:33 Ivor: Absolutely. 01:34 Yvonne: A question just dawned on me, 01:36 I'll ask it after the prayer. 01:37 I'll ask it after... 01:38 James: Good, good, so we're going to have prayer, 01:41 we're not going to do a question this time 01:42 just because we've got some material we want to cover 01:44 in this Section, 01:45 so, we'll have prayer and then we'll jump right in. 01:47 Jason, pray for us. 01:48 Jason: Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father, 01:50 we thank you for another chance, 01:52 another opportunity that we have to study your Word 01:55 we ask that as we cover these deep subjects... 01:58 this deep topic that you would please be with us 02:01 and that you would please help us to fully comprehend 02:04 and retain this information 02:06 and send your Holy Spirit 02:07 to lead and guide us into all truth, 02:09 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. " All: "Amen. " 02:11 James: All right, Yvonne. 02:13 Yvonne: So, Satan is going to impersonate the return of Jesus, 02:19 and the dead... and he will... one of the miracles... 02:26 James: Deception... 02:28 Yvonne: is the dead... resurrecting... 02:30 except, I think we should clarify 02:32 that it's really not the dead. 02:34 James: Yes, good point... it's really not the dead, 02:36 he cannot raise the dead, he can't bring to life, 02:39 he doesn't have the power. 02:40 Yvonne: So it's going to... 02:42 that would be another impersonation 02:44 so your dear Aunt Sally or your mother or your father 02:50 or whoever... you might think that you're talking to them 02:55 but you're actually talking to a demon. 02:57 James: Let's give a Bible verse on this, 02:59 Jason, can you find us 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 03:02 verses 13, 14 and 15. 03:05 I think... I think it's really important 03:07 for us to look at the Bible verses 03:09 when we talk about these kinds of things 03:11 so that people have references that they can go to 03:15 and we're talking right now about Satan personating 03:19 human beings coming as Christ, personating Christ, 03:23 personating human beings so 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 03:26 Ivor: It would be an evil angel that would be Counterfeiting, 03:28 basically real people. 03:31 James: Yes, can he do this? 03:32 Begin at verse 13 and read all the way to 15. 03:36 Okay, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, 03:39 transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 03:42 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed 03:46 into an angel of light. " 03:47 James: Okay, that's 13, 14, 15? 03:50 Jason: All right, 15... "Therefore it is no great thing 03:52 if his ministers also be transformed 03:54 as the ministers of righteousness; 03:56 whose end shall be according to their works. " 03:58 James: All right, so these verses are telling us... 04:01 and in the context, it's talking about 04:03 Satan actually preaching another gospel... verse 2... 04:06 another "Jesus... " another spirit... 04:09 coming in another spirit 04:10 so you've got the gospel of Jesus and the Holy Spirit 04:13 being counterfeited by Satan 04:14 in verse 2 of 2nd Corinthians 11 04:16 and then his ministers... who are his ministers? 04:19 The demons... they're coming as ministers of righteousness? 04:22 Whoa... and Satan is coming as an angel of light. 04:25 So these verses tell us exactly what's taking place here. 04:29 Jason: You know, I heard something interesting, 04:31 and I don't remember who said it or where I heard it, 04:34 I don't know if it was a preacher or whoever... but... 04:37 they was talking about how these bank tellers... 04:40 when they're being trained... 04:41 they don't take a look at every counterfeit that's out there, 04:45 they get to know the true... the real... 04:49 the real deal... the genuine... through and through 04:54 so anything else that they see that is not the real deal, 04:58 they recognize as counterfeit. 05:01 James: Because there are so many variations of the counterfeit, 05:03 people are out there counterfeiting, 05:05 they can come up with these different variations 05:06 and if you're studying the counterfeit... 05:08 well, maybe a counterfeit comes along 05:09 you haven't heard of before... it's a brand-new one, 05:11 if you're studying the genuine, I like that, 05:13 if you're studying the genuine... 