The purpose of these talks was not to give an individual sort of look at every single symbol and sign and detail but to try and give a broad overview of the chapters in Revelation and elsewhere so that we can get a firm understanding of what the overview of what it’s
Talking about and sort of build our interest and our understanding of that so what we’ve been looking at so far in the last couple of weeks is remember in John when he received the initial Vision he was taken up into the heavens and he saw a scroll was handed to the lamb and
Within that scroll can contained the events or the unfolding of history and so that scroll was unrolled and we saw from Revelation chapter six to Revelation chapter 11 the political events unfolding towards the kingdom of God and there’s those key sort of markers on the way to the establishment
Of God’s kingdom and their earthquakes we saw the first earthquake at the end of the seals which was in 312 in The Sixth Seal when Constantine came along and he changed the Empire to Christian that was a a great event a great political shaking paganisms out Christianity is in
And then last week we saw the second earthquake the Second Great political shakening that was when the French Revolution in the 1789 the 1790s when the class system in France was abolished and was replaced by the will of the people that is a very significant event in the history of mankind the class
System gone this is what we know today and democracy was really starting to be born in France and then it was pushed out to the end of the world now you might have noticed if you come across to Revelation chapter 11 as as you were reading through Revelation 11 and into
That sixth trumpet era in that sixth trumpet in the 1260 years of power there was a person described or an element described in Revelation chapter 11 verse 7 it says when they have finished their testimony the Beast that ascends out of the bottomless picture make war against him and
Overcome them and kill them now you might think yourself what on Earth is this Beast that we’re introduced to all of a sudden what’s this about the Beast so we parked that thought and now we can look at Revelation chapter 12 to 6 16 sorry where we’re
Going to have the development and we’re going to be shown the historical events and the development of the Beast so we described it in our first class and hopefully it’s well we’re looking at the same unrolling of history but we’re looking at it from another perspective
Similar perhaps in a way to the gospels where the gospel writers are all watching the same event but they look at it from different angles and they write different themes that they are trying to transmit the same thing is in Revelation here we have chapter 6 to 11 is
Political events and now when we get to chapter 12 to 16 John says right I’m now going to show you another theme of History out rolling and this is going to be the historical events of the Beast system and that’s going to be from chapter 12
To chapter 16 and that is going to roll out all the way from 312 from the first earthquake and conclude in God’s kingdoms and in the vials so that’s what we’re going to be looking at tonight as an overview the development and the historical events of
The Beast system so we already saw in our first talk in Revelation chapter 12 the birth of the Beast sounds a bit dramatic doesn’t it the the beginning of the beasts or the falling away and that’s where we had the split within God’s Ecclesia between the True Believers and the false
Believers there was that great Wonder in heaven you remember that woman who was Heavy with child and she gave birth to Constantine who would be the champion of the false Believers because in the time of Diocletian when the Believers were suffering under heavy persecution they turned and looked
To the political Heavens they looked for a political Savior and Backer and it gave birth to this man-child Constantine and this was where there was a split between the True Believers and the false Believers and that happened around 3 12 313 there was a split and this is the beginning of the falling
Away as it’s described in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. when a group of people or the church or the Catholic Church broke away and they just started developing a form of Christianity which departed from the true teachings of the Gospel once they were introduced and placed into power in
The time of Constantine it wasn’t long before the Trinity the first elements of the Trinity were starting to be introduced when the Holy Spirit was to be added on worship of Mary Saints the evidence that’s given to the bishop of Rome the pope all these sort of
Doctrines which are not in the gospel were started to be introduced and the false church was established this is the birth of the beast in Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 13 which we’ll look at in a minute is the two phases of that Beast system of the church when it’s given political power
And then in Revelation chapter 15 and 16 God’s judgment on the Beast and the end of its political power now that is the overview of those chapters that’s quite important the birth the two phases and then God’s judgment and the and the end of the political power of the beast that’s how it’s
Outlined from Revelation chapter 12. to um to 16. so come across flick over to revelation 13. and we’ll take a look at we’ve seen the birth of the Beast we did that in the first week now we’re going to look in verse chapter 13 the two phases of the Beast now in
Revelation chapter 13 an important note to to make we’re doing an overview of this chapter is this is the same Beast remember that this is the same Beast it’s just going through two different phases because Revelation 13 is talking about 1260 years of this Beast system but it
Goes through different phases just like me I’ve gone through different phases in my life when I was a teenager I was desperate to be seen as a surfer I was Surfer Luke younger I tried to grow my hair as long as my father would allow that was my Surface stage
Then I moved on to a different stage where I wanted to be known by something different I don’t know let’s just say um Luke married to Lara phase I’m different now I’ve left my surfing days behind obviously and now I’m with three kids you know battling with three little
Boys it’s the same me but I’ve just gone through different phases and we all do that in different life you know sometimes we might have a haircut go through a different fashion trend get a new job whatever it is we go through different phases but it’s still
The same person and that’s the key thing about Revelation chapter 13. it’s the same beast but it’s going through different phases and these are the two phases of the Beast the first phase is the Beast rising up out of the sea from verse 1 to 10.
