Let's turn to God's word for our closing
study.
Book of Revelation chapter 7.
We were looking at the 144,000 selected
from Israel who are going to be...
Those are, I believe, a picture of those
who are sincerely seeking for the Messiah and
will be there in the last days.
And verse 9 to 17 speaks about the
church.
Great multitude from every tribe, tongue, nation, verse
9, who cry, Our salvation, verse 10, is
due to our God.
They acknowledge that our salvation is due to
our God and to the Lamb on the
throne.
They fall down and worship.
And they are clothed in white robes.
And verse 14.
John, you know, one of the elders asked
John, Do you know who these people are?
Verse 13.
And John said, I don't know, Lord, you
know.
And listen to the answer.
The church of people from every tribe and
tongue and people are those who have come
out of the great tribulation and have washed
their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb.
The same thing which I have been saying.
They were in the great tribulation and they
came out of it.
Just like in chapter 18, when the Lord
says come out of Babylon.
What does it mean?
They were in Babylon and they came out
of it.
Here when it says they came out of
the great tribulation, it means exactly the same.
They were in the great tribulation and they
came out of it.
And they were cleansed in the blood of
the Lamb.
Every verse you look in scripture teaches that
the church goes through the great tribulation.
There is not a single verse anywhere in
scripture that I have seen that teaches that
the church will escape the great tribulation.
Chapter 8, verse 1, it says there is
silence in heaven for half an hour.
Now this is a very amazing thing because
generally every picture of heaven is full of
such loud praise.
It's like thunder and mighty rivers.
That half an hour of silence is amazing.
What is the meaning of this half an
hour of silence?
It means God is now going to do
something which he does not like to do.
Pour out his wrath upon those who rebel.
He does not like to do it.
It is a strange work we read in
Isaiah.
The acceptable year of the Lord is 365
days, Isaiah 61.
The day of vengeance is only one day.
The proportion of God's grace to vengeance is
365 to 1.
This is his strange work.
He is reluctant to do it and that's
the meaning of this silence in heaven.
And the seven angels stand to sound their
seven trumpets.
We could look at it as a seven
-fold trumpet, the last trumpet at which the
dead will rise in Christ and we will
be transformed.
This is the time of the rapture at
the last trumpet.
1 Corinthians 15 also says, it says the
last trumpet that the church will be raptured.
Not before that.
And that also comes here.
Just before the wrath of God is poured
out because the church will not face wrath.
Be taken up, welcome the Lord and come
down to the earth.
And it speaks here about this trumpet and
various things that happen when the trumpet is
First of all, again, the incense of the
prayers, many prayers.
Verse 4, ascends to God and the trumpets.
The first one sounded and there's hail and
fire.
The second one sounded, verse 8, a mountain
thrown into the sea.
The third ones and a star falls from
heaven.
And the fourth one sounded and a third
of the sun and the moon and the
stars were smitten.
Various natural calamities that happen on earth and
in the skies.
And then the fifth angel sounded in chapter
9, verse 1.
And then you see a picture in verse
1 to 11 of a whole lot of
demons that are released from the bottomless pit.
There are some demons that have been locked
up in the bottomless pit right now.
Who were did something worse than those demons
that are in the second heavens.
They are also released and they come and
torture people.
It says here, they torment people, verse 5,
for five months.
And men will seek for death and they
won't find it, verse 6.
You know, Jesus once spoke in Revelation, sorry,
Matthew chapter 18, towards the end of that
chapter.
About a man being handed over to the
torturers.
Torturers are demons.
When does God, so shall my heavenly father
do to you?
Hand you over to the torturers, Matthew 18,
35.
You know who?
The man who does not forgive other people.
You read that passage in Matthew 18.
If you don't forgive others, God hands you
over to the torturers.
So you see that over there.
And then, verses 12 to 17, you read
about the sixth trumpet.
There are four demons bound in the river
Euphrates.
And they are going to be released and
they are going to kill people.
And 200 million people, in verse 16, there
is going to be a mighty war around
the river Euphrates.
And just for your information, Euphrates is in
the Middle East.
It flows through the country of Iraq.
And that's written 2,000 years ago that
there is going to be a lot of
conflict around Iraq in the last days.
Lot of war, millions of people, armies of
countries that have millions of soldiers.
200 million soldiers, armies.
It's not saying that all 200 million will
be there.
But armies, countries that have 200 million soldiers
are going to come together and fight in
the Middle East.
It's happening in our time.
And then it goes on to say about
how, verse 20, that the rest of mankind
did not repent.
The reason why they are punished is because
they do not repent.
It's only repentance that God looks for.
