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Revelation Series #11
Fred R. Coulter—November 11, 1989
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Today's sermon is going to be based on the command to watch! All the things that are going on in Europe are really fantastic things that are taking place. We are viewing a tremendous and historical thing that's happening in Europe. I remember when I first read the booklet 1975 In Prophecy [Worldwide Church of God publication] and it said 'watch Germany' and it was in 1947 that the Nazis will rise again. We've been watching and watching and the Nazis haven't risen again, because they're not going to come up in the same form.
That reminds me of a movie that we saw, it was one of these end-of-the-war movies where, just before the war ended, they captured this German spy and they executed him. He gave his last testimony and he said: 'You have won this round, but you have lost the war. We will rise again in a form differently than you know how to combat us. We will beat you economically and because you are decadent you will help us do it.'
I think we really need to view the thing the way the Germans have. WWII ended on a Friday. Think about that from the point of view of the Germans. WWII ended November 9, 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Berliners rejoiced as the wall crumbled. They have quite an interesting thing that they're doing. The East Germans came into West Berlin and they were met by government representatives who gave them a hundred Deutschmarks—which is called trading money—so they can go into the stores and buy the things they can't get in East Berlin.
They had mobs at the department stores trying to get simple little things, like cosmetics, just little things we take for granted. East Germans had been looking over this wall for a long time and seeing the West Germans drive by in their Mercedes Benz's and in their Volkswagens. But you look at the rinky-dink little cars that the East Germans drove—have you seen those things? Our kids could do a better job in the backyard with hammers and welding equipment. It's something! Just terrible, terrible cars!
(from newspaper article)
More than 100,000 ecstatic East Germans surged across the newly breached Berlin Wall to go sight-seeing and shopping, Friday, as their government began pushing new holes in the cold-war barrier.
I think it's interesting, a little over two years before, Ronald Reagan stood in front of the wall and said, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' So, they tore it down.
Only 1,000 of East Germans, which is 1% of the day's visitors, registered as refugees. He sighed that the East German leader Egon Krenz's daring move Thursday to pacify angry citizens was paying off.
Then they had a meeting between Helmut Kohl and this Egon Krenz.
The West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who interrupted an official visit in Poland for 24 hours, told a crowd of 30,000 outside West Berlin's City Hall that the "spirit of freedom is sweeping all of Europe…."
These are events that the Communist couldn't control, that we could not control.
"…We claim the right for all people in Europe, we claim it for all Germans. Long live a free German fatherland."
The Deutche Fatherland!
He shouted, "Long live a free Europe!"
The Germans are going to take us by bringing all of Europe together. They're not going to do it just by themselves alone. When you really understand the economic power that West Germany has, they are going to move in and they are going to subsidize all of this development of Eastern Europe so that those people will be aligned to Germany and a new aligned Europe—not to Russia and not to America! You wait and see! It's going to create an economic boom! When you have people who don't have things like the eastern bloc nations, and then you've got all the good they can produce in what is called the western bloc nations, you know it's going to produce an economic boom!
Then it went on saying in the analysis by Greg R. Whitney, New York Times:
By the simple act of forcing the Communist rulers to open the Berlin Wall and allow them to go wherever they wish, the people of East Germany have irrevocably changed the way Berlin, Germany and all Europe have defined themselves for more than 40 years. The entire postwar European order has been based on the assumption that Germany and Europe would remain divided, and the countries of Eastern and Western Europe are firmly anchored in their respective alliances.
I think it's going to turn every bit of that on end! In one of the interviews, I heard on the news, there was an American exchange student there, and she said, 'It is absolutely electrifying.' She said there's 'so much energy in the air and people are happy and joyous.' They're going to be celebrating this for weeks. You wait and see, it's going to be something! After the way that Germany was defeated in WWII and carved up with all of the zones of occupation, this was a monumental thing for the Germans. They're smart enough not to say it publicly, but that's exactly what it's going to be!
