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HopeLives365

Three Cosmic Messages: Earth's Final Conflict

Mark Finley

01 Jesus vs Satan

Welcome and thank you for joining us for this Bible Prophecy Series titled, 3 Cosmic Messages, Earth's Final Conflict.

As we look around the world today, we see uncertainty, uncertainty in the economic markets, political uncertainty, uncertainty with the weather patterns and global warming.

We look around the world and we see pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters everywhere.

And we ask the question, what does the future hold?

Does God have a message for this generation that is tailor-made to prepare it for that which is coming upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

The good news is, the book of Revelation reveals God's end time message for humanity.

During this series we will study 3 cosmic messages.

Messages that speak to us with relevance and meaning and purpose today.

Let's pray as we open the Word of God and we delve right into this first subject in this series of 3 cosmic messages.

Father in heaven, thank you so much that you have a message for this generation, that the world has not been left in silence to wander around in confusion and darkness.

Thank you that light from your word shines and that messages from heaven speak to us of hope and security and meaning.

This first presentation looks at an introduction to the 3 angels' messages.

Now that title may be familiar to you or it may be a little confusing.

In the book of Revelation, God gives to us 3 life-changing, universal, eternal, dramatic messages, pictured as being carried by 3 angels in mid-heaven.

These messages deal with an intergalactic struggle.

They deal with a Star Wars controversy between good and evil.

They deal with Christ's final message for humanity.

To understand those messages in their fullest sense, it's necessary to understand the larger context of this controversy between good and evil.

In this first presentation, we're going to take a look at Revelation the 12th chapter which is an introduction to Revelation chapter 14.

The theme of this chapter in Revelation 12 is Jesus wins and Satan loses.

Will you come with me for a few moments back in time to the Second World War?

Hitler's armies were attacking England and the Nazi panzer divisions were moving very rapidly across Europe.

Just 20 miles across the English Channel, Hitler was moving very quickly to destroy England.

The air raids were frequent almost every evening.

Winston Churchill was plotting how to counteract the attacks of Hitler in his underground war rooms.

You can still visit those underground war rooms in London today.

And there in those underground war rooms, the war strategy was being planned.

But not too far from that, up the Thames River at Bletchley Park, there were a group of people working called the Code Breakers.

Their great desire was to break the German Enigma Code.

Recently, Simon Singh has written a book called The Code Book, The Secret History of Codes and Code Breaking.

In that book, he tells the story of the Bletchley Park code breakers.

Hitler had 159 million Enigma codes that needed to be broken.

And these code breakers studied the codes.

And there was 1 brilliant code breaker called Alan Turning.

He was a intelligence officer in crypto intelligence and he began studying those codes, began trying to figure out how do I break the German codes.

As he did, he came up with a method to break the German codes.

And at times, they were able to track the German submarines in very real time.

Other times, they were able to tell the Allied forces where those German submarines were so they could be destroyed and where the Allied forces boats were so they could avoid those attack German submarines.

The code breakers were largely responsible for helping to shorten the war.

In fact, Jack Goode, 1 of the code breakers, said this, I won't say that what turning did made us win the war, but I dare say we might have lost it without him.

Code breakers were incredibly important in the Second World War to identify where the submarines were, to enable the Allied forces to avoid them and to destroy those German submarines.

The Book of Revelation is a code breaker.

And as you and I study these prophecies in the book of Revelation, we will discover just how Satan's code can be broken.

The book of Revelation unmasks the plans of the evil 1.

Revelation chapter 12 outlines this great conflict, this great cosmic controversy, this intergalactic struggle between good and evil.

The theme of Revelation 12 is Jesus wins and Satan loses.

There are 4 great episodes in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation.

We're gonna look at every 1 of those episodes and these episodes will prepare us to understand the 3 cosmic messages in Revelation, the 14th chapter.

In episode number 1, there's a battle for the throne.

Travel with me back over the millenniums of time.

Travel with me to the very throne room of the universe.

Travel with me to the epicenter of this conflict as it began.

Revelation chapter 12, verse 7 to 9 says, And war broke out in heaven.

Now that's a strange place for war, isn't it?

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they did not prevail.

Nor is a place found for them in heaven any longer.

That serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives, now notice the word deceives, the whole world, Satan is a deceiver.

He was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

The Bible says, the dragon and his angels fought, and Michael and his angels fought.

So there was a conflict, an intergalactic conflict, a Star Wars battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, between heaven's forces and what soon became the forces of the evil 1.

This is a Star Wars controversy far beyond anything that you and I could ever imagine.

There was no neutrality in that first conflict.

Sometime ago I read a fascinating story that illustrates this idea of neutrality in conflict, in crisis.

There was a young college student, and this young college student was looking at the want ads in the newspaper and he was studying his iPad to try to discover a job for the summer.

He was going to a Christian college and it cost quite a bit of money to go and so he needed to offset his costs.

And so he studied, where can I work for the summer?

