Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000031A
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00:30 Revelation chapter 8... the seven trumpets...
00:34 it's the third part of this 00:36 repeat and enlarge epic that we find in Revelation, 00:39 we got the seven churches, we got the seven seals 00:42 and now we got the seven trumpets 00:43 and then we finally have the seven salvation signs, 00:45 and so there are four all together, 00:47 this is the third one, three... and then... 00:49 there's an introduction and a close, 00:50 and when you chop up Revelation like that 00:52 or let me put it this way, 00:54 when you organize Revelation like that, 00:56 it makes it a lot easier to understand 00:57 because once you've done the seven churches 01:00 and you've laid that foundation, 01:01 you're simply repeating now the same basic history 01:04 in the seven seals, 01:06 and that repetition is found again in the seven trumpets 01:09 and then again in the seven salvation signs, 01:12 so it's like... "Okay, now that we've worked out 01:15 a basic understanding of the churches, 01:18 that's going to help us with the seals... 01:20 oh, now that we've worked out a basic understanding 01:21 of the churches and seals, 01:22 that's going to help us with the trumpets, 01:24 oh! now we understand all those three... 01:25 that's really going to help us 01:27 with the last section of Revelation. " 01:28 That's how the Book of Revelation is written. 01:31 Ivor: Each section gives a stronger confirmation 01:33 for the following section. James: Yes. 01:35 Ivor: Now that we have two... churches and seals... 01:37 stronger confirmation for the trumpets 01:39 and it goes on like that throughout the whole book. 01:41 James: And as we opened last time... we learned 01:43 that we are back in the Apostolic Age, 01:46 we're back in the early Christian church era, 01:48 we are back in the time frame when Jesus Christ was born, 01:52 lived, died, was resurrected and then the Holy Spirit 01:56 was poured out in the early church 01:57 and they went forth to proclaim the gospel, 01:59 that's where we're going to begin 02:00 so, as we start to look at these verses, 02:03 we're going to be trying to decode the symbolism 02:06 in relation to that period of time 02:08 and it becomes easier because we can go to the Bible, 02:11 we can find verses that will give us 02:13 the understanding of the symbolism 02:15 but how... where do you apply that symbolism? 02:17 James: Does it apply to the future, 02:19 does it apply to the past or is it somewhere in the middle? 02:21 Well, the way the Book is structured 02:23 helps us to recognize that it applies to things 02:27 "which must shortly come to pass... " 02:29 when John wrote this he was told, 02:31 "I am showing you things that must shortly come to pass" 02:34 so we begin in John's time, 02:35 all right, we need to start with a word of prayer, yeah, 02:38 and then we'll get right into it. 02:40 All right, Jason, pray for us would you please? 02:41 Jason: Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father, 02:43 we thank you again for another day of study... 02:46 the opportunity to study your Word, 02:48 we thank you for the "repeat and enlarge" concept 02:51 so that we may continue to learn... 02:53 if we miss it on one part, 02:55 we can learn it on the next, Lord, 02:57 we ask that you'd be with our Viewers 02:59 and help them to study the Word as well 03:01 and to really gain insight as to what is to come 03:06 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. " 03:07 All: "Amen... " 03:08 James: So, just to re-cap a little bit, 03:11 we started in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 1 03:14 and we talked about how that applies to the seven seals 03:17 because it's the seventh seal... we kind of knocked that out, 03:20 then we went to Revelation 8 verse 2 03:22 and we saw here a new vision, 03:25 and the implication that is right in the first phrase, 03:28 "And I saw... " that usually... 03:30 takes us to a whole new picture that John is seeing, 03:32 John is being shown, "And I saw the seven angels, 03:35 which stood before God; 03:36 and to them were given seven trumpets. " 03:38 And how do we define the trumpets, 03:40 what are the trumpets representing or symbolizing? 03:42 Jason: A couple of different things. 03:45 James: Okay... like... 03:47 Jason: A couple of different things... 03:51 Yvonne: Alarm... a sign of war too... 03:55 Jason: One was like... Christ's voice. 