Directly addresses the transition from the final woe judgment to the establishment of Christ's eternal kingdom, as described in Revelation 11:14-15. It explains that the sounding of the seventh angel signifies the end of earthly judgments and the declaration that the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The message highlights the worship of the twenty-four elders in response to this announcement and references Psalm 2 to illustrate the nations' rebellion against God's reign. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that this declaration marks the imminent arrival of Christ's kingdom and the subsequent judgment and reward for God's people, while also foreshadowing the detailed events of the Great Tribulation period to be explored in subsequent chapters.
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And your lesson sheet will be number nineteen on your lesson sheet where we have the study of this portion that we wish to follow today. I would especially like to begin reading in chapter eleven. In chapter eleven begin reading at verse fourteen. Verse fourteen where we have the spirit of God writing through John saying, Do you want a lesson copy, Brother Paul? We have the Spirit of God writing through John the Apostle in verse fourteen, the second woe is passed. Behold the third, go, come it quickly.
And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their throne, which is the proper word, fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and watch and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and this reign.
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophet, and to the saints, and then that they are thy name small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. We'll stop the reading right there. The last verse really is a portion that belongs to the next chapter, which we hope we shall continue in even this morning's study. But if you have your lesson sheet, then I read the introduction that you have on this page, nineteen. As we have read verse fourteen in our chapter in reference to the last row, we find in the introduction on your lesson sheet these comments we would like to follow through with.
The last row judgment is mentioned. Now let me repeat for the benefit of those who may be with us for the first time. We have already followed the three judgments. We have already begun the woe judgment. In fact, the trumpet judgments consist of, first of all, we found some of the trumpet judgments beginning until we got to the fourth and fifth and sixth trumpet judgment. And when we got to the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments, we found there were three left, number five, number six, and number seven. Now these three last trumpet judgments were called woe judgment, and we found, if I remember at the end of chapter ten, the angels saying, woe, woe, woe, for the reason of the trumpets that are yet to be found.
The indication implies the increasing intensity, destructiveness, and fearfulness of the judgments that are yet to come. For I'm sure you will realize, as you follow the judgments through, field judgments, trumped judgments, and ultimately the vile judgments, the intensity of them increases upon and over the earth, at the will of God, and in judgment upon the ungodly and the whole scene of earth. Now we're coming to the approach of the sub-trumped judgments. But please note, as we read the comment again, the last bold judgment is mentioned here, which indicates that we have reached the end of the forty-two months or the twelve hundred and sixty days.
Now let me again give a little resume regarding that reference. We found that mention in the preceding part of this same chapter, chapter eleven, where we studied last week. the two witnesses. And we found then God's faithful witnesses in that end time, the period of the Great Tribulation, the forty and two months, the twelve hundred and sixty days, the same period involved. And so we come to the end of the world judgment relative to that same particular time. Now note what we read on. Christ now takes over the kingdoms of this world.
Now please note, we're not finished with the prophecies. The one we approach is a statement, a declaration. Now it's going to take over. I wish that day would hurry up, don't you? I think of the comment that I read this morning on my calendar text. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. For thank God he is coming to set up his kingdom. And the book of the Revelation relates to his coming again to do that very thing. And we have the followers in relation to the end of the judgment, the perspective, time he's bound to come.
And what follows will be revealing the events that take place on the threshold are disappearing from heaven above in power and glory when we come to chapter nineteen. But it's a declaration that times come. And let me read on in your comment, please. The actual event is detailed in Revelation nineteen. Verses eleven through sixteen, where the Lord's descent from heaven to the earth is described. But the portion of the chapter before us is a general declaration at the end. And it's a declaration that what is going to take place when we come to this point in the prophecy in relation to the Great Tribulation period.
Let me read the next paragraph, please. It goes up to further make it clearer. When we commence chapter twelve and the subsequent chapters, there will be a filling in of tremendous events judgments and so on, that actually take place during those forty and two months, the twelve hundred and sixty days, or the last half of Daniel's prophetic week, are three and a half years from Daniel nine twenty-seven, known as we are often said as the Great Tribulation. Now what lies before us is we shall go to the subsequent chapters. Let me read the last sentence.
