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Let's start there in verse number one. It says, And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals. So the title of the sermon this morning is The Opening of the Seals. The Opening of the Seals is the title of the sermon this morning. Now we saw last week that God the Father had this book with seven seals that no man could look upon, no man could open. The only one that could look and open that book with the seven seals is Jesus Christ. And so we start there in verse number one again. And I saw the Lamb, that being Jesus Christ, opened one of the seals. And now it's all happening, right? We now get to the action part of the book of Revelation. It says, And then I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. What's this noise of thunder that John suddenly hears that says one of the four beasts saying come and see. And so one of these four beasts that are around the throne of God, which is at seraphim, when he speaks to John, it's like this this sound of thunder, which makes sense because we saw when they were singing praises to God in the Old Testament that everything was shaking, right? And these things have very loud, powerful voices. And he's telling John, look, come and see, now that it's been unclassed, now you can actually understand what's going to take place in these future events. And verse number two, what does he see? And I saw, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him. And he went forth conquering and to conquer. Now this one that's sitting on a white horse is known by at least the majority of prophecy preachers or teachers that I've heard, they will label this person as the Antichrist, or as the beast of the book of Revelation. And I agree with that sentiment. I fully agree with that idea, okay? But I'm not the kind of person that said, all right, I just I just, you know, it's probably the Antichrist, I think it's the Antichrist. I want to show you why I believe it is the Antichrist, okay? Now first thing that we see here, before we go into it, let's see, okay, he's sitting on this white horse. Now of course, when Jesus Christ comes back in Revelation chapter 19, he also comes back on a white horse. So if you've got the Antichrist, who decides to refer to himself as God, a God to be worshipped later on in prophecy, it would make sense that he would come in the same way or being seen in the light of Jesus Christ. And it says he came and he had a bow, okay, so he had a bow. Now some people say, well, no arrows are mentioned, he just got a bow, he's got no arrows. And therefore, he comes in peace. I just think that's kind of silly. Like if the Bible said he had a gun, and go, well, doesn't mention bullets, therefore he's coming in peace. I mean, someone's pointing a gun at your head, oh, you must be peaceful at me right now. The fact that he's got a bow means that he's coming with power and might, and you know, he has the ability, which we see later on, he has the ability to invoke war, okay, and it says, and a crown was given unto him, so he's been given power, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. That doesn't sound like peace to me. He's taking control over different elements of the world, okay. Now if you can come with me, I want to show you a few things here, come with me to Revelation chapter 12. I need to, before we keep going to Revelation 16, this is where I need you to turn on your minds, you need to get your fingers ready to go through the scriptures. I want you to understand what is taking place here, we're going to Revelation 12. Now if you don't know where we're going there, I want you to re-listen to a sermon that I which not not too long ago, called an overview of the book of Revelation, because I want to rehash all of that again. But Revelation chapter 12 is a retelling of the events of this prophecy of the end times. And the reason we know it's a retelling in Revelation 12 five, it says that she brought forth a man child speaking of the birth of Christ, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. And so we know that, of course, after Christ came to this earth, he, you know, was put to death resurrected, and then he ascended up to be with the Father. This is why we know it's a retelling, because we've gone back in past events. Now what we see here in verse number six, it says, and the and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she have a place prepared of God, that she should, that they should feed her there, 1,203 score days. Now that's 1260 days, okay. Now on the Jewish calendar, okay, on the Jewish calendar, they don't have a calendar like us where we've got some days are 31, some days are 30, and of course, February is its own thing. But for them, they've got 30 days for every month, every month has 30 days, okay. So if you take 1260 days, and divide that by 30, okay, you can work out how many months that is. And that works out to be 42 months, okay. And 42 months is three and a half years, okay. So what we see here is a period of three and a half years taking place. Now drop down to verse number seven, all right, it says, and there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought with and his angels, that's the dragon being the devil there, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. So the devil and his angels, they have no, they're never going to walk into heaven ever again. They don't have a place in heaven ever again, it says, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which the seed of the whole world because he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him, okay. So now we see the devil is operating exclusively on the earth, he has no more place in heaven, he's never going to walk into heaven being accused of the brethren before God, that's never going to happen again, now he's working exclusively on the earth, okay. Now drop down a little bit further, verse number 17, it says, and the dragon was wroth of the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who's the remnant of this woman seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So the remnant of a seed are the believers are the saints, and now the devil is making war with the saints, okay, with the believers, and then it says here in verse number, actually okay, so we see that war taking place against the saints, now come with me to Revelation 13, let's continue, I'm just hitting some highlights here, I just want to get you to understand what we're talking about when it comes to a timeline, okay. So we already had three and a half years take place, all right. Now in Revelation 13 verse 4, it says, and they worshiped the dragon, being the devil of course, which gave power unto the beast, and they worshiped the beast saying, who is like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him, makes sense if he's conquering nations, they're like, who can defeat this guy, who can make war against this guy, and then it says in verse number