And the second phase is the Beast coming up out of the Earth this is the second phase that it goes through and we’re going to spend a little bit of time looking at some of the details because God gives John in symbol some of the details to help him understand what
These two phases were like now the first image that John’s given is in verse 1 verse two one to four of this Beast he sees as it is a beast that’s rising up out of the sea and its powers that rising up out of the Sea of Nations now this Beast here
Corresponds back to the fourth Beast of Daniel chapter seven and it is in the form as it says there in verse 2 of a leopard it’s got seven heads and it’s got ten horns and those seven heads were later told in Revelation uh chapter 14 are symbolic of the Seven
Hills or the seven forms of government that Rome went through the Roman Empire went through and the ten horns are symbolic of the ten toes in Daniel’s image that would break out of the image do you remember the Roman Empire would sort of break out into the ten toes now importantly the crowns
Uh are on the horns so we know that this Beast is gone it’s sort of its history or its Legacy has been the Roman power and now it is coming out into the ten toes it’s entering into a new phase because the crowns are on those horns so
They’re going into the new phase the crowns are on the ten toes it is post sort of the Roman sort of era and as it’s coming up you notice in verse 3 an important little detail was those one of its heads had a wound a deadly wound which I’ve tried to
Depict there on the screen it’s like it had a slash across the side of one of the face it was a deadly wound however that here that wound had been healed and then we find that in verse four that a dragon has now given power to that Beast now this is a perfect
Description of this news of this Beast coming out of the sea so to remember to our class back last week we saw on the Western Roman Empire as we went through the period of the wind trumpets with the Goths the big hairy Goths started to invade invade and torture the
Western Roman Empire and it culminated in 476 when odowasa came along and he kicked out the Roman rulers and he pronounced himself as a goth I rule the Western Roman Empire and that was the wound that was given to the Beast like a big slash straight across his face
And in 476 that side was eclipsed that Roman Empire had that deadly wound of the Goths in power but what happened was over on the Eastern side of the empire Man by the name of Justinian looked back and saw the Goths ruling who are Aryan Christians who did not believe
In the Divinity of Christ and said I’m not happy about this and he took his great General belisarius and they marched over to the west and they kicked the Goss out of power and they healed that wound and then in verse 4 he gave power to the Beast he gave political power
To a church to a church and it says the whole world wondered at that event and that was in 533 a significant moment in history when because there was a power vacuum and Justinian says we got rid of the Goths now who’s going to rule this place
And he sees the bishop in Rome the head of this apostate Church of the falling life the Believers says I know you I’m going to give you political power and that power would last for 1260 years now this is the Beast rising up at the sea this is the first phase
That a dragon who is Justinian in the East has given power to the west and here’s the little map of the little map that helps to explain I hope this phase of power so in 533 to 752 is what they call the Byzantine papacy the papacy the ruling power of the
Catholic church that’s supported by the East and they started out and their kingdom was pretty small as you can see they’re up in the green on the left they were pretty small that was the Byzantine papacy and what happened over time was they kept relying on the emperor in the East for military
Support and help now we know don’t we from Revelation chapter 9 with the woe trumpets that add in the East their battling against the Muslims the saracens against the Ottomans the Turks the Mongols so they can’t provide Military Support to the bishop of Rome anymore so he starts looking around thinking
Who’s going to give me Military Support register church here we need some police we need an army to back us and so that’s where he started to look elsewhere and he was supported particularly by the kingdom of the Franks under Pepin and then later by the great king called Charlemagne
And we’ll leave that point just there they started to support the bishop in Rome he needs his political power somewhere he gets it from the dragon and he gets it from the Franks and they’re going to support his kingdom and when he’s got the Franks there with him
That’s when their territory and their influence starts to grow and that’s the first phase of the Beast and there are two little elements which help describe what this Sea Beast is like the first one in verse six is that they blaspheme against God and the second one is in verse 7 they
Make war with the Saints a blaspheme against God and it’s interesting I think it’s a good little note to write in your margin a good companion quote with the Sea Beast is second Thessalonians chapter 2. where Paul describes the falling away the apostasia as he calls it the apostasy
