Hello and welcome to Hackberry House and to God's Word. Lord, thank you for this wonderful book of the Revelation that you've given to your people. God, help us to understand a little bit more than we did before, and then a little more, and put it all together in our hearts so that we can truly be blessed with this apocalypse from John. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House is a website that you can access by typing into your computer myheartcry.net. When you get there, scroll down to the library page, and at the library page, scroll down to the lessons that we have there, the Bible lessons, and you'll find Lesson 52, which is the last, finally the last lesson. We're in the middle of it right now. and with very little hope of completing it today, but our goal, our desire is to finish about half of what's left today and then half of what's left the next time and that will conclude our Through the Bible course that's been going about a year and a half on this end. I don't know how long you've been at it, but it's been good to have you with us regardless. When you finally get to the end, I'd like to have an email from you to let me know that you did complete the whole thing. Meanwhile, let's go to the book, to Revelation chapter 9, that's where we're at now, in the middle of lesson 52. Now, this note before I begin, that is that as I continue digging deeper into the book, It's kind of got a hold of me again. Daniel does this to me every once in a while, and when Daniel got a hold of me, I had to write something about Daniel, and I put that on the internet. I hope you'll get to read that and listen to it. I think Revelation will be there soon, too. Not very soon, maybe, but it's going to be there, Lord willing, because it has really captured me, because I'm finding things I never saw before. I'm seeing the pattern like I've never seen before. And I believe that the more you dig into this book, the more you're going to start seeing the pattern. You might need help of a teacher here and there, but eventually you're going to go in yourself and get this, and I hope that you will. I'm finding that of all the books of the Bible, this is the one book that you don't want to read from cover to cover and then just set it aside. It's not in order. We've been doing a chronological study of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But we started in Genesis and went right to Job because Job comes next in order of time. And we tried our best to keep that chronological sequence going. But in Revelation, I'm going to go the traditional route here because it's so much out of order. Let me give you a hint of how you might want to study this book, and I'm doing it this way myself. Get just some 3 by 5 cards, or if you plan to write a lot of notes, you better make it 4 by 6 cards, or even bigger. And on every card, write an event. Now, by the way, I don't think there's any true controversy from Revelation 1 through 5, 1 to 5. Pretty straightforward what happens there, a little digging and you'll understand that. But starting in chapter 6 and going on to the end of the book, every time you see an event, put that event down. I didn't say a chapter now because there's many chapters, excuse me, many events in each chapter. But the events are all totally out of order. I believe God has put it that way for a reason so that we will dig and find it and be able to work with it later after we've really given ourselves to it. I don't believe he's given this book to the faint hearted. So you take your three by five cards and put an event on every card and then put those cards in order. There's an assignment that'll give you something to think about for a long time. That's what I intend to be working on, Lord willing, for quite some time, and when I put that in order as best I can, I'll put that together, and I'm going to start drawing notes then from Daniel, and drawing things in from the other prophets, drawing things in from Jesus and Paul, and putting those on those note cards, so that I will have a full commentary on the book of Revelation. Now that's my desire, maybe that's because I'm a teacher that I like to do that sort of thing, but if your heart is into knowing this book, You better come up with a plan, because it's not a matter of just reading it from chapter 1 to 22 and hoping you've got it, because you don't. That much I know. We're in the middle of the trumpets here. Remember, the trumpets don't come totally after the seals. In fact, all seven trumpets are the seventh seal, but they take place starting with the fifth seal. How do I know that? Because these first four trumpets talk about one-third, but the fourth seal talks about one-fourth of the Earth being affected. I'm seeing world war or world conflict break out in the first few seals. And then as the trumpets come on and get bigger and bigger, I see more escalation until we're now in a world war, it looks like. And then Well, we'll get to that when we get to that. Let's get to the 6th trumpet. We already did the 5th trumpet. I can't go back on that one, except to mention that the bottomless pit is there in chapter 9. You're going to need to know what this bottomless pit is about. It says, I saw a star fall from heaven. Is that an angel? Yes, because it says, to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. Is that the devil? Could be. He's called a Balion or a Baddon in verse 11. But notice the headquarters is the bottomless pit. Don't get that mixed up with Hades or the Lake of Fire. I don't know what it is exactly, but it is a place to which some evil angels have been assigned. They are there. They are allowed out when it's time for them to do their thing on earth. And in chapter 9, the first 12 verses, the fifth trumpet, they are indeed doing that. And the sixth trumpet, We have something even more