03:58 James: Yes... that was Revelation 1, 04:00 "and I heard the voice of a trumpet 04:02 and turned around and saw the Son of man... " 04:04 so we've got alarm, we've got war, 04:06 we've got Christ calling to us, the Word of God calling to us, 04:10 we've got also the Day of Atonement, 04:13 the trumpets blowing, calling people to atonement, 04:15 that's to repentance, to reconciliation with God... 04:19 and all of these verses, we looked at Joel chapter 2, 04:22 we referenced 1st Corinthians 14:8... 04:25 Leviticus 23, 24... so all of these verses 04:30 identified for us why God would use a trumpet 04:34 as a symbol in the Book of Revelation, 04:37 He is giving us a message now in the seven trumpets 04:40 that is a message that is of alarm, 04:42 it's a message about destruction and war, 04:45 it's a message where Jesus is working through all of that, 04:48 God is working through all of that 04:49 to call us to repentance, to atonement, 04:52 to reconciliation, it's a message... 04:54 it gives this trumpet a certain sound 04:56 that we can prepare ourselves for the battle. 04:58 Ivor: I want to add something in here, 05:00 if you all just hold your place in Revelation 8 05:03 and just turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 33, 05:06 and Ezekiel 33 beginning with verse 1, 05:11 the Bible says here, 05:15 "Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 05:18 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people... " 05:20 James: Where are you? 05:22 Ivor: Verse 2, chapter 33... verse 2, 05:24 "Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, 05:27 and say unto them, 05:28 When I bring the sword upon a land, 05:30 if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, 05:35 and set him for their watchman: 05:37 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, 05:41 he blow the trumpet, and... " what? 05:44 "warn the people; 05:45 Then whosever heareth the sound of the trumpet, 05:49 and taketh not warning; 05:50 if the sword come, and take him away, 05:52 his blood shall be upon his own head. 05:54 He heard the sound of the trumpet, 05:56 and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. 06:00 But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. " 06:03 So we see here this concept of the trumpets 06:06 also signifying warning, judgment is coming, 06:09 I'm going to find this theme present... 06:13 James: All through the trumpets. 06:14 Ivor: That's right... when we go through the trumpets 06:15 so, we've got the story of Gideon, 06:17 we've got the story of Jericho, we've got the Day of Atonement, 06:22 all these different stories relating to the trumpets, 06:25 help us to know what we should be looking for 06:28 when we get to the trumpets, 06:30 of which proceed in Revelation chapter 8 06:33 as well as chapter 9. 06:34 James: Now, here's something interesting... 06:36 that we already know... 06:37 but we're just going to review it a little bit, 06:38 right after he sees this vision 06:41 of this seven angels giving these seven trumpets... 06:43 "And another angel comes 06:46 and this angel comes and stands at the altar, 06:49 having a golden censer and he was giving him much incense, 06:52 that he should offer it with the prayers of the... 06:55 all the saints... upon the golden altar 06:57 which was before the throne. 06:59 And the smoke of the incense, 07:00 which came with the prayers of the saints, 07:02 ascends up before God out of the angel's hands... " 07:04 now, I just want to stop right here, 07:06 this is a separate vision, we noted this, 07:09 not a separate vision, it's part of the seven trumpets 07:11 but it's a prelude before the trumpets sound 07:15 because if you look in verse 6, it says, 07:18 "And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets 07:20 prepared themselves to sound. " Yvonne: Hmmm... 07:22 James: So up until this point, up until verse 6, 07:25 all the previous verses... 07:26 the trumpets haven't started sounding yet, 07:28 so John is showing us something that is taking place 07:31 before the trumpets sound, before the judgments come, 07:35 before the alarm, before the war, 07:36 before the devastation, before all this happens, 07:38 there's something else that we need to look at right here 07:41 and what we learned was this is a picture 07:43 of the work of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary 07:46 because you've got one altar which represents the cross, 07:51 and He's going to another altar which is the golden altar 07:55 which represents the altar of incense 07:57 in the Holy Place of the Sanctuary, 07:59 so He's going from the Cross which was in the Courtyard, 08:02 to the Holy Place and the Golden Altar in the Sanctuary 08:05 and He's taking something from this altar into this altar 08:08 and that something is described as incense 08:11 and we looked in Ephesians 5:2, 08:13 and we noted that the incense 08:15 