Participants: Steve Wohlberg
Series Code: HVT
Program Code: HVT000024A
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00:09 The battle of Armageddon is coming...
00:11 Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? 00:14 What does the Bible really say? 00:15 That's our topic on His Voice Today. 00:20 Welcome to another His Voice Today 00:23 with Steve Wohlberg. 00:29 Welcome to the grand finale 00:31 of a series of meetings that we've been doing, 00:33 on Israel Issues. 00:35 The first program... 00:36 four programs ago 00:38 we talked about: All Eyes on Israel 00:39 and then in the second program, we talked about: 00:41 Israel and Jesus Christ 00:43 and then in the last presentation 00:46 we focused on: Titanic Truths about the Temple 00:49 and this is it... the grand finale... 00:52 it's called: Israel, Babylon and Armageddon. 00:56 We are going to take a close look 00:57 at the book of Revelation and see what it really says. 01:02 Who are the good guys, 01:03 who are the bad guys that Revelation reveals, 01:06 who will be experiencing the final showdown at earth's 01:12 final battle called Armageddon. 01:14 Let's start with the beginning of Revelation chapter 1 verse 1, 01:19 and the first line says, 01:20 "This book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. " 01:23 In other words, the book comes from Jesus 01:26 it is revealed by Jesus and it is centered in Jesus. 01:31 In verse 10... John who wrote the book 01:35 said, "I was in the Spirit" 01:37 I was in the Holy Spirit when I got the book from Jesus. 01:41 So, obviously, his spiritual faculties were in tune 01:45 and the Holy Spirit was inside his heart. 01:48 Going on... in verse 11, John then heard a voice... 01:52 the voice of Jesus and he turned around 01:56 to see who had spoken to him, verse 12 says, 01:59 "... I turned to see the voice that spoke to me. 02:02 And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks... " 02:07 Now, candlesticks... this is basically Jewish imagery 02:12 it goes back to the earthly temple 02:14 where there was a Seven-branched Candlestick 02:17 inside the Holy Place, 02:19 there was also a Table of Bread, 02:20 there was also an Alter of Incense, 02:23 and then inside the Most Holy Place, 02:25 there was an Ark called The Ark of the Covenant 02:29 inside of which were The Ten Commandments. 02:33 And so, Revelation begins with Temple imagery 02:36 and John sees Jesus walking in the midst, 02:39 He's a great High Priest 02:41 and He's walking in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks. 02:45 Now, what do these Seven Golden Candlesticks represent? 02:48 As Jesus then begins to explain to John... what's going on... 02:52 in verse 20, Jesus says, 02:54 "I will explain to you the mystery of the seven stars 02:58 which were in His right hand, 03:00 and of the seven golden candlesticks. " 03:02 He said the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, 03:07 and the seven candlesticks, 03:08 Jesus said, "which you saw are the seven churches. " 03:13 So at the beginning of Revelation, 03:16 Jesus takes the seven candlesticks... which... 03:19 these have to do with Jewish imagery 03:23 and then He says, 03:24 "the mystery of these candlesticks 03:27 is that they represent the seven churches. " 03:30 So at the beginning of the book, 03:32 Jesus takes the things of Israel, 03:34 Jewish imagery and He clearly applies it to His church. 03:40 That's what Jesus does 03:41 at the beginning of the last book of the Bible. 03:44 Going on to chapter 2, 03:48 Jesus then begins to give messages 03:51 to these seven churches. 03:52 The first church was Ephesus then there was Smyrna, 03:56 then Pergamos, then Thyatira, and the list goes on... 03:59 all the way to Laodicea which is the last church. 04:02 Jesus has messages for each church. 04:04 And in verse 18 of chapter 2, "... the angel of the church... 