Episode Transcript
So glad you've joined us for countdown. Back to the future. Now, this presentation Time Tunnel, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is one of the very important programs in our series. In fact, you know, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have caught the attention of people for many years. Hollywood has a number of different versions of the Four Horsemen, but just what are they? Well, that's what we're going to discover as we move through not only this presentation, but the second part actually comes in the next presentation. You know, John on the island of Patmos, when he was here, he noticed an amazing. He was given an amazing vision. John saw the throne room of the universe. He was taken right there, so to speak. And there in the hand of God on the throne was a scroll book that was sealed with seven seals. Notice what the Bible says. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals. And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or he says to look at it. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open the or open and read the scroll or to look at it. Wow, what an amazing picture. Why would a prophet cry so much over a book that he couldn't look at? Have you ever cried because you couldn't read a certain book? I don't think so. So obviously this must be a vital scroll book for the prophet to actually cry over the thing because he couldn't look into it. So what is this scroll book? What does it represent? Well, we need to go back now to the city of Babylon. This is the time of Jeremiah, when the Babylonians have been sieging the city. You will recall in a previous program we saw they made three raids against Jerusalem and in the last raid, they destroyed it. But this is before the last raid when it was destroyed. Jeremiah is a house prisoner, if you would, and he's told at this time, this is 600 BC, he's told by God that his cousin Hanamel will come and ask him to buy his field. That's in a place called Anathoth, which is under the control of the Babylonians. And just as God had told him, this is what happened. Let's pick it up then. Just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, buy my field, since it is your right to redeem it, that is to purchase it and to possess it, buy it for yourself. Then the Bible tells us what Jeremiah did. So I Bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hannah Mel. And I weighed out for him 17 shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed and had it witnessed and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purchase, the sealed copy as well as the unsealed copy, and gave this deed to. To Barak the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed, and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard so you can see what's going on. Jeremiah has purchased the property of his cousin Hanamel. He's taken, like a scroll piece of paper, you know, written on it. I, Jeremiah, have purchased this piece of property, got witnesses and had it signed. So this is a deed of purchase, in other words, that's what it is. Now, incidentally, just think if you had this, a document like Jeremiah had a piece of paper, let's say a four sheet, and you wrote on it. I purchased the property and you rolled it up. What they did next was tie some string around it, maybe three or four pieces of string. They would put some clay over the string, and then they would take their ring. The ring they wore had on was a seal ring. It wasn't for show. It was just a ring that they used for their seal. So they would press it in with their seal into the clay and leave its mark there. Now, if a fire destroyed the building where this document was, what would be left of it? Well, obviously just the piece of baked clay with the seal impression on it. Archeologists call these bullae. Now, you can see some of them. These are pieces of clay, little round, about the size of an Australian dollar. And then they've got the seal impression in them. Just the baked clay seal impression would be all that's left. That's called a bullae. Now, the archeologists have found many of these. When you come into the city of Jerusalem, we learn, of course, in the time of Jeremiah, just after this event, the Babylonians destroyed the city, as we said. And archeologists have actually discovered some of the rooms that the Babylonians attacked. You can see one here. This is called the house of the bullae. On the right there. They discovered a whole bunch of these seal impressions on clay right there in this house. Now, they've actually discovered a lot of these. Notice this one here, very important to what we're talking about. This seal impression says, belonging to Barak, son of Neriah, the scribe. This is the seal impression of the Very scribe of Jeremiah, who actually was the one who had to do all the things that Jeremiah asked him to do. Put the document in a clay jar and so on. Amazing, isn't it? That's why we say, and have said a number of times, this book is no ordinary book. It's historically reliable, accurate. We've seen already the seal impression of Isaiah, seal impression of Hezekiah in a previous presentation, and now this one we have the scribe of Jeremiah. So what is going on here? Now notice this, two things would be needed for Jeremiah's cousin to get his property back. So you see, what happened was if you got caught between a rock and a hard place financially, you could go to your nearest relative and ask him to purchase the property for you so it would stay in the family. So, you know, other people outside the family wouldn't be able to hold onto it. Then when you got a