Participants:
Series Code: ARSS
Program Code: ARSS190012S
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00:15 Well, we're on the final stretch for today.
00:19 One more study together and we will be finished with number 12. 00:24 One for each of the twelve apostles. 00:27 And then we have 12 more left. 00:29 We still have to study, we're going to do 00:31 right now the fourth seal. 00:33 And I believe that we'll be able to finish that. 00:36 And then tomorrow we'll dedicate the first two hours probably 00:40 to the fifth seal. 00:42 And then we'll dedicate the next two hours in the afternoon 00:45 to the sixth seal. 00:48 And then we have to dedicate two or three sessions to 00:51 the interlude, one to the seventh seal, 00:55 and then whatever time we have left over 00:58 we'll dedicate to the last five lessons in the syllabus 01:03 on the issue of the seal of God and the mark of the beast. 01:05 Let's have a word of prayer 01:07 before we begin our last session. 01:10 Our Father and our God, we thank You for 01:14 being the Guide and the Arbiter of history. 01:18 Many times it appears to us that Satan is the one who wins 01:21 and You lose, but we know that in the end 01:24 what You allow and what You cause will eventually 01:27 lead to total and complete victory. 01:30 And, Lord, we want to continue studying 01:34 to see how You have led in the past. 01:35 Because we know that the same God who has led in the past 01:38 will lead us in the future. 01:40 So give us clear minds and give us willing hearts 01:46 that Your word will not return unto You void. 01:49 We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, amen. 01:55 Page 191. 01:57 Page 191. 02:00 We are now going to study about the fourth seal, the pale horse. 02:05 Some versions say the yellow horse. 02:09 But really a better translation is the pale horse. 02:13 Now what is the meaning? 02:14 Let's just see what the meaning of this period is. 02:19 The fourth seal represents the period of papal dominion 02:23 during what is known as the Dark Ages. 02:27 The scarcity of God's Word and rain led to spiritual 02:33 famine, pestilence, and death. 02:37 In addition, the apostate church literally killed 02:40 the martyrs who did not agree with the traditions of men. 02:46 So let's read Revelation 6:7-8 02:50 where you have a description of the fourth seal. 03:10 Certainly this isn't Jesus, right? 03:24 And I have in brackets, pestilence. 03:26 Because that's probably what, "death," means. 03:34 So we have several symbols in this fourth seal. 03:38 First of all, the color, "pale." 03:42 The Greek word is, chloros. 03:45 The color of this horse is really a greenish pale, 03:48 as when a young shoot comes out of a tree. 03:52 It is the paleness of death. 03:57 And then you have death and hades. 04:00 When a person dies, the grave follows death. 04:04 Because people are buried after they die. 04:07 The fourth part of the earth shows that the devastating 04:12 power of the fourth horse and its rider is not universal. 04:16 It's only partial. 04:19 The famine represents the fact that there is a scarcity 04:24 of God's Word. 04:27 Pestilence, and there's a note on this, 04:30 in the New Testament Greek, the word, thanatos, 04:36 technically means, death. 04:38 However, in 30 of the 50 times that this word appears 04:42 in the Greek Old Testament, it is translated, pestilence. 04:48 To say that the fourth horse kills with death 04:51 would be redundant. 04:54 You can't kill any other way than with death. 04:57 So probably what it means is famine follows it. 05:01 And we have death by the sword, and famine 05:05 brings pestilence or disease in its train 05:09 and ultimately leads to death and to the grave. 05:14 And then we have the wild beasts. 05:17 I have several text that explains what this means. 05:20 They are wicked leaders and nations who were inimical 05:23 to God's people and behaved like wild beasts. 05:27 The Bible defends that view, as well as the spirit of prophecy. 05:32 Now, let's notice an Old Testament background, 05:35 first of all, to the fourth seal, the fourth horse. 05:39 In Old Testament times... 05:41 By the way, I'll give you this homework. 05:44 Read Leviticus 26:21-26. That's an important passage. 05:48 I didn't include it, but it speaks about the 05:50 four judgments of God upon apostate Israel. 05:55 In Old Testament times when Israel broke the covenant, 05:59 apostatized from truth, and assimilated pagan customs, 06:04 which is what happened in the third horse, 06:07 God would send the very same four judgments 06:11 that are mentioned in connection with the fourth horse. 06:14 And those judgments were: sword, famine, 06:19 pestilence, which follows famine by the way, 06:22 and ultimately wild beasts. 06:25 You can find all four of these judgments in Leviticus 26. 06:28 That's the foundation. 06:29 Did the church, during the third period, 06:33 break God's covenant? 06:35 It most certainly did. 06:37 Now because Israel, this is an important principle, 06:41 because Israel in the Old Testament period 06:44 were God's literal people living in the literal land of Canaan, 06:49 these judgments were what? Literal. 06:53 However, under the fourth seal, as well as in the other seals, 06:57 we are dealing with... Which Israel? 06:59 ...spiritual Israel in a spiritual land, which is the 07:03 Christian church, and therefore we need to interpret these 07:07 calamities in a symbolic manner. 07:14 And then we have in parenthesis, the texts that you need to 07:17 look at, this is very important, in Daniel 11:28, 30, 32. 07:21 This is the period of papal dominion. 07:23 It's the period of the fourth horse. 07:25 And there we are explicitly told that the papacy 07:28 trampled on God's holy covenant during the 1260 years. 07:32 So would we expect the same four judgments 07:34 if the papacy trampled on the covenant? 