Everybody already remembers everything I said last week so no need to recap.
Okay, just checking. Can anybody tell me the four different views we were
looking at last week? Anybody remember what they were? Check, check, check, check, check.
Okay, we've got historicists, what else? Futureist,
Preterous, and Idealists. Yeah, very good. Alright, you did have some homework. I'm not
gonna technically grade you on it right now, but we can dive into it as we go. So
we're gonna go much slower this week, right? Last week was kind of fast moving
through some things. I don't expect you to remember it all. Remember, the whole
point of last week was just to show you that I know you probably grew up hearing
one way and one way only talk, and you probably believe something your whole
life, but it's always good to actually read the views of other people and see
what other people have come to a conclusion on and challenge ourselves to
maybe think about Scripture in a way that we haven't before. And I'm not saying
the other views are right or wrong. I'm just saying that, and this is always my
point. Whether it's about revelation or anything else, I try to always tell
people everybody has a reason for believing what they believe. You know,
very rarely do you find someone who just believes something to believe it. Usually,
give people the benefit of the doubt. Usually, they have pretty good reasons for
believing that. Now, that could be they grew up hearing that. It was the only
thing they ever learned, but people have reasons for it, right? So this week, we're
going to cover just two bowls, maybe only one, just depends on how far we get. I'm
just kidding. We're only going to get to one bowl tonight, okay? We're only
doing one. So we're at the sixth angel in the sixth bowl, and here's what we want
you to notice here about this one in particular. We're talking about who these
bowls are poured out on and what their destruction is. So notice with the sixth
one, this bowl is getting poured out on the Euphrates. That's going to be key for
many of the different interpretations that we're going to read tonight and go
over tonight. So it's poured out on the Euphrates in such a way that here's the
consequence of it, or the result of it, is that the water is going to be dried up.
So as you're thinking about this, as you're going through this, you need to
be thinking about the fact that this is happening to the Euphrates, the water is
dried up, and it's to do something. It's to prepare the way for the kings from the
east. And then you have mention of what I like to call the unholy trinity. So you
have the biblical trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then you have the
unholy trinity because it says, and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon
and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three
unclean spirits like frogs. So unclean spirits like frogs. So here you have the
unholy trinity, you've got the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. And here's
what's happening out of their mouths. So just picture this if you would, as we're
reading Revelation together, trying to think through what this could possibly
mean. The picture we're given is that a famous river, the Euphrates, is dried up,
and the reason it was dried up was to prepare the way for kings coming from
the east. And then you have a dragon, a beast, and a false prophet who out of
their mouths are coming these spirits, unclean spirits like frogs. Pretty
interesting stuff, right? Yeah. So this is where people have a hard time if you're
going to interpret Revelation literally the entire way through. This is typically
where people will find some difficulty. You could stick to a very literalistic
approach and say that there will be some unclean spirits who open their mouths and
some demonic frogs come out. That's a possibility, but it's usually here that
people find it's hard to interpret literally. Alright, verse 14, for they
are demonic spirits performing signs who go abroad. So watch what's happening
here. These demonic spirits, they go abroad in order to do what? They go
abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great
day of the Lord. So these demonic spirits are going out to the world in order to
get kings of the world to come and assemble for this great battle on the
day of God the Almighty. Verses 15 and 16, behold, so this is kind of a
parenthesis here, behold I'm coming like a thief, blessed is the one who stays
away keeping his garments on, that he ma that should be may, that's on me, that he
may not go about naked and be seen exposed and they assembled them. Now
here's where we get to a key phrase that you've probably heard in Revelation
before. They assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
Everybody's heard this one before? Armageddon? Yeah? Okay. Anybody know what
Armageddon means? You good? Anybody know what Armageddon means?
We use that word all the time, right? That's a common church word. Alright, I'll
write it out for you.
See, I knew if I did this y'all would immediately get the answer. So the place
in Hebrew is called Armageddon, which is actually just two Hebrew words mixed
together. You have har right here, that says har, which means mountain. So now you
know a Hebrew word, har means mountain, and this word is mageddo, right? So this
is actually a place, mageddo, or magiddo, some people will say, or
megeddo, different ways to say this, but it's a valley. It's known for being a
valley, and so this is technically literally saying at the place which in
Hebrew is called the mountain of mageddo, or the mountain of the valley, which is
kind of oxymoronic in one sense, but it's the mountain of mageddo. So if you're
looking at the different views, I don't know if you formed your opinion yet. Did
anybody form an opinion on those verses and what they might mean?