We shall learn a divine... satanic and human sources that contribute to the terrible experiences upon the earth at the end of the age, all preceding the literal return of Christ to the earth in power and glory. Can I condense it with this statement? As we come to the portion before us, and on, toward the end of chapter nineteen when the Lord literally comes to the earth, we shall be covering events relative to that period of the last three and a half years of the Great Tribulation period.
Now let me make another comment that I believe is quite interesting. Believing as we do in the coming again of the Lord Jesus for his bride, the church, we have no date, we have no time limitation that we can depends upon, for at any moment our Lord may come. I cannot say that he will come today, but I could say he may. And there is no limited time whereby we could judge so many days and he will come, so many years and he will come. But let me ask this. The students of the word of God during the tribulation period and read the word of God, they reached the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew twenty-four and twenty-five.
The writings of Paul, the writings of John in this wonderful book of the Revelation, and in the portion that is before us, when they see these things happening that are now coming before us, they can say it's only three and a half years, twelve hundred and sixty days, forty and two months. But may I add, the most terrible experience of human history in the way of trouble, trials, difficultly, danger, death, judgment. Open love and let's realize solemnly what faces the world as we look at these portions.
But now let me read the chapter again where we began and follow your notes from your lesson sheet, beginning as we may at verse fifteen. And we find the seventh angel sounded. There were great voices in heaven saying, Now note, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Now note your comment, please, if you will, on your lesson sheet. It is a general declaration at the sounding of this life prophet, and it's an announcement in heaven, and a general declaration of Christ's immediate kingdom.
It is at hand. Let me quote the words of John the Baptist. I think similarly we could say as he preached, Behold what? The kingdom of heaven is what? At hand. The spirit. And that is exactly the thought that is expressed by this announcement. The coming of the lab to set up its kingdom is now near. It's at hand. Now look verse sixteen, if you please. Let me read it. Well, let me finish the comments on your lesson sheet. Note the titles, Lord, Christ, relating to the same titles that are found in Psalm chapter two, verse one and three, when the nations combine against the Lord and His anointed.
Christ, go to chapter two in the Psalm for a moment. Go back with me, please. How significant is this expression and title that is given to our beloved Lord as you look at Psalm chapter two? For it will be timely to look at this portion. It will be helpful for what lies before us very quickly. But in chapter two, you have a messianic song, and you have the nations raging. And then you have the father making a statement. Then you have the son, and his voice is heard, and the voices are still. Then you read verse one, two, and three.
Vow to the heathen, or the nations rage. The people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves. The rulers take counsel together against the Lord. And note, against his anointed. Now that word anointed is another word and name and title for Christ. Christ being the anointed one in relation to his kingdom and his messiahship. And at the end time, noted we read on in verse three, the language of the nations is, let us break their bands of thunder, and cast away their cords from us.
Now, while the nations are concerned, they do not want him to reign. Go back to Revelation then, and recognize, as we noted in our Nodamushi, the type of man in Christ he takes in this announcement, The kingdoms of this world are because the kingdoms are about to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Oh, beloved, please let me put it in this perspective. To think, and we'll see it in a moment, that nations rebel against the claims of God and Christ and claim the earth for themselves. So here's the heavens announcement.
So they're just about to come. But now read verse fifteen and seventeen. The four and twenty elders, which sat before God, on their thrones. And let me just briefly state, as we saw from chapter four, chapter five, very clearly, these are the glorified saints that have been raptured. Then John, in his vision of chapter four and five, saw them round the throne of God. They sang their song that worshiped the land that had redeemed them in chapter five, verse nine and ten. So that the elders upon their throne, in their respective places, representatively, are the saints, righteous, and in heaven during the great period of trouble that is to come upon the earth.
And on this announcement they fell upon their faces. They worshiped God. Now let me please add. I'm going to be one of them doing it. When the announcement comes, and we know the Lord's going to step the trees of the world and put them under his reign, what a joy will be to join with the company of these saints to fall down. Yes. So note the language that they give in verse seventeen, saying, We give thee time, O Lord God Almighty. which art and what art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hath reigned.
