In this sermon, the preacher discusses the reasons for rejoicing in heaven. The first reason is when a sinner repents, the second reason is when a believer overcomes Satan, the third reason is when the harlot is judged, and the fourth reason is when the bride of the lamb is ready for marriage. The preacher emphasizes that these reasons for rejoicing are significant and should be celebrated. The sermon also highlights the importance of being a bond servant of God and fearing Him in order to enter into the praise of heaven and understand the judgment of the harlot.

Revelation chapter 18. We were considering in our last study the destiny of Babylon, the mother of harlots, and we saw a little bit last time of the religious nature of this corrupt system that professes to lead people to God, but actually leads people away from God. Revelation chapter 17 deals with Babylon as a religious system counterfeiting the truth, and there's very much in it which we can't cover in just a brief study. It's a whole subject by itself, but if we were to examine all the heathen religions of the world, we'll find there's a tremendous similarity to the truth in many of them. This is Satan's counterfeit. It's all flowed from that original Babylonian religion started by the descendant of Noah, Nimrod, in Genesis chapter 10. And that religious system has not only penetrated heathen religions, it's penetrated nominal Christianity in its various denominations, the mother of harlots beginning with the Roman Catholic Church, and the harlots that are found in Protestantism and Pentecostalism today. Those are strong words. Those are the words the Holy Spirit uses, so we're not ashamed to use them. Revelation chapter 18 deals with Babylon as a commercial economic system. Money, and all that money can buy, and all that man does, evil, cheats, deceives, tells lies, loses his soul finally in order to earn money. Money and religion have led more people away from God than we could say almost anything else. Jesus said the two masters were God and money. So we find here religious Babylon and commercial Babylon in chapter 18. And out of both of these systems, religious and commercial, the word of God comes to us in Revelation 18, for, come out of her my people. Have nothing to do with that. Now we look at verse 21, and it's Revelation 18, 21. A strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, Thus will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer. Now earlier on in the book of Revelation, when we were studying chapter 2, I mentioned the name of another woman, and that is Revelation 2 and verse 20, Jezebel. There Jezebel is called a false prophetess. It's a symbolic name, and it was a false prophetess who brought suckly heresy into the church. And some of the things said about her are very similar to the things said about Babylon in Revelation 2, 20. She teaches and leads my bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent, verse 21, and she does not want to repent. And essentially, it is because people do not repent, because Christians, this was referring to a Christian church in which the corruption, this Babylonian system represented here under the name Jezebel, had penetrated. Christians, when they do not repent and turn from and give up this system, then the end result is Babylon. And in contrast to that, when Christians turn from sin and from worldliness and spiritual adultery and immorality, then the result is Jerusalem, the bride of Christ. So we find essentially the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem is essentially one of repentance. It's all a question of whether there is a spirit of repentance in my life, a spirit of turning away from sin. If that is found in my life, a constant hatred of sin, a repentance, a mourning each time I fall, it's the only way that I can escape ending up in Babylon. Now, the reason I mentioned Jezebel is when you turn to the Old Testament, to the history of the Israelites, and we find Ahab was one of the kings of Israel, the worst king of all. And you read there in 2 Kings chapter 9 that after Ahab had died, Jezebel, like Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod whom I spoke about last time, ruled as queen. And there was a man called Jehu who was commissioned by God to be the king. And we read in 2 Kings chapter 9 that Jehu was the instrument God was going to use to destroy Jezebel because of her harlotry and her spiritual immorality. And we read here when Jehu, verse 2 Kings chapter 9 verse 30, when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked out of her window. You see, this is where all this lipstick and mascara and all these things began, with Jezebel adorning herself to attract men, immoral, adulterous. It's exactly as you see in Babylon in Revelation 17, and looked out. And Jehu was not impressed with all this. He just looked up and said in verse 32, who's on my side? And two or three officials looked down, verse 32. 33, he said, throw her down. Notice what we read in Revelation 18, 21. Babylon will be thrown down mightily. He said, throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall. And it says here in verse 35, when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands, because the dogs, verse 36, had eaten her flesh. Now, that's going to be the end result of those who sit in the name of Christianity and are worldly in spirit and in life. They are going to be cast down. That's what we see in Revelation 18, 21. Thus will Babylon, the great city, be cast down and won't be found any longer. And the sound, verse 22 of Revelation 18, the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer. Notice the emphasis on music. Music in Christendom can be a good thing if it's kept under the control of the Holy Spirit. But in much of Christendom today, it's under the control of the devil. We even have rock music preaching the gospel these days. You can imagine how much the devil has infiltrated Christendom. You don't need to be filled with the Holy Spirit now. You only need to know how to shake your hips and strum a guitar and croon into a mic in order to draw people to Christ. This is the