Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000052A
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00:29 Okay, so we're continuing in Revelation chapter 12
00:33 we... I think we could finish it up, 00:35 I think we could finish it up. 00:36 We want to get through and get into the "meat" 00:39 of the book of Revelation for us... 00:41 at least in the time in which we're living 00:43 which is going to be 13 and 14, 00:44 that's where we're going to hit some major stuff there, 00:47 so we're going to pick up in Revelation 13, 00:50 we want to have one question that we ask... 00:52 and I'm thinking if we just give a little time for questions 00:54 we'll have one question that we'll address 00:57 and then have a word of prayer 00:59 we can start with a word of prayer... 01:00 get into the question and then get into our verses 01:02 and just dive in how does that sound? 01:04 Yvonne: Sounds good. Jason, would you pray for us? 01:06 Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father, 01:08 we thank you for the privilege and opportunity 01:10 that we have here to study your Word, 01:12 we ask that you would send your Holy Spirit to be with us 01:15 and to lead and guide us into all truth, 01:17 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. " 01:18 "Amen. " 01:20 All right, what's our question? 01:21 All right, so the question that we have is 01:23 involving the seven spirits 01:26 that are before the throne of God in Revelation chapter 4 01:29 who are they? 01:31 So let's go there, Revelation chapter 4... 01:33 And what verse are we reading? 01:35 We're going to look at verse... let's read verse 2. 01:39 Yvonne, can you read that for us? 01:40 And then we're going to also read verse 5. 01:42 Two and five of Revelation 4... 01:44 Four verse two... 01:46 "Immediately I was in the spirit; 01:48 and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, 01:50 and one sat on the throne. " 01:52 And then five... 01:53 "And from the throne proceeded lightnings 01:55 and thunderings and voices: 01:57 seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, 02:00 which are the seven Spirits of God. " 02:02 Okay, so Revelation 4:5 02:04 describes these seven lamps are burning 02:06 and it says: these seven lamps burning 02:08 are the seven Spirits of God. 02:10 So the question is: "What are these Spirits?" 02:13 So... want you to notice here... 02:14 we gave the Father... He's sitting on the throne... 02:18 before Him... you have these lamps which represent... 02:20 and the verse tells us... "the seven Spirits of God" 02:23 so the question is, 02:24 "What are these seven Spirits of God?" 02:26 All right, so, I'm going to give out some verses, 02:28 let's everyone take one okay. Yvonne: Okay. 02:30 Ivor: Let's go to John 16 verse 7, 02:32 maybe Yvonne, you could take that. 02:34 Yvonne: Sure. 02:35 Ivor: We want to go to Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6, 02:37 we want to go to John 3 verse 3. 02:40 Jason: I'll do John 3 verse 3. Ivor: So, John 3 verse 3. 02:43 James: All right, I'll do Zechariah 02:44 since no one can find that book but me. 02:46 Laughter... 02:48 That's why... you know it's just two books back of Matthew... 02:52 that's all you have to remember. 02:53 Ivor: All right, so, and I'm going to find 02:55 1st Corinthians 2 verse 9 and 10. 02:57 So, let's go with... 02:59 first of all, I want you to notice here 03:01 that whatever these seven Spirits are... 03:05 they are sent, right, into all the earth. 03:08 Did we read that verse? 03:09 James: No we didn't... Ivor: Let's go ahead and... 03:11 James: I did... but... Ivor: We didn't read it right? 03:13 James: I didn't read it out loud. 03:14 Ivor: Yeah, I thought we had read it, 03:16 do you want to just touch on that real quick. 03:17 James: Yeah, that's Revelation chapter 5 03:19 so in Revelation chapter 4 03:20 the seven Spirits are before the throne, 03:22 in Revelation chapter 5, verse 6, 03:24 "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne 03:27 and of the four beasts, 03:28 and in the midst of the elders, 03:29 stood a Lamb as it had been slain, 03:31 having seven horns and seven eyes 03:33 which are the seven Spirits of God 03:35 sent forth into all the earth. " 03:37 Okay, so these seven Spirits are sent forth 03:40 into all the earth, right, 03:42 it's called the "Spirit of God" 03:44 ah, hmmm... well we just got our answer 03:48 right, because what does God send out? 03:50 Who has John 16 verse 7? Yvonne: I do. 03:52 Ivor: Why don't you read that for me? 03:54 Yvonne: Okay, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; 03:56 It is to your advantage that I go away: 03:58 for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; 04:02 but if I depart, I will send him to you. " 04:05 Okay, so, Jesus says, "When I depart from here, 04:08 I'm going to send the Holy Spirit into the earth. 