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Okay, well, welcome back to Revelation. Let me read to you the words that we started this morning, or looked at this morning. Revelation 6, we're at the fifth seal. When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained.

And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told they should rest a little while longer until the number of the fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had been, would be completed also.

Let's take a moment and pray, and then we'll get into this. Heavenly Father, we do thank you, first of all, for the work that you're doing in El Salvador and the men that you're raising up and the families, the men and women who have a love for your church and have devoted themselves to faithfully shepherding and faithfully maintaining a community centered around your truth and your people.

And so, Father, we thank you. We lift them up to you. We also lift up This church to you, and specifically as we look tonight into these truths that you have revealed about the future, about the world to come, about things that are going to happen upon this earth prior to you coming.

Father, help us to learn, to be able to put this together in our minds and understand what you want us to understand so that we may present to you a heart of wisdom and that we would be faithful in preparing and being ready for whatever you have for us.

And specifically, Father, that you would help us and encourage us today to be better witnesses to your truth. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so come back to Revelation on Revelation and what we're doing. If you want to know what's going to happen to planet Earth and the things to come, the last chapter of human history, you've come to the right place.

This is what we'll be looking at. It's what we are looking at in the mornings, but in the evenings we're taking a little bit of a deeper dive and relating it to other texts. So we just. What we started out doing last time, we're in chapter 6 of Revelation, looking at the seals, and we're relating them to the Olivet Discourse.

One of the difficulties is when reading Revelation is that there are so many texts throughout the Bible, and the ones you choose, for whatever reason, to relate to Revelation can really skew how you view the whole book. And so it's very careful when you're relating passages that you let Revelation speak for itself.

And when you're bringing in an Old Testament passage or you're bringing in a New Testament passage, you let that passage speak for itself. And then you harmonize. You don't hamstring one over the other, but you really look for a coherency, and we would expect that. And so the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus spoke on many of these things, is a really sure place to go, because Jesus is the revealer there, and Jesus is the revealer in Revelation 6.

So we know that relating to the Olivet Discourse is a very prudent and wise connection. But again, we want each to contribute to our knowledge, not make one say what the other one is saying without, we look for. Agreement, and yet we want to be careful to force something that isn't there.

So all of the discourse, very straightforward. Basic question was asked by the disciples: what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Matthew and Mark and Luke record an answer. We've looked at the first seal, speaking of a worldwide globalist movement from which an Antichrist, the Antichrist, ultimately will come.

First seal, I think, depicts the movement of it. Some see that as the actual rise to the Antichrist. Fine, I think we've got a worldwide movement here that certainly culminates in that preeminent one. But there is a globalist, a global mentality of and a federation, a globalist federation that rises during this time.

Second seal, you have a time of worldwide discourse, conflict, and suffering. You have an international depression, famine, plagues, and then you have cumulative death that ends up being about a quarter of the population of planet Earth. Very hard to get your mind around, and yet that's what the scriptures here plainly say.

Something that is still in the future and to come. So these are ominous things that are being spoken about. We come, well, and in those, let me tell you. I don't know if you, did any of you get a handout like this? Yeah, okay. Well, Matt's gonna pass these around.

You can pick these, yeah, you can pass them out. Yeah, send them at the back. I'll tell you a little bit more about them as we go. And then make sure you pick one up on the way out and then bring it, study it. What I've done with these, and I've taken the whole Olivet discourse in a parallel study.

So I've got Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We've looked at this before in men's nights, just wanting in other venues, just comparing what Matthew, Mark, and Luke said about the Olivet Discourse. Well, it's got the whole discourse on here now. And you can see I've got some places where I box in those areas of agreement with well, it all agrees, but specifically with the seals.

And so there's a big section on the birth pangs. We looked at that already. And the birth pangs. They're very well represented by the four horses. We looked at that last time, Matthew 24, 13, Luke 21. The first four Jesus speaks about as the birth pangs. So then we come to the fifth seal.

And the fifth seal I just read to you is an event that happens in heaven after the events of seals one through four, after the birth pangs. And it's a picture of a bunch of martyrs crying out for justice, crying out, asking God, how long is he going to let this go on?

And no matter how you slice it, these are really terrifying. This is a terrifying image from one side of things. It is nothing short of Christian Holocaust that takes place on planet Earth. And even as I studied this week, it is something like, How do I present this?