ridiculous humbug that goes under the name of Christian music these days. Well, that's part of Babylon. Harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters. Just in passing, let me tell you, if you turn to Genesis chapter 4, you find that the people who first invented musical instruments were the sons of Cain after Cain was driven away from the Lord. It says in Genesis 4.21 that one of the descendants of Cain began to invent musical instruments. Isn't that significant? It's not that we're against musical instruments. The thing is, music is a means, is a tremendous means the devil has used to lead people to hell. And music is found in Babylon too. Just like money, music. You can speak the word of Jesus and you can sing so-called Christian songs, but with the spirit of Babylon in that music. And that's what we need to beware of. Revelation 18.22, The sound of harpists, musicians, flute players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer. Industry, craftsmen of any craft will not be found in you. The sound of a mill will not be heard in you. The light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer. The voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer, for your merchants were the great men of the earth. Notice the emphasis throughout when we read about Babylon of greatness. The great men of the earth. Even in Christendom, there are people who seek to be great, to be one of the great men of the earth. No, that's not our calling if we are to be in the bride of Christ. We are to be despised and rejected as Jesus was. Not to be one of the great men of the earth. And it says here, all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in another, the amplified Bible, it says by the, by your magic spells. It's amazing. The spirit of Babylon has deceived Christians in every nation by teaching them, by teaching them that they can go to heaven, even though they live for the world and for money and for pleasure and for honor. It says though a spell has come upon them, it's so obvious for anyone reading what Jesus taught and the apostles thought that it's impossible for a person to be a part of the bride of Christ if he's so worldly. And yet there are multitudes and multitudes of Christians today who think that they can be worldly in their spirit and their life and still be a part of the bride of Christ. This is the result of this magic spell that Babylon has put upon people so that they can't see it's a sorcery. It's a deception by which people are deceived. For example, Jesus said you cannot love money and God, but don't you think there are multitudes of believers who try to do it? They will discover in the final day that Babylon had put a spell upon them that when they loved money, they did not really love God. It was impossible. Jesus said that very clearly in Luke 16, 13. It's impossible to love God and money at the same time. If you love one, you hate the other. And yet the spirit of Babylon teaches you can love God and you can love making money. That's just not possible. Here's how people have been deceived. And as a result of this deception where Christians run after money, run after the great things of the earth, run after bigness in this world, run after a sensuous life, decorate themselves like Jezebel then and yet to imagine themselves to be a part of that pure and holy bride of Christ. That is a tremendous deception. And the result of this is in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth. The true servants of God have been slain by this system because when a prophet gets up and denounces all this, he's not popular. He is slain or persecuted in some other way. And it says in this Babylon has been found the blood of all the prophets who stood against their corruptions and their immorality and their worldliness and of all the saints and of the many, many people who have been slain on the earth. Think of the multitudes who have been slain through the love of money, through the pursuit of pleasure and through the pursuit of power and honor. In this spirit, we find the murderer of millions and millions of people in the history of the human race. That's why the Lord says, have nothing to do with this. Come out of it. Now chapter 19 and verse one, after these things, I heard as it were a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments that's referring to his judgment on the harlot Babylon now are true and righteous for he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his bond servants on her. Hallelujah is a charismatic word. It's found mostly in charismatic circles and Pentecostal circles. Now I wish that all charismatics and Pentecostals would study the Bible to find out the only four places in the New Testament where the word Hallelujah occurs. Hallelujah occurs in the New Testament in only four places and all those four places are in chapter 19 verses one to six. And do you know why they say Hallelujah? Because Babylon is judged. I wish we had more charismatic praise meetings of that type. Hallelujah, Lord, Babylon is going to be judged. Your judgments are true and right, but there are people sitting in Babylon, charismatic Babylonians who don't understand and there's where the magic spell of the sorcery of Babylon has deceived them. This is the first time in the New Testament that the word Hallelujah occurs and what are they saying Hallelujah for? Hallelujah, Lord, because you've judged the great harlot who was in one translation it says who poisoned the earth, who poisoned the earth. You know how much poison you need in a glass of milk to kill a person? A few drops. That's how Babylon corrupts the Christian faith. It's not all wrong, it's truth mixed with error. A glass of milk with a few drops of this poison sufficient to kill. Who has poisoned the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his bond servants on her. That's the first reason for shouting Hallelujah and verse 3 says the second reason is exactly the same. Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever. Think of that, brothers and sisters. There's such terrific joy in heaven when the harlot is judged. The Bible says in Luke chapter 15 verse 10 that there's joy in heaven when a sinner repents. We can understand that. We read in Revelation 12 verse 12 that there's joy in heaven when the believers overcome Satan. Here it says there's joy in heaven, Revelation 18 20, rejoice oh heaven because the harlot is judged and that is something which the devil has hidden from many people. There is joy in heaven when a sinner repents, Luke 15 10. There's joy in heaven when a believer overcomes, Revelation 12 verse 11 and 12. There's joy in heaven when the harlot Babylon is exposed her sorcery made manifest for all to see her deceptions exposed and judged once and for all and we need to anticipate that joy and say thank you Lord. I praise God that one day this corrupt system that calls itself Christianity and has no interest in following in the footsteps of Jesus taking up the cross every day is only interested in having a good time in this world becoming great and making money in the name of religion and all this garbage that goes on in the name of Jesus Christ. Popes and pastors and priests with their crosses and their dresses and their miters and crowns and all the garbage that's accumulated and christened them through the years and their feasts and their festivals and everything else is going to go down in the crash. Hallelujah her smoke ascends forever and ever. We need to get something of the spirit of heaven into us as much as there is joy in heaven over a sinner who repents and over a believer who triumphs. There is joy in heaven that this corrupt system that's deceived millions of people in these 2,000 years is finally brought crashing down and burnt up completely by God and if we are one in spirit with God we will share that joy and it says in Revelation 19 fourth of 24 elders they get excited about this too and the four living creatures they fell down and worship God who sits on the throne and for the third time there's another hallelujah for the same reason. Have you seen that? Three times hallelujah because the harlot is judged. Have you got that? This is the reason for hallelujah in the New Testament and that's significant. He who has ears to hear let him hear and a voice came from the throne saying here's the fourth hallelujah coming and notice the reason for that. Give praise to our God all you his bondservants you who fear him the small and the great. I'll tell you something we can enter into the praise of heaven and the hallelujah over the judgment of the harlot only if we are his bondservants. Verse five that means we have become his love slaves and if we fear him and his word the small and the great. I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters verse six and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying hallelujah the Lord our God the almighty reign. This is a tremendous reason for praising God that God is on the throne and something more listen this is the contrast of the judgment of the harlot the fourth reason for the hallelujah let us rejoice. Here is the fourth reason why heaven rejoices. I told you heaven rejoices when a sinner repents when a believer overcomes when the harlot is judged and number four reason when the bride of the lamb is ready for the marriage be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and here's the reason to rejoice and to shout hallelujah the fourth time his bride has made herself ready. It's a tremendous statement it doesn't say the Lord made her ready read it carefully all stupidity comes because we don't read the scriptures carefully she made herself ready never forget that brothers and sisters it's you and I who are going to decide whether we're going to be ready for the coming of the Lord and I want to show you three verses in that connection 1 John 3 verse 3 in 1 John 3 verse 2 it speaks about the second coming of Christ when he comes we shall be like him because we will see him as he is and everyone who has this hope for the second coming of Christ what does he do verse 3 purifies himself when does he stop purifying himself when he reaches the purity of him Jesus Christ just as he is pure I purify myself if I have the living hope of Christ coming and I can read verse 3 like this the corollary of it the opposite of it and everyone who does not have the hope of the second coming of Christ is identified by this fact that he does not purify himself in his daily life that's clear another verse is 2nd Corinthians 7 2nd Corinthians 7 and verse 1 this is again a similar word as we read in Revelation 18 notice 2nd Corinthians 6 17 come out from their midst and be separate says the Lord come out of her my people we read in Revelation 18 4 same thing here 2nd Corinthians 6 17 then if you have such a I will be a father to you verse 18 and you shall be my sons and daughters says the Lord Almighty therefore chapter 7 verse 1 having these promises beloved what shall we do let us cleanse ourselves many believers know that the Lord cleanses them that's one side of the truth they do not know how to cleanse themselves what do they cleanse themselves from from all defilement of flesh and spirit how far are we to cleanse ourselves till every defilement of flesh and spirit has gone out of my life and I perfect holiness in the fear of God this is the bride of Christ the one who has made herself ready who has purified herself according to 1 John 3 3 who has cleansed herself according to 2nd Corinthians 7 1 from all defilement of flesh and spirit 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and verse 20 and 21 2nd Timothy 2 20 and 21 in a large house this is referring to the church there are not only gold and silver vessels these are the overcomers then there are vessels of wood and earthenware which are for dishonorable use and I start off as a vessel of earthenware and wood for dishonorable use because I live according to the lust of my flesh but then I can transform myself into a vessel of gold and silver how verse 21 if a man cleanses himself not if a man prays to the Lord to cleanse him the Lord can forgive me when I have sinned but I have to cleanse myself from that which I see to be evil in my life that comes through repentance