05:15 then, you could tell the counterfeit right away 05:16 because it doesn't match up with the real thing 05:18 and that's why we need to be in the Bible. 05:21 Ivor: Yeah, yeah, I want to just add something here 05:23 that is... because with that question... 05:25 the question you asked was from... 05:28 the verse we use is Revelation 16 05:31 with these three unclean spirits 05:33 that go out like frogs but it's interesting because 05:37 if you look at the verse 05:39 that is right before Revelation 16 verse 13... 05:42 it says in verse 12 05:46 "And the sixth angel poured out his vial 05:48 upon the great river Euphrates; 05:49 that the water thereof was dried up, 05:51 that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. " 05:54 River Euphrates was the river that supported Babylon. 05:57 When the river was dried up in the Old Testament, 06:00 it was because a guy by the name of Cyrus 06:03 was coming to deliver God's people who were... 06:07 he was known as God's anointed 06:09 which is a type of the Messiah, 06:12 he dried up the deep in order to 06:15 set the captives free from Babylon, 06:19 okay, when Jesus comes again, is He going to dry up the deep? 06:24 In a sense, "Yes. " 06:25 Where are the captives? 06:27 Yeah, they are going to be those who captives... 06:29 captive... alive when He comes 06:31 but there are also those that are captive to the grave. 06:33 So when He comes again, He's drying up the deep 06:36 and all His people who are captive to death, 06:39 or in persecution are going to be free 06:42 so, it's not by coincidence 06:44 that right after this mention of... 06:47 "Hey, this is what Jesus is going to do when He comes" 06:49 you have these three unclean spirits 06:51 going out to counterfeit that very miracle... 06:56 and then the very next verse after that, Jesus says, 06:59 "Hey, I just want you to remember 07:01 I come as a thief in the night, 07:03 remember how I come, 07:05 I'm not coming like how I told you... I've warned you 07:08 so watch lest your shame be... your nakedness be revealed... " 07:13 He's telling you, "Hold on to those garments... " 07:15 He's saying, 07:17 "Listen, this is what's going to happen when I come 07:19 but Satan's going to try to do it before me... 07:20 he's going to try to counterfeit... " 07:22 so it's a counterfeit... 07:23 it's not the dead really being raised... 07:25 it is a counterfeit, it's spiritualism, right, 07:29 and so, when you have apostles now appearing 07:32 and saying, "Yeah, this is really the messiah 07:35 and he is... listen to what he's saying. " 07:38 These things again, 07:39 this understanding is going to help us 07:41 when we get back to Revelation 13 07:42 to look at what the Mark of the Beast actually is. 07:44 James: Hmmm... let's get back to Revelation 13, 07:46 we've got a few characteristics here, 07:48 we've kind of thrown out some names here... 07:50 identifications in relation to these powers, 07:53 we've talked about the Papacy, 07:54 we've talked about the United States 07:56 but I think we should get into the meat of these verses 07:58 and make the connections historically 08:01 so that people can really understand 08:03 how it is that we come to these conclusions. 08:05 The first verse we want to look at again 08:07 is Revelation 13 verse 2, actually verse 1... 08:10 John is standing on the sand of the sea, 08:13 Revelation 17:15 tells us that seas and waters represent 08:17 peoples, nations, multitudes and tongues... 08:19 now what we're looking at here is a connection 08:23 this sea beast... the leopard-like sea beast 08:26 has connected us not just to the dragon 08:30 but all the way back to the book of Daniel... 08:32 how do we know that? 08:34 Why do we make that connection? 08:35 Because, first of all, 08:36 the seas represent peoples, nations, multitudes and tongues, 08:39 so we're not talking about 08:40 a desolate place of the earth here... or a wilderness, 08:42 we're talking about populated place of the earth 08:44 and that's what Daniel leaves us, 08:46 in Daniel's prophetic book, you have these four nations 08:49 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, 08:52 and these four nations populate the European and the Middle East 08:57 all of the populated areas of the world 08:59 are populated by these powers... these kingdoms... 09:02 okay, so when Revelation opens up the sea 09:05 and out of the sea came a beast 09:08 having seven heads and ten horns, 09:10 those ten horns represent those ten nations of Europe. 