And the rising up and the revealing of the man of sin the bishop of Rome and look at what this man of sin the bishop of Rome the false Church look what he says he says there shall come a falling away first and the man of sin will be
Revealed the son of position who will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or is worshiped he will sit in the temple of God showing himself that he is God this is what this base system is going to do they’re going to blaspheme against
God they’re going to put themselves in this big Cathedral and they’re going to call it the temple of God and they’re going to say to others I am a God I am God in his place and this is exactly what the Catholic Church did now I’ve put a selection of quotes up here
This is not an exhaustive list trust me from the catholic’s own writings of how they see themselves and in particular the pope himself look what they say the pope and God are the same so he has all power in heaven and earth the pope is of so great dignity and so
Exalted that he is not a mere man but as it were God and the vicar of God the Roman Catholic church has never heard nor will it according to the scriptures ever heard in Gregory the seventh again all princes should kiss the Pope’s feet only for the the Hurricanes of these people
The pope is of great Authority and power that he can modify explain or interpret even Divine laws he can modify Divine teachings the pope can modify Divine Law since his power is not of man but of God and he acts as a vice region of God upon
Earth and this is what this base system is like they blaspheme against God the Pope says I can speak in the place of God and if I decide that I need to change things that are written within the Bible I have the authority to do it that is blasphemy against God God saw
That and said that’s blessed for me to speak those things against me that’s the arrogance of the church and that is not an exhaustive list of the things that they pronounce about themselves and the pope and about themselves and how they see the Pope and they are given political power for 42 years
Now the next phase we have is in verse 11. and it says that they’re another Beast is coming up out of the earth and it’s like a lamb and this base coming out of the earth is in a new phase and it’s got two horns and those horns represent ruling Powers so now
There are two sides to this new Beast previously the Beast had relied on the dragon or another military power to prop it up to have its back but now it’s got two horns it’s now a new military power and this is the new phase that the Beast
Goes through from 799 from 1806 that Charlemagne the Frankish King started to set them up and this is the birth of the Holy Roman Empire that went from 799 to 1806. and their territory morphed over time but it sort of entered up ended up mainly around that Central Europe role
Which have hided there in green where you had an emperor who was ruling out of Vienna a lot of the time and a pope who was ruling in Rome and these were the two dominant powers for nearly a thousand years they ruled the emperor and the Pope and there’s two things by which
This Beast that comes out of the earth is known for first of all in verse 13 and 14 it tells us that they deceive the world with great wonders they’re going to deceive the world and I think this is typical of the Catholic church and any sort of reading
You do into Catholic history they rely so much on their miracles and signs and wonders they are there in their thousands of their relics which hold special powers of their statues that cry and bleed of their thousands and thousands of saints that they have who performed Miracles which people pray to and
Worship now did you know that one of the um prerequisites to be a saint or to be ordained as a saint within the Catholic Church is that you upon your death have had to have performed at least two Miracles so for example one one person who they’re trying to put through
Ordained into sainthood is uh Pope John Paul II and so there are claims that people have prayed to John Paul in heaven and he has healed them of their disease or cancer or whatever the case is and because of that it is attributed that they are working miracles in the Earth
And so therefore they are a saint to which you can pray to and worship to enlight candles Etc and the Catholic history is full of this rubbish signs lying wonders Miracles all of them flying monks you name it it’s it’s all there healing all sorts of things and
Relics all sorts of rubbish it is known throughout time that they peddle this sort of stuff and people are still doing it in the world particularly in Asia and South America they are all over this sort of stuff and the second thing is in verse 16 and 17 that this um
That this system verse 15 would cause people to have the mark of the beast on them sorry verse 16 to receive a mark on them now this is a symbolic thing and it’s a contrast to the sealing of God in the forehead of the Believers the contrast is the mark of the beast
And what this is saying is that they are wanting people to make some sort of formal declaration that they are part of the Catholic Church and if they don’t make that or receive this Mark as it is you’ll be unable to buy or sell or trade
And this is the power that they had I think I was trying to sort of think about a modern day example the church will insist that those two people are baptized into the Catholic Church otherwise you can’t get married in our in our church that’s just a small
