Revelation 17-18 Babylon is Judged

SLIDE 1**When the VeriChip Corporation became a publicly traded company in early 2007-2007, it disclosed that 222- 300 individuals are employees of the VeriChip Corporation in the United States (or patients participating in experimental trials of the device). had been implanted with its product. The VeriChip Corporation has publicly stated that "several thousand" people throughout the world have been implanted with its product. However, the company has not released details on overseas implantation and has provided no independent verification of these figures.

SLIDE 2 Share some background that I thought might interest you.

Babylon began with Nimrod (son of Cush, son of Ham, son of Noah) when he rebelled against God and tried to construct a tower to heavens to be like a god. Doesn’t this sound like Lucifer? The Lord turned their language to babbling and we know the story as the “Tower of Babel.” You can read about Babylon and her kings in 2 Kings, Chronicles 1 and 2, and most all of the prophets. (Remember the wicked city of Nineveh that Jonah was sent to warn of God’s judgment. We can thank Nimrod for that city among other in Assyria.)

SLIDE 3

·        What is Babylon?

·        Babylon the Religion System

·        Babylon the government and merchants

The Lamb will overcome them

The name Babylon is associated with idolatrous religion under Satan’s control. As a religious system, Babylon came into being long before Christianity. The woman represents the idolatrous religion system and the beast represents government and commerce. Both are opposed to Christ, his children, and his kingdom.  Satan uses blasphemy and persecution of God’s people as a means to deceive mankind.
 But the Lamb will overcome them

SLIDE 4**As a daughter of a King we must keep ourselves pure from the pollution of Babylon in our generation. The violence and debauchery in today’s television, movies, magazines, video games, and internet is glamorized. It invades our lives like a virus. Do you know what your  children and grandchildren are watching and hearing?  Small children as well as their parents are seen in restaurants, ballgames, social gatherings addicted to their phones, tablets, and computers. Most eating establishment boast of having WIFI. Several years ago I did not even know what that was. The language, pictures, and situations come over those invisible airways would cause us to cover our ears and eyes, yet they are cheered and applauded by our society. I will admit that I carry my iPad everywhere. I use it to read books and do bible study..I even have the CBS Servant Team manual downloaded. As I work on my teaching, PPT, and search for photos, I use safe search on Google. But I have yet to eliminate all inappropriate images. I shudder to think what filth would cross my screen if I did not use a safe search.

Last week in chapter 16:17 the seventh bowl of God’s wrath was poured out on the city of Babylon.

SLIDE 5 Babylon the Religion System

John is invited by the angel of the 7^th bowl to witness the judgment on Babylon. John is taken in the spirit into the wilderness to observe the harlot riding on the beast. John uses symbols to describe what he sees. As he observes this garish woman John uses the symbol of a harlot for the false religious system of Babylon. The words used to describe the woman and written on the beast are vile, despicable, and depraved.

SLIDE 6 I think the LORD wants us to know how reprehensible and detestable these things are to God so we will be prepared and warned against the temptation of Satan and his promises of pleasure. The slide from artist Pat Malvenko Smith shows a brash and gaudy woman who personifies all that is immoral and wicked in the world. Adorned with gold and jewels and pearls she symbolizes opulence and greed. Holding a golden chalice, verse 6 … I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

SLIDE 7 Warren Wiersbe in Be Victorious compares the false religious system as a harlot who abandoned the truth and prostituted herself for personal gain to the true church symbolized is a pure virgin robed in the purest white while the harlot is arrayed in the purple of royalty and power and the scarlet associated with sin and Satan.

 SLIDE 8  Likewise the beast symbolizing the world system seeking to control the earth dwellers minds and destinies is contrasted to the City of God New Jerusalem, the eternal home prepared for the Bride of Christ. P.151 

The beast in verse 8 is the same we saw in chapter 13 who was, and is not, and is about to rise  from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

SLIDE 9 Lucifer has always wanted to have a throne above God. Now he tries to counterfeit the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we know the Lamb will overcome all of them.

Rev. 1:8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

 Verse 9This calls for a mind with wisdom: Ladies I am depending on the Lord God and His Holy Spirit to interpret my study and fill my mind with the truth.

SLIDE 10 This is one of the most difficult passages for teachers to agree on. This is one opinion. I hope I can shed some light it for you.