07:37 Absolutely. 07:38 Now let's talk about death and hades. 07:42 The immediate aftermath of death is the place where the dead go. 07:48 And where is that? 07:49 The grave. 07:51 The word, hades, is the Greek equivalent of the 07:55 Hebrew word, sheol, and it should consistently 07:58 be translated, "the grave." 08:01 We find the link between the Hebrew and the Greek words 08:04 in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55... 08:07 We'll read these a little bit later. 08:09 ...where the apostle Paul quotes Hosea 13:14 08:13 and uses the word, hades, in place of, sheol. 08:16 So in the book of Hosea, the word for, grave, is, sheol, 08:20 and the apostle Paul uses the word, hades. 08:23 That shows that, sheol, and, hades, are synonymous 08:26 words in different languages. 08:30 Unfortunately, the King James Version 31 times mistakenly 08:34 translates the Hebrew word, sheol, with the word, hell. 08:38 It really should be translated, "the grave." 08:41 The Old Testament regularly links the concepts of 08:44 death and the grave in synonymous parallelism. 08:47 In other words, death and the grave are somewhat synonymous. 08:50 Because when person dies, they go to the grave. 08:53 Notice Psalms 6:5. 09:02 Does the second line explain and amplify the first line? 09:06 Is it the same thought in different words? Yeah. 09:08 It's the same to say, "For in death there is no 09:11 remembrance of you; in the grave who will give you thanks?" 09:15 So death and the grave are linked together. 09:17 Because when a person dies, they go to the grave. 09:20 Notice Psalm 89:48. And there are many more. 09:23 In, The State of the Dead, series I have an entire 09:26 presentation on death and hades, particularly on hades, 09:30 as it appears all throughout Scripture 09:32 in the Old and the New Testaments. 09:34 Psalm 89:48 09:46 Notice once again, death and the grave together. 09:50 Psalm 116:3, here the psalmist says... 10:03 So once again, death and sheol are used synonymously. 10:09 Notice Isaiah 38:18. 10:16 See, once again, death and the grave together. 10:29 Isaiah 28:15 10:31 I've only given you a sampling here so that you see that 10:33 I'm not just choosing one little verse 10:35 and making an entire application out of that. 10:38 The fact is that death and the grave are linked together, 10:41 not only in Revelation chapter 6. 10:43 So it says in Isaiah 28:15, "Because you have said, 10:48 'We have made a covenant with death, 10:51 and with sheol we are in agreement.'" 10:55 Is a covenant an agreement? 10:57 So are death and the grave linked together? 11:00 Are they synonymous, basically? Yes. 11:03 Now here comes the key text, Hosea 13:14. 11:08 Hosea 13:14 11:12 God is speaking here. 11:29 The apostle Paul paraphrases this in 1 Corinthians 15. 11:34 So let's go there just for a moment. 11:36 1 Corinthians 15 11:39 And let's notice how the apostle Paul 11:40 is actually drawing on Hosea. 11:43 He doesn't quote is textually, 11:45 but he's drawing on the terminology. 11:48 Only instead of the word, grave, which is, hades, 11:52 he uses the word, sheol, which is the 11:55 Hebrew Old Testament word. 11:57 1 Corinthians 15:54 12:20 So is Paul drawing on the book of Hosea. 12:23 Yes, he's drawing on Hosea. 12:25 Only, in Hosea the word for, grave, is, sheol; 12:30 the word for, grave, in the New Testament Greek 12:33 is, hades. 12:36 And so, death and hades are linked together. 12:38 Just like death and sheol are linked together. 12:43 So the question is, does the word, sheol, 12:50 and does the word, hades, mean, hell, a place of burning? 12:54 No. 12:56 It simply means, the grave. 12:57 When a person dies, the next step is what? 13:02 To be buried in the grave. 13:04 Death and the grave followed this yellow horse. 13:09 Now another place where we can link the word, sheol, 13:12 with the word, hades, is in Acts 2:25-27, 30-31. 13:19 Here, Peter on the day of Pentecost is drawing 13:24 on a passage that we find in Psalm 16:8-10. 13:30 And in the Greek, the word, grave, is the word, hades; 13:36 whereas in the Old Testament in Psalm 16 13:40 the word is, sheol. 13:42 That's why we know that sheol and hades are synonymous 13:46 in different languages. 13:48 Notice Acts 2:25-27, 30-31. 13:57 He's getting this from Psalm 16:8-10. 14:12 This is Jesus speaking prophetically. 14:21 The New King James transliterates the word 14:23 from the Greek, hades. 14:26 Other versions like the New International Version 14:29 like I was saying, the New International Version 14:31 doesn't translate, "For you will not leave My soul in hades," 14:35 or in hell like the King James Version says. 14:38 The New International Version says, "You will not leave 14:40 Me in the grave." 14:42 It's a much better translation. 14:44 "You will not leave My soul," or, "You will not leave Me 14:47 in hades," or the grave, "nor will you allow your Holy One 14:50 to see corruption." 14:51 So the word here for, grave, is, hades. 14:56 In the Old Testament where this is coming from 14:59 the word is, sheol. 15:00 So sheol and hades are the same word in different languages. 15:05 Verse 30... 15:17 This is David foreseeing this. 15:34 So basically, when this horse, you have a reference to death 15:41 and hades, it doesn't mean death and hell. 15:45 It means death and what? Death and the grave. 15:48 Because this is the pale horse. 15:50 This is the horse that brings death. 15:52 First by famine, because there's famine for the Word of God. 15:56 And there's darkness that we noticed under the third horse. 15:59 And secondly, because those who don't agree with the church 16:03 are being killed. 16:05 Physically killed. 16:06 That's why the martyrs are crying out in the fifth seal. 16:09 So far so good? 16:12 Now the key question at this point is this: 16:15 What caused this church to die and to go to the grave? 