Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS024024S
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00:00 [upbeat music]
00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:15 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," brought to you 00:17 by It Is Written. 00:18 We're glad that you could join us again 00:20 as we are taking a look at one of the greatest themes 00:22 in the Bible, that is, the great controversy, 00:25 the struggle between good and evil, 00:27 light and darkness. 00:29 And this week we are taking a look at lesson number 11, 00:33 "The Impending Conflict." 00:35 What is the impending conflict, 00:37 and how can we be prepared for it? 00:40 We're going to find out in just a moment. 00:42 But let's begin with prayer. 00:43 Father, we want to thank You for being with us as we have been 00:47 studying this incredible subject, this incredible theme 00:50 that runs from Genesis to Revelation. 00:53 Today, we're looking at the impending conflict, 00:55 something that is very shortly to come upon this world, 00:58 and we ask that You would help us to be ready for it. 01:01 And we thank You for doing so in advance, 01:02 in Jesus' name, [both] amen. 01:05 Well, we're grateful to have with us again, this week, 01:08 Pastor Mark Finley, who is the author 01:10 of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 01:12 He has been leading us through this incredible subject. 01:14 Pastor Mark, welcome back again. 01:16 >>Mark Finley: I've been enjoying these times together, 01:17 Pastor Eric. We have been opening the Word of God, 01:20 and any time you open the Word of God, it's an exciting time. 01:22 >>Eric: Amen to that. 01:23 Now, today, "The Impending Conflict," 01:26 that is an interesting title that you have given this lesson. 01:30 Why "The Impending Conflict"? 01:32 >>Mark: You know, it's kind of based on 1 Thessalonians, 01:34 chapter 5, where the apostle Paul talks 01:38 about the fact that we are not children of the night, 01:41 we are children of the day, 01:44 and he urges us to walk in the light. 01:47 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, and you look there, 01:51 for example, where he says, verse 1, 01:56 "But concerning the times and the seasons, 01:58 "brethren, you have no need that I...write to you. 02:01 "For you yourselves know perfectly...the day of the Lord 02:03 "so comes as a thief in the night. 02:05 "...When they say, 'Peace and safety!' 02:06 ...sudden destruction comes upon them." 02:08 Now, verse 4 and 5: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, 02:13 "so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 02:16 "You are all sons of [the] light and sons of the day. 02:19 "We are not of the night nor of darkness. 02:20 "Therefore let us not sleep, as others..., 02:22 but let us watch and be sober." 02:24 The impending conflict is coming upon this world. 02:29 The apostle Paul says, let's watch; let's be sober. 02:32 Let's be clear minded on what's coming. 02:36 When you look at the book "Great Controversy"-- 02:39 that this week's lesson is based upon-- 02:43 you'll find the chapters 35 and 36 talk about 02:47 the impending conflict. 02:50 Why did Ellen White write that? 02:52 Because she wanted us to be prepared 02:57 for what's coming upon the world. 02:58 She was guided by the Holy Spirit, 03:01 given visions and dreams by God, 03:03 given a vision of the great controversy. 03:05 And the whole purpose of that is, 03:08 when you know the general outline of what's coming-- 03:12 now, obviously, we don't know every specific detail-- 03:14 but when you know those general outlines, 03:16 you can prepare for what's coming. 03:18 And that's what the apostle Paul says; 03:20 you're not in darkness like the world. 03:23 We have inside information as Seventh-day Adventists. 03:26 I do not apologize for it; I'm not embarrassed about it. 03:30 I believe that God gave to Ellen White 03:33 divine prophetic insight to lead a people 03:37 to be prepared for the coming of Jesus. 03:40 And her writings are in harmony with Scripture, 03:43 with both Daniel and Revelation, 03:45 and so this whole chapter on the impending conflict 03:48 is based on the Bible, but it has the corollary 03:51 of the book "Great Controversy" to give divine insight 03:55 and expand on those biblical passages. 