From Enduring Word Ministry: David Guzik explains: v. 10-11

·        Five have fallen refers to the five world empires before John’s day: Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia,  Medo-Persia, and Greece or the once listed in Daniel

·        The One-is refers to the world empire of John’s day: Rome

·        The other has not yet come-refers to the one world empire  

The beast is the eighth empire, is also part of the world empire

SLIDE 11 The horns correspond to the 10 horns in Daniel 7,8.  ¹² And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.¹³ These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.

SLIDE 12 ¹⁴ They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful."

They will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them

¹⁵And the angel said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the woman has dominion over all kings, dictators, and nations have been forced to bow down throughout history, is the Babylon.

SLIDE 13 The red beast that the woman rides upon gives the appearance that she is in control of the beast, but actually the woman receives her authority from the beast. The beast is using her as a means to gains power and she will be cast away when she is no longer needed. The prostitute (religious Babylon) is destroyed by "beast and the kings of the earth," who "hate the prostitute" and kill her.

 ¹⁷ For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom to the beast until God's words are accomplished. HCSB

SLIDE 14 God is not sitting idly on the sidelines watching all this action. He is the sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent Creator of the World. He gives dreams to pagan Kings, He hardens hearts and uses men for His purpose. God gives Satan some power but he is limited in what he can do. We know who is in control of our future so why should we fear.

Proverbs 21 :1The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he guides it wherever he pleases.

http://www.discoverrevelation.com/Rev_17.html

SLIDE 15 **Today, which city in the world is most readily identified with the world system? Hollywood? Wall Street? Washington? Rome? In our nation, idolatry is just as strong. It does not have to be a city, a president, or a papal figure. We each have things that rule our lives. Some may be driven for success through a job that takes all you time away from your family. Many young parents will allow the sports and activities of their children to set the schedule for their life. Even if the games are on Sunday. Where will you be when the Lord comes to claim His own. I pray we are doing something to glorify His name and enlarge His Kingdom. Are you prepared for the return of the Lamb?

SLIDE 16 Rev.18 Babylon the government and commerce systems

The destruction of the religious Babylon takes place about the middle of the seven years after the Antichrist declares himself to be God and no longer needs the woman representing the One World Religion. Satan is right where he has longed to be since creation of the world: to be worshipped as God. Satan will use the beast to gain favor and power of the 10 Kings. But he has two personas. As soon as he has achieved his goal, he will cast aside those he has used.

The son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is god. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

He will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome him.

SLIDE 17 In chapter 18 we will read about the destruction of the commercial, political Babylon when takes place at the end of the Tribulation. The symbolism is that she is a city but it much more that one city she is a world system. Imagine the fine goods and extravagant cargo needed to supply the luxurious and affluent lifestyle of the rich and powerful kings. (photo of Tarshish to Solomon)

 For all adulterous based commerce and secular government was begun here at the end the tribulation, God will destroy them all with the seven and last vile judgment in the fulfillment of prophecy in Isaiah 47: I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.

SLIDE 18 another angel comes down from heaven, and the earth was made bright with his glory² And he called out with a mighty voice,"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, unclean bird, unclean and detestable beast.

SLIDE  19 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

"Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues  ;⁵for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her

 iniquities ⁶     Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds;

By now it is hard to believe any Christians survived the reign of the beast. Perhaps some saints bent on saving others have been hidden away. It could also mean that Christ is using this scripture to warn us as he did Lots family.

SLIDE  20 she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her."

Who will weep and mourn for her?

•     Kings who have coupled with her

•     Merchants who gained wealth from her luxurious lifestyle

•     Shipmasters-no one to buy their goods

•     Seafaring men, Sailors-Who will by their cargo?

•     As you look at verse 11 there is a list of her imported goods

Who will celebrate the Lord’s judgment. Those saints under the alter that have echoed through the ages,”When O Lord. “20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her.”

SLIDE  21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, The kingdom of the under antichrist will be utterly destroyed.

