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Revelation chapter 11.

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We are continuing with this one chapter that we've been in for three weeks now.

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Hopefully we make a little bit of progress tonight. We'll see how far we get.

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But it's this section about the two witnesses and if you've been with us

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you remember that so far we've said the two witnesses are the church as a whole

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who bear testimony to Jesus in the gospel and that the testimony is

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trustworthy and reliable. And what we learned last week as we were looking at

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this is that not only is the message trustworthy and reliable but it's also

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a message of salvation and judgment. That the church, the witnesses, they preach a

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message that is a message of life to those who repent and believe in Christ.

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But that same message is also a message of judgment to those who refuse to repent

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and they continue in their sins. And the testimony of the church is going to

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continue until Christ returns. But what this passage is now letting us know as

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it continues on is that the church has an enemy. And the enemy of the church is

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also the enemy of God. In fact that's why he's the enemy of the church. It's

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because he is the enemy of God. And that enemy is constantly attacking and

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seeking to oppress the people of God. And so that's what we learn about in this

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passage. I want you to see Revelation chapter 11 verse 7. Notice what happens

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here. And when they, the witnesses, have finished their testimony the beast that

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rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill

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them. Now this is the first mention of the beast so far in Revelation. And we've

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kind of referenced him a few times. But this is the first mention of the beast

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in Revelation. And it's important to understand that the beast is not Satan.

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The beast is under the power of Satan. He's under the authority of Satan. But he

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is not Satan. And we learn more about that in chapter 13 when we get there in

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six months. So once we get to chapter 13 we'll dive into that a little more. But

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but just for now understand that the beast he is under the power and the

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authority of Satan who is later going to be referred to as the dragon who has the

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ultimate authority for this realm. And the beast he comes from the abyss. And if

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you remember this from like a chapter or two ago the abyss is the place of the

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demonic. Right? It's the demonic realm where all demons come from. And so the

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beast has demonic origins and it operates under the power and the influence

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of Satan. And I want you to notice something here in this verse, verse 7. I

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want you to notice how the Bible is intentionally ambiguous here. It's

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intentionally ambiguous and generic in describing the beast. For instance look at

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verse 7. Did you notice how no pronouns are used in relation to the beast? It

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doesn't say the beast who rises out of the bottomless pit nor does it say that

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he will make war, he will conquer, or he will kill. It's intentionally ambiguous

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and generic because we're not meant to focus so much on what a beast might

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look like or how he might be personified. What we're supposed to focus on are the

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actions that the beast takes. That's the important thing to focus on here because

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everybody wants to get hung up on what does the beast look like? You know, will I

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be able to see him? Is there a description that I can recognize him by? And the Bible

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says yeah there is a description you can recognize him by but it's not a

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physical appearance. It's the actions that he takes against God's people. The

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beast is the one who makes war on the people of God. He persecutes them, he

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tortures them, he kills them. And so we're meant to focus on these actions so

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that when we see these actions in the world today we will recognize the one

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who's doing these things as being the beast who comes from the abyss. Once

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again it's a picture, right? God through the book of Revelation is giving us a

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new way to view the world. The world is not just merely what you see. He says

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there's a grand story going on here and we have a real enemy who is constantly

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attacking us and rather than just saying hey there's an enemy who's gonna attack

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you, the Bible pictures it as like a beast like from a great story. There's

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this beast who is coming to oppress a people who are devoted to God and by the

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actions it takes by the persecution and the killing and all these type of things

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you can recognize this as being the beast, right? And so for instance when

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John when he was writing this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he sent

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it to the churches in Asia Minor. Who do you think they would have associated with

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the beast? When you're thinking about something or someone or an entity that

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is persecuting Christians, making war on Christians, hunting them down, killing

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them, what would be the first thing that came to their mind? Yeah, the Roman

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Emperor, right? The Roman Empire as a whole. The Roman Empire was the one who

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was hunting Christians down, right? They were persecuting Christians constantly.

