 Alright, so we're continuing our lecture. This is lecture two on as we're studying through the book of Revelation. So we're going to pick up now in Revelation chapter 13 and was 16 onwards. So what we said was there is this beast, the first beast, who is the antichrist. And he has started speaking blasphemies against God and all of that and people are beginning to worship him. And then comes the false prophet. He is doing signs and wonders and he's preaching and deceiving people. And his goal is to get people to worship the first beast, the antichrist. And in order to do that, he comes up with this image of the beast that is getting everybody to worship. So we're saying there's a one world leader, a world leader. There is a world religious leader. So there's a world political leader, a world religious leader. The world political leader is the antichrist. The world religious leader is the false prophet. And the false prophet has introduced this world religious system, getting people everywhere to worship the beast. But what we also see here in verses 16 through 18 is there's a world financial system. Or some people use the term economic, global economic system, or they may even use the term of one world currency. It doesn't actually have to be physical currency, but it's a means by which people are able to transact financially. Because he says in verse 16, he causes all, whether you're rich or poor, great or small, slave or free to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. This is Revelation 13, 16. So he says, you know, you've got to receive this mark. And this mark is something that is put on the body. So how it's put on the body, you know, we don't know exactly. We don't have to worry too much about that. Of course, there's technology available these days, whether it's going to be some sort of a microchip implant or whether it's some sort of us. You know, there's just so many ways to go about something like this. But he causes people to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. Now this mark is not any ordinary mark or 17 says you cannot buy or sell, except if you have the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. So you cannot buy yourself that this has to do with financial transactions. You can't buy anything you can't sell and you can't engage economically in the market. So that's why people use the term of one world currency. That means you can't buy or sell unless you have this. Or you can't engage financially unless you have this unless you have the mark or the name or the number. So we could try and imagine how this thing is introduced. So basically what we know is it's something on the on the on the right hand or on the forehead. So that means it is something that is put on the person. So it's not like an ID, physical ID card that we carry. Now we are used to carrying ID cards or credit cards. And of course we use credit cards for engaging in transactions. But this is going one level closer to the human body than carrying a credit card. It's something that is put upon the forehead or on the right hand and that represents the mark, the name or the number of the beast, the Antichrist. And unless you have that imprint or implant, whatever form it's going to be, you can't transact financially on by yourself. So it's some sort of a control on the economic system on the financial system that this Antichrist introduces. Now, if you think about it, given the technology that we have today, something like this is very possible. You know, if you just go back maybe 50 years, and we say like, how is this going to be possible? How are you going to be able to, you know, it says here, everybody is causing people everywhere globally to do this. If you go back in time 50 years, well, you know, you'd be wondering how could that be possible? How could you do this? Not practically possible. Here we are 50 years later. It is possible that given all the technology we have, given all, you know, the advances in electronics and so on. Yeah, it's possible. What exactly the technology will be that is used for this? Don't worry. You know, whatever is available at that time will be, of course, be used. But the technology is available. We can do this. Right. So, what we have seen here is this. And then, and then again, don't worry about the number 666, you know, his number, it says, you know, what's 18 says. Where do my understanding calculate the number of the beast? It is the number of a man. His number is 666. So, whether he literally and actually uses 666 or some version of that number, you know, it's okay. You don't have to worry about it, but John was given this information and we can see how it plays out. It may be literally he will say have 666 as my number and everybody has to have this 666 number on the foreheads or on the hand, or some form, some variation of it. You know, how it's actually played out. We don't have to worry, but I'm sure that at that time, when it is being done, people reading Revelation 13 will be able to identify it. Say, hey, exactly what Revelation 13 said is happening. We'll be able to identify it. Okay. So, he's given us what 18 says, you know, have