Revelation 10 (Cont)

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Well, good morning, Stephen, will you open us up with a word of prayer?
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You don't mind? Heavenly Father, thank you for this chance to come before you this morning, Lord, to be in your
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Word and to be a tall member of Revelation. We ask that you would be with Brother Mike as he opens the
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Word to us and give him wisdom and that you would bless him for the time that he's put in preparation.
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Amen. Revelation 10, verse 1.
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And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud. And the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire.
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And he had in his hand a little book which was open. And he placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars.
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And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven peals of thunders had spoken,
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I was about to write. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunders have spoken and do not write.
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And then the angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there would be no delay any longer.
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But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he preached to his servants, the prophets.
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Then the angel which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me, saying, go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.
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So I went to the angel telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, take it and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but your mouth, it will be sweet as honey.
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So I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it. My mouth, it was sweet as honey. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
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He said to me, you must prophesy again concerning many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
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So last week, we started this section. What's this section called?
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In the middle. It's an interlude. It is an interlude. And part of this interlude is the totality of the little scroll.
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I prefer scroll. I know most translations probably say book. Mine does. Scroll is probably a better translation but codexes didn't come until like the second, end of the second century, third century.
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Codex meaning books. Codex meaning binded parchments. So scroll is actually probably a better rendering of it.
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And inside this little scroll is a smaller prophecy within the larger prophecy of the book.
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Remember, the whole book of Revelation, from my understanding, is primarily dealing with what?
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Okay, the destruction of Jerusalem. But it sets a pattern and trajectory which points us to the end of the age.
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Remember, I am, no eclecticism is really not a good word to use sometimes, but in my understanding of the book of Revelation is eclectic, meaning
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I think the preterist, partial preterist view holds merit. I believe that there are some futuristic, not future as in fantastic futurism, but there are some futuristic parts of the book that are off into the future.
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Okay, if you think the whole book of Revelation is already complete, you're a heretic. I'm just gonna let you know because that means we are in the eternal state.
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So those of us that have bad backs, broke eyes, busted up hands, if this is the eternal state, well,
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I feel a little let down, okay? So we do have some stuff that points to the future and the idealist or spiritual view really helps, in my opinion, is a better way of applying the book.
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Remember, anybody remember what the idealist perspective or the spiritual perspective is?
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It is principles and patterns where we look at and we can apply the book.
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Well, they interpret the whole book by principle. So that means from the idealist perspective, historical events really don't matter.
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You see what I'm saying? That's why the idealist from an intellectual standpoint is super appealing because then the dating of the book to some point doesn't matter and historical events that took place really doesn't matter because we're only looking at principles and patterns and that this will be the continual pattern until Christ comes.
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And there's a part of that that is true. So when we started this,
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I said that primarily, I understand the book in a partial preterist way, but when we get to here,
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I think this little book of prophecy tells us, it expands a different timeframe, not leading just to 70
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AD, but then expands the whole interadvent period.
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What, if you're, who in here is an amillennialist? Anybody? Okay, me.
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Okay, okay. The interadvent period is the millennium.
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And when we get to that part of the book, I will make that, if you understand it that way, then you will see how
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I come to that conclusion. If the interadvent is the millennium, then you're three and a half years, the time, time, half of times, you're 42 months, you're 1 ,260 days is the church age.
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And just to really throw a pipe bomb in it, that really would be the time of great tribulation because it's the time that the church is persecuted from Christ's ascension till His return.
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So you go, well, why are you saying that? Because when you're doing a prophetic book and any type of biblical interpretation, you have to make sure that what
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I understand here connects to here. These can't be inconsistent or your biblical interpretation is inconsistent.
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And the last thing I want to do is be inconsistent. So I have to be consistent of how I understand
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Ezekiel, how I understand Jeremiah, how I understand Daniel, and then how
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I understand Daniel and how I understand Zachariah that then points me to how am
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I going to understand? I'm not saying that Isaiah and all those don't matter because they do. How I'm going to understand the book of Revelation.