five, and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue 42 months. So now we have another 42 months, okay. He continues in his power for another 42 months, and of course that's another three and a half years, okay. So we've seen three and a half years, the persecution of the woman, we cover that when we get to Revelation 12, now he's persecuting the saints of God, okay, he's speaking great blasphemies, if you know your Bibles, you know that takes place in the middle of the seven years, which is after three and a half years of course, the first three and a half years, then he continues for another 42 months, so that's another three and a half years. So what I'm trying to show you there, is that this end time period, before Christ establishes his millennial reign on this earth, is a seven year period, divided by two, three and a half years, okay, and then it says in verse number six, and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, verse number seven, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. So not only is he persecuting God's people, but at this point, and after the first three and a half years, he now has control over the entire earth, he's got power over the entire earth, but I want you to notice the persecution against the saints of God commences after the first three and a half years, okay, then the next three and a half years, he continues and his main goal is to make war against the saints of God, okay. So what I'm trying to show you there is that this end time period, once again, before the millennial reign of Christ is a seven year long period, okay, I hope that's all making, it's all going to make sense to you soon, okay, now come with me to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, Daniel chapter nine, Daniel chapter nine, please, Daniel chapter nine, all right, what I'm trying to show you here is that rider on the white horse, okay, is around for seven years, okay, he's given power, he's got power really over seven years, and I'm trying to show you that that rider is the antichrist, okay, is the beast of the book of Revelation. Now Daniel chapter nine, verse number 26, we have this special prophecy given to the prophet Daniel, which is a 70 week prophecy, I'm not going to go through all of it right now, okay, but when you talk about a period of a week, when we think of a week, we think of seven days, okay, a week is representative of the number seven, but instead of seven days, okay, this week represents seven years, and the reason we know that is if you go through it, again I'm not going to go through it all, but you go through it, you can tell from the time when Babylon released the Jews to go back and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of Jesus Christ, we know that takes place obviously not days, but in periods of years, and you can calculate using that, using the calculation he found in Daniel chapter nine, but what I want to focus on is the last period of seven years, the last week, okay, is in Daniel 9 26, and after three score in two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, so that's speaking of Christ being killed, and then it says but not for himself, so Christ did not die for himself, obviously he died for us, and says here, and the people of the prince, now some people think well hold on, what is the people of the prince here, who is the prince that's mentioned here, because previously in the book of Daniel chapter nine, again looking at it on time, Jesus Christ is referred to as a prince, okay, but what I propose to you this morning is that the prince here is the antichrist, is the beast, and I'll explain to you in a minute why, and the people of the prince shall come, shall come, shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, until the end of the war desolations are determined, okay, now look at verse number 27, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, so again one week is representative of seven days, now this prince is confirming the covenant with many for one week, and then it says this, it's so important, and in the midst of the week, so in the middle of the week, so if you've got seven years, what's the middle of seven years, well three and a half, then they've got the middle, and then you got another three and a half years, okay, so I'm trying to show you that the bible separates these two three and a half year periods, okay, what does he do, he says he shall cause a sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over spreading of abominations shall he make it desolate, that's important for you to remember, okay, I know it's a long title, but he's going to bring abominations, okay, onto the earth, and it says here he's going to make it desolate even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate, okay, I won't go into all that right now, it's quite deep, but what I'm trying to show you is that this prince makes a covenant with many for one week, all right, now some people say well that's the antichrist making a covenant or bringing back the old covenant with the Jews, they'll say that, okay, I mean it doesn't really say that, I mean it wouldn't be hard for God to say this covenant is being made with the Jews, all we've got here is he's making a covenant with many for one week, okay, now the reason some people believe that this might be a reference to Jesus rather than the antichrist is they say well this covenant is the new covenant, it's the new testament and then Christ came and at his death that was the end of the old covenant and now we started a new covenant and I've been thinking about that and I can see some merit in that idea and some of the ideas that I've heard been spoken about but the big problem that I've got with that idea is that this covenant is only for one week, for seven years, I mean it's the new covenant for seven years, it's an eternal covenant, okay, once you've entered that covenant it's eternal, it's eternal for all, okay, it's the shed blood of Christ, anyone that is saved, it's not a period of seven years, so I can't relate this to Jesus Christ, okay, but what we see this man is putting a covenant with many, a covenant just means an agreement, okay, that's all it really means, okay, I know it's a bible term and it's nothing wrong with the term itself but that's just all it means, okay, a covenant, it's an agreement, when two people get married they enter into a marriage covenant, it's an agreement, you make vows, you make promises to one another, etcetera, all right, so going back to Revelation chapter 6 from your memory, okay, you see a rider on a white horse and he's conquering, okay, he's conquering, this is the beginning of the seven year period, all right, and so it sounds like not only is he conquering nations but he's establishing some type of agreement, some type of covenant, okay, some type of treaty in place, hey, I've got power, I've got control over these areas of the earth, okay, and that is something that establishes for a period of seven years, now why am I going through all