03:57 >>Eric: So we've been kind of tracing that book, 04:01 "The Great Controversy," throughout this quarter, 04:03 chapter by chapter and seeing the correlation 04:07 between what we're studying. 04:09 You mention there is an impending conflict coming, 04:11 which she writes about. 04:13 But you also mention something in here about the VeriChip. 04:16 It's an interesting way that you start this particular lesson. 04:18 I don't remember seeing that in the book, 04:21 but how does that fit into things? 04:22 How do we, how does that help us to grasp the impending conflict? 04:25 >>Mark: People have strange ideas about the union 04:29 of church and state and the mark of the beast. 04:31 So there--I'll give you some ideas. 04:33 Some people think, well, it's the barcodes on the cans 04:37 that they scan when you go to the grocery store, 04:39 you know. It's, "They may come up to 666." 04:41 Other people say, no, it's something about 04:44 the identification numbers on bills, you know, 666. 04:48 Well, the VeriChip, 04:49 the VeriChip is a medical device that can be implanted. 04:53 It's about the size of a grain of rice, actually. 04:55 It can be implanted in the body, and you can scan this VeriChip, 04:59 and you can tell a person's blood pressure, 05:02 their vital signs, their heart rate, et cetera. 05:06 So it makes it very easy if something is being worked on. 05:09 So some people think, "Well, the VeriChip, you know, 05:11 they're gonna scan that. It's gonna be the mark of the beast." 05:14 Let me tell you what I don't know. 05:16 I don't know how the mark of the beast 05:17 is often gonna be enforced. 05:19 I know we won't be able to buy or sell. 05:20 I know there'll be a death decree, 05:22 but how are they going to enforce the mark of the beast? 05:23 I mean, you can have all kind of ideas-- 05:25 credit cards and the cashless society-- 05:29 we don't know what those, all those details-- 05:31 inspiration has not revealed them. 05:33 But this is what we do know; 05:34 we know what the issues are going to be, 05:36 and that's what we're talking about in our lesson today. 05:38 These are the central issues in the final conflict 05:41 of the mark of the beast. Let's not get all tied up 05:43 in every little specific detail 05:45 that God may not have yet revealed, 05:48 but we can know the central issues, so we can be prepared. 05:51 >>Eric: So we'll see in time exactly 05:53 how all that's going to shake out. 05:54 But we've got a general idea, a general direction 05:56 that we know things are going to go. 05:58 >>Mark: Right. If you want to ask me to guess about it, 06:00 I can do that for the rest of the program, 06:02 but please don't ask me. [both laugh] 06:03 >>Eric: So, let me ask you this, then, 06:05 instead. >>Mark: All right. 06:07 >>Eric: In what specific area is Satan going to challenge God 06:12 in, in the final scenes of this great controversy? 06:14 What's that going to look like? 06:15 >>Mark: That's a question we can answer. 06:17 Revelation, chapter 14, we're gonna compare 06:20 two passages in the book of Revelation. 06:22 Revelation 14, verse 7. 06:25 You remember, in verse 6, it says that 06:28 he "saw another angel flying in the [middle] of heaven, 06:30 having the everlasting gospel." 06:31 Then in verse 7: "Saying with a loud voice, 06:34 "'Fear God...give glory to Him, 06:36 "'for the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him 06:38 "'[that] made heaven... [the] earth, the sea 06:40 and the [fountains] of waters.'" 06:42 So here you have a call to worship. 06:45 What is the very basis, what is the very basis 06:48 of worshiping God? 06:50 Go back to Revelation 4, verse 11 and just-- 06:54 if you'll be so kind to read that for us, 06:56 Revelation 4, verse 11. 06:58 >>Eric: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor 07:01 "and power; for You created all things, 07:05 and by Your will they exist and were created." 07:08 >>Mark: So why is it that God is worthy of our worship? 07:12 And why is Christ worthy of our worship? 07:14 Because, if you remember, in Ephesians 3, verse 9, it says 07:18 that God created all things through Jesus Christ. 07:21 So Christ is worthy of our worship because He is eternal, 07:27 He is everlasting, He's our Creator, and He's our Redeemer. 