Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000008
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00:15 Good evening everyone, glad to be here? [Audience] Yes.
00:19 Yeah, me too. 00:22 If you are half as happy to be here as I am 00:25 then you're very happy to be here and I'm looking 00:27 forward to this evening's presentation: "The Actual," 00:30 "Definite, Certain, Unavoidable Identity of the Antichrist", 00:35 and as Paul has said, this is a very serious topic, 00:38 but fortunately it is not one that is mysterious in the Bible. 00:43 Many people have misunderstood who the Antichrist is, 00:45 there's been a great deal of conjecture, a great deal 00:48 of ideas and opinions, and everybody's "Oh, who could" 00:51 "it be?", and you could go to a Christian book store today 00:54 and probably find 5-7 at least, different interpretations of who 00:59 the Antichrist is, but tonight we're going to go 01:02 not to a bookstore, but to the most important book, 01:05 does that sound like a good idea? 01:08 And I will show you tonight, from the Bible, exactly 01:11 who this Antichrist power is, and as I've already told you, 01:13 I'm not going to tell you who it is, we'll put all of 01:16 the identifying characteristics up on the board, 01:18 and then you will tell me who it is, and I'm not just kidding. 01:21 So let's get right into our message proper tonight, 01:24 but before we do that, what will we do first? 01:26 - [Audience] Pray. - Pray! That's right! 01:29 So let's do that together. Father in heaven, 01:32 we come before You just now, we want to bow our heads 01:35 and recognize that You are God, and that You are 01:37 the great teacher. Father, tonight we are looking 01:40 at a very important topic, and a topic that, as You know, 01:44 has been very misunderstood, so Father, tonight as we go 01:49 to Your word we pray that You would give us absolute clarity. 01:52 We claim the promise of 1 Corinthians 14, that You 01:54 are not the author of confusion. So Father, tonight we are 01:58 looking for Bible truth, not from man's ideas, not from 02:01 man's opinions, not from man's conjectures. 02:04 Tonight as we study Your word may our eyes see it. 02:08 So please Father, give us spiritual minds that we may 02:11 discern spiritual things. We're looking to You 02:14 as we open Your word, we ask that You would open our hearts 02:18 and that we would have a crystal clear Biblical understanding 02:22 of this important topic. Be with us now, Father, 02:25 for we ask it in Jesus' name, let everyone say amen. 02:30 Take a look at that first paragraph. 02:33 Last lesson we learnt that the Antichrist is a subtle 02:36 religious imposter, not a violent political opposer. 02:39 He is a counterfeit more than a combatant. 02:43 Paul referred to him as "the son of perdition" and "the man" 02:46 "of sin". That first name is used 02:48 only to describe one other individual in the Bible, 02:51 and as we've already said, that's Judas Iscariot. 02:54 He was not an opponent from without, but a betrayer from 02:57 within; Paul drew that parallel purposely. 02:59 In this lesson we will identify the Antichrist from the Bible. 03:02 We will note 10 identifying characteristics from the Bible, 03:05 and then we will draw the obvious conclusion 03:06 As you will see, this is really a very elementary matter. 03:10 The 3 fold office of Jesus Christ, open your Bibles 03:13 as we begin this lesson, to the first book of the New Testament, 03:16 Matthew 12. 03:23 We'll read our paragraph, it says: As we learned 03:26 last lesson, the goal of Satan is to obscure the person, 03:31 place and power of Jesus Christ, but what does this mean? 03:35 How could Jesus Christ ever be obscured in the mind 03:38 of the world, much less in the mind of the committed believer. 03:41 In order to answer this question we will take a look at 03:44 the 3 fold office that Jesus Christ fulfills for the believer 03:48 In Matthew 12, I wish we had time to spend a lot 03:50 of time here, but I just want to direct you to 3 Scriptures. 03:53 Jesus is having a conversation with the religious leaders 03:56 of His day, and He says something very interesting 03:59 as people are listening in. 04:01 We'll pick it up in verse 39 so we set the context. 04:11 Matthew 12:39, Jesus says: "An evil and adulterous" 04:14 "generation seeks after a sign and no sign will be given" 04:17 "except for the sign of the prophet Jonah, for as Jonah" 04:20 "was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish," 04:23 "so the Son of man will be 3 days and 3 nights" 04:26 "in the heart of the earth." He's referring to the His death, 04:28 burial and resurrection. Now look at verse 41, 04:31 Jesus speaking: "The men of Nineveh will rise up" 04:34 "in judgment with this generation and condemn it" 04:37 "because they repented at the preaching of Jonah" 04:40 and I want you to notice what He says here: "and indeed," 04:43 "a greater than Jonah is here." How many of you know 04:47 the story of Jonah? That's a story that's 04:50 well known to us, right? God said: "Go to Nineveh", 04:52 and he said: "Well, I'd rather go to Tarshish", so you have 04:55 this whole conflict playing out where he goes, and the ship 04:58 gets involved in the midst of that terrible storm, 05:01 he's thrown overboard, a great fish eats him, burps him up 05:04 on the land, and he goes and he preaches and Nineveh repents. 05:06 In the mind of the Jewish individual, Jonah was one 05:10 of the most powerful and successful prophets ever. 05:15 Think about it, you have the entire book of Jeremiah 05:17 and I can't find a single place in all of Jeremiah where even 05:21 1 person listened to 1 thing that Jeremiah said. 05:25 But Jonah goes to a Pagan city, preaches for a few days 05:28 and the whole city repents. Is that a pretty successful 05:31 prophet? So Jesus says: "By the way," 05:34 "a greater than Jonah is here." Jesus says: "I'm greater than" 05:37 "the most successful prophet." Look at the very next verse, 05:40 verse 42: "The queen of the south will rise up in judgment" 05:44 "with this generation and condemn it, for she came" 05:46 "from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon" 05:49 "and indeed, a greater than Solomon is here." 05:53 Who was Solomon? The 3rd king of Israel, 05:56 he was the greatest king in all of Israel, at least in terms 05:58 of wisdom and prosperity, so in the mind of the Jew, 06:01 Solomon is the greatest and Jesus says: "I'm great than" 06:04 "the greatest king. So, I'm greater than the most" 06:06 "successful prophet, I'm great than the greatest king", 06:09 are we seeing pattern? Okay, go to verse 6 06:13 of the same chapter, Jesus speaking, Matthew 12:6: 06:18 "Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater" 06:23 "than the temple", Jesus says "I'm even greater" 06:27 "than the temple itself and the priests that minister there", 06:29 of course He was greater than the temple, the whole purpose 06:32 of the temple was to point to Him. 06:36 You have the outer courtyard, and the Holy Place, and the Most 06:38 Holy Place, all of that pointed forward to Jesus, He says 06:42 "A greater than Jonah is here, a greater than Solomon is here," 06:45 "a greater than the temple is here; I'm greater than" 06:47 "the greatest prophet, I'm greater than the greatest" 06:49 "king, and I'm greater than the greatest priest," 06:52 "even the temple itself." Here we find the 3 fold 06:55 office that Jesus Christ fulfills. 