16:20 The answer is that four factors led to death and to the grave. 16:25 First of all, the sword. 16:29 The key verses, and we have covered this before 16:31 so we don't have to dwell a lot on it, 16:33 the key verses to understand the symbolic meaning of 16:36 the sword in the fourth seal are Romans 13:1-4 16:41 and Revelation 13:10, 14. 16:45 As we have seen, more often than not 16:48 when the sword of the Spirit convicts of sin, 16:52 what happens? 16:53 It awakens the sword of persecution on the part of 16:57 those who wish to suppress it. 16:59 And we noticed that in the third seal, right? 17:03 Matthew 10:34-37 17:06 I'm not going to read Romans 13 again. 17:09 Romans 13:1-4, let's just read verse 4 in that passage. 17:14 Speaking about the civil power, it says, "For he is 17:16 God's minister to you for good. 17:19 But if you do evil, be afraid; 17:21 for he," that is the civil ruler, 17:23 "does not bear the sword in vain. 17:26 For he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath 17:31 on him who practices evil." 17:36 Now let's read the note, and then I'm going to give you 17:38 additional explanation. 17:41 In apocalyptic prophecy, symbols are fluid. 17:44 They take different shapes depending on where they appear. 17:48 That is, that the sword can represent 17:52 the Word of God, right? 17:54 But when the Word of God is proclaimed, what happens? 17:57 The church then appeals to the sword of civil power 18:02 to punish those who don't agree with the church. 18:05 Let me ask you this. 18:07 Did the papacy use the sword during this period to kill? 18:14 It used the Bible to kill, right? 18:18 It can't represent the Bible. 18:20 The papacy did not use the Bible to kill. 18:23 What did it use? 18:25 It used the sword of the civil power. 18:28 How many armies does the papacy have? 18:30 How many tanks? 18:32 How many missiles? 18:35 It will have all of them because it links up with the states 18:38 and it has all of the support of the states. 18:41 But it has none of its own. 18:42 Right? 18:44 What did the papacy do during the 1260 years? 18:47 It linked up with the state and it used the sword of the state 18:52 to punish those who did not agree with its practices 18:57 and its beliefs. 18:59 It killed with what? 19:01 With the sword. 19:03 But the interesting thing is, that this same power 19:06 that killed with the sword received a 19:10 deadly wound by the sword. 19:13 Notice Revelation 13:9-10. 19:15 This is at the top of page 196. 19:17 Revelation 13:9-10 19:20 It says, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." 19:30 Did the papacy lead into captivity? 19:32 Yes. Was the papacy led into captivity? 19:46 So the papacy killed with the sword. 19:49 And the sword gave the papacy its deadly wound. 19:53 The papacy led into captivity 19:55 and the papacy was taken into captivity. 19:59 So the first thing that this yellow horse does 20:05 is take away peace by killing those who did not agree with 20:08 the church with the sword, with the aid or the help 20:11 of the state. 20:14 Now let's notice the note under this text, Revelation 13:9-10. 20:20 The New King James Version of Revelation 6:8 20:23 tells us that power was given... 20:26 Listen to the tense of the verb. 20:28 ...power was given... 20:30 And a better translation is not power, but authority. 20:33 There are two Greek words that are translated, power, 20:36 in the King James and the New King James. 20:38 The first is the word, dunamis, where we get 20:41 the word, dynamite, from. 20:43 That's not the word here. 20:44 The word is, exousia, which means, authority. 20:48 So it says here that this power was given authority 20:55 to death and the grave to kill with the sword. 20:59 It is hardly a coincidence that the little horn... 21:03 If you read Daniel 7:25, it says, "was given." 21:07 ...power to make war against the saints and overcome them. 21:13 In Revelation 13:7, the beast, which is equivalent to the 21:16 little horn in Daniel 7, once again tells us the beast 21:20 was given power to make war with the saints. 21:24 Are you catching the picture? 21:26 Now, how else did the papal system kill people? 21:32 In symbolic terms, famine comes when the Holy Spirit, 21:39 speaking through the Word, is scarce. 21:43 Famine comes when it doesn't rain. 21:45 And when it doesn't rain, there's a scarcity of food. 21:49 Right? 21:52 Now, during the Dark Ages there was no, what? 21:56 No rain. We're not talking about literal rain. 21:59 You say, "How do we know that during the 1260 years 22:01 there was no rain?" 22:03 Because in Revelation 11 it says that the two witnesses 22:06 closed the heavens so that it would not rain 22:07 during their prophecy. 22:10 The same period. 22:12 So there was no rain. 22:14 And therefore, what happened? 22:15 Bread was scarce. 22:20 The result was what? 22:22 Famine, spiritual hunger. 22:25 Famine, in turn, led to what? 22:28 Malnutrition, and malnutrition led to pestilence, disease. 22:37 And ultimately, pestilence led to what? 22:40 To death. 22:42 Are you catching the picture? 22:44 The prophet Isaiah explained the symbolic meaning of 22:46 rain, bread, and the Word. 22:50 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, 22:55 and do not return there, but water the earth 22:59 and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed 23:03 to the sower and bread to the eater..." 23:06 So does rain, does the falling of rain have anything 23:08 to do with giving bread? 23:11 Yes or no? 23:13 Yes. 23:15 Now comes the comparison to rain and bread. 23:19 Rain makes the crop grow, and then the grain is harvested, 23:25 and bread is made. 23:27 When there's no rain, the result is that you don't have, 23:31 you know, it's very expensive. 23:32 Like we noticed in the third seal. 23:35 Here comes the comparison, verse 11. 