07:31 One of the reasons we worship is because we have not evolved. 07:36 We're not a genetic accident. We're not skin covering bone. 07:40 We're not simply an anomaly. 07:42 But God created us through Jesus Christ. 07:47 Why is it that Satan attacks Jesus so viciously? 07:51 Why does Satan hate Jesus so viciously? 07:54 Because Satan could not create. He saw something. 07:57 Satan was this beautiful being of dazzling brightness. 08:00 He had a role in heaven. 08:02 But Jesus, the divine Son of God, the eternal one, 08:08 is our Creator. 08:10 Satan could not create; he became jealous of God. 08:13 And as the result of that, he rebelled in heaven. 08:18 Why is it that Satan attacks Jesus on earth? 08:22 Because he wanted to be Creator. 08:24 What does he attack? 08:25 The symbol of His creation, the Sabbath. 08:29 So the Sabbath becomes the central issue in Satan's attack 08:34 because, if he undermines that, he knows he can undermine Christ 08:39 as Creator, and he undermines the very basis for worship. 08:43 >>Eric: So we know what he's going to be going after 08:46 and why he's going to be going after it. 08:48 If we look back at how he has, how his strategies have worked 08:52 in the past, how he has worked in the past, 08:54 what does that tell us about how Satan is going to work 08:56 to accomplish his goals in the future? 08:58 >>Mark: Satan has worked predominantly 09:00 in two ways in the past. 09:02 You know, Revelation 12 says the great dragon was cast out, 09:05 that serpent called the devil. 09:07 So he's called the dragon because he wants to destroy 09:12 in persecution. 09:14 He's called the serpent because he deceives. 09:17 He deceives those he's going to destroy, 09:19 destroy those he's going to deceive. 09:21 So his methods are deception, and if he cannot deceive you, 09:26 then he's gonna try to destroy you. 09:28 So one of those two things he wants to do. 09:30 >>Eric: So either deceive 09:31 or destroy? >>Mark: Right. 09:32 >>Eric: In the book of Revelation, we are introduced 09:34 to two beasts, a sea beast and a land beast. 09:39 Help us to understand this first beast of Revelation, chapter 13. 09:42 Who or what is this first beast? 09:44 And how is the devil going to be working through that beast? 09:47 >>Mark: Well, in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, 09:50 we start with these words: 09:53 "And I saw another beast rise up out of the sea," 09:55 having seven horns and ten crowns, 09:59 and the crowns upon his horns. 10:00 Let's just look at it, Revelation, chapter 13, 10:03 and go ahead and read verse 1 and 2, 10:05 just the sea beast coming up. 10:07 >>Eric: "Then I stood on the sand of the sea. 10:08 "And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads 10:12 "and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, 10:14 "and on his heads a blasphemous name. 10:17 "Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, 10:19 "his feet were like the feet of a bear, 10:21 "and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. 10:23 "The dragon gave him his power, his throne, 10:25 and great authority." 10:27 >>Mark: So let's look at some of the aspects of that beast. 10:29 The beast comes up out of the sea. 10:31 Now, in Bible prophecy, we don't have to guess 10:35 what the sea represents. 10:37 We can go over to Revelation 17, verse 15, 10:40 and pick that one up for us. 10:41 >>Eric: "Then he said to me, 'The waters which you saw, 10:43 "'where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, 10:46 nations, and tongues.'" 10:47 >>Mark: So the sea represents populated areas: 10:51 peoples, nations, and tongues. 10:53 So this power rising up, in Revelation 13, a beast-- 10:58 now, in Bible prophecy, a beast represents a king or kingdom, 11:02 according to Daniel 7, verse 17 and Daniel 7, verse 23. 11:07 So you have here a power rising up out of a populated area, 11:14 seven heads representing the seven great empires 11:18 that come before this beast, 11:20 10 horns representing the 10 divisions of this beast power. 11:26 Ten crowns, it is, that's kingly authority. 11:30 He's like a leopard, a bear, and a lion. 11:34 So you see the leopard, the bear, and the lion. 11:37 We saw those before, didn't we? 11:38 >>Eric: Back in Daniel, back in Daniel. 