06:57 Jesus is prophet, Jesus is Priest, Jesus is King. 07:01 But He's not any ordinary prophet, He's the greatest 07:04 of the prophets, He's not any ordinary Priest, He's 07:06 the greatest of the priests, greater than the temple itself, 07:09 and He's not any ordinary king, He is King of kings, 07:12 and Lord of lords. Right there on your sheet 07:15 you have that: His 3 fold office is: Prophet, Priest and King. 07:19 You say: "Wait a minute, what's a prophet?" 07:21 Right there on your study guide: A prophet is one who speaks 07:25 for God. 07:28 You read the Old Testament, what did the prophets love 07:31 to say? They said: "Thus sayeth the Lord...", 07:34 in other words: "This is what God says..." 07:37 So a prophet is one who speaks for God. 07:40 A priest is one who ministers for God, you'd write 07:43 that right in your study guide; a prophet is one who speaks 07:46 for God, a priest is one who ministers for God, 07:49 and a king would be one who rules for God. 07:54 So when we're talking about the Antichrist power, what we're 07:57 looking for is a power that would seek to overtake 08:01 and usurp, and obscure the 3 fold office of Jesus. 08:05 Jesus said: "I'm greater than the greatest prophet," 08:08 "I'm greater than the greatest temple, or the priest," 08:11 "I'm greater than the greatest King", prophet, priest and king; 08:15 One who speaks for God, one who ministers for God, 08:18 one who rules for God, and the Antichrist power on earth 08:21 is going to say: "No! I'm God's voice on earth!" 08:24 "No! I'm God's ministry on earth!" 08:26 "No! I'm God's authority on earth!" 08:29 Are we all clear everyone? So far so good. 08:32 So let's continue on. Last paragraph on page 1: 08:35 This is who Jesus Christ is; the Antichrist will seek to obscure 08:39 or even usurp, that means "take", these various offices 08:43 from Jesus Christ. How very important then 08:46 that we know who Jesus Christ really is according to the Bible 08:51 Can you see how essential it is to know Jesus according 08:55 to what is true. Remember our knowledge of God, 08:58 and our worship of God must be in spirit and in truth. 09:03 Very quick question before we go one second further: 09:06 does this idea make sense, yes or no? 09:09 - [Audience] Yes. - Okay, Jesus says: 09:11 "I'm greater than Solomon, I'm greater than Jonah," 09:14 "I'm greater than the temple", He's the greatest prophet, 09:17 the greatest priest, the greatest king, 09:19 so the Antichrist is going to try and usurp those offices, 09:22 the Antichrist will say: "I'm God's voice on earth," 09:25 "I'm God's ministry on earth, I'm God's authority on earth", 09:28 that's what we're looking for. Next page: 09:31 The Antichrist. The Name Antichrist is not used 09:34 very frequently in the Bible, only the author, John, uses it. 09:38 However, there are several different names that 09:42 the Antichrist is referred to by in the Scriptures, 09:44 here are most of them, you can write them in there. 09:47 He's referred to, as we've already said as the Antichrist, 09:50 we looked at that in 1 John. He's referred to as "the beast" 09:53 in Revelation, particularly chapter 13. 09:55 He's referred to as "the man of sin" in 2 Thessalonians 2, 09:58 "the son of perdition", also in 2 Thessalonians 2, 10:01 and another one that we've not talked about, "the little horn", 10:04 which is what we're going to spend some time looking at 10:07 tonight in Daniel 7 and 8. So there are several different 10:10 monikers for the Antichrist, he's not always referred to 10:12 just as the Antichrist, that's an important point that many 10:15 do not understand. Okay, it says: 10:17 The last one, Nr.5, is found in the book of Daniel 7, 10:20 so let's go to the book of Daniel as we begin to uncover 10:24 exactly who this Antichrist, beast, man of sin, 10:29 son of perdition, little horn power is. 10:31 We go to the book of Daniel 7, that's in the Old Testament, 10:36 should be able to find it, if you can find Isaiah, 10:38 go forward, Jeremiah, then you've got Lamentations, 10:43 Ezekiel, then you'll find Daniel 7. 10:49 We're on the subheading: Four Frightening, Ferocious, 10:53 Feral creatures. Let's go look at these 4 beasts, 10:58 before we do that, let's quickly review. 11:03 We've seen this man before, haven't we? 11:06 This is from Daniel chapter... who remembers? 11:09 Daniel chapter...? [Audience] 2. 11:11 That's right, and a King had a dream, what was his name? 11:14 Nebuchadnezzar. 11:16 And he had a dream of a great metal man, the head of gold, 11:19 the chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, 11:22 long legs of iron, and then the feet partly of iron 11:24 and party of clay, and we saw that this metal man 11:27 was a great timeline. 11:30 Very simple, so you can be filling these in, 11:32 it's quite simple on your sheet. [Text on screen] 11:58 Daniel said "the dream is certain and its interpretation" 12:02 "is sure"; this is Daniel 2. 12:08 So let's go to our study guide, it says: God is the greatest 12:13 teacher in the universe. And just like any good human 12:17 teacher, He uses the twin teaching techniques of review 12:22 and enlarge. 12:26 You remember this, if there's any teachers here this evening, 12:29 this is one of the most foundational pedagogical 12:33 principles, and that is that when someone goes from 12:36 the 4th grade into the 5th grade, you first review 12:39 what they learned before, and then you enlarge upon it. 12:41 Then they go from the 5th to the 6th, you review what you've 12:44 learned before, and then you enlarge upon it, etc, etc. 12:47 So in Daniel 2 we have this timeline, Babylon, 12:51 Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, divided Rome, and so when we 12:54 come to Daniel 7, this is the second great prophecy in 12:58 the book of Daniel, we find this same idea of reviewing 13:02 what we've been over and then enlarging upon it. 13:09 So you're in Daniel 7 with me, and we'll pick it up 13:13 in verse 1, it says: "In the first year of Belshazzar," 13:20 "king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head" 13:25 "while on his bed, then he wrote down the dream," 13:28 "telling the main facts." Verse 2: "Daniel said," 13:31 "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the 4 winds" 13:36 "of the heaven were stirring up the great sea", 13:39 so Daniel sees a frothy sea being whipped