In this week’s message we focus on understanding the church in the latter days.
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00:00Welcome to Studies with Stearman.
00:06Join us as we look deeper into the Bible.
00:10Strengthen your faith with us, even as we see the day approaching.
00:15And now, here's Gary.
00:18We're going to start in Zechariah.
00:20Open your Bibles to Zechariah 12.
00:23Zechariah 12 talks about the centricity of Jerusalem.
00:29And we've probably read this prophecy a thousand times about Jerusalem.
00:34Zechariah 12, 2, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about
00:39when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
00:44And we have, over the past weeks, fleshed this out in context, noting that Zechariah
00:5211, 12, 13, and 14 really form a series of developing events in serial order.
00:59Zechariah 11 talks about the Antichrist in the context of Judas Iscariot and the thirty
01:05pieces of silver.
01:07And we've said on numerous occasions that Judas and the Antichrist are co-types.
01:14That is, they are both called the son of perdition.
01:17And just as Judas infiltrated the twelve, the Antichrist will infiltrate the house of
01:23David in the latter days in their regathering, and they will trust him, just as the disciples
01:29trusted Judas.
01:31So these co-types operate together.
01:33And in Zechariah 11, verse 12, we have a reference to Judas.
01:39And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, if not forbear.
01:43So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
01:46And this goes on down to talk about the idle shepherd in 11, 17, and all this is by way
01:52of review.
01:53Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock, the sword shall be on his arm, upon
01:58his right eye.
01:59His arm shall be clean, dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
02:03Now that's a prophecy of the Antichrist in the latter days, and immediately after that
02:08we have Zechariah's prophecy of Jerusalem as a cup of poison to those that gather around
02:14it attempting to have some piece of Jerusalem.
02:18A little piece here, and a little piece there, and first thing you know you've got the whole
02:21thing.
02:23But Zechariah goes on, as we have noted, to talk about the governors of Judah.
02:28Zechariah 12, 5, the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem
02:33shall be in my strength.
02:35In the Lord of hosts their God in that day will I make the governors of Judah like a
02:39hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and they shall devour
02:46all the people round about.
02:48On the right hand, on the left, Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place,
02:52even in Jerusalem.
02:55Governors of Judah uses a Hebrew term, Elufim.
03:00And Eluf in Hebrew is a secular authority.
03:04For example, a lieutenant colonel in the IDF is called Eluf.
03:10A member of the Knesset could be referred to as Eluf.
03:15But it's a secular leader, and it's very interesting prophetically speaking that Zechariah uses
03:21this term.
03:22I keep coming back to this again and again because Zechariah was prophesying in a day
03:26where there really were not Elufim per se.
03:30Israel was a theocracy and guided by the priesthood.
03:33There was no Knesset as we know it today.
03:36And so this is a latter-day prophecy.
03:40This prophecy goes on down to chapter 13, in that day there shall be a fountain opened
03:45in the house of David to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness.
03:50And then in chapter 14, and we're going to look at this a little bit later, behold the
03:55day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee, for I will
03:59gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle.
04:03So there's a real serial order of events here in what's called the little apocalypse of
04:09Zechariah.
04:11And we noted in Revelation 6 that the Antichrist rides forth prior to the great war symbolized
04:18by the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
04:21We've reviewed Daniel chapter 11 and showed how the Antichrist takes power in and around
04:29and through the events of a war that's going to take place in Israel.
04:35We've also shown, I think through a number of different details, that the war spoken
04:41of by Zechariah, spoken of by Ezekiel, spoken of in Micah chapter 7, all of these references
04:49to this war in which the Antichrist rises to power take place prior to the tribulation
04:57period.
04:58It's a pre-tribulation battle that springs up.
05:02It launches the series of events that bring about the tribulation.
05:06And of course it goes without saying that the church at some point has to be taken out
05:14in order that God can work through the house of David to achieve the events that are prophesied.
05:20So that's kind of where we've been teaching in the last few weeks.
05:27I wanted to go back now where we left off in Ezekiel 38.
05:32And I wanted to look at a broad brush perspective of Ezekiel 38 that's not usually taken.
05:41When you look at Ezekiel 38 and 39, you have three distinct sets of events.