this understanding. Calculate the number. So, there is some sort of a mathematical formula involved here. Calculate the number of the beast. It's the number of a man. His number is 666. So, this number of the beast which is being imprinted through some calculation is going to arrive at 666. What exactly that is? We don't know right now. You know, there have been a lot of speculation around this, you know. People would take the name of a certain religious leader and then they will do this translation of his first name and middle name and last name into, you know, a numerical equivalent and it arrives at 666 and says, look, that man is the Antichrist. And all these things and none of it, you know, really came into fulfillment. So, I think we shouldn't speculate at this point, but we can be sure enough that when it is happening, people can correlate. They'll be able to say, hey, John wrote in Revelation 1318, calculate the number of the beast and they will be able to see it. That you can actually determine that whatever number he is using is going to come out as 666. Right. So, I don't know if there's a barcode that's imprinted and if you look at the barcode carefully, it'll come out as 666. We don't know, but we have the information here. So Revelation 13, to sum it up, there's a world political leader, the Antichrist, a world religious leader, the false prophet, a world religious system or a world religion where people are being forced to worship the Antichrist through the image of the Antichrist, the image of the beast. There is a world economic system or a global financial system where people are forced to receive the mark of the beast on the forehead or on the hands. And only with that mark, you can transact financially, you can buy yourself. So all this is happening in the three and a half years, the second half of the tribulation. The whole world now is being brought in under the influence of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is backed up by the dragon, which is the devil, and he's supported on the earth by another man, the false prophet, a religious leader. And they're using religion and finance to control the world. And if you look at it today, religion and money, finance are two very powerful control systems globally, very powerful. Nations are controlled by religions, religious systems, you know, even though several nations claim to be secular, religion plays such a big part of how the nation is controlled. And if you look at it, if you get imagined at a national level, at a nation level, then surely at a global level, something that is introduced as a religious system can be used to control people, masses of people. And of course, economic system. Today, the financial system of the world is so interconnected, you know, you could make certain decisions here and impact people in another part of the world. As we are seeing happen now, you know, European nations, North America, other nations getting together, making decisions and impact Russia economically financially. I mean, like, within two or three days, the impact was felt, you know, they made certain decisions. And in just two or three days, the dollar ruble went up, the ruble, you know, just went up from almost double, a full hundred percent, almost. And then there's so many, they impacted Russia so much, you know, just a matter of days, things change. So you can imagine how the economic system of the world is so connected, you make a decision somewhere to do certain things, it impacts globally. Yeah. So we are living in a time when what is written in Revelation 13 can literally be fulfilled like that. It's not, you know, we're not waiting for days for this to happen. No, a decision is made, the nations are affected. It's so we are living in such a time. Any questions before we get into chapter 14? Okay. So Revelation chapter 14 is an interesting chapter. It is what we would refer to as a chapter of announcements. That means this chapter, we are seeing, we are seeing the 144,000 Jews who remember in the beginning of the tribulation, on the first half of the tribulation. There were 144,000 Jews who were mocked by God. So we said they were given the name of God and the Holy Spirit. And they, as we will see, they were servants of God. That means they were serving God in some way. These Jewish evangelists, as they refer to sometimes, they are serving God. Now these 144,000 Jews, we see them now in heaven. And then we see five angels who are making announcements to the earth. And each angel is saying something. They are warning the people on the earth. So that's chapter 14. It's a chapter of announcements where these angels are announcing to the people on the earth, warning them what is about to come. Right. So let's read Revelation 14 piece by piece. Could somebody read for us the first five verses Revelation chapter 14 verses one through five, please. Yes, sir. Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion. And with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters. And I like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of herpes playing their herbs. They sang as it's where a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women for their virgins. These are the ones who followed the lamb whenever he goes. These were redeemed from among men being first frauds of God and to the lamb. And India mounts was found no deceit for there without fault before the throne of God. Okay. Thank you. So Revelation 14 verses one through five. The focus now is on the 144,000 Jews. Now they are so John sees this vision a lamb. He sees a lamb. That's of course the Lord Jesus Christ. It's representing the Lord Jesus Christ. So he sees the Lord. And then he sees Mount Zion. So obviously this is not physical Mount Zion on the earth as Jerusalem. But this is Mount Zion in heaven, heavenly Mount Zion. So, you know, there is this parallel that we see in the New Testament. There is the earthly Jerusalem. There's the heavenly Jerusalem. That's the earthly Mount Zion. And there's a heavenly Mount Zion. We read about this in Hebrews chapter 12, the end of Hebrews 12. So when he says, I see the lamb standing on Mount Zion. He's looking into heaven. He's seeing the Lord Jesus. He's seeing the heavenly Mount Zion. And then he sees these 144,000 Jews. And they are, you know, they're worshiping God. There is the sound of harps playing and being played. And they are singing a new song before the throne. So obviously this is the scene in heaven. And there are these four living creatures, which we read often earlier about. And they're singing the song and it says, you know, it's a very special song because only these 144,000 Jews are singing. But now we see some things about the 144,000 Jews. It says that they had not defiled themselves with women. Verse four, that means they were unmarried single men, 144,000 single men, Jewish all around the world. And they followed the lamb wherever he goes. So that means they were followers of Jesus Christ. So these 144,000 Jews were actually Jewish believers in Jesus Christ. They were single men. They were followers of Jesus Christ. And it also says they were redeemed from men, from among men. So it says this twice. End of verse three, it says they were redeemed from the earth. End of verse four, it says they were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the lamb. So we'll come to that. But before we go into that, just the next verse was five. It says the mouth was no deceit. And they were without fault before the throne of God. So what do we know about these 144,000 Jews as men, as people on the earth? They were single men. They were believers in Jesus. They lived honest or you say lies of great integrity. Verse five, there was no deceit in the mouth. They were without fault before the throne of God. They lived these powerful lives. And we can take it that being followers of Jesus Christ during the tribulation, they were bearing witness to Jesus Christ. They followed the lamb variable. That means they were faithful to the lamb of God, all their lives. So these are 145,000 Jews. But it also says they were redeemed from the earth. They were redeemed from among men as the first fruits to God and to the lamb. So that is something we have to think about. What does that mean? Now, the question is, if these 144,000 Jewish men were on the earth and they were sealed by God and they lived these righteous lives and that they followed Christ and they were believers in Christ, how did they get into heaven? Because John is seeing them in heaven on Mount Zion before the throne of God, along with the elders worshipping God, singing a new song with the sounds of harp. He's seeing them in heaven. And this is in the second half of the tribulation. So Revelation 7, we read about them in the first half of the tribulation. Revelation 14, we read about them in the second half of the tribulation. The question is, how do they get to heaven? There are two possible choices. One is, either they were killed during the tribulation for their faith in Christ. They died and they were resurrected, taken into heaven, or they were raptured and taken into heaven. God could rapture them and just take them up, like how we read about the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15. It's possible, or if we see how the two witnesses were killed and they were resurrected and raised up, he could have done the same with these 144,000 Jews. So it's not clearly given how they went. So it's only a good guess, I could say. We could say it's most likely like this. Now, the word firstfruits may give us an indication. The word firstfruits in other places in the New Testament is 1 in James 1, I think it was 18. It's used to talk about being born again, firstfruits. In 1 Corinthians 15th chapter, it's used to talk about physical resurrection, the resurrection of Christ, firstfruits. So if we go by that, and we also go by this whole thing about being redeemed from among men, because we read it earlier in Revelation chapter 7, when it talks about these others who were the, who, Revelation 7, 14, who have come out of the Great Revelation, you know, it is possible. It is possible that just going by the word firstfruits and by the fact that they were redeemed from among men, we could say that these 144,000 Jews were probably