interesting, perhaps to some, the Euphrates River becomes the focal point here. I want to tie this together with what happens during the bowl judgments later, but it doesn't fit. I can't make them both happen at the same time, because here it talks about one-third of mankind being destroyed. One third of mankind is killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that comes out of the mouth of some horses. Obviously, You say, just picturesque language, figurative language. I think that John really saw something that's coming. I think he saw these end time mechanisms and we know what the weapons of war can be. I don't believe these were real horses. I believe that's all he could call it. He had never seen anything like this. But they were on wheels and there were four of them and you can imagine what he made out of it all. And here they are destroying a third of mankind as the four angels that are bound at the river Euphrates are released and this army that comes from the east, 200 million strong, and that's an army that 30 or 40 years ago Red China was boasting that it could. field. And we know that it could today, too. Not just China, but all those eastern nations could come together. We don't know. But there is indeed a sleeping giant over there. We haven't seen China yet. We better go and preach the gospel to them, as many, many people are doing. And the gospel's all over that country. You hear of all that God is doing there. But it needs to be more. It needs to be more. Pray for China. Don't be surprised if God starts tugging at your heart to make you go. Every once in a while, I think I'm supposed to go there. I don't know. But one-third of mankind is killed during this time and it says the rest of mankind was not killed. Two-thirds of the people of the world were not killed but they don't repent. They don't repent. That's at the end of the sixth trumpet. So the bold judgments, in my estimation, come as a greater judgment. And that's when you see things happening along the Euphrates that are even worse than one-third. So it's going to be in that same part of the world, in Iraq, in that same general area, it's going to happen great devastation. But not as great at first. I say only, doesn't seem like I should say only, but really it's only one third here in the trumpets. It's going to escalate in the future. In chapter 10, I almost want to call this a break. It's like almost something very personal to John. I'm not sure that anybody's ever figured this out. I haven't figured it out. I don't know what it's about. I just know it seems to take place here, as he's talking about the different woes. There's something here as we're just about to the seventh trumpet. John is told that he's going to go and preach again. That's the basic thing of chapter 10. The Word of God's coming into him right now, and it's very sweet in one sense. It's very exciting to understand what God has said. When you read your Bible and you understand it in your prayer time, in your word time, you get all excited that you've found some truth. But when that truth hits bottom and really becomes a part of your life, Then it becomes sour, not in a negative sense, but it starts producing some negative things because of the persecution that comes into your life. I believe that's what's being said to John here. Giving you this great revelation, John, it's wonderful, but you need to understand it's not always going to be wonderful and you've got to prophesy again. That's chapter 10. Beginning of chapter 10 there's the thunders that utter their voices and John is told not to even record what he hears. He heard it, he understood it, but he's not to record it. Why would they even tell us something that we can't know? I don't know. I don't know. What a wonderful book is the book of Revelation. Mystery upon mystery. But that in essence is what chapter 10 is about. I'll let you take that one from there. Now we're still in between the 6th and 7th trumpet. The 7th trumpet has not sounded yet until well into chapter 11. So what we're looking at now is some close-ups of the 6th trumpet. Whenever you see some of these things that don't relate to trumpets and seals and vials, they are close-ups of things you've already seen in a broad sense. It's zooming in on something that they want you to know about this period of time. Now, when I say this period of time, I don't mean just during the trumpets, but this whole three and a half year thing. Because there are players, there are players in this drama. And John really wants, or the Holy Spirit really wants to define the terms, the players. Who are they? For example, in chapter 11, you've got the temple that is suddenly a player in this. What's the temple going to be doing during all that time? Well, there was no temple in John's day. There was no temple. It had been destroyed 20 years before. But there's a temple here. He says, I want you to measure the temple of God. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, don't measure it, because it's been given to the Gentiles. And they are going to tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. The same three and a half years. During the tribulation time, Antichrist, the man that is leading people on, will, I believe, become a hero by solving the Jewish problem, the Jew-Arab problem in Palestine. That thing is going to keep going on, even if we're not close right now. That thing is going to keep going on until somebody has a solution, and this man will have one. And the solution is given right here. You look for this treaty to come forth, a treaty that says, Jews, you can have your temple. Arabs, you've got to step aside. The Dome of the Rock will come down. It will not be a factor anymore. That mount belongs to the people of Israel. It's theirs. But also, in exchange for that, you're going to give up the rest of