05:48Ezekiel 38.1 talks about Gog, the land of Magog, chief prince Meshach and Tubal, who
05:56launches an invasion against Israel.
05:58We've all studied this for years.
06:01But this invasion is only the first of a three-phase operation because you have the setup in Ezekiel
06:0938.
06:10You have in Ezekiel 38.17-23 the concluding verses of Ezekiel 38.
06:17The God's eye view of the battle, if you will.
06:21Ezekiel 38.17, thus saith the Lord God, art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time
06:29by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I
06:33would bring thee against them?
06:36Rhetorical question by God to Gog.
06:38Are you he of whom I have prophesied?
06:42Many people have wondered about Gog and tried to understand who he might be and what he
06:48might be doing.
06:51You can look at that name.
06:53You can look at Gog, the land of Magog, and attempt to understand it.
06:59And the best explanation I have ever seen for Gog, the land of Magog, is a Jewish expectation
07:08of Gog.
07:10Because for literally centuries the sages of Israel have written in the Mishnahs, back
07:17in the Targums even, about the war of Gog and Magog.
07:24And they have noted this, that the word Gog in Hebrew means roof.
07:30And if you attach the prefix mem to that word it becomes Magog.
07:37And so they say, this man, this mystery man, Gog, is called roof as an allusion to his
07:46goal for the achievement of human greatness.
07:51So say the sages of Israel.
07:53The philosophy of men on earth is that they're going to create a kingdom.
07:57They are going to create a beautiful society that stretches around the globe.
08:03And there will be equal opportunity for everyone.
08:05There will be societal bliss.
08:07There will be social justice.
08:08There will be economic well-being at all class levels throughout all the peoples of the earth.
08:15And the first place on earth where this philosophy really broke forth in its full fury was in
08:221917, a key year, by the way.
08:25That was the year that General Allenby took Jerusalem.
08:28It was also the year when the Bolsheviks strode forth in the name of Karl Marx.
08:33It's kind of odd that they came out of that country, the land of Meshach and Tubal, spoken
08:39of by Ezekiel.
08:41But God codifies the leadership there, not as some name that we might recognize, but
08:46rather as a code word, Gog, the land of Magog.
08:52And listen to this very carefully.
08:55Gog, roof.
08:57The sages of Israel say that this man, Gog, represents a roof over the whole world.
09:03It's sort of a roof built by man.
09:06And what happens if you build a roof over yourself and try to project it all around
09:10the world?
09:11It's as though you're trying to shield yourself from what's above, say the rabbis, so that
09:16God cannot get through this roof.
09:20It's the same thing with light.
09:23In the very beginning chapter of the Bible where God said, let there be light, He said,
09:28g'yehi or, me be light, is what God says in Hebrew.
09:33Then a little bit later, God created the luminaries of the heavens.
09:38So God is light, or, and the luminaries, the sun, moon, and stars, are called ma'or.
09:45You see the similarity there, or and ma'or, Gog, Magog.
09:51So that noun, prefixed by the letter mem, just put ma in front of it, becomes a projection
09:59of that same thing.
10:00So Gog, the land of Magog, a roof over the world, with mem prefix.
10:06Magog means to project that power across the world.
10:11Now, this is an idea that religious Jews have written about.
10:16It's not original with me at all.
10:18I'm just quoting what a number of different sages of Israel have said about this.
10:23Magog is an attempt to project a philosophy all over the whole world.
10:28And is it not logical?
10:30When you stop and think about it, go back to the Bolshevik revolution, and look what
10:34happened after 1917, how communism was projected around the world.
10:40It was projected into the east, and into Africa, and it has insinuated itself into the crevices
10:47of the world, and just waiting to spring forth.
10:51The whole idea of this philosophy of man will ultimately be projected into military power
10:58as Gog, the land of Magog, comes south with an alliance of armies in an attempt to overthrow
11:05what?
11:06Israel.
11:07Why Israel?
11:08Because Israel represents God's kingdom.
11:11Jerusalem is the heart of the kingdom, Mount Zion is the heart of the heart of the kingdom.
11:16It's called teval haaretz, the navel of the earth, is what Jerusalem is called.