And then we come to chapter 10, verse
1, where an angel comes down and he
speaks something.
He cried out with a loud voice, verse
3, as when a lion roars.
And there was seven peals of thunder.
That's another seven.
And John was about to write what the
seven peals of thunder spoke.
And the Lord said, no, don't write it.
So we don't know what the seven peals
of thunder said.
I get a message from that.
I hope you get a message, too.
There are some things the Lord tells us,
which he tells us, don't tell anybody else.
That's only for you.
You know, just like a husband and wife.
They say things to each other which they
don't want other people to hear.
Right?
The Lord tells me certain things.
He says, that's not for anybody else.
That's only for you.
And if you walk with the Lord, he'll
tell you certain things.
He says, don't write that, don't publicize that.
And if the Lord tells you not to
publicize it, don't publicize it.
Keep it to yourself.
That's what we learned from that passage.
And what the Lord tells you to write,
you write.
Because later on, he says in verse 8,
Now, take the book which is in your
hand and eat it, verse 9.
It will make your stomach bitter, but your
mouth will be sweet as honey, teaching us
that God's word does a double work.
It encourages us and takes us through bitter
experiences of trial and tribulation.
Both are there in God's word, particularly in
the new covenant.
You remember when Ezekiel ate a roll, it
was only sweet.
Ezekiel chapter 3.
He was an old covenant person.
But in the new covenant, when John ate
it, it was sweet and bitter.
Because God allows us to have joy in
him, but he also takes us through bitter
times of tribulation on this earth.
And once he had eaten it, and he
went through this experience himself, then the Lord
said to him, now you can prophesy.
This you can tell others.
So what we learned in chapter 10 is
certain things you can't tell others, certain things
you can.
Okay.
But these are the days when the mystery
of God, verse 7, is finished.
The last trumpet, the seventh angel sounded.
The mystery is finished.
The mystery of God is the church and
Christ as bride and bridegroom.
That's at the end of the tribulation.
The church is raptured at the last trumpet.
And we see further in chapter 11, verse...
It says, go and measure the temple of
God.
God is measuring his church.
And he speaks about permitting the nations to
trample the city of Jerusalem for 42 months
or 1,000...
3...
verse 3, 1,260 days.
Now this is the period, the last seven
years of tribulation.
You remember when we studied Daniel?
Daniel 9, verse 24 and 25 said there
were 483 years out of 490 that were
finished from the time that the command went
to rebuild Jerusalem till the crucifixion of Christ
were 483 years.
But one year is counted only for 360
days in Daniel and in Revelation.
So perhaps I didn't mention it there.
It was 483 prophetic years of 360 days.
In other words, if you work it out,
365 day year, 366 in a leap year,
it works out to 476 solar years.
And from the period of the rebuilding of
Jerusalem to the crucifixion of Christ was exactly
476 solar years or 483 prophetic years of
360 days.
And now we've got a last period of
seven years of tribulation and the second half
of that is a period of the great
tribulation.
And that is the 1260 days or three
and a half years or 42 months.
The same period that Jesus had a ministry.
Jesus' ministry was three and a half years
and the Antichrist is going to duplicate that.
He's going to have a lordship on the
earth for three and a half years.
And in that time, it says in verse
4, there are going to be two witnesses.
This reminds us of Zachariah chapter 4, verse
11 to 14, where you saw the two
olive trees supplying oil to the lampstand.
Here are two olive trees, two lampstands, verse
4.
And there are two prophets who have a
prophetic ministry in the last days and who
speak fire proceeds out of their mouth to
devour their enemies and they have power to
shut up the sky, verse 6, like Elijah
and to stop the rain.
And they have power to turn the waters
into blood, verse 6, like Moses.
Two people like Moses and Elijah and after
that period, after they finish their prophecy, verse
7, when they finish their prophecy, they will
be killed.
That's a wonderful verse.
When they have finished their testimony, the beast
kills them.
That means you also, if you walk in
God's will, nobody can kill you till you
have finished your earthly testimony.
They couldn't and they can't do that to
you either.
They couldn't be killed before that either.
And then, it says their dead bodies will
lie in the street of the great city,
which is Jerusalem probably, which is mystically called
Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified.
And then, listen to this, it says here
in verse 9, the people from all the
tribes and tongues and nations will look at
their dead bodies lying in the street in
Jerusalem for three and a half days.
Tell me, how can people from all over
the world, millions and millions of people see
these dead bodies lying in the street of
Jerusalem?
Can they travel there?
No.
It's by satellite television.
Here is the one verse which prophesies satellite
television that every corner of the world will
be able to see what's happening in the
streets of Jerusalem.