Jerusalem to the international community, the Arabs. This will be a Palestinian state. but Jerusalem itself will be internationalized, and you've got to yield to that. And somebody's going to be so desperate later on for peace that they'll say, that'll work, that'll work. Give us our temple, you can have the city, the rest of the city. That's what it says the way I understand it right here. During that three and a half years, that's going to be happening. He's not talking about right during the sixth trumpet only. He's talking about three and a half years and giving you a close-up here. Here's another close-up. The two witnesses, who are they? They're mentioned in Zechariah 4. You've got to look some of this up. I'm sorry I don't have time to go back and preach on these things. But it's back there. Two guys in Zechariah. And here he is telling John this is who they are, the two guys in Zechariah. And they're powerful prophets. These are men that are in heaven right now. They're standing before the Lord right now. It says that in Zechariah. They're standing before God because God called them up to Him. I believe Elijah is one and perhaps Enoch is the other. These two men will return. They've never died. They have an appointment to keep with death because everyone does except the ones for whom Jesus is coming. They'll get to be caught up to be with the Lord. These two prophets have power to shut heaven. They have miraculous power. Two men walking the face of the earth or just walking that part of the earth where all the trouble is on that side of the world that we always call the Middle East where all the trouble seems to be now or emanating from. They're going to just be such a power in all the world that when Antichrist comes up, he's going to have another problem to deal with. And I believe he deals with it here at the beginning of his reign. or maybe just before. The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, he's called. Chapter 9, Chapter 11. That's who he is. The beast. Is this the same as Apollyon, Abaddon? I don't know, but it could well be. And in Chapter 13, you're going to meet him again in the same way. Chapter 17 also. But he comes up out of the bottomless pit and he kills these two men. Finally, that problem is done. Kills them, leaves them dead, And the people of the earth are going to be so excited, they're going to leave them there and watch them on public television all over the world. They're going to see these two men dead and glad of it. That's how much the world will be anti-God and anti-Christ in that day. And because these two prophets tormented people physically, and with their message tormented them. They are prophets of God. And after three and a half days, they actually resurrect, verse 11. and they're actually caught up to heaven. By the way, there it is in verse 12. They heard a voice saying, come up here. Does that mean the church is raptured? Oh, come on. No, it doesn't mean it there and it didn't mean it in chapter 4 either. Come up here means come up here to whomever it's being said. First time it was John, now it's these two prophets. So they come up to heaven. And there's a great earthquake. A tenth of the city falls. 7,000 men killed. This earthquake keeps showing up everywhere. Keeps showing up everywhere. that these two prophets, the two witnesses, is the second woe. The first woe was the fifth trumpet. The first woe was the fifth trumpet, and that was the locust. The second woe is the whole Euphrates thing, the 200 million men army, and those two witnesses and what happens to them. It's all finished now, the third woe is coming. Now we come to that seventh trumpet at the end of chapter 11, and yes, I'm leaving out tons of things, and I have to. The kingdom is proclaimed in these next verses. We are now at the end again. We already came to the end at the sixth seal. This is the end again. The rest of this chapter is the end. How do I know? The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord. You have taken your great power. Your wrath has come. That's what it said when it was talking of the sixth seal. Your wrath has come. It's here again. That you should reward your servants also. So here we have the judgment of sinners and the reward of saints. It's all right here in chapter 11. Not at the end of the book. This is the same as the sixth seal. It's an overlapping thing here. And these last three trumpets overlap the last three seals. And I've got to go on from there, but let's go back and get some questions on the rest of 9, 10, and 11. The sixth trumpet, now one third of blank. Mankind. is killed by an army from the East, perhaps China. Explanation? Perhaps China is marching on Israel at this point and on the Antichrist himself. He doesn't make just friends, you know, throughout the world. He makes a lot of enemies. 21. What effect does all this have on the remaining two-thirds? None. Nada. No repentance. Hardening of their heart. What Old Testament prophet ate a book just like John does? That was Ezekiel, chapter 2, verse 9, and chapter 3, verse 3. What do the eating and the results mean? Well, I've explained that, that it has to do with the Word of God is so wonderful to take in, but it will bring the enemy against us eventually. 