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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Norman McNulty Weekend

Norman McNulty

01 Prophetic Peril in America

Father in heaven, I just thank you so much that we can be together during the Sabbath hours and that we can worship you.

And I pray that as we go through the message that you will give us understanding and clarity.

Lord, we're truly living in momentous times, and I just pray that we would be awake to eternal reality.

So pray that you would be with me as I speak.

May each 1 of us hear that which we need to learn and to understand.

I just pray that you would speak through me and I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

The title for this evening is Prophetic Herald in America.

You know, We're living in a very interesting time of Earth's history.

We're living at a time when we've had a pandemic for months now that has affected large parts of the country.

And for those of you in California, you've definitely been affected with not being able to attend church in person and other issues.

And that's happened in other parts of the country also.

And we've also had social unrest and we have an election coming up.

And there's a lot of things that are going on that are making people look again at the end time prophetic message.

What does God say about what is happening at the end of the world.

And so what we're going to look at tonight is where America fits in end time prophecy, but we're also going to do a comparison between the French Revolution of Revelation 11, as opposed to what happens prophetically in America as seen in Revelation 13.

So this is going to be a prophetic study.

It's going to be a prophetic presentation.

And we're going to look at what we as Seventh-day Adventists should be saying, what we should be promoting, how we should be living, what message we need to be giving to the world, and what we should be standing up for with respect to America.

Now, I think most of you who are watching this presentation are Americans, there may be some of you in different countries watching as well, but clearly America is a prophetic nation at the end of the world that God raised up for a specific purpose.

So those are some things we want to look at.

So Revelation chapter 11, we see as a description of the French Revolution.

There's the 2 witnesses clothed in sackcloth for 1260 years, that's the Old and the New Testament.

Jesus says that the scriptures testify of him, the scriptures are a witness of the Old and the New Testament are witnesses for Christ, and they're clothed for sackcloth for 1260 years, ironically enough by the power that professes to be God's church on earth, the Roman Catholic church, they power.

So because scripture was trampled underfoot and was clothed in sackcloth during that period of time, the picture of God was lost sight of.

And so towards the end of the 1260 years in France, people said, if this is the picture of who God is, we want to do it.

And so you have the French Revolution from 1793, the fall of 1793 to June of 1797, and during that time you have the reign of terror, the guillotines.

And it's interesting, Revelation 11 describes how the 2 witnesses, their bodies were burned in the streets of that city called spiritually Sodom and Egypt.

And it talks about how our Lord was crucified in the streets of that great city of France.

And I'm just kind of giving you some highlights.

I'm not doing an in-depth look at Revelation 11.

We're gonna look a little bit more at Revelation 13, but the point is this.

Revelation 11 describes the French Revolution.

During the French Revolution, the French decided to do away with God altogether.

They said that the picture that had been painted by the Catholic Church of God was so bad, They said, we want nothing to do with God at all.

And so revelation 11 describes this beast that comes up from the bottomless pit.

The bottomless pit in the Greek is the Greek word of busos, which means it's, It's the dwelling place of Satan.

So this is a satanic power that comes up.

And this is atheism that makes war against scripture, makes war against the Bible.

And they said during that era, we are going to worship the goddess of reason.

And rather than worshiping God, they worshiped reason, they worshiped intellect, they wanted nothing to do with God.

Now, here is what I want you to understand from this.

The French revolution started off seemingly as something very good.

The Catholics had oppressed the Protestants, and you hear language today of oppressed and oppressors.

And the revolutionaries in France became tired of being oppressed.

And you had the 3 classes in French society, you had the nobility, then you had the bourgeois, who were the wealthy, and then you had the proletariat, the working class.

And in the French National Assembly, each party had a vote.

Well, it was in the interest of the bourgeois and the nobility to vote together, even though they were far outnumbered by the working class.

And so the wealthy and the nobility, although they were in the minority, they outvoted the majority who were the working class.

And so you have the oppressors and the oppressed.

There were a lot of different things going on that led to the revolution.

Eventually, there needed to be some fairness that was brought about.

But what happened was this, the revolutionaries were pushing for 3 principles, liberty, equality, and fraternity.

And part of that revolution included the separation of church and state.

Now this is something that I want you to think about because we're going to talk about America here as well.

And I'm also a Christian in a constitution.

So the French revolution, but there's a difference between the separation of church and state that came out of the French Revolution, as opposed to the separation of church and state that exists in America since its founding.

