Revelation, Part 5 — Stanley Wells

Prophetic Program and the Two Aspects of Christ’s Coming

We'll have to leave the details, but we want to start with the first question. As we look at this chart tonight, where are we relative to God's prophetic program? So, here we are. Where I'm pointing to now, this has to do with the world that we live in.

And obviously, it's in chart form. And these seven assemblies, and the place that John is looking at them, John the Apostle, and it's there on the Isle of Patmos as he looks at the mainland, and he's looking east, and here's the names of them.

Now, you see it says here, the mystery of the church, the body of Christ. Now, let me point out that wherever there is people tonight in the world that we live in, born again, saved by the grace of God, and the knowledge of sins forgiven, peace in their heart, they form part of the body of Christ.

And so, we call it the mystical body of Christ. That means we can't see it. Now, we can see each other sitting here in this room tonight, and the local assembly is a local expression of that great company.

So, there are millions tonight, and they're waiting for this point here, the rapture of the church, the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me just say this. Just examine the world that we're in tonight.

Think of the political arena. Think of even what happened last night in this great country. Think of the financial picture. I read a profile recently about the International Monetary Fund, and the lady that's in charge, she doesn't know what to do.

Can't understand why things have deteriorated to where they are and how to get out of it. Well, the Bible indicates it's going to get worse. I'd like to have a chat with her if I ever had an opportunity.

Think tonight of the corruption that's in our world. Now, we have to ask ourselves the next simple question. Do you think it will continue the way it is? Now, the Bible says it won't continue. Well, what's the first thing that's going to happen?

Well, the yellow part of this chart, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come to the air and call us waiting people home. Now, let me just follow that point. We've had this today already. You see this part of the chart here, this is at least seven years from here, where I'm pointing to now is the scroll, and that's Revelation 5, right to here, seven years as we know them.

And of course, these are years with a hundred, 1 ,260 days or 42 months or 30 days in each month. Now, see this here, folks, this is also a yellow line here, and this is the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

But please notice he will come as the son of righteousness and he'll come with his saints. Whereas here, he's the bright and the morning star and he'll come for us saints. Now, anybody that's intelligent can see that there's two aspects of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in between those two times that we're talking about is this big chart here all the way across. Now, it's seven years. And if you want proof from that, I'll be happy to tell you after the meeting, but we have to start somewhere and you have to take my word for it.

I'm not talking off the top of my head. It's from this Holy Bible. And I'm going to read you some of the verses. Now, last night, we talked about some of the sevens on this chart. You see, here's the seven seals and out of the seven seal, the seven trumpets, and out of the seven trumpets, then we have the seven vials.

I talked to a gentleman in the UK today and I asked him a simple question. He's a Bible student, friend of mine. I said to him, do you see seven seals in the book of Revelation? Absolutely. That's in there.

I said, do you see seven trumpets? Yeah. Do you see seven vials? Yeah. Now, is that a straight line? He said, no. And he told me what I told you last night, that out of the seven seal come the seven trumpets and out of the seventh trumpet comes the seven vials.

I never talked to him ever in my life about it. Now, he has come to the same conclusion as I have come to and we're 6 ,000 miles apart. So, nobody was saying to us now, well, this is what it means. It's the Holy Spirit of God individually reading the Holy Bible to come to the same conclusions.

Now, this time will start after the rapture of the church and for a short time, we don't know how long, that seven years will commence, Daniel's 70th week and it will end here with the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Second aspect comes right out of heaven and right down to earth and so on. Now, there's all kinds of side issues that we can't get into tonight. Now, look at this part of the church tonight. Obviously, if these things are going to take place that we have talked about, God has those on earth that he will work through and so we have called them the actors of the drama of tribulation days.

The Tribulation’s Symbolic Actors

There could be a group or there could be an individual. Now, some of them are on the chart. See, for example, there's the woman clothed with the sun and somebody says, where did you get that from? Well, that's Revelation chapter 12 and of course, the man child is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I can't go into all of those tonight and then of course, there's Michael. Well, if you don't know who Michael is, he's the archangel that has big responsibilities for God in Daniel's day and in the day of tribulation that's ahead and then of course, we're going to talk about the dragon, the fierceness of the dragon.

Who do you think the dragon is? The dragon is the old devil. I'm going to read about him tonight and then the ten horned beast and that word beast is a ferocious beast. Wild beast is the name. That's Revelation chapter 13 and then his associate, the land like beast, the wild beast and here he's in Revelation chapter 13.

Now, we're going to talk a little about some of these actors tonight and some that are not on there and I should point out to you, I would like to balance what I'm going to say because I don't want to have it all negative and all doom and gloom.

