Download 5896U FLORIDA BIBLE SCHOOL - 1998 REVELATION REVEALED

5896U
FLORIDA BIBLE SCHOOL - 1998
REVELATION REVEALED
Speaker: Bro. Michael Ashton
Study #3: The Battle for the Believer's Conscience
Chapters covered - Revelation 4 to 10
Good morning brethren and sisters. Good morning brother Michael!
I'm going to start off by admitting a problem to you! and that is, I wasn't quite sure which
way round to do this class and the next class. The ideal way would have been to do
them both together, one word from the first class and one word from the second
alternatively, but I thought I might have difficulty with that and you might have even
more difficulty, so there are certain things that we're going to take for granted today,
which I hope will become apparent when we look tomorrow. So that's my excuse if
anything goes over your heads this morning, but I hope it won't do!
We looked at this yesterday, we were just in the first section of the book, and what we
tried to show was that the theme of Revelation is the development of a people, a people
who have been prepared for the Lord, that ultimately when the Lord returns, we shall be
united and made one with Him. So the theme that we examined in that section, was of
the development of the one man, the one man in Christ Jesus. I don't want us to
forget that as we continue, it's so important to our understanding of the book of
Revelation.
The example, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the vision we saw in chapter 1
was one like unto the Son of man; so if we concentrate on how the Lord became
perfected, then we can understand how we too, might become perfected. We're told in
Hebrews that the Lord Jesus Christ was made perfect through sufferings, and the same
is true for every saint that becomes united with the Lord Jesus Christ. But, of course, it's
not that the suffering of every saint is going to be the same, nor that the testing of saints
is going to be the same, in every age and every period of time. So, we identify amongst
us those whose lives seem to be full of difficulties which never affect us, and
alternatively, our lives are full of difficulties and we see others that just don't have those
problems. That doesn't mean that all of us are not being tested. Of course we are, but
we're being tested in different ways. If we look back down through the history of time,
then we see that the things which faced our earlier brethren and sisters might not be
the issues that are facing us today, and, equally, those things which we have to endure,
are not things that they had to endure.
So, what do we learn now as we move through the book of Revelation? Well, we're
going to move into a section which starts in chapter 4 and it runs all the way through to
-2chapter 16. Now, that's a big chunk for us to deal with in one session and, of course,
we're only going to try and pick out the thread, just so that we've got a framework within
which other studies of Revelation can find their place.
So, it's necessary for us to do a little bit of work in chapter 4 of Revelation, just to
understand what's happening. Let's have a look at this first, shall we? Revelation is a
book of sign and symbol, that we know! but we have to try and understand what those
signs and symbols are really teaching us. So, Revelation 4 verse 1 says, 'After this I
looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven'; so, we're just going to examine for a
moment what these two terms in the book of Revelation mean, heaven and earth. It
might seem like Sunday School stuff, I hope it isn't, but once we get this straight, the
Revelation starts to fall into place so much more easily. So, what are these two terms
and what are we being told by them?
Let's look at heaven first of all! When we come across the term 'heaven' in the book of
Revelation, it's talking about rulers, it's talking about government. Not talking about
where God lives, not talking about God's abode, but it's talking about rulers and it's
talking about government. So, when in Revelation 4 verse 1, a door was opened in
heaven, John is being granted a vision of governments.
Now, the vision of government that he's being granted is actually a vision of the time,
(remember the verse that we started with back on Monday, Revelation 11 verse 15, a
time when 'the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD and of
His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever'. So, it's that government that John is
able to see, because if we just read on in chapter 4 verse 2, 'Immediate I was in spirit:
and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. He that sat was to
look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and a rainbow round about the throne, in
sight like an emerald. And round about the throne 4 and 20 seats: and upon the seats 4
and 20 elders sitting, arrayed in white raiment; they had on their heads crowns of gold.
