The prophet Habakkuk's dialogue with God is explored, highlighting the prophet's burden over Israel's spiritual decline and God's silence, leading to God's revelation of judgment upon Babylon. The sermon emphasizes that in difficult times, personal faithfulness and communion with God are paramount, drawing parallels to Elijah's prayer and Christ's invitation in Revelation 3:20. It further details God's pronouncements of woe against oppressive nations, particularly Babylon, for their violence, shame, and idolatry, contrasting this with the ultimate promise of the earth being filled with the knowledge of God's glory through Messiah's reign. The message concludes by underscoring that God's judgment is certain for nations and individuals who engage in idolatry and violence, but His ultimate triumph and peace will prevail when He is exalted in His holy temple.
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And we turn to our prophecy in the book of Abacus, chapter two, how blessed it is to recognize marvelous and wonderful to realize the wonderful truth that we find in these prophecies of the Old Testament. And in Abacus, chapter two, may we begin reading in the chapter today? If I may begin reading at verse fifteen, I would like to read it to the end of the chapter and then have a recapitulation. of what is preceded to get the connection. Chapter two, verse fifteen. One of the woes that the prophet, by the spirit of God writes, relative to the Gentiles who were oppressing and have oppressed, and may even yet oppress God's earthly people.
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putthest thy bottle to him, makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness, Thou art filled with shameful glory. Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. What profit of the graven image that the maker thereof have graven it?
The molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts of therein, to make dumb idols? Go unto him that set to the wood, awake, to the dumb stone, arise, it shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord... is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. May the Lord bless the reading and hearing of his precious word. Just a brief review to get our thoughts connected upon the prophecy to the point where we have reached.
We find the prophecy divided as we have noted into the three chapters before us. The first one bringing to our hearts the great burden of the prophet. How thus he was concerned regarding the condition of God's earthly people, the low estate, the immoral as well as the spiritual declension and depravity that seemed to be prevailing. And his heart was greed, but more suitable was the burden because he wondered about the silence of God in the situation. And the silence of God can often make it difficult to understand why.
and how we can realize when God is silent, the heart may wonder how long, how long, how long. That was the burden of the prophet. And then, of course, God began to speak to him and show him in chapter one that he was planning the judgment of the kingdom of Babylon, the Babylonian power, raising up the Chaldeans, to be an oppressor that would come in judgment upon his own earthly people because of their disobedience and their sins. Then when the prophet realized what God was to do with his earthly people, though without doubt he was in sympathy with the dealings of God, and the worthiness of the judgment, but he remembered the everlasting covenant that God had made with his earthly people, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, And he pled with God.
And may I be reminded with you again that unique fact regarding this prophecy, it creates is really a conversation between God and the prophet and the prophet and God. It is not addressed, particularly as most of the prophecies are to the people in any way. But a dialogue between God and between the prophet, between the prophet's heart and between the heart of God. And may I pass the suggestion on? What better way can you and I enjoy communion with God over the conditions than when we speak to him about them and when we listen to what he has to say?
Let me be reminded again, I may have mentioned it in a preceding study on this same book, in the days of Elijah. Elijah communed with God. And it was in the presence of God that he took the burden of Israel that was upon his heart. He wept over it. He did more than that. He cried earnestly and in agony of soul for God to intervene. And in communion with God, he not only received the mind of God as to what would be done and should be done, but he received the power of God. to carry out what God wanted him to do.
Now, let me put that in an analogy and apply it. You and I are living in difficult days. They could not, may I say frankly, they have not been more difficult up to this time in the whole Christian age, universally. And as Paul said in First Timothy, rather, Chapter three, this know also that in the last days difficult times shall come. And they are here. One of the biggest problems and the burden that you and I as believers need is to know what God would have us to be and do in the midst of such difficulties. Now, one thing is certain. It wasn't in the view of the prophets' situation, too.
The difficulty is you're not going to rectify them. You're not going to set the world right. You're not going to set the church right. Make sure you keep your own heart right and your own path right. And in order to do so, fellowship with God over the condition, pouring the heart out in sympathy as well as grief over all that may prevail, will bring heart communion with God and will give light regarding its purposes. and will also give instruction and encouragement for your own path.
