not long after a man or a woman
is born of God, granted life and faith in Christ, believing
on the Son of God and following Him, doesn't take too long until
they realize something that at first is terribly confusing.
They've entered into a warfare, a conflict, a warfare and conflict
in which they experience much pain, much sorrow, much difficulty,
but a warfare, a conflict in which God's elect suffer no harm,
no injury of any kind, but only in which they prevail and persevere
and conquer at last. It is a warfare that began long
before we were ever born. It began in heaven, you read
about it in Revelation chapter 12. Satan opposing the Lord Jesus
Christ. Leading one third of the heavenly
host in his rebellion. A warfare that is announced by
our God in the first gospel message in Genesis chapter three. The
woman sees. have his heel crushed by the
serpents, but he will crush the serpent's head. A warfare between
Christ and Satan, between God and the devil, a warfare that's
relentless, but a warfare that we suffer no harm from. Thousands, millions, untold millions
are destroyed by the influence of the warfare, but not one of
God's elect, not one. We see it with the first boys
in this world. They were by this time grown
men, Cain and Abel. Cain saw that God had respect
to Abel in his offering because Abel was accepted of God. No other reason, absolutely no
other reason God accepted the sacrifice Abel brought to him,
which was the sacrifice of his providing. And he rejected the
very best that Cain could offer. He would not have Cain's righteousness. He would not have Cain's goodness.
He would not have Cain's uprightness. He would not have Cain's morality.
He would only have a sacrifice representing his son. And for
that reason, Cain hated his brother and slew him. Ishmael and Isaac display the
warfare. Ishmael hated Isaac for one reason,
only one reason. Isaac was a child of promise.
Ishmael wasn't. Only reason. Nothing that Isaac
did to Ishmael, just that Isaac was a child of promise. Esau
and Jacob displayed the warfare. It goes on continually. And it
goes on to this day, a warfare between light and darkness, between
righteousness and unrighteousness, between God and Satan. And every believer is involved
in the warfare. That's what the burden of Damascus
given in Isaiah chapter 17 is all about. As you know, Syria
has been in the news regularly for almost a decade. The barbaric
cruelty of the Assad regime is known throughout the world, reported
on about every day. As the implosion of Syria accelerates,
religious prophecy gurus are in a frenzy, giving lectures,
writing books, and raking in cash as they tell us that Syria's
ruin is a sure sign of the end of the world. And certainly the
things in Syria are troubling to anyone who reads the newspaper
and has any sense of the value of human life. The country is
steadily falling apart, and many presume it will soon collapse. But I want you to understand
clearly the teaching of Scripture. According to the 17th chapter
of Isaiah, many look upon the current events in Syria as prophetic
signs of the end of the world. Now please, please, please understand
me. I do not suggest that the glorious
advent of our Lord Jesus Christ is not to be looked upon as an
imminent thing. That is that Christ may appear
at any moment. It is indeed imminent. We are to live, however, every
moment on the tiptoe of faith, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Not looking to signs for the
end. The Word of God never teaches
us to look for signs of the end time. I can't tell you how often
I hear it, I have on occasions been places
where some drunk find out I was a preacher and he could hardly
talk, but he says, it's a sign of the end. And preachers, it's
a sign of the end. This is a sign of the last days.
Now understand me, read this book again. God never tells us
to look for signs of the end of the world. And he doesn't
give even one. Not a one. Not a one. You either
look for the appearing of Christ or you look for signs. You can't
be looking for both. We are to stand on the tiptoe
of faith looking for the Lord to come at any time. There is
not one thing in Scripture that we're told must be fulfilled
before Christ appears in his glory. This is the language of
Scripture. Behold, he cometh. He is on his
way to call his own into heavenly glory. You'll never be prepared,
however, for Christ's second coming until you know what he
accomplished in his first coming. That's the matter of importance.