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They were dragging them before the governors and before courts and putting

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them to death. I mean we've mentioned many times about Nero who would go and

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find Christians and then stake them up and while they were still alive put oil

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on them and then light them on fire and use them as street lamps at night. The

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actions of an evil government persecuting Christians for no other reason than

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the fact that they believed in Jesus and were seeking to live a life that was

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faithful to Jesus. And so in the first century when they hear this description

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of the beast they naturally would have thought of the Roman Empire. So was the

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beast referring to the Roman Empire in the first century? Yeah, absolutely. But

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it's a picture, right? So that this picture can be applied throughout all of

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time. So there are some who say well this only refers to the Roman Empire and I

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want to say it did but the beast continues on throughout church history. So at

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one point yeah the beast was personified by the Roman Empire. Sure. But

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throughout history you've seen all sorts of beasts or rather it'd be more

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appropriate to say you've seen the beast at work in a number of different

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entities throughout history, right? I mean one that people don't like to think

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about is in the Middle Ages even into the time of the Reformation and shortly

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after I think you could characterize the Catholic Church as the beast, right? I

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mean that might get me into trouble. It's okay. But it's true because at the time

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the Catholic Church was hunting down anyone who was not part of the Catholic

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Church who broke away in pursuit of this new thing called Protestantism. And I

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mean Martin Luther had to go on the run and hide for over a year in which he was

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translating the Bible because they were hunting him down. You read about this

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throughout church history where people were literally killed for their faith.

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You read about John Huss who was killed by the Catholic Church because he

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believed that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone.

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And for just believing that message they burned him at the stake. Read about

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others who died and were persecuted for their faith like William Tyndale who

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his main aim was just to put the Bible in the hands of anybody who could read.

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And at one point he said I'm gonna have the boy pushing the plow know more

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Bible than the Pope. And he's put to death for it. You see all throughout history

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it's not just an evil government. It is anytime someone is persecuting Christians,

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oppressing Christians, killing Christians just because of their faith in Jesus and

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their adherence to scripture they take up the mantle of the beast. You see the

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beast today. I mean I think the North Korean government, I think you could

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rightly say that they are a pitcher of the beast today given what they do to

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Christians in their country. I think the same thing could be said for radical

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Islamic groups. I mean you think about ISIS and others like them and they are

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putting Christians to death persecuting them, hunting them down. I think they

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could be described as the beast today. Here's what concerns me is that the

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American government is beginning to look more and more like the beast. And I

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don't say that lightly but they are starting to wage war on Christians just

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as the Bible says the beast does. They are trying to limit our ability to live

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out the faith. They're trying to limit and censor what we can preach. If we don't

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preach something that meshes with their ideology, if it goes against what's

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common in the norm today, they want to shut us down and label it as hate speech

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and try to close us down because we preach the gospel. You're seeing people

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in prison, yes. Oh yeah true. I didn't get going enough for that, Gene. But let me

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just say there are a couple times I have been personally censored twice on

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Facebook for preaching. I only preach the Bible here. You'll never see me talk

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about or preach anything else but you preach the Bible and they take you off

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Facebook all because you say you should be more obedient to God than government.

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And I'll say it again. Yeah and then you ask them what the rules are. Our community

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standards. Yeah that's the problem. That's the problem. I think the message he's

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referring to one of the first ones was when I was saying defy tyrants and obey

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God and it was about obeying God rather than the government which I stand by. I

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do not recant anything I've ever said so they can take us off again. But the

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point is you look at the American government today and they're trying more

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and more. This is what's concerning. Big tech American government. They're trying

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more and more to exercise control over the church and as Mr. McKinney said in

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his prayer, Jesus runs the church. Not the American government, not big tech, not

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big media. They have no say in what goes on here. Well you live in their country.

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It doesn't matter. This is God's world. They may claim the country as their own

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but this is God's world. God runs the show here. Jesus is in charge here. They

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have no say in what we do and yet they are trying more and more to exercise

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control. They're becoming to look like a pitcher of the beast. The point is the

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beast is known by the actions it takes against God's people. And so John is

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describing the church as being a church that is persecuted at all times.

