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Please note, the historical chart
mentioned at the end or near the end of this message is available
as a PDF file. Thank you. Well, I'm going to
read now the entire 16th chapter of Revelation. Although I'm not going to be
finishing it this morning, Sought to open up the first three
vials last Sunday. I'm going to look at the next
three and conclude the message in a different way from what
I normally do. And you'll understand when I
reach the near the end of the message. Revelation chapter number 16. Here now this portion of God's
word. And I heard a great voice out
of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour
out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first
went and poured out his vial upon the earth and there fell
an ointsome and greasome sore upon the men which had the mark
of the beast and upon them which worshiped his image. And the
second angel poured out his vial upon the sea and it became as
the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea.
And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of waters and they became blood. And I heard the
angel of the water say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which
art and was and shall be, because Thou hast judged us. For they
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given
them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another
out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous
are Thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out
his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch
men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over
these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory. And the
fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and
his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their
pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth
angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and
the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of
the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the
mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophets.
For they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold,
I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
And he gathered them together in a place called, in the Hebrew
tongue, Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured
out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out
of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. And there were voices and thunders
and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was
not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so
great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and
the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of his wrath. And every island fled away, and
the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great
hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.
And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for
the plague thereof was exceeding great. May God help us as we
seek to understand his word again today. You may be seated. I return your attention to the
16th chapter of Revelation. Having just read it in your hearing,
but having considered the first three historical vials last Sunday,
I intend to finish the fulfilled historical vials of Revelation
16 in this message, knowing, as a number have mentioned to
me, the challenge of keeping everything straight, the challenge
of keeping everything straight in light of all the historical
things being pictured, not only by the vials, but by the trumpets
that precede the vials and the seals that precede them as well.
Hopefully to help you, there is something, as I mentioned,
I'm going to do after I finish seeking to show you what these
last three fulfilled vials are picturing historically. In light
of the fact that the seventh vial has not yet been poured
out. The seventh vial has not yet been poured out because,
friends, if it had, I would not be preaching to you today. But as you know, I have been
attempting to open up the book of Revelation, considering it
based on my studies from what was the predominant view of evangelical
and reformed believers since the Reformation, if not before,
until at least the 1850s with the rise of the popularity of
mostly futurism. In Revelation, Jesus is giving
to John and us visions and pictures of actual history. Actual history
from the first century A.D. onward and from the standpoint
of the last kingdom, pictured in the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar's
dream that the prophet Daniel interpreted for him in Daniel
chapter 2. Because there you see that God is sovereign over
history. You see the reality that he was
able to reveal to Daniel the coming kingdoms. There was Babylon,
then the Medo-Persia Empire, then the Greek Empire, and then
finally the Roman Empire. These are facts of history. And the kingdom of Rome in its
two forms, pagan and then papal, a kingdom greatly weakened and
in a different form than when John was on the Isle of Patmos. Friends, it's fascinating from
a standpoint of history that the Roman Kingdom in its papal
form still exists. Because consider it this way.
In how many countries of the world today are there Roman Catholic
churches pledging obedience to the popes of Rome? If you were
to go down in the map downstairs and take a little, you know,
those little push pins and say, OK, is there a Catholic church
here? It would be fascinating. Now, I repeat, understanding
Revelation in this way shows that all recorded history, even
the history of Revelation, is selective. For remember, this is another
thing to remember. Remember that even those holding
to a preteristic view of Revelation, what preterism is, it's all been
fulfilled because of the fall of Jerusalem. I mean, that's
a historical view, right? It's a historical view of the
book of Revelation. And those who are futuristic, that's a
historical view of Revelation as well. They're saying that
it's yet, the things are yet to take place. Unless you adopt
what is called the spiritual view and just see everything
spiritually, and it has nothing to do with actual history, everybody
has some historical understanding of the book of Revelation. So to see the Book of Revelation
referring to actual human history, be it past or yet future, is challenging. To come to that realization that,
as I've said many times as I've preached, you know, history is
not the tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying
nothing. There's a solemnity to history.