little more financial, you could buy it back from your cousin, nearest relative. So Jeremiah has now bought the property so that it's in the family. Now two things would be necessary for this cousin of his to get it back. Number one, of course, was Jeremiah would have to pay the redemption price for starters, and he did, so it stays within the family. But secondly, of course, the Babylonians would have to be defeated because while this was happening, the Babylonians had control of the area where his property was. So those would be the two things. If this man wanted to get his property back when he needed it, one needed to get someone to pay the price, a nearest relative, that's Jeremiah. And secondly, he would need to have the Babylonians, you know, defeated so he could claim the property back again. Now Jeremiah, when he was told to do this by God, was wondering, why would God ask me to buy this field that's in the of the Babylonians? I mean, not good for me. Bought the property, but I can't get my hands on it even to keep it in the family. Well, God sent a message to him saying, listen, I've asked you to do this because one day the Babylonians are going to be defeated and you'll be able to claim your property when you tell the people that they'll one day come out of Babylon back to Jerusalem. The very act that you're doing will show that you have faith in me and that I'm going to deliver them. So notice what God said to Jeremiah. Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them and take witnesses in the places around Jerusalem, for I will cause their captives to return, says the Lord. So it was A sort of an act of Jeremiah for God to show God would deliver them eventually. But more importantly for what we're talking about here is that this represents the title deeds of something purchased. That's what John is seeing in Revelation. This scroll book is in the hand of the Father. And John weeps because no one can open it. If you don't open the title deed, you can't claim the property. That's the idea. All right, let's move on. But one of the elders said to me, don't weep, don't cry, John. Behold the line of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has prevailed. That means he's conquered. To open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And I looked and behold, in the midst of the throne, right there beside the throne, and of the four living creatures that were around the throne and the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. So this. There's that prophet crying. No one can open the book. The book that is the title deeds to something. Ah, don't worry, there is someone. It's the lion of the tribe of Judah. It's the Lamb. It's Christ, the Lamb of God. So only the Lamb could open this scroll book, according to the Bible here, only the Lamb could do that. And why is that? Why is it that only the Lamb could open the scroll book? Well, the reason, of course, is the Lamb could open the scroll book because, you see, he paid the redemption price. He put like as it were, the money on the table. Well, it wasn't literal money, of course. He paid the redemption price. Notice what John sees. John. Now, when he had taken the scroll out of the hand of God the Father on the throne, when the Lamb had taken the scroll, in other words, 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. They sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and you have redeemed us. You have purchased us to God by your blood, by your death. Men, that's people out of every tribe, tongue and people and nation. And you have made us kings and preached to our God and we will reign on the earth. We will have an inheritance, in other words. Now, you remember in our one of our previous presentations, we noticed that our first parents, Adam and Eve, they sold out to Satan. And at that point we lost everything. We lost our Innocence. And we lost our peace. Remember, they actually started to fight among themselves. Adam blamed Eve and so on. We lost our home. They were driven from their garden home and we lost our life. We ceased to have eternal life as a human race at that point because we sold out to the devil. He took everything, so to speak. But God promised a redeemer. As soon as Adam and Eve, our first parents, sin, you recall God promised the deliverer one day he would come. And finally he came. After 4,000 years, the deliverer came. That was our nearest relative. Our creator became our brother. That's what the Bible tells us. Our nearest relative. Jesus came. He came. What for? He came to give his life to redeem us back to God. What an amazing picture we see here. Knowing. Notice what the Bible says. Knowing that you were redeemed, says Peter, with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. So here it is. That's what these documents stand for. The title deed of something purchased. It's not a literal document, but it stands for the fact that we now have. God has these title deeds to our lost inheritance that we sold out to. Jesus is taking those title deeds, so to speak. Now you can understand why John wept. Why is he crying? Because he can't look in the book. Because if the book is not open, the scroll is not open, the title deeds are not open, then we can't have our eternal destiny. In other words, it's not yet there. So that's why he cries until the Lamb steps forward to take the scroll book. Now you can see why only the Lamb could open it. No one else could. Only the Lamb because he paid the redemption price. He put the money on the table, so to speak. He gave his life for us so we could be able to have our lost inheritance back again. Now, what