In this sermon, the preacher discusses the final judgments of God and the coming of Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that mankind has reached the peak of rebellion against God, and it is now time for God's final judgments to be executed. The preacher mentions an angel with a sharp sickle who gathers the vine of the earth and casts it into the wine press of God's wrath. He also mentions a lost satellite that was supposed to carry the everlasting gospel, highlighting the importance of spreading the message of salvation. The sermon concludes with a prayer of gratitude for Jesus' redemptive work and a call to hide God's word in our hearts.

Shall we turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 13. John said, I stood upon the sand of the sea, probably the Mediterranean Sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads, ten horns. Upon his horns, the ten crowns. Upon his head, the name of blasphemy. The sea represents, of course, the multitudes of people, the Mediterranean Sea, the multitudes of people that live around the Mediterranean Sea. And out of it, he sees this hydra-headed beast, seven heads, ten horns. We're told in the book of Revelation, the seven heads are the seven mountains upon which the beast sits. The ten horns are ten kings. Daniel, as he also describes, the beast that he cannot really describe, the nondescript type of a beast, it had ten horns. And again, the Lord told Daniel that the ten horns were the ten kings that were going to give power to the beast. So, there is going to arise upon the earth a ten-nation federation. Ten kingdoms federating together. Daniel chapter 2, the vision of, or dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation by Daniel. And there shall arise, Daniel said, the eleventh, which shall destroy three. Speaking blasphemous things, he'll take control, take power. And so, the rise of the beast, the Antichrist, the one who is going to rise to take over the control of the earth, speaking, as Paul said, blasphemous things against God. Daniel makes reference of his blasphemies. He shall speak great words, he said, against the Most High, shall wear out the saints in the Most High. And the beast which I saw was likened to a leopard. His feet were like a bear. His mouth was the mouth of a lion. And the dragon, who of course is Satan, gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. Now, where is Satan's throne? It's on this earth. We say the earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof, and all they that dwell therein. That's prophetic. The earth right now is under Satan's control. This is his place of dominion. He rules. Jesus came to redeem the world back to God. Satan took him into a high mountain, showed him all of the kingdoms of the world. And he said, all of these will I give unto you in the glory of them if you will bow down and worship me, for they are mine and I can give them to whomever I will. Now, the fact that they are still Satan's is demonstrated by the fact that the Antichrist, which is yet future, receives from him his authority, his power, and his throne. And so, Satan is going to invest in a man all of his power, all of his authority. It will be Satan incarnate. And I saw one of the heads, as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. Now, we are told a little further down, verse 14, that the false prophet that comes says to the people who dwell upon the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. This man will be a world leader. There will be an assassination attempt, apparently successful. But he miraculously survives the deadly wounds. Though, according to Zachariah, it will probably leave him blinded in his right eye and without the use of his right arm. Yet, the very fact that he survives this assassination attempt causes the world to marvel and it brings him immediately into a prominent position in the minds of so many people because it is by a definite miracle that this man survives. One of his heads, as it were, wounded to death, but the deadly wound was healed. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power to the beast. Satan worshiped. All people wouldn't worship Satan. That's ridiculous. We used to think that, didn't we? And now they have the satanic church. And people are consciously, knowingly worshiping Satan. And here, they worship the dragon through his incarnated person, the Antichrist. And they say, who is likened to the beast? And who is able to make war with him? He will have tremendous power. Tremendous authority. He will subdue three probably of the most powerful kingdoms to take over the rule. He will put to death the two witnesses who have up to this point been invincible. We remember last week in chapter 11, the two witnesses, whoever would try to hurt them, they would call fire down from heaven and consume them. And they have been invincible up until this point. And the beast destroys them. Puts them to death. And so the world will marvel at this man's power. And they'll say, who can make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. Again, this is mentioned by Daniel both in chapter 7 and chapter 11, I believe it is. Excuse me. And power was given unto him to continue for three and a half years, 42 months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is his dwelling place, and them that dwell in heaven. Now, this man is a man of open blasphemy. Again, Paul makes mention of that in 2 Thessalonians 2 as Paul talks about the man of sin, son of perdition. So he opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God, speaking blasphemies against God. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And power was given to him over all the families, tongues, and nations. Now, this war with the saints and overcomes them is also predicted in Daniel. He makes war with the saints, Daniel said, and prevails against them. These saints could not be the church of Jesus Christ. When Jesus announced to Peter His church, He said, Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. There's no way that Satan can prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. But these are the people who have received Christ during this final seven year period after the church has been taken out. As a result of the witnesses, of those two witnesses, or the witness of the 144,000, these people have received Jesus Christ as Lord, has acknowledged Jesus as their Lord. But He will make war against them and prevail against them. He has power to put to death. And He will put to death those that believe in Jesus Christ. But being martyred is preferable to submitting to His authority or worshiping Him. Because we will find out in the next chapter that if anybody worships Him, they lose any chance of salvation forever. And so, John tells us here of the rain over all of the families of the earth, the tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So, there is interestingly enough a book of life. And Moses made mention of this when he was praying to God in interceding for the nation of Israel. God forgive. And if not then, he said, I pray You will blot my name out of Your book of remembrances. The book of life is mentioned again here in the book of Revelation. Paul makes mention of it. And Paul tells us that our names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Now here is the book of life of the Lamb, the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. Now, there is a teaching that I feel borders on blasphemy of the character of God that declares the limited knowledge of God. In other words, it would deny that God is omniscient, that He knows all things. And this teaching basically declares that Adam disappointed God and took Him by surprise when Adam sinned. That then the plan of redemption was inaugurated. Now that Adam blew it, what are we going to do? And the redemption plan was then devised. But here, the plan of redemption, we are told existed before the foundation of the world, before man was ever created. God knew. Why would God create man if He knew He was going to blow it? Because God desired fellowship. God desired meaningful fellowship with man. It's a big universe. You could get awfully lonely in the universe. But to have true friends, to have meaningful relationship with them, there's got to be this freedom. God could create robots. The worship of a robot would be meaningless. The robot says, I love you. But how do you know? It's all programmed into his computer. You could also program into the computer, I hate you. Again, it wouldn't do too much to you and go home all devastated because the robot said, I hate you. It's just a robot. It doesn't have any will of its own. It's only spitting out what's been programmed in. God could have made us that way, little robots, spitting out what's programmed in. But you really wouldn't have a meaningful relationship. You'll never develop a meaningful relationship with a robot. You'll have a more meaningful relationship with your dog than you will a robot. Because your dog can disobey you at times too, you know. He has the will. You usually make him submit to your will, but he has a will of his own. And so you can develop a relationship of sorts with a dog, but you'll never be able to develop a relationship with a robot. So God made us with our free wills in order that my relationship with him might be meaningful because I don't have to relate to God. I can blaspheme God if I want. I can turn my back on God and say, hey, don't want it. And because there is that capacity and because my relationship with God is something that is volitional on my part, I want to relate to him. I desire and long for this relationship. I love him. And my declaration of such is meaningful then because it is the expression of my will. You see, I don't have to. I'm not forced to. So, from the foundation of the world, God knew that man was going to sin. God was ready to redeem man using, really, a strong incentive for man to come to God, declaring God's love to man. I mean, how can God show you that He loves you more than by sending His Son to die in your place? Greater love, Jesus said, is no man than this. And a man will lay down his life for it. The supreme sacrifice showing supreme love. No man can ever doubt God's love who looks at the cross. And it is interesting that God never seeks to prove His love for you apart from the cross. There is not one Scripture where God tries to prove His love for you except those that relate to the cross. God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. Here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and gave His Son as a propitiation for our sins. For God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. And God giving His Son to you is the only way by which God has ever sought to prove that He loves you. Sometimes in our relationships, as puerile as they often are, we say, prove that you love me. What do you want? Seize candy. Or at Calvary, hell and grace candy. Prove that you love me. Well, if you would say to God, prove that you love me, He would just point to the cross. There's the proof. It's the only proof you'll ever need. Jesus died for your sins. And that was a part of God's plan from the foundation of the world. Now, because God knows all things, that's when He wrote your name in that book. Knowing my response to His love and grace, my name was written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Now, someone has suggested that God wrote everybody's name in. But then those who refuse to receive the grace of God, their names are blotted out. I don't know. But here we are told that those that dwell upon the earth whose names were not written. So, it sort of contradicts that concept. Everybody's name was written. Whose names were not written in the book of life or are not written in the book of life. Slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. Whenever the Lord has had something quite important to say, He usually throws in that little, He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity. Now, the Antichrist is making war against the saints, taking them captive, destroying them. But they that live by the sword will die by the sword. Those that take those believers into captivity will themselves soon be taken into captivity. He that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. And here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And so, it's a word of encouragement to the saints who are going to be experiencing this horrible persecution from the Antichrist. And I beheld another beast, false prophet, coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb. In other words, he looked like a lamb, but he spoke like the dragon. Jesus said, Beware of false prophets who will come to you in sheep's clothing. The one thing about the false prophet is that he never looks like a false prophet. Satan never looks like the caricatures of Satan. He does not have horns, a forked