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices'. They were
wearing the victor's wreath, those that were sitting round about the throne, because
they represent those who are part of the one man perfected and now united with the
Lord Jesus Christ in His kingdom, because this is a 'kingdom vision'. It's one of our
snapshot visions that punctuates the book of Revelation.
So, heaven represents rulers and government, and just to complete the picture,
earth represents the people who are being ruled over. Let's just have a look at that
passage that's marked there, Isaiah 1, just so we can confirm this: Isaiah 1 verse 2
reads, 'Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken', so there are
our two symbols heaven and earth. Was God through Isaiah speaking to the heavens,
the literal heavens and the literal earth? of course, He wasn't! Then, down to verse 10,
where exactly the same words are used except the word 'heavens' is replaced by
another word and 'earth' is replaced by another word; so instead of 'Hear O heavens
and give ear O earth', we read, 'Hear the word of the LORD ye rulers of Sodom; give
ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah', so, heavens = rulers, earth =
people. So simple, isn't it? from those two verses. Of course, there are more signs'
-3language here in Isaiah 1, because He wasn't speaking to Sodom or Gomorrah, but He
was speaking to Israel and He was speaking to the people of Israel, who were acting
out as if they were the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and their rulers; except that's
another story! So far as we're concerned in Revelation, we have now identified heaven
and we've identified earth; so, whenever we come across those terms in the book of
Revelation, that's what it's talking about. Whenever John is taken in spirit into heaven,
then he is seeing rulership and he's seeing government, whether that is the government
of men, the kingdoms of this world, or whether it's the government, the rulership of the
Lord Jesus Christ on His Father's behalf, which is the kingdom of heaven.
So, that's the information we need as we move into Revelation 4. Let's just go back
there, shall we? Here's the vision which John saw: we saw some of the other details as
we read through, 'he that sat upon', this is verse 3, 'upon the throne was to look upon
like a jasper and a sardine stone'. Two aspects to the One that sat upon the throne, and
from the colour of the stones, we have the indication that we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ, One who had a divine origin, because His Father was God, that's in the jasper
stone; and yet was the Word made flesh in the red colour of the sardine stone, and
here those two attributes wrought close together, united in the Lord Jesus Christ in a
way that's not been achieved in any other son of Adam; now wholly complete and right
and devoted to the service and the obedience of His Father's will.
Verse 4, 'And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats
four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment' (now we know what that is, this
is the righteousness of the saints), isn't it? and they're clothed in righteousness, not a
righteousness of their own, but the righteousness which has been imputed to them, it's
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ which is upon them. They have on their
heads these victory crowns, because they are the ones, remember the word that we
looked at the end of yesterday morning's session, they're the ones that have overcome!
Those are the ones who have breasted the tape at the end of the race, those are the
ones who have been cheered on by their brethren and accepted by the Lord Jesus
Christ, at the end of the race of life!
Verse 5, 'And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: there
were 7 lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God'.
They're talking here of the completion of the work of God, and all those things that have
been necessary to bring that work to a culminating point. Verse 6, 'Before the throne a
sea of glass like unto crystal', no more the wicked like the troubled sea, churning up
mire and dirt, but now the people are at peace! So a sea of glass like crystal; 'and in the
midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures (not beasts)'.
These are distinguished from what we're going to look at tomorrow, we're going to look
at beasts tomorrow. But today, as far as we're concerned, 'living creatures'.
The living creatures, of course, are very much like the cherubim; and, just a very simple
thing about the cherubim and the living creatures: Why should cherubim be called 'living
creatures'? Well, ask yourself where the cherubim were first introduced in scripture?
Genesis 3 at the end, which records for us, the tree which was in the midst of the
garden, the tree whose way was kept by cherubims and the flaming sword turning every
-4way. It was the tree of life, they had to be living creatures because they are associated
with the tree of life. So, these are living creatures round about the throne. They're
representing to us, just the same as the elders, these are perfected saints, in just the
same way as the elders are perfected saints. But they're just revealing another aspect
to us.