04:12 Hmmm... Hmmm. 04:14 These seven Spirits represent the Spirit of God. 04:17 It represents the Holy Spirit sent into all the earth, 04:22 now, how do we know this? 04:23 Because, when you go back to the Old Testament, 04:25 you remember that in the Sanctuary, 04:28 there was an article of furniture 04:31 called the seven-branched candlestick 04:34 that had seven fires burning on that candlestick. 04:38 So, James, why don't you read Zechariah chapter 4 04:43 just read verse 6, let's describe what's happening 04:47 Zechariah's in vision, he sees a seven-branched candlestick 04:51 and what else? 04:53 Two olive trees on either side of the candlestick. 04:57 He doesn't know what it is, go ahead. 04:59 Zechariah 4 verse 6, "Then he answered and spake 05:02 and said unto me, This is the word of the LORD 05:05 unto Zerubbabel, saying, 05:07 Not by might, nor by power, 05:08 but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts. " 05:11 "By my spirit... " in other words, 05:12 He's identifying this seven-branched candlestick 05:16 as His Spirit, okay, 05:19 so, you have the seven-branched candlestick... 05:22 now, let me ask... "What does a candle do?" 05:25 It gives light, so what you're saying then is 05:28 that you cannot see, right, without light. 05:31 Guess what the job of the Holy Spirit is? 05:34 The Holy Spirit enlightens us, the Holy Spirit helps us to see, 05:41 in fact, Jesus said in John 3:3, 05:43 I don't think it's verse 3, what verse did I give you? 05:46 You gave me John 3:3. 05:47 Go ahead and read that, let me see if that's it. 05:49 "Jesus answered and said unto him, 05:50 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 05:52 Except a man be born again, 05:53 he cannot see the kingdom of God. " 05:55 Okay, so, he cannot... what? 05:57 See the kingdom of God. 05:59 Why does he need to be born again? 06:00 The Holy Spirit is given to him that is born again 06:02 so the Holy Spirit enables us, 06:05 just like the candlestick... 06:07 the purpose of the candlestick is to allow us to see 06:08 Jesus said, "When I send the Comforter 06:11 He will show you things to come... 06:14 He will show you things to come. " 06:17 And John 16 again where Yvonne left off 06:20 in verse 13, "Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come, 06:26 He will guide you into all truth... " 06:27 He will guide you into all truth, 06:29 He will show you things to come. 06:30 Yes, and then, of course, we have... 06:31 most people who study this question go back 06:34 to Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1 where it actually speaks 06:38 about the Spirit of God... the Holy Spirit... 06:41 and identifies it in seven different ways. 06:44 The Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of the Lord, 06:46 the Spirit of understanding... might... 06:48 I don't know all the seven off the top of my head 06:53 but this is the correlation between the candlestick... 06:57 so the candlestick represents these seven Spirits 07:00 and this is very important to understand 07:03 you have... in Revelation 4 and 5... 07:05 you have: Father... you have these seven Spirits... 07:08 and you have the Son... all in one setting. 07:13 Three distinct beings... all in one setting 07:17 pointing us to the Godhead... 07:20 the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. 07:22 Separate individuals... 07:24 but the Holy Spirit... sent out into the earth to enlighten. 07:27 James: You're talking about the Lamb in Revelation 5... 07:28 Ivor: That's right, the Lamb in Revelation 5. 