Month: December 2017

Zechariah 9:1-17, Revelations 17:1-18, Psalms 145:1-21, Proverbs 30:32

Today is the 26^th day of December, the day after Christmas. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and some time to relax and rest. And I hope this new day finds you refreshed as we take the next step forward toward the end of the year. Obviously, that’s in sight, which means that we are getting ourselves pretty close to the final pages of the Bible. Today, we’ll read from the Gods Word translation, which is what we’re doing this week. Zechariah, chapter 9 verses 1 through 17.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have a little bit of catching up to do in the book of Revelation since we last talked about this on Christmas Eve. And at that point I said we’re going to begin zooming out toward more major themes because we’ve spent a lot of time kind of going right into the nitty-gritty and seeing that there are, like, it’s pretty clear now, there are lots of ways that people have looked at the book of Revelation and interpreted the book of Revelation. So, I think we’ve honored that. But we’re going to stick with the major themes and only kind of zoom in if we run into things that have been highly contentious throughout church history. So, the last time we talked about this we were in the process of setting up what looked like clear parallels to the book of Exodus to the plagues that God sent upon Egypt that ultimately destroyed Egypt because it hardened itself against what God was doing in judging them for not allowing his people to leave. So, yesterday when we read the portion from Revelation we saw that happen. There were seven angels with seven bowls that were poured out upon the earth causing plagues. And again, if you read this from a literal perspective, then, there’s no…I mean…it's…it’s literally there. For example, the first angel poured out his bowl on the land and ugly, festering sores broke on the people who had the mark of the beast. But truly most scholars end up in the allegorical or figurative reading and come down somewhere in the vicinity of this - this plague parallels the Egyptian plague of boils. And from an allegorical point of view, is are probably not blisters or some kind of sores that are that are represented physically, they probably represent torment, anxiety, all the kind of psychological torment that we’ve talked about previously. And a great unrest that then hardens the people, like Egypt, bringing about the second and third bowls that are poured out on the sea in water. And from a literal perspective, the sea turns into blood, like a dead person, and everything in the sea died. And the third bowl was poured out on the rivers and the springs of water and they became blood. And we’ve already seen imagery like this back when the trumpets were blowing. When the second trumpet blew something similar happened, the sea became blood, 30 living creatures in the sea died. This time it’s not a partial thing. This time when the bowls are poured out it’s a total thing. So, the parallels are striking very, very clear. Most scholars would agree, the second trumpet and this second bowl represent the same kind of judgment. One was partial. The other was total. From a literal view, we’ve already looked at what that would look like, we just read it. From an allegorical view, this would be a judgment that will probably bring about famine, will probably make destitute those who make their living in water, and because this judgment is total, it will wreak havoc on the world’s food supply and the world’s water supply. And then the angel in charge of the waters declares that this is just and right and then the altar in heaven responds accordingly. And many people have drawn parallels that this is God’s way of declaring that He has multiple grounds for doing what He’s doing. And the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. The sun was allowed to scorch people with fire and they were seared and they cursed God and refused to repent and glorify Him in a very similar fashion to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. So, this could certainly mean that something in the atmosphere, something in the weather, something is going to change. And by the way, I should insert here that it it’s not clear, like, these happen day after day after day or month after month after month or even year after year after year. We don’t know how long it takes for these things to happen and proliferate and cause their desired results. So, like we don’t know if these things take seven seconds to pour out these seven bowls or they take, you know, seven days, seven months, seven years, seven hundred years, we don’t know. From an allegorical view, one way of looking at this is that, the patterns that everyone is used to working and operating within is disrupted. And this scorching heat is a metaphor for how difficult things are becoming, things that people put their security in, especially economically, aren’t working. And metaphorically it’s scorching people. Or this could be a view that this change, that’s happening either in the atmosphere or economically, is bringing about famine, the food supply is touched. And this comes from Deuteronomy, where it’s explained that the people who break the covenant will be consumed by burning heat. And this is linked to being wasted by famine and all of the economic implications of a mass worldwide famine. But again, there’s only a hardening of the heart, bringing about the fifth Angel pouring out his bowl on the throne of the beast and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. And a similar plague fell upon Egypt from the book of Exodus chapter 10. So, in this plague, the throne of the beast itself is attacked and affected by this plague of darkness. Whether you’re looking at the beast as an embodied person that becomes kind of this dominant figure or whether it’s the whole world system that is consolidating its power together and claiming everyone within its realm to be its property. Everything is plunged into darkness. So, if you want take kind of more of a futurist literal view, then something happens with the power or something like that. Things are plunged into darkness. But allegorically, and truly the majority of scholarship on this would say, this this darkness is confusion. And people are thrown into darkness because of what is happening and is very, very confusing. They’re gnawing their tongues, they’re in pain, they’re suffering this torment from the other plagues. They’re so deeply affected and things have become so unsettled that the foundation of the world system is becoming unstable. Then the sixth bowl was poured out on the great Euphrates and its water was dried up, preparing the way for the kings from the east. So, from an allegorical perspective, you have some allusions here to the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea on dry ground. But there are also prophecies in the Old Testament about the great Euphrates being dried up, prophecies from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. And this actually happened. When the Persians went to war with the Babylonians and defeated Babylon, one of the ways that they did it was to divert the Euphrates, which then allowed King Cyrus to cross the river and unexpectedly invade and defeat Babylon. And that victory by Cyrus led to Israel’s release from their exile, their Babylonian exile. So, because this literally happened, many people think, okay, this Euphrates rivers in Iraq and Syria, and Turkey. Lots of soft going on. This is a real thing. This is going to really happen at some point in this process. At the same time, we’ve seen many references to Babylon. We’ve talked about the association with the Roman empire and why according to the time that John wrote this. We’ve also spoken allegorically about Babylon as the entire system that will come together to dominate the people that are opposed to God, the people who belong to the beast, in other words. And the reason that we’re bringing this up at all, at least at this point, is because of what comes next. Three evil spirits that look like frogs come out of the mouth, one each out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. All things that we’ve looked at previously, both literally and allegorically. And they’re responding to these plagues by performing signs, not unlike the magicians of Pharaoh in the plague story in the book of Exodus. And in response they perform signs and gather the kings of the whole world to go to battle on the great day of God and they draw everybody together to this place called Armageddon. And, of course, this image of frogs falls in line with the Exodus plagues as well. And some commentators have pointed out that this imagery was probably used because frogs croak. Right? So, they can be very noisy and loud and croaking, but it doesn’t mean anything. So, in response to these plagues they go out, they perform signs, they’re croaking, and there’s so much confusion happening. The people are in darkness, confusion is everywhere, things are coming apart at the seams, and everything comes to this place called Armageddon, or Har Megiddo, the mount or mountain of Megiddo. And Megiddo is an ancient city that sat at ancient crossroads. And its ruins still exist to today. I’ve been there many times. I’ve looked out over this valley that’s called Armageddon many times. There’s no mountain there though. Probably the nearest thing that could be called a mountain would be Mount Carmel. And as big as the valley might be, it’s not big enough for all of the armies of the world. So, we kind of get into some divergent thought because Armageddon, I mean, everybody’s heard of Armageddon. So, there’s all kinds of thought about it. And this is one of the places that we flip, often, from an allegorical or figurative view into a literal one. So, obviously, a literal view is somewhere…it’s not really a mountain…but somewhere around Megiddo, somewhere around Armageddon, this is all going to go down. Others would say, well, Old Testament prophecies of this sort, without exception, like, this kind of final battle idea, always takes place somewhere near Jerusalem. And with a futurist view, yeah, I mean, if you’re an airplane, Megiddo or Armageddon isn’t far from Jerusalem, but if you had to walk, like, if you were in John’s time, it would be like a two day journey. So, some would still can’t keep a literal view that this can happen, but Armageddon only plays part, like, it’s only one location in a sprawling war, while others would take a more figurative view, you know, just like Babylon. Babylon, the city, the ancient city of Babylon, has been in ruins for thousands of years. So, this must be at an allegorical view. Or the Euphrates River has been looked at allegorically for a long time. So, this must be an allegorical view. Same with Armageddon. This is not necessarily pinpointing a geographical location. It more allegorically represents the coming together of a disintegrating world system that subsequently, in part, destroys itself, which brings us to the seventh Angel pouring out the seventh bowl that is the seventh plague. And it’s thrown into the air and a loud voice from the throne says, it is done. This definitely has allusions to Jesus saying, it is accomplished or it is finished. And whether you are, like, from that point on, from verse 18 on, whether you are reading literally, or whether you are reading allegorically and figuratively, things go berserk. And that’s where we ended our reading yesterday.