23:37 "...so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; 23:42 it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish 23:46 what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing 23:48 for which I sent it." 23:51 Was there a scarcity of the Holy Spirit during the period 23:53 of the Roman Catholic papacy? 23:56 Was there a scarcity of the Word of God? 23:59 Listen, the Waldenses had to hide in the Piedmont. 24:04 And they wrote text of Scripture on little pieces of parchment. 24:08 They were traveling salesmen, and they would 24:11 give these pieces of parchment with scriptures to people. 24:16 Because reading the Scriptures to the lay people 24:18 was strictly forbidden. 24:21 So was there famine during this period? 24:23 Yes. Because the Spirit was scarce. 24:27 Was there spiritual hunger? Yes. 24:29 And whoever did not agree with the church, 24:31 what did the church do? 24:32 It used the state, the sword of the state, 24:36 to kill those who did not agree with the church. 24:40 Notice Deuteronomy 32:2. 24:43 "Let my teaching drop as rain..." 24:45 So teaching, once again, is related to rain. 24:58 Notice Hosea. 25:00 Once again, knowledge of the Lord, speech, God's Word, 25:05 all have to do with God communicating to us. 25:08 It says, "Let us know..." 25:24 A time is coming when there's going to be famine on the earth. 25:29 Was there famine during the 1260 years? Yes. 25:32 But Amos 8:11-12 is talking about a famine... 25:37 You know, even during the Dark Ages when the papacy 25:40 had dominion, there was still some of God's Word 25:43 and there was still some of God's faithful people 25:46 that assimilated the Word. 25:47 But the time is coming when probation closes 25:50 when nobody is going to be able to find the Word of God 25:53 because there's going to be a famine in the land. 25:55 And they will seek for the Word of God, 25:56 they will not be able to find it. 25:59 Notice what it says... 26:11 Once again, bread is related with water, 26:13 with the Holy Spirit. 26:19 See, when it rains, the crop grows. 26:22 The Holy Spirit falls, it's connected with the Word. 26:26 And as a result, people are spiritually healthy. 26:28 Verse 12... 26:39 In other words, they're looking for bread. 26:41 But there's famine. 26:45 Are you catching the picture? 26:48 Now what about the wild beasts? 26:51 The wild beasts are also symbolic. 26:53 We're dealing with symbols. Right? 26:56 Now in Scripture, individuals who are hateful and want to 27:02 destroy God's people are compared to wild beasts. 27:05 Let's read several texts. 27:07 Psalm 74:18-19 27:31 So who is compared with the wild beasts? 27:34 The enemy. 27:36 Notice Psalm 7:1-2. 27:51 Who is, "they"? 27:53 Those that persecute, right? 28:04 Once again, enemies are compared to a lion 28:07 that devours and tears in pieces. 28:10 Psalm 10:9-11 28:13 What principle are we using here to understand 28:15 what the wild beasts represent symbolically? 28:17 What are we doing? 28:19 Does the fourth seal explain what the wild beasts are? 28:23 Does it tell you what the wild beasts symbolize? 28:25 No, it doesn't tell you. 28:27 So what do we do? 28:29 Well, we see what wild beasts mean symbolically 28:31 in other places in Scripture. 28:33 It's that simple. 28:35 Now notice Psalm 10:9-11. 28:40 This is the enemy. 28:51 Notice, it's using all of the mannerisms of the lion. 29:07 Is that what the religious leaders said 29:08 during the 1260 years? 29:11 Was God seeing? 29:12 He was writing it all in the heavenly books. 29:14 Because He's going to rectify all of those wrong judgments. 29:17 You know, it makes me think of John Huss. 29:20 You ever heard of John Huss? 29:23 You know, he was tried there in the cathedral in Prague. 29:29 In Constance actually, he was taken to Constance from Prague. 29:33 He was tried in the Cathedral, and he was found guilty. 29:36 Was he guilty? No. 29:38 And he was taken and he was burned at the stake. 29:42 Was that just? 29:44 No, totally unjust. 29:46 The earthly judgment was wrong. 29:50 Does the time have to come when that needs to be rectified? 29:53 Where is it rectified? 29:55 When Huss' name appears in the heavenly judgment. 29:59 It will be shows that those who did that to him were wrong 30:02 and Huss was right. 30:05 And the reward will be given to Huss. 30:07 In other words, the reward will be reversed. 30:11 Huss will be rewarded with eternal life, 30:14 like should have happened before, 30:16 and those who oppressed him will suffer eternal death. 30:20 The purpose of the judgment, to rectify, 30:23 there in Daniel chapter 7. 30:25 Notice Psalm 17:9-12. 30:52 Psalm 22:12-13 30:54 This is a Messianic psalm. 30:55 It's talking about the sufferings of Christ 30:57 at the hand of His enemies. 30:58 "Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan 31:03 have encircled Me. 31:05 They gape at Me with their mouths 31:07 like a raging and roaring lion." 31:10 Proverbs 28:15 31:12 "Like a roaring lion and a charging bear 31:16 is a wicked ruler over poor people. 31:20 Zechariah 10:3 31:22 "My anger is kindled against the shepherds, 31:25 and I will punish the goatherds." 31:28 Literally in the Hebrew, the goatherds are the leaders. 31:35 Such as in the NIV. 31:37 "For the Lord of hosts will visit His flock, 31:39 the house of Judah, and will make them 31:41 as His royal horse in the battle." 31:44 The apostle Paul in the New Testament 31:47 warned the church at Ephesus with the following words. 31:59 Is that speaking about real literal wolves 32:01 or is it symbolic wolves? 32:03 Symbolic wolves. 32:05 Notice Matthew 7:15. Here Jesus speaks. 32:16 Are you catching the picture of what, wild beasts, mean? 32:20 Now Ellen White adds her testimony. 32:23 Review and Herald, August 18, 1896. 