into action 13:43 by the winds, "...and 4 great beasts came up from the sea," 13:50 "each different from the other. The first was like a lion" 13:58 "and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings" 14:01 "were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth" 14:03 "and made to stand on 2 feet like a man, and a man's heart" 14:06 "was given to it. Suddenly another beast, a second" 14:08 "like a bear was raised up on 1 side and had 3 ribs" 14:13 "in its mouth between its teeth, and they said thus to it," 14:17 "Arise, devour much flesh." Verse 6: "After this I looked" 14:20 "and behold, there was another like a leopard which had" 14:24 "on its back 4 wings of a bird, this beast also had" 14:30 "4 heads and dominion was given to it." Verse 7: 14:33 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold," 14:36 "a 4th beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong," 14:39 "it had huge iron teeth, it was devouring, breaking in" 14:44 "pieces and trampling the residue with its feet," 14:47 "it was different from all the beasts that were before it," 14:49 "and it had 10 horns." Now, how many beasts? 14:53 4 beasts, the first beast was a lion that had eagle's wings, 14:57 you can see it there on the screen, you can also see it 15:00 on the banner, a lion with eagle's wings. 15:02 The second beast was a bear that was sort of hunched up 15:05 on one side that had 3 ribs in the mouth, the 3rd was 15:08 a strange 4 headed leopard with 4 wings of a fowl, 15:12 and the 4th was an unusual beast, he doesn't exactly tell 15:15 us what it was, he just says it was ferocious, it was 15:18 terrible, it was horrific and it had 10 horns, and it had teeth, 15:22 strange teeth, made of iron. Think about that: 15:27 4 beasts, and over here, there were 4 main metals, 15:32 those 4 main metals then gave way to feet of iron and clay, 15:35 and how many toes do you have on your feet? Ten. 15:38 And how many horns are on that beast? [Audience] Ten. 15:41 So what we're finding is that God is reviewing what we've 15:44 already learned in Daniel 2. Somebody says: "Whoa," 15:49 "you're trying to tell me that these beasts" 15:51 "aren't real beasts?" How many of you have ever 15:54 seen a 4 headed leopard, anyone ever seen that? 15:57 Or leopard with wings? Or a lion with wings? 15:59 No. Notice this, you're right there on your study guide, 16:02 we're in the bottom paragraph: The very same timeline is 16:05 spelled out in Daniel 7, but this time, instead of using 16:08 a metal image, God uses 4 great beasts. 16:13 Are these beasts literal? The answer is "no". 16:17 Look with me, you're still in Daniel 7, look at verses 17 16:21 and 23, Daniel 7:17, 23. 16:27 "These great beasts, which are 4, are 4 kings" 16:32 "or kingdoms which shall arise out of the earth." 16:35 Notice verse 23: "Thus he said, the 4th beast shall be" 16:38 "the 4th kingdom on the earth." So in end time Bible prophecy, 16:44 a beast represents a kingdom. Notice that pastor Asscherick 16:50 didn't make that up, I didn't say: "Well, you know," 16:53 "what should we say these beasts represent?" 16:56 No! It's right there in the book of Daniel, a beast 16:58 represents a kingdom, are we all clear? 17:02 Okay, so far so good, very powerful. 17:04 Notice you'd write that in there, kings or kingdoms. 17:06 Now this practice of referring to nations as beasts 17:09 is still common even today. For example, what modern 17:12 nations are represented by the following beasts? 17:16 The bald eagle would be...? The USA. 17:20 The bear would be...? The former USSR. 17:24 Turn the page over if you're keeping up with me. 17:28 The dragon would be...? [Audience] China 17:30 Very good, and the rooster would be...? 17:34 France. You didn't know that, did you? 17:38 No one ever knows that one, I put that one in there 17:41 just because you don't know it. [Audience laughs] 17:43 It's very interesting, the beasts are symbolic, 17:49 and the beasts came up out of the great sea that was being 17:56 frothed up by the wind. Well guess what, the water 17:58 is also symbolic. Revelation 17:15, we're going 18:02 to spend a lot of time in Revelation 17, but I'll give 18:05 you 1 verse very quickly, it says: [text on screen] 18:14 So water in end time Bible prophecy represents 18:17 a populated area. That does not mean that 18:21 every time you see water in the Bible it represents a populated 18:23 area, no, in end time prophecy water represents people. 18:30 We use that same language today, we'll say: 18:33 "There was a sea of people there", that same kind of idea, 18:36 so what Daniel is seeing is 4 nations rising out of 18:40 a populated area. If that all makes sense 18:43 everyone say "amen". [Audience] Amen. 18:46 Okay, so far so good. We're doing great. 18:49 Now let's continue on: These 4 beasts retrace exactly 18:52 the same timeline - I'm at the top of page 3- that the image 18:55 of Daniel 2 did, but with more detail thrown in to confirm 18:59 historical correspondents. So what we're going to find 19:02 is that history hasn't changed, history doesn't change 19:05 from Daniel 2 to Daniel 7, we still have Babylon, 19:08 Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and divided Rome, but God is now 19:12 throwing in more details. Remember, He reviews 19:19 and then enlarges. The historical correspondence 19:24 is absolutely incredible. The winged lion was actually 19:28 one of the most sacred symbols in ancient Babylon. 19:32 In fact, we showed you a picture earlier, this was night Nr.2, 19:36 of the great Ishtar Gate located in the Pergamon Museum, 19:39 the very gate through which Daniel would have walked 19:41 to stand before Nebuchadnezzar, and on the great Ishtar Gate 19:45 there are many different animals that were very symbolic 19:48 and very important to the Babylonians, and one of them 19:51 was a winged lion. 19:57 The lion is the king of the beasts, and gold is the chiefest 20:00 of metals, so here, just as Babylon was represented 20:03 by the head of gold, so too Babylon is represented 20:05 by this winged lion. 20:07 Notice the next one: the chest of silver represented the great 20:11 Medo-Persian empire. So too, here we have a bear. 20:15 It's very interesting to note there were 2 elements 20:18 of that bear that were kind of interesting: 20:20 Nr.1 is it was hunched up on 1 side, you remember that? 20:24 Showing an imbalance, and that's exactly what history tells us. 20:28 The Medes and the Persians had to league together 20:31 in order to rule the then known world, but the Persians 20:34 were always the stronger of the 2, so the Persians were 20:37 stronger than the Medes, the bear was raised up on 1 side 20:40 showing an imbalance. How many ribs were in 20:42 the mouth? 3 ribs, representing 20:45 the 3 provinces of Babylon that had to be conquered: 20:49 Lydia, Phrygia and Egypt, those were the 2 provinces of Babylon 20:53 that were conquered in order for Medo-Persia to come 20:57 to ascendancy. 