23. What time period is now introduced as the time for the Gentiles to dominate Jerusalem and the time for the two witnesses? It's called the Times of the Gentiles. Jesus talked about it as, and we always thought it meant all these hundreds and thousands of years that the Gentiles ruled Jerusalem before the Jews came back. And there is some truth in that, but this is a special Times of the Gentiles that I think Jesus and John were referring to, and it's only three and a half years long. That other one is in Luke 21.4, by the way. Number 24, who might the witnesses be? That's Elijah or Enoch. What happens to them? Well, they're killed by a beast. They're not buried. There's rejoicing. There's resurrection. Number 25, what happens inside the sixth seal, seventh seal, 42 months, seventh trumpet, and seventh bowl? One thing, it happens, it's the earthquake. That's a proof again of the overlapping of seals and trumpets and bowls and a whole bunch of other things. There's a lot of repetition here and the earthquake is a part of that. The seventh trumpet, we are again at what? The end. 27. Who is this woman in chapter 12? We didn't get there yet. Let's go now. Chapter 12, the woman, the child and the dragon. Now this woman looks a whole lot like Mary, I confess it does. She's got the sun and the moon and the stars all around her and she's pregnant. She gives forth a child and that child rules the nations. Well, that's Jesus. The child is clearly Jesus who rules with a rod of iron. But is that totally Jesus? And is this Mary? No. Look broader than that. This is Israel. This is the same sign as in Joseph's dream. He saw the same thing, the sun and the moon and the stars, standing for the people of God, the people of Israel. And the child with Jesus will be all the people of God ruling, ruling with a rod of iron. Because the woman, in verse 6, flees into the wilderness. The woman flees into the wilderness. Mary never fled into any wilderness. War breaks out in heaven. Michael is fighting against the devil. The devil is cast out of heaven. I believe this is only one time that it's mentioned. We're going to see another time later on, perhaps. In chapter 9 we saw that. I saw a star falling from heaven. Could it be the same thing? So rejoice. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. The devil is there now. The woman is persecuted. Again, this is not Mary. He persecuted the woman that gave birth to the child. That's Israel. But the woman is protected. That's the 144,000 we talked about before. Somehow they are sealed while all the Gentile church and the rest of the church is martyred into heaven. These guys are not martyred because they're not saved yet, I believe, when they're called into the wilderness. And Jesus reveals Himself to them at that time, I believe, as I pointed out last time. Well, let me point it out in Hosea 2, verse 14. And therefore, behold, I will allure her. I will bring her into the wilderness and I will speak comfort to her. I'll give her her vineyards from there. And he's restoring himself to them. And there's a restoration of Jesus in Israel. Paul talked about that restoration coming. And this is it. This is it. And it happens in the wilderness. And the devil tries to destroy them somehow and he can't do it. And he talks about a flood here that he sends out. I'm not sure if that's a literal flood or not. But he tries his best to destroy Israel, the 144,000, and he cannot do it. And so the devil gets real mad and goes to the rest of the children of the woman of Israel. Who else came from Israel? Well, we did. The Christian people, the Gentile church. And these are the ones who are truly saved. And he goes after them. And that's why the martyrdom begins. He's so angry that he can't get at the Jews that he goes after the Christians now. But these are the saints of God too. And that's chapter 12. Chapter 13, we see a beast coming up out of the sea. And, well, the beast has seven heads, ten horns, and then ten crowns on the horns. It talks about the different parts, the body parts. Now, we've already met the dragon. I'm sorry I skipped over the dragon a little bit in chapter 12, but the dragon is trying to devour the child immediately, just like Herod tried to devour Jesus immediately. And the dragon is very clearly defined in chapter 12. What did he look like? Well, in verse 3, he's red. He's got seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns, just like this beast. But this is a man. How do I know it's a man? Because in chapter 13, verse 2, the dragon gave him his power. So, it's a man that's satanically Inspired, filled, filled with demons, the demon of Satan himself. He has great authority. And then it talks about this mystery of one of his heads being wounded. I don't think I'm going to go there right now and try to help you understand that because I'm not totally sure about it myself. But I will say this much, it's either the revival of an old, already extinct world empire, or the revival of an assassinated world leader. something of that nature. And because he's so strong and they can't kill him, they worship him and say, who's going to make war with him? We tried to kill him, verse 4, and he won't die. Whether he's resurrected from the past, way past, and they can find a way to prove that this is his bones actually come back to life, or he just got shot a few minutes ago and he comes back to life, don't know on this. I'm still studying about that. We do know he is the man of sin talked about in Daniel, talked about by 2 Thessalonians. And it's Daniel 7, 8, 11, 20, 25, chapter 11, verse 36. All that's mentioning how much he blasphemes. Daniel brings it out very clearly that he blasphemes and Paul brought it out very clearly too. And I won't read those verses for you. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, but you read that and you'll see that this fits exactly this man of sin, blasphemous. And he's granted war to make war with the saints. And they don't get raptured out. No, they are actually beaten by Antichrist. He overcomes them. Well, it looks like he does anyway. They die. But they go right to be with Jesus. So, who really overcomes? And as they're dying, they're giving praise to God like the martyrs of all ages have done. They're glorifying God. So, who really is the overcomer? But we know what the Scripture means here when it says He overcame them. He just killed them. And everybody on the earth that doesn't know the Lord hasn't been saved is going to worship this Antichrist because there's another person coming up who will have the power to work great miracles and tell everybody to worship the Antichrist. I'm calling him Antichrist. Revelation doesn't call him that, calls him the beast. Paul called him the man of sin. Daniel called him the little horn. But these are the same person. And it is a person, as you have to see eventually, as you see all this developing. It's not a system. It's not history we're talking about here. It's a one-time event that's coming and it's prophecy. We've seen things like this in the past. We've seen things like this for sure, but there's going to be one man who will culminate all of this. So there's an image made to the beast, just like Nebuchadnezzar made an image to himself. We've seen so much of this in history. This man's going to make either a statue, or we're talking about a television image of some sort, or any other of the technological wonders that could take place here. Somehow he is worshipped in his statue form, in his image form, all over the earth. Rich and poor and small and great and free and slave, all of them. Worship him and they have a mark and the Bible is very clear about what that mark is in verse 18 and the number that it is I won't go there because everybody wants to go there I believe it's technology also now that I know about the technology I never would have guessed that before but it will be something that probably won't look all that funny all that strange and perhaps under the skin and so on and These are close-ups. Now, we're not going in any particular order here. We're just showing you the cast of characters again. Let's do 12 and 13 on the lesson sheet. Who is this woman? The woman is Israel. Who is the red dragon? That is Satan. What about the seven heads? Now, some people have said those seven heads are seven world kingdoms. Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome, and then revived Rome, the Antichrist's kingdom. I don't know about that, but that's a good theory. The 10 horns are, and we know about this, the 10 horns, we'll pick them up later, are the final 10 kingdoms that will be ruled by Rome in the last day. This is Rome revived, and Daniel saw that number 10 also. Twice Daniel saw it. John sees it here a couple times too. Ten kingdoms. That is as clear as can be in all the prophecies that there's a ten nation confederation at the very end of all things that controls the world's power. 31. What about one-third of the stars? Well, that could be one-third of the angels and demons that fall with Satan. What about the male child? That can be Christ or it can be Christ and the elect as they rule. 33. The rest of her offspring? I believe that's the true church. Number 34. What is the time period involved? We know again that it's three and a half years. How do we know the primary identity of the beast? Well, Satan. has the seven heads and ten horns. His primary identity is Satan himself. Number 36, what do the animals bring to mind? Well, they bring to mind Daniel 7, the same visions that he had, the animals that you're seeing in 13-2. Number 37, how else does Daniel help us? Well, he talks about the identity of the ten horns and the other little horn that comes up after. 38, what's the time period involved again? Three and a half years again. 39, what's the job of the second beast? He works signs in his presence. He causes everybody to worship and to make an image that can actually speak. That's why I know it's not just your ordinary statue. Number 40, what do we know about him that is the second beast? He looks, he acts like a lamb, but really he also is possessed. by the devil. 41, where were the 144,000? Well, that's enough. Let's go to chapter 14 here. Chapter 14. The 144,000, we saw them before, I believe, somewhere during the seal's time, right around the fifth seal, perhaps, being sealed themselves. Being wooed away by the Lord and called off into the wilderness to be with Him. before any of the harm really begins, the serious harm to the earth, they are called aside and set apart by the Lord. But now where do we see them? Well, I wanted to say in heaven there's a good chance that this is the scene as Jesus comes back to earth. It says Mount Zion. Mount Zion is a hill in Jerusalem. And Jesus is coming back there to set up His kingdom. I think we have perhaps... Now, it talks about the throne. I know that. But the throne is mentioned in Revelation 22 as being on earth. The tabernacle of God is with men at that time. He has brought it all here. And I believe that's where we are right now in chapter 14. I believe we've gone all the way to the end so you can see a close-up of where these 144,000 wound up. In verse 6, another picture, another angel. Notice, he sees things one after the other, but these things aren't happening one after the other. This is the order of the visions he gets, but not the order of the events that will transpire. Now, a lot of people want to tie together the 144,000 to this preaching in verse 6, and I'm sorry, I just don't see it. It's just not there. We see an angel preaching. We see the 144,000 with Jesus already. That's already past. I say past, but it's really future from this preaching. These things are all mixed up. Because when you get to verse 6 of chapter 14, we're talking about horrible things happening on earth. First, The gospel is being preached, but the Bible says, this gospel shall be preached in all the world, and then shall the end come. And then you have verse 7, the judgment. And then you have Babylon falling. That's not reserved to chapter 17. Here we are talking about it already. Chapter 14, Babylon falls in chapter 14. The wrath of God is mentioned in verse 10. the smoke of their torment. This is hell and Hades' eternal punishment. The lake of fire. Here it is in chapter 14. You see how things skip around. 