32:27 "The symbols of earthly governments are..." What? 32:30 "...wild beasts, but in the kingdom of Christ, 32:34 men are called upon to behold, not a ferocious beast, 32:37 but the Lamb of God." 32:41 Ellen White is speaking here about the hatred that Doeg, 32:44 the Edomite, had against Saul, King Saul. 32:49 It says... 32:51 Actually, Doeg led to the destruction of an entire city 32:57 with all of the priests, 85 priests, all of people there, 33:00 all of the beasts. 33:02 The city was totally demolished. 33:04 Because Doeg hated David. 33:07 But I won't get into that story right now. 33:10 He didn't hate Saul, he hated David. 33:12 "Like savage beasts who have tasted of blood, 33:17 so where..." Who? "...Saul and Doeg." 33:21 They allied themselves to try and get rid of David. 33:24 So notice, Saul and Doeg are compared to what? 33:29 To savage beasts. 33:31 Notice the following statement. 33:34 This the condemnation of Christ. 33:37 "When the condemnation of Jesus was pronounced by the judges, 33:40 a satanic fury took possession of the people. 33:44 The roar of voices was like that of..." What? 33:47 "...wild beasts. 33:49 They made a rush toward Jesus, crying, 'He is guilty. 33:52 Put Him to death.' 33:54 And had it not been for the Roman soldiers, 33:56 Jesus would not have lived to be hanged 33:59 upon the cross of Calvary. 34:00 He would have been..." What? "...torn in pieces..." 34:03 What is it that tears things in pieces? 34:05 Wild beasts. 34:07 "He would have been torn in pieces before His judges 34:09 had not Roman authority interfered and by force of arms 34:13 withheld the violence of the mob." 34:17 Sketches From the Life of Paul, page 19, 34:21 "At this, the priests and rulers were beside 34:24 themselves with anger." 34:26 This is the stoning of Stephen. 34:27 "They were more like wild beasts of prey 34:30 than like human beings. 34:32 They rushed upon Stephen, gnashing their teeth." 34:36 Just like a wild animal. 34:38 Notice what we find about the Waldenses. 34:40 Now we're entering the papal period. 34:42 Because the fourth horse is the period of papal dominion. 34:45 Once again, the papacy is compared to wild beasts. 34:49 It says, "From some hiding place among the tombs 34:52 two madmen rush upon them as if to tear them to pieces." 34:58 Actually, you know, I put the Waldenses there in the brackets, 35:03 but really this is speaking about the two 35:05 demon possessed men. 35:06 So anyway, let's go back to this. 35:08 "From some hiding place among the tombs 35:11 two madmen rush upon them..." 35:13 You need to cross out there the Waldenses. 35:16 These are the two demon possessed men of Gadara. 35:19 "...as if to..." Do what? 35:20 "...to tear them in pieces. 35:23 Hanging about these men are parts of chains 35:25 that they have broken in escaping from confinement. 35:28 Their flesh is torn and bleeding, 35:29 their eyes glare out from their long and matted hair, 35:33 the very likeness of humanity seems to have been blotted out. 35:37 They look more like..." What? 35:39 "...like wild beasts than like men." 35:42 Notice what Ellen White has to say about the papacy. 35:45 "As the ravenous beast is rendered more furious 35:48 by the taste of blood, so the rage of the papist 35:53 was kindled to greater intensity 35:55 by the sufferings of their victims." 35:59 On the death of Jerome, who was martyred around 36:02 the same time as John Huss, "Their thirst for blood 36:07 whetted by the death of Huss, clamored for fresh victims. 36:12 Only by an unreserved surrender of the truth 36:15 could Jerome preserve his life. 36:17 But he had determined to avow his faith 36:19 and follow his brother martyr to the flames." 36:23 Have you ever read where the apostle Paul stated that 36:26 he fought against the wild beasts in the amphitheater? 36:31 That doesn't mean that Paul was thrown into the colosseum 36:34 to fight with lions. 36:36 Notice this perceptive remark by Ellen White. 36:39 This is found in, Sketches From the Life of Paul, page 78. 36:43 "Paul informed the Corinthians of his trouble in Asia 36:47 where, he says, 'We were pressed out of measure, 36:50 above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.' 36:55 In his first epistle, he speaks of fighting with 36:58 beasts at Ephesus. 37:01 He thus refers to the fanatical mob that clamored for his life. 37:06 They were indeed more like furious wild beasts than men." 37:12 So how did the papacy treat God's people 37:16 and try to get rid of God's people? 37:18 They were like wild beasts. 37:19 The wild beasts represent the leaders of the papal church 37:22 that persecuted and tried to kill God's people. 37:25 The papacy killed people with famine. 37:28 They killed people with the sword. 37:30 They acted like wild beasts. 37:32 Is this all true of that period of history, 37:34 of the period of the 1260 years? 37:37 No doubt whatsoever. 37:38 Absolutely. 37:40 Now, the period of the fourth horse 37:46 is the same period as the fourth church. 37:50 The fourth horse is the period of the papacy. 37:52 Is that clear in your mind? 37:54 The fourth horse represents the period of the papacy 37:57 where death is being brought about by wild beasts. 37:59 By, you know, leaders of the church that are just furious 38:04 and want to destroy God's people by the sword, 38:07 using the power of the state. 38:08 By famine because there's no rain; the Holy Spirit is scarce. 38:12 The Word of God is scarce. 38:14 People are dying spiritually. 38:16 And many are being killed physically as well. 38:20 This parallel to the church of Thyatira, the fourth church. 38:24 Let's draw the parallel. 38:25 This is where it gets very, very interesting. 38:29 The period of the fourth horse is parallel to the 38:31 period of the fourth church, Thyatira. 38:35 The Old Testament background to the church of Thyatira 38:38 is the story of Elijah. 38:40 Jezebel was the central protagonist during this period. 