11:40 >>Mark: Daniel, chapter 7. 11:41 So, you remember, the lion represented Babylon, 11:43 the bear, Medo-Persia; the leopard, Greece; 11:46 But a dragon, this fourth power, Rome gives this new power 11:51 its great authority. 11:53 So this beast power of Revelation, chapter 13 11:56 rises in a populated area. 11:58 He rises after Babylon, after Medo-Persia, 12:01 after Greece, after Rome. 12:03 He rises sometime within the 10 divisions of the Roman Empire. 12:06 He gets his authority from pagan Rome. 12:09 So pagan Rome gives its authority to somebody else. 12:13 And this power, according to verse 3, 12:17 has a deadly wound, ultimately. 12:20 All the world would "marvel after the beast"; 12:23 it becomes a universal power. 12:25 And it says, "So they worshiped the dragon that gave power 12:30 to the beast"--or authority-- "and they worshiped the beast, 12:33 saying, 'Who is like unto him?'" 12:35 So here he has worship. 12:36 So here is a religious power that rises after the fall 12:40 of Rome, that rises in a populated area of Europe, 12:45 someplace among those 10 horns. 12:48 And it's a power that receives its authority from pagan Rome. 12:53 There's only one power like that. 12:55 >>Eric: There really is. 12:56 And you take a look at that power. 12:58 The Bible describes it, and it's historically 13:00 been identified as the Vatican or the papacy. 13:02 >>Mark: Sure, the medieval church. 13:03 >>Eric: The medieval church. So you've got 13:05 a pretty well-defined power here that the adversary 13:08 is going to be working through in the very last days 13:12 to do some pretty difficult things, 13:15 to make life difficult for God's saints. 13:19 Share with us how we can learn more about this. 13:22 >>Mark: We can learn more about it in our book, 13:23 "The War Between Good and Evil." 13:25 In chapter 11 of this book, that correlates 13:27 with the "Sabbath School" lesson, 13:30 we delineate the signs of the beast's power, 13:35 the identifying features of the beast's power, 13:38 clearly identifying it as the papacy. 13:40 We bring the corollary statements out from the writings 13:43 of Ellen White, the gift of prophecy that confirm that, 13:47 and there's some amazing historical information 13:49 we'll pick up in our next session. 13:51 >>Eric: Fantastic. 13:52 Now, if you want to pick that book up, it's very easy to do. 13:55 Just go to itiswritten.shop. 13:57 Again, that's itiswritten.shop. 14:00 You'll find the companion book to this quarter's 14:02 "Sabbath School" lesson there, 14:03 and it will be a blessing to you. 14:05 We're going to take a look at the second beast here in just 14:08 a moment when we come back here once again to "Sabbath School," 14:11 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:12 ♪♪♪ 14:17 >>Announcer: If you'd like to deepen your understanding 14:19 of the powerful themes brought out in this program, 14:21 we invite you to explore the book "The Great Controversy." 14:25 For more information, simply text the code "GC24" to 71392. 14:30 This book delves into critical end-time themes, 14:33 offering profound insights into historical events, 14:35 Bible prophecy, and spiritual preparation 14:38 essential for today's unique challenges. 14:41 Discover how "The Great Controversy" 14:42 can illuminate your path in these uncertain times. 14:47 >>John Bradshaw: Welcome to "Line Upon Line," 14:48 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:50 ♪♪♪ 14:53 "If the atonement was complete at the cross, 14:57 "then what is Christ doing 14:59 in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary?" 15:02 ♪♪♪ 15:04 "Does the soul leave the body once the heart stops beating 15:10 or before?" 15:12 ♪♪♪ 15:14 >>Wes Peppers: Yeah, it's a, it's very simply the combination 15:16 of the body and the breath of life. 15:18 >>John: How do you know it does not? 15:20 Because it sounds like it does. >>Wes: It sounds like it. 15:22 Sometimes the Bible will say certain things, 15:24 and it sounds like it's saying something, 15:26 but when you compare that to the rest of the Bible, 15:29 you find it's really not doing that. 15:31 >>John: And, you know, it's good to have curious questions about 15:33 some of these things, but, at times, we're just not told. 15:36 More "Line Upon Line" in a moment, 15:38 brought to you by It Is Written. 