Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. This presentation, very important one. Armageddon, the last great battle. You know, many people believe that right here in this plain here called the plain of Jezreel, that one day all the armies of the world will be gathered here for the great battle of Armageddon. Many, many people believe that. I guess the question is, what is the Battle of Armageddon? How do we understand this great battle, said by some to be the mother of all battles? Well, if we want to understand about the battle of Armageddon, we must find it in its context in the Book of Revelation, because this is where the Battle of Armageddon is mentioned in Revelation. But the context is the thousand years, or what we call the millennium, milli thousand annum years. So the thousand years. Now, when we look at the subject of the millennium, it's found in the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation. And we find that it's bound by two resurrections. It begins with a resurrection called the resurrection of Life, and it ends with a resurrection called the second resurrection or the resurrection of Condemnation. Two resurrections, one at each end of this thousand year period. Notice what the Bible says. This is the first resurrection, blessed and holy is he or she who has part in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for for a thousand years. Now, of course, as we saw in our last presentation, this event is called the coming of Jesus, his return to set up the last empire. It's called, as we saw, the Blessed Hope. Now it's called the Blessed hope, as we saw in our last presentation because of four factors. Number one, Jesus comes to raise his dead friends to life. That's a great hope. Secondly, because at this time, Jesus reunites his friends who have been separated by death. Thirdly, it's called the Blessed Hope because he gives his friends new bodies, entire beautiful bodies, eternal bodies that never wear out and get sick and get old and die. And then fourthly, he's coming to gather his friends so that they can be with him. That's why it's called the Blessed Hope. Now the question is, what about those who hold on to sin, those who have lost their moral compass, those who cling to sin and will not give it to God and say, lord Jesus, take it from me. Well, these people become the enemies of God's children in the end of time. And this brings us to the world's greatest battle, the battle of Armageddon. Now, the battle of Armageddon itself. Its first mention is under the sixth plague. John sees seven plagues in Revelation. And it's under the sixth plague that the word Armageddon surfaces. Now notice, he says, in the sixth plague there is a gathering of everybody to the battle of Armageddon. The sixth plague is not the battle. It's people being gathered to this great battle that we find in Revelation. Let's notice what the Bible says. John says they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. So that's where this battle is mentioned under the sixth plague, where people are gathered to to that battle. Now I want you to notice the battle of Armageddon is not man's battle. It's called God's battle, the battle of the great day of God Almighty. The battle itself takes place under the seventh plague. Notice again what the Bible says. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and there was a great earthquake. Then every island fled away and the mountains were not found. That's an earthquake, isn't it? No islands, no mountains left. This brings us to the seven seals and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. We've seen this before, we've looked at this passage. But I want you to notice that this is the same event as what we've just read from Revelation chapter 16. Notice what the Bible says. John sees earth's climactic end time events at Christ's return. Notice what the Bible says. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Isn't that what we just read in Revelation 16? The earthquake and islands moved. John seeing the same event at the coming of Jesus. Every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Why? For the great day of his wrath has come. And who is able to stand there it is. This is the events that take place at the return of Jesus Christ. This is what John is saying here. This great earthquake that takes place. This occurs when Jesus comes the second time. Now let's come to the battle of Armageddon thing here. Let's talk about this place and this name. The word Armageddon comes from two words. One of Them is the word Megiddo. Megiddo was a city fortress. In fact we're here in Megiddo where we're taking this picture from. It was on a very strategic road that ran from Egypt right up through to, through Syria and up to towards Mesopotamia, Turkey and so on. This is a very important road. The Egyptians controlled this place on some occasions when they were here in Syria and in Israel. This place, Solomon also had stables here. We're told in the Bible because of strategic location on this very important trade route. Now Megiddo as we said was a city fortress. You can see tell Megiddo here. The archeologists have been excavating this tell is a civilization mound. In fact on this place there were 31 or 30 to 31 civilization levels, one building on top of another. It's quite a place to visit. And archeologists have excavated a whole lot of Tel Megiddo. You will notice all around it is the, on one side is the plain of Jezreel. You can see it out there in the background. Here we are in Megiddo, taking the photo from here and we're looking out across the plain of Jezreel where many people believe this is where the armies of the world will be gathered one day. Now the word har or Ar is the word mountain. The word Megiddo means slaughter. So put together we