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So that's why you have to make sure, as Sybil said, if we were at dinner the other night and she says, yeah, you can't just come to,
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I've never heard this said, you just can't come into any willy -o -nilly way. You have to make sure that these pieces fit together so that when you form your theological system that it's dictated from the
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Scripture. Don't let your system dictate the meaning. Let the Scripture make your system.
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So all that being said, we saw this angel come down. He was huge, right,
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Leslie? Enormous. So enormous that he could put his feet on the land and the sea. And I don't know how often y 'all read through what we're studying, but did anybody wonder why
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John wasn't scared of this angel? Because when you get to the end of the book, he's got a normal -sized dude angel, and what does he do?
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He falls on his face in fear. He sees this enormous angel,
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I mean, so big that he's got a little scroll in his hand, which in my brain, it looks like a little chiclet, and he's going to hand it to him, and he has no reservations to talking to this angel, just, hey, whatever.
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So he says that he's got another angel and another book of prophecy to give him, and at the end of this prophecy, it will then set the pattern for the seven bowls.
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So we ended off last week at chapter seven, where we, I'm sorry, verse seven of chapter 10, speaking of the mystery of God, and it would be finished, and that's when the seventh angel would blow his trumpet.
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What was the mystery of God? You may remember what I said the mystery, well, actually, what I said Paul says the mystery of God is?
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It's the church. The mystery of God is the church. You can go read Ephesians 3 and 4.
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He talks about the gospel, the mystery of the gospel age is that he was going to bring in Jew and Gentile, that were all going to come into one body, and then you keep reading on and from Ephesians 3, and get to Ephesians 4.
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He then tells us what that church is going to look like. It's gonna be made up of everyone, because it's gonna be of every nation, tribe, and tongue.
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It's gonna be one baptism, one faith, one Christ, and then he gives things that are going to help that church prosper, giving apostles, prophets, and missionaries, and all these things.
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So, when the seventh angel is going to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God is complete, meaning what?
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Everybody that's supposed to be saved is gonna be saved. Every martyr that was supposed to be martyred is gonna be martyred.
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And then, we get to verse 8. He says, Then the voice which
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I heard from heaven, I heard speaking with me again. Say, okay, so, this voice that he's hearing is the same voice he heard, remember when the seven thunders pealed, and he was fixing to write it down, and what did he hear?
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He said, don't do it. Well, we believe that to be, or I believe that to be
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Jesus Christ telling him, don't, who's this revelation coming from?
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It's coming from Christ. Don't write it down. And when I said how I understood what it could be,
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I know we did some sanctified speculation, but when the thunder, when we see thunder in the book of Revelation, it means judgment's coming.
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So, if those seven thunders are in this interadvent period of time, my understanding is it could be another recapitulation of the trumpets, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls, but being in the thunders.
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And he says, no reason to write it down. See what I mean? This same voice told him, take the scroll which is opened in the hand of the angel who stands on the land and the sea.
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Okay, so he hears Jesus tell him, you know what? Go get that scroll.
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You run up there and get it. He has no reservations of doing that. That's what trips me out, is the angel, like I said in the back of the book, the end, he falls on his face.
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So, in verse nine, he says, so, I went to the angel and telling him to give me the little book.
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So, he walks up to this gigantic and says, come on, give it here. No reservations.
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Give me the little book. And he said to me, take it, eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth, it will be sweet as honey.
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So, once again, if we want an understanding of what's being said here, we have to know our
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Old Testament. There's other passages where God tells someone to,
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I have a word of prophecy for you, a word for you to speak to people. I want you to eat the scroll.
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Turn your Bible over to Ezekiel chapter two.
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Speaking in tongues back there. This is the call of Ezekiel, where he is commissioned to go and prophesy.
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Ezekiel was part of the deportation in 597 BC. Remember the first deportation sometime 605, 603
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BC with Nebuchadnezzar? Then you had another deportation which happened in 597.
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Ezekiel would have been part of that. He is in Babylon for roughly four to five years.