**For years I have been told of a sermon deliver over 1200 times by a pastor from SC.

Robert Green Lee  1886-1974 He was born in South Carolina and educated at Furman University in Greenville, SC.  http://www.newsforchristians.com/classics.html

 “Pay Day Someday remains his most famous sermon. First preached as a Wednesday night devotional it still stands as what could only be called a classic. In all, Lee preached it 1,275 times in every venue from small churches to state legislatures to foreign countries. The closing words of that great sermon demonstrate the power of Lee's preaching:”

Slide 22 "Payday - Someday!" God said it - and it was done! Yes, and from this we learn the power and certainty of God in carrying out His retributive providence, the men know that His justice slumbereth not. Even though the mill of God grinds slowly, it grinds to powder. Yes, the judgments of God often have heels and travel slowly. But they always have iron hands and crush completely

Slide 23 Ladies would you choose to take your payday from Jesus Christ?

RG Lee "Payday Someday!"  ... And the only way I know for any man or woman on earth to escape the sinner's payday on earth and the sinner's hell beyond - making sure of the Christian's payday - is through Christ Jesus, who took the sinner's place on the cross. becoming for all sinners all that God must judge, that sinners through faith in Christ Jesus might become all that God cannot judge."

Revelation 15-16

SLIDE 1 Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sings the Song of Moses

SLIDE 2 We ended chapter 14 with the promise of Armageddon. John has told us God is triumphant and now John will give details to these events in the next few chapters.

 Revelation 15: The Seven Angels with Seven Plagues

·        Signs in Heaven (Who What When Where)

·        Seven Bowl Judgment (7 angels and 7 plagues)

God’s judgments are just

Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven wants us to know that God’s paradise prepared for you is beyond description. John has tried to describe it in terms of his day. The first word of chapter 15 John saw a sign, great and amazing and a sea of glass mingled with fire with the martyred saints playing harps and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. We listened to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sing. If you had closed your eyes and imagined the scene in heaven, what a time of worship that would be.

SLIDE3¹Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

²And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire---and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with (martyred) harps of God in their hands.

The WHO would be the seven angels, the martyred souls with their harps, the four living creature, the 24 elders, and an army of angels before the throne of heaven.

SLIDE 4 The sea of glass was represented by the bronze laver that was outside the Tabernacle. Each time the priest would wash their hands before entering, they would see the imperfection of themselves reflected in the shiny surface meant to humble them before the LORD. The Sea of Glass in heaven showed the reflection of God and all these heavenly beings.

The WHAT is the song they sing. Unlike the song last week that only the 144,000 know. Everyone can sing this song. Imagine after the Israelites came through the Red Sea and realized the great miracle the LORD has done.

SLIDE 5  Exodus 15 begins with Moses and the people of Israel singing a song to the LORD. Twenty-one verses end with Miriam, the sister of Moses, praising God. Now we hear the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Fifty-one words: it just the beginning of the worship of the Lord God Almighty.

v. 13 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. Do you think there will be dancing in heaven? David danced in the street to celebrate the ark of the covenant coming home to Jerusalem.

WHAT ³ And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

"Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
⁴Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed."

SLIDE 6 WHERE⁵After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened,⁶ and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.⁷ And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

Remember the throne room in chapter 4: the four living creatures and the 24 elders around the throne. Now one of the living creatures carried the golden bowls full of wrath.

 SLIDE 7 Hope Parks taught the Tabernacle one summer. It was such a blessing to learn how Christ was represented in every part of the Tabernacle. However the Tabernacle was not built until Ex. 40. While in the desert the Moses pitch a tent outside the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Exodus 33:⁹ When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. God told Moses to build the Tabernacle was based on the pattern of heaven, also called the tent of meeting. Behind a thick curtain 4 inches thick was the Ark of the Covenant, sequestered away until the one time each year the chosen priest would go in to offer blood sacrifices for the sins of the people.

SLIDE 8When⁸ and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. Kathy Strieter’s golden bowl prayers of the saints reminds me of the whole sanctuary being filled.

God’s judgments are just

Paul to people of Athens Acts 17:²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

Hebrews 9:24
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.

SLIDE 9** One day a man walking down Clark Street, in Chicago, and playing with a dollar bill in his hand, had it snatched away from him by a thief who ran rapidly ahead toward the river, not perceiving that the drawbridge was open. Of course, he plunged into the river's slime. One might have thought this were punishment enough for stealing only a dollar. But no; when rescued by the police, and again on firm ground, there stood his victim beside him accusing him to the officer, who put him into jail.
The fall into the water was the result of his folly, but the imprisonment in jail the punishment of his crime. Men suffer on earth as a result of their wrongdoing,(that is called the consequences for their action) The unsaved have yet to meet their Judge, and answer before Him for their sin. Hell may now be in their bosom, but, alas, the day is coming when their bosom will be in hell!—Dr. James M. Gray.  Sermonillustrations.com    God’s judgments are just

SLIDE 10 Revelation 16: The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

 I was attracted to this powerful angel by artist, Kathy Strieter. Unlike Pat Smith, Kathy did not sell her images but earns her living by selling paintings. I emailed her and we negotiated the sell of the two images of the angels with the golden bowls in the ppt.

