Steadfast Baptist Church. You can all find your seats when you get started.
Start this evening off in song number 125, the solid rock, 125. For this day,
thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church, for Pastor Shelley and his family and all
the brethren that are gathered here, Lord God. Bless Pastor Shelley with your Holy
Spirit. Come to preach an edifying sermon so we can all be lifted up together. For
your holy name, in Jesus name we pray, amen. Our next song is gonna be 263,
Verily, Verily. 263, Verily, Verily. Song number two. As much coming to St.
Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin, just come by on the inside or
service. Soul winning times. Please make sure you're turning in your soul winning
to your soul winning captains. On the right is a list of several ladies who are
expecting. Please be praying for them. Also upcoming events on the 16th is the
baby shower for the Jacksons. On the 23rd is preaching class. 30th is a soul
winning marathon. We're gonna meet here at the building. So if you'd like to go
soul winning with us, we'll meet here at 9 o'clock in the morning. Go out for a
few hours, have lunch, and then also go in the afternoon as well. So you, and I
would assume all Saturday soul winnings are just gonna be suspended. So regular soul
winning times that are on Saturdays are just gonna join us here. Also we have
Easter the 31st this year. So it's a little bit earlier. That evening service
we're gonna have our communion service. And then on the 9th gonna be an event
for one of our friends Verde Baptist Church. They have a youth rally. So if
you'd like to there should be a sign-up sheet. April 13th is another soul-winning
marathon. It's gonna be happening in Shereveport, Louisiana. And we'll be
heading out there in the morning. It's a it's a great area to go soul-winning.
Down below is the details about the baby shower. If you'd like to attend it's
from 1230 to 230. All ladies are invited. It is for their baby boy. They're
registered on BabyList. If you'd like to RSVP please do so to Ms. Milstead. Also
if you'd like to bring a dish or a dessert to share that's that's definitely
encouraged but you don't have to and it is nursing's only preferred. On the back
we have our prayer list. We usually talk about this on our midweek service. We've
been praying for Brother Hall. We've also been praying for the Cooley's stepdad
for his cancer treatments. Ms. Naeem, we've been praying for her grandmother
for her vision, health and salvation. We've been praying for the Carlson's
mother Rebecca for her health. Also been praying for Ms. Stewart, Ms. Miller's
friend Ms. Tamra for cancer as well. And then we've been praying for Brother
Goodwin for his job and work. So that's pretty much all I have as far as the
prayer list. We'll go ahead and say a quick word of prayer as a church family.
Thank you Heavenly Father for this evening and for all of us to be able to
get be gathered here. Thank you so much for how many ladies are expecting in our
church. Thank you so much for that blessing. I pray that you just be with
them during their pregnancies. Pray that you just bless their children's
development. I pray that you would help them to have a timely birth and I pray
that you'd also help all these people that were mentioned that are struggling
with various illnesses and diseases and sicknesses. I pray if possible you could
just give them just a speedy recovery or give them health. I pray you'd also be
with them during this tribulation. Just give them comfort and peace. I pray that
you'd also help us to be a bold witness to those that need to hear the gospel,
that they could be saved, and I pray they'd also give favor to our church
members that are needing something for their job or work or just financial
blessings. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. That's pretty much all I have as far
as announcements. We're gonna sing our psalm of the week which is 150. Psalm
150. We do have a special handout that has that, or you could even just use the
King James Bible, but Psalm 150. Psalm 150. Revelation chapter number 16.
Bible reads, "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven
angels, 'Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.'
And the first vial went and poured out his vial upon the earth. And there fell
a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and
upon them which worshiped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial
upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died
in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say,
"Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and wast and shalt be, because thou hast
judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou has
given them blood to drink, for they are worthy." And I heard another out of the
altar say, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." And
the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power is given unto him to
scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed
the name of God, which hath power over these plagues. And they repented not to
give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seed of the
beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their
sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial
upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way
of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean
spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of
the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits
of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of
the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into
a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured
out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of
heaven from the throne, saying, "It is done." And there were voices and
thunderings and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great
city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great
Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of
the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were
not found, and there fell upon man a great hail out of heaven. Every stone
about the weight of a talent, and man blasphemed God because of the plague of
the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Let us pray. Heavenly
Father, Lord, thank you for Revelation chapter number 16, Lord. I pray that you
bless Pastor Shelley and fill him with your Holy Spirit, and that we'd be able
to make applicable changes in our lives. Praise in Jesus name, amen. Amen.
Revelation 16, we're getting into the end times judgment. We've got to kind of
that final moments of Daniel's 70th week, and we kind of fast forward,
we kind of fast track in this chapter through that last section where we have
these seven judgments that are being poured out on the earth, and this period
of time is probably, you know, about 42 months minus 75 days because they really
got started doled out approximately after Jesus Christ has reaped the earth,
and that reaping is all the saved at that point in time. So according to the
text, according to the Bible, Christ is going to reap the saved that are alive
and remain, and those that were already dead in Christ or asleep in Christ, he's
gonna bring with them, and that's considered a resurrection. Now that, I
believe, and it seems very likely could be about 75 days after the midpoint of
Daniel's 70th week. Daniel's 70th week is kind of describing the final seven
years of the world as we know it, and so that final seven-year period about
halfway through the Antichrist is gonna declare himself God, and he's going to
make everyone receive a mark in their hand, smaller, great, and pretty much
everyone's gonna be lining up to take this thing except for Christians, and
Christians are gonna be heavily persecuted for not receiving the mark,
for going against the Antichrist. The Bible makes it very clear that the devil
is aiming all of his animosity and wrath towards the saved. He's going after the
remnant of the woman seed, which are the people who believe in Jesus Christ, and
that's what's called great tribulation, a great tribulation period because more
Christians are gonna be slain in that period of time than pretty much any other
time in human history or ever again. And so that's gonna be a major martyrdom of
Christians. Well, immediately following that period of time, we are gonna have a
great judgment doled out. In chapter 14, it talked about that reaping. Chapter 15,
we didn't really change timeline, we were just getting more details. It's talking
about those that are saved us being in heaven, and we're glorifying God, and the
vile judgments are being set up. They're being ready to be doled out, and in
chapter 16, now we're unleashing those vile judgments on the earth. It says in
verse 1, "I heard a great voice of the temple saying to the seven angels, 'Go
your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.'" Now, I would
interpret that essentially the way these things are being doled out is they're
not all being doled out at the exact same time. That essentially there is a
space of time in between each judgment and I don't know that they're all even
necessarily equally spaced but it seems to be when you kind of read the text
that God's rolling out one judgment and a space of time goes and then another