So, here are the cherubims, there are the 4 living creatures, full of eyes before and
behind, and you'll see the description, it's just like Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6; so, they're not
only cherubim, they're also seraphims, because they have 6 wings, there in verse 8.
'They rest not day nor night saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was , and
is, and is to come'; so, there's the covenant Name of God, 'which was, and is, and is to
come, the Almighty'. They give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat on the
throne (the Lord Jesus Christ - man made perfect) 'who lives for ever and ever. They
fall down before Him and worship Him, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honour and power; Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were
created'. So, here now it is speaking of the new Creation, those who have been made
one with Him — Remember, it's this continuing theme of the perfection of the saints.
Let's just take this matter of symbols a little bit further, shall we? We looked at 'heaven'
and 'earth'. As we continue on in the book of Revelation we're going to meet other
things which have a relationship to heaven and earth. Once we've understood what
heaven and earth are about, then we can begin to pick up what the sun, moon and the
stars are telling us in Revelation. General speaking this is the information that we need:
sun
stars
moon
represents
represents
represents
royalty, the king, head ruler
next level down - princes and rulers
the priesthood
Let's just look at the Isaiah and Ezekiel references, shall we?
— Isaiah 60 verse 20, using the same language that we have in Revelation, speaking
to the nation at the time of its final restoration: 'The sun shall no more go down; neither
shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the
days of thy mourning shall be ended'. It's this verse that's picked up right at the end of
the Revelation, 'no need of the sun for light by day' because God will be its light; the
King will be there, the King of God's choosing, and now the sun is there. The sun
represents the king and also the moon represents the priesthood, and with the return of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the establishment of the kingdom, He is there.
— Let's turn to Ezekiel 32, shall we? verse 7, this is now speaking about the Egyptians
and the destruction of the Egyptians and their power: Verse 7: 'when I shall put thee out
(extinguish thee) I will cover the heaven (the Pharaoh) and make the stars thereof dark.
I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light'. So, the ruler (the
Pharaoh), the priests (those pagan priests of Egypt) are all taken away. Verse 8: 'All the
bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith
the Lord God. I will vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction
-5among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known'. Their lights would be
put out, all the things which they had done, both their political power (the royalty) and
their religious power (in the priesthood) taken out of the way.
Right, well back into Revelation: and, that vision that we had in Revelation 4 then
moves into the 5th chapter where a 7 sealed scroll is seen in the hands of him that sat
on the throne. Who is worthy to open the scroll? is the question that's asked, and they
weep until there is one who is able to open the scroll. Now, the interesting thing, as far
as this is concerned, is what we're being told, is that there's an important thing that we
ought to be doing, because this is what the saints are doing in this condition. That' the
message! it's how important prayer is!
Once we understand the purpose of God, it demands that we pray, it's imperative that
we pray for its completion, because this is exactly what happens in the book of
Revelation! God's unfolding purpose is revealed and we find the saints and they are
always praying, they're always praying; but we're also being told what they prayed for.
So, this is a help to us because if we know what they should be praying for, and what
they were praying for, we know what we should be praying for. This, notice this little
sequence which runs through, first of all in chapter 5 (we've met the living creatures in
chapter 4 and the elders, 4 living creatures and 24 elders); just notice in verse 8 of
Revelation 5, when the Lamb had taken the book, 'the four living creatures and the 24
elders, fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them harps and golden vials full
of odours which are the prayers of saints'. Right? So, those are the prayers!
Turn to chapter 6 verse 10. Chapter 6 is the chapter which deals with the 7 seals being
opened: verse 9, 'When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
them who had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony that they held;
they cried with a loud voice, saying, (so here's the prayer) How long, O Lord, holy and
true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth'? That's
upon the peoples. How long is it going to be? when are you going to bring your
judgments upon these people? and the prayers lead to the judgments. If you remember
there are 3 main sections of judgments: we looked at them in this way: Revelation 6 there was the 7 sealed scroll, then there were the 7 trumpets, then the 7 vials or bowls.