On the assumption that the United States in the NATO Alliance guaranteed the security of Western Europe, and on that same assumption, France, West Germany and the other major industrial countries of Western Europe began the economic and political unification of the European community. West German politicians, including Chancellor Helmut Kohl, all insist that West Germany's commitment to Western Europe integration and alliance remain.
But now they're going to be able to change almost anything they want to, given a little more time. What is the public sentiment in America? Reduce the debt! What is the most logical way to reduce the debt? Bring back all the troops from overseas! Strike an alliance with the Soviets. Make an agreement. Pull back all your conventional forces. And you know that's going to happen—it is going to happen! And for a time, that will make our economy boom like crazy, because we won't have the debt problem.
It costs us a $100-billion a year just to have the troops in Western Europe. Bring them home and spend the money here.
Though the Europeans did not always appreciate it, it has been a haven of order these past 44 years. Politicians, diplomats and business leaders all over Europe are considering new implications for both institutions, now that the end of the German partition is at least imaginable.
For Eastern Europe, the price of that stability, which has been stability west of the Iron Curtain has been 44 years of a lifetime wasted under a government loathed!
I won't take time to go through the whole analysis, but guess who visited the pope? Gorbachev! Guess what is at the Vatican, on loan as a gift from the Soviet government? Ancient holy icons from the Russian Orthodox Church! If Gorbachev visits the pope, he's going to stop off see President Bush [#1] and they're going to meet on those ships. I think we're going to find out that this casual meeting that they're going to have on these ships—an American ship and a Russian ship—in the Mediterranean Sea is going to have a far greater impact than people have imagined. 'Oh, this is just a casual meeting and I previously approved it.' As a matter of fact, Bush said it was 'my idea' and we got it all together and all worked out. But Gorbachev, an atheist and head of an atheist country, is going to go see the pope! If that doesn't stand your hair on end and make your eyes cross, I don't know what will.
If you've never read it, get the book, which I have only read excerpts from, called The Final Conclave by Malachi Martin—in which he predicted that the Soviet Union would make an alliance with the pope, and come to terms with the Catholic Church. This is bigger and greater and far more important than what we've ever thought would happen in prophecy.
I look back and see all of our anxious moments of wanting to make prophecy happen and be fulfilled and bring the return of Christ right away. 'We're in the last generation, it'll happen before we die.' All of the things that we've strained at to make it happen really didn't happen because we didn't understand how great and how full and how complete that this is going to be.
I predict that one of the next victims is going to be Communist China. Though they put in all the hardliners in there, you can't stop it, because it is not something that people are doing, it is something that God has said, 'Okay, Lucifer, now is the time!' And it's going to happen! You remember all the Scriptures that we've read, that it is going to be so fantastic, that if it were possible, the 'very elect could be deceived.'
- What is greater than love?
- What is greater than joy?
- What is greater than reunion?
- What is greater than stopping war?
- What is greater than having peace?
- Can you argue against that?
You can't argue against that, and that's Satan's regime that's coming right now. You can't talk against it because it's going to be so great and the results are going to be so 'good.'
That's why I wanted to entitle this To Drink of That Cup. Before we get into this and get into the Scriptures—I want to ask: In your own mind, what do you imagine that thebeast will be like? In our own little self-righteous minds we've probably said, 'I can spot that fella in a minute.'No!
We need to picture him as a very dynamic person who is a motivator and a teacher. I'm not saying Ronald Reagan is the beast, but remember the effectiveness of Ronald Reagan wherever he went and how he could reach out and he could even make you in the Church of God, when he talked about America, cry! For freedom! Justice! Love! He did me! But that's just the kind of guy you need to prepare the way. That's why when Ronald Reagan went to Moscow, he stood up there and defied the Soviets and said, 'You need democracy. You need freedom.' And as soon as he left—what happened? Perestroika exploded!
Though Ronald Reagan was a nice man and you personally liked him—is he of this world? Yes! So, it's going to be far more magnificent than we have ever understood and it's going to reach far more people than we've ever thought. It's going to be something!