He found an ad on the iPad that indicated, as he Googled it, that there was very good pay if he would go up and cut timber in the country of Canada.

Go up and spend the summer in the forests and cut the timber there.

As he was looking at the ads, he saw the hourly wage, he saw what he might make for the summer, he was really excited about it.

So he decided to sign up and go up to Canada to cut timber.

His friends began to counsel with him and they said, look, if you go there, those rough, tough, cursing, swearing, drinking, foul-mouthed lumberjacks are going to tear you apart.

You're a thin, young man who doesn't have much substance to you and they are just going to break you in half.

Once they find out you're a Christian, they are going to ridicule you.

When he came back after the summer, his friend said to him, well, tell us, how did you do working with those guys all summer?

Made a lot of money, never had 1 problem at all.

02 The Decision that Decides Your Destiny

♪♪ I'm delighted that you've joined us for this series titled, 3 Cosmic Messages, Earth's Final Conflict.

In this series, we're focusing on the book of Revelation, but specifically on 3 messages in Revelation, Revelation 14, verse 6 to 12.

When many people think of Revelation, they think of mystic symbols, they think of strange beasts, they think of weird images.

But yet Revelation 1, verse 1 says the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So the book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus to grant to us insight into the last days of verse history and prepare us for the coming of Jesus.

In fact, Revelation chapter 1 verse 3 says, blessed are they that read and hear and do the things that are therein.

So as we study the book of Revelation, but particularly this very heart of Revelation, Revelation 14, 6 to 12, we are studying the very messages of Christ to prepare a people for Jesus' soon return.

I want you to bow your heads with me just now as we pray and ask God to come in a very special way to minister to our hearts, to speak to our hearts, to impress us with his last day message.

Father in heaven, as we open your word, as we study the book of Revelation.

I pray that the words would leap right off the page, that the Holy Spirit would guide, direct, and strengthen us.

Guide us as we go into this presentation today, a moment of destiny.

Now let me review just for a moment our last presentation for you in this series, 3 Cosmic Messages or Earth's Final Conflict.

In our last presentation we talked about the fact that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of all.

We pointed out that Jesus is the 1 who had victory over Satan in the heavenly realms.

We pointed out that the dragon fought against Christ, but yet the dragon Satan was cast out of heaven.

In heaven, in that first episode, Jesus won and Satan lost.

Satan was so vicious against Christ that he then tried to destroy Christ on earth when Jesus was born as the male child that would rule with the rod of iron.

We pointed out that this expression, rod of iron, is a symbol of invincible, everlasting dominion, principle, or rulership, that Jesus again would reign and defeat Satan.

Satan tried to destroy him, but Jesus was led with Mary and Joseph into Egypt, directed by an angel, and protected there.

Satan stalked Jesus all of his life and tried to destroy Jesus there, but yet Jesus was victorious in the wilderness with his temptations over Satan.

In his resurrection, Jesus was victorious.

And in his intercession in heaven, Jesus is victorious.

Jesus wins, Satan loses in that second episode.

Revelation chapter 12 gives us the panorama of history down through the ages.

Revelation chapter 12 reveals the plans of God And it shows us that Christ has never lost a battle with Satan yet.

During the great dark ages, remember Revelation 12 talks about this 1260 years, this period of the Middle Ages.

In the last days of verse history, Revelation 12 comes to an end with Revelation 12, verse 17.

And in Revelation 12, 17, it says, the dragon, Satan, is angry with the woman, goes to make war with the last part of her seed who keep the commandments of God.

The issue in the last days is that Jesus will win, Satan will lose, and Christ will come on a rescue mission.

This intergalactic struggle will be over.

In Earth's final conflict, God's people will win and Satan will lose.

In our program today, I've titled this program, A Moment of Destiny.

You know that something is going on in this world and we're at a moment of destiny.

Things have changed in our world dramatically in the last few years.

There's been a loss of confidence in governmental institutions and institutions in general.

Western society is at a moment of destiny.

Things that we counted on in the past have seemed to fade away.

There seems to be no compass to guide us, no north star to direct us.

1 writer said this, Christian morality is being ushered out of American social structures and off the cultural main stage, leaving a vacuum in its place, and the broader culture is attempting to fill the void.

In other words, this nation that has been built on Christian principles, Christian ethics, has seen those ethics eroding.

Things that would have been determined unconscionable decades ago are accepted as moral norms in our society today.

As we look at our society, new research reveals a growing concern about the moral condition of the nation, even as many American adults admit that they're uncertain about how to determine right from wrong.

Pew Research, 1 of the more renowned research organizations in the United States, when it surveyed Americans, discovered that many were uncertain.

There's nothing that guides our ethical behavior.

Many people feel if I think it's right in my own mind, it must be right.

If I believe that something is acceptable to do, I can do it.

So there is no guide, no standard higher than the human mind.

Many people are uncertain how to determine right from wrong.