Taste of that you take that back to the times of the Holy Roman Empire if you weren’t christened confirmed and regular attending their Mass you would be branded as a heretic and therefore excommunicated and that meant that no one within the community of your town or city or whatever would
Be able to lease a home to you trade with you do business with you you’d be shut out you’d be excommunicated you would be labeled a heretic and the pope would do this to Common People and to nobility it would drive them absolutely crazy you couldn’t do anything unless that man
Told you so that’s the power that they would have over these people and so finally in that chapter in chapter 13 as he’s finishing off that chapter he’s John says John’s shown in verse 18 I’m going to give to John almost a key identifier of this beast in case we’ve missed it
In verse 18 He says here is wisdom let him that has understanding count the number of the beasts now that’s important count the number of the Beast for it is the number of the man and the number is 603 score and six or six six now this is a key identifier
To this Beast system count the number of him so doing some research on this and brother purse in his book I think he summarized it where we said back in in Pagan countries it was the custom to designate some of their pagan gods by the total number of the numerical number
Value of the letters that make up its name erroneous who discourse with polycarp who was a disciple of John he’s mentioned in the New Testament he declared that the name signified Latinos and so it is the suggestions being put forward I think it’s quite a valid one
That the name is in the Greek Latinos which means Latin Kingdom and if you take the numerical value for each of those letters which is something apparently that they did in those times it adds up to 666 666 the Number of the beasts it was a
Key identifier it’s almost as if you get to Revelation 30 thinking oh well who on Earth is this and John said I’m going to give you a value number of it count the number of it count the number and it shows how everyone was desired in
Verse 8 13 verse 8 everyone that dwelt on the earth had to worship that Beast system you had to worship them and and then in contrast in chapter 14 we won’t go into any detail but in contrast is those who have God’s name written in their foreheads and and the chapter 14
Makes it clear this Beast system which was so dominant for 1260 years it’s not going to last I promise you it’s not going to last and chapter 14 shows this Beast system the destiny of it is to be destroyed by Christ now let’s come across to chapter 15 and 16. chapter 15
And 16 is the final wrath of God look at chapter 15 and verse 1. John says that he saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous it’s seven angels having the seven last plagues for in them is filled up the wrath of God and then we’re given John’s given
Symbolically a picture of the temple in heaven the end of the chapter in chapter seven there and out step seven angels who have seven golden vials like those pans that you go panning in to get gold at Sovereign Hill like a big bowl like that that’s gold and it’s full of the wrath
Of God and that’s handed to these seven angels who now walk out of Heaven symbolically and they are ready to pour the final wrath of God upon the Beast system so when we come into chapter 16 which was read for us we have the first five vials are poured
Out now we’re not going to really go into much detail about these first five vials but the Angels come forward and they are pouring these vials on verse two those who have the mark of the beast and verse 10 the seat of the Beast and five vials are chucked down onto the Earth
Onto the people who have the mark of the beast and those that live in the area of the seat of the Beast this is God’s judgments on the Holy Roman Empire and that’s exactly what happened in the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1805. so when we continue on the history from
Last week do you remember in the second earthquake the French Revolution came along and kicked out the Catholic church in a very violent dramatic way that was one of the effects of that in a very violent dramatic way they punished the Catholic church and that is the beginning of the end of the
Beast system and Napoleon would come along and finish them off because what was happening in the 1790s that France was in absolute was in turmoil it was in chaos it was in chaos and one of the threats they had was from the surrounding countries of Europe they
Looked at what was happening in France where they’d kicked out the monarchy they’d kicked out the church and thought oh that’s not good if that comes into our country we’re in big trouble I’m going to lose my position we’re going to lose all our taxes we do not want that
We need to invade France and put King Louis back on the throne and so what they did was they started to invade particularly from Austria Etc so the French needed to fight outside and on their borders to try and save the Revolution and that was where this man
Napoleon this causing in general this arrogant but sort of military genius rose up and was fighting to hold back these Invaders and then started to push out further beyond their their borders and and people have observed that Napoleon’s great successes came within the Holy Roman Empire now I’ve
