Wouldn't it be nice if you could go downstairs there closer to the food, be the first ones there? I don't know if that's fair or not. Somebody rigged this that they should be practicing their program today when we're going to have a basket lunch. Donna did. Donna did. Well, that's good. Glad that somebody's getting the blame besides me. Would you please, while we're hesitating just a moment here, turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter twelve. Revelation and chapter twelve. I'd like for each one of you to have your place there before we really began this morning revelation and chapter twelve i'd like to take a couple of moments this morning to just say some personal things and you know in the heat of the battle in the heat of closing off a little series of meetings like this oftentimes i get down the road on monday morning and i say oh my i forgot to say this and i forgot to say that and I'm sure that this time will be no different. Even though I'm taking a little time to say some things, I probably will surely leave some things out. But I want to take this opportunity to thank the Lyman Gospel Hall, the Christians who gather here and each and every one of you who have so faithfully attended these meetings and been a blessing to me in doing that. For the good questions, which my right pocket is full of, I thank you very much for those questions. You've just spoiled my Lord's day. I've got to study all afternoon. But thank you anyway. I appreciate that. But listen, we love you very much. We deeply appreciate the privilege of having been allowed to come here and to share the Word of God with you. Now, I want to repeat something that Brother Kessler told me years ago. It has stuck with me and been a real blessing. Because sometimes when you take up prophecy, you find that on certain minor points at least, Christians don't always agree, do they? But you know, Brother Kessler treated this very fairly and graciously many years ago when he was preaching on a subject that evidently some did not agree with. And one young man in particular came bounding up to the front when he closed his meeting before he could step down from the platform and he said, Mr. Kessler, I don't agree with that. And Mr. Tesler said, now, just a minute, young man. He said, I'm not saying I'm right in everything. He says, but I just preach it the way I see it. That's the way I see it. And that's that. No argument. So you see, we do today as we take up some of these things, say that we are but clay. That is the speaker is but clay. I can certainly assure you of that. But I will give you what I believe the Bible has to say about these things and then let you be the judge. You take up the Scriptures and you search them, as the Bereans did, to see whether these things are so or not. You see, I'm putting the burden upon you. I'm going to give it to you as I believe God has given it to me. I'm going to give it to you as I see it from the Scripture. With no apologies for that, but yet, you know, I want to remain friendly. And I don't think I could have found a better group. I'm just deeply appreciative of having been allowed to come here. You know, I think a preacher sometimes, or you may think a preacher sometimes has a special privilege. But he doesn't. He's just a servant of the Lord like you are. Should be. Sometimes I have to say I should be. But so we join with you in wanting to share the Word of God. All right, let's look a little bit here in chapter twelve at a few verses, and then we'll go to the chart. In chapter twelve, let's begin our reading with verse seven. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not. Neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Now go to verse thirteen. And when the dragon saw that he was cast out unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time and time and half a time from the face of the serpent. May God bless. This very short reading of his word, we'll be reading some more, but we want God to bless this because I think we have read some particularly important verses. Very important verses because we have just read of a time when Satan will be cast out of heaven. when Satan will be cast out of heaven. You say, well, now, where is Satan operating today? Well, let me tell you, friend, not in hell. Satan is not in hell. Everyone gets the picture of the forked tail, red-suited monster with the horns and the pitchfork as being in the fires of hell, and that's totally untrue. He's a marvelous, beautiful creature. And he's wily. And he has an influence in heavenly power. places hold your place in revelation quickly turn back to Ephesians I think we'll just go there right now I thought to do this later but Ephesians chapter two Ephesians and chapter two remember the popular thought today is Satan is that old monster down in hell well believe me he's not in hell Some say, well, if I go to hell, I'm going to have company. I don't think you'll have company in hell, not that you'll be aware of. I think hell is a lonely place. I think hell is like the rich man in Luke sixteen found it to be, a place of torment, a place of loneliness. And by the way, he didn't want company. I've had braggadocious fellows that I used to drink in corrals with before I was saved. Because God lifted me out of the gutter. I know exactly what I'm talking about. And I used to roam with those fellows and we would shout in our drunken stupor and say, well, you know, if I go to hell, I'm going to have company. I thought I'd take my buddies along and enjoy it. But you know, after God saved me, blessed be his name, after God saved me, I saw from the scriptures that to me, hell is a lonely place. A place of torment and awful loneliness. Have you ever been alone? I've been alone in the Pacific Islands, and I never felt so alone in my life. I was away from the rest of