tail, and a pitchfork in his hand. And he doesn't wear a red leotard. He would like you to think that he did. He would like you to think that he is some grotesque looking character that would scare the wits out of you if you saw him. He would like you to think that because that way he can go around cleverly disguised as an angel of light. Beautiful. Speaking such soothing words to the flesh. Why don't you just go ahead and enjoy yourself and drink of pleasure to its full. Oh, that can't be Satan. You know, he's so charming. So enticing. Satan's ugly. I don't see any pitchfork. And that's why he's able to deceive. So the false prophet, he has horns like a lamb. Listen to what he says. Words out of hell. He exercises all of the power of the first beast which was before him. And he causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly womb was healed. So, several times there's the mention of this deadly womb being healed. And it is really sort of the rallying point by which the false prophet draws the people to worship the beast. And he does great wonders so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth and the sight of men. Now, you remember the two witnesses were doing this. They were bringing down fire from heaven. Now he duplicates it. You remember in the case of Moses going before the Pharaoh how those in Pharaoh's court, the magicians were able to duplicate to a point the miraculous things that Moses was doing. Moses threw down his rod on the floor. It became a serpent. They threw down their rods and they became serpents too. That duplication of godly miracles. Now, Satan is able to counterfeit many of the things of God. He can't counterfeit all of them. But he can counterfeit many of the things of God. And does counterfeit many of the things of God. And here is a counterfeit. The two witnesses calling down fire from heaven. Now this fellow comes along and he calls down fire from heaven in the sight of men. And he deceived them that dwell on the earth by means of the miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth they should make an image to the beast which had a wound by the sword and did live. Now again in 2 Thessalonians you have parallel type of passages in chapter 2. As the Antichrist is described, he is called whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, what cause? Because people did not love the truth. The truth of God. Jesus said I am the truth and the life. But people don't love the truth. And for this cause, if you don't love the truth God will send to them a strong delusion that they would believe a lie. That they might be damned to believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. So God is going to give them a strong delusion that they might believe in the Greek it's a definite article the lie, the big lie of Satan. The Antichrist and the false prophet. So he deceives them. They don't want to believe the truth. God gives them over to delusion. God allows them to be deceived. You know I am amazed at the things that people believe who have rejected Jesus Christ. When you reject the knowledge of the truth in Christ you are a prey to all kinds of stupidity. I am amazed at the foolish things that people do who reject the truth of Jesus Christ. Wear white robes, standing on street corners, shaving their heads and working finger symbols. Doing their little chantings. Doing their mantras. Doing their umms. Watching the people up in Oregon as they are worshipping their guru. Seeing the outlandish things that he is leading them to do. As they have mass hysteria. Heavy breathing calisthenics followed by uncontrolled screaming. Writhing on the floor, screaming. What a prey man becomes who rejects the truth. God says hey you don't want the truth or I believe a lie. You don't want to be wise and receive my grace then be stupid. And people believe and do the most stupid things who have rejected the truth of God. I am amazed at many of these college professors who you know pretend towards superior intelligence of some of the weird things that they do. Supposedly intelligent men. But because they did not love the truth God gives them over to a strong delusion that some believe a lie. Several years ago I was invited to come to a meeting of the supposed intelligentsia of Orange County. Bunch of college professors and doctors and they were supposed to be the cream of the intelligentsia. And I was brought as a specimen of ignorance so they could play games and be amused by the fact that I actually believed in a living God who created the heavens and the earth. And so I was brought for their amusement that they could eat me up. And as I sat there during their preliminaries and this one sort of leader of the group of superior intelligence sat on the floor in the lotus position and began to tell me all of his accomplishments and all of his intelligence and everything else. I felt sorry. So wise and yet so deceived, so foolish. Finally after a period of time they said, well what do you have to bring to us tonight? Because they had told me somehow that they had had LSD sessions, these very intelligent people. They called themselves seekers. They were seeking truth. And they had had LSD, they had had coke, they had had everything. You know, after all of your seekers you can excuse anything you want to do seeking truth. The one sitting in the lotus position declared that he was a Buddhist priest. He had studied Buddhism under him. I said, well, you know, you've obviously searched through everything but the fact that you call yourself seekers you're obviously still searching. I said, maybe in all of your searching you've overlooked something that you've already searched through. I said, why don't we start with basics. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. One of them interrupted me immediately and said, now when you say God are you talking about an anthropomorphic concept of God? And then some other guy started challenging him and they got in this big rhubarb. And as they were in this big rhubarb I bowed my head and I started praying. I said, God, if you get me out of this place I promise I'll never come again. I've been neglecting my wife. I haven't spent enough evenings at home with her. Lord, forgive me. I'm sorry. I should be home tonight with my wife and my family, my kids, they need me, Lord. And here I am in this mess. God, get me out of this mess, you know. Or do something. Because I knew that there was no way I was going to get anywhere and I didn't need the hassle. So finally some lady that was there said, would you guys shut up. We hear you all the time. Every week we hear you guys. Going through the same inane arguments. Now, we've invited this fellow to speak to us. The least we can do is listen. So they apologized and said, okay, you have the floor again. And I looked at them and I said, my soul and spirit are at complete rest. I'm completely satisfied. Hey, they all sat up on the edge of their seats and they started listening extremely attentively because that's something none of them could say. With all of their arguments, with all of their intelligence, with all of their background, none of them could say, my soul and spirit are at rest. I am satisfied. And the Lord allowed me to share for about an hour the richness and the fullness that can be experienced in Jesus Christ. And then the Lord got me out of there. But, in the succeeding weeks, I had several of them call, come in, and receive Jesus Christ. Because there's only one way that a man can find rest and peace and that's in and through Jesus. And you may search the world over and you may have all kinds of bizarre experiences, but you'll never have rest until you have Him. But, those who refuse the truth are open for deception. And so, He comes with deceiving wonders. And they make this image and then they have power to give life to the image of the beast. Now, there's a lot of talk lately by some of the far out physicists of creating a computer that can be biologically connected to certain types of organisms and will have life in itself. And this bio kind of computer, they've written several articles on it. There's a research group up in Canada that's working on such a thing. Sort of a computer that will be able to think on its own kind of an idea, that one that you can't turn off. And they say that this is the next step in the evolutionary process. It'll be higher than man. It'll be able to rule man and give us the answers to life and its problems and so forth because they can create it with so much more intelligence than man. And that's the talk of the far out physicist. Interestingly enough, they are going to make an image of the Antichrist, put it in the Holy of Holies of the rebuilt temple and then they're going to give life to it. Now, this is the ultimate blasphemy. This is the abomination which will cause the desolation or the great tribulation. This is the final straw. At this point, the wrath and the fury of God will be poured out upon the earth and the earth will go through a time of great tribulation such as it has never seen before or will ever see again. When the Antichrist comes to the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, proclaims himself to be God, stands in the Holy of Holies, the holy place, announcing himself as God, that's the ultimate blasphemy. They set up this image in the temple and they give power to it that it should both speak and have life. And they caused as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Now, you have sort of a historic kind of a picture with Nebuchadnezzar. You remember when he made the golden image, set it in the plains of Dura and caused everyone to bow down and worship it in order that if anyone should refuse to worship it, that they should be cast alive into the burning fiery furnace. Now, the image that he made was making a statement. Nebuchadnezzar had had a troubling dream that Daniel had interpreted. It was a great image. Had a head of gold, chest of silver, stomach of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay with ten toes. This dream interpreted was the image were the nations that would rule the world headed by Babylon, the head of gold, which was to be replaced by the Medo-Persian Empire, the chest of silver, which would be replaced by the Grecian Empire, the stomach of brass, which would be destroyed by the Roman Empire, the legs of iron. And the final world governing empire, a relationship to the Roman Empire, ten nations, the ten toes, federated together. And during the time of the reign of these ten kings, the Lord of Glory would come and establish his kingdom that would never end. Now, Nebuchadnezzar was making a statement with this image. Why? Because he made it all of gold. Thou, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold. God has given you a kingdom and reign over the earth and all. But, you're going to be replaced. He is saying, I'm not going to be replaced. Babylon will last forever. It was a statement. And people were ordered to pay obeisance to that statement, to acknowledge that Babylon would be eternal. It would not be destroyed. It would not be overthrown. It was a statement of contradiction to God's Word that declared that Babylon would be overthrown. It was a statement of rebellion against God. And people were commanded to agree to that statement by bowing down and worshiping the image. And you have that as a counterpart to this image being set up and everyone being ordered to worship this image and being put to death if they refused to worship the image. You remember that right after that, he went insane. Shortly after that, and spent seven seasons in insanity. Until what? Until he acknowledged that God did rule over the kingdoms of man and would set on the thrones those whom He would. His little statement of blasphemy against God was finally changed. And so they caused everyone, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. Now, in France they have developed and have already trial marketed a smart card. The smart card looks much like your Visa card or MasterCard, with the exception that the smart card has implanted in it a little computer chip that keeps track of your account. And if you try to use that card and you're above your limit, it just won't work. Your card knows what your limits are. It keeps the constant monitoring of your account and you can't go over your limits with this smart card. Now the Bank of Americas and Citibank of New York are extremely interested in and are looking into this smart card and they're thinking about the same thing for our use in Visa and MasterCard. In fact, there's an article in today's paper on that. I think it was in the Santa Ana Register on the smart card. Because the banks, according to the article, are extremely interested in encouraging people away from writing checks. They're getting buried in paper and they want you to start using smart cards. Now, there is, of course, already talk about the implanting of computer chips under the skin in a person's hand for a positive identification. Same kind of a thing as the smart card. The same kind of computer chip implanted under the skin of your hand and it would do the same thing. Keep track of your account so you can never overdraw. It could replace money completely. The computers could keep the whole accounting. The chip would establish your limits and you do all your buying and selling with a mark that is in your right hand. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead. This technology exists today. These smart cards are in use. They are going to now test market them in several of the cities in the United States. They've already been test marketed in France and have been successful to a point. There's still a few problems, but it has eliminated a lot of the shenanigans that take place with credit cards. Do any of you have the new security pacific card? The one with the holyograph of a dove in it? What are the last three numbers in that security card? Take a look. The numbers that appear right over the holyograph of a dove. 617. Okay. One of our pastors has one with 666. He's afraid to use it. I was curious as to whether not all of them had the 666, but evidently not. That's interesting. But they have the holyograph of a dove in the card. It's a very beautiful card. But suffice to say, technology does exist already to establish a monetary system that is based upon buying and selling with cards or identities such as a computer chip. This will be inaugurated by the false prophet. And no man will be able to buy or sell unless he has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Now, here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is 666. Now, the number of man in Scripture is 6. You're aware with biblical numerics, each number has a significance. The number 7 is the number of completeness. The number 6 is short of completeness, man, incomplete man. The number 12 is the number of human government. And number 13 is the number for Satan. And in Hebrew and Greek, it's more meaningful than in English because in the Hebrew and Greek, they also count with their alphabet. In other words, the alpha, beta, gamma, delta is 1, 2, 3, 4 as well as your ABCD. And Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Dileth, the same in Hebrew, the 1, 2, 3, 4 instead of your ABCD also, but it's also numeric so that every Greek letter has a numeric equivalent. And so you can do fun things with Greek words, such as you can total up the numeric equivalents of a Greek word. Or you can total up the numerics in it. And interestingly enough, the number 8 being the number for Jesus, it's the number of new beginnings. 7 is the complete number. 7 notes in a scale, 7 days in a week. So the 8th becomes the new beginning. You come to the 8th note, you have a new scale. So, 8 is the number of new beginnings. Significantly, it's the number of Jesus. He is the new beginning. And you total up in Greek the letters that spell Jesus and you have the number 888. And every name for Jesus, if you total up the letters, it's always divisible by 8. If you total up the letters and all of the names for Satan in Greek, it's divisible by 13. So there's a lot of interesting games that you can play with these numerics because there are the numeric values there and so there are a lot of things that could probably figure it out that are spoken cryptically in the Bible if you would follow through on this numbers program. In fact, Chuck Missler is trying to set up his computer to do this. Find what cryptic messages might exist in the Bible by setting his computer to discover these numeric patterns that exist. Now, here's the mind that has wisdom. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number. It's the number of a man and the number is 666. Probably the total numeric value of the man's name. 666. Now when we get to the 17th chapter, I'll give you another clue. And I looked and lo there was a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him there were 144,000 having his father's name written in their foreheads. Now, back in chapter 7, we remember that these 144,000 were sealed of God in their foreheads. And the angel was commanded not to hurt the earth until those could be sealed and he saw them being sealed in their foreheads 144,000, 12,000 from each of the tribes. So, there is no reason at all not to believe that these 144,000 are the same group that we saw back in chapter 7 sealed in their foreheads. Now, here we are told what the seal is. The seal is the name of the father written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters. Jesus in chapter 1 when he spoke, his voice was as many waters. The voice of great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures, the cherubim and the elders. And no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. Now, they are there. They are singing an exclusive song. They have an exclusive relationship with the Lord. They were sealed and they were preserved during a portion of the great tribulation period. And so they have that special relationship with God and they can sing of that special relationship. In the same token, we the church have a special relationship and we have our own song that no one can sing except the church. Ours is a song of redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ and we find it back in chapter 5 and they sang a new song saying, worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals for He was slain and has redeemed us by His blood out of all of the nation's tongues, tribes and people and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign with Him upon the earth. That's a song exclusive for the church. 144,000 can't sing that song. They've got their own. Now, we find that the martyred saints have their own song in chapter 7. Angels, poor angels are left out of all of these songs. They only can join the chorus. Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory and honor and power and dominion and authority and might and all. They can join the chorus, but they can't sing the verse. That's ours. The worthiness of the Lamb who has redeemed us by His blood. The song of redemption belonging to the church. Now, these have their own songs. We can't join in. We'll listen as they declare the greatness of God and the preservation during the time of great tribulation. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb, whether soever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men. They are the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb. That is out of this great tribulation period. Now, there are several groups seek to identify themselves with 144,000 or as 144,000. Jehovah's Witnesses have sought to identify themselves as 144,000. Herbert W. Armstrong seeks to identify himself as 144,000 with his followers. And several groups have sought this identity, but very obvious, of course, to then follow through and make it possible for Herbert Armstrong. He then embraces the Anglo-Israel, British-Israel concept, you know, that the Lost Tribes, it supposes the Lost Tribes are actually the European nations. So those of the tribe of Dan came to Denmark. And Denmark is literally Dan's mark. And so the people are called Danish or Danish. And the word ish in Hebrew is man. So you have Dan's man, the Danish people of the tribe of Dan. I would not receive much comfort out of that if I were a Dane because they are the one tribe that isn't sealed of the 144,000. English-ish, you see. Swedish. Now I don't know what tribe was Swede, but they say the ish, you know, on the end of the name is meaning man in Hebrew. And so that makes them of that tribe. I think he is of the tribe of Fool-ish. Virgins following the Lamb whether so ever he goes. Now it could be that the parable of the ten virgins fits in here someplace. They are virgins. They followed the Lamb whether so ever he goes. In the Oriental weddings or what they call Oriental, the Mideastern there, the bride never knew exactly when the bridegroom, they knew, you know, they're having the big celebration and usually the wedding feast and celebration would go on for several days. But then the bride, the groom would finally take off and get the bride and come for her. And then they would put them in this carrier and they would carry them around town. And they had this big ceremony. The bride never knew exactly when he was coming during this period of time. So she had to always be ready. And she would be there with all of her girlfriends, unmarried girlfriends waiting excitedly. For these guys to come up the street, you know, with the groom and he's now coming for his bride. No, he's coming. Don't know exactly when. And as they would then bear the bride and groom through the streets, the virgins, the bridesmaids would all follow after. Just a part of the whole ceremony. Now they were not the bride, but they followed the bride and the groom. So, these 144,000 are not the bride of Christ. The church is the bride of Christ. Quite obviously, chapter 19. But these are virgins which do follow the procession. They follow the Lamb. Being the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb out of the great tribulation period. And in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of God. Oh, lucky. No, no. You are too. Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. When the Lord presents you to the Father, He's going to present you faultless. You say, impossible. Yes, that's what Jesus said. With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. When Peter said, Lord, who can be saved then? Glorious to realize that the Lord is presenting me faultless before the Father, before the throne of God. I'll be presented faultless for I will be in Christ. Now these appear faultless before the throne of God also. Speaking of that redemptive work of Jesus even in their lives. Now I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those that dwell upon the earth. And to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. A local TV station recently was advertising that they were going to put this little angel up in the sky. And their satellite that they had raised so much money for was this angel that's going to fly through carrying the everlasting gospel, their own satellite up there. Unfortunately it got lost in its orbit. They haven't been able to find that angel. Let's hope it's not a fallen angel. I think that this is not a satellite launched from the space shuttle made by RCA or Hughes. But I believe that this is an actual angelic being. Now the interesting thing to me is that he has the everlasting gospel to preach to those that dwell upon the earth to every nation, kindred and tongue and people. Now what did Jesus say would have to happen before the end could come? And the gospel of the kingdom must be preached unto all nations and then shall the end come. But interestingly enough Jesus was talking about this same period of time, the last period of time during the Great Tribulation. It's all in context with the Great Tribulation. And the gospel shall be preached as a witness to all nations. Now the church has taken that as a challenge and they said Jesus can't come again until we've preached the gospel to every nation. Now I believe that we should seek to preach the gospel to every nation but I do not believe that our failure to do so is hindering the return of Jesus Christ. Because I believe that that particular and the gospel shall be preached as a witness to all nations is a reference to this angel that flies through the midst of heaven declaring the everlasting gospel to all of the nations, kindreds and people. And he says with a loud voice that they should fear God, give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth. Now men foolishly are worshiping the heavens. They're worshiping the earth. They are worshiping, as Paul said, the creature more than the creator. Worship the God who made the heavens. That's the rational thing to do. It's irrational to worship creation. Creation testifies of a creator. The evolutionist worships creation because they did not want to retain God in their mind. God gives them over to reprobate minds, professing themselves to be wise. They become fools because they worship and serve the creature more than the creator who is blessed forevermore. So in the proclaiming of the everlasting gospel, they are given words of wisdom. Worship Him who has made the heaven and earth and sea and the rivers and the streams and the lakes. There followed another angel saying Babylon has fallen, has fallen that great city because she made all of the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And we'll get now in chapter 17, next week, complete details on this fall of Babylon as we read the very same thing and we are given details on the fall of this great religious system of Babylon. And the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if