(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I'll see you in the next video. Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. Let me just first emphasize again the phrase that keeps coming up over and over again in the book of Revelation, which is after these things. Ten times in the book of Revelation you see after this or after these things. So the idea that Revelation is completely out of chronological order does not hold up. The first half of Revelation chapters 1 through 11 are in chronological order. Then in chapter 12, we jump back to the birth of Christ and then chapters 12 through 22 are also in chronological order. So when he says after these things, what things is he referring to? Well, in chapters 17 and 18, we saw the destruction of Babylon, the judgment of Babylon. And in chapter 18, it said that that destruction took place over the course of one day, the destruction in chapter 18. And even more specifically, it said in one hour is her judgment come. So he says, after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. And that term Hallelujah is a pretty interesting term. It's only found in Revelation 19, and it's found several times in this chapter and nowhere else. What does it mean? Well, you probably have heard the term Hallelujah. I mean, people say that all the time, Hallelujah. And although it's not found in the Bible in that way, Hallelujah is basically the Hebrew equivalent of this Greek word Hallelujah. And what it is, is it's Hebrew for praise the Lord. OK, or praise Jah specifically. Turn back in your Bible to Psalm 68 and let me show you that. Psalm 68, verse 4, because if you remember in the Hebrew tongue, the Lord's name was Jehovah. That's how we transliterated into English. You know, some people will break it down as Yahweh or have other ways that they pronounce it. Obviously, it's impossible to know exactly how it was pronounced so many thousands of years ago. We don't have a tape recording that we could go to. And Hebrew is a language that fell off the face of the earth for some time as a spoken language of everyday vernacular. But look down, if you would, at Psalm 68, verse 4. The Bible says, sing unto God, sing praises to his name, extol him that writeth upon the heavens by his name, Jah, and rejoice before him. So see, there is a command to praise the Lord by his name, Jah. Now, these days, the only people that you'll ever find usually referring to God as Jah are who? The Rastafarians, right? People like, you know, Bob Marley or that whole crowd that'll talk about Jah and they'll refer to God as Jah. But the Bible does tell us to praise the Lord by his name of Jah. And if you look at the word written down, hallelujah, the last three letters are what? J-A-H. Hallelujah without the H and without the J is basically just a Greek version of hallelujah. It's basically just the word hallelujah, which means praise the Lord or praise Jah brought into Greek and then brought into the English language. And so basically, when you say hallelujah, you know, you're obeying Psalm 68 for by praising the Lord by his name, Jah. And so it says that they're saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. Look at Revelation 19 two, for true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great whore. That's what we saw in Chapter 17, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and of the venge, the blood of his servants at her hand. And again, they said, hallelujah, and her smoke rose up forever and ever. Now, what does that mean that her smoke rose up forever and ever? Well, this goes back to Chapter 14. Look at verse 10. The Bible says the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. So these are very sobering verses from Revelation 14 verses 10 and 11 about people who will suffer the torment of everlasting fire. The Bible says in Matthew Chapter 25 that he'll say to those on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. It says these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. You know, hell or the lake of fire is an everlasting punishment. The Bible says the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. So when it says in Chapter 19, verse three, her smoke rose up forever and ever. Basically, we're talking about the eternal torment of hell. He says in verse number four there, and the four and 20 elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Now, this is also the only time that the word omnipotent is used in the Bible. It means all powerful. Omni means all, like an omnivore. Carnivore eats meat. Herbivore eats plants. An omnivore eats all things, meaning both meat and plants. Potent means powerful. So the Bible says that God is omnipotent, meaning that he is all powerful. Now, you've probably heard the song, The Hallelujah Chorus. Probably everybody's heard, you know, from Handel's Messiah. It's a really famous song, you know, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Allelujah, Allelujah, you know, really famous. And then it says, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Okay, well, it's interesting because, and who's heard that song? Pretty much everybody's heard that song. Well, later on in that same song, the Hallelujah Chorus, it says, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And that's the rest of the song. Well, that quote is from Revelation chapter 11, when the seventh trumpet sounds, which is the final, you know, judgment of God's wrath, the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial are happening at the same time, of course. I covered that in great detail in my Revelation 16 sermon to prove that. But the seventh trumpet and the seventh vial, he says right after that seventh trumpet sounded, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, he shall reign forever and ever. And that's the same time period we're dealing with in Revelation 19. So, you know, the author of that song got it right by putting those two scriptures together from Revelation 11 and Revelation 19. Because remember, the whore was judged and Babylon was judged within the scope of the seventh vial judgment. Because remember, when the seventh vial was poured out in chapter 16, that's when Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. That took place with the seventh vial. So what we're seeing in chapter 19, which started with an after these things, and which specifically alludes back to the fact that he has just judged the whore proving chronological order, this shows that chapter 19's events