represents the sacrifice of Jesus, 08:17 it's a "sweetsmelling savour" so, the picture is this, 08:21 what age are we in? 08:23 Are we in the age of pagan Rome or papal Rome 08:25 or are we in the age of atheism 08:27 or are we in the time of the end, 08:28 or are we in the Millerite Movement, 08:30 where are we in history right now... in this? 08:31 We're starting a new epic so we are back in the Apostolic Age, 08:36 we're in the early Christian era. 08:38 Yvonne: Okay. 08:39 Ivor: Let's clarify that a little bit... 08:41 just for the purpose of our study, 08:44 let's remember that these three articles of furniture, 08:48 which all start off the seals, the trumpets and the churches 08:53 are all found in the Holy Place when the High Priest ministered 08:58 it was a simultaneous ministry which lets us know 09:02 that whatever happens under the seals 09:05 must unfold simultaneously with the trumpets 09:08 and the churches, so that's how we know 09:10 the first church and the first seal 09:13 unfold in the Apostolic Age... 09:16 then the first trumpet must parallel... right, 09:20 the first seal and the first church. 09:23 James: I really like that, I like that because 09:25 yeah, the Holy Place Ministry was a three-fold ministry, 09:28 it was all happening at the same time 09:29 and then you go to the trumpets, churches and seals 09:31 and the articles of furniture in the Holy Place 09:33 where the priest ministered at the same time 09:36 are all found there, I really like that point, Ivor, 09:38 I think that's really significant. 09:40 Yvonne: And it helps keep things... 09:42 helps to keep things in order so that you can kind of 09:46 follow... it connects the dots, yeah. 09:48 Jason: Checks and balances. Yvonne: Yeah. 09:50 James: That's really important. 09:52 Ivor: We know that the first trumpet is not something 09:53 that unfolded in the Dark Ages, for example. 09:56 Yvonne: Hmmm... James: Yeah. 09:58 Ivor: Or something that we should be looking in the 09:59 future for... when is that first trumpet going to blow? 10:01 James: Because we're in the Holy Place. 10:02 Ivor: That's right. 10:03 James: We're pre-1844... we're back here and plus... 10:06 we know... that after Jesus Christ died, 10:10 which is what we saw in the beginning of the seals, 10:12 after He had come down to this earth 10:14 is what you saw in the beginning of the churches, 10:16 we know that He went to heaven to intercede for us 10:19 and we know when He went to heaven, 10:21 He took His sacrifice from the cross 10:22 first altar... into the Holy Place... Golden Altar... 10:26 and He applied that sacrifice to our prayers. 10:28 In our last program we were talking a little bit 10:31 about how those prayers... when they first came up 10:35 were the prayers of the early disciples, 10:36 remember when they were in the upper room, 10:38 they were praying earnestly... 10:39 and they were confessing their faults 10:41 and their... the way they had mistreated one another, 10:44 I'm sure Peter was saying, "I was so stupid when I said, 10:46 'Oh, yeah, they may forsake you but I won't... ' 10:50 forgive me for doing that, James, John, I'm sorry, 10:54 that was wrong of me, I'm worse than you guys... " 10:57 now that prayer went up to heaven but not by its lonesome, 11:00 it headed to the throne of God and Jesus snatched it, 11:03 applied His perfect righteousness to it, 11:06 and it was acceptable to God, right there 11:08 and when all those prayers came up 11:10 something happens in response and that's where we left off, 11:14 what happens in response to all those prayers? 11:17 Well, we can go to the text and we can look at the text 11:20 and it will tell us in symbolic language 11:21 and then we're going to go to the Scriptures 11:23 and we're going to break down the symbols 11:25 and we're going to see if those symbols 11:27 break out in the Apostolic Age, 11:29 it's going to be amazing to see this. 11:31 Yvonne: Good, good, good. 11:32 James: So Jason, read for us Revelation chapter 8 11:37 and let's just read... pick up with verse 4 11:40 and verses... verse 5... 11:42 Jason: Okay, "And the smoke of the incense, 11:45 which came up with the prayers of the saints, 11:47 ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. 11:49 And the angel took the censer, 11:52 and filled it with fire of the altar, 11:54 and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, 11:59 and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. " 12:01 James: Okay, here's the symbolism, 12:03 here's the symbolism, 12:05 we've got the picture... Apostolic Age... 12:07 we've got the intercession of Christ, 12:09 we have prayers of God's people going up, 12:11 they're mingled with the righteousness of Christ 12:13 and all of a sudden we've got fire off the altar, 12:16 put into the censer... cast into the earth, 12:18 we've got lightnings and voices and thunderings and earthquake, 12:24 what is that, what is going on there? 