Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. In this presentation, we'll be looking at showdown of the gods and the return of Elijah the Prophet. You may wonder what's going on here. Is Elijah the Prophet really coming back? Well, we'll soon discover what that's all about. The Bible says that the ground was hard and cracked and very dry. You see, Israel was caught in the grip of a famine and death. They hadn't experienced anything like this for many years. You see, it had happened about a few years before when Elijah the Prophet walked in unannounced into the presence of King Ahab near his palace. And he said, king, there'll be no rain until I say so, because I'm speaking for God. And with that, Elijah the Prophet turned on his heels, strode out of the palace and vanished. Ahab and his soldiers tried to hunt for Elijah the Prophet, but they couldn't find him. Why did Elijah come in like that to the king and say, no rain? Well, you see, some years before, King Ahab had married a Phoenician princess by the name of Jezebel. Now, Jezebel had brought with her into Israel, lock, stock and barrel, all the worship customs of the Canaanites. They worshiped BAAL and Asherah and Ashtari, as we mentioned in an earlier presentation. Notice what the Bible says. What happened? Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbael, King of the Sidonians, and began to serve BAAL and worship him. And so for three and a half years, there was no rain in Israel. Basically what God was saying was, let's see if BAAL is a real God. Now. BAAL was supposed to make the crops grow, bring the rain, make the crops grow. He was the great goddess of, like a God of fertility, I should say, bringing everything in abundance, but no rain for three and a half years. In other words, God was saying, well, where is baal? Is he a real God? During these three and a half years of terrible famine in Israel, God protected his servant, Elijah the Prophet. For three and a half years, he was able to be cared for. First of all, he went to a little brook and the ravens brought food to him every day, the birds. When the brook dried up, he went over to the area of the Phoenicians, and God had a. A lady there to make sure he was looked after with food. God always looks after his own. For three and a half years, God provided for the prophet. Then at the end of the three and a half years, God said, I want you to go back to Ahab. You Go back to him and you tell him a message that's coming from me. When Elijah appeared in front of King Ahab, Ahab said to him, are you the one who troubles Israel? Not me? Said Elijah the prophet, you're the one that's been the trouble. And notice what he said to the king on that occasion. He answered, you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. I'm not the problem, King, you are. The reason we're in this mess is because you have followed BAAL and turned away from the commandments of God. Now Elijah the prophet said, king, you get everybody up to the top of Mount Carmel. I want you to get everybody up there. Bring the 450 prophets of Baal, bring them up there. So finally all the people were assembled up here on Mount Carmel. And Elijah in a trumpet like voice called out, how long do you halt between two opinions? Meaning how long are you people going to sit on the fence? If the Lord is God, then follow him. But if BAAL is God, then follow him. But you can't sit on the fence. There's no fence to sit on. You've got to make a decision here. Who is going to be God? Is it going to be the Jehovah God or baal? And the Bible says the people said nothing. They answered, not a word. So the prophet said, let's have us a showdown of the gods over worship as to who is God. He proposed that each side, him and the prophets of baal, they each have a bullock and they take the bullock, kill it, cut it up in pieces, build an altar of stone, put the sticks on top and then put the animal on top and call on their God to send fire out of heaven. And the God who sent fire from heaven, let him be the God of Israel. Elijah the prophet said, you go first. People thought this was a good test, a good way. Okay, go ahead. So the prophets of baal, the Bible says they went to work all day, they danced around their altar. The Bible says when it comes to around lunchtime, Elijah the prophet thought he'd make a point. He said, where's baal? Cry louder. Maybe he's having a nap. Wake him up. Cry louder. He said, maybe he's gone for a walk. Get him back to where the action is. Cry louder. He said, maybe he's sitting on the toilet. That's exactly the Hebrew words. Where is baal? The Bible says in the afternoon they got into a bit of a frenzy. They began to cut themselves with knives. And the points of their spears to make the blood flow, hoping that the gushing of their blood would somehow get BAAL to act. But the Bible says there was no answer. No one responded. Do you know my friend, the gods of this world will always leave us empty. They have no answers for the deep longings of the human heart. Oh, they look pretty glitzy and glamorous, the gods of this world. You know, sex and fame and fashion and sports. But in the end, we're left empty. There's a vacuum in our hearts that only God can fill. And so the Bible says there was no answer. The Bible says in the afternoon shadows, as the sun is starting to almost come down on the horizons getting lower, they slunk away into the shadows. These 450 prophets of Baal, defeated, dejected. And everybody could see that Baal was impotent. All day