I want to balance the ministry tonight. Now, you see, we have been through a number of these different points and here's the parenthesis. Remember what we talked about? Pauses in the doom and gloom of tribulation days and we're going to talk a little about the 144 ,000 of Israel and the multitude of Gentiles that will be saved through their ministry.

That's chapter 7 of the book of Revelation. Now, without getting into any details, do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth the first time? Well, people say, of course. Remember Luke 2, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord and as I pointed out to some of our today, the great big world didn't know what happened.

There were seven that were looking for redemption in Israel and they knew that he had come. To prove that, after he arrived, the wise men came from the east and they never saw him before. The great big world didn't know what was happening but in Bethany, Prada, he arrived.

33 years later, he came to Calvary. The world was known then. We're right there in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The world knew. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Now, the point is this.

If we accept and believe that he came the first time in two aspects, it's pretty obvious that he's coming the second time in two aspects. He will come to the air and here he will come to earth. Now, in between those two aspects is this whole drama that we're going to talk about tonight.

There's all kinds of side issues but I want to talk first of all about some of these players here, these actors and I'll just read some of them and go on but I want to read, for example, let's start at chapter 12 of the book of Revelation and read about some of this.

So, if you have your Bible, Revelation please, chapter 12, just when we're here. All right. You see verse number one, for example, Revelation 12 one, there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and she being with child cried and traveled and birthed and pained to be delivered and so on.

Now, remember what we have told you, wherever possible we interpret the book of Revelation literally but if this is literal, it's hardly right that a woman would have, for example, a crown, a victor's crown of 12 stars on her head and so on and clothed with the sun and the moon.

It's metaphorical language and in the context, it speaks of the nation of Israel tonight and then the man-child speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like, for example, in verse number five, she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne.

Now, I don't want to get involved in that verse save to say there's nobody else could rule like him, all nations. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the man-child. Now, let me point out to you verse seven.

There is war in heaven. Michael on the chart and his angels fought against the dragon on the chart and the dragon fought on his angels and prevailed not, neither was there any place found anymore in heaven.

Verse nine, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast into the earth and his angels were cast with him. Notice the end of verse 10, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night and so on.

Now, I don't want to read any more in this chapter, but I want to just now develop for you some of these players. I want to talk about Satan. Now, if you can't see this on the chart, please look at the copy that you've got.

Let's start on this chart where this chart handles it. This here is the serpent, the old serpent. We have read about it. That's the devil. That's the serpent that arrived in the garden of Eden, for example.

Now, watch this lane. These dear men that put this together want you to see this. You see, at this point, he's in the heavenlies and the heavenlies are what we're looking at tonight, the atmospheric heavens and he permeates the atmosphere of earth with all his evil emissaries and you and I can't see them, but he's very interested in us.

The God of this world, 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians chapter 2, that's the old devil. Now watch, the chart goes down this way. See what I'm pointing to now? He's in the heavenlies where we are living right now and he'll come right to this point and where I'm pointing to now, we're approximately in Revelation chapter 12, the middle of this week of seven years.

Now watch this here. See where I'm going to now? He falls to the earth. People hadn't seen that. Now watch it after this is the second half of that week. See that lane there? He comes to the end here and according to Revelation chapter 20, at the end of the tribulation, he goes down in here to the bottomless pit.

Chapter 19 describes it as well. Now he's in here for a thousand years. See what it says here? The unseen world, the abode of the lost. Divine purpose is going to show that he's going to the abyss and a thousand years is here in the millennium reign of Christ.

So he's down in here. Now whenever we get to this point here, the most of the earth's population as we know it tonight have been destroyed and are in eternity. And for a thousand years, people will live on earth and every person that's born will be born a sinner.

And these are ideal conditions here, right? But what happens? Watch the arrows here. At the end of the thousand years, God allows them to come out. See that there? Follow that arrow there. And he comes here to this point where I'm pointing to now.

And that's called the battle. Ezekiel 36 and 39, 38 and 39, the battle there of Gog and Magog. And he thinks he's going to destroy and fight against God. God will send fire from heaven, consume them, and he will go to the lake of fire.

There he is. Now let me point out that that fire there has nothing to do with the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the abode of all that's against God when it comes to the end of time. This fire is from heaven to consume these adversaries.

Satan’s Fivefold Profile: Titles, Travels, Tactics, Targets, and Torments

Now I want to trace for you tonight one of the foes, the enemies of God and of the believer. And just for your consideration tonight, I want to think of them under five different thoughts. And I made them all T's so that you can take them away with you.

I want to think about his titles. And then I want to think about his travels. We have traced it on the chart. Then I want to talk about his tactics, how he handles things. And then his targets. Who is he aiming for?