I've heard different explanations of this in many different ways, Revelation 1:7 "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him…" It doesn't say a few in some locations will see Him—every eye! I think the problem is when people have read this before and say, 'How is it possible that every eye is going to see Him?' Well, we'll have to wait and see when that time comes, but every eye is going to see Him. I think if there's a Sea of Glass that is descending, as He's coming toward the earth, every eye is going to see Him and it's going to be phenomenal.
"…and those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth… [shall rejoice because of Him] (NO! it says): …shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." Even Christ's popularity in the flesh continues clear on to His second coming; they "…shall wail because of Him."
I was thinking, you look at all of the physical things that people have, and when people have a lot of physical things and they have a lot of physical prosperity, they'll be willing to fight for it—won't they? Sure they will! When they're all deceived under Satan's way, they're going to be really deceived into the whole thing.
We've laid a lot at the doorstep of Satan the devil because of this Rev. 12:9—which is true and it all ought to be laid at his doorstep. But let's think about this and remember—even in this article—it's called the winds of change,which no one can turn back. Very interesting phrase—isn't it? The winds of change, which no one can turn back!
Revelation 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving the whole world…" The main thing I want to emphasize is that to drink of that cup is it's going to be the whole world! God is not going to give any man or woman any excuse at all whatsoever. God is not going to have Christ return until such time that every man, woman and child on earth will no longer have any excuse. It's going to be phenomenal!
It's really, to me, phenomenal how that on the scale of one to ten almost every category, with the exception of the beast, is way over five or six—some of them way up the line. But here's what I want to cover:
Revelation 17:1: "…the great whore who sits upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication" (vs 1-2). So, it's all the inhabitants of the earth. They're deceived! They're drunk! Then it's called 'Mystery Babylon the Great', but the beast is the thing that we're going to focus in on today.
Jeremiah 25:8: "Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not heard My words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon…'" (vs 8-9).
We're going to look into Babylon again. Many times we have limited that by saying that was in the Mesopotamian Valley. But Babylon was a tremendous empire and it was not restricted to the Mesopotamian Valley. I think a lot of our looking at the old Roman Empire and saying it's going to fulfill the bounds of the Old Roman Empire is just so much misinterpretation on our part of what God is going to want to have done, because it's going to fill the whole earth—not just the situation where the bounds of the old Roman Empire is. That may be the center of it, but it's going to be the whole Babylonian system worldwide!
"'…My servant; and will bring them against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations all around you. And I will completely destroy them, and make them a waste, and a hissing, and everlasting ruins. And I will take away from them the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years" (vs 9-11).
Now, by going in here and we're reading '70 years' I'm not implying by any means that this end-time is going to be 70 years. That's what happened back there at that time. But, from v 15 on it gets into a blending right down to the end-time.
Verse 12: "'And it shall be, when seventy years are fulfilled I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, and the land of the Chaldeans,' says the LORD…" It's interesting that the beast is, from every prophecy we understand, going to be in power a total of seven years. That's one-tenth of the seventy. Seven is still there somewhere along the line in the figures that God gives, as well as the 666.
"…'for their iniquity, and I will make it an everlasting desolation. And I will bring on that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations'" (vs 12-13).
We start blending into the term 'all nations.' I want us to emphasize: every eye, all nations, the whole world. Let's look at this thing really big time, so when we're watching the news let's really be alert to these things on a greater basis.
Verse 14: "'For many nations and great kings shall make them slaves also. And I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.' For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to me, 'Take the wine cup of this wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I shall send you to drink it'" (vs 14-15).
Of course, that's in prophecy because Jeremiah never took the cup to all nations; he never got out of the area there. He had another mission, and that was to take the daughters of the king and take them up to Ireland so that there would be the healing of the breach between the king-line from the tribe of Judah between Zerah and Pharez. He never got to these nations.
Verse 16: "'And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be crazed because of the sword that I will send among them.'" It's all going to end in war. All the peace that man has is going to end in war!