about the fact that Jesus signed up, obviously these documents with his own blood, so to speak, not real documents. But he signed, as it were, with his own death to save you and I. Now, what do we make about the lion bit? You know, the lamb we understand, but what about why is he called the lion lamb? How come it's the lion Lamb could open the book. Well, let's think of what the lion stands for. The lion is king, isn't he? We even call it the king of the beasts ourselves in modern society. But even in ancient times, the lion was the king. Notice what the Bible says here. The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion. Amazing, isn't it? Whoever provokes him to anger you don't want to poke a lion to anger sins against his own life. You might lose your life if you do that. But the lion is the king. Now, Jesus is actually called the king right there in Revelation as well. He, Jesus himself, treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is king. In fact, the book of Revelation begins with that idea. Notice Revelation chapter 1 and from Jesus Christ. In other words, this book is from Jesus Christ, who is the ruler of the kings of the earth. That means he's the king of the kings. Unto him that loved us and freed us from from our sins by his blood. Notice what John saw in this amazing chapter that we're looking at. For a moment, one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Don't cry, John. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has conquered, has overcome, in other words, has conquered. To open the book and to break its seven seals. The lion lamb has conquered. You see, that's what happened when Jesus died on the cross. He conquered. He overcame the dragon, the devil. This is picked up by Paul in the book of Hebrews. Inasmuch then as the children, you and I have partaken of flesh and blood, he, that's Jesus. God himself has likewise shared in the same. Why did he do that? Why did he become a human being? Why did he become our nearest relative? So that through death he might destroy, he might defeat him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And as a result, release free those who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. So you see at the cross, Christ defeated Satan. He showed, as we saw in a previous presentation, God is love. The devil has said he's not. He said, God doesn't love you, he loves himself. But God is just. Look what happened to Jesus. He overcame Satan. The king loved us so much that he died to defeat Satan, to redeem us. That's a king, isn't it? Most kings oftentimes just think of themselves. But this king of the universe, he gave everything for you and I. He gave everything so he could conquer, show that this dragon devil was actually a liar and therefore free us from his captivity. Because we often have believed his lies as human beings. God gave his life for you, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. So this scroll book, the title deed of something that has been purchased. The title deed, you see, of our lost inheritance, redeemed by Christ. He's the one who can open it, so to speak, so that we can have our lost inheritance. We can be heirs with God and of Christ. So now what we're going to see is the lamb takes the scroll book and he now breaks the seals on that scroll book. So it's rolled up like a scroll with these seven seals on it. Now Jesus takes the scroll book, the title deeds of our lost inheritance, so to speak. And every time he breaks a seal, it's going to restore us eventually to our lost inheritance. Each seal broken is a step toward us reclaiming what was lost. John says in the Book of Revelation. Now, when he had taken the scroll, they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and, and to open its seals. So now we're going to watch as Jesus one by one breaks the seals successively down through time to bring us our lost inheritance, meaning to bring to us the last empire. So you see, for the last 2000 years, Jesus hasn't been on some sort of heavenly holiday sitting up there, you know, twiddling his thumbs. No, he's been at work via the way heaven does things to bring to us our lost inheritance the last 2000 years. He's coming again to restore us, to bring that lost inheritance to us that he's been working toward progressively down through the ages. So what we're going to see when we look at the seven seals is this. We're going to take a journey through time from down here at the cross when Jesus died, 31 AD right on down through the the time periods of history down to when he returns again. That's what we're going to do, a sweep of history from the cross to the coming, where we regain our lost inheritance. Each seal that the Lamb breaks, that Jesus breaks through time, is a step toward the return of the last empire and our reclaiming our lost inheritance. Now what we're going to notice is this, the signs of the coming of Christ that he gave on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. We talked about that global warming warnings, you remember, they are very similar at certain periods in this prophecy of the seven seals. We'll see that, especially in the second part of our presentation. In other words, we're going to look at events from the apostles in the early church, right on down through the Dark Ages, and finally right on down to the end time events. We're going to see those things appear as we move through the sweep of history from the cross to the coming. We're actually going to have a look At University History as we go through this amazing prophecy of the seven seals and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. So let's