any man worships the beast and his image or receives his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Now, this means that God is going to give every man a chance. First angel proclaims the everlasting gospel. Now, this angel warns man against worshipping the beast or taking his mark so that if a man does take the mark, does worship the beast or his image, he is doing it knowingly, he is doing it willfully in willful rebellion against God because he has been deceived into thinking that in the final conflict that is soon be taking place that Satan and the forces of darkness will be able to overcome the forces of light. You listen to those who are involved in the satanic cults and satanic worship today and they do say, hey, we are winning. Just look around and you can see Christianity doesn't have a chance. We're on the winning side and they are advocating their victory. I heard some kid on Donahue the other day advocating. He was a Satan worshipper and declaring that, hey, we're winning. Just look at the world in which you live. We're winning. Evil is going to triumph over good and they're declaring their victory and they're actually deceived into believing that they will be able to triumph. Thus, when the angel goes through the skies warning them, they're taking the mark after that will be a deliberate willful act of rebellion against God. And that is why at this final opportunity the gospel will be proclaimed. God would not proclaim it unless it were the opportunity of being saved. And there is that final rejection that identifying themselves against God and thus the wrath of God is to be poured out a cup of his indignation. Indignation is a Old Testament word for the Great Tribulation. You find it used many times in the Old Testament in reference to the Tribulation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever. And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receives the mark of his name. Now, here is the patience of the saints. Now, we were also told earlier the patience of the saints is to know that, you know, they that incarcerate them will be incarcerated and so forth. They that kill with a sword must be killed with a sword. Here is the patience of the saints in this point. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write. Now, the three angels flying through the midst of heaven, but now this is another voice from heaven. Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. At this point, because of the great tribulation that's going to come upon the earth, those that are martyred by their refusal, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, who die for their testimony for the Lord. For they have ceased from their labors or they rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Now, this is also confirmed by the Spirit. Yea, saith the Spirit. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud there was one sitting like the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap. The time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. An interesting passage again, parallel passage in the book of Isaiah of him who was coming, his garments were like those who had been treading in the winepress. Jesus when he comes coming to clean up the earth and to establish his kingdom and here is pronounced the time has come. Thrust in your sickle. Reap the earth. Another angel came out from the altar which had power over fire and he cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe. Man has come to the fullness of rebellion against God and the time of God's final judgments have come and so the order to thrust in the sickle and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God and the winepress was trodden without the city and the blood came out of the winepress even unto the horses bridles by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs from the ghetto to Edom and we read in Isaiah's prophecy that he will be coming from Edom with blood or with his garments stained with blood. Who is this that comes you know with garments stained with blood in Isaiah's prophecy from Edom to Armageddon is a thousand six hundred furlongs and when this judgment comes the armies and the nations of the world will have gathered for a final conflict seeking really to overthrow the Lord on his return Psalms 2 God said why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing for they have gathered against the Lord and against his anointed his Messiah his Christ the people imagining a vain thing that they can actually overthrow Jesus Christ and prohibit him coming and establishing his reign knowing that he's coming again knowing that he's coming to that area they're gonna gather together and they actually feel they can overthrow him the people have imagined a vain thing for they've gathered together against the Lord against his Christ but he saith unto me ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession for the Lord in heaven shall laugh for he will have them in derision. I mean the stupidity of Satan and man thinking that they could actually overthrow God God will just chuckle at the thought and now we come to the prelude to the final seven plagues by which God's judgment will be completed upon the earth and the earth prepared for the reign of Jesus Christ and I saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous there were seven angels having the seven last plagues for in them is completed the wrath of God filled up accomplished and I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire the sea of glass that is before the throne of God now being mingled with fire for the fiery judgments that are to come and then that had gotten the victory over the beast and over the image and over his mark and over the number of his name and they were standing on the sea of glass having the harps of God and they sing the song of Moses the servant of God these are redeemed Israel who have been saved during the great tribulation period who have received Jesus Christ as a result of the two witnesses and 144,000 who will also be bearing witness to them at that time so they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the lamb saying great and marvelous are thy works Lord God almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints here's the song that is preceding the final judgments of God poured out upon the earth and again the justice of God is declared all the way through this great tribulation period voices from