they'd been at this thing, trying to get him to send down fire, and nothing had happened, Nothing. No one answered their cries, their prayers. And then the Bible says at the time of the evening sacrifice, when the sacrifice was offered in the temple, Prophet Elijah came over to a broken down altar of Jehovah God. Hadn't been used for a long time, cause they'd been going after baal. He came to the broken down altar and he called to the people, come near unto me. And all the people gathered around prophet Elijah. And then slowly he began to repair the broken down altar of Jehovah God stone by stone. And then he got his animal, killed it, cut it up, put it on the altar, and then he called for four barrels of water. He said, bring me four barrels of water. When they brought it to him, he said, right, dump it on top. They sloshed the whole thing on top. He said, do it a second time. So they went down to the brook, got some more, four more barrels. He said, dump it on top. There it was again, he said, do it a third time. So they went down to that brook down there, got the water barrels, four of them, and he said, dump it on top. That, that, that sacrifice of his was a soggy soaking mass of stuff. And then prophet Elijah, after they had poured the water on everything, Prophet Elijah lifted up his heart to God in heaven. He prayed a very simple prayer that lasts only a few seconds. Notice what Prophet Elijah said. O Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me so that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back again to you. There was a blinding flash and shoom fire came shooting down from heaven and it just completely destroyed the sacrifice. It just completely took away the stones. They burnt to pieces. It just left a hole in the the ground. And the people cried out when they saw that the Lord Jehovah, he is God. The Bible says prophet Elijah said, quickly gather those 400 prophets above. Get them all. So they pulled them together, grabbed hold of them. He took them right down here to this little stream, the Kishon, at the bottom of Mount Carmel. That's the Mount Carmel mountains, the range there. And Elijah the prophet had them executed right here. He killed a lot of them, the prophets of BAAL and Asherah, because they had led Israel astray. They had taken them away from God big time. The Bible says not long after this event, prophet Elijah was suddenly whisked away by a great chariot of angels that took him to heaven. He never died. In fact, Jesus met him on the mount of Transfiguration later when he came along. What a story, my friend, what a story that God has put in the Bible. A real story that really happened. But there's some great lessons that we can learn from this story and we'll see the Bible picks that up. Now the Bible says that when we come to the end times, we're going to have the return of Elijah the prophet. So is Elijah coming back again? Coming down from heaven, back to this planet? But notice what the Bible says in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, before the coming of Jesus. So will Elijah the prophet really return? Is he coming back to this planet? Seems like it. Notice what the Bible says In Matthew chapter 11:14, if you are willing, says Jesus to receive it. He, John the Baptist is Elijah who is to come. So Jesus says, John the Baptist is Elijah to come if you will receive it. But then we notice what John the Baptist said, because they came to him and they asked him if he was John the Baptist, like Jesus seemed to indicate here. Notice what John the Baptist said. They asked him, are you Elijah? He that's John the Baptist. He said, I'm not. So who's right? Was Jesus right or John the Baptist right? Well, actually they were both right. You wonder how that could that be? Well, what Jesus was saying, he's going to act like Elijah because the Bible says these words as to who was Right. He, John the Baptist, that is, will go before him in the spirit. And the power of Elijah, the same spirit and the same power that Elijah had to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to turn people back to the right way, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That's what we see there in Luke's writings. So John was not really Elijah. The prophet John came in the same spirit and the same power as Elijah. The prophet John came with an Elijah like message. And what was that message that John the Baptist had? It was this. John the Baptist came with this message. Follow God, keep and obey God's commandments. Turn back to God. That's true worship. That's how Jesus defined worship. He said, many people worship me as a waste of time. In vain they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men and laying aside the commandment of God. That's vain worship. True worship is obedience to God, following what God says. And what's going to be the result? There would be people ready for Jesus first coming. Now but remember, Malachi is very plain. It's going to happen before the coming of Jesus. The Bible says back in Malachi, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now the day of the Lord of course is the return of Jesus Christ. And the Bible is telling us here that before he comes and Elijah, is Elijah going to be coming before Jesus returns? Is that what's going to happen? No, it's an Elijah like message that will be given before the return of of Jesus. That's what he's telling us here. And what will that message be? What will this Elijah like message be that is given before Jesus