How do you come before and communicate these things? And it is an ominous picture. And it is nothing short of Christian Holocaust. And it happens throughout these periods. Of the horses, the birth pangs. And even as I was talking to Nancy, we were talking about this and relating it.

And she pointed out something very good that I think is worth remembering as we go through Revelation. There's two groups of people going through here. Would you rather suffer the wrath of man, or would you rather suffer the wrath of God? And when you start looking at what's coming up on the earth, is it better to take the mark of the beast or suffer the consequences for not?

And the scripture is very plain and clear on this: that these are the blessed ones who stand firm, and there is great reason to do so. But the opposite, you know, and even as you think about brother betraying brother and some of the ominous things that are spoken about here, God calls us to stand firm, to witness to the truth, to maintain, and to encourage one another, and to help one another with their witness.

It's a very important thing throughout the Revelation here: is that we be a body. Whether this happens in our day or not, we need. To be a body that is concerned about one another's witness and strengthening one another's witness and helping one another in that regard. But it is an ominous picture.

And let me keep going and we'll start relating this. But just even as all of this, I just want to relate a couple of passages. In fact, Jesus' teaching on prayer. I'm going to get to the Olivet discourse, but there's a couple of pre-emptive passages that show up just a little bit before the Olivet Discourse that I think bear on this.

Remember Jesus' teaching on prayer in Luke 18? He speaks about the parable of the unjust judge, and he talks about the woman or the judge who really doesn't fear God or anything like that. But because this woman keeps coming, keeps coming, keeps coming, she eventually says, okay, I don't fear God, but I'm going to take care of her case just because she keeps crying out.

And then Jesus says this, hear what the unrighteous judge says. Let this sink in your mind. And he's saying, remember, God is not an unrighteous judge. He is just. And he says this, now will God not bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night?

And will he delay long over them? And then he says, I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? So Jesus, even as he's relaying this, he is thinking all the way to the very end when he returns.

And he is saying, Look, I am, let me tell you something about the character of God. He will respond quickly to the cries of his people. And so then, let me, in Matthew 23, right before the Olivet discourse, Jesus has a conflict with the Jewish leaders. Listen to what he says.

He goes on, he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

So this is their recognizing their fathers slaughtered the prophets. And then Jesus says this: So you testify against yourself that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. So he's saying, Look, you are testifying yourself that it was your fathers. Who slaughtered the prophets. And then Jesus says these words: Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

Fill up then. Go ahead, complete it. You're just like them. Now fill up the measure of your fathers. Measure of guilt. In other words, complete. Fill it up. And then he, I'm going to pick up what he says right up there: fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? And he says this: Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets. Now think about that for a second. Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. Verse 34, therefore, because I want you filling up the measure of guilt, because I want it to be complete, because I want to top off your sin.

Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. So that, so that, upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berkiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. So think about what he's saying there. He's saying, you are the murderers. You are the children of the ones who murdered the prophets. And now, and it's in a context, you are seeking to destroy me.

And he said, go ahead, Philip. Philip. It's like he just gives them over. Go ahead. And guess what? I'm going to send you some prophets, and I'm going to send you a bunch of people who are going to keep proclaiming the truth to you. You know why? So that you will kill them too, so that you will mistreat them.

So that you, upon you, all of the guilt of the righteous blood shed upon the earth will be poured out upon you, upon that generation. And so you have really an ominous situation. And then Jesus goes into Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills. The prophets. This is his lament over Jerusalem.

How often I wanted to gather your children together, and the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, from now on, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the Lord.

And he hands Jerusalem, he hands them over. And then, in time, what's going to happen? They're going to be desolated in 70 A.D. But upon them, and he did exactly, he sent them prophets, he sent them scribes, he sent them those who proclaimed the word to them, and they didn't listen.

And you have the horrific horrors of that generation being destroyed in 70 AD. But listen for a second. If you think about through history, Jerusalem didn't listen. What makes you think that all the nations are going to listen? They're not. Yes, the gospel will go through. It will gather together his people.

That's the purpose of the gospel, to go through the nations gathering together like the leaven that goes through the whole lump. Of dough. That's what the gospel is doing. It is going forth, it is calling forth people in faith to believe in him, to trust in him, to be his.

And so, but don't think the nations are going to listen ultimately. No, there's coming a day just like what happened in Jerusalem. There's coming a day like that for the globe. The International Confederation, the anti-Christ world that unites in opposition to him. That's what happened in Jesus' day.

