Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000046A
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00:29 Okay, we have just about finished Revelation 11,
00:33 not really, you got at least one more program to get through. 00:36 Revelation 11 is a little complicated 00:39 in a way because we've already gone through this 00:43 Revelation 10 Millerite Movement and that Great Disappointment 00:46 and it seems like we're out of the Dark Ages already 00:49 and now we're going back 00:50 into the Dark Ages that's what we're doing 00:52 but the reason for that is because Revelation chapter 10 00:55 is kind of what I call an interlude, 00:58 it's kind of a pause in the flow, 01:00 see, we've been going through the seven trumpets 01:02 and in Revelation chapter 9, we finished the 6th trumpet 01:06 which is called "the second woe" 01:08 so, Revelation 9 has the first woe and the second woe 01:10 which is the fifth and sixth trumpets 01:12 but where's the seventh trumpet? 01:13 Well, the seventh trumpet doesn't sound 01:15 till we get to the end of Revelation chapter 11 01:18 and that is when it mentions, "Oh, by the way, 01:21 the second woe is passed and the third woe is coming quickly" 01:23 and that phrase... that terminology... 01:25 indicates that we've kind of been in an interlude, 01:28 there's kind of been this little bit of a pause... 01:31 "Let's look at some stuff that's taking place in the world 01:33 developments that are taking place... 01:35 oh, now let's get back on track again" 01:36 so I think, Revelation chapter 10 is this interlude, 01:39 and out of that interlude comes 01:41 this reflection back into the Dark Ages 01:45 and some of the things that were taking place that... 01:47 that... that... that brought the development 01:50 of the Millerite Movement and the emphasis on 01:52 "measuring the temple... measuring the altar... 01:54 and those that worship therein" and what we've seen 01:56 that brought those developments and that message is... 01:58 is the darkness... a darkness that excluded 02:01 the Word of God... the witness for God... 02:04 a darkness that brought persecution against the Bible, 02:07 we're going to see that more and more... and that darkness 02:09 out of which the Millerite Movement came, 02:11 was to proclaim a fuller, 02:13 clearer picture of the character of God, 02:15 what He's really like, because He's been obscured, 02:17 His witness has been obscured, the Bible has been obscured. 02:19 So, that's what we've got so far. 02:21 Ivor: I think that it would be good to really show the flow 02:27 of the book of Revelation and I'm actually, 02:29 just seeing this but it's like... 02:32 if you look at the seven churches, 02:34 the seven seals, the seven trumpets, 02:36 you find these major events are juiced down into like... 02:45 two to three verses... James: Yes. 02:47 Ivor: So, it's like God has given us these little pieces 02:50 showing us, "Okay, this is what's been going on" 02:52 from the time of His ascension to heaven 02:55 little pieces here, "I just want to keep you on track, 02:57 follow the trail, follow the trail... 02:59 because, I really want to take you 03:01 to the major events that began to occur around 1798 and 1844." 03:06 So, when we get to Revelation chapter 10, 03:10 we now have this whole chapter, right, 03:12 in Revelation 11, this whole chapter, 03:15 Revelation 12 and 13... 03:17 there are like these major chapters 03:19 where the whole chapter is talking about a single event, 03:22 as it were, so, it's almost as though 03:28 God is giving us little steps that lead us to that crescendo 03:33 of, "All right, this is the main emphasis... 03:35 and I want you to know that 03:36 this is the time period we're talking about... 03:39 this is the main time period of 1798... 1844 03:42 and what occurs beyond 03:43 but to make sure you got that right, 03:45 I'm going to give you these little steps that take you 03:49 and crescendo in this Revelation 10 and 11" 03:52 and once we get to Revelation, when we've got to Revelation 10, 03:55 we'll see, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 04:01 all just... it's almost like you can separate those there... 04:05 they are the... they are the meat... 04:09 James: They're the center of the sandwich. 04:11 Ivor: They're the center of the sandwich, like, 04:13 "This is what God needs us to understand" 04:15 so 1 through 9 are the clues that get us to... 04:19 "Yeah, in Revelation 10, 04:20 we know we're talking about this time period" 04:22 and once we get to that time period, 04:24 11 and 12... 