Very good, Michael. Yeah, I don't know that that's technically like theologian
of the night, but maybe historian of the night. You can win that one. Actually, I've
got that in my notes here in a second. So if you look at the historicists, almost
all of the historicists will say that this relates to the Turkish Empire
primarily because of the mention of the Euphrates River, right? That's where they
get the Turkish Empire from, and the Ottoman Turks, they were in power for a
long time, and so they say that this is a reference to the Turkish Empire losing
their power, so basically falling out of power, which is going to allow for
gospel conversion. So once the Turks and the Ottomans are out of power, people are
going to be more receptive to the gospel, and you'll have many converts that way.
And they identify this bull with the revolt and insurrection that happened
in the Turkish Empire in the year 1820. So I told you, historicists,
they love exact dates, and so they say, hey, this revolt happened in 1820. That's
what this is referring to. Now, when it comes to the unclean spirits like
frogs, they would say, some of them at least, would say that the three unclean
spirits represent infidelity, popery, and priestcraft. Remember, everything with the
historicists has to do with the pope in some way, shape, or form, and so they look
for anything that can relate to the pope, and so they say that the pope has to be
one of the three unclean spirits. Again, I sympathize with that view. Don't know
that it's right, but I like where their heads at, and so they would say that this
is seen in France and England because these three things began to rise with
intensity in 1830. Others would say that it refers to paganism, the papacy, and
Islam. So this is interesting. They will actually identify Islam as being one of
the three unclean spirits. Anybody have a guess as to why that is? A lot of it, I
think, has to do with the Euphrates again and being part of the Turkish Empire,
which you have a great deal of Islamic believers in that region of the world,
and so they see that the rise of Islam, particularly in that region of the world,
is an example of one of the unclean spirits. Now most of them would say that
the final battle of Armageddon is not a literal battle, but it's a spiritual
conflict. Others say it is, and it's on international proportions. So here where
we get to the the Preterist view. Now the Preterists, remember, they're always
thinking about either the fall of Rome or the fall of Jerusalem. That's
immediately where their mind goes. So they see this, and they say that this
has to be a reference to the imminent fall of Rome. So basically when the Bible
says here that the Euphrates is going to be dried up, they said that that is a
reference to say Rome is about to fall. And what's interesting about this is
that this is exactly how Cyrus the Great, the Persian, he conquered ancient
Babylon. Right? So here was what was interesting about that. The way Cyrus
conquered Babylon is he diverted the water flow of the Euphrates, and once it
was dried up it allowed his troops to march under the walls of Babylon
because the river flowed under the walls. So the river dries up to do what? To make
way for the kings coming in, and they go under the wall, and that's exactly how
Babylon fell. So the Preterists sees this, and they see that reference to the
drying of the Euphrates, and they say, well that's a common phrase at the
time, and it became a common phrase at the time. Right? So if you were to say
that the Euphrates was drying around Rome, it was a way of saying Rome's
about to fall. We have sayings like this today. If you were to say,
Greg Berryhill's here, so that's perfect. If you were to say that Greg Berryhill's
house was like Fort Knox, what am I communicating to you? He's got a lot of
guns, and that place is locked up. You might try to break into other places,
you're not getting into Greg Berryhill's house. So we use a phrase like
that place is like Fort Knox to communicate a place's safety and ability
to withstand invasion. They use the phrase the drying of Euphrates to
symbolize and signify some nation's imminent fall. And so what they do is
they look at this, and they would say the Euphrates is drying around Rome, which
means Rome is about to fall. And so they would say just like ancient Babylon
fell, the new Babylon, which they viewed as Rome, was getting ready to fall as
well. So you can understand, like even if you don't agree, do you see where they're
coming from? They're still seeking to be true to scripture and make sense of it.