And here you can see the language of their worship, and more particularly the name they address, the Lord God by, the Lord God Almighty. Please think of the solemnity of that title. When you visit the world today, When you see the sin and the violence, the crime and all that is rebelling against God and increasing so as we come near the end of the age, it's going to take Almighty God to straighten it out. I recall a friend of mine, a criminal lawyer by profession, made a statement one day to me.
He said, John, he said, I was in court this morning, and he said, the evidence that was being presented in that court was of such a sordid character that the judge, when the evidence was finished, he wrapped his gavel on his desk, and he said, Gentlemen, I don't see why the Lord God Almighty doesn't take his hand and wipe us all off the earth. My friend spoke up and said, Your Honor, and tried to speak of the mercy of God. He didn't get very far. The judge didn't give time to preach. But nevertheless, the judge was right.
Please let me... Can I say this solemnly? Literally. The Lord God Almighty is going to wipe out the ungodly from off the earth when the Lord comes. Can I say it again? As I read my Bible and study prophecy, I am persuaded when the Lord Jesus comes to the earth, When he is finished with his judgment, there won't be any ungodly left. The Lord God Almighty will have done his work. Me, I add, found a difference in the title. You and I who have saved the day we address God, Father, speak to the Lord Jesus Christ, our loving Savior.
And God's strange work of judgment is going to manifest the character of God that the world has never yet seen but will by the divine visitations of His wrath when it comes. As beloved, I say solemnly and sadly, this world is facing the wrath of the Lord God Almighty. Let's read on further, please. I want you to know, verse eighteen, we have the foretold result of that coming of the Lord. First in verse eighteen you find these words. The nations were angry. We read that, did we not, in Psalm two. The nations were angry. Please, may I say, let me ask a question.
Do you see any teeth in those words? No wonder Isaiah wrote, Pete, there is no teeth that my God said that we could. So we should be like the rest of the sea, which cannot rest, because we are to cast up virunders. And then the Lord Jesus come. Please, take it literally. The nations will be angry against you. We read it. Jehovah, God, Christ. Beloved, one sure thing, I remember in my young days, back in the early part of the century when the Lord first prayed me.
There was a great movement going on what was called post-millennialism. When the church expected that they convert the world, and it presented to the Lord Jesus a converted world. When the Lord Jesus comes, he's going to get an angry world to think. It's not a converted world. Two God-saving men and women out of this world. He's still reaching sinners and bringing them to Christ. And his purpose is to take them out of it. So when the Lord comes literally to the world, the nations are going to be angry. Here's the next set question.
And thy wrath has come. Thy wrath has come. The final theory of God's wrath. Go to chapter fifteen where we have a reference in verse seven there. So it is part of this truth that we're covering. Please let me read verse seven of chapter fifteen, where we find the Spirit of God saying these words in chapter fifteen. I believe it's verse seven. May I read verse seven, one of the four angels, one of the four living creatures, rather, gave under the seven angels, no, seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God.
Full of the wrath of God. May I state lovingly, the world has never seen God's wrath. Any fullness upon it. Never a day of disaster that's going to be. So let me contrast it. You and I who are saved, we'll never bear that wrath. So they're there, Jesus. took the wrath of God for us upon the cross when he bare our sins in his own body upon the truth. And then he took the words of Paul in first Thessalonians one ten, how the Thessalonians turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, even Jesus our deliverer from the wrath to come.
Beloved, can I make it clear? It's only a little expression, but it's full of meaning. Full of the wrath of God. The nation's angry. God angry. They're angry against him. He'll be angry against them. And it's wrath. Go to chapter two of the psalm again. Go back to that second psalm, please. Wait. Go back again and note the end of that psalm. I want you to see the words that the psalmist wrote by the Holy Spirit. in that second chapter. And particularly in verse twelve, the last verse, note, Kiss the son lest he be angry, and he perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are happier all day, they trust in him, because they trust in him. Oh, beloved, please let me say, please let me say in lovingly, You and I by nature and practice deserve the wrath of God against ourselves because of our sin. The way we think of that cup that the Lord Jesus drank of God's wrath of judgment upon sin, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For those that stand forth upon the ungodly of the world of that coming day, His wrath will fall with full fury. So read on in our chapter eleven, please.