And everybody will be happy when these prophets
who preach like that are killed.
True to every prophet in history, they are
also killed.
But a miracle is going to take place.
After three and a half days, they are
going to be raised up from the dead
and they come on their feet and great
fear comes upon everybody and they are taken
up to heaven.
And there was a great earthquake and one
-tenth of the city fell.
Jesus said in the last days there will
be wars, famines, earthquakes, a preparation for much
more serious calamitous things to happen in the
days to come.
And then the seventh angel sounded, verse 15,
and the voice says, the kingdom of the
world has become the kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ and He will reign forever and
ever, verse 15.
And they fall down and they worship God.
Now, this is a glimpse of the whole
future.
Now you come to a few details.
I told you the book of Revelation is
not in sequence.
It gives you a bird's eye view of
the whole future and then gets down to
the little details.
We saw one bird's eye view in chapter
6 and here is another right up to
chapter 11, 19 and then a little details
of what's happened before.
A great sign, chapter 12.
And this is a picture of Israel.
A woman clothed with the sun, moon, the
crown of twelve stars.
You remember the dream of Joseph?
Where he saw the sun, moon and eleven
stars bow down to him?
That's here.
Compare scripture with scripture and you know what
this refers to.
This refers to the tribes of Israel.
Woman is Israel.
And this woman was bringing forth a child.
And that child was Jesus.
And at the same time there was a
dragon, verse 3, that's the devil, who long
ago took one third of the angels, verse
4, with him.
They are the demons today, rebelled.
That's the verse that tells us that Satan
joined up with one third of the angels
in heaven and fell away.
And this dragon is waiting to swallow up
the child.
That's what Herod tried to do.
To kill the baby Jesus.
But he did not succeed.
And she gave birth to a son.
Who is this son?
It's the one who is one day going
to rule all nations with a rod of
iron.
Jesus.
And he lived on earth.
And it says the child was finally caught
up to God and his throne.
He ascended up to heaven.
And the woman, the Jew, the Jewish people,
had to flee.
Forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus.
They had to flee into all parts of
the world.
And in the time of tribulation also they
will be persecuted for 1260 days.
The dragon hates Jews.
And then further we read in verse 7
onwards about the casting down of Satan from
the second heaven.
Many years ago he was cast down from
the third heaven to the second heaven.
Now there is a war in the second
heaven.
And the devil is going to be cast
down from heaven to the earth.
It says in verse 9 he was thrown
down to the earth.
This deceiver, this accuser.
And this accuser of the brethren who has
accused God's people before his throne.
Verse 10.
Day and night is cast down.
And how do people overcome Satan?
This is the way they are going to
overcome Satan when he comes down to earth.
And this is the way we overcome him
today.
Not by argument, not by discussion.
One word.
The blood of Jesus Christ, verse 11, has
cleansed me from all my sin.
What are you accusing me about, Satan?
What are you accusing me about?
The blood of Jesus has cleansed me from
every sin.
Whenever the devil accuses you.
Oh, you remember what you did 10 years
ago.
You remember what you did last week.
You remember what you did 15 years ago.
You remember that terrible sin you did 3
and a half years ago.
How are you going to overcome those accusations?
Don't say, but I've become better now.
He'll overcome you.
Say, the blood of Jesus has cleansed me
from all sin.
The word of your testimony, verse 11.
You've got to give your testimony to the
devil.
How many of you have given your testimony
to the devil?
I hope you have.
I tell him many things every day.
I remind him, you've been defeated on the
cross, right?
2,000 years ago you were defeated.
You've got no power over me.
The blood of Jesus has cleansed me.
I'm not afraid of you.
You can't do anything to me without God's
permission.
Be bold.
Tell the devil the word of your testimony
and you can overcome him.
And don't love your life, even to death.
And don't join him and accuse other believers,
please.
That's the worst part.
Okay?
And verse 13 to 16, it says that
the dragon began to persecute the woman who
gave birth to the child.
And that's why throughout history you find Haman
tried to destroy the Jews.
Hitler tried to destroy the Jews.
He's never succeeded.
It's the devil's hatred.
And today the Jews are living in their
land.
And it says the earth helped the woman
and protected her from the attacks of Satan.
And then when he could not succeed with
Israel, verse 17, the dragon went to make
war with others.
That is with the church who came out
of her.
You see, the first people in the church
were all Jews.
That is called her offspring, the rest of
her offspring, who keep the commandments of God
and hold the testimony of Jesus.
That's the church.
And then it speaks about this beast, the
devil, coming out of the sea, having ten
horns, chapter 13 and verse 1.
This is a picture similar to what we
saw in Daniel 7.