Verse 17: "Then I took the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me. Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and their kings, and their rulers, to make them a desolation and an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, (as it is today)" (vs 16-18).
That's an interesting phrase. When you go through and you read, in the Old Testament in particularly, a phrase like 'as it is today'—Jeremiah did not write that. That was added by the preservers of the Bible, which occurred during the days of Hezekiah and Josiah, Ezra and Nehemiah, Judas Maccabaeus, and then after the fall of Jerusalem by Rabbi Akiba when they had the Bar Kokhba Revolution in 135A.D. This phrase, as it is today, was added by the compilers.
When you see a phrase like that, be alert! That was a little addition. There's nothing wrong with doing that. They did it, that's fine, but just be alert to that.
Verse 19: "Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his rulers, and all his people; And all the mingled people, and all the mixed people…" (vs 19-20). We've got a lot of 'mingled people' today—don't we? That's the thing that's going on right and left. I was shopping somewhere and I was amazed at the number of people that are intermarrying. Just absolutely 'floored' me. And if you say anything about it, 'well, you're prejudice!' Not necessarily!
"…and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the rest of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon, and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isles beyond the sea… [this is an all encompassing thing] …Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the upper most corners. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the desert, and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth… [that's an all encompassing statement and it's going to happen] …and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them" (vs 20-26).
There's not recorded in history a 'king of Sheshach. There's no king in any genealogy that they've found anywhere who's the king of Sheshach—which means the destroyer.
Verse 27: "Therefore you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you." And it shall come to pass if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'You shall certainly drink" (vs 27-28). I couldn't help but think of Eric Honecker of East Germany who said, 'There will never be reforms in East Germany.' Surely you shall drink of that cup!
Verse 29: "'For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name; and shall you… [the rest of the world] …go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,' says the LORD of hosts.'" Is Jerusalem currently under siege? Yes, it is! Right within it's borders!
Verse 30: "And prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, 'The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His Holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth.'" Again, if you just take all the nations, all the inhibitors of the earth and just kind of circle them and draw lines between then, it'll really give you a pattern in this chapter; it really stands out.
Verse 31: "'A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD.' Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be stirred up from the farthest corners of the earth'" (vs 31-32). We have to have the peace that's coming before that, and that it's going to happen.
Verse 33: "And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground."
To me, this is a very awesome chapter! There are certain chapters in the Bible that are very inspiring. There are certain chapters that are very awesome, and this one to me is really awesome! The Word of God is true, the Word of God is refined, and we look at all of these statements showing it's going to be a whole world event, it's going to be incredible. It is really going to be incredible!
Another event took place in Central America was that the United States authorized U.N. observers in Central America. As we have mentioned before, Satan telegraphs what he's going to do through some of the movies that he inspires to be produced. There was a movie out where the United States was betrayed by U.N. forces within our boundaries. Not only is WWII ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States Monroe Doctrine is dead in the name of the United Nations.
There are a lot of events happening. I can begin to see how that within the United States, true to what it says in the prophecies concerning Israel, that the 'strangers are going to rise up very high above you'; you're going to be 'brought down very low'; and your enemy is going 'besiege your gates.' It's not going to be an invasion from without! The invasion is already taking place within! If we sell enough of our assets, which we may have to do, the United Nations may have to come in to keep us from nationalizing them. Think of it! We owe trillions of dollars in debts.
Have you followed what Mexico is doing? To pay off their foreign debt, they are selling businesses to private enterprises, because the Mexican government had a law that the Mexican government had to have 51% control of all of the businesses in Mexico. You know what's going to have to happen here? We don't want to give up our standard of living! We're going to keep selling and selling and selling until we have absolutely nothing left! What we see now is just a start! Some of these things could realistically happen! Years ago when we were at the pinnacle of our military might and everything—you read some of these prophecies and you wonder: How's it going to happen to Israel? I can see it happening! I can see where it's feasible to occur.