07:30 James: The Lamb... the Father and the Spirit, 07:32 and then you've got this phrase, "Holy, Holy, Holy... " 07:35 so, Isaiah 11:1 or verse 2, 07:39 "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, 07:40 the spirit of wisdom... of understanding, 07:42 and the spirit of counsel and might, 07:43 the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of the fear of the LORD." 07:45 Yes. 07:47 So, it's really important then to make that connection again 07:49 that we've been making, 07:51 the book of Revelation is not some new document, 07:53 it's not some new fabrication that God pulled out of thin air, 07:56 the book of Revelation is a summation of the entire Bible, 08:00 so if we want to understand the book of Revelation 08:02 and the symbols of Revelation... we go back to the Word of God 08:05 and as we've been doing here 08:07 John chapter 16 and John chapter 3, 08:10 and Zechariah chapter 4 and Isaiah chapter 11, 08:14 identify for us what the seven Spirits of God are 08:17 and that's what we do in this program, 08:19 what we do in this program is, we dig back into the Word of God 08:22 we go back to the Manual... and we find out how we're wired, 08:26 right, God has not left us without a Manual. 08:29 I love that, "God has not left us without a Manual. " 08:31 We find out how we're wired, how we get fixed, 08:34 what God's plan is, what the future holds... 08:36 all of it is in the Manual. 08:37 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm... James: All right. 08:39 Yvonne: So the seven Spirits are actually one Spirit 08:43 with seven different aspects of that Spirit. 08:46 Ivor: That's right, because... notice this... 08:48 the candlestick... it was one candlestick... 08:50 it was one... with seven parts... 08:53 one candlestick... so, it's one candlestick... 08:56 it's one light, right, 08:58 the seven Spirits of God is the one Spirit of God. 09:00 James: And not forgetting also that seven represents... 09:03 or signifies complete and perfectness. 09:04 Yvonne: Right. 09:06 James: So the seven-branched candlestick, for example, 09:07 represents the seven churches, 09:09 well there aren't just seven literal churches... 09:10 there are more than seven churches 09:12 but seven is a number that represents complete and perfect 09:15 so... the complete and perfect Spirit of God. 09:17 Is God limited to seven characteristics? 09:21 No... no... no... He's got way more than seven characteristics 09:23 but seven again is... denotes "complete and perfect. " 09:25 Ivor: Perfection. James: Yes. 09:27 Ivor: All right, let's jump in. James: Shall we? 09:29 James: Revelation chapter 12, Jason let's pick it up here, 09:34 with verse 13 and we'll read all the way through, 09:38 verses 13 to 17. 09:39 Okay, "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, 09:43 he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 09:47 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, 09:51 that she might fly into the wilderness, 09:52 into her place, where she is nourished for a time, 09:56 and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 09:59 And the serpent cast out of his mouth 10:02 water as a flood after the woman, 10:05 that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 10:08 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, 10:13 and swallowed up the flood 10:14 which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 10:16 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, 10:18 and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, 10:22 which keep the commandments of God, 10:24 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. " 10:26 All right, so, here we have an account... a second account 10:31 of a woman fleeing in the wilderness, 10:33 now this is just a repeat and enlarge, 10:36 we already touched on this 10:37 in the earlier part of Revelation chapter 12, 10:40 in verse 6 the woman flees into the wilderness 10:42 and there, it's described in verse 6, 10:46 as her... going into her place 10:50 where she should be prepared of God 10:53 where she should be fed there 10:54 for a thousand two hundred and three score days... 10:56 1,260 days... a score is twenty, 10:59 three score will be sixty... so 1,260 days. 11:02 We understand these to be prophetic days 11:05 that means... a day is equivalent to a year 11:08 now we base this on Ezekiel chapter 4 and verse 6 11:11 and Numbers 34 and verse 24 11:14 where it talks there about this... 11:18 these days that God gives His people, equaling a year, 11:21 so 1,260 days equals 1,260 years... 11:24 the time, times, and a half a time, 11:27 is the same designated time period... 11:30 God is using a different way of describing the same period. 