09:13 The seven heads, of course, 09:15 the different heads that were on the nations of 09:17 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 09:18 Ivor: Let's just amplify that a little bit, 09:22 so, in Daniel chapter 7, 09:23 and by God's grace, 09:26 we'll be going through that book as well, 09:28 but in Daniel chapter 7, 09:29 right now, just a short picture of that is 09:32 four beasts rise up, the first is a lion, 09:35 the second is a bear, 09:37 the third is a four-headed leopard 09:39 and the fourth is a dragon, 09:43 so you count all those heads together, 09:46 you have seven heads... Babylon... one... 09:49 Medo-Persia... two... Greece... four... 09:52 okay, and then Rome... the seventh head... 09:56 so you've got these seven heads 09:58 and then on Rome... the seventh head... 10:00 you have these ten horns which represent the nations 10:03 or the countries out of... well, the European nations, 10:09 so these are the seven... ten... 10:10 when you look at Revelation 13 verse 1, 10:13 it's basically a composite... one beast... 10:15 having all these characteristics, 10:18 John sees them as one... 10:19 Daniel sees them as four different beasts. 10:22 Yvonne: Hmmm... All: Hmmm. 10:23 James: And they're one in Revelation... because 10:25 it's a composite or a consummation of 10:30 all those kingdoms coming together into this next kingdom 10:32 which rises up out of the sea... 10:33 and this next kingdom that followed the succession, 10:36 historically would be Papal Rome, 10:39 so when Babylon fell, it fell to Medo-Persia... 10:41 when Medo-Persia fell, it fell to Greece... 10:43 when Greece fell, it fell to Pagan Rome... 10:45 and Pagan Rome went down into the sea... 10:47 we studied this in the trumpets, 10:48 he went down into the waters of Europe, 10:51 the ten nations came up... 10:52 and then another little power came up... 10:54 and plucked up three of those nations 10:56 and that Little Power became the Papacy... 10:59 Papal Rome... it stood up in Rome's place 11:02 and that's where you get the connection... historically. 11:05 Revelation is showing us that connection 11:07 in this composite beast... 11:09 this composite beast is now Papal Rome, 11:11 it comes up in the place of these other nations 11:13 that's why it has all the characteristics... 11:15 feet as a bear... body as a leopard... 11:18 mouth as a lion... 11:19 dragon gives him his power, seat and great authority 11:21 he's got the same configurations of the dragon over here 11:24 and then it goes on to tell us 11:26 that this power... it says... 11:28 was going to have a deadly wound inflicted 11:31 and we looked at that... we looked at the history of that 11:34 and then we saw the wound being healed 11:35 but the thing that we want to make sure that we do now 11:38 is we want to connect all these characteristics 11:41 in Revelation chapter 13 with the book of Daniel. 11:43 So we're going to go back to the book of Daniel, 11:46 chapter 7, we're just going to look at 11:47 some of the characteristics 11:49 and make that connection to Revelation chapter 13. 11:51 So Daniel chapter 7 and let's just start here 11:56 if we will... in verse 8... 11:59 Daniel chapter 7 and verse 8 12:03 Jason, can you read for us verse 8... just verse 8? 12:07 Sure, "I considered the horns, and, behold, 12:10 there came up among them another little horn, 12:13 before whom there were three of the first horns 12:16 plucked up by the roots 12:17 and behold, in this horn were eyes 12:20 like the eyes of man, 12:21 and a mouth speaking great things. " 12:23 Okay, so you notice, the Little Horn comes up among them... 12:26 that's the first characteristic, 12:27 the Little Horn Power would rise up in Europe 12:30 among the European Nations. 12:31 The next characteristic that we see here in this verse is... 12:35 it says that the Little Horn plucked up three by the roots, 12:39 three of the other horns were plucked up... 12:40 when the Papacy came into power, 12:42 it eradicated... or plucked up three of those ten horns... 12:46 or those ten nations in its rise to power, 12:48 the Heruli... the Ostrogoth's and the Visigoths 12:51 and then it says... it had eyes as the eyes of a man 12:54 and so you have a man at the head of this power, 12:57 and then it goes on to say, 12:59 "it has a mouth speaking great things. " 13:00 Ivor: Blasphemous things. 