12:28 Yvonne: Before that... where we have the smoke of the incense, 12:32 is that... is that something significant, 12:34 the smoke of the incense? 12:37 Ivor: Yeah, I think there is a... 12:39 just the incense altogether, remember, 12:42 what does the incense represent? 12:43 Yvonne: Prayer... Ivor: It represented prayers 12:45 and it represents the righteousness of Christ, 12:46 you know, the prayers of the saints 12:48 mingled with the righteousness of Christ 12:49 so when that symbol... when you see that symbol 12:53 you need to be thinking... prayer... 12:57 you need to be thinking prayer 12:59 but also... intercession... 13:00 because that's what our High Priest is doing 13:03 on our behalf... He's interceding... 13:05 Yvonne: So, when you see the smoke, 13:07 you think of the intercession. 13:10 Ivor: You think of intercession mingled 13:12 with the righteousness of Christ 13:14 you think of prayer and that's going to be important 13:17 for us to understand what happens... in other words... 13:20 saints are praying... fire falls, 13:24 saints are praying... fire falls... 13:28 right, what does... does that bring to memory 13:33 anything that we could think of in the Scripture... 13:37 saints praying... 13:39 prayers ascending... fire falls, so, go ahead James. 13:46 James: Well, I'm thinking that we are in a situation here, 13:50 first of all, we want to go right into... 13:52 I want to go right to Revelation, 13:53 and I want to notice something in Revelation 13:54 and then we're in a situation here 13:56 where we have to go to the Bible, 13:58 we have to find out what are these... 13:59 if these are symbols, what do they mean? 14:01 Okay, so first of all I want to go back to 14:03 Revelation chapter 4 14:05 and I want to you to notice something here 14:06 that we've already studied but just to remember 14:11 because we're again... we're rehashing... 14:13 we're "repeat and enlarging" right here, 14:15 in Revelation 4 there's a picture of the throne scene 14:19 and I want, Yvonne, read for us in Revelation 4 verse 5. 14:22 Yvonne: "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings 14:26 and thunderings and voices: 14:28 and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, 14:31 which are the seven Spirits of God. " 14:33 James: Okay, out of the throne of God, 14:35 this is the throne of God... 14:37 is represented right here in this verse, 14:40 voices and... or lightnings and thunders and voices 14:44 and the Spirit of God, the seven-fold Spirit of God... 14:48 the Holy Spirit, so there's the throne of God 14:51 and there's lightnings and thunders and voices, 14:53 so we need to understand the throne of God is represented 14:57 as having lightning and thunders and voices and the Spirit of God 15:02 okay, that's the throne of God. 15:03 Jason: Why is there seven Spirits though, 15:05 like, what is that about? 15:07 James: Seven represents complete or perfect 15:09 so, if you look in Genesis, for example, 15:11 it says that on the seventh day God finished His work, 15:14 He completed His work, His work was very good, 15:16 it was perfect... so seven is a number that is used 15:19 to represent the completeness or the fullness 15:22 of the Holy Spirit, seven eyes, seven Spirits... 15:26 represents completeness or fullness 15:27 so this is the full power of the Holy Spirit 15:29 surrounding the throne of God, 15:30 the throne of God is symbolized, 15:32 all the power, all the presence of the throne of God 15:36 is symbolized with lightnings and voices and thunders 15:40 and the Spirit of God, okay, 15:41 then Jesus is presented in Revelation chapter 5, 15:44 as the Lamb that is slain, right after He's presented 15:48 Jason, read Revelation chapter 6 now, 15:52 Revelation chapter 6 and read verse 6. 15:55 Jason: And I heard a voice in 15:58 the midst of the four beasts say... 16:00 James: No... Revelation 5 and verse 6... 16:03 Jason: Oh... okay, let's see here, 16:07 "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne 16:10 and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, 16:13 stood a Lamb as it had been slain, 16:15 having seven horns and seven eyes, 16:16 which are the seven Spirits of God 16:18 sent forth into all the earth. " 16:20 James: Okay, in Revelation 4, 16:22 the seven Spirits of God are before the throne, 16:25 in Revelation 5... the seven Spirits of God... 16:29 the seven-fold Spirit of God is sent forth in all the earth, 16:32 this is the first picture that we see 16:35 of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 16:37 the Holy Spirit is before the throne, 16:40 Jesus is presented, inauguration takes place, 16:43 the Lamb slain is presented, 16:44 Jesus says, "When I go to the Father, 16:46 I'm going to send the Holy Spirit... " 16:47 and so His Holy Spirit is sent forth into all the earth, 16:50 that's going to be repeated now in Revelation chapter 8, 16:52 so you get to Revelation chapter 8, what's taking place? 