judgment. Very similarly to how the judgments rolled out in Exodus with
Moses upon the Egyptians that they'd be rolled out and there would just be this
time period upon which their experience in the judgment until Pharaoh would
finally ask for it to go and then it would go. However here's the
difference in Egypt those judgments would kind of dissipate these seem to
compound meaning not only did that first judgment get rolled out it's not like
that one goes away and then the second one comes it's like you're still
experiencing one and then you get two as well and then you get number three as
well it's kind of like how interest works at the bank it's called compound
interest and it just it just keeps hammering you it's the same way when it
comes to these judgments that they're they're compounding and so you're not
just experiencing just one there you're experiencing one two and then three and
then four so they're they're being told by God hey go pour them out and we get
this first one now in revelations chapter 8 and 9 we had already read
about certain trumpets being blown and I believe what's kind of happening here is
that essentially have the first trumpet sounding corresponding to the first
vial being poured out now it doesn't say that in in this text because 8 and 9 is
talking about the trumpets and then here it's talking about the vials but when
you look at what's being described it sounds like the exact same event so my
understanding is it's pretty much these are happening simultaneously trumpet 1
and vial 1 but it's not necessarily all the vials being poured out so you kind
of have like trumpet 1 and then vial 1 it says here in verse 2 and the first
went and poured out his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and
grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which
worshiped his image so the first judgment is some kind of a punishment to
those who have received the mark of the Antichrist so we talked about people
getting this mark to buy or sell but think about how short-lived this mark
was because if you got it on day one let's say you got it you were the first
in line to get the mark of the beast you are the number one guy to get it well if
we're right and Christ returns in 75 days think about it it only benefited
him for 75 days and then now it's hitting him like a ton of bricks because
they're gonna get this grievous sore from having received the mark now I don't
know what that means I think that there's a lot of interpretations here one
could be let's just say that this mark really is a microchip that's planted
into people's skin well it could be that there's just some kind of an adverse
reaction to them having this implanted chip that ends up causing them to have
some kind of a horrible sore on that part of their body where that chip is
because God did not design us as computers where we're putting chips in
and out of our body I know that Elon Musk is trying to figure out how to put
chips into people's brains and he thinks they're gonna become superhumans but at
the end of the day you know I would only think it makes sense to have some kind
of a chip or some kind of an implant when you have a physical deformity or
some kind of inadequacy that it's going to try and make better but I think if
you're a perfectly healthy human this is a bad idea you know that they they're
supposing that they can take this neural link or take chips and plant
people's brains that are blind and then give them sight well you know if they
can do that then I don't see why that would be necessarily harmful or wrong
but if someone says hey you have perfect vision but if we put this chip in you
can see even better it's like no I don't want that no I'm not really interested
in trying to tap into what you think is more potential but obviously if someone
suffered brain damage or an injury or some kind of a problem and they're
connecting certain parts of the brain back together albeit through technology
or whatever advances we have in medicine you know I don't think that's
necessarily a bad thing or a wrong thing if they could help people regain use of
limbs through pair they were paralyzed or they're blind or something like that
look there's nothing wrong with that in my opinion theologically but at the same
time God didn't design us to have that so you kind of have to then also accept
the risks of whatever it is you know putting chips into your brain what if it
fries what if it goes haywire could it electrocute you could there be some kind
of a poison that is released in your body due to the toxins or metals that
are associated with this particular chip there's always going to be risk
associated with these type of things so you kind of have to outweigh or measure
what's better is it better to just stay blind or would you like to take whatever
risk or associated with the chance that you may be able to see and that's for
each individual to make up their mind but think about this trade-off for the
people that receive the mark they get to buy yourself for 75 days and then now
they get this horrible sore they're gonna get this horrible punishment and
some people think like why is God punishing me by not giving you know by
making it where I have to be on an earth where I can't buy or sell you know
without this mark but think about it the people that got it are gonna get this
horrible punishment just like somebody you know a child might think why do my
parents want me to save money I got on my birthday rather than just blow all of
it right but you know there's always a opportunity cost to every decision and
there's always a yen and a yang I mean yeah I'm sure if I just spent all the
money I had right now I could have fun for 30 minutes or an hour whatever but as
soon as the money runs out now I'm going to be feeling all kinds of pain and
suffering from having done such a such a thing so it's like hey I want to take
the pleasure of taking this mark or whatever benefit it has you know what
there's always a negative consequence to disobeying God there's always
something you're going to reap from what you sow if you plant wickedness well
you're gonna reap wickedness okay and if you're going to receive this mark God
is gonna dole out a horrible punishment for having received it you know I've
heard some Christians so-called people like John McArthur or other Christians
indicate oh Christians can take the mark and I'm thinking like even if that was
true which that's not true at all anybody that takes the mark is damned to
hell for sure that's what the Bible teaches okay but even if you could it's
not like that'd be a good idea because you're still gonna experience a horrible
punishment for having received the mark even if hell was off the table even if
you could say like definitively you know take the mark and just lie about it and
just pretend like you like the Antichrist even though you don't or
something you know there's a horrible punishment associated with that but
again never take the mark if you're saved I don't really have to worry about
it you're not gonna get it you can't get it according to the Bible so so that's
it's really kind of a moot point but at the end of the day there is gonna be a
horrible punishment to those who take the mark there could be a it could not
even be a chip I've seen another technology called Lucifer Ace it's a
really interesting name okay and Lucifer Ace is a legit is a real thing it's
basically some kind of a dye where it's injected into your body some kind of a
liquid dye and the reason why it's given the name Lucifer Ace is because the word
Lucifer means light bearer and essentially this gel will go in and they
have these little dots these little micro dots and whenever they scan it
with a particular infrared scanner or some kind of a different device it'll
light up and they can see it it's kind of like how if you scan with like a blue
light or something you know how a scorpion skeleton will like glow in the
night similarly they can inject this kind of dye or this kind of maybe I'm
using the wrong word but essentially they're just injecting this kind of
liquid into the body that has these micro dots and they could use a phone
and just kind of scan over it and those micro dots would be something similar to
like a QR code or to a barcode that they can scan and then that's a unique
identifier and then from the computer systems the server somewhere they have
all your data because they have a unique identifier so that gel could be similar
to like getting injections like the COVID shot and then think about the
horrible you know things that have happened a lot of people that have
received that so that could be another option there could be another thing
where God just supernaturally gives them some horrible pain that has nothing to
do with the actual mark it doesn't even have to be related mark and think about
this God does this consistently in the Bible where he punishes wicked people with with some kind of a physical illness
I want you to go to place go to Exodus chapter 9. Keep your fingers. We're coming right back. We're go to Exodus chapter 9
Here's some examples. How about when the Philistines take the ark of God God ends up giving them emirats in their secret parts boy
That's that's a grievous sore and and that's something that's noisome meaning. It's annoying
It's it really is not something pleasant
You don't want such a thing and that's not even necessarily related to taking the ark