04:10 to the angel of the church in Thyatira write... " 04:13 and then Jesus gives a message to this church and in verse 19 04:19 He talks about the good things that they were doing, 04:22 but then in verse 20 He says, 04:23 "Notwithstanding I have a few things against you, 04:25 because you suffer that woman Jezebel, 04:31 which calls herself a prophetess, 04:34 to teach and to seduce my servants... " 04:36 So, to the church in Thyatira, Jesus says, "You got a problem, 04:42 the problem is, that you've allowed that woman 04:45 Jezebel to come right into the church 04:49 and to teach her deceptions. " 04:50 Now, what's this talking about? 04:52 Does Jesus mean that the ancient woman Jezebel... 04:57 the literal woman who came into Israel... who married Ahab 05:01 and brought all kinds of false idolatry into Israel, 05:05 did Jesus mean that she had been resurrected, 05:07 did He mean that she has been reincarnated 05:10 and then she... you know... this literal lady 05:13 walked right in to one of the churches in Thyatira, 05:17 and that the Christians were falling for her deceptions, 05:21 is that what Jesus meant by this? 05:24 No, we need spiritual eyesight to understand 05:29 what Jesus is doing, is... 05:31 He's using the history of Jezebel and Ahab, 05:35 He's using the woman... that woman... to represent 05:39 a false form of Christianity 05:43 that just like Jezebel came into Israel, 05:46 a false form of Christianity was coming in to His church 05:51 and was bringing in its deceptions, 05:54 and so, once again, 05:56 just like the seven-branched candlestick 05:59 Jesus applied to the seven churches, 06:01 Jewish imagery applied to the church, 06:04 so, he takes Jezebel, 06:07 whose history had to do with ancient Israel, 06:09 she came into Israel, 06:11 and then He applied this to deceptions 06:13 that were coming in to the church. 06:16 There's consistency 06:17 in the teaching of Jesus Christ in Revelation. 06:20 In Chapter 3... 06:22 Revelation 3 verse 12, 06:25 He talks about the need to overcome, 06:28 this is His counsel to the Philippian church. 06:40 and here Jesus is talking about God's temple, 06:43 and the temple obviously again, is Old Testament imagery. 06:48 There was a temple... a tabernacle 06:50 in the wilderness in the days of Moses, 06:52 it became permanent in the days of Solomon, 06:55 it was destroyed by the Babylonians, 06:57 it was rebuilt in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, 07:01 and then it was... later on... 07:03 there during the time of Jesus Christ 07:05 but it was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans 07:08 and that Temple... to this day 07:11 has never been rebuilt over in Israel. 07:13 So, Jesus is here talking about a temple... 07:16 but what temple is he talking about? 07:18 He's using the imagery of Israel 07:21 but He's applying this to His church. 07:27 Jesus says that Christians who overcome will become pillars 07:32 in the temple of my God... God's temple... 07:49 so here in verse 12, Jesus now uses Jerusalem itself, 07:57 He talked about the candlesticks, 07:59 He talked about Jezebel, He talked about the temple, 08:03 and now, He's talking about Jerusalem itself 08:07 and He is applying the Temple of God 08:11 and Jerusalem to a New Jerusalem 08:15 and Jesus calls this, "... the city of my God 08:19 which is the new Jerusalem, which is going to come down 08:22 out of heaven from my God: 08:25 and I will write upon him my new name. " 08:28 Verse 13, Jesus said, 08:34 So the Holy Spirit speaks through these Scriptures 08:38 and again, Jesus is using 08:40 Jewish imagery and He is applying it to His church, 08:44 and also to a New Jerusalem in heaven. 08:47 Let me just back up a little bit before I continue on 08:50 and look at Babylon. 08:52 As we see from Revelation so far... 08:56 and we'll continue to see this, 08:57 it's very clear that when you read the book of Revelation, 09:00 the last book of the Bible, that Revelation uses 09:03 the geography 09:04 and the terminology 09:06 of the Middle East in its prophecies. 09:07 There's no question about this. 09:09 If you look at the whole picture, 09:11 Revelation talks about a 09:13 from all the tribes of the children of Israel. 