16:55 Jesus is again, presented 16:57 as the One that's presenting His righteousness to God 17:00 mingling with the prayers of the saints 17:03 and when His righteousness is mingled with our prayers, 17:06 we want to be praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 17:07 He takes fire which is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, 17:10 casts it into the earth, and the voices 17:14 and thunderings and lightnings that are in Revelation 4 17:16 around the throne, guess where they are now? 17:19 They're in the earth, they're in the earth, 17:22 the whole power of God now around His throne 17:25 is now being cast out into the earth, 17:26 is that what we see on the Day of Pentecost 17:29 in the early church? Let's take a look. 17:30 Yvonne: Hmmm... 17:32 We want to go look now, the first place we want to look, 17:34 Ivor already mentioned it and let's just look at the verses, 17:36 the first place we want to look is in Acts... 17:39 Acts chapter 2:1 through 4, if someone wants to read 17:43 Acts chapter 2:1 through 4. 17:44 Ivor: I'll go ahead and read it, Acts 2... 17:47 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, 17:51 they were all with one accord in one place. 17:54 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven 17:57 as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house 18:01 where they were sitting. 18:03 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, 18:08 and it sat on each of them. 18:10 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 18:12 and began to speak with other tongues, 18:15 as the Spirit gave them utterance. " 18:18 James: Okay, I'm just going to read the verse again, 18:20 Ivor just read Acts 2:1-4... 18:21 now I'm going to read this verse again, Revelation 8:5, 18:23 "Now the angel took the censer, filled with fire off the altar, 18:25 and cast it unto the earth: and there were voices... " 18:28 what does the verse say? 18:30 They had the Holy Spirit... it came in the form of fire 18:33 and they began to do what? 18:34 Yvonne: Speak in tongues. 18:35 James: Do you see the connection there? Yvonne: Hmmm... 18:38 James: You see... and when you look up the word, 18:40 here, in Acts as "tongues" it will say, "other languages" 18:46 that's the actual Greek word, 18:48 "other languages... " they spake in other languages, 18:50 because there were so many people there in Jerusalem 18:51 from different parts of the world, 18:53 that were Jews but they were... you know... 18:54 they spoke these different languages... 18:56 where they had moved... 18:58 and they were just coming to visit, basically, 18:59 they were residents of these other... 19:01 they couldn't understand... all understand Hebrew... 19:03 or even Greek and so, 19:05 the Holy Spirit gave the gift of languages 19:07 to the disciples so that they could speak 19:09 and everyone could understand. 19:10 Yvonne: So, this is different from "Glossolalia" 19:12 which is... ecstatic utterances, charismatic utterances, 19:17 not tongues as in manifested in some churches today... 19:21 we are talking about tongues... other languages... 19:24 James: Right, as in the gift of languages. 19:25 Yvonne: So, I don't understand Russian, 19:30 but I might have spoken to Sveta in Russian 19:34 even though I wasn't... I wasn't speaking it consciously... 19:37 James: It's a gift... Yvonne: it's a gift... 19:38 James: It's a gift and God gave that gift to the disciples 19:41 and they spoke fluently in these other languages. 19:43 Jason: I was going to ask something along those lines too, 19:46 like, why is it that some churches think that 19:48 they can speak tongues and that... 19:52 like, I don't understand that. 19:53 James: That is something we can get into 19:55 as we move through this because we are going to be 19:57 hitting on some of those aspects 19:59 as we get further into the Book of Revelation, 20:01 everything that God has given, 20:04 every gift that God has given, let me just say this for now, 20:06 every gift that God has given... Satan has counterfeited. 