this, let's go to another passage, come with me to Matthew 24, Matthew 24, what I'm trying to bring to your attention here, not only is the white rider representative of the antichrist but I want you to see the correlation with Revelation chapter 6 and Matthew 24, okay, and I'm not making this correlation, Jesus makes this correlation himself, okay, in Matthew 24 and look at verse number 9, Matthew 24 verse number 9, now we saw that the antichrist or the beast is going to make war against the saints of God, right, when does that commence? After the first three and a half years, that's when it commences, all right, now in Matthew 24 verse 9, Jesus says, speaking about the end times, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, okay, so those that have been killed are those that are hated for the name of Christ, that's talking about believers, okay, so again there's that persecution against God's people, now when you read that in verse number 9, when do you think that should take place? Well, if you've followed after the first three and a half years, okay, that's when he makes war against the saints, now drop down to verse number 15, drop down to Matthew 24, 15, Jesus Christ then tells us when this persecution is going to begin, okay, and what's the, what should, you know, believers should be looking out for in verse number 15, it says, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, now those terms might sound familiar because we read them in Daniel chapter 9, okay, then he says this word, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand, Jesus says, look, read the book of Daniel, Daniel understand what I'm talking about here, okay, Jesus Christ, instead of me rehashing everything, Jesus Christ said, read the book of Daniel and you understand what I'm saying, okay, but when you say see the abomination of desolation, okay, when did that take place in Daniel chapter 9? He said in the midst of the week, in the middle of the week, after the first three and a half years, well that makes sense, okay, because that's when the persecution against God's people begins, then it says this in verse number 16, then let them be, which be in Judea, flee into the mountains, so it's starting to give some instruction to people that live in Judea, because there's going to be persecution on the earth, okay, the Antichrist is going to establish, you know, his kingdom, mainly in Jerusalem, so the persecution is going to be the greatest in Judea, if you're a believer, you know, if you live in that area and you're a believer, hey, it's time for you to get out of there, okay, why would you need to flee, okay, drop down to verse number 21, this is why you need to flee, Jesus Christ says, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be, so the reason you need to flee out of Judea, okay, and of course this applies to the whole world, but it's because then shall be great tribulation, let me ask you a question, if you follow this along, okay, you've got three and a half years, the abomination of desolation is set up, okay, which is the worship of the Antichrist and an idol that he sets up to be worshipped, okay, then he begins to persecute the people of God, makes sense, because we're not going to worship some dead idol, okay, all right, but then Christ says, and this is what you need to be watching for, because then shall be great tribulation, now let me ask you a question, did the great tribulation begin already, before the midst of the week, or did the great tribulation begin at the midst of the week, for then shall be great tribulation, okay, not before, but then after the midst of the week, now the reason I'm going through this, if you're getting confused, it's just, there's so, there's such bad teaching in the Christian world about the end times, they realize there is a seven-year period, you can't avoid that, you find it in the Old Testament, you find the book of Revelation, you find it everywhere, okay, this seven-year period, this future seven-year period to come, but they'll call the whole thing the tribulation, they'll call all the great tribulation, they'll call the whole thing the great tribulation, okay, and this is where they get messed up, okay, because not only they call it the great tribulation, but then they also say the whole seven years is the wrath of God, that's what they say, the whole seven years is the wrath of God, the whole seven years is the great tribulation, no, we saw the great tribulation begins at the midst of the week, okay, and then I'm going to show you that that's, you know, the great tribulation is not God's wrath, we'll see that in a moment, now does God's wrath take place during the seven-year period, of course it does, okay, but the Bible makes it very clear when the great tribulation begins at the midst of the week with the abomination of the salvation, it also, as we keep going, is going to tell us very clearly when the wrath of Jesus Christ begins, I'm giving you all of this background, so when we go back to Revelation 6, it all starts to click for you, okay, now Matthew 24 is a parallel passage known as the Oliver Discourse, okay, it's also found in Mark 13 and Luke 21, okay, you can read about that all in your own time, you know, this is a significant teaching, obviously John did not write about the Oliver Discourse because John was then tasked to write the whole book of Revelation, okay, so the book of Revelation is helping us understand these parallel teachings found in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13, all right, now that you've got that as your backdrop, okay, three and a half years, the Antichrist begins, he's conquering, okay, but persecution does not begin to the halfway point, then it's great tribulation, all right, so you've got that in your mind, I hope you can follow so far, come back with me to Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 3, Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 3, now when you're at conquering nations, I mean think of, think of Hitler for a moment, okay, Hitler, obviously World War II, the greatest war, at least the loss of life that there's ever, when I say great, I'm not saying good, like the greatest loss of life, I mean horrible war, right, he began just conquering land, conquering nations, okay, then eventually that led to war because people don't like, you know, people don't like just a foreign nation stepping on your soil and taking over, okay, I mean America going into the Middle East to make peace, it's not going to work, I mean like if America just say hey Australia, we're just going to step in and we're just going to take over your resources and make sure we're bringing democracy into your land, there's going to be a hatred for that, for that action, right, but anyway the antichrist is out conquering, what do you think is going to happen, well let's keep going there, verse number 3, and when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say come and see, and there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword, okay, so