— We learned in our first session that, first of all, they are God's judgments against
pagan Rome, that the seals are being opened out to reveal the judgments against the
dragon.
— Then, when the trumpets come, they're God's judgments against Christian Rome (in
inverted commas), the trumpets sounding against the beast.
— Then, finally, when the vials of God's wrath are poured out, God's judgments on
papal Rome, because they're the vials poured out on the image of the beast.
Now, each of those sets of judgments (so the book of Revelation tells us) were
triggered by the prayers of the saints. It was the saints' understanding that these
situations were going to occur:
-6— That there was going to be a dragon (well, they actually knew it, because they were
living under the dragon's power at the time); so, they prayed that the dragon would be
taken out of the way. He was, because God's judgments fell upon the dragon.
— They knew as well that there was going to be a beast, this religious system of
government that was going to be introduced, and they asked for God's judgments to be
brought upon that, and they were, as we'll see in a moment.
— Then, finally, there was going to be something which was the image of the beast,
even more sinister and they will pray that God's judgments will be revealed on that too!
and they were!
So, we see the first little thread here, in the prayers of Revelation 5 and Revelation 6,
which lead absolutely to the judgments on pagan Rome.
But there's another section as well, and we need to move onto that! because in
Revelation chapter 8, if you'll just turn over a couple of chapters, and we're in the
trumpet section here well, we're just about to enter the trumpets. The first trumpet is in
verse 7of chapter 8, but we can see what starts the trumpets being sounded, verse 3:
'Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; there was given
him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden
altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense, which came with the
prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. The angel took
the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were
voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake'. Very graphic, isn't it? as if
the prayers had been taken and the prayers themselves are cast into the earth where
the peoples are (where the people are being ruled) and that's where the judgments are
going to take place. The prayers themselves bring the judgments! that's what we're
being told. So, we're looking for the establishment of the kingdom, and we know the
only way the kingdom can be established is if the kingdoms of this world are put down,
to be replaced by the kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ; then, we must be praying
for the kingdoms of this world to be destroyed. Now, I don't know if that's in your
prayers or not? it ought to be, it's been in the prayers of our brethren down through past
centuries, and we've seen what it achieved; so, that ought to be the content, part of the
content of our prayers now — that the kingdoms of this world should be removed, so
the kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ can be introduced.
But we're not finished yet, because it moves on! Do you remember that we read in
Revelation 5 verse 8, that the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders had golden vials full
of odours which are the prayers of the saints; does that remind you of anything? They
had golden vials which were full of odours which were prayers, but when we move later
on in the book of Revelation, chapter 15 verse 7, (just turn there, we've skipped over a
section which we're going to come back to later in the week) verse 5 for connection,
'After that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven
was opened: And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues,
clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles (that
-7ought to remind us of the vision of Revelation 1, of the one man clothed in white, girt
about the paps with a golden girdle), verse 7, 'One of the four living creatures gave unto
the seven angels seven golden vials'; not now full of odours which are the prayers of
saints, but golden vials full of the wrath of God which are going to be poured out on the
kingdoms of the beast.
So, there have been sort of separate sections: these prayers lead directly to the seal
judgments; these prayers lead directly to the trumpet judgments, there is a continuing
thread because the prayers up here also lead to the judgments that were going to be
poured out on the kingdom of the beast, which are the vial judgments.
Now, what this is telling us is that our fellow believers right back in the first century A.D.
knew about the whole of the purpose of God. They were not just focussing only on the
things which were happening in their day. They were living under the domination of the
dragon, under pagan Rome, but through what had been granted to them in vision, they
were able to see far beyond that! and they were not only asking for pagan Rome to be
removed from them, they were also asking for the kingdom of our LORD and of His
Christ to be established. Right back there they were asking for it, right back there! Of
course, they wanted their own personal situation to be relieved, but only insofar as it
was part of the developing purpose of God, which would lead to that great time when
His kingdom would be established and His name would be praised throughout the
earth. So, their prayers lead directly to the judgments, all of the judgments, pagan
Rome, Christian Rome, the kingdom of the beast, and until in the end, God will be all
and in all!