my group, from my platoon, and I was out in the deep, dark, what we call the boondocks, out in the jungles of the island of Guam. And night fell on me, and I should have rejoined my group, but I didn't really know where I was at. And I never felt such awful blackness and the loneliness in all of my life. It was a moonless night, no moon. And in the thickness of that jungle, it just became black as if you'd put a velvet bag over my head. And I couldn't hardly see my hand in front of my face. And it appeared to me in my soul that I was the only person upon the face of the earth, and I was lost forever. That's an awful feeling to be lonely, isn't it? And I think hell is a lonely place. But let me assure you again, Satan is not in hell. Ephesians chapter two, and we'll be just reading verse two. When in time past you walked according to the course of this world. Now that's what I've just been telling you about. In time past I walked, that word walk in Scripture means I conducted my life according to the course of this world. I was a whirling by every standard and I enjoyed it. Oh I enjoyed it. Don't let anyone tell you that sin is not pleasurable. Sin, I'm here to tell you today. sin is pleasurable. It's fun. But it'll grieve the road to hell. The end result is an eternal damnation. So it says, We're in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. In another place He's called the God of this world. Who are we speaking of in Ephesians two? We're talking about Satan himself. And so if you look upon the chart in this present day in which you and I are living, if you can see from where you're at, I wish you'd move up close to the front if you want to, but the little wiggly line beginning back here. in the garden you'll see part one line goes up and the old serpent is represented by the reptile the old serpent the wiggly line goes on and it says Satan in heavenly places he's also if you'll notice out of the garden came sin and death by sin so he's also the one who brought death into the human race and so forth we don't have time to go into that Satan in heavenly places today He's the prince of the power of the air, the God of this world, the one who is after souls. Notice how far separated this is from what the death line represents here, that place called Hades, if you want to be nice about it. But I prefer, and I recognize what the word in the Greek means. I know it means Hades, the place of departing spirits and all. But you know, I don't want to lessen the effect of the thought. That is hell. I have a live radio program every Sunday morning that I'm home. And when I'm not, I put it on tape. But I had a preacher friend of mine come through one time, and this man is a great gossipler. He preaches the gospel. He's really an evangelist. And so he sought to test me a little bit. I wanted him to take the program that morning, but he didn't want to do it. He didn't like to do live programs. So anyway, as I finished the program and walked out of the booth, he'd been on the outside of the little glass cage I worked from, and he said, do you mean you use that word on the air? And for a moment he stunned me. I said, well, brother, so-and-so, what word? He said, hell? Do you use hell? I said, well, that's real to me. And he kind of smiled, and he said, well, you know, some people may be a little bit offended at it, but if that'll get them stirred up, he says, that's all right, too. So you'll forgive me in a sense if I use that. And I really believe we need to recognize that this Hades, this hell is an awful place. But notice how far Satan is separated from hell today. Now, for some of you who haven't been present in some of the meetings, let me just quickly say, we're living right here in the Laodicean period, and I believe right in the latter days of that Laodicean period. I think we perhaps are but a breath away. Maybe the next breath you draw will be in heaven. That's marvelous. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, if we were quiet apart, I've said this before, and I'll go down in the record of saying it again, I believe that if the Church of God today was really quiet for a moment in their hearts and were in tune with heaven and we were on the right wavelength as we should be in our lives, walking according to the Scriptures, I believe if we were listening today, we would hear the rustle of the garments of the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ on the threshold of heaven just on the eve of stepping out into the air. Into this event we call the meeting place in the air the rapture, the snatching away of every born-again child of God. And isn't that marvelous? It's tremendous. So I believe we're living in tremendous times, but yea, responsible times We mentioned just briefly a little bit about that when we looked shortly at the judgment seat of Christ. A Christian cannot live like he or she wants to and get by with it. And get by with it. I hesitated there because some would say, well, I see Joe or whoever, Susie, and he and she are just living like everything. You can't hardly tell they're a Christian. Yes, you can. but you won't get by with it. You have salvation when you have Christ. That's settled forever. But my friend, there will be a loss of reward. A loss of reward, not life, but a loss of reward at the judgment seat of Christ, depending on how loosely we live for the Lord Jesus Christ in this body, in this life, not afterwards. Rewards come for living in this present body, in this present life. And so I think we need to be stirred about that. Let me get back to my subject because I've already said Satan's up here in the day in which we live, we're living right here. He's in heavenly places. He has an influence that's unbelievable. An influence that's unbelievable. But notice he hasn't changed his tactics much from the garden. He still