I would like to say faithfully, I believe as you study Second Timothy all the way through, you find the injunction frequently of the individual responsibility of the believer in the midst of such conditions. If anyone, if anyone, let me give you the thought, applying it from the Revelation chapter three, where you have the history of the seven churches. The prophetic, the spiritual history of the church from the beginning of the prophetic of the Apostle days of the Apostle, down to the coming of the Lord. And the last church lay in this fear. Do you remember the invitation and the challenge of the Lord? In chapter three and verse twenty. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him and he with me.
An individual called. for the individual heart, in the midst of the lay of the sea and condition, to have the heart in fellowship with God and with Christ. And that I believe today is one of the most important essential responsibilities for my own heart, as well as for your heart, my fellow believer. So the prophet sought the Lord, and he also claimed the promises of Jehovah. And when he found that God's judgments were coming upon his people, then he called on the everlasting God who had made an everlasting covenant. Now, one thing is very certain.
Habakkuk knew that God had made an unconditional and an everlasting covenant with his earthly people. And to some Christians today, they don't believe that. Habakkuk did. And he questioned, if you have made an everlasting covenant, why? How are we going to be continually oppressed by the nations around us? And has not that been the history of Israel as a nation? So continually oppressed by the Gentiles. And then we have noted in chapter two, following the burden of chapter one, we found the vision that God gave him in chapter two.
As he waited for God's revelation, how long he waited, we know not, but God's hope. And then in chapter two, the first thing he said to him was that there was a promise, a vision. Someone was coming. Let me just put it plainly. The words may seem vague when you read them regarding the vision, but the plain interpretation of the vision was the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. in power and in great glory. And we found it corroborated by the apostles of the Hebrews. When he quotes the same verse as you have it in chapter two, he that shall come, may I go back a little further, regret, and remember the words preceding it, yet a little while.
He that shall come will come, and he will not carry. And you find that it is the person of the Lord Jesus that is referred to regarding the vision to Habakkuk. And Paul said in a little while he'll come. Habakkuk was told there was an appointed time. And beloved, may I say thankfully, gratefully, as well as lovingly, I feel that we're near the end of the time. And the coming of the Lord is getting nearer. And that promise will be fulfilled. But then back when it was concerned, what was God going to do with the nation who oppressed these people?
And then we found in chapter two, following the revelation of the vision, God declared five special woes regarding, literally, regarding the rise of the Chaldean nation and its fall, the Babylonian Empire. But may I propel the thought, not only the Babylonian Empire, But I believe there is the suggested reason to believe God embraces not only the Babylonian, but even the one that followed, which was the Medo-Persian and then the Grecian and finally the Roman Empire and the times of the Gentiles down to the end of the age. Now, as we closed last week, we read some of those woes.
And if I may, particularly I would like to refer to you before we go further to the fourteenth verse. where at the end of that special woe, the third woe, there was a message given to the prophet, even at the end of these three woes that had been already declared. And in verse fourteen, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Now let me point out, and I think it's precious to realize, in the midst of that which was declaring terrible judgment and destruction upon the nations.
Here is a word of prophecy for the comfort of God's servant, telling him the day will come when the glory, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. I'm sure I do not need to emphasize, but how true it is. It's a messianic prophecy. It is in relation to the glorious kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And may I emphasize, when you read all the prophecies, now please, just for the sake of making it clear, to clarify the fact, don't put the church in these prophecies.
As such, when you read the Old Testament scripture, They are weaved all around the relationship of God to Israel. And all these prophetic utterances of the prophets, relative to a coming kingdom, and pointed to the glory of the Messiah when he would reign. They looked for it. They longed for it. They prophesied of it. And in the midst of their trials, it was that hope of the glory of the kingdom that kept them looking forward. to the deliverance will be final when God would cover the earth with the glory of his knowledge through the Messiah and through the nation of Israel.
Now let me make a reference, please, very carefully. With all due respect to all that the church and the saints of God have been doing through this dispensation of the church, can I ask you a question? Just the glory of the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth today. The evidence is not very bright, is it? And may I be reminded with you, we don't have too much difficulty anymore with what once in the early part of this century, there was quite a strong, influential body of believers who believed in what they called, and what we must call the post-millennial theory, meaning that the church would convert the world.