have the mountain of slaughter or destruction. Why this name? Well, if you think about what took place here in ancient times, this area here was the site of great battles in the Bible times, the plain of Jezreel. For example, you may have heard of Gideon. Gideon with his 300 men fought on this great battlefield. Now there's no way that these 300 men would have defeated these thousands of Midianites had it not been for God. God fought with them against their enemies to deliver them from their enemies. This is the place where Deborah and Barak had their big fight. If you've ever read the story of the Judges, Deborah was a prophetess and she was basically in charge telling the men what to do for God. And Barak fought these thousands of people here in the plain of Jezreel. But what was it about God fighting for his people to deliver them from their enemies, to save them. So the place of slaughter, slaughtering the enemies. Now let's come back to the book of Revelation. Here you remember these three powers, the dragon, the sea beast and the land beast. These three powers we've been noticing lead people to false worship because they worship the dragon in the end of Time, that's Satan. Not a good space to be in. And then they attack God's people. So God gives warning messages calling people back to true worship because God wants people to be saved. Worshiping the dragon will lead to eternal loss. Hence the call to worship God away from this. And then what happens after this great showdown between the three beasts and the three angels, so to speak. Then we see that Jesus comes. And Jesus is pictured in Revelation as coming on a great white horse. Now, Jesus is not really coming down the sky on a horse. This is a picture from ancient times of a king coming to rescue his people. To rescue his people, he must put down their enemies so they can be saved. His people can be delivered. So this is why this picture of Jesus on a white horse with the armies. And this is the battle of Armageddon, the second coming of Jesus to put down the enemies of his friends. This is what the battle of Armageddon is all about. Notice what the Bible says now. I saw heaven open. John says, and behold a white horse. He who sat on it judges and makes war. Someone's going to have a battle, you see here. And his name is called the word of God. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now we're going to read some words here that seem very strong, and they are very strong for a good reason. Some of these words almost appear a bit frightening, but let me tell you why. You imagine a mother tells her children, her little kids, don't play beside the freeway. It's dangerous. I don't want you to play with your ball down there. And one day, mom happens to look out the kitchen window, which overlooks out the front of the yard to the freeway. And to her horror, there is her, Billy and Susan playing with a ball right beside the freeway. Now what's mom going to do? Is she going to sit there, stand there at the kitchen window and say, oh, I don't want to hurt the feelings of my kids. Let me just tiptoe down there and whisper in their pink little ear. Johnny, Billy, Susan, Mommy told you not to play beside the freeway. Of course she's not going to do that. There's no time for that. She's going to open that window. She's going to scream at the top of her young billy, Susan, get back here now. Because she hates them, of course not. Because she loves them. You know, sometimes God has to scream at us to get our Attention. We're running. And get to be about to be run down by a spiritual freight train called the final, final judgment, the final destruction. And God has to shout at us sometimes to get our attention because God loves us so much, he does not want us to get run down. So sometimes there are things in the Bible that come across very strongly. But it's not because God hates us or because God's trying to scare us. It's because God loves us and he wants to rescue us. So notice what John sees next. And I saw the beast. That's the sea beast. And the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse. They think they can take Jesus out. What strange deception goes on here? They make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet. That's the land beast who works miracles to deceive. Hence he's called the false prophet. We'll encounter that in night cry demonic dimensions. This false prophet who deceived those who received the mark of the beast. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. Now what's going on here? This is a picture of utter destruction, total destruction. You see, when Jesus returns, he takes his friends to be with him, those who had died. He raises to life those who are living. They're caught up together with him and he takes them to the Father's house. But sinners, the Bible says, are destroyed. And at Christ's return, all those who cling to sin, all those who hold onto it, they are destroyed. There are no second chances. You know, there are many people who believe. Well, Jesus comes for his friends and the ones left behind will have a chance to repent, a chance to change their ways. No, no, no, not says the Bible. The Bible says no. When Jesus comes, those who cling to sin are destroyed. John makes a point of this. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Those who are dead when Jesus comes, who cling to sin, they stay dead. Those who are alive, who cling to sin, when he comes, they're destroyed. We just read with this great battle. What a tragedy that today there are many books and films. For example, Left behind, the movie. Some people are going to be left behind, so the stories and the movies say. And people be able to be converted. They have a second Chance. But this is a lie of the devil. There's no such thing. Those who are not taken up with Jesus, they are destroyed. There are no second chances. That's why the Bible always says, today is the day, now is the hour. It never says tomorrow. Make a decision. It's always today. Because we may not have tomorrow. And then no second chances when Jesus comes. This is a vital point. You see, some of these teachings that are within Christianity are sort of like a lullaby to put people to sleep so that they put off the decision for another day. If Jesus comes secretly, I'm taken out. And I'm not taken out. I'm left behind. I'll get another chance. No, you won't. There won't be another chance because those who hold on to sin are destroyed. When Jesus comes, God does not want us to be deceived, my friends. This is vital that we understand what his word is saying. So let's come to the Battle of Armageddon. Many people believing that the armies are going to be gathered here. Listen, I've been here a number of times to this place, to Megiddo. And look out over this valley of Jezreel. There's no way you're going to get all these millions of soldiers in this battle like some people talk about. The armies of the world will never fit in here. There's not big enough. No. The battle of Armageddon occurs right across the world where God's friends are and where their enemies are all around the planet. Armageddon is the second coming of Jesus. The battle that takes place when people try to take him out to destroy the friends of Jesus, he comes to rescue them. Well, what about Satan? What about the dragon? You see, the beast and the false prophet, the sea beast and the land beast, they get into that lake of burning fire. It says, what about the land? What about the dragon? What's going to happen to him? Well, the Bible says he's bound for a thousand years. Now what does that mean? Let's read the text first. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who was the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. Now, what's going on here? First of all, what does it mean that he's bound in a bottomless pit? What does that mean? Is there some sort of a black hole in space where God's going to drop this guy? This being? Well, of course not. What does it mean? Let's notice how the Bible translates the Hebrew into the Greek in a couple of places in the Old Testament, and we'll understand what this phrase bottomless pit is referring to. When we go to the Bible in the Old Testament, we notice that the word abusos, that's the Greek word abyss or bottomless pit, translated that way. This word here is used interestingly about this planet. Notice, at the beginning of the creation of this world, the Bible says the earth was without form and void. That means the earth was abyss. The earth, it says, was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. So it's this planet. Now we come down to the book of Jeremiah, and Jeremiah is talking of the exact same events that John is talking about in Revelation. Notice what John said. Jeremiah said, I beheld the earth. Notice it's the earth. And indeed it was without form and void in the Greek. When they translated it from the Hebrew to the Greek, it was abyss. And the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled. There's an earthquake, like John says, and all the hills moved back and forth. There's that earthquake I beheld. And indeed there was no man. Everybody's gone. All the birds of the heavens had fled. See, they've had their fill. They're gone. And I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord by his fierce anger. Do you see, my friend, what the bottomless pit is? It's this earth in chaos at Christ's return. When the cities are broken down, this world is called to be the abyss, the wasteland, a chaos planet after the return of Jesus, where the enemies of God's friends are destroyed and all the cities are broken down. Now, how is Satan bound? Does an angel come around and get an iron chain and wrap it around him? Well, hardly. If you've read the story of Jesus in the New Testament, you'll notice that sometimes people were chained and they broke their chains as if they were pieces of cotton, almost. You can't chain a devil up with an iron chain. He's a spirit being. No way. So what's this chain mean that he's bound with? Well, let's think. The devil lives for two things. We've Seen number one, deception. What for? For destruction. These are the two things he lives for. But now he's got nobody to work on in this story. Why? Where are God's friends in the story? Where are God's friends? Well, they're in heaven. Remember when Jesus came the second time? He raised his dead friends to life. And then his living friends were caught up together with those dead who are now al. And they went to the Father's house. So he can't get at God's friends. They're in heaven. What about those who cling to sin, those who hold onto it? What about getting them? Well, he can't. Because remember, when Jesus comes the second time, they are the enemies of God's friends and they are destroyed at his coming. So he's got nobody to work on God's friends in heaven. Those who have followed him and are loyal to him, who have rebelled against God, they're dead. And so he's bound not by a literal chain, but he's bound by the circumstances. You see, Revelation is a symbolic book. It's not a real dragon. It represents Satan, who works like a dragon, vicious and ferocious. And so the chain is not a literal chain. It's a chain of circumstances. You imagine, for example, if you heard that I was going to the Middle east, and you said, listen, would you mind picking a parcel up for me? And I say, look, I'm sorry, I can't. My hands are tied. You don't think I'm going to get on the plane with my hands tied behind my back with a rope, do you? Of course not. You mean it's the circumstances that won't allow me to do what you want me to do? Because I'm just flying in and flying straight out. I'm not going to Jerusalem. I'm just going to Tel Aviv. And on I go. So it's the circumstances that bind my hand, so to speak. We use that language, don't we? Well, the same in the Bible. All right. Now, what are God's friends doing during these thousand years? What are they doing when they go to heaven? What's happening? Notice what John says as we continue the story. This is the first resurrection, blessed and holy. Is he or she who has part in the first resurrection over such. Over such people? The second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. Now, in what sense do these people reign with Christ? What does that mean, they reign with Him? Well, let's notice what happens. John says And I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was committed to them. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. In other words, God's friends are somehow participating in some sort of a judicial or a judgment process during the thousand years. Now, this shouldn't surprise us because Paul himself talked about this when he was here. You see, Paul came to his friends, wrote to his friends in Corinth when he heard that these Christians were taking each other to law courts. And he says, come on, you guys, can't you sort out your own tiffs? Can't you fix up your own problems among yourselves without taking each other to the law courts? Surely you can, because one day you're going to do something far bigger than that. Notice what Paul said. That was the context of this statement. Do you not know that the saints, that means God's friends will judge the world. Don't you know that we shall judge angels? Now, what angels are God's friends going to be judging? Well, surely not the good ones, not the 2/3 that stayed with Jesus. They don't need to be judged. He's going to be judging those ones who have rebelled against God. And God's friends are going to be participating in this judgment process. And by the judgment, you see, we will see that God is just and that God is fair. You see, God doesn't need a judgment for his benefit. He knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows exactly the hairs on our head. He knows everything. The judgment is not for his benefit. It's for the benefit of his creatures, those who cannot know what people are thinking, and so on. This is the purpose for the judgment. So people will see that God is fair and God is just. Notice how the Bible puts it. Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Why is that? Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints, who shall not fear you. That means respect you and honor your O Lord and glorify your name. For you alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before you. Why will they come and worship before him? Notice the next statement. For because your judgments have been manifested. You see, God's judicial process shows what he's like. It's even true in our world today. You think about it. If you're going to move country, you're going to migrate somewhere. You better know about the judicial process of that country. You better find out if they have kangaroo courts. Why? Because the way a government works its court system tells us about the government behind the courts. So very important. Well, God's judgments tell us about who's behind the running of this universe, about God himself. You imagine, let's say you who are watching, you're all in heaven one day and you look around among yourselves and you say, hey, where's Webster? I mean this guy, he made these countdown back to the future presentations, but he's not here. Maybe God's made a mistake here. How come he's not here? Well, God is not going to say to you, never you mind, I know what I'm doing. God will say, well, let's have a look at the records. Because God is taking records. The Bible says numerous times that books are open in the judgment, records are revealed. God is recording things. Whatever we think, whatever we say, whatever we do, are they words, are they deeds of love? And so on, as we saw. So God will say, maybe not. Come and have a look at the books. Because I mean if that's the way it was written in Bible times, but today, come on, let's have a look at the computer. That's how we record things today. Let's have a look at, let's pull down an MP3 file about Webster or something. And when you look at the records you say, whoa, look at that guy. What a hypocrite. I mean, he's cheating on his wife, he's taking money on taxation time, he crooked on the government and so on. Whoa, now we understand he wasn't the real deal. So people will understand from the judgment that God has been fair and right. God's not going to say, never you mind, I know what I'm doing. Sweep it under the carpet. No way. God wants you and I to know that he's a just God. He's a loving God. He's a fair God because he's been accused by this dragon. Remember we saw in one of our first presentations, he's accused of being a being who doesn't love us and is not a just God. It doesn't matter whether you break God's command. No big deal. God has a day of justice because justice is needed. Remember, you cannot have love if you don't have justice. Mercy on one side of that love coin, justice on the other. That's what love is all about. God is a just God and it will be seen by his judgments. So you will see. Wow. Just as well Webster didn't come in here. Right? May that never be the case. What about the events during the thousand years? Let's just, let's just review them. Number one, Earth is desolate, destroyed the Cities are broken down at the coming of Jesus. You recall number two, the unsaved are dead. Those who are dead before Jesus come, who cling to sin, they stay dead. Those who are clinging to sin when Jesus