20:59 Are you seeing the historical correspondences? 21:02 - [Audience] Yes. - Very powerful. 21:04 We notice the next one, there was the leopard with 4 heads 21:09 and 4 wings, and if time allowed I could show you that wings 21:12 in the Bible represent speed in prophecy. 21:17 So a leopard, the Cheetah family, is already a very fast 21:21 land mammal, very fast, very powerful, representing 21:25 the great empire of Greece. Think about this, Alexander 21:29 the Great started conquering the then known world 21:32 at the age of 16, and by the time he was 30 years old 21:34 he had conquered the whole then known world. 21:37 Is that very fast? So you have a fast mammal, 21:41 you put 4 wings on his back, you have a very rapidly 21:44 moving empire, just exactly what we see in Greece, but it gets 21:47 even more amazing. Alexander the Great died 21:50 in a drunken stupor at the age of 32. 21:53 His last words were reputed to have been: 21:56 "The kingdom goes to the strongest", 22:01 because there was no heir that could just step into 22:03 Alexander the Great's shoes, "The kingdom goes to" 22:06 "the strongest", and what ended up happening to Greece is 22:09 they divided it, the Macedonian- Grecian Empire, 22:12 they divided it into guess how many parts... 22:15 4 parts, and there were 4 generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, 22:18 Ptolemy and Seleucus that all went to the north, south, 22:21 east and west, and the kingdom of Greece was divided into 4, 22:24 how many heads are on the leopard? Four! 22:27 Incredible. More historical correspondence, 22:31 but it gets even more amazing. The long legs of iron 22:36 represented by this hideous, strange, ferocious beast 22:40 that was crushing everything. In fact, this beast was so ugly, 22:42 so terrible, so amazing, Daniel couldn't even think 22:45 of anything that even looked like it, he said it was 22:46 a horrific, terrible, ferocious beast with teeth 22:50 of iron that would correspond with the long iron legs. 22:57 Of course, the great iron monarchy of Rome. 23:01 How many horns were on that final beast? 23:03 10, and how many toes there? 10, so you have 23:05 the correspondence, just as Rome broke down 23:08 into those 10 tribes, here we have Rome with the 10 horns. 23:14 So just as we have Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 23:18 so too here, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. 23:22 Up to this point we have no new information, this is 23:26 all review. 23:31 I want to show you very quickly a quotation that we've 23:34 already showed once before. This was from Edward Gibbon, 23:37 the secular historian, I told you that Edward Gibbon 23:40 was actually quite disinterested in religion, and was actually 23:43 against organized religion, but he himself said, 23:46 as a secular historian in his "Decline and Fall of" 23:49 "the Western Roman Empire", [text on screen] 24:00 So even he could see that Daniel 2 represents a timeline. 24:04 This has been the historical interpretation, 24:10 and it's also been the correct interpretation. 24:13 I want to show you something that's very interesting, 24:15 a friend of mine visited the court house in Nuremberg, 24:18 Germany, this is THE court house in Nuremberg, Germany, 24:22 where many of the Nazi war criminals were tried, 24:25 in this very building, and above the 2 great doors 24:28 are 2 very interesting sculptures, and I want to 24:32 show you amazing historical correspondence. 24:36 If you see just quickly, you have a figure on the left 24:40 and a figure on the right. You can't make it out super well 24:43 here, but on the right, that's Nebuchadnezzar with his long 24:46 beard and his Babylonian garb, and if you look carefully, 24:49 you see a lion with eagle's wings. 24:53 On the left you can see a gentlemen, you can see 24:55 he's wearing a sort of Medo-Persian outfit, 24:58 that is he has the kind of Persian head dress he has on, 25:01 and there's a bear. So let's look at these 25:04 a little bit closer. Sure enough, there's Nebuchadnezzar 25:07 and the lion with eagle's wings, does everyone see that? 25:10 Now look at this: here we have a Persian individual, 25:13 a Persian soldier, and we have a bear, and if you look 25:16 very carefully, I could show you a close up picture, 25:18 guess how many ribs are in that mouth? 25:21 3 ribs. 25:23 Now here's another one, this is the separate large door, 25:26 and if you can look carefully you can see Alexander the Great, 25:29 none other than Alexander the Great, and that right there 25:32 is a leopard, guess how many heads it has... 25:35 - [Audience] 4. -4 headed leopard. 25:37 And over here we have a Roman soldier and a strange 25:40 looking beast with 10 horns. Here's up close views of that. 25:43 You see that? Alexander the Great, do you see the 4 25:45 headed leopard everyone? Okay, you see the historical 25:48 correspondence? And look here, Roman solider, do you see 25:51 this horrific beast? Do you see the 10 horns? 25:55 Absolutely incredible. Now, that shows you, 25:57 in fact, if I looked and looked and looked to try to figure out 25:59 how old this building is, I don't know, the person that took 26:02 the pictures told me the building is circa 1650 AD. 26:08 I'm still trying to confirm that, but if that's true 26:11 that shows you that this side idea, this interpretation 26:14 is some 400 years old, this isn't something that 26:17 Pastor Asscherick just invented, people have historically 26:20 seen [points at statue] Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 26:22 and [points at beasts] Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. 26:25 Are we all clear everyone? [Audience] Yes. 26:28 So far so good, now you'll notice that this strange beast 26:30 has these horns coming up, and if you look very carefully 26:33 you can actually see there's a little head on this horn. 26:36 You might be thinking: "Well why's there a head" 26:39 "on that horn for?" Well that's what we're going 26:42 to find out right now. Go back to Daniel 7. 26:47 Okay, and we're in verse 7, very quickly let's read about 26:50 this ferocious beast. "After this I saw in the night" 26:53 "visions, and behold, a 4th beast, dreadful and terrible," 26:56 "and strong exceedingly, it had huge iron teeth," 26:59 "it was devouring, and breaking in pieces, and trampling" 27:02 "the residue with its feet. It was different from all" 27:05 "the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns." 27:06 Now look at verse 8, here's new information. 27:09 Everything up to this point is review, 27:13 but here's new information. Verse 8, Daniel says: 27:16 "I was considering the horns." Now, if I say to you 27:21 "Well, consider it", what am I saying? "Think about it." 27:24 Daniel says: "I was thinking about the horns". 27:26 Something about that 4th beast, and something about 27:29 those horns riveted and arrested his attention. 