Now that doesn't prohibit us from reminding us we should preach the gospel to all the world. Now don't be mistaken now. But while the gospel is being preached in the world and through the world, God's taking out of the nation. James in chapter fifteen of the book of the Acts and that first great church council in Jerusalem. when the question regarding the Gentiles and what shall be their attitude toward the Gentiles who have been brought into the church relevant to circumcision and the law of Moses? And it was by God the Holy Spirit decided on that occasion, as James declared the complete answer to it, that God is taking out of the nation a people for himself.
And beloved, now I say, frankly, When God saves the soul, he's taking them out of their earthly nationality and putting them in the body of Christ to be members of the church. And someday he's going to take the church out. But when you look at the situation, there's no possibility, no matter how much, now may I say lovingly, I say it in kindness, I think of one quite a noted television preacher. And I was amazed to hear him say, if you could get so much money from the people, you could evangelize the whole world and get him saved. He can't. Not in the purpose of God.
God granted to get so saved, yes. But I want to tell you, it takes more than money to get a soul saved, too. It's only by the power of the Holy Spirit that men and women come to Christ. But the day's coming. when the Lord will be reigning through Israel. And may I point out, if you read the prophecy of Isaiah, wonderful truth. You know, the prophecy of Isaiah, as you come near the end of it, tells that every pious Jew in that kingdom of our Lord that will constitute the nucleus of that kingdom of Israel, all of them are called ministers of God.
Ministers of God. Not only ministers, but priests of God. And what they will do, they're going to fill the earth through their ministry with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. No, I won't be down here preaching there. It's their ministry. Through God's earthly people, fill the earth with the glory of the knowledge of the Lord. But may I give you this suggestion? While we're here, let you and I remember what Peter said. But growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'm glad I don't have to wait for the millennium to come to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. How precious to realize. Through the Word, by the Spirit, we can rejoice in going on to know the Lord. Now we look at the fourth row. If you have your lesson sheet, which is on page four, Please let me read the comment that we have, which covers verse four, fifteen through seventeen, relative to the fourth wall. This reveals the corruption which hath swayed in the Babylonian Empire. Drunkenness is a figure of the utter prostration of the nations which the Chaldeans had conquered. You note the statement in verse fifteen, and it was in relative to drink and drunkenness.
And drunkenness is a figure of the utter prostration of the nations which the Chaldeans had conquered. When they conquered them, they stripped them of all they possessed, spreading a shameful disillusion in every direction. And for this, they themselves were to drink the cup of the fury from the hand of the Lord and be covered with vile shame so that their glory will be lauded out. Please note the words. Please let me go over them quickly and carefully. In verse fifteen, sixteen, and seventy, note what God says. Boar unto him that giveth his neighbor drink. Put a side bottle to him. Make him drunk and also that thou mayest look on their nakedness.
And God just figuratively describes how they polluted and took the nations that they conquered and stripped them for their own to take their own glory themselves. Now know verse sixteen. Thou art filled with shame for glory. For their own glory they did this, conquering the nations, and strip them. Now God says, Drink thou also, let thy foreskin be uncovered. For the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. A divine retribution. A divine retribution for what they had done to the nations whom they conquered.
One of you go to the book of the Revelation, please, with me. I would like to make an analogy in the book of the Revelation relative not just to the Babylonian Empire, but even the nations that march at the end of the age. And now we can think of what is yet to take place and will in a coming day. And I would like to read, if I may, in chapter fourteen. I think it's in chapter fourteen. And we have in that fourteen chapter at the end the Great Harvest Day upon the nations in that day.
But let me go to verse eighteen of the chapter. Another angel came out from the altar. which had power over fire, cried with a loud voice, a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, and saying, Trust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the crosses of the vine of the earth. For her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel, trust in his sickle into the earth, gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, even unto the horse bridles, by the face of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Now, will you please go to chapter sixteen, where we have a continuation of the final judgment? Let me read from verse seventeen. And these are in connection with the vile judgment. Verse seventeen, the seventh angel poured out his vile into the air. There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying it is done. There were voices and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake. Such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts. And the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God.
to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of its wrath. And every island fled away, the mountains were not found, there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Now the reason for reading this section, this is the consummation of God's judgments at the end of the Gentile age upon the nations that is yet to appear, and will be poured out. And do you notice the relationship, the reference to a cup, as it was in the days of Abaka when he was told that the judgment upon the Babylonians, God, they had given the nations, as it were, a cup of intoxication that stripped them of their glory and took the glory for themselves.