09:16 It talks about Mount Zion, Jerusalem, the temple, 09:19 it also talks about Sodom, Egypt, Babylon, Euphrates, 09:21 Euphrates drying up 09:23 because the kings of the east are coming from the east, 09:26 and then it talks about Armageddon. 09:27 And what's happening today is modern scholars 09:30 are taking these Middle East terms 09:32 and they are applying them to the literal places. 09:35 They often apply this to a 144,000 Jews along the West Bank 09:40 when the Bible talks about Euphrates drying up 09:43 in Revelation, they apply this often to Turkey 09:46 building a dam to stop the flow of the River Euphrates. 09:49 When it talks about Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18, 09:53 this is often applied to the sands of Iraq 09:56 when Saddam Hussein, 09:58 during the first Gulf War in 1991 09:59 was rumored to have been trying to rebuild 10:02 or starting to rebuild the ancient city of Babylon 10:04 not too far from Baghdad, prophecy books came pouring off 10:08 off of the presses saying that this is fulfilling prophecy. 10:11 There it is... the ancient city of Babylon is coming back. 10:14 So they applied it to that literal ancient city. 10:19 Temple texts are applied to a rebuilt Jewish temple in Israel, 10:23 and Armageddon is applied to a final battle 10:25 North of Jerusalem, in a valley... 10:27 a small valley called Megiddo 10:28 between 10:30 sometimes it's China, sometimes... Russia, 10:32 sometimes Iran, Hezbollah, all these different forces 10:35 that will gather together to fight against Jews. 10:38 And this is the way the landscape and terminology 10:42 of Revelation is interpreted today. 10:45 But as we've already seen, 10:48 Revelation points us in a different direction. 10:53 In chapter 1, when Jesus takes the temple imagery... 10:57 the seven-branched candlesticks and applies it to the church, 11:01 when He takes the imagery of Jezebel who came into Israel 11:04 and applies that to deceptions coming into the church, 11:07 when He takes the temple imagery and says that 11:11 Christians can become pillars inside of that temple forever, 11:15 when He takes the word Jerusalem, 11:17 He applies it to the New Jerusalem which Jesus calls 11:21 The City of God which will come down from heaven 11:25 and we will then live inside that city forever. 11:30 So, so far, we see Revelation using Middle East terminology 11:38 but it is applying it to things very different 11:42 from those literal actual places. 11:44 Now, let's keep going and let's look at Revelation 11:49 chapter 17 and then let's talk about Babylon. 11:53 Actually let's do a little bit more before we get to that. 11:56 I'm looking at my notes here 11:58 and I don't want to leave out some things. 11:59 Revelation chapter 21... 12:03 chapter 21 verse 10, 12:08 the Bible says, John wrote, 12:10 "... He carried me away in the spirit" 12:12 so the Holy Spirit was again leading John 12:15 to understand these truths to a great and high mountain, 12:20 and that mountain was Mount Zion, 12:23 a heavenly Mount Zion, a great and high mountain, 12:27 and he shewed me that great city, 12:30 the holy Jerusalem, 12:33 descending out of heaven from God. " 12:36 And so the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, 12:38 God's city came down and 12:41 rested upon that great and high mountain. 12:46 Revelation 11 verse 19 talks about the temple 12:51 that is inside of the New Jerusalem, 12:54 verse 19 says, "... the temple of God" 12:56 so the New Jerusalem is called the City of God, 13:00 and this temple is called the Temple of God 13:03 which was opened in heaven... 13:14 So, John... in heavenly vision 13:17 sees the temple of God up there, he goes into the Holy of Holies 13:21 he sees the Ark and inside the Ark, 13:25 when you study the Old Testament and the book of Hebrews, 13:27 inside the Ark were the Tables of the Testimony 13:31 which were the Ten Commandments. 13:33 So, the temple described here is up there 13:36 and the ark is up there, and the focus is up there, 13:41 not down here on earth. 