Bibleline Radio Show – 2013-06-05 – The Sealed Books Of Daniel and Revelation Pt.1


Transcription:

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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I hope you don’t mind a little prophecy. I love prophecy. So we’re going to talk about three books tonight. Three books. Book the book in the books. The book the book the books. The last book is plural. Anyway, take your Bible and turn to the book of Daniel. Daniel in chapter 12. In the book of Daniel, there are many prophecies that are given, especially in relationship to the nation of Israel. In the 490 years, called the 70 weeks of Daniel, and from the time they issued the decree to go back and to rebuild the city, the walls, and so on, it was 483 years until the time that Christ was cut off.

of a good Daniel in chapter 9. So there’s a lot of prophecies given and some are very difficult to understand. So when you get to chapter 12, there’s something that’s interesting it says here. And I’ve studied trying to look at it and see whether or not is this talking about sealing up what Daniel’s already revealed? And I thought, well, why would he do that? He’s already told us. He had this vision and he said what it was? He had another vision, told what it was.

But then you get to chapter 12 and it talks about this. So look at it in verse 1. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince, which stands for the children of thy people. Thy people refers to the nation of Israel. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time, thy shall be delivered. Everyone that shall be found written in the book, the book.

There’s a book. And is it this book that refers to a future time that was sealed and not the other prophecies before that? Look up here just for a second. When he talks about there’s going to be a time of trouble. The time of trouble that we know of is this period of time right here called the seven year tribulation period. It’s always good to know where are we in relationship to this period of time. We know where the cross was so that was 2000 years ago.

This is the time in which we now live from the cross until now. So we are in this period of time and we’re real close to what we call the rapture. When Jesus Christ will come in the air and take those who know Christ and capture them out of this world and be changed in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

This is the time of trouble. What’s going to happen here? And the whole book of Revelation is about here and here And here, and here. So what was sealed? It’s interesting. So I want you to notice here when he says, and everyone that shall be found written in the book. So there is a book, and evidently there’s people’s names in the book. And then he says in verse two, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some do everlasting life.

. Some to shame and everlasting contempt. So there’s this resurrection mentioned all the way back there in the book of Daniel. So we know there’s going to be a resurrection. The Bible talks about Jesus Christ was the first fruit. Then he talks about a period of time called the harvest, which was on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and there was a harvest there. And so there were some three great feasts that the Bible talks about.

And then there’s a lot of four feasts in the fall, which is where we are. So we have these feasts that are mentioned in the Scriptures, and then there’s one called the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast about the Passover, and the Feast of First Fruit. So you’ve got all these feasts that are mentioned in the book of Leviticus in chapter 23. Now here he talks about many in verse 2 of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.

Some never lasting life, some to shame and everlasting content. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. Now in Proverbs 11, 30 it talks about being a tree of life and we’re told that those that are wise or as a tree of life. Those that are wise are so winners. And then he says here, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmam. And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

So God says there’s a book. In this book are names written. And these names, even though the people have already died, their bodies are in the graves, they can be a resurrection. And there’s going to be some rewards because some people have turned many to righteousness and they’re going to shine as the stars for all eternity. You and whey haven’t got theirs yet, we can’t see what God has out there for us. But just like He talks about the stars, there’s many stars as there are grains of sand upon the earth, good night.

You know, there’s a lot of grains of sand upon this earth. There’s an awful lot of stars out there too. And God says every star is different in glory. That means that they’re all different. I don’t know if every grain of sand is. They say the snowflakes are like that, I don’t know. Fingerprints, you know, they’re all different. God is a God of diversity. Now when he talks here about this name and brightness, but Daniel had some questions, so he says there in verse 4, but thou O Daniel, shut up the words and sealed the book.