take place after the seventh trumpet, after the seventh vial. That's where we are chronologically. We're at the very end of Daniel's 70th week, aren't we? Because we've already gone through the tribulation, the rapture, all of God's wrath being poured out. Now we're at the very end of the week, as it were, and all of the wrath has been poured out. And here it all is culminating. It says here, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. So when the Bible says the marriage of the Lamb is come, that doesn't mean it came a long time ago. That doesn't mean it came several years ago. It's saying right now it is come. That is what that verb tense means there. And he says, his wife hath made herself ready. Verse 8, and to her, meaning to the Lamb's wife, was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. So in this passage here in chapter 19, we understand the timeframe of the marriage supper of the Lamb. We understand the timing of when the marriage of the Lamb comes, after the whore is judged, after the vials of the wrath have been poured out, and we're at the very end of the 70th week, and we're just getting into the point where Jesus Christ is about to rule and reign and set up his kingdom. That's when he says, the marriage of the Lamb is come. Now, why is this important? Well, there are a lot of people out there that teach that the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place before this. I mean, that is the prevalent teaching that's out there. And you'll often tell people, hey, you know, the rapture takes place after the tribulation, as it says in Matthew 24. Of course, the whole seven years is not called the tribulation. If you've followed the sermons up to this point, you know that. I mean, only everything before the sun and moon being darkened is called the tribulation. That's where Christ comes in the clouds. But here's what they'll say, well, you know, the rapture takes place before the tribulation, because we have to go up to heaven to celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we're going to be up there for seven years celebrating the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then we're going to return with Christ in chapter 19. Now, is that consistent with what we see here in chapter 19? No, because according to Revelation 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place at the very end of the week. So how are they teaching a pre-trib rapture that involves the marriage supper of the Lamb? Show me one shred of evidence that says that the marriage supper of the Lamb comes at the beginning of Daniel's 70th week, or that it's at the beginning of the tribulation, or that it's before the tribulation. There's no evidence of that whatsoever. The marriage supper of the Lamb takes place in Revelation 19. So here's what some people will say. They'll say, well, Pastor Anderson, and I've heard this many times. Pastor Anderson, you've got to understand, Jewish wedding custom is a seven-day wedding feast. And so that seven-day wedding feast of Jewish custom is what we see with the seven years of Daniel's 70th week. So we're going to be up in heaven for that entire seven years celebrating the Jewish wedding according to Jewish custom. Well, first of all, there's no such custom in the Bible of a Jewish seven-day wedding. Now, I had one person even tell me, they said, Pastor Anderson, I've heard all your preaching about the fact that the rapture is post-tribulational, that it comes after the tribulation, but before God's wrath. You know, I've heard you preach about a post-trib pre-wrath rapture. And they said, you know, what you're saying makes a lot of sense. It's lining up with the Bible. But they said, I cannot accept it, because we know that it would violate the seven-day marriage custom of the Jews, you know, this Jewish wedding. I'm not kidding. Somebody literally said that to me. Now, I've scoured the Bible. I've searched the Bible from one end to the other. And I cannot find this seven-day Jewish wedding. I just can't find it. I mean, they're saying, you don't understand. And one preacher got mad at me. He said, don't you know anything about Jewish weddings? And, you know, I'm searching the Bible. I'm going from Genesis to Revelation. I do not see anywhere in the entire Bible a seven-day Jewish wedding. Now, who in the world wants to go to a wedding for seven days anyway? I mean, I don't know about you, but when I go to a wedding, the shorter, the better. I mean, I don't want to be at some wedding that goes on for five hours. I don't want to go to a seven-hour wedding, let alone a seven-day wedding. That's overkill. But they say, no, no, no, Pastor Anderson, it's not in the Bible. You need to go talk to Rabbi So-and-so. He'll tell you all about this Jewish wedding cousin. Well, first of all, I don't talk to people named Rabbi because the Bible said I'm not supposed to call anybody Rabbi or that I should never be called Rabbi. So anybody who's calling themself Rabbi is in direct contradiction of Jesus Christ teaching in Matthew 23 when he said, be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ. Christ is the only Rabbi I talk to and the only one that I call Father is my Father in heaven, by the way, not a Catholic priest who dresses like Mama and calls himself Papa and acts like a homosexual. So I'm not going to go to some Rabbi to figure out what I believe about the second coming of Jesus Christ and if there's some Jewish custom that's not in the Bible, that would fall under avoid Jewish fables and I don't want to hear about all this Jewish culture and Jewish custom. If it's not biblical, I don't want to hear it, okay? And so they say, talk to Rabbi So-and-so, you'll get this. Now, I will say this, I did find one seven-day wedding in the Bible, one. Go to Judges 14, I'll show you. You say, well, Pastor Anderson, you just said that the Jewish wedding, there's no such thing as a seven-day. Now you're saying you found it. Well, I found a Philistine wedding that was seven days. So instead of these pre-Tribbers talking to me about their seven-day Jewish wedding, why don't they just come out and say what it really is? Pastor Anderson, it's the Philistine wedding. Don't you know Jesus Christ's second coming is going to be patterned after a seven-day Philistine wedding? That's what they ought to be saying, but you know what, that doesn't sound as good as the Jewish wedding, so you're not going to hear them saying that any time soon. Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of weddings in the Bible. Remember when Jesus attended a wedding with his disciples? You know, Jesus used a lot of illustrations about weddings. The Bible records a lot of weddings in the Old Testament. It records a lot of weddings in the New Testament. They're all just a one-day thing. I mean, is that weird to you? Every wedding I've been to in my entire life was on one day. Who's ever been to a wedding that lasted more than one day that's here tonight? No one, because no one's ever been to a wedding that lasted more than one day because that would be abnormal, okay? And that's why every wedding in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a one-day thing, except for there is a seven-day wedding. Look if you would at Judges chapter 14. It involves the Philistines. What happened is Samson, who is a man of God, he sees a woman of the Philistines and he wants to marry her. Now this is something that the children of Israel were not supposed to be doing. They're not supposed to marry these ungodly heathens, the Philistines. But Samson made a lot of mistakes in his life. Look at verse 1. It says, And Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all thy people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me well. Jump down to verse number 10. So his father went down unto the woman. So where did they go down to? The land of the Philistines, right? So his father goes down to the Philistines. They go down to this woman in order to get married. And it says, Samson made there, in the land of the Philistines, it's saying, Samson made there a feast for so use the young men to do. And it came to pass when they saw him that they brought 30 companions to be with him, and so on and so forth. Jump down to verse 17. And she wept before him the seven days while the feast lasted. And it came to pass on the seventh day that he told her, because she lay sore upon him, and she told the riddle to the children of the people. And on and on it says, the men of the city sent him on the seventh day before the sun went down. They gave him the riddle. And I'm not going to go into that for the sake of time. But what do we see here? The only seven day wedding feast in the Bible, and that wedding feast is marrying a heathen girl in a heathen land, following the heathen customs of the Philistines. Look, the book of Leviticus lays out all kinds of feasts. It gives great detail about feasts in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere. But there's no mention of a wedding feast. No mention of a seven day feast. No mention of that in the feasts of the Lord. And you know, many of the feasts of the Lord do pertain to the second coming of Christ, but there's no wedding feast mentioned. And the weddings and wedding feasts that are mentioned in the Bible that are not this Philistine version are just a one day thing. So don't let people get you confused into thinking that the Jews had a seven day wedding custom. That is not scriptural. It's not found in the Bible. And I don't care what anti-Christ rabbi so and so says. You know, I'm going to stick with the scripture. And so I'm not going to sit there and confound the clear teaching of Jesus and God's word because of what some rabbi says a Jewish custom was that's not even in the Bible. It was actually a Philistine custom that we find in the Bible. So go back to Revelation chapter 19. Now that we cleared that up about these wedding feasts and so forth. So where does the wedding supper happen according to the Bible? Where does the wedding take place? It happens in chapter 19, which is at the very end of the seven years. Now you say, well, pastor Anderson, it says there, his wife had made herself ready. So that proves that, you know, all the saved have been up in heaven for the last seven years getting ready. Now why in the world would it take seven years to get ready for this wedding? I know women take a long time to get ready, but good night. Now first of all, we believe that the rapture takes place after the tribulation, but before God's wrath is poured out. Well the pouring out of God's wrath takes place over the course of approximately 1215 days. Isn't that enough time to get ready? We're going to be up in heaven for over three years. That should be plenty of time for his wife to make, I mean any woman could get ready in that amount of time. I don't care how long she stands in front of the mirror primping, okay, and I'm being silly, but of course that is plenty of time for the lamb's wife to make herself ready during that time. It says to her was granted, verse eight, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And this is why when women get married, they wear what? A white dress, picturing purity, picturing righteousness, picturing cleanliness. And you know what that is a picture of, by the way, virginity, okay? And so that's why it's important that we realize that God expects women and men both to be virgins on their wedding day. That is God's will, that is God's plan. Because remember, compare the bride here of Christ with the great whore in verse two. It says she corrupted the earth with her fornication, right? The lamb's wife, on the other hand, was granted to be arrayed in clean and fine white linen because that's the righteousness of saints. And so we need to apply that to ourselves. If you're a young person and you're single, you need to understand that fornication is filthy, it's wicked, and that God expects cleanliness and godliness and purity. And when you get married, you should be pure on your wedding day, according to the Bible, very important. And it says, he saith unto me, write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he said unto me, see that, do it not. I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So the one who is showing him these things is also a man, is also one of the prophets, is also one of the servants, and he's refusing to be worshiped by John. Because we should never bow down and worship anyone except God. The Bible is clear about that from Genesis to Revelation. So he says in verse 11, and I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So here comes, out of heaven, a man on a white horse, his name is Faithful and True, he's the judge, he makes war, verse 12, his eyes were as a flame of fire, reminds us of the description of Jesus Christ in chapter 1. And on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture, dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And of course we know