Well, if you've been with us the last couple of weeks, you know we're in the fourth week now. We started the first week by talking about some of the general signs that Jesus said would occur in the end times, and particularly as we got closer to the end. He used the analogy of birth pangs, in other words, that things would become more intense and more frequent. And so there's rumors of wars in every generation, but as we get closer to the end, Jesus said you're going to hear more of those type of things. The second week we talked about history, its meaning, and its goal. And I mentioned that pagans don't really have a concept of history like Christians do. Christians have the idea that there's a beginning, middle, and end. And everything that happens in between is significant. On the other hand, for the Hindus, history is just the repeating of events, on and on, over and over again, because you're just one life after another life reincarnated into something else. And so they don't put much in the study of history. For us, I love reading history because you see the truth of God's word played out in that. You also see things that the Bible predicts are going to happen. For instance, one of the signs of the times in the end, the Bible predicts that the nation of Israel would be regathered into the land even before they're converted at the end. That was predicted thousands and thousands of years ago. And what happened? It actually happened within the lifetime of a number of us sitting here. In 1948, Israel became a nation again. So there's some things in the Bible that are pretty interesting with that. In the third week, we just talked about the coming apostasy. Apostasy means the rejection of the Christian faith by those who formally professed it. And I gave some examples of things that are going on in churches even today. The embracing of the LGBTQ thing and a lot of the homosexuality and stuff like that. And I have to say, I am very thankful to God. that he gave us issues that are really simple. Like, can a man be a woman and a woman be a man? You can be the dumbest Christian and figure that one out. You don't have to be a Bible theologian or an expert on anything. It's just pretty obvious. I mean, you know, my grandchildren, they all know whether they're boys or girls. Now, you could be a PhD, but keep in mind, we have a Supreme Court Justice, when she was asked what a woman was, she said, I can't tell you. Why not? Because I'm not a biologist. It's not only ridiculous, it's not true, and she knows it's not true. Because how can you talk about men oppressing women if there's no such thing as men oppressing women? It's just nonsense. So what do we want to look at this week? We want to look at what I call the view from heaven. I remember being a kid, sometimes in the afternoons on Saturdays, we'd watch matinees, and I remember there's one from 1963, it's called Jason and the Argonauts. I don't know if you've ever seen that or not. Those are those cheap ones, you know, claymation type things. But they're actually great to watch. But I remember there's one scene where Jason and the Argonauts are going through like a cliff area in the water. And the walls are coming closer together, right? And of course, then Poseidon comes out and pushes the walls back so they can get through. That's nice of him. But what's interesting about it, they go from that scene, but then they go up into Olympus. And you see the gods. And the gods are moving pieces on like a giant table. which represent the ships and the people down below. Well, there's a sense in which that's what the book of Revelation does. It varies back and forth from the events on earth to the things that God is doing in heaven and what he's accomplishing through it. And when we get to chapter 4 and 5, it talks about that, and especially when we get into the chapter where it talks about the breaking of the seals, and it's Jesus is the one who breaks them, and these things come as a result. So, it's interesting because Once again, our seminar goal is to give a broad outline of the events related to Jesus' return, to encourage you to give serious thought to the claims by and about Jesus, and to prepare you for that coming day. It says, After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open, this is John speaking, in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me. It said, Come up here, and I will show you the things that must take place after these. And so he's brought into heaven and he sees a throne and all the things that take place there. And verse two of that chapter, it says, immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne and I was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardis in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. I'm going to give a couple preliminary thoughts before we get into this text. There was a song written a number of years ago. I'm not sure who did it, but it was in the 60s. It was a song, what are the lyrics? I don't know if it's the title of it, but I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning like a whirlwind, it never ends, and it's you, girl, making it spin. Not profound, but I thought about that spinning thing, right? Because there's a sense that we're living in a time when everything seems to be spinning out of control. Everything that seemed to be solid is now changing. And all of a sudden, we're told that wrong is right, right is wrong, and if you stand for certain things that you know to be true, that you're a hater. You know, it's interesting, though, because Alvin Toffler wrote a book a number of years ago entitled Future Shock, and in it he argued that the accelerated rate of technology change and also social change is leaving people disconnected and suffering from shattering stress and disorientation. In other words, what he calls future shock. I mean, think about it. Smartphones. When did they come out? You know when they basically came out where they became popular? Most people started to have them? No, not in the 70s. Smartphones, I mean the computer type phone. An iPhone. I think it was 2013. Now can you imagine functioning without that today? Some of you are like, yes, yes, absolutely. I want to go back to my diesel phone. There was a lady who was, she's actually the great aunt of my sister-in-law. They haven't been here the last two weeks because my brother's dealing with terminal cancer and he's up and down. By the way, they gave him six to eight months to live, six to 12 months to live and he's on his 12th month and he's looking better than he has before. So we're praying for him, he's doing some alternative treatment, and I'm hoping he lives. But he knows the Lord, so he's ready to die if that happens. But anyways, her great aunt, she lived to be 100 years old. And by the way, for a sharp mind, I remember going in to see her when she was 97 years old. And I said, Alice, you're 97 years old. I said, that's old. She said, yeah, that's old. She lived on her own until she was 96. And I said, are you going to live to be 100? She said, that's not up to me. I said, would you like to? She said, oh, I don't know that I would. I went in to see her the next year. This is a true story. Went in to see her the next year on her birthday. I said, Alice, you're 98 years old. Are you going to live to be 100? And I kid you not, she said, that's still not up to me. That's pretty good. She remembered the conversation from a year before. I said, would you like to? She goes, oh, I don't know. Came in the next year and I said, you're 99. Are you going to make it to 100? She goes, oh, I don't know if I can. But it was