killed during the Tribulation and then were raised up, or they were just raptured right away. Now, in Revelation 9 and verse 4, Revelation 9 verse 4, when we read about this fifth angel, this angel was commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have a seal of God on their foreheads. So Revelation 9 verse 4, it seems to indicate, Revelation 9 verse 4, that having the seal of God on their foreheads, which these 144,000 Jews have, protected them from harm and death, it seems like it. So that could give a little weightage to the idea that maybe this 144,000 Jews were just raptured, taken up into heaven. That's one way of looking at it, or maybe God just allowed them to be killed for their faith and then raised up their bodies as firstfruits. We don't know and you will find people having both of these points of view and some people even refer to this as a mid-tribulation rapture, the 144,000 Jews being raptured. So therefore they extend it and say, okay, the rapture would happen in the middle of the tribulation because these 144,000 Jews were firstfruits raptured into heaven, etc. My thought is all of that is good guesses, right? We are guessing at that point because we don't know for sure. What we know for sure is these 144,000 Jews are up in heaven and they are worshipping God in Revelation 14. How exactly did they go up? Did they die and then resurrect? Were they just raptured and go up into heaven? We are not very sure and so we just look at possible options. We consider possible options and we leave it at that. I don't think anybody could say definitively that this is the way it will happen. We could do our best, what to say, guess and say these are the possible options, how they would go to heaven. So that is Revelation 14 verse 1 to 5. But what we know for sure is in the second of the tribulation 144,000 Jews are taken out of the earth, they are in heaven. Then we see, starting from verse 6, we see five angels making announcements to people on the earth. So let's read portion by portion. Somebody read verses 6 and 7, please. Revelation 14, 6 and 7, please. So that's our promise. Revelation 14, 6 and 7, please. Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwelt on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue and people. Seeing with a loud voice, fear God and keep glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come. And worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and spring of water. So Revelation 14, 6 and 7. Now John is saying, this is another angel who is proclaiming the everlasting gospel to those who dwell on the earth, every nation, tribe, tongue and people. And he is telling them to fear God and give glory to God. So God is using an angel during this tribulation period, Revelation 14, to warn people to proclaim the everlasting gospel to every nation, tribe, tongue and people. So think about it. Now, we know typically the responsibility of preaching the gospel is given to the church. Generally speaking, it is the church who has the responsibility. And the church has fulfilled the responsibility and has proclaimed the gospel to all nations on the earth. The church has been taken out of the way, taken into heaven. And here in the middle of the tribulation, Revelation 14, there are lots of people who are dying for their faith in Christ. They believe in Jesus to die. Of course, they will be doing something, their part to testify to Christ because they are the testimony of Jesus Christ. But in addition to that, Revelation 14, 6 and 7, God is sending an angel messenger to go to all the nations, tribe and tongue and preach to those who dwell on the earth. How exactly this is going to happen? How exactly is it going to be? We don't know. Could there be an angel, a single angel? Or could there be a company of angels? Or is it, you know, in what way is God going to do this that people on the earth are warned to fear God and to glorify him? Because the judgment is coming. That's verse 7. So God is sending angels to do this work at that time, Revelation 14, 6 and 7. So people are being warned. The gospel is being proclaimed all across the earth. So obviously, if the gospel is being proclaimed, it means people will be saved. There will be those who hear the gospel and respond to the gospel during the tribulation and they will be saved. Then there's another angel doing something. So let's read verses 8, Revelation 14 verse 8, please. What does the second angel do? Thomas? Saying with a loud voice, fear God, give glory to him for the heart of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the spring of water. And another angel followed saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen to the great city because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of the fornication. So in verse 8, the second angel is announcing Babylon is fallen, is fallen that great city because all nations were drinking of wine, made to drink of that wine. So this angel is announcing in advance the fall of Babylon. Now, what is this Babylon, we will get to see in chapter 17 and 18. And basically what we will understand as we go through 17 and 18 is chapter 17 