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He then is commissioned to prophesy. So his prophetic work probably begins somewhere between 593
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BC and 592 and continues on to 571 after the destruction of Jerusalem. But here's what he is told.
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And we'll just read the chapter. It's not big at all.
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Chapter two. Then he said to me, son of man, stand up on your feet and I will make you speak and I'll speak to you.
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As he spoke to me, the spirit entered me and set me on my feet. And I heard him speaking to me and then he said to me, son of man,
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I'm sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against me.
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They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children and you'll say to them, thus says the
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Lord, as for them, whether they listen or not, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet has been among them.
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He's saying, hey, look here, I'm sending you to these people, you're gonna tell them what I want, whether they listen to you or not, they're gonna know that you're my prophet because I'm sending you and they're gonna know by what you're telling them.
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And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions, neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence for they are a rebellious house.
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If you go back and you want to go read when God called
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Jeremiah, it's a lot of the same things. He says, look, Jeremiah, when you're gonna go, he was before this,
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Jeremiah's prophetic work started in 626. He says the same thing.
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I'm gonna say to these people, they're rebellious, they're not gonna like you, they're not gonna like what you're saying, but you're going to do what
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I tell you to do and you're gonna do it with boldness and you're gonna do it with passion and I'm going to protect you from death.
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Notice that he didn't say, I will protect you from harm. He says, I will protect you from death because what do we know about Jeremiah?
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He got roughed up and Jeremiah didn't take it with a stiff upper lip. He wasn't one of the few, one of the proud, one of the tough.
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He was getting a little overwhelmed. Well here, Ezekiel's told the same thing.
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But you'll speak my words to them whether they listen or not for they are rebellious. Now you, son of man, listen to me and what
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I'm speaking to you. Do not be rebellious like the house of rebellion. Open your mouth and eat what
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I'm giving you. Hear it? Here it is. I'm giving you a message and you're going to eat it.
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Then I looked and behold, a hand extended out to me and lo, a scroll was in it.
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And when you spread it out before me, it was written on the front and the back, writings on it with both lamentations, mourning and lo.
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Verse one of chapter three. Then he said to me, son of man, eat what you find.
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Eat this scroll and go and speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he fed me this scroll.
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And he said to me, son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with the scroll which I'm giving you.
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Then I ate it and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. So, here it is.
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He has been commissioned to go, Ezekiel, commissioned to go and basically preach the
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Word of God. And no matter what the, whatever the response is, it doesn't matter. You're to be obedient to me and do what
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I tell you to do. They're going to be rebellious, they're going to be obstinate, but you do what
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I tell you to do. It says it was sweet to him. It was sweet to him.
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Why would him eating this scroll be sweet? Well, one, anytime
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God gives you a word of encouragement, it should be sweet to you.
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Just like the Gospel should be sweet to us. The Gospel being proclaimed, when you hear the
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Word of God preached, it should be sweet to your ears. It should be.
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Look, I am not a Franklin Graham fan, okay? But I'm sitting in a bed,
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I'm reading my Bible and a commercial come on TV. And it was him. And I just overheard him and he's proclaiming the
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Word of God. He's preaching, calling people to repent and believe and trust in Christ.
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And I looked over and I was like, that is sweet to hear. That is nice to hear the
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Gospel of Christ preached that He has come for the brokenhearted. He has come to heal the sinner and make him right with God.
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That is wonderful. Now, there's other areas of his theology that I would disagree. But at that point, he is spot on.
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And that should be sweet to our ears. In this case, as he has that flavor of the
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Word of God put in his mouth, going, hey, when I go preach this, I know I'm doing what God told me to do. And this is good.
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This is good. Now, if you flip over to Jeremiah, and I almost brought this up last week.
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Jeremiah 15. I don't know if anybody caught it when we were reading in thankservice.
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Turn over to Jeremiah chapter 15. I think it's around verse 16.
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Yeah, I'll start in verse 15. It says, you who know,
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O Lord, remember me, take notice of me. Take vengeance for me, all my persecutors.