11:22The navel of the earth.
11:24It's the everything from Jerusalem projects the four corners of the earth, the power of
11:28God.
11:29And Gog and secularists don't want that to happen.
11:34They know it's prophesied to happen.
11:36They're trying to stop it.
11:38Of course they're backed by the power of Satan.
11:40Let's go back to Ezekiel 38 where we have just read verse 17,
11:44"...thus saith the Lord God, art thou he?"
11:50Are you the one?
11:53Verse 18 says, "...and it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against
11:59the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up at my face."
12:04So this fury, which we know by various names including the day of the Lord,
12:09the day of cloudiness, darkness, gloominess, thick darkness,
12:13the day of fear and awe.
12:16In other words, the day of the Lord is going to come out.
12:20It's going to be exposed at the very same time that Gog makes his move.
12:24And what you have here is the clash of military forces.
12:29You have the military forces of Gog, the roof of the world,
12:34from the uttermost parts of the north, by the way, which it says back here in
12:38Ezekiel 38.15, and you have this attempt to project
12:42power. God says at the same time this happens,
12:46my fury is going to come up in my face. So that is
12:50phase one of the battle of Gog. Phase two starts in
12:54chapter 39, and again, a lot of this is review.
12:58But I don't think we can review it too often because it's a very complex picture.
13:02Verse 1 of chapter 39 transitions
13:06from a regional war, that is a Middle Eastern war, into a global
13:10war.
13:26Again, that's the uttermost part of the north.
13:30The Hebrew expression there indicates as far north as you can go.
13:34Well if you draw a line from Jerusalem to the North Pole, it runs about
13:3840 miles to the west of Moscow. I mean it runs right smack
13:42through Russia. And by the way, the King James Version says,
13:46I will turn thee back and leave but a sixth part of thee. Actually, because of the verbal
13:50peculiarity in the Hebrew, that's not really as good a
13:54translation. The Hebrew really says, I'm going to turn you back and destroy all
13:58of you. I'm going to just wipe you out.
14:02And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right
14:06hand. And I don't believe that this allied army of the latter days is going to be
14:10carrying bows and arrows, by the way. I just don't think that at all.
14:14Not unless they're nuclear bows and arrows. There are going to be some really
14:18fiendish bows and arrows. But again, the language of the prophets is
14:22written in such a way that if you are not a believer, you'll just look at this
14:26and say, well, that's just old Ezekiel talking. You don't have to believe that. Ezekiel didn't
14:30know about those weapons in the latter days. Well, he did,
14:34but this is language for those who are spirit-led and can understand
14:38what the Bible says. And it says,
14:42"...thou shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, people that is with thee.
14:46I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, the beasts of the field to be devoured."
14:50Now again, this is pre-tribulational, in my opinion.
14:54And over the last few weeks, I believe I've really made the case for that.
14:58This invading alliance from the north
15:02is completely wiped out. As we note in Revelation,
15:06it results in a total failure
15:10in the system of global trade and transfer. There are going to be
15:14earthquake, famine, pestilence, economic collapse, a collapse
15:18of every system, infrastructure in the entire world
15:22to the point that after the smoke clears, it's going to require
15:26a great international rebuilding, which the Antichrist will be only too
15:30glad to undertake for himself. And it is in the smoke
15:34of that battle that he comes to power. Verse 5, "...thou shalt
15:38fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. I'll send a fire
15:42upon Magog, upon them that dwell carelessly in the
15:46isles." Now those who dwell carelessly in the isles,
15:50here the eyim are the continents of the world, so we're not talking about
15:54an international event. The word eyim in Hebrew
15:58basically coastlands or continents, translated
16:02isles in the King James. But what's going on here is a
16:06global war. So this is phase two of the battle.
16:10"...they shall know that I am the Lord, so will I make my holy name known in the midst of my
16:14people Israel. I will not let them pollute my holy name any more. The heathen
16:18shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel." Now verse 8
16:22is key. "...behold, it is come, and it is done,
16:26saith the Lord God. This is the day whereof I have
16:30spoken." And now with this verse you go to phase three of the battle.