Sort of tried to map that up on the screen there those red stars are his probably his major victories and the white stars are his failures and in particular in Moscow and in Russia so anytime he tried a campaign outside of Central Europe it was pretty
Much a failure he tried to go down to Egypt to try and follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great and find a passage down to India what happened was the English Navy destroyed his Navy and he basically left his army for dead by the pyramids and snuck back to France
He tried to take Russia and although he did have some victories in borodino and in Moscow in 1812 he retreated and basically left his army to die in the snow he tried again once he was exiled to Elbert to come back and to raise the French up but the English and the Coalition
Defeated him at Waterloo he had no success unless it was in the Holy Roman Empire because that’s where God wanted to be that’s where the wrath of God was poured out against the Holy Roman Empire that’s where he had his great success where he imprisoned the
Pope in Rome where he kicked out the Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna these were the Great successes that he had and they’re the first five vows which described for us from Revelation 16 verse 1 to 11 but we’re not going to be looking in any detail tonight because I want to concentrate
In our last 25 minutes or so on the sixth vial because once we get to the sixth vial we are ticking closer and closer and closer and closer to our time to our time we’re slowly following the unveiling of History towards the return of Christ we are getting closer and closer and
Closer to our time it’s so interesting reading through Eureka and 13 lectures on the apocalypse written by Robert Roberts Napoleon to them was not that long ago it was almost recent history it’s like almost like World War One history to them it was not that long ago and we’re
Now going to come into the period in verse 12 of the sixth vial says there in verse 12 and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof was dried up uh Revelation chapter 9 verse 14 where we have the sixth trumpet part A do you
Remember and God was using the the river Euphrates to hold back those four Angels Do You Remember there was the Mongols the Ottomans those Turkish Powers he was holding the bat and he let them loose and they marched in forward and then the end of what was
They set up the Ottoman Empire so the river here in Revelation 16 the river Euphrates is referring to an Empire a power and in particular it’s referring to the Ottoman Empire which really sort of got their teeth started in 1453 at the fall of Constantinople when the Ottomans came to power
And what this is telling us in the sixth file is there’s going to be a great sign of that Empire like a river is going to slowly start drying up it’s going to slowly start receding back again now history shows us exactly how this happened a slow receding and drying up of the
Empire in 1566 this is the height of the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent what a great name Suleiman the Magnificent this is the height and the extent of the Ottoman Empire and if in 1566 and slowly by slowly that Empire started to receive in 1830 they lost Algeria to
The French In 1832 was Greek Independence in 1878 the Romanians and the serbians claimed Independence in 1881 Tunisia was taken by the French in 1882 the British took Egypt in 1908 the bulgarians declared independence in 1911 they lost Libya to the Italians what a great shame that would be in 1912 was
The Albanian Independence and slowly by Slowly by slowly the extents of that Empire start to recede just like a river slowly slowly driving up and Eureka brother Thomas was so excited about this because they could see it happening in their day slowly starting to recede and recede and
Recede till we get to 1914 1913 at the start of the first world war this is the extent of the Ottoman Empire and World War one is a very significant event in the drying up of the review Fridays of the Ottoman Empire World War one was it was a horrible War
As all worlds of Wars are this was a horrific War it was the war that ended Empires and the rise of nationalism it was a time when the military machines started to be fully industrialized and we and we well know of the hundreds of thousands of young men who were slaughtered
In France and even our own men in Gallipoli there’s no Heroes there’s no Noble victories in World War one it’s just mud destruction and Slaughter it was a horrible horrible thing however in the purpose of God there were some key events that happened with the drying up of the Ottoman Empire
Now the Allies were mostly bogged down we know on the Western Front but after the withdrawal from Gallipoli of the Anzac troops that’s the Australians in new zealanders that’s us down into Egypt their their forces were reinforced by Anzac troops who were able to help in a
Push through the Sinai and up into Palestine now this is really interesting for us because this is where Australia is involved in the sixth vol the Anzac troops played key means against fixed machine gun positions which help them capture the key town and water points of Beersheba