getting closer. She did make it to 100. She lasted a couple months after that and she died. And she died trusting the Lord. But that's not the point of the story. I've got too many windows open. I was teasing her one time, and I asked her, I said, Alice, when you were younger, they had, obviously, the party lines, right? Where you'd have six or seven people on the party line, yeah? And I said, did you ever listen in to other people's conversations? And she said, I tried not to. But you wonder, and I knew something had changed. I used to work at the dairy, right? And smartphones were coming in right around the time I quit there. But what I noticed was when we got together in the break room, nobody talked to each other anymore. They're on the phones. I remember one lady, she talked about when electricity came to their village in Africa. She said it was a sad time. So why was it a sad time? I mean, you had so many advantages. Oh yeah, there were advantages, but it was sad because before that, before we had lights, we would all sit around the fire at the end of the day and the elders would tell us stories. So we don't do that anymore. How many people really don't have much connection with anyone? They spend all their time... Have you ever thought about the fact that Facebook, you're not making face-to-face contact with people? That's a weird thing. And by the way, phone numbers... Now some of you are younger, you're going to be shocked to hear this. Do you know how we used to get phone numbers? We memorized them. All of our friends, we didn't know their numbers. We don't do that now. And yet, in the midst... of these things, there's a couple things I think we have to keep in mind, especially as we're looking at all these things that the Bible says are going to happen. And Jesus said they're terrifying days ahead. He said these days are going to be so bad that if God didn't cut short the number of days, He said no flesh would survive. So it talked about the Great Tribulation, and it says in Daniel, and it also says in Matthew, it says that it'll be a time unlike any other time, and it says that never would be there another time again. Now, I hope I don't live to see these days, quite honestly. But, you know, some generations are going to. Here's the first point, preliminary point, I think we want to make. While the world seems to be spinning out of control, like that song, the Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all, working his plan in the midst of the chaos and the storms of life. There's a song that we sing, it's probably in your hymnal, it says, There are things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand, but I know who holds the future, and I know who holds my hand. God is a refuge and a strength and an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with the surging." It's a lady I read about, talking about storms. ended up losing her husband. So she was a widow fairly young. She had a couple of young kids. She did not have any parents left and her in-laws were not there. So there was really nobody but her for the family. And then she got a brain tumor. And they told her it was terminal. And so the counselor who was telling this story was one of his clients. So she came in, and of course she's distraught about this whole thing, and what is she going to do, what is she going to do with her kids and what not, and all this, and she's just overwhelmed. And he said, okay, in the eye of the storm, in a hurricane, there's a center part where it's actually calm. Because the wind's swirling around it, not over it. He said, that's what you have to do. You have to find your peace in the eye of the storm. And then he asked her, he said, what is the one thing that you absolutely have to do? Let's just do one thing at a time. She said, I've got to find somebody to watch my kids while I'm gone. So what she did was she found a couple in church who was willing to adopt her kids after she died, and they started to transition over the months by bringing the kids to spend more and more time with them and overnight with them, so that when she did die, obviously it was hard for the kids, but it wasn't like there wasn't somebody there who already cared about them. I knew about him. Let me tell you the story about Hang On Hank Dempsey. In September 3, 1987, Hank Dempsey became a part of aviation history. The Eastern Express airline pilot was at the controls of a 15-seat Beechcraft 99. The Cape Elizabeth native was heading from Lewiston, Maine to Boston with some freight but no passengers. On the flight north, someone had gotten air sick. So Dempsey sent his co-pilot, Paul Butcher, back to open the plane's vents. Butcher noticed that the air was leaking from the seal around the back door, which was hinged at the bottom and began to exit the stairs. So then Dempsey went back there. He's going to fix it, right? He goes back there, and the co-pilot's flying a plane, and right as he goes to try to pull the door a little bit tighter, they hit some turbulence, and the door opens. And he falls out. They're going 200 miles an hour. They're 5,000 feet in the air. But when he falls out, they had the steps that come down, and they're on a chain, right? It came down. He caught his arm in the chain and his foot in the steps. And so he's hanging there. He can't say anything to the co-pilot. The co-pilot doesn't know this. He just knows the door won't open. So he radios back and says, you know, we're over the bay and this and that. I think I've lost my pilot. Can you send somebody out? He tried to give the coordinates, all this kind of stuff. And so he comes back because they have to land the plane and he gets back and he comes down and he doesn't know the pilot is still on there. The pilot later on afterwards when they talked to him, he said he had to keep his head up because he didn't want it to bounce against the tar when they landed. When they finally landed, they found him there, and he was in shock. So they had to pry his fingers off and whatnot. It took him some time to recover. They brought him to the hospital. He was not hurt. But they asked him later on, when they interviewed him, they said, how did you hang on? I mean, you're going 200 miles an hour at 5,000 feet. He said, I kept thinking of the alternative. Now I want you to think about it. What's the alternative to trusting God when you've got cancer like my brother does? What's the alternative to trusting God if you're a newly widowed or widower? Or your kids, they're going in a direction you don't want, or what's going on in our culture, and whether they're going to steal the next election, and 10,000 other things. I really wonder why it is some Christians struggle with the idea that God is sovereign overall. Do you want Him not to be? Is there some area where you think, you know, I wish God wasn't in control of this. That's crazy. So you've got to be like that frog. Get big eyes and hang on, I guess. The second thing I want to say, though, is when end times events take place on earth, they come by order of heaven. It's God who's in control. He's the one calling the shots. The Bible says, from him and through him and to him are all things. Chapter 3 of Revelation, God is worshipped as creator. In chapter 4 of Revelation, Christ is celebrated as redeemer and that's what we're going to look at tonight. So John said this, after these things I looked and behold I was standing open, heaven was standing open, and the first voice, I can't see it, Yeah, you can all read it together with me, right? Like the sound of a trumpet said, come up here and see, and I will show you the things that must soon