These bowls of judgment are the third woe described in Revelation 11:14 we think at the end of the 7 years, immediately before Jesus' return.

¹Then I heard a loud voice (God) from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."

SLIDE 11²So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

This is an enlarged section from the previous image of the seven judgments by Pat Malvenko Smith allows you to see the number on their foreheads. This relates to the sixth plague of boils on Egypt. Ex. 9:8

SLIDE 12³The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. This photo shows the bloom of red algae on a beach in Sydney.

Similar to the first plague Moses carried out God’s judgment to turn the Nile river into blood.

Revelation 8:8-9 described a partial contamination of the sea. Here the contamination is made complete (every living creature in the sea died).

 SLIDE 13⁴      The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. This photo shows the pollution in the Yangtze River.      ⁵ And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

            "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. ⁶For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!" ⁷And I heard the altar (probably saints under the altar) saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"

Justice requires that the guilty be punished, and those who refused to accept Christ’s payment for their sins will pay with their own lives. They refused the gift of Living Water, and now will be given death to drink.

SLIDE 14⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire.⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

Earth is just the right distance from the sun. God provided the sun to warm us and make our crops grow. He provided is SON for our redemption of sin. In this plague God uses the sun to inflict His judgments. The creation that supports life will now scorch and torture those who did not repent.

Not only is God's justice fair, it is also pure and appropriate.

SLIDE 15¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

This judgment only affects the kingdom of the beast. He is the prince of darkness, there is no light in him. Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The darkness of the fifth bowl is a preview of Hell itself, which is described by Jesus (Matthew 25:30“into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'). God judgments are just

SLIDE 16¹²The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.¹³ And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.

You can imagine not many artists want to tackle this scene. But as I previewed some Medieval literature it seems merge the beasts with their images of dragons.

 SLIDE 17As we look at this map notice how the Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. In May of 2014 the Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akhbar (News)found out that the water level in Lake Assad(a man-made reservoir) has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water.

SLIDE 18 ¹⁴ For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.¹⁵ ("Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!")¹⁶ And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

Once the Euphrates has dried up, the mountains flattened there will be a perfect place for the battle of Armageddon.  The word "Har-magedon" comes from the Hebrew. The word "Har" means "mountain" refers to an ancient site of many battles in Judges and Kings called "Megiddo." Megiddo a hill town above the fertile Jezreel Valley, its strategic position overlooking the one of the main routes used for travel between Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia. It was of strategic importance because it occupies a valley through which armies could march on their various campaigns. Because of the many history-changing battles fought there, Megiddo became a symbol, sort of like our own Alamo or Pearl Harbor.

SLIDE 19⁷The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.²⁰ And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.²¹ And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

SLIDE 20This reminds me of the images from the cross. But from noon, for three hours until the death of Jesus, there was darkness (Matthew 27:45). John 19:30 "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Matthew 27:51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

"Evil communications corrupt good manners" (I Cor.15:33).

Roaming in the woods, some boys found a nest containing two linnet fledglings, which they managed to capture and take home. Securing some plain, wooden birdcages, they put one of the linnets in each and hung them on either side of a canary. They explained to their mother that they hoped the linnets, being so young, would learn to imitate the canary, instead of cheeping as linnets ordinarily do. The mother smilingly questioned the likelihood of the plan succeeding.

The next day the boys entered the room, and exclaimed, "Mother, come here, our canary is cheeping like a linnet!"

And so it was. The canary had to be separated from the wild birds of the wood and kept under cover for a time before he regained his song. Surely there is a lesson here for all Christians. Fellowship with the world does not lead the godless to take the way of the Lord, but generally results in the believer losing his joyous song and taking on the speech and manners of the world.

Will you choose to accept God’s gift of salvation before it is too late?