There's a seriousness to history that, to be honest, friends,
I did not see until I started looking at Revelation in the
way I've been seeking to do. I confess that to you openly. But I also repeat that understanding
Revelation this way is anti-papal because the papacy is the Antichrist
of Scripture. But being anti-papal does not
make it anti-Catholic. Just as being opposed to the
teaching of the false teacher Mohammed doesn't make a person
anti-Muslim. It is the false teaching of the
papacy. It's the false teaching of Mohammed
or any other false teacher that is being opposed. Because friends,
what's the desire of true believers in Christ? What's the desire
of true believers in Christ for those being misled and deceived
by the false papal system or any false belief system? To be
saved. To be saved out of that false
system and come into the wonderful knowledge that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. As I mentioned, I didn't know that the building
inspector, we would talk for a few minutes about his being
saved out of Catholicism. Because what are the words from
heaven in Revelation 18.4? And I heard another voice from
heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers
of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues. This has
specific application, as I hope to show, to the false system
of the papacy, but it's applicable to all false systems. How many who have loved ones
in liberalism, in the liberal churches with that fly their
God dishonoring flags, want to see them come out from among
them and be saved? Or any of the others? But one of the ways, one of the
ways to see how important it is to see how clearly Rome papal
has been pictured in this final prophecy of Jesus will be in
the chapters I have yet to get to. But last Sunday I ended with
describing what the third poured out vial of Revelation 16 verse
4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers
and fountains of waters, and they became blood. I sought to
explain what that was picturing from the perspective of progressive
history. What does this third vial picture
according to the progressive historical understanding of the
Book of Revelation? The wars initiated by atheistic
France after the French Revolution by Napoleon Bonaparte. Remember again, history is being
revealed progressively to John and us by the seals, by the trumpets,
and by the vials, something I will return to in this message. But
prior to looking at what is pictured in the fourth vial progressively,
I want to briefly mention something I did after last Sunday's message. I found a series of animated
videos describing the assaults of the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte
in Europe, keeping in mind what is pictured by the third vial.
What does the third vial say? And the third angel poured out
his vials upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they
became blood. And I was amazed, or maybe I shouldn't have been
amazed, at how central all the rivers in Europe were in the
battles that were fought. And these videos were not produced
by someone trying to explain Revelation historically. I just
found it fascinating that as it pictured it, it's one river,
another river, all the rivers. Which leads directly into the
fourth and fifth vial of Revelation 16. The fourth
vial, Revelation 16, verses eight and nine. And the fourth angel
poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto
him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over
these plagues. And they repented not to give him glory." Now remember
again, this is imagery. It's picturing something, or
in this case, someone. Because the sun apocalyptically
is a picture of someone occupying a high level of earthly authority. You can look back as how in various
cultures, the kings were pictured as the rays of sun over their
head, that's picture, that's apocalyptic literature. Here,
having this authority and you think of having the authority
to be able to bless or curse, depending on how the authority
and power is used. Now, based on what the vials
that precede this fourth vial picture and the fall and that
the one that follows it pictures those who understand revelation
historically, they see this as picturing Napoleon Bonaparte. They see this as a picture of
Napoleon Bonaparte. He's the sun shining in a very
negative way upon Europe. Because what is being pictured
is easily overlaid with what Napoleon Bonaparte did between
1796 to 1815 throughout papal dominated Europe. He had himself crowned king of
France, and he became the son of Revelation. He became that
son, as the verse says, and the fourth angel ported his vial
upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
He was a man who scorched Europe for almost 20 years. For almost
20 years of time. He waged war for over a decade
throughout Europe. Entire villages were burned to
the ground. Every kingdom in Europe, from
Italy to Germany, from Spain to Russia, felt the scorching
heat of his assaults. Those in power think of it from
this perspective, those in power like the sun can be a blessing
or a curse. Right, the sun can be a great
blessing, but oh, if you're in the middle of the Sahara Desert