take place. And so he goes up into heaven and says, immediately I was in the spirit, behold, a throne standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. And he was sitting on, it was like a Jasper stone and the stone of Sardis in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like the emeralds and appearance and around the throne were 24 thrones, upon the thrones were 24 elders, clothed with garments and golden crowns on the head." Now, what are the 24 elders? I don't know for sure. Some commentators say, well, that probably represents the 12 apostles in the New Testament and the 12 patriarchs in the Old Testament. Maybe. or possibly it's angels. You know, the Bible does talk about powers and principalities, that there's some kind of an order to the angels. There are different power levels, different whatever, and that they have something to do with it. Because you remember the story in Daniel, when Daniel was praying, and the angels dispatched to go be a messenger to him. And he tells him, he said, I was dispatched 21 days ago, but I was withstood by the prince of Persia. Now, he doesn't mean the king of Persia stopped him. It's talking about a demon. And he said, I wasn't able to get through until Michael, your prince, helped me to get through. So there's a whole realm that we don't see, understanding that we don't know much about. There's a few things that are mentioned in the Bible and perhaps that's what these 24 elders are. It says, out of the throne came flashes of lightning and the sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne was something like a sea of glassy crystal or glass like crystal. By the way, I would argue that the seven spirits here is not meaning seven individual spirits, but the seven fold spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit. If that's not the case, then the Holy Spirit's nowhere mentioned in the book of Revelation. But several times it talks about the seven spirits. It says in the center around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes, front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, the second was like a calf, the third was like the face of a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, one of them having wings and are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and who is to come." Now, it's interesting because even as far back as Augustine, St. Augustine, they tried to figure, well, why is it that there's different appearances here? And some of them made a connection with the Gospels and the emphasis of the Gospels. Now, I don't know if this is true, but it seems a fit. So if one has the face of a lion, which gospel do you think that would match with? By the way, the early church fathers disagreed on it, so throw one out. Which one of the Gospels presents Jesus as kind of a lion? Well, what do we associate a lion with? I should ask that. Daniel it does, but in the Gospels, right? Lion of the tribe of Judah, right? So the lion, we would refer to him as the king of the forest type thing. That type of language and understanding was even back in Jesus' day. Jesus is presented as the king primarily in the book of Matthew. So Matthew presents him as the lion of the tribe of Judah. It makes a big deal of the fact that he descends from David over and over again and mentions the idea of a kingdom and all that kind of stuff. And the high point of that idea of the kingdom is actually when Jesus is hanging on a cross. And you remember, what did they put above him as an inscription? This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Isn't that ironic? This is the king of the Jews. I remember one guy wrote a poem about it. It's called God on a Stick. God on a Stick. He didn't mean that as an insult. I think I mentioned it, maybe I didn't. I have a Muslim friend of mine. We talk all the time. I witness him plenty of times. He said to me, Doug, you and I have a lot of similar beliefs. I said, no, we have some similar beliefs, but not a lot, Shauki. I said, and one of the big differences is our God bleeds. He said, you know, Doug, anytime something happens that's bad to me, I always think to myself, you know, Allah's getting me back. I said, that's because in Islam you don't have a theology of suffering like we do in Christianity. We realize that suffering is part of the Christian life because the symbol of our religion is a symbol, as we sing, of what? Suffering and shame. Jesus bore our shame so we didn't have to. Oh, well, we've got to go back. We've got to figure out the other ones. So which of the Gospels do you think is symbolized by the ox or the calf? What were oxen used for in those days? Sacrifice. What else? Labor. So in the Gospel of Mark really is the one that emphasizes Jesus as the servant of the Lord. Because the word that's repeated again and again in Mark's gospel is immediately, immediately. Jesus did this. He did it immediately. He did it immediately. The idea that he's carrying out orders. And so the high point for that, because you remember, do you remember in Mark's gospel, that's one of the places where the Roman centurion comes to him and says, look, you don't have to come to my house. I'm not worthy to have you come to my house, but just speak the word where you're at and my servant will be healed because I'm a man under authority. I know how authority works. And I understand that you have authority over all diseases. And Jesus said, I tell you, I have not found faith like this in all of Israel. And he was a Roman centurion. But the high point for the Gospel of Mark is when Jesus is crucified and it's a Roman centurion who says, truly this man was the Son of God. Now Luke, his is the emphasis on the man in the sense that Jesus is the savior of humanity. It's interesting that Matthew traces Jesus' genealogy from David and Abraham, the two covenants, but Luke traces it from Jesus all the way back to Adam. who's called the Son of God. And so there's a lot of stories about Jesus as the Savior. Obviously, Luke's a doctor, so he puts a lot of stories about healing in there. You know, the woman who had spent all the money on, you know, she had this hemorrhage and she'd spent all the money. Luke doesn't mention she had spent all the money on doctors. Now, I don't know if that's professional courtesy or what. And then the last one, the eagle. Eagles fly high, and it really is true that John's Gospel has the highest Christology of any of them. I mean, that's the one that shows Jesus in the greatest light. And when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and to him who lives forever, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and they worship him who lives forever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you, Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they exist and are created. Three mega truths that come out of this. First of all, everything and everyone owes its or their existence to God. This is why suicide, you don't have the right to your own body. And by the way, what gives you the right, because, you know, my wife, she had an uncle who was, oh, he was 91, pretty good health, but he was starting to decline a little bit, real sharp guy, real funny. And one day he decided it was enough. So he went down into the basement and he shot himself. Do you have the right to do that to your kids? The lady I worked with when I worked at Perkins, her son had been in Vietnam so he had all kinds of problems. She came home from vacation and they opened up the garage door and he was hanging from the rafters. You don't have the right to do that to somebody else. Especially for Christians, because we're told that we're bought with a price. We're told we don't even belong to ourselves. Our bodies don't belong to ourselves. Secondly, therefore, our meaning and purpose in life ultimately can only be what God says it is. Man was created by God, for God, to find his joy in God. He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody. That's what it says. Not at my angle it doesn't though. Doesn't have a point of view. Knows not where he's going to. Isn't he a bit like you and me? You remember Donald Klain and the song American Pie? Remember the line, a generation lost in space with no time left to start again? That's true. USFAC's website does this. In 2021, 12.3 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.5 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.7 million attempted suicide. Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 14 and 20 to 34 at that time. By the way, We're supposed to thank and glorify God just for the things that he's created. I was teasing him in our Bible study last night, right? I just love that color. I raised ducks when I was a kid, and I think that's the most colorful duck there is. You'll hear evolutionists say things like this, well, why are these animals so colorful like this? Well, it's because the females find them attractive. Oh, check out that blue on the top of his head. I'm telling you, that is hot. Oh, man. How did it evolve that way? They used to have brown feathers. Man, if I could get myself some blue feathers on top, I bet I could get a date. It's actually absurd when you think about it. Do giraffes grow longer necks because they happen to need to reach? I went to school with the Booley family, that was their last name. And everyone in the Booley family was very short. And so they designed their house that way. I'd never been there, but friends who had been there said, yeah, I mean, when you go to the cupboards, you don't reach up, you just reach over. Well, the Booleys didn't grow taller because they couldn't reach things. Or how about a cheetah? How fast can a cheetah run? 70 miles an hour. Oh, it's cool to watch those things, isn't it? I cheer for them. I know others are like, oh, the poor little gazelle got eaten. So what? You know, come on. Cheetah's got to eat too. And so what I'm saying is, you know, there's plenty to worship God for just in creation. And we do have a few songs in our hymnal about creation. This is my father's world, right? That type of thing. And it's proper to have that. But I think it is more proper to have most of our songs to be about redemption. rather than creation. We're supposed to praise him for all things. Or the universe. Do you know approximately how many stars there are in the universe? There's estimated to be between 100 and 200 billion stars in a galaxy. I'm not sure which one that is. Anyone can tell me? Paul, do you know which one that is? Is that Andromeda? You can throw that out and say that anyways. None of the rest of us are going to know. There's between 100 and 200 million stars in a galaxy. There's between 100 and 200 billion galaxies. That's a lot. I don't know, but the Bible does say that God named him. By the way, I have to tell you this. You want to hear the ultimate understatement? Because Irish people, of which I am, are prone to exaggerate. The English, on the other hand, minimize everything. We had a bit of a row with the Jerrys over World War II. But talk about an understatement. In the book of Genesis, it says, oh, and he made the stars also. Like, what did you do on a Tuesday morning? Or the fact, you know, the atom and what's involved in that. Do you know that, I don't know who figures these things out or who even knows that they're writing out, but they say that a human being is about equal distance as far as size wise between the entire universe and an atom. So you're a middler, that's all you are. But you know, I think everyone should take an astronomy class. I do have to tell you one thing, though, that's going to disappoint you. You see all the color that they put in? You see sometimes a cool blue? Do you know that isn't real? They add it. Basically, all it is is just light dots. So if you get one in black and white, that's probably more accurate than these. But I don't care if they want to do that. I remember being in a class for astronomy. And everyone's going, ooh, ah, ooh, ah. But you know what? They didn't have anyone to turn and thank for it. I remember watching a video series by R.C. Sproul. He's a Christian pastor, a theologian, died a couple years ago. But they're going around to college campuses, and they're asking people questions that non-Christians are basically witnessing to them. And they asked one girl, they said, what do you attribute your success to? She said, well, I've been very fortunate. What was she going to say? Why didn't she say it? Because if she was blessed, she had a blesser. And she wasn't going to acknowledge a god. That quote is actually from Bart Simpson, not this picture. I just happen to like this picture of Bart better. It says, for even though they knew God, they did not honor God as God, nor give him thanks. But they became futile in their speculation, and their foolish hearts were darkened. It's a scene from one where he's at dinner for Thanksgiving, and Homer says, you know, Bart, can you say the prayer or grace or whatever? And he says, dear God, we bought all this stuff with our own money, so thanks for nothing. I've asked kids that I've taught over the years, confirmation kids and stuff, I asked one kid in particular, I don't remember if Chris was there, I said, have you ever thanked God for anything in your life? No. The Bible says that every good gift that we have comes down from the Father above, the Father of lights. So the guy who hates God or doesn't give a thought to God, the fact that he eats pistachio ice cream that he loves, and his grandchildren do funny things. I was down fishing a couple of days ago. I was down in Minnetonka. Did you know that lake is 14,000 acres? That's a big lake. I was in a channel area between two parts of the lake, and I saw yachts go by that were, I'm sure, at least a million dollars. Because the yachts have to be built by hand. I waved to them, they waved to me. I don't know nothing about them, but I thought to myself, I wonder how many of these people don't know the Lord. And this is the best they're ever going to have. And I wonder how many of them, even the things that they have, have ever thought, you know, I got a yacht, I enjoy it, and I thank God that I got it. Or do they do a Bart Simpson on it? Well, I actually want to go back because I want to talk about something with the issue of the created order and rebelling against it. I'm going to read from Genesis and then I want you to think about some of the things that we're rebelling against just in this passage. Then God said, let us make man in our own image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created a male and female. He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the face of the ground. Now, it's interesting because the environmental movement, I think it's done some things that were good, but the environmental movement worships the creation rather than the creator. I mean, think about it. If you kill a bald eagle, what's the penalty for that? I had to look this up to make sure. Do you know what the penalty is you can get for it? No, it's $250,000 and up to two years in prison. I want you to contrast that to a story I read a number of years ago where it was a young lady. I think she was about early 20s. She was pregnant. She was on a cruise ship by