Admonition Podcast

Good morning.

Take your Bibles if you will and open them to Revelation chapter sixteen.

Good to see everyone out this morning.

We're in Revelation chapter sixteen and we're going to be continuing with our study in
this chapter and then getting into chapter seventeen this morning, Lord willing.

But let's begin with a word of prayer.

Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've
blessed us with, grateful for the life that you have given to us, the energy that you've

provided us, the health and the ability that we have to assemble together, being aware
that there are some who do not have that ability, and we pray that your blessings will be

upon them and that your strength will be upon them, and that they will be restored back to
their desired health and their desired abilities.

Lord, we know sometimes that is not possible.

And Lord, we pray for comfort and strength through the hardships that they face if that is
the case.

Lord, we pray for those who are dealing with treatments and with illnesses.

And Lord, we pray that you give them the strength to go through each and every day and
overcome the hardships that they face and the complexities and difficulties of it.

We pray.

Also pray your blessings be upon the doctors and the care providers that attend to them.

Pray that they might have the wisdom and the knowledge to make right decisions and to
prescribe right paths.

Lord, we pray for this congregation and we pray for its leadership, we pray for its
laborers, we pray for those who pray for it and who are thoughtful of its

situation and its growth and we pray that you will bless each and every one of them.

We pray for this nation, we pray for peace in its land.

We pray that we might always seek to be participants in leading this country by example in
how we ought to uh behave and how we ought to live.

Lord, we pray that when this nation

does not do what is right, that we will be willing to repent of it, we will be willing to
set things right and uphold justice and mercy and uprightness.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.

We get into Revelation chapter sixteen, as we've already made mention and discussed last
week.

you have in chapter fifteen the handing out of the seven bowls.

The seven bowls that have the seven plagues of the wrath of God.

This is Old Testament imagery, as we've already discussed.

This is Exodus imagery.

This is as if God were to say, All right.

Here's the last seven plagues.

Now, you're not going to find John just listing off the last seven plagues.

As a matter of fact, two of the plagues correspond to the same type of plague in the Old
Testament, just in different scopes.

You have the second bowl, which is the water turned to blood in the seas, and then you
have the third bowl that takes the rivers and all the springheads and turns those to

blood.

As you look at

The text, what you should be reminded of is God's message in Exodus.

Because the cornerstone behind this judgment is God's message that he delivered to Egypt.

God's message, which he delivered to Pharaoh, and interestingly, as we get into chapter 17
and the parallel, God's message, which he delivered to

Nebuchadnezzar.

This is best understood in understanding what the Lord says in Exodus when he says that
there is none like Jehovah.

Because here in Revelation, what you have is you have a nation in the form of Rome telling
the people who are in the nation.

You have to worship Rome.

You have to worship Caesar.

You have to call Rome and Caesar God.

And if you do, everything's going to be fine.

And if you don't, then you're going to be imprisoned.

You're going to be beaten.

You're going to be removed from the economy, and you're going to be killed.

And yet the reality, the the stark contrast to the message from the government from Rome,
is God is telling the His people the polar opposite.

You do not bow the knee to Rome.

Now that's not to say if the law in Rome says it would be improper for you to run a
business without registering your business with the government.

He's not talking about cooperation in matters of indifference.

He's talking about matters where Rome says, if you don't bow to honor me as God, then I'm
going to do this.

God says, no, no.

You're not going to honor them as God.

You're not going to hold them as all-powerful.

And I'm going to demonstrate to you what all-powerful looks like.

So in Exodus, God shows Egypt what all-powerful looks like, what uniqueness is seen in
Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And you find in chapter 16 and in verse 5, and I heard the angel of the water saying,

You are righteous, O Lord, the one, notice the singular there, the one who is and who was
and who is to be.

The message of the angel in looking at what has occurred, looking at the first three bowls
having been sent forth, looking at what has occurred is God, you have established.

There is no one beside you.

So maybe tell me what the first commandment in the ten commandments was.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

This message has been consistent from the earliest days of the Old Testament all the way
forward to the days of Exodus, all the way forward to the book of Revelation.

God hasn't changed.

Matter of fact, that's what Hebrews chapter thirteen points out about God when it speaks
concerning the fact that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God hasn't changed.

The declaration and the message is still the same.

Now, I want you to pause here for just a moment because I want to connect the, you know,
we we've said a lot about about Exodus, but I want to connect Daniel to this discussion

because as we've discussed before and and we'll continue to remind ourselves, especially
in chapter 17, the background of Revelation.

Primarily is the book of Daniel.

Because the analogy of Rome is seen not described as Egypt, only spiritually as Egypt, but
as Babylon.

So in Daniel chapter four, you have Nebuchadnezzar's second dream.

And we read Nebuchadnezzar, the king, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in
all the earth, peace be multiplied to you.

I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the most high God has worked for
me.

How great are his signs, and how mighty his wonders, his kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.

Nebuchadnezzar is going to set forth to write a declaration to the people of Babylon
because God has done something that has caused Nebuchadnezzar to bow the knee, to declare

Jehovah is not like anybody else.

Jehovah was around before Babylon had any authority.

Jehovah was around before Babylon had any power.

Jehovah was around before Nebuchadnezzar was born, came to the throne, had any thought or
insight concerning the things that he was going to do, and he's going to be on the throne

long after I'm gone.

Notice what Nebuchadnezzar says.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace.

I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on the on on my bed and vision of my
head troubled me.

Therefore I issued a decree to bring to all bring in all the wise men of Babylon before
me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

Then the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the Southsayers came in, and I told
them the dream, but they did not make known to me its interpretation.

But at last Daniel came before me, his name Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God.

In him is the Spirit of the Holy God.

And I told the dream before him, saying, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I
know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you.

Explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen and its interpretation.

These were the visions of my head while on my bed.

I was looking and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.

The tree grew and became strong, its height reached to the heavens.

And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.

Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all the beasts of the
field, the f uh found shade under it, the birds of heaven dwelt in its branches, and all

flesh was fed from it.

Nebuchadnezzar sees in the vision a tree.

Now, just to where we can be reminded about how we deal with visions, when you see the
text describe a vision, are you supposed to see the vision, read concerning the vision and

say, That's what he saw, and that's what it meant?

Or are you supposed to say, That's what he saw, now what does it mean?

What he saw was not the meaning.

What he saw was the picture to convey the meaning.

Because notice Nebuchadnezzar knows that because he can tell you what he saw.

What he can't tell you is what it means.

That's why he's talking to Daniel to begin with.

So notice.

He says, This is what I saw.

I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher.

A holy one coming down from heaven.

He cried aloud and said thus, chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its
leaves and scatter its fruit.

Let the beast get out from under it and the birds from its branches.

Now what does Nebuchadnezzar say he saw come down from heaven?

A holy one.

He doesn't use the word angel the way the Greek would, but he says, this is one of God's
messengers.

I saw a messenger from God come down from heaven, and the message was tear it down.

Take it apart.

Remove everything that makes it seem worthwhile.

And bring it to the ground.

This lovely tree, this this magnificent tree, this tree that provides for the beasts of
the field, this tree that provides for all the things of the earth to come and be fed, you

wait a minute, you're gonna tear that down?

Yeah.

That's what God says he's gonna do.

Nevertheless he says, leave the stump, and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron
and bronze in the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let

him graze with the beasts.

Now notice what did we just find out in the text?

That the tree is a what?

It's a him.

The text says, and let him graze on the grass, uh sorry, let him graze with the beast on
the grass of the earth, and let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given

the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him.

When you have the vision and he sees the vision, the tree could have been any number of
things.

Except before the vision's done, it's clear that the vision represents a man.

Now Nebuchadnezzar knows what he saw.

Nebuchadnezzar knows what he saw in the vision.

Nebuchadnezzar now wants to know what it means.

This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy
ones, in order that the living may know watch this, that the Most High rules in the

kingdom of men.

Nebuchadnezzar already knows that whatever he saw was to make clear the lesson.

That God is in charge when it comes to this world.

And that he gives to whomever he will, and sets over it the lowest of men.

This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen.

Now you, Belteshar, since its interpret declare its interpretation, since all the wise men
of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for

the Spirit of the Holy God is in you.

Then Daniel.

Whose name was Belteshazzar was astonished for a time, and his thoughts troubled him.

So the king spoke and said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation
trouble you.

Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, may the dream concern those who hate you and its
interpretation concern your enemies.

Have you ever thought as you've read this passage, 'cause I I imagine most of us have read
it before.

That Daniel sincerely can had concern for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who had
overthrown Daniel's own nation?

This king who had come against Jerusalem three times.

Who had carted Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael off into captivity and bondage to a
land where by all indication of scripture they would never see their home ever again.

Who had threatened their lives on numerous occasions.

Who had put them in the position of having to stand up for themselves f on moral grounds
to not consume the things which he gave them and the provisions he gave them at the risk

of their own lives and the lives of others?

And here Daniel is told to come before Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel is now all this is after chapter two.

Daniel's already been elevated to the position of being the chief uh the the chief uh
interpreter of dreams, if you could utilize that idea.

He's in this role.

All of the underlings, all the people below him can't can't give the king an answer.

And when Daniel hears what the vision says, what Nebuchadnezzar saw, Daniel says,
essentially, Nebuchadnezzar, I sure do hope this isn't about you.

You remember when John was told to take the little book that the mighty angel had in his
hand and to eat it, and it was going to be sweet in his mouth, but it was going to be

bitter in his belly?

Daniel just heard a revelation from God given in the form of a vision to Nebuchadnezzar.

And when you have a revelation from God, if we use Psalm 19 to understand that concept,
Psalm 19 says that the word of God is as sweet as honey and as the honeycomb.

You have the word of God delivered through Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel.

He's got the message from God, and because it belongs to God.

It's sweet as honey.

But it's bitter in his belly.

Because he would love for this to be about somebody other than Nebuchadnezzar.

But I want us to just pause for a moment and realize Daniel had developed an attachment to
Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel.

The same way Cyrus, uh sorry, Darius in in the later chapters is going to be distraught
over what is going to occur to Daniel and having to put him in the lion's den.

And it's because of Daniel's faithfulness that Daniel describes may may this be concerning
those who hate you and concerning your enemies.

The tree which you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens,
which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, in

which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, in whose branches the
birds of the heaven had their home, it is you, O King, who have become who have grown and

become strong, for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion
to the end of the earth.

And as

Inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven, and saying, Chop
down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a

band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of
heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass over him.

This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most high, which has
come upon my Lord the King.

They shall drive you from men.

Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.

They shall make you eat grass like oxen, they shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and
seven times shall pass over you till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of

men and gives it to whomever he chooses.

And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and the roots of the tree, your
kingdom shall be assured to you after you come to know that heaven rules.

God has delivered to Nebuchadnezzar

A warning judgment.

That's what this is.

This is kind of like one of those partial judgments from the earlier chapters, where the
partial judgment is to correct their perspective, their belief that they are in charge,

that Rome rules, that Caesar is God, and that they can become impervious to what the Lord
of heaven will actually have to say concerning what they do.

Therefore, O King, verse twenty seven, let my advice be acceptable to you break off your
sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.

Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.

Daniel interprets the dream.

And he tells Nebuchadnezzar, Your sins are your problems.

And your focus on you is your other problem.

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of the twelve months he was walking
about the royal palace of Babylon, the king spoke, saying, It is it is not this great

Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my
majesty.

Nebuchadnezzar plumped himself up like a peacock, strutting around the palace.

Look what I have done.

While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven, King
Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you.

And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the
field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you

until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he
chooses.

Have you noticed the point of the chapter?

That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from
men and ate grass like oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had

grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like the bird's claws.

And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and by
understanding returned to me, and I blessed the most high and praised and honored him who

lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from
generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth.

No one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done?

Nebuchadnezzar in the first Babylon, the Old Testament Babylon.

is going to learn the lesson.

The successive generations, Nebuchadnezzar's son, grandson, great grandson, are going to
lose the script.

They're going to forget who the Lord is.

And Isaiah will have prophesied a hundred years before they ever came to power, Babylon is
fallen, is fallen.

In chapter sixteen, God sends forth a series of plagues in the form of the seven bowls in
Revelation, in the spiritual Babylon, the New Testament Babylon, the kingdom which

represents those four kingdoms that were revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, which began with
Babylon, c continued in the Medo-Persian Empire, continued in the Grecian Empire, and is

now fulfilled.

In the Roman Empire.

And the angel who pours out the third bowl

Sees the other angel come forth from the altar and says, This was appropriate.

This was righteous.

Verse 8 Chapter 16, then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was
given to him to scorch men with fire.

And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who had power
over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast.

And his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for because of the
pain, they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they

did not repent of their deeds.

Notice the contrast between what this nation does, what this people does, and what
Nebuchadnezzar did.

They don't repent.

They don't acknowledge God's authority or God's kingdom or God's rule.

They blaspheme his name.

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and its water was
dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming up out of the mouth of the dragon, out
of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

And they are the spirits of demons performing signs which go uh out to the kings of the
earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle the great day of God Almighty.

Behold, I am coming, is a thief.

Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he be walk naked, and they see his
shame.

And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.

Now we mentioned this as we close last week.

Armageddon is a reference to the valley of Meghetto.

uh Megedo is interpreted a small hill.

Because that's what it was.

It was a small hill.

And it was in the northern part of Israel.

And when you start looking at the location of it, and you start looking at the roads that
would have been used by every invading empire.

Babylon, Assyria, and every uh empire that came from the north, Medo-Persian Empire,
Grecian Empire, every single one of them would have come through the Valley of Ghetto.

Every single one of them would have passed through that area to come and attack Israel.

So the idea here, the mental image is hey, you know that place where every single army
that comes from the east comes through to attack God's people?

Well, that's there's your picture.

You've seen it before.

It's an old testament picture.

And so he says there's going to be a great battle.

Then verse seventeen, the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice
came out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done.

If we can borrow Isaiah's terminology, the Lord declares the end from the beginning.

God says, here's how it's gonna happen, and here's when I'm gonna tell you it's finished.

He says, or we read verse na eighteen and there were noises and thunderings and lightnings
and there was a great earthquake and such as mighty and great earthquakes as had not

occurred since men were on earth.

Now hold on to verse eighteen for a minute, go back chapter six.

If you remember, we said that chapter 6 and the six seals that are opened in chapter 6 are
the forecast of what's coming.

They're there to tell you before it starts: here's how it's gonna go.

Chapter 6, beginning in verse 12, I looked and he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there
was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as cloth of hair.

And the moon became like blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree
drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind, then the sky receded, and a scroll

uh as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of its
place, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty

men, every slave and every free man hid himself in the caves and in the rocks of the
mountains.

And said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who
sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come

and who is able to stand?

Chapter six is the forecast of what's coming.

Chapter sixteen is the declaration of its coming.

And the declaration, it's done.

Now, as the Christians are reading it, as they get the letter from John and they go, look,
here's a message from the elder apostle who's in captivity, who's in exile on Patmos, and

the letter arrives, and they open the scroll and they start reading, and they get to
chapter 16.

Has any of it happened yet?

As they're reading the scroll.

But John didn't say by the time you read this it's gonna have happened already.

He said, when I write this unto you, the time is at hand.

And going to tell you what the Lord sent and signified to me so that these things can be
known because they are shortly to come to pass.

So they're going to open it up and go, I know it's going to turn out.

Back in the days of newspapers.

For those who enjoy sports.

The event would occur, the game would occur.

This back before, you know, you could stream every game and watch every game no matter
where it was.

You got to watch whatever game was on near you.

So you'd might watch, if you were growing up in eastern Kentucky, you might you probably
watch the Cincinnati Reds or the Atlanta Braves, even if you were an LA Dodgers fan.

You weren't watching the Dodgers.

So you'd have to wait until the newspaper came out and turn to the sports section and see
how the game turned out.

Because you weren't there.

You had to read about it afterwards.

There was a show, uh, I think it was on CBS when I was growing up.

It was called Early Edition.

And the premise of the show was the beginning of the show, this guy whose life's not quite
together, is living in a hotel.

And one morning he comes out and there's a cat that is sitting on his newspaper outside of
his door.

And he walks out and he gets the newspaper, and it's tomorrow's newspaper.

So every day the cat shows up and every day he gets tomorrow's newspaper and he's gonna
read about somebody, some some disaster, something that happens that he's gotta he's gotta

stop.

He's gotta keep the bad thing from happening because he knew about it in advance.

This is God telling Israel in the form of his people, representative Israel, spiritual
Israel, the church.

Here's what's going to happen.

You know about it in advance.

So be ready for it.

Now the great city, verse 19, was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations
fell.

And great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath.

Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

You remember what did they call upon the mountains to do?

Fall on them and hide them from who?

Hide us from the wrath of the one who sits on the throne.

Hide us from the wrath of the lamb.

Protect us.

Get something that will stop God from doing this.

And they look around, can't find the mountain anywhere.

Great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.

Men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

So to figure out the exact moment in time where the fulfillment of this occurred, what you
need to do is scour all the ancient archives to find the moment in time where there was a

hailstorm with hail that was a talent and wait.

Right?

No.

Not any more than you were supposed to in the last verse assume that when they were
looking for a mountain, they couldn't find a physical mountain.

Here's the pouring out of the wrath of God on Rome.

The question that was asked by the Christians who were dying, who were standing under the
altar in the fifth seal was, Lord, how long are you going to let this go unchecked?

And the Lord said, you rest a little while and you wait and I'll show you.

And then the sixth seal is opened, and there's the forecast, and here comes the seven
bowls inside the seventh seal, inside the seventh trumpet, and God says, it's done.

And when I'm finished.

It will be so completely done.

That the great city that they thought was so magnificent and untouchable and the seat of
their power and the center of their authority and that all the nations of the earth could

worship as God, I'm just gonna divide it up in three pieces.

I'm gonna tear it apart and I'm gonna make all their great cities go away.

When you read concerning the fall of the Roman Empire.

First of all, ask yourself this question.

Did it fall?

Yeah, it did.

It's not still hanging around.

Its authority and its power is gone.

Number two, did it fall from the outside or the inside?

When you look at the history of Rome, the answer is both.

It fell from the pressures of the outside, from the advancement of the uh the the hordes
that came across from Asia.

And it fell primarily because of inner problems.

But it fell and it fell completely.

And God is reminding his people.

You know, back in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.

I sent a message to a king.

I sent a vision to him.

That I was the king who would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed.

And I will rule from generation to generation forever.

And I was on the throne when Nebuchadnezzar was on the throne.

And I'm on the throne now.

You remember

When Jesus said to the Jews.

When they asked him, Are you greater than our father Abraham?

And Jesus' reply was, before Abraham was, I am.

um

Long before Abraham ever left Ur of the Chaldees.

Interestingly, where is Ur of the Chaldees?

The same land that would eventually be known as Babylon.

Before Abraham ever left Ur of the Chaldees, God was.

Before Nebuchadnezzar was ever a twinkle in his mother's eye, God was.

Before Nebuchadnezzar had a pa authority and rule and had the ability to go conquer nation
after nation after nation, God was.

Long after Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon were just simply the thing of history, God still
was.

And the same would be true about Rome.

Chapter 17, we're going to read concerning the great harlot who rides the terrible beast
from the book of Daniel.

And it's just another picture of Rome.

But it's a picture that identifies when the book was written, who was on the throne when
the book was written.

the timeline of the events that were going to occur and how it was all going to turn out.

And it can all be summed up in the words of Isaiah.

Babylon, that great city, is fallen.

Is fallen.

Thank you for your attention.