the idea he had a bow, my thought behind that is that's like a long distance weapon, okay, he's out conquering nations like long distance, okay, but now the sword's been, now it's all direct, okay, now it's your, you know, the nations are trying to fight back against this conquering, and look if World War II taught us anything, once one nation gets involved then their buddies get involved and then their buddies get involved and before you know it it's all at war, okay, so you see World War take place, okay, first the antichrist, then World War, the second seal, verse number 5, and when he had opened the third seal, well that's before we keep reading, when there's World War, what's the next thing, death, I mean death, suffering, okay, collapsed economies, all kinds of things can happen, right, verse number 5, it says, and when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, come and see, and behold and lo a black horse, and here that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand, and I heard a voice in the midst of the full beast say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine, so what we see here is, you know, a pair of balances, essentially it's measuring the value of barley, wheat, oil and wine, things that you you purchase, and of course the penny there is your wealth, is your money, okay, what we see here is that in the bible days, in the days that Jesus Christ walked the earth, a penny was like a day's labor, if you went out and worked, I don't know what is a day's labor this, 200 more than that, I don't know, let's say 200, 250 dollars, the average just, you know, low income, sort of a minimum wage, so I don't know what it is right now, well for a penny, all you could buy is a measure, a small amount of wheat, okay, now maybe maybe a day's labor normally will get you through a week, a week and a half, two weeks of groceries, well a day's labor in this time is only going to give you a small amount of wheat to make bread, okay, so what we see here is that money has significantly lost its value, you know, might say it's hyperinflation, but also just a shortage of food, like, you know, it's just a simple, you know, rules of supply and demand, okay, there's a lot of money but maybe not enough demand and so, you know, it's, you know, food has been rationed because there's a world war, I mean, things are collapsing, right, and so there's hunger and there's this famine taking place here because of the lack of food, let's keep going there, verse number seven, I mean, all this makes sense, right, if there's like a world war, like concatenation is going to lead to war, war is going to lead to lack of supply, all right, verse number five, and when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see, and I looked and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was death and hell followed with him and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth and so, of course, people are dying from the warfare, they're also dying from hunger, you see that, there's a lack of food, all right, and beasts of the earth, the animals are going wild, you know, and they're taking out, you know, they're, I guess, they're lacking food, maybe lands are being destroyed and, you know, the target is human beings potentially, right, to fulfil the needs of these creatures but we see this mass amount of death taking place, okay, and, you know, I hadn't looked this up but in World War II there was an estimated, they don't really know, there was an estimated 70 million deaths in the world, not just the soldiers that have died on the battlefield but civilians from bombing and all kinds of things, okay, that's a lot of people, that's, what are we as Australia, we're like 20, are we 26, 27 million, what are we, something like, imagine 70 million, more than double the population of all of Australia died in World War II, okay, how many people are going to die in this world war, we get an idea, okay, in verse number eight, the second part of verse number eight says and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, a quarter of the earth, what's going to happen to a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword and hunger with death the beast of the earth, so a quarter of the earth is going to perish in this world war, okay, so if we're eight billion people today, let's say this took place today, a quarter of eight billion is what, two billion, imagine two billion, I mean this is the greatest world war that's ever been seen, okay, and look we don't know when this is going to take place, this could take place 50 years from now, 100 years from now, who knows, who thinks, like obviously our population is going to grow, it's consistently growing, I mean just the mass amount of people that are going to die because of the antichrist's efforts to take power over the earth, now what I want you to see, we've opened four seals, Jesus Christ has opened four seals and all four seals have been represented by what, by horse, right, first was the white horse, then the red horse, then the black horse, then the pale horse, okay, now when Christ opens the fifth seal it's no longer represented by these horsemen, like horses or horsemen, okay, there is a shift that takes place in the way it's represented, okay, now this is really interesting, look at verse number nine, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, so now we have the saints being slain, being put to death, right, for the word of God, for the testimony, for believing on Jesus Christ, so the fifth seal introduces us to martyrs, to God's people being put to death, again with what we've covered in Revelation 12, Daniel 9, Matthew 24, when does the persecution of saints begin? After three and a half years, right, at the midpoint and then that begins the persecution against the people of God, so what we understand, what we can understand, you know, by looking at all the other scriptures that the first four seals, okay, is the first three and a half years, when we open seal number five, we're now commencing the next three and a half years, does that make sense? I hope so, hope that makes sense, all right, and the reason this makes sense again is because the first four seals were represented by those horsemen, well yeah, now there's a shift, okay, now there's a shift in the way we're representing, you know, these end time events, the other thing I want you to notice, seal number five again is the persecution of the saints, but what we saw in seal number four, let's look at it again, verse number seven, and when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say come and see, and I looked and behold a pale horse and his name that suddenly was death and hell followed with him, so we have this mass, this two billion, you know, minimum people died on the earth, and look the vast majority of people are not saved, they've not believed on Christ and they're going to hell, what I'm trying to demonstrate here brethren, is the first three