In today’s reading, one of the angels who had one of the seven bowls, so one of the angels who poured out a plague came and talked to John and took him away in the spirit in order to show him what was happening to, what is known as, the whore of Babylon as all of this is taking place. And we can read this figuratively for a couple of reasons. One, John is caught up into the spirit. So, whatever he is seeing, whatever vision he is seeing, is a spiritual one, but also because the angel explains to John what the symbols represent. So, John sees a woman sitting upon a beast in the desert. She is ornately and seductively clothed. And she was drunk, but she was drunk on the blood of God’s holy people, those who had stayed pure, who had stayed true, who kept their light burning, who kept their witness in the world. And John was astonished. But the angel said why are you astonished? Let me tell you what this all means. And he says, the beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the abyss and go to its destruction. And it’s been pointed out that this is probably a parody or a mockery of the beast. So, we’re very familiar with how this would be said of God, the One who was, the One who is, the One who is yet to come in. And in this case the beast is, the one who once was, who now is not, and yet will come up out of the abyss to go to its destruction. Right? So, the one who has been trying to make himself God, who has been trying all along to elevate himself above God, cannot and will not prevail. So, on the one hand when you look at this more literally and say that this is what will happen to Satan. More figuratively, we can say this is what will happen to the entire system of evil that exists in the world, with the devil simply being the personification of all evil, because the angel then goes on to describe kings and kingdoms, little and small, who have been and are still coming and will all find the same destiny. We’re not going to get into all that because it would take way, way, way, too much time because there’ve been so many associations with, you know, who these kingdoms, these kings, these powerful kings, these smaller kings, who this all could be. And I don’t want to wander into even well-thought-out conjecture. What happens though, is that the beast and the 10 horns, likely representing a very powerful faction of this, the world system of evil, that demands worship from its people in ownership of its people is falling apart. Because John is told that the beast will hate the prostitute. So, the beast will hate the whore of Babylon. So, this world system of religion and politics and economics and military is coming apart. The beast with the 10 horns hates the prostitute and they bring her to ruin and leave her naked and eat her and burn her with fire. So, they destroy that aspect of their own kingdom. The plagues have done the work of cracking the foundations and the entire system of evil is coming apart. And that is where we end up today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You, we thank You, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the time that we had to celebrate Your arrival, the beginning of all of this yesterday. And as we press in to finish this year well and to finish this year strong, we invite Your Holy Spirit to continue to speak to us through Your word. And we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibiible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find what’s going on around here. There’s been plenty of things. It’s been…I’ve been, like, pulling my hair out for the last couple of weeks. There’ve been so many things that are happening.

The brand-new Daily Audio Bible app is available. And it is available free on the Google Play store and in your Apple App store. And it’s been exciting to hear from so many of you who are now using the new app. If you have the old app, you might want to consider updating to the new app, because the old app will begin to be phased out over than the next little bit. All you have to do is go to your app store, whether Google Play or Apple App store and search for “Daily Audio Bible mobile app”. That’s the new one. Because we have a couple of them, so, just want to make sure you get the right one – “Daily Audio Bible mobile app”. If you use the Daily Audio Bible web player then you’re already using the new one and your set to go. So, make sure you get the new app. Get it installed. Get going. Get ready for the new year. Tell all of your friends they can download it for free and go through it with you. And this is an exciting time.

And we’re also getting ready to launch Daily Audio Bible Chronological. And we talked about it, what, about a week ago with China when she came on. That will begin January 1^st. But those channels are in the new app, in the new web player, all set to go. So, I guess, the long and short of the story is make sure you download the new app.

Also, want to remind you about the More Gathering for women, which is our annual women’s conference that takes in April. Early registration for that lasts until the end of the year. So, take advantage of that if you plan to come. Hope you do. You can find out all about that moregathering.com. Or just go to dailyaudiobible.com and go to the Initiatives section and you’ll find everything you want to know.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here as we approach the final days of the year, then, like I always say, thank you. And I always say that because that’s true. We do what we do together. Thank you for your partnership. There’s is a link on the homepage and dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the new Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174. And if you want to be able to receive a receipt for that giving in the year 2017 then that would have to be postmarked or received by the 31^st of December.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Mimi in Atlanta. I just want to ask for prayer. Jay from New Jersey was praying for reconciliation for my family years ago. He called in and told me that he was praying. And I’m hoping he’s listening because he’s been struggling. And Jay you’re still being prayed for, but I just want you to know that mountains are being moved. Rick is the dad. Joshua and Nathan are the two sons that are grown that have just struggled terribly with reconciling and forgiving and walking in newness after their stepdad passed in 2013. They’re just struggling and the Lord is moving and doing amazing things. So, I just want to let Jay know that you’re still being prayed for and to know that your prayers are being answered Jay. Each one of us as we’re praying for one another, it’s huge what happens. I’m hearing everybody call in and giving praise reports. Blind Tony…oh my gosh…you started my morning. Your voice is heaven in my heart. And yes, Victoria. S., she…y’all just…y’all just go to those places when you pray and when you bring your gifts because we’re having to learn to walk by faith, which is not site. So, Tony, you’re helping us come along to the deeper places of life. And your prayers are just amazing, your heart for all of us. Viola, I’m missing you too. Ladies, I’ve signed up for More Gathering. Hello!!! I think I may have been, like, one of the first ones. I told you all last year that I was going to do that and I’ve done it. So, by faith, I’m trusting God and I’m just throwing it out there, I have a house, if you come to Atlanta and you need to stay, it’s right here just an hour from Sharp Top mountain. So, thank you all so much. Blind Tony you are a blessing.

Hi. This is Kathy from San Diego. And I just heard one of the callers talking about, I believe it’s Tony from Toledo, a woman who received the call about the death of her 21-year-old son due to an overdose. And I just want to let her know that I completely understand. I lost my son a little over a year ago. Got that same call. And I’m just here to say that God is gracious and He’ll carry you through and that I will pray for you and that He will lift you up. When we get to where we’ve never been before and the grief that is this great, all you can do is be carried by God and I pray right now for Tony and her family, for the grace of God that surpasses everything she’s ever known will lift her up to see her through, and day by day, she will walk with faith, and she will feel blind and she will feel loss and pain and she will find out one of the greatest truths that you can only find out through experience and that is, and He is with you still. And I ask that God, holy God, You would show Your compassion and Your comfort and give her the wisdom she needs. Her family and everyone around her Lord, I just ask that You would be glorified, that there is good that will come one day, and she just has to hang on, and she will find out that You are the best all-inclusive God that takes it all into consideration, and especially when we don’t understand. And so, Tony, I am with you in spirit as so many others are and I just pray that you will hold on and that God will provide you everything you need. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. It’s James R. the Teacher Redeemed…the Whatever in LA. I’m just calling to say thank you for all your prayers for myself and my wife for me getting done with loads and loads of work at the end of a semester for my teaching and my classes I’m taking and my wife for the end of her pregnancy. We now have a brand new beautiful daughter, 8 lbs., 3 oz. on December 17^th and we literally had about 3 hours warning from the beginning of labor to the time that that little beauty just popped out. Yeah. Feeling your prayers guys. Everything lined up so perfectly. Thank you so much. Love you guys and if you know me on Facebook, if you see me on Facebook DAB Friends, you can see all sorts of pictures. Love you guys. Bye.