that this is Jesus Christ, because the Bible says, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And all throughout the Bible we see it put as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for example in Matthew 28. And so what we need to understand is that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. The Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as if the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now many people will try to separate the written Word of God from Jesus Christ, the Word of God. And they'll say, well, the Word of God is just a name that we call Jesus, or that the Bible calls Jesus, but it doesn't really mean that he's the Word of God, as in the Word of God. Because look, is there any question that the book I'm holding in my hand is the Word of God? The Bible is the Word of God. All throughout the Bible, the Word of the Lord, or the Word of God, is something that is used in reference to the Scriptures. And so obviously this physical book itself, the leather and the paper is not the Word of God, but the words in this book are the Word of God. The words of the Bible are the Word of God. The words of the Scriptures are the Word of God. Now don't let it bother you that he is called the Word of God, singular, and these are the words of God, because often the Scriptures are also called singular, the Word of God. For example, people would come to the prophet in the Old Testament and say, what is the word which the Lord has spoken? They're not looking for one word, are they? What they say when they mean the Word of God, what they're saying is they want to hear God's words. Now, the Bible is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. And look, to try to separate the two is ridiculous. And people have mocked me and attacked me for believing that basically the Word of God is God, basically that the Bible is God. And they say, oh, you're worshiping a physical book. Now I'm not saying the book. I'm saying the words in the book are God. That's why when Jesus Christ said, except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you, they were confused by that saying. And he said unto them, he said, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life. He said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, he said, you have no life in you. He said it's actually not the flesh, per se, of his physical body, but he said it's the spirit that quickeneth, or gives life. The words that I say unto you, they are spirit and they are life. That's why the Bible said, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So Jesus said, I am the truth. But then he said in John 17, 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. You see, Jesus Christ and the Word are inseparable because Jesus Christ was the Word of God made flesh and dwelt among us. More evidence of this is the fact that the man on the white horse who is Jesus Christ, whose name is called the Word of God, he has a name, look at verse 11, that is called Faithful and True in chapter 19. The physical person riding on the white horse is called Faithful and True, his name is called the Word of God. Look what the Bible says about the Word of God in chapter 21, just a few pages to the right. The man that sat upon the throne said, behold I make all things new, and he said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful. So not only is the Word of God singular, Faithful and True, the words are faithful and true. Then in chapter 22, verse 6, he says, these sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must surely be done. So the Bible is very clear that Jesus Christ and the Word of God are one and the same. Jesus is perfect, the Word of God is perfect. Jesus is sinless, the Word of God has no errors in it. The Word of God is God. So if you want to know God, the Bible says we have the mind of Christ, and the context there in 1 Corinthians 2 is about the Word of God. And so the Word is Jesus, Jesus is the Word, and the Scriptures are the written version of the Word of God. And so don't separate those two things. So here we see Jesus Christ, the Word of God, coming on a white horse. It says in verse number 14, the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword. What does that represent? The Bible says the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The quick and powerful Word of God is coming out of the mouth of Jesus Christ. He is the Word. It says in verse number 15, out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. We'll get back to that about him ruling with a rod of iron. Verse 16, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and the flesh of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. So this announcement in verses 17 to 18 is that a major slaughter is about to take place. He's calling out to the fowls and to the birds, saying that they're about to eat the flesh of the carcasses of all these people that are listed there, all these mighty men, these warriors, these kings and fighters. A slaughter is going to take place amongst these armies. People are going to be killed and the birds of prey will eat their flesh. Now this is how the seven year period ends, and this is how the millennium begins. This slaughter that's about to take place is known as the Battle of Armageddon. It was alluded to in chapter 16 when the Bible talked about how God is going to gather the armies together of the kings of the earth into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Here is where they've gathered together against Jesus Christ to make war with the lamb and where they're going to be defeated. Look what the Bible says in verse 19, and I saw the beast, referring to the anti-Christ, and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse. So they're making war against Jesus and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. So when this army shows up, the two leaders, meaning the anti-Christ and the false prophet, they're cast alive into the lake of fire. And the remnant of the people there, the armies that are there following them, are killed with the sword that proceeds out of the Lord Jesus' mouth. So are all these people getting killed or what? Yeah, they're all slaughtered, aren't they? The fowls were filled with their flesh. The anti-Christ and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, and the armies that followed them are all slaughtered by the sword that comes out of the Lord Jesus' mouth, and their dead carcasses are left there to