They united against him. Expect the nations to mature in their hostility. And this shows up in this Christian Holocaust. Let me, in this parallel study of the Olivet Discourse, there's also what I call the testimony phase, the testimony phase. And what happens in this, let me just read to you a few.

Probably can't read it. Can you read that? Oh, wow. Wow. Okay, so, wow, that's great. So, you can see what's happening in this testimony phase. So, right after the birth pangs, they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.

At that time, many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and mislead many because lawlessness is increased. Most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Mark the imperative command there. That's what the red is. That's the command. But be on your guard, for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them.

The gospel must be preached to all the nations. Luke says something similar. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. I'll come back to Luke in just a minute. Luke says something different. He puts us in a different category, time category, but we'll look at that in just a second.

But notice, all of them talk about this testimony. Standing before kings, standing before governors, for his name's sake as a witness to them. Think about what Jesus just did in chapter 23, right before this, all of that discourse. He says, I'm going to send you prophets. They're going to speak to you.

They're going to witness to you. They're going to testify. And you're going to expose who you are by the way you treat them. And so there is this period of testimony. What's happening is God is purposely expecting his people. Some of them, now, I don't think this means every single Christian is going to go stand before, but there is, think about it in churches, even as the days of Asia Minor.

There are periods of intense persecution, and then it drops off for a while. But during those times of intense persecution, it's mainly the leaders that are being targeted. But it's the churches that are committed. It's not just like one person is facing this. It is like churches are facing this.

There is a lot of aspects you can imagine as these churches were facing this in Asia Minor, in the Revelation churches, as they're facing these persecutions. They're relying on each other to help them through it. If somebody is martyred, somebody else helps care for their family, there's just a lot of things that are necessary.

For you've got the church, you've got brethren, an army that are going to stand together, not picking up weapons, but standing on the truth and helping each other maintain that witness as a collective whole. Some during this time are going to be martyred, some will not. But there are going to be, but it's all, everyone's going to feel the true church is going to feel this, and globally they're going to feel it.

And so it is this, but God is doing something in that. They will be publicized. They will go to trial. They will be on the tube. They will be there. And people will be following these stories and hearing these things. These things are going, and God is doing something to them.

He's not trying to keep them out of jail. He's putting them in there. He's not trying to keep them away from the judge. He wants them in the spectacle. He wants them in the limelight. He wants them there. And he says, don't worry about what you're going to say.

I'm going to equip. You, and they are not going to be able to refute. You see this in history, you see that certainly with Paul and all of that. God was doing something through Paul's arrest. That's how he got to Rome. And that's how the gospel was talked a lot about and the way.

And so, but it's a testimony. So, put these together. You've got these birth pangs, and right after that, you have this cry of the martyrs. And you have this in Matthew 24, 20 and Mark 13, but not Luke. Luke doesn't talk about this. Notice the very first things.

Let me go back a little bit back to this. What does Luke say right up here in verse 21, 12? But before all these things, when you look at that, all these things, what has he just been talking about? He's just been talking about the birth pangs. And he lays it out there.

Before all these things, what he's just talked about is the birth pangs. On the, well, I can go back there if you want. Well, I'm not going to. He talked about the birth pangs. But before all these things. Now, so if you're looking at this chart, where is before all these things?

I heard it. Before the light before. Yes. I think I've got it here. You see it? Yeah. See my little arrow? Somewhere up here, before all these things that he's just talked about, he then takes us back to a time period before all these things. And then Luke goes down a path that says, okay, now that's going to talk about Jerusalem being destroyed in 70 AD.

And he's going to say, when you see Jerusalem surrounded, then you are to flee. And he says, this is the time of vengeance upon this people, Jerusalem, much like Jesus had just said in Matthew 23. And then he goes on and he says, and this until the times of the Gentiles are complete.

And then he gets back in step with Matthew and Mark. But he takes a little bit, he says, okay, but before these birth things, there's something that the other gospel writers hadn't communicated. Communicated, and that is what happens to Jerusalem. And one of the problems that I think leads a lot of people into confusion about what's going to happen in the end is that they don't properly harmonize these gospels.

They do harmonize very well, but Luke takes us to witness the events of 70 AD while Matthew and Mark are looking to the end. Matthew and Mark then go to after the birth pains, and they pick up their narrative. But I just, even as I think about this, I just want to, as we go through this, we're laying the truth bare, we're putting it out there, and so that you can be informed, so that we can prepare, and so that we can steady our hearts and understand what is coming and what is expected of God's people.