Hi. I’m calling in for Nony, She’s a 15 year old girl is a first time caller and has just started listening to the Daily Audio Bible. Nony, I just want to encourage you that you are not alone. You do have us. We are your friends, we are your family. My name is Rayna, I live in Los Angeles California and the journey that you are about to take is amazing. Don’t turn back. Stay focused. I can’t even tell you what this app, the Daily Audio Bible family has done for me. And I’m just so excited for you and I will keep you in prayer. And again, you are not alone in this journey. You have all of us here. And there’s so many. I am so thankful and God bless you Nony, wherever you are. Stay focused and just enjoy this journey. It’s beautiful. Jesus loves you. We all love you. God, bless. And I love all my Daily Audio Bible family, by the way. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Brian, for your ministry.

Zechariah 8:1-23, Revelations 16:1-21, Psalms 144:1-15, Proverbs 30:29-31

Today is December 25^th. Merry Christmas! Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you today and every day, but today we rejoice because the Savior has arrived, the Savior has come for us. So, Merry Christmas everybody. It’s good to have a few minutes with you together as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures, which includes Christmas day. It’s exciting in the midst of all of the celebration and festivities that should be happening, we should be rejoicing, that we take these few moments just to step away, take a deep breath, re-center ourselves, and allow God’s word to have a place in our Christmas celebration. So, we started reading from the Gods Word translation yesterday as we began our week and that’s what we’ll continue to do all week. And we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday, Zechariah chapter 8 verses 1 through 23 today.

Prayer:

Father, it is Christmas day, a day of festive activity the world over, and it’s all in celebration of Your arrival. And, so, we rejoice. We rejoice that You cared enough that You loved us enough to come for us. We worship You Lord. And as we give and receive gifts, we consider the amazing gifts that You have bestowed upon us, and that You bestow upon us every single day - the gift of breath in our lungs, the gift of life itself, the gift of one another, the gift of family, the gift of community, the gift of Your word, the gift of Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth, the gift of your Sacrifice, restoring us to God bridging the chasm that could not be spanned. The gifts that You have poured out on us are overwhelming and good and on this Christmas Day we certainly can say, joy to the world, the Lord has come. So, come, Holy Spirit into all the activities of this day. May Your presence be felt in all of our travels, in all of our gatherings, in all of our celebration. Come, Jesus. We pray in Your holy name. Amen.

Song:

Joy to the World

Zechariah 4:1-5:11, Revelations 14:1-20, Psalms 142:1-7, Proverbs 30:21-23

Today is the 24^th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Welcome to a brand-new shiny, sparkly, new week. And today, obviously is Christmas eve. So, it’s exciting to be here on this day of celebration as we prepare our hearts to commemorate and celebrate the coming the arrival of the Savior. And like we do every beginning of every new week we’ll switch translations. And this week we’ll read from the Gods Word translation. And, of course, pick up where we left off. Zechariah chapter 6 verse 1 through seven verse 14 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we read from Revelation chapter 15 today. And what we read is actually a transition into what’s coming next. And at this point I’m going to try to start zooming us out toward the major themes that arise in the rest of this book because we’ve spent substantial time together, you know, kind of diving into some of the minutia, which is so interesting because what we’ve talked about in the book of Revelation since we started this year is probably less than 5% about what scholars and interpreters and theologians and translators and anthropologists have to say. And we’ve been doing that, in part, to just simply acknowledge the complexities of interpretation of the book of Revelation. It’s easy enough to say, well in the end, Jesus wins, that’s all I need to know about the book of Revelation. And yes, God having the final say in bringing His kingdom to the world is certainly good news. But this book wasn’t written just to give that assurance. This book was to remind believers to endure and stay true until the very end. And that’s something that the book of Revelation will not allow us to forget. And it’s very important that we do not forget it. But along with that comes a lot of symbolism and statements that have been interpreted in very diverse ways. And these diverse theological understandings have been so influential that entire denominations of Christian believers have formed around them. And at the Daily Audio Bible, we’re all over the map, like, literally all over the map, geographically, but we’re also all over the map in the kind of church we go to the kind of understandings that we have. So, I’m trying to get behind all of that and look at some of the main ways that this book has been looked at. But I think we’ve gone into it sufficiently enough to know, okay, this has actually been looked at a number of ways and here are some of the main ways so that we can zoom out a little bit because it can certainly get a bit tedious. So, we begin our reading today with something spectacular and amazing, another sign in heaven, and seven plagues that are the final expression of God’s anger. So, we’re told what’s going to happen. And then John sees what looks to be a sea of glass mixed with fire and everyone who was victorious, everyone who stayed true, kept their witness, kept the light burning, standing on the sea. What an amazing sight to see. And their standing on the glassy sea, which, you know, so they’re walking on water, as it were, which may be an allusion to Jesus doing the same thing. And these people are holding God’s harps and singing something interesting. They’re singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. So, we begin to see clearly, Exodus imagery. Right? The imagery when the children of Israel left Egypt and went into the wilderness in order to attain the promise land. And that imagery snaps a bunch of things into place by paralleling God’s judgment by sending plagues upon Egypt in order to force them to relent, acknowledge God, and set his people free. And, in like fashion, we begin to see that this is kind of the pattern God is using in the book of Revelation with these final judgments. So, when God is bringing plagues down upon Egypt, what that does is make life harder for the children of Israel who have been enslaved. So, it gets harder for them before it gets better and they’re even complaining to Moses about the whole thing, that he’s come in and said he’s carrying the words of God, and he’s going up against Pharaoh. But it’s only making things worse for them, which would parallel God beginning to bring his kingdom and all of the unrest that that brings. And the conflict that brings simply makes it harder for God’s people temporarily, but in the end they find their freedom and eternal rest. And when the victory is complete, when the children of Israel are truly free, Moses has a song to sing. And, so, we’re seeing this kind of addendum to that song sung by all God’s people. But they’re doing this while standing on a sea that is like glass and fire. And this has been paralleled with the Red Sea experience that the children of Israel faced when they had to go over on dry land and Pharaoh’s army was then washed away. So, after they sing their song then the temple opens in heaven. Seven angels with seven plagues come out of the temple. One of the four living creatures gives the seven gold bowls full of God’s anger to the Angels and the temple is filled with the glory of God. And that’s where we end today, with the set-up, but we see the clear parallel imagery of the Exodus story and these plagues just as they descended upon Pharaoh are about to be poured out upon the earth, but will have to wait for that until tomorrow.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. And we ask your Holy Spirit to continue the work of planting the word in our lives and in our hearts. We ask You to continue to bring up things in us that need to be healed and restored or let go of. It is our desire that we be among those who can sing this song. So, come Holy Spirit and continue to do the work of sanctification within us. And we also acknowledge that this is the eve of the day that we celebrate Your birth, Your arrival, Your invasion of this planet on our behalf. And, so, even as we celebrate the joy of Your arrival, the joy of Christmas, we also acknowledge that we long for Your second arrival, for your return. And we thank You for the glimpse that You have provided us with as we move to the book of Revelation. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It is certainly home base and it is certainly where you find out what’s going on around here.

