Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. We are going to take a fascinating journey through time. In this presentation, we're going to be looking at ancient mysteries, the secret of the sealed scroll. John saw something amazing as we open the pages of the book of Revelation. He saw an angel with one foot on the earth and one foot on the sea. And he had a hand raised up and he was swearing by God. What's going on here? Let's go to the passage that we find in Revelation, chapter 10. This mighty angel, John says, in Revelation, chapter 10, I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head. Whatever this message is, by the way, before we move on, it's a message of mercy, because the angel has a rainbow around his head. That's a sign of mercy. Let's keep reading. So he had a rainbow upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book that was open. And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth, and he cried with a loud voice. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, he said, lifted up his hand to heaven and swore by him that lives forever and ever that there should be time no longer. What on earth is going on here in the pages of the book of Revelation? In this chapter, notice what it says. It says, this little book, it was shut, but it's now open. Well, you didn't read that, but that's what the Greek means when it says that. It says it was once shut, but it's now been open. So what is this little book that was once shut, but now it's open? We need to go to the eighth chapter of the book of Daniel. Back there in the Old Testament, Daniel gave an amazing was given amazing prophecy. You remember, we looked at it, but I want to remind you of some things and find a few more things that we didn't look at so much back then. He saw a war between a ram and a goat. In the eighth chapter, he noticed, of course, more important than the ram and the goat, a little horn that came out of one of the four points of the compass. Notice the activities. We saw them. But let me remind you of the activities of this little horn. This little horn, Daniel was told it stands against Jesus Christ. This little horn, he was told it cast down the sanctuary, which we saw in a previous presentation was the way of salvation. It was a model of how God's Going to save us from the sin problem. This little horn, it took away the daily. That means the priestly ministry. Then number four, it trampled on God's people. It means it persecuted God's people, trampling them to the dust, so to speak. Number five, it cast down the truth to the ground. Now, let me tell you, if those things don't concern us, standing against Jesus, casting down the sanctuary or God's plan of salvation, taking away the daily, the priestly ministry on God's people, and then casting truth down to the ground, if that doesn't concern us, there's something wrong with us. It sure concerned Daniel, and it sure concerned a heavenly being, because there was a cry that went out, how long? How long is this going to go on for? How long before you act God? Why don't you do something about all this? Good question. Right. How long? Then we saw the answer to this question. How long? Notice for 2,300 days, evenings and morning. That is 2,300 evenings and mornings, or days. Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. We noticed this in a whole presentation on this particular chapter of the Bible. Suddenly, then, Gabriel appears before Daniel. And I want you to notice what Gabriel said to Daniel on this occasion. He said, the vision of the evenings and the mornings, the 2,300 days, which was told is tr. Now, let's just push the pause button there for a moment when an angel comes along and says, listen, Daniel, what I'm telling you is true. It's rigid. It's a fact of life. He means sit up, take notice. So he says, this thing is true. Therefore, seal up the vision, lock it up, for it refers to many days in the Future. Well, the 2,300 days we see there, it's said to be sealed till the distant future. Well, how far is the distant future? Fortunately, Gabriel tells us in verse 17. So he came near where I stood, says Daniel, and when he came, I was afraid. You'd be afraid. I'd be afraid if we saw Gabriel, wouldn't we? And he says, I fell on my face. But he said to me, understand, Son of Man, that the vision, that's the 2,300 evenings and mornings. It refers to when the time of the end. Not the end of time, but the time in which the end will come. In other words, the time of the end. So he's telling Daniel now that these 2,300 days is sealed until the time of the end. In other words, it's locked up to human understanding. Nobody's going to understand this thing properly. Till we get to the time of the end. Now, when is the time of the end? Because if we knew that, then we'd say, hey, now this thing's going to be unlocked, right? So when is the time of the end? Well, we go to the last chapter of the book of Daniel. By the way, Daniel has four great visions. The big statue with the various metals, the four beasts that come out of the briny ocean that we've talked about. Then the ram and the goat vision, which we're looking at now. And then this last one from chapter 10 to 12. We don't have time to get into that one, but we do have time to look at where it talks about the time of the end. Notice what happens when we go to the last chapter, the last chapter in that last vision as well. The Bible says, but you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book. Shut up your book, Daniel, and lock it up. People are not going to really understand it. Until when? Until the time of the end. There's that phrase again. And when we get there, he's saying, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. Now, many people apply