returns? This is what it will be. It will be follow God. That means obey God's commandments. That's true worship. Worship God. Remember the BAAL prophets wanted people to worship baal. God used Elijah to bring people back to true worship of God. So before Jesus comes, there'll be a conflict over worship. There'll be those who want us to worship someone else. But God calls us to worship him before the return of Jesus so that people will be ready for Jesus to come. So there's going to be an Elijah like message before Jesus return. And what is that Elijah like message? What do we understand that message to be? Well, we need to go to the Book of Revelation. Cause there we'll find the Elijah like message. Because you see in the book of Revelation it Draws on stories of different stories from the Old Testament. Remember, we've seen that dragon. He's also called the snake. That's because of the story in the Garden of Eden when the snake met Adam and Eve. You've got the story of Babylon in the Book of Revelation. You have many different stories, but you also have the Elijah story running through the Book of Revelation. The Elijah story is seen in many places. For example, when you go to the subject that or the vision John had of the seven churches, you will notice that the fourth church has a woman who comes into that church. She's called Jezebel. What's going on here? Wasn't the same Jezebel that lived in Elijah's time. That was way back in time. What's going on? It means there is going to come into the Christian church, just like came into Israel. Paganism will come into the Christian church just like paganism came into the religion of the Israelites way back in Jezebel's time. She brought those things from paganism into Israel. So sadly, at the time of the fourth church, paganism, pagan teachings are going to enter the Christian church. We've noticed some of them right. Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Sunday is the worship of the sun God. We saw that from ancient Rome. The Egyptians worshiped the sun. A whole temple given to the worship of Amon Ra, the sun God. This was a pagan thing. Now it came into the Christian church and they replaced God's seventh day Sabbath with. With the first day in honour of Sunday. Way back in time, remember, we saw this teaching, the immortal soul teaching. It replaced the teaching in the Bible that says death is like a sleep. We saw Tertullian. Remember he was that one of those early church fathers after the Bible is finished being written. And he said, I get the idea of the immortal soul not from the Bible, but from Plato, a pagan. That's where I get it from. Because that's what Plato taught the immortal soul, something in our body. And at death, the body's like a house, it crumbles and the immortal soul can float off somewhere. This was a pagan teaching. Very clearly we're told that. And then we have sprinkling. This replaced baptism by immersion, baptism by sprinkling. This idea of sprinkling was in ancient Egypt. Now many pagan teachings came into the Christian church. One of the worst was this one. The idea of an eternally burning hell that God is going to roast and toast people on and on into eternity. He's gonna be like some sort of a bloodthirsty monster. That's the picture we have of God. Right? If that teaching was true. No, it's a teaching of paganism. It's not found in the Bible. Not at all. And so these things were going to come into the Christian church. Now you remember in the story of Elijah, he said, no rain till I say so. So in the book of Revelation, an Elijah like act takes place with regard to no rain. Notice what the Bible says. An Elijah like prophet shuts up heaven so that it doesn't rain. The Bible says these have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. Wow. Just like in Elijah's day. No rain. So there's going to be a drought. There's going to be a famine. Famine for the word of God. The Bible says God provided for a prophet, Elijah. Remember for three and a half years. Three and a half years. God protected during this famine. So in this time of famine for the word of God, in the Christian period, Elijah was chased. He was hunted like a dog. They tried to kill him. Ahab didn't want him around anymore. So there's this three and a half prophetic year period in Revelation where God's people are going to be hunted for some will be killed. See, the Bible says that God provides and protects for his people for three and a half prophetic years. Remember the story of the woman? The beautiful, clean, pure woman represents God's church, His people. The dragon tries to chase her down to get rid of her. Right. Let's notice the text. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle. What for? So that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time. That in the Bible a time is a year. Times. That's double that in the Bible, two and a half a time. In other words, three and a half years. That's what time, times and a half means. Where from? From the presence of the serpent, the snake who's been after her. And how long is that time? Times and half a time that she's in the wilderness, that she's chased by this dragon. How long is that time? This three and a half prophetic years. It's called 12, 60 days, isn't it? Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. God is going to preserve his church, his body, his bride. He's going to look after his church. Doesn't mean some people won't die. But the church will keep going, God's truth will keep going even in difficult times, even while there's famine everywhere else around for the Word of God, even while there's like a drought like there was in Israel, God will still preserve truth through his people. Time, times and a half or three and a half years, which is what it means. That's the 1260 days. Just as God protected Prophet Elijah for three and a half literal years, so he's going to look after his church during this three and a half prophetic years, or 1260 years. Cause remember, one prophetic day represents one literal year in time. Thanks to the prophet Ezekiel and Moses, we see that principle, and we've seen it a number of times already. I've laid on you a day for each year that you lie on your side. Ezekiel, 1260 days. 1260 years. We've noticed this before in our series, right? 538 A.D. justinian's decree, which enables the Bishop of Rome to be like the head bishop of all the churches, the chief bishop. This goes into effect in 538 A.D. when the last of those three powers is put down. And now we have the Medieval Dark Age Church dominates Western Europe for those 1260 years, from 538 A.D. right on down to 1798 A.D. and during this time, what's happening? God's people are being persecuted. Remember, God's people are being trounced on. Some put in dungeons where they rotted till they died, others of them knifed to death, some of them burnt at the stake. It was horrific. But God's church, His truth still continued on down through time. He protected those who maintain his words. God kept it going. I want to bring you to a fascinating place. We were there just a few weeks ago up here in Northern Italy, not far from Turin, actually, up in the mountains of the Piedmont mountains, it's called. It's called the Waldensian country. Up here there are a group of people. While persecution was raging, these people went to their valleys to get away from religious intolerance. They were up there, they farmed up there they had terraces, you can see very steep mountains up this way. And here they farmed here they grew their crops. And here they copied the Bible. Here we have the Collegio de Barbi. This was the place where they trained the young men to be pastors, to go out as missionaries to the other countries in Europe. Right from this place here, up there in the Piedmont mountains. You can go inside these rooms today and you can see where the they copied their Scriptures, copying the Bible by hand and making copies of it. What for? Well, the mothers, the sisters, would have special coats that they made and they would have special lining and hide the scriptures, copies of the Scriptures inside that, because if you were found with scriptures, parts of the Bible, you could die for that. So they had them hidden in their coats and then they would go out across Europe. They would go out as university students. Some of them usually went in pairs, an older or more experienced person with someone who was new at this. So they would go to the universities and they'd mix and mingle in the universities, some of them, and they would find somebody who they sense may be interested, and at the risk of their life, they would pull out the Scriptures and share the message of the Bible with people in dark age Europe. Others of them would go out as peddlers, you know, selling stuff door to door in the towns and the villages, the cities of Europe, going way out into different countries, from the Piedmont mountains across through France and into Switzerland and so on. And then at the risk of their life, when they sensed that somebody was hungry for the word of God, they would pull out their scriptures and share them. And many, many people in Europe found Christ when the church, sadly, was so dead and so much into persecuting other people. Many people found Christ through these missionaries, students or peddlers selling things. But many of them never came back home again. They died in the dungeons. Some of them were burnt at the stake, others of them run through with a savoyed spear. They loved Jesus so much, they were willing to do anything to rescue people, to bring the words of life to others. Many times the soldiers would come up here. The church would send soldiers up into their valleys back home, and they would come up here and chase the people. Sometimes they hid in this cave, like this one. It's called the Chiesa de la Tana, the Church of the cave. And here the Waldensian people would gather to worship. In times of persecution, when they couldn't meet in their villages because the soldiers were around, they would come into these caves. I took a bunch of people here recently, and each time I come, we bring people here. And here they are singing in this cave where worship took place way back during the Dark Ages by these Waldensian people, godly people, men and women, young people, children who love Jesus and were willing to give everything for him. You know, tragically, on one occasion, the soldiers of the church chased people up into what we call the mighty Castalizo. It's a big sort of like a. Almost like a mountain, a very big hill, chased them up there and they all hid up there in a cave. And to get them out of the cave, the soldiers lit a fire and of course the smoke went into the cave and the people had to come out otherwise and suffocate. So as they came out, they caught them and one by one they threw them off the cliffs there at the mighty Castellizo, right on down to the ground. When other parts of Europe heard about this, they were furious. How could it be that Christians, so called