27:33 He said: "Wow, I was thinking about the horns," 27:35 "and there was another horn, a little one." 27:39 Do you see that everyone? A little horn, that little horn 27:42 is the Antichrist. Bible scholars are universally 27:46 agreed on this, that little horn is the Antichrist power. 27:52 Look at this: "A little horn came up among them before whom" 27:56 "there were 3 of the first horns plucked up by the roots," 28:00 "and in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man," 28:04 "and a mouth speaking great words", my Bible says: 28:08 "pompous words", if you look in the margin it says: 28:11 "blasphemous words". That's why here on that 28:14 statue that we just showed you, on those horns one of the horns 28:17 had a little head on it, and that little horn is 28:21 the Antichrist. Let's continue. 28:25 Verse 9: "I watched till thrones were put in place", 28:27 Daniel's seeing all of this in vision, "and the Ancient" 28:30 "of Days", that's God the Father, "was seated." 28:32 "His garment was white as snow, the hair of his head" 28:34 "was like pure wool, His throne was a fiery flame, it's wheels" 28:37 "a burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth" 28:40 "from before Him:", here's God, "a thousand" 28:42 "thousands ministered to Him, ten thousand times ten" 28:45 "thousand stood before Him, the court was seated, and the books" 28:48 "were opened." This is a judgment scene. 28:52 We'll spend a lot of time on this, but we're just going 28:55 to go over it quickly right now. Verse 11: "I watched because of" 28:58 "the sound of the great words", or "pompous words, which" 29:01 "the little horn was speaking. I watched till the beast" 29:04 "was slain and its body destroyed and given to" 29:07 "the burning flame." So Daniel sees in vision 29:11 these 4 beasts, the 4th beast has 10 horns, and he's 29:17 thinking about those horns. Something about those horns 29:20 riveted his attention, and he sees another little horn 29:23 come up among those horns, and this horn starts spouting 29:26 his mouth off, that little horn is the Antichrist. 29:30 What we're going to do is give 10 identifying characteristics, 29:34 you write them down in the corresponding verses 29:37 and you will see exactly who this power is. 29:41 It's all right here in this passage, here we go: 29:46 the first thing that we need to notice is that it is 29:49 a little horn. 29:56 Actually, look with me just very quickly so we're clear on this, 29:59 look at Daniel 7:24. 30:02 Look at verse 24 so we can be clear, it says: 30:04 "The 10 horns are 10 kings which shall arise out of this kingdom" 30:11 So are these literal horns? Should we be somewhere out 30:14 scouring the earth looking for 10 horns? 30:17 No, the 10 horns represent 10 kings or kingdoms. 30:20 Hey that's exactly what we would expect, because here 30:23 you have Rome, Rome divides into the iron and clay, 30:27 which are kingdoms. 30:31 10 toes, 10 horns, so the first thing we want to notice 30:34 is Nr.1- it's a little kingdom. Did it refer to any of the other 30:39 horns as being little? No, but here it says: 30:42 "a little horn". Identifying characteristic Nr.1: 30:45 it's a little kingdom. 30:49 Nr.2- notice that it comes up among them, did you see 30:52 that in verse 8? Let's read verse 8 again. 30:55 It says: "A little horn coming among them." 31:01 Now, among "them", who's "them"? "Them" is the 10 horns, 31:06 and the 10 horns are the nations of divided Rome, 31:08 or today what we would call Europe. 31:10 So this power has to come up among the European nations. 31:15 It has to come up among "them", so if we're looking 31:18 for the Antichrist to pop up in Tokyo, you're looking 31:20 in the wrong place, it has to come up among the nations 31:23 of divided Rome, what we today call Europe. 31:25 Think of it this way: I'm not among you right now, 31:28 I'm over here, but if I walk out into the midst of you, 31:31 could you say now: "He's among us"? 31:34 - [Audience] Yes. - Does that make sense? 31:36 So now I'm among you, this little horn has to come up 31:39 among the 10 horns, and the 10 horns correspond to 31:43 the 10 toes. So far so good? 31:45 Okay, Nr.3- it has to come up after them. 31:49 You say: "Well, how do we know that?" 31:51 Well think about it, it's a timeline, the little horn 31:54 didn't come up during the period of Greece, the little 31:57 horn didn't come up during the period of Medo-Persia, 31:59 the little horn had to come up after the dividing of Rome. 32:02 In other words, in order to come up among the nations 32:05 of divided Rome, Rome would have had to be divided, 32:08 so it has to come up, if you want the date, 476 AD, 32:10 it has to come up after 476 AD some time. 32:13 If somebody says: "Oh, I know who the Antichrist is," 32:16 "and he came up in 233AD", wrong! Can't be! 32:19 It has to come up after the division of Rome. 32:21 Now, the spirit of Antichrist was already working, 32:24 as we've said, in John's day and in Paul's day, but it 32:27 manifests itself here among, and after the division of Rome. 32:30 Nr.4- notice that it plucked up 3 horns. 32:36 We'll come back to that, in fact if you remember, it says 32:37 it plucked up 3 by the roots. What happens if you pluck 32:41 up something by the roots? Gone. 32:44 This horn was diverse, or different from the other horns, 32:48 you're still in Daniel 7, look at Daniel 7:24: 32:56 "The 10 horns are 10 kings who shall arise from this" 32:59 "kingdom, and another shall arise after them", 33:04 see, there it is, "after them, he shall be diverse", 33:08 my Bible says "different from the first ones". 33:12 So something about this kingdom, this little kingdom 33:16 is different. It couldn't be like all 33:20 the other kingdoms, something was different about this kingdom 33:23 Let's continue, Nr.6- this kingdom was a prominent 33:28 man at its head. 33:33 You pick that up in Daniel 7:8. 33:39 It says: "In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man" 33:45 "and a mouth speaking pompous words", so this horn 33:48 has a prominent figure that has eyes that see and guide it, 33:51 so a central man that guides it, and a central figurehead 33:55 that speaks for it. A prominent man at the head. 33:59 Nr.7- this little horn speaks blasphemy, we've already 34:02 seen that, in fact, it's several times in the chapter, 34:05 but verse 25 is the clearest one, "speaks pompous words" 34:08 "against God", blasphemies. We should ask the question: 34:13 "what is blasphemy?" 