this running to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased to the fact that when we get to the time of the end, people will be doing a lot of travel and there'll be an increase in knowledge. Well, that's true, no question, because that's what happens in the time of the end. But what he's primarily saying is this. When we get to the time of the end, your book, Daniel is going to be understood because people will be running to and fro in the book, and knowledge of your book will increase when we get to the time of the end. That's the primary meaning of this passage. Well, let's continue. Then I, Daniel looked, and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. Now, let's just pause for a moment. When Daniel opens this fourth and final vision in his book, he's beside the river Hiddekel, the Tigris River. Now, we come back to this scene, and he says, I saw a heavenly being on that riverbank. And. And I saw another heavenly being on that riverbank. Let's continue. And one said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river. So there's a third heavenly being, one on this riverbank, one on that riverbank. But then there's another one over the river. He's clothed in linen, in white. Notice what it says. How long shall the fulfillment of These wonders be. There's that question again. How long, God, before you do something? How long before you sort out the problems? Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and he swore by him who lives forever and ever, that it shall be for a time and times and. And half a time. And when the power of the holy people, when God's people has been completely shattered, when they're being trampled into the dirt, so to speak, when God's people have been persecuted, then he says, all these things shall be finished. Although I heard I did not understand. Maybe you're thinking, boy, I haven't got a clue what's going on here. Well, join the club. Daniel didn't understand back in his day. But let me tell you, by the time we finished in this presentation, you will understand, because we're now we're going to see in the time of the end. Then I said, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and they are sealed. Till when? The time of the end? Three times we've seen this phrase, the time of the end. Your book is sealed. The 2, 300 day prophecy. It's sealed, it's locked up. Humans are not going to understand it until we get to the time of the end. So there it is, Daniel's book, especially the 2,300 days, because that's what it said in chapter eight. It is sealed. It is closed up to human understanding till the time of the end. Well, then when is the time of the end? Because that's the question now, isn't it? When is the time of the end? Well, Gabriel just told us. We just read it. He said it's at the end of a period called the time and times and half a time. Because during this time, we said, God's people, God's holy people are going to be trampled on. They're going to be shattered, Remember? Okay, now we can begin. Now, to understand what this time period is all about and what's going on here, we need to go back to the book of Revelation for a moment, and we will see. We've actually seen this before in this series already, but let's do it for revision. John, in Revelation, in the center part of the book, he saw this dragon chasing the woman, God's people, and he chased them, and she went into a desert where she's protected. Now, the same period is spoken of in Two different ways. Notice firstly it says, but the woman might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and at times and half a time, the very thing we're looking at here. But then in another verse in the same chapter, talking about the same experience, he uses a different way to express the same time period. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, that they should feed her there for 1,260 days. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, do you, to recognize that time times and half a time is 1260 days. It just says it's just like that. Same event, but different way to express it. Now, you recall we've seen in this series already that back in 538 A.D. the Bishop of Rome was given basically the title or the authority to be the head of all bishops, the head of all the churches by Justinian. It came into practice in 538 A.D. the bishop at the time was Pope Virgilius. And this began what we saw as the medieval church of the Dark Ages. This is when it begins, in 538 A.D. that's when this period begins. Now then, we've seen already in previous presentations what took place from then on. 1260 years of persecution. Godly priests and bishops and nuns and lay people in the Church were sadly persecuted by the Church itself through the government forces. So 538 A.D. marks the beginning. This is then followed by 1260 years of persecution, when God's people are shattered, as Daniel predicted. And that brings us to the year 1798. Just add those two things together, you'll come to 1798. This marks what the Bible calls the beginning of the time of the end. This is the start of the time of the end, because that's what he said. Daniel, your words, they're shut up and sealed until the time of the end. And that begins when God's people have been completely shattered for all those years. So now he's saying once we've come to that date, 1798, people will start to understand the 2,300 days and other parts of Daniel, because it's locked up until we get to that point, 1798. Once we get there, we will expect to see people start to understand the 2,300 days. Now we're ready to come back to Revelation 10 now, where we began this presentation, back to this chapter. Notice what happens as Daniel, John, I should say, is given this amazing vision. The Bible says, and I