Christians could do such thing to other fellow Christians? It was a tragic time, this 1260 years of persecution. And these people suffered. But the truth kept going on down through the, down through the centuries. The Bible says that this three and a half year prophetic years or 1260 literal years, it ended in 1798. It ended of course, you remember when Napoleon sent his soldiers down into Italy and some of them under Berthier to the Vatican and they captured the Pope and took him prisoner, exiling him in Valence in France. Now that's the story up to that point. Remember, just like prophet Elijah had been chased in that. And finally he came out of hiding. What was the next thing in the Elijah story? It was the showdown of the gods. So in the Revelation story, what comes after this 1260 years of persecution? It's the showdown of the gods in Revelation over worship. It's the battle for global control. Remember Revelation 13 and 14, it's a battle over worship. Who will you and I worship? Just like in prophet Elijah's day, there was a showdown of the gods. Would they worship baal, the pagan God, or would they worship Jehovah, God, the God of the universe? Which one? You have to make a choice. And so in Revelation we come to a battle over worship. These three powers seek global worship. Just like the prophets of baal, they went first. That's how that appears in Revelation. These three powers go to get work together to get global worship. Notice what the Bible says. And all the world marveled. And they followed the beast. That's the sea beast. So they worshiped the dragon, who gave authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast. He, the land beast, causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. Do you see what we said way back in this beginning of this series? Worship is going to be the issue. Will we worship God or will we worship the dragon? Will we worship Christ or will we worship Satan? Will we worship Jesus or will we worship Antichrist? These three powers seeking global worship to worship the beast image which is set up by the land beast. That's to worship the beast because that's in his image. And if you worship the beast we just read, you worship Satan, the dragon. You see the issue here? Global worship of Satan is the aim of these three powers. That's where they're heading. And the result will be what cause? If we worship the dragon, Satan, the result is destruction. And that concerns God because he's a God who loves everybody. No matter what color skin, no matter how deep into sin, no matter what denomination, no matter what religion, God loves the people in those places and doing those things. For God so loved the world. And so God in his love, he sends three angels to counter the three beasts. These three angels is what the Bible calls the Elijah like message. This is a message to call people to get off the fence. Because there's no fence to sit on in the end of time. And so these three angels go to work. The first angel says what? He says, listen, the judgment has begun. It's on right now. While this battle is raging, while the three beasts are doing their thing, there's a judgment going on in heaven. That's what the angel said. The hour of his judgment not will come. It has come. This is not playtime. This is not time as usual. This is a serious time because time is running out. And we're going to be judged in that judgment by the ten Commandments, right? That's what the Bible says. Therefore, God says what he says, therefore, since we're going to be judged by the commandments, we need to do three things. And the angel has three commands. When he cries out, the judgment has begun. Three commands. Number one command is this. Fear God. Which doesn't mean to bite our fingernails and sit in the corner and be scared stiff of God. It doesn't mean that. In the Bible it means this. It means we love and we respect God. He's not the buddy next door. He's not like Santa Claus. He's a holy almighty God, but he's a loving God. Fear God. Respect him. Love him. And how do you do that? How do you show that you fear God in the right sense? That you love and you respect him? How do you do that? Well, Jesus spelled it out very clearly, didn't he? He said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's how we show we respect and we love and we fear God. We keep his commandments. Isn't that what Solomon said? Here is the conclusion of the whole matter. He said, fear God and keep his commandments because he's going to bring everything into judgment. Solomon, Ecclesiastes 12. We show God that we love him by keeping his commandments. And now, Israel, what does the Lord God require of you but to fear the Lord? You see, there's that word. How do you feel, Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to observe the Lord's commands for your own good? You see, God's commandments are not against us. God's commandments are for us. That's why David could say, oh, how I love your law, meaning, oh, I love your commandments because they are meant for my good. So fear God, says the angel. Cause you're going to be judged by those ten commandments. Love God and keep his commandments. The angel gives another command. There in the first angel, he says, glorify God. That is, live to lift him up in all that you do. He is the number one. Live to lift him up. How do you live? How do you lift God up? How do you glorify God? Well, the Bible spells out one way in particular that we do that. Remember, we saw it. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? He lives in us, not just alongside us, but in us through his spirit, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. It's not my body. Jesus said. Paul says, you were bought with a price, an enormous price. Even the blood of Jesus Christ. That's how valuable you and I are to God. Therefore, says Paul, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's, which means which belongs to God. So lift God up in all that you do. That's why Paul wrote these words, my friend. He said these words. Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, that means whatever you do in life, do it all to the glory of God. Live to lift him up not for our own self, but live to lift up this God who loves the world. In other words, he's especially saying, care for God's body temple. Look after it because it's precious. He bought you with his own blood. Do all you can to look after your body, because then you can serve God for longer or in a better way, if it's possible to do that. Now, we know in a sinful world we get sick and no matter even if we do the right thing. But as a general principle, as a general rule, the more you and I look after our bodies, the more better service we're going to be able to give to God by bringing others to him in the home, in the workplace, at school, at university, wherever we can be a better influence. Our brains can be better intact because we not distorting them with alcohol and drugs and so on, but we're looking after our bodies to the glory of God. There was a third command this angel gives when he says, hey, the hour of God's judgment has come and we're going to be judging by the commandments. And Paul says, you know, those who defile their body temple God will destroy because it's a moral issue. He also says one more thing. The angel says, worship God as creator. It's an imperative. It's a command. How do you do that? How do you worship God as creator? Well, of course you keep his seventh day Sabbath holy because that's what reminds us of God as the creator. God. How did God put it? I love the words of the Bible. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord, it shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh, all shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. Notice it's the Sabbath they worship God on. When we follow God and keep his commandments, this is true worship. So that's the first angel's message in this Elijah message, but a second angel follows. The second angel says, babylon has fallen. Babylon the Great, I would remind you, is made up of these three powers, right? Babylon the Great consists of the dragon, the sea beast and the land beast. We took a whole presentation on that in a previous present program. Babylon the Great, the second angel, he calls out, babylon has fallen. And why has Babylon fallen? How come Babylon has fallen? He spells it out because Babylon's false teachings corrupt the world. Remember that intoxicating wine in the prostitute's hand that makes the world drunk her false teachings. We saw teachings like the immortal soul, which means people try to contact the dead. Maybe they're out there somewhere, but they're contacting demons. That teaching of Sunday sacredness, which has really been one of the most powerful instruments to bring evolution into the because people forgot the Sabbath, so now they forgot the creator of the world. And then of course, that other teaching that makes God look like a bloodthirsty monster and eternally burning hell. We have atheism as we saw. These teachings corrupt the world. They distort people from what is real. Doctrine matters, my friend. Doctrine matters. It's not a minor consequence. Cause false doctrine. That's what's gonna do to the world. It's gonna cor true doctrine. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth makes people happier. When we know what is truth and we follow it, we're better off for it. Doctrine matters. That's the second angel's message. But then comes a third angel. Remember, the third angel cries out, don't receive the mark of the beast. Cause if you worship, if you take the mark of the beast, you receive the plagues. Don't do that. I love you too much, says God. What's the mark of the beast? Well, we saw its Sunday sacredness, but the Bible is telling us Sunday is not God's Sabbath. It's not God's Sabbath. This is man's idea. This is not God's idea. Sunday sacredness, God is telling us, is false worship. It's not true worship. I want you to worship me. I don't want you to worship the dragon. He slipped something in beside the Sabbath to take its place and to direct our attention from worshiping the God of the universe to worship something else. Worship the dragon. Satan has always wanted worship, my friend. Didn't he come to Jesus and say, just fall down and worship me and I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world? He wants worship. All right. And this is how he's going to get it. Introduce a false day of worship so that people forget the God behind the Sabbath, the Creator. How did Jesus put it? In vain. They worship me. It's not even true worship. He's saying, how come? Because they teach as doctrines the commandments of men. And that's what Sunday is, my friend. Sunday worship is a teaching of human beings. It's not in the Bible. It didn't come from God. And Jesus says they teach for doctrines the commandments of men and laying aside the commandment of God. That's exactly what's happened. The commandment of God on the Sabbath has been pushed aside. And in