begin and look at the first seal John sees, the first seal. It's a white horse comes riding out of the pages, so to speak, of the book of Revelation. John says, now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. And I looked, and behold a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Now, as we've seen already in this series, there are many symbols in the book of Revelation and these are interpreted by the Bible. We understand now what the little scroll book's all about, for example, because we went back to other parts of the Bible, Jeremiah, to see how that was used back then. And that's what the idea is coming through the title deeds of our lost inheritance. So the Bible itself interprets the book of Revelation for us. So let's come back here. The white horse is in the Bible. White or light is a symbol of righteousness, of that which is truthful and that which belongs to God. Jesus is pictured toward the end of Revelation as coming on a white horse to gather his people. Now, he's not really going to come on a horse down the sky. It's just a picture of a conqueror coming to put down his enemies to rescue his friends, like a king used to do. John says, now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. So the idea of white stands for the things that belong to God. Righteousness. Now, of course, a bow, a crown, and conquering. This means victory that we see here. Notice a successful victorious warfaring act is what it means. You see, Christianity is pictured as being at war in the Bible. You may have read in the book of Ephesians, Paul likens us to get dressed up in the armor because we're in a fight. We're in a great cosmic battle, Remember, a battle over your eternal destiny and mine. Because the devil on one side and Christ on the other, both seeking to bring us to their side, one for eternal destruction, the other for eternal life. Notice what Paul says. Finally, my brethren, my friends, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God. That you may be able to stand against the wiles, that means the strategies of the devil. So this is God's people going to war, so to speak, against the forces of evil. This represents the period in history from 31 to 100 AD. This is when Christianity was very victorious and triumph in its mission. The first century Christianity was victorious as it began to spread everywhere throughout the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern world. For example, Christianity began down here in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. It quickly spread up to Antioch and then Paul took it over into what we would call Turkey today, Asia Minor. It then moved into Greece and finally it was planted right in the heart of the Roman Empire, in fact in Caesar's palace as well. We're going to see very triumphant spread of Christianity. And in the first century, in fact, Paul could say these very words as he wrote. He said to his friends in Colossae, the good news. The Gospel has been preached all over the world. It's gone everywhere in the then known world. Let me give you some examples. Paul came here to Cyprus. Here we have the Odeon, a little theater, if you would, in Cyprus. But over on the right you notice there's a picture of, of Sergius Paulus. Now he was sort of like the governor of the island or that part. And Paul was trying to bring the gospel to this man. But there was a magician guy who was upsetting things. And Paul said, listen man, stop hindering this man from hearing the gospel. You're going to go blind. And the man suddenly was blind. It was a big warning to everybody right there. Hey, don't mess around. God wants people to come to him and he doesn't want people to hold them back. Those who hold back people from coming to God are in danger. Don't do that. Well, Sergius Paulus was a real man. We actually have his inscription today. We found that this very man who Paul brought the good news to, we have his inscription there. From Cyprus, Paul came over here to Corinth. You notice that big mountain in the background on the right? This is called the Acro Corinth. It's said to have been serviced by a thousand prostitutes. A temple up there. Corinth was a very immoral city in many respects. Here are the great temples that you can see here in Corinth. But Paul came here and he brought many people to Christ. One of them happened to be the treasurer of the city. His name was Erastus. It's mentioned, he's mentioned by name in the Bible two or three times. But we have a Pavement stone. Here he, as the treasurer, he evidently gave some donation. The city itself as the treasurer, Notice what it says. Erastus. In return for his idolship. That means he's the treasurer and chief of public works, laid the pavement at his own expense. This is probably the very man that became a believer. Paul came here to Ephesus, and many people here were into witchcraft and magic. And when Paul preached the good news of Jesus love, many people turned away from those things and came to know God. They found a peace of mind, happiness, a joy, a hope for the future. And they found that you could have life at its best when you have Christ. And right here in Ephesus, many came to Christ. The gospel was spread even by Paul right here into the Roman, the emperor's palace, Nero's palace. Many of the people there became believers. In fact, notice what history shows us. Many of every age, rank and sex are being brought to trial for the contagion of that superstition. That's what they called Christianity has spread over not only cities, but villages and the country. That's from Pliny the Younger. Wow. So Christianity certainly spread. It was victorious in the first century. So there we have the first seal. From 31 to 100 AD, we have what we would call victorious, triumphant Christianity as the good news of the love of God spread through the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern world. Second seal John saw was a red horse come riding out of the pages of the Apocalypse. Poor John Cell when he opened the second seal, when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come, come and see. Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. So what's going on here? Well, red and a sword. These are symbols in the Bible of war and bloodshed. And that's exactly what we're going to see took place among Christians or against Christians as things moved on. Notice what the Bible says. Do not think Jesus said, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. What does he mean? He said, for I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's enemies will be those in his own household. You see, when a person comes to Christ because their life begins to change, people see where they're wrong and they sometimes get against the person who's become a Believer, you see, it happens often in communities, even in churches, if people want a change to go follow the Bible. Sometimes they are criticized in all sorts of things. Their family. Sometimes in the country, there's certain groups will be persecuted because they take a stand for Jesus. It has happened all down through time. And Jesus was warning it's going to happen. This represents the Christian period from 100 to 313 A.D. you see, this is the time of the Roman persecutions against the Christians. Terrible time. Many, many emperors, you know, persecuted the Church of God. People like Diocletian. These were people who had vigorous and vicious persecutions against Christianity. You see, you could come here to the great arenas, and all you needed to do to save your life was just offer a pinch of incense to one of these pagan gods that you see here. And if you do that, you can live. But if you don't do that, in other words, if you don't acknowledge the pagan gods, you will die. You will have the lion set upon you in the coliseum or the Circus Maximus. You may be fed to the dogs, though wild dogs would just be set free among the Christians to tear them apart. I tell you what, Jesus was right. I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. People will get against us because we simply follow Jesus. Look at him himself. He was God in human flesh and did so much good. And his own people attacked him, put him on a cross. But let me tell you something. Even though we may have turmoil coming from outside, Jesus promised you would have peace within. Never was there anyone who had such peace as Jesus. Yet how much was he attacked in so many ways by people. But he had a peace that passes understanding. Jesus said these words, these things. I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation, you will have problems, you will have persecution. You will have people attack you verbally or physically. But be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world. What a promise. And I love the words of Jesus. On the night before he died, he said this to his followers, many of whom would actually be killed because of their love for God. Look what he said to them. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Do you see what Jesus is saying? Yes. We may have troubles. People may criticize us. People may attack us for following Jesus. But listen here. Jesus said, you will have a peace inside that the world cannot take away. You will have a peace knowing that you are right with me and one Day I'm going to give you that lost inheritance. You will have eternal life in the hand. Just hold on. So Here is the second seal. It represents Christianity from 100 to a 350 when sadly there was lots of persecutions against Christians. Well now we come to the black horse. John saw a black horse come riding out of the pages. The third seal. The Bible says when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come and see. And I looked and behold a black horse. And he who sat on it had a pair of scales or balances in his hand. And he says, I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius. And do not harm the oil or the wine. Now what's going on here? You wonder, did John have a nightmare here? Did he eat too much the night before? What's this all about? Well, let's go to the Bible and we'll understand very clearly. Now black in the Bible or darkness is a symbol of Satan's kingdom. It's very clearly seen in many parts. But let's pick up a couple of examples Here we go to the writings of the Paul. He said, God said to Paul, I now send you to open their eyes, the eyes of non believers in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. Darkness, Satan, light, God's kingdom. In other words, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified, whose lives are cleaned up by faith in me. So in other words, darkness, black represents evil. What John is seeing is this evil is going to invade the Christian church. That's what's going to happen. As time goes on, you notice the first horse is white, victorious. Then comes red persecution. But then comes blackness into the Christian church. Darkness, evil would invade the church. Well, how would evil invade the church? Well we see that in those scales, those balances. That's the answer to it, those balances. What did John see there? Let's notice. These balances are used in ancient times to weigh food. They were not only symbols of judgment, but they were used for weighing food. And that's