saw another mighty angel. Thank God for all the angels that keep coming down to this planet to Help us. Saw another mighty angel. He had in his hand a little book open, but that book was once closed. In the Greek it means it was once closed, but now it's open. And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth. In other words, everybody must hear this message. This is to go to the whole planet, to the whole globe, land and sea. He's standing over and he left foot upon the earth. And the angel lifted up his hand to heaven. And he swore by him that lives forever and ever, that there should be time no longer. Time's up. We could put it that way. Now we've seen a man standing with a hand raised, both hands in Daniel. Now he was told, shut up the book. Now there's a hand raised and God and a man. This man swears, this angel swears the book is now open. So watch this little book that was once shut, that's now open. Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist when you put these two chapters together, do you? It's the book of Daniel, but especially the 2,300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14, because that was specifically said, shut it up, Daniel. Lock it up until the time of the end. So now, once we get to this time period, 1798 and onwards, we should expect that book, that prophecy, that verse, the sanctuary, will be cleansed. The 2,300 days that's now going to be understood. Now let's see what happens next in this amazing prophecy. So I went to the angel and I said to him, give me the little book that was once shut, but now open. Give me the book of Daniel. Give me the little book. Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it. Now just stop for a moment. Was John really going to chew on a book and eat the book? No, of course not. It means he was going to take its message into his life, into his heart. Jesus said, man does not live on bread alone. But every word that comes from the mouth of God, your words were found. And I ate them. This is a phrase that's used for taking in the message and let it sink into our lives. So I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it. And it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, you know, wow, pavlova for breakfast sort of thing. Beautiful, sweet thing. But it was in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. I got a belly ache out of this thing. And he said to me, you must prophesy again to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings. So do you see what's going on here? You see what John is being told? John is being told here that a study of Daniel 8:14, in particular the 2,300 days which are locked up till the time of the end, a study of this will give a sweet but then a bitter experience. A sweet, bitter experience. Beautiful in the mouth, but man gave me a bellyache. Then finally, after that sweet, bitter experience, that prophecy, Daniel 8:14 is to be proclaimed again globally. He said, you go prophesy again. Well, let's notice what happened in time now in history. We come to the end of the 1260 years, 1798, when the Bishop of Rome is taken prisoner by Napoleon's General Berthier. When that happened, the end of the 1260 day prophecy, the 1260 days, a day for a year. When Bible students of different denominations saw that prophecy fulfilled right there, they said the year day principle works. This is true. So they all began to study another great prophecy in the Bible. At the same time, many denominations began to study the two 300 day prophecy of Daniel 8:14. One of the first, as we say, off the ranks, was a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest by the name of Manuel de Lacunza. He came to the conviction that something's going to happen around 1843, 1844. There were Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, you name it. People of different walks of life. A Jewish Christian man, Joseph Wolf, down there in the Middle east proclaiming these things from Daniel 8:14. Now, they didn't have smartphones and communicate with each other and text people messages. They all just happened to study the same passage at the same time because God's prophetic clock had struck the hour. That's what I love about this book, my friends. It doesn't lie, it doesn't guess. God knows exactly what's going to happen into the future. And he tells us in his Word, why? So that we might believe. So they're all studying the same prophecy at the same time around different parts of the world. What's the prophecy for? 2,300 days, evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Now, you can go to any theological library almost on the planet and you will see this set of books in the library. The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers. This set of books traces the history of the interpretation of prophecy from the times of Jesus right on down to our own time when it comes to 1798. And just after that, suddenly there's a huge spike of how many people are Studying the same prophecy. You can almost graph it. So many people of different denominations because God's clock had struck the hour and God had said, now this book is going to be open because this is the time of the end. Many of these people didn't know what was going to happen. They just said, something's going to happen in 1843, 1844, thereabouts, based on this time prophecy of Daniel's. You see what's being happening. What's happening is this the sealed book, the prophecy that's sealed in the book of Daniel 8, 14. It's now being eaten, it's now being studied. And people are beginning to understand its message. That's what's going on. Especially the 2,300 days. Now, one Baptist farmer in North America, William Miller. He believed that this prophecy meant that on October 22, 1844, Jesus Christ was