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Throughout the church's existence we will be hated. We will be opposed, we'll be

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persecuted, we will be killed for our faith. Now that doesn't mean that every

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single Christian will be a martyr. That's not going to happen. But it does mean

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that every single Christian will experience some level of persecution in

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their life. Every single Christian will experience some level of hatred and

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opposition all because we have faith in Jesus. And this passage is saying as we

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discussed last week that the majority of Christians will die and I want you to

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hear what this passage has to say about that. Look at verses 8 through 10 if you

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have your Bibles. It says after the the witnesses die and their their dead

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bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called

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Sodom in Egypt where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days

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some of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their

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dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb and those who dwell

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on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presence because

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the two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. Let me just

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pause before I say anything else. I would love if our church was a torment to

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people who dwell on the earth. I'd love nothing more than for Christians to be a

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thorn in people's side. Unfortunately we're weak and cowardly. That's another

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sermon I've already preached it but I just wanted to say that point. I'd be

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hating on myself if I didn't. But I want you to notice something here in these

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verses. It's very interesting. These verses require some careful attention

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because again there are those who advocate for a literal return of two

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individual people and again that's a legitimate view. We're not dismissing it

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but they often claim that these these witnesses will return and they will

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minister and ultimately die in the city of Jerusalem since that's where they

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crucified our Lord. Now again this is a legitimate interpretation. It's a

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totally fair one to have. However I don't know that that is necessary to

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view it that way because for instance did anyone else happen to notice that the

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verse itself told us to lean towards a symbolic understanding of this

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verse or these verses? Did y'all notice that? It specifically told us to lean

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towards a symbolic understanding because it literally says symbolically and

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that tells us that we should be thinking symbolically not literally. There's

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another clue here that this is not referring to a literal city. Does

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anybody else see the clue there? It's easy to miss, takes a little thinking that

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the great city might not actually be referring to a literal city. Not only

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does it say symbolically but notice it says the city is symbolically called

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Egypt. What's the problem there?

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Egypt is not a city. Egypt is a country. It's not a city. It's really

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interesting because it's not saying necessarily that this is a literal city.

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It's saying, hey symbolically this city that we're talking about and there's a

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really interesting concept that's going on here and in fact it's a concept that

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the Apostle John really sheds more light on than any other biblical writer and

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it's this concept of the city of God and the city of man. It's referring kind of

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to what Jesus said in John's Gospel where he said we are to be in the world

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but not of the world. You don't remember that? Jesus said that. He's

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contrasting these two cities. He's saying there's the city of God and there's a

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city of man and the city of man is the world and you are to be in the world

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but you belong to a different city, a heavenly city. That is where your

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citizenship is. The great theologian Augustine, he really fleshed out this

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idea in his book called the city of God and he uses this idea of two

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cities to describe the relationship between the earthly realm and the divine

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realm and so the city of God it refers to the God's kingdom made up of

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those who are Christians and seek to do God's will and follow Jesus. It's a city

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that's characterized by love and justice and virtue. It's an eternal city that

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transcends earthly boundaries but then the city of man it refers to the earthly

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realm and it's characterized by human societies and governments and cultures.

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It's marked by sin and selfishness and worldly pursuits. It's a city that's

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inherently flawed and prone to corruption because it is driven by human

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desires and ambitions and these two cities they coexist in our world. They're

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intertwined but they're distinct. Okay therefore it's possible to live in the

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city of man while actually being a citizen of the city of God so you can

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imagine it like this. This is everything that exists odd shape. It's everything

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that exists and this is the city of God. God has rule and domain over everything

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here. He's got dominion and within this there's this little realm that coexist

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within it and this is the city of man. So the city of man exists at the same time

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as the city of God so that you know Alex can be here living in the city of man

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but I'm also a citizen of the city of God and Augustine was really trying to

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help us understand this concept of what it means to live as a citizen of God's

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kingdom in a world that is so corrupted by sin. He was trying to

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expound on what Jesus said you're to be in the world but not of the world and

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John as I said more than any other biblical altar he references the world

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more than any other biblical altar. You read the the Gospel of John, you read

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1st John, 2nd, 3rd John, book of Revelation. John is always talking about

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the world and he views it as a sinful place that is in opposition to God that

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is in desperate need of God's mercy and grace and salvation and so here when

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he's referring to the great city he's referring to this world to the city of

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man this place that is opposed to God in his ways this is the place where they

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crucified Christ. Christ did not die in the city of God it would have never

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happened there he died in this sinful world the city of man that's where he