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Do not in view of your patience take me away. Know that for your sake
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I have endured reproach. Your words were found and I ate them.
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And your words became for me a joy and delight in my heart. Good morning.
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So what does Jeremiah say? He's like, look, the words that God gave him, he ate them, he consumed them.
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And it was a delight to his soul. But you continue to read on through both
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Ezekiel and through Jeremiah, you're gonna see that this very thing that God gave them, that was sweet to them, becomes a bitter reproach.
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Why? Anybody, any idea? People don't wanna hear it. They did not wanna hear it.
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It is interesting that with Ezekiel, they didn't wanna obey his words, but there was times when he says,
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I don't know if anybody remembers if you read through Ezekiel, where he says, hey, go call him and let him preach to us. We're not gonna do what he tells us to do, but let, he talks good.
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Let's listen to him. You know, they did that to Paul as well. It was, I think it was Festus said,
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I will call him back at another time. Oh, and even Herod did that with John.
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You remember, he would have John, he put John in prison, but he would then bring John, John the Baptist, not
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John the Revelator. He would bring him back to him, and then what would he do? He would let him preach to him because he liked, he was just a good preacher.
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I will say this about John the Baptist. He preached for a verdict. You weren't walking away from John the
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Baptist going, I don't know what he meant. I don't think
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I understand what he meant. Well, Herod knew what he meant when he told him he was sleeping with his brother's wife, and it cost him his head.
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So, the message that Jeremiah had, and the message that Ezekiel had was sweet to their mouth, sweet to their stomach, sweet to them, but when it hit their gut, it turned bitter because the very thing that was supposed to bring reconciliation, bring joy, bring fulfillment, bring the restoration of the kingdom was the very thing that they rejected, and they saw their countrymen either slaughtered, butchered, hauled off into captivity.
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I would suggest you could go home and read the book of Lamentations probably in 10 minutes.
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It's not big at all. But Jeremiah, after the fall of Jerusalem in 586, he walks through the city.
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As he walks through the city, he begins to do a personification of the city, which was a beautiful woman at one time, and then he talks about it being the unfaithful whore and the harlot and what
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God has done to it. But if you read that, you see the very thing that his preaching was supposed to bring about, the conversion of those people to God and bring them back to Yahweh, and he says, this thing has become bittersome to me.
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Bittersome. I don't know about y 'all, but it's bothersome to me when you preach to your family members and they don't get converted.
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And then it's really bittersome when they die in their sin. And then when they die in their sin, you go,
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Lord, this was supposed to be good, and it hurts.
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That's what Ezekiel and Jeremiah were going through. And Jeremiah even says, he says,
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Lord, the very ones that I preached this, you told me to preach to, I even, some of them burst on my own knees.
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I raised them up, I nurtured them, and now I'm seeing them wither away in pain and famine in the street.
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How can this be good? Well, how can it be good? Because he did what God told him to do.
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Faithfulness. Faithfulness. Faithfulness is what makes it sweet. The response is what makes it bitter.
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Hey, it'd be awesome if every time you preached, you had the response that Peter had on the day of Pentecost.
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I don't know about you, but I've never had that. Andy, you ever had, been preaching, and then somebody stand up and say, what do you want us to do?
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That would be awesome. Yeah, like, yeah, you're preaching, and you're like, oh, oh, well, what do you want us to do?
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I want you to repent, and then 3 ,000 people repent and believe. You think that'd be awesome, but that's just not the norm. That is not the norm.
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The norm is, who are you to tell me that I'm not good?
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Who are you to tell me that I need to be made right with a holy God? That's the normal response.
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Now, back to Revelation chapter 10.
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He said, so I took the little book, verse 10, 10, 10, so I took the little book out of the hand,
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Ezekiel's hand, and ate it. And in my mouth, it was sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
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Look, this is the same actions and the same response that Jeremiah and Ezekiel both got.