Today is Christmas eve, so it’s no doubt a very, very busy time for most people. We had a beautiful Daily Audio Bible family Christmas this year with our Christmas program. I just want to take this one more opportunity to tell you how much we love you and how much we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Song:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

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Zechariah 4:1-5:11, Revelations 14:1-20, Psalms 142:1-7, Proverbs 30:21-23

Today is the 23rd day of December, which makes this Christmas eve, eve. And it’s also the eve of a brand-new week. So, here we are. It’s Christmas time and we’re at the end of another of our weeks together. And we only have a week and today left in this year. So, let’s make it count and let’s finish strong. We’ve been reading from the Names of God Bible all of this week, so that’s what will do today. Zechariah chapter 4 verse 1 through 5 verse 11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Revelation, we should be noticing by now that there are things that are happening in the earthly realm and there are things that are happening in the heavenly realm and the book of Revelation is showing us both. So, we see a series of things happening on the earth and then we will have a pause and we’ll see what’s happening in heaven, probably simultaneously. And, so, we’re moving between these realms while also looking at, you know, what is literal and what is allegorical, what is symbolic and what is not, and discovering how the tensions around this book arise from the different ways of reading this book. So, as we read from the 14^th chapter of Revelation today, we can kind of see things happening in both the earthly realm and the heavenly realm pretty clearly. The lamb, so Jesus standing on Mount Zion, so this is the earthly realm, unless there’s another Mount Zion in the spiritual realm, or unless this is a symbol itself. The lamb is standing on Mount Zion. It’s 144,000 people with him that have been sealed with the name of God on their foreheads. But then John says he hears a sound from heaven, so we’re kind of like in both places, and this sound is like raging water and it’s super loud like thunder, and it turns out it’s music coming from heaven. There’s a new song being sung, a new one, in front of the throne of God and only the 144,000 people who are with the lamb at Mount Zion are able to learn this heavenly song. And this 144,000 people are pure, like virgins, and they follow the Lamb wherever he goes and they were bought from among humanity as the first fruits offered to God. So, immediately, we see the contrast between the beasts that we saw yesterday and what we’re looking at now. So, we’re seeing a very, very clear delineation between the forces of darkness, who are trying to claim sovereignty and make it look like they are supreme, and God who is sovereign and who is supreme and doesn’t need to make it look that way, it just is that way. So, we’re seeing a clear delineation between the two sides here. There are scholars who think that this picture is a heavenly picture because the lamb referred to in the book of Revelation is only ever spoken of as being in heaven, while others would say, no, this is this for real, this is really, really going down and it’s happening on earth at Mount Zion. The Messiah has come, he will defeat the foe, this is the end of time, this is the final consummation. While still other scholars would say, no, not quite that. This Mount Zion that’s being referred to here is a reference to this new Jerusalem. And, so, it will all come down out of heaven and become a part of the new creation as this old one is passing away. The 144,000 people, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen 144,000 people. And, so we’ve already spent some time talking about whether we should look at this literally or allegorically. But we’re looking at literally, then it’s 144,000 people with the lamb on Mount Zion on planet Earth. If we’re looking at allegorically then 144,000 is a number that represents completeness. This is the complete family of God who are being born into the new creation. They have stayed true, they have kept their light burning, they haven’t fallen into idolatry, they haven’t compromised, they have been pure, they’ve been virginal, which probably doesn’t refer to human sexuality, but more of the purity of their heart to God, their faithfulness to God throughout anything that comes their way. The picture here is of a people who follow the lamb wherever he goes. And we know that Jesus went to the cross. So, these people are so in love with Jesus, so passionate for Him, and pure in their motivations toward Him that, like Him, they’re not holding onto their life, there human life isn’t the end of anything and they know it, so they will follow Jesus wherever He goes. And then the book of Revelation begins to turn us toward imagery of a final harvest. We have harvest imagery. An angel flies overhead speaking the good news to every nation, tribe, language and people. And the angel’s telling the earth, fear God, give Him glory, the time is come. So, in other words, this is about to happen. This is the final harvest and judgment. And, so the call goes out to worship the one who made the heaven and earth. Then another angel, a second one, comes and declares that Babylon has fallen. So, if Babylon the great has fallen is a literal thing, then that happened. It just happened to happen more than five centuries before Jesus was born. If Babylon is a metaphor, which it has been used in other Old Testament prophecies, then Babylon was an ancient world empire that led the children of Israel into captivity. In John’s time, when the book of Revelation was written, this would correspond to the Roman empire. Babylon attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the first Temple and lead God’s people into exile. The Roman empire destroyed the second Temple and all of Jerusalem, forcing them into exile. And, so, the two have been linked for centuries. So, symbolically, Babylon is any ungodly system on earth that dominates the social and economic and political systems that control people and move them toward idolatry. And, of course, idolatry is a big deal in the whole Bible, including the book of Revelation. And it doesn’t just mean bowing down in front of an idol or a false god, rather, it represents anything that we are willing to give our hearts to in hopes of life in return. So, this second angel is declaring that that is over. There will be no more deceptions. This is the actual end of all of that. And then there is a third angel who also has a message that spoken in a loud voice. ‘Whoever worships the beast or it’s statue, whoever is branded on his forehead or his hand will drink the wine of God’s fury which has been poured unmixed into the cup of God’s anger. Then he will be tortured by fiery sulfur in the presence of the holy Angels and the lamb. The smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever. There will be no rest, day or night, for those who worship the beast or its statue or for anyone branded with its name.’ And, so here is where we begin to step into some theological quicksand because what exactly eternal punishment is going to look like has been up for debate for a long time. And the debate rages on and it gets very contentious. But entire theological understandings and worldviews and dogmas come out of spout passages like this. And so, what I’m doing here, in taking us through the book of Revelation this year like this, isn’t intended to tell you here’s the right way, here’s what you should believe. That would be me trying to interpret this for you so that you then don’t have to think about it. What I try to do when we get to hotly debated portions of Scripture is to approach it from a scholarly perspective with the intention of trying to get behind everything that we’ve heard and find out where it came from, how these conclusions were arrived at. So, we’ve got this third angel, basically, with this last and final warning declaring that anyone who has aligned themselves with this world system, or figuratively, those who are worshiping the beast and the serpent who gave the beast its power, will find themselves in torment. So, let’s look at, what I think are, the two major schools of thought regarding this torment, from which all of the debate arises. On the one hand, you have those would say, okay, human beings can only live so long, like, they didn’t live forever in their physicality in their human body, that’s maybe in 100 years or less. So, if this punishment is actually eternal then it’s probably not in the human body, which pulls us immediately into the spiritual realm, which also naturally pulls us toward symbolic understanding. So, looking at it that way, the torment is a spiritual thing, a psychological suffering. And, according to the book of Revelation, this is going to happen in front of Jesus and the holy angels. So, yes then, those who have thrown in their lot with the beast. Right? Those who have put their faith in a world system that is demanding worship will certainly experience a great amount of torment as they have to stand before the lamb and his holy angels and acknowledge him even as they realize that they will be separated from him. And in this way of thinking, the fire that we’re talking about here is a figurative thing because, throughout the book of Revelation and throughout the Bible, fire is a figurative term for judgment and suffering, especially the suffering that results from judgment. And part of the reason that there is even this line of thought is because of the fact that this passage seems to be taken from Isaiah, from the 34^th chapter of Isaiah, in which God is describing judgment that he is going to place on Edom. And he says, ‘her valleys will be turned into pitch, and her land into brimstone, and her land will be as pitch burning night and day, and it will never be quenched, and her smoke will go up, it will be made desolate throughout her generations.’ So, in this case, the readers of the time and everyone since wouldn’t say, okay, this was a judgment on the land of Edom and, wow, it came true because Edom is still smoldering. And it’s kind of one of the wonders of the world. People go there to see the smoldering of Edom because it will go on forever. The point was that Edom would never rise again. And, so, this is where the idea of annihilation comes from, because this passage is based on the passage in Isaiah, and Isaiah is speaking of the historical annihilation of Edom because of its sin, and because he used figurative language of smoldering or burning going on forever, because it’s agreed-upon that this is figurative, then the absolute and complete destruction of Edom parallels the absolute and complete destruction of these people that stand before the lamb for their judgment. And following this line of thought, then they simply cease to exist at all. Now the other line of thinking is very different. For the most part, scholars agree that the whole line of thinking that I just told you is a possibility, but later in Revelation, the devil, the beast, and the false prophet are judged, and they are banished to the lake of fire and brimstone where they will be tormented day and night forever. And we haven’t gotten to that in the book of Revelation yet but we will, but it comes into play here, because it doesn’t seem to be indicating that they would just cease to exist at their judgment, that they would be annihilated. It seems to be that they will be tormented day and night forever. And because there are so many parallels between the path of good and the path of evil in the book of Revelation, it is argued that God’s people, ultimately, will receive eternal rest and shalom, while those who are not God’s people will, at the same time, be receiving eternal damnation. And that is because this word, torment, that’s used in Revelation, or for that matter in the Bible, doesn’t seem to indicate a person’s ceasing to exist. So, many scholars have argued that God’s punishment involves real, ongoing, forever, eternal, conscious torment, while acknowledging that where the lake of fire is or when the lake of fire is is unknown. So, following that line of thinking then, the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, which isn’t just a picture of a past judgment or present judgment, but of an ongoing one. The smoke of torment isn‘t the smoke of complete destruction, it’s the smoke of their torment contrasted with the welcoming rest that God’s people receive. So, those in torment would see annihilation as a relief, but they get no rest. So, from there, from these kinds of lines of thinking, begin to branch out and be reinforced with all kinds of things. And, so, there are many ways of looking at it through different lenses. The book of Revelation gets it right as it comments on that scene. ‘In this situation God’s holy people who obey his commands and keep their faith in Jesus need endurance’, which would seem to be a superior stance to theological warfare against each other. So, after that, there’s a white cloud and someone who looks like the Son of Man sat on the cloud. He’s got a crown on his head, sharp sickle in his hand, and an angel comes out of the temple. So, out of the temple of God, we’re talking spiritually here, before the throne of God, and he cries out to swing the sickle and gather the harvest. The time has come. This is the end. The harvest is overripe. So, the Son of Man does this, and we can assume this is Jesus, although there are scholars who argue, very persuasively, that this is an angel, but, nevertheless the harvest was completed. Then another angel comes out and he’s got a sharp sickle and there’s, like, one more pass. Some scholars would argue, persuasively, that this is the last ingathering on the earth of those who belong to God, while others would argue, very persuasively, that this entire scene, where the cloud and the Son of Man, and the Angels in the harvest, and the sickles, this is all a picture of a final judgment on earth. And that’s where we end today. And this is where it’s important for us to zoom out a little bit and remember that what we’re talking about here is the absolute and utter overthrow of evil which results in all things being made new. And it happens when God ordains it. And however this judgment that we read about today happens, whatever it ends up looking like, it descends upon those who have had every opportunity to avoid it. So, rather than zooming in on people, we need to zoom out and see that this is the overthrow of evil, period, final and complete. This is not meant for those who have the seal of God on their forehead. Right? So, this is not meant for those who have stayed true no matter what. And what would an existence without the existence of evil even be like? Well, we’re going to find out. We’re going to find out in the book of Revelation. And were going to find out for ourselves one day. 