be eaten by the fowls of heaven. Then we go straight into the millennium in the next chapter. In Revelation chapter 20, we have right away in the first few verses of chapter 20, Satan is bound and put in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, and Jesus Christ begins his 1,000 year reign on this earth. Let's talk about this event that we saw in chapter 19. It's characterized by Jesus Christ coming from heaven on a white horse with the armies in heaven following him. He comes to this earth, he basically does battle with the anti-Christ and false prophet, and he defeats them and destroys them, and then he sets up his millennial kingdom. That's the event that we see in Revelation 19, right? Okay. Well, many people teach erroneously, don't they, that the entire seven year period of Daniel's 70th week is known as the tribulation. How many times have we all heard it? Seven years tribulation. If I've heard it once, I've heard it 1,000 times. Seven years tribulation, seven years tribulation, the seven year tribulation. The tribulation is a period of seven years. We've all heard it a million times. Let's stop and think about this. Go to Matthew 24, if you would. Keep a finger in Revelation 19, but go to Matthew 24. Let's face it. People who believe in a pre-trib rapture, they all say that the tribulation lasts for seven years. I mean, we could just start visiting the websites of Baptist churches, and pretty much almost every statement of faith on the website of every Baptist church or every evangelical church would say, you know, the rapture is imminent, followed by a seven year period of tribulation, blah, blah, blah. They all just teach this, like just a parrot just repeating this over and over again. Seven years tribulation, what? Seven years tribulation. You know, without thinking about it, because there's nowhere in the Bible that says the tribulation lasts for seven years. But that's what they believe, don't they? So correct me if I'm wrong, but according to their definition, which says that the tribulation lasts for seven years, wouldn't that mean that Revelation 19 is the end of what they call the tribulation? We know Revelation 19 is the end of the seven years, and he's setting up his millennium, So if Revelation 19 is the end of the seven years where he sets up his millennium, and they're calling the whole seven years the tribulation, they're saying that Revelation 19 is the end of the tribulation, aren't they? Okay, well now look at this. Matthew 24, here's a real clear scripture. Verse 29 says this, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. Now you and I know when we see after the tribulation of those days and the sun and moon are darkened, we know that that's referring to Revelation 6 where the sun and moon are darkened. The only place in Revelation where the sun and moon are darkened and the stars fall. Where those three things happen, that only happens in Revelation 6. So we know that when the Bible says immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, we know that's Revelation 6. That's the only time in Revelation that happens. But remember, in the warped view of the pre-trib rapture, the tribulation lasts for seven years. So therefore, they're saying that when the Bible here says immediately after the tribulation, that means after the seven years. So now we're talking Revelation 19 in their warped view. We know this event takes place in Revelation 6 after the tribulation of the first five seals but before God's wrath is poured out with the trumpets and vials. Let's keep reading in chapter 24. It says, and then shall they see the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. And then he mentions the fig tree which is mentioned in Revelation 6. Wow, imagine that. So here we see that according to the Bible, after the tribulation, Christ comes in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, and the elect are gathered. Obviously, we believe that that is the rapture because when the Bible describes the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4, it talks about Christ coming in the clouds, a trumpet sounding, and him gathering up the saved unto himself. The saved are caught up together to meet him in the air and so forth. So we believe rightly so that Matthew 24 matches up perfectly with 1 Thessalonians 4. They both have the Lord to send, they both have a trumpet sound, they both have the believers gathered or caught up together to be with him in the clouds. But in the warped mind of those who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, they say, no, no, no, no, Pastor Anderson, Matthew 24 cannot be the rapture. It cannot be the events of 1 Thessalonians 4 because it says after the tribulation and we know that the rapture comes before the tribulation. Well, how do you know that? The Bible says it's after. Oh, but we just know it's before. Well how? Do you have a verse that says before the tribulation? No, there's no verse in the entire Bible that says before the tribulation. But they just know that, well they're wrong because the Bible says that it happens after the tribulation. But they say, no, no, no, Pastor Anderson, you're mixed up here. This is what they say. You're mixing up the rapture and the second coming. Well here's the problem with that. In 1 Thessalonians 4 it calls the rapture the coming of the Lord. And we know he already came in Bethlehem's manger, so if it's the coming of the Lord, unless it's coming 1.5, that's the second coming. I mean I don't think it's the third coming. So obviously Jesus Christ coming in the clouds of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 is called the coming of the Lord. That's the second coming. But here's what they say. No, no, Pastor Anderson, you're mixing up the rapture and the second coming. And when they say second coming, you've got to understand where their logic takes, because they have this warped view of every chapter of Revelation. So you have to try to figure out what these people even believe because when they say second coming, they're referring to Revelation 19 where Jesus comes on a white horse. So let's delve into the warped view of the pre-trib rapture. The pre-trib rapture teaches that when Jesus comes on a white horse in Revelation 19, that's the second coming of Christ. Now look, don't let it bother you that there's a coming before that in the clouds in 1 Thessalonians 4 that's called the coming of the Lord. Don't let that bother you. That's coming 1.5. The second coming