Well, let's turn together to the book of Revelation. In chapter 13 there, it begins with those words, and I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. Now when I was a boy we sometimes visited Knaresborough, And at Knaresborough there is, we don't commend these things, but at Knaresborough there is a wishing well. And there is also that little waterfall that turns your boot or whatever else you hang up there into stone. as the limestone from the rock goes into the fiber and eventually hardens, and you could go back and you could collect your boot, which was now as firm as stone. And this witch, who was known as Mother Shipton, was still a money-making venture, and I suspect that she is still. And you could buy a booklet of her so-called prophecies. And you could just about make them anything you wanted to make them out of the various imagery that she used. But these things are popular because people do want to know what is going to happen. People like to have some idea about their own future, the future of the nation, the future of the world, and so on. It's embedded in our hearts to have some desire about the unknown. Now we believe in this place that the only reliable prophecies are the ones in the Bible. I don't say read the booklet of Mother Shipton. I would say read your Old Testament and your New Testament because the prophecies that we find in the Bible are utterly reliable. We know that because many of them have already been fulfilled and fulfilled exactly as these things have been prophesied. Particularly with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ and those words of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 53 come to mind, exactly fulfilled. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. You see the picture exactly in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as they record the circumstances of the life of the Saviour. But praise God, surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrow. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. The believer looks to the cross of Christ at Calvary and there he sees the fulfillment of this wonderful prophecy in Isaiah 53. The Lord Jesus Christ was prepared to go all of the way to the cross and there to suffer under the wrath of God and to give his life a ransom for many. Praise God if prophecies like that have been fulfilled. Now others are still being fulfilled and other prophecies are yet to be fulfilled. Now we're going through historically looking at the way in which the gospel has survived and served the Lord in the different generations of mankind since the coming of Christ. And that has brought us to these chapters in Revelation from chapter 9 here through to 13. And first of all this morning we want to look at prophetic markers in Revelation 9 through to 13. These are things that we are not to take literally, So there is some animal coming along, such as the one which is described here, which you have never yet seen in a zoo. A leopard, but its feet are the feet of a bear, and its mouth is the mouth of a lion. You've never seen an animal like that. And we don't believe there's ever going to be an animal like that. But nevertheless, what we read here, properly interpreted, gives us understanding of the ways of God. Now remember at this particular point we are still under the sixth trumpet. We blow the trumpet in our military for many reasons, but before tanks and machine guns and all of the modern equipment. As you know, it was the trumpet or bugle that was blown to sound an alarm, to warn of danger, and also to send forward the troops into battle with the sounding of the charge. So we understand here that when the Lord Jesus Christ reveals to John about these seven trumpets, it is something to urge believers to, as it were, waken up and strengthen their resolve and listen to what is being said here, because it is for our spiritual good. And under this sixth trumpet, we have already seen a spiritual witness was taking place amidst a worldly Christianity in a situation where those who hold to the truth were persecuted. Let me remind you again just of the context here and three specifics which set the scene, if you like, with regard to the circumstances that are described. We have seen invasion followed by periods of warfare in chapter 9 and verse 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths." warfare, slaying, and destroying. And within these particular circumstances, undisclosed judgments rumble on in what is described as the seven thunders, that's in the same chapter, and verse three, and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars, And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not. You see, I cannot go into any detail with respect to the seven thunders. As the peals of thunder roll from one side of the heavens to the other, what is presented here is judgments of God coming upon this earth, but we are not told the detail. But that's the situation. Trying times, difficult times, times of death and slaying because of great warfare. and these other judgments signified under the peals of thunder. Yet still under this same period, the sixth trumpet, we have this continuing faithful evangelical witness. Despite all of the trouble, the work of the church goes on. And I read there in chapter 11 and verse 3, and I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days clothed in sackcloth. Now the sackcloth was the clothing of times of penitence and of times of trouble and so on. The witnesses, the Christians, the believers, they are not in easy times for them. And the church visible is being paganized and the true church is being persecuted. But nevertheless, the work of the gospel is going on in the hands of faithful men who are not ashamed to proclaim the truth of Christ crucified and risen again from the dead. And then in this 13th chapter, we have the reign, the rise and reign of the Antichrist as an instrument of Satan oppressing God's people. We've seen the imagery there and then we read a little later in verse 4 and following the picture of his blasphemy against God but nevertheless the great power that he has and then in verse 7 and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. You see, a very powerful anti-Christian individual and also system persecuting the church. So first of all, something about this worldly Christianity. before