15:40 ♪♪♪ 15:47 ♪♪♪ 15:52 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 15:53 brought to you by It Is Written. 15:55 We're taking a look at a very interesting subject today, 15:57 "The Impending Conflict." 15:59 Pastor Mark, you mentioned before we took a break 16:01 about some historical documents, some historical references 16:05 that help us to see the accuracy 16:07 of some of the identifications we're making here. 16:10 >>Mark: You know, Pastor Eric, one of the things that really 16:12 impresses me, that is, you take the Bible and the corollary 16:16 material by Ellen White, and you compare that to the historical 16:20 material on the papacy, the beast power. 16:24 They all fit in; they correlate. 16:26 Let me give you a couple of examples. 16:28 Isaac Backus is quite a renowned writer, 16:32 and this is what he said. 16:35 I put it in the "Sabbath School" lesson, Tuesday's lesson, 16:37 third paragraph down: "By removing the seat 16:40 "of the empire to Constantinople,... 16:42 "Constantine made way for the bishop of Rome 16:45 "to exalt himself above all men upon earth, 16:48 and above the God of Heaven." 16:51 This is a statement by one historian, 16:55 and we quote this from Leroy Froom's book, 16:59 "The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers." 17:01 Remember, in prophecy, 17:04 it said that the dragon--Rome-- 17:06 would give this new power the seat of his government. 17:10 These very words are used here by the historian Backus. 17:15 Then, Thomas Hobbes, another historian, 17:21 his book called "Leviathan" 17:23 by New York Oxford University Press, 1996. 17:26 >>Mark: So this is--- >>Eric: It's a recent book. 17:28 >>Mark: ...not some ancient book. 17:29 Hobbes puts it this way: "The Papacy is no other 17:33 "than the ghost of the deceased Roman empire, 17:36 sitting crowned upon the grave thereof." 17:39 Now, we need to be careful here. 17:43 There are thousands, millions of individual Catholics 17:47 who know Christ. 17:49 You have held evangelistic meetings 17:50 all over the United States, around the world; 17:52 I have as well. 17:54 I have many Catholics-- and you have, too, Pastor-- 17:56 coming to our meetings. 17:57 They love Jesus; they're seeking God. 17:59 So this is not a condemnation of an individual. 18:03 This is talking about a system that would rise out of Rome, 18:07 that would substitute tradition for the Word of God. 18:11 There's some pretty strong language used 18:13 in Revelation as well. 18:16 >>Eric: Yeah, it's powerful language, and it tells us 18:19 a little bit about, tells us a lot about the way 18:21 things are going to go. 18:23 So, as you mentioned, God's not identifying people here, 18:26 but He is talking about a system that is 18:28 going to persecute God's people. 18:32 There's certainly been a history of persecution 18:34 in the past by this entity. 18:36 And we can expect that to happen again 18:38 in an even more significant way. >>Mark: We can. 18:41 You know, one of the strong identifying marks is found 18:45 here in Revelation 13-- 18:47 and if you could read Revelation 13, verse 6. 18:51 >>Eric: "Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy 18:53 "against God, to blaspheme His name, 18:55 His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven." 18:58 >>Mark: If you didn't know anything about the Bible, 19:00 what would you think about blasphemy? 19:01 You'd think of kind of atheism or something, right? 19:03 But the Bible defines blasphemy in some interesting ways. 19:07 You remember twice Jesus was claimed to be a blasphemer. 19:10 He wasn't-- because their claims were false. 19:12 But you look at John 10, verse 33, for example, 19:16 and we get a pretty good feel of how the Bible 19:20 defines blasphemy. 19:21 John 10, and we're looking there at verse 33, 19:26 and go ahead and read that one for us. 19:30 >>Eric: "The Jews answered Him, saying, 'For a good work 19:32 "we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, 19:35 being a Man, make Yourself God.'" 19:38 >>Mark: So any human being that exalts themself 19:41 and claims to be God on earth becomes a blasphemer. 19:45 Jesus wasn't because He was God. 19:47 >>Eric: Right. >>Mark: The other passage 19:48 is Luke 5, verse 21, 19:51 where, again, Jesus is claimed to be a blasphemer. 