is in Revelation 19 when he comes on the horse. So let me just summarize it for you. According to what we believe, who believe in a post-tribulational pre-wrath rapture, we believe that Matthew 24 matches up with 1 Thessalonians 4. We believe Matthew 24 is about the rapture and it's saying it's after the tribulation. Those that are pre-trib, on the other hand, they believe that Matthew 24 matches up with Revelation 19 because it's after the tribulation and in their mind that's the seven year period. And they say no, no, no, Matthew 24 is talking about when he comes on the white horse in Revelation 19 and that's what they call the second coming. Now just put aside all preconceived ideas for a moment. Just put aside what you know for a second and just think for a second. We got three passages of scripture. We got 1 Thessalonians 4. Everybody agrees that it's the rapture. We got Revelation 19. Everybody here agrees that that is a different event than the rapture. That is Jesus coming on a white horse to fight the battle of Armageddon. Then we've got Matthew 24. Pre-tribbers are saying Matthew 24 lines up with Revelation 19. Post-tribbers that are pre-wrath. We believe that Matthew 24 lines up with 1 Thessalonians 4. So who's right? You know what, if we were to find anybody who hadn't already been indoctrinated on this subject, anybody that had not been indoctrinated, any child, any adult, man, woman, boy, girl on this planet who had not already been indoctrinated or taught anything about this subject and just start with somebody who didn't know anything about this subject and had not already been brainwashed into thinking that things mean a certain thing. If we showed them these three passages and said which two of these three go together and which one is a different event, Matthew 24, 1 Thessalonians 4, and Revelation 19. If we were to put these three passages in front of somebody who had not been indoctrinated and just said tell me which of these two to go together, anyone, anyone, anyone would put 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 and say these two go together and Revelation 19 is a different event. Proving that the pre-trib rapture is false and that the post-trib rapture is scriptural. And again when we say post-trib we're not saying post seven years, we're saying post-tribulation which is everything before the sun and moon are darkened according to Jesus and according to Revelation 6. It's before the wrath is poured out which comes after the sun and moon are darkened. Now why would anyone, man, woman, boy, girl, young, old, look at that and say well Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4 go together, Revelation 19 is a completely different event. Here's why, because there's a difference between Jesus coming in the clouds and Jesus riding a horse. Now isn't the horse a pretty big difference? Is Jesus riding a horse in Matthew 24? There's no horse mentioned but in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 we see so many things that do line up. For example, Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4 both have a trumpet sound, right? Show me the trumpet in Revelation 19. No trumpet. No trumpet in Revelation 19 but there is a trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24. Okay, score a point for post-trib. The Bible says in Matthew 24 that Jesus comes in the clouds. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Jesus comes in the clouds. Revelation 19, no clouds. Score another point for post-trib. In Revelation 19, there's no mention in Revelation 19 of the saved being gathered, the elect being gathered, the saints being caught up, the saints being brought together. But in Matthew 24, it says he'll gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. And in 1 Thessalonians 4, it says that we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet him in the air. Score another point for post-trib. Okay, how about this? Matthew 24 says that Jesus is coming in the clouds. 1 Thessalonians 4 says we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord are going to be caught up with him in the clouds. So both 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 talk about it coming in the clouds. But in Revelation 19, is that called the coming of Christ? Is there a word in Revelation 19 that says, you know, this is the coming of the Lord. This is the coming of Christ. This is the second coming of Christ. No there's no word there that has anything to do with coming or coming. The word come is not found except when he's talking to the birds saying come and eat flesh. So I mean this is the birds coming. So what I'm saying is you can compare them and I strongly encourage you to do so. If you're skeptical, when I say the pre-trib rapture is a lie and you're like, man I don't know, I'm not sure, I've heard it so many times, this will put the final nail in the coffin for you of the pre-trib rapture. Take Revelation 19 and put it side by side with Matthew 24 and 1 Thessalonians 4. We know 1 Thessalonians 4 is the rapture. We know Revelation 19 is a separate event where he comes on a horse. Not coming in the clouds, no trumpet. Those who believe in a pre-trib rapture, they want Matthew 24 to match Revelation 19. See if it matches. It doesn't at all. Now look at Matthew 24 next to 1 Thessalonians 4. Does it match? It matches perfectly. Okay. And so that should be enough right there to show you. Go back to Revelation 19 to show you that the pre-trib rapture is false. And to show you also that anybody who's saying that the tribulation lasts for seven years is wrong. Because at the end of the seven year period, we see events that are nothing like the events that are described as being after the tribulation in Matthew 24, rather we see those events in Revelation 6 matching Matthew 24 perfectly. So let's finish up here in Revelation 19. It talks about these armies being gathered together. Keep your finger in Revelation 19, we're going to turn to one last place, Psalm 2. Psalm 2 ties in nicely with Revelation 19. Go to Psalm 2. If you just let your Bible fall open to the dead sinner, you'll be in Psalms, find chapter 2. It says in Psalm 2, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. So we see the kings of the earth gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. This verse is quoted in the New Testament as against the Lord and against his Christ in Acts chapter 3. Anointed means Christ. It says here, saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sorest