is appealing to the flesh. He still appeals to that today. He's got a few more garments to put on the flesh today to appeal to us than he did back in the garden perhaps, but he's still the same wildly old foe. He is a foe of the Christian. He truly is. He can't have you eternal life, but he can have your joy, he can have your peace, and he can have you to lose your reward for God. And those rewards, beloved, I believe, are taken into the future eternity. But absolutely, according, I believe, as I see the Scripture, we have the time to go to the talents in the cities and so forth in the Scripture. I believe that in respect they are just a picture telling us that as to how we serve the Lord here in this life will be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ and thusly be given the responsibility and the privilege of serving the Lord between the new Jerusalem and the earth during his thousand-year reign. All right, back to this, though. All right, we have talked just briefly in the past evenings in First Thessalonians and in other places about this rapture when all Christians, and I want to stress that word, here I believe we can prove to you that he's coming for all his saints. We mentioned I believe that includes the Old Testament saints also. But in particular, it is the hope of the church the bride of Christ, and he's coming for all his things. You say, well, why is that guy standing up there getting red in the face and excited and just keeps on using the word all? Because A double L is very important to me. Because I want to stress again, if you were here the other night when we studied the two resurrections, you'll see, if you remember, I believe that at this moment in time, right here, this moment in time, that there are no Christians left on the face of the earth. Now, wait a while because I want that to soak in. I believe that God comes for all of His own. He won't miss a worm. Every worm that's His that is coming shall go up into the air to meet Him in the air. I also believe, though, that at that moment in time there will be those in different parts of the world who have never had the opportunity, such as you and I have been blessed with, to hear the gospel given in such a way as to be able to receive it. So that brings up maybe I don't know what questions I have in my pocket here. I hope one of them is on that because I won't have time to go into it this morning. So that makes you wonder, are there any people saved during Daniel's last week? I'll just quickly say yes and let you guess who they are. Because maybe that will be one of the questions. If not, maybe I'll have time to touch on it at least tonight. But I'm stressing this for this morning's purposes, that I believe at this moment in time, personally as I see the Scriptures, that in this instant of time there are no Christians left on the face of the earth. But yes, I do believe there will be those that are saved by the grace of God during this seven years. All right, but now we want to get to what we've just read here in Revelation twelve about the war in heaven Michael and his angels and Satan and notice his angels there's a war well it occurs right here in the middle of this seven-year period if you'll notice the line on the chart has been going through the heavenly places from the very garden time been going through the heavenly places it comes on down and then if you can see it the wiggly line it says Satan cast down. He's cast down to the earth, it says plainly. We know where he's cast down to. He's cast down to the earth, and then really begins the tribulation. The Greek word is the tribulation, the great one. Because I told you last evening, the first three and a half years are really not that bloody. They're really not that bad in the sense of what most people think. Oh, they're bad. I don't want to be here, but they're not that bad. But Satan is cast down into this, onto this earth, and he has his, oh, he goes about like a madman. We could go to other scriptures. He's frothing at the mouth, as it were, because he knows. Now, Satan doesn't know what God knows. God forbid. Satan doesn't even know the time of his coming. It's in the hand of the Father. It's not in any other hand. And so, Satan doesn't know, but he knows when he's cast down here that he has been a short time. And he really goes absolutely wild. Now I want to show you how I know that he's cast down, or one of the ways, I should say, that I know he's cast down at the midpoint of this seven years. In other words, three and a half years have transpired, and there will be yet three and a half years more to go. These are the days, as it were, that we read of in Matthew. If God had not... shortened them to three and a half years. It doesn't mean that God changes his mind and shortens the period, but it means God in his infinite wisdom from an eternity past, if he had not so ordained that this would only be the three and a half years, there should no elect survive. That's another big word, isn't it? It gets you excited. When you hear the word elect, we get awfully excited. Well, I'm not a hapher Calvinist. I don't believe in that, but I do believe in the election as the Bible teaches it. But anyway, he's cast down. Let's see how we can know. All right, look at your verses thirteen and fourteen again, and I want to remind you of this. Much of the language of Revelation is figurative symbolic, but be careful. Much of it is literal and actual. But we know here in verse thirteen, and when the dragon, we know Satan is the dragon. referred to here, but he's not a dragon, is he? I mean, he's not blowing smoke out of his nostrils and all that kind of thing. I've already told you. So we can see right away this is figurative language, isn't it? It's a language that shows us something of his character, isn't it? Like we saw the character the other evening of the first beast. We can see some of his character. And when the dragon saw that he was cast under the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. Who, you suppose, the woman is here. Israel, of course. The nation of Israel. That's who the woman is here. And the child spoken of can only be the man-child, the man Christ Jesus, the Blessed Lord himself. Because out of Israel came the Lord, didn't he? At his birth. At his first advent that we spoke of way back in June. He came from Israel, didn't he? He came from the nation Israel. You know the Christmas story as it's called. He came out of the Jewish nation and he's here associated with the Jewish nation as the child brought forth in verse thirteen. Now notice verse fourteen. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle. Now you know Israel doesn't have wings. I sometimes almost wonder because in that six or seven day war, man, you know, they are It's really something to see when God operates through a certain people, isn't it? I believe God was operating through them because he has a plan for Israel. But anyway, it says to the woman we're given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for, now here you better get out your calculators. No, you don't need your calculators, you know. I'm spoiled to a calculator. I can't hardly add two and two anymore, but I try. So let's see what we can add up here without our calculators. And it says for a time, that's one, and times, that's two, what have we got? One plus two equals three, right? One plus two equals three. And a half time, three and a half. There it is right there. In the language here, we are told, and of course we could go to Daniel, but anyway, we are told here that it's three and a half years left. He's down, he's cast down right in the midpoint. of this seven years. Daniel's last week, let me just briefly say for the help of some who've just come in perhaps, I'm sure you are aware that the weeks in Daniel, those seventy weeks are weeks of years. How many days in a week? Seven. So the week is representative of seven years. If we talk in Daniel about one week there, as we talk about Daniel's last week, we're talking about a week of years or in other words seven years okay all right we're going to move along a little bit more here he's cast down and he's really mad let's go to revelation chapter twenty i believe we'll go to next uh we're not going to have time to do some of the things i wanted to but anyway chapter twenty chapter twenty of the book of revelation and let's see further about satan And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. When it tells you in Scripture, it gives you a specific time, look out. There's a reason because there's going to something happen at the end of that specific time. So God, in his wisdom, in his grace here gives us he says now he's bound for a thousand years that tells me he's not always going to stay bound some people think once Satan is bound he's bound but that's not true notice and verse three and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that here we go and after that he must be loose a little season. All right. Eyes to the chart again, children. Bless your hearts. Y'all are patient. Let a fellow like me talk to you like that. But he's cast down. We believe it's for three and a half, the last three and a half years, of course, this Daniel's last week. And then at the end of that time, we find that he's bound and he's cast down into the bottom list Now, people sometimes give me a question or would ask me a question. I don't know if it's ever been given to me in writing, but they've come up to the chart after a meeting and asked me, what's the bottomless pit? I don't know. That'll show you. I'm not bashful. I don't know. I don't know what the bottomless pit is. I don't know where the bottomless pit is, but this much I know. God says he's cast in to the bottomless pit. And I believe it. You know, some people think I'm awful foolish. I believe in creation. I believe God spoke and the world came into being, you know. I don't believe in the Big Bang theory or any of the tadpole theories or any of those other theories. I believe that the Bible just states it just right. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I believe that. I can believe it. I don't understand it, but I can believe it. You know something an old fellow told me once, he says, why? If God told me, that Jonah swallowed the fish. I believe it. And you know something, I would too. I would too. Some people say, well, a whale doesn't have a throat big enough to swallow a man. Well, that's not right either. But anyway, that doesn't matter. It doesn't say whale, does it? It says a great fish. Anyway, that's just a little tidbit to throw out there. But here he's cast down for three and a half years. Then he's bound and cast into the bottomless pit. But what does our verse three say there? that, and after this he must be loosed a little season. Verse two also tells me it's for a thousand years. This is another way that when we read about the millennium, we know that it's a literal thousand years. We know that. So Satan is bound in this bottomless pit during this thousand year reign of Christ and his bride over the earth. But notice at the end of that thousand years, he's loose. It says for a little season. Now we're not going to get into that today. We don't have time. But he's loose for just a little season. I don't know how long that is, but I'm convinced from the reading and so forth that it's a very, very short period of time. And he has a reason for being loose, doesn't he? And he has plans for being loose. But we won't go into that today either. But the thing I do want to point out is this. And I'm going to have to do this very quickly. I'm hoping there'll be some questions in my pocket