Now God says, I'm going to give you a cup to drink. And as you have in our scripture of revelation, please let me put it in this application. You've got the end of the age. You have Babylon mentioned. And may I give you the thought, it's not that literal Babylon of long ago. But may I suggest, the spirit of Babylon is still in the world. The spirit of Babylon is still newer. Chapter seventeen and eighteen. The book of the Revelation goes in great detail regarding the ecclesiastical Babylon as well as the commercial Babylon. Manifested in the nations of the earth and through the nations of the earth.
And we come to the final pouring out of God's judgments as they recorded at the end of chapter seventeen. And there you can recognize. Let me look with you particularly in verse nineteen. The great city was divided into three parts. The cities of the nation fell. Now, I do believe, and I go on record as stating it, this will be a literal judgment. May I share with you what I'm convinced in my known heart? And note the words carefully, whether a particular great city may refer to the center of the Roman Empire in that revised form in the coming day. But please note, it is divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.
The cities of the nations fell. Well, I'm simple enough to believe it means the cities, and their fall in the day of coming judgment. But please note further. Great Babylon came in remembrance before God. May I just very briefly, I wish I could go into detail, it would take too long. When you trace through the scriptures the meaning of Babylon, beginning with Nimrod, the first great man that rebelled against the Lord and sought to set up an earthly kingdom around himself and build a tower of Babel to reach to heaven.
Instead of spreading out to fill the earth as God had commanded them to, for to solidify their power, their authority, and centralize their dominion. And they fly in the flames of heaven. What did God do? Well, he came, as we well know, he brought the Tower of Babel into disrepute and destruction and scattered them abroad. But as you trace through the whole Bible, you find the Spirit. The principle of Babylon going on through the world. Constantly. And it's ecclesiastical character. Religious character. Together also with its commercial character.
An economic character. But when you read chapter eighteen of the book of Babylon. The revelation. You got Babylon. The commercial Babylon. Destroyed. And the merchants of the earth. Whale. I don't know. Well, all I can say from Scripture, the nations of the earth someday and the great cities are going to crash. Literally, economically, and spiritually. But please note the end of that nineteen verse. Great Babylon came in remembrance before God.
to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of Israel. Now go back to Abakkuk, and I want you to notice those words again in Abakkuk. Let me read verse sixteen and seventeen complete that little section. Says, God thou wilt be filled with, thou art filled with shame for glory, just living for their self and their glory. Drink thou also. Let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee. Shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. Can I interpret it? Not only for Babylon.
The glory of the kingdoms of this world. They're going to crash. Why can't only think of what Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar? Daniel chapter two in the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had which was the representation of the Gentile race from beginning to the end, the image of head of gold, and the belly, and rather the breast and arms of silver, and the belly and thigh of brass or copper, and the legs of iron and clay, feet of iron and clay. The whole Gentile empires from Nebuchadnezzar's day down to the coming of the Lord. Now, do you remember that the coming of that stone uncut, without hands, smiting the image on the feet?
It crushed. crush. And the wind came, blew it all away. Please let me say, can I say it lovingly and earnestly? God is going to destroy the glory of every nation. And he says there's only going to be one glory. The glory of my son and the glory of the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth. Now that would be a lot better than all that Babylon represents. When his kingdom Well, did the poet write those lovely words? We enjoy singing. Jesus shall reign wherever some doth his successive journeys run. His kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moon shall wax and wane no more.
Oh, what a joy it will be when he reigns. Now, may I ask you the question, do you think the earth needs him? Do you believe that the world today really needs the coming of that blessed one? He will come. But what judgment he must, and he will pour out upon those who are to be visited with glory. If I know verse seventeen, for the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, the spoil of beasts which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land and of the city and of all the dwellers. Do I need to ask you today, what the matter over there in the Middle East, all the way through the region, violence and blood?