The Antichrist coming up out of the earth.
And the dragon and the Antichrist being supported
by the dragon.
And people worship the Antichrist.
He imitates the resurrection, verse 3.
That means from some dangerous wound he got
healed and the whole world wonders how in
the world did he recover from that injury.
He didn't die and get resurrected, that can
never happen, but he imitates it.
And he speaks arrogant words, verse 5.
And he opens his mouth and blasphemes against
God, verse 6.
And he was permitted, verse 7, to make
war with the saints and to overcome their
bodies.
You know, the only thing that the devil
and his agents can do to us is
to overcome our bodies and kill them.
He was permitted.
And so many saints are killed in those
days.
That itself proves that in the days of
the Antichrist there are saints, there are believers
on earth.
So clear, so clear that during the time
of tribulation the church is here, standing up
for the Lord.
And if anyone has a ear to hear,
let him hear.
And who are the people who are standing
up to the Lord, standing up to the
Antichrist who do not worship him?
Verse 8.
All earth dwellers, earth dwellers are those whose
mind are set on the things of earth.
Their names are not written in the book
of life.
They are the ones who worship the Antichrist.
Who are the ones who don't worship the
Antichrist?
Those whose names are written in the book
of life.
Who is that?
The believers who are here in the middle
of the tribulation.
And then he goes on to say about
another beast.
This is a false prophet that comes up
from the earth who also joins up.
This is the satanic trinity.
Satan, the Antichrist who is a political head
and the false prophet who is a religious
leader.
It's religion, politics and the devil all combined
to persecute the church.
The satanic trinity.
He's got horns like a lamb.
He pretends to be Christ-like.
Could be some religious so-called Christian leader
who persecutes the true believers of Jesus Christ.
There are many Christian leaders, so-called Christian
leaders, who have persecuted godly followers of Jesus
throughout past centuries and even today.
And I won't be surprised if some religious
Christian leader teams up with the Antichrist to
persecute God's people.
Because he's got horns like a lamb.
Like Jesus.
But he speaks like a dragon.
So it's really the devil inside.
It's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
And he's a leader.
And he exercises the authority of the Antichrist,
verse 12.
And he performs great signs.
He's a great magician and hypnotist.
And he does false miracles and things like
that.
And it says he makes an image of
the beast and makes that even to speak
and deceive people.
This is some computerized robot that looks just
like a human being is made to speak.
I've seen that in some museums.
It looks just like a man speaking.
They even move their mouth.
And deceives a whole lot of people.
And it says he makes all the people
in the world to receive a mark.
It's called the mark of the beast.
And now notice this.
Now we don't need to understand the book
of Revelation.
We need to obey it.
The mark can be had either on your
forehead, verse 16.
Chapter 13, verse 16.
Or on your right hand.
You know, inside your hand means nobody can
see it.
Forehead means everybody can see it.
The devil gives you an option.
Be an open follower of me.
Have the mark on your forehead.
Whatever it is, lines or stars or whatever
it is.
Or have it in your hand.
You can be a secret follower of me
or an open follower of me.
There are people who are open followers of
the devil today.
Worship Satan.
They say Satan is our God.
And there are others, even in Christian churches,
who secretly follow the devil.
They have secret sins in their lives.
They live in sexual sin in secret.
They give bribes with their hands in secret.
And they come and break bread as holy
people in the church with the same hand.
Nobody knows.
These are secret followers of the devil.
God and the devil gives you that option.
Do you want to follow me openly?
You say, no, I don't like to follow
openly.
I like to have a little reputation in
the church.
Okay, the devil says, keep your reputation in
the church.
You can follow me secretly.
He says, fine.
I'll give you a lot of things if
you follow me secretly.
And there are people who follow secretly and
get a lot of things in the world.
And nobody in the church knows that these
people are doing wrong things in their private
life because it's hidden in their hand.
It's private.
It's hidden.
It's not on their forehead.
But one day, it'll all be revealed.
And it says here, the number of the
Antichrist is 666.
Now, what does this mean?
The word Jesus in Greek is Yesus.
If we were to write it in English,
it would be I-E-S-O-U
-S, Yesus.
And each Greek letter has got a numeric
value.
In English, A, B, C, D don't have
numeric values.
The Greek letters, all of them have numeric
values.
If you total up Yesus, I-E-S
-O-U-S, in Greek, the total value
of that is 888.
Eight is the number of a new creation.
You know, the eighth day of the week
is another Sunday.
In piano or a keyboard, the eighth note
is the beginning of a new octave.
Eight is the number of something new, a
new creation.
Jesus is the beginner of the new creation.
And 888 means Trinity.