13:43 Continuing on in chapter 15, I'm sorry, chapter 14... 13:51 chapter 14 verse 12, John describes a people 13:54 called the saints. 14:04 So these commandments are called the commandments of God. 14:06 So the New Jerusalem is called the City of God, 14:08 the heavenly temple is called the temple of God, 14:10 inside is the Ark 14:12 and inside that Ark are the Ten Commandments, 14:15 and now we have a group of people here 14:16 followers of Jesus Christ, who keep the Commandments of God 14:20 and the faith of Jesus, 14:22 they're followers of Jesus but they're keeping 14:24 God's Commandments, which are inside that Ark 14:27 up in that heavenly temple up inside the New Jerusalem 14:31 where Jesus Christ is our great High Priest. 14:34 In Galatians chapter 6 verse 16, 14:38 Paul talks about Israel, 14:40 and we've talked about this in previous programs, 14:44 Galatians 6:16, 14:46 verse 15 says: 14:49 neither circumcision" 14:50 which applies to the Jewish people, 14:52 "avails any thing, nor uncircumcision," 14:54 which applies to Gentiles, 14:55 "but a new creature" that's what counts, 15:07 Now, in Revelation we've got the City of God up there, 15:10 we've got the temple of God up there, 15:12 we've got people keeping the Commandments of God 15:14 which are up there, as they're awaiting for 15:17 the Son of God to come down, 15:19 and when Revelation talks about Israel, in chapter 7, 15:23 and the enemy being Babylon, in chapter 17, 15:28 is the Israel... the Israel of God? 15:32 or some other Israel? 15:34 And is Babylon a rebuilt city over in the sands of Iraq, 15:38 or is it another Babylon? 15:40 Well, let's find out. 15:41 Let's find out the answers, it's very clear. 15:43 Going back to Revelation chapter 17... 15:48 John, in the Spirit, sees a mystery woman 15:52 that is Babylon, chapter 17 verse 3, 15:57 John wrote: 16:03 so, again, here's the Spirit, 16:05 in Revelation 1:10, John was in the Spirit, 16:07 at the end of every message to the seven churches 16:10 Jesus said, "He who has an ear, 16:12 let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" 16:14 and here in Revelation 17 verse 3, 16:18 John is again, carried away in the Spirit, 16:22 and he sees an amazing sight. 16:40 and then he describes the woman, and in verse 5, 16:44 John saw that upon her forehead was a name written, 16:48 Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots 16:52 and abominations of the Earth. " 16:55 So the word Babylon, as it is here, 16:58 Babylon was an ancient city in Israel in Old Testament days, 17:02 just like there was a Jerusalem, so there was a Babylon 17:06 and there was a temple 17:07 and all the things that we've read about, 17:10 there was a Jezebel that came into ancient Israel, 17:13 so there was a Babylon that came and attacked Israel 17:15 and destroyed the temple, destroyed the city 17:17 and took the Jews captives for 70 years. 17:20 Now, here in Revelation he uses that term 17:22 but is John through the Spirit... being taught 17:27 that this term applies to a rebuilt city 17:32 over in the sands of Iraq about 50 miles south of Baghdad. 17:36 No... we know that... 17:39 that he's talking about something much different 17:41 when he describes this mystery Babylon... 17:45 this mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth. 17:48 She is sitting upon many waters, it says in verse 1, 17:51 the woman is sitting upon many waters, 17:53 in Old Testament times, ancient Babylon, 17:56 this literal city, sat upon the River Euphrates 17:59 on the waters of Euphrates, 18:00 and in Revelation, John sees another Babylon 18:03 and she's sitting upon the water... many waters... 18:06 but what does this water represent? 18:08 If we look down at verse 15, the angel explains, 18:13 the angel said to me, Revelation 17:15, 18:26 So the water isn't literal water the water applies to 18:31 all the people around the world 18:33 that support this mystery Babylon and her deceptions. 18:40 Now, when we go to chapter 16, we read about the final battle 18:49 and Babylon is involved in this battle 18:51 and actually, let me read another text that I forgot. 