I don't think because you have the ark you're just gonna get emirats
That just to me is some kind of a supernatural punishment now there could have been a naturalistic explanation
Maybe God used rats or use some kind of I've heard this and I don't know it could be true
Because I think that they literally like worshiped rats
Maybe they just allowed a lot of rat infestations to happen in their part of the world and their you know cities and
Because of that they ended up getting these grievous sores of emeralds. I don't know or maybe God just literally punished them with that
I'm sure they were into fornication. So it could have spread like wildfire
I mean, there's all kinds of different options there of what God could have done
He also punishes people with leprosy and he does it supernaturally at times you could think about Miriam Miriam
She ends up getting punished by God and there was nothing obvious about something. She did physically
She's just punished by God for having spake against the man of God speaking against Moses
And so by just by speaking against the man of God, you know
God could just punish you with like a grievous sore or some kind of wound
But here's one that's really close or really similar and again the the plagues the ten plagues on Egypt are very
Reminiscent of what we read about here in the end times plagues
But look at Exodus chapter 9 verse number 8 and the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron take to you handfuls of ashes
of the furnace and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh and it shall become small dust in all the
Land of Egypt and shall be a broil breaking forth with blames upon man and upon beasts
Throughout all the land of Egypt and they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh and Moses
sprinkled it up toward heaven and it became a boil breaking forth with blames upon man and upon beasts and the
Magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils for the boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians and notice
some kind of a horrible boil as a result of Moses doing this particular action now again, I don't think that this was
purely
Naturalistic because you you could just take ashes and spring them up
It's not like everybody in the room is gonna get a boil or something like that
God just is using that to as some kind of a
Symbol or some kind of a metaphor of how God's just gonna spread this airborne disease or something
That's going to then avenge just infect the Egyptians and cause them kind of a boil
So God can really do whatever he wants with anything he wants and I would say God
constantly is
Breaking the natural laws that we have like he's just causing all kinds of things to happen that would not happen naturally
so, you know, it's important to
Not think like well, there's no way for God to punish me naturally speaking. Okay, but he can get you supernaturally
It's like hey, I'm a perfect health. I don't do anything unclean. I'm not around anybody that's disease
But then God could just sneak a disease in there and get you anyways if he wants to you know
There's there's no way to escape God
And so instead of just being so concerned with the natural sometimes sometimes it's better
Just be concerned with the supernatural and being right with God and so go back to Revelation chapter 16
I wanted to show you that I'm not gonna forsake a time go to every single one of these parallels
But almost everything that we read about here is gonna have almost a direct parallel to some of the plagues that we read in
Exodus chapter, you know all those different chapters
There's several different chapters there, but those ten plagues that are read about in Exodus
It says in verse number three and the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea and became as the blood of a dead
Man and every living soul died in the sea now if you read this in parallel
With chapter 8 keep your finger just flip to chapter 8 for a second. It's not saying literally everything in the sea
It's just saying everything in that that portion of the sea
So in Revelation chapter 8 look at verse 8 and the second angel sounded
So this is that trumpet and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea
Became blood and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships
Were destroyed so notice when we compare scripture with scripture in Revelation chapter 16
It's saying everything dies, but that was within the context of that portion of water that became blood
So it's saying the portion of the water that became blood which is a third
that's where everything in that section died and was destroyed and that's an important just
principle to always
Remember that sometimes when the Bible uses words like all or every that there's still a context around that and that we want to
Make sure that we're understanding the context upon which the all in the every are used
Sometimes the Bible uses all in every and just literally all in every of course
Calvinists like to think that the word all never means all but of course it does mean all in certain context
But we don't want to then also say that there isn't context because there is always context
We always want to make sure we understand Bible and in scripture in
The framework of the context upon which is given and we want to compare scripture with scripture
Because sometimes not all the context is provided in one passage you have to use multiple passages to get the correct
Context overall and then apply those verses we see in verse number
6 it says well, let's read verse number 5
Do we reverse for it?
let me I'm sorry verse 4 and the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters and
They became blood and I heard the angel of the water say thou art righteous the Lord which art and was and shall be
Because thou has judged us for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and thou has given them blood to drink for they are
Worthy and I heard another out of the altar say even so Lord God Almighty
true and righteous are thy judgments so in the third it's kind of similar we had a section of the
Sea turn into blood then now we have rivers and fountains of water in the previous
in the previous
Judgment if you'd read
Chapter 8 verse 8 it was this great mountain burning now. I kind of leaned towards that's probably some kind of a
Asteroid or comet, but it could be interpreted as maybe just like a volcanic eruption. It could be either
I I don't know exactly which one that is but essentially it's some kind of
Natural phenomenon mixed with a supernatural phenomenon in the sense that we have an actual real object
Being dumped into the sea here. We just kind of have you know a lot of the water is just turning into
Blood and I don't know exactly, you know, what's the what's the cause of this but he's the emphasis is
On the fact that they are killing people and shedding blood
So then God is deeming it righteous to give them blood to drink and you know
It's it's interesting because God likes to judge things with a equitable judgment like hey your blood for your blood
I'm gonna give you blood eye for an eye and I'm gonna talk about that towards the end of my sermon
but we see those in heaven praising God for being a righteous judge and
It's emphasized in verse 5. It says and I heard the angel of the waters say and it's interesting the angel of the waters
I don't know what that means, you know, but you know the angel of the waters said this thou art righteous
Oh Lord, which art and was and shalt be because thou hast judged thus now
I really like this verse and I like this phrase and what's interesting is this particular phrase is
Kind of exclusive to the King James in a lot of ways
But think about what's being said when it says art which art that is a present tense
Statement so what the Bible is saying is God is currently right now. He is righteous. What is righteous?
doing right doing right then he says next and
Wust Wust is alluding to the past saying that not only is God righteous right now
He was righteous in the past too when at all times there was never a time when he wasn't righteous in the past and
Currently there's nothing about God. That's not righteous. He's currently righteous
And then this is what I also like about it
And it says this and shalt be meaning also in the future
Infinite God's always going to be righteous. So there's never a time when God wasn't righteous
God currently is righteous and there's never a time in the future when God will not
Be righteous. God is always going to be righteous
He's always going to do right and you know
This is in stark contrast to what people think about themselves going to heaven
They'll say you have to repent of your sins to be saved
But you know by saying that you could say that let's say someone truly repented of their sins, which is impossible
But let's just say someone did and of course you could be in a current state of not sinning, right?
Now, this is what I've heard some people say they've said well if you can hold
If you can, you know with abstain from you know
Doing something bad for five minutes
Then you could abstain from doing something bad for the rest of your life, right?
If you could not be sinning right now and I'm like, okay
Let's try that to other things. How about can you hold your breath for five seconds? How about five minutes?