13:02 James: Yes, and what we're going to see here 13:03 is the very same characteristics that are revealed in Daniel 7 13:08 are also paralleled in Revelation. 13:10 For example, in Revelation chapter 13 13:13 it says here in verse 2, 13:15 "and the beast which I saw was like a leopard... " 13:17 and he says, "his feet as the feet of a bear, 13:20 and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: 13:22 and the dragon gave him his seat, 13:24 and his power, and great authority. 13:25 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death: 13:28 and his deadly wound was healed: 13:29 and all the world wondered after the beast. 13:31 They worshipped the beast... 13:32 and the dragon which gave power unto the beast: 13:34 and they worshipped the beast, saying, 13:36 Who is like unto the beast? 13:37 who is able to make war with him? 13:38 And there was given unto him 13:40 a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies... " 13:42 so you have that same characteristic in verse 5 13:44 that we read about here in Daniel chapter 7 and verse 8 13:48 and then you go on... now... 13:50 what's really interesting is... 13:51 and we don't want to go into all the details of Daniel 7... 13:53 we're just going to hit the highlights... 13:55 Daniel wants to know more... 13:57 "I want to know more about this Little Horn Power... 13:59 tell me more about this guy" 14:00 okay, so the angel comes back and says, 14:02 "Okay, I'm going to tell you a couple of things, 14:03 first I'm going to tell you" verse 17... 14:05 that these beasts that you're looking at 14:07 are actually four kings that will arise out of the earth. 14:11 So sometimes when we talk about a beast, 14:14 "What's the beast? What's the Mark of the Beast?" 14:16 We're just... "oooh! look at this... " 14:19 this is an earthly kingdom, this is an earthly kingdom 14:22 so we can drop the symbolism, we can get real now, 14:25 we're talking about an earthly power, 14:27 okay, what earthly power followed 14:28 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome? 14:30 What earthly power came up among them? 14:32 What earthly power plucked down three horns 14:34 as it rose to power? 14:35 What earthly powers speaks great things 14:38 claiming for example to be God on earth... 14:40 claiming, for example, the power to forgive sins... 14:42 these are the characteristics that are identified 14:45 in Daniel 7 and in Revelation chapter 13, 14:48 what great power has the whole world wondering after it 14:51 and saying, "Who's like him? 14:52 Who can make war with him?" All: Hmmm... Hmmm. 14:54 It's got to be a religions power, 14:56 see, it's got to be a... yeah... because... 14:58 because people look at that power and they go, 15:00 "Oh! this is a good guy, this is a nice guy, 15:02 this is a peace-loving guy, 15:03 this is the kind of person... this is the kind of power... 15:06 this is the kind of System that would be good for us to have" 15:09 and that's where we're moving, now, during the Dark Ages, 15:12 and leading up through all of the atrocities 15:16 that were taking place in the church 15:17 they lost that because people knew what was going on there 15:21 and it was exposed for what it was... 15:23 and some of that exposure still come down to us in our time 15:26 but we're turning another leaf, we're forgiving the past... 15:29 we're forgetting the past 15:30 and we are now looking at this Papal Power 15:33 in a different light... a peace-loving power... 15:35 a man that can lead us into a new era of enlightenment 15:39 and peace and love and forgiveness, 15:41 however, the doctrines and the teachings 15:44 of this particular religious power have not changed 15:47 and that's where we need to be careful 15:49 because Revelation 13 is telling us 15:51 "this wound is going to be healed" 15:53 but nothing has changed 15:54 when it comes to what it actually teaches and believes. 15:56 Ivor: I was going to say this 15:59 but I can't because of what you just said, 16:02 so, you know... you look at this beast 16:04 it's coming up out of the water, 16:07 and... when you think of... as a Christian 16:11 when you think of... some living thing 16:13 or something coming up out of the water, 16:15 like, what comes to your mind as a Christian? 16:17 You think... baptism... yeah... 16:20 and what is baptism... baptism is 16:23 "the old man has changed and I'm a new creature now, 16:27 hey... that 'me... ' that was the old me... 16:29 I used to be a beast, Man! you know... " 16:32 laughter... 