19:55 >>Eric: In the previous verse, Jesus forgives a man's sins. 19:58 He says, "'Man, your sins are forgiven you.' 20:00 And the scribes--"verse 21-- "and the Pharisees 20:02 "began to reason, saying, 20:03 "'Who is this who speaks blasphemies? 20:05 Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" 20:07 >>Mark: Yeah, so here blasphemy indicates that when one claims 20:13 the ability to forgive sins or to represent God 20:17 in forgiving sin, that that becomes blasphemy. 20:19 Jesus can do that because He is the divine Son of God. 20:22 You know, I was brought up in a lovely home. 20:26 My father was a Protestant; my mother was a Catholic. 20:29 And my father later became a Seventh-day Adventist and began 20:33 sharing these divine truths with me, and it just changed my life. 20:37 I will never forget the many times, as a young man, 20:40 being brought up in a Catholic school for the first eight years 20:42 of my life, would go to confession 20:44 and confess to the priest, 20:46 and then I would leave there still feeling a sense of guilt, 20:50 still feeling a sense of emptiness. 20:52 But, you know, when you come to Jesus, there's only one Mediator 20:55 between God and man, and that's the Man Jesus. 20:57 And I remember one day my mom was sitting 21:01 out in her chaise lounge, you know, 21:03 out in the backyard in the sunshine, still a Catholic. 21:07 And I went to her, and I said, "You know, Mom, catechism 21:09 "teaches that we need a priest because he's the mediator 21:12 "between God and man, so we can come to him. 21:15 "But the Bible teaches that there's one mediator, 21:19 and that's Jesus." 21:20 And I remember the tears in her eyes, you know, 21:22 and to sense that Christ could forgive her sins. 21:25 And later, of course, she became an Adventist, was baptized. 21:28 But I think about those early years. 21:31 Blasphemy, not condemning people, 21:34 but describing broad strokes of a system 21:37 that has introduced a human priesthood 21:39 rather than Christ's priesthood, 21:40 the sacrifice of the mass rather than the sacrifice of Christ. 21:43 >>Eric: And so we see that that system is going to play 21:45 a significant role in the last days of earth's history. 21:48 There's another system, another beast, as it were, 21:52 in Revelation, chapter 13. 21:53 This is the one that doesn't come up out of the sea 21:55 but comes up out of the land. 21:56 >>Mark: Yeah, yeah. It--and we look at the timing it comes up. 22:01 You know, when you look at Revelation, chapter 13, 22:04 Revelation 13 gives you the identifying marks 22:08 of the beast's power. One of them is that 22:10 this beast power would reign for 1,260 years. 22:12 Church and state would be united. 22:14 We call those the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, from 538 AD, 22:18 when Justinian, the pagan Roman emperor, gave to Vigilius II, 22:21 the pope of Rome, civil authority 1,260 years later-- 22:27 because both in Revelation 12 and Revelation 13, 22:31 we read about this time, times, and half a time, 22:34 42 months--1,260 prophetic days or literal years. 22:38 And runs out from 538 to 1798 when Napoleon 22:44 sent the general Berthier down and took the pope captive, 22:47 and the pope died in captivity. 22:48 Well, right at that same time, Revelation, chapter 13, 22:54 and go ahead and begin there 22:56 with Revelation, chapter 13 and verse 11. 23:00 >>Eric: "Then I saw another beast coming up 23:02 "out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb 23:05 "and spoke like a dragon. 23:06 "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast 23:09 "in his presence, and causes the earth 23:11 "and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, 23:14 whose deadly wound was healed." 23:16 >>Mark: Sure, so, when does this first beast end? 23:20 1798, the sea beast, the papacy. 23:24 The second beast comes up out of the land-- 23:27 at this same time. 23:28 So you have to ask, if the sea represents a populated area, 23:32 and the land represents an unpopulated 23:34 or sparsely populated area, and if the sea beast ends in 1798, 23:40 and there's another power that's rising at that time-- 23:43 so this power, there's a power that's rising about 1798 23:47 in that area that is rising in an unpopulated 23:51 or sparsely populated area. 23:53 It says that it's like a lamb. Now, the other beasts-- 23:57 the lion, the bear, the leopard, the dragon-- 24:00 were all old beasts; they were older nations. 