11:34 A time... according to Daniel chapter 4 represents a year 11:39 Daniel chapter 4... Nebuchadnezzar had a dream 11:42 of this tree that was cut down 11:44 until seven times should pass over it 11:47 and that seven times were seven years... 11:49 seven years that Nebuchadnezzar was acting like a crazy man, 11:53 and so, a time would represent one year, 11:56 times would be plural so that would be two years, 11:59 and then half a time would be half a year. 12:01 So a time... one year... times... two years... 12:04 half a time... a half a year... three-and-a-half years 12:07 well, 1,260 days equaling 1,260 years 12:12 three-and-a-half years you've got, 30 days and a month 12:15 you've got three-and-a-half months 12:17 which is 36... 42 months... 12:20 42 months comes out to 1,260 literal years, 12:23 if you give a day for every day of the week, 12:27 it comes out the same, 12:28 so the time, times, and half a time, 12:30 and the 1,260 and the 42 months 12:33 which is... we're going to look at in the next chapter, 12:35 all of these time periods are exactly the same... 12:38 they're the same time period 12:40 and they take us back to the book of Daniel 12:42 Daniel chapter 7 talks about the same period of "persecution" 12:46 where the woman flees into the wilderness 12:49 now, the wilderness is a desolate place, 12:51 it's a place where the woman has to go 12:54 to escape from persecution or the flood 12:57 and there's a verse here that I want us to look at, 12:59 that kind of... again... Old Testament, 13:02 Isaiah 59, I believe it is, let me see if I can find it 13:06 that gives us an understanding of what's taking place 13:09 with this flood, it's Isaiah 59... 13:13 where is it? 13:16 the verse is... 13:20 pause... 13:22 oh, I'm going to just 13:24 give it right now... 13:26 I'll find it here in a second... it says, 13:28 "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, 13:31 the Spirit of the LORD 13:33 shall lift up His standard against him. " 13:34 So when it talks about here that... 13:37 Yvonne: Verse 19... James: Verse 19... Okay, 13:40 Isaiah 59 verse 19, 13:41 yeah, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, 13:44 the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him" 13:45 when it talks here in Revelation 12 about the serpent 13:50 remember now we've got the serpent 13:52 that's working through earthly powers, right, 13:56 and the serpent has deceived 13:58 a third part of the angels in heaven 13:59 and now the serpent is coming down to the earth 14:02 and he's working through these earthly powers 14:04 and he's working... it says here... 14:05 and he's throwing out this... this flood of water... 14:08 this flood of persecution because in Revelation 17:15, 14:11 waters represent nations, peoples, multitudes and tongues. 14:14 This flood of persecution is coming 14:16 like an enemy against God's people. 14:18 he's persecuting the woman... God's people... 14:21 and it says here, "the earth helps the woman" 14:25 the earth swallows up this flood of persecution 14:28 that's coming against her and so, in Revelation 12:6, 14:32 it was the wilderness that helped the woman. 14:35 It was a place where she escaped to, 14:37 in Revelation 12... in verse 15 it says... or 16 it says, 14:42 "the earth helps the woman" 14:44 so the earth and the wilderness are very similar... 14:48 they're both helping the woman escape this persecution... 14:50 they're both... they're both designated as a place 14:53 for the woman to flee so, the earth and the wilderness 14:57 would be a place that is less populated, we would say, 15:00 than the seas... the waters... 15:03 peoples, nations, multitudes and tongues. 15:04 The woman went into less-populated areas 15:07 of the Planet Earth 15:08 to flee or escape from the persecution of the dragon. 15:11 There's a story that comes to mind 15:14 as we're looking at this woman hiding in the wilderness 15:18 and I want to give two verses so let's split these verses, 15:21 let me have someone go to 1st Kings chapter 17 verse 1. 15:24 James: Jason, you got that? Jason: Yes. 15:25 Ivor: And then, Yvonne, why don't you go to 15:27 James chapter 5 verse 17. 15:29 So, 1st Kings chapter 17 and verse 1. 