How about the rest of your life just because you can do something right now
Doesn't mean you're going to be able to sustain that forever in the future
Okay, and those who believe in this repent of your sins one thing that they're definitely not is they the worst
If we're going to say your righteousness were you righteous in the worst category and it's no
Because you sin in order to repent of your sins means you had to have sinned meaning in the past you were not righteous
And here's the thing god's not going to let anyone into heaven that doesn't have perfect righteousness
It's not like oh what about your present state your present state is meaningless
Because the only way you get into heaven is righteous in the past present and future
And that's no one for all of sin it comes short of the glory of god
The only one that's holy the only one that's righteous the only one that art and was and shalt be is god almighty
And of course we we can be present righteous and when we're completely redeemed we'll be future righteous
But you know, we'll never have been the worst we'll never have been the worst category because we've been redeemed
We've been saved so that makes god unique that makes god
Completely different than the rest of us. He's the only one that's holy
That's what we read in chapter 15. Remember verse four for thou
Only art holy only god and what is holy set apart different unique
special and sanctified
This is what these words mean the same thing set apart
Sanctify holy all mean the same thing. They're used interchangeably and god is set apart
God is sanctified
God is holy god is the one that's righteous and the cool thing is god will never
Not be righteous. He always was is and shall be now if I read this in the niv, which I have to use my phone
Sorry, I don't like to carry trash around with me
But if I read the niv in verse number five
It says then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say well, they had to add that charge there
Okay, you know you are just in these judgments. Oh, holy one. It's so weird
You who are and were but you know what? They don't put the shout be and pretty much all modern versions don't do that
The esv it says and I heard the angel in charge of the waters say
Just you are oh holy one who is and who was so again like almost every other
Modern version takes that and this is what most people say like oh the king james is an error here
And they make a big deal about this particular passage
And this is a very controversial passage when it comes to the king james only position
But you know what? I like this doctrine. I like what the bible is saying here
You know what it resonates with the holy spirit inside of my heart and you know, what doesn't resonate with my heart
Oh, holy one, you know, this doesn't really it doesn't really have the same ring to it
Okay, and look obviously god is considered the holy one and there's nothing wrong with that language
It's not like that language is bad or any way, but you know what the way the king james says it is just
It just sounds better. Okay
And you know what they say? Oh, so you're gonna just pick the bible based on how it sounds you got it
Right, you know my sheep hear my voice. You know what jesus said? Hey, they're not gonna follow a stranger
They're not gonna follow the voice of a stranger. So you better believe that I judge bibles based on what they sound like
You just think it sounds better because it does sound better. I don't even think it sounds better. It objectively sounds better folks
Okay, the king james bible is um is a majesty. It's a masterpiece
There's nothing like it
I don't think you ever could craft a bible like this ever again in english
I'm not going to say that the bible couldn't be a masterpiece in other languages because I believe it's a masterpiece in every language
But at the end of the day, it's locked in and settled for the king james bible. It's locked in and settled for english
We don't ever need to change. We're never going to change and we love every word of it
You say well, there's not a lot of evidence for that verse. Well, you know what? I like it
Oh, like you're just you're just trusting what the translators did. Well, you know, why did the translators put it this way?
I mean you really think that uh
They were just willy-nilly with the scripture the effort and energy that they put in for seven years
They're just like they've got all the way through the bible and they're just like towards the end
They're just like, yeah, let's just wing it, you know, like let's just start making stuff up at this point
No, obviously they they took their time and and they studied and I would
Object to the translation committees of many of these modern versions
They have literal sodomites on some of their committees and the people that were working for them
Okay, so, you know you can you can uh, like it or lump it
But i'm gonna stick with the king james bible no matter what and frankly speaking
It's funny to me that they'll get really mad and they'll act like how dare you use the king james bible because of this
And i'm thinking like well, did did we really change any doctrine?
Did we really do anything major to the text and like we sneak something in whereas they literally will just take out whole verses
whole sections
Whole paraphrases. I mean just just taking all kinds of things out of the scripture and and things that affect doctrine specifically
And it's like this only just made doctrine the doctrine better. Okay, so if we're going to compare the differences
You know our differences that they get mad about are meaningless
They're just a nothing burger and then the differences that we point out actually affect major doctrine and they affect what what people believe
And so I think it's really obvious that this is the bible, you know, the king james bible
That's why we only use the king james bible
That was a side point
All right
Let's keep reading here verse 8 and the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun and power was given unto him
To scorch men with fire and men were scorched with great heat and blaspheme the name of god
Which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him
Glory now. I think it's also interesting in verse 9 when it talks about them being
Blaspheming the name of God. It sounds like they know where this is coming from, right?
I mean if you have this horrible thing happening to you and you're blaspheming God
It sounds like they are making the connection that these things are a result of God
It doesn't sound like there's a lot of atheists at this point
You know what I mean, but I would even submit today
Atheism is just a dumb thing because they know God exists
They just want to pretend like he doesn't and think about it this way
Just blasphemy in and of itself is just such a proof text of God's existence
Because people when they're upset and they're gonna blaspheme
Why wouldn't why wouldn't they say like Joe Biden or Adolf Hitler? I mean think about it if you're an atheist, okay?
Almost everybody hates Hitler like pretty much everybody thinks he's a horrible person or maybe Charles Manson or
Maybe it's Donald Trump, you know depending on who you are
One of those three you probably hate if you're an atheist, right?
I'm sure that there could be someone else but they don't they supposedly don't believe God exists
But they do know all three of those people existed for sure
So when they're mad, why wouldn't they use that person's name as an expletive, right?
Wouldn't they say like oh Donald Trump, you know or or Hitler and
Because you know, they know that that's at least like a real person that was bad in their mind, right?
And so I'm just saying like why wouldn't they say that? Why wouldn't they say Allah, right?
Or why don't they say, you know, some Hindu god Vash, you know something Vashmu or who is probably a Pikachu character?
So, I don't know. Why don't they use why don't they use some of those things, right? Or even then they're science fiction
They've got their villains or something that they don't like all Vader Darth Vader or something, right? Maybe they like Darth Vader secretly
I don't know, but you would think like why wouldn't they use any other thing?
Why do they use the name of God?
You know why because they know that it's real and because it's real it has power and they like
Blaspheming God's name. They want to blaspheme God's name and they know that it's real. They're not like Oh flying spaghetti monster
They don't say that and and the reality is when someone blasphemes
It's typically not something that you think about you didn't make a conscious decision, you know what happened?
It just put your heart poured out real quick. We just got to see a glimpse of what's actually inside here
Because you smash your thumb with a hammer. You don't have a second to think about it
You know, it just cut your heart comes out immediately. Okay, and what is in their heart the blasphemy towards God?
They hate God in their heart. That's why blasphemy even as a thing
You know if there was no God if the if the God of the Bible wasn't true
Then people would not be consistently blaspheming the name of God when they're angry upset or in these moments of passion
The reason why they're blaspheming God is because they know that God exists and they know when these plagues are happening
That is a result of God that's happening
Now again, I'm not gonna say that during this period of time that there isn't still some level of deception
They may still if you ask them on the street say like hey, who's doing these plagues?
They might say it's the two witnesses in Jerusalem
And I still think that's a kind of a valid way to interpret all this
But the reason why they're blaspheming God is because what's eking out of their heart
They know it's from God in their heart, even though they may not admit it. They're still kind of deceived
They're still kind of confused on this particular issue, but notice again. They're not blaspheming some false. God. They're blaspheming God
Okay, and he's the one that has the power over these plagues. They're also not repenting
You know some people would think like oh well if you go to hell then you'll change your mind
But you know, they're kind of living like a hell on earth and they still don't change their mind
Notice that their hearts are hardened another way to word. This is their
Reprobate some people also don't understand the rep rebate doctrine people that are in hell are
100% reprobates like there's not a non reprobate in hell now again some people are reprobate before they get to hell
But at the end of the day everyone in hell is a reprobate. It's not like they're redeemable
There's no getting out. There's no purgatory
it they've been completely rejected and they hate God says in verse number 10 and the fifth angel poured out his vile upon the
Seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they nod their tongues for pain and
Blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds
Hey, I'm noticing a pattern more punishment. They blaspheme God and don't repent more punishment
They don't they don't repent and they still blaspheme God what you you want to know it
Hell's filled with a lot of blasphemy towards God and a lot of not no repentance
Okay, and again the repentance here is in the fact that they won't accept the gospel. Okay, that's what it that's what it is
Okay, even though of course, they're also gonna keep sinning now again
There's a conflation here because you know we get saved
We have the Holy Spirit inside of us and we have the new man and the new man doesn't want to sin
And so many times if not most of the time when someone gets saved they do make a change
Now you think do you have to make a change? No our change is automatic
Absolutely, not do you know what people make changes the people that got saved?