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Now, John's getting the same thing. John's getting the same thing because he is fixing to see this, what
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I believe to be the interadvent time. The time between the times, between the time that Jesus' resurrection, exaltation, and enthronement to the time that He returns, he is fixing to see the church age or the gospel age and what takes place in that time frame.
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You're gonna see in that time frame, you're gonna see the purpose of the church, which is them proclaiming and being faithful and in many ways being indestructible.
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But at the same time, he's going to see the suffering and the persecution and the bewilderment of the church.
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He's also going to see in this, which makes it bitter, there's going to be a time in this little scroll where it says that they are overcome by the beast and that the church witnesses lie dead in the streets.
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I don't know about y 'all, that would be pretty bitter. I don't know about y 'all, but when you see
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Muslim nations or Muslim militants go through places like Nigeria and Somalia and they go through there and they enslave the women, they butcher the men and haul off the children,
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I don't know about y 'all, that's what they're doing to the Christians. That's bitter. And if it was up to me,
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I'd give them all cancer and hope they died. I'll just be honest. Those are my family in the
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Lord. If I had a way of doing it, I would just, phew. Looked like it blew up a laundry basket over there with all the togas flying.
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That's bitter, but that's the means by which God has said he will grow his church.
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What was it, Tertullian in 200 AD? He said, it's the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
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Tertullian was a church father. Won't agree with everything he says, but I think that was good. Anytime they have tried to destroy the church, what happens?
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It grows. When the People's Republic of China became, had the
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Communist Party came into power, what happened in China? They began to persecute and export and deport all of Christianity, trying to get it out.
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And what happened? The church is growing in leaps and bounds over there, even to today. Even today, leaps and bounds.
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The underground church is the church that's growing, not the state church. In the state church, the state church still has to have a picture of Xi Jinping up there inside the church.
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But you have places in North Korea where the little penguin -looking guy, what's his name? Kim Jong Il?
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Yeah, him. He looks like a penguin to me when he walks. Him. He is persecuting the church beyond belief because you have to have a picture of him in either your home, your place of business.
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He wants, he demands worship. And those that don't do that suffer the consequences.
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And the church is being persecuted, but the church is growing in leaps and bounds for that. And that is bit sweet, but bitter.
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We should be thankful to see the growth of the church, but it's bitter to see the persecution of them. There was a time in church history where the
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Christians desired to be martyred. You had people like Athanasius who would be picked up by the
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Roman authorities and was being taken to the Colosseum to be thrown to the lions.
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And if I remember correctly, it was either the Church of Ephesus or the Church of Rome was,
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I think it was Church of Rome, was sending letters to try to get him released. And he said, don't do that.
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Don't get me released. I want to die a martyr's death for my Lord. I want, and I don't think any of us would say stuff like this.
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I want the lions to grind my bones to powder. I want them to eat my flesh.
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I want my whole body to be consumed and then defecated across the arena in the lands that not even my fellow
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Christians have to come and pick up my body. I don't know about y 'all, but those are not the kind of things that I'm saying.
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But those were the kind of men that came before us. I don't think we should go out and have a martyr wish.
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But when martyrdom came to those men, it was no big deal. Polycarp, other men before that.
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Hugh Latimer, Ridley, those men. Burned at the stake.
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And then look over to his buddy and say, hey, it's time to play the man. That means it's time for us to do what
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God has called us to do. That's bitter, but it's sweet to see men faithful to the
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Lord. He says it in verse 11, and then he said to me, you must prophesy again.
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This is why I understand this to be a smaller prophecy within the larger part of the book. He doesn't say keep prophesying.
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He says prophesy again, meaning this is going to be something different. And it's going to be something different because the scope of it is different.
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The scope of it's different because the larger part of the book deals with the coming destruction of Jerusalem, the overthrow of the geopolitical power of Judaism, and then the hauling off into captivity the rest of the
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Jewish culture pretty much, and then dispersing them to the uttermost parts of the earth.
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That is another diaspora. This one says, this is going to be about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
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So he says, look, this is going to be something bigger to where this was localized here dealing with Jerusalem, in essence, dealing with Titus and Vespasian and all of the civil wars that are going on.