Plagues in Exodus	Bowls in Revelation 16
6-boils, 9:8	1-earth, sores 16:2
1- blood 7:14	2- sea, blood, 16:3
1- bloody river, 7:14	3- rivers & fountains, blood 16: 4
	4- heat from sun,16: 8
9-darkness, 10:21	5- painful darkness,     16:10
2-frogs, 8:1	6- Unclean spirits, 16:12
7-hail, 9:13	7- air, earthquake and hail, 16:17

Revelation Chapter 14

SLIDE 1 Tuesday a.m. I received the call that my precious friend and lunch buddy had gone home to be with the LORD. As I pondered different reactions to the news I realized most seemed sad or sorrowful. After my Mother lay non-responsive for a week, I prayed for God’s mercy to take her home and take her from her failing tent of flesh. After a lingering disease like cancer, it is such sweet release to be absent from the body.  Lessie is now with her twin sister, Bessie, her son, husband and parents. Face to face with Jesus, what could be better! What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see!

SLIDE 2  Revelation 14

1.     144,000 before the throne

2.     Messages of the Three Angels

3.     Harvest

The hour of God’s judgment has come.

We open chapter 14 in heaven with the lamb standing on Mount Zion surrounded by the 144,000. As with every other chapter in Revelation there can be differing interpretations. Since no one can be sure feel free to form your own opinion.

SLIDE 3

The first dispute was the location of Mount Zion: heaven or earth. I say heaven because the Lamb is there and 144,000 are singing before the throne.

Many teachers think the 144,000 are the same as chapter 7 which would be the 12,000 from the 12 tribes of Judah. Tim LaHaye believes chapter 14 describes a different group. The qualifiers in the first few verses are different from Ch.7.

•         Name of Lamb and the Father on their forehead (not KJV) LaHaye feels the 144,000 of are Christians "purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb." This indicates that their selection was not for the propagation of the gospel on the earth during the Tribulation, but for a special position at the throne of God before Him and the Lord Jesus Christ.

•         Pure( Greek  Parthenos virgin) and faithful (not bowing to the beast)

SLIDE 4  The word virgin here means chaste and is applied to men. Although celibacy is not taught in the Bible, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7: The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. ³³ But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests are divided. Paul hinted in verse 7 that  “I wish that all were as I myself am.”  not married so you can devote your life to Christ.

•         Follow the lamb everywhere (sold out to live only for Christ)

•         Redeemed from the earth (purchased from many nations not just the Jews)

•         Firstfruits of the Harvest of the earth (These were first born again by receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. They have been faithful in completely abandoning their will to the will of Christ during their lifetimes. It appears they have earned their position because of their faithfulness in doing whatever the Lord commissioned them to do.

•         Blameless, not perfect -No lie in their mouth 1Thess.2:10  You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

•         Only ones to know the New Song

Each week Kim text me to tell her the songs I've chosen. Usually a song will enter my head as I do my study. Can you imagine the sound in heaven when the 144,000 are singing their new song? How hard is it for you to sing after suffering a loss?

SLIDE 5 Horatio Spafford prominent American lawyer invested in real estate north of an expanding Chicago in the spring of 1871 when the Great Fire of Chicago reduced the city to ash and destroyed most of Spafford's sizable investment.  In 1873, Spafford decided his family should take a holiday in England knowing that his friend D. L. Moody would be preaching there. He was delayed because of business, so he sent his wife and their four daughters ahead.

While crossing the Atlantic on the steamship Ville du Havre, their ship collided with a British iron clipper Loch Earn and 226 people lost their lives, including all four of Spafford's daughters. Anna Spafford survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to her husband beginning "Saved alone." Spafford then sailed to England, passing over the location of his daughters' deaths. According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, Spafford wrote the famous song "It Is Well with My Soul" on this journey. The hour of God’s judgment has come.

SLIDE 6 Messages of the three angels. Revelation 14:6-13

Throughout the gospels followers of Christ are told to spread God's story.  A command from Jesus to spread his gospel is known as the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Until now no angel has been given this task. By now most of the Christians have been martyred and are removed from the earth. However God is merciful and will give one last chance to anyone who has not taken the mark of the beast. This would have to be people hiding from the antichrist and his regime. Once they take the mark of the beast they cannot be redeemed from the earth. Matthew 6:²⁴ "No one can serve two masters; man cannot serve God and the beast.

SLIDE 7 The first angel declares an eternal gospel message to every nation every tribe, language, and people. He shouts in verse 7 "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."