Jesus is God, and He is the man
who began the new creation.
Six is the number of man.
Man was created on the sixth day.
666, Trinity, speaks of man trying to be
like God.
That's the Antichrist.
And whoever the Antichrist is, I don't know
who it is, but one day, when we
know who it is, you take the number
of his name, you take his name and
work out the numeric value of it, and
you'll find it is 666.
I have no doubt about it.
Chapter 14, in contrast to all this, Jesus
has got his followers.
But notice, there is a difference.
The followers of Jesus are not given the
option to have the mark on their forehead
or on their hand.
The Lord says, only one place, on the
forehead.
You must be an open follower of me.
No question of being a secret follower of
me.
You can be a secret follower of the
devil, or an open follower of the devil,
but when it comes to Jesus, the mark
is only on the forehead.
Now again, the number 144,000 is symbolic.
The book of Revelation is signified.
And this is a contrast to the great
multitude in chapter 7.
This is showing that among the great multitude
of people who are born again, there are
very few who actually follow the Lamb, verse
4, wherever He goes.
Very few who have chosen the way of
the cross among the great multitude whose sins
are forgiven.
I want to be in this number.
Those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes,
those who, verse 3, sing the new song,
the song of Solomon, the song of songs,
the song of devotion to Christ, they sing
the new song, they have learnt it here
on earth, before they go to heaven.
Nobody else could learn this song, it says.
Nobody else could learn this song, because it's
too late to learn it after you go
to heaven.
You got to learn it on this earth,
the song of devotion to Jesus.
And no lie was found in their mouth,
verse 5.
That's why it's so important to get rid
of all lying, all acting, all hypocrisy from
our life.
These are the followers of Jesus, the bride
of Jesus Christ.
And then we come to verse 7 to
11.
We read of three angels with three woes.
And one is saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon,
verse 8.
And the other one, no, the first one
says, fear God and give Him glory.
And the next one says, fallen, fallen Babylon
the great.
And then the third one says, if anyone
worships the beast, he will be judged.
And the smoke of their torment goes up.
Then it says, at the end of that
verse, 14 onwards, is the harvest of judgment.
This is not the saints being raptured, that's
finished.
This is the harvest of judgment on the
earth.
A person has come with a golden sickle,
golden crown and a sharp sickle.
He says, put in your sickle and reap,
because the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Which harvest is this?
The harvest of souls who need to be
saved was ripe 2,000 years ago.
Jesus said to His disciples, lift up your
eyes and look, the harvest is already ripe.
But the harvest of judgment, the world is
not yet ripe for that.
So this is not the harvest of souls
who are going to be saved.
This is another harvest of reaping in judgment.
He's going to gather the people and collect
the grapes.
And what's He going to do?
He's going to throw it, verse 19, into
the great winepress of the wrath of God.
And the blood is going to come out
of that winepress, verse 20.
This is the harvest of judgment upon the
world.
In chapter 15, you see another picture verse
2 of the bride of Christ that's come
out victorious, standing on a glass, sea of
glass, mixed with fire.
It's a picture of a life of perfect
rest.
I've seen the sea full of turmoil, the
wicked are like the troubled sea, it says
in Isaiah, which cannot rest, always in turmoil.
This is the opposite of that sea.
This is a sea of glass.
Those who have come to a life of
rest in Jesus, who sing the song of
Moses.
What is the song of Moses?
There are two songs of Moses.
One is Exodus 15, verses 1 to 4.
The other is Deuteronomy 32, verse 42.
The theme in both those songs is the
same.
God has taken vengeance on our enemies.
God did it.
Praise the Lord.
We didn't do it.
And then we move on to chapter 16,
where we read of the seven bowls of
wrath.
These are bowls of wrath.
All this may just happen in one day,
in 24 hours.
The church is taken up, the wrath is
poured out upon the earth, and Jesus comes
down with the church to rain upon the
earth.
There are various things there, which are various
types of calamities that are going to hit
the earth.
And it says here about the great battle
of Armageddon.
The great day of God, verse 14.
When there is going to be a battle.
And finally the seventh bowl, verse 17 is
poured out.
Very similar to some of the earlier judgments.
And the city of Babylon is split into
three parts.
Babylon, the great city was split into three
parts.
And Babylon was remembered to be judged.
And huge hailstones fell.
And then we come to chapter 17 and
chapter 18, which refer to this religious political
system called Babylon.
Listen carefully.
It's a religious system and a political system.
It speaks of Christianity that joins in with
politics in the world.
Which wants state power and also wants God's
power.
You can't have it.
Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this
world.
You can't be a disciple of Jesus and
have the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom
of earth at the same time.