And then his torments when he finishes here. Now if you haven't got those five T's, let me give them to you again so as you understand what we're talking about. The old devil, he's against God and against the believer.

His titles, his travels, his tactics, his targets, and his torments. Now let me just quickly go over, this is a massive subject. You see his titles? The dragon, we read about it, speaks of the fierceness of this foe, the old devil.

Don't underestimate him tonight. The old serpent speaks of his subtlety and his deception. That's what he did with Eve. Yea, hath God said, the Garden of Eden. See the devil? He's the slanderer of the brethren.

Satan, the accuser of the brethren. Now those are something to do with his titles. Now I've traced for you his travels. Let me give it to you in a few minutes. I was reading today Ezekiel chapter 28 and Isaiah chapter 14, that in simple language deals with the old devil.

One of the statements made is, he was the anointed cherub that covered. And somebody says, what's that all mean? That means he was a created angel and God assigned him to be a guardian of his throne. But he wasn't satisfied.

And putting those two passages together, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28, he says, I will aspire to be as God. He wanted to be in control. Now as soon as he said that, sin commenced and he was relegated from the immediate presence of God to the heavenlies.

That's where we start here tonight on this chart. People said, I never heard of that before. Now you examine those passages and you'll see. The devil is not omnipresent. That means he's not everywhere at the same time, but he's in our world tonight and the heavenlies.

And he may not be here in this meeting, but his evil emissaries, his evil angels are here to oppose divine things. Here's the next one. I have pointed out to you that in the middle of this week, it's a week of years, the tribulation.

Here's the devil. What's the line? He's relegated to earth. Big conflict in the heavenlies. Michael, the archangel and his angels win and he's relegated to earth. Now what happens next? You'll have to then take my word for it.

He's going to impersonate man. And let me take a minute to explain to you. There are three runners after the Lord returns here and the great tribulation commences. There's the man of sin. That's the political individual out of the seas and revelation chapter 13.

He's what we term the head of the Western confederacy. And somebody says, what does that mean? That means the armies and the nations of Europe that are West of the land of Palestine or Israel. Then there is the false prophet.

He's the second beast of revelation chapter 13, a beastly individual. And he is going to incite the nation of Israel that are against the God of heaven. Millions he will delude and they'll perish. They're called apostates.

Never heard of it says somebody. I don't know what it means. It means that people, the light that they have about God or his word or whatever, they turn it away. They turn away and that light becomes darkness.

Those dear souls will never be saved. Now I've already told you in this group that I am not a racist, but there's another individual and he's called in Daniel, the king of the fierce countenance, the last king of the north and that's north of the land of Israel, the last Assyrian.

You know who he is? He's the leader of the Islamic nations. People never thought of it until our day on this last while they're making tremendous progress in the big affairs of life. And they think that they're going to take over the world, but God won't allow it.

Now the old devil will incite these people and the image of the beast will be set up in the, there in revelation chapter 13 and second Thessalonians two, right there in Jerusalem. And there will be a temple raised and his image will be set up and the whole world will wonder after this beast.

And people say he's electronic. No, he's not. He's indwelt by the old devil and all of the things that go around that I could spend all night on that, but I don't want to, because I want to show you the big picture.

I want to suggest tonight, nobody knows only God, but you see these three men that will be impersonated by Satan. They could be living in our world tonight. They could be in some university somewhere, maybe in the North America or Canada or wherever.

There could be little boys at their mother's knee. There could be just available for the old devil to take over. We're living in momentous days, but before it will happen, the Lord will come. And take us waiting people home.

Now you see his travels are not over yet. I have pointed out that he's going to be a thousand years in here in the bottomless pit. It's hell really. And after the thousand years are over, he makes more travels to earth again to incite millions here at the battle of Gog and Magog, and then he will be consumed.

And he goes to the lake of fire. He knows his time is but short when he's interested to do his deadly work. Now what's his tactics? Let me be very simple here. You know what he does? Here's his devices.

Whenever the word of God is preached to sin or sinner, then cometh the devil and taketh away the good seed of the word of God out of their heart. And here, that's what this equates to. A person can sit and hear the gospel wherever it may be, and have thoughts about their soul and their sin, and meeting God, and they're really stirred in their heart, and they go outside the door and forget all about it.

That's what the devil does. I pointed out to you that he deceives. He deceived Eve. That's 1 Timothy chapter 2. You know another thing about him? He disguises himself as an angel of light. That's 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

Do you know what his tactics are? Here's the premise that he goes on. Whatever the realm of the world that we live in, if you can't beat them, join them. That's his tactics. Here's another one. He devours.