13, 14... we can have a clear understanding 04:28 of the meat of what God is trying to show us 04:31 especially at the end of time. 04:33 James: All right, let's pray together 04:34 and get into this right now. Ivor: Yes. 04:36 James: Jason, you want to pray for us? 04:37 Jason: Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father, 04:39 you have some powerful messages 04:41 that you want to share with us today, 04:42 we ask for your Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct us, 04:46 into all truth, In Jesus' name we pray, amen. " 04:48 All: "Amen. " 04:49 James: We call it... in a Theological terminology, 04:52 we call it, "eschatological... " 04:54 Yvonne: What? 04:56 Jason: You mentioned that the other day. 04:57 James: Eschatological means end-time prophecy 04:59 what Ivor's saying, 05:00 God wants to take us to the end-time prophecies 05:03 where He really explodes out the details 05:05 of what we're going to be facing, 05:07 and so, when you start Revelation... 05:09 the first churches, seals, trumpets, 05:11 it's kind of history leading up to that... 05:12 history leading up to that... history leading up to that 05:15 and now, all of a sudden, the last part of Revelation 05:17 is all eschatological in emphasis and focus, 05:19 there's little bit of history there, 05:20 but boom! it's giving us all the details. 05:22 So, I really... that's good... 05:24 a really good way to try to explain what we're doing here, 05:26 how the journey is taking place, 05:28 okay, so, let's pick up where we left off in verse 5 05:31 Yvonne, can you read that for us, verse 5? 05:34 Yvonne: Sure. 05:35 James: Because we've identified the two olive trees 05:38 and the two candlesticks, the Word of God, 05:41 the testimony for God's Word and so now we're going to go into 05:44 more details and characteristics so we can really nail it down. 05:47 Yvonne: "And if any man will hurt them, 05:49 fire proceedeth out of their mouth, 05:51 and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, 05:54 he must in this manner be killed. " 05:57 James: Okay, so, Ivor, you're going to take this for us, okay, 05:59 but I want to say this, just because we've identified 06:04 that the Bible... Old and New Testament 06:06 as the witnesses, now, we want to make sure 06:08 and confirm that identification, 06:12 we're going to make sure it hits all the characteristics, 06:14 so how does it meet the characteristics of verse 5? 06:16 it's met... so far, it's met the ones previously, 06:18 how does it meet these characteristics? 06:20 Ivor: Right, so let's go over to Revelation chapter 22 06:25 and what we have... we'll look at verses 18 and 19. 06:28 James: Okay. 06:30 Ivor: And before we read that, let's see, here we go... 06:35 what we see happening in verse 5 is that there's this... 06:39 sort of like... look... you do this to my witnesses, 06:43 the same thing will happen to you, 06:45 okay, that's the gist of what's being said here, 06:48 "you hurt them... in that manner you will be hurt" 06:51 so, Revelation 22 verse 18 and 19... 06:54 Jason you want to read that for us? 06:57 Jason: Sure, "For I testify unto every man 06:59 that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, 07:02 If any man shall add unto these things, 07:04 God shall add unto him the plagues 07:06 that are written in this book. 07:07 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book 07:10 of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 07:13 out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, 07:15 and from the things, which are written in this book. " 07:17 James: Hmmm... 07:19 Ivor: So, here you see the same principle 07:20 regarding the Word of God. James: Yes. 07:23 Ivor: "You hurt the Word of God, you're going to get hurt. 07:25 You take away from the Word, 07:27 your name is going to be taken out of the book of Life, 07:28 you add to... you're going to... 07:30 the plagues are going to be added to you. " 07:33 So, we find it fits another description 07:36 of the characteristics we're looking for 07:39 with these two witnesses, 07:41 we're talking about the Word of God, 07:43 the Old and New Testament, so, we can go back 07:46 to our chapter... do you want to add anything to that? 07:48 James: No, that's perfect, that fits perfectly 07:50 that's another characteristic that is fulfilled. 07:52 Ivor: Right... James: Good. 07:53 Ivor: So, now we go to verse 6 of Revelation 11. 07:56 James: Yvonne, can you read that for us? 07:58 Yvonne: Sure, 07:59 "These have power to shut heaven, 08:01 that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: 08:04 and have power over waters to turn them to blood, 08:07 and to smite the earth with all plagues, 08:09 as often as they will. " Continue? 