But Babylon tries to have both.
They want all that they can on earth
and go to heaven.
And in the end they discover they don't
get heaven, they only get what is on
the earth.
Everything on earth.
First of all in chapter 17, religious Babylon.
There it speaks about, you know, I want
to say, notice one thing.
It says here in verse 5, Babylon the
great.
Eleven times, Babylon is called the great.
In the book of Revelation.
Jerusalem is called the holy.
In chapter 21.
What's the difference between great and holy?
Great is great in size, quantity.
Holy is quality.
What is the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem?
Essentially, the difference between quantity and quality.
Great or holy.
I want to ask you, do you want
to be great in Christendom or holy in
Christendom?
That's your choice.
But depending on that choice, you're going to
build Babylon or Jerusalem.
If you want to be great, I don't
care what doctrine you hold, you will build
Babylon.
If you want to be holy, you may
not be great, but you'll build Jerusalem.
It's always a choice that faces us in
Christian work.
Quantity or quality.
If you lower quality, you can easily increase
quantity.
But everybody will be destroyed.
If Noah had lowered his standards, he would
have got 800 people in his church and
nobody would have been saved.
Thank God he kept quality and 8 people
only were there, but he saved them all.
You can go out and try to bring
people to Christ and not make them disciples,
just bring numbers, numbers, because you got to
write reports.
And the end result is, you have quantity,
numbers.
It'll be great.
It'll be a huge church.
There won't be disciples.
It'll be Babylon.
And I believe this Babylonian spirit is found
in every group in Christendom.
Every group.
Whatever it is.
Whichever group it's called.
I've seen the spirit of Babylon in the
churches I have planted.
So don't think it excludes me.
Because I've seen that spirit comes in so
easily among people.
The spirit of compromise.
The spirit of worldliness.
The spirit of seeking honor in this world.
Seeking greatness in this world.
Seeking wealth in this world.
And also wanting to be a disciple of
Jesus.
It does not work.
You got to either seek to please God
or seek to please men.
You cannot have both.
Babylon is a system that's being built in
the world today, my brothers and sisters.
Don't ever think you can escape it by
going from one group to another group.
There are so many people who accuse the
Roman Catholic Church of being Babylon.
But the people who left the Roman Catholic
Church have got Babylon there too.
And there are people who left some Protestant
church and say we are separated churches and
that is Babylon.
But there's Babylon right here too.
These pastors are running after money just as
much as those.
Even more than those.
So Babylon is everywhere.
You cannot escape it unless you put the
flesh to death in your own life.
Unless you get rid of the spirit of
the world.
Babylon is not a particular group with a
particular denominational name.
It's not a particular church group.
It's a system.
Like the world system.
It penetrates and permeates wherever there are Christians.
And you can sit in the holiest group
and be a member of Babylon.
Please remember that.
Don't think because you got out of some
church you got out of Babylon.
It's not that easy.
It's a spirit that can be found in
you when you sit in the best church
in the world.
A spirit that mingles Christ with money.
God with money.
Christ with comfort.
Heaven with this earth.
And they don't mix.
Like oil and water.
You can't mix it.
But these people don't realize.
And you see this beast has got a
woman riding on top of it.
The beast is the political leader.
The woman is the religious leader.
And they are hand in glove with each
other.
You see in chapter 17.
And when you come to chapter 18 you
find this is also economic system.
You know, religion has become a great means
of making money for many people.
Just like in Jesus time.
There were people selling doves and sheep and
all types of things.
Not because they wanted to serve people.
But they wanted a commission.
They wanted to make profit out of selling
sheep and doves.
And whenever you do Christian work for profit
and not for sacrifice.
That's Babylon.
That's the principle.
When you are doing things to make money
for yourself.
There are people who write books today to
make money for themselves.
Who sell tapes today to make money for
themselves.
In Christendom.
You know what's happening?
This is Babylon.
Doing things in the Lord's name to make
money for themselves.
There are Christian authors who have written books,
got the profits and become millionaires.
This is Babylon.
In the name of Jesus they are making
money.
This is not the work of God.
And Christmas.
Think of Christmas.
What a lot of money people make.
Christmas cards and gifts and this and that
and the other.
In the name of Jesus everybody all the
businessmen are happy for Christmas.
Because religion and money making and profit and
politics all mixed together.
This is Babylon.
Standing against this whole system are a few
people.
The true prophets in Jerusalem.
Who say this is not Christianity.
This is not the way Jesus and the
apostles did.
There is no money in serving the Lord.
You get enough for your needs.
That's ok.
But you are not going to make money
in the name of Jesus.
If you make money in the name of
Jesus and you earn more than you would
have earned in a secular job.