When they see the reference to the frogs, they see that as an illusion to the
plagues of Egypt. And so what they would say is just as Egypt, literal physical
Egypt, had literal frogs as part of their plagues, they would say that symbolic
Egypt, which they viewed as Rome, they were symbolically Egypt, they were going
to have symbolic frogs or spiritual frogs. So since Rome was like a spiritual
Egypt, they were going to have spiritual frogs cast upon them. When they look at
the Battle of Armageddon, they see that as referring to the mountain in the field
of Megiddo, which we talked about earlier. Remember Armageddon just means
mountain of Megiddo. And if you remember, that's actually where Jezebel and her
prophets were defeated. That's where the Canaanites were defeated, and that's where
King Josiah was killed. And so they see that as being significant. This is a
place where defeat is happening. This is a place of slaughter. And so
Preterus would see Armageddon as being a place of slaughter, whether that's
literal or not. It was a way of referring to a place's demise. And so they
believed that it's either going to be Jerusalem or it's going to be Rome, but
one of these places is about to come down because the river Euphrates is
drying around it. Then you get to the Futurists. This is the view you're
probably most familiar with. Most people in church are probably most familiar
with the Futurist view. So the Futurists, they see the drying of the
Euphrates and the kings of the east as referring to very specific nations. So
they would believe it refers to places like China, Japan, North Korea, Mongolia,
and India. These great nations of the east. And they see this text as saying
that these nations are going to rise to great power in the world. That these
nations are going to be the ones that are ultimately responsible for the one
world government that so many people talk about. And that these nations are
going to basically be governing the world at some point in the future because
they are the nations that have the kings from the east. They believe, of course,
that Armageddon refers to the Mount of Slaughter. And they actually locate this
in a very specific place. It's a place that's a mountain that overlooks the
valley of Estralon and a great plane in the northern part of Palestine, which
Michael, great reference tonight, Napoleon himself even said that this would
make an ideal battleground for the armies of the world. So futurists locate
this in a very specific place. And this is the exact place that Napoleon himself
said the greatest battle that ever occurred could occur here with all the
armies of the world. Fun fact though, and this isn't in the notes, this one's for
free. This particular valley where people like to locate this, if it's actually
talking about Megiddo, which Armageddon does refer to, the mountain of Megiddo,
there's not actually a mountain in Megiddo. So in this particular valley,
there is no mountain, which probably means there's some theological significance
to a mountain being in a place where there is no mountain and what's happening
there, but that's for another day. The idealist, he views this bull as being
like the others in the sense that it describes events that are going to be
recurring throughout history, but will just reach their climax prior to Jesus'
return. They also generally agree that the preterist, well with the preterist that
the dry end of the Euphrates is an illusion to the fall of Babylon and is
meant to depict the imminent fall of Satan's kingdom. So rather than seeing
this as predicting the fall of Rome, rather than seeing this as predicting the
fall of Jerusalem, the idealist is going to look at this and say, yeah, Babylon
fell in this way and just as Babylon fell in this way, the Bible is saying here
that God is going to do that to Satan's kingdom, that God is saying the river
Euphrates is drying around Satan's kingdom because Jesus is going to return
and he's about to bring it down. It's got an imminent fall that is coming. About
the unclean spirits like frogs, they believe that this refers to God releasing
demonic spirits into the world. So pay attention, God is sending the demonic
spirits into the world to gather the kings of the world into the battle in
which they are to die. Now, here's what's interesting about that. You might be
thinking, well, that is outlandish. That would never happen. There's actually a
story in the Bible where this very thing does happen. You'll remember the story of
Ahab. Ahab was drawn into the battle in which he died because there was lying
spirits in the mouths of God's prophets or in the prophets of Ahab at least and
these lying spirits told Ahab to come to battle and he died in that battle. And so
the idealist sees this example in Scripture and they say, well, that's
exactly what God is doing in the world now, that there are demons in the world
now. God is still sovereign over the demons and so he is allowing the demons
sending them into the world to draw those who are against God into their final
defeat. No matter what that is, you know, it could look differently for different
people. It could be all sorts of different circumstances, but they're
saying that God is the one who is putting this spirit out there to draw
people who were already in rebellion against God to their final defeat and
so they won't be able to stand in the end. Now, again, the idealist would point out
that Armageddon is symbolic because there is no mountain upon the plane
that bears that name and so they would conclude that the name is symbolic and
used for effect. So rather than suggesting a place of slaughter, it's
suggesting a place of slaughter rather than a precise location. So when you're
thinking about Armageddon, it's using it for the effect that that word has.
Armageddon, it refers to a place of slaughter just as we talked about with
Josiah and others, the Canaanites, Jezebel and her prophets all dying there.
It's saying that this is a place of slaughter and it's not meant to actually
give us a precise location. Do you see the difference here? So the word is used
for an effect, not a geographical location. Many idealists would say that
Armageddon refers to all times an occurrences in which the Lord miraculously
and suddenly reveals his power to rescue his people and defeat an enemy, but
here's where they would say, right? So they believe that this occurs throughout
history, that anytime the Lord intervenes in a miraculous way to deliver
his people or defeat an enemy, that is a precursor to the final Armageddon. They
would say it's a picture of Armageddon that is to come, but they look ahead to
that final time, that final day, the final Armageddon. When Jesus is going to
return, the Bible says he's going to defeat the man of lawlessness. He's going
to overthrow Satan and the beast and the false prophet. He's going to bring
Satan's kingdom to nothing. He's going to throw him in the bottomless pit and
that's going to be the final Armageddon. There will be no more after that,
because after that we have peace. There's no more rebellion. There's no more sin
because Jesus returns and he makes all things right. And so what they're
saying is we're getting glimpses of Armageddon throughout history and it's
anticipating the final Armageddon. Do we see that? Everybody, yeah? Good? Good?