and a half years, I'm not saying it's going to be perfect and easy for God's people, okay, but it's persecution, it's tribulation, it's problems and turmoil and war and the whole earth is suffering, there are people dying over the whole earth and the vast majority of course are dying and going to hell because the vast majority are not saved, but then at the midst of the week, the dragon no longer persecutes the woman, we saw in revelation 12, dragon starts persecuting the seed of the woman that have the testimony of Christ, which makes sense, but still number five is now the persecution of God's people, okay, so world war is done with, okay, now it's time to take care of these pesky Christians, okay, these people that will not bow down and worship the beast or the idol that he sets up, but I just want you to notice that, okay, and what did at the mid-points of the seven-year period after the first three and a half years, Matthew 24 said, then shall be great tribulation, now we have great tribulation, this great tribulation is aimed against the people of God, this great tribulation is aimed against the saints of God, those that have the testimony of Jesus Christ, look at verse number 10, and this is one reason, this is just one reason why we know God has not started pouring out his wrath just yet, this is one reason why we know the great tribulation is not God's wrath, this is one reason why we know the first three and a half years is not the wrath of God, because it says in verse number 10, and they cried the souls that are under heaven, those that were that were slain for the word of God and testimony which they held, it says and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long oh Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth, the Lord when are you going to step in, Lord we've been persecuted, we've been put to death, how long God before you take revenge on what we've done, because vengeance belongs to the Lord, these people know very well, Lord vengeance belongs to you Lord, we've died for your name, we see that the Lord has not yet stepped in, he's not yet poured out his wrath on the wickedness of this world, and what's the response given to them in verse number 11, and white robes were given unto every one of them, of course they're saved, the white robes representing the righteous of Christ, it says and it was said unto them that they should look rest for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be cured as they were should be fulfilled, so there are still more believers that will be put to death okay, but what I want to notice is look rest for a little season, the great tribulation has begun okay, and we're being told here look it's just a little season, and I'm not going to prove this today, I'm going to prove this in another day when I go for the book of Revelation, but I believe the great tribulation you can get this calculation book of Daniel is 75 days or less, which would make sense that it's a little season, rest for a little season okay, till every other martyr that needs to perish okay does all right, so some are going to perish and some are going to obviously make it to the rapture all right, now I wanted to link Matthew 24 to Revelation chapter 6 for you, I hope I've shown that so far okay, come with me to Matthew 24, keep your finger in Revelation 6, come back with me to Matthew 24 and verse number 3, Matthew 24 verse number 3, we're going to build a little bit more context around Matthew 24 here, Matthew 24 and verse number 3, Matthew 24 and verse number 3, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, so that's why it's called the Olivet Discourse, the Mount of Olives, he did this teaching on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world, look if they're ever asking that question, Christ is obviously going to give the answer all right, so tell us about your coming, tell us about the end of the world, verse number 4, Jesus answered and said unto them take heed that no man deceive you, look not only does Jesus Christ teach this but the Apostle Paul teaches this okay, let no man deceive you, look don't let me even deceive you, look go back to God's word and look at it for yourself and ask for evidence, pastor why do you believe that, you know I hope I can show you in different ways why I believe that okay, but at the end of the day you need to understand God's word, just stop relying on the books and the experts and the prophecy conferences and all these things because there are people out there to deceive you and I don't know who they all are, I'm just saying they're out there, that's why Jesus Christ warned us about being deceived, verse number 5, for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many, so this is interesting okay, there's many here but we know one that will come saying that is Christ is the Antichrist okay, so we start to see this correlation beginning with Revelation 6, then it says in verse number 6 and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet okay, so Christ's time, look there's going to be false Christs then there's going to be wars and rumors of wars all right, now so we saw the first seal is the Antichrist, a false Christ yeah, then it says this in verse number 7, for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, now stop the from a moment, what was the second seal? War, does that sound like nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, yeah then what does it say, he says and there shall be famines, what's the third seal? Black famine right, the lack of food, a day's labor only gives you a measure of wheat okay, famines, then he says pestilences, what was the fourth? A pale horse and look I know I might be stretching things a little bit here but when you're sick what do people say about usually you look pale, you've lost color in your face, pestilences, we saw those all manners of death right, there's the warfare, there's all and look this makes sense because if there are literally two billion rotten bodies on the ground because of warfare that's going to just breed disease, sicknesses, pestilences, all those kinds of things right, then he says and earthquakes in diverse places, so we know that's the first three and a half years okay, persecution against God's people directly has not yet begun okay, that's the first three and a half years because it's the four horsemen, it says this in verse number eight, all these what we just read, all these are the beginning of sorrows, so what is the best way to describe the first three and a half years according to God's word, the beginning of sorrows, then the midpoint, then shall be great tribulation okay and I'm not saying great tribulation is all the next three and a half years, I'm saying to you it's a little season, I'm saying to you that it's 75 days or less okay, if you keep going in verse number 21, drop down to verse 21, sorry look at verse number nine sorry verse number eight again, all these are beginning sorrows, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, oh