comes, they're destroyed. We read there in Revelation, Satan is bound to this earth, this planet, by the circumstances. He's got nobody to work on. He's bound. And then the saved, God's friends are judging with Christ. They're looking at the records, they're understanding what's going on. How come God has some people in here and how come others are not here? We, we sort of thought this one shouldn't be here and this one should be here. There'd be all sorts of questions. Because we have questions today, right? We have questions even about what God is doing, how come my husband died, how come this and that. And God's going to answer our questions. We're going to see that God is loving and God is just and God is fair. All right? So what takes place after the thousand years now? What then? Notice what the Bible says now. When the thousand years have transpired, when they're finished, expired, Satan will be released from his prison and he will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. Gog and Magog, the enemies of God's people in the end time. Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Now, what's going on here? Let's notice. You say, where did the nations come from? I thought you said that God's friends are in heaven and those who cling to sin are destroyed. Well, you remember the thousand years. The thousand years has two resurrections, right? There's a resurrection at the beginning known as the resurrection of life. But remember, there is a second resurrection, the resurrection of condemnation or destruction. Sinners are destroyed. We saw at Christ's return. At that same time, there is a first resurrection for God's friends. God's friends raised to life, those who cling to sin are destroyed. But at the second resurrection, there is a resurrection 1000 years later called the second resurrection. For those who are the enemies of God's friends, those who cling to sin and hold onto it, this is where they came from out of the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years, the Bible says. But the rest of the dead, that is the dead in sin, the dead who cling to sin the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Whose number is as the sand of the sea. So we see what the Bible is talking about when it says the nations were deceived, those who were resurrected to life at the end of the thousand years. Satan's got somebody to work on now. Those who cling to sin, he can work on them. Well, where did the city come from? John said there was a city that they surrounded. Well, John tells us in the next chapter where the city came from. Then I, John, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So this colossal space city, if you like, it comes floating down from heaven down to this planet. You read the dimensions of this city. It's like 500km this way, 500km this way. A massive city. It comes down from God out of heaven. And now there are two camps. Those in Satan's camp outside the city and those with God in with the city of God. Notice what happens next. Satan will be released from his prison because he's got people to work on. Those who cling to sin are raised to life. Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations, to gather them together to battle. Whose number is as the sand of the sea. You know, I think that last line there, whose number is as the sand of the sea is one of the saddest verses or parts of the Bible. Because nobody need to be among those thousands like the sand of the sea because God has made a way of escape for all of us. Sad text. You see, Jesus said the road to the kingdom is narrow and few go that way. They don't want to go that way. The road to destruction is broad and sadly most go that way. That's why John says the number is as the sand of the sea. But they don't have to go that way. It's our choice. The Bible says of these people, by the way, you will notice there's no difference to these people. After a thousand years they were deceived when they went into the grave by the dragon. And when they come up, they're deceived again. A zillion years, a trillion years would not change these people. They've already fixed their mind, they've made the decision and they come up the same way as they went down, deceived by the dragon. And Satan hasn't been changed by a thousand years. Looking at all the destruction he's caused, he's the same as soon as he's got an opportunity, he's back to his deception again. What for? For destruction, as we'll see. The Bible says they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. You can almost imagine the dragon saying to all these people, Satan saying to all these people, listen, there's more of us outside here. We've got some smart people here. I mean, we got Adolf Hitler, we got Napoleon Bonaparte, we got all these really clever scientists, some of them, who have been making all this stuff that kills people. We can, we can take out the city. Can almost hear him saying that now. I don't know if Napoleon's not going to be in him just giving an example. There's lots of smart people who have said no to God, who don't even believe in God, who couldn't stand to be with God for a second, let alone a millennium, let alone eternity. So they, they decide, let's go and. Let's go and take the city out. Let's go and take these people out. We can, we can win here. There's more of us than them. So they go up to take the city, but God says enough is enough. And the Bible says there's a final judgment. It's called the Great White Throne Judgment in the Bible. Notice the way John puts it here. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it. And I saw the dead. That's the living dead, the dead in sin. Nothing's changed with them. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. The records are brought out and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by what they've said or done and so on, by the things which were written in the books. Wow. What a moment, my friend. A great judgment. The Bible says we will all one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ. All one day, either outside or inside the city, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Solemn thought, isn't it? And by the way, this is a very unique moment in the history of this world. Do you see what's happening, everybody? According to the Bible, it seems whoever lived from Adam right down to our end times is all alive at the same point. We're either inside the city, so glad that we said yes to Jesus, or we're outside the city with Satan wishing we had said yes to Jesus. A unique moment. Everybody gathered. Why does God do this? Why does God want everybody to come together who's ever lived on this planet. It seems to be at the same place at the same time. What's the purpose? Well, I'm not sure how God's going to do it. Maybe some gigantic panoramic television in the sky or something. But in this final judgment, we're going to see the great moments down through history. We'll see undoubtedly when Satan rebelled against God in heaven. The replay of that, how that happened. No doubt we saw when our first parents, Adam and Eve, joined the dragon, the devil, in his rebellion against God. And all of us have become rebels ever since against God. No doubt we'll see that great story of the flood when for 120 years God pleaded with the people in Noah's day to come into the boat. The door was open for 120 years and Noah preached and built, but no one would get into the boat except his own family. And the Bible says the door was shut forever. Those people had lost their opportunity. What a tragedy. No doubt we'll see the time when the three angels flew over in your direction, your city, your home, came into your lounge room via television. The story of the three angels fighting against the three beasts. No doubt we'll see those moments when we came to the point in our life where we made a decision for God or against God in this great judgment. But above all, we will see Calvary. We will see that God loved every one of us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. We will see that God did not want any of us to perish. That's why he himself became flesh and spread out his arms on an old rugged cross. And the Bible says when this great judgment before the great white throne of God is finished, notice what happens. Every knee says, Paul shall bow to me, Jesus is saying, and every tongue shall confess to God. How come, how come everybody's going to acknowledge that God is just and fair? How come even the devil's going to do that? Every knee, the Bible tells us why. How come? Every knee. Because all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested or been revealed. You see everybody, those inside the city, those outside the city who cling to sin, those inside the city who cling to Christ. Everyone will see that God has been fair, that God has been just and God has been loving. You see, love consists of two things we've seen before. Love consists of mercy and justice. The very two things that the devil accused God of not having. He's not a loving God. He said to Adam and Eve, he's trying to keep you from having this tree because you'll be like him. He doesn't want you to have what he's got. And it doesn't matter if you break God's commandments. No big deal, you won't die. Even though God said you would. Love is two sided coin. Like a two sided coin. On one side is mercy for those who genuinely repent and say, lord, I'm sorry, I've done wrong. The other side is justice. You don't have love if you don't deal with those who hold on to sin and hurt other people and destroy others. That's not love in anybody's language. Love has both. The Bible says, and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, in other words, good and evil, all, all created beings in other words, and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb and forever and ever. Now imagine, friends, you're inside the city with Christ and I'm outside the city with the dragon, with the devil and all those who cling to sin. And when you hear me and Satan saying, just and merciful, you are right, God. Do you think we're not going to. Do you think you're going to have a question that God is not fair when you hear it from us, ourselves who are outside the city? Of course not. God has to have this moment so that everybody sees and everybody hears and everybody understands those who have given their sins to Christ and those who have clung to them. Everybody needs to understand that God is just and God is fair and there's no reason why anybody needs to be outside the city because of his great love. And then when that great judgment is finished, I can almost see God and Christ sobbing with their head in their hands, sobbing their hearts out because they see what they have to do next. And then God says, let the fire fall. And the Bible says fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. The Bible says, in other words, that Satan and those who cling to sin are completely destroyed. There's nothing left. They're completely destroyed. God, you see, my friend, does not want to destroy anybody. He takes no pleasure in the destruction of those who cling to sin and will not give it to God who will not say, God, come into my life, take control. He takes no pleasure. The Bible says in Their destruction. The Bible says these words. Say to them. He's talking to Ezekiel, to Israel. Say to them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, that is, those who cling to sin, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn from your evil ways, for why should you die? Can't you hear a heartbroken God calling out