38:45 And by the way, the fourth church mentions Jezebel by name. 38:52 So the church during this period is like Jezebel. 38:56 So do we need to know something about Jezebel 39:00 to understand what happened during this 39:01 period of the church? 39:03 See, it's going to help us understand even better 39:05 by noticing what happened during the church 39:08 parallel to what happened during the fourth seal, 39:11 during the yellow horse. 39:13 So let's go to the notes here. 39:14 Because Israel apostatized from the covenant of the Lord, 39:19 the four judgments of Leviticus 26 befell the people. 39:23 This is in the days of Elijah. 39:26 In the Old Testament story, Jezebel employed 39:29 the civil power of Ahab's sword... 39:32 Is that correct? 39:34 ...to extend her apostate syncretistic religion 39:38 that blended the worship of the sun god Baal 39:41 with the worship of the Lord. 39:44 Was Israel only worshiping Baal 39:47 or were they claiming to worship both? 39:49 Elijah said, "How long halt ye between two opinions? 39:54 If the Lord is God, follow Him. And if Baal, follow him." 39:56 In other words, Don't think that you can serve God 39:59 and also serve Baal at the same time. 40:03 We're told in the story, and we can't read all these verses, 40:05 but you can look them up, Ahab killed the prophets 40:08 of the Lord, how? 40:10 With the sword. 40:11 Is that one of the judgments of the fourth horse? 40:14 Yes. 40:15 This apostasy led to a severe what? 40:18 We're dealing with literal now. 40:20 It led to a severe drought. 40:22 Because there was no what? 40:24 Because there was no rain. 40:26 Does this sound familiar? 40:30 There was no rain for three and a half years. 40:32 We're talking now about literal Israel. 40:35 But it's symbolic of the 1260 years. 40:38 The drought led to what? 40:41 Famine and pestilence. Read it in 1 Kings 18:1-6. 40:44 The four judgments because Israel forsook the covenant. 40:48 And the famine and the pestilence in turn led to what? 40:52 To death and to the grave. 40:56 Fourth church, fourth horse. 40:59 Parallel. 41:01 For a time span of three and a half years, 41:05 Jezebel slaughtered whom? 41:08 The prophets of the Lord. 41:09 Is that what the papacy did? 41:11 Yes. 41:12 For not embracing her apostate syncretistic religion. 41:17 She taught God's servants to, what? 41:18 You can read this in the story of the fourth church. 41:21 She taught them to, what? 41:23 To fornicate and to practice idolatry. 41:28 Therefore, the blood of God's servants and prophets 41:30 cried out for what? 41:32 For justice. 41:35 Prophetically, this story of Jezebel was fulfilled 41:39 during the period of the dominion of the little horn 41:42 and of the beast who massacred the saints of the Most High 41:46 for three and a half prophetic years. 41:49 During this period, the apostate church employed 41:52 the sword of the state to kill dissenters. 41:56 As a result, the church fled to the wilderness 41:59 where God nourished her in exile. 42:02 Did this happen during the 1260 years? 42:05 Did Elijah flee to the wilderness 42:07 and God fed him there? 42:09 Yes. 42:11 How about the church during the 1260 years? 42:13 Did she flee to the wilderness and God fed her there? 42:17 See, this is typology. 42:20 As a result, the church fled to the wilderness 42:22 where God nourished her in exile. 42:24 This was the period when the two witnesses 42:27 prophesied in sackcloth. 42:29 Which would represent darkness, right? 42:32 For 1260 prophetic years, God shut up the heavens 42:35 and there was no rain. 42:37 As a result, there was spiritual famine and 42:39 pestilence in the church. 42:41 The famine and pestilence ultimately led to what? 42:45 To death and to the grave. 42:46 The same thing that happened literally in the days of Elijah 42:48 happened during the 1260 years. 42:52 This horse brought death and the grave for two reasons. 42:55 First, because there was spiritual starvation 42:59 and pestilence in the church. 43:02 And second, because people what? 43:04 People died by the sword. 43:07 During this period, the man of sin suppressed the Bible, 43:10 forbidding lay people to read it under the pain of death. 43:14 It was a capital crime even to have a Bible 43:18 in one's possession. 43:20 As a result, there was famine for the Word of God. 43:23 This famine led to spiritual pestilence, 43:26 and pestilence led to death and to the grave. 43:28 Are you catching the picture? 43:30 This was fulfilled exactly during the fourth period 43:34 of the history of the Christian church. 43:37 Notice how Ellen White describes this period. 43:40 "For hundreds of years the circulation of the 43:44 Bible was..." What? "...was prohibited." 43:47 So is there going to be famine if the 43:49 reading of the Bible is prohibited? 43:50 Yes. 43:52 "The people were forbidden to read it, 43:54 or to have it in their houses, 43:57 and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted 43:59 its teachings to sustain their pretensions." 44:03 Speaking about the Waldensians, "From earliest childhood 44:06 the youth were instructed in the Scriptures and taught 44:10 to regard sacredly the claims of the law of God. 44:14 Copies of the Bible were..." What? 44:17 "...rare..." So was the bread scarce? 44:20 Yes. 44:22 "Therefore, its precious words were committed to memory. 44:25 Many were able to repeat large portions of both 44:29 the Old and the New Testament." 44:31 Notice that there was not an absence of bread. 44:35 Bread was expensive because it was rare. 44:40 Notice the statement from, Spirit of Prophecy, 44:42 volume 4, page 192. 44:44 "The work which the papacy had begun..." 44:47 That is, during the 1260 years. 44:49 "...atheism completed." This is the French Revolution. 44:52 "The one," that is the papacy, "withheld from the people 44:56 the truths of the Bible; 44:58 the other," the French Revolution, 45:01 "taught them to reject both the Bible and its Author. 