Let's concentrate a little bit on Babylon; let's go to Dan. 2. Obviously, I'm not going to go through the whole thing, because this is not an in-depth study. What we're trying to do is pick up key verses that are going to give us the understanding of God's hand in all of this. I won't go through the thing concerning the image. The head is of gold, the chest is silver, the sides are of brass, and the legs of iron, and the feet are of iron and clay and there are ten toes at the end.
What I want to focus on here, since it's all one system, is something a little different from the aspect of the size of the Babylonian Empire.
Daniel 2:37: "You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wherever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold" (vs 37-38).
In other words, wherever there was any civilization at all, it came under the Babylonian control. So, when it talks about Babylon the Great (Rev. 18) it's going to include more than just Europe. That may be where it's going to be headquartered, I'm convinced of that. And I'm convinced that it's going to have more than ten nations in it, so all of the religionists will say, 'Oh, you Bible prophecy nuts—ten nations! Look, we've had twelve in there for a long time and all these good, fine people are going to join. You mean God would be against something like this?' I can see that literally happening. Then they will point to a whole host of fallen religionists; a whole host of fallen prophecies, because they weren't prophesying what God said! They were trying to make the prophecies happen their own way.
I remember watching the cities burn in 1969; get ready, 'we're going to flee in 1972'—I preached it! Sure did! We're a long ways from that. Because we, in our own vanity, wanted to force our will and our interpretation upon God, rather than let God's interpretation and His will be what we would follow.
Now that we are in the middle of all of this stuff happening, where are the prophets? They have all been silenced!They've all had their credibility washed out from beneath them! Just stop and think about it for a minute! Or they've been 'beaten up' and sent off in such small groups—just for their own protection like we are here—that it's difficult to mount any kind of campaign; even though you know the Truth. I guess that's why is says we're like the 'salt of the earth'—a little here and a little there.
What I want to do is help you understand each one of these things that we go through, each one of these things that have happened. With all of the stages of the image Nebuchadnezzar had in the dream, which the interpretation is given here, these are world-ruling empires! If they didn't rule every square inch of the earth, their influence reached out and it became part of, from the fact of its influence.
It's also true that when Solomon came into his kingdom and into his glory, he had a worldwide empire, with ships going around the earth collecting 666 talents of gold per year as tribute. True, that has happened. Once God sets up something like that—as He did with Solomon—then who finally took over the whole thing because Israel failed in its purpose? He gave it over to the Gentiles! Just like in the end-time, the United States and Britain fulfill their purpose, became corrupt. We had worldwide influence—didn't we? You could literally say, in Bible terminology, the United States has ruled the world! But because we didn't preach God's way in Truth, now God is going to turn it over to the Babylonian system to succeed us; and we're going to end up on the 'short end of the stick' just like they did at that time.
This time it's going to be when the image comes to its full—full length from head to toe, v 44: "And in the days of these kings…" The feet of iron and clay; and that's what we have. We have some things partly strong and partly weak, and when it comes to the stress point, it's going to break.
"…the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands…" (vs 44-45). It was supernaturally cut out! We can visualize that, because we watch a lot of TV. We can just see that stone just being gouged out of the mountain.
"…and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation is sure" (v 45). We can be guaranteed it's going o happen!
The problem is our understanding the way it is really going to happen vs how we have traditionally thought that it's going to happen. And we can't be guaranteed that these things cannot be rushed together and happen very quickly. I know the last time we were talking about prophecy and we said with some of these things we may have thought it was a long time. But, I'm torn back and forth between long and short.
(go to the next track)
It was interesting that Henry Kissinger, this same week that all this was happening, was in China talking to Deng, the president. Remember who there just before Kissinger? Richard Nixon! Guess who went to Moscow right after Gorbachev was elected? Rockefeller, arm and hammer Kissinger, Kilpatrick, Harriman, Vance, Shultz—all the past Secretaries of State—went on a private visit on 'arm and hammer's' jet and Rockefeller's jet and they had secret meetings for a week in the Kremlin! So, that tells you the power that's behind this.