the throne from beneath the throne crying out holy and just are thy ways righteous and true are thy judgments there will never be a question or a doubt of the righteousness of God man does that now how can a God of love do this or that or the other and men challenges the justice and the righteousness of God now but when the final time comes throughout eternity there can never be any challenge of the fairness of God of the righteousness of God or of the judgments of God there will always be that declaration of holy and true are thy ways thy judgments O Lord even as God sought to protect the innocence of Jesus in his death by many testimonies pilot examined him even by scourging and after this Roman Inquisition pilot said I find no fault with him testimony of the innocence of Jesus Judas the one that betrayed him when he threw the money down on the floor said I have betrayed innocent blood a witness to the innocence of Jesus and finally even as he was hanging there on the cross the one thief said to the other we're here because we deserve to be here but this man has done nothing amiss God protected the record Jesus was innocent he was the just one dying for the guilty now through the Great Tribulation God's justice God's righteousness God's fairness is constantly being vindicated and declared just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints who shall not fear the O Lord and glorify thy name for only thou art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest and after that I looked and behold the temple of the tabernacle of his testimony in heaven was opened and the seven angels came out of the temple and they had the seven plagues clothed in pure and white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles so there are seven angels bringing now the seven final plagues the judgments of God and in this will the judgment be complete and one of the four cherubim gave to the seven angels seven golden vials little bowls full of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and no man was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled now there is in heaven a temple of which the earthly tabernacle was a model the very presence and place of God's dwelling there within the Holy of Holies and now even as when Moses established the earthly tabernacle and the presence of God came down like a cloud and Aaron and the others could not stand to minister because of the power of God's presence that was there in this cloud so now in heaven as we see the temple of God we see this cloud covering it during this final pouring forth of the judgment of God and no man has allowed entrance during this period of time I believe the reason why is that God is in his temple weeping over what is taking place upon the earth you remember Jesus said to his disciples one day he who has seen me has seen the father why sayest thou then show us the father you remember when Jesus was looking at Jerusalem and he began to weep oh Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that stonest the prophets and all that have come from God to thee how often I would have gathered you together as a hen that gathered her chicks but you would not and now is your city laid into you desolate your children are going to be slain in the streets they're going to put an embankment around you and he was describing the agony the judgment that was going to come upon Jerusalem because of their failure to recognize their day of visitation if you'd only known in this thy day the things that belong to your peace but they're hid for your eyes and now as the result of this the judgment that's going to come and Jesus was weeping as he could see the judgment that was going to come upon Jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the father God does not delight in the death of the wicked in fact through the prophet Ezekiel God said turn ye turn ye for why will you die behold I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked I believe that God weeps over the wickedness of man and those who remain obdurate in their rebellion against God to death and so as God's final plagues are poured out temple is closed for man covered with a cloud as I believe God sits in the temple weeping over what man has necessitated as a result of his rebellion and God is forced to put away the evil in order to prepare the earth for the righteous reign of his son throughout the kingdom age awesome and now we move into chapter 16 next week 16 17 and 18 as we are two more weeks and we should finish the whole book father we thank you for your salvation offered to us so freely through Jesus Christ thank you for your love sending your son taking our guilt the innocent dying for the guilty purchasing our redemption making us children of God making possible Lord are dwelling with you now father in Jesus name let us hide your word away in our hearts may the Holy Spirit impress upon our hearts the truth of your word and thus may we live in accordance with that truth in Jesus name Amen may the Lord be with you give you a beautiful week fearsome awesome things are coming upon the earth Jesus in talking about them said pray always that you'll be accounted worthy to escape these things that are going to come to pass upon the earth that you might be standing before the Son of Man that is my prayer I want to walk in close fellowship with Jesus Christ I wouldn't dare walk any other way at this point I am convinced that the day of the Lord is at hand in the same place where Jesus said pray that you'll be accounted worthy he also said when these things begin to come to pass look up lift up your head your redemptions drawing now hey when they begin to develop computer chips and the smart cards and begin to put them into sample marketing and all look up lift up your head your redemptions getting now we're not far off from that time when they will require everyone to take this mark in their right hand or in their forehead the technology exists it's being used in a altered form right now already being used the same system that can be easily transferred into everyone receiving that mark for identity look up lift up your head your redemption draws now the Lord is coming soon and the words of Jesus to us in this day is watch ye therefore and be ready for you know not the day or the hour the Son of Man is coming look up lift up your head your redemption is drawing nigh walk with him and I would say run with him God bless you as you run with Jesus this way