Revelation - review of Bible Prophecy

Without a basic understanding of what God set in place thousands of years ago, then you will find yourself struggling to understand why these things are taking place and when to be looking for these events. We need to see that Gods word is accurate and true, and that he means what he says. So please bare with me as we take a quick journey through bible prophecy before we read chapter 6 so that we can be wise and have understanding: Proverbs 3:13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding.--- 

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to the Takeaway, where we teach through the Bible, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, to help you understand God's Word so that you can have a more intimate relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

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Hello, welcome again to the takeaway. I'm your host, Pastor Harry Barens. Today's episode is part one of a two-part teaching on the first four seals of Revelation. Now, before we dive into verses one through eight, I want to give you a biblical history review so that we can better understand the events that are about to take place in chapter six. And without a basic understanding of what God set in place thousands of years ago, then you will find yourself struggling to understand why these things are taking place and when to be looking for these events. We need to see that God's word is accurate and true and that he means what he says. So please bear with me as we take a quick journey through the Bible, through Bible prophecy before we read chapter six, so that we could be wise and have understanding. For Proverbs chapter 3, verse 13 says, Blessed are those who find wisdom and those who gain understanding. Now there are two areas of scripture that we're going to focus on today. The one is Daniel's prophecy in Daniel chapter 9. This is often referred to as the 70 weeks of Daniel, and it gives a clear timeline of events, when they will start, what they will be, and even why they need to happen. In fact, this prophecy is so accurate that many people had thought it was written after the events talked about in it, at least until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, which made it difficult for these critics to disprove the age of Daniel's writings. And it leaves us with only one conclusion, that this book was written before the events described. The second will be the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke's Gospels. The disciples ask Jesus when the time of the end will be, and he goes on to give them a description of the events and what to look for. We will see that the events Jesus describes perfectly match up to the events found in the first four seals. This will give us a much more clarity as we read about these events in part two of this episode. We will touch briefly on this today, but I will give a clearer cross-reference as we move into part two of this teaching. And before we get started, I want to give you a warning that I will be moving really fast through this teaching as it is only intended to be an overview. However, I will be giving a lot of references so that you can go and read these scriptures for yourself, and I highly recommend that you do. So I would suggest you pause at this point and get a pen and paper to take notes. Then as you listen, be prepared to hit the pause button so that you can write them down. I will do my best to warn you when you need to pause as we go, but you may need to listen to this message a few times to get them all. After I read each verse, I will then give a quick summary and a reference of what we just read. Also, I will be reading out of the New King James Version for this lesson if you would like to follow along. So the first question we want to ask is what is the period of time in Revelation chapter six all about? Well, we need to go back to the book of Daniel in chapter nine to see what God revealed to him about these future events. So in Daniel chapter 9, verse 24 is where we're going to start, it says, Seventy weeks or 70 sevens, and this equals 490 years total, are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for inequity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place. So, as we summarize, this is God's plan and timetable, his action plan for the world. It's about your people. This is talking about Israel. The events and time revolve around them, to finish transgression, to put them right once and for all. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10, and chapter 13, verse 1, Zechariah foresaw a change in Israel's attitude towards the Lord during the last days. And to put an end to sin, the Ezekiel chapter 37, verse 23 says, They shall be my people and I shall be their God. They will never sin or leave him ever again. To atone for inequity, God is going to atone for their sin and transgression, to put things right again. In Daniel chapter 9, verse 26, we're going to see that they will finally recognize the atoning effects of Jesus the Messiah, to bring in everlasting righteousness. This is God's end game, to seal vision and prophet. He is going to complete all that he has ever said would be done. In Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 34, it says, And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor neighbor, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their inequity and I will remember their sin no more, to aton to anoint a most holy place. Now this