That's the roaring lion aspect. That's 1 Peter chapter 5. The old devil is a roaring lion. He goes about seeking whom he may devour. Now, who are his targets? These tactics that I've talked about, who does he aim for?

Well, he looked after people in the Old Testament. For example, Job. He's talking to God here, Job chapter 1. He says to God, you take away the material wealth of Job, and he'll curse you to your face and die.

God says to the old devil, now look, whatever you do, spare his life. But the story shows that he never denounced God with all the suffering. But that's the tactics of the old devil. He's after the believer of the Old Testament.

I want to tell you another thing. He's after the believer of the New Testament. That's us. See what we're talking about here? I want to say tonight in a very real way, the old devil's after every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you know? Well, Ephesians chapter 6 tells us, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness and the dark places of the earth. And he's determined to ruin the testimony of a believer.

I'll tell you another thing. He's interested in those that gather to the precious name of the Lord Jesus in assembly life or any other church for that matter that acknowledge the Bible. Do you know one of his big tactics is division?

See that statement that we make all the time? Divide it, we fall. Unite it, we stand. The old devil knows how to handle and ruin a work for God. So all of us who are saved tonight make absolutely sure that we're not a cause of division wherever we go.

You know something? He divides families. He divides businesses. He divides churches. He divides countries. He divides districts, and you can expand on it whatever way you want. You know what Paul said about him?

We're not ignorant of his devices. He's been at it a long time, over 6 ,000 years. He's a masterpiece. Somebody says, well, where is he going to be? Well, his torments will finally be in the lake of fire.

Let me tell you this as I move on. You see, everyone that finishes in the lake of fire, they're forgotten. God is a God of love, absolutely. He wants to save every soul that's in the world tonight, past, present, or future, but everyone doesn't want them.

And those who refuse them will arrive right there. And everyone that finds themselves in this place, forgotten forever. Somebody said, that's awful. I don't like that. How could I overcome this foe? Now, let me give you one or two simple things as we have to leave it.

You see, the book says, 1 Peter chapter 5, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. Get thee behind me sitting. You see, Ephesians 6, you stand up as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and having done all to stand and do what the Lord Jesus Christ did when he was in the wilderness, tempted by the old devil.

It is written, it is written, it is written, and the old devil can't stand it. I want to tell you something, that in our day, the old devil works on people's emotions and their mind, and gives them a terrible time.

Believers are unbelievers, and so we're not ignorant tonight of how he works. I don't like to preach on this. The devil doesn't like to be disturbed or exposed, but that's why we sung that hymn tonight, 108 in this believer's hymn book.

God is stronger than our foes. Thank God we're on the side that has won. Now, let me balance it a little. I can't go over the rest of these prayers, but I'll just take a minute to read chapter 7. Chapter 7, a little here.

The 144,000 and the Multitude Saved During Tribulation

In Revelation chapter 7. Now, for sake of time, verse number 4. And we're here on the chart. See here? We're in and around here. See, there's chapter 7 there on the chart. All right. He says in verse number 4, this is John talking, I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed 140 and 4 ,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

See your chart here? See that there, look? 144 ,000 of Israel. That's where it comes from, right here. Now, 12 ,000 from each of the tribes I won't read. What's their mission? Look at verse 9. After this, I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations, kindreds, people, tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.

Now, let me just read a verse here toward the end of the chapter. One of the elders is talking with John. Verse 14, I said unto him, that's John to the elder, Sir, thou knowest, he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, that's what's on the chart, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

And so, we'll have to leave it there. I want now to go to the positive side. We have had some awful, devastating statements to make of that awful time when in seven years, this old world will suffer tremendous that has never been known before, and people will be slain by the millions, destruction everywhere.

And people say, well, he's a God of love, how come it's happening? Because men turned away from God and they didn't want God. But you see, the God that we serve is a God of love. And I want to point out to you that in the midst of all of this devastation, God is working.

And 144 ,000, literally speaking, will be saved. Listen carefully. After the rapture of the church, there will be a point in this life when there won't be a believer to tell them. And people say, how ever will these 144 ,000 be saved?

Plus, the Holy Spirit, as he's in the world tonight to convict men of sin, of righteousness and judgment, he's gone home to heaven with the church right here. Second Thessalonians chapter two. How ever will these people be saved?

I'm going to suggest to you, the Bibles don't go to corruption and they don't go to heaven either. There'll be millions of Bibles on earth. God will see to it, 12 ,000 from every tribe, wherever they live in the world that we know tonight, right across the seven subcontinents of planet earth, they will start to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit of God as in Old Testament times will come right to their experience.