Those are the people that do repent of their sins
Okay
the reason why they're not repenting of their sins is because they're not getting saved because they're not putting their faith in Jesus Christ because
You have to first cleanse that which is inside before the hour could ever be cleansed
That's why people that are not saved aren't really repenting of their sins and don't clean anything up
It's fake or temporary in their particular situation
And so, you know these people are gonna have no hope unless they believe in Jesus Christ verse number
12 and the six angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water there was dried up in the way
of the kings of the East might be prepared and
I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out
Of the mouth of the false prophet and they are the spirits of devils working miracles
Which go forth under the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to battle of that great day of God
Almighty now again, it's really interesting the pictures here
We see frogs coming out of the mouth but but notice it says this in verse 13 and I saw three unclean spirits
Like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon
I think that this is again something that's kind of similar to how the Bible talks about how the Holy Spirit
Descended upon Jesus Christ as a dove or like a dove that it's not like a dove came down from heaven
It's the manner in pawn which it came out. So it seems like these spirits maybe move
Like a frog and frogs have a very specific movement pattern
Don't they they they hop in a very interesting pattern? So perhaps the way these
Spirits unclean spirits move is they kind of move in some kind of a hopping
Style or manner and that's what's happening or you know, it could be their description as far as their physical description
I think it's most likely just the manner in which that they move
I think something that we can take note of here is also the fact that unclean spirits are controlling men, right?
I mean we see them saying these things and these unclean spirits are going out and then they're controlling people
I think it's to represent the the reality that false doctrine and bad things that people say affect people
You can't just be unaffected by false preaching by lies by deception
It has an impact on people and so it's important that we combat false teaching
You know the Bible talks and emphasize the idea of shutting the mouths of people like we want to shut their mouths up
Because they shouldn't be saying nonsense false doctrine false teaching
Because the more that they open their mouth the more the unclean spirits is pour out of their mouth and say things
in the Old Testament you have
certain prophets having
Unclean spirits come unto them and they preach lies unto the king they preach lies unto the king and they get rebuked by Micaiah
The man of God and he's saying hey, he the the other man guy gets upset. He's like hey
How are you talking about this unclean spirit coming into my mouth?
You know, but you know literally there are literally unclean spirits pouring out of the mouth of false prophets a day
Kenneth Copeland and TD Jakes and all the freaks that live in this area just
Constant unclean spirits being poured out of their mouths and they affect people also notice that we're not really fighting
Always a flat a flesh battle. We don't war against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers
Against these unclean spirits. Okay, it's it's you know, again people will say everything is the Jews fault or something like that
But it's like it's not really the physical Jews
It's the problem is the problem that they're vessels for these unclean spirits
It's that they're being led by the prince of the power of the air the devil and the devil is using them as minions
But you know, it's not like literally every single one of them
I'm sure there are some Jews that could still be reached with the gospel and still get saved
It's just certain people and and really high positions of power and authority that have basically just given themselves over
To allow you know demonic spirits to take control of them. I think that's how the book of
Twilight was written the author like literally said that she would just at night just kind of open herself up and
allow this spirit to visit her in the night and they had this like relationship or something and then she would just write down like
Whatever this spirits telling her and it's just like these demon spirits are just giving these Hollywood actors and actresses
Their scripts and their movies and their ideas and their songs. I mean, why do you think like almost every
major rock band their music is just like pure Satanism and
In fact, even the band names themselves are often very antichrist very god-hating names
I mean you can think of a band like Pantera
Which you want to know why Pantera so Satanic because it's found in the Talmud and the Talmud
Literally calls Jesus Christ the son of Pantera
It says like Ben Pantera which Ben is like son of and Pantera is the name of a Roman soldier
that they believe committed adultery with Mary and
Caused Jesus Christ to be brought forth and so they literally just use this name Pantera is like a cuss word
To talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and then it's some coincidence right that a rock band in America is named Pantera
No, no, it's not a coincidence folks avenged sevenfold. You want to know where that comes from? Oh, yeah
It talks about from people in the Bible being cursed by God for killing people and how they're gonna be avenged Cain was avenged
Sevenfold if anybody killed him, you know, it's a weird mark on them saying that they're evil and that they're satanic and that they're a
Reprobate, why would you literally want to take that name? I mean Judas priests
I wonder that one's a pretty hard to figure out, right? I wonder where that guy got that name from, right?
I mean virtually all of these people are just pawns of the devil
there are unclean spirits that are literally leeching onto and taking control of these people and
Manifesting themselves in these people and then they're celebrated at the Emmys at the Grammys at all of these award shows
Look, it's just a demon filled satanic ritual
I mean, why do you think they become so satanic as of late? I guarantee a lot of them are literally demon possessed
Many of the Hollywood celebrities and and people that are looked up to in our world the idols
I mean think about it the idols of the Old Testament were literal rocks and stones and what the Bible says is when they were offering
Sacrifices under those idols they were actually worshipping devils. And here's the thing the Hollywood celebrities of our day are literally called
What idols there's a show called American Idol and let me explain something
They are demon possessed and when you're worshipping
America's idols the Hollywood idols they you're often not even worshipping that person
You're worshipping a literal devil and unclean spirit. Oh, but I got their poster on my wall
Oh, but I love all the things they do. They're such a good actor
You want to know why they're such a good actor because they're not even in the driver's seat folks
Because there's a literal demon doing all the acting for them acting all crazy and satanic and weird and perverted
All the smut and the filth of these people do and are into you're like you just you just they're envious
I'm not envious of being demon-possessed and being in their little pedophile club. I'm not interested
but let me tell you something there are real demonic spirits out there that are controlling people and
We combat them with this the sword of the spirit the word of God. We are fighting a war of words
It is not a flesh battle
We need to preach the gospel and you know what gets people out of demonic possession the gospel of Jesus Christ
you know it stops people from ever being possessed preaching the gospel and getting them saved and
We want to make people say before they become reprobate because they can get if they keep hardening their heart and no one comes to
Help them soften that and get that right. It'll get so hard that it'll never be fixed. Just like these people
I mean we read we keep reading about people where their heart just it's broken at this point
It's just become too hard and it's not going to ever accept the gospel verse 15 behold
I come as a thief blessed that he that watches and keepeth his garments lest he walk
Naked and they see his shame now
I believe that this verse it's kind of interesting because it says behold I come as a thief, you know
Obviously we've already had the rapture that's already happened
And I think it's accurate to label that the second coming because the Bible describes in the text as Christ
Cumming with clouds. So the the word coming is used for that reaping event
But I don't think that that means that like he can't ever come again because if you think about it
He comes with clouds he reaps us
But then we're still in heaven with the lord and he has 144 000 going out with him for this period of time
There's another coming that's actually mentioned in scripture
And that's going to be this battle of armageddon when he's coming and I believe that's what's being alluded to here
He's talking about that specific
Arrival some people will uh, you know reject pre-trib, which is great
But then they kind of subscribe to the second coming being what's called post
post-tribulation post-tribulation
But not pre-wrath. Okay, we're post tribulation pre-wrath
But there's also like a post-tribulation post-wrath view when I was growing up
That was the only view I ever heard about so anytime I ever heard post-tribulation
I always heard this view where basically when christ comes on the horse, that's the second coming and that is when
You know again some people disagree on that even being a rapture or not
I don't want to get all these fringe views, but that is another view that's out there
I think it's just more accurate to understand that the bible is not putting numbers here
It doesn't say anywhere the second coming
And it's not saying the third coming or the fourth coming or any of those kind of things
It's just he's gonna we have to read everything in a context, right?