going to return. He had a huge following, it's estimated, there in North America. There was about 500,000 people who were following William Miller's prophetic understanding. And they were ministers of different denominations across the board. Huge range of different ministers, all believing the same thing, that Jesus is going to come. Well, of course, Jesus didn't come, did he? And they experience what is known in history as the great disappointment. Now, before we make fun of these people and think, whoa, they're a bit ignorant, aren't they? I want you to think of something. You know, all through this book, the Bible writers wanted Jesus to come the second time. Enoch predicts the coming of Jesus. Isaiah, you go on down through the Scriptures. Jesus himself talks about his coming. John, in the Revelation, the last page of the Bible, three times Jesus says, I'm coming again. I'm coming, I'm coming. And John finishes the whole Bible in the book of Revelation with these words. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. You know, my friends, if we don't want Jesus to come, there's something wrong with our Christianity. Cause Jesus is the one who spread out his arms on an old rugged cross and died for us. Wouldn't we want him to come again? Wouldn't we want him to take us to be with himself? Of course we would, if we're truly Christian. So you can understand these people's anxiety for Jesus to come. But they got it wrong, no question. But you read their writings. They love Jesus. No question about it. William Miller especially. But they experienced this great disappointment. Remember, this was an interdenominational group. Different denominations across the spectrum. Some of them gathered together and what went wrong? How come Jesus didn't come? Many of them gave up the faith altogether. Jesus didn't show up, so I'm out of here. It certainly showed who really loved Jesus. Did you love Jesus for Jesus or you know what's going on here? Many of those who love Christ, they were trying to why didn't he come? How come? What went wrong? So they looked at the 2,300 day prophecy again. Did we get this wrong? They noticed that the 70 weeks or the 490 years, which we talked about a couple of times now that it was cut off, Daniel 9, that 490 weeks was cut off from the 2,300. They knew that. They knew the starting date of this prophecy because they understood the seventh year of Artaxerxes was 457 B.C. they knew that way back then, so they had the starting date. So they knew. All we need to do now is take the starting date 4 5, 7 BC and add 2,300 years and we'll come to 1844. No question about it, by the way, not 1843, cause there's no zero year between 1 BC and 1 AD you have to add one there. So they knew that was, that must be correct. How did they know that was correct? Well, they knew that was correct because of this bit, this bit here, this bit here, the 490 years. This predicts what we saw. This predicts when Jesus would arrive on time. And he did come in 27 A.D. and Daniel predicted it 530 years before this predicted that Jesus would die in 31 A.D. and he did this predicted that the 70 years would finish in 34 A.D. and that's what happened. Stephen was stoned and the man holding the coats of those who stoned, Stephen became the apostle to the non Jewish people, took the gospel now to the rest of the world. They could see that all of that was correct. So if that's correct, the last bit had to be correct. 1844 had to be correct. And Jesus, they knew, had already said, Talking of the first part, the 490 years, when he talked about his baptism, he said, the time is fulfilled, I've arrived on time. So they knew, hey, we got the time right about the 490 years. And if that's correct, then 1844, the end of the 2,300 days, has to be correct. So they knew they were on target here. 1844 was spot on. So then they asked this interdenominational group, remember different denominations, why did Jesus not come in 1844? How come he didn't show up? So now they were forced, because of the circumstances, because of the non arrival of Jesus, to look carefully at that phrase, then the sanctuary will be cleansed. So they now studied the subject of the sanctuary, the temple as it's portrayed there in Revelation and other parts of the Bible. Now William Miller, that Baptist farmer, he had taught that the sanctuary is the earth, because you see it said the sanctuary will be cleansed. And so he said if it's going to be cleansed and the sanctuary is the earth, the cleansing must be by fire when Jesus comes. That's how they came up with that conclusion. The sanctuary of the earth going to be cleansed must be by fire. Well, these people were now forced to dig into the Bible more deeply. They noticed very quickly that there was a temple in heaven. The Bible says then the temple of God was opened in heaven. Heaven is not the temple. There's a temple in heaven, the text says, so they could see, hey, the temple is not the earth, there's a temple in heaven. They also saw that heaven's temple needed cleansing of all things. Notice what they found in the Book of Hebrews. Remember an interdenominational group. Therefore it was necessary, says Paul, that the copies, that's the earthly temples, they're just replicas of the heavenly temple. It was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified, should be cleansed with these, that is with animal sacrifices. But, but the heavenly thing, the heavenly temple is saying with better sacrifices than these. And that's the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only valid human sacrifice. Those animal sacrifices just pointed forward to what he would one day do for you and I. They could see this was pointing to Jesus death. And now as our high priest, he takes not the