Let's quickly go, if I may, to see what else follows. So what you have here is a legionne of all yet to be done in the future. From this particular time onward in the book of the Revelation. And we read on. It's the time of the dead. That they should be judged. Because even down to the resurrection. They'll be dead. And you have it in Revelation chapter twenty. Small and greatness stand before God. Once you really have beautiful living, this is synopsis of everything that's yet to be done.
And it's about to happen. Begin. And then you read further. And that thou shouldest give reward to thy servants and profit prophets and to the saints. And then that be of thy name. Paul and Gray. Has you done it on your... Let me read a paragraph on your chapter, on your lesson sheet. On the letter C. The judgment of the dead arrives. In its expression, the time of the dead, it carries us to the close of the kingdom. For the final judgment of the dead is after the earthly kingdom has passed away. And we've got the record of it in Revelation twenty. And then it's the time when the kingdom rewards will be given to all his servants, those small and big.
Listen, may I emphasize something, please? When you study the book of the Revelation, you're not studying in church truth. You get some praise of it in chapters two and three, I know. They're only in those two chapters. But the whole truth regarding Revelation is a king's coming. The king's coming. The kingdom's coming. So when you read your New Testament, and if I may give you this suggestion, there are three great truths in your New Testament. First is what we can call Christ's truth, about the person of Christ. And surely I know you will recognize that if there's any one that writes in the New Testament about the person of Christ, more devotedly than any other person is John the Apostle, those in his Gospel, And in his epistle, he exalts and brings your face to face with the person of Christ.
And then the church truth, which you must read and find in the Pauline letters, to Paul, God entrusted the truth regarding the church, its character, its function, its destiny, more than any other writer. But then there's kingdom truth. Then let me remind you, kingdom truth you can find in your whole Bible. From the beginning to the end. Even from the garden of Eden. You can recognize when the prophecy was given by the Lord. That the woman's seed would crush the serpent's head. This is a prophecy.
That Satan's power would entirely be crushed sometimes. And as we come to our chapter in Revelation. But he knew that. It's getting nearer. And it's kingdom truth. Now in relation to the kingdom, there's rewards for that people. Now they make a distinction for you, clearly. How do you get to the Father's house? Jesus said it, John four, he said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but I be. He's the way.
And what joy it is that you and I found him. He's the way to the Father. He's the way to the Father. And may I also remind you, every child of God has a right to go to the Father's house just as much as another child. There's no distinction. Let me illustrate it this way. Should there be any distinctions in our earthly families, father and mother and children? Should there be any partiality shown in the family towards each other or towards certain ones? No. That would be unjust.
And they're all in the family, regardless of what may be their character. They're in the family. And so as the family... We go to the Father's house. Go and read John chapter eleven, please. Here's a little verse I'd like to bring before you. Chapter eleven in the Gospel of John. And I want you to note it very carefully. It's regarding the Lord Jesus and the prophecy that Caiaphas made regarding it. Let me begin with verse forty-nine. And I want you to go with me down through verse fifty-two. One of them The Sanhedrin, the Jewish rulers were together, they were talking, and one of the Menteiators, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, You know nothing at all.
That he's calling his friends a bunch of dumbbells, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish. Now know what John writes. This they see out front of himself, but being high priest, That year he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. Now let me make clear that man hated Jesus. This priest, high priest, the Anathus, hated the Lord Jesus. And yet there he was in an official position. Now one thing is certain when you read the Bible carefully. The Lord Jesus, even himself, recognized, acknowledged, and would not transform dress against the official position.