I would say my brother, sister you are
probably building Babylon without knowing it.
What would you have earned if you were
in a secular job?
Ask yourself.
And then you ask yourself what you are
earning in Christian work.
Many people are earning 5 to 10 times
what they would have earned in a secular
job.
And they say they are serving the Lord.
They are not.
And most of them get furious with me
when I expose it.
What are they angry with me?
Is it wrong doctrine?
No.
It's their love of money that's getting exposed.
Just like they hated Jesus for exposing the
people who made money in the temple.
It's the same today.
Don't ever go along that route.
Mark my words you will have regret in
the final day.
The way of God is the way of
sacrifice.
Jerusalem is the city of sacrifice.
If you went to Jerusalem to the temple,
all you see is blood, blood, blood, blood,
blood in the altar.
It's a place of sacrifice.
Babylon is a place of business, business, business,
money, money, money, money.
Here it is blood, blood, blood.
You can choose either way.
Make profit in Jesus name or sacrifice in
Jesus name.
That's what determines.
Then in chapter 19 you read about Hallelujah.
There are only four times in the New
Testament that the word Hallelujah comes.
Do you know that?
Only four times.
And all four times is here.
And what is the reason for the Hallelujah?
Hallelujah!
Babylon is destroyed.
Do you know that?
The first Hallelujah in the New Testament is
because Babylon is destroyed.
All four Hallelujahs are for that only.
Do you say Hallelujah to that?
Lord, we praise you that this wretched system
that led people astray, these money makers who
said they were servants of God, the whole
thing has been finally exposed and destroyed.
Hallelujah!
Praise God.
We'll say it louder when it actually happens.
Okay.
And they worshipped God and a great multitude
began to praise God saying Hallelujah.
And then we read about the marriage of
the Lamb.
Verse 7 onwards.
The bride is ready.
The bride has kept herself pure on earth.
She didn't get corrupted to Babylon.
This is the contrast of the woman in
17.4 who's decked with purple and scarlet
and gold and precious stones.
Chapter 17 verse 4 and pearls having a
golden cup.
That is this religious system with wealth and
money and prosperity.
And in contrast to that is this simple
bride.
Chapter 19 verse 8.
Dressed in clean white linen.
No gold, no pearls, no nothing.
The bride, the simple bride of Jesus Christ
in contrast to that woman.
Where do you belong?
What is this white linen?
Fine linen.
It's the righteous life these saints lived.
It's not the righteousness of Christ.
Read verse 8.
19.8 It's the righteous life these saints
lived.
John is so excited that he falls down
to worship the angel and the angel said
don't worship me.
Worship God.
Verse 10.
Worship Jesus Christ.
And then we see the picture of Jesus
coming from heaven.
Verse 11.
Onwards riding on a horse.
Picture of him coming with the saints.
They were taken up and now he's coming
down to earth with them.
And he establishes his kingdom.
And the beast, verse 20, was taken and
the false prophet and they were thrown into
the lake of fire.
They are the first two occupants of the
lake of fire.
The lake of fire is a bigger lake
than hell.
Hell is a small pond of fire.
This is the lake of fire.
Chapter 20.
We read about Satan being bound in the
bottomless pit for a thousand years and Jesus
establishes his reign on earth when the lion
will lie down with the lamb and those
who are faithful will reign with Christ on
earth for one thousand years.
So Satan was cast down from third heaven
to second heaven, second heaven to earth, earth
to the bottomless pit.
One day he'll be released from the bottomless
pit and at the end of chapter 20
he's thrown into the lake of fire as
well.
That's how Satan goes.
Right now he's in the second heaven.
So we read about the reign of Christ,
the first resurrection, verse 6, blessed are those
who have taken part in the first resurrection.
At the end of a thousand years Satan
will be released for a short period just
to show people that even after seeing the
reign of Jesus for a thousand years, people
still want to follow the devil because they
are selfish and self-centered and don't want
to submit their lives to God.
Many people follow the devil at the end
of a thousand years and in a moment
the fire of God comes down and burns
them up, verse 9 and the devil verse
10 is thrown into the lake of fire
and then comes the second resurrection, verse 11
and the great throne of judgment where God
sits and all the unbelievers from all ages
will come there.
And it says the books were opened, verse
12.
In those days books were not like this,
books were like scrolls and the nearest thing
that you can see to that is that
videotape over there the videotape, you know like
it's rolled up, it says the videotape is
taken out, the videotape of your memory.
God presses the rewind button it goes all
the way to the time you were born
and says okay let's play it, let's look
at your life and the whole world will
see your life on a screen.