and you've only got T-shirts and a short and shorts on, that's
not going to be very pleasant, is it? The sun can do be both
a blessing and a curse. And compare this today to what
world leaders have the capability of afflicting on the world today. What could some world leaders
inflict on the world today? But even a brief study of the
extent of Napoleon Bonaparte's military campaigns are sobering
to consider in their impact. Historians estimate that the
death toll was in the millions. And add to this what is pictured
in the fifth vial, as I will expand on in a moment, and you
see again how we are being given a picture of the truth that the
Lord's hand is on human history. He hasn't taken his hand off
of human history. For Napoleon Bonaparte was the
leader who had the Pope arrested and imprisoned. Historians call Napoleon Bonaparte
the scourge of Europe. And remember, the nations felt
the heat of this sun for almost 20 years. Remember that these were the
nations that had for centuries obeyed the popes in their persecution. And in their killing of believers,
we need to remember that as we move progressively through these
things didn't just come about. Remember, there was centuries
of persecutions preceding this of our brothers and sisters in
Christ. But did these wars, did these wars move men in atheistic
France and people dominated Europe to repentance as they killed
one another on the battlefield? No. Verse nine, and men were
scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which
had power over these plagues. And they repented not to give
him glory. Here you're having a picture. Think of it. God isn't saying
anything to us after 1,200 years of persecuting and killing his
people. What did France do? They voted God out of existence. Did the popes repent of their
false teachings in support of the killing of believers? No. Which leads right into the fifth
vial. Revelation 16, 10 and 11. And
the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast,
and his kingdom was full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their
pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." Again, remember,
this is imagery of something that happened historically. The
seat of the beast is papal Rome. Remember, it had been approving
and supporting the killing of believers for almost 1,300 years.
John is given a picture of what took place at the end of that
1,260 year period of time. History records the fact that
the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte pillaged Catholic churches, killed priests. And then on February the 15th,
1798, the Pope was arrested. The Pope was arrested by the
armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. Notice the fifth vial, his vial
upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness.
I mean, when you arrest the Pope, it's like the kingdom is about
to go into darkness. Not only that, on February 15,
1798, the Pope was arrested, taken to France, thrown into
prison where he died. And his kingdom was full of darkness. The Pope's furniture, the Pope's
library, the museum collection carried off by the soldiers.
The wardrobe of the Pope was cast into the fire to retrieve
the gold that was used in making those garments. Think of it. Such treatment of
a Pope was unheard of before these events. And they nod their
tongues for pain. I mean, think of the impact hearing,
I mean, devoted Catholic nations hearing that the Pope had been
arrested and that he had been imprisoned. The pain that that
would have caused. But remember, friends, keep this
in historical context. How many believers had their
possessions taken from them, then thrown into prison cells
and dying there over the last 1,200 years? As Arthur has been
showing us from Fox's Book of Martyrs. Now again, did papal Rome learn
anything from this judgment being pictured so powerfully? No. Verse
11, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. The power of the papacy over
Europe was shattered after Napoleon. I mean, think of it from this
perspective. I made reference to this a number of messages
back. Remember that king that had to
stand in the snow? He was King Henry IV. He had
to stand in the snow barefoot to have a pope remove his judgment
against his country to now a pope being thrown into prison and
dying there. And remember, the Scottish preacher
saw this coming a century before it took place. This was a painful time for the
papacy as pictured, but did it? Has it repented of its false
teachings? No. Pope Pius IX on December the
8th, 1854, proclaimed the immaculate conception of Mary. Then in 1870, even as no nations
listened to or attended Vatican I, the demonic doctrine of papal
infallibility was pronounced. They didn't learn. They still
haven't learned. But now with the sixth vial,
there is a change. There's a change in focus as
Jesus shows his sovereignty over history into recent time. Into recent time, friends. Revelation
16, 12. And the sixth angel poured out
his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof
was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared." Now, friends, the last time the Euphrates River
was mentioned was back in Revelation 9. Mentioned back in Revelation