Exciting times as they started to push that ottoman power to recede that Empire they help push it up and up and up and in 1917 the Ottomans evacuated Jerusalem in 1918 which is shown in a picture up there in 1918 the Allied troops defeated three ottoman armies and they took Damascus and Aleppo
And then finally in 1918 was something which was described as the Armistice of mudros which was the defeat of the Ottoman Empire their army was demobilized and the Allied troops marched into Constantinople and after the war in about 1918 the Allied troops started to carve up
Their victories and to hand out all the different territories which they had conquered they had conquered and in the Treaty of Severus they decided that the old Ottoman Empire in particular Anatolia the old Asia Minor was going to be occupied and handed to the French the British the Greeks and the Italians
And the Greeks went on their ships and started to assemble their troops in a bit of a land grab in particular in the ancient Port of Smyrna and this fired up the Turks themselves this fired them up so in 1919 and 1920 under the man Ataturk very famous man in Turkish
History this fired the nationalistic spirit of the Turks and they fought back against the Greeks they pushed him out in the war of independence they eventually got rid of the Ottomans and they set up in 1922 the modern Turkish state that we have here today the Ottoman Empire was
Finished it was shrunk shrunk shrunk shrunk shrunk shrunk until it’s gone the Ottoman Empire is gone it’s no more and we have the national state of turkey that’s what we’ve got today in 1922 a hundred years ago that’s not that long ago a hundred years ago this happened in
Verse 12 that Empire shriveled and dried up to nothing gone in 1922. that’s one of the key events of the sixth vowel so it says there it dried up that the ways of the kings of the East might be prepared now we’re not going to talk
About that this week we’re going to talk about that next week but one of the key things is the second key thing of the sixth vial is John saw in verse 13 unclean spirits like frogs now this is the great thing where you can put in your margin
We have now entered in verse 13 this is our time we have now entered into our time when there’s going to be a social worldwide Movement we are in our time that’s us right there in verse 13 in the sixth vial this is our time and John says that he saw three unclean
Spirits now spirits I won’t go into any detail on that but Spirits we know from first of John chapter 4 verse 1 they are used to describe teachings or doctrines or philosophy and they’re unclean which means they are not holy they are not helping us to draw
Closer to God they are Unholy things there will be these Unholy unclean philosophies that are going to come and they are like frogs it’s an interesting way to describe it isn’t it three unclean philosophies that will be like frogs now in the Bible particularly in the plagues the frogs were known as corrupting
Influences they’re described in the Psalms as one of the plagues which actually killed off the Egyptians was the frogs they’re a corrupting influence and we know that animals in Revelation because they’re symbols refer to peoples and Nations and the frogs in particular was symbolic of the French people
And there’s been historical proof made that right back to the Early times of the Frank Kingdoms in the 500s they used the heraldic symbol of the frogs as the people of France it was Clovis who was the first king of the Franks who used the frogs as his
Emblem because of the marshy areas of Paris of where they came which had a lot of frogs they used the Frog as their emblem now it’s interesting when you go through time with the French it was the nobility who started to adopt the fleur-de-lis but the people
Had the herald symbol of the frogs and even today we still know the frogs we know the French are regarded as the frogs this is their language where I don’t know whatever we’re kangaroos the new zealanders are kiwis the British Alliance that’s all they like to think anyway French frogs it’s a well-known
Thing they’re the frogs so it says there’s gonna be three which I like frogs coming from this area now this was the croaking of the Frog Spirit which came out of the French Revolution of the time of Enlightenment they had the three Spirits or the three catch cries of the French Revolution Liberty
Equality and fraternity this was the cry from the time of the Enlightenment Liberty the right to live without oppression or restrictions equality I have a right to be treated as an equal and fraternity the spirit of a shared Brotherhood that we all have now when you look at those things on the surface
You think well how is that unclean how are they unclean surely those spirits and that sentiment and that philosophy they’re good they’re Noble things and and there’s a good intention behind Liberty equality fraternity perhaps we would agree with that however when you read up of the birth of those Three Philosophers
Fees from that based on the early tenets of humanism these are humanistic sentiments and the problem with humanism is it is a promotion of man and all his ideals and rationality and logic and reason and Science and observation to the deliberate exclusion of God that’s what humanism is and the catch Cry of
Humanist today is I am a good person I will do good in this world without God and that’s what these things mean Liberty equality fraternity they are all pushing that to the exclusion deliberate exclusion of God it’s all about solving Mankind’s problems without God and the spirit of