This angel warns the people to fear God and to give glory to God instead of Antichrist. He must be talking to the faithful ones without the mark. Otherwise, he would be proclaiming a message of doom. The Greek word translated "gospel" (euangelion) literally means "good news." The only way we can offer people hope is to teach the eternal gospel-how to receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. A message concerning only the judgment of God offers no hope.

SLIDE 8  The Second Angel in verse eight tells us that Babylon has fallen with no details. A religious Babylon, the false religious system, takes place in the middle of the Tribulation. “Babylon" is symbolic of the world and its evil system. We will see more on that in chapter 17. If the angel is speaking of the literal city of Babylon, destruction of this is revealed in chapter 16.

SLIDE 9 The third Angel says with a loud voice "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,¹⁰ he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.¹¹

SLIDE 10 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." The hour of God’s judgment has come.

The "fire and brimstone" here is the very same as that which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as the angels saw Sodom burn, they are a witness to this as well. The Lamb (Jesus) is the Judge who speaks judgment. It not only will be in His presence, but He will order this punishment as well.

This "smoke" that comes up rises from the bottomless pit. You see this "torment" is not just for a short time and is over. This is FOREVER just as heaven is forever for the believers. This "torment" is forever.  http://www.discoverrevelation.com/Rev_14.html

SLIDE 11 ¹²Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"

With perseverance the saints martyred for the Lord during the Tribulation. They will be blessed through rest, resurrection, and reigning with Christ during the Millennium (Rev. 20:4-6). They will receive a reward for their works of obedience.

SLIDE 12 The Harvest of the Earth vv.14-20. At first I believed  v.14 that the “one like a son of man” is Jesus himself is sitting on the white cloud with the golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle. Those who adhere to Mid-trib view see the first sickle as being the “rapture” of believers and the second harvest as a judgment of the lost.

In Matthew 3:12 John the Baptist speaks of Jesus “¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

SLIDE 13 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."¹⁶ So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

I don’t like to think of Jesus coming after me with a sickle. I also question whether an angel in v.15 has authority to give instructions to the Son of Man. Pre-tribulation view believes the “rapture” having taken place earlier and perceive both of these harvests referring to judgment of the lost. I really don’t know. Perhaps Michael the Archangel, often referred to as a prince would have a crown and swing a sickle. But either way, it is the second sickle that would cause alarm.

SLIDE 14 Moody Bible Institute's past president George Sweeting told about a student who was befuddled when his professor spoke about the pre-tribulation rapture, and the mid-tribulation, and the post-tribulation rapture; finally the student was in despair.  He folded his arms, sat down, and said, I.A.K.. And the professor said, What does that mean?  The student said, That means I am confused.   The professor said, Confused doesn't start with a 'K'.  The student replied, You don't know how confused I am. This episode of I love Lucy popped into my head as I studied the winepress.

Ladies, the more I study the more confused I get. But one day we will understand it better by and by. “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as also I am known.1 Corinthians 13:12-13

SLIDE 15 Look at Joel 3:13 on the slide. Today God is speaking to the world in grace, and men will not listen. One day he will speak in wrath. The bitter cup will be drunk, the harvest of sin reaped, and the vine of the earth cut down and cast into the wine press. The hour of God’s judgment has come.

SLIDE 16Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but One Day

Phil. 2: ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

SLIDE 17 There are numerous examples in the Old Testament. “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.” (Nahum 1:2)

Until I did a verse search for the cup of wrath and went through the gospel, I was too focus on who would receive the cup of God’s wrath, that I forgot Jesus had already taken the cup of God’s wrath, a cup that has accumulated the fury of God against sins of all types. Heinous crimes, adultery, careless words, dishonoring thoughts, lies — all of it will be punished by God. 

SLIDE 18 Jesus knew extent of this suffering. Mark 14:36   (ESV) And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

This is the cup Jesus drinks on the cross. There, at Golgotha, our Savior drained God’s cup of burning anger. God poured out his wrath, full strength, undiluted, onto his Son. Paul summarizes the meaning of this great event, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

SLIDE 19 Let us never forget the suffering that Jesus endured. As we celebrate the Easter season, remember Christ ask up to remember his death and resurrection. Share your faith with those that don’t understand how much the gift of salvation cost Him!

Will you choose to bow a knee and confess Jesus Christ is LORD before hour of God’s judgment comes?