blood of animals and into God's heavenly temple, but he presents his own blood, meaning the benefits of what he's done on Calvary. That brings forgiveness to you and I, even though we may be the lowest, the worst, the chief of sinners can be forgiven because of Jesus death on the cross. Now they noticed that there was an annual day of cleansing. They could see that in the Bible. They found it in the book of Leviticus. Not only did they find it in Paul's writings in the Book of Hebrews that the heavenly temple needed cleansing, but they found the cleansing of the temples that happened on Earth. They noticed that the cleansing of the sanctuary was called the Day of Atonement. That means the day at which we come one with God. Everything's wiped away in terms of sin and we're one with God, we're reconciled to Him. They notice this day of atonement, the day of cleansing, was called an annual day of judgment by the Jewish people. Now, judgment doesn't just mean go to jail or be hung, doesn't just mean that. It means deliverance. The book of Daniel means God is my judge. And all the way through Daniel's book, God is delivering his people from their enemies, including Daniel and his friends. And then in the prophetic section, so it was an annual day of judgment. They could see that from the text itself. Notice what the Bible says. Any person who is not afflicted in soul, doesn't search their heart, doesn't examine their lives, on that same day will be cut off from his people, no longer be part of Israel, no longer be part of the family of God. Wow. They could see this is a day of judgment. And each year. So now they could see what this verse meant in Daniel 8, 14, for 2300 days, that's years, remember, then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. Now they realize then the judgment will begin. They could see very clearly that heaven's judgment had begun. The judgment day in heaven had started. You see, it means the sealed visions of Daniel were now open, were now understood in the time of the end, the time from 1798 onwards. What a remarkable, remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. Now remember, my friend, this was an interdenominational group, people of different religious backgrounds coming together around this great prophecy because God's prophetic clock had struck the hour. These people who went through this great disappointment thinking Jesus would come, but he never showed up. These people saw their experience. They really did. It was right there in the text of John, in Revelation. Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it. And it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. Jesus is coming. They thought, that's a sweet thing, isn't it? Jesus, the one who died, the one who shed his blood for me. He's coming to take me home. That's sweet. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. He never showed up like they thought he was going to show up. Now, John saw these people. He saw them in the book of Revelation, these people who had come through this experience. Notice what he says. John says, I saw them. But the woman might fly into the wilderness to her place where she's nourished for a time and times and half a time. Now, that's the 12, 60 days, isn't it? Now, when does. What does he see after those 12, 60 years? A day, for a year. What does he see after that period of persecution? Meaning, what does he see after 1798 when that period ends? Look what he sees. The Bible Sundays in Revelation 12:17, the dragon was angry with the woman. Remember, the dragon had tried to get the baby Jesus, but he failed. He was caught up to God and his throne. Then he chased the woman, but he failed to get the woman. Now he goes after the remnant of her seed. Look what it says. The dragon was angry with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed. The woman's seed is Jesus. In other words, the people of Jesus. The remnant of her seed. Jesus doesn't come physically. His church is him. He says to Paul, paul, why do you persecute me? I'm not. Paul could say I'm persecuting your church. There. That's right. That's me. That's how close I am to my people. You touch my people. You touch me. That's my body. Jesus said, my church. So he went to make war with the remnant of her seed. God's end time. People which keep the commandments of God and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Do you see what John is seeing here? John is seeing a prophetic end time movement of God. A movement of God appears right on time, prophetically. It's all predicted in Daniel and in Revelation. Those two books come together and God says, I'm doing my thing in the end of time. I'm bringing people together from different isms, different denominations, because I have a plan. I have a plan. A prophetic end time movement of God. That's what appears. And God calls it the remnant means the faithful, those who love Jesus, who walk with Jesus. Now these people, this interdenominational group, remember, they saw their mission. They really did. I want you to notice what they saw. John says. He said to me, you must prophesy again. You got it wrong the first time. You thought Jesus was coming. And that's what you preach. Now go and preach what it really means. You must prophesy again to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings. It's amazing, isn't it? So what would they prophesy or proclaim again? Well, it's found right there. These people would have seen it right there in Revelation, chapter 14. What do we see? God's final messages of his three angels. John sees in the first angel's message what these people had discovered, what these people had found. Now he brings to light. Let's notice what it says. I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven. He's