Day 39: 40 Days Through The New Testament

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to 40 Days Through the New Testament. This podcast is led by Pastor Rusty Small at Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, Listen as he guides you through all 27 books of the New Testament in preparation for Easter. Get your Bible ready. Here's today's message. Well, today we continue our study through the book of Revelation and we come today in our reading to Revelation chapter 12 through 19. Revelation 12, some people have likened 12 and 13 as almost like a scorecard to be able to kind of see who are the players in the end time drama. And we get to note again, symbolism here is going to be thick and we'll need to notice that yes, there is indeed symbolic language, but symbolic language can open up to actual literal interpretation. mean, there's a way to see what the symbol means. So we notice in Revelation 12, there is a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars. I think it's pretty obvious here casting this in the backdrop, especially of the Old Testament, especially the crown of 12 stars. Also looking back at Joseph's dream that the woman symbolizes ethnic Israel. The male child is the one born of woman. Obviously there's clearly Catholic scholars are going to say the woman is Mary. It seems like the woman is Israel. But nevertheless, the male child is the Messiah born from the woman. And then we get the third player, the dragon, who is the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan. And he sweeps the stars, tries to devour the child and fails to blot out the child and to do over harm. Also, we notice that once we get to chapter 13, so three end times drama, we've got Israel, we've got Jesus, we've got Satan, okay? And then we have a few other key players. You have in Revelation 13, you have the beast and you have the beast from the sea and then you have the beast from the earth. So it's an interesting complex here. We notice it says, saw a beast coming up out of the sea. He had 10 horns and seven heads and all the horns were 10 crowns and on the head were blasphemous names. And the beast was given a mouth to utter boast and blasphemies and was allowed to exercise authority for a time. So this beast from the sea is an Antichrist figure and the beast from the earth. is the false prophet. Sometimes the scholars have noted that this is what we call the unholy trinity. So Satan is a supernatural being, okay, but there are two humans empowered by Satan, the Antichrist and his false prophet. Okay, so those three. Satan is a supernatural being, but you have two human beings, the Antichrist and the false prophet who are empowered by Satan. This is Revelation 13. Again, we move to Revelation 14, and what do we see? Again, we have a promise that there is 144,000 with the Lamb in Zion. There is a sealed ethnic Israelite remnant. And we notice, like I said, There is always mercy in the context of judgment. So now we kind of got the players and now we're getting ready kind of for the end of things, the end of final judgment. God sends an angel. It says in Revelation 14 verse nine, then I saw another angel flying high overhead with the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth to every nation, tribe, language and people. Here's the idea. Even in the context of judgment, guess what? There is mercy. There is an offer of salvation. God is saying, final call. Trust in me. Don't follow the beast who is empowered by Satan who is going to persuade you with words. Don't listen to the false prophet. Follow the lamb. Well, problem is, they don't. Once we get ⁓ to Revelation chapter 15, we are in preparation for what is called the bowl judgments. So we've had the seals, which is one fourth of the world is affected, the trumpets, which is one third, and now at last the bowls, which is complete. Total devastation, it's over. And what do we see here in these bowl judgments? Notice. soars, the sea and the rivers turn to blood, the scorching sun, the darkness. And guess where this all culminates to? You get the bowls and you ought to just notice in every one of these, it's complete destruction. It's over. And we notice that we get to Revelation chapter 17 and Christ has come back in judgment. The battle of Armageddon has happened. God destroys people with the words of his mouth. There is this horrible scene at the end of human history where God pronounces final judgment on those who have not repented. And yet something very strange happens. In Revelation 17 and 18, the world system, so it's not just Satan. who has empowered the Antichrist and the false prophet, it's like the kings of the earth. The whole world system turns against God and then, well, we note that God speaks judgment and in the book of Revelation, Babylon, the world system falls. Now, you would expect when the world system falls, the injustices of the world system falls, what is the response of the people? of the world and you know what it is? Lament. They're like, there's everything I work for. There's everything I believed in. The world system set to judgment and the world mourns the fall of Babylon. But while the world mourns, guess what happens in Revelation chapter 19? The church rejoices. At last salvation has come. At last justice is served. At last an end to oppression, an end to sin, an end to this injustice has happened and heaven sings. And then this awesome revelation of Jesus as the rider on the white horse. There it is. He comes. He shows that he has complete authority and the beasts, the kings are gathered to him. No battle is needed. His sheer presence and word is sufficient and Christ triumphant triumphs over all earthly powers. And so we get this awesome vision here in Revelation chapter 19 and this officially conclude. So if you want my two cents on it, Revelation chapter 6 to 19 is the events of the tribulation. It's kind of bookended in that time. And again, what do I think? The tribulation is a seven year period of distress where God pours out his judgment on the earth. The judgments are seen in sets of three that have seven in them. So seven seals were one fourth of the world. is judged, seven trumpets were one-third, and then seven bowls were all, and interleaded in all of that is caused to mercy. So if someone says, you know, what's the bulk of the book of Revelation about? Well, if you just count the chapters, Revelation chapter 6 through 19, if it's about the tribulation, now I probably ought to make one other statement. It is also about the book of Revelation. Here's my final note today. The book of Revelation clearly shows us that Christ comes at the end of the tribulation, clearly, because after these judgments, Christ comes on a white horse to the earth to judge. Now a lot of people say, well, you know, I've been taught there's ⁓ a coming of Christ at the beginning of the tribulation. Well, that's possible. But if you're going to get that interpretation, let me just say this, you don't get it from the book of Revelation. You don't get a a rapture at the beginning of the tribulation from the book of Revelation, you get it from other sections. So if you only had the book of Revelation, you would think that there is a seven year period of distress and at the end of the tribulation, Christ returns. Even those who believe that there's a rapture at the beginning of the tribulation, they also definitively believe, I know this for sure, I've talked to all of them, not all of them, but a lot of them, that they definitively believe that if the church is taken away at the beginning, that they return at the end. Ladies and gentlemen, the purpose of God's plan is not to take us to heaven, but to bring us back to earth where evil is defeated, where we are resurrected, where the world is made new. We will see all of that crystal clearly as we move towards the end of the book of Revelation. Keep reading. Thank you for listening to this podcast, A Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church. We pray that this is an encouragement to study God's Word and that you will join us for the next episode.

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