pleasure. Instead of I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. So he's giving unto Jesus Christ all of the world as his possession. The uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. It says, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. So Jesus Christ is going to break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Over and over again, the Bible talks about Jesus Christ ruling and reigning with a rod of iron. In Psalm 2, it's characterized as him breaking the nations with a rod of iron. It says in verse 15 of Revelation 19, if you're still there, out of his mouth go the sharp two-edged sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. So here we see the fulfillment of Psalm 2 where the kings of the earth have banded together against Christ and he will destroy them and he will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Now it says in verse number 19, and I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. So they're gathered against Christ, against the Lord's anointed. They want to make war against him. Now let me ask you something. Does verse 19 say that every person on the planet is gathered together to make war with Christ? Every human on the planet? No, it doesn't. Because a lot of people mistakenly believe that in Revelation 19, every unsaved person is slaughtered on the planet. Every unsaved person dies. And then people will then create this false dilemma or this false paradox by saying, well if Jesus returns and slaughters all the unsaved, who's going to populate the millennium? Who's going to go into the millennium? Who are we going to rule and reign over in the millennium? We know there are people in the millennium that will die. We know that there are people in the millennium that are not resurrected saints. So how did they get there? And look, this is a question that people ask all the time. And I've been asked, who populates the millennium? Where do people come from to populate the millennium? And it all comes from just the mistake of thinking that in Revelation 19, God slaughters every unbeliever there. Is that what it says? So they've created this false dilemma. Who populates the millennium? The people that are on the earth that are still alive after God pours out his wrath. Now are a lot of people going to be killed in the process of God pouring out his wrath? No question about that. I mean, we know that with the sixth trumpet judgment, one-third of the population is going to be wiped out. But there are today over seven billion people on this earth, you know, even if you wipe out many billions of them, there are still billions more to populate the millennium. And you say, well wait a minute Pastor Anderson, what about the people who took the mark of the beast? But you have to understand, the anti-Christ reign of terror with the mark of the beast is cut short by Christ coming in the clouds. By the time Christ comes in the clouds, every unbeliever has not received the mark of the beast yet. There are children that have not received the mark of the beast and there are just people who will not receive the mark of the beast for whatever reason. Not that they're saved, but look, there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with receiving the mark of the beast, I'm sure, even if they're not saved. The Bible says that all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not in the book of life. Well, people who've had their name removed from the book of life are reprobates. They are people who no longer even have the opportunity to get saved. And again, I've already covered in other sermons that everybody's name starts out in the book of life. The Bible never talks about people's names being added, it only talks about people's names being removed. And so God wants everyone to be saved, that's why a little baby or a small child when they die goes to heaven because their name's still in the book of life, they've not yet known the difference between good and evil or had the opportunity to be saved. And there are plenty of scriptures and that's a whole other sermon to prove that babies and small children who die go to heaven regardless. So what we see here is that people who worship the antichrist are the people whose names are not in the book of life, reprobates, but also anyone who worships the beast or receives his mark becomes reprobate. Their name is removed from the book of life because anyone who receives the mark of the beast is doomed and damned and there's no hope for them. So what we have here though at the end of the seven year period is that there are still many, many people on this planet who although they were not saved, they did not receive the mark of the beast and perhaps even some who did receive the mark of the beast may still be alive at this point. Those people will go into the millennium because of the fact that the Bible teaches nowhere that God slaughters all unbelievers before the millennium. What he says here is that the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gather together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. In verse 21 it says the remnant that were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. So according to Revelation 19 verses 19 and 21, who is killed? Well all the kings of the earth are killed because they've been deceived by the three unclean spirits of Revelation 16 to come to this battle of Armageddon and be destroyed. So all the kings of the earth are definitely killed at the end of the seven years right before the millennium. Who else is killed? All of their armies. So all of the armies, but look, is everybody in the army? Is everybody in the military? No. It's not like, oh, the whole South America is going to be just empty. Australia is going to be empty. Africa is going to be empty because everybody on the whole planet just gathered to this Armageddon. No. Who gathered to Armageddon? The kings of the earth and their armies. They will be wiped out. They will be slain. There are still going to be people living in all parts of the world who have survived the horrible plagues and those who survive the horrible plagues of the wrath of God will be alive and will enter the millennium. Now they will not be ruling and reigning in the millennium, will they? We will be ruling and reigning in the millennium. They will be the ones over whom we rule. They will be the ones that are going to get on board with God's program of government and with God's rules and with