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That's what the main thrust of the book, I understand to be. But then when you get to here, he's like, wait a minute,
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I'm going to expand this. I'm going to open up the horizons a little bit because it's no longer about this little piece of land in Palestine.
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This is going to be about many nations, many tongues, many people, and many kings.
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Meaning, look, this is going to go, what's fixing to happen is going to extend to the nations, not one nation.
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It's going to extend to the nations, meaning this prophecy is going to be relevant not only to the local situation, but all over.
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And then it says that it's going to concern many peoples and tongues.
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Look, it ain't about just the Jewish people. It's not just about the fall of Jerusalem. It's about more tongues.
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And what is the church made up of? Many nations, peoples, and tongues.
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And then he says, and kings. And when we talk about the kings, we'll get into that here shortly because kings can mean kingdoms.
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If you remember when we were in Daniel chapter 10 through 11, 36,
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I think it was, it would be the king of the north would come against the king of the south.
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The king of the south would then come against the king of the north. That was dealing with kingdoms, not an actual king.
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So sometimes king can mean king, meaning crowned king. But a lot of times it can mean kingdom.
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And I believe this is dealing with many kingdoms. The rise and fall of many nations will come.
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It was even told by, in the consolation, I think it was when
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Simeon saw, he saw Jesus as a little baby. He says that he will be the rise and fall of many what?
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And kingdoms. And kingdoms, the rise and fall of, yeah, certainly, and kingdoms.
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Why? Because he was the stone cut without hand, saw in the book of Daniel, that had this colossus, giant statue that was made up of Babylon, Medo -Persian, made up of Greece, and then the
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Roman Empire, and what did it say? A little stone cut without hands came down.
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And what did it do? It shattered those kingdoms. Shattered those kingdoms.
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Why? Because the kingdom of God can't be contained. Why? Because what
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God raises up, what God raises up to be eternal and everlasting will be forever lasting.
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And what is that? Messiah's kingdom. And that is what we'll talk about when we get to those parts of those kingdoms.
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Why did they rise and fall? Why did they, why is he again in this book pointing back to kingdoms that have fallen and then kingdoms that will arise?
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Because he said, we're gonna get to one part where he says, five have come, one now is, one will be, and then the eighth will be one of the seventh.
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That is talking about nations that have come, some that will be here, will go away, and then there's another nation that will come and set itself up.
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That's how I understand that passage, is kingdoms. So, as we get ready to go into the measuring of the temple in this next vision, the angel is not
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Christ. Remember, there are many scholars that think this large angel in chapter 10 is
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Christ. It is not. Christ is never looked as an angel. Not in the
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New Testament. He gives him this little book of prophecy.
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This little book of prophecy is going to be bitter as it unfolds, sweet to his mouth as he prophesies.
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And that prophecy is containing, here's the content of the prophecy. Many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
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We got 10 minutes. I'm going to start chapter 11, unless we've got any questions, clarifications.
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That's the one I broke last week. Let's read chapter 11, and then we'll start with verse one and see how far we get.
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Then it was given me a measuring rod like a staff. Someone said, get up, measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it.
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Leave out the court, which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations.
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And they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1 ,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.
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These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies.
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So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophesying.
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They have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire.
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When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them.
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Hey, it's interesting right here. John the Revelator is speaking of the beast as if we know who he is.
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And you know, this is the first time the beast is ever even mentioned in the book and he just throws it out there like we know who he is.
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He says, and the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, overcome them, and kill them.
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And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is mystically called Sodom and Egypt, also where our
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Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
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And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate. And they will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
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But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came up into them. And they stood up on their feet and great fear fell among those who were watching.
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And they heard with a loud voice from heaven saying, come up here. And they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them.
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And in that hour, there was a great earthquake. A tenth of the city fell.
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Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake. And the rest of there was terrified and they gave glory to God of heaven.