45:04 The seed sown by priests and prelates 45:07 was yielding its evil fruit." 45:12 During this time, the vile office of the 45:15 Inquisition was established. 45:17 Which basically was the church using the power of the state 45:22 to punish dissenters from the church. 45:27 They slew those who studied and obeyed the Word of God. 45:30 During this time, the papal leaders behaved as wild beasts 45:34 toward God's people. 45:37 Notice how Ellen White describes the violence during this period. 45:41 "In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. 45:45 Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, 45:48 and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head 45:51 over the entire church. 45:53 Paganism had given place to the papacy. 45:56 The dragon had given to the beast 'his power, 45:59 and his seat, and great authority.' 46:01 And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression 46:05 foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. 46:08 Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity 46:12 and accept the papal ceremonies, and worship or to wear away 46:17 their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, 46:21 the fagot, or the headman's ax. 46:25 Persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury 46:28 than ever before, and the world became a vast battlefield." 46:34 That's what the church was like during the middle ages. 46:36 It's estimated that 50 million of God's faithful children 46:41 were martyred during this period. 46:44 Ellen White describes the Inquisition. 46:47 "In the thirteenth century was established that most terrible 46:50 of all the engines of the papacy; the Inquisition. 46:55 The prince of darkness wrought with the leaders 46:57 of the papal hierarchy. 46:59 In their secret councils Satan and his angels controlled 47:02 the minds of evil men, while unseen in the midst 47:05 stood an angel of God taking the fearful record of their 47:09 iniquitous decrees and writing the history of deeds 47:12 too horrible to appear to human eyes." 47:15 Is everything written in the scroll? 47:19 Without missing any details? 47:21 It's all there. 47:23 Are they going to have to face it again? 47:26 Are all these individuals who oppressed God's people 47:28 going to resurrect after the millennium? 47:32 Are they going to see the great panoramic view? 47:35 Are they going to see what they did? 47:37 Only now they're going to recognize that they were 47:40 on the wrong side, whereas the martyrs were on the right side. 47:46 She continues, "Babylon the great was 'drunken 47:50 with the blood of the saints.'" 47:51 And now notice she's going to allude to the fifth seal. 47:56 She's going to apply the fifth seal to 47:59 the aftermath of this period. 48:02 She says, "The mangled forms of millions of martyrs 48:06 cried to God for vengeance upon that apostate power." 48:12 What are the martyrs doing under the fifth seal? 48:15 They're crying out for justice. 48:17 So the martyrs are crying out after the papacy has slain 48:23 God's faithful people for the better part of 1260 years. 48:28 Is that the end of the story? 48:30 Is there going to be another group of martyrs? 48:33 Yes. Is it going to be the same system that will persecute them? 48:37 So how many stages does the fifth seal have? 48:40 Two. 48:44 And I see some with kind of glassy eyes. 48:48 The fifth seal has two stages, just like the sixth seal. 48:52 Because the martyrs that were killed during the 48:54 period of papal dominion, they're crying out for justice. 48:58 They're given a white robe, and God is saying, 48:59 "You're fine. Your case is okay. You're safe." 49:02 And they're told, "You're going to rest for a while 49:04 until the rest of the martyrs who are going to be killed 49:07 like you were is complete." 49:11 What will be the persecuting power that will persecute 49:13 God's people in the future? 49:17 The United States performing the will of 49:20 the Roman Catholic papacy using the civil powers of the world. 49:25 See, we haven't believed cunningly devised 49:27 fables as Adventists. 49:30 This is all, when we study contextually the sequence, 49:34 the Seventh-day Adventist belief system is rock solid. 49:38 The trouble is, people only pick a symbol here 49:40 and pick a symbol there. 49:41 They don't see all of the structure and the sequence, 49:44 how everything takes place in chronological order, 49:47 how one event connects with all other events. 49:52 So right after this period the martyrs have been slain, 49:56 and now they're crying out to God for justice. 50:01 Here's another statement, Great Controversy, page 78. 50:04 "The persecutions visited for many centuries upon 50:07 this God fearing people," the Waldensians, 50:10 "were endured by them with a patience and constancy 50:14 that honored their Redeemer. 50:15 Notwithstanding the crusades against them, 50:18 and the inhuman butchery..." 50:21 There you have the sword. 50:23 "...to which they were subjected, they continued 50:25 to send out their missionaries to scatter the precious truth. 50:29 They were hunted to death..." 50:31 What is it that hunts? 50:34 Animals hunt. 50:37 Human beings do too. 50:39 Human beings hunt animals, 50:40 but that's not what this is talking about. 50:42 "They were hunted to death, yet their blood watered 50:46 the seed sown, and it failed not of yielding fruit." 50:53 Now we're on the last page. 50:55 We're on a roll here. 50:57 So far so good? 50:59 Are you understanding the sequence of the seals? 51:03 How one event leads to another event. 51:06 So what is the relationship between the third, fourth 51:09 and fifth seals? 51:12 The darkness and scarcity of bread during the third seal 51:18 intensifies under what? 51:21 It intensified under the fourth and led to death and the grave. 