In the French Revolution, there was a hostile separation of church and state.

So In the French Revolution, you have a hostile separation.

And ever since that time, communist and Marxist nations have used the model from the French Revolution to have a very hostile separation of church and state.

You can see that in the communist nation of the Soviet Union and the former Eastern block communist nations of Europe where Christianity was basically outlawed by the communists other than what may have been practiced by the official sanctioned state churches in certain locations.

But basically Christianity was outlawed in Marxist and communist nations.

And this was an overreaction to what happened in France.

And so we have this interesting development of the French Revolution where Elham White has some interesting statements.

This is Great Controversy 282 where she says that the opening of the revolution by a concession of the king, the people were granted a representation exceeding that of the nobles and the clergy combined.

Thus the balance of power was in their hands, but they were not prepared to use it with wisdom and moderation.

Eager to redress the wrongs they had suffered, they determined to undertake the reconstruction of society.

An outrageous populace whose minds were filled with bitter and long-treasured memories of wrong resolved to revolutionize the state of misery that had grown unbearable and to avenge themselves upon those whom they regarded as the authors of their suffering.

Now listen to this, the oppressed wrought out the lesson they had learned under tyranny and became the oppressors of those who had oppressed them.

Now this is very interesting, Ellen White uses the language that Marxists use of oppressors versus oppressed.

And she says, the oppressed run out the lesson that they had learned under tyranny and became the oppressors of those who had oppressed them.

From the French Revolution, there's been this ongoing principle that Karl Marx has taught of what's called the oppressed and the oppressors.

You have in society those who are oppressed and those who are oppressors.

And Ellen White even acknowledges in Great Controversy that that was true.

But she says that those who had been oppressed were not prepared to use with wisdom and moderation the power that they were given.

Yes, if there are issues that are where people are being oppressed, we as God's people should speak up and say this is wrong, and we should use the biblical principles to speak up for those who are oppressed.

But in the French Revolution, that's not what happened.

What happened in the French Revolution is what we call anarchy.

And, and you guys know this, you're smart, but an in the English language means without an arc means law.

So without law with, without, or excuse me, arcy means rule.

So without rule, so there's, without, there's no rule.

And so what you have in the French Revolution is anarchy, and LMY has another statement about what happened in France and what's going to happen at the end of the world.

She says, at the same time, anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine but human.

The centralizing of wealth and power, the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many, the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims, the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed, the worldwide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.

Such are the influences to be met by the youth of today." Now this is a very interesting quote because she's saying, anarchy is trying to sweep away all law.

Anarchy is not something that we as God's people should be supporting.

Yes, we should stand in defense of those who are oppressed, but we do not do so with the spirit of anarchy that sweeps away all law.

And Ellen White says that the worldwide dissemination of teachings that led to the French Revolution, what were those teachings?

They were Marxism of labeling, you know, classes based on if you're oppressed or an oppressor.

And so you have these issues in the world today that have really sprung up in the last several months and clearly we need to be mindful of those who are being oppressed but we don't help them out by promoting Anarchy.

02 The Prophetic Destiny of Adventism

Thank you so much for the invitation, and it's great to be back with Advent Hope.

I'm sorry it couldn't be in person, but I'm glad we can at least do it like this.

So why don't we have a word of prayer, and we will get into our message for today.

Father in Heaven, we thank you for bringing us together this Sabbath morning.

I just pray for a special blessing as we study your word.

I pray that you would speak through me and I pray that you would be with each person who is listening.

May we all hear what you would have us to learn today.

May we be prepared for your soon coming is my prayer in Jesus' name.

You know, last night I spoke about prophetic peril in America.

Today we're looking at the prophetic destiny of Adventism.

It's amazing to see what the book of Revelation describes with respect to America and prophecy, to the French Revolution and prophecy, and to the Second Advent Movement, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Bible prophecy.

And that's what we're going to be looking at today.

I'm very excited about this presentation.

We're going to go through Revelation 10 and connect it to Abraham and we're going to see some amazing connections here.

So what I want you to do is if you have your Bibles I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 10 and we're going to look at verses 5 through 7 to start off.

Revelation chapter 10 verses 5 through 7 says, And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are and the sea and the things which are therein that there should be time no longer But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." Here we see an angel lift up his hand to heaven and he swears by him that lives forever and ever.

Now, we know who this angel is because this angel is the mighty angel that is seen in verse 1 of Revelation chapter 10.