And by the grace of God, they'll see their need and they'll bow to the claims of Christ and they'll accept them as Savior. And they'll start to tell others of the Savior that they have found. And so I have read to you that through their ministry, which will likely be less than seven years, there's an unnumbered throng will be saved by the grace of God of Gentile nations.

People ask all the time, well, who are these folk? Well, the statisticians tell us tonight that 33 of the world that we live in, in our generation, with all the electronic bells and whistles that we have, have never heard the pure gospel.

In my simple experience, I've been in places of the world this very year where people never heard the gospel once. God knows where they are, but there will be an unnumbered throng will hear the gospel of these 144 ,000 and they'll be saved by the grace of God.

Salvation by Grace and the Universal Problem of Sin

Somebody says, well, how will they be saved? Just exactly the same way as you and I are saved. First of all, God of heaven tells us we're sinners. All sin comes short of the glory of God. Wherefore as by one man's sin entering into the world and death by sin, death passed upon all men, all have sinned.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. All, all, all, all, all of us. They'll find out that when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, he died for every one of them as individuals and they'll bow to the claims of Christ and they'll accept and understand for the first time that when he died on the cross, he died for them as individuals and they won't be going to heaven.

By the way, they will be living on earth and they will be in this stream here that we're looking at now, the remnant here and the sheep of the judgment of the living nations will go right into the millennium reign of Christ.

Millions of them and the passage shows that here are dear people and you know, after they get saved, they separate themselves from the ungodly of the world. You see, they're washed. That's metaphorical language in the blood of a lamb and they're different to the world that we live in.

That's exactly today what we do, saved by the grace of God. We're in the world, but not of it. And we're here to serve him. What happens next? Well, they serve and they tell others of the savior that they have found.

That's what we do. And in the midst of this devastation, they will be preserved. The word is sealed physically and they'll go into this group here right into the kingdom and Israel will be the head of the nations again.

Now, can I get the point across to you that in all of the devastation that will happen in those days, God will have a people saved by the grace of God. And in the midst of our world tonight and what's happening all around us, God is taking from the nations a people for his name.

And it's a people of individuals. Well, somebody says, however, would a soul be saved without somebody telling them? Well, I'll just give you a quick example. We represent an assembly in the Vancouver area, British Columbia, Canada, and it's called South Burnaby.

It's the south of that city where we live. There's a member of our church. He's from another country. He was raised a Buddhist. He didn't know about God. He didn't know about the Bible. He never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He never heard of the one that died for sinners. Very intelligent individual. He's a personal friend of mine right now. In his own country, he was doing a big job. He was an engineer and he was frustrated.

And somebody out of a crowd, give him a little book like this and said, sir, take that book and read it. And he was so mad. He threw it into his briefcase and he went on his way. It was John's gospel of the new Testament.

Some time passed. He's going now into a long train journey, something like 48 hours. And as he sat down in the carriage, a voice said to him, hey, get that wee book out and read it. Now that voice was the Holy Spirit of God.

He didn't know. He was constrained to read John's gospel and he didn't know what it meant. He hadn't a clue, but he read on and he read on and he found out number one, there was a God in heaven, a mighty God.

And he had one son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he loved the world of men so much that he gave him to the death of the cross. And he's included. And he found out that he had no savior. And he found out he had no peace.

And he found out his sins weren't forgiven. And he found out that he was a sinner. Now, we can't equate with that because of the background of this dear man. To cut a long story short, he found out that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners, ungodly people, and he was one of them.

And he just accepted right there that he died on that cross for him. And he was saved by the grace of God. I asked him the first time I met him, I said, how do you know you're saved? You know what he said?

I have peace. So I know I'm saved tonight. You saved tonight? This is how you'll know. You have peace in your heart. And it doesn't matter what happens down the road. You'll be saved by the grace of God and you'll be in heaven.

See how God works? And if he works like that in our day, he will work in tribulation days, as we have said tonight, and millions will be saved by the grace of God. You can have it tonight if you're an unbeliever.

What the head writer said, simply by believing on the son of God, everlasting life is free. God's offering you a gift tonight. Will you take it or will you refuse it? I told you last night, I'll tell you again tonight, 55 years ago, I took the gift of salvation and I thanked the giver and I've lived to prove that it will last for time and for eternity.

Now the subject has only started, but it's time to go home. It's 8 .30. Don't forget, on the negative side, Satan. On the positive side, millions that will be saved in that environment. Now we'll have to leave it.

Thank you very much. Let us pray. Our Father, with deep appreciation in our hearts tonight, we thank thee for the God that thou art. We thank thee for the holy scriptures of truth that have been given to us, that we can search it for ourselves.