And we've already established the timeline and this is already post the the rapture
We've already established that so it can't be talking about the rapture
Okay, so I believe it's just alluding to when he returns from heaven
He comes with the white horse into the battle of armageddon now
Then he says behold he comes in thief. Why is he coming in thief?
Well, the whole world is rejecting him and doesn't really believe in him
So to them he's going to come as a thief
Okay, also helps it to me again. This is another verse that kind of helps me think that i'm right
That the world is kind of deceived into believing the two witnesses is kind of the cause of everything because in their mind
If you kind of get the timeline all these plagues are happening during their ministry and their witness and then everybody's gathered here
And then they overcome the two witnesses and they kill them and they're rejoicing and giving part
they're like they're partying thinking like sweet and then what happens all of a sudden armageddon and it's like
He comes on them like a thief right because they're unaware of what's going to really happen
And he's just he's coming upon them now
It says here blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they shall see his same
I think that of course this verse we can take application from but it's probably geared towards those who
End up getting saved during that period of time, you know, the 144 000 are going out preaching the gospel
God willing many people will still get saved in that horrible period of human history
But also that they'll continue
Serving god, you know being clothed is often a picture of righteousness in first john
Let's go there for a moment. I think it's chapter two the last part of chapter two first john chapter two
It's just a few pages of the left
Yeah, look at verse 28 the bible says this and now little children abide in him that when he shall appear
We may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming
you know, there's a possibility to be embarrassed when christ returns and
The parallel here is being naked right if you showed up at church
It's like good job you come naked. That's embarrassing. Okay, right
Like so it's kind of in the same vein of the sense that like hey christ is back. It's like cool, but you're naked
So you're kind of like embarrassed that you're not in a good state that you're not clothed and often that clothing is a picture of righteousness
And so just kind of illustrating the importance of being righteous even when christ returns
You know some people think like I just want to go and hide until christ gets back or hide during these periods of time
But you know what it's better to be having righteousness and doing right and not be
You know living for yourself. You're going to be embarrassed
There's going to be some level of shame associated with that the bible talks about the judgment seat of christ
Which is not this period of time?
Right this moment
But there is going to be a judgment seat and I believe that the judgment seat is most likely that like day one of the millennial reign
Okay
So you you could argue that it's maybe at the rapture, but I don't really believe it's at the rapture
I believe that essentially we get rapture resurrected
Then he's going to come down and we're going to have we're going to enter into the millennial reign
And as christ is setting up his kingdom, that's when he's going to reward all of us
That's when we're going to literally inherit the earth and we're going to receive our recompense of what we did
Okay, and so I think that there's kind of a two-fold
Aspect of the reward that's when we really get to realize our reward
That's when we get to have them and so it's going to be a blessing to those who what?
Actually had something to be rewarded by as opposed to those who I just made it by the skin of my teeth, right?
And I don't really have anything, you know
It's going to be those that have their gold silver and precious stone that are going to really rejoice in the judgment of christ
Now the judgment of christ the judgment of christ is not going to have any kind of bringing up of sin
It's not going to be you know, your sins are separated as far as the east is from the west
But you could have no works that were good. They were of no eternal value. And so therefore they're burnt up
They don't really benefit us anything and so therefore you made it into the millennial reign
You're there with us
But you're not as greatly rewarded and then there's going to be some people that I would argue are going to be inheriting 10 cities
They're going to be inheriting, you know large sections of the earth as part of their domain
I don't know how it works a lot of speculation
But for sure there's going to be rewards and for sure we're going to experience the rewards of our work in the millennial reign
Of christ, okay, and so it's important to have been doing right and especially even for these people
Who do you think of people that survived through all this and now christ has come down and we're into the millennial reign
Which of those people do you think is going to reward the better or allow them to have the most of power and authority?
It was the people that were doing something in that period of time
Not the people that were just living it up and and taking advantage of sinning in that period of time
Verse 16 and he gathered them together in a place called in the hebrew tongue armageddon notice the word hebrew
You know the bible emphasizes hebrew in greek verse 17 and the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air
And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done
So we have we have the different plagues and essentially we talked about four rivers and fountains water turned to blood
Eight somehow the sun something happens with the sun and it causes even
More heat. So if you thought texas was hot just wait, all right
Then the fifth was darkness kind of reminiscent of those plagues that we read about in egypt
Perhaps, you know the bible talks about the sun being darkened and maybe just the way that the sun's darkened or however that works
It just kind of affects that section of the earth
So it's just like if you're in the middle east you're just in darkness no matter what as a result of some cosmic
Change that god has performed also the euphrates is dried up as that six punishment
So that great army can be gathered together for that armageddon and then in verse i'm, sorry the seventh one
You have a great earthquake being mentioned. It says such a great earthquake
In verse number 18 and there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake
Such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great
And the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before god
To give under her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath
This is really interesting says in verse 20 and every island fled away and the mountains were not found
Did you notice there's this like interesting little tidbit it says in verse 18?
And there's a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake
It doesn't say like forever like this is just the greatest earthquake that's ever happened
It's like as long as men were on the earth and then it also has an indication here about islands
Disappearing and mountains not being found now again. I don't know. This is just a thought
There was a topography change of the earth before men were on it where essentially the dry land appeared
The dry land came up and all the water was gathered together as seas because the bible talks about at first
The entire earth surface was covered in water and how the spirit of god was moving upon the waters
Okay, interesting how the spirit can move upon waters when he has no body. That was a joke. Okay, obviously
That's for those people out there that don't think god has any kind of shape or form. All right
How do you move without a shape or a form? I don't know how that works. Okay, but anyways
somehow something happened with the earth and land came out and that caused the
Water to essentially gather together and seize you know that tells me a couple things number one
There must have been enough water already on the earth and exposed to cover the entire earth
Because it's literally saying there was a period of time where literally the entire earth was covered
But here's the thing as you raise
Certain elements of the earth or the topography you can now have a change in how the water settles
Okay, and then you essentially have a topography change
apparently there's another topography change now here's the thing as you take land if you
Raise it up if you're raising portions. What's happening is the surface area is condensing. It's getting smaller
So as the surface area is getting smaller
That's making the waters go down. Okay. I'm sorry
Yeah
Go down because they have more area to cover
Right think about it in order to push the land up if i'm if I had the land by my hands
I got one side of an island and the other side and i'm pushing it up
The earth's going upwards right? It's kind of going in this upward trajectory
But then there's more space now that that water has to cover so what happened the water level is it would it would go down
It would recede a little bit. Okay, so what would be the opposite effect?