16:35 "I used to be a beast but now... 16:38 I've been baptized... I've been changed. " 16:40 Right, and the reason... one of the reasons why 16:43 the world grows in "wondering after the beast" 16:47 and all, it is because we look at 16:49 what the Papacy was in the Dark Ages, 16:51 and what it is now, we're like, "Oh, they've changed... 16:54 it's new... " the problem is 16:59 that the beast in... this beast did not die 17:03 it was only wounded... James: Hmmm... 17:05 Ivor: See... baptism... you die... 17:07 you go down in the water and you're not really dead, 17:11 you come up... you might look different, 17:13 you might be able to fool people, 17:15 but if you never really died, there's no real change 17:19 and so, this is what's going on here, 17:21 this beast ends up deceiving many because 17:24 "Yeah, ah Man! you've changed... " 17:26 "Yeah that was old... the old man... 17:29 this is... this is new" 17:32 and that's what we're seeing. 17:33 Jason: What was that sermon you preached 17:34 on Death, Burial, Resurrection?" 17:36 Ivor: Yes, hmmm... hmmm... I don't remember but yes... 17:38 yes... the battle is... you've got to learn how to die daily, 17:44 every day you die, you're buried... 17:46 you're resurrected, you come up... 17:48 you overcome sin in that process... you die... 17:50 temptation comes to you... "What am I going to do? 17:52 Am I going to live or am I going to die?" 17:53 You die to self... 17:55 God says, "Okay, when you die, I'll raise you back up. " 17:57 Right, and that's the process, so... but... 18:00 if you haven't really died, then, you're only fooling people 18:03 you know that you've changed 18:05 and that's what's happening with this beast. 18:07 James: Hmmm... hmmm... all right, I'm just going to... 18:10 we're just going to look at two more verses in Daniel 7... 18:12 just to make the connection, 18:13 the two verses are: verses 24 and 25... 18:17 Yvonne, if you could read those for us, 24 and 25. 18:20 Yvonne: Sure, "The ten horns are ten kings 18:22 who shall arise from this kingdom, 18:25 and another shall arise after them; 18:27 and he shall be different from the first ones, 18:29 and shall subdue three kings. 18:31 He shall speak pompous words against the most High, 18:34 shall persecute the saints of the most High, 18:37 and shall intend to change times and laws: 18:40 then the same shall be given into his hand 18:43 for a time and times and half a time. " 18:45 Ivor: Hmmm... 18:46 James: Okay now, there are a number of characteristics here 18:49 that parallel Revelation 13... time, times and half a time... 18:52 42 months... 18:54 "it was given unto him a mouth speaking great things 18:55 and blasphemies; and power was given unto him 18:58 to continue forty and two months. " 19:00 In verse 7, 19:01 "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints... " 19:03 and you see that over here in Daniel chapter 7, 19:06 "he will wear out the saints of the most High" 19:09 and then the one that's really interesting 19:12 verse 8 of Revelation 13... 19:14 "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, 19:16 whose names are not written in the book of life... " 19:18 Daniel 7:25... "he shall change times and laws" 19:22 and there's only one place in the law of God 19:26 that deals with "time" and that is... the Sabbath. 19:30 Yvonne: Yes. 19:31 James: That "time" has been changed. 19:32 Worship in this world comes down to one of two days: 19:36 Saturday or Sunday... 19:39 and the Bible says, Saturday is the seventh day... 19:42 "the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God" 19:46 so this power is seeking to change the time of worship 19:49 so that everyone worships him instead of worshipping God. 19:51 Yvonne: Hmmm... 19:53 James: So, Daniel and Revelation are twin prophetic books 19:56 and they're connecting together right here 19:57 in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. 19:59 All these characteristics that we see in Revelation 13 20:01 are all coming from the book of Daniel, 20:03 we see them one after another where he raises up... 20:05 how he's different... he's a religious power... 20:08 and no one can make war against him... 20:09 how he reigns for 42 months... how he says blasphemous things 20:12 and says things against the most High, 20:13 how he changes the day of worship... 