08:12 Ivor: Okay, we can go ahead and... 08:14 we've actually talked about this in our previous program. 08:17 Ivor: These two things were performed by Elijah... 08:21 Elijah spoke by the Word of the Lord 08:24 and the Word of the Lord said, 08:27 "it will not rain for these three and a half years" 08:29 and by the same word of the Lord the book of Exodus chapter 4, 08:33 you have Moses bringing plagues upon Egypt 08:36 and so, again, it's showing us that 08:40 these two witnesses, the Old and New Testament, 08:44 the Word of God... 08:45 is the source through which the prophets spoke 08:48 and brought these plagues or these calamities upon the earth 08:52 and so, again, we see that it fits... 08:56 it's fitting the characteristics 08:59 that are laid out for us in Revelation chapter 11, 09:01 these two witnesses are the Word of God... 09:03 the Old and New Testaments, anything you want to add, James? 09:05 James: No, now there's more description for them, 09:07 Yvonne, can you read for us verses 7 and 8? 09:12 "And when they shall have finished their testimony, 09:15 the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit 09:17 shall make war against them, 09:19 and shall overcome them and kill them. 09:21 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, 09:24 which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, 09:28 where also our Lord was crucified. " 09:30 Ivor: Okay, so this... we're looking for a beast now 09:35 okay, now, let's see if we can remember this in the Bible 09:40 and actually we haven't even covered this yet, 09:44 so, in the Bible, a beast is symbolic of a nation 09:47 okay, we can go to the book of Daniel... 09:50 James: Like the kingdoms, nation, kings... 09:52 Daniel 7 verses 17 and 23, so let's read those two verses 09:56 just so our Viewers have those verses 09:59 under their belt, Daniel chapter 7 10:02 and I believe it's 17 and 23 which identify 10:07 beast as kings and kingdoms. 10:10 Jason: Verse 17 and 23... "These great beasts, 10:14 which are four, are four kings, 10:16 which shall arise out of the earth. " 10:18 Verse 23 says... 10:20 "Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be 10:22 the fourth kingdom upon the earth, 10:23 which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, 10:26 and shall devour the whole earth, 10:28 and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. " 10:31 James: All right, kings and kingdoms, 10:32 kings and kingdoms... on the earth... 10:34 earthly kings and kingdoms 10:35 so the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, 10:38 we already identified the bottomless pit 10:39 when we studied chapter 9, 10:41 the bottomless pit is this earth in the state of darkness, 10:45 in the state of chaos, the Dark Ages, 10:48 what kingdom... what earthly power 10:51 came out of the Dark Ages, what kingdom was produced 10:55 by the chaos and the darkness 10:57 and the obscuring of God's character in the Dark Ages? 10:59 There was a power or kingdom 11:02 that is spiritually called "Sodom and Egypt" 11:05 Sodom and Egypt... now, it's interesting... 11:08 Egypt... in the Bible... 11:10 represents a nation that denied the existence of God. 11:14 We can read that in Exodus chapter 5 and verse2. 11:17 Exodus 5 and verse 2... when Moses was sent eventually 11:21 to Pharaoh... Moses was to tell Pharaoh, 11:25 "Let my people go... " but he said it this way, 11:27 a confirmation of what we've been talking about, 11:29 "Thus says the Lord... 11:31 thus says Jehovah... let my people go" 11:33 and you know what Pharaoh's response was? 11:36 "Who is Jehovah that I should let His people go? 11:40 I don't know Jehovah, neither will I let His people go. " 11:42 Exodus 5 verse 2, 11:43 okay, so there's an earthly king 11:46 that denies the existence of God, 11:49 "I don't know Jehovah, who is this Jehovah, there's no... " 11:51 so, when we see the spiritual Egypt here, 11:54 it says, "Spiritual Egypt" 11:56 it's going to be a power that denies the existence of God, 11:59 and what we call that today is Atheism... 12:01 an Atheistic power... 12:03 a power that denies the existence of God 12:05 so, did an Atheistic power arise out of the Dark Ages 12:10 and make war upon the Bible, upon the two witnesses. 12:14 Ivor: We should add to that, 12:16 again, we're putting our clues together 12:17 and all we need to do is go to history and say, 12:20 "Okay, so, we know what we're looking for, 12:22 is it in history?" 12:23 But, something interesting in Revelation 11 and verse... 