is to make it perfect with his presence. We will see this at the end of Revelation with the thousand-year reign of Jesus and the new heavens and new earth. In Ezekiel chapters 41 through 46, Christ's kingdom will establish the millennial temple, and he himself will anoint it. So let's pause there if you need to before you move on to the next verse. So in Daniel chapter 9, verse 25. This is it indicates 49 years. Then for 62 weeks, or another 434 years, it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in troubled times. Now here we see that once the decree is issued, there will be 69 weeks or 483 years from the decree until Messiah. So in Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 1, you can read about Art Xerces signed a proclamation to rebuild Jerusalem dated to March 14th, 445 BC. In Ezra, we can read about the rebuilding of the temple, the people returned to Jerusalem, and the nation being cleansed by separating from their pagan wives. This was also completed in 396 BC or 49 years later, or the first seven weeks. So in April 6, 32 AD, Jesus had his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, 483 lunar years, the way they calculated a year after the decree was given. This is the only day Jesus was recognized as the Messiah and was immediately cut off or put to death. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9 says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a cult, a foal of a donkey. Luke chapter 19, verses 37 and 38 is the uh record of this event. And it says, Luke says that then, as uh as he was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. They were shouting out Psalm chapter 118, verse 26, that says, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. Now, the seventy weeks are divided into three parts, as you've started to see, seven weeks, 49 years until the city and its walls are rebuilt. 69 weeks, in additional, seven plus sixty-two, this is four hundred and eighty-three years from the decree that was originally given until Messiah the Prince appears. Now, a final 70th week to complete the prophecy. This would be the tribulation that starts in chapter six with the first seal open. And that's why we're recapping this with these prophecies. Now, an interesting side note: the wise man could have determined the birth of Jesus by subtracting from the date he would be cut off using Daniel's prophecy. They would have known to subtract 30 years from the date he would be cut off because in Numbers chapter 4, verse 33, it tells us the age to be priest. You need to be at least 30 years old. In 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 35 says, God would raise up a priest. In Micah chapter 5, verse 2, they knew to look in Bethlehem, and in Numbers chapter 24, verse 17, they knew to look for a star or a sign in heaven. These wise men would have had to travel for six to nine months to get to Jesus and the same to return. This would have easily been a two-year journey for them. So I'm pretty sure they trusted Scripture just as it had been written, and so can we. So take pause there if you need to to write those things down and recap. And we're going to move on to verse 26 of Daniel. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. Remember, the sixty-two weeks is after the first seven weeks, equaling four hundred and eighty-three years total. So, five days after Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he was crucified. In Isaiah 53, chapter 53, verses 1 through 12, Jesus, I'm sorry, uh Isaiah speaks of Jesus as if written in the New Testament. It's in my opinion the best prophecy of Jesus in the Old Testament. Isaiah writes about the anointed one, the suffering servant that will come and suffer for our transgressions. In Luke chapter 23, he gives us the recorded events that took place with Jesus being arrested and crucified. This would have been the cutoff point. Now the Jews thought they were the suffering servant, not Jesus, because of their persecution. They were looking for him to appear as the ancient of days, as written in Daniel chapter 7, verses 9 and 10. But he appeared as one with no form and calliness, as written in Isaiah chapter 53, verse 1, and John chapter 1, verse 11 talks about this. Now the unreckoned time after Jesus was cut off. This marked the beginning of a gap in Daniel's prophecy between week 69 and 70. Now God only reckons time with the Jews when he is dealing with them, which will begin again with the signing of the peace treaty with the Antichrist and the tribulation. We are currently living in this gap as if God hit the pause button, but we are given a clear indication when he will hit the play button again, and that's at the signing of the treaty between the Antichrist and Israel. Pause there if you need to. Moving on to verse 27. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week or seven years, and for half of the week, three and a half years, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. Now he will promise military protection and even allow them to rebuild the temple. Three and a half years in, he will break the treaty. Scripture identifies him as the man of sin. Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse three. The beast, it's mentioned twenty-five times in Revelation, and the Antichrist, chapter one, uh first John chapter two, verse eighteen. When the treaty is broken, this will mark the beginning of the great tribulation, the last three and a half years. Matthew uh chapter twenty-four, verses fifteen to twenty-one. Uh Jesus talks about this in the all of it discourse. And Revelation chapter four through nineteen is this. So in Matthew chapter twenty four, fifteen to twenty one, it reads, So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant, and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation, such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. So as we can see, God gave Daniel a clear timeline and a description of the events that would take place so that Israel would not miss the coming Messiah. He also told him clearly when Jesus would bring all things to an end. And at the end of the seven weeks or 490 years, he even told him there would be an un undetermined gap between week 69 and 70. Again, we are currently living in that gap as we know that Jesus is our Messiah and he was cut off some 2,000 years ago. We are currently living in the time of grace, but this time is quickly coming to an end. How do I know this? Well, that would be found in the Olivet Discourse that Jesus gives to his disciples and explains the events and the things that would be taking place on the earth as the time of the end drew near. The book of Matthew gives the most descriptive detail of this teaching, and it is well worth the read. Just look up Olivet Discourse and study it for yourself. And when we look at part two of this teaching next week, I will give references to this teaching that Jesus gave and show you how they align with the first four seals he opens in Revelation chapter six. Now I know this was a lot of information for some of you today, and maybe even the first time you ever heard about any of this. I can promise you this: it was only the tip of the iceberg, as God's word is filled with prophecy, much of which has already been fulfilled just as it was written. God gives us prophecy to authenticate his word and that it can be trusted without question. In fact, he takes this so seriously that in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 5, we are told, But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he was has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. See God doesn't leave any room for confusion. A false prophet is someone who gets it wrong once. This would include any writing or religious religions along with individuals, anyone or anything that attempts to predict something and gets it wrong is a false prophet, period. Since this is God's own statement, we can evaluate and test scripture in the same way. If we find that any prop uh prophecy, past, present, future, turns out to be wrong or inaccurate, then we could toss the whole book away. But what we have seen so far is not only is it accurate, it is extremely detailed, leaving no room for confusion or misinterpretation. God's word is his word and can be fully trusted. We have a God that loves us and has given us a clear and clear instructions on how to live within this world that he created. Anyone who says they don't know what God wants is someone who doesn't know or read his word. If you desire to know what God wants for your life first and foremost, you need to get into his word and stop waiting for a sign from heaven or special revelation just for you. He has already given us that, and that was the revelation of Jesus. From his birth to the cross and all the way till the end of time, Jesus is the miracle you've been waiting for. And he fulfilled prophecy with unprecedented accuracy. In fact, statistical probability of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the three hundred-two messianic prophecies written is one in ten to the seventeenth power. That's one with 17 zeros in front of it. The mega millions jackpot has a statistic of around one in 302 million. That's a one with eight zeros in front of it. And we all know that's nearly impossible to win. Jesus fulfilled 332 prophecies, not eight. And at just 48 prophecies fulfilled, the number is one in 10 to the 157th power. That's a one in with 157 zeros in front of it. This puts the probability well past impossible, but yet it was done by him. Hopefully, you're willing to start trusting God's word today. I can promise you from personal experience, if you press in to God's word and test it, it will push back and prove itself right every time. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word, for the accuracy of it that you have shown us past, present, and future, so that we know you are at work always and forever. The accuracy of your word is unprecedented. And I pray for our listeners today, Lord, that they will start believing it today, all of it from beginning to end, that they will put their trust in you, submit to Jesus, and allow him to be Lord of their lives so that they can begin living a fuller life full of promise and blessing from you, Jesus. Thank you for your word and your revelation. I pray this in your precious name. Amen. Thank you for joining us in this episode today. I hope today's message helped you take a step closer in your relationship with Jesus and that you have a better understanding for just how much God loves you and wants you to know Him. I know that I throw a lot at you today, and I would encourage you to listen to this message a few times before you move on to part two. Take your time and digest everything you heard today and study it for yourself. In our next episode, we will continue this teaching in part two as we start reading Revelation chapter six and cross reference the events with Jesus' teaching in Matthew chapter 24. God bless, and we'll see you next time on the takeaway.