we pass to this witnessing Christianity. First of all the worldly Christianity. It's here in chapter 13 and it begins with this great monster with seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. I remember many years ago when My children were like the young children here this morning. Our next door neighbour, rather concerned, spoke to my wife, Jean, about a tract that had been put through her door. And this particular tract was about the Book of Revelation. and end times and so on. And it was dealing with things like this, these dreadful monsters. And she was deeply concerned that this tract might get into the hands of the children and that they would be terrified and they would have nightmares and so on. So she took the trouble to speak to my wife about this so that we could take some action to prevent them from being terrified by what they were reading. But obviously we sought to explain to our children as we were reading through the Bible that this is symbolism to help us to understand the ways of God. This symbolism was speaking of a new form of Satan's kingdom coming into the world and being opposed to the truth as this chapter shows, having the appearance even of being Christian. This is paganism Christianized with an objective of suppressing the truth as it is in Jesus. So we have this leopard, it has the bear's feet, it has the lion's mouth. It represents the reconstitution of the cruel, dominating, and imperious pagan spirit of the ancient time which had persecuted the believing Jews. This chapter is based upon what we find in the book of Daniel, and chapter seven in particular. where there is represented the successive pagan kingdoms that would be great persecutors. The first was Babylon, and it was represented by a lion. The next was Medo-Persia, and it was represented by a bear. The next was Greece, and it was represented by a leopard. And the next was nondescript. this dreadful fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly, as it is described in Daniel and chapter 7. So you see that in understanding what we have here, we go back to the book of Daniel, we see how these ancient pagan kingdoms were represented by the lion, the bear, the leopard, and this nondescript, dreadful, and terrible, and exceedingly strong superior empire, which was the empire of Rome. We have them all put together here. in a kind of resurrection, resuscitation of all of this that had gone before. An imperial spirit of man prepared to persecute the people of God in the desire for the possession that Satan promised to the Lord Jesus Christ if he would fall down and worship him. Showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and said, all this I will give thee if thou will fall down and worship me. And Lord Jesus Christ had no intention of so doing because he had come to establish his kingdom, a kingdom of grace and of God's favor, a kingdom of goodness and of God's power, a kingdom of salvation and redemption. And you remember those words of the Lord Jesus. to Satan, get thee hence, Satan. For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And all of this action replays in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in succeeding centuries as men and women and boys and girls will not bow the knee to wickedness and paganism and false Christianity because their heart is all for Christ. Is that how it is with you this morning? Can you say, I will follow Jesus? I kind of go into great detail this morning with respect to the imagery here in connection with worldly Christianity because we're concerned also with witnessing Christianity, true Christianity. It might be thought that such a subtle and ferocious attack upon the church from without would annihilate it. And indeed, this chapter does speak about sort of victories of this horrible, beastly empire. Saints lose their lives. They are martyred. We know that that is no ultimate loss to the people of God. As the Apostle Paul could say, I don't know which is best, whether to go, that is die, or whether to remain, that is to serve the people of God. To go, he says, to be with Christ, which is far better. So no ultimate loss to those who were martyred, but rather great gain. in going directly into the bosom of the Savior, to know his love in that unmixed condition among the spirits of just men made perfect, where sin cannot follow you into that heavenly glory. What a blessed thought. And so all of this persecution did not annihilate the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gospel truth continued Fearful preachers were raised up. And though the true church was forced to the margins of society, in chapter 12 and verse 6 you notice, the true church is described as a woman in the wilderness. She's out of the mainstream. She's not in the position where she's honored by this world. But no, in verse 6 there of 12 we read, and the woman fled into the wilderness. but no loss to her where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1,203 score days. The world may seek to utterly eradicate the church, but there is such power in the gospel that as you know, even today, 21st century, there are countries that persecute Those who hold to the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the gospel is still in their country. The gospel is still being heard in their country. It's what we call the underground church. And we could mention various countries where that is the case. Forced to the margins of society, underground, in the wilderness, but nevertheless, the witness goes on. read in chapter 12 and verse 11 with respect to true believers. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto death. While unbelievers were treading underfoot the outer court of a church as visible, God gave power to his witnesses to maintain a faithful testimony to Christ and to prophesy. A thousand, two hundred, three scorties clothed in sackcloth. In Revelation 11 and 4, they're described as two olive trees and two candlesticks. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. You see, the oil of the olive was very frequently used as a representation of the Spirit of God. Oil was used in connection with anointing, you remember, for priests and kings and so on. A symbol of the Spirit of God being in them, two olive trees they are called. They're not merely olives in a dish on the table, these are the actual olive trees where the life as it were is still there and the olives are still being born because the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is ever with the people of God. And so they're called two candlesticks because when you light a candle, we still have candles today, we used to use them often in my youth when the power cuts took place, it was the only light that you were going to have if you didn't have a torch. We lit the candle and we had light. And it's amazing how much light one little candle can give. And so here they are described as the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, the light of the gospel still shining and radiating in the midst of persecution. So Christ's likeness is seen in their faithful testimony, in their martyrdom, in their resurrection, and in their ascension into heaven that shakes Satan's kingdom causing sinners to give glory to the God of heaven. See that in verses six through to 13 of chapter 11 there. You can read these chapters this afternoon, can't you? And get the full picture as it's set out there. So we are to take these things figuratively for the triumph of truth, notwithstanding sore trials, martyrdoms, and hatred of truth. You've had a lot of problems in your life, no doubt. The older you are, the more problems you will have had. And as believers, whether it is among one's relatives or whether it is in the workplace, there are those who do not like our testimony. And we have problems. because we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are not. And some are very forthright in their opposition. So you know something of the problem, but also from your reading of Christian biography and the history of the church, you know that the intensity of the suffering of believers in previous centuries It's far more than what any of us here have had to face. So let me say something secondly about this worldly Christianity in the 12th century. Again, not with too much detail here because we've already encountered this in the 11th century. But let me pull out one example here. These crusades that were taking place. as we saw in the 11th century, so continuing in the 12th century. And 12th century Crusades are historical facts. The Pope, who conducted himself in an imperial way as though he was an emperor, encouraged the continuing Crusades. and thereby illustrated the preoccupation of the church as visible, that which was seen by everybody, with the Pope at its head and so on, that this whole system was preoccupied with secular means. And these crusades were people-backed military expeditions to neutralize the threat of Islam. Thank God we have a different response to Islam in this place. We know that the need is to know the true Jesus Christ of the Bible and to trust in him. And then those who presently serve Allah will be walking in the ways of the Lord and You might know people personally who have transitioned from that to this. But this was all preoccupied with human methodologies and alas centered around killing. The second crusade had to do with the fact that the Turks had captured Edessa And in 1145 to 49, the Second Official Crusade took place. It cost many lives on both sides. It was an utter failure. The Third Crusade, which in this country we tend to be more familiar with because it is the one in which the famous Richard the Lionheart of England participated, that arose from the capture of Jerusalem by the Saracen Saladin. It was also largely a failure. And the later Crusades had various outcomes. Now what are we to make of this concept of holy warfare and the resort to military expeditions in the course of Christ? Well, I think that the 12th century Crusades are a window into the church visible at that time, showing us how much worldliness had got into the church. Now we accept as our confession says in chapter 23 and section two, the civil magistrate may lawfully now under the New Testament wage war upon just and necessary occasion. When I was born that just a necessary occasion still pertained with respect to the situation with Germany, now allies of Britain, but then enemies of Britain. Adolf Hitler, as you know, sought to exterminate the Jews and would have conquered the world if he could. he had to be resisted. Now this was not the church going to war, this was the civil magistrate going to war and making the stand that had to be made, and rightly so. And we believe that Christians as citizens may serve in the armed forces, and we see this as a necessary civic action. Again, the Second World War resulted in the death in action of many Christians. Many Christians volunteered for the army and other services at that time, and many of them died in action. We honor that, we don't regard that as something sinful. But you see, the Pope at the time was promoting an ecclesiastically sponsored holy war. His counsel was as follows. The righteous fear no sin in killing the enemy of Christ. Christ's soldier can securely kill and more safely die. When he dies, it profits him. When he slays, it profits Christ. Now when we come to the Bible, we see that the holy war and ecclesiastical authority are bounded by the word of God, biblical precedence. We have no doubt that the holy war is spiritual, just as the jurisdiction of presbyters or elders, as shepherds of the flock, is spiritual. The holy war is not some outward war fought with armaments and so on. It is the inward war fought against the devil and his wicked angels. Need to demonstrate that from the Bible if you turn to Ephesians chapter 6 for example and verse 11 you see what is the duty of believers. Ephesians 6 and 11 Paul says put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We therefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and so on. Another passage to read this afternoon. The armor is spiritual armor. And so the apostle says in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations at every high thing, that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ taught us a different way, didn't he? Matthew 5, 38, you have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other And it's very proof of Peter there, in Matthew 26, 52. Put up again thy sword into his place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. See it's a difference between what we do as spiritual Christians in the interest of the advance of the church of Christ and what we do as Christian