And I'll answer some questions here in just a moment, but I want to leave you with this mighty people that are going to stand through this time. Revelation 12:11. You're going to see that what the church is called to do is called to witness. That's what they do, that's what we do.

We witness. Testify to the greatness of God, to the truth of His Word, and we testify that by word and deed. We wear our loyalty to Christ like a badge of honor. We are conspicuous in our relationship with Him. That's what the church does, that's what it has done, that's what it will do.

And whether it's us that is going to see some of these days or a generation that comes after us, it's the church, it's Christian, it's saints that are facing this, and we need to be doing all we can in our time to witness to the truth, to inform others of the truth, and to prepare them to witness to the truth and to stand.

But I love what these people, some of the most incredible things are said about these people. Revelation 12:11, and they, this is speaking of the brethren, overcame him. Who? Satan, the dragon, the devil. I love it. They are completely at a disadvantage. Like, people have never been at a disadvantage in the history of earth, and they overcame him.

That's powerful. Because of the blood of the Lamb, love it. Forgiven, clean. The accuser is down. And because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life even when faced with death. Let me give you a glimpse again, a little further. Verse 17: So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the commandments of God and who hold to the testimony of Jesus.

He wages war and enrages him, but he can't overcome them. I find that profound. Overcoming the devil, Satan, and when they are at a complete disadvantage, and yet this is what they do. And they do it because they trust the blood of Christ. And I love Revelation 14:12.

Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors.

And then listen to this last statement: for their deeds follow with them. Have you ever heard that you can't ever take anything from this earth? Have you ever heard that? I guess what the Bible says. Yes, you do. Your deeds follow after you. That's what you take from planet Earth.

For their deeds follow with them. How blessed are they who stand? How blessed. This is the Spirit of God saying, yes, yes. Another voice, blessed are the dead. Yes, says the Spirit. And so there is something that God is doing in humanity. He is, we're not going to be a bunch of people who are just coddled in paradise and have to have everything right.

Know what He is creating. When He imagined man made in His image, and I'm talking man and woman, mankind in His image, He had something of a rugged sort, something that would be able to stand, something rugged and good, devoted, and loyal, an overcomer. What a privilege. And you know, I think about this as I think about our own witness today.

You know where it starts? You know where a generation like. This starts. It starts in these little communities who hold to his truth, who love the name of Jesus, who proclaim the truth, who nurture the community, who stand by one another, and who are very active in biblical missions.

That's where they come from. They come from husbands who witness to their own family. And you know how they witness to their own family? By loving their wives like Christ loved the church. That's how they witness. They demonstrate the gospel day in and day out. They wear their loyalty to Christ, and their wife sees it, their children sees it.

And likewise, children see their mom bearing that badge of honor, of allegiance to Christ. That's where these people come from. They come out of these little communities where people are active in witnessing now what has God called you to do. I don't know what He's where He's play He's put us all in different places and different situations and different responsibilities, different capacities and all that, but we're all called to witness and to bear our loyalty to Christ upon us everywhere we go.

And if that's you, I can assure you that you will be part of touching the lives of those who stand and overcome because you are faithful to witness to the truth, no matter what the cost. That's irrelevant. We're witnesses. We testify. We've taken this truth and we've let this truth change the way we think and act and feel.

And we're loyal to Christ. And when we sin against Him, we grieve and we ask for forgiveness. And we've got the blood of Christ. So we're able to get right back up and go on. So we're going to come back. I know there are a lot of questions.

One of the questions that keeps being asked: when's the rapture happening? When's the rapture happening? We'll come to that. The problem is, you know, it's interesting that in neither the Olivet Discourse or Revelation 6, is that, is the rapture even brought up? No, the question that Jesus says, the exhortation that Jesus says, be ready, be ready.

That's the exhortation when he's done. But we have this curiosity, maybe if I can, maybe if I could just be raptured out of here before then, then I'm ready. Make It's kind of easy that way. But it's important that we understand and understand from the text what's happening.

And we'll get there. It's a valid question, but it comes from other texts, not these. And we'll work through that. You keep coming. You'll start getting a great idea of where things are going in the future and the big watershed decisions that you have to make to piece it all together.

But it's not difficult. It's intended to be straightforward. Okay, I've got a few minutes for questions. I've said a lot. Anybody want to say something? Observe something or ask something? Yes? What makes you think before? Be sure that it was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish text here.

Because he says this, let me read to you. He says this: But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Now, the other gospel writers say this: therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of through Daniel, the prophet, standing In the holy place, let the reader understand.