Everything you ever said, everything you ever did
from the time you were born, all your
attitudes, motives, all your secret sins, all the
lies you ever said, all the filthy books
you read, everything.
And the Lord will say what do you
think, does this fellow deserve hell or heaven?
Everybody will say hell.
Send him.
See these people are already in hell.
Why are they pulled out of hell?
To be shown that they deserve hell.
There is only one way for all those
filthy things to be blotted out from your
videotape today.
Repent.
Ask Jesus to cleanse you with his blood.
Then it can be wiped out.
That part of your videotape will be blank.
Otherwise it's still there.
Even the secret sins.
And then they are thrown into the lake
of fire and then chapter 21 and 22
you read about the new Jerusalem and the
new heavens and the new earth and in
this new Jerusalem we read in verse 10
some wonderful things the overcomers, verse 7 will
inherit everything verse 8 the people who will
go to hell people who commit all types
of sins and the new Jerusalem, the church
one thing I want to mention here crystal
clear, verse 10 and 11 the thing that's
mentioned about people in the church is they
are transparent.
There's no guile in them.
Learn to be crystal clear in your life.
Like glass through which people can see.
Not like this opaque type of glass.
Many Christians are like this.
There's a double life.
They don't want other people to look into
their private life because there are all types
of wrong things there.
Be like crystal clear glass.
And it says here about the 12 tribes
of Israel, verse 12 and the 12 apostles
of the Lamb, verse 14, proving to me
that Old Testament saints and New Testament believers
will both be in Jerusalem, the bride of
Christ.
Abraham will be a part of it.
Even though some people say no.
It says here that sons of Israel and
the apostles of the Lamb, representing Old Testament
saints and New Testament saints and there we
see the river of life verse 22 the
tree of life verse 22 verse 2, chapter
22, verse 1 and 2 and the throne
of God and the Lamb, no more curse,
verse 3 no tree of knowledge that has
been destroyed no night, verse 5 and in
the end of it all it says verse
7, I am coming quickly I am coming
quickly, be ready blessed is the man who
has listened to the words of this book
John is so excited once again he falls
to worship John made mistakes so he made
a mistake a second time angel says don't
worship me, worship God and the Lord says
finally verse 10, don't seal up the words
of this book and here is an amazing
exhortation in verse 11 let the one who
does wrong still do wrong let the one
who is filthy still be filthy what does
this mean, have you ever heard in this
holy book an exhortation to do wrong and
be filthy its here, brother do wrong brother,
sister be filthy what is the meaning of
this exhortation, it means after you have read
this whole book and you have come to
the last page and you still want to
do wrong you better go ahead and do
wrong, there is no hope for you after
you have read this whole book and you
still want to be filthy, just go ahead
and be filthy, there is no hope for
you, that's the meaning of that verse if
after all this you still don't repent there
is no hope for you, again the word,
I am coming quickly and I will give
to every man according as his work shall
be praise God, he is coming again in
verse 20, he is coming quickly, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
all the old testament ended with the word
curse the new testament ends with grace and
an invitation to everybody to come verse 17
and an invitation to believers to overcome, there
is a double invitation in revelation unbelievers come
believers overcome so, we have seen the end
of the book I think that because we
have seen the end of the book we
know where the devil is headed that's what
should give us confidence today, today when you
see the devil working there is a little
couplet I read somewhere saying when the devil
reminds you of your past, you remind the
devil of his future ok, when the devil
reminds you of your past, you remind the
devil of his future we know that the
devil is going to be cast into the
lake of fire so sometimes when we see
the devil working today, say I already know
the end, I have read the last chapter,
I know what's going to happen you know
at some time, you know people in our
country are very crazy about cricket and supposing
there was a cricket match between India and
England and India won the match and here
is one chap who did not see the
match and now, five hours later he is
seeing the replay of the match on television
along with another person who already watched the
match and as this chap who has not
seen the match watches he is tense oh,
will India win?
I don't know oh it looks as if
England is going to win but the chap
who has already seen the match he is
relaxed he says I already know India won
so, this is how it is, if you
believe the devil has already been defeated, if
you have seen the whole match in the
book of revelation today when you see the
devil doing something, you won't be tense, oh,
will he win?
will he win there?
brother, I have already seen there is only
a replay going on now I have already
seen the end I have seen he has
been defeated so, I am not tense yeah,
little bit there will be, he will get
that wicket and he will get the other
wicket, but ultimately we are going to win
praise the lord now, this is only a
rush through revelation, there is a book of
mine there called the final triumph um it
goes verse by verse through this whole book,
you can read it if you have an
internet connection you can log on to the
internet and go to www.punan.org