18:54 In chapter 18 verse 4, 18:56 the Bible says: 19:08 So, God has people in Babylon, in ancient Old Testament history 19:13 literal Israel was taken to literal Babylon 19:18 and they had to literally come out 19:19 and go back to... literal Jerusalem 19:21 and rebuild their city and their temple. 19:24 In Revelation, we have a mystery Babylon 19:26 who sits upon the waters 19:29 of the people around the world that support her 19:32 and then God calls His people to come out of her 19:36 just like He called ancient Israel 19:37 to come out of literal Babylon, 19:39 He calls His modern Israel, to come out of mystery Babylon 19:43 so they don't share in her sins. 19:46 Revelation 16 describes the final battle. 19:51 Chapter 16 says, "... He gathered them together 19:54 into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon 19:57 Now what is Armageddon about? 19:59 Is Armageddon going to be a bloody Middle East war 20:02 against Jews? 20:03 Would that be a correct interpretation of this text? 20:07 I don't believe so, and the reason is 20:11 because that interpretation would go against 20:13 the entire theme of Revelation 20:16 in taking the landscape and the terminology 20:21 of ancient Israel, but it applies it, 20:24 like the seven candlesticks were applied to the church, 20:26 Jezebel was applied to 20:28 deceptions coming into the church. 20:30 The temple was applied to God's people 20:31 and the temple up in heaven. 20:33 Jerusalem is applied to the New Jerusalem up in heaven. 20:36 Keeping the Commandments of God is applied to the saints 20:40 who followed Jesus Christ. 20:41 Babylon is applied to a mystery woman that deceives the world, 20:46 she's sitting upon the waters which represent 20:49 people, multitudes, nations and tongues 20:50 and so if we interpret Armageddon 20:53 as a bloody, Middle East Battle against Jews, 20:57 in a little valley north of Jerusalem, 21:00 that interpretation which takes the Middle East terminology 21:05 literally... is contrary to the trend of the entire book 21:10 of the entire book... 21:11 Now, let's just back up a little bit. 21:12 The theory is that all the nations 21:14 are going to gather into this little valley... 21:15 this little valley north of 21:16 Jerusalem, the valley of Megiddo... 21:18 and the Bible doesn't actually use the word 21:21 in Revelation... Megiddo... it says, "Armageddon" 21:24 "har" in Armageddon... "har" means mountain 21:27 and Megiddo literally means slaughter. 21:30 So this is a mountain of slaughter 21:32 that someone's being gathered to. 21:35 Now, who is being gathered into this Mountain of Slaughter? 21:39 Chapter 14 and 15 gives us the answer. 21:41 Going down to verse 13, 21:44 verse 13 says, "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs 21:48 coming out of the mouth of the dragon, 21:49 out of the mouth of the beast 21:51 and out of the mouth of the false prophet. " 21:53 As we'll see... these are the three parts of Babylon. 21:55 Verse 14 says: 22:08 So who is being gathered? 22:09 And then verse 16 says, "he gathered them 22:12 to the place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. " 22:14 Who is being gathered? 22:15 According to verse 14, 13 and 14... 22:18 it is the dragon, the beast and the false prophet 22:21 gathering together the kings of the earth 22:24 and the whole world 22:26 for a final battle against God. 22:29 That's the context, and then when you keep reading 22:34 verse 17 says: 22:54 When they're gathered... 22:56 when the whole world all the kings of the earth... 22:58 and all the forces of evil are gathered at this mystical place 23:03 called Armageddon... Mountain of Slaughter, 23:06 then the voice of God booms from the sky, 23:10 from the heavenly temple, says, "It is done. " 23:13 The earth quakes... 