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was put to death and noticed when you think about it in that regard as this

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great city being the city of man or the world it makes sense of these

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descriptions because notice this city is likened to Sodom. Sodom was a place that

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was famous for its wickedness and immorality by referring to the great

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city of Sodom the Bible is emphasizing the moral corruption and sinfulness of

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this world but notice too that the Bible also says that the city is

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symbolically called Egypt which again is not a city but Egypt all throughout the

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Bible is associated with oppression and bondage and opposition to God and so by

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referring to the great city as Egypt the Bible is communicating a number of

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things first and foremost is highlighting the spiritual enslavement and

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captivity that exists within the city of man that this is the place where sin is

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this is the place that causes people to be slaves to sin and in constant

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bondage and in need of restoration and deliverance but second is drawing

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attention to the city's opposition to God in his ways that's what the Bible is

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saying here that the city of man it's like Sodom it's wicked it's immoral it's

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like Egypt it oppresses people and it's opposed to God in his ways that's the

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world we inhabit and so yes Jesus was literally crucified in the city of

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Jerusalem but he was symbolically and it told us to think symbolically he was

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symbolically crucified in the city of man the world corrupted and opposed to

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God in his ways and so in the same way the Bible is saying here that Christians

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throughout history while being citizens of the city of God will die

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nonetheless in this world in the city of man and there they will lie in the

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streets and not only that but notice what the Bible says it says that the world

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will gaze upon their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb

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now why would that be the case well in the ancient world not to bury a body

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was considered a great indignity and shameful and so it's a way of expressing

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contemptment towards the people of God that you want to have contempt towards

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them you want to shame them you want to have indignity towards them so you don't

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bury them it's a way of saying that even in the death of Christians the world

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mocks them and seeks to make a show of them which is exactly what the Bible

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says it says the world rejoices in the deaths of Christians and they make

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merry and they exchange presents because the church had been a torment for the

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people on earth it's a picture of the world taking pleasure in the death of

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Christians and rejoicing let me ask you a question if this is going on throughout

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all of history do we see this today oh yeah absolutely I mean anytime horrific

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you know killings by ISIS and other extremist groups I mean just think about

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that y'all remember years ago when they were lining up Christians in and just

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executing them back of the head just shooting them and then they're posting

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the videos on the internet for people to to watch and enjoy and they were

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celebrating they're having a great time they just got to murder a bunch of

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Christians they were laughing mocking and rejoicing that's that's exactly what

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we see here why did they do that it's because the Christians were nuisance to

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them the Christians refused to stop talking about Jesus they refused to

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stop preaching Jesus they wouldn't abide by what they wanted them to do and so

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they had to be rid of them they had to execute I mean I think of another

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example from from recent years maybe y'all remember there was a young man who

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he wanted to reach an island of people who had never been reached before y'all

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remember this he wanted to go there this tribe was totally uncontacted they had

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no idea what was going on in the outside world they were just all on their own and

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this guy said I want I want to go and tell them about Jesus he didn't even

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know their language and so he goes and and you know whatever people have said

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a lot about his methods but whatever his methods his intentions were pure all

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right let's just say that he saw people who didn't know Jesus and he wanted to

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make sure they knew Jesus and almost as soon as he stepped foot on the island

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the the tribesmen came out and they murdered him and they were dancing over

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his body and they were shouting and shouting praise and all this kind of

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stuff and I remember when that happened there were all sorts of reactions to that

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and the worst reactions came from those who hate Christianity and hate the

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faith I saw people who literally said he got what he deserved a man who was

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trying to go to a people and tell them about Jesus and take the gospel to them

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murdered in cold blood and they said he got what he deserved they said he was a

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colonizer and a crusader who just wanted to make a name for himself and so he

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got what he deserved when I see that story all I see is the city of man

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dancing and rejoicing over the dead bodies of one of God's faithful witnesses

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in this world it's a picture of exactly what revelation says we will see in this

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world that the enemies of God will take joy in the deaths of God's people but

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then I want you to notice how this passage ends it reminds us of one of the

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most wonderful truths of all of Christianity is that death is not our

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end they can rejoice they can celebrate in our death for a short time let them

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enjoy it while they can because the Bible says death is not our end look at

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verse 11 but after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them

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and they stood on their feet in great fear fell on those who saw them then

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they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here and they went

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up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies watched and at that hour there

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was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell seven thousand people were

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killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to God to

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the God of heaven the second woe has passed behold the third woe is soon to

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come now there's a lot of symbolism going on here and I want you to see that

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but I want you to remember that the ministry of the witnesses lasts three

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and a half years I'll remember that and we said there's a number of reasons for

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that connects with other place in the Bible we don't have time to recount that

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but another interesting connection is that the ministry of Jesus lasted how

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long about three and a half years and so the ministry of the witnesses for Jesus

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is meant to be connected to the ministry of Jesus himself Jesus minister for three

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and a half years here on earth and so do his witnesses but but notice this too the

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witnesses remain dead for three and a half days now a number of things could

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be said here about this it could be literal it could be symbolic or

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figurative many people see a connection between Jesus's time in the grave even

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though he was dead in the grave only three days but the number whatever it

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is whether literal or figurative it's just meant to convey that their death

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only lasts for a defined period of time that they will not always be dead that's

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the point of that do you get that what so whether it's literal whether it's

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symbolic the point is that death is finite it is limited there is an ending

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point of it where they will no longer be dead because after this time the Bible

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says the breath of life from God enters into the witnesses and they stand on

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their feet now does anybody see a connection here to any other passage in

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scripture what does this look like you've got a bunch of of dead people here

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that point you know they're dead and all of a sudden the breath of life from God

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breath is the same word in Hebrew and Greek as spirit Ruach or Pneuma if you're

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in Greek breath or spirit breathed into these dead people they come to life and

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they stand on their feet remind you of anything else in the Bible

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yeah Valley of Jarvis it's almost just taken right from there right the Valley

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of Dry Bones and Ezekiel 37 Ezekiel 37 5 does says the Lord God to these bones

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behold I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live I want you to notice

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how similar Ezekiel 37 10 is to what we just read so I prophesied as he commanded

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me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet and

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exceedingly great army it's exactly what what the Bible says here in Revelation

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that that God's going to breathe life into these dead people and they're going

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to come back to life and they're going to stand on their feet and so the whole

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point of Ezekiel 37 is is this picturing the the nation of Israel they're

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exiled at this point they're saying hey they're like a whole bunch of dead dry

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bones they're exiled their enemies have won they're defeated they're like a

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Valley of Dry Bones and God promises and says yes they are now but I'm going to

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breathe new life into them and they're going to be joined together again and

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they're going to stand up and they will have the final victory and the same thing

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is true here in Revelation that the people of God now the church we may

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seem like a bunch of exiled out of place defeated people at times the the church

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Christians we look like nothing more than a whole bunch of dry bones you ever

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seen a church or a Christian like that nothing more than just a Valley of Dry

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Bones who suffered defeated the the hands of the enemies of God but God

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promises in this passage to breathe new life into us to raise us up back to life

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and to give us the final victory over his enemies and our enemies this is the

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vindication of the righteous this is the triumph of the Lamb though the world

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opposes us now though the world persecutes us now though the world oppresses

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us now though they delight in our defeats and our deaths and our setbacks the

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Bible says here God will vindicate his people the enemy will not have the final

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word the enemy will not have the last laugh the enemy will not have ultimate

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victory Jesus will have the victory and every single person who puts their hope

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and their trust in him will get to share in that victory with him and we will

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stand triumphantly with him for all of eternity shouting his praises for the

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Lamb has received the reward for his sufferings so death is not our end

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church they can kill us they can do that they can mock us they can laugh at us

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they can persecute us they can oppress us they can torture us they can

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ultimately put us to death and they can enjoy it and they can laugh after we're

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dead say our God abandoned us but one day the Bible says that every knee will

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bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of

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God so those people who mocked us will be brought to their knees we'll go there

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voluntarily they will be brought to their knees when faced with the glory of

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God in the victory of Jesus and so that's our hope that death is not our end

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no matter what happens to us in this life we will be with Jesus forever

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because he will have the victory all right we made it through almost all of

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Revelation chapter 11 as far as we're gonna get tonight Michael Stevenson how

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about leaving us with a word