that's a great tribulation and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, now without going into all this because it's a big chapter, Matthew 24, drop down to verse number 21 again, for then shall be great tribulation okay, this is why you hate because it's time for great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be, he says look this is the greatest tribulation that's ever going to fall upon God's people, there's never been a time like it, there'll never be a time like it ever again, it's the greatest persecution against God's people that there's ever been, now look what he says in verse number 22, and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, for God's people sake, those days shall be shortened, well that makes sense because Reverend James 6 said it's a little season, so instead of the great tribulation lasting an entire three and a half years because no one's going to survive that, no believer's going to survive that period of great persecution, God's a little season, the days will be shortened okay, so again would it be right to call the entire seven years the great tribulation or tribulation, no it's not, it's not right, the beginning of sorrows three and a half years, midpoint then shall be great tribulation, it's a little season, the days shall be shortened for the elect's sake okay, all right so we've caught up Matthew 24 is caught up to what we've read in Revelation chapter 6, now keep a finger in Matthew 24 and come with me to Revelation chapter 6, like I hope you're following, if you've lost it you're going to have to rehear the sermon okay, can I see a show of hands who's still following me, like who's got it, okay okay we're doing good then, all right thank you, thank you very much, even some of the kids following, good on you okay, okay back to Revelation chapter 6 please, Revelation chapter 6 and look if you can't follow I'm not you know, I'm not, it's a lot to take in, it's a very deep study this morning, I understand, fully understand okay, Revelation chapter 6 please and verse number 12, so we've done the first three and a half years, we started the great tribulation which is a little season, days shall be shortened all right, back to Revelation chapter 6 verse number 12, now we're going to open the sixth seal okay, verse number 12, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake, now this is so important, it's so important, look I don't want to just attack my old pastors or my old churches, again I love them, I appreciate the things that I've learned from them, I want you to understand, I love my pastors okay, but I have to be honest with you, as we keep reading, I've never heard any of this taught in my church, any church I've attended okay, and lo there was a great earthquake, look at this, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood, I mean that's pretty, that's a pretty major event, I mean the sun just turning off, like could you imagine the sun just turned off right now, we'd be in darkness, and you go well we got the moon, no no the moon turns to blood, I mean these are miraculous events, like the moon's not going to be shining either, it says in verse number 13, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, you know I believe these are shooting stars or falling like meteors or whatever, just this meteor shower just starts to hammer the earth, bang bang bang, like what what's happened, you know what I'm trying to demonstrate here brethren is, the first three and a half years that we saw all those horrible things, they're just normal human events, war, death, famine, these things happen normally, you wouldn't say those are supernatural things, now we're up to something supernatural, now God has stepped in, is what I'm trying to say, I mean what man can turn off the sun okay, all right, well you know what man can knock down these meteors and bring them to the earth, I mean this this is the hand of God right here okay, now God's stepping, remember he said hey rest for a little season all right, dress for a little season and now God's going to step in okay, Matthew sorry let's keep going there verse number 13, and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth, I want you to remember this, even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs, when she was shaken of a mighty wind, so God uses the illustration of a fig tree, if it gets shaken the figs start to fall, that's kind of the idea of the stars falling from heaven all right, now let's see if that lines up with Matthew 24 okay, with what we've been following, so keep your finger there and come with me to Matthew 24, Matthew 24 all right, verse number 29, Matthew 24 and verse number 29, again a reminder when does the great tribulation begin, after three and a half years, in at the midst at the midst, in the middle of the seven-year period, that's when the great tribulation begins, now we're going to see when it ends, which is a little season, which the day shall be shortened okay, verse number 29, immediately after the tribulation, one more time, immediately after the tribulation of those days, so the tribulation yes, we know about it begins at the midst point, it's a little season and immediately after the tribulation what happens, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, because it's been turned to blood all right, and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, are we talking about the same event here, like what kind of person will turn around and say oh that's a separate event, a pastor that I love, speaking to him about this, it's pastor can't you see, it's the same event, not because I'm trying to force anything here, ask me okay, if you go to another church and they don't teach this, you need to be in church, you just be a good member of the church, don't argue with your pastor, he's been given authority, I'm not an argumentative person, so my pastor's come up to me, can you explain what you believe, okay well let's look at the sun and moon being darkened first, that's a pretty big event and the answer I got was, actually it wasn't for my pastor, it was from someone else in the church, yeah but that happens like seven times in the Bible, something like that, or was it three times, anyway it was like I think it was seven times he said, yeah but that happens seven times, what so God turns off the sun like seven times, just so you can't put it, I mean look so far everything matches Matthew 24 revelations, you know it all lines up and now that that's one of the seven other times that it happens, like why are people so afraid of what the Bible just says, I understand it's just, I know the Bible is tough, it rips your face from time to time, it makes you feel uncomfortable from time to time, but that's because we're fallen human beings, we like to hear nice things, we like to hear ah God's people will never go for a great tribulation, I mean it sounds really, I think if I got a choice I'd probably choose the pre-trib one, take me out before