is announcing the fall of that world religious system, which this false prophet, which this false prophet had introduced, that is also referred to as mystery Babylon, that falls, that collapses. And in chapter 18, this world economic system that had been introduced also collapses. That is referred to as the great city Babylon because it's talking about buying and selling and commerce. So that collapses. So both the mystery Babylon representing the world religious system and the city Babylon representing the economic system, both these collapse, chapter 17 and 18. But now here in Revelation 14 verse 8, the angel is announcing ahead of time Babylon is fallen. It's telling people, look, this thing is going to collapse. It's going to go away. Then there's a third angel who's making another announcement. So let's read verses 9 to 13, please. Revelation chapter 14 verses 9 to 13. Canon, is your mic okay to read? I'm not sure. Revelation chapter 14 verses 9 to 13. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Go ahead, please. Revelation 14. 9 to 13. I'll read. Then a third angel followed them saying with the loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand. He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worships the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, right, blessed are the dead who died in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. Thank you. So this third angel is warning the people saying, don't receive the mark of the beast and don't worship the image of the beast. Because if you do that, you are going to be tormented. You're going to go to the lake of fire and you will be dismissed from God's presence. So this angel is warning people, don't receive the mark of the beast. Don't worship the image of the beast. And then it says, you know, verse 12, this is the endurance that if you keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, you'll be blessed who died in the Lord from now on. So in other words, obviously, refusing to worship the image of the beast or refusing to receive the mark of the beast is going to result in death. We saw that in chapter 13. It's going to kill everyone who refuses to do this. But then the angel is encouraging saying, look, this is your hope or this is your endurance. This is what, you know, if you keep the commandments of the Lord and faith of Jesus, you are blessed when you die in the Lord from now on. That means you're refusing to receive the mark of the beast. You're refusing to worship the image of the beast. If you die, you're blessed. You're going to be with God in heaven. So the angel is warning the people. Again, it's telling us, so this all of this is very indicative or very clearly indicative that there will be people during the Great Tribulation, even in the during the second half of the tribulation who will hear the gospel and who will believe in Jesus Christ and who will die for Christ. They will be killed, but they will die in faith for Jesus Christ. Now, the next angel. So there are two more angels, right? So we've gone, we've heard three angel announcements, two more are there. Let's please read verses 14 to 16, Revelation, the 14th chapter, verses 14 to 16, Thomas, Revelation, chapter 14, verses 14 through 16. Our prince, maybe you could read it. Yes, sir. Then I looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud said, One like the son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a serve scale and another angel come out of the temple crying with the loud voice to him who sit on the cloud. Thirst in your scale and for the time has come for you to rep for the harvest of the earth is rep. So he who said on the cloud trust, trust in his scale on the skill on the earth and the earth was great. All right. So John is saying, he's saying Jesus, the son of man, that's Jesus. That's the term used for Jesus with a golden crown. So Jesus is enthroned. He's glorified. He's sitting on the cloud and he's got a sharp sickle in his hand. Now the sickle is a harvesting tool. You know where you go and cut the harvest in the fields. The farmers use that. He used the sickle to reap the harvest. And he is saying Jesus with this crown sitting on the throne ready with the sickle is going to get the harvest. Now in the Bible harvest is a prophetic symbol of salvation of souls of souls being saved of souls being reaped for the kingdom of God. Okay. I see that note from Thomas. It's a little noisy there. Okay. That's fine. No problem. So Jesus is ready for the harvest. So Revelation 14, 14 to 16, the angel is basically telling us at that point in the tribulation, there's going to be a rich harvest of souls. The Lord puts in the sickle and the earth was reaped. That means it's going to be a big in gathering of souls in the second half of the tribulation. The gospel is being preached. Angels are warning and people are going to believe in Jesus Christ. Of course, there is this anti Christ. There is this false prophet. They're deceiving the nations and many people are subscribing to the anti Christ. Many people are believing the false prophet and all that's happening. But at the same time, the Lord Jesus is reaping