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for this glimpse. It’s definitely a situation where we are seeing through a glass darkly. But one thing that is very clear to us is that You are good, You are holy, You are righteous, and evil has no place with You, nor does it ultimately have any place with us. So, come Holy Spirit. We look forward to the day that all things are made new and we intend to keep the fire burning. We love You Lord. So, continue to plant Your word into our lives, transforming us into Your image. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

And it was a happy day to announce the launch of the new Daily Audio Bible mobile app yesterday. And I’m excited to get as many of us migrated over to the new app as quickly as possible. In part, so that you can start using and taking advantage of all that’s been built to continue to unite us together in community, but also to give us a real broad wide range of experiences to help us stress the system as we get ready to go into the new year. So, if you haven’t gotten the new Daily Audio Bible mobile app yet, go to your app store and get it. It’s completely free. Just search for ‘Daily Audio Bible mobile app’ and find that. If it says that that’s the one you’re looking for, because we also have that the older one that we’ve had for several years still in existence. So, search for ‘Daily Audio Bible mobile app’ at either your Google play store or your Apple App store and download the new app and start using it. It’s beautiful and a lot of planning and blood and sweat and tears went into this. So, be sure to get the new app and you can certainly tell anyone you want to about it now that it has been released. It is completely free to download and to use and to jump into community.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the new Daily Audio Bible mobile app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:

Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida. I want to say hi to all of you. I missed the opportunity to record in our online DAB Christmas party and I just want to wish everybody a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas. May God bless each and every one of us into a renewed relationship with our Savior and a stronger walk with God. And I also want to glorify the Lord today because my husband and I celebrate our 19^th year anniversary and it wasn’t always cookies and cream. 9-½ years ago we walked into a Christian counselor office thinking that we had probably allowed the marriage to deteriorate too much. One of the most important things that she told me was, Gene you can be right and win or you can save your relationship. I don’t think you’re going to be able to do both off them. And since I love God with all of my heart and I did not want to preach into the gospel. I have to be honest, that that was my first motivation. I decided that I would lose the argument. My husband did exactly the same. And together we started rebuilding into what has become a wonderful marriage. Not perfect. We still have fights, we still have disagreements, we still hurt one another, but we are a lot more aware of how Satan can use one another to hurt each other and we are a lot more vigilant about our relationship. And, so, I use this testimony to encourage everybody that is married, whether their marriage is very happy or whether their marriage is on the rocks for each and every one of us to stay vigilant and to fight for the gift that God has given us in one another. I love you family, very, very much. Continue to pray us. We continue to rejoice in your victories and morn with you too. In His mighty name. This is pastor Gene from Bradenton Florida.

Good morning DAB family. My name is Sachem and I’m Gia. About a month ago my father asked you all to lift my sister and I up in prayer and we just wanted to take a quick moment to thank you all, specifically, Joyful Noise, for your prayers. We’ve been able to both feel them and witness them at work. I am professional soccer player and missionary in Europe. And though the harvest is plentiful the workers are few. I’m now home for Christmas. Yahweh has opened doors for the gospel to be shared with my teammates, for seeds to be planted with my coaches, fans, and opponents, and even for one player to give his life to Christ. So, while I was back I wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to share what the Lord was doing overseas. Please continue to pray for courage, open doors, and humility as I and the rest of Yeshewa’s servants in Europe seek to till the land for the kingdom. And as we would say over there, ___. Thank you and God bless you. Merry Christmas.

Hello DABbers. This is Sue. I’m going to read you a poem. I’ve always loved the night before Christmas poem and recited it to all of my younger brothers and sisters with my daughter. Here’s my version for you.

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse
The DABbers were waiting for Brian to start reading us __ and a smile no doubt
Saying fondly, it’s great to be here with you
While DABbers wonder what’s next in today’s rendezvous
Jill arrives with her special coffee cup in hand

Sitting down next to Brian for a chat with some friends
When out from afar comes a loud cheerful noise
Ezekiel’s here to spread Christmas joys
Get off the phone get the family Zekey is here
Bring cookies and enjoy the Christmas party cheer
The greetings from DABbers from all over the world
Express love for our Lord and for each other
The words whirl and swirl and rise like a dove
From those who listen and share Gods words of love
Praise and thanks from DABbers to God above
God’s gift to us on Christmas day is Jesus Christ His only son
We’re so grateful for this perfect gift
Oh God our dear Father now our journey has begun
Please hear our prayer and keep us strong to share the good news all year long
To sing and dance and help the lost find the peace and joy You offer
To all who accept you as our Lord and Savior
Love and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

From Sue C., Bakersfield, California

DABbers, hey, It’s Keith from New Hampshire. Listen, about 2 or 3 years ago I called up asking for prayer for son Asher. He was in a youth group at church, but he definitely was not walking with God and at the time, you know, I think I said he was a typical teen ager. He was really struggling, you know, caught up in the world and all of its attractions. And he got invited to go on a mission trip to Haiti. And he went with his youth group and I asked for prayers about that. Well, how times and things have changed. He’s 21 years old now. The Lord’s got a hold of his heart. He’s a converted man. He’s planning to go to seminary. He’s engaged to be married in May to a Godly woman. But he’s also working as an EMT. And I’m calling for prayer, more for him today. Last Saturday he got called on a call. And a little boy that he knows, that he saw on a daily basis in this town, was sledding and sled into the road and got run over by a car and was killed and Asher was one of the first on the scene, just performing CPR and trying to save him and he didn’t make it. And I saw Asher last night and he’s just really sad and really down. I’m worried about him because he’s relatively new in his faith. He’s got a strong faith, but I know that these types of things really can…the enemy can use them to really test us and try us. I just ask my community, please pay for Asher. Help him to see clearly that the Father of all has everything in His hands and He knows well beyond what we can fathom…the whys…and all the things that happen. So, please pray for Asher as we enter into a new year and he gets prepared for his wedding day and embarks on the life. And I thank you so much for the prayers before because I think he’s where he is today because of the DABber community for praying for him when I asked you to. Thanks so much. God bless.