23:15 a huge earthquake hits this planet, 23:17 verse 19 says that the great city, 23:19 which is the city of Babylon was divided into three parts, 23:22 and those are the three parts of the forces of the dragon, 23:25 the beast and the false prophet 23:27 and the cities of the nations fall, 23:30 cities all around the world... they collapse, 23:32 Tokyo, Los Angeles, London, Paris, 23:37 Moscow... cities all over the world crumble 23:41 and it says, "and great Babylon came in remembrance before God," 23:44 great Babylon is the enemy in Revelation 23:48 and Armageddon... she comes crashing down 23:51 with her worldwide global forces, 23:54 she comes in remembrance before God, 23:56 to give to her the cup of the wine 23:58 of the fierceness of his wrath 23:59 and every Island fled away 24:01 and the mountains were not found. 24:04 So what's happening here is the global forces of Babylon 24:08 come crashing down in Armageddon. 24:10 I want to make three points, 24:12 three points from this section from the context, 24:16 the context is very clear that Armageddon is global, 24:20 there are the kings of the earth 24:22 and the whole world gathered, 24:23 the focus is the heavenly temple not an earthly temple 24:27 and the context is the 24:29 destruction of the global forces of Babylon 24:32 that come crashing down, 24:33 great Babylon the Great, 24:35 and obviously, Jesus is going to have a people 24:38 who don't go down with Babylon, they are his special people, 24:41 His Israel... His Israel of God 24:44 who are on His side. 24:47 Revelation 16 verse 15, right before Armageddon... 24:51 Jesus says, "Behold, I come as a thief. 24:53 Blessed is he who watches," who watches out for deception 24:59 " and who keeps his garments," 25:01 and the garments refer to the white robes 25:02 of His righteousness, 25:04 "lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. " 25:08 "And he gathered them together 25:09 into the place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. 25:12 In verse 15 Jesus warns His church, 25:15 his people whose home is the New Jerusalem the City of God 25:21 who are trusting Jesus Christ as their High Priest 25:24 who is ministering in the temple of God, 25:27 who are keeping the Commandments of God 25:29 which is inside the Ark, by the grace of God, 25:32 because they love Jesus and they want to follow Him, 25:34 these people are keeping their garments 25:36 which are the garments of the righteousness of God, 25:39 the righteousness of Christ that clothes them 25:42 and that prepares them for the end 25:45 and these are the people who are ready for Armageddon. 25:49 Babylon... Israel, 25:52 the world forces of evil... God's people, 25:56 a final battle in Revelation... and the return of Jesus Christ 26:00 to deliver His people and to put an end 26:03 to the deceptive, horrific, evil work of the enemy... 26:10 of the devil and of the forces of Babylon. 26:13 Those are the signs... 26:15 Babylon and Israel centered in Jesus Christ. 26:21 And as we've looked at this... and looked at these verses, 26:25 I just want to appeal to you to study Revelation, 26:27 to give your heart to Jesus, 26:29 to be on the side of God's people 26:31 who are prepared... 26:33 clothed in the white robe of His righteousness, 26:35 for the second coming of Christ, and for the end of the world. 26:39 We hope you've enjoyed this timely message 26:43 from Pastor Steve Wohlberg 26:44 and we want you to know 26:45 that White Horse Media is deeply committed 26:48 to bringing you many more simple messages 26:50 straight from the Bible designed to educate the mind, 26:53 inspire the heart and help bring our Viewers 26:56 and their families closer to God. 26:58 To learn more about White Horse Media 27:00 or to watch more of 27:01 Pastor Steve's television programs online, 27:03 including his powerful new series 27:05 of two-minute talks, visit hisvoicetoday. com 27:09 Will Christians soon disappear 27:11 raptured before seven years of tribulation 27:13 when the Antichrist makes war against the Jews? 27:16 Jesus Christ gave this special warning about the last days. 27:19 "Take heed that no one deceives you. 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Revised 2015-09-28