And may I give the thought, the violence of the blood is... Well, in Romans thirteen, when Paul said, Vengeance is mine. I will replace that the Lord. My beloved, may I say this? When God picks up his judgment and puts the cup of fury of his wrath to the mouth of the nation, they are going to pay for what they've done. They'll pay. Payday's coming. I'm not glad I'm saved. And able to save, as far as my sins, there's no judgment.
Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it right as no. Beloved, may I say, this world is nearer judgment than ever before of a universal character. And it's coming. He'll be upon them. But now let's go to the eighteen first. And we have the last judgment. Fifth woe that is mentioned here from eighteen through twenty. Let me read the comment you have on page four there. I'd like to read it. The fifth woe versus eighteen to twenty. Now this woe is particularly not on account of their glory and shame and their drunken figurative character that we saw, but this is on account of their idolatry.
They worship wood and stone. Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image in Daniel three. He demanded worship, for this idolatry was the greatest sin of all. And there is absolutely no prophet in it. And we can see those scriptures. We'll turn to them in a moment. And how senseless is the idolater to cry for help from a dumb idol? It may be overlaid with gold and silver. It may show earthly splendor, but there is no life in it. But at the end of the age... It will end in idolatry when the image of the beast will be worshipped. We'll see that. But no, the verses that we read. Please note, God is now going to judge that nation of Babylonia for its idolatry, and all nations will be judged for their idolatry.
What propheteth the graven image, the maker thereof is graven it? Molten image, there's a teacher of lies, that the maker of his word trusts us therein to make dumb idols. When you think of dumb idols, you wonder how people can be so dumb. But they are. They really are. Oh, beloved, may I say, the blindness of the human heart and the human mind. May I suggest to you, when you read Romans chapter one from verse eighteen to the end of the chapter, you've got the source of even idolatry in even nations. Trace.
From the fact they worshiped men, then they degraded themselves further, you know, all the way down until they were worshiping the creeping things. Amazing idols, please let me state, some of the greatest empires of the human race have been idolatry. Well, it's the Phoenicians, the Egyptians. You take the Egyptians, you remember when God judged Egypt? And let me mention the scripture in chapter eleven, I believe he says, where God says, chapter six, rather, God says, I will destroy the gods of Egypt.
Egypt had many gods. Every plague that you read in those ten plagues that took place was against their gods. They worshipped the Riven Isles. God counted in the blood. And all the way through those plagues, in their pantheistic religion. They made out of nature all kinds of gods. And the most strange thing, even at the beginning, remember when Moses cast his rod to the ground, or Aaron did it, in the presence of Aaron became a serpent, and then he took it by the chair and became a rod again. You know what that serpent was? It was the emblem in Egypt of their greatest wisdom. Over every temple in Egypt, Over every palace in the land that belonged to the Pharaoh was the symbol of the winged serpent, and in the center of it, the disc of the sun, indicating their wisdom.
What was it? It was the serpent's wisdom, though they knew it not. And they believed they had the light of the sun, as it were, from their gods. God visited against the gods of Egypt said, God, will I execute judgment? Hideologous? Listen. Go to the New Testament at the end of the first epistle of John. No, the last words of the first epistle of John. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Men and women have got idols today. Whatever it may be. Whatever is not, whatever takes the place of God in the heart and in the life, that becomes the idol of that person.
But here were dumb idols, which could not speak. And yet they trusted in it. No wonder God said in verse nine, give more unto him that said to the word, Away! To the dumb stone arise he shall teach. I was sent very recently by a good friend of mine, a printed article from some new guru that came from India recently, not the one that's been here and gone back, It came recently, and he is planning to build a hundred million dollar temple in our country. And in the letter he was asking for donations.
Anywhere from a hundred dollars up, at least no less than a hundred up, whatever you can give. And if you give it to him, he says, I'll get my God to pray for you. And I hope nobody's dumb enough to take that in and do that. But there you go. They believe that God can answer. They believe that your idol can speak. An answer to the prayers of those who worship it. They love it. Well, will you go with me to Isaiah? Well, we have a reference there in our sheet. Isaiah forty-four. Let me look with you at two of these two scriptures. Isaiah forty-four verses nine and ten.
where the prophet Isaiah by the Spirit writes, relative to this same fact. And in Isaiah forty-nine, forty-four, rather, verse nine and ten, you have the prophets saying these things. Look, they that make a graven image are all of them vanity. Empty, worthless thing to do, vain. Doesn't mean anything. And their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses. They see not, nor know, that they may be... I declare, expecting the idol to tell them something, and the dumb thing can't even talk, can't even see, can't even walk.