144,000 are with the Lord. But now on earth, you've got all of these other things happening, so He's backed up again. Verses 14-16 talking about the reaping as in chapter 19 when Jesus comes and the final wrath of God is disseminated all over the earth. The reaping of the grapes of wrath from 17 on, talking about this horrible scene of the winepress trampled outside the city. Blood coming out of the winepress up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs. That's about, furlongs, that's 184 miles of blood, a river of blood. as Jesus comes back and that same scene is talked about when he comes back when he calls for the supper of flesh. The angel calls for the supper of flesh. All the animals are allowed to come and eat. While the blood is flowing, these animals are eating the meat at the same time. Supper of flesh. I'm writing that in my Bible so I don't forget it as I study this myself later. I'm learning with you as I go and this book is just coming alive to me here. That was chapter 14. Let me go back to questions back and forth. Where were the 144,000 before? Well, they were on earth before. Where are they now? They're on Mount Zion. Still on earth perhaps, but the Lord has already come. 42. The first angel announces judgment. The second angel, Babylon is fallen. The third angel, a warning about the mark. A warning about the mark. There are still believers here. Still believers. If there weren't believers, why would he be warning anybody? These people would all be lost. No, there are believers and they're being killed. At the end of chapter 14, we have once more come to what? The end time. We're at the end time. It's the end again. There you have chapter 14. Would you look with me please at chapter 15? Another sign in heaven. We're coming up now to the bold judgments. We've got a break in the action here. Whenever there's this break, and it has been a long time, you can understand that the next thing that happens is not in sequence. I believe the breaks do that for us, to help us understand, not to just try to read straight through breathlessly. There's a break here. We're going to back up again. Because we've already come to the end. We've already come to the ultimate judgment and people with the Lord and everything. So what's this about? It wants to back up and show you something that you didn't see before. The absolute, final, total, horrible thing that men do to men. Yes, the vials are poured out from heaven, but this is still among men on earth. Jesus has not come yet. Not during the bold judgments. He will come, and by the word of His mouth, He will destroy. But this is still other things that are going on through men, but released by God. Because it says, when these seven last plagues come, the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. Those who have the victory over the beast, over his image, and he sees people up in heaven again. He wants you to know that there are people now with the Lord, but are they all with the Lord? No, not all. I'll show you that in a minute. even though we're going to see horrible plagues, even though it's called wrath here. And God hasn't appointed us to wrath, but the people of God are still there hiding here and there and still being martyred. But many, many of them up in heaven now in chapter 15. And he sees seven angels in verse 6 having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and bright linen, having their chests girded with golden bands. And here comes the bowls of the wrath of God. And here it comes. First, in verse 2, his bowl is poured on the earth. A foul and loathsome sword. Now understand, these are the two-thirds of the people that did not repent. They saw one-third of the world destroyed, but they did not repent. Now the whole world has got this, the aftermath of war. what happens when bombs fall. This is what happens. This is called fallout. It's all over. It's floating in gases and air and atmosphere all over the world, and now it's breaking out on people all over. Horrible, horrible things. And people who aren't hiding somewhere, their flesh is just melting as it is in Zechariah, and the rest just soars everywhere. Verse 3 talks about the angel pouring out his bowl on the sea and it becomes blood as a dead man. All the water this time. Not one-third like with the trumpets. All the blood. All the water. Of the sea. All the sea creatures. I'm sorry. Every living creature in the sea died. The third angel pouring out his bowl on the rivers and all of that. It says all now. It was one-fourth, then it was one-third, now it's all. In the fourth bowl in verse 8, the sun is affected, and all people are affected by being scorched with fire because the heat of the sun is so great. It's like, it reminds you of what would be a supernova, where first a star gets much, much, much brighter, and then it burns out. You've seen a light bulb do that now and then, perhaps. The fifth bull, verse 10, he's being poured out on the kingdom of the beast, and the pain and the darkness, and it's just full, it's a total thing, and his kingdom is worldwide. So first you've got pain because of brightness, now you've got pain because of darkness. It looks like the sun has just gone out. The sun shall be turned to darkness, not just dim, but dark. And still there's no repentance. Still there is no repentance. Then comes the sixth bowl. Here's the Euphrates River again. I believe it's not the same thing. I believe it's a second escalation. All that happens in the sixth bowl is that the river Euphrates is affected but it's just dried up. Something happens to make it dry up. They talk about some of the things that they do now that they could actually dry it up now, technologically, but somehow it will be dried up. And another thing that happens during that time is that the