15:34 You want to read that? 15:36 Sure, "And Elijah the Tishbite, 15:40 who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, 15:44 said unto Ahab, 15:45 As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, 15:48 there shall not be dew nor rain these years, 15:52 but according to my word. " 15:53 Okay, so Elijah makes this announcement 15:56 that there's going to be no rain 15:57 and the term uses "for all these years" 16:00 okay, we don't know how long "all these years" are as yet 16:03 but we're about to find out when we read 16:04 James chapter 5 verse 17, 16:06 so what does James chapter 5:17 say? 16:08 "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours... " 16:10 Ivor: Hold your place Jason, okay, go ahead. 16:14 "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, 16:17 and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain: 16:19 and it didn't rain on the land 16:21 for three years and six months. " 16:23 Ivor: Okay, so, that's 42 months... 16:25 James: Hmmm... hmmm... Yvonne: Hmmm... 16:26 Ivor: That's three-and-a-half years. 16:28 Okay, time, times... but this is literal time, right, 16:31 so Elijah is in the... well, let's see what happens, 16:35 let's go back to 1st Kings 17 16:37 and Jason, read verse 2 to verse 4. 16:41 Jason: Okay, "And the word of the LORD came unto him saying, 16:45 "And get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, 16:47 and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, 16:50 that is before Jordan. 16:51 And it shall be, 16:53 that thou shalt drink of the brook; 16:55 and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. " 16:59 Ivor: Okay, so, Elijah is hiding in the wilderness 17:03 for how long? 17:05 Three-and-a-half years... 17:07 he's hiding at a time 17:09 where apostasy is basically happening in Israel. 17:15 James: Yeah, Baal worship. Yvonne: Hmmm... 17:17 Ivor: Okay, Baal worship... 17:18 incidentally, within this story of Elijah, 17:22 there's a woman named Jezebel, 17:24 and now we can begin to put together, 17:27 "Ah Man! I remember that now with the seven churches 17:30 that... we've got the same period of time... 17:33 we've got this woman, Jezebel... " 17:35 so, these pictures... 17:37 remember how we talked about the book of Revelation 17:39 kind of brings the entire Bible together 17:42 when we have the Bible... all the pieces... 17:44 Revelation is a puzzle put together 17:46 right, so, God says, 17:50 "Okay, here are the pieces... " He puts them out on the table, 17:51 He doesn't just scatter them all, 17:53 He makes little pictures... and He says, 17:56 "But these little pictures belong to a bigger picture. " 17:59 That's what He's doing here in Revelation chapter 12 18:02 so now we see, "Okay, this woman... 18:05 who goes into the wilderness, 18:07 hiding for 1,260 years 18:11 'oh, that reminds me of the story of Elijah... '" 18:15 and what was Elijah fed in the wilderness? 18:17 One of the things he was fed was bread... 18:19 what is God feeding His church during this period? 18:23 He's feeding them the Word of God 18:25 because apostasy is going on all around them, 18:29 so, the woman, represents the church 18:32 being preserved from the apostasy surrounding her 18:37 during this period of time. 18:39 So, we now talk about the... the earth opening up her mouth 18:44 and James, you mentioned Revelation chapter 13 verse 11 18:49 that this beast is seen coming up out of the earth 18:52 with the horns of a lamb that speaks as a dragon. 18:56 We're not going to get into too much detail of that now 18:59 but we will sit... can we just go ahead and say it? 19:02 James: Hmmm... hmmm... yeah... that's good. 19:04 Ivor: This power as a kingdom represents America, 19:06 the United States of America 19:08 and we'll see this in more detail 19:10 as we get to Revelation 13 19:12 but it's interesting that it was the founding of America 19:16 that basically helped the Protestant Reformation survive. 19:21 The earth opened her mouth to help the woman, 19:24 by-the-way, the dragon sends out of his mouth 19:27 water as a flood 19:29 and I think he still operates the same way today. 19:31 So, he still is sending out peoples, nations, multitudes 19:35 and tongues after the people of God 19:37 so my advice is, let's not get carried away. 19:40 That's what the flood is all about, right, 19:42 trying to get us carried away... 19:44 carried away... right... 19:46 Yvonne: That's good, that's good Ivor: Let's not... 19:47 some people say, "Hey with Christianity, 19:49 don't go too far, let's not get carried away. " 19:51 That's getting carried away, 19:52 right, we ought to be fully grounded in the Word of God 19:58 so that we are not carried away of that flood 20:01 right, so again, this woman... 