20:09 The Sabbath has been counterfeited, 20:11 remember, we read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, 20:13 another Jesus, another gospel, another Spirit, 20:16 so there's the true 20:18 and there's the false and there's the counterfeit, 20:19 now, Paul deals with this in a letter to the Corinthians, 20:23 he talks about how they were 20:25 perverting the gifts of the Spirit, 20:26 specifically, the gift of tongues... and then he lays out 20:29 how the gift of tongues should be manifested in the church, 20:32 how when it's present, 20:34 it should be done with one or two, 20:35 there should be an interpretation, 20:37 it should be done decently in an order 20:38 and so, if we're violating those principles 20:41 which are God-given Biblical principles, 20:43 we can know... we're not manifesting 20:45 the gift of tongues as it's offered by the Holy Spirit 20:48 and we'll look at that... we can look at that a little bit later. 20:51 Ivor: One easy way to put this is that 20:53 we know the gift of tongues is at least different languages, 20:57 so, if anyone claims to have the gift of tongues, 21:00 they should at least be able to speak 21:02 a couple of known languages and if they don't have... 21:05 you understand what I'm saying, 21:07 if they can speak everything else 21:08 that everyone can understand, 21:09 they can't speak another language, 21:11 that's not the Biblical gift of tongues. 21:12 James: And it's a gift, it's not a learned language. 21:14 Ivor: That's right... it's not a learned language 21:16 it's a gift, there's something that you never practiced 21:19 and suddenly you're able to speak that language 21:21 and one of the things I always find interesting is that 21:24 those who... who say that they speak in tongues, 21:28 have never been able to speak in another language 21:32 that was just... in other words, they've never manifested 21:35 as it is manifested in Acts 2, 21:37 the ability to speak in another language, 21:39 so, yeah, I know we're kind of digressing... yes. 21:43 James: It's good, it's good, we want to read another verse 21:44 that's going to help us with that, 21:46 so the other verse that I want us to read 21:48 that's going to help us with that is going to be 21:49 Acts chapter 2 verses 5 and 6. 21:51 Acts 2:5 and 6... Yvonne, do you have that? 21:54 Yvonne: "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, 21:58 out of every nation under heaven. 21:59 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, 22:03 and were confounded, 22:04 because that every man heard them speak 22:07 in his own language. " 22:08 James: Now that's very clear isn't it? 22:10 Yvonne: That's very clear. James: That nails it. 22:11 Yvonne: Yeah. James: So these voices... 22:13 now I want us to read another verse, 22:15 and I'm going to read it for us, 22:16 it's in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 11, 22:18 get this... this is... 22:19 this is way before Jesus leaves and sends the Holy Spirit, 22:24 "I indeed baptize you... " this is John the Baptist, 22:28 "with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me 22:32 is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: 22:36 he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire... " 22:40 this is predicting the Day of Pentecost. 22:44 John the Baptist is speaking about the water baptism, 22:47 he's saying, "Now when Jesus comes, 22:48 He's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. " 22:51 And so, we're looking forward now... 22:53 that's Matthew 3:11, we're looking forward now 22:55 to what's taking place right here on the Day of Pentecost 22:57 and so we've got an idea so far, of the symbols, 23:02 the fire represents the Holy Ghost... the Holy Spirit. 23:05 That is confirmed for us in Revelation chapter 4... 23:09 chapters 4 and 5, but also it's confirmed for us 23:12 in Acts chapter 2... 23:13 let's see, Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 23:16 and Acts chapter 2 verses 5 and 6. 23:19 The Holy Spirit was poured out and we're told that 23:23 it looked like fire, 23:24 and then they spake in these other languages, 23:26 that second symbol then we got figured out is the voices, 23:29 Yvonne: Hmmm... 23:31 James: The voices that we see in Revelation chapter 8 23:33 are the other tongues 23:36 the disciples spoke in their languages the disciples spoke 23:39 and so we've got those two symbols figured out, 23:41 what about the thunderings and what about the lightnings? 23:43 Yvonne: Hmmm... 23:46 James: I want you to look here 23:48 and by-the-way... well, we'll get to that, 23:51 I want you to look here in relation to the thunderings 23:54 in John chapter 12 verse 28... John chapter 12 and verse 28, 23:58 Jesus is at the Temple and He's preparing for Calvary 24:08 and as He's preparing for Calvary, 24:10 the Greeks come and they want to have a moment with Him 24:13 to talk... to meet with Him, 24:15 and that's the context of verse 28. 