Later on when he was brought to trial himself before the Sanhedrin and the priest, it was the high priest that said, I have purity, I put you on earth, carry on under the Son of God. And the Lord opened his mouth because according to the book of Leviticus he was told to answer. He recognized the official position that I tell you, he didn't have much use for the moral condition. For Caiaphas, John says, not knowing it, he was making a prophecy that Jesus should die for that age, but now know for fifty-two, not for that nation only, but that also he should gather, now know that it would, gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Oh, beloved, let me just say this briefly. Not only that Jesus should die for that nation, but he should die that out of the world, he should gather the family that would be called children. And it's the family. We go into the Father's house. Now when you come to the book of the Revelation and what we're reading here, it's rewards. Now these are not rewards to get you in the family. God forbid. You get him by being born again. And let me say, when you get born again, you never get unborn. Do you ever hear anybody getting unborn? Don't you ever believe that you can lose your salvation when you've really been born again?
It's forever. It's eternal. So then the kingdom is a time when he will give reward. Now, my beloved brother and sister, let me state that to my heart is That kingdom, oh, may I say, that kingdom will bring rewards to which share us the pocket, to which say, and to all that have feared his name. Peter writes of it in second, Peter one, verse eleven. He heard his name. Peter writes of it in second, Peter one, verse eleven.
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Christ. I remember many years ago when I lived down South Carolina, oftentimes written to think of certain people down there. I heard this expression again and again, asking if they were going to get to heaven. Captain, I was working at it. I was working for the kingdom. Well, I'll tell you one thing. You don't get in by working. You should get rewarded by working when you are in. You get to go. Beloved Christians, their rewards are coming in that kingdom. And then I say this. There's no distinction in the family.
But there's going to be distinctions in the glory that we'll share in the kingdom. I don't know where I'll be. I'll be up to the Lord to tell. But please, no then. John, by the Spirit, writes it. Let me read those words again. Note them as you got it in this Elam chapter of Revelation. And you find the statement, Reward unto thy servant the prophet for the same, and then appear thy name small and great. Do you feel small? Don't worry. Here we were the small ones, as well as the good ones. Great ones.
And what joy, according to our words? And then, last of all, please, no, last of all, the time comes not only for the rewards, but for the time that he's going to destroy them, which destroy the earth. Can I dwell for a moment on that expression? To destroy them, which destroy the earth? There's great fear today in many places of the world because of the nuclear process of destruction. The Lord will never let man destroy the earth.
And then he comes to the earth. He's going to destroy them that would do it. He will. So what joy and comfort it is for you is the need to realize we're safe in Christ. And I believe many please state also. from knowing, from chapter four, we shall be in heaven with the saints when these events of destruction come upon all the earth. Now, let me read the last paragraph on your sheet, will you? The summary. We must carefully understand this section, the one we've covered, as a general statement concerning the closing of that period of three and a half years, which is called the Great Regulation.
Let me repeat it again. What we have covered from verse fifteen and on is a general statement of the events that are to take place. And so when we continue in chapter eleven, verse nineteen and on, we shall read of events transpiring upon the earth in relation to those closing days that precede the literal coming of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, in Revelation chapter nineteen, verse eleven to the end of that chapter when he comes to the earth. Now if you have your lesson book and lesson sheet, get number twenty. We want to go on to the next section.
A very interesting one. Verse twenty. And then in chapter, let me read in chapter eleven as we begin the reading. We want to begin at verse nineteen of chapter eleven. because what we begin here, and may I say, the reason for disconnecting this verse from the preceding part, your chapters and your verses were not implied. If you and I were to read or able to read the original writing, both in Hebrew and in Greek, you don't find any punctuation marks. And of course our Bible, present Bible that we have, by the translators has been divided into chapters and verses for our convenience.
And they often, they do generally, they help us greatly. Once in a while it may not be in the right connection. And here is the verse, the closing of verse eleven, that they really belong to what follows. So now let's read verse nineteen. John writes, and the temple of God was opened in heaven. There was seen in his temple The Ark of this Testament or Covenant, there were lightnings and voices and thundering and an earthquake and gray tail. May I read your introduction on page number twenty, if you please. We'd like to read that again.