9 under the sixth trumpet, where the Ottoman Turks are pictured
as they invaded Rome and Constantinople fell. But here, What's the Euphrates
River pictured as? Drying up. Drying up. The picture that is being painted
here is a loss of power, is a loss of position. The Euphrates River
is a picture of the bursting Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Empire
that exploded onto Rome back in Revelation 9 under the sixth
trumpet, and it existed for centuries of time. But now, according to
Revelation 16, 12. The sixth angel poured out his
vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water there was dried
up. Its power and position. Ended and declined and friends,
friends, this is what's so fascinating and sobering and challenging
about this, just like Robert Fleming, who saw the French Revolution
pictured 100 years before it took place. E.B. Eliot, who wrote a 2,500-page,
four-volume historical commentary on Revelation, died before the
events pictured in this sixth vial, but he said it referred
to the drying up of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire. He said that
after I died, the Turkish Empire will decline, the Ottoman Empire
will decline, based on his understanding of this vial. Remember, nations and kingdoms
rise and fall under the sovereignty of the Lord God. The challenge
for us, at least the challenge for me, I don't know if you share
this challenge with me. The challenge for me is in the
sense, well, I can look back and say, oh, there's Babylon,
and there's Medieval Persia, and there's Greece, and there's
Rome. But today, that's the challenge. So remember that nations rise
and fall today and in recent history because the Lord has
raised them up or brought them down. Nations and kingdoms rise and
fall into the sovereignty of the Lord. And John is given a
picture of the dying or the drying up of the Ottoman or Turkish
Empire. Now, again, it's legitimate to ask yourself. Does history
reveal anything like this? Does history reveal anything
like this? Yes. And friends, I know I'm hitting
you with a lot. I mean, you probably said, I can't keep this straight.
I know I'm hitting you with a lot of information, something I will
try to rectify in a moment. But from 1820, see, this is moving
progressively historically forward from 1820 to 1897, the Ottoman
Turks lost control. Listen to this. The Ottoman Turks
lost control of Algeria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Crete, Greece, Herzegovina,
Moldavia, Morocco, Serbia, and Wallachia. Ending with Britain
and France controlling the Middle East after World War I, so by
November 1st, 1922, 623 years of Ottoman Turkish rule over
these areas was formally ended. How few today know that Iraq
was founded in August 1921 by the British after the defeat
of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. And this is just one example,
illustrating how the great river Euphrates, the former great Ottoman
Empire, was dried up. And what does it drying up so
that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. What does that mean, friends,
for the world today? What does that mean for the world
today? That the way of the kings of the East might be prepared?
History is in the hands of our Lord. Now, I do not deny in the least
That keeping everything straight and wrapping your mind around
the truth that not just past history, not just future history,
but all history is in the hands of King Jesus as revealed by
revelation with the seals, with the trumpets. And now the fulfilled
vials is not easy. Because friends, this means there's
only one vial left. This means there's only one vial
left. But as I said, I was going to
do something that will hopefully help you. For what I want to
do now is give you an overview. I want to give you an overview
of the seals, the trumpets, and the fulfilled vials. And before
you think I've lost my mind, I'm going to do it by handing
out a sheet of paper. that I hope will help. You can
take this with you. There's some coffee right on
it. Since there's only one vial left, and that one hasn't been
poured out yet. And that should cause us to wonder in the times
we're living in. But just to give you an overview
of what I've tried to show over the last few months, King Jesus
reveals history until he comes again. You have the symbol, the
first column listed down. Then you have the text specifically
related, the historical period, the period pictured in the historical
markers. So with seal one, you have a
reference to pagan Rome at its peak. Period of time, 96 AD to
180. Why do historicists see it this
way? Because of the bow reference
and the type of crown. If you were to do research, you
would find that these were particular for that particular time in history.
Moving on to the seal number two. You have a new period of
time, the Red Horse, civil war in Rome. Historical marker, the
number of Caesars. There were 30 Caesars. I mean,
it was like every few years or even less, the Caesars would
be replaced by another one. Horrendous time of civil war
in Rome. Seal 3. The black horse, economic
devastation, and the reason the reason historicists see that
is because of the specific price given for the wheat and barley.