20:15 the times and laws and he persecutes God's people 20:17 how he continues for this designated amount of time... 20:21 all of that is being brought into Revelation chapter 13 20:24 so we can make the connection as Ivor said, 20:26 I just love that whole idea... that homiletic insight 20:30 as Ivor said, 20:32 "you have this power that rises up out of the water 20:36 acting like it's been changed, acting like it's... 20:39 the old man is dead... 20:41 but really it received a deadly wound 20:43 and it's going to return to what it once was... 20:47 once it gets in its place 20:48 and there's another power that's going to help it 20:51 to get to that place 20:53 of power and authority 20:55 that it once had in the Old Testament... 20:57 not in the Old Testament... in the Dark Ages. 21:00 So that's what we're going to see... 21:01 we're going to see the parallel between these two powers. 21:03 Revelation chapter 13... Revelation chapter... 21:07 and Daniel chapter 7 connecting together 21:09 and bringing us this insight... 21:12 this prophetic insight into the future 21:13 so, here's the key verse... and the transitions for us... 21:18 Revelation 13 verse 10... 21:19 "He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: 21:23 he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. 21:26 Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 21:28 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; 21:31 he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon. " 21:33 What happened in 1798 was that the Papacy was taken captive 21:38 we read about it... we talked about that... 21:40 Berthier... Napoleon... he is going down in 1798 21:44 and at that same time, prophetically speaking, 21:47 another power is rising up out of the earth, 21:50 this power came out of the sea, 21:52 this... another power is coming up out of the earth, 21:53 it's an earthly kingdom... it's coming up out of the earth, 21:56 it's coming up in a less-populated place 21:59 of planet earth... okay... 22:01 a less populated place of... that the... 22:04 so, this power comes up out of the sea... 22:06 peoples, nations, multitudes and tongues... Europe... 22:08 this other power comes up in a less-populated area... 22:11 the earth... because the "earth" is opposite of the "sea" 22:14 earth... waters... desolate... not as many... population... 22:18 so, what you see here is sometime... 22:21 first characteristic when this beast is going down, 22:24 when this power is being inflicted, 22:26 sometime around the 1700s... the 18th century... 22:29 another power is going to rise on the scene of action 22:32 in a less-populated place in the earth. 22:35 What power arose in the 1700s 22:38 in an unpopulated place on Planet Earth? 22:40 Ivor: Not only that, before you answer the question 22:43 that has... 22:46 what does a "lamb" represent in the Bible? 22:48 The Lamb represents Jesus, 22:49 so we're looking for a nation, right, 22:52 that would be rising up around the late 1700s 22:54 that would be... at least professedly 22:57 what kind of a nation? A Christian nation 22:59 and there really only one nation that fits the bill 23:02 that's United States of America. 23:04 James: The other thing here that want to get into with this 23:07 is that it's another beast, 23:09 now we already talked about this as a composite beast 23:12 so it's connected to the dragon, 23:13 it's connected to the Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 23:15 It's the same thing... just being continued... 23:18 but this is another one, this is a new one... 23:20 It's got to be a new nation, it's not... in fact... 23:24 it may come out of Europe 23:25 but it severs its connection with Europe. 23:26 Okay, fourth characteristic, the two horns have no crowns 23:31 now notice how all these horns have crowns... 23:34 that designates monarchies... kings... queens... 23:37 this other beast... this new nation rising up in the 1700s 23:42 and having these lamb-like horns with no crowns 23:45 which means that it's going to be a Republic... 23:48 it's going to be a Democracy, it's not going to be a Monarchy 23:51 like we've seen in the past, 23:53 so we've got four characteristics now, 23:54 you got them so far... the time that it rises... 23:57 okay, 18th century... 1700s... 24:00 that place that it rises... 24:02 in the earth... in a more desolate place... 24:04 the type of nation it is, lamb-like... Christian... 24:08 and the fact that it has no crowns on its horns... 