that is what I said Jezebel did not want she repented not she did not cleanse herself she did not purify herself therefore she remained a vessel unto dishonorable use finally judged but if a man cleanses himself from these he will be a gold and silver vessel a vessel for honor sanctified useful to the master and so we see in revelation 19 verse 7 his bride has made herself ready and yet that's one side of the truth the other side of the truth it is God who has helped her in her self-purification because it says in verse 8 it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean given to her means it was a gift and yet it was a gift that was made possible because she responded to the exhortations of scripture for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saint now the bible says we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ but it also says in romans 8 4 that the righteousness of the law should then be fulfilled inside of us and that comes through the daily life where it says here notice what is the dress of the bride the dress of the bride is her own righteous action not the righteousness of Christ that's so clear from revelation 19 8 we got to be blind as a bat not to see it her own righteous acts are her dress how did she get these righteous acts because she took those scriptures seriously to cleanse herself to purify herself to purge herself to make herself clean to prepare herself she took that seriously she took the exhortation seriously in philippians 2 13 which says let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling every time i work out my salvation with fear and trembling in the power of the holy spirit from some sin to which i've been a slave i put one more stitch on my wedding garments and over a period of years i have woven my own wedding garments what about a christian who has taken it all carelessly who said oh the blood of jesus cleanses me and i just live as i like you know what that christian is described in where that christian is described in chapter revelation 16 verse 15 behold i'm coming like a thief blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments lest he walk about naked you mean there are people going to walk about naked on the wedding day imagine a bride coming naked on the wedding day she'd have to run she's not the bride she's not the bride at all and yet there are people it says who are going to be naked in that day why naked because they did not take seriously the exhortations of scripture they have no garments they have no righteous acts of their own that is the deception of babylon that is the mystery of iniquity that's the magic spell that babylon has cast upon so many christians saying you're clothed with the righteousness of christ now it doesn't matter how you live as it were that is a tremendous deception her own righteousness is her wedding dress of course this is not the righteousness which is like filthy rags but that righteousness which is fulfilled in the power of the holy spirit as we have walked in the footsteps of jesus in the situations of daily life and we read here the dress of the bride is fine linen verse 8 bright and clean it's very wonderful to see the contrast between the simplicity of this new covenant bride and the godliness of babylon with purple and scarlet and gold and the bride of christ in no gold no purple no scarlet the color is not mentioned it doesn't say it's white but it does say it's fine linen bright and clean the emphasis is on the cleanliness and the brightness and the purity notice the verse in psalm 45 psalm 45 psalm 45 verse 13 this is a bridal psalm sometime when you get time you can read it it's a psalm about the marriage of the lamb we don't have time to read through the whole psalm but it's in the middle of this psalm which deals with the marriage of the lamb that you have that wonderful verse in psalm 45 verse 7 thou is loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore god thy god has anointed you with the oil of joy it's very significant that this verse comes in the middle of the psalm dealing with the marriage of the lamb and then it says about the bride verse 13 the king's daughter the bride is all glorious where not on the outside but on the inside she has a meek and a quiet spirit her clothing is interwoven with gold inside she is glorious within and not on the outside and thus she will be led to the king and that's word is going to be fulfilled in revelation 19 verse 8 further we move on to verse 9 he said to me right blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are true words of god now that seems to indicate to me fairly clearly that there are people who are not going to be in the bride of christ when it says in verse 9 blessed are those who are invited a bride is not invited to her own wedding those are others who don't belong to the bride who have not been so faithful to qualify to be in the bride of christ but who have still trusted the lord kept themselves pure from babylon they're not part of babylon and yet they were not wholehearted enough to be in the bride of christ you remember what jesus said the seed that was sown on the good ground did not all bring forth fruit alike one brought forth 30 fold another 60 fold and the third 100 fold it's all good ground but we could say the hundred fold is part of the bride of christ and the 30 fold and the 60 fold are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb there is a difference even among those who obey the word of god even among those who have steered clear of babylon there are there is a difference in the wholeheartedness and zeal with which each person judges himself and cleanses himself and makes his wedding garment ready but it is blessed to be among the 30 fold in the 60 fold too blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are the true words of god just in case anybody thinks this is just some man's crazy idea the holy spirit has inserted that right there because that's the very thought that may be passing through somebody somebody's mind right here oh these are just some ideas aired out here and how wonderful the holy spirit brings that right