what John sees is being weighed. Remember it said one measure of wheat. What for? For one man, for one day's wages. That's what a measure of wheat was. One man's wages to buy a measure of wheat. What about his wife? What about his children? Hey, this is not good times. In other words, not only that he was told three measures of barley. Now this was the, this was the food for the, for the animals and for the poorest people. Middle class and wealthy people didn't eat barley. That's for the animals and the poor. And yet one day's wages, it can only buy three measures. In other words, what about the wife and the children? In other words, what we're seeing, wheat and barley are being sold at exorbitant prices. That's what it's telling us. Day's wages for just a little, very pricey food. In other words, what John is telling us, we have a time of famine. Famine. But this is not a literal famine. We're dealing with a symbolic book. Remember, the lamb's not a real lamb. It points to Jesus. The dragon's not a real dragon. It points to Satan. So this food that's being sold for exorbitant prices means. It means it's a famine for God's Word. Because Jesus said these words way back when he was being tempted by Satan. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. We'll come to the temptation by Satan in a moment. But notice what he said to the, the people as well. He said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. And then this is what Jesus said to Satan when he was tempting him in the wilderness. He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, physical food, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So this bread, this wheat, this barley, it stood for the word of life, the words of God. Evil would invade the church. In other words, that's what was going to happen. Why? Because sadly, the church would turn from Word. And that's what happens when we, any of us turn from the Word of God. Darkness starts to come into our own personal lives. When a church turns from the Word of God, when society turns from the Word of God. That's why you see, many countries in our world today are getting darker by the day because the Word of God is absent. And when it's absent in our lives, our churches, our homes, our countries, our societies, darkness enters, evil invades. And this is what was happening. Now this represents the Christian Church. What happened in the Christian Church from 3:13 to 5:38 A.D. you will remember the spread of Christianity began. We saw in Jerusalem, went to Antioch, into Asia, Minor or Turkey, over into Greece. It began, of course, in Jerusalem, went to Greece and finally ended, ended up right there in Rome in 70 AD as we saw in a previous presentation, Jerusalem was destroyed. The Romans in 70 AD wiped out Jerusalem. This had been the headquarters. It had been the center of Christianity up to this point. The Jerusalem Council met there. This was the heart of it. But when Jerusalem was destroyed, the center of Christianity moved from Jerusalem, which was wiped out. And Rome became the center of Christianity, eventually the main center of Christianity. Now, what we notice is that tragically, of course, as you can appreciate, Christianity in Rome was increasingly influenced by pagan beliefs because this was controlled by the pagans. Ancient Rome, the city, and now the headquarters are here. And sadly, the influence of society began to impact on the Church. And this can do to any of us. When we're surrounded, it's very easy for us to take on board the things of the world into our own lives, our own homes. That's why Paul said, don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. We are to transform the world, not the world to transform the Christians. Well, sadly, this was what was taking place as we go through history, Christianity, we became increasingly influenced by pagan beliefs. Now we come to the year 313 A.D. when we come to 313 A.D. we want to come to this bridge here in Rome called the Milvian Bridge. A very famous battle took place here back in this year. You see, the forces of two great armies were about to meet the forces of Constantine, who would become the next emperor. And Maxentius, the night before this battle took place, Constantine tells us that he had a dream, a vision, and he saw a cross in the sky. And he was told by this sign, you shall conquer. Now, this was a political ploy of Constantine. You see, even though Christianity had been persecuted up to this point, 313 A.D. it was still growing. It was growing. Even though persecution was rampant. You couldn't, they couldn't stamp it out this way. And Constantine could see he would lose control. And so he decided, well, we need to really take on board, become Christian in name. And this is part of his plan. So he says, I saw this cross and I was told, you know, you'll conquer by this. So he painted on the shields and banners of all these soldiers and away they went to war, he says, and we won at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. And so now Constantine, eventually, by the end of his life, he becomes a Christian himself. In fact, he became the first Christian Roman emperor according to history, Christianity. By 324 A.D. just about you know, 11 years later, it becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire. It has been persecuted for the last two centuries. Rome became Christian, but sadly, pagan beliefs and practices flooded into the Christian Church. History bears that out. Let me share with you what history tells us. The new Christians, these are the ones under Constantine, were, as far as thinking and habits went, the same old pagans. Their