24:11 it's not a monarchy... it's a Republic... 24:13 so, all of these characteristics are pointing us to 24:18 the United States of America, 24:21 I mean... go head... 24:23 Ivor: I was going to look at something else here, 24:26 Revelation 13:11... right... 24:27 there's actually another characteristic is that... 24:29 while it had the horns of a lamb it says, "He spake as a dragon" 24:35 and this is very interesting because 24:38 you look at the founding of the nation of 24:42 the United States of America... founding of America 24:44 and you look at how these Christians were leaving Europe 24:50 because of Religious persecution and when they got here, 24:55 to set up here, guess what they did? 24:58 They persecuted... they set up their... 25:00 okay... "Massachusetts is going to be this only... " 25:04 whether you're Catholic or Protestant 25:06 and they did not allow religious freedom 25:08 for others who didn't believe as they believed 25:11 or if you were Catholic... "No, you can't come here... " 25:13 Some places were set up, 25:16 "if you were Protestant... you can't come here" 25:18 so the same persecution they were trying to escape from, 25:20 they put upon others... 25:23 and, of course, you look at what happened with the Indians, 25:25 what happened with slavery 25:27 and you just look at a nation that appears to... 25:29 has the attributes of Christianity, 25:32 but at the same time you see this 25:34 undertone of... "of, wait a minute... " 25:37 James: The dragon. Ivor: The dragon. 25:40 Is just... what is this? 25:41 I mean, horns of a lamb... it looks like a lamb... 25:43 but Man! when it open its mouth... 25:46 you know... so you have this parallel... 25:49 you look again... this is like a perfect description 25:52 of the founding of America 25:54 and again, there were people who came in 25:56 who were true, genuine Christians 25:57 but Revelation 13... while it's pointing out America 26:01 as a nation... 26:03 it's actually more specifically pointing out 26:06 what we would call, "Apostate Protestantism" 26:10 right, in other words, Protestantism that... 26:13 people that profess Christianity but have apostatized 26:20 are not following... 26:21 actually reflecting the characteristics of the Lamb 26:24 so, as you read further down, you see, 26:25 "Wait a minute... this nation... " 26:27 and that's why people can't... 26:28 when we read... go further... people are like, 26:30 "that's not going to happen here in America... 26:32 no, this is America... land of... " 26:34 they can't even fathom 26:36 some of the things that we're about to say 26:37 because they're like, "Naw ah... this is America... " 26:40 Yvonne: Yeah... yeah... 26:41 James: But as you brought out these principles have 26:43 have actually been underlined... 26:45 a lot of what we've done in our history 26:46 it's just that we're coming to a place where it's going to be 26:49 manifested in a big way... huge way... 26:52 so, and then the two horns, of course, 26:54 religious liberty and political freedoms, 26:57 so you've got the religious and political freedoms 26:59 that we stand for, 27:00 how can this happen in America? 27:02 Well, God is so gracious, 27:04 we have defects in our characters 27:07 and as God re-births us and as God renews us, we grow... 27:10 but if we come to a place where we stop growing... 27:13 we stop accepting truth, we stop walking in the light, 27:15 we can retrograde and go backwards... 27:17 and so, this power that Ivor brought out... 27:19 some characteristics that are there that aren't good... 27:21 but we've grown through some of that... 27:22 America has made changes and they've given freedom 27:25 to... got rid of slavery... et cetera, et cetera 27:27 and tried to give back to the Native Americans, et cetera 27:31 but you can also retrograde 27:33 if you don't continue on in that forward motion... 27:35 you can also go backwards, 27:36 and that appears to be 27:37 what's going to happen with this power, 27:39 why? we're going to look at that more 27:41 as we get into a few more verses 27:43 and study this prophecy 27:45 in more detail in our next program 27:47 but right now we're out of time almost... 27:48 how can they get ahold of us? 27:50 They need to send their questions to: sss@3abn. org 27:54 Okay, you heard that Friends, 27:56 let us know about your questions, 27:58 let us... give us your input, we'd love to hear from you. |
Revised 2017-06-12