for this tonight. All right, let's go back. And I'll review with you. And then I'll let you get up from here and shake around. And the ladies get busy with the food after I return. Thanks. So don't give up, fellas. I'm going to let you go early. But let's start back here at the rapture. Then begins Daniel's last week, a time that's not nice even in the first three and a half, but it's much better than the real tribulation period, which is in the last three and a half. And it is at this point, at the ending of these seven years, that the Lord Jesus Christ, you read Revelation, again, in those verses. But when the Lord Jesus Christ and who's going to be coming with him, I am, or you, If you're one of his, you'll be coming with him. People think you're going to be lazy in heaven. I don't like that picture of the guy floating on the cloud strumming the heart and doing nothing. I'm lazy, but I'm not that lazy. And I'll tell you, but anyway, we come back. The Lord Jesus Christ with his armies from heaven comes back at the end of this time of the seven years. He comes back and he actually touches on the Mount of Olives. I wish I could tell you what's going to happen there. Things are going to change. When the Lord steps down to earth, things happen. But either way, he comes here with his armies, and he's the one who ends the Battle of Armageddon. You know, we all hear about this big thing, the Battle of Armageddon, and get all excited over that and everything. But really, he's the one who ends it. And then, after having judged the nations, sometimes called the warrior judgment, we sure can't talk about that. But there is a judgment time here for the living nations, I must stress that, for the living nations, for those as to how they've treated the Jews, really how they're judged, as to how they've treated his people, the nation of Israel. Anyway, this is a time of judgment. Then the Lord Jesus Christ sets up for a thousand years of reign over the earth. Now quickly, and I'll be closing with this, I said all the saved go up here. I stand by that. I say that there will be those saved during this seven years. I stand by that. some will give their lives we talked about those in this second part of the first resurrection because the first resurrection remember has two parts still the resurrection of the just we talked about those who gave their lives for the Lord during this seven years about their resurrection but there are some who will go right through particularly think about the hundred and forty four thousand I hope this will stir you to study think about the hundred and forty four thousand but anyway All who enter this millennial reign, I believe, I believe we would turn them as saved people. Saved people. Some ask me, well, will there be then sin is gone? No, sin is not gone out of the human race. There's still Adam's race. They still have the old nature abiding within. And even though... There are saved people who go into this, right? I'm stressing this for a point, so bear with me. Only the saved, we would term them, enter the millennium. But remember, no one on the chart thus far have we talked or seen that sin is done away with in the human race. The old Adam nature is still in these people, and the children they bear will have Adam's nature. Some say, yeah, but Satan's bound, then there's no trouble in the world. You know, that's what they would like to think today. They'd like to blame it all on Satan. You know, they'd say, well, the devil made me do it. That's a popular expression. Well, you know, the devil made me do it. And they hope that'll get him out. Well, he's bound. He has no influence during this time himself personally, does he? And his angels are with him. But remember, we still have what? Of those three things we read of in the Bible, the devil, the flesh, and the world. The devil's the only one that's been removed out for a little while. We still have the flesh. in the world to attempt and draw on the old Adam nature. So quickly, what I'm saying is some ask me, well, what about that? I'm saying that I believe only safe people go into the millennial reign, but they will bear children and some of those children will grow to be almost a thousand years old or at least are a thousand years old. And so those children will have to make the choice for themselves as they do today. You know, you're not saved because you're a child of Christian parents, are you? Oh, I hope you don't believe that. No, you're not saved on your mother's coattails, are you? I mean, you're saved by receiving Christ. They must bow to the Lordship of Christ during this time. Those who are born and go on, they must bow to him too, or else. I just got to stop because I don't want to drag out to the last minute. Maybe some of the questions I got in my pocket will answer that tonight. But anyway, yes, there are those born in the millennium who will feign obedience. If there's open rebellion, there is immediate death during the millennium and things like that. Maybe some of those questions will come up tonight. We can cover them a little further. But thank you again for coming. I'd like for you to bow your heads. We'll return thanks. The meeting will be dismissed. And I hope you can come back tonight at seven o'clock. And again, may the Lord bless you for coming. Heavenly Father, In Christ's name, we commit ourselves, each one to thee. We commit thy word to thee, O Heavenly Father. We know that we are but vessels of clay, but we submit, Father, that thou art perfect, and thy word is perfect. Grant us this day real blessing. We thank thee now for the food that has been so prepared for us. Bless the hands that have accomplished this work for thee. Bless our time together now. In fellowship, we pray. So we give thee thanks in the worthy and holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.