24:04 But this lamb beast is young; it's a new nation. 24:09 We sometimes have the expression "free as a lamb." 24:12 And so it's a nation that emphasized freedom, two horns. 24:15 In the Bible, horns are symbols of power. 24:18 So this lamb-like beast has civil and religious authority, 24:24 a democratic republic form of government, 24:26 we would say; that's its power. 24:28 Notice, on these horns there were no crowns. 24:31 On the first beast that comes up out of the sea, 24:33 that has the 10 horns or 10 crowns, 24:35 representing kingly authority. 24:37 So here is a power that rises up in an unsparsely populated area 24:45 at the time that the first beast goes into captivity, 1798. 24:49 It's a young nation that rises; a beast is a nation or a power. 24:54 It's young; it's not governed by a king, but it rather has civil, 25:00 religious, democratic republican-- 25:02 there's only one nation like this. 25:04 I mean, it's pretty obvious, isn't it? 25:05 It's the United States of America. 25:07 Does that then mean that the United States one day 25:11 will renounce its religious freedom principles? 25:14 Read there again what that says in Revelation 13, 25:19 about verse 12. 25:21 >>Eric: It says, "He exercises all the authority 25:23 "of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth 25:26 "and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, 25:30 whose deadly wound was healed." 25:31 So that sounds a lot like legislated worship, 25:34 like forced worship. >>Mark: Yeah, exactly, exactly. 25:37 If you look, for example, at Thursday's lesson, 25:45 I've read it here. 25:48 I wanna pick up the Wednesday and Thursday's lesson. 25:50 I wanna take a look at Wednesday's lesson, a statement 25:54 from "Great Controversy," 592, that I don't wanna miss, 25:57 and then I wanna come over to Thursday's lesson. 26:00 The last paragraph, 26:02 there's a statement from "Great Controversy" that says this: 26:06 "Those who honor the Bible Sabbath 26:08 "will be denounced as enemies of law and order, 26:10 "as breaking down the moral restraints of society, 26:13 "causing anarchy and corruption, 26:14 "and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. 26:17 "They will be accused of disaffection 26:19 "toward the government. 26:20 "Ministers who deny 26:22 "the obligation of the divine law 26:24 "will present from the pulpit 26:25 "the duty of yielding obedience 26:27 "to...civil authorities 26:28 "as ordained of God. 26:30 "In legislative halls and courts of justice, 26:32 "commandment keepers 26:33 "will be misrepresented and condemned." 26:36 "Great Controversy," 592. 26:38 So... 26:39 what we're gonna see is exactly what the Bible says. 26:42 The Bible says the papal power would arise. 26:45 Protestant churches would join with the papal power, not that 26:49 they give up their individual denominational identity, 26:56 but rather what they do is unite with the papal power 27:01 because we're at a time of crisis. 27:04 There's famine, earthquake, fire, flood. 27:07 And what does God do? 27:09 God moves at that time of crisis powerfully. 27:13 Church and state unite. 27:14 But God's people share His love in legislative halls, 27:18 and Christ triumphs in those last days. 27:22 Certainly, there's difficulty, hardship, persecution, 27:25 but the light of truth shines, and Jesus wins, and Satan loses. 27:30 >>Eric: And that's incredible hope for all of us. 27:32 And we hope that that's incredible hope for you 27:35 because what we're talking about is how we can make it through 27:38 the last days of earth's history with God's help. 27:41 We trust that this will be an encouragement to you, 27:44 has been an encouragement to you, and will continue to be 27:46 an encouragement to you as you face the days ahead. 27:49 There is an impending conflict coming, 27:51 but Christ will be with you 27:53 and give you the strength that you need. 27:55 God bless you, and we will look forward to seeing you again 27:57 next time here on "Sabbath School," 27:59 brought to you by It Is Written. 28:01 ♪♪♪ 28:24 ♪♪♪ 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2024-06-06