What if I took the mountain and I start pushing the mountain down?
Okay, well then the the land's going to stretch out this way and it's going to compact the water
And it's going to cause the sea level to what rise?
so if
You have every mountain
Descending down and making it more level. What would that cause?
Well, it would cause sea level to rise and you know what happens when sea level rises islands disappear
Okay, because islands are very very close to the sea level
There's if you've ever been on an island, you'll notice it's really close
It also you know a lot of coastal areas might be impacted by that if the sea level is greatly and dramatically
You know rising so I think that's just what it's describing
It's basically somehow the topography of the entire earth
I mean the earth's just shaking and rattling and the plates are moving and essentially just
Mountains that everything's just kind of leveling out and as a result of that
It's causing islands to even be covered in water. It says
In verse 19 and the cities of the nations fell. It's like god god's just in one single move just basically just
Re-configuring the earth. I mean by just just the earth shaking
I mean it doesn't matter how much steel and rebar and everything you have in the earth
This kind of an earthquake it just it's all going to be rubble just everything is just wiped out
Everything is destroyed the entire earth is going to be completely different
So whatever you build is not going to last folks
I mean, I don't care what structure you build the statue of liberty is coming down
Okay
Every idol and every graven image and every building trump tower is going down every the white house
Is going down the burj kalifa boom. I mean it's coming straight down folks
It's all just going to be destroyed and all just turn into rubble every single last one
Every section every city is just falling and it even says the great city was divided now again
What's been the context here so far?
Well, if you noticed in verse number 10
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness
We've been talking about the beast and his kingdom. Where's his kingdom?
Well, his kingdom is basically set up where the temple of god is the holy place. That's where he went and blasphemed
So that's jerusalem. So I think it makes perfect sense
And I think the bible leads to the idea of this great city being jerusalem where the antichrist is set up
It's his kingdom and god is judging that particular city. He's already been judging it
It's not like he started judging it just now. He's been judging it. That's where the beast is
That's where the darkness is that's where everything's been focused. Everything's been focused on the middle east
It's been focused in on jerusalem. That's where I guarantee the vast majority of people have marks
That's where the vast majority of the locusts are that's where the two witnesses are that's where the darkness is
I mean if you're going to say where is god's judgment just like emphasize and focus
It's just like jerusalem jerusalem jerusalem jerusalem jerusalem. I mean just everything's happening here. It's the focal point
It's the epicenter of everything that's been happening, but now it's done now
We're over what happens then every other city just gets a quick judgment of rubble. And then what does the bible say it says in?
Verse number 19 and great Babylon came in remembrance before God now
Why in the world would it bring up this idea of remembrance first of all let's think about it
Obviously, this is kind of tongue-in-cheek because God is omniscient. Okay, it's not like
God it's not like God is like us entirely
But he uses certain language to kind of explain himself, but in some ways
I think that there probably is some truth to how he thinks that while he is all knowing
That maybe he's not necessarily dwelling on every single piece of knowledge at all times that he does have a
Current thought or a current, you know, whatever. However, that works
I don't know how it works because obviously God can somehow
Simultaneously understand everything that's happening right now and all of our thoughts and knows the number of the hairs on her head all
And he's hearing all of our prayers simultaneously. I don't know how all that works, but in some sense
It's like he has a current thought too, you know, and in that sense it's saying like his current thought was not
Babylon so here's the thing. There's no way in my mind for you to reconcile Babylon being the great city
So really there's some people that say I think that Babylon is Jerusalem
But if that's true, then who's the great city? I don't know but it to me the great city is clearly
Jerusalem now there's lots of places where
The Bible uses the word great city. It talks about Jerusalem being great city
Usually what it means by great city is just simply it's a city with a lot of people in it and you know
Nineveh is a great city. Okay, I don't think this is Nineveh that we're talking about
But I believe it's pretty clear that Jerusalem has been the focal point of God's judgment
It'd be weird to say like after punishing them for 42 months. I finally remembered them
It's like we've been doing it for that long, but you know, what's an area that really hasn't been focused on?
How about America we've been focusing in on the Middle East you could almost see if America which was Babylon
How God's kind of been not really focused on them not really punishing as much them
Think about this only a third of the sea turned to blood and all the ships
You're burned up and destroyed and all this stuff is dead when we get to Babylon and we haven't gotten here yet
I'm going a little ahead of myself
You know why what happens is a lot of people are in their ships crying about Babylon
It would be weird if that was the same place where all this blood and destruction and death had happened. That seems non-congruent
It seems like this area has been kind of unaffected. There really hasn't anything happening
So it's most likely that the blood and the sea and all that was again the Middle East section
Perhaps near Europe. It could be the Mediterranean Sea. That was a lot of that or you know, some portion of Africa
I don't know. I don't know what it is. I'm just saying like that portion
Maybe it's the south portion below India. I don't know. I don't know exactly where it is, but I'm guessing it's probably not
Near Babylon that would be a safe guess and again that makes sense that America's kind of far removed geographically from all these other places
so there we're able to kind of be
Unaffected by a lot of these things and maybe it's not that we're unaffected but it's just not nearly as severe
It's not nearly as prevalent. It's been kind of just like hammering in this one location
I mean think about it. I'm pretty sure the two witnesses is where a lot of the action is gonna be happening
Okay, and they're in Jerusalem. They're in the holy city
So it makes sense to then believe that Babylon is literally any city
Other than Jerusalem, like I'm not gonna say that I know for sure which city is is Babylon
But I would say this I feel that
Jerusalem the last city on my list like if all the cities you could possibly wonder
It's the last one. Okay, it's it's a weird idea
And I don't even know why people want that to be true, but some people do believe that it's true
I think that it just doesn't match scripture
whatsoever and so I think it's most likely probably New York City or it could be like a
Conglomerate of New York City in Washington DC something over there. It's got to be a port city again
There's not Jerusalem's not really a major port city and think about this
New York really does have like the UN kind of already has the Ten Kings
New York is an epicenter of business trade world world commerce
Many Jews live there not saying they rule the world or anything
Okay, but there's a lot of things that connect with New York City being a possible
End-times Babylon. It's literally got the Statue of Liberty and I
Guaranteed God hates that thing with with a fervent hatred. Okay
So if you were to ask me right now, I would say that's my like most likely candidate, but I could be wrong
Okay, and so I would think that that area is gonna be destroyed really bad
The Bible says in verse 21 and there fell a great
There fell upon men a great hell out of heaven every stone about
The weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because the plague of the hell for the plague thereof was seeing great now
Just just to finish. I think when we think about this chapter as a whole
There's one just kind of main word that comes to mind and that's just judgment and that was was emphasized in the text in
Verse number seven it says and I heard another out of the altar say even so Lord God Almighty
True and just righteous are thy judgments. This is a major chapter on the judgment of God and
Specifically that something that his righteous and true judgments because you can judge someone unrighteously
You can judge someone falsely, but the thing is God judges people with truth and with righteousness
God is the perfect judge. What is to judge? It's the form and opinion now
This is what's so funny people say I don't judge. Oh, so you you don't have any thoughts your brain dead
I mean if you don't judge you have to be brain dead and even then you might be judging
Okay, but other things other ways to understand judging is sentencing governing ruling
Here's a definition that I came up with on my own as to what I think the Bible is alluding to or talking about when it
Talks about judge it's to render fair and a righteous recompense
Now judgment doesn't always have to be negative judgment can be a positive thing like I judge this person to do good
So I'm gonna give them good. I've judged this person to do bad
I'm gonna give them bad, but what good judgment true judgment righteous judgment is is giving the right?