a great harvest of souls. There will be people who will, like we read there in verse 12, they will keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus in that tribulation. They'll keep it. And it's saying here, Revelation 14, 14 through 16, the son of man sitting in the golden crown. He is the Lord of the harvest and he's going to reap a great harvest. So many souls will be saved during the second half of the tribulation. And then the last part of Revelation 14. Let's finish this. I think we can. Revelation 14 verses 17 to 20. I will read it and I will just comment on it. So this is the fifth angel. Then another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven. He also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power of a fire. And he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle saying, trust in your sharp sickle and gather the cluster of the wine of the earth for a grape softly ripe. So the angel trust in his sickle into the earth and gather the wine of the earth and throw it into great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trampled outside the city and blood came up out of the wine press up to the horse's bridle for 1,600 furlongs. So verses 17 to 20 is the fifth angel. What does fifth angel do? He says, you know, he sees another angel holding the sickle, but this one is gathering grapes, grapes being thrown into the wine press. And this is prophetic image of judgment because in the wine press, the grapes are crushed. It's basically in those days people would walk, you know, walk on their feet and they will crush the grapes. They will trample the grapes and, you know, to get the grape juice out. So that is symbolic of judgment. And so this in Revelation 14 17 to 20 is a is a picture of the wine press of the wrath of God. That's how it ends in verse 19, the great wine press of the wrath of God. This is judgment time. And verse 20 gives us some information. It says the wine press was trampled outside the city, the city of course referring to Jerusalem. That means there's going to be this judgment taking place outside the city of Jerusalem. And that's the place of judgment. The judgment is going to happen. And when the judgment of God happens in that place outside the city of Jerusalem, what's going to happen? Blood is going to flow as high as a horse's bridle, which is about four feet high. It's going to flow for 1,604 long, about 184 miles, close to 200 miles. Then there's going to be so much of bloodshed. It's going to flow as high as a horse's bridle about four feet off the ground for 200 miles. Now, and of course we don't know how wide it is, but the point is outside the city of Jerusalem is where this great and final judgment of God is going to take place. There's going to be so much of bloodshed. It's going to flow like a river for about 200 miles. So that's the fifth angel. He's announcing this what's going to happen. So in closing Revelation 14, there are five angels making announcements. What did we see? First angel is proclaiming the gospel so that people can get saved. Second angel is warning that Babylon is going to fall. That is this one world religion and one world economic system is going to collapse. The third angel is telling people, don't receive the mark of the beast. It's better to die. It will be blessed if you die, but don't receive the mark of the beast. It's better to die for obeying the commandment of God and your faith in Jesus. The fourth angel is announcing that there is going to be a great harvest of souls. So a lot of people will be saved. The fifth angel is announcing the judgment of God is going to happen outside of the city of Jerusalem. And it's going to result in a lot of bloodshed. It's going to so much bloodshed that it's going to flow like a river for 200 miles. That judgment is coming. It's going to happen just outside the city of Jerusalem. We will see in Revelation 16 how that's going to happen. That basically is the battle of Armageddon outside of Jerusalem. The battle of Armageddon will take place. So we have covered till the end of Revelation chapter 14. And I hope things are very clear. If you have any questions, we will take them next week. And it's really interesting just going chapter by chapter, seeing all that has been given to us. Let's close in prayer. I want to thank you for listening patiently and joining through the book of Revelation. Could somebody close in prayer and we will dismiss. Prince, would you pray and we will dismiss, please? Yes. Thank you, dear heavenly father. Thank you. You help us to learn that your word from the book of Revelation that we reveal all these things for you a lot. We believe that you're working in our hearts so that we can worship you and we can continuously connect with you a lot. Thank you for the coming days. Stabilization will come. But your power, your power in us so that we can reach, we can live forever with you a lot. Thank you. I also pray for pastor and those who we attend the class, bless us in this time and also submit all things in your hand. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. God bless. I'll see you in the next class. Bye now. Thank you.