The introduction, in what now follows, we have an entirely new prophecy from chapter eleven, nineteen through chapter fourteen. Now, let me repeat that. We're going to find a consecutive prophecy all relating to the last three and a half years of the Great Tribulation period, beginning in chapter eleven and verse nineteen and going through chapter fourteen, which, now though, chiefly relates to Israel, as the opening vision indicates. In chapter twelve, We shall see from God's viewpoint in heaven through actual sources of good and evil.
In chapter thirteen, we shall have revealed to us Satan's two chief agents upon the earth and their activity at the end of time, the beast and the false prophet. In chapter fourteen, we have a series of events revealing God's activity in grace and judgment. And we are chiefly on Jewish grounds. And this should be carefully remembered, for the great objective purpose of God through the great tribulation, in relationship with his earthly people, Israel, is to reclaim and redeem a godly remnant of the Messiah's kingdom and Israel's glory. Now we'll follow that through in detail as we continue, but let me just make this statement.
Relative to what we have covered in verse fifteen through eighteen, and now where you begin in verse nineteen. The second proceeding has brought before us the coming appearance of the kingdom. Now may I say, I hope you know your Bible is sufficient to believe this, that kingdom can never be on the earth until the Jews are in the right place before God. Now the repeated instruction, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will never be upon the earth without this people Israel. being restored and brought to himself a godly remnant that would be venetious of the earthly kingdom of our Savior.
Now let me make a contrast. Now I want to make this contrast. I hope you'll see it clearly. That's not the purpose of the church age. The purpose of this age is to bring men and women out of the world, bring them to Christ, put them in the church by the Holy Spirit's power to become the bride of Christ. We're not going to bring the kingdom in. It is absolutely necessary that it will be brought in to have the nation's place in the kingdom before the kingdom will be.
We pray rightly, thy kingdom comes. But may I say, Israel's got the device before God, before the kingdom comes. And what we're going to see? Israel comes to the forefront. Then may I put this thought before you. I hope you'll realize this. Whatever is the chief object or the chief interest of God upon the earth, the devil hates it. Now today the deepest interest of God and Christ upon the earth is the church. I hope you know your Bible and understand that.
We don't boast of ourselves. We can be very much ashamed of ourselves in our outward testimony. But I think you will agree with me that the devil fights the church. He started very early in this history to do it. And he certainly has done a good job breaking it up, hasn't he? And it's out, you have testified. Whatever is of interest to God's heart, the cheapest interest to him and to Christ on the earth, says the devil hates. And unless it's the object of his attack. Now let me point out something to you. Don't you feel today that devils getting ready, or the events that are taking place today, that is going to bring the devil's focal power toward Israel when the church is gone?
When the church is gone? And what we have in our vision here, please note. I want you to note these words. Look with the Ecclesian sheet. We find a temple of God was opened in heaven. And then the temple was the ark. of his covenant. Now, I'm not going to be concerned about the literalness of it. I do know that when Moses was told to build the tabernacle and all of its furnishings, it was patterned after the one in heaven. That the ark of the covenant, the ark of the covenant in its literal relationship was for Israel.
And in that temple and in that tabernacle of oath, that author of the covenant represented God's throne upon the earth. Can I repeat that again? You know, Israel was a very favored people. They were the nation at the dwelling place of God upon the earth, as did Israel. in the tabernacle and in the temple. And please may I say, then that and what may have been the condition of the people outside of the tabernacle, God recognized the ark of the covenant with its throne on the earth, inside the holiest of all.
And the responsibility of Israel was to represent, righteously, in testimony and witness the throne of God. You know how they say it. You know how they say it. Can't you see? Let me give you an illustration by it. Remember David? Oh, how David valued the ark of the testimony. You'll read the hundred and thirty-second Psalm. He relents to his restoring of the ark at the top of him. that Philistines had captured and that had been out of its place.