20:04 I mean, this earth opening up her mouth to help the woman 20:09 is a symbol that... that the Protestant Reformation was able 20:14 to survive as a result of this new power coming upon the scene. 20:19 James: Hmmm... hmmm... Yvonne: Hmmm... 20:20 James: It's really interesting too... 20:22 okay, so we look at the symbols here, 20:23 you got the woman representing God's people 20:25 the story of Elijah reminds us of that... 20:27 two wings of a great eagle, 20:29 now, when God took His people out of Egypt, 20:31 into the Promised Land... He... 20:34 it says in Exodus... He took them with... 20:37 or gave them two wings of a great eagle, 20:40 that's... that was the symbolism that was used 20:42 to describe God delivering His people to the Promised Land. 20:45 So, the place that God took His people in the Old Testament... 20:49 that place was designated by God describing Him 20:52 as taking them by two wings of an eagle, 20:54 now you got a place that God is taking His New Testament Church 20:57 and God borrows that same terminology that He used 21:00 in relation to His people in the Old Testament... 21:04 two wings of an eagle... 21:05 and He applies it now to the New Testament church 21:07 why is that so important? 21:09 Because, I believe the United States becomes 21:12 God's New Testament Place for His people... 21:15 just like Jerusalem... 21:17 the Promised Land was God's Old Testament place 21:19 for His people, 21:21 now we have the United States... America... I'm going to say, 21:24 the Continent of America... 21:26 being the New Testament place for God's people. 21:28 It was going to be a land flowing with milk and honey... 21:31 it was going to be a land of religious liberty 21:33 for God's people... economically blessed 21:35 and religiously free for God's people to be nourished, 21:39 now, it's during the 1,260... it's during this... 21:42 this time of persecution that the woman flees, 21:45 not just in the wilderness but also into this earth 21:49 that swallows up the flood of the dragon 21:51 and the reason why this is important 21:53 is because... if you look at the history 21:55 there are two places where God's people fled 21:57 during this 1,260 years of persecution, 21:59 from 538 to 1,798... 22:02 there are two places that God's people fled the persecution 22:05 one... was the wilderness regions of Europe, 22:07 the Alps and areas in Europe in Italy and other places 22:12 where they were able to escape to the mountains and find refuge 22:17 from the persecution. 22:18 The second place... during this period 22:21 was the United States of America 22:22 now, it wasn't the United States of America when they fled here 22:25 it wasn't even a Colony here, 22:26 there was nothing here, it was the land... 22:28 but as they started coming over, during that same period of time, 22:32 we're talking about... during the Dark Ages 22:35 because America was discovered before 1798... 22:38 hundreds of years before 1789 22:40 and it was during those first centuries of discovery 22:43 that more and more of the pilgrims... 22:45 more and more of the persecuted... 22:48 religious-persecuted people came over 22:50 to this Continent and eventually of course, it was established 22:53 as the United States of America 22:55 so it's amazing when you think about it, 22:58 you have Isaiah 59:19... the flood represents... 23:02 waters of flood represents persecution, 23:04 you've got Revelation 17:15... 23:07 that the waters represent peoples, nations 23:09 and multitudes and tongues who were persecuted 23:11 and then you've got this picture of this woman 23:14 who was being lifted by the wings of an eagle... 23:18 now, wings denote being lifted off the ground 23:21 in order to get to this country, 23:23 you had to cross over the seas, 23:24 you have to cross over... over you couldn't just be on the land 23:27 like in the European wilderness 23:30 you had to go over this massive ocean 23:32 to get into this earth... this continent of America, 23:36 all of these symbols here that God has given us... 23:39 it's amazing if you think about it, 23:40 fit history like a glove... 23:42 it's a perfect fit, 23:44 and what's going to be amazing and Ivor already touched on this 23:48 is that when you get... we get into Revelation 13 23:51 we have the rise of a new kingdom... 