its place has come a teaching of man. Sunday worship. You see what Jesus is saying? When we know what is right and we try to worship God, it's meaningless worship. When we know what's right, we know what we should do. But we will not do it. Our worship is a waste of time. It's not worshiping God at all. This is the warning that John is giving us. In vain. They worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside the commandment of God. You hold the tradition of men. That's what vain worship is, you see? Disobedience to God's commandments. True worship is the opposite. True worship is obedience to God's commandments out of a heart of love. And then there comes a fourth angel, the final, final message. The fourth angel lightens up the world because it's going to be full of demons. Remember the angel came along and said, look, the world is full of demons. Out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, out of the mouth of the false prophet, all these demons. Because that's where false doctrine leads to. It leads to demon possession according to John. But this fourth angel lights up the world with God's final good news message. And what is it? Babylon has fallen. It's fallen. It's fallen. Why has it fallen? How come it's fallen? Because here is why it's fallen. It's full of deceptive miracle working demons. Demons that masquerade as the messengers of God. But they're not really for God, they're against God. They call people to different things aside from the word of God. That's the problem. Babylon, Christian and non Christian religions and worldviews that are not following God, it's fallen. You can't fix it up. God says to stay is sin, remember? So the fourth angel, God himself. Through this fourth angel's message, God calls out himself. Come out of her, my people. Come out my people. And what happens next in the Elijah story after this showdown of the gods between the three beasts and the three angels, what happens in the Elijah story next? Well, Elijah killed the prophets of BAAL and Asherah. Isn't that what happened next in the story? He killed them down at the Kishon stream. So what happens next in the book of Revelation after the showdown of the gods? Jesus comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's coming to put down the enemies of God's people because they will be attempting to kill them. He comes to rescue them. He comes to take them home like he came for prophet Elijah who was carried away by a chariot of angels to heaven. Jesus, his second coming is that final piece in the Elijah story in Revelation. That's what this story is all about. My friend. I thank God for this story that flows through the book of Revelation. I thank God that he loves us so much that he shares these things. Now it might be hard to follow. But listen my friend, if we keep following where we are, if we're not following God, it's only going to leave in one place and that's eternal destruction. And that's why God seeks to help us he loves us. Well, I don't know about what's happening in your life. It may be you have a broken down altar to Jehovah God. That altar represents our life, our life, which is to be a shining for God to bring honor and glory to him like it did in Elijah's day. It called people to come to this God and worship him. God wants to restore true worship in your life and my life. Maybe there are some stones missing in your altar. It's crumbled down and some missing stones and God wants you to put them in place again. Maybe it's this stone that's missing in your life. Christ is missing. You haven't yet yielded to Jesus. You haven't yet invited him to come into your life. You haven't said, Lord, nothing. In my hand I bring simply to that old rugged cross I cling, Lord, I can do nothing. I have nothing. But I come as I am. And here's my. Is that stone missing in your life? Why don't you put it in place? Repair that broken down altar of Jehovah God. Maybe this one is. Is God and your relationship with him the most important number one priority in life? No. Maybe you're too busy to have time with God just once a week or something. Now God says, seek first the kingdom of God. Have a relationship with me. Take time to read the Bible. Take time to pray. I love you to come and spend time with me. Is that stone missing in your life, my friend? Why not put that stone in place in your broken down altar? That will repair it. Maybe it's to do with your marriage. You're ready to quit your marriage. The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. A more attractive lady or a more attractive guy. Oh, my friend, don't go that way. Follow what God? He can help put your marriage together again. God really can help you. Now I know it's too late. If you know your husband's gone off with someone else and he doesn't want you back again or your wife, well, you have to move on, of course. But if it's still possible, give God the opportunity to put it together. I know of marriages that have come back together again even though it looked like love was missing. Don't unshackle just for someone else, my friend. Seek God's help. Maybe that stone that's missing is Christ's Sabbath. You know about it. You've heard about it even in this series. But you know to do something that's so different, it seems so strange, my friend. It's important to Jesus. He kept the Sabbath. He calls us not to forget the Sabbath. If it's important to him, it ought to be important to you and me. If we love Jesus, then we need to follow what he says and tells us to do. Why