It's amazing. The price given in the text was
not the price in John's day. It reflected the cost of wheat
and barley. In the period mentioned and then
the fourth seal. Death and disease, the pale horse,
Entire towns were devoid of people because of what was going on
in Rome at that time. The fifth seal, Revelation 6,
9 to 11, covering Christian martyrs. Remember, Diocletian attempted
to destroy the church over a 10 year period of time. Then seal
six, you have the fall of pagan Rome pictured. 313 to 395, fear of the pagans due
to Emperor Constantine's embracing of quote unquote Christianity.
And so you move from, and then seal seven gives you what? Reveals
the seven trumpets. Trumpet one, the invasion of
the Goths. How do we know that? The destruction
of vegetation. It mentions it in the text. The
next trumpet, the Vandals invade Rome. What were they known for?
They were the tyrants of the sea. And if you read that text,
that's what's mentioned. Going on to Trumpet 3, Attila
the Hun or the Huns, they polluted the rivers. It was a battle tactic
of Attila the Hun. And then Trumpet 4, Heruli invade
Rome. The Western Emperor was banished.
The Caesar fell from power. Moving on to Trumpet 5. The Muslims
invade Rome. And friends, if you read the
text, Revelation 9, 1 to 11, what are mentioned in that? Locusts.
Locusts are mentioned, remember? Locusts were the emblem of the
Muslims. Not only that, but there was
the aspect you go back to, you go back to the First trumpet,
the destruction of vegetation. And yet when you get down to
trumpet five, there's no destruction of vegetation because Muslims
were prohibited from damaging the vegetation. And then you go to trumpet six,
1062 to 1452, the Turks invade Rome. This is the Ottoman Empire,
the fall of Constantinople. And you read the verses. What
do you have pictured? Cannons. Cannons were first used
against Constantinople. Constantinople wouldn't fall
before that. So this is just a progressive. And so now you're
a trumpet seven revealed in the seven vials and the things that
I've sought to bring out over the last Sunday and this morning. The first vial moving progressively
historically, the French Revolution. It was a boil. It was a sore. How? The rise of atheism, rationalism,
the rejection of papal teaching. And then the second vial, dealing
with the seas, the defeat of papal supporting navies. What's
the historical marker? The number of ships that were
lost. Then you go to the third vial, papal supporting nations
invaded by atheist France. As I mentioned, all key battles
were around the rivers of Europe. Then the fourth vial, Napoleon
Bonaparte's assault against papal supporting nations. As I said,
Napoleon had himself crowned king of France. He was the son.
He was the leader. Moving on to the fifth vial,
the assault on papal power and authority, as I mentioned, the
Pope arrested. I mean, it's, you know, his kingdom
fell into darkness. Well, I mean, you arrest the
Pope. imprison him and then he dies
in prison. The sixth vial bringing us close
to our time and even the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the nations
that now exist where the Ottomans used to rule and reign. These
are facts. These are all facts of history, friends. And so that brings us to the
seventh vial. I don't know when it's going
to be poured out. I don't have that knowledge. His return, friends, is close. His return is close. What will the historical markers
be to testify? I don't know. I don't know. But I thought it would be helpful
to give you this to show you the progressive nature of this
understanding of the book of Revelation. I'm not saying you
have to embrace it. But it certainly shows to me that Jesus is king. He's king
over human history. He's king over human history.
And the book of Revelation shows this. See, the man in the basement
may refer to the myth known as Neanderthal man to demean those
who make decisions he does not like. But Jesus is with his church
always, and he will be with his church until the end of the age.
And we are surrounded by false and dangerous views of human
history. Let's be honest. We are surrounded by dangerous
and false views of human history. Neanderthal man is a myth. May what Jesus reveals to John
help us to see history correctly before he returns. And be ready to meet him through
his gifts of saving repentance and faith. He which testifieth,
testify these things, saith, surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so come. Lord Jesus. Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, we confess
that we need your help to understand history correctly. Give us that
understanding through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Only One Left!
Series Revelation - History Revealed
| Sermon ID | 313212131226501 |
| Duration | 36:34 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Revelation 16:8-12 |
| Language | English |
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