All of the conspiracy buffs pay attention, you're right—trilateralism is alive and well in part of the world's system and serves Satan. So is the Rockefeller family and branch. Some of them openly worship Satan. Some of them say, 'Oh, no, we just are interested in world peace'—and money and control. When you have all physical things, then you want control and you want power.
- Who's obsessed with that?
- Who had everything?
- Satan!
So, these things are not by accident. Perestroika is not an accident. Gorbachev is saying, 'We welcome all of these things that are taking place'—and he's going to visit the pope!
Daniel 4:24 is very important for us to understand! Lots of times, because people have not seen God or heard God, and you have to have faith and belief that God exists, and since God doesn't intervene and stop people, short of destroying the whole earth, some people get the feeling God just isn't doing much around here and all these things are just sort of happening haphazardly. Read the whole chapter.
Daniel 4:24: "This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: That you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field…till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He will." (vs 24-25). Because the One Who actually rules is the One Who is going to bring about the final thing—and that's God!
It repeats it again, v 32: "…until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men…" That's a very interesting statement there, "…kingdom of men…"; not necessarily referring to any particular kingdom, but the "…kingdom of men…" as referring in a generic sense. You have:
- the God kingdom
- the angel kingdom
- human kingdom
- the kingdom of men
- the animal kingdom
Interesting phrase—isn't it? But we read where Jeremiah was to take that cup to all nations and all kingdoms. So, this is really quite a statement then—isn't it? In a generic sense, the kingdom of men! Wherever men are, God has the ultimate rule!
I'm not going to go through a detailed explanation of all of these. This is the great beast at the end, Daniel 7:7: "After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, frightening and terrifying, and exceedingly strong. And it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns. As I was considering the horns, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. I watched until thrones were set in place…" (vs 7-9). Tie that in with Rev. 20—thrones were put down for us to rule on.
"…and the Ancient of Days sat, Whose raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was like flames of fire, and its wheels like burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court sat and the books were opened" (vs 9-10).
This shows that it comes right down to the very end. Then the thing that is good, brethren, the thing to really keep in mind: When you see these things happening, know that the day is going to come which will be fulfilled, when we're going to take over the rulership of the world. These are absolutely exciting and fantastic times. We know that before the end there's going to be a lot of trouble and difficulty, but it's going to happen just as it says here.
Verse 23: "Thus he said, 'The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be different from all the other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth… [every eye; all inhabitants] …and shall trample it and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High…" (vs 23-25). How quickly can some of these things happen?
Daniel 2:48: "Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over all the province of Babylon, and chief of the prefects over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel asked the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat within the gate of the king" (vs 48-49). Daniel is one; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are three. I want you to see the pattern of one and three.
Daniel 6:1 "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty satraps that they might be over the whole kingdom…. [Mesopotamia was a province of Babylon] …And over them were three presidents… [Do we have the same term today? Yes!] …(Daniel was one of them)..." (vs 1-2).
I could conceive how that to set up a world government, first of all, you would have a king of parliament like this; just like the United Nations. And you can't have a dictator right at first. That comes later when things get out of control, because everybody's democratic now and everybody is sharing now and nobody is threatening anyone now. So, then we set up a committee. Out of this committee three are set up over ten. Then comes along the beast and he takes away those three. Just a thought!
Here's something we haven't looked at before. I'm sure that the way it's been interpreted in the past—and I'm sure there are about three different ways to interpret this according to the course of history—from that time down to this, they are all correct; every one of them are correct. The Word of God is living and it goes down through history and it gives us understanding as we are going. But here it is takes out these three. So, I could see very easily how that could happen now.
Daniel 7:24: "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the set times and the laws. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time" (vs 24-25). That ties right together with Rev. 13, with the beast power and the 42 months where war is made against the saints.
Notice again, it blends right into the setting up of the Kingdom of God, v 26: "But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him" (vs 26-27).