herself. And she gave birth to the baby. She didn't want it, so she put it underneath one of the pull-out things. They later found the baby. It was dead. And so she was charged with murder. She was found guilty, and the judge sentenced her to one day in prison. It wasn't even prison. It was jail. So killed Bald Eagle. We'll send you away for two years, kill a human child, we'll pat you on the head and say, well, big deal. Think about some of the issues just out of that Genesis passage that relate to God as creator. Gender identity. He made them male and female. You can know more, if you're a man, be a woman, than you can be a duck, a plant, or an armadillo. And yet, this is believed by plenty of people right now, right? And honestly, when this was first coming up through the colleges and stuff, we all kind of laughed because I said, nobody's going to be stupid enough to believe that. Oh, yeah, we are. There's a lot of people who live and die on this. I mean, I was down in the cities just a couple of weeks ago. I went to a restaurant, and the person who was waiting on me, it was a man, dressed in women's type stuff with nails on and makeup. I went to another place to buy this microphone, and same thing. That's just two places, there was only two places I went that day. I assume that this is actually just a fringe movement, but I'm seeing that more and more. But it's crazy. Or think about the modern feminism. What are the two things, not historically, because they push for equal rights for voting and stuff like that, but what are the two things that modern feminism champions the most? Abortion and lesbianism. Isn't that interesting because the woman was created to be in relationship to her husband and the mother of her children, right? And so there's a rebellion against that. And you want proof that it really is intended as a rebellion, at least on a subconscious level. A number of years ago when President Obama was running, I think for the second time, At the Democratic National Convention, they had a woman from the National Organization of Women who spoke. And she made her fiery speech and abortion rights, all the stuff you'd expect. But when she got to the end, she said this, and we're not going to submit to our husbands! And everyone went, yay! Now, I want you to think about it. Other than Christians, and even probably a small percentage of the Christians, who anywhere is suggesting that wives should submit to their husbands? Where would she even have gotten that from? It's because the real issue is rebellion against God. Are women happier now than they were, say, 50 years ago? No. No, they're not. There's more on drugs for depression and all these things and whatnot. Or how about the fact that they're told to be fruitful and multiply? What was going on in China, the one-child policy? Some of you, I've known people who are about your age who said, oh, we only had two children because they always told us it was wrong to have more than two children because you'll take up all the resources of the planet. What's the problem in the world today? Is it overpopulation? Populations are collapsing all across the West and in most places. Even in Africa, where you have high population, it's dropping dramatically. We're going to peak at somewhere around 9 billion and we're going to drop significantly. I think Korea has a 1.2 replacement level, the lowest. They're going to lose half their population in the next 40 years. Okay, for those of us who are getting older, who's going to pay the Social Security? Who's going to take care of us? Or is someone going to come along and say, you know, they're useless eaters. Why don't we just get rid of them? I remember seeing a comic once that was mocking this type of ideology. It's a woman, she's the mom, she's in a hospital bed, and the son's pulling the plug, you know, obviously to kill her, right? And she's screaming at him, I should have aborted you when I had the chance. But there's a certain logic to that. Sylvester Stallone, he is pro-life. Did you know that? Isn't that surprising? So is Jack Nicholson. Isn't that surprising? Do you know why? Because both of them, their moms were going to have abortions and it would have been them. Respect for human body. They're harvesting body parts in China, right? They're harvesting body parts in America too, right? And the one who exposed it, there was two people. One was actually like a grandma age lady. And the other one, they were undercover reporters. They went and interviewed people and whatnot. Do you know that she's looking at 20 years in prison? This has been going on several years. Now, what they were doing, not the people doing this, because you're legally allowed to do that as long as it was in a public place. Because you've seen the undercover things that they do from some of the news programs and stuff like that. But they're the ones who are getting into trouble. Kamala Harris was the attorney general when they brought the suit against him. And so she's looking at 15, 20 years in prison for exposing something that's illegal. So in Boston, a number of years ago, it came out that they were heating the hospital in part by burning aborted fetuses. They were shipped from all over the state, and they were incinerating them there, and they were using it to heat them. What's the difference between that and what the prophets denounced in the Old Testament when people would worship Moloch and burn their children to him? God said, it never even entered my mind. How many abortions has there been in America since 1973? Do you know? About 63 million. Do you remember what happened when Cain killed Abel and God confronted him? He said, your brother's blood cries out from the ground to me. Has God become deaf so that he no longer hears the blood of 65 million? Do you know how many abortions estimated since 1973 in the world? One billion. Do you remember? Do you remember when the plague was put upon the Nile River and it turned to blood? We talked about this and I think one of our Bible studies. What was the significance of it turning to blood? Why was that it? Yeah, they threw them into the Nile. So God said, blood you're going to give them. You remember when we're going to see this and when he pours out the bowls of wrath and even in the next one as well, it talks about that the sea was turned to blood. Now it could be that's figurative, but I don't think that the Nile turned to figurative blood. Maybe the blood of all the people who've been slaughtered like that, God's going to bring an accounting for. Even with the population thing, Prince Albert, that was Queen Elizabeth's husband, they asked him one time, they said, if you could be reincarnated as something, what would you want to come back as? He said, a virus that would kill half the world's population so that we could preserve the environment. The Human Fertilization and Embryo Authority, the independent regulators for in vitro fertilization, this is in England, in the United Kingdom, this was a number of years ago, approved two applications for research using human-animal cytoplasmic hybrid embryos. Do you know what I'm talking about? It means crossing humans with animals. The only thing is it requires the donors to be clear about how they plan on using the cells. Weird. Let's go to Christ the Redeemer, because that's the next chapter, right? It says, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written on both the inside and back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? And no one on heaven, on earth, or under the earth was able to open the book to look into it. You guys familiar with the story of the