16:34And phase three is spoken of by a number of
16:38prophets. Zechariah 14, and of course
16:42Revelation. But the projection of a
16:46new philosophy, the philosophy of social justice.
16:50The one who proclaimed the philosophy of social justice
16:54loudly and with great power was Karl Marx.
16:58And there is a pitted battle that goes all the way back to Nebuchadnezzar
17:02between the forces of God and the forces of this world.
17:06And the forces of this world have attempted through a number
17:10of different regimes down through the millennia to set up a
17:14system that in their eyes was socially just.
17:18It was the best thing for all humanity. And you can look at history,
17:22one nation after another nation after another nation, each setting up its own
17:26system to effect stability and financial stability
17:30of all different sorts at every level in society. Babylon,
17:34Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, they all had methods of establishing
17:38themselves. You come down to the United States,
17:42you're founded as a republic, a representative republic with the idea of
17:46liberty and the idea of individual ownership of property, capital
17:50investment, and so forth and so on. This system,
17:54this world system is trying to project itself is inimical
17:58to that thought. It does not like liberty. It does not like
18:02human endeavor, personal investment in capital, ownership of private
18:06property, and so forth. And would rather assert itself than assert the power
18:10of the state. That's Gog. That's Magog, the
18:14projection of power. I like that rabbinic explanation of what's going
18:18on here. I've been reading Hebrew commentaries on
18:22Ezekiel 38 assiduously for the last few weeks. The Jews
18:26have an idea about the latter-day projection of
18:30power. They say it goes all the way back to Esau.
18:34If you remember there were two babies struggling in the womb of their
18:38father, Jacob and Esau came out. They were fighting in the womb, they were
18:42fighting after their birth. They were fighting all the time, they were both alive.
18:46They set up two factions. The Lord loved Jacob
18:50and He hated Esau. There's all sorts of Biblical commentary about that.
18:54But in essence Jacob and Esau represent these two factions
18:58that I've been talking about. The two factions that you find in all of Bible
19:02prophecy. Esau represents the world and the world system.
19:06Esau founded Edom and Edom
19:10through a number of permutations manifested itself
19:14in the days of Jesus in the kingdom of Herod.
19:18Herod was the false king of Israel who was on the throne at the time
19:22that Jesus came, the family of Herod. At the same time
19:26you had the Romans, the Caesars, on the throne
19:30over in Rome. And the Herodians and the Romans were in league
19:34with each other. The sages of Israel way back
19:38before any of this happened all said that
19:42Esau through Edom was going to be
19:46the real enemy of the kingdom of God in the
19:50latter days. And they started saying Edom
19:54after Jesus was resurrected, after the dispersion,
19:58after the Masoretic days of the 9th century
20:02the Jews began to teach that Edom is Rome.
20:06So that the Rome of the latter days goes
20:10all the way back to Esau and Edom. And if you look at any Jewish
20:14commentary on the Old Testament every time the subject of Edom comes up
20:18sooner or later in that commentary you'll find this comment,
20:22Edom is Rome. And I think it is too. All you have to know
20:26from a historical point of view is that Herod the Great and
20:30Caesar Augustus were good buddies. They were
20:34teenage pals who rode horses together
20:38before he became known as Caesar Augustus. Caesar was called
20:42Octavian, and Octavian who was to be the next Caesar
20:46survived a number of assassination attempts and was helped out by
20:50Herod as a youth. And so Herod and Octavian who became
20:54Caesar Augustus were really, really good friends. Their families even
20:58lived together. And you have the Edomites and the Romans intermarrying
21:02at the time of Christ and afterward. And then in 135
21:06A.D. when the Jews were chased to the four corners of the world you have
21:10a situation in which this prophecy about Edom and Rome
21:14really does begin to come into effect.
21:18People have said for centuries that this fourth
21:22beast empire that's prophesied to rise up, the
21:26four corners of iron and clay, is just going to be an extension of the Roman Empire.