unclean spirits that are in the dragon are coming out and drawing people, drawing people to Armageddon. That's what it says in verse 16. It calls it Armageddon. But look in verse 15 so that you'll know this is not yet the coming of Jesus. Even though horrible things are happening, Jesus says in verse 15, Behold, I'm coming. I'm coming. Watch and keep your garments. Don't give up yet. Hang in there. Jesus is saying to His people, Don't give up the ship yet. I'm still coming. So, Jesus has not yet come. And so, the earth is utterly shaken with the seventh bowl. Nothing's shaking, really, in the sixth bowl. Everything is just set up. Euphrates River is dry. People are drawn to war. It's the calm before the storm, all of the sixth bowl. It's just 1 Kings 22 talks about Micaiah with a prophecy that he had about how lying spirits were going to go out. And how spirits were going to be drawing people to the battle that next day. And it happened. And it's like that here. In verse 17, the seventh bull thrown out into the air. And that's the end again. We've come to the end again. How do I know? Well, there's that earthquake again. Here's Babylon in verse 19 falling again. You see, it fell before, didn't it? In chapter 14, it fell. But here it's falling again. Not really. It's the same falling, but this is a repetition. Every island fled away. The mountains were not found. There it is again. We found that in the sixth seal, chapter 6, verses 12 to 14. And then there's this huge hail storm. An incredible hail. Hail is the weight of a talent. That's a lot of hail. That's a lot of storm going on here. utter, utter destruction throughout the earth. That's the end again. Chapter 16 brings you to the end again. Let's cover this in the questions. Number 44, the seven angels of chapter 15 have what to bring to earth? Well, they bring the seven last plagues and the wrath of God. The plagues are contained in what? Bulls or vials, they're called in King James. What percent of sea creatures die now? A hundred percent. Not thirty-three. What's the mood of heaven at this judgment? It's rejoicing. Evil has been judged. Number forty-eight, what overlapping, but what difference in the sixth trumpet and the sixth bowl? Well, alike the Euphrates, the king of the east, the final conflict. But the difference so close to the end, Jesus warns of his coming. This is the very, very closest we're going to get. And 49, are there still believers on earth? Obviously, yes. And number 50, once more, in the period of the seventh bowl, we're at the what? The last judgment. We're at the end. That brings us to chapter 17. In chapter 17, you see a scarlet woman and a scarlet beast. They're both red. And we know who the red beast is, don't we? Well, sort of, we do. Let's read it again. I'm going to show you the judgment of the great harlot, he says. who sits on many waters. Follow it carefully. It's a woman. She's a prostitute, a great prostitute. She's world-renowned. Everybody in the world has committed fornication with her. This is the world system that she is leading. and made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Jeremiah 51 talks about the same sort of thing when it's talking about Babylon. But Babylon is long gone. The city of Babylon is long gone when we're talking here. Isn't it? Well, it is, but it isn't. He carries John away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And there's a woman sitting there. Now, the wilderness is where that other woman fled, you know, but this is a little different. A woman is sitting there. And she's sitting on a scarlet beast full of names of blasphemy. Now, the scarlet beast was the dragon. But when he adds full of names of blasphemy, that relates it to the man of sin. And so, it's both. It's what we call the Antichrist. She is sitting on him. That is, she is riding him to power. She is world religion, isn't she? We'll see it in a minute. She's arrayed in purple and scarlet, the colors of the Roman Catholic system, just by chance, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, and having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, you see. What's her name? Babylon the Great. Mystery. I don't think mystery is a part of her name, but whatever. Her name is Babylon the Great, and that is a mystery. She's the mother of all the harlots and of all the abominations of the earth. Babylon goes back to Babel where men first decided that they would come against the Lord and they would form their own religion and their own way to God. And it's been that way ever since. And Babylon, when it became a city, housed this worldwide religion that was just passed on with some name changes, some cosmetic changes, to Medo-Persia, and Greece, and pagan Rome, and unfortunately the Roman Catholic system too, which was mixed with Christianity also. That is Babylon. That is Babylon the Great, the mother of the abomination. John saw her and marveled with great amazement. There's something about this woman, isn't there? The angel said, there's nothing to marvel about. I can tell you what this is all about real quick. Well, it makes us feel pretty much like dunces too as we read through here and we can't figure it out even after the explanation. I can give you some of it. I hope. I'll try. Verse 8 starts describing the Antichrist that she's sitting on. Forget her just for a minute. Let's look at Him. Well, He was. Does that help you a lot? He is not in John's day. He will ascend out of the bottomless pit. There is that again, the bottomless pit. And He'll be lost forever after that time. He went there. because he was, but he is not now. Somehow, Satan, in all his fullness, is being hindered from doing all that he wants to do. And has he had this God-man on the earth before? That's one of the big questions of all this. The one who we call Antichrist, has he lived here before? Was