Well, let me read the next verse. The prophet said, Who has formed a God, or a molded image that is profitable for nothing? Now look in Jeremiah, where Jeremiah makes a reference in chapter two. And of course the sad thought and the sad fact regarding the nation of Israel, they were following and they did fall into idolatry as we well know. But note these words of Isaiah as he pleads with his people. Let me please begin at verse nine. And you can find God pleading with the people of Israel. Well, for I will yet plead with you, said the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead. Paul passed over the islands of Chittim and see.
You send unto Chittim, consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Now note, half a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods. Please may I suggest what the prophet is particularly referring to the fact, his own earthly people. Who knew the living God? who had been born in a relation with the living God, changing their God, Jehovah, for the gods of the idol. No, no, what the prodigal son to close the verse with. But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
Absolutely no profit in it at all. And then our senseless men, Ford, The worshiper, to look to the idol, it has no breath, has no eyes, it has no mouth, it cannot speak, has no hands, it has no faith, completely dead. But oh, how men turn from God to build their own idols. But before we close in that chapter, I want you to go to what we have a reference to on our lesson sheet. The end of the age ends in idolatry. Go to Revelation chapter thirteen. Chapter thirteen in the book of the Revelation.
May I add very carefully, prayerfully, and sadly, as we look at the conditions that prevail today and are getting worse, and I speak just by way of illustration of our own fair country under conditions that prevail. If you're an observant believer, after the movement of things today, how far are we going before we'll see God taken out of everything that pertains to life in the United States?
Not only out of the educational field, you see it going out of the educational field. Constantly, the things of God have been taken out. Just this week, I know, oh, they're in Monroe, just this week. They're in the country schools around Monroe. The Gideons did have the privilege of giving new testimony. Now they had a... Now they're seeking to stop it. Many other people... Faithfully when there's a protester.
It's already out of schools of Charlotte. You can give a new testament away. I tell you what you can do. You can give them a bunch of lies, though. You can give them a bunch of lies. You can teach evolution. But you can't teach the Bible. And yet they would teach evolution even as a science. as a religion for that matter. And I'll start to recognize the decline, constantly increasing where God, His claims, His word, His truth, being constantly robust and put out of public circulation.
Turning to what? Well, here's the consummation in my own opinion. If you go with me to this thirteen chapter, let me begin reading, if I may, at verse eleven, where you have the two great beasts, one coming out of the sea and the other out of the earth, and verse eleven I beheld another beast. Coming up out of the earth, he had two horns, like a lamb. Horns, symbolical of power, like a lamb. Ah, one you can recognize. Look, mighty sweet little lamb, huh? You know, one of the most deceitful things is to get a message that sounds so smooth and easy, but it's filled with a lie.
But speaking like a lamb, yet he goes on to say, in his fake, rather, as a dragon, yet lamb-like in outward character. Lamb-like and outward professors. Now, what you've got here? You've got the last religious leader of the day of the age here in this particular beast. He's called the false prophet, if you may notice it. He's called the false prophet, especially in chapter nineteen, the beast and the false prophet. In other words, he's speaking, supposedly, for the God that is worshipped in that coming day. Not the God of heaven, but please read on.
He exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth. Now, no, the earth and John which dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Now, that's idolatry. And you go on to read, he deceiveth them to dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast. saying to them to dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the womb by a sword and did live, and he had power to give life or breath is the proper word, unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak, cause it as many as would not wash it, the image of the beast should be given.
Please let me say, this is the consummation of idolatry at the end of the age. All right. And I don't have to tell you, you look at second Thessalonians too. He raises up in the temple of Jerusalem that image to be worshipped? Please let me say it slightly. The drift away from the things and the truth of God is only going into final idolatry. And the worship of this person. Who manifests his power satirically? And may I go further to read? As you read in verse sixteen, he callseth all, both small and great and rich and poor free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead, that no man might by or self save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that, if understanding, count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred and three score and six. Man's number. You remember at the beginning of our study? No, at the end of our study in Joel. Joel's prophecy was relative to the day of the Lord. That great and terrible day of the Lord. Remember we made an outline, this outline truth regarding man's day, the day of Christ, the day of God. Today is man's day. And man's number is six.