Okay. All right. What do we have for questions? And then we go back real
quick. I think we skipped the fifth bowl because that was your homework. So we'll
just go over that real quick. Any questions about this so far? I just
wanted to do one bowl tonight because I know that the Armageddon bowl, there's a
lot of discussion on it. Many people think it's a future nuclear war that's
going to happen. Many people think it's the nations of the east rising up. Many
people think it's already happened. Many people think it's still to happen. A lot
of different views, but I think you can see basically what the Bible is saying
here is that no matter which view you fall into, no matter what camp you fall
into, ultimately there is coming a day of the final Armageddon when Jesus is
going to have the victory and that's the point. Jesus is returning, which is why
he throws that parentheses in there. Behold, I'm coming soon like a thief and
blessed is the one who is taking refuge in him. So he's saying all of that
is a reminder that no matter which camp you fall into, at the end of the day, as
Michael said last week, at the end of the day, Jesus is coming back and he's
going to have the victory and that's our hope. It's not in did this happen to Rome,
is this Jerusalem, is it some nuclear war? The whole point is it doesn't matter.
Jesus is going to win. Be satisfied with that. Can we be satisfied with that?
So let people have their different views and just hoping the fact that
Jesus is going to have the victory. Anybody have any questions before we
just do a quick quick quick quick summary of Bowl Five? No questions?
Because that's what God's wrath has been poured into or filled into. And you see a
little bit of that in Revelation 14 where it talks about God's wrath has been
filling up and there ultimately his wrath is filled up into these bowls that are
poured out onto different parts of the earth. Good question. Anybody else have
any other questions? Did I hear another one?
Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, I agree 100%. So I think actually Gabriel was still there in Persia.
It was another angel who came to Daniel. But yeah, he was saying, Hey, Gabriel is
fighting against the prince of Persia, the basically the demon who is influencing
the kingdom of Persia. And also what's interesting in that is even after they
were under demonic control, God is still going to use Persia to defeat Babylon, to
bring his people who ultimately would be released by Persia. So that's another
example of God working all things for the good of his people and God's
sovereignty over even situations like that. Yeah, immediately. Yeah. See, I think
that's interesting because I know we mentioned this earlier in the book of
Revelation. But people today just think in terms of the physical and not the
spiritual, but 100% 100% there are still demonic influences in places of
government. I know that's not hard for you to believe, right? I would imagine so.
Right? Everybody been paying attention to politics lately. Like it's not hard to
see how demonic politics is getting, but world governments and even the way
nations are being led by people in power. There's a clear demonic influence and
we're to be aware of that. And again, I love this country, but it's clear to me
that there is heavy demonic influence in this country. You see the things that
this country is promoting. You see the things that this country is condemning.
And it's completely backwards to the Bible. Everything that God hates and
despises our country is saying, yeah, we love those things. And how could you not
love these things? And everything God loves, our nation is trying to tear apart.
Like primarily the family or the church. Our world wants to tear the family apart.
They want to encourage people. You don't have to get married. You don't need to
shackle yourself down like that. You don't need to have kids. They're literally
telling you don't need to have kids. Just focus on you. Do what you want. You
don't need to, you know, bring forth children into this world. It's all about
you. And so they hate the family. They hate children. They hate parents. They
love the free sex movement and indulging in that and satisfying every single
desire you have. And at the end of the day, I'm like, we're just, it's Romans one.
It's Romans one reads like a newspaper today. Does it not? You look at Romans one
and you're like, oh my goodness, this is happening all around us. And what's
really telling is the very last part of Romans one. Paul says it's not enough for
people to have sin in the world. They want to promote it. That they want you to
be on their side and promote that sin in the world. And so absolutely, there is
clear demonic influence in America today. There's clear demonic influence in
American politics today that's invading the school system today. I mean, you just
look at the, look at the shootings that have taken place and you can't tell me
there's not demonic influence. And we talked about this, I think last week,
right after the school shooting in Georgia is that this isn't a gun control
issue. This is a spiritual issue. This is the way children are being brought up
today and what they're exposed to and the demonic influences that are present
in their lives in every single school shooting or mass shooting since 2020 has
been carried out by a person who's transgender. Every single one. If you
look since 2020, every school shooting or mass shooting in America has been
carried out by someone who identifies as transgender. Now that tells me again,
this isn't a gun control issue. This is a demonic issue. This is Satan blinding
the minds of unbelievers. This is Satan blinding us to what's all around us. It's
Satan corrupting minds and distorting minds and twisting minds to the point
where children feel like their only option and the one that makes sense to
them is to go and shoot up a school or a church or a movie theater. And that's the
world we're living in today. And then people deny that there's anything more
than the physical. And I don't understand how you can come away with that
conclusion. You look at what's going on in the world today and you have to
understand, you have to see it is so evident that there are demonic influences
all throughout this world. So anybody else have anything they want to add on
that? Yes, nations are being run by demons. That's the conclusion there. You can
quote me on that one. I'm okay with it. All right, real quick. Let's just go over
this. The fifth ball it's poured out on the throne of the beast. That's your key
phrase there. And we said it's plunged into darkness. And ultimately all of it
leads to the fact that they did not repent of their deeds. So that's kind of
the takeaway conclusion is that no matter what happened to them, they didn't
repent of their deeds. So what did you think the historicists would say about
this? Quick two or three word summary. What are they gonna say? What would they
say the throne of the beast is?