34:17 People says: "Oh blasphemy is bad", no let's look 34:20 at the Biblical definition of blasphemy, I'll give you 34:23 3 verses, in fact you can write them down, 34:26 there's not a place for you to write this down in your 34:29 lesson, but you'll want to make note of this. 34:31 First definition of blasphemy from the Bible, Mark 2:7; 34:34 speaking of Jesus they said: [text on screen] 34:39 Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins and the people 34:42 of His day said "that's blasphemy to claim to be" 34:44 "able to forgive sins". Was Jesus committing blasphemy 34:47 when He said He could forgive sins? No because He was God, 34:50 but if I claim to be able to forgive your sins, 34:53 the Bible says that's blasphemy. If you steal my sunglasses 34:56 and I forgive you that's different, but if you steal 34:59 his sunglasses and I forgive you, I have no prerogative 35:02 on that, are we clear? 35:05 Okay, notice the second definition, speaking, 35:07 the religious leaders said, they were talking to Jesus: 35:11 [text on screen] 35:17 Because Jesus had said in John 10:30 "I and My Father" 35:20 "are One", think about that. Is it blasphemy for Jesus 35:24 to claim to be God? No because He is God, 35:29 but what if I claim to be God? Would that be blasphemous? 35:32 - [Audience] Yeah. - So definition Nr.1: the power 35:34 to forgive sins. Definition Nr.2: claim to be God. 35:38 Definition Nr.3, as if that's not enough, the apostle Paul 35:42 in 1 Timothy 1:12, 13, he says: [text on screen] 35:58 The apostle Paul refers to himself as a blasphemer, 36:01 listen to this very carefully, because he persecuted 36:04 the people of God in the name of God. 36:09 That's another definition of blasphemy, to persecute 36:11 the people of God in the name of God. 36:15 So 3 definitions of blasphemy: claim to be able to forgive 36:18 sins on earth, claim to be God on earth, and persecuting 36:20 God's people in the name of God. 36:23 So those are our Biblical definitions. 36:27 So let's continue. 36:36 Okay, man at the head, speaks blasphemy, 36:39 it's a persecuting power. Look at Daniel 7:21, 25. 36:47 Verse 21 says: "I was watching and the same horn" 36:51 "was making war against the saints." 36:55 Who are the saints? God's people. 36:58 So this little horn is making war against the people of God. 37:03 Look at verse 25: "And he shall speak pompous words" 37:07 "against the Most High and shall persecute the saints" 37:12 "of the Most High." So this power's got to be 37:14 a persecuting power. Nr.9- this power will change 37:18 or think to change the very law of God, the times 37:21 and laws of God. You're still there in 37:25 Daniel 7:25, it says "Shall persecute the saints of" 37:28 "the Most High and shall intend to change times and laws". 37:35 Not some little city ordinance of Sterling Heights, Michigan, 37:37 no, this power would claim to be able to change the very 37:41 laws of God. 37:46 And then finally, this power would rule for 1260 days. 37:51 Notice it in verse 25, would change times and laws, 37:55 then the saints would be given into his hands for "a time," 38:00 "times and half a time". 38:03 Follow the maths here: "a time" is 1, "times" is 2, 38:09 and "half a time" is a half, so that would be 38:11 3 and a half, that's what we talked about the last time 38:15 we were together. So this power would rule 38:17 for 3 and a half prophetic years, 1260 prophetic days. 38:24 So far so good everyone? In fact, that time period, 38:26 1260 appears 7 times in the Bible, 5 times in Revelation, 38:31 2 times in Daniel, it is the single most important, 38:35 prominent time prophecy in all of Daniel and Revelation. 38:41 This is critical, a key that helps us to unlock Bible 38:44 prophecy is that in end time Bible prophecy 38:51 a prophetic day equals a literal year. 38:54 This is a time honored principle of interpretation, 38:57 and I'll give you 2 verses, you can write that down: 39:00 [text on screen] 39:03 So a prophetic day equals a literal year. 39:10 So when we're talking about this power reigning for 1260 39:14 prophetic days, that power is really reigning for 1260 39:19 literal years. We'll show you that in just 39:23 a moment. Okay, so, the Antichrist, 39:26 who exactly is this little horn? Did you get your marks 39:29 all written down? Let's quickly review them: 39:31 Nr.1- it is a little kingdom. Nr.2- it has to come up 39:35 among the nations of divided Europe. 39:38 Nr.3- it has to come up after them. 39:44 Nr.4- it plucked up 3. Nr.5, I'm turning the page, 39:49 it's diverse, or different, my order might be a little 39:52 different here. Okay, it's different, 39:55 Nr.6- it's blasphemous, speaking the blasphemies, claims 39:59 to forgive sins, claims to be God on earth, and persecuting 40:02 the people of God in the name of God. 40:05 It has a prominent man at its head, it is a persecuting power, 40:09 it would think to change the very laws and times of God 40:12 and it would rule for 1260 prophetic days or literal years. 40:17 Beloved, I want you to think this through. 40:20 First of all, let's be clear about something, crystal clear, 40:23 God is not against people. 40:28 God loves people, but God does not love systems that try 40:34 to take away the kingdom of Christ, and the prophet 40:39 status of Christ, and the priestly status of Christ. 40:42 So far so good. So for example, 40:45 I happen to be an American, and there's no shame in being 40:48 an American, however, as an American there are certain 40:51 things that America has done historically, that I'm not very 40:55 proud of. Can someone say "amen" to that? 40:58 [Audience] Amen. 41:00 Come on now, you just look at our treatment of the slaves, 41:04 you look at our treatment of the indigenous peoples 41:06 of this land; now, the fact that I'm an American, 41:08 and the fact that America has historically done bad things, 41:12 does that make me a bad person because I'm an American? 41:15 No. So notice, my affiliation 41:19 with America, my citizenship as an American, just because 41:23 America has done wrong things does not mean I'm a bad person, 41:27 are we crystal clear on that? Okay, so God is not against 41:31 people. Let's say that together: 41:35 "God is not against people", so if when we put this up here 41:40 on the screen and everyone sees who the only power is 41:43 that could meet these 10 identifying characteristics, 41:46 incidentally, there are many more, we've just looked 41:48 at 10 of them, the only power that could fit, if you say: 41:51 "Oh, how could that be? I know someone who's affiliated" 41:54 "with that system", or "I myself am affiliated with that system", 41:56 does that mean you're a bad person? [Audience] No. 41:59 Not at all, because God is not against people, but He is 42:02 against systems. Okay crystal clear. 42:05 So, all of those identifying characteristics, who's the only 42:09 power that could fit all of them? The answer is: 42:13 The Roman church-state. 42:17 The ecclesiastical empire of Rome. 42:20 The only power that fits all of the identifying characteristics. 42:24 A hand in glove fit, the Roman church-state, and I want 42:30 to show you that in our closing moments. 