on saying these are the true words of god and then john was so excited at this he said he fell at his feet to worship this person who was showing him all this and here is the mark of a true servant of god he said to me don't do that don't worship me don't get attached to me a true servant of god will always direct you to jesus not allow you to get attached to him anyone who wants you to get attached to him which is a form of worship is a counterfeit servant of god you see that in christendom today i tell you i have seen it all over believers who virtually adore and worship some great man of god and that man of god is a counterfeit if he doesn't turn away that worship and say don't do that they may not fall down at their feet but various other equivalents of that where they almost hang on every word that this man says they live by every word that proceeds out of his mouth instead of every word that proceeds out of god's mouth brother can you tell me what i should do please find out the will of god for me for this should i do this should i do that should i do the other they live by every word from his mouth that is idolatry and there's a lot of so-called prophecy these days which is being abused like that no this man says don't do that i'm a servant he says like you notice the immediate reaction that's the mark of a man of god as soon as he sees somebody adoring him or getting too attached to him he immediately reacts and pushes him off and says nothing of the sort don't you do that to me i'm just a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of jesus he says all i'm doing is holding to the same testimony that jesus held to the torch that jesus held in his earthly lifetime proclaiming for example what he preached in the sermon on the mount blessed are the pure in heart they shall see god he says i'm just proclaiming the same thing i'm just holding forth the torch that jesus held in his earthly lifetime all the things that he said there in the sermon on the mount the same testimony i'm holding that's all you must worship god not man for here's a beautiful definition of prophecy of true prophecy very important in these days when there's so much counterfeit prophecy the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy now that has two meanings the testimony of jesus one is that true prophecy always testifies to jesus not to the so-called man of god standing up saying thus said the lord if a man draws you to himself through prophecy attaches you to himself write it off as a false prophecy the spirit of prophecy the testimony of jesus that's one meaning of it the second meaning of the testimony of jesus is that that truth as i just said which jesus held up in his earthly lifetime is the spirit behind all true prophecy even today in other words if you were to read what jesus spoke in the gospel what did he speak on most of the time read that and you'll get a pretty clear guideline as to who is a true prophet today if we don't know what jesus taught in his earthly lifetime we haven't been careful to read through the gospel we will be deceived by much prophecy today because 99 of what goes under the name of christian prophecy today is not holding forth the same thing that jesus held forth in his earthly lifetime you just got to read through the sermon on the mount to get a brief sample of jesus preaching and see whether today's prophecy conforms to that the testimony of jesus that which jesus held forth is the spirit of true prophecy the counterfeit we see plenty of it today now we move on to chapter 19 verse 11 this is referring to the second coming of christ i saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he who sat upon it is called faithful and true this is referring to jesus christ coming down to earth like we said last time with his feet standing on the mount of olives you remember when we studied chapter 6 verse 2 there was a man riding a white horse that was the counterfeit of this the antichrist here is the christ himself he who sat upon it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war notice the emphasis again and again on righteousness and judgment we saw that in verse 2 of chapter 19 his judgments are true and righteous we saw that repeatedly in 16 and again here in chapter 19 verse 11 see one of the problems many people have is how can god judge so many people and consign them to hell that's why we find so often in the book of revelation the word righteousness connected with judgment god's judgment will all be righteous he wages war and his eyes are as a flame of fire penetrating through to the deepest motives and attitudes in our heart his head many diadems proclaiming him to be king of kings he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself he's got a new name which we also saw in revelation chapter 3 he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood symbolizing the fact that the blood that jesus shed on the cross is something that will be spoken of and that he'll be remembered for eternally you know all those who are resurrected to be with the lord eternally will be cured of all their physical disfigurement if a man for example was lame or without a hand on earth in his resurrection body he'll have a completely whole body everybody in heaven will be healed of all their wounds and all their disfigurements except jesus who will have the wounds in his body the wounds of the cross by which he will be recognized the beautiful song we sing i shall know him i shall know him when by his side i shall stand i shall know him by the print of the nails in his hands he's one person who's going to have nail prints in his hands in eternity the robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of god here's another name of jesus he's called verse 11 faithful and true he's called by a new name which we still don't know what it is verse 12 verse 13 he's also called the word of god and he has another name verse 16 king of kings and lord of lords and verse 14 speaks of the armies of heaven the overcomers who are called chosen and faithful the 144 000 clothed in fine linen white and clean notice again the emphasis on purity not