If you've studied Revelation 10, you know that the mighty angel is Jesus Christ.

So the angel who stands upon the sea and upon the earth and lifts up his hand to heaven, this is Jesus Christ lifting up his hand to heaven.

And he swears by Him that lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer." Clearly, this is connecting to the first angel's message that talks about worshiping God the Creator who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that in the midst, and so in the fountains of waters.

And so we see a connection to the first angel's message, and we see Jesus, he's swearing by the Creator.

Well, when I look in Scripture, Jesus is the Creator.

So this is very interesting to see what's happening here.

Whenever Jesus swears by an oath, And especially when he swears by an oath where he swears by himself.

We know that what he is about to say has utmost significance.

And so we're going to come back to what he says here a little bit later, but I'm just giving you that as a foundation for where we are headed.

Now when you look at Revelation chapter 10, for example, in the scope of the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 10 is between the sixth and the seventh trumpets, and you have the 7 churches, the 7 seals, and the 7 trumpets in the first half of the book of Revelation.

And so Revelation chapter 10 is taking place at the end or toward the end of the 7 trumpets.

It's interesting at the beginning of the trumpets In Revelation chapter 8 you see an angel with a censer in his hand.

And this is Revelation chapter 8 starting in verse 3.

It says, Another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer.

This is at the altar of incense in the holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.

And then you see that this angel there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." This work that the angel is doing at the beginning of the 7 trumpets is the work of the high priest.

So the angel at the beginning of the 7 trumpets is Jesus the High Priest.

Hebrews 7.25 says that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us.

So Jesus is an angel at the beginning of the 7 trumpets.

He's the angel at the beginning of the 7 trumpets as High Priest.

At the end of the 7 trumpets, he's identified as the Mighty Angel, who was the High Priest at the beginning of the 7 trumpets.

Now, if you've studied the 7 trumpets, you'll understand that at the end of the sixth trumpet, you have the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1840, August 11, 1840.

So the timing of this mighty angel coming down from heaven is around the time that the Ottoman Empire falls in 1840.

You can read about that in Great Controversy, page 334 on your own time.

So the Ottoman Empire falls and around the year 1840, Jesus the mighty angel comes down from heaven and you can see the work that he is going to do based on his description.

He's clothed with a cloud just as He was clothed with a cloud above the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary in the Old Testament.

We see a rainbow in Revelation 4 above the throne of God.

His face shines like the sun, just as it does in Revelation chapter 1.

Jesus is the Son of Righteousness in Malachi chapter 4, and His feet are like pillars of fire just as you have the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

This is clearly sanctuary language because Jesus was the angel at the beginning of the 7 trumpets in the holy place as the high priest.

Now he comes down from heaven around the year 1840 as the mighty angel clothed with a cloud.

So this is sanctuary language meaning that he started in the 7 trumpets in the holy place, but now that he's clothed with a cloud he's announcing that he's moving from the holy place to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.

And that lines up very nicely with our understanding of the 2300 day prophecy that takes us to 1844.

And then the rainbow above his head, the rainbow is a symbol of the covenant.

He's going to renew the covenant with his people from the most holy place where he will write his law into our hearts and minds.

That includes the fourth commandment, the seventh day being the Sabbath to keep it holy.

And his face shines like the sun, the sun of righteousness.

He's going to bring righteousness, the righteousness of Christ as a revelation to the world.

And verse 2 it says, he had in his hand a little book open.

You almost know already what book is open based on the description of who Jesus is in verse 1.

Jesus is being described with sanctuary language in verse 1 of Revelation 10.

So the book that is open would inevitably point to this time period of Earth's history.

It's around the time of 1840 going into 1844 pointing to the work of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary, specifically in the most holy place where the sanctuary in heaven will be cleansed and sure enough the little book that is open in the hand of Jesus is a book that had been closed but now it's open for understanding and that's the portion of the book of Daniel that had been sealed until the time of the end.

And with the message in the book of Daniel that was unsealed, pointing to the sanctuary message, Jesus is announcing here in Revelation 10, in the era of 1840, by coming down from heaven, that He is raising up a new movement.

Just as he raised up the children of Israel to go from Egypt to Canaan, and he led them through the wilderness and gave them an understanding of who he is through the sanctuary message, he's raising up this movement to lead them from earth, spiritual Egypt, which would be this earth, to the heavenly Canaan up in heaven.