Now, you say, what has all this got to do with the battle for the believer's conscience?
Well, it's got this to do with it; all of these different people were living under different
circumstances. Let's just go back to a slide which shows the scrolls, the trumpets and
the vials. They describe very different periods of time! as I said at the outset, saints do
not all have the same testing, they're not all tempted in the same way, different ages
brings different experiences. Even within those different ages, there's a whole range of
problems which can beset them. But this information is given to us because some of
these will be applicable to us:
— We're not actually living in the time of pagan Rome, but I've got no doubt that some
of you are, or have been in the past, working for people who just constantly are
blaspheming. You spend 8 to 10 hours a day in their presence; it's as if you're under
the dominion of the dragon, that may be how your boss is! How do you respond to that?
how do you deal in those circumstances? because they're trying to make you like them!
it's a battle for your mind. It's a battle for the language that you use and who's going to
win? are they going to win? is the dragon going to have ascendency or is the Word of
God going to have ascendency?
— Or, perhaps, our testing comes in this form: The people who live under the beast
which have accepted Christianity, but it was a false form of Christianity, and they're
saying to us 'I'm just not different, we're both serving the same God, I can't understand
why you spend so long going to your 'oh, you don't call them churches!', going to your
-8meetings, why do you bother with all of that? why do you stand out? why do you make
these differences? and they're trying to press you into a mould of their making! It's as
much a test to us as the first one can be a test, living in the realm of the greater
blasphemer. So, there just are different ways for our being tested.
— Or, even more pointedly, those who lived in this period, when things were happening
deceptively, information was being withheld, we only had a partial understanding of
what was happening in the world. We can be in those situations where we've only got
part of the picture and we need to have the full picture. It can be a test to us! we need
to see it all.
So, our brethren and sisters who lived in those different epochs, there was a battle
going on as to who was going to win: whether it would be the dragon, whether it would
be the beast, whether it would be the image of the beast. Who would take control of
their minds? who would take control of their consciences? how was it going to work?
Now, there's a great promise given (this is in Revelation 7) for those who really wanted
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and to see the completion of God's purpose, then a
promise was going to be made to them. This is immediately after the seals' section,
that's chapter 6, alright? So, now we're in chapter 7, 'After these things I saw four
angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth,
that no wind should blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree'. So, for a time,
everything was held back, because the people of the earth are going to receive some
form of treatment. Verse 2, 'I saw another angel ascend from the east, having the seal
of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, saying, Hurt not the
earth, the sea, the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads'.
A 144,000 are going to be sealed, so, after the great difficulty of this time (and we know
what happened because we read there back in chapter 6 verse 9, 'the souls of them
under the altar that had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which
they held) a great persecution which took place when the dragon was in the
ascendency; and less that should happen again, and people should feel that there's no
point in holding on, so that they could overcome, then the vision was shown them that
God was going to seal His servants in their forehead.
Now, this doesn't mean that there was some miraculous shield which would protect
them against all temptations, and they needn't bother at all. What it's doing is saying
here is information on how you can deal with those problems when they arise. The only
way you can deal with them, is as if you were sealed in your forehead; and the word
that's used for 'sealed' just means to 'confirm' (4972), to confirm people in their
forehead, just as you would put a seal on a legal document, so a seal was put upon the
forehead.
We know why it was put there, of course, if you just turn back to Hebrews 1, the
example as always is in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Hebrews 1 this is what we read:
verse 2, 'God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds: Who being the
brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person'. The 'express image of
His person', that's just like a seal being put on, isn't it? because the point of the seal is
-9that it makes an impression, and the impression here on the Lord Jesus Christ, was
that the Lord Jesus Christ was showing forth absolutely the attributes of His Father.