godliness but purity we're following him on white horses and from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may smite the nation and that speaks of the word of god with which the nations are going to be judged and he will rule them with a rod of iron that's going to be true when jesus sets up his kingdom on the earth and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of god the almighty jesus once said that the father john 5 22 has committed all judgment to the son jesus is going to execute the judgment through his word john 12 48 the word i have spoken will judge people in the final day and so that's what we see here with a word with a sword from his mouth and treading the winepress of the fierce wrath of god the almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords that is what he is and now in verse 17 onwards we find another description of the battle of armageddon now we've already seen references to the battle of armageddon in chapter 16 and in chapter 14 it's mentioned again here i i told you many times that in the book of revelation is not in sequential chronological order it gives us a preview of the whole future and then goes back and fills in details another preview right up to the end and fills in detail and that's why we find references to this final battle of armageddon again and again it's one battle but it's mentioned many times in the book of revelation but it is going to take place in when jesus descends with his saints to the earth that is the time when this battle of armageddon is going to take place and zachariah chapter 14 says it's just going to take one day in one day the whole thing will be over and we see here an angel standing in the sun verse 17 and he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven come assemble for the great supper of god this is a slightly different type of supper from the marriage supper of the lamb here it is a supper to feed on the flesh verse 18 of kings and commanders and mighty men and horses and those who sit on them in the flesh of men both free men and slaves small and great significant that five times the word flesh comes in verse 18 men who have lived according to the flesh and according to the lusts of their flesh are going to be gathered together in armageddon and that's going to be connected with the return of christ the very day christ returned now i want you to notice a verse which is very difficult of interpretation in luke chapter 17 but perhaps we can get some light from it as we see it in this passage when jesus returns and the battle of armageddon is going to take place a one-day battle the battle of armageddon is the antichrist leading all the forces of the world fighting against the lord moved by satanic spirits around the north of jerusalem and that's the time that jesus christ is going to come down in glory and in relation to the second coming of christ jesus said in luke 17 30 it'll be just the same on the day that the son of man is revealed and he says about verse 34 of one being taken another being left and one being taken another being left in verse 35 and then the disciples asked verse 37 where lord and he said where the body is there will the vultures be gathered together what does that mean that means the battle of armageddon where the vultures are going to be gathered around these dead bodies and jesus is going to come there's going to be a tremendous uh death going to take place there verse 19 of revelation 19 i saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat upon the horse and against his army now at this point i'd like you to turn back to ezekiel chapter 38 we don't have the time to read through this in detail but again if you have time sometime you could read through ezekiel chapter 38 and chapter 39 that is a description of the battle of armageddon again in greater detail you see it ends up with the same type of description in chapter 39 verse 17 the lord says speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field assemble and come for this great sacrifice verse 18 you shall eat the flesh of mighty men and so on you verse 20 you shall be glutted at my table with horses and charioteers and then verse 21 i'll set my glory among the nations when jesus sets his kingdom on the earth now we see ezekiel 38 the first few verses son of man set your face toward god of the land of magog this is referring to europe the people who populated europe the descendants of noah gog and magog were descendants of noah mentioned in genesis chapter 10 mishak tubal the prince of rash which could probably refer to russia moscow and tobolsk in siberia but it says the prince of all this which which means there's going to be someone who is the antichrist who is going to lead all these armies that includes russia it includes other nations in europe as we've seen 10 nations coming together but headed up by one person the prince of all this and it speaks about other nations in verse 5 and 6 persia ethiopia put gomer with all its troops bet togerma referring to eastern germany and those countries in eastern europe and it goes on to speak about this battle of armageddon which finally ends with the lord destroying all the armies and we see how things are sort of hotting up for that final battle now with all the armies lining up turning back to revelation 19 it says the beast this is the prince mentioned in ezekiel 38 revelation 1920 the beast the antichrist was seized and with him the false prophet the religious deceiver who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image and these two were thrown alive listen to that word there have been two people who've been taken alive to heaven do you know who they are enoch and elijah here are not the first two but these are the certainly the first two who are going to go into the lake of fire these two were thrown alive they didn't die they were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone and all the rest of the people in the battle were killed with the sword with the word of god which came forth from the mouth of jesus and all the birds were filled with their flesh i would just want to say one word about this