12:27 latter part of verse 7, it says, 12:29 "this beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit 12:31 shall make war against them, 12:32 and shall overcome them and kill them. " 12:34 Okay, "kill them... " in other words... 12:38 this is getting rid of the two witnesses 12:41 when you get rid of the Bible, 12:43 like, "Hey, I don't believe in the Bible 12:44 it doesn't exist... it's not... " 12:45 that is, again, summarizing the simple term, Atheist, 12:50 we're looking for a kingdom that would arise 12:53 sometime around the close of the 1700s... 12:56 sometime around 1798... 12:58 we shouldn't say, "A kingdom that arises... " 13:01 what we should say is, "a kingdom in which 13:05 this Atheistic spirit would dominate... 13:09 would present itself" 13:10 now here's what's interesting about this is that 13:12 Atheism has always existed, okay, but, 13:16 never... yeah... Pharaoh... and... 13:20 people have... but during the Dark Ages... 13:22 if you said you were an Atheist... it was death... 13:26 so people weren't... as it were, 13:28 coming out of the closet... being an Atheist, 13:31 okay, but, here we have a nation in which 13:33 all of a sudden, it becomes... the people are like, 13:36 they're coming out of the closet, if you will, 13:39 like, "Yep, we are... we do not believe in God" 13:42 so, we're looking for a nation that fits that characteristic, 13:44 the term "Sodom" represents lawlessness... 13:48 so, you remember, God destroyed Sodom 13:51 because out of it came immorality and licentiousness 13:53 which is what happens when you get rid of the... 13:55 the Word of God, right? 13:56 So, there's only one nation that fits this 13:58 as we look in history we see that it is France, 14:03 and it is a French Revolution which occurred why? 14:07 Because of all the... because of the mystery of iniquity, 14:13 right, that it changed the character of God. 14:16 "Yes, God burns people forever and ever... " 14:19 go down the list... 14:21 the people of France rejected the picture... 14:24 the counterfeit picture of who God is, 14:27 and in doing so they turned their wrath upon, guess what? 14:32 James: The Bible. Yvonne: The Word of God. 14:33 Ivor: The Word of God which is exactly what happened 14:35 during the French Revolution 14:37 because the French Revolution for the first time... 14:40 an entire nation declared that there was no God 14:44 and made it legal. 14:46 So, this, we see is what occurs, in other words, 14:50 it fulfills to a T the prophecy that we're talking about, 14:55 the history fits the prophecy, yeah. 14:58 James: And there was an intensity that took place here, 15:00 it's really interesting, it says 15:02 that they shall kill them and then it says in verse 8, 15:05 "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, 15:07 which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, 15:09 where also our Lord was crucified. " 15:11 And in verse 9 it says, 15:14 "And they of the people and kindreds and tongues 15:15 and nations shall see their dead bodies 15:17 three days and a half... " 15:18 three days and a half which, if you do that prophetically, 15:21 a day for a year... 15:23 that's going to come out to three and a half years. 15:24 All: Hmmm... 15:26 James: So, the French Revolution... 15:27 the intensity of the French Revolution, 15:30 lasted exactly three and half years 15:32 when the Bible was prescribed, 15:35 when it was burned in the streets... 15:36 when it just lay there... all the nations were looking on, 15:38 "Whoa, France has gotten rid of the Bible... 15:40 they've got this revolution that's taking place 15:42 and they're doing away with all of the morality 15:45 and it's become like Sodom and Gomorrah 15:47 and they're denying the existence of God" 15:48 and that continued for three and half years, 15:50 thousands of people lost their lives, 15:51 people had to flee... the monarchy was destroyed, 15:54 it all went down and eventually then... 15:56 they kind of came out of that... 15:58 and they tried to kind of do a little bit of a... 16:00 of recovery from that... but they still never fully recovered 16:04 I think... I think still... to this day, 16:06 the Country of France is the highest 16:07 in its Atheist population of all the nations of Europe, 16:11 all those western nations anyway, and so... 16:13 and so, it comes out of that just a little bit 16:15 but for three and half years, the Bible's dead. 16:18 Ivor: There was actually a ban that was placed on the Bible... 16:21 that ban lasted... literally... three and a half years... 16:24 it was lifted and... 16:26 I should have brought the research with me but 16:29 there was... a decree that went forth 16:32 three and a half years later 16:33 through the work of some people who were saying, 16:36 "Look, look at what's happening to our streets 16:38 because we have banned religion, 16:39 we at least need to allow them the freedom to have it, 16:43 we don't need to believe it 16:44 but we need to allow them the freedom" 16:47 and it went through their court system 16:49 and just about the three-and-a-half-year mark... 16:53 they decided, "Okay, we're going to allow 16:55 the churches to open again, 16:57 we're going to allow the Bible to be possessed" 16:59 and all those different things so, it's fulfilling the prophecy 17:02 down to a T... which brings us right to the fact that 17:06 it says there, "the two witnesses came to life. " 17:10 Yvonne: Hmmm... James: Yes, verse 11. 17:12 Ivor: Voltaire... 17:14 very interesting... the story of Voltaire, 17:16 who was part of the French Revolution, 17:18 and said that Christianity would die out... 17:21 when the decree was lifted, it is interesting because 17:27 right after that... the Bible began to be 17:29 published and pushed like it had never been before 17:33 because, remember, during the Dark Ages, 17:35 it was sackcloth... 17:36 a little bit here, a little bit there, people... 17:39 James: Heavily persecuted. 17:40 Ivor: Yeah, heavily persecuted. 17:42 James: If you had a Bible, you could die. 17:43 Ivor: Right... so people didn't have the access to the Bible 17:45 that they... until after the French Revolution 17:49 and Voltaire's house became one of the major printing places 17:52 for the Bible, after he died, yeah. 17:54 James: They set up a publishing house there 17:56 and that's what it means in verse 11, it says here, 17:58 "And after three days and an half 18:01 the Spirit of life from God entered into them, 18:03 and they stood upon their feet, 18:04 and great fear fell upon them which saw them. " 18:07 That's in Europe... "great fear" was the fact that 18:09 "You know, you can't just get rid of the... 18:12 look what happens when you get rid of the Bible... " 18:13 whole of Europe was saying, 18:14 "Look what happens when you get rid of the Bible" 18:16 so then what they do is... verse 12, 18:17 "And I heard a great voice from heaven saying, Come up... 18:21 saying unto them, Come up hither. 18:24 And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; 18:26 and their enemies beheld them. " 18:27 And so, basically, what's happening is, 18:28 the Bible is being exalted now, the Bible is being lifted up, 18:31 all of these Bible Societies are developing 18:34 in the late 18th century, early 19th century, 18:38 and the Bible is being printed, even in Voltaire's house, 18:40 the Bible is being printed in many different languages 18:43 to all these different nations and in verse 12, 18:46 oh excuse me, verse 13... 18:49 "And that same hour, there was a great earthquake, 18:52 and the tenth part of the city fell, 18:54 and in the earthquake were slain of men 18:56 seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, 18:59 and gave glory to the God of heaven. " 19:00 Now, that same hour means, 19:02 in the same timeframe that this is going on, 19:04 so basically, this is just a rehash of what's happened, 19:08 in that timeframe... France was shaken like an earthquake, 19:12 spiritually shaken and in that same time, 19:16 one tenth of the city... 19:18 when we're talking about one-tenth here, 19:20 we're talking about the ten horns... 19:21 or ten nations of Europe, 19:23 so we're talking about one-tenth being France... 19:25 France was shaken and 7,000 were slain, 19:30 7,000 is a number that's used in the Old Testament 19:33 to represent God's people, 19:34 remember when Elijah was fleeing, 19:36 and he said, "I'm the only one left, just me" 19:39 God says, "Hey, I've got 7,000... " 19:40 Yvonne: Who have not bowed their heads... 19:43 James: Yes... so the faithful... during this time, 19:44 the faithful and persecuted and slain, 19:46 so, all of this... this verse 13 is just kind of 19:48 rehashing... but the remnant were afraid, 19:51 the people that remained in these other nations, 19:53 they said, "No, we never want this to happen to us" 19:55 and they gave glory to God so this is kind of a rehash here. 20:00 Ivor: So, I want you to notice... cover the things here, 20:04 we talked about this in the last program, 20:06 in verse 12, it says, "They ascended up to heaven 20:09 in a... " what? Yvonne: Cloud... 20:11 "in a cloud... and their enemies beheld them" 20:14 okay, we're talking just around 1798, right, 20:17 very close to the year 1798, 20:19 if we go back to Revelation chapter 10, 20:21 that being... right... 20:24 with his face shining like the sun and clothed in a cloud, 20:27 he's standing upon the sea and earth 20:29 and he tells us that... we know that this is occurring 20:32 at the end, according to Daniel, 20:33 time, times and a half, at the end of the 1,260 years 20:38 in Revelation 11, the book is ascending up into the cloud, 20:43 in Revelation 10, it's almost as if it's the same time 20:48 the angel has his hand... in his hand... this book 20:52 and it's opened and he is giving it, right, 20:57 to his people, 20:58 it's going to be sweet in your mouth 20:59 bitter in your belly, 21:01 well, what is the message that he started preaching? 21:03 He started preaching the message that is found 21:07 in Revelation chapter 14 verses 6 and 7, which say what? 21:11 "Fear God, and give glory to Him... " 21:14 okay, just pause right there 21:15 and let's read verse 13 again, "The remnant... " 21:19 that word... "the remnant... " 21:21 "the remnant... were affrighted" that word really means fear 21:27 they feared and gave glory to the God of heaven. 21:31 The people who were watching what was happening 21:34 in the French Revolution 21:36 and saw the calamities... saw the catastrophe... 21:38 they saw what's happening when you get rid of God, 21:41 those people... and by-the-way... 21:43 William Miller... struggled with his faith, 21:47 he kind of wavered between, "Does the Bible really...?" 21:50 And when he looked back at the passage... 21:53 James: He was a Deist... before he became part of... 21:57 he was a Deist... raised a Christian... 22:00 then he became a Deist... got into bad company, 22:02 kind of went... you know... and... 22:04 Ivor: So, Miller... looking at what happened 22:08 in the French Revolution, and others... 22:10 you know, the Bible says, 22:11 "the remnant that saw what happened were affrighted" 22:14 and it's very interesting that they would use this term 22:16 "they were affrighted... " or feared... 22:19 "and gave glory to the God of heaven" 22:22 this is the exact term that is being used in the preaching of 22:25 the three angels' messages, in other words... 22:27 James: That's amazing, that's a good connection. 22:29 Ivor: Yeah the French Revolution that helped the people to see... 22:31 plus the prophecy being fulfilled 22:33 because remember in connection with this, 22:34 we're going to see that the Papacy received its deadly wound 22:39 all of this led the people to go "We need to give glory to God" 22:44 and this is exactly what the first angel's message is 22:47 that began to be preached as a result of the book 22:50 that had ascended up into the cloud 22:52 and now being opened and given to the people... 22:54 they go forward... preaching this message, 22:57 "Fear God, fear God, give glory to Him... " 23:00 why? because the hour of His judgment is coming, 23:03 how do we know that? Because... 1798... 23:05 right... look at what events happened 23:08 with the fall of the Papacy, 23:09 with the French Revolution that occurred 23:11 two... three years before that... 23:12 look at all these things that are happening, 23:14 they are signs that Jesus is coming again. 23:17 "Fear God and give glory to Him. " 23:18 James: That is a really good connection, Ivor, 23:21 and I really believe that you've got, 23:23 in a sense, two bookends here, 23:25 the bookend that Ivor just mentioned here is 23:29 verse 13... because verse 14 is going to get back on track now, 23:32 "Oh, by-the-way, the second woe passed, 23:34 the third woe comes quickly... " 23:35 so, what God is doing here is... 23:37 as He's going through the history of the trumpets 23:39 and He's given us this interlude of the Millerite Movement, 23:42 it's kind of a pause in there, He's saying now, 23:44 in the context of the French Revolution, 23:46 there is a development in history 23:50 that causes people to see what happens 23:52 when you get rid of the Bible... 23:54 when you get rid of the Bible, 23:55 you see this catastrophe take place on Planet Earth, 23:59 and that causes people to go, "Whoa... " 24:01 because at first... it says in verse 10 here, 24:04 "They that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, 24:07 and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; 24:09 because these two prophets tormented them 24:12 that dwelt on the earth. " Ivor: Tormented. 24:13 James: At first, it's like, "You know the Bible, 24:15 it torments us... it vexes us, it's so difficult, it's so hard 24:19 and so we're so glad these witnesses are gone... " 24:21 but then all of a sudden 24:22 what happens when the witnesses are actually gone? 24:25 "Whoa, this is... this is... this is terrible... 24:27 this is what God has been trying to keep us from" 24:30 so there's this bookend that basically takes us back 24:32 or not... takes us back 24:34 but takes us forward to 24:35 the ultimate proclamation of the gospel, 24:37 at the end... and then there's a bookend at the beginning, 24:40 and the bookend in the beginning was this idea of measuring God, 24:44 measuring the character of God 24:45 which takes us to the everlasting gospel also, 24:47 because the everlasting gospel says, 24:49 "Fear God and give glory to Him 24:50 for the hour of His judgment is come" 24:52 All: Hmmm... 24:53 James: So you've got the hour of His judgment 24:55 connected with the first part of Revelation 11, 24:56 and you've got, "giving glory to Him" 24:57 connected with the last part of Revelation, 24:59 those two bookends, 25:01 they call us to give glory to God and His... 25:03 or in... yeah... or in our boxing up, 25:07 what happens when you reject God and when you persecute God 25:10 and you do away with the Bible and you just let it go? 25:13 Ivor: But remember, the reason that they rejected God 25:15 is because of a misrepresentation 25:18 of the two witnesses, all right... 25:20 they're clothed in sackcloth and it's... 25:24 it's kind of interesting because you know, 25:29 who clothed them in sackcloth? 25:30 You know what I mean? I mean, sackcloth... 25:33 it just looks like, oh... it looks depressing, 25:35 who made the Bible look like that? 25:38 You know, it was almost like papacy itself was like, 25:41 "Yeah... " and it caused this book to be viewed in a way 25:45 that was depressing. 25:46 James: It was vexing... tormenting... 25:48 you've been tormented. 25:49 Ivor: "Man! this... ah this... ah... " 25:51 James: "We're so glad we're free from that... " 25:52 Yvonne: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 25:53 Ivor: This book is depressing, why? 25:56 Because the church made it appear so. 25:58 They made it look like, "Yeah, man, what? 26:00 Do you know that if you don't keep the first day of the week, 26:05 you know what God's going to do? 26:07 God is going to do this, right? 26:09 And if you don't do this, yeah, if you don't do this, 26:11 God is going to... " and it made the people... 26:14 it was presented in such a way 26:15 that made the character of God just like... 26:17 "all right, if this is who God is, 26:20 I don't want anything to do with Him. " 26:21 James: Okay, you're talking to us right now, 26:23 you're talking to us right now. 26:24 The witness has to be right, 26:26 the bottom line of the message in Revelation 11 so far 26:29 is the witness has to be right, in the beginning and at the end 26:32 God doesn't want people to toss the Bible out... 26:34 He doesn't want them to go through what's going to happen 26:36 when you reject the Word of God... 26:38 the two witnesses... at the same time 26:40 we've got to be able to show people what God is really like. 26:43 We've got to be able to see, they've got to be able to see 26:46 the altar... the sacrifice of Jesus, 26:48 and we've got to be a witness... a light to that 26:50 so people... when they stand back and they... 26:52 they have this awesome fear of God, 26:55 the fear that comes from seeing how good He really is, 26:58 from seeing the Bible lifted up and seeing the gospel exalted. 27:01 That's where you're bringing home their hearts right now, 27:04 Ivor, where we as Christians need to come up higher 27:06 and do better than what happened in the Dark Ages. 27:08 Ivor: That's right... 27:10 James: Well we are out of time, pretty much, 27:12 so, we're not done with Revelation 11 yet 27:14 because we've still got the third woe, 27:17 we've got to cover the third woe, 27:18 and we will cover the third woe in our next session together 27:21 but as far as questions go, Jason, 27:23 what... how can people get ahold of us? 27:25 Jason: They should e-mail us at: sss@3abn. org 27:29 "s" as in Salvation in Symbols and Signs. 27:32 James: Salvation in symbols... these are symbols and signs 27:34 but it's all about salvation. Yvonne: That's right. 27:36 James: I think that's been made very clear here 27:37 as we've gone through this message. 27:38 Yvonne: Amen. 27:40 James: Let's praise God for how He's led us... so... 27:41 so, we'll pick up in Revelation chapter 11 27:43 and probably around verse 14 with, "The second woe is past; 27:47 and, behold, the third woe comes quickly. " 27:50 What is this third woe that comes quickly? 27:52 Because that's going to take us to the rest... 27:54 the end of Revelation 11 27:55 and then we've going to be hitting Revelation 12 27:56 and ooooh... I'm excited about that... 27:58 it's so exciting... 27:59 Yvonne: Another cliffhanger... James: Yes. |
Revised 2016-12-20