it Hitler? Was it Nero? Was it Antiochus Epiphanes who did so much like what this man is going to do? It perhaps was one of these great men. Where is Hitler? Does anyone know? No one knows where Hitler was. If anyone would ask you who was the greatest Jew hater of all time, well, Hitler, of course. But nobody knows for sure what happened to him. Is he in the bottomless pit, just totally filled with Satan and preserved with him? Is he coming back to rule? And will people then say, who could ever make war against him because he still lives? Well, I don't know. But it looks like someone that's already lived is coming back and that he's being held ready for that day. And the people that don't know God They'll worship Him and they'll marvel. What about the seven heads that this person has? Stands for the seven mountains on which the woman sits. The woman is sitting not only on the animal but on seven mountains, seven hills. In the Greek it could be either word, mountains or hills. The word is not definitive. Now I ask you, In John's day, was there a place that had seven hills where false religion was sitting? Yes, of course. The city of Rome. The city of Rome. Look at verse 10. There are seven kings. Five have fallen. One is. The other has not yet come. Here we get back into those world powers again, perhaps. and the other being the Antichrist kingdom that has not yet come, even now has not yet come. And when he does come, he'll just stay for a short time. Now the beast, the animal, sorry, the Antichrist that was this guy that used to reign, but is not reigning now, he is the eighth. He's going to take over the end time kingdom, that ten nation confederation that forms without him perhaps, but he will take it over and he'll be the eighth. But he's one of the seven. So you think of the seven great antichrists of all time, he's one of them? Or is this a system? Is this an empire we're talking about? The 10 horns are 10 kings, very clearly it tells you that. We mentioned the number 10 already. They receive authority for one hour, just a short time at the end with the Antichrist. So Antichrist comes up to power, but he needs a power base and there it is. revived Europe, revived Roman Empire, the United States of Europe that are very real to us as we sit here today. We know these things are happening all around us. These are of one mind. They're going to give their power to Him. He solved their problems. He's a peacemaker. He's a good man. We need this man. All of these together will make war with the Lamb. What? Yes, in chapter 19 that happens. Exactly, 1919 you see it happen. But of course they don't have any much victory there at all, no victory at all. The waters, that's a whole bunch of people, lots of people where she's sitting. The ten horns, well, they're going to hate the harlot. The ten horns are going to hate her. They're going to love him, but hate her. They're finally going to come against her, and he will also, because he will want all religion to center in himself, and he's not going to tolerate all this other religion. God's put it into their heart to fulfill His purpose. So, the woman is sitting on seven hills, but the woman also is that city, verse 18. What city? Now look in verse 18, that city which reigns over the kings of the earth. What city that reigned over the kings of the earth in John's day sits on seven hills? Well, now that's first grader material. I don't know how many first graders know that, but most somebody up in grade school, junior high, high school, they got to know this, you know, the city of seven hills that ruled the earth. They know that. and Rome continued to rule the earth. Some would say it still does in one sense, in that the man who is there right now, who is the most important religious figure in the world, has sway over one-sixth of this world's population of actual body count, and really politically a lot more. He's still very powerful, but hidden. But hidden. And I believe that there's coming one after him who will be very unhidden and very obvious in his ways. That brings us to chapter 18. I'm not going to go there today. I'm going to save 18 until our last one. 18 really talks about some of the same things as 17. It's going to talk about Babylon falling again. I want to bring that out to you. Let's do some questions. and then we'll call it a day today. What beast is this new woman sitting upon? Well, the Satan and Antichrist combination. What is the cup all about? The wine. The wine that makes people drunk, confuses the nation. It's false teaching, false religion. What did the whore Babylon drink? She drank the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Yes, I know the Roman emperors did that, but so did the popes do that. Is this supposed to remain a mystery to us? No. Even though it is, if we don't dig deep, we don't get anything out of this book. Number 55, is a man going to be reincarnated, or is it a kingdom that's revived, or both? I can't answer number 55. Number 56, what five kingdoms ruled the world before Rome? That was Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Assyria. Number 57, how many nations are in the final kingdom? 10. And then the beast. 58. Why will the final kingdom hate the whore? Because God hates her and uses the beast to destroy. And who is that whore? Verse number 59. She is Rome. There's no question that she is the city of Rome. You can take it different directions from there if you want. But she is Rome. Now, next time, as I say, we'll do chapter 18. We'll start with number 60 and, Lord willing, finish not only the book of Revelation, but finish our Through the Bible quest. Thank God that He gave us grace to see what we saw this far. I hope that the things that we're seeing here will cause you to want to go deeper into the Word of God and find out what's there for yourself. Amen? Amen.