Zechariah 2:1-3:10, Revelations 13:2-18, Psalms 141:1-10, Proverbs 30:18-20

Today is December 22^nd. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. And it’s great to be here with you as we approach the close of another week and we’re just days away from the Christmas holiday. Gosh, one week from today will be through all of that. Christmas time is here. And speaking of that, stay tuned all the way the end. There is a special announcement today. But first let’s turn to the Scriptures. Alright, now, we are traveling through the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament and the book of Revelation in the New. We’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week and today we’ll read Zechariah chapter 2 verse 1 through 3 verse 10.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we’re getting into the thick of it in the book of Revelation and we’re heading into some highly debated and contentious territory, which invariably means that it’s more well-known and you are likely to have heard many things about it. And our job here isn’t to, you know, interpret it correctly and set the record straight for everyone who’s been studying this for thousands of years. That would be fairly arrogant. What we’re trying to do is just walk into the territory, avoid the hysteria, and look at what the text says, and look at some of the main ways that this is been interpreted. So, we’ve got a beast coming up out of the sea, that had 10 horns, 7 heads, and 10 crowns on its horns and insulting…like a lot of symbolism. The beast that John saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bears feet. Its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And all these symbols and, you know, bears feet, lion’s mouth, these have been associated with all kinds of things. So, this idea of coming up out of the sea could be literally just that. Somehow this beast just rose up out of the ocean, but it’s been noted that this appearance is most likely the kind of appearance that would happen from the ship. Not that the beast is a ship with the imagery itself. Like, if you’re standing on the on the beach and looking out at the ocean and something large, a big ship or something, comes onto the horizon. It looks like it’s coming up out of the sea. So, it’s something that’s coming. And a lot of the corresponding imagery here comes from the book of Daniel and the seventh chapter, in particular. So, there have been interpretations in antiquity of sea monsters that this is a sea monster coming up out of the sea because any allusions to sea monsters and that kind of thing in any of the Old Testament writings always represent evil or an evil kingdom or evil that is against, that is set against, God’s people and His covenant. Others say that the sea represents the abyss so that evil is coming up out of the abyss. And the crowns that this beast wears are false claims of sovereign authority. And this beast has been associated with ancient Rome for a very long time, very consistently. And that’s in part because that would’ve been the world that John understood when this was written and because of all the things were happening in the Empire at the time. But it’s deeper than that. In the Jewish writings, interpreting Daniel, or so many of the parallels for this portion of, well, for that matter, for all of Revelation comes from, those Jewish writers associated Daniel 7 with Rome. And perhaps this beast’s characteristics can be associated with allied empires and nations or just assimilated nations that are now part of the Roman Empire and they all, together, make up this one beast. But there’s wide interpretations if you’re looking at this from a presentest perspective, like, then you’d be looking at what’s happening now to make these identifications. If you’re a futurist, then this is something that can happen, and you make speculation. And then if you work your way back in history all the way to John’s time, then you find other associations. But the bottom line here is, no matter how these associations are made, or if they are correct, what’s happening here is not…it’s evil…evil is coming up and the serpent, who’s been associated with the devil, gives his power to this beast. So, all of a sudden, we have interesting parallels look like is very, very unholy trinity that’s materializing. So, whereas the father gave his authority to Jesus, now we have the serpent giving his authority to this beast. And, although this beast had seven heads, one of them had a fatal wound, but it’s fatal wound was healed. So, some almost, like, unholy resurrection imagery is here. And a lot of commentators over the years have associated this beast with the Emperor Nero, who committed suicide, but then there were all kinds of like Elvis style rumors that he wasn’t really dead and maybe that he had been spotted and there were people impersonating him and that maybe he was going to come back. But in the end, Emperor Nero’s death wasn’t fatal to the Empire and instead it showed the resolve in their power. So, a potential deathblow turns into a recovery. So, there’s just a good number of interpretations. And what happens from a straight reading of the text is that the world is dazzled by all of this and they worship the serpent. Right? Because it had given authority to the beast. So, you can see these parallels. They worship the beast and they praise by saying, who is like the beast, who can fight a war with it? Which is not unlike Old Testament declarations and prophecies, who is like our God, who is like you Lord, who could who could possibly fight with you, who could? This kind of stuff. And this beast was allowed to wage war against God’s people, and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. And everyone living on earth worshiped it. Everyone, that is, whose name is not written in the book of life. So, this is the kind of place where you have to decide how you’re reading this. If you’re reading it from a literal perspective, then there is a sea monster unlike any creature we’ve ever seen before that is going to come up out of the sea and receive the dark powers of evil and claim sovereignty and the world is generally going to believe in and worship this beast who will subsequently consolidate power and go to war with God’s people. And this would personify evil into one being or at least this activity into one being. And, of course, the beast is associated with imagery of the Antichrist, who has been depicted as, you know, as some kind of emerging world leader, a person in popular culture. So, we run into this problem of trying to decide time. You know, when will this happen? Are we to look allegorically and figuratively or are we to look literally at these kinds of things. And we have to acknowledge that, for the most part, the figurative interpretation is where we land. But, so often, we just flip to literal because we’ve been kind of programed to do that. And, so, when we get to the Antichrist we have to determine whether we’re talking about one person or if we’re talking about anything that is anti-Christ. So, for example, in first John, which we read recently, we were told that. ‘you have heard that the antichrist is coming. Even now many antichrists have come. And who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the antichrist.’ So, we have to decide if this is embodied in one person at some point in history or if we’re talking about the world consolidating itself in a way that is anti-Christ and oppressive to God’s people. And more than oppressive, antagonistic, and at war with God’s people. But, nevertheless, according to the Scripture, this beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it’s hard to make that allegorical. Because if we’re talking about spiritually then we would say that this war against God’s holy people conquers them spiritually. That would be hard to reconcile because God has put His seal on their foreheads as we read earlier. And so much of the book of Revelation and so much of the New Testament itself is about enduring these things or these kinds of things, staying true, keeping the light burning. And we have to acknowledge, at least at this point in the book of Revelation, we haven’t seen any indications that God’s holy people are going to be zapped away from all this. It seems to be an encouragement to endure and keep the light burning like the rest of the New Testament does. And to keep us keep us focused on the fact that our bodily death isn’t the end of anything. And if we zoom out to the 30,000 foot view, we would have to say, this is what it looks like for the transition of the kingdom to come. And, so, there’s this conquering that takes place, which doesn’t necessarily mean killing, it means conquering. And this happens because the world follows this beast. Everyone worships this beast. Everyone who’s not written in the book of life. That book, I’m reading this from revelation, ‘that book belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the creation of the world.’ And this gets really contentious and really prickly because now we’re talking about predestination. And, generally, that’s the idea that everything was already preordained before it ever started. The way that this whole thing was going to go down was already preordained, including every name of every person that would be written in the book of life. Which brings up all sorts of things to think about, like, is my is my name in the book of life? Right? That would be the primary question. And what name is it exactly that is in the book of life if my name is in that book? For example, my name is Brian. Is Brian written in the book of life or did God give me a new name in the book of life or do I actually have a different name that was ordained from the foundation of the world and that’s how God knows me but my earthly parents gave me the name Brian? Is this an actual book or is this figurative language, simply describing everyone who belongs to God? And this idea of preordination or predestination or not has been a point of debate throughout pretty much the majority of church history. And I don’t think I’m qualified to do every shade and nuance of that and I know for certain we don’t have time. So, basically, on the one hand, we have the idea that everything was preordained. Everything that’s going to happen was already written and now it’s just playing out, including the lives of those who will ultimately be in the book of life and belong to God. This was preordained. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. Some were chosen to be God’s people and they will. There’s nothing they can do about it and it has nothing to do with what they do. The ones who are not written in the book of life, well, I mean, they simply weren’t written in the book of life. And, so, they are preordained to oppose God and God’s people. And all of this was predetermined before history began. On the other hand, you have a more collaborative view. And that would be that people get to make choices and those choices get to matter. It’s what I think Blaise Pascal called the dignity of causality. And, ultimately, that basically means that God loves us and we get to choose whether or not we love him back. And this plays out in a thing called a relationship. And this idea basically starts in the book of Genesis with Adam and Eve. They were able to make a choice to eat from the tree that was forbidden. And then throughout the rest of the Bible we encounter this overarching narrative that tells us that God is passionate for people and wants to collaborate and interact in life. The problem that gets prickly there, theologically, when viewed through the lens of predestination is that, everyone must be in the book, which can lead a person in all kinds of directions. So, on the one side, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re either in the book are you not in the book and that was determined before history began. And, so, that can lead a person into all kinds of interesting directions. Whereas the idea that everyone is written in the Lamb’s book of life can also lead a person in all kinds of interesting directions. The idea here would be that humanity was destined for God. He wanted everyone to be with Him, everyone that was ever born, or, like according to second Peter, chapter 3, ‘the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ Or from Romans chapter 6, ‘the death He died’, so Jesus, ‘the death Jesus died, he died to sin once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God.’ And, so, in terms of predestination, everyone is predestined for God but we get to collaborate in that choice and we can choose otherwise, thereby eliminating ourselves from this book of life. So, how you understand this definitely affects how you read the Bible, but it certainly affects the way you would understand the book of Revelation. And I think the book of Revelation is speaking correctly when it says, ‘in this situation God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.’ And then the next thing that happens from our reading today is that there’s another beast. And this one comes up from the earth and has two horns like a lamb but it talks like a serpent. So, now we have this great serpent whose given authority to this beast and now there’s a second beast. And we see these kind of father, son, Holy Spirit, these kind of parallels in a dark way here. And this second beast is able to perform all kinds of signs and wonders that are very deceptive for those living on earth. And it just kind of reiterates and consolidates the false authority and power of the serpent. And this second beast has a statue made of the first beast who was wounded by a sword and still lived. And then the second beast is allowed to put breath into that statue. And then that statue puts to death whoever will not worship it. And scholars have drawn parallels here for a long, long time and in significant numbers, that the imagery here would harken back to Daniel’s time when King Nebuchadnezzar made a statue that everyone had to fall down and worship when the trumpet blasted. And that’s what got Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace. A literal reading of this section of Revelation would be a literal reading. There’s a statue of the first beast, who has been given the authority of the serpent. The second beast comes along. The statue comes to life. And anyone who won’t worship the statue then is killed. An allegorical reading would be that all of this symbolizes an empire or an authority, a national authority, that influences the entire world. And its consolidated its religious and its economic and political powers to stamp out anyone who will not go along with it. And God’s people are caught in the crosshairs. But one of the ways that this happens is also another very, very popular image that’s highly contentious. The way that it does this is that it causes everyone to either be branded on their right hand or on their forehead. Right? So, the mark of the beast. And, man, has that been debated and has that been imagined. And if you take a more presentest or futurist view of this, then it’s everything from you know, computer chips of some sort being, you know, deposited under the skin and all of this kind of stuff, what the mark of the beast is. So, if we move back a couple of millennia and we get ourselves back into John’s time when this is actually being written down, it would be, you know, a computer chip put under the skin isn’t even something they can conceive of, but a mark is, a tattoo of some sort is, a branding of some sort is. And, so, for the widely diverse interpretations about what exactly the mark of the beast is, we can probably safely say it’s some sort of branding that speaks to the fact that the beast sees its worshipers as his property. Whether you see the beast as a consolidated embodiment of a person that is evil or if you see it as a work of darkness in the world. So, the idea here is, if you’re not on board with that, then you’re going to be economically impacted tremendously and you will be driven underground because you can’t participate in the culture. So, we hear these things and then we literalize these things and then we try to imagine these things. But in the process, we might be missing the parallels because there are stark parallels between good and evil and between Jesus and the evil one. Before we ever got here, to the mark of the beast, we first saw the mark of God put on his holy ones. on their foreheads. And we had no problem looking at that allegorically. Like, we would all say yeah, you know, the mark of God is on my forehead. I am sealed in Christ. And we don’t, in any way, think about that as a computer chip or a tattoo, but then we get to the counter mark of the beast and we start literalizing. Whereas, a little bit more allegorical view would be that God has sealed those true and who have kept the lamps…that have kept their witness burning, while the forces of evil come in to counter that with the dark mark, after the same fashion, denoting who a person belongs to. And it is of note and quite interesting, this mark of the beast that can be on your hand or on your forehead, because in the book of Exodus, God tells the children of Israel that the law, the Torah, was to be a sign on their hand and a reminder on their forehead. It was a constant reminder of who they belonged to, who they were in covenant with, where their commitments were, where their loyalties were to lie. And Orthodox Jews continue, indeed, to practice that until today. All of this brings us down to the final verse that we read in today’s reading, the number of the beast, 666. And even saying it evokes hysteria in some hearts. And, so, we have to decide, is this a literal thing? I mean, can we add up the numbers and find out who this person is? Is this essentially a math question? And people who have been trying to look at it from that perspective have found lots of names over the centuries that would potentially fit the bill. Numbering a person’s name actually has a name, Gematria. And it basically goes like this, in ancient times, in certain ancient languages, there were no numbers per se, the letters of the alphabet also represented numbers. So, for example, in the Greek alphabet the first nine letters of the alphabet represented numbers one through nine. So, using this method, for example, the name Jesus would be the number 888 and this beast’s number is 666. So, going way back to the time of the writing of this, people have identified 666 with the Emperor Nero. But it took a little finagling. Nero wouldn’t just add up to that so they had to do Caesar Nero to make it work. Others have noted that there are discrepancies in the manuscripts. And, so, in some manuscripts the number’s 616. So, there’s been a lot of names that have showed up on the list of potential antichrist figures over the generations. And this is obviously where you go if you’re trying to do a more literal reading. But it’s fair to ask the question, you know, did John put a mathematical problem in the book of Revelation that was to disclose what was going to happen? Like, is this an intellectual mathematical exercise and only someone magical skills can actually figure this out? Or was John calling for insight, wisdom, and vigilance in this matter? And many scholars have noted that it doesn’t make a ton of sense for John to be so cryptic here when he’s being so outspoken. And if he’s trying to hide the number, like, if he’s trying to make this a riddle so that it’s kind of passed around as code, why he would be doing that? He’s already in exile and his whole message is to tell the church to be vigilant and keep their lamp burning and keep their witness strong and to stay pure and to stay true no matter what happens, even if they have to die. So, doing this in code has its own set of problems. But if we continue to look at this allegorically, there are some things that could be said. First would be the use of the number seven in this book, and not just in this book, throughout the Bible, but in particular in the book of Revelation. Right? So, like, there’s seven lampstands, there’s seven seals, there’s seven trumpets. And many scholars over many centuries would say, seven is a number that seems to indicate completion in the Scriptures. Right? So, God made the world in six days and then on the seventh it was complete, He rested, as one example. And as we travel to the book of Revelation, six things happen and then there’s kind of a pause, and then the seventh one. And the six things seem to have to do with the judgment, whereas the seventh thing that happens, like, the seventh trumpet has to do with the consummation of the new, the new kingdom, this thing that God is doing. So, the number six then is a picture of something that is incomplete. And to say this three times, 666, is like the ultimate of incompleteness. So, whereas God is moving to complete things, to make all things new again, the dark forces of evil in the world are perpetually and will only ever be incomplete. So, on the one hand you have a personified antichrist who embodies evil and sort of a picture of a dark trinity that will take over and ultimately try to stamp out God’s people. And one of the ways of consolidation of power will be the mark of the beast that will, maybe, be a computer chip that’s put under your skin somewhere or something like that or you have an allegorical view that shows us that the dark powers that are evil, evil that is in the world is moving the world toward utter and complete incompletion and that will invariably lead to difficult times. But God’s people have to take the long view and remember that we are not rooted only in our physicality. At the end of our physicality isn’t the end of anything. And that is where we end up in today’s reading.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the way that it stretches us and challenges us and forces us to consider beyond what we think we know. And we’re grateful for that. We’re grateful that You are committed to our maturity. And we’re grateful that You’re making all things new. And that is our hope. And that is where our faith lies, that in the end all things are restored and made new. So, come Holy Spirit, and plant what we’ve heard today into our lives, and may it yield the fruit of the Spirit in us and in the world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website and its home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And I’ve got a big announcement.