You'd think that through this there's some message God wants—right? Yes, there is! Here is the one who's going to be the great beast power. It's going to rise, it's going to prosper, and he's going to be an absolutely fantastic man!
Daniel 8:25: "…He also shall stand up against the Prince of princes. But he shall be broken without a human hand." Again, the return of Christ. Every one of these things ends up with the return of Christ.
What do we have when we come to Daniel 9? Same thing! It ends up in the 'abomination of desolation' in the last week of this prophecy from which then we get the last seven years. Daniel 10-12 are all connected with the same thought and the same story-flow, bringing history right down to the end-time, to the King of South and the King of the North.
What is another thing that has happened concerning what we would look at as setting ground work for the King of the South? Who's being a 'good boy' lately in North Africa? Kadafi! He's for peace! Can you imagine Kadafi denouncing terrorism? I mean, that is amazing! You talk about doing a 'the hand is quicker than the eye' trick—can you imagine that? And can you imagine Yasser Arafat denouncing terrorism! It took him three times to read the statement—it was hard! I mean, you've got to give him credit, it was hard that he would recognize the State of Israel. They had to reword that three times. Who did the wording? Who told him what to do? The United States State Department! They wrote the statement for him. They told him what to say. It was so hard! His life has been one of hatred, now he's got to recognize the Jews. Now the Jews have got to recognize the PLO—that's hard! But they're going to be forced to.
I wonder if this new 'Baker agreement' could not be the beginning of the strengthening of the covenant that's talked about here in Dan. 11—where he strengthens the covenant, and then that paves the way for the beast to come in and deceive! Once we solve the problems of Russia; once we solve the problems of Europe; once we solve the problems of Africa—what is the biggest problem left? Jerusalem! The U.S. is a big problem, but what is the biggest problem we have to take care of? Jerusalem! That would seal everything—wouldn't it?
Here comes a man with great abilities, filled with Satan, having great power over them, blessings of the pope, blessings of all the religious leaders of the world, and he comes in and brings peace! Boy! that's going to be something!
Then of course, people can only get along just so long. Like any marriage—the marriage of the beast and the beauty back in Rev. 17. Everything is hunky-dory on a honeymoon, but after the honeymoon—and this is going to be the case that the beauty is not the 'beauty' and the beast is not all that he's cracked up to be! The beast is going to see that when this beauty goes to bed she takes off her wig and takes out her teeth and all of the collagen cream is going to disappear in one day, and he's going to drink a little more of that wine to try and avoid this thing. Then he's really going to be shocked when she unclips her arm because it's a bionic arm. She's really pieced together and then, she's got all these daughters coming around here. So, the beast is going to get so mad he's going to destroy her! We have to put a little humor in there, but this old Babylon is old. She is ancient. Simaramis resurrected!
When we go through and read the book of Revelation, we're talking about things that take place that are covering the whole earth. I firmly believe, and I'm more convinced of it now, that the first seal—the white horse—was opened. I don't know the exact event that did it, but I know the event that confirmed it in my mind, that it possibly could have been opened when John Paul II was made pope. It started all this travel around the world and peace and democracy. Now it's really taking affect. It's going to have root, and can you imagine the benefit to the Catholic Church with a free Eastern Europe? and The opening of Russia? I think we're going to see the Orthodox Church—Greek and Russian—come back into close association with the Vatican.
If you ever have a chance to watch a documentary on the Vatican, you need to know that in the Vatican they have their main chapel where the pope does his Mass. But they have chapels by all of these different national Catholic groups where they have their own little chapel, down on a lower floor, to where the Russian Orthodox still say Mass there every day. The Armenian, the Coptic, the Greek, the whatever other phase there is of Catholicism, all of these nations have a Catholic shrine down there and they have someone say Mass every day. Can you imagine how this is going to strengthen everything that the Catholics have done? It's going to be a tremendous thing to them.
I am going to get this book The Final Conclave by Malachi Martin, where he predicted that the Communists would come and they would get together with the Catholics. That's mind-boggling—isn't it? Remember the betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church by the Jesuits. Hasn't that happened? It hasn't gone quite as liberal as he portrayed it would, but about 80% of what he said is happening—going to take place.
Revelation 6:2: "And I looked, and behold, there was a white horse; and the one who was sitting on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer." What is conquering? Peace is conquering! Democracy is conquering! I think that's what this is.
What is the gospel of the world today? Freedom and democracy! Then it's going to lead to the second seal. We better all pretty well be in right stead with God when the second seal is open, because when that second seal is opened, we're down to the last, maximum, seven years; minimum three and a half. I think this sets off with the final beast coming to power, and we could throw in there three and a half years of peace—because there's peace, peace and there is no peace. Then war comes. And when war comes, brethren, there's no time to wait around and think about what you're going to do. When it happens, it's over with. It's just like with an earthquake. You're not going to have time to run down and buy the batteries at the store. The store is going to be kaput! That's why we have to be ready all the time when these events take place.
Then the other trumpet plagues take place and this is a worldwide thing. Revelation 8 & 9 are actually the beginning fulfillment of Jer. 25, and then it goes on here.
Revelation 11:15: "Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign into the ages of eternity.' And the twenty-four elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, 'We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; for You have taken to Yourself Your great power, and have reigned. For the nations were angry… [all the nations of the world were angry!] …and Your wrath has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to all those who fear Your name, the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.'" So, here again we have worldwide events! (vs 15-18).
Revelation 13:7: "And he was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation." We're seeing it happen right now. God is great—isn't He? It's being brought via television right into our own homes, that these things are taking place. We're never going to say, 'Lord, I didn't know.' How can you say you didn't know? 'Well, I didn't have a TV, didn't have a radio and didn't know how to read.' You can't say that because it's all right there. These events that are taking place are really fantastic.
Revelation 18:1: "And after these things I saw an angel descending from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, saying, 'Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen…'" (vs 1-2). The whole Babylonian system is going to come crumbling down! The whole system is going to totally fall apart.
"…and has become a habitation of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird; because all nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her luxury.' And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, My people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and that you do not receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached as far as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she has rendered to you; and give to her double, even according to her works. In the cup that she mixed, give her back double. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, give to her as much torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, "I sit a queen enthroned, and am not a widow; and in no way shall I experience sorrow"'" (vs 2-7).
That's what we're going to hear in the next few years ahead of us concerning Europe and the world, especially Europe.
- 'we are' the seat of civilization
- 'we are' the ones who are going to lead the world
- 'we will' now show you how it is done
Give them just a little more time and there's going to be the force and the power of the Germans behind it such as there has never been before. You can see how quickly these people can be moved into some of these things and how absolutely passionate they are in it. For them now to rise out of WWII and become the 'saviors' of not only Europe but of the world—see what wonderful people we are! I really think it's going to happen.
We didn't go to Isa. 10 about the Assyrian that God is going to raise up, but we're seeing it being done.
Never doubt any of the prophecies of God, though someone might say this has been done or that hasn't been fulfilled. I think right now all we can do is say, WOW! This is something that's happening, and it's really fulfilling prophecy. The day is going to come when it's all going to come to an end and that's when Jesus is going to return!
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter
Scriptural References:
- Revelation 1:7
- Revelation 12:9
- Revelation 17:1-2
- Jeremiah 25:8-33
- Daniel 2:37-38, 44-45
- Daniel 4:24-25, 32
- Daniel 7:7-10, 23-25
- Daniel 2:48-49
- Daniel 6:1-2
- Daniel 7:24-27
- Daniel 8:25
- Revelation 6:2
- Revelation 11:15-18
- Revelation 13:7
- Revelation 18:1-7
Scriptures reference, not quoted:
- Revelation 18, 20
- Daniel 9-12
- Revelation 8; 9
- Isaiah 10
Also referenced: Book:
The Final Conclave by Malachi Martin
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 1-21-10
Reformatted: 3/2014