in a hurry, no time to lose. Having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tongue, tribe, tongue and people. Why is that? Because God is a global lover. God so loves the world. He has no favorites. He loves everybody. So they go to every nation, kindred tongue and people saying with a loud voice, and, and what does the angel say? The hour of his judgment has come. There. They saw it right there in the book of Revelation. There it was. The judgment had begun. Means when the angel says it started and they had discovered, ah, that's what the cleansing of the sanctuary is. The judgment has begun. They realize this is a solemn time. This is not playtime. This is the most solemn period in Earth's history. While people are carrying on business as usual, there's a judgment going on in heaven's temple. And they realized they had a work to do. They realized, why this message? Why this message? Because you see, time is running out for this planet. Time is fast running out for our world. Jesus is going to come soon. That's the first thing they noted. So they began to preach their hearts out to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. They realized that this message also had how to pass God's judgment. How people could get through this judgment. That's on now. There was right there in the first angel's message, there it is in yellow, the angels flying in the midst of heaven. And he's carrying something with him that people need the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth. You see, that's the only way you and I are going to be ready to stand in the judgment when your name comes up or my name comes up. How will we stand? We need the gospel. We need the gospel of Jesus Christ. What's the gospel? Paul said the gospel. He said, it's the, it's, it's. Jesus died for our sins and rose again. I proclaim to you that gospel. In Romans he said, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's God's power to save people. How's that? He said, for in the gospel, righteousness from God is revealed. From faith to faith, beginning to end, putting your trust in Jesus. There it is. So the everlasting gospel. And that's the purpose of that first part of that great prophecy, the 70 weeks or 490 years. Because that's what makes us ready for the judgment day. Anyone who will notice what it says here, remember, what's the purpose of this 490 years there it is. There. 70 weeks are cut off for your people, your holy city. To finish transgression rebellion. To break our rebel hearts. In other words, to make an end of sin. That means to give victory over sin. But it also means to forgive sin. Because we've all done wrong, right? To make reconciliation for iniquity. We've been estranged from God. It seems sometimes we've at times hated God. It's the last one we want to see when we're up to sin to our chin. Isn't it right? We run from God. But now, through this prophecy, we're brought near to God. We're reconciled for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness. That means to count us as if we never sinned. To declare us, to credit us with the righteousness of God himself. So there's those. The purpose of this first bit, and that's how you get through the judgment. What is it? To end our rebellion against God. To break our rebel hearts. Second one, forgiveness and victory over sin. Third thing, to reconcile us to God. To make us have peace with God. And fourthly, to justify us, to declare us right before God. But more than that, to transform our lives from the inside out. Because now Jesus lives in us. Now, how can we have that? How can you and I have that which is so necessary for the judgment that these people discovered? We have it through that. That's how we have it. Jesus, he's the heart of this prophecy. You see, that's why Gabriel said these words to Daniel. Daniel, this is true. He not only gave him the prophetic understanding, he gave him the solution to our sin problem in this prophecy. Jesus, very much the heart of this prophecy. The Messiah. He is the gospel. The gospel, if you want it, in one word, is Jesus. The good news that came down from God became one of us. To bring us eternal life. The Lord God, our creator, became one of us forever. For God so loved the world he gave. For unto us a child is born. What a God of love that our God would give his Son to be one of us for eternity. But bigger than that, more than that. That one would go and die on an old rugged cross. And that's the purpose of the 490 years. You see, Calvary love breaks our rebel hearts. Calvary love gives forgiveness and victory over sin. Calvary love reconciles us to God. Calvary love transforms and makes us right with God. Immediately we come to Jesus. That's what this prophecy is all about. How you and I can be right in the judgment through Jesus. That's why the Bible says these amazing words. Paul is speaking and he says there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, no condemnation ready to meet God in the judgment through Jesus. And the third reason these people saw what they were here for. Why this 1844. Their purpose was to bring God's children home. Bring my children home. That's God's message. I love the song, son. Talking of Jesus. Son, go bring my children home. Because I want them gathered round my throne. It's time to reap the harvest we have sown. Son, go bring my children home. And that was the work of God's children, to bring people to Jesus so they could get home, to bring them home to God. Do you see what we've seen in this amazing prophecy that we looked at these two prophecies that come colliding together like a hand in a glove. Daniel and Revelation. Do you see what we've discovered? We have discovered that God has a prophetic end time movement of God. The