So…pay attention. A couple days ago we released the new web player and many of you have been using that for the last couple of days. That’s very awesome. And those of you use the web player, you began to notice all the new things that you can do and how it’s all interconnected. It is all interconnected. The new app, the web player all connects so that wherever you Journal, however, your listening, it’s all there. In addition to the new web player, we can now tell you the new app has been released to the public. And  because of those of you who contributed to the Global Campfire Initiative, it is released to the public, completely free. So, if you have an Android or an Apple device, you can now also begin using the new Daily Audio Bible app. And you can begin telling your friends because it's…they can download it for free. But before you race off to do that. Couple things I want to tell you. 1) When you get the new app or using the new web player. The first thing is can ask you to do is login. Of course, you don’t have to login. You can continue as a guest and use it. No problem. But logging in lets you use it to its full capacity. For example, it will check off the days that you’ve listen to so that you can quickly find days that you may have missed or you can star an episode and say, yeah, I want to remember this one, this one meant something to me, I want to come back to this later. That can’t happen if it’s not connected to your account because you’ll star it and there won’t be any account for it to be attached to. Same with journaling. You can Journal in this new app, you write your thoughts down. If something sticks out to you and you want to be able to come back to it and see what you were thinking or kind of Journal your way through the Bible and the things that really stood out to you and to be able to review them later, if there’s no account for that to be attached to then there’s no way to retrieve it. So, logging in lets you…I mean…that’s what we worked so hard for so many years…to kind of begin this process of connecting the community. So, I think the long and short of what I’m saying is, login. And if you don’t have an account at Daily Audio Bible, like, if you’ve never been on the website before, you’ve never done anything before, then just make one. There is no big brother at the Daily Audio Bible. Like, we don’t have any capacity to try to follow you around nor do we have any desire. So, don’t worry, logging in or making account, all that was developed simply to serve you. And then, here’s the other thing that you need to know right now, because it’s a brand-new app. So, it has to kind of, all the links have to start coming in so it can rise up in the search criteria in the app store’s. Search for ‘Daily Audio Bible mobile app’. That will take you to the new one, to the right one. Alternatively, you can just go to dailyaudiobible.com and scroll into the second box. It talks about the app and just click the button and it will take you right to it. And you’ll be able to install that for free and start using it. I can’t even believe I’m saying that. It’s been such a journey to get to this point. And my shout out to Daniel and his team in Kansas City and Chet and his team up in Indiana for all of the hard, hard work. These brothers have been around the Daily Audio Bible for years and they worked their butt off to get us here so [clapping] we salute them. I also want to remind everybody this is 1.0, like, this is the beginning. I mean, literally, dreaming this up happened years ago. And I went through that all on the Global Campfire Initiative, where it was, like, man, we realize we’re going to have to build something from the ground up and it took this long to get here. This is only the beginning of what we’re dreaming about for this new app and web player. So, we will be updating it along the way. And I will certainly keep you posted about that. But you can get it now. You can start using it now. You can start telling your friends about it now. Like, off we go and we pray.

Lord Jesus, you’ve seen that we’ve worked hard and diligently. You’ve seen that we’ve been faithful to this process and we’re just asking your blessing over it. You told us to do this and we have and then You told us to give it away and we are. So, come Holy Spirit upon this technology as it begins to wind its way around the world. Come, Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the last days of the year, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link right on the homepage. If you’re using the new app, you can press the Give button in the upper right hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be listening on the new app or the new web player. Either way, I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:

Hi. My name is Melanie. This is my first time ever doing something like this. I’ve just recently become close with God and I was wondering for prayer because I don’t really have any friends to go through this with. I’m still in January of 2017 and this is my first time reading the bible. It’s just prayer because I don’t know what I’m doing. And I don’t really have anyone to do it with. That’s it. Thank you. My name is Moni. I’m 15. Bye.

Hi this is Victoria S. I’m just calling in and would like to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for you Eunice, the one with stage four cancer. I just want to let you know that God has got His hands on you and I’ve been having people telling me about people having stage four cancer are getting healed so much better because the medicine is so much advanced and I’m just praying that God to work that miracle for you and that you be able to tell someone what a great and wonderful God and what a healer He is. That God is able and He’s faithful. I would also pray for Lawrence in Birmingham…or Pelham in Birmingham, whatever you’re going through, I want to let you know, hold on, that God is with you. Right now, it may feel like he’s not with you. But remember, during a rough time He carries us. So, continue to remember that. I wanted to say hi to Joe the Protector. It’s so good to hear from you. I continue praying for you because of the different things that’s out there, that God will keep His protective hand and hedge around you. I just want to also pray for my friend Gloria and just…we want victory, we want miracles in her life in the challenges that she’s going through and want all the DABbers to pray with her and the challenges that she’s going through. I wanted to pray for the sister with the twins. I want to let you know, you continue to hold on my sister, that God is faithful. During the time of my pregnancy I had complications, but I stayed praying and I stayed listening to God and I let the doctors say what they wanted to say. One doctor had the nerve to say something to me because I had to go early and he was saying that if anything happened to my baby that he wasn’t going to do anything. And my husband got all upset…

Hello my DAB family. This is Mark S. from Sydney Australia. Today’s Tuesday, the 19^th of December and I’ve just been through listening to the Tuesday podcast and I heard China speaking with Brian. And I’ve not been with DAB long enough to know this whole story. That’s the first time I’d heard the full story about China. Reading almost 10 years with the DAB…and that’s wonderful…and I want to pray too for her ministry too. So, heavenly Father, we come to You to say thank You so much for Brian and his family and the work they do for You as a family, Lord, and keeping them in love with You Father. Father, I ask You now to help China on her new mission that You’ve sent her on, Lord. Bless her and keep her inspired to keep reading Your word. Lord, may 100s of 1000s of young teenagers and young adults be inspired to come and listen to the word through China during next year Lord, that our next generation of Christians, Lord, will be risen up to worship You, Lord. Lord, I ask in Your name. I love you all family. And, once again, Brian and family, thank you so much for your commitment __. Love you all. Good bye.

Good morning DAB family. This is Victorious Vanessa from Maryland and I probably missed the greeting for the holiday. Today’s the 17^th but I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, especially to Brian Hardin and his family. And from the family of Vanessa C. and her husband Tony (say Merry Christmas Tony – Merry Christmas), we’re wishing you a prosperous New Year. Expect great things and remember, He always wins…