don't you do that? Why don't you put that stone back in that broken down altar and you see what God does when you follow him. Maybe it's this stone that's missing my body as the temple of God. You've heard about the problem with alcohol, drugs or cigarette. You see that this is ruining your body temple. Maybe it's those unclean foods that God said, hey, I don't want you to eat that. It's going to do you harm. But you love those things and you find it hard to follow what God says. Why don't you give it to God? Why don't you say, lord, I can see it's wrong, but I don't have the willpower. He'll give you the power if you give him your will. That's for sure. Why don't you say, lord, even this thing I give to you. Put that stone back in your broken down altar. God will help you. Maybe it's this one here. You know, we've heard of tithes and offerings. And you think, how can I possibly afford to return God a tithe, a tenth that he calls me to do because it's his? You can't afford not to do it, my friend. And when you do it, you will see, God will help you. He will bless you, he will look after you, he will care for you. Why don't you put that stone in place if that's missing? Maybe for you it's this business about the remnant. You can see that there's a remnant, a prophetic end time movement. But how to leave what I belong to and be part of God's remnant? How to come out of Babylon? That seems too hard for you. Why don't you give it to God? Why don't you let him bring you out by his grace and his power? Just say, lord, I'll follow you. I'll follow you wherever you lead. Why not do that? You will find God will restore your broken down altar and you will shine brighter for him by doing that. Maybe it's this one of baptism. You know, you should get baptized. You've never been baptized by immersion. You were christened. Perhaps. Maybe you wandered away from God. You left God behind and you've come back to him and God is speaking to you. You need to put that old man, that old woman down, that old life. Because you let it go and everybody knew it. Why don't you come and follow me in the waters of baptism? Maybe there's some significant new truth. You were baptized by immersion before, but now you see, wow, the Sabbath, the state of the dead, what happens in all these amazing truths from the Bible. And you need to get re baptized, just like they did in the city of Ephesus when Paul rebaptized people who were still, they were followers of Jesus, but he rebaptized them. They didn't know about the teaching of the Holy Spirit. So when they knew, Paul baptized them. Why not restore your broken down altar, my friend, by putting those stones in place? But I guess the question is, how can you do that when it seems so difficult? Well, you remember the story of the prophet Elijah? Remember what happened? The Bible says at the time of the evening sacrifice, Prophet Elijah went to the broken down altar. It's only Calvary, my friend, that can help you restore your broken down altar. You need Christ and you need to yield to him. You need to say, lord, I need the power of Calvary to do what I need to do. I love what the prophet Elijah said when he was there. He called the people to come to him just as they were. I mean, they had been worshiping pagan gods, BAAL and Asherah. But he said, come near unto me. And that's what God is calling you to do today. Come, follow me. Come to me. And that's why the third angel's message, the three angels message, have at the heart the gospel of Jesus, because that's the gospel, the time of the evening sacrifice. And come as we are, because we can come in no other way. Don't try to fix yourself up. Come to Jesus. That's how he'll fix you up. And when you and I come to Jesus, he will break our hearts and we will have that repentance. What did prophet Elijah say? Oh God, let them know that you are turning their hearts back again. That's repentance. You are changing them from this direction to that direction. Give it to God, my friend. He will put you in a new direction, a new trajectory in life, and your altar will shine for God. You will be amazed at how good life is when you give it all to God. And not only that, you'll have eternal life because you're following Jesus. Well, we're glad you were with us in this amazing presentation, the return of Elijah the prophet. But I think we need to pause for a moment of prayer. As we finish, let's pray together. Oh God and Father, we want to thank youk so much for your tremendous love. Thank youk for the story of the prophet Elijah in the book of Revelation that flows through the book. And thank youk for the call to restore our broken down altars of Jehovah God, so we shine like youe. Oh God. Those watching, those listening know what stones are missing in their altar. Oh God, give them the power, give them the love for Jesus to let him do those things in their life. We pray this now in Jesus name and we thank you because we ask it in his name. Amen. Well, it was so good to have you with this presentation to join us. Don't miss our next presentation. In our Countdown Back to the Future series, we're going to be looking at a vital topic. We're going to be looking at no more Night the World tomorrow. This is our last presentation in our series. You won't want to miss that presentation. Invite a friend. It's going to be one of those out of the world experiences, let me tell you. Call a friend, invite them to watch and we'll see you then in our next presentation. Our last one in Countdown Back to the Future.