purpose of the remnant, that's what it's called, this prophetic end time movement. Their purpose is to bring God's children home, to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. So wonderful. What a God that we serve. You know, I'm reminded of a story that I heard. A little girl was lost in a big city. I don't know if you've ever been lost. It's a scary thing to get lost in a big crowd, isn't it? I remember getting lost at the Royal show in Perth one year. Man, that's a scary thing. Where is mum and dad in all this mass attack. People just bring you to tears when you're a little kid. And that's exactly what was happening with this little girl. She was lost, couldn't find mommy or daddy and she was just bawling her eyes out. Well, a policeman came up to her and he gradually calmed this little girl down to the point that he could say, say little girl, what's your name? She said, well, Mr. Policeman, my name is Sally. Ah, good, Sally, I'm glad that you got you've told me your name. He said, tell me, Sally, what's your daddy's name? Well, she said, mummy calls him honey. Well, that wasn't going to help anywhere for this poor policeman. Then she said, so, so what is your mummy's name? Well, Daddy calls her darling. Well, the poor policeman wasn't getting anywhere in this conversation. And so he thought to himself for a while and then he said, yeah, okay. Sally said, look, is there something big near your house? So that if we got you to the big thing that's near your house, you could get home from the big thing. Well, little Sally thought for a moment. She thought, yes, there is, Mr. Policeman, she said, you see, right next to my house there's a big church. And Mr. Policeman, there is a big cross on top of the church. Now, Mr. Policeman, if you can get me to the big cross, I can get home from the big cross. And you know, my friends, that's the truth. You take me to the cross of Calvary and I can get home to my heavenly home from the cross. Because the cross of Calvary breaks our rebel hearts. Those who haven't believed in God. He believes in us when we see Jesus lifted up on the cross. How can we shake our fist in the face of a God who loves us like that? You see, the cross of Calvary can get us home. Because the cross of Calvary justifies the ungodly. When they accept Jesus who died for them, they are credited with the very righteousness of Jesus, which is what they need to get through the judgment. Without perfect righteousness, you can't make it. And Calvary provides the righteousness of Christ. When we accept Jesus death for us, Calvary not only does that, it transforms the life. Remember, God's going to judge us on our works, our deeds, our thoughts, and Calvary transforms the life. It makes plain who has really accepted Jesus. Because they're different now. The impure become pure and their life is gradually being changed. But it's the perfect righteousness of Jesus for an unperfect person. That's how we are credited with righteousness. His righteousness is credited to our account. But it slowly changes us. God judges us on have we accepted Jesus? What have we done with Christ? So take me to the cross. I can get home from the cross. I can be ready not only for the judgment, but I can get to my Father's home. Let's bow together in prayer and thank God for this amazing prophecy which brings to light a prophetic end time movement. Whose task is that very thing? To bring God's children home, to point them to the cross of Calvary, the way to go home. Let's bow together. Father, we want to thank youk so much for this book, Lord. I personally want to thank youk because these prophecies help me to believe that there is a God. And this God is a loving God and He's doing everything he can to pull us into the kingdom of God. Lord, we want to just thank youk so much that the cross is the way to get home, Take me to the cross because I can get home from the cross. Lord, there are some watching right now. They have not yet made that decision for Jesus, but Jesus is speaking to them now through his Holy Spirit. And he's saying, my son, my daughter, I love you. I have a plan for your life. There's a reason for living, there's a hope for the future, and I want you to accept my son's death. As for yourself, I want you to accept his death so that you can be right with God right now, so that he can begin to transform your life little by little, day by day, into his image. Lord, may everybody who's hearing my voice determine right now, Jesus, I will follow you. Here is my life. Or if we're already following you, to say, lord, more of me I want to give to you. I want to give everything that I have to you. Here I am. Take me, use me. Use me to bring people home via the cross. Thank you, Father, for being with us in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Well, we are so glad again that you were able to be with us in this presentation in our Countdown Back to the Future series. Now you're going to enjoy our next presentation because, man, is it an interesting one for people. We're going to be looking at the remnant and the 144,000 people up. Big question. That's a small number compared to how many are in the world. What does that mean? What hope is there for me? Well, we're going to be looking at that and we're going to be looking at. So why are there so many denominations? How come you're going to see something amazing what God has been doing via these various denominations to help people to get home? Whatever you do, don't miss our next presentation, the remnant of the 144,000. Some wonderful news here. Why so many denominations? Invite a friend to watch with you, maybe to send them a link. Tell them, hey, you need to get onto 3 ABN and watch these presentations. Countdown back to the future.