24:17 Yvonne: Did you say John 12? James: John 12:28. 24:20 Jason: I'll read it. James: This is Christ speaking. 24:23 Jason: "Father, glorify thy name. 24:25 Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, 24:28 I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. " 24:31 James: And verse 29, sorry. 24:34 Jason: Verse 29, "The people therefore, 24:36 that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: 24:39 others said, An angel spake to him. " 24:41 James: Okay, God is speaking here... 24:43 God is communicating with Jesus... he's saying, 24:46 "This is my Son, listen to Him" and people are standing by 24:49 and they hear this... this voice... 24:51 and what does it sound like? Yvonne: Thunder... 24:52 James: Thunder... thunder is a symbol of the voice of God. 24:55 Yvonne: Ah... 24:56 Jason: So we've got the fire representing the Holy Spirit, 24:59 we've got the voices representing 25:00 the gift of languages, 25:02 and we've got the thunder representing the voice of God, 25:03 now, we want to apply this again to... 25:06 and there are a number of other verses, 25:08 I'm just going to give you the references, 25:09 Job 26:14... but we want to apply this again to the... 25:15 to the Christian church... to the Apostolic Age, 25:16 were there times when the voice of God 25:19 was manifested in the early Christian church? 25:22 And one of those examples I want to give you is 25:25 Acts chapter 9 verse 4, 25:26 remember when Saul was persecuting the church? 25:29 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm... 25:30 James: And he was going from Jerusalem to Damascus? 25:31 He's riding along with the soldiers... 25:33 and there's this bright light and then what does he hear? 25:37 he hears this voice... and I'm just going to read verse 4, 25:41 "He fell to the earth, 25:42 and he heard a voice saying unto him, 25:44 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" 25:46 Who is that, who is speaking to him? 25:48 Yvonne: It's God. 25:49 James: Yeah, Jesus is speaking to him, 25:51 see, he hears the literal voice of Christ, 25:53 so here again is another manifestation 25:55 of the actual outpouring of God's power in the earth, 26:01 God wants Saul to be on His side, 26:04 He wants him to be converted, He wants him to become Paul, 26:07 He wants him to take the message to the Gentiles, 26:09 and so, we've got the fire on the day of Pentecost, 26:11 that's the symbol of the Holy Spirit, 26:13 we've got the voices... 26:14 that's the symbol of the gift of languages, 26:16 and then we've got this thunder 26:17 which represents or symbolizes God's voice, 26:19 God, at times... came directly down to individuals 26:24 and spoke to them, now He also... 26:26 in the early church, He also used lightnings, 26:29 we haven't identified that symbol yet 26:31 and we're not going to in this program, 26:33 Yvonne: Ah... going to give us a cliffhanger? 26:35 James: Because we're out of time. 26:37 Yvonne: Laughing... 26:38 James: But we'll pick up with the lightnings, 26:40 the lightnings are really significant also 26:43 and when we see the whole package... 26:45 this is going to be so powerful because 26:47 what we're seeing so far is that heaven comes down to earth, 26:50 heaven comes down to earth. 26:51 So, I know there are going to be people 26:54 who are going to be wondering about 26:55 some of these symbols... perhaps... have questions. 26:58 Jason: The best way for them to get that to us is 27:00 to send an e-mail to sss@3abn. org 27:03 Salvation in Symbols and Signs. 27:06 James: Salvation in Symbols and Signs, 27:08 Ivor, close us out with a word of prayer, would you? 27:10 Ivor: Let's pray, "Heavenly Father, we thank you 27:12 for continuing to give us insight into your Word 27:15 and we pray, Lord, that you will continue to open our eyes, 27:18 continue to make these things plain 27:20 and Father, may they move us 27:22 to put our faith and trust in you, 27:24 we pray it in Christ's name, amen. " 27:26 All: "Amen... " 27:27 James: "Amen," so, basically what we're looking at here is, 27:30 we're looking at all of these symbols... 27:32 this is not literal, lightning, thunder, fire, 27:35 natural disasters, 27:37 spiritual things are spiritually discerned 27:39 so we see these symbols in Revelation 27:41 and we take them back to the Apostolic Age, 27:44 we let the Bible break them open 27:46 and we see how they apply in Biblical history, 27:49 Biblical history shows us how these symbols apply 27:51 to the early Christian church, it's powerful, it's beautiful, 27:54 got to have more. 27:56 Yvonne: Amen... |
Revised 2016-10-06