any problems Lord, but there's going to be, look it might not be me but there's going to be a generation that goes through these end times and if it's not my generation, well let's prepare the next generation and if it's not that generation, well let's let that generation, well let's let that generation prepare the next generation after them, let's just teach what God says, all right well the Bible just clearly lays out for us and I told you remember the fig tree, verse number 13, I'm sorry verse number 30, oh forget the fig tree for a moment, I'm getting confused, verse number 30, okay so the sun is darkened, the moon is darkened, the stars fall from heaven, verse number 30 and then now okay and then now now after the sun is darkened, the moon is darkened and the stars fall from heaven and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall look at this, 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 a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other, so what do we see here? The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gathering of the saints, the gathering of the elect unto him, the angels are doing the gathering for him and then look at verse number 32, this is not this is not a coincidence, now learn the parable of the fig tree, ah that's in Revelation 6 as well okay, when his branch is yet tender and put forth leaves you know that summer is nigh, it won't keep going okay but you think that's all just coincidence, oh it's just one of the odd times and the stars from heaven, it's just one of the other times when the sun goes dark and the moon goes dark, someone said to me yeah but one says the sun the moon goes turns to blood, the other one says it goes dark, so which one is it? It's both, I mean the sun turns to blood, if the moon turns to blood obviously it's not shining, it's gone dark, so what do we see? The coming of Jesus Christ immediately after the tribulation, I'm not saying it's the end of the next three and a half years at the end of seven, I'm not teaching that, I'm saying it's surely after the midpoints, 75 days or less, the reason I say that is because Christ says the days shall be shortened, I don't know how much it's shortened by okay, I don't know but come back with me to Revelation 6, Revelation 6 now, Revelation 6 in verse number, let's read verse number 12 again, and I behold when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became his blood and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind, now we know Matthew 24 says Christ appears, well what happens in verse number 14, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, something happens in our atmosphere and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, now remember in Matthew 24, the men, the tribes, all the tribes of the earth were mourned, well look what happens in verse number 15, and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, remember they're all they were mourning, we're rejoicing, God's people are rejoicing, Jesus is here, amen, hey the tribulation of the earth hey the tribulation is over, everyone else on the earth, they're fleeing, they're hiding themselves, it says in verse number 16, and said to the mountains, fallen us and hide us from the face of him, what are they saying, I want to pay attention to what they're saying, I know Revelation 6 doesn't mention Christ is in the clouds, I know it doesn't mention that, okay how it was mentioned in Matthew 24, but we saw that the heaven was was departed as a scroll, okay something's happening in the sky, all right, and now they're saying to the mountains, fallen us and hide us from the face of him that sit up on the throne, are they seeing God, hide us from him, okay, look at this, and now now God's wrath begins, and from the wrath of the lamb, who's the lamb, Jesus, they see Jesus, so look, hide us from his wrath, because it's supernatural events, everything before that is just normal, things have happened in the past and things will continue, wars and rumors of wars, all these kinds of things, kingdoms against kingdoms, that just always happens, okay, but now if the sun turns off and the moon goes dark and the stars from, like you better believe that's the hand of God and they're so afraid, hide us from his wrath, okay, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand, the great day of his wrath is come, present tense, so again what do we see, the beginning of sorrows, first three and a half years, at the midpoint, the antichrist begins to persecute God's people, that period, the great tribulation is a short, is a little season, the day shall be shortened, okay, and immediately after the tribulation, the sun, moon goes dark, the stars fall from heaven, and then Jesus Christ appears and the rapture takes place, and then we're all in heaven, we're in the clouds of Jesus Christ and the people on the earth, what are they going to face now, the wrath of God, the wrath of God, now I really want you to, I hope you've seen that, hope you've seen that in the scriptures, hope you're not just taking my word for it, I don't want you to take my word for it, you know, if you disagree with anything I've covered today, show me the scriptures, the reason why, okay, but this is going to help you in your study of the end times, okay, is separating great tribulation from the wrath of the lamb or God's wrath, the great day, right, let's say, the great day, for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand, and what separates the events of the great tribulation from the great day of God's wrath, the sun and moon being darkened and the stars falling from heaven, that's a really key event that I've never heard preached at church, just that one event, like for one past say, you know what, this event is found all over the scriptures and we're going to look at some other scriptures in a moment, well let's put it together, because see when we start to put it together, the pre-tribulation rapture falls apart, it falls apart immediately, okay, and separating great tribulation which is the persecution of the saints of God with the wrath of God which is God pouring out his wrath on the wicked world, two separate things, but that all takes place within that seven year period, I understand, but the lies, the deception that's out there, oh it's all the same, great tribulation, God's wrath, the whole seven years, no it's not whole seven years, first three and a half years, beginning of sorrows, then great tribulation, okay, then the sun is moon darkened, then the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand, okay, let's confirm this a little bit further, come with me now to the old testament, I'm almost done, promise you, I'm almost done, come with me to Isaiah 13, Isaiah 13 verse 9, Isaiah 13 and verse 9, Isaiah 13 verse 9, now this great day of his wrath is also known in the bible as the day of the Lord, okay, it's also known as the day of the Lord, let me show you this, in Isaiah 13 verse 9, Isaiah 13 verse 9, give me a moment to