He was created on the sixth day. He's supposed to watch six days a week and rest on the shelves. Some of them do, some don't. But anyway, it's his number. And what you have, man himself is deifying man. And at the end of the age, the image of this great person who will be the leading death spot of the close of the age is going to be the object of worship. And the whole world will be compelled to do so at the expense or the risk of life or death, as the case may be. Idolatry? Idolatry is coming to a head in that coming day.
And one can realize God's judgment is going to fall upon it. What days we're living in? Go back really to a back exam before we close. And please note, I do want you to note the last verse. It's precious to read. What? In spite of it. In spite of idolatry. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Now here is another prophetic utterance. Just as we saw in verse fourteen. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Here you have contrasted to idolatry. the Lord in his temple. Let all the earth keep sound. Will you go to Psalm forty six with me please? Psalm chapter forty six. In Psalm chapter forty six you've got the Lord coming to the earth, delivering his people and putting the nations, destroying them. I'll read the Psalm through. Particularly note the end of it. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Now prophetically and dispensationally, this is the period of the Great Tribulation. The earth is shaking. The mountains are shaking. Everything is in an uproar. Now note verse four. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad. The city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her that right early. That's the nation of Israel. And the heathen or the nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our wretched. See us. And may I point out, in substance, you've got in that particular phrase, theology, in those words, you've got the coming of the Lord to melt the nations of the earth by his judgment.
Now read what follows. He goes on to say, Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He makeeth wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh a bow. He cuteth a spear in some day. He burneth a chariot in the fire. And there you find, that will be the end of all wars. But who's going to end it? Not our good, dear friend, President Reagan, bless his heart, nor the United Notions, or any other group or person. He's going to end it when he comes. Now please know what follows. Note the language of verse ten, that all the earth keeps silent.
The Lord is in his holy temple. Be still. Know that I'm God. I will be exalted among the heathen. May I say, every time you read the word heathen, it means nations. In the Old Testament, I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is already seen. And when he comes, I'm going to tell you finally, he's going to tell all the nations, shut up. Be quiet. I'm going to be exalted. The Lord will be in his holy temple. And all the earth will be silent.
What a wonderful silence there's going to be. When he gives peace. The prince of peace, reigns. My. See the back of Believer? Well, come next week. You'll find it in when you go to chapter three. you've got one of the most glorious, poetical parts of the Bible in the next chapter. Now, Packett describes him coming. I'll give you this thought. Read over yourself. I want to mention this before closing. You'll find one expression. Let me point it out to you. And the end of that chapter, near the end of that chapter, please, if I may begin, note these words in the third chapter.
Let me note these words that you'll find regarding his coming. And when he comes, and let me see, where are we? Oh, the six. Now, I want you to know something. Just the first sentence. When he comes, he stands. He stood and measured the earth, sized it up. There's only one person that can do that. Sizes up the whole situation. And what man will try to do for centuries, he does it quickly.
In his judgment and cleansing the earth. Oh, I think of those words. Lord, how do you measure the earth? And may I give you the thought, may you and I measure the earth the way he does. and see it in his eyes and through his eyes. But the beautiful suggestion, as he comes in power and glory, he seems to pause, flies up the whole situation. And surprisingly, he deals with it so quickly. Don't you wish he'd come?
Well, he will, shall we pray? Oh, blessed Father, how we thank thee for the blessed hope. How we lift our hearts in gratitude that in the midst of turmoil, strife, violence, and bloodshed, and all that may be in filling the earth. The coming of the Lord draw it nigh. We lift our earnest petition again for those dear ones that are not saved. Bring them to Christ before it's too late. That, oh, we long for that day, when it will be fulfilled, there will be peace. on the earth. We fight before the Lord Jesus most of all, that even while we're in the midst of such a scene, we can have peace in our heart.
Peace I lead with you. My peace give I unto you. Not as the world give us give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. Lord, we just pray, in spite of all that we know around us and see, and know they will become worse according to thy word. May we have that peace of God which has us all understanding, keeping our own hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. We ask in his precious and worthy name. Amen. Thank you for coming.