being thrown alive into the lake of fire when we come to the latter part of chapter 20 i'll explain to you how there is a difference between what we commonly know as hell and the lake of fire because when you come to the end of chapter 20 you find verse 14 that even hell was thrown into the lake of fire the lake of fire is the ultimate destination of all the wicked but temporarily they are in a place which is a place of fire but which is known as hades in the new testament sheol s-h-e-o-l in the old testament or in common language hell now in the old testament there were some people who went alive into hell just like enoch and elijah went alive to heaven i don't know whether you know who they are they are described in numbers chapter 16 as far as we know the only people who uh who went alive into hell just like enoch and elijah were the only people who went alive to heaven and it's very significant to see the reason why they went alive into hell these are korah dathan abiram and their families about 250 people and the reason god we read about them in number 16 and verse 32 the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up and their households and all the men who belonged to korah with their possessions so they and all that belonged to them went down alive to hell you see that they went down alive to sheol and the earth closed over them you know the reason listen carefully they rebelled against the spiritual authority that god had placed over them that was moses they rebelled against that spiritual authority moses had come forth to them with the prophetic word of god and these people had the spirit of lucifer you read numbers chapter 16 sometimes and you'll understand why they were thrown alive into hell they coveted that position of leadership which moses had and they criticized moses behind his back and they wanted to be the leader when god had not called them to be the leader and that was the sin of lucifer who wanted to exalt himself to god and god sent them to the same place where lucifer belonged the earth opened up and in the battle of armageddon we find this spirit of rebellion which has worked up through these six thousand years coming to a a pitch it's like a an abscess that's come to a point the last moment before it burst this abscess this massive mountain of an abscess filled with the spirit of rebellion within we are in the living in the days when it's just about to burst in the battle of armageddon it'll burst it's coming to a head headed up finally by the antichrist and he's going to be sent alive now that teaches us that god hates rebellion so much children rebelling against their parents rebelling against authorities in our place of work rebelling against spiritual authority in the church now when i say spiritual authority i'm not talking about babylonian priests they are deceivers come out of her my people but i'm talking about true shepherds we got to beware of a spirit of rebellion that is what the antichrist finally heads up and that's what jesus finally destroyed that's significant that like korra went alive to hell we find the antichrist and the false prophet are sent alive to the lake of fire so we move on to chapter 20 this is the end the battle of armageddon is over in a moment and then jesus has set his feet upon the mound of olives and the mound of olives splits apart into two and something happens to prepare the earth for the thousand year reign of christ i saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key of the abyss the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold of the dragon the serpent of old who is the devil and satan you see the devil is not yet cast into the lake of fire he's going to be cast into the lake of fire later notice the sequence of events now the battle of armageddon before that the wrath of god in the seven trumpets in the seven vials before which those who love the lord are taken up then the wrath of god poured out and then jesus comes down with the overcomers and the battle of armageddon over in a day and then the antichrist and the false prophet thrown into the lake of fire and then the devil not yet thrown into the lake of fire because something more has to happen he is temporarily chained for a thousand years verse two in the bottomless pit called the abyss you remember that man who had a legion of demons inside him who came to jesus once and jesus wanted to send those demons out of him and the demons said lord please don't send us into the bottomless pit and they said also you can read that in luke chapter 8 and verse 31 in matthew chapter 8 verse 29 they said lord they said have you come to torment us before our time matthew 8 29 have you come to torment us to send us to the bottomless pit before our time they know they're destined there but they know the time has not yet come here is the time when the devil is going to be bound and i believe the demons will be bound along with him for a thousand years thrown into this bottomless pit and the angel shut it and sealed it once lucifer was the head of the angels now one of the junior angels comes and locks him up the one who was the leader one he who exalts himself will be humbled and there are three stages in the devil's four stages sorry in the devil's fall first isaiah 14 he was cast down from the third heaven to the second heaven second he's cast down from the second heaven to the earth in revelation chapter 12 the third stage from the earth he's cast down to the bottomless pit revelation 20 and the fourth stage is the end of revelation 20 when he's thrown into the lake of fire forever he who exalts himself will be humbled just like jesus was raised up from the grave up all the way up to the throne of god he who humbled himself will be exalted there are these two spirits operating in the world and all of us are being caught up in one of these spirits either the spirit of humbling ourselves or the spirit of exalting ourselves he who has years to hear can hear and the devil was thrown into the bottomless pit and the angel shut it and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the nations notice the emphasis is not on torturing