to each one of us? Say to them as he, I have no pleasure. I don't want anyone to be destroyed. Well, when the fire has done its work and the fire has gone out, because that's what the Bible says, God makes a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible says, when God creates this world, notice I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. God takes no pleasure. And when the fire's gone out, God makes a new world. There's no fire on this planet. It's gone out. God makes a pristine new world for his friends who have accepted him and followed him and walked with him. You know, my friends, I know this is a sobering passage in the Bible, but it's not there for fun. It's there to warn us that, hey, we need to make the right choices in life. Cause one day we'll either be inside the city, so glad that we said yes to God, or we'll be outside the city wishing we'd said yes to God. But it was our choice. We had the opportunity, but we either clung to sin or we gave it to Christ. It's just that serious, my friend. And that's why it's in the Bible. Not to scare us, but to call us. To say, hey, life is not a game. I need to. I need to. I need to look seriously at how I'm going and where I'm going, where I'm going to end up. One or two camps inside or outside. Ganiel Guzman loved the party life. She really did. I mean, she partied big. She lived in Jamaica. She partied so hard that she wanted to party even harder. So she decided to leave her husband and her daughter and head for the Big Apple, for America, for New York. And so that's what she did. Left her husband, left her daughter, and she went and migrated to the States. Yeah, man, she partied hard in New York, the Big Apple city. And she had herself a ball until that day. She was in one of those twin towers on the day that a plane smashed into the building next door and then a little later on, smashed into her building. Daniel says we were upper about 80th floor somewhere and we were wondering should we get out of the building? Should we stay or should we go? She said after quite a while we decided we'd better get out of here. So she said we couldn't take the lift because the lift was out of action. So we began the long walk down the stairwell, me and my friends. We got down to about floor 13 or 14, she said, and the whole building began to sway. And then the building just collapsed in on top of us in that stairwell. When I woke up, I was the only one alive. She could sort of, as it were, smell diesel for some reason. And I guess she could smell death. She said I lay there for a moment and when I came to her and I said, God, if you get me out of this hellhole, I'll be a good girl from now on. She started bargain with God. But as the time went on, Daniel realized maybe she's not going to come out of this place. Maybe she's not going to make it. The hours wore on and she now began to get serious with God. She started to think about her life, her selfishness. Leaving her husband, leaving her daughter, partying on like she had been doing. She began to think of eternity and God. And then she started to talk to God seriously. Some more hours went on and Daniel began to pray. God, she said, I may never get out of this hellhole, but that's okay by me. But I do want to ask Jesus to come into my life. God, I want eternity with you. I know I've lived a terribly selfish, indulgent life. But God, I want to accept Christ into my life. Ganiel asked Christ into her life. And shortly after she went into unconsciousness, A man was clamoring over all the rubble about 24 hours later and he noticed a hand sticking up through the rubble. He, you know, scampered down to all that rubble and felt the pulse and there was a pulse, called some people over to help. And after some hours they lifted Ganeel out of the rubble of the Twin Towers and took her to hospital. She lives today, changed life when she came out of hospital. You know, Jesus is so good to us. Some of us have been running from God, running, doing things that we know are not good for us, not good for others. But God still calls for us. Like Adam and Eve way back. Adam, Eve, where are you? I love you. Won't you let me into your life? Let's bow together in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your mercy in giving us these things in the Bible. Life is not a game. It's serious. It has serious consequences. Eternal life or eternal loss. Father, today you're speaking to many people who are watching this presentation, Lord, help them to open their life to Jesus and say, oh God, I need you in my life. Thank you Lord that the moment a person comes to Christ, they're accepted. Lord, we come just as we are and we say, jesus, come in. Thank you that when we do that you come in. Thank you for accepting us in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we are so glad that you were able to join us with this presentation. It's amazing what's in this book. Isn't it amazing? Love of God. We're so glad you joined us with countdown. Back to the Future. Don't want you to miss our next presentation. We're going to be looking at a vital subject in the series. A vital subject that helps us connect with Jesus in a very special and real way. Life After Death Going to be talking about the search for truth on this matter. What happens when we die? Where do we go? These are big questions that many people have. Well, you won't want to miss us. Invite a friend to watch 3abn to see this presentation. Life After Death, the Search for Truth. I'll be talking about ghosts and out of body experiences and all sorts of things like that. It's not a scary program because we're going to go to the Bible, but it does tell us what the real things are all about. So join us in our next presentation in Countdown. Back to the Future. We look forward to seeing you.