What did the Lord say to Philip, 'how long have you been with Me, and you say, show
us the Father? surely, you could have seen the qualities of Almighty God', Jesus was
showing this in the things that He had done! So the express image of the person of God
and sealed in the forehead, the servants of God are able then, to withstand the testing,
the temptations, the dominations which comes to them from all these different quarters
whatever it may be, whether it be from the pagans, whether it be from the so-called
Christians, whether it be from those who deliberately set out to deceive. But these didn't
deliberately set out to deceive, that was the difference, they had accepted a form of
Christianity and turned the empire into something which was Christian. The sinister part
comes later, when power is being used for other purposes. Whatever of those it might
be, the way to overcome them is the seal of God in the foreheads.
There was, of course, someone trying to something different! Turn to Revelation 13, we
are just straying briefly into something from tomorrow, verse 11, 'I beheld another beast
coming up out of the earth, who had two horns like a lamb, and spake as a dragon.'
That was the beast who was dealt with during the 'trumpets' period. Notice what he
does, verse 15: 'he had power to give life unto the image of the beast , that the image
of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image
of the beast should be killed. He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free
and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or their foreheads'. So, some were
sealed on their forehead and others were going to receive a mark on their right hand;
'that no one might buy or sell, save he that hath the mark or the name of the beast or
the number of his name'.
So, how are you going to deal with that? he's going to put a mark on the foreheads;
notice, different words are used. In Revelation 7 they were going to be sealed, there
was going to be a seal on the forehead of the 144,000; in Revelation 13 verse 16, it
was going to be a mark on the forehead, and the word is different and it means a very
different thing. The word 'mark' means 'a cutting, an incision' (5480) in just the same
way as when we go back into Isaiah and we read about the man who took a tree and
they started to carve it, do you remember? and then they would bow down and worship
it. They worshipped an idol, the same word is being used for the mark on the forehead
that the beast would place on the foreheads of those upon the earth, so if they wanted
to buy or sell or engage in trade, or stay involved in everyday life, they would have to
have that mark! And that's the battle that's taking place: the world wishes us to have its
mark on our forehead, they want us to be like they are in every respect. You know, as I
look around, we are like them in a lot of respect, that's the trouble, isn't it? we are like
them in a lot of respects.
How is it that we can have the seal of God in our forehead? Well, look at this verse, one
of my favourite verses in scripture, 2 Corinthians 10. You see, the one who was going
to put the mark on the forehead was the beast (we're going to think about the beast
tomorrow), wild beasts, all those pictures of beasts, the visions that Daniel saw, you'll
remember, were wild beasts, lions, bears, leopards, wild! couldn't be tamed! 2
Corinthians 10 verse 3, 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the
-10flesh: (The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the
casting down of strongholds'). Here's the verse! 'Casting down imaginations and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ'. Bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ, and those verses explain to us the battle that's taking place! Right?
strongholds, imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against God, that's exactly
the picture that we're having throughout Revelation; we're going to see it tomorrow in
the beast, that's exactly what they're doing! Strongholds — they think they're
impregnable; high and exalted thoughts — they make themselves to be God Himself,
and yet these things, all these difficulties or whatever they might be, can be cast down if
we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That's how we're sealed
in the forehead, and the only way we can do it, is if we know about the things of God
and about the obedience of Christ, if we constantly remind ourselves of it, if the Word of
God is living and active in our lives.
So, that's the battle for our conscience! Tomorrow we're going to meet the enemy!
Tomorrow we're going to meet the enemy and he's dreadful; an awful picture; we're
going to see the development of the beast to such a point where we shudder and draw
back! But, we're not amongst those who draw back and are consumed, the apostle
says in writing to the Hebrews, 'we are those who through faith are in a position that we
might overcome'. May it be that in the mercy and grace of God, each one of us might
overcome, and at the end, receive the blessing of life in the kingdom.