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The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
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Then the seventh angel sounded and there were the loud voice in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our
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Lord and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sit on the thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped
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God saying, we give You thanks, O Lord, God the Almighty, who are and who were because You have taken
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Your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged and Your wrath came and at the time it came, it come time for the dead to be judged.
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And the time for the reward of Your bondservants, the prophets and the saints and those who fear
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Your name, the small and great, to destroy those who destroy the earth. And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple and there were flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
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Well, that was what we just read was the last section was the blowing of the final trumpet.
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Do you understand that every time we have gotten to the end, like we got to the end of the seals, what happened?
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There was great hail, fire, hail, and a great earthquake, thunder.
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A picture of God's judgment. So back in verse 1, here, now when we get to understanding, there is, uh oh,
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I'll put this as the idealist too. Can y 'all see that better? Huh? No?
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Tall. And then you have the preterist. Put it over here partial because that's important.
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When you get to this section, there is, there is no uniform understanding of this.
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Your futurist view has two. Two premillennial positions.
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You can be a historical premillennial and not hold this position, but all of your dispensational premillennial is going to hold the position
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I'm fixing to say. And this is probably what a good number of you have been brought up around.
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And I'm just going to say that's in the air that we breathe and the water that we drink is American Christianity.
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Look, this is dispensational eschatology is everywhere.
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It's pervasive. It has affected even the way that our politicians even support the nation of Israel because it primarily has to do with the nation of Israel, the temple being rebuilt, having a real built temple on the temple mount.
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And I'm just going to be honest with you. That's just nonsense. It comes from a system that derives a separation between the church and the state of Israel.
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So the futurist view comes to this measuring of the temple and they believe it's a real temple.
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They believe it's a real temple on the 35 acres that are over there in Jerusalem.
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Remember that temple mount where the Wailing Wall is, where Al -Aqsa Mosque is at one end, the
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Dome of the Rocks at another. It is that section. They believe that some miraculous thing will happen and the mosques will go away and they will be able to set up a third temple.
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Why do they believe that there will be another temple? Because from the futurist perspective, if this is a literal, meaning a literalistic approach to measuring the temple that it's talking about, it means that this temple has to be rebuilt.
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Why? Because there ain't one there. That's why. Look, if the futurist view says the temple has to be measured, then it means there has to be a real temple that has to be measured.
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Well, that would mean that you're assuming that the book was written late and you're assuming that the apocalyptic imagery that's being spoken of by John the
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Revelator is really irrelevant, that it's not being speaking in types and shadows and pictures, that it's speaking literally.
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So, that is to be a real temple.
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And believe it or not, we'll talk about this one here. Oh, we didn't get there. These actually are closer than you think, believe it or not.
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This is all in the future. The preterists say it was a real temple and it's being measured before it's destroyed.
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But why? Because the preterists ...
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Because they believe that the book was written between 66 and 69.
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You raising your hand or just wiping your hair? No, I'm not. OK. So therefore, they say it's a real temple that's being measured and that it is still erect.
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But both of them hold a literalistic approach. You know what I mean by literalistic? Hey, real temple just ain't there yet.
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Got to be rebuilt because the old has been destroyed and it's all in the future. The preterists say, no, it's really there.
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Just this happened in the past. That what John's fixing to measure is measuring the temple before the
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Romans got there. So to be continued, because I can't go on.
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If y 'all have any questions and it's not clear, I need to know because as we get further in here to chapter 12 and 13, the foundation that's being laid, how we understand this of the two prophets will make a big difference on how you understand chapter 13 and chapter 12.
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So bring rocks or bricks or something to throw at me to catch my attention. Will you pray for us,
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Mike? Heavenly Father, we thank You for this study. We thank
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You for our brother as he's prepared to bring us Your Word. We pray, Lord, that You'd give us clarity of thought.
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We pray that You'd be with us now as we go into the worship service. We pray that You'd be with our brother Keith as his voice is weak.
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We pray that You'd give him strength, that You would use him as Your vessel to bring forth
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Your gospel for the salvation of the lost and the strengthening of Your people. Of course, in Christ, we pray.