Compense to the right action and that's why it's talking about hey, they killed a bunch of people in blood
So we gave them blood to drink God is saying this is the right way to judge this
This is why the Old Testament law is so important and God is saying hey I
For an eye tooth for a tooth why because God is a righteous judge and when he judges something
He's gonna give an equal and an equitable
Punishment for such judgment. I had tons of places. I wanted to go to in the Bible. We're not gonna go any of them
Okay
Except for maybe one. Okay, go to Psalm 37 go to Psalm 37. This is an important concept God
Judges the Bible says this for I the Lord love
judgment for I the Lord love
Judgment God is gonna be known for all of eternity as being a judge and you know
What's being emphasized consistently in the Bible is the judgment Lord in verse 5 we read thou art righteous?
Oh Lord, which art and was and shall be because?
Thou hast judged us the reason why we will recognize God as being righteous from the past present and future is
Because of how he judged the way that God judged is how we are gonna recognize that he's righteous that we're gonna recognize that
He's holy that we're gonna recognize that he's good judgment is a key and a pivotal understanding of Christianity is a major component
of Christianity and you know, it is so
Antithetical for Christians to constantly talk negatively about judgment. Oh, I'm a Christian. I don't judge
Well, you're not a Christian then Christianity and judgment are one in the same
Jesus Christ said to judge not according to the parents but to judge
righteous judgment Jesus didn't say don't judge ever
He said judge righteous judgment does the Bible give caveats and say hey don't judge as a hypocrite. Yeah
Does the Bible say hey first clean yourself up before you judge? Yes, it does
Does the Bible say hey things that you don't understand and can't comprehend don't judge those things. Yes
It does but you know what? It doesn't say never judge
It never says that that is not what the Bible teaches and you know what God loves judgment
The the Bible talks so much about God judging and specifically even in the earth
There's this there's a psalm that I've been trying to set the music and I kind of have it
I just haven't finished it
I want to sing it but it's psalm 58 and I love the ending part of it because it says
That the righteous shall rejoice when he see it the vengeance he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked
So the man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily. He is a God that judgeth in the earth
Sometimes we think like oh God only judges in like the afterlife or something
No, no, no God judges in the earth and everything that we're reading about in Revelation chapter 16 our judgments in
the earth
You got the mark of the beast get a sore. Hey, you killed people drink blood and then they're gonna experience locusts from hell
They're gonna experience literal darkness. They're gonna experience all kind. I'm that's just the precursor to hell cuz hell's darkness, too
they're gonna suffer all kinds of pain and hail and fire and
Earthquake and here's another thing the loss of everything
What is the earthquake kind of represent the loss of everything and you know what going to hell is just the loss of?
Everything Psalm 37 look at verse 28 for the Lord
Loveth judgment and forsaketh not as saints they are preserved forever
But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off notice that the Bible says that the Lord
Loveth judgment there's so much on this
I would love to spend more to talk about it
But really just to sum it up think about this if God always gives an equitable judgment
Hey, you poke someone's eye out you get your eye poked out. You rip someone's tooth out. You lose your tooth, right?
You you steal their sheep. You have to give them another sheep back. Okay
It's like basically God's constantly giving people what they deserve and a righteous judgment over and over
So think about it this way if you reject an eternal salvation, what would be the just?
Recompense for that. I mean if what's offered to you is a
forever redemption where you get unlimited pleasure and bliss that you don't deserve and it's offered to you freely and you
Reject that what would be the righteous recompense? Well, it would be the opposite wouldn't it?
What would be the opposite of that eternal damnation?
Some people think like hell doesn't make sense or doesn't seem like the right judgment. It is the exact right judgment
It is the perfect judgment because of how good
Salvation is because of how good salvation is and because of what's being offered and put on the table
Then the opposite has to be the worst thing imaginable that's offered on people and you know what?
We'll be able to sing in all of eternity of how righteous God was for doling out such a judgment
You know, it's hard to fathom how how hell you know people think I just don't think anybody deserves hell
Everyone that goes to hell deserved it because they rejected
Eternal salvation they didn't want that and as a response
What do they get eternal damnation and we can look at God and we can see that he has a righteous judge
He's the only righteous judge. He's the only one that doles out such a thing
You know for other gods like Allah or the god of Islam, you know, there is no
Justice with him. He just simply waves his hand and just does whatever he wants. It's willy-nilly
There's there's no
Reasoning or logic think about the god of Calvinism also not really making any sense
Why would you send someone to hell when they didn't do anything?
I mean if Calvinism is true, then God is not a just judge
He's not a righteous judge. The reason why someone gets eternal damnation is because they rejected
Eternal salvation which is the fair and righteous recompense for such an offering whereas those in Calvinism
They'll say they just go to help for God's pleasure. God doesn't get pleasure in just burning in people in hell
You know what God gets pleasure in having righteous judgments. That's what God gets pleasure in having judged rightly saying
This is what's fair. This is what's equitable. This is what's right
This is what's true. And in every single instance God will always judge what's right and we should fear God because you know
What tomorrow whatever you do?
God will give you a fair and an equitable recompense to what you do tomorrow
So if you do good God is gonna give you something good for that if you do something evil watch out
Because sometime in the future you're gonna get an equitable judgment for that and those who fear God will actually take that seriously
Your actions demonstrate how much you fear God let's close in prayer. Thank you heavenly father so much for giving us this chapter
And thank you for being such a righteous judge for always doing right for being equitable and fair
And I pray that we would have a greater fear of God in our lives
And I also thank you that we don't always get what we deserve that sometimes you allow mercy to triumph over judgment
But I pray that we wouldn't take that for granted that we would fear the Lord that we would understand that there's always gonna be a recompense
That you judge us in this life
And I pray that we would take seriously the moments that we have now to try and reach a dying and a lost world
These people will be eternally damned if they don't accept the gospel
I pray that we would take it seriously that we would have a desire in our hearts to see people saved and
To live our lives to be pleasing unto you that we clothed and that we wouldn't be embarrassed and ashamed
When you return in Jesus name we pray amen
Number 397 little as much when God is in it number 397 little as much