sword and the stone? Remember, there's a stone that's lodged into what is an anvil, I think. and then into a stone or something like that. But the narrator in the movie version of this says this, And below the hilt, in letters of gold, were written these words, Whoso pulleth out this sword of the stone, and the anvil, is rightwise king, born of England. It says, Though many tried for the sword with all their strength, none could move the sword, nor stir it. The miracle had not worked, and England was still without a king. And in time, the marvelous sword was forgotten. This was a dark age without law and without order. Men lived in fear of one another, for the strong preyed on the weak." It's kind of where we're at now, isn't it? John says this, and I began to weep greatly because there was no one found worthy to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome, so as to open the book and look in it." Now, the question is, what does the scroll represent? Now, some say, well, it represents the prophecies that are going to be fulfilled. I heard one person suggest, and I think they might be right on this, the scroll represents the deed to the earth. And the idea of the seals was you would put wax seals on it, and so when it's broken, each person who sealed it was there. When it was sealed, it has to be there to be there when it breaks. And so the idea of this being the title deed to the earth, because what we're going to see is when the final seal is open, then you hear this, now the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and our God and his Christ, right? And it talks about how we'll rule on the earth. So the kingdom of this earth, remember originally, Adam was supposed to rule over the entire creation, right? He was to be under God, but over creation. But when he fell into sin, by falling after Satan, what happened was the title deed, in a sense, transferred to Satan instead. Want evidence of that? Remember when Jesus was tempted by the devil? And he said, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all of its glory. I would guess he didn't show just the kingdoms of that age, but probably the kingdoms in the future and the past and everything else. He said, all these, listen to this, all these were granted to me and I give them to whoever I want. And I'll give them to you if you just bow once. Now it's interesting, Jesus doesn't challenge his premise that these kingdoms belong to Satan. And that's why it comes in the end when it says, Now the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. See, the truth of the matter is, we're like in the story of Robin Hood. Robin Hood was considered a criminal. Why? Why was he a criminal? Yeah, because, well, we have plenty of people who are politicians who do that. But see, the thing is, Robin Hood was loyal to King Richard, who was off fighting in the Crusades. His brother, Prince John, was a usurper. Satan is the usurper. The reason we're hated and despised as Christians in the world is not because we're narrow-minded bigots who are trying to push our views on everyone else. Who isn't trying to push their views on everyone else? And we'll take over the government. Are they going to take over the government in Pakistan? Why do they burn the churches down there? No, they hate us. Jesus said, because if you love the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. It's because we're loyal to the true king. And they don't like it. And so they see us as subversives. And you know what? We are. We're trying to subvert the moral order, aren't we? It says, I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. See, we see that again. Sent into all the world. And he came and he took the book out of the hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and a golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. I think it's interesting that that he's presented as the lion of the tribe of Judah, but then when John turns to see him, it's a slaughtered lamb. Because how did Jesus... Think about it. Jesus, his disciples one time said, Lord, can we send... It was actually their mom. It would have been Jesus' aunt, by the way. Comes to him and says, Jesus, Jesus. My boys, Jimmy and Johnny, they're good boys. You know they're good. She's Jewish, so that's why she talks. You know they're good boys. I have a little favor. They're not going to be doctors. I know that. And they're not going to be lawyers. Do you think when you come into your kingdom, Johnny can sit on your left and Jimmy sit on your right? Now, Jesus didn't say this to their mom. He turned to them and said, you don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to drink from? Oh, yeah, we're able. By the way, we sing a song in our church hymnal that says, are you able, says the master, to be crucified with me? Oh, the dreamers said, to the death we'll follow thee. Lord, we are able. That's a terrible song when you think about it. We're celebrating the fact that we're able? I don't think that's good. So next time you have that song and they turn to you, you're like, no, no, we can't sing that one. But why is it? You know, it's interesting because, When he entered into his glory was when he was hanging on that cross. And who was on the left and the right? Two thieves. One of whom got saved. At the very end. By the way, he didn't have time to go out and get baptized, or do good deeds, or make a pilgrimage to Mecca. All he could do is turn to Jesus and say, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Now, funny, this guy in the middle of the two of us is, you think he's going to enter into a kingdom? And we're told earlier that he was mocking Jesus as well. That means somewhere along the line, he was converted. And he said, Lord, remember me in Jesus today. You're going to be with me in paradise. So, I mean, I was just talking to someone earlier that my dad got saved 24 hours before he died. And there was a dramatic change in him. Another guy in our church, his dad got saved just two days before he died. Another guy in our church got saved four days before he died. You know, God can say, keep praying for people, keep witnessing to them. I've witnessed that people were in comas. I've heard of people who are in comas, who people were talking about them and came out of the comas. So be careful what you're saying. It's not just the government who's listening. It's those comatose people as well. So he overcomes by the fact that he is the lamb. And it's interesting because what was the significance of the fact that they put a crown of thorns on him? Obviously, it's ironic. But what's the significance of him wearing a crown of thorns? What's that? Remember, the curse was that the ground, the earth, would bring up thorns and thistles. Jesus' death not only redeems his people, but it also provides the means for the curse to be lifted. Because the Bible says that the time's going to come when all the trees clap their hands and it says that all the deserts will bloom, the curse will be lifted. It says in that day there will be new heavens and a new earth. And it says there will no longer be a child who lives but a few days and dies. But the youth will die at the age of a hundred. And anyone who doesn't live to be a hundred, they'll think, the guy must have been cursed. So this talks about when Jesus comes and establishes His kingdom. And do you remember the Queen of Sheba, when she came to visit Solomon? She came from a thousand miles away. She heard about the wisdom of Solomon and all of his riches, and she got there. She comes to it, and when they were talking, says, man, I heard tales about this in my own town, or