surge into the churches did not wipe out paganism. On the contrary, hordes of baptized pagans meant that paganism had diluted the moral energies of organized Christianity to the point of impotence. What a tragedy. What a sad thing. Christianity became insipid and weak because pagan influence in the church. You see, numerous biblical teachings in the Christian church were either altered or dropped through pagan influence. We see that very clearly. But I want you to notice what John heard. Even though evil was going to invade the church, Jesus said, don't harm the oil and the wine. Or when he opened the seal, that was the message. Don't harm the oil and the wine. What does that mean? Well, oil, of course in the Bible was an energy source, olive oil. The oil in the olives was used for the energy source for the lamps in the sanctuary or the temple, for example. It's a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Notice we have this when we go to the story of David. Samuel comes to anoint him as king, to pour oil on his head. The Bible says Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So oil represents the Holy Spirit. Now the work of the Holy Spirit is vital. Number one. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and of right and of judgment. We need to know when we've done wrong. Otherwise we'd go on our merry way to destruction. God doesn't want that to happen. The Bible says. And when he has come, that's the Holy Spirit. He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Thank God that he does, that he shows us where we're wrong and that we have a judgment to face so that we will turn to God for help. The Holy Spirit not only convicts us of sin and judgment, he makes us God's children by new birth. The Bible says Jesus is talking. He answered most assuredly. I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. It's the Spirit that gives new life. It's the Holy Spirit's work to bring us God's power. And God's presence in our lives and to have a loving heart. The Bible says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might. That's with power, through his spirit, in your inner man, your inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I love what Paul wrote to his Roman friends. He said, the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Do you see? Don't harm the oil. Because the Holy Spirit represented by the oil, the symbol of the oil for the Holy Spirit, he's the one that convicts us of wrong and of right and of judgment. He's the one that gives us new life. He's the one that brings love of God into our hearts so that we shed loveth to other people and to our God. And don't harm the wine, remember. Well, wine, of course in the Bible everyone understands is a symbol of Christ's blood which brings the new covenant. Remember Jesus, the night before he died, he said, this cup, the cup of wine or grape juice that he had is the new covenant. In my blood which is poured out for you, put your name where it says you at the end there. This is the blood of the covenant. Well, what is the new covenant? We did see that in the previous presentation. But remember, this is the covenant that I will make, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts. Meaning we will want to do the right thing. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And so all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. And I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. Oh, I love the idea of the new covenant. It's the forgiveness of sin. That's what it means. It means we're reconciled to God. We have peace with God. We are his friends, we are his children. And God's laws are placed in our lives. We just want to follow what God says. You know, that's what Jesus said. I love my Father and I always do what my Father commands me to do. And how does this come? How do we have the new covenant? By Christ's blood of the new covenant. Notice what Paul said now. May the God of peace through the blood of the everlasting covenant, his death make you complete in every good work to do his will. In other words, a new life of powerful, loving living comes through Jesus. So seal number three. Horseman number three takes us from 313 A.D. when sadly, thanks to the Emperor Constantine, pagan beliefs flooded into the church down to 538 A.D. we have what historians call apostate Christianity. Christianity that is starting to move away from the teachings of the Bible because of pagan influence. Well, we're going to continue our journey through time in our next presentation. You won't want to miss Pompeii. We're going to take you to the city of Pompeii. Pompeii. Blood on the moon. What on earth is all that about? Well, you won't want to miss it, but I think we should just thank God that he shows us way ahead of time that he is taking us on a journey because he wants to bring to us our lost inheritance. That's what that scroll book stands for, our lost inheritance. And Jesus has been working for us to bring that to us. Literally. Let's pray for together. Father, thank you so much for the Bible. Thank you so much that you just show things like they are so that when they happen we can believe in you. Oh Lord God, may we put our hand in the hand of this Jesus that is in control. He's bringing to us. He's working toward the day when he comes to give us our eternal inheritance. May we put our life in his hands. May we accept the blood of the everlasting covenant in Jesus name. Amen. Well, glad you were with us in this presentation. Don't miss our next program Countdown Back to the future. We're looking at what Pompeii. Blood on the moon. We'll see you then,