And they didn't know, as no other person ever did in Israel, restored their nation to its right relationship to the throne of Galvani restored the ark. And I don't know where that ark of the covenant is today. I don't know what happened to it. It's a mystery. Nebuchadnezzar dissolved all the holy vessels. There's nothing mentioned of the ark of the covenant. wherever it might be, whatever it might be. But one can realize this. Israel broke the relationship and called scatters them, scatter them. And now you can recognize, look, Moses, I'm going to bring them back. I'm going to bring them back.
And the Ark of the Covenant is seen in heaven. So then know what follows. Lightness, darkness, thunderings, earthquake, great hail. Let me read the comment we have on the lesson sheet. What now is revealed to us, the Lord, recognition of the principle, that control, the end time and the condition of things? Oh, I beg the pardon, I'm bringing the wrong reference. The one before that. The temple in heaven is the sign of this, his relationship and his dealings with his earthly people, Israel. And the ark of the covenant, the pledge of his faithfulness, the token of his presence, And the signs of judgment associated with this.
Lightning and so on. These are connected with God's purposes. For Israel. Judgment upon his enemies. And upon his people. And other scriptures corroborate this. As you go back even to the prophecy of Zechariah. Verses chapter twelve through fourteen. Please let me say this. Let me focus your thought. And mind you. Right upon the nation of Israel. As a nation. As a nation, let me quote the words of Jeremiah, chapter thirty in verse seven. Alas! Have a great day, the terrible day of the Lord. When Jacob should be kept at that, then out of it God will bring him.
Now here you can recognize one thing is sure. God's going to purge his people Israel. That's the connection of the lightnings and the voices and the judgment. So they're associated in a restoration of Israel. They must go through that time of trouble. I'm never reading. My, this goes about sixty years, I think, ago. The man, dear brethren of God in this country who served the Lord in Europe, from our country in the United States, for speaking to a godly, pious Jewish rabbi in Vienna. He spoke of the scriptures, and they spoke of the hope of Israel.
And then he asked the rabbi this question. He said, Do you believe, do you believe that someday your nation will have its land, its country, and the Messiah? And he said, The rabbi just broke into tears He said, I thoroughly believe someday we shall have our land, our nation, and we'll have our king, our messiah. But, he said, I believe, if ever that great day comes, we Jews must go through the way form of trouble we've ever had in our history. And he said, I'm so anxious to see him come.
I'm ready to go through it. There's a lot of that, exactly. So here's the strange thing. Even though the Jewish commentators and rabbis in the rabbinical school would not believe in Jesus, even the rabbis, some of the leading rabbinical leaders of the past century during the church ages, they would teach the prophecy of Zechariah. They would tell, said before the Messiah comes, they got exposed to the time of their greatest struggle. Daniel, Jeremiah. So they must. And God's going to bring a remnant through. Thanks be to his name.
Now go chapter twelve for a moment to you. Let's go right on. It connects itself. Now I want to point something out in this as we begin the chapter. Then read number two on your lesson sheet and the first paragraph. The last defense as God sees them from heaven. For what now is revealed to us is God's recognition of the principles that control the end time and the condition of things in his sight. I've got three, four verses to refer to. And I want you to get this thought. What we're going to read in chapter twelve is what heaven sees.
Nobody on the earth. Nobody on the earth could even know about it or reveal it. Well, what we're reading in chapter twelve is heaven's viewpoint, regarding Israel, regarding the devil for that matter, and regarding the period of great tribulation. So let me read verse one. There appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with a son, and a moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Now you please note verse one right in the words, this wonder was seen where? In heaven. In heaven. No verse three, if you please. There appeared another one to where?
In heaven. Look down at verse seven, if you please. And there was where? In heaven. Look at verse ten. I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven. And beloved, please let me say, translate the tape to heaven. And if we're looking down to what heaven thinks, of Israel, this world, and all that is to take place upon the earth. And if we don't get that thought before us, we'll get confused about the interpretation of the chapter. Now let's begin verse one again. There appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman, clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
Look at your lesson sheet, please. And she being with child, cry traveling in birth, pain to be delivered. The lesson she says first, the woman is Israel, and God's purpose is revealed for her. Three, let me re-emphasize, the language that is used in verse one is declaring and illustrating God's purpose for Israel. The man has got to be Israel. We get down the chapter, we'll see it. Plain. It's got to be Israel. You can't call it the church. It's Israel. And we read on.