And so this is what we see happening here in Revelation 10.

Jesus is the leader of this new movement and with the message of the unsealed book of Daniel, he's raising up this movement with the understanding of the 2300 day prophecy to prepare people for the second coming of Jesus.

So when we get to verses 5, 6, and 7 we see the significant point that he lifts up his hand to heaven, he's standing upon the sea and upon the earth, meaning this is a worldwide message, and he lifts up his hand to heaven and he swears by himself.

Now when Jesus swears by himself, You know that what he is saying here is of utmost importance.

When the Bible says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." You can take that to the bank.

But when Jesus swears by himself, he is making an oath that he wants us to understand very clearly.

And what I'm going to show you through the remaining portion of this message is that this oath that Jesus swears by is the final oath of 3 oaths by which he swears by himself in how he shows, it's 1 of the ways that he shows that he's going to defeat Satan in the great controversy and this is the prophetic destiny of Adventism, this third and final oath, but it builds upon the 2 oaths that have come before it.

So we're going to come back and look at this oath, which we see in verses 5, 6, and 7, and we'll understand this third oath much better when we look at the first and the second oath that Christ has sworn by.

And so we're going to start by going to Genesis chapter 22.

So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Genesis chapter 22.

And we're going to look at the story of Abraham.

And in this story, it's interesting, Abraham has had Isaac by now, and in Genesis 15, God had told Abraham that he would have a child from his own flesh.

And then in chapter 16, Abraham takes the promises of God and pulls out what we call an old covenant maneuver, where as the children of Israel say, all that the Lord has said we will do, when they heard the 10 Commandments, This is what Abraham does in Genesis 16.

He listens to the advice of Sarah and he has a son named Ishmael through his servant Hagar.

The book of Galatians chapter 4 identifies Hagar and Ishmael as a symbol of the Old Covenant.

When Isaac is born, he becomes a symbol of the New Covenant because this is the work that God does in Abraham and Sarah.

They couldn't do it in and of themselves.

So God has promised to Abraham in the book of Genesis that in Isaac, the promise that he is given that in Abraham all nations of the earth would be blessed and it would be through Isaac that this promise would be fulfilled.

Abraham basically thinks that the purpose for his life has been fulfilled, Isaac is alive, the promise has been fulfilled and he's living out his life.

And then Genesis 22 comes along and in Genesis 22 verse 2 God says Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon 1 of the mountains, which I will tell you of.

And so God tells Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice.

Now, this offering is taking place because God is proving to the onlooking universe that Abraham truly is the father of those who have faith.

Because the only King universe, the angels and the unfallen beings could say, what evidence do we really have that Abraham is a man of faith?

I mean, he's made mistakes at every step of his life.

He had Ishmael, he lied to the king of Egypt and all of those things.

03 The Pathway to Mount Zion

Before I get into the message for this afternoon, I'm going to ask the Lord to be with us as we go through this presentation.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this Sabbath afternoon that we can come together and study your word.

I pray that you would speak through me and that you would bring just what is needed for each 1 that is here.

And I pray that we would hear the Holy Spirit touch each of our hearts in the way we need to be touched.

So be with me now, I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

So the title for this afternoon's presentation is The Pathway to Mount Zion.

Now, last evening we talked about prophetic peril in America.

This morning we talked about the prophetic destiny of Adventism.

This afternoon we're going to look at the pathway to Mount Zion, and this comes from Revelation chapter 14.

And we're going to look at what the Bible says here in verse 1 of Revelation 14.

Now I'm actively writing a book on Revelation right now, and I'm actually in chapter 14 right now.

I can tell you that when I spent the hours that it took to get through chapter 13, and we talked about chapter 13 last night, and you see the first beast, which is the Roman Catholic Church state power, and then you see the second beast, which is Protestant America, and then you see Protestant America speak like a dragon and pass a Sunday law, and all the world wonders after the beast, and it seems as if the whole world receives the mark of the beast.

It's a little bit of a downer to when you come to the end of Revelation 13 and it seems as if Satan's strategy to deceive the whole world is so successful.

And then you come to the very next verse, Revelation chapter 14 verse 1.

And you know, I've studied Revelation 14 and given messages on Revelation 14 for years, and I know Revelation 14 pretty well at this point in my ministry experience.

But I find, of course, every time you go through it, you find new things.

If someone says they know everything, they don't.

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Series

Norman McNulty Weekend

03 The Pathway to Mount Zion

Transcript

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