my own country. But now that I've come here, the half wasn't told to me. That's what it's going to be when Jesus sits on His throne in Jerusalem. It says the nations will send up delegations, and half won't be told of the glory of that. And we live in the meantime, between the fall, His redemption, and our final renewal when Jesus returns. So you just got to hang on. You got to hang on to that. Keep your head up. All right, a couple more. We're doing this one. And they sing a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for our God. With your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, you have made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God, and what? They will reign on the earth." Who's that? By the way, there are some positions on end times things where they say, no, the saints are reigning spiritually in heaven. There is no kingdom of Christ on earth. I don't know. It kind of looks like it there, doesn't it? We are not reigning now. We will reign." And Paul mocked the Christians and rebuked them in Corinth. He said, you guys are suing each other in court. It's ridiculous. He said, don't you realize that someday you're going to judge the world? Don't you realize you're going to judge angels? There's just some things that are below the dignity of Christians to do, considering who they are and what they're going to be. I think it was C.S. Lewis who said this. He said, if we could see a resurrected saint right now, we'd all be tempted to worship him. The Bible says those, and Daniel says, those who lead others to righteousness will shine forever like the stars. Cool. Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, and the number of them was myriads upon myriads, and thousands upon thousands, saying in a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and glory, and honor, and blessing, and every created thing that's in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and all the sea, and all things in them. I heard them saying to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. and the elders fell down and worshipped." You know, the word worship just comes, the English word comes from two older English words, worth-ship. So it's to acknowledge the worth of something. We were created, you were created, to bring glory to God, and all people will do that. All people, even unbelievers, will bring glory to God at some point. Those who are in heaven will bring glory to God willingly, and those who are in hell will bring glory to God unwillingly. Because people in hell still have a reason for being there. And obviously for rejecting Jesus, but they still have a purpose. It's to show what it means when you rebel against your Creator. And the only way to get out of that is to trust in Christ. I wish we had ten times the number of people here. I'm thankful for the ones who show up. But is there anything more important? If this is where history is going, if this is where it all ends, with a new heavens and a new earth, would it make sense to, okay, if that's the end, how would I want to live now? And isn't that the point of all the parables that Jesus gave in light of his return? He said, therefore, be ready. Therefore, be ready. Who is the good and faithful servant whose master put him in charge of his house? to give the other servants their proper portion at the right time. By the way, he's talking about pastors there, primarily. It'll be well for those servants when his master comes back and so finds him doing. But if that servant starts to say in his heart, you know, my master's not coming back for a long time, and he begins to get drunk and beat the other slaves, his master will come back at a time that he doesn't know in an hour and he's not aware. Listen to this, he'll cut them to pieces and assign them a place with the hypocrites, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. If I'm not basically faithful in my job as a pastor, you've heard in the last few weeks or months or whatever pastors who jettison their whole ministry because they've abandoned for a sexual fling or whatever. If they don't repent, they perish. Think about it. Would it be fair of God if I were a pastor and I didn't warn people about the realities of heaven and hell? Would it be fair of God to let me come to heaven if I didn't warn other people about hell? Paul said, I am free from the blood of all men. I have never failed to declare the whole counsel to anyone. God told Ezekiel in the Old Testament, He said, Son of man, when I tell you to warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways, and you warn them and they don't turn, they'll die in their sins, meaning they'll perish. He said, but if I tell you to warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways and you don't warn them, they will still die in their sins, but I'm going to require the blood from your hands. Now, I don't want to wait and find out what he means by that. But that's a terrifying thought. James says, let not many of you be teachers, my dear brothers. Know that you're going to be judged by a stricter judgment. So, I mean, there's a lot at stake. Questions? Oh, I have something else I have to put in here. This idea of the lamb who was slain, right? You remember Peter trying to rescue Jesus when they came for him? He had a sword and he swung the sword, took off the servant of Malchus, right? By the way, he wasn't aiming for the ear. He was trying to give him a splitting headache. But what did Jesus say? He said, Peter, put that away. Don't you realize if I wanted to right now, I could call him my father and he'd send 12 legions of angels. How, then, would the Scripture be fulfilled that says it must be that way? We have a song about that. It says, They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where He prayed. They led Him through the streets in shame. They spat upon the Savior, so pure and free from sin. They said, Crucify Him. He's to blame. He could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called 10,000 angels. But He died alone for you and me. You see, for the Christian, Jesus dying for our sins never gets old. Don't we sing that song, I love to tell the story to those who know it best? For they seem to be hungry even more than the rest. It's not that the cross is a starting point and you go on to other things. The cross you just go deeper and deeper in your love and appreciation and understanding of what it means that Jesus died for us. And so there's another song that we sing, and it talks about, though the wrong seems oh so strong, God is the ruler yet. But you remember that line, Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and heaven and earth be one. That's what the book of Revelation is about. It's about Jesus bringing back the order to creation that it's supposed to, redeeming it, lifting the curse, redeeming people from their sins, and then ruling over. And those of us who are believers will be resurrected to rule with him. Because that wasn't the original plan of God, that man would be over his creation. And he's going to fulfill that. Because Jesus is the one who purchases it all for us. So if you're not a Christian, here's what you should be thinking about. If this stuff is true, this is the best offer I'm ever going to get in my life. Forgiveness for free? All for free. Let's see, do we have any questions? We've been on for four weeks and not a single question has arisen in anybody's mind. Not a single one. I didn't know I was teaching people who knew everything already. What have we got for time? Go ahead. When you were talking about God creating mankind, who were the others that were with