42:34 Let's go through it. Does it fit? 42:36 Nr.1- is it a little kingdom? Absolutely, one of the smallest 42:40 kingdoms in the world, located in Rome, the Vatican is one 42:43 of the smallest kingdoms. Does it come up among them? 42:46 Does this nation rise up among the nations of Western Europe? 42:51 Does it meet that identifier? Sure does. 42:54 Does it come up after them? Sure does, in fact, 42:57 the power, we'll show you this in a little bit, 43:00 came up at about 538 AD, I'll give you a quotation 43:03 of that fact in just a moment. 538 AD so it meets that. 43:06 Plucks up three...some of this takes a little bit 43:09 of historical knowledge to go through, and I'll just quickly 43:12 run through this. There were 3 tribes, 43:14 the Vandals, the Heruli and the Ostragoths, they were Arian 43:17 tribes, that is to say they denied the preeminence 43:21 of Jesus Christ. Basically what happened is 43:24 the bishop of Rome got on the phone to a man named 43:26 Justinian, the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire 43:29 and he said: "I've got these 3 tribes over here that are" 43:31 "giving me a hard time, they deny the teachings of" 43:34 "the church", and what happened is, the short version 43:37 is very short, Justinian came over and thrashed those kingdoms 43:40 because the bishop of Rome said "they don't agree with us" 43:43 "theologically", those kingdoms, the Heruli, the Vandals 43:46 of Northern Africa and the Ostragoths are gone today. 43:48 No modern descendants whatsoever, none. 43:51 It fits the historical correspondence perfectly. 43:53 Is it different from the other kingdoms? 43:56 Yes, this kingdom is a religio-political system. 44:01 Does that make sense? France is France, 44:05 it's a kingdom. England is England, 44:07 it's a kingdom, here, the Roman church-state is a church 44:11 but it's also a kingdom, so it's diverse and it's different. 44:16 Let me show you a quotation to that effect. 44:18 This is taken from Alexander Clarence Flick, "The Rise" 44:21 "of the Medieval Church", page 168, [text on screen] 44:53 In other words, when Constantine took his empire and moved it 44:56 from Rome to Constantinople, what we today call Istanbul, 45:00 he had to leave somebody in charge, and who did he 45:03 leave in charge? He left the bishop of Rome 45:06 in charge of that Empire, and if you go today to 45:08 the Vatican you see one of the most prominent paintings there 45:12 is "The donation of Constantine". We should all 45:16 know that, that's basic history, that's when Constantine 45:18 basically turned the western Roman Empire over to him 45:21 and said: "Here, it's yours." And that's exactly what 45:23 Flick is saying here, this is just basic history. 45:27 Okay, does it have a prominent man at its head 45:29 that speaks for it and that guides it? 45:31 Sure it does, does it speak blasphemy - now, I hate 45:34 to do this, absolutely hate to do this, because my own father 45:37 is affiliated with this system, but my father would tell you 45:40 that this is what this system teaches, so let's be clear 45:42 on that, let's be clear that this is from their own sources, 45:45 I'm not up here blasting them, I'm not up here making fun 45:48 of them, this is from their own sources, this is what 45:51 they teach, are we clear on that everyone? 45:54 - [Audience] Yes. - God's not against people, 45:56 and I'm not against people, but I am for truth. 45:59 This is taken from "Dignity and Duties of the Priest": 46:01 [text on screen] 46:12 "Ego te absolvo" - that's Latin for "I forgive you", 46:14 "I absolve you", [continues to read text] 46:24 Do you see that? So here's Jesus, He forgives 46:26 John, and here's a priest, and he forgives Mary 46:29 and both are equally forgiven. Are we clear? 46:34 Does that meet one of our Biblical definitions 46:37 of blasphemy? To claim to be able to forgive sins? 46:39 Absolutely it does. Notice this one, this is from 46:42 the Arch Bishop of Venice prior to becoming Pius X: 46:45 [text on screen] 46:58 One of the definitions of blasphemy was claiming to be 47:01 God on earth, this power says "We're God on earth." 47:04 So far so good? Okay, and our final definition 47:07 of blasphemy, not our final one, but just another one 47:11 that sort of lends itself to that "The Great Encyclical" 47:14 "Letters of Leo XIII", He says on page 304: 47:17 [text on screen] 47:20 The Bible calls that blasphemy. 47:24 If I sit up here tonight and said "I hold upon this earth" 47:27 "the place of God Almighty, you want forgiveness," 47:30 "you come to me, you want ministry, you come to me", 47:33 you would call that blasphemy. You'd say "who do you think" 47:35 "you are, that's blasphemous, I'll go to Jesus." 47:38 Speaks blasphemy, persecuting power. 47:41 Just very quickly, WEH Lecky, "The History of the Rise and" 47:44 "Influence of Rationalism in Europe", he said: 47:47 [text on screen] 47:55 To the tune of 100 million people killed during a period 47:59 called "The Dark Ages" by this power. 48:03 "The Dark Ages", part of the reason it was called 48:06 "The Dark Ages" is that the Word, which is "a lamp" 48:09 "unto your feet, and a light unto your path" was illegal, 48:12 you couldn't have it. This book was kept in 48:15 the Latin language, it wasn't the common language of 48:18 the people, it was chained to a monastery wall, 48:20 or chained to a temple wall, you didn't get access to it. 48:23 Are we clear on that? And if you did have one 48:26 of these, you'd be persecuted. You could be killed 48:29 for having one of these. Killed! 48:32 If they come into your house and they see you have it, 48:35 you're done, "we're very sorry, we're very sorry that you" 48:37 "have this book", and killed in a lot of horrifically 48:40 terrible ways that I just don't want to spend time on, 48:43 we'll talk maybe more about that on another night. 48:46 Persecuting power, changes the very times and laws 48:48 of God. You say: "no, couldn't be!" 48:51 From "Lucius Ferraris Prompta Bibliotheca", and article 48:53 entitled "Papa", vol. 6, page 29 [text on screen] 49:11 "We can change the law of God", the Bible says that he would 49:14 intend to...can you really change the God's law? 49:18 - [Audience] No. - No, but it doesn't say 49:20 that this power would do it, but that it would intend 49:23 to do it. Are we clear on that? 49:25 You see the distinction there? 49:27 Last but not least, that this power would rule for 1260 49:30 prophetic days, and this is absolutely incredible. 49:33 Listen to this, from "the History of the Christian church" 49:35 Vol. 3, [text on screen] 49:44 That was the story I was just talking about, after those 3 49:47 were plucked up, the Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostragoths, 49:50 [continues to read] 49:54 When those powers were gone there was nobody to resist 49:56 anymore, so due to a letter of the Roman Emperor Justinian, 50:00 known as Justinian's decree, which set up and acknowledged 50:02 the bishop of Rome as the head of all churches. 50:07 When did that take place? 