people many people are afraid of the devil harming them physically or in some other way the emphasis in the word of god is not on physical harm but on deception which is a million times worse than physical harm jesus said don't be afraid of the people who can just kill your body but be careful of the devil and his wilds the bible says his deceptions with which he leads us astray so that we are finally lost in hell the magic spells of babylon through which the devil deceives us so that he should not deceive the nations any longer the thousand years the devil will not be able to deceive the nations listen to this after the thousand years he will again be released onto the earth for a short time but there is going to be this thousand year period adam was created by god as far as the calculation of the ages are given in the bible if you take time to calculate it there are ages given all the way from adam down till now about six thousand years ago adam to noah was about two thousand years and then on to uh anyway adam to christ was about four thousand years and from christ on till now is about two thousand years that's six thousand years now god has ordained for man a very simple law which says six days you will labor and the seventh day you will rest second peter chapter three verses eight to ten tells us that one day is with the lord as a thousand years so we could put one thousand years per day and say six thousand years you will labor and then you will enter into the thousand years the one day of rest that's what we are about to enter now we i believe are the most privileged generation that has lived on the face of the earth since the time of adam i wonder if we realize it most people don't that's the tragedy that most christians don't they live so much for the things that are all going to perish instead of wholeheartedly living for the kingdom of god in these last days that's the thousand years when jesus is going to set up his kingdom on earth and a little description of that kingdom is given us in isaiah chapter 11 we can read there in isaiah 11 verses six to nine that when the devil is bound and jesus is set up his throne in jerusalem and the saints of god are going to rule over the earth over the cities of the earth no more corruption no more bribery it says in isaiah 11 6 the wolf will dwell with the lamb the leopard will lie down with the kid goat the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and little boy will lead them and the cow and the bear will graze the young lion will lie down together the lion will eat like the ox in other words there won't be any non-vegetarians on the earth anymore after that you know that adam was a vegetarian by the way genesis chapter one it says god did not allow adam to eat animals he only allowed him to eat plants and leaves and fruit but after the flood in noah's time in genesis chapter nine god told noah from now on you are permitted to eat meat as just like you've eaten fruit and plants till now so god himself commanded man to be a non-vegetarian but there's a time going to come when uh that's why it says those who preach that you shouldn't eat meat on fridays are preaching a doctrine of demons or any other day for that matter that's just in passing but in the millennium it says here they're not going to eat flesh anymore the lion will eat straw like the ox in other words it will be back to the garden of eden that's the point it'll be back to the garden of eden and the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra the serpent will not be poisonous imagine that with no more thistles and thorns on the earth the snakes no longer poisonous the animals no longer fierce because the cause of it all rebellious man has been removed from the face of the earth oh what a shame it is that the animals suffer we read that in romans chapter 8 verse 25 onwards creation is groaning waiting for what for the revelation of the sons of god creation the animal kingdom is waiting for the sons of god to come forth and take over this world which has been ruled for 6 000 years by the sons of the devil that day is very near us brothers and sisters jesus is coming and that thousand year reign is going to come and it says in verse 4 i saw throne revelation 20 verse 4 now i saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them and i saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of jesus not because they healed the sick but because they held forth the same testimony that jesus held forth what did jesus say to philip my kingdom is not of this world therefore my servants will not fight that is the testimony jesus stood forth with a testimony of purity and goodness love your enemies bless them that curse you those who stood for the testimony of jesus and because of the word of god without compromise the full counsel of god those who had not worshiped the antichrist who did not get his mark on their fore in their palms or in their forehead and who did not receive that mark they came to life hallelujah that's the resurrection and they reigned with christ on this earth for a thousand years do you think everybody's going to reign you got to be blind as a bat to believe that everybody's going to reign not everybody's going to reign it's the overcomer those who sat on these thrones like jesus said in revelation 321 he who overcomes will sit with me on my throne not everyone those who stood for the testimony of jesus and the word of god who did not compromise who suffered who were beheaded in one way or the other the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed this is the first resurrection brothers and sisters this is what we look forward to the first resurrection the coming of jesus christ he who has ears to hear let him hear blessed and holy verse 6 is the one who has a part in this first resurrection yes if we take it seriously we can be in that number when jesus returns in glory we can be a part of that first resurrection which paul prayed that he would be a part of he says if by any means philippians 3 11 i may attain to the resurrection from among the dead that's what he longed for that's what we should long for too