21:30The latter-day empire of Rome. The Jews
21:34say Edom is Rome. And then when they look at
21:38Ezekiel 38 and 39 they say,
21:42ah, they say, and I'm going to read a quote here from
21:46Brashith Rabbah in a midrash. It says,
21:50the implication is that the king and initiator of the campaign against Israel, and he's talking about
21:54Ezekiel 38, will be Esau, Edom. That is the
21:58descendants of the Edomites who came down through Rome
22:02and down through the kings of Europe and even the kings of the
22:06Slavic empires. The fighting force, however, will be drawn from
22:10the ranks of Japheth and Ham and from Ishmael's
22:14descendants. And so the view that the sages of Israel
22:18take of this battle is that it's an ancient battle that began
22:22and will be staged in the days of Jacob and Esau.
22:26And the stakes are very high. The stakes are who
22:30controls the world? Who's going to control the
22:34world? So now we come back to Ezekiel
22:3839.8.
22:42This is the day whereof I have spoken.
22:46And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, set on fire,
22:50with the shields, bucklers, bows, arrows, hand staves, and spears.
22:54They shall burn them with fire seven years. And we've all read
22:58this prophecy. Now let's leave that for a moment
23:02and return to another idea.
23:06Because what we're really doing is attempting
23:10to draw a picture of the years prior to
23:14the tribulations so that we'll have a better idea of how the church
23:18of Philadelphia and the seven churches of Asia Minor
23:22came to be. We're going to look at the seven churches of Asia Minor
23:26and the seven nations in the very last of the
23:30latter days. Let's go back to
23:34the prophecy about the church of Philadelphia in Revelation.
23:38That would be Revelation 3.
23:42The seven churches of Asia Minor
23:46and the seven churches of Asia Minor.
23:50Now, psychologically, they are
23:54a cycle of spiritual development.
23:58Ephesus, the church of the first love. Smyrna, the church of
24:02paganism. Pergamos, the church of marriage into the world.
24:06Thyatira, the church in full idolatry.
24:10Sardis, the dead church. Philadelphia, the church coming back to life.
24:14The last cycle of churches is a picture of all churches
24:18at all times, and it is a picture of the church age.
24:22Philadelphia represents that stage of the church
24:26coming to life. And most expositors date Philadelphia
24:30prophetically between 1700 and 1900, and they say that the church
24:34around 1700 began to be the effective church
24:38of the latter days after centuries of the Dark Ages.
24:42The church that follows it, Laodicea, the church that's so enriched
24:46and so focused on its financial status
24:50that it can't see anything else. It's blinded by money.
24:54But let's look at the church of Philadelphia for a moment
24:58with regard to the context that we've been studying, namely
25:02that we can see the Antichrist rising in certain ways
25:06in the latter years of the church. And to the angel
25:10of the church in Philadelphia write,
25:41Interesting, this group called the synagogue of Satan
25:45because a large, large majority of
25:49the church that professes Christianity
25:53also professes replacement theology, teaching that
25:57it, the church, has taken Israel's place in prophecy
26:01and in the latter days it, the church, will come back
26:05and become the head of the nations when Christ returns.
26:09But the church of Philadelphia, the church of Israel,
26:13in that theological reckoning has no place.
26:17And I believe this is a direct reference to replacement theology.
26:21Which, by the way, is an enormously popular teaching
26:25today. But did you know the Antichrist is also mentioned
26:29here? And this is why I wanted to come back to the message of the church of Philadelphia.
26:33And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
26:38By the way, as James said,
26:42faith without works is dead. Your faith will manifest itself in works.
26:46We could spend an hour or two on that, but moving
26:50right along, the quotation here
26:54about the key of David takes us back to Isaiah 22-22.
26:58So let's turn back to Isaiah 22-22 for a minute.
27:02And look at a little-known Antichrist.
27:06Prophecy.
27:18Isaiah 22, and we'll start
27:22in about 22-12.
27:26And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to
27:30weeping and to mourning, to baldness, to girding with sackcloth,
27:34in other words the Jews are in a state of mourning.
27:38It's interesting that this chapter,
27:4222, talks about a day of trouble. Up in verse 5,
27:46for it is a day of trouble, treading down, perplexity by the Lord God of hosts
27:50in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls. It's alluding to the future,
27:54but it uses a past event to illustrate the future.
27:58And so verse 12 says, and in that day did the Lord God of hosts
28:02call to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, to girding with sackcloth,
28:06and behold joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, killing sheep, and drinking wine.
28:10Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Now that's the
28:14philosophy of the world. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts,
28:18this is Isaiah talking,
28:22surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.
28:26Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, go get thee unto this
28:30treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the
28:34house, and say, what hast thou here, and whom hast thou
28:38here? Thou hast hewed thee out a sepulcher here,
28:42as he that heweth him out a sepulcher on high, and that graveth an habitation for
28:46himself in a rock. Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with mighty
28:50captivity, will surely cover thee, will surely violently
28:54turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country. There thou shalt die.
28:58And by the way, this happened in the Babylonian captivity.
29:02And there the chariots of thy glory shall be the sheen of thy
29:06Lord's house, and I will drive thee from thy station. In other words, from your
29:10exalted position. And from thy state shall he pull thee down,
29:14and it shall come past that day that I will call my servant Eliakim
29:18son of Hilkiah, and will clothe him with thy robe,
29:22and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into
29:26his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the
29:30house of Judah. And here it is, verse 22,
29:34and the key of the house of David will I lay upon his
29:38shoulder, so that he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut
29:42and none shall open. So there is where we
29:46get the idea of the key of David. The key of David is a symbol of
29:50monarchical power. The key is the key to the throne of
29:54Israel. Shebna was the secretary of the treasury,
29:58a cheap politician in the days of King Hezekiah.
30:02There are other references in 2 Kings and in
30:06different places in Isaiah that tell us that Shebna was
30:10scooping off a little on the side for his own use.
30:14By the way, who else did that? Judas Iscariot.
30:18Judas Iscariot was a treasurer for the twelve, and there's
30:22a lot of evidence that he was scooping off a little on the side,
30:26and that his real motivation was money. And by the way, who else is going to be
30:30like that? The Antichrist. The Antichrist will be centered around
30:34developing a global monetary system,
30:38sometimes called the mark of the beast. He will claim to be bringing
30:42peace and social justice to all men, but let's face it, he's going to be
30:46scooping off a little on the side. The Antichrist, wherever you find him
30:50is always doing this. So Shebna, by the way, Shebna,
30:54I looked up this name in a Hebrew lexicon, and it's a
30:58very remote, difficult Hebrew root.
31:02Shebna means a false oath. What a perfect name
31:06for this guy. Shebna, cheap politician.
31:10He was building a tomb to perpetuate his name, it says here,
31:14which is a great irony because in the end he was going to die, he was going to be carried
31:18off to a foreign country, Babylon, and he would die and be buried over there
31:22probably in a pauper's grave. Who else was buried in a pauper's grave
31:26by the way? Ah, the Antichrist.
31:30Or the son of perdition, which is the title of the Antichrist,
31:34Judas Iscariot. Let's go on.
31:38Shebna is a foreshadowing of the Antichrist.
31:42He's going to be replaced by Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.
31:46Eliakim was a statesman who succeeded Shebna.
31:50He was an unselfish man, contrasted with Shebna.
31:54They are typological opposites.
31:58So when you talk about the key of the house of David,
32:02you're talking about the authority, literally the authority.
32:06If you've got the key to a house, you're in like
32:10Flint, right? Have you ever had good friends and you say,
32:14you can use my house. I don't know whether I'll be in or out, but I'm going to give you a
32:18key. So if you're in town, just come and use the house. We've got a spare
32:22bedroom, got a bathroom, just use it like it was your own. This is the key to my house.
32:26If you've got the key to a house, you've got everything.
32:30And the key to the house of David speaks
32:34of the typology of Eliakim under Hilkiah, the high priest.
32:38It speaks of godliness. And so when you come back to
32:42the church of Philadelphia, now you can read this with a new pair of
32:46eyes. To the angel of the church of Philadelphia, right.
32:50These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the
32:54key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no
32:58man openeth. Now, that applies to the latter years of the church age.
33:02Church of Philadelphia. I believe we are part of the church of
33:06Philadelphia, prophetically speaking. It's talking about
33:10those who honor and revere and study the Word of
33:14God in and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
33:18You know, I've said it a hundred times or maybe a thousand times, there are not
33:22many people who will just take the time to study the Word of God
33:26and really see what it says.
33:30But here is what it says, he that hath the key of David.
33:34By the way, when's the Antichrist going to rise to power?
33:38One could make the point, and we've made it several times
33:42over the last weeks, that behind the scenes he's making his
33:46rise to power right now. That is the system that he will
33:50eventually command is being formed
33:54even as we speak. You just see this incredible
33:58global demand for global government, for a
34:02global financial structure, for a system of controls that
34:06yield what is called social justice. And by the way,
34:10I hate that term, just want to get that on the record. I hate the term
34:14social justice because it always implies
34:18highway robbery. But back to the church of Philadelphia.
34:22Think of Eliakim taking over from Shebna.
34:26That's the message to the church of Philadelphia.
34:30I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open
34:34door. Now, if you have a key, that's an open
34:38door, right? It's not a closed door. If you've got a key, you can get
34:42through the door. You can go right into the house of
34:46David through Christ. This prophecy of
34:50Eliakim goes on to say, I'm going to install Eliakim in
34:54the temple. I'm going to hang him almost like a fixture on a peg
34:58within the temple so that he'll never be taken down again.
35:02I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door. No man
35:06can shut it. There is a contest today as we speak
35:10to see who gets to own the key of the house of David.
35:14There are a lot of people right now who are vying for
35:18Jerusalem. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone. Remember
35:22Zechariah? All the nations are going to be drawn together
35:26to see if they can get a piece of Jerusalem. Why? Because they
35:30have to get to the house of David. That's why. Because Satan knows
35:34that he who controls Jerusalem controls the world.
35:38And right now we of the diminutive Philadelphia
35:42church have set before us an open door that no man
35:46can shut. We have access in this
35:50age. And it goes on to say, for thou hast a little
35:54strength and has kept my word, has not denied my name.
35:58I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not. In other words,
36:02those of the church or maybe the false church who say
36:06that they are the ones who are going to
36:10inherit Zion. Well, they're sadly mistaken.
36:14And one of these days they are going to come before those of us who have
36:18believed the truth about the word, and they're going to come to us in contrition.
36:22They're going to bow down before us.
36:26I don't know what's going to happen. I can't wait to find out.
36:30But they're going to know that the Lord has loved us.
36:34We love His plan. We love His prophetic plan.
36:38We love His people. We love His land.
36:42We study His word with all that in mind.
36:46Verse 10, because thou hast kept
36:50the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the
36:54hour of temptation.
36:58In the Greek, the word temptation there is
37:02pterosmos. Pterosmos means testing.
37:06But it doesn't just mean testing. It means a special kind of
37:10testing. It means a divinely sent
37:14kind of testing. If you will, a testing from on high.
37:18It's a very specific word. And that
37:22course is going to be the great
37:26tribulation, the day of the Lord. The seven-year tribulation, I believe, a
37:30shavua, as Daniel 9.27 says. Seven years in which
37:34a number of things happen in rapid succession.
37:38We'll be kept from the hour of testing which shall come upon all the world
37:42to try them that dwell upon the earth. So hidden in the language
37:46of verses 7-10 is the idea that the church now
37:50holds the key to the house for which there is a
37:54great contest being waged.
37:58It's like, who's got the key? Who can hold the key?
38:02That's the big contest. We've got the key.
38:06The church actually holds the key to the house of David right now.
38:10It has not yet been handed over to any specific Jew.
38:14It will be one of these days, but it hasn't been yet.
38:18The spiritual destiny of this world is still in the hands of the
38:22church as long as it's on earth.
38:26Behold I come quickly, verse 11, hold that fast which thou hast that no man
38:30take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God
38:34and he shall go no more out. Now that's exactly what
38:38Isaiah said about Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the high priest.
38:42Eliakim was to be made a fixture in the temple of God and he would
38:46be taken out of the temple of God, which I think is
38:50a marvelous metaphor. And I'll write upon him the
38:54name of my God, the name of the city of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down
38:58out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name
39:02he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
39:06So the temptation is the tribulation.
39:10Oh my goodness, I wish I had more time.
39:14I'm getting to an interesting part now that I'm going to try to fit in
39:18in context with all the other verses that we've been studying for the
39:22past few weeks. Turn to Hosea and we're going to conclude with
39:26I am sure you know this prophecy from Hosea, but if you haven't
39:30read it for the last three or four days, it deserves another look.
39:34Hosea is one of the most beautiful allegories
39:38ever written. And it's an allegory about the
39:42total corruption of the house of David
39:46and about its regathering. And when you read
39:50Hosea, let's go to Hosea 3-4 right now.
39:54For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a
39:58king, without a prince, in other words no line or
40:02messiahship, no royalty, without a sacrifice
40:06that is the temple will not be in operation, without an
40:10image, that is without a pillar is what the Hebrew word is, without
40:14a...essentially what's being said here is without a temple,
40:18without an ephod, without teraphim. In other words,
40:22point by point by point, Israel has removed all
40:26of the elements of its spiritual power. Afterward shall the children of
40:30Israel return, seek the Lord their God, David their king, shall fear
40:34the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.
40:38The latter days. Every time I see that term it always makes me perk
40:42up. Next week we're really going to spend some time on it in ways
40:46we never have before. Move forward now in Hosea
40:50to chapter 5 verse 14. There has never been
40:54a plainer declaration of the state of things historically
40:58than this little passage of Scripture. Hosea 5-14
41:02for I will be unto Ephraim, Ephraim the ten
41:06lost tribes of Israel, so called, they've been found again
41:10and they are returning, the northern kingdom,
41:14I'll be unto Ephraim as a lion, Ephraim was destroyed in 722
41:18B.C., and as a young lion to the house of Judah which was destroyed
41:22in 606 B.C., I even I will tear and
41:26go away and none shall rescue him. I
41:30will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense
41:34and seek my face in their affliction will they seek me
41:38early. That is they will seek me with great zeal.
41:42So here we have laid out what actually happened.
41:46Ephraim was torn, Judah was torn, there was the
41:50captivity and the return, the coming of Christ
41:54who went and returned to his place till they acknowledge their offense
41:58and till they seek his face in their affliction they'll seek me
42:02earnestly. Chapter 6,
42:06"...for he hath torn, he'll heal us, he hath smitten, he'll bind us up, after two days
42:10will he revive us, and in the third day he'll raise us up and we shall
42:14live in his sight. Then shall we know if we
42:18follow on to know the Lord, his going forth as prepared as the morning,
42:22he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter
42:26and the former rain unto the earth." The latter rain being the
42:30rain, the former rain being the rain that begins in the fall.
42:34And of course the Jewish year starts in the fall,
42:38the former rain, and then goes into spring, the latter rain,
42:42and then the harvest in the summer. And so this is talking about the
42:46festival calendar as associated with the prophecies of the return
42:50of Christ. It says after two days
42:54he's going to come back. You know, Moses wrote a psalm.
42:58He wrote Psalm 90 which says in verse 4,
43:02"...for a thousand years in eyesight are as but yesterday when it is
43:06past, and as a watch in the night." A thousand years like a day,
43:10day like a thousand years, and Psalm 90 says
43:14teach us to number our days. And Scripture does teach us to do
43:18that, and we have here a beautiful composite
43:22prophecy of the ripping, tearing of Ephraim and
43:26the resurrection of Christ, his return
43:30after two days on the third day. Now of two days
43:34are 2,000 years, and in the third day he's going to raise
43:38us up. You know, it's kind of fascinating, but we have seen Israel
43:42raised up in an international regathering that began really
43:46in 1892, codified 1897,
43:501917, UN mandate 1947,
43:541948 Six-Day War 1967, securing the
43:58Temple Mount which was returned to Islam
44:02for political reasons. But we've seen all these things happen
44:06in our era. It tells us that we are living
44:10as Hosea said, in the latter days,
44:14the latter days. Now, if I had more
44:18time I'd go on and link this expression
44:22of the latter days to prophecies concerning the
44:26rise of the Antichrist, and that's where we're going to start
44:30next week. It's exciting to live
44:34in days like these. So much could be said.
44:38But I think the Lord is prompting you in your own heart
44:42as we look through these verses. He's probably saying a lot more to you
44:46than I am, which is the way it should be, by the way.
44:52Music
44:56Music