Mark says it like this: When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand. The parallel in Luke is this: when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Those are not saying the same thing. One has the abomination of Daniel's abomination of standing, and then, but Luke says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her, Jerusalem's desolation is near.

And then he goes on, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city, because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.

Woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. And he goes on to say, For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people. And they, this people, Jerusalem, will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

It seems to be very explicit about the destruction of Jerusalem and being trampled and then the people being taken. Dispersed diaspora into the world until the time of the Gentiles are over. So I think Luke's very explicit about that. And you could pick up this on your way out, but you can just look at Luke 21, beginning in verse 20.

But it's clear that Matthew and Mark are looking much further. They're saying, but when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel standing in the holy place, let the one reading this, let the one reading these words understand. Flee to the mountains, woe, some of the very same things.

But then he goes on to say, but then there will be a great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, unless the days have been cut short, no one would have been saved. And he goes on to, just like when lightning comes from the east, so will be the coming of the sun.

So I think Luke's pretty explicit on that. I was just reading from the one that we had at the Earth and I'll say that. Okay, yeah, yeah. No, I intended to get these all out to everybody, but we'll, I want you to take them and harmonize. And look at these, it's I've just taken the scriptures and put them all, but I do think they are saying something differently there.

But Matthew and Mark are looking ahead to the final abomination of desolation, whereas Luke gives some advice to that generation. Questions? Others? Yes, sir. Just an observation of a curiosity. Back in Revelation chapter 6, when we went to the fifth seal, people have often asked: do you think people are aware of things on the earth in heaven?

And they see things on the earth. And it seems like what we're seeing here is that these martyr saints are somehow aware that there are others still to die. And I'm just looking at this as maybe a kind of a proof text, if you will, that people in heaven are aware of things that are going on in the earth.

Yeah, and I think there's a lot of implications you can draw out of this, but again, it's not the purpose for which that was written. Just like what kind of body is there in the intermediate state? They can wear robes, but that's not the purpose of it. But yeah, I think there's an implication, and certainly seems to be an implication here that they definitely know what's going on upon the earth.

And now I don't know how much you build on that, but I've just seen that many times. Yeah. Aware of heaven of the earth on heaven, actually, but they don't really know until this benefit. They also know that justice is to be meeted about, but it hasn't yet.

Right. And so they're talking when our community going into the community. And it's clear with the verb there that it's saying for those who are currently dwelling upon the earth. I think that's a very important point in this whole thing: is that they are in heaven and they know that their murderers are still dwelling upon the earth.

So we're definitely talking about a future generation. We're not talking about saints of all times. Yes, in the back. Did you say that would be Matthew and Mark talking about birth pangs? Or all three of you? Matthew and Mark talk about the birth pangs. And Luke does too.

Luke doesn't use the word birth pangs. He will mention all the things that Matthew and Mark do. And then he says, but before all these things, let me take you back. And so that's what Luke does. But he does mention all the birth pangs. He mentions the events in the heavens.

And he will get back in lockstep after he talks about the time of the Gentiles. He will get back in step with the. Matthew, Mark, and with the cosmic disturbances that are coming upon the earth. And that's where we'll go next week. I think once we get through the seals, then we'll be in a much better place to start answering the questions: when does the tribulation start?

When does the rapture happen? And what are the thoughts there? And I think once we get through all these seals, then you'll be able to say, oh, okay, I can see there. I can see that kind of thing. I think, so that's why I'm waiting before we go there.

And plus, we don't have time to get into it tonight. Well, thank you. I hope you'll keep coming out as we keep working through this. I tend to move swiftly through the book, swiftly as it relates to the way I go through things. But let me pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for these words.

Even though they speak of dark times, they also speak of great light. And, Father, great truth and great blessing and a world to come without sin. And that you give us an opportunity in this fallen, broken world to live by faith and to demonstrate loyalty and to be loyal to you in adverse situations.

For there, it's really seen. So, Father, help us to look at these opportunities, you know, just the day-to-day life that we have here this week, that you give us plenty of opportunities to be your witness. Help us to relish those times. No matter how seemingly big or insignificant they are in the world's eyes, we thank you for the opportunity to be a testifier to your goodness and your great name.

And so, Father, help us to relish that now and prepare us. Help us be faithful in the little things that you give us to do each week. And, Father, we love you, we thank you, and go with us now this week. In Jesus' name, amen.