51:28 Spiritual death because there's famine for the Word, 51:31 and literal death because the Inquisition killed all those 51:34 who were not in harmony with the church. 51:36 Concerning this period, Ellen White explained, 51:39 "The accession of the Roman Church to power 51:44 marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. 51:48 As her power increased..." 51:50 What color was the third horse? 51:54 Black. 51:55 Which is darkness, right? 51:58 Was there darkness under the third horse? 52:00 Oh yeah, but the darkness under the fourth intensified. 52:04 It got worse. 52:06 So it says, "The accession of the Roman Church to power 52:08 marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. 52:11 As her power increased, the darkness deepened." 52:18 So is the period of the fourth horse even a greater 52:22 apostasy than under the third horse? 52:24 It begins in the third horse, 52:26 but it deepens under the fourth horse, 52:29 the period of papal dominion. 52:33 When the church dies spiritually because she does not feed on 52:37 the Word of God, she begins to destroy those 52:41 who do not share her lack of spirituality. 52:45 Those who cannot defend their doctrines with the spiritual 52:48 sword will do so with the literal sword. 52:55 Does that do any good? 52:57 No, because the more they persecute, the more 53:00 of the faithful followers God has. 53:03 Because once again, I repeat, folks, that the reason why 53:07 the church grows in very difficult times 53:10 where there's persecution is because people see the 53:14 constancy and the serenity and the peace 53:17 of those who are being killed, they say, "How can these people, 53:20 you know, they're being killed, and they're singing." 53:24 Like Huss, his flesh was burning 53:27 and he was singing praises to God. 53:30 They say, "How can a person do this? 53:35 There must be something worth living for 53:38 if these people are willing to die for it. 53:42 So let's check it out." 53:44 And so that's why the word, martyr, means, witness. 53:48 The death of the martyrs was a witness. 53:51 A witness to God. 53:53 In other words, let me ask you, how many people do you think 53:57 are going to be saved by the story of 54:02 the martyrdom of Stephen? 54:03 Or the martyrdom of John the Baptist? 54:07 You know, John the Baptist, he ended up in prison. 54:10 And for a while he was kind of discouraged. 54:13 You know, he said, "Jesus didn't even come to visit me." 54:18 He was depressed, Ellen White says he was depressed. 54:21 But then the disciples, John the Baptist told his disciples, 54:27 "Go and ask Jesus if He's the Messiah that we're to expect." 54:31 So they went, and Jesus didn't answer. 54:33 He said, "Just watch what I'm going to do today." 54:35 And He healed the sick, He opened the eyes of the blind, 54:38 He healed the lepers, raised the dead, it says there. 54:41 And then at the end of the day Jesus says, 54:42 "Go tell John what you saw." 54:45 And so they go back, they say, "He raises the dead, 54:48 He performs these miracles. 54:49 He's got to be the Messiah." 54:51 And Ellen White says that John the Baptist died in peace 54:55 there in prison. 54:56 He was beheaded in prison. 55:00 How many people are going to be saved in the kingdom 55:02 as a result of the story of John the Baptist? 55:04 And Stephen? 55:05 And John Huss? 55:07 Multitudes of people are going to be saved 55:10 because of their witness. 55:12 Their willingness to stand for the Lord 55:15 though the heavens fall. 55:17 No matter what persecution comes. 55:21 Notice the last part here. 55:23 The martyrs whom the papacy slew during the period of 55:26 the fourth horse will now, not right now, 55:31 but after this takes place, they will cry out to God 55:36 to judge and avenge their death. 55:40 This is the period of the fifth seal, which is the topic 55:44 that we shall study in the next exciting episode. 55:50 Now, when will God answer, I'll getting ahead of myself 55:54 a little bit here, when will God answer the pleas of the martyrs? 55:59 When will God judge and avenge God's people 56:02 who have been slain because of their faith? 56:05 Revelation 19, the last verses that we're going to read, 56:09 Revelation 19:1-2. 56:13 This is in the context of the seventh plague. 56:18 And God is going to intervene. 56:21 By the way, is the harlot in the end time the same harlot 56:25 that persecuted God's people during the 1260 years? 56:29 Is it the same harlot? Yeah. 56:31 It's the papacy. 56:32 Notice Revelation 19:1-2. 56:35 "After these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude 56:40 in heaven saying, 'Alleluia! Salvation and glory 56:44 and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.'" 56:50 And now notice verse 2. 56:51 "For true and righteous are His judgments..." 56:57 So is God going to rectify everything? 57:00 "True and righteous are His judgments, because..." 57:03 At this point, the seventh plague has taken place. 57:07 "...because He..." What? "...has judged the great harlot 57:13 who corrupted the earth with her fornication; 57:15 and He has..." What? "...avenged on her the blood 57:20 of His servants shed by her." 57:23 Are both groups of martyrs going to be avenged 57:27 by the Lord and justice executed? 57:30 Absolutely. 57:31 But meanwhile, the martyrs have to rest for a while. 57:36 I love the way the Bible expresses that. 57:38 "Rest for a while." 57:39 Death is like sleeping. 57:41 How many of you are afraid of going to sleep? 57:45 I love to go to sleep. 57:49 We don't need to fear death. 57:52 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 57:53 I will fear no evil; for You are with me." 57:56 "Precious in the sight of the Lord 57:58 is the death of His saints." 58:01 So the time is coming when we're going to 58:02 have to stand for our faith. 58:03 May the Lord keep us faithful. |
Revised 2022-02-15