First she's clothed with the sun. And let me read the paragraph after the first opening of number one. Her supreme authority in the kingdom is symbolized. Please let me say, as you look at verse one, her supreme authority in the kingdom is to be realized and symbolized here by three things. First, she's clothed with the sun, the symbol of her supremacy. Please let me say this again. Let me repeat it. The law will not rain upon the earth, and nobody else really lives in the right place. Until a nation is properly restored.Until the government, who will be redeemed at that time, his own earthly people, saved out of it, will be glorified as a nation.
You can read Isaiah chapter sixty. Go to Isaiah chapter sixty for just a moment, please. And it's the prophecy of Isaiah telling us in that wonderful chapter regarding the glory of Israel. that is yet to come. And note the words that Isaiah uses as he begins in this sixteenth chapter. And now precious to see, arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and grow darkness of evil. But the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
Memory, I raise a question. Has God's glory, in such fullness, been seen on Israel yet? Never. The nearest it ever came was in the Davidic kingdom, and particularly Solomon's kingdom. And that's why. All the joy of realizing that Israel is going to be the truth, pre-kingdom on the earth. It doesn't look like it right now, does it? Don't worry. God hasn't showed his hand yet, but the time is hearing. And then look at the next point, we'd like to emphasize before we close. The moon is under her feet.
The moon is, you know, the light of the moon. It's derived from the light of the sun. And one can recognize with a shining in glory. that derivation of God's glory upon the nation will bring the light to shine throughout all the world, reflecting that light to others. And then she has upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Less stars may be inferior, but I would like to suggest this regarding the twelve stars on her head. Twelve is the symbol of perfect administration. Remember in chapter twenty-one of Revelation, twelve gates to the city of gold, to the holy city.
Perfect administration. And the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, they would fit, the apostles, sit on twelve climes, judging the nation of Israel. Perfect administration by the individual who will be thus honored in that coming kingdom. The whole thing symbolizes. Let me read the paragraph we have before us. Upon her head crowned at twelve stars, as those stars may be inferior and subordinate glory, for the authority is implied. All this is for Israel. For God intends that the world shall see all power and glory encircling Israel.
And the above symbols may also refer to Joseph. Green, you may remember, in Genesis thirty-seven, which itself symbolizes the future glory of Israel. and the symbiotal significance of the numeral twelve, his perfect administration, where in Matthew, nineteen twenty-eight, the Lord told the apostles, you'll sit on twelve stones. Please, let me ask a question. Geneva. Three good nations. And all that we have today. Somebody called it up there.
Make success up in New York. She said divided. Yeah. Look, please. Play, let me say. Look. The history of the world will not be corrected until the history of Israel is incorrect. And think of the men that are going to be reigning over the world. Matthew, Mark, Luke. Matthew, Mark, John, James, Maman because of apostles. Because of apostles. Can you imagine?
Those preachers, those Bible teachers, they're going to be heading the administration for the tribes of Israel and their tribes of Israel and their Israelites. This story will be ruling the world. God beloved, let me humbly pray, and we'll see it more fully in detail as we go through the chapter next week. What trial is before Israel? It's coming. And God grant, if that's coming near, may the rapture soon take place for you and me. Shall we pray, Father? Beloved and blessed Father, what precious truth, not just merely informing our minds.
and entertaining our thoughts, God for it is. But underlying it we read and hear thine own holy purposes for this world. How little we are that we belong to that bride of Christ, the church, coming for us and taking us home to glory when he appears for us. And we pray for thy people, Israel. Surely the psalmist said, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And Lord, we say, Hates the day. when thou wilt reign, have mercy upon the nations today. Our main prayer could only be, say, precious souls, rather than today, where the gospel is going forth in whatever form and manner it may be given.
May thy word bless and say, precious souls. Now, Lord, bless us as we separate and draw us close to thyself through thy word we have studied in Jesus' name. Amen.