God? What do you mean, when it says, let us create man in our image? That's a great question. Because some people say, well, maybe it's the angels. The only person who has attributed creation is God himself. So the language seems to be Trinitarian, right? And what do I mean by that? Yeah, because I started preaching this last week, an introduction to the Gospel of John, right? And so this first week, or this next week on Sunday, I'm taking the first few verses where it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him, meaning Jesus, nothing came into being that has come into being. So you can find verses that say that God is the creator of all things, but there are also verses that say that the world was created through Jesus. So Jesus was like the tool that God was using for this. But when you go to the book of Genesis, right? So you have God speaking, right? And he says, let us. So I would take that to mean the triune God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, right? Let us create man in our own image, right? But it says the Holy Spirit was hovering over the deep. So you've got the Spirit, you've got the Father, but where do you see Jesus in it? The Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the Greek mind, the Word is the organizing principle of the universe, kind of like the DNA of the universe. And so when John is talking about, in the beginning was the word, he's using an idea that the Greeks would have understood. He's going to give it a more Christian meaning, but they would have perked up just hearing that. What they're saying is, look, the whole DNA of the universe, the whole of everything, ultimately, Jesus is the one. I mean, think about it. In the very first verses, he's telling us that this Jesus of Nazareth is the creator of the universe who's existed forever in the presence of God because he is God. That's stunning. You'll hear people say all the time, they go, oh yeah, I'm good with Jesus. He's my homeboy. Or yeah, I really like Jesus. He's like Buddha and Mohammed and Oprah and things like that. No, he's not. No, he's not. He's the Son of God, He's the Creator. He's the person, each one of us here has to stand before and give an account for our lives. Jesus said, not even the Father judges anyone, but He's left all judgment to the Son. Meaning to Him. He's the one that you have to come to grips with. There is no one else that's more important than Him. Because honestly, this whole universe was created for a stage for Jesus to perform the drama of redemption. And our job is to be bit players in the play, and then to be the audience and clap. Right? And honestly, nothing makes a Christian happier than to see Jesus glorified. I want you to think about it, and I'm going to close with this, because we're right on time here. In the Olympics, Maybe it's changed now because everyone gets all these big contracts to do advertisement stuff. But traditionally in the Olympics, if you were to ask an Olympic athlete, what is the highest emotional experience for you during the entire Olympics? You would think they would say, well, they put the gold medal on them, right? That's not what they say. What do they say is the highest emotional experience? What's that? Playing the national anthem. Why? Because it means they represented their country well, right? Isn't that what Jesus does? He said, the Father sent me to do His will, and I'm going to do it. And honestly, what's the joy of the people in the country as Americans? It's when they get the gold, right? What's the joy of the Christian? It's to see Jesus glorified. And if you can find your joy in Him being glorified, then you're going to be in great shape, because He is going to be glorified. I used to work with a guy at the dairy, and he used to brag about himself all the time. He was in the military, he had some interesting stories, but I heard him probably 20-30 times. The problem is you brag about yourself, and you're going to run out of stories and things to talk about, aren't you? Do you remember what John said? There are many other things, miracles and whatnot, that Jesus did, many other deeds, which I'll bet, if it were all written down, the world itself couldn't contain all the books. We're going to spend all eternity, if you're a believer, with God revealing more and more things about himself, and we'll be there like a hundred million years, and you're going to turn to someone and go, did you know this about him? This is so impressive. And we sing songs like that, don't we? Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first began. Do you think those four living creatures that are around the throne are like, well, this is boring. We've been doing this for a long, long time. They get to be in the immediate presence of God. And remember, in Isaiah it says they had three sets of wings. With two, they covered their faces. With two, they covered their feet. And with two, they flew in the air and they called out day and night, back and forth, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. God is going to glorify his son, Jesus Christ. You're going to do it, whether you're a believer or not. But if you do it voluntarily, it's going to turn out really well for you. If you don't, it's going to turn out really poorly. All right, well, thanks for one question that's been asked in four weeks. And by the way, you spoke loudly so everyone could hear, so we're good. Why don't we call the Lord a prayer? Our Father in God, I do want to thank you because this is kind of exciting. We think about the Star Wars trilogy and all that stuff, but as we get into the Book of Revelation, that pales compared to what you present in your Word. But this is really going to happen. And we know that Jesus is going to come back and He's going to be the victor and He's going to rule over this earth. And He's going to rule for all eternity. And those who have trusted Him are going to be resurrected to enjoy Him and to rule with Him forever and ever. Wow, what a story. But Lord, those angels, when the disciples were looking up at Jesus, said, this Jesus, who you saw go, is going to come back in like manner. But basically, He's giving you something to do. Now go do it. And that's what we want to be. We want to be good servants of yours. For all who are here, Lord, the ones who don't know you, that you'd open their hearts and minds so that they'd respond to the gospel. And for those of us who do, that would make good use of our time. Because we're going to be very glad that we did in the end. So bless us now, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Oh, so what are we doing next week? I don't know. Oh, we're going into the seven. Oh, this is so important. This is so important. This is more important than anything I've said. No, I can't be, but OK. Next week, we're going to be at the high school auditorium. They have conferences in the school here in the junior high, and they're going to have people all over the place. And they did let us know that, and so we are going to meet there. So you get even more comfortable chairs, not these straight back ones like that. So if you have other people that you know that weren't here, that might be coming, because I don't have a way of getting a hold of them, other than putting a sign on the door out there probably for next week. But we're going to be at the auditorium next week for it. OK? All right. You're dismissed. Well, but they're supposed to be like that because when they're playing instruments they want them sitting up Yes. Matter of fact, what we're talking about right now is going to be on there if I don't turn this off.