Now is he talking about the book of Daniel, or is he talking about this book that refers to this time and these people and these names and something that deals with something way in the future? I believe that it’s good possibility that is talking about the time of trouble because that’s where we know everything has to culminate. Because we know that we’re going to be taken out, we know that Christ is coming back in power and great glory, His feet will touch upon the Mount of Olives, it’ll cleave in the midst so much deals with this little seven year period of time.

So he says there in verse four, seal up the book, even to the time of the end, many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. Many of the things before this chapter, you can figure it out a little bit by a little bit because of history and things like that. But this book was sealed completely until the time of the end. And he’s referring up here to the time of trouble. So that makes me think that what he’s going to open hasn’t been opened yet.

maybe in our time. But anyway, look what he says there in verse 9, and he says, go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. I guess I have an inquiring mind. I’m always curious about something you ain’t supposed to see, you ain’t supposed to do. Don’t do that, why? And you have this curiosity that builds up inside of wanting to know what God’s talking about. Now take your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Daniel chapter 5.

Daniel and chapter 5, there is a time here that’s very sad. John’s virtually in tears. You know, John the young apostle, that young disciple at young teenage boy who leaned on Jesus’s breast and he always referred to himself as that disciple whom Jesus loved. He was talking about himself. But God allowed him to be an old man. Ninety-something years old and he’s on the ala pat must bend his head. exile because of his testimony. And so as he’s on this island, God is able to transport him in the Spirit into the realms of heaven.

And while he’s up there, he gets to see some things, just to hear some things. So that’s why you’ll find there’s some things that he saw when they opened the seals and he saw the first saw, he saw, and then it talks about the seven trumpets, and there’s things that he heard. He heard the sound of the seven trumpets. And because a man has a body-solden spirit, God is going to chasten the entire world, all the animals, most going to die, all the trees, the green grass, the people, the stars, the sun, the moon, everything is affected.

And so man himself, even though he’s a body-souled in spirit, there’s some things he’s going to see, some things he’s going to hear, some things he’s going to feel because it refers to his body. He also is going to because man is a spirit, they’re going to worship in a spiritual sense. false God. Because, see, Christ was the true and living God who came into the world and he was rejected. There’s going to be a man come on the scene and people are going to think this must be God.

Because he’s going to claim to be God and the people are going to worship him as God. That’s what we have coming down the road. That’s why it’s going to be the worst period of time the world has ever known. So spiritually man couldn’t get any worse. Can’t get any worse. And emotionally he had no hope in this period of time because you see it’s not just a matter that they’re not going to have any food. The water is going to be messed up.

It’s going to turn to blood, the fresh water. Then it talks about there’s going to be like a drought where there will be no water whatsoever. And it says that the river Euphrates will be dried up, dried up. Evidently the sun is going to get too hot, that the earth is going to change on this axis. But the Bible tells us that the earth is going to rock back and forth and shake upon its axis like a drunk man.

Something is going to happen in this world. There’s never been a time like it before. There’ll never be a time like it afterwards. The worst part of time known to man. And that is right ahead of us. We are so close to this worst period of time the Bible talks about. And talk to Daniel about sealing up this book. Well, there’s been people wanting to know how and what’s in that book. So you look there in the book of Revelation in chapter 5, look there in verse 1.

John is now in heaven and he sees up and he sees the throne of God. He also can see the lamb of God, Jesus himself. He says, and I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. I’ve often wanted not is this the same book that Daniel says that was sealed back then that talked about the time of Jacob’s trouble, the time of Israel’s problems, that is right ahead of us.

So he makes the statement here. In verse 2, and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look there on. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look there on. Now wouldn’t that break your heart?

Yet it says that in the end time there’s going to be this book, it’s going to be sealed unto the end, and then the book’s going to be opened. Well, when this was written back at the time of Christ, Under the Roman Empire, John the Apostle lived. Now he’s about 90 years old and God allowed him to write the book of Revelation. And he says that while he’s up there, he saw a lot of books. He saw it was seals, seven seals.

He wanted to know what was inside that book, but they said that nobody was able to open the book. Now some people think and maybe it’s true, it’s the title lead to the earth. It showed everything that God had a right to do and, you know, where did God get his authority? To do all that he’s done. I mean, after all, who does he think he is? Well, he’s God. But everything has to be legal. God does everything right.

So there’s some things that man has not been able to see, and he says, the secret thing belonged to the Lord until the time when God wants to reveal him. See, in the Old Testament, God would reveal something. A couple hundred years later, it’d reveal something else. A couple hundred years later, He’d reveal something else. Not one man gave all the revelation. But as time went on, we got a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and a little bit of this, and lo and behold, we came to the conclusion.

He’s talking about when Christ is coming. Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy, Revelation 19. He is a fulfillment of prophecy. And all of prophecy is based upon God fulfilling the promise concerning his son. So this is a very interesting portion of scripture. So he says in verse five, one of the elders said unto him, weep not, Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Now there’s a book, got seven seals on it. I used to try to figure out those seven seals and you know you open up one and this happens. You open up two and then that happens. Three and then that happens. So I’m trying to figure out because this is the sequence when all these things are gonna happen. Then it comes up with seven trumpets, then it comes after that with seven vials or seven bowls of judgment upon the year.

And by that time you then gone up to chapter 19. But I looked at it this way. I’ve written several books. They’re not, you know, best sellers. A white-bought one. And in my book and in most books, you’ll always look at it and it has a table of contents. Tells you what’s in the book. Now when you go back to the book of Genesis, many people say there’s two creations there. There’s only one creation. One tells you what he did or what he was going to do and then it tells you how he did it.

But there’s only one creation. I believe the seven seals is like you open up the book and there’s a table of contents. As you open up the page to the table of content, that’s not opening the book. You see, the book is opened when the seals are all opened. The The book is an open when you’ve opened five seals. It’s not open if you open six seals. You have to open up seven seals to open up the book because the book has seven seals on it.

So you have to open up the seal. And I believe those are in my mind. That’s the table of content. It’s telling you what’s in the book. This is an all of it. This is only to give you an idea what’s in the book. And you see, the only one that had the right to open this book was Jesus Christ. He was the Lord. He was the perfect man. He won victories. And because of who he was, there was nothing to stop him from having the right to see what’s inside of this book.

He was given the name which is above every name, and everybody will bow to him. He is the Lord. what he says about him. He says here in verse 5, Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loost the seven seals thereof. That means he prevailed. He has the right to because of victories that he’s won. And then he says in verse 6, And I beheld and lo in the mist of the throne and of the four beasts and in the mist of the elder stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes which of the seven spirits of God’s and forth into all the Europe.

Came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. So there’s one on the throne and then you have this lamb as though he had been slain. The lion of the tribe of Judah. Now he’s a lamb or is he a lion? See, Jesus was the king, but he humbled himself as a man, took upon flesh, and became the sin-bear, the lamb that took away the sins of the world. So Jesus Christ, though he’s the king of Israel, was the one that paid for the sins of the world.

Now, talking about this book, this book, there is one book, seven seals. So if you look there in chapter six, he opens up the seals and it’s to me in my mind, it’s almost like looking at the table of contents. What’s in this book? This is what’s in the book, but it’s not all that’s in the book. It just gives you a little taste of what’s coming down the road. And as you read all of this, it becomes very interesting and it seems like by the time you finish opening up the sick seal, you haven’t already gone through the whole book of Revelation.

Well, it’s laid out that way. It’s telling you what’s going to happen in the tribulation period. So you see there in verse 12, and I beheld when he had opened the sick seal, though there was a great earthquake, the sun became black as sackcloth of hair. The moon became his blood. Stars of heaven fell into the earth. Even as a fig tree casteth her untimely fakes when she is shaken of a mighty wind. Heavens depart as a scroll when it is rolled together.

Mountains and islands were moved out of their places. Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captain and the mighty men and every bondmen, every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that said it on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb.” I wonder what the Lamb mad about.

You know what happened to Him when He came to the world? And they were supposed to accept Him as their king, but they rejected Him as the king and He became a lamb and allowed them to slaughter Him. And in doing that, He became the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. But the wrath of the Lamb is Jesus taking vengeance upon those who did not believe Him. You see, you may not believe that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be.

You are going to believe it one day. The wrath of God abides upon every unbeliever. Now, when He makes these statements down through here and all these things that are going to happen in verse 17, for the great day of His wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. All of this is going to take place. He’s opened up the seals. But when He opens up the seventh seal, that was the last seal, something else begins. So when He opens up the seventh seal and you’ll see that, if you’ll look over there in chapter 8 and verse 2.

See verse 1 says, and when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. This is where some people say that there’s no women in heaven because there’s no way that you could keep women silent for half an hour. Now I didn’t say that. That’s what I heard. I heard that. But it says in verse 2, and I saw the seven angels which stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets.

We often say, okay, they’ve opened up the book, but there has to be the blowing of a trumpet at the very beginning because see, that is what calls Israel together. And when it calls Israel together, there’s something that has to take place. God says, don’t hurt anything yet. do anything to anybody yet until he has sealed his servants. See there? Look there in chapter seven. And you’ll notice that down through here he talks about this. And verse one, after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree, and I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice on the four angels, or to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt

the earth and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the tree till. We have sealed the servants of our God in their forehead. So this is before they blew or loosed the seventh seal. So He’s opening up seals and then says, there’s something else that has to be done. It’s like God said, now we’re going to seal 144,000 of the children of Israel. It’s 12,000 from 12 tribes. I mentioned this one time, and it didn’t seem like it would make too much sense at the time.

But I said, you know, there has to be some way of being able to prove what tribe a Jewish man is from. Because they say, well, there’s all these, the lost, now they’re done intermingled, and after all these years, How would they know who belongs to what tribe? How do they know who is the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Noe from or the tribe of Eagal to all these tribes? How do you know which one that you belong to?

But it says there were 12,000 from this tribe, 12,000 from that tribe, so 12 times 12, 144,000 of the Jewish people. They are Jewish evangelists that are going to be preaching during this period of time. and often wondered, well, what is this seal that God puts upon them? I believe it’s probably the same seal He gave to us. Now, let me just show you this real quick. Look there in 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2. Now, this is important now.

Don’t trust your memory. I know you’ve got the Bible committed to memory, but you need to see it anyway. 2 Timothy 2. Because there’s always questions about, you know, how do I know that I’m gonna go to heaven if I down the road get to where I’m not sure anymore I’m going to heaven? Does, do I lose my salvation? Once you’ve been saved, you are always saved. You can’t get lost and it’s saved again. Once you trust Christ as your savior, the payment he made was for all of your sins, not most of them, not until you sin again, it was for all of your sins.

so that there is no sin you can commit that can never send you to hell in the future. They’re all paid once and for all. Now because of that, he says up here in verse 18, talking about several that overthrow the faith of some. Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is passed over ready and overthrow the faith of some? the last, the foundation of God’s stand, if sure, having this seal.” And you ought to underline that word seal.

The seal is the Lord, knoweth them that are His. The greatest seal I can ever have is God knows me that I have believed on Him. I’ve trusted Him as my Savior. I have been sealed in Ephesians 1, 13 by the Holy Spirit. So I am sealed by the Holy Spirit And I have this, God knows that I’m his child. Now that’s pretty good foundation. So I’ve been on that foundation for 52 years. I was saving, I was 18.

So for 52 years, I’ve been on that foundation. I have shaken a little bit on the foundation, but the foundation is never shook under me. He means what he says, and it’s true. How do I know I’m going to heaven because God says I am. The only truth that I have, only evidence that I need. He said, so God’s Word says so. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold.

We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible and programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.