538 AD, so what happened 50:11 that year? [text on screen] 50:30 What year did that take place? 538 AD. 50:33 Well check this out. 1260 years later in exactly 50:37 1798, exactly 1798, do the maths. 50:42 538, you move 1260 years, you come to 1798. 50:47 You say "well what happened in 1798?", I'll tell you 50:49 what happened in 1798, a man by the name of Napoleon, 50:52 have you ever heard of him? He was essentially sick 50:55 and tired of taking orders from the Papacy, and he sent 50:58 one of his top generals, a man by the name of 51:01 Louis Alexandre Berthier, he sent him down there 51:04 into the Vatican and he went in, he took the bishop of Rome 51:07 off of his throne, 51:12 everything he declared the property and republic of France, 51:15 and people said that's the end of it. 51:17 That's the end of the Roman church-state, it's done, 51:20 and that happened in 1798, exactly 1260 years after 51:27 that power had risen to political and ecclesiastical 51:29 prominence. 51:30 It's history, basic history. So there you have it. 51:36 Does it fit? Is it a little kingdom? Yes. 51:38 Did it come up among them? Yes. Did it rise up after them? Yes. 51:41 Did it pluck 3? Yes, the historical correspondence 51:44 is amazing. Is it different? Yes, 51:46 it's a religio-political kingdom. 51:49 Does it have a prominent at its head that speaks for it 51:52 and guides it? Yes. Does it speak blasphemy? Yes. 51:54 Does it claim to be God on earth? Yes. 51:57 Did it persecute the people of God in the name of God? Yes. 52:00 Does it claim to be God on earth? Yes. 52:03 Is it a persecuting power? Yes. Does it actually think it can 52:06 change the very times and laws of God? Yes. 52:09 Did it reign for 1260 prophetic days, or literal years? Yes. 52:12 I want to be crystal clear about something as we go to 52:14 our sheet, you're all on your sheet, last page. 52:17 Hear a pin drop in here, that's alright, God's Bible truth 52:20 is never there to embarrass you. 52:24 God never sends Bible truth to embarrass, God never 52:27 sends Bible truth to hurt anyone's feelings, God sends 52:30 Bible truth because He loves you, not because He hates you. 52:34 Think of it this way: what's the difference between 52:37 a surgeon and a butcher? [Audience laughs] 52:39 A surgeon cuts to heal, and a butcher cuts to kill. 52:43 God is a surgeon, not a butcher. 52:46 God does sometimes cut us, or do we sometimes learn 52:49 things in the Bible that cut us? Yeah, but God cuts to heal, 52:54 not to kill. If God has sent you 52:56 Bible truth, it's because He loves you, not because 52:59 He doesn't love you, and I'm going to say it again: 53:01 God is not against people, but He is against systems 53:07 that obscure the place of Jesus Christ. 53:13 So look there, right in the middle of that last paragraph. 53:15 Sadly this power has sought to usurp the 3 fold office 53:18 of Jesus Christ. This power has claimed the 53:21 prerogatives of prophet, priest and king. 53:25 It claims to speak for God, it claims to minister for God, 53:28 forgive sins, etc, and to rule for God. 53:31 In doing this it has obscured the person, power and place 53:35 of Jesus Christ. You're encouraged to do 53:37 your own research on this subject. 53:40 Don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself, 53:42 read and re-read the Bible passages that deal with 53:45 the Antichrist and see if it isn't the hand in glove fit. 53:49 Go to your library and see for yourself. 53:51 Remember Bible truth is never sent to discourage, overwhelm, 53:54 or humiliate us. It is sent to save us, 53:58 keep your eyes focuses on Jesus Christ and His saving love, 54:01 God is on your side. So in closing tonight, 54:06 let's be crystal clear, was tonight's message clear? 54:10 Yes or no? [Audience] Yes. 54:13 Okay, you understood, you saw the basic timeline: 54:16 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then divided Rome, 54:18 and the Antichrist power comes up down in there. 54:21 In Daniel 7: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 54:24 the Antichrist comes up there, we looked at just 54:27 10 identifiers. Listen beloved, if time would 54:29 have allowed, I could have given you 20 identifiers to this power 54:32 You go read Daniel 7 and 8 for yourself and you'll see 54:35 there's many more identifiers that we actually didn't look at. 54:38 The choice that faces everyone of us today is the same 54:41 choice that faced the people in the days of Jesus, 54:44 and that is: is it Rome? Or is it Christ? 54:46 Who is it? It's Rome or it's Christ? 54:48 That was the same choice that Jesus faced, it was the same 54:51 choice that all those people standing outside, they said: 54:54 "This is your king", and they said: "we have no king" 54:57 "but Caesar." They were making a choice, 54:59 they said "We'll take Rome over Christ." 55:02 What we're going to see as this Bible prophecy seminar continues 55:05 to develop is that this is not just something that says: 55:07 "I'm so glad that happened back in 1798", what we're going 55:10 to be seeing especially over the next 2 meets, actually all 55:13 of them, but especially over the next 2: "The Rock That Simply" 55:16 "Will Not Role", is this isn't something that just happened 55:18 all back then; no, this is something that is happening 55:21 right here today. And you say: "What do you mean" 55:25 "by that?" You've got to keep coming, 55:28 you've got to see, not because I'm here, listen, I don't get 55:30 anything from you being here, but you get a lot from 55:33 being here because the Lord is here. 55:36 So you come, and you'll see from the Bible 55:40 exactly where this thing is leading, so Nr.1 tonight: 55:43 3 questions: was tonight's message clear, yes or no? 55:46 [Audience] Yes. Nr.2- are you going to check 55:49 this out for yourself and see if it's true? [Audience] Yes. 55:51 You check it out! And Nr.3- if it is true, 55:54 will you follow it? [Audience] Yes. 55:56 Okay, let's pray together. Father in heaven, 55:59 we love You so much, we've presented tonight the very best 56:01 that we are able, this powerful Biblical truth that there is 56:04 a power that would seek to take away the very prophet 56:08 office, and the priest office, and the king office of our Lord 56:12 and Redeemer, Jesus. Tonight Father, these are not 56:15 easy messages to preach, but You send us truth, 56:17 not because You hate us, not because You want to humiliate 56:21 us or overwhelm us, but because You love us. 56:23 Tonight we've done our very best to present this, and I just 56:26 plead with You on behalf of Christ that You will take 56:28 this great truth, that You will bury it in the hearts 56:31 of people and they will see, given the choice, 56:34 between Rome and Jesus Christ, "I will choose Jesus", 56:39 by God's grace and in His name we pray, let all the saints 56:42 of God say amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17