turn there because I really want you to see it, Isaiah 13 verse 9, behold the day of the Lord cometh, the day of the Lord, now is that the day of God's wrath, let's keep reading, rule both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, so you see the day of the Lord cometh, it's a day of wrath and great anger, fierce anger, look at verse number 10, for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine, are we talking about the same thing here, or did Isaiah experience his own little sun going out and the moon, no it's something about the day of the Lord, the day of his wrath and I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity, see it's not tribulation against God's people here, he's punishing the wicked of the world, right, and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir, therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger, so what commences the day of the Lord, the sun and the moon going dark, when that happens this is the day of God's wrath, but for the rest of us that are believers, I'm being caught up with Jesus in the clouds, I'm not going to be because we're not appointed to God's wrath, but we are appointed to tribulation, you might even be facing tribulation this morning some of you, persecution, hardships, difficulties, we're not immune as God's people from tribulation, but we are immune from the wrath of God because Jesus took his wrath upon himself, one more passage, come with me to Joel chapter 2, the book of Joel, since you're in the Old Testament, the book of Joel, Joel chapter 2 please, Joel chapter 2, Joel chapter 2 and verse number 31, Joel chapter 2 and verse number 31, so again great tribulation, sun and moon are darkened, then God pulls out his wrath, the day of the Lord, the day of God's wrath, okay, just further confirmation in Joel chapter 2 verse 31, Joel chapter 2 verse 31, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before, that's an important word, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come, so what takes place just before the great day of the Lord comes, the day of God's wrath, what takes place before the sun and the moon are darkened, do you see how, and look I'm just showing you some passages, there are many other passages that speak of the sun and moon being darkened or the stars forming from heaven, okay, I've dubbed it the celestial darkening, all right, but I want to make it very clear, tribulation, then the sun and moon is darkened, then the day of the Lord, you've got to understand and we can prove this over and over and over again, in fact, Joel chapter 2 verse number 31 is repeated for us in the New Testament, don't need to turn there, in Acts chapter 2 verse 20, you can take down the reference if you want, Acts chapter 2 verse 20 is repeated in the New Testament, confirming the day of the Lord, sorry, the sun and moon are darkened before the day of the Lord, before God pulls out his wrath, so God has not started pouring out his wrath until the celestial darkening event takes place, just one more thing that I want to do please, if you can come back to Matthew, sorry, come back with me to Revelation of the six, last thing, last thing here, Revelation of the six and then I'll be done, Revelation of the six and verse number 12, let's read it again one more time, it says, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind, it says and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and there's a reason why brother Oliver chose it is well with my soul as a hymn, that's a hymn that's sung across all kinds of churches, isn't it, it is well with my soul, can you take your hymn books and look at hymn number 145, not that a hymn proves anything, it doesn't prove anything from the scriptures, like I'm not going to start taking you doctrine from hymn books or anything like that, okay, but there are churches that sing this hymn, every church that I've been in has sung this hymn, let's put it that way, okay, and they've sung these words in the last, well let me make sure I've got the right, I think it's the last stanza, 145. 145, and Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight, notice the next phrase, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, when does that take place in the bible, what is he referencing, what is the hymn writer representing here, when the when the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, he's saying when the sixth seal takes place and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, because the hymn writers took scriptures, all right, and they put those into words and you know they've sung their doctrines and well he's you know what's going to happen when the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, he goes the trump shall resound and the lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul. This guy knew it's after the tribulation and some people say to you what if you believe we're going for the tribulation, that's not the blessed hope, that's the, that's not the blessed hope, that's the, that's not the blessed hope, that's the blasted, I don't know what it is, but what he's saying is if you're saying people are going for the tribulation, that doesn't give anybody hope, that's not good news, but the hymn writer says it is well with my soul, right, because the lord's coming back, in fact there's a reason why it's called the blessed hope, because what's more hopeful than being delivered from the greatest tribulation that any saint has ever experienced in life, that's pretty hopeful, lord come back, even so you know, even so come lord Jesus, it's funny because churches all across Australia that are pre-tribbers, you're not going to go for the great tribulation when the heavens be part of the scroll, that's not for you, but let's sing about it, open up to 145 everybody, let's sing about it together, what am I trying, what am I demonstrating by that, the ignorance, the ignorance, that's even from many pastors, now that's wrong, but let's sing about it, what are you singing, you know there are some songs that we sing and I sometimes quite unquestionable, I don't know if that's really, but I can kind of, I guess you could put it this way, yeah, makes sense, okay, there are some songs that we don't sing, because it's got outright heresy, but there is great ignorance, there is great deception on the end times, that's why it's so easy to sing some hymn that everybody loves, but not even recognize what doctrine has been taught within the words, well anyway I hope as we go through the book of Revelation, our ignorance becomes wisdom, becomes knowledge, you know, please don't just believe something because I said so, please know what the scriptures contain, you know, and go back and do your own study, go back and listen to this sermon if you have to, or just go back and read God's word, that's better than anything else, go back to God's word, ask God, show me with your Holy Spirit Lord, reveal these truths unto me, because I don't want to be deceived, okay let's pray.