God's leadership. Let me just close with one final thought about the millennium. In the millennium, the Bible says that Jesus Christ will be ruling and reigning with a rod of iron. That doesn't sound like he's going to be playing games. That sounds like he's going to have all power and authority on this earth. Now remember we talked a little bit earlier about how Jesus is the word and how the word was with God and the word was God. And when we think about the word of God, a portion of the word of God would be the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy which we call the law. And the Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. And we know that a lot of things in those first five books of the Bible were symbolic or pictures of things to do with the coming of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. For example, the animal offerings and so forth. We know those things have been done away in Christ. Those things will never be brought back. But there were a lot of laws in the first five books of the Bible that had to do with civil government. For example, just how to order the affairs of a society. For example, if someone steals, what's the punishment? They pay back fourfold or they pay back fivefold. If someone commits adultery, what's the punishment? Being stoned with stones. If a person commits murder, what's the punishment? Death penalty. These are civic punishments for crimes that take place and that took place during the time when God ruled over the children of Israel in the Old Testament with the system of the judges. Let me tell you something. When Jesus Christ comes back to this earth, he's not going to roll out the United States Constitution and say, alright everybody, time for a perfect government. Time for the thousand year reign of Christ. It's 1776 all over again. Actually that would be the Declaration of Independence. It's 1787 all over again and we're going to have the Constitution of the United States. Who thinks that Jesus is going to use the Constitution of the United States as his model during the millennium? No. This is what he's going to model the government on. It's going to be modeled on Exodus. It's going to be modeled on Deuteronomy. Look God's law was perfect the first time. It was man that messed it up. It will be the system of the judges that God instituted. It will be the government that God instituted and guess who the judges are going to be? The saints, the believers. They will be the judges. They will be the rulers of tens, rulers of hundreds, and rulers of thousands. If you want to know what the government is going to be like during the thousand year reign of Christ, study God's model of a perfect government in the Mosaic law. That's what it's going to be like. People who get all upset and angry when you preach, you know, hey Leviticus 2013 says that if a man also lied with mankind, even as he lies with a woman, even both of them have committed an abomination, they shall surely be put to death. Let me tell you something, that will one day be the law of the land. There's going to come a day on the soil that you're standing on when that will become the law of the land, to put homos to death by stoning because Jesus Christ is going to rule with a rod of iron and he's going to institute the laws that governed civic government. And you say, oh, we're under grace to bring us back to the law. No, no, no. I'm not bringing back the animal sacrifices. I'm not bringing back stuff that was done away in Christ. I'm talking about civic government rules that say, hey, if you murder, you're going to be killed or if you steal, you pay back fourfold. There's no prison in the Bible as a punishment for God's people. That was something that man used. God always used the punishments of death penalty, stripes, meaning a beating, or a monetary fine, paying back fourfold, or exile, being cut off from amongst the people, being kicked out of the nation. Well, here's the thing. When Jesus Christ is ruling over the whole earth, there's nowhere to be kicked out to. So basically, the punishments are going to be death, beating, and monetary fines. It's really going to be a very libertarian government. If you look at the government that God laid out, it's a very minimal government. I mean, our government today in the United States has so many laws, you couldn't even fit them in this whole auditorium. Even if you printed them in six-point font, the books would fill this whole room, whereas these are all of God's laws. So it's going to be a very minimal government. It's going to be a small amount of laws, but they're going to be enforced with a rod of iron. And it's going to be great. I can't wait to have that truly free libertarian society. The Bible says where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. I'm not talking about the libertarian party. I'm talking about God's libertarian principles of just total freedom, no income tax, no big government, no police state like we have now, not all these codes and statutes and regulations for everything that you do. Man, it's going to be freedom, but it's going to be God's kind of freedom. There are certain things you can't do. Don't commit adultery, don't be a queer, don't kidnap anybody, don't steal, and everything will be fine. Okay. So anyway, just some food for thought about the millennial reign of Christ, of which laws are going to be instituted. The U.S. Constitution, no. The Holy Bible will be the law of the land when Jesus is ruling around. He is the word. This is what you're going to reign with. And by the way, I'll bet you people who know this book pretty well are probably going to be the ones that he puts in good positions of authority. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for Revelation 19. It's a great chapter. First of all, just starting out the chapter by praising and glorifying you, hallelujah. But not only that, it gives us a great image of Christ coming on the white horse with all the saints dressed in white to destroy and defeat the Antichrist and the false prophet, to slaughter the kings of the earth, to slaughter their armies, and to set up a perfect and just thousand-year reign. Father, please just shine the light of the glorious gospel through this preaching and through your word and help many people to be saved through your word being preached door to door and from the pulpit, dear God, that they would not be on the wrong side of this battle. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen.