Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. What's up? We are back and we are rolling still through. We are rolling right into Revelation 16 through 18, or no, just some light. Easy reading, not 16 through 18. 12 through 18 I 12 through 18. 16 through 18 would be hard enough. 12 through 18 is a lot. We're just gonna take it all at one time. We are. It's like taking a big piece of steak and just shoving it down your throat without chewing. Down the golet, but you would want steak and veggies for the rest of your life. I would love that we talked about that. If I had endless supply of steaks and veggies. Endless supply. Yeah. I mean it's it's crazy. It's a lot. This is a strange time of year. I always feel like between Christmas and New Year's, 'cause it's like we celebrated Christmas, we're not quite yet to New Year's where we're celebrating New Year's. Although it's New Year's Adam. It's the day before New Year's Eve. and so we are at the end of the year and it can be tempting to just kick it into neutral. I know a lot of people said, time off this year, around this time, and they're home, they're around their family and we can just. Let these days happen to us. just as a reminder, these days are yours to steward and these are still 24 hours that God has given you to say, Hey, use these 24 hours whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. and so utilize this time well, to even think about, pray through anticipate 2026, what you're gonna do, what that's gonna look like, like we talked about on, on Sunday, how you're gonna invest in God's word this next year. use this time. Well, it's still time that we are gonna stand before Jesus, the bema seat and give an account for, and so it's good for us to be reminded even in this kind of silent period before 2026 actually hits and after Christmas that this time still counts. And, and so hopefully we're utilizing it. Well, I love this time of year. It's always a exciting time to me. It's like preparing to give labor into the next year. You're preparing to push and turn the corner. So I appreciate the bit of reprieve and reflection as I prepare to look at the next year. Typically, not always. I haven't been as good at this in the last couple years, but I'll look back at my last year's journal entries and some of my reflections and even some of my goals, like, do I, is this still a fitting objective? Do I pursue this or that? Or do I wanna do at the time that God has given? So I love it. I love the slowdown before the speed up, and it is still kind of a vacation time. I don't mind that mindset. It's good to rest. It is, it is good to sit back and to enjoy what God is doing. but rest is given so that we can work. God gives us rest so we can pursue doing good for his namesake. And that's something that we never want to get worse at. Yeah, we wanna get better at that as the years carry on. So whatever you're doing this week, enjoy it. Hope you're gonna be at church this weekend still. Where are you gonna church this weekend, by the way? We will be in San Diego, so I know my in-laws go to David Jeremiah's church out there, so. Oh, cool. Yeah, I've heard of that guy before. Yeah. Yeah. So is that where you're going then? I believe so. Or the Mormon Tabernacle. Yes. The Mormon Tabernacle actually. Cool. Yeah. We'll be there. Great. There is a large Mormon temple in San Diego. Oh. It's the coolest looking spaceship I've ever seen. We won't be going there. You're not going there? No. Oh, okay. Well, when I say cool, I mean, I mean terrible. 'cause it's we believe it's demonic. Yes. But it is interesting. Architecture. I'm gonna give 'em that. It feels like a blend of sci-fi. Yeah. Like if Star Wars were gonna build a church. Yeah. I hope that's not offensive. That probably is. I'm sorry. If you're a Mormon, you're listening. Thank you for listening. And I'm not trying to be offensive. I'm just acknowledging that it's very different than what we expect. Speaking of which, when you drive by, whether it's a, I can't remember what they call them. The Jehovah's Witnesses buildings. The Kingdom Halls. Kingdom Halls, thank you. Yeah. Or when you drive by a Mormon ward. or when you drive by a Hindu temple. It's right and good for you, Christian to pray that God would shut the doors. Mm-hmm. It is right. And good for you to pray that that would fail. Muslim Mosque, same thing. Pray that it would fail. Pray that God will shut the doors and that a church will move in and take that place and preach the true gospel. because what they're doing there is they are preaching a false gospel that does not save. And those that attend and those that gather there are being led into an eternity apart from God. And I'm sure somebody may be listening to this and they're going to leave us a nasty review and talk about how we were, exclusivist and intolerant and everything else. That's fine. It's not loving to say that a doctrine that leads somebody to hell is acceptable. It's just not, it's like pen. Gillette we've talked about that when Gillette, who's an atheist says, I don't respect Christians who don't. Proselytize because how much do you have to hate somebody to believe that they're going to hell and not tell 'em about the gospel? Well, likewise, we're not gonna sit here and play all, copacetic, hunky dory with those that are preaching a false gospel and say that it's okay, that we should just allow everybody to coexist together and we can all just go our own ways. We have to love people more than that. And so. Just a practical bit of advice when you drive by those places. Pray right then and there. God, shut the doors. Shut this place down. Have them run outta money. Have them not be able to operate anymore. Shut it down and turn it into a church where the true gospel is gonna be proclaimed, and maybe you feel a bit challenged by that. Pray positively. Don't just pray that the doors closed. Pray that they come to know the true gospel. Yes, yes. Pray that God opened their eyes and that God give them eyes to see, and ears to hear and that Christ would be proclaimed, because we can rejoice in that. Let me ask you a related question that someone asked me this week. They're evangelizing a Muslim. And they challenged the Muslim. Why don't you pray and ask Allah to show you the truth to, to show you if the Bible is true, if Jesus is his prophet, essentially something like that. And he said, okay, I'll do that. If you do the same, that you'll pray to God that he'll open your eyes to show you if Islam is true, and that the Quran is the word of the prophet, et cetera. So they were troubled by that. Can I pray that? Is that something appropriate? Should I pray to? God, Allah and ask him to do that? Or is there a different way that I should pray? Should I even take that wager? If you could call it that now, what would you advise someone like that if they're trying to be honest and sincere of somebody who appears for all intents and purposes to be a seeker of truth? How would you navigate that predicament? As a Christian, I couldn't and I would even back up and go so far as to say I don't believe that the God of Islam is the God of the Bible. I don't believe that Allah is the same as God, and I know that's a contested point, but. Allah in Islam is a unitarian being, he is one. There is no Trinitarian component. There is no spirit, there is no son in Islam. And so the God that the Muslims worship is not, the God of the Bible, it's not even to argue the God of the Old Testament. So we're dealing in totally different realms there. We're called to worship god and God alone. Yeah. And so I don't think as a Christian there's ever a component to where we can offer a prayer to another God, another deity small G God, and not transgress that commandment. Yeah I would agree with that. In fact, that's part of what I said back, is that I don't think you could do that 'cause you're talking to a demon at that point. Right. We can't do that. But we could say, now we will pray that God would show us the truth. And that he would give us insight into what's true. True. Because I, I can pray that with a sincere heart, absolute. And I can pray that with a clear conscience, and I think that would satisfy the spirit of what her Muslim friend was trying to say or do. So, and if you ever come across that situation here, we are true seekers at the end of the day. Yeah. That's what Christians are about. We want the truth we value that. We're willing to change our understanding of the Bible if it can be proven to us from the Bible that what we believe is wrong, false. So we value truth and that's unique to our religion. I think we're more than willing, and we've shown that, to acknowledge what is true about our history in terms of our Christian history, about the text that we have. We're honest about the manuscript evidence, we're honest about these things. Christianity has nothing to hide. so we're okay with that. the challenge of course, for you is that when you're having these kinds of conversations that you're not giving up the house. You're not saying, yeah I'll pray to this other deity in the hopes that. They show me something. 'cause I'd be afraid that they might. Yeah. Not that they'd be proving you false or showing that there's truth there. But as we've talked about before, when the Mormons are saying, pray for the burning in your bosom, I believe that they, a lot of them, maybe all of them really feel something. Yeah. That's because there's a real spirit in that religion. Yeah, so be aware. Yep. Well, let's get into Revelation 12 through 18, just 12 through 18, just 12 through 18. So chapter 12, here's what's happening. Beginning of chapter 12, this woman in the dragon, what we're getting really quick is a very condensed history of Israel. you have a situation where the woman is clothed with the sun and the moon. Under her feet, she has a crown of 12 stars. This is Israel and she's pregnant, crying out in birth pains, the agony of giving birth. And then there's the red dragon. The red dragon that shows up. This is Satan. Satan is after the child that the woman is gonna give birth to the child that the woman is gonna give birth to. Verse five, she gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with the wrt of iron. This is Jesus, okay? Satan doesn't want Jesus there. So Satan's gonna try to take out Jesus. Jesus is going to, escape, so to speak, although not in the sense that Jesus was ever really in any peril of Satan winning here, but escape and go up to the place. That, that he is right now go up to God and to his throne. And so what is Satan's response? Well, Satan is gonna then go after the people of Christ, the people of God, and that is gonna be Israel. And it says here, Israel was placed in a place prepared by God, in which he was to be nourished for 1,260 days. This is three and a half years now. In the meantime, as chapter 12 progresses, there is a war that is taking place in heaven, and the dragon now is going to be there. Now, we know from the very beginning, from the Book of Job that Satan and his demons, even after the, their fall from heaven, were granted some access to heaven. This is the end of that. This is the final ousting. And so when it says in verse nine, the great dragon was thrown down in that ancient serpent who is called the devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the world, this is the final ousting. He's. Being cast out of heaven and never to enter again. And when that happens, he becomes in intensely upset, intensely angry. And this is where for the final three and a half years, he's going to go after and pursue and try to destroy the people of God, be them the saints who are on earth or the 144,000, the Israelites that are there. but chapter 12 is really a very condensed. Thick history of everything that's gone on from the very beginning, even to where we are now. In the book of Revelation. If you're doing the math. You are asking yourself how 1,260 is three and a half years. Because if you just take 365 and multiply it by, you know, three and a half, you're not gonna get that number. And lemme just tell you why. It's because they're working with lunar years, right? And lunar years are 360 days. So if you take 360 and multiply that by three and a half, you're gonna get 12. What's the number here? 1260? Yeah. 1280. 1260. 1260. Yeah. So that's what's happening here. God doesn't operate on our solar calendar, right? He operates on the lunar calendar. So you're gonna see numbers here that don't make sense, or at least don't quite fit unless you're using the right calculation. So keep that in mind as you make your way through this. one question that emerges here is why God waits so long to do this. Like he could have done his way back. And with Job, Satan is showing up, or Lucifer showing up Satan and is accusing job, why not just kick him out way back then? Why does he wait until now? Part of it is that the plan for the fullness of time, the plan for the gospel, the plan for redemption, the plan for the salvation of the lost God was allowing Satan to do what he was doing as a cog in his machine, as he's working out his sovereign plan for redemptive history, that is ultimately leading up to this place. Okay. Chapter 13. Then Satan's plan is gonna involve, two key figures that are gonna emerge in chapter 13 here. The first one is this beast that he sees John does rising out of the sea, and this is going to be the antichrist. Now, it's not just the antichrist, the antichrist is going to rule over a coalition. There are 10 horns on this. This crown, there's gonna be 10 other kings, but the antichrist specifically is gonna be empowered by Satan. It says an to. It that is this beast. The dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. So the antichrist comes and the antichrist is gonna be empowered by Satan. the beast, it says in verse five, was given a mouth uttering, haughty, and blasphemous words. It was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. There's the three and a half years against, so the three and a half year reign of the antichrist here. It's also, notice the language here in verse seven, allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. An authority was. Given it over every tribe, people, language and nation. I think God is the actor here more than it is Satan. God is the one allowing the beast to rule and reign and do what he's doing here and this is part of God's judgment against his people, but also part of God's judgment against the earth at large. Verse 11, we see a second beast that comes out of the earth this time. And this beast is going to be the one that we know to be the false prophet. And the reason we know that is because what it does here, it is there to build up the first beast. It's there to build up the antichrist. And it's given, an ability to do things that are, are spectacular in order to. Point people back to the first beast, the antichrist who is there. Some have drawn the connection here and said, this is the unholy trinity. You've got Satan, and then you've got the Antichrist who Satan empowers. And then you've got the false prophet who acts in some ways, as the spirit does within the context of the trinity to exalt the antichrist. And so you've got the evil unholy trinity here in chapter 13 of the antichrist, the false prophet, and then Satan is the one behind it all. End of chapter 13, this is where we get that infamous number. 6, 6, 6, which is the sign that is gonna be given to those that are following and again, paralleling. What does God do? God takes the 144,000 and seals them on their foreheads. Satan is gonna take his followers and he's gonna seal them with this number 6, 6, 6, which is again, the number of man. We talked about the number of man being six, the number of God being seven. And so here it is, 6, 6, 6 is meant to emphasize to the fullest extent that the fallenness or the number of man, so when a devil worshiping Satanist puts 6, 6, 6 on their wall or their shrine or whatever, is there any. I don't know. Is there anything to be afraid of? If you see something like this, you see the pentagram and you see the stick six six and things like that. is that indication or is that suggestive that there's an evil spirit there or some demonic opposition that you should be aware of because of the number and the symbols and things like that? Yeah, I wouldn't dabble with it. I would say that I wouldn't fear it either. When you go to the grocery store and you're checking out and your total is $6 and 66 cents. No, I need a piece of gum right now. Yeah. I don't think you gotta throw something on board. I wouldn't go that far. This is something that's gonna be very clear. Nobody's gonna accidentally receive the number of 6, 6, 6. This is something that is a willing. Understandable thing that they're doing. And so I know a lot of people were like, oh the COVID vaccines, the mark of the beast. People are getting that. this is the mark of the beast. Yeah. Or the microchip that people are planting in somebody's hand. This is the mark of the beast. This is going to be a clear sign of allegiance to the antichrist. And to Satan. And so this is not something that is gonna accidentally happen to a believer where they're gonna be like, oh no I think I took the mark of the beast. So I don't think you need to live in fear of that, but I also think just like Ouija boards and seances and tarot cards, there's something demonic, just like you were talking about with false religions, that we should be careful about dabbling in ourselves. But nothing to be afraid of though, in terms of the number itself. Right. We're not. Superstitious, which is recognizing that there's things in the world that are evidenced, are used rather more for evil than for righteousness sake. But that doesn't mean you can't get a receipt that says 6 66 on it or something like that, right? Yeah. Well, chapter 14, God is not going to put up with this. this is not gonna last for, and. In, indeterminate amount of time. In fact, in verse chapter 14, we get a, another interlude here where we look and we behold that here is Mount Zion and here is Jesus. And with him the 144,000. And so it's almost as though, okay, all this is taking place but here's the one who wins. Here's the ruler, here's the king. Here's the one. He's keeping his 144,000. He's got them with him, he's got them safe. And then there's these three angels that show up and give announcements. And so again, you've got a number of things to pay attention to here. The first angel announces that people need to fear God and give him glory. The second angel announces that Babylon, and by the way, Babylon, we should probably address that. This is the system. Of the world. This is the system of the antichrist. This is what's represented by Babylon. this is the idea of everything, all of the market, all of the, the immorality, all of the infrastructure of the Antichrist kingdom. And so fallen, fallen is Babylon. The great is the announcement of the second angel. And then the third angel is announcing that God's wrath is coming and he's gonna pour it out full strength on those that are in opposition to him. Yeah. chapter 14 we get as well a picture of the ultimate judge that's coming, and this is the one who is riding on the cloud, like the son of man with the golden crown on his head. This calls back to Daniel chapter seven, and this is the harvesting. So, so we're flashing forward a little bit and then we're gonna back up again. So this is where Revelation begins to get a little bit tricky for us to follow the timeline. Because in chapter 15 we're, or 14, we're really dealing with the final judgment. This is Christ coming and issuing the final judgment. This is Armageddon. This is the treading of the wine press of God's wrath. this is the end of things before the millennial kingdom. That is then we're gonna back up again and get, build back up to that as we progress. And so this is where you gotta pay attention to what's going on. And this is where it gets a little bit tricky there chronologically. Chapter 15, then we get, another group of seven, these are the seven angels that says, with the seven plagues, I take these plagues to be congruent with the seven bulls, the bull judgements of chapter 16. and so we, we have these angels who are presented, and then in, in chapter 16, we get the bulls of gaja wrath that are being poured out again on humanity. Here, you get the soars, you get total death in the seas. In verse three, you get, in the third seal, you get death in the fresh water. in the fourth seal you get a scorching heat that's being poured out on, on people. And in the fifth seal you get utter darkness. And then the sixth seal prepares the way for Armageddon. That final battle that we just talked about in chapter 14 to take place. So again, chapter 14, high level view, chapter 15 kind of resets and we're gonna build back up to that until we get to. The final battle there in chapter 18 and 19. So we're now making progress in the text where we took an interlude, took a break. Now we're moving forward again in the timeline. And these seven bowls that we're seeing poured out are increasing in their destruction, increasing in their painful, and you also notice too, there's an increase in the response of the people toward God. They don't repent. They're angry at God, they are in anguish, and yet they don't repent. That's one of the recurring themes here in chapter 16. In verse 16, we have the reference of the Battle of Armageddon, but it actually doesn't take place in my understanding until we get to chapter 19. Correct. This is prepared in the way this is the stage that's set. Okay. And then we have the seventh bowl where this is the crescendo. This is the final elements of God's destruction on the Earth. And then we have chapter 17 and 18. Yeah. Yep. By the way, your point there about the people's response and not repenting, I think we've talked about that even recently with eternal conscious torment, that if this is the response to people of people to God's wrath now, then the response of people to God's wrath in hell is not to be thought of any differently. Right. I think we can see something that's parallels that here between this and that, which wouldn't. Would not that this is the only reason, but it would also give us a reason to believe or understand why God's justice would be perpetual, because they never stop sinning and therefore they always continue to create more of God's wrath against them. They're not justified. They're not glorified. When we die, we're glorified. We no longer sin. That's not true for them. We have no reason to think that. Anyway, chapter 17, then it really sets up the end for the Antichrist. But before that, he's gonna do some pretty, at least apparently fantastic things. Fantastic. Not in a good way, but in a spectacular way. His kingdom is marked by immorality, sexual immorality, by, by many other things that are characteristic of Babylon that causes Babylon to be called the mother of prostitutes in the earth's abominations. There in verse five. but the antichrist is going to receive a wound that appears to be a mortal wound. And then that mortal wound is going to supposedly result in his resurrection. This is an appearance. This isn't a genuine resurrection. Again the unholy trinity, you've got the second member of the Trinity, the antichrist looking like he dies and then coming back to life. What does that look like? That looks like the gospel. and yet through that, even though he's going to capture the. Awe and the wonder of all of his followers and even these other 10 kings that are gonna turn out to be his supporters as well. they're ultimately gonna be defeated by the Lord. Verse 14, they're gonna make war on the lamb and the lamb will conquer them. For he is the lamb, is Lord of Lords and king of kings, and those with them are called the chosen and faithful. And so chapter 17 is again, setting up. The antichrist is growing in power. He's gaining, he's got a lot of steam behind him. He's gonna have this mortal wound, he's gonna come back. You can just think about how excited people are gonna be to follow him because of that. And then he's gonna go to make war against the lamb, and the lamb is going to end up, destroying him and winning that battle. Yeah. Okay. Chapter 18. this is the announcement of the fall of the world system, Babylon being the antichrist system, the antichrist, city and power and economy and immorality and everything else. And so chapter 18 really walks through poetically here the downfall of all of it and how people will mourn over this. And people are gonna be upset because their materialistic idols are gonna be destroyed and people are gonna be upset because their immorality, idols are gonna be destroyed. And yet the saints the whole time, what are they gonna. Doing well. Look at verse 20. Rejoice over her. Oh heaven. You, saints, and apostles and prophets for God has given judgment for you against her. So the saints are gonna be worshiping while Babylon is flailing under the wrath of God being poured out in its destruction. Yeah. What's interesting to note about their lamentation is that they are sad over the destruction, not over their sin. To this point we've seen God. Unveil painful thing after painful thing. And often for Christians, God lets us go through pain for the very purpose of a humbling us, causing us to repent, causing us to draw near. God is always doing 10,000 things in the one painful event that we go through, but for those who are not believers, the painful event only serves to harden them against him. And so they are lamenting over the loss of their. The physical things the worldly system that they just previously used to admire and enjoy and idolize, it's now being ripped away from them. Which reminds me of what John says to the church before the book of Revelation. He says, do not love the world or the things in the world. this is what it looks like. This is what love of the world. Is concerned about, is concerned about the stock market and the stuff that you've acquired throughout your whole life. Imagine if your whole life is wrapped up in your stock portfolio and you lose everything. Mm-hmm. The devastation would be similar to what you would see here, but if your hope was in the Lord, you would still be devastated in a sense. You'd be hurt, you'd be perhaps confused, but your hope would still be stable. Your hope would be in the Lord. He would trust that he'd get you through it and that he would sustain you. So here's what it looks like to love the world and the things in the world. Babylon being lamented over. Not over their sin is what the world would do. It's interesting, this time around what. I saw was in verse 16 of chapter 17. It says, the 10 horns that you saw, they and the beast, these 10 kings and the beast, the antichrist are gonna hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. So the one that is ultimately responsible for the downfall of the kingdom of the antichrist is the antichrist. And these other 10, 10 kings, God turns them on the empire that they built and uses them to bring destruction upon their own system. There. Now. Yeah. Not ultimately. Approximately. Approximately. Right. He's the tool that God uses to bring her down. So not in an ultimate sense. He's not the one who's controlling the things. God is. But I get your point, right, because in verse 17 it says, for God has put it in their hearts to carry out his purpose of being in one mind, of handing over the royal power and to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. So God, yeah, God is the one behind it for sure. What a good insight, though. God is orchestrating all of human events, all of human activity, to fulfill and accomplish his perfect purposes, even down to the detail. Amazing. Yep. Alright, y'all, I know this is a lot and this is a lot to, to wade through and to work through and to track with us through this. But hey, you're doing a good job. Keep going. almost done. And we're almost done. One more day. One more day. Unbelievable. Yeah. And know that, one of the keen takeaways from us in this is praise God, we're gonna be with Jesus. So let's pray. God, thanks for your word and bringing us to this point. We have one more day left, and I pray that we'd finish strong and stay faithful to it, and that that would not be us dusting our hands off saying, well, we're done. We did the Bible. Let's move on. But that would be ready to jump in just a couple days in 2026 as well. So thanks for your word. Thanks for this time. In Jesus name, amen. Keep your Bibles tuned in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast buggy. Bye.

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Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said