Humanism is Rife in our world today doesn’t it human rights tolerance social justice democracy Freedom gender equality Racial equality all of those are the tenets of Human Rights and humanism which is solving the world’s problems without God they all seem like great Noble sentiments but they are an unclean Spirit they’re
Not from God they are without God and so we’re told here in in Revelation 16 verse 13 that these three unclean spirits are going to come out of interestingly the mouth of the Dragon the Beast and the false prophet and these unclean spirits verse 14 are going to gather the whole world
To the great day of God Almighty we won’t go in any detail but just mark it down the dragon is the military power remember that supported the beast in the early days that’s the power in Eastern Europe in Constantinople the Beast is the powers that were in central
Western Europe the old stumbling grounds of the Holy Roman Empire and the false prophet well a prophet is someone who speaks God’s words a false prophet is someone who pretends they’re speaking God’s words but really have left God behind they are not speaking God’s words
But they claim to be and I would say that the dominant mouthpiece proclaiming to speak on God’s behalf in the area of Eastern Europe and Central Europe is the Catholic church and their leader the pope so you’ve got these dominant eras of Eastern Europe Central Europe are going to be sprouting out the
Unclean frog Spirits which are going to gather the world to the great day of God almighty now that hasn’t quite happened yet so that’s why I’m saying that is now in our time because that hasn’t quite happened yet but those Spirits have gone out from that area of the world to gather people
Down to the great day of God Almighty now we’re not going to go into much more detail about that we’ll save that for next week but here’s a fascinating thing in verse 15 that while John is carefully noting these things down he’s looking at the dragon and the Beast he’s nutty down the
Frog Light spirits and as he’s writing those things down carefully observing he’s interrupted and I think he’s interrupted by Jesus himself in verse 15 he says John I’m coming I’m coming and I’m coming as a thief blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see
His shame John I’m coming I’m coming once you’ve seen that Ottoman Empire dried up and you’ve seen those Spirits go out into the world to gather people down to the great day of God Almighty I’m coming John I’m coming and I imagine that he grabs John and
Almost shakes him like this I’m coming John it’s going to be like a thief and blessed are the people who watch and keep their garments we won’t turn it up but that’s an echo back to Revelation chapter 3 to the letter to Sardis where there were people who had a who
Had a name that they had a vibrant face but they didn’t their Works were not perfect before God and they needed to hold fast to what they had and repent and change and they needed to Value the garments that our Lord Jesus Christ gives us just like when the priests went into service
In the Tabernacle they were given a beautiful white garment and Priestly closed as they went into service in the Tabernacle they were symbolic of the office that they had of serving God and the relationship they had with God likewise when we are baptized we are in
Christ and symbolically we have put on a garment and Christ says keep that garment look after it wash it when you need to use it as it needs to be used value and treasure that garment you have that relationship that you have in Christ because I’m coming I’m coming
And I want to see you wearing that garment and I don’t want to see your shame and we’re going to conclude tonight in verse 16. they were told that those unclean spirits come down and they gather them into a place which is called in the Hebrew term Armageddon
The last event of the sixth vial arm again any time in the Bible that that word Armageddon appears and the suggestion has been made which I think is a good one and sound but that Hebrew word Armageddon is made up of three Hebrew words armor gay and Don
Which means a heap of sheaves Valley judgment that when you put them together the word Armageddon means in English translated a heap of sheaves in a valley for judgment and once again I rely on brother purse who makes the point that the word Armageddon is expressive it’s not a
Literal Place necessarily but it’s a symbol representative of the Swift overwhelming judgment and the destruction that shall overtake all those who are gathered together against God’s people Armageddon it’s a destruction like they did back in those days they would gather the wheat together they would bind up the sheaves
They were ready for judgment it’s ready for judgment God has been preparing this throughout time getting them ready to this point here in the sixth vial this is our time in the sixth vowel getting them ready for judgment now I’m going to leave it there for tonight
Because we’re going to have to come back next week and we’re going to leave Revelation behind and we’re going to go to the other Prophecies of the Bible to pick up what’s been happening since 1922. when the Ottoman Empire dried up all the way through to the return of Christ the judgment
And then we’re going to get to Armageddon itself
source