23:52 a new earthly power and it comes out of the earth 23:56 Revelation 13 is going to point us... point by point, 23:59 step by step to the rise of America in Bible prophecy 24:03 and show us exactly what the future holds 24:05 in relation to this country 24:06 which by-the-way we're fitting the prophetic picture 24:10 almost perfectly today 24:12 we are stepping right in to what God has predicted here 24:15 in Revelation chapter 13, 24:16 but we're still in Revelation 12 24:19 let's be sure and finish this up 24:20 "And the dragon... " verse 17... 24:22 "was wroth... " angry with the woman 24:24 "and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, 24:26 who keep the commandments of God, 24:28 and have the testimony of Jesus. " 24:30 Now what is this... what is this referring to? 24:32 What is this talking about? 24:33 Ivor: So, when we get to Revelation 12:17, 24:38 there's a shift from this 1,260-year prophecy 24:43 Revelation 12:17 actually introduces us to the end-time. 24:50 It introduces us to the remnant of God's people 24:55 okay, "remnant" means remainder... 24:56 and they are described as having the commandments of God 25:01 and the testimony of Jesus Christ 25:02 so we're going to see that the commandments of God 25:05 and the testimony of Jesus become a centerpiece 25:09 from Revelation 12... Revelation 13 on out, 25:13 that becomes the centerpiece of the controversy 25:17 Satan is after those who keep the commandments of God, 25:20 have the testimony of Jesus 25:21 and by-the-way, the testimony of Jesus 25:24 represents in Revelation 19:10 25:28 it talks about the Spirit of Prophecy 25:31 and what is the Spirit of Prophecy? 25:34 The Spirit of Prophecy really is the Holy Spirit, right, 25:38 the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth... 25:42 that shows us things to come, 25:46 that's the job of the Holy Spirit. 25:48 So that's how the prophets... 25:50 they were motivated... they were moved... 25:52 James: By the Holy Spirit. Ivor: By the Spirit of God. 25:54 That's the Spirit of Prophecy manifested through the prophets. 25:58 So again, as we close Revelation 12:17, 26:01 the dragon... the woman has "escaped" 26:05 right, that woman is a reference 26:07 to the church during the Dark Ages 26:09 who, again, came to America 26:11 when it was densely populated... 26:12 I mean, just... not a lot of... it wasn't... 26:15 James: It was not densely populated. 26:18 Ivor: It was not densely... sparsely... I'm sorry... 26:21 sparsely populated... but she gets her footing here, right 26:26 and the remnant is going to be produced in this place 26:30 is going to spread around the whole world... 26:32 and Satan now goes after that remnant, 26:34 so that's what we're going to see 26:35 as we begin to get in Revelation chapter 13 26:37 how he seeks to destroy... 26:40 Revelation 12:17... 26:42 is Revelation 13 to 20 juiced down into one verse. 26:49 Everything from here on out describes 26:51 the conflict of Revelation 12:17. 26:54 James: And I love the fact that this woman is... 26:56 excuse me... this remnant is the remnant of the woman 26:59 because the woman is identified in chapter 12 and verse 1 27:02 as being clothed with the sun of righteousness of Jesus Christ 27:06 standing on the moon... the Word of God... 27:08 having twelve stars organized for service 27:10 we talked about this in more detail. 27:12 One more reference I want to give is Numbers 14:34, 27:15 I gave the wrong reference earlier for "a day for a year" 27:17 Numbers 14:34... 27:19 but just... let's just close this up quickly 27:21 with this thought... 27:22 the remnant of the woman means 27:26 that the reason why she keeps the commandments of God 27:28 is because she is clothed 27:30 with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 27:31 so commandment-keeping is a fruit 27:34 of being clothed with Christ's righteousness... 27:36 I love that picture. Yvonne: Oh! that's great. 27:38 James: Jason, close us out with 27:40 how our Viewers can get ahold of us. 27:41 Jason: Well, they can send their questions to: sss@3abn. org 27:46 sss@3abn. org 27:47 we are planning on answering at least one question per program 27:51 we've had a number of questions come in, 27:53 we're moving through them 27:54 and we're going to try and get all those questions answered 27:56 so stay tuned... come back... join us... 27:59 ask your questions, we're going to answer them. |
Revised 2017-06-06