Was that you Steve? What did you say? That's right. It's the Pope brother. Of
course it is. The historicists, everything is about the Pope. And so they see the
throne of the beast is referring to Rome or the papacy. And that's generally what
they think although they throw some stuff in there about the French
Revolution. All right, what about the Preterist? It's all about the Pope and
the French Revolution every time. What would the Preterists say about the
throne of the beast and the darkness? What were you thinking? Where do they
always go to? What's their go to?
Preterist past. So where are they thinking? Fall of Rome. That's right. Yeah. So
they would say the throne of the beast is Rome the city not like Rome the
papacy. And they think it really refers to Nero's suicide which led to the
collapse of Rome and darkness in Rome. And so they see that this is a clear
reference to Rome's power being diminished because of Nero's suicide.
All right, what do you have for the futurist? So Preterist is past, futurist is
obviously some point of the future. What do they think the throne of the beast is?
Yeah, pretty much. The Antichrist's throne, Satan, they see it as the kingdom of Satan
in the world and that the world is going to experience Satan's kingdom, the
injustice, the blindness, madness, defiance, all that kind of stuff. And
they're going to continue to experience that because people do not repent of
their sins and so naturally they're going to experience the fall of that. So
finally what would the idealists say about this? What would be the throne of
the beast and darkness and stuff like that?
No, you're thinking futurist but yeah, they would, I think they'd agree with you
there. They'd like to identify nations by name. So idealists though, they would
say that the first four bowls, they relate to realms of nature and what's
interesting is the last three bowls relate to political type, the sphere of
politics and political power. And so since they see the events of revelation as
being cyclical, they note that there is a partial fulfillment found in the fall
of Rome. So yeah, that was a great demonic kingdom that God brought to
nothing. So that was a fulfillment but it's not the fulfillment. Basically what
they're saying is that what happened to Rome is eventually going to happen to
all nations who oppose Christ. So Rome was a snippet of what was to come. What
happened to Rome is going to happen to every nation that opposes Christ and
ultimately it's going to happen to Satan's kingdom. Christ is going to bring
it to nothing. So the throne of the beast would literally just refer to Satan
and his kingdom and saying that Jesus is going to bring it to nothing in the
world. Alright, we got through six bowls. Next week we are not going to be talking
about the bowls because this Sunday the sermon is Matthew 16. Most people would
preach verses 13 through 20 but I couldn't get through that. So I'm only
preaching verses 13 through 17. This is Peter's confession where he proclaims
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. So we're going to get through
that much on Sunday. But then there's the fun section after if you read in your
Bibles the rest of that paragraph where Jesus talks about he renames Peter. So
he says you know you're Simon but now you're Peter and upon this rock I will
build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And he talks
about giving them the keys of the kingdom whatever you bind on earth we
bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth we loosed in heaven. So we're not
getting to any of that this Sunday. We're going to cover that on Wednesday
because that is one of the key passages if not the key passage where Roman
Catholics say this is Jesus instituting the first pope that he is saying Peter
is the rock and upon Peter he is going to build his church and he's giving Peter
the keys of the kingdom and he's given him all this papal power and so he is
making Peter the first pope and that's going to be continued as Peter dies and
names a successor and all that kind of stuff. And so the question we want to
consider next Wednesday together is is that what Jesus is doing here? Is he
instituting the papacy? Is he making Peter the first pope? If not what on earth
does he mean by upon this rock I will build my church? So that's what I want
you to think about. In preparation for next Wednesday go read that passage in
Matthew 16 and be asking yourself if it's not Peter what is the rock upon
which Jesus builds his church? You'll find it in Matthew 16. Alright Michael
Stevenson? If you start being so wise I'll...