80% of Americans, according to the Barner Research Group, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, or political ideology, express concern about the nation's moral condition.

80 percent of Americans really have serious doubts, concerns.

They're perplexed about the moral condition of America today and the world.

In 1960, approximately 72% of the United States population said they trusted the government almost always to make the right decisions.

That's almost three-fourths of Americans.

Today, only 19 percent of the population say they trust the government to almost or always do the right thing.

That is 81% do not trust the government to do the right thing.

When you look at that, that is a whopping large number.

A loss of confidence in government institutions, a loss of confidence in political institutions, loss of confidence, many, in the medical care that can be provided in the United States.

The United States spends more on medical care than any other nation, yet our outcomes are not in the top 25.

There's longevity is much longer in many other nations than in America today.

So people are losing confidence in society in general.

There's this new spirit of rugged individualism that's coming back where people begin to feel I have to care for myself, but yet they're incapable of doing that.

Lives tend to be more stressful, more harassed, and people's lives seem to be falling apart.

When popularity is more important than purity, a nation is in trouble.

When money is more important than morality, a nation is in trouble.

When entertainment is more important than ethics, A nation is in trouble.

When pleasure, indeed, again, is more important than purity, a nation is in trouble.

When there's confusion of sexual roles and sexual orientation, And God's original plan of 1 man married to 1 woman for a lifetime is flagrantly violated.

And when children, even of kindergarten age, first grade age, are given a choice of various genders.

A nation is in deep trouble when the roles are confused in sexual lines.

When crime is rampant in our streets, when Christ is mocked in our schools, a nation is in trouble.

When we look at these signs in our society, we sense that we are living in the days of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

Those great prophecies that Christ gave in Matthew chapter 24, the signs of His coming.

Those great prophecies that Christ gave in Luke 21, of the signs of His coming in 2 Timothy.

The book of Revelation was made for this generation.

The 3 messages that God gives to us in Revelation are messages for this time at this hour of Earth's history.

03 Only One Church Preaches this Message

Welcome back to our series titled 3 Cosmic Messages, Earth's Final Conflict.

In this series we're looking at the prophetic book of Revelation, unfolding the prophecies of Revelation, but specifically and distinctly, Revelation chapter 14.

In Revelation chapter 14, God unfolds His last day message.

He describes that message symbolically as being carried by 3 angels in midheaven.

And it's that message that we are unpacking, that message that we're studying.

Now, if you've been with us in previous presentations, you've noted that in our first presentation, we looked at the great controversy between good and evil.

We studied the fact that down through the ages, when Christ has been in conflict with Satan, Jesus has never lost a battle.

And that's the great theme of the book of Revelation, that Christ is predominant, that he will be victorious over Satan in the last days of Earth's history.

Because when you look at Revelation, it talks about a mark called the mark of the beast.

It talks about a time when no man can buy or sell.

It talks about persecution and a death decree.

And if you allow those images to grip your mind and strangle you, you'll lose your hope.

So the theme of the book of Revelation really is much more than the persecution that's coming.

It's the triumph of Jesus Christ in the last days of earth's history.

In our last presentation, we looked at the idea of harvest in the book of Revelation.

The harvest of golden grain and a harvest of glory grapes.

And we look there at the book of Revelation very, very carefully.

And we noted that in those 2 harvests there will be 2 eternal choices.

That every human being on a planet called Earth will make an eternal choice.

In this presentation, we are going to probe more deeply into Revelation 14, verse 6, the first of those 3 cosmic, or 3 angels' messages.

So as we launch right into our topic, let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for the great messages that you've given in the book of Revelation.

We sense that these messages come from Christ.

And so as we study them more deeply, help us to be able to understand them more fully.

And as we understand them more fully, may our lives more fully reflect you.

My topic in this presentation is Hope's Grace-filled End Time Message.

Have you ever noticed how corporations have slogans?

For example, MasterCard's slogan is, there are some things money can't buy.

Have you noticed Nike's slogan, just do it?

The Nike symbol, Nike, of course, meaning victory.

Then there is the slogan of Apple computers, think different.

Somebody certainly had to be thinking differently when they developed the Apple computer.

And then you go beyond that to the New York Times, all the news that's fit to print.

When you read that slogan, if you know anything about news media in America, you immediately think of the New York Times.

L'Oreal, the famous cosmetic group in Paris, because you're worth it.

Throughout these various corporations, there are slogans.

The slogan for these businesses is a catchphrase or a small group of words that are combined in a special way to identify a product or company.

So you may not even see the product or know the company, but when you hear the slogan or the catchphrase, immediately you identify.

When you see the little swoosh of Nike, immediately you identify with that product brand.

When you read MasterCard and you see their slogan, those simple circles with red and yellow or orange, you immediately identify with that slogan.

For some things money can't buy, but for everything else, there's MasterCard.

You know, you identify with those slogans.

Israel had a statement of faith that identified Israel.

It set it apart from all of the heathen nations.

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