citizens. in connection with civil duties, one of which is the protection of other citizens in the event of warfare and so on. I must leave that theme. We have to look at the witnessing Christianity in the 12th century, which gives to us a clear lesson in how we are to be in our own century. I'm confining myself here to three Peters. We found out we have two Peters in our congregation, but here are three Peters from the 12th century. Now the first is rather ambiguous and shaky to say the least. His name is Peter Abelard. Now, the historian La Tourette judges this man to have been a sincere Christian. I didn't know the man, and I don't need to pass judgment on that in order to draw attention to the dreadful error, really, that resulted from his particular view of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Put simply, he taught that the extraordinary demonstration of God's love in Christ should overwhelm us, causing us to respond in faith and thus be saved. Now this sounds very fine, but it has omitted the essence of the gospel. We need more than an example of God, of what it is to love, so that we might copy that example. We need more than that in order to be saved. You see, each of us is a sinner. And the gospel message is a saving message because it proclaims the purpose of Christ coming into the world. The reason why Christ died. And why God's love was manifested in giving his son, his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The gospel is a saving message because it proclaims the purpose of Christ coming into the world and the purpose of Christ in dying upon the cross. In 1 John 4 and 9, the apostle says, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The propitiation, that which appeases wrath. You see, it's not that we have a wonderful demonstration of the love of God at Calvary, and therefore we are drawn out to follow that example. Now that can be true in a secondary sense. But it's no good in a primary sense. Because what you and I need is the forgiveness of sins. And there's nothing else in this entire universe through all time that can bring about a situation whereby sinners can be forgiven than the cross of Christ, the death of Christ. He loved his own even unto death. Paul says, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. You see, he died in the place instead of sinners such as we. He took the curse of the law, he suffered the wrath of God. That's why there is forgiveness for sinners such as we with God. So Peter Abelaide did not really help the cause in any positive way. Now then there was Peter Lombard, Peter Lombard is known for his work entitled The Sentences, based upon quotations from the church fathers with various exposition and comment upon that. And these sentences became the common task for theological students, men for the ministry, in the following centuries. And this book became the most widely used doctrinal text in the Middle Ages. It set a pattern of conserving the systematic presentation of the faith which came into full fruition at the Reformation. When you look at the Reformation, when we get there in our studies, we will see that there was a great deal of systematization, of doctrine, so that people could see clearly what is actually taught in the Bible. And we have such formative boots there as John Calvin's Christian Institutes and such a confession as our own confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith. Setting out what the teaching of the Bible is and giving the text of scripture that demonstrate the particular propositions that are made. Well, Peter Lombard started down that track, but he mainly used references from the church fathers. But however good the church fathers might have been, and some of them were very orthodox, it's not actually their words that is the priority, but the scripture words upon which they based their faith. their particular teachings. We've seen some of them like Athanasius who stood firm for the fact that it is not sufficient to view Christ being the son of God as being merely like God. He insisted upon the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is divine and that there is the the Holy Trinity as we call it, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And then there was Peter Waldo. Peter Waldo was a wealthy merchant. He was convicted about life's insecurity and the brevity of life. He consulted a theologian about this because it concerned him greatly. He wanted to know the way to heaven. And this particular theologian gave him the reply of Christ to the rich young ruler. Speaking to a wealthy man here, Peter Waldo, and he says what the Lord Jesus Christ said to the rich young ruler, go sell that thou hast and give to the poor. And this very wealthy man did that. That's exactly what he did. He disposed of all of his wealth, and he gave it to the poor, and he became an itinerant preacher, going from town to town, preaching the gospel. He had many followers, and his followers adopted his method of disposing of wealth, giving to the poor, and sharing the gospel with an evangelistic zeal. And this movement grew significantly. And emphasizing poverty of spirit, they were known as poor men. They stressed poverty and simplicity of life, but actually they were great men. They were persecuted terribly by the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. And many of them died in two dreadful ways even to recount. in an open forum like this. But they sought to conform to scripture. They engaged in going two by two, taking the gospel to those who had never heard it. They resisted abuses such as papal supremacy, masses, prayers for the dead, and so on. They emphasized truthfulness, temperance, and the sanctity They really were a vivid example of the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 and verse 3. And of them we read later, and when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. They were slaughtered indeed. But in the mysterious providence of God and the power of his spirit, the work of God carried on through these dark centuries until the Reformation came and men took up that same torch, that same light of the gospel, but with much greater and widespread results in the good providence of God and by the work of his spirit. Challenges indeed, I think, dear friends, to us to live the life of faith and to bear witness in our own day and generation.