No one benefits from religion, any religious experience, exercise,
or knowledge until they know who Jesus Christ is. God incarnate,
the God-man who came into this world to save his people, And
having left this world, he obtained eternal redemption for us by
the sacrifice of himself, by his obedience unto death on the
behalf of God's elect. And now this one who lived and
died and arose sits on the throne of heaven and glory in absolute
dominion, ruling the universe for the good of his people, interceding
on the behalf of his elect. If a man ever finds out what
happened in the garden, what happened at Calvary, and how
God saves sinners, he will have no reason to ever be terribly
concerned about what's gonna happen tomorrow. If you ever
come to trust the Son of God, if you ever come to believe on
the Son of God, you have no reason to be terribly concerned about
the last day and the second coming of our Lord Jesus. Let's look
at Isaiah 17 and see what God the Holy Ghost here tells us
about the burden of Damascus. What is this? Isaiah 17, the
burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away
from being a city and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities
of Aurora are forsaken. They shall be for flocks. which
shall lie down and none shall make them afraid. That is these
rich, rich cities, Damascus and the cities around it are going
to just be like a wilderness. They don't want to be a wolf
there to scare a lamb. The fortress also shall cease
from Ephraim and the kingdom from Damascus and the remnant
of Syria. They shall be as the glory of
the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts. And in that
day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made
thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it
shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth
the ears with his arm. And it shall be as he that gathereth
ears in the valley of Ephraim. Now, notice that Ephraim, Israel
and Jacob, that is the apostate ten northern tribes of Israel,
are included in this judgment. Ephraim, Israel and Jacob, these
apostate northern tribes of Israel, are named in the judgment of
God upon Damascus and Syria. Yet, verse six, gleaning grapes
shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three
berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost
fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel. At that
day shall a man look to his maker, and his eyes shall have respect
to the Holy One of Israel. Obviously, Isaiah's prophecy
concerning the burden of Damascus looks beyond the actual destruction
of this city physically to this gospel age and speaks about life
and faith in Christ. At that day shall a man look
to his maker, and his eyes shall have respect unto the Holy One
of Israel, our Lord Jesus identifies himself by that very name, and
he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither
shall he have respect, or shall he respect that which his fingers
have made, either the groves or the images. He'll push aside
his idolatry, his self-righteousness, his will worship, the works of
his hands. In that day shall his strong
cities be as a forsaken bow, and the uppermost branch which
they left because of the children of Israel. And there shall be
desolation, because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation,
and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore
shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange
slips. In the day shalt thou make thy
plant to grow, And in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish,
but the harvest shall be as a heap in the day of grief and of desperate
sorrow. Woe to the multitude of many
people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas, and to
the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of
mighty waters. The nation shall rush like the
rushing of mighty waters. but God shall rebuke them, and
they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff
of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before
the whirlwind, and behold an evening tide trouble, and before
the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that
spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. Now hold your hands
here and turn to Jeremiah 49. There's a very similar prophecy
given by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 49 and verse 23. Concerning Damascus, Hadomath
is confounded and Arthad. For they heard evil tidings,
their faint hearted, There is sorrow on the sea, it cannot
be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble and
turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her. Anguish
and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail. How is the
city of praise not left, the city of my joy? Therefore her
young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall
be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will
kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume
the palaces of Ben-Hadad. 60 times, 60 times Damascus is
mentioned in scripture. The first time we read about
this city Damascus, which is thought to be to this day, the
oldest continually inhabited city on planet earth. It's thought
to be the oldest inhabited city on planet earth. 60 times it's
mentioned in scripture. The first time it's mentioned,
Those kings of the plain came to Sodom and took captive the kings
of Sodom and Lot and his family and his treasures. And Abraham
heard about it. And Abraham armed over 300 men,
trained in his house, and he went to Damascus. and set free
righteous lot, and delivered the kings of the plain with lot. Abraham's faithful servant, Eliezer,
we're told in Genesis 15, was from Damascus. David, the king
of Israel, during his reign, conquered Damascus, 2 Samuel
chapter eight. And he built garrisons for his
troops in that conquered city, so that Damascus, The city of
those apostate, reprobate, rebels against Israel became headquarters
for David's army, the children of Israel, the kingdom of Israel. In 2 Kings 5, you remember that
proud Syrian, Naaman, that mighty military man was stricken with
leprosy. And he came to Elisha, the prophet
of God, and the prophet told him to go dip seven times in
the River Jordan. And before he was humbled by
God's hand, that proud Syrian said, we've got rivers in Damascus
I can wash in. I don't need to wash in this
filthy Jordan. In Acts chapter nine, there's a man by the name
of Saul of Tarsus. who's on the Damascus Road going
from Jerusalem to Damascus. And the object of his trip was
to destroy the church of God and rid the world of the name
of Jesus Christ. But he was stricken on the Damascus
Road with a heavenly vision. Unhorsed, thrown to the ground,
and had a saving revelation of Christ in him. He was stricken
blind, and for three days, after he was led into the city of Damascus,
he dwelt in the house of one man named Judas. And then Ananias
received word from God to go and heal Saul of his blindness.
And Saul, being healed, was baptized, and immediately began preaching
the gospel right there in the city of Damascus. The last time
Damascus is mentioned is in Galatians 1. where Paul tells us after
his conversion, his initial experience in the ministry, he went back
to Damascus, right back into that hellish place, right back
into that place where God was despised, where men worshiped
their idols, their groves and the works of their hands and
their fingers, where men worshiped what they had done, and there
Saul went back to preach the gospel. Now here in Isaiah 17,
The burden of Damascus is a message of divine judgment against that
wicked city and nation. It's an assurance of the sure
triumph of the woman's seed over the serpent's seed, the sure
triumph of the Lord Jesus over Satan, and the sure triumph of
God's church over all her foes. This is the portion of them that
spoil us and the lot of them that rob us. What? Destruction. Utter destruction. This is the
portion of them that spoil us and of them that rob us. And
let me call your attention to four things in these 14 verses. First, in verses one through
five, the city of Damascus was brought to utter ruin under the
judgment of God. Isaiah tells us that Damascus
will become an uninhabitable ruin. The great city of Syria
will become a wasteland. The great notable city of the
East, Damascus, just five or six years after this prophecy,
was destroyed by Shalmaneser. Built again and destroyed again,
built again and destroyed again. Syria and Ephraim, were confederate
against Judah. Israel, the northern tribes,
had embraced the idolatry of the heathen in Syria. Israel
had become an apostate nation, an apostate church, though she
still claimed the name of Jehovah. She still claimed to be Jehovah's
people. She, claiming Jehovah as her
God, worshipped with the Syrians the work of her hands, the work
of her fingers, in their groves and in their altars, worshipping
what they had done, worshipping themselves. That's what idolatry
is. Please understand that's what
idolatry is. It's not just worshipping statues. It's not just kissing a statue
of Mary's toe in Rome. It's not just worshipping images. It's not just worshipping images
of this thing or that. Idolatry is worshipping what
you have done. Idolatry is worshipping yourself
as God. Did you get that? It's worth
writing down. Idolatry is worshiping yourself
as God. That's the thing by which Antichrist
is clearly identified in 2 Thessalonians 2. Man is held up in the house
of God as though he were God, demanding that men worship him
as God. Across this nation and around
the globe, in Baptist churches and all others, men worship man
and call it the worship of God. That's called idolatry. Well,
if we wouldn't worship man, when you ascribe to man power that
belongs to God alone, you worship man as God. When you ascribe
to man's will, the power of the new birth. You ascribe to man's
decision, the power of life. You ascribe to man's works, the
power of righteousness. You tell us man is to be worshiped
as God. Now you understand, Lindsay,
why the whole religious world entertains man. The whole of religion is built
to entertain its God, man. There was a time when the nation
of Israel was great and flourishing, but those days were gone. As
Isaiah writes this prophecy, Ichabod had become her name.
The glory had departed. God had departed. Still in that
nation, in that apostate church, There was a remnant according
to the election of grace who must and would be saved, and
there still is. Read the scriptures with care.
The history of God's church is a record in the Old Testament
of divine faithfulness. How often God raised up wicked
men and reprobate nations by which he chastened, purged, and
preserved his church. That's what the book of Judges
is all about. God raised up this wicked king and that wicked king.
He raised up Shalmaneser and he raised up Nebuchadnezzar.
He said, this is my sword. He raised them up in his hand
to chasten, purge, and preserve his church. God's eye, you see,
is always on his people. God's purpose in all things is
the salvation of his elect. He proved this over and over
again in his use of the nations of the world in the Old Testament. Now here may children of God,
the nations of the world are still his instruments. The rulers
of the world are still in his hands and he still raises up
nations and puts down nations, sustains and empowers nations
and destroys nations. for one reason only, the saving
of His people to the glory of His name. This is the way of
the Lord our God. He makes all men and all things
instruments in His hands by which He humbles His erring people
and lifts them up by His grace. All the while, preserving and
saving his elect among the nations. Jacob is the Lord's portion,
and he will never lose Jacob, his chosen. Turn a few pages
over to Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49, 22. Thus saith the Lord God, behold,
I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard
to the people. shall bring thy sons in their
arms. Isn't that wonderful? They shall
bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried
upon their shoulders, and kings shall be thy nursing fathers,
and queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with
their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet,
and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not
be ashamed that wait on me. Here's the second thing. In verses
six through eight. In the first five verses, God
announces judgment. Yet in wrath, the God of all
grace remembered mercy, and the chosen remnant was preserved
and brought to repentance. Verse six, yet gleaning grapes
shall be left in it, in this desolate land, as the shaking
of an olive tree, two or three berries way up in the uppermost
bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith
the Lord God of Israel. At that day shall a man look
to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One
of Israel. And he shall not look to the
altars, the work of his hands, neither shall have respect, or
shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the
groves or the images. We see God's judgment everywhere. Senseless people don't. But folks
who know God see God's judgment everywhere. Everywhere. We see
it in war. We see it in famine. We see it
in disease. We see it in pestilence. We see
it in rioting. We see it in murder. We see it
everywhere. The judgment of God is everywhere. But in the midst of judgment,
oh bless his name, God remembers mercy toward an elect remnant. As Rex in his prayer stated, while we live like all other
men, with our fist in God's face, and would not bow, God's mercy
was never abated, but exercising itself toward us, graciously
preserving his own to the day of their calling. His elect here
are described as being such few in number that they're compared
to grapes left for the gleaming, and a few olive berries in the
tops in the outmost branches of the olive trees. You see, the most desolating
judgments in this world are but warnings of judgment that will
be everlasting ruin from which none shall escape. And in the
times of greatest calamity, some are still kept safe. And in times
of greatest degeneracy, some are still kept pure. I remind
you again, after the Soviet Union had fallen and We were given
access to a lot of things. Brother Bill Clark started a
book ministry in Belarus. He and Brother Mahan went over
and as they were boarding the train in Moscow, someone apparently
heard them talking and slipped just a note in Bill's hand as
he was, just reached up in the window and slipped a note in
his hand. Bill opened the note and he said, there's still believers
here. God has his elect everywhere. And he has a way of getting his
word to them everywhere. And in the times of greatest
degeneracy, his elect are still preserved. Mercy was reserved
in the midst of judgment for a remnant, a remnant that must
and would escape the common ruin of the kingdom and of the northern
10 tribes. Though the Assyrians took all
the care they could that none slip out of their net, God's
chosen were kept safe, sanctified by God the Father and preserved
in Jesus Christ. Preserved by God's elected preserved
by blood atonement, preserved in the midst of all the catastrophes
of judgment upon the earth, as the Lord God says, hurt not the
earth, till I mark the 144,000 in their forehead. Oh, thank
God for his wise, adorable, good providence, for his mighty saving
grace, and for that precious blood and atonement we have in
Christ. Here is the work and operation
of God, the effectual operation of God the Holy Ghost in chosen
redeemed sinners when God calls them and gives them life and
faith in Christ. Here is an obvious prophecy I
repeat of this gospel age. God still preserves his elect
remnant unto the day of their calling. And at that day, a man
shall look to his master. When God's pleased to call, you
will look. The Savior says, look unto me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, but you won't look.
The Savior says, come unto me, all ye that labor in heavenly,
but you won't come. The Savior says, eat, drink,
take the water of life freely, but you won't eat, you won't
drink until God calls. And when God comes calling, sinners
come bowing. When God comes calling, sinners
look to the Savior. And his eyes, this man who looks
away from self now to Christ, his eyes shall have respect to
the Holy One of Israel. And he'll do something else.
He shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands. Neither
shall he respect that which his fingers have made. either the
groves or the images. He'll quit looking to his goodness
and his righteousness and his works and his free will and his
decision and his walking the church aisle and baptism and
church membership. He will no longer look to himself
as God. He looks to Christ as God. Number
three. Here's the cause of God's judgment
upon Damascus, Samaria, and the cities of Syria. And this is
the cause of God's judgment to this day. The apostasy of the
people who profess to be his, Israel. Verse nine, in that day
shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bow. and an uppermost
branch which they left, beholds of the children of Israel. And
there shall be desolation. Why? Because thou hast forgotten
the God of thy salvation, not Syria, not Damascus, not the
cities around Damascus, but these in Damascus who profess to be
gods. Israel has forgotten the God
of thy salvation, God who brought you out of Egypt, God who brought
you across the Red Sea, God who brought you across Jordan, God
who conquered the Canaanites in your stead. You've not been
mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant
plants, and shalt set it with strange slips. In that day shalt
thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou
make thy seed to flourish. You do your great work and you
make plans just like always before, but to harvest. shall be a heap
in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. Why did God bring judgment upon
the cities? It came because of Israel's apostasy. Because those people who professed
to be Jehovah's people, those who professed to be the church
of God in the midst of an apostate people had become an apostate
church. They had forgotten He who is
the God of our salvation. They had forgotten the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior, the rock of our strength. And the apostasy
of the church always brings the judgment of God. Read Romans
chapter one. Just read it. Verses 18 through
22. and tell me that what I said
is not so. It is the apostasy of people
who profess to be God's people from the worship of God, from
the gospel of God, from the truth of God, forgetting that God is
our Savior, that God our Savior Christ Jesus is the rock of our
strength, not ourselves. Making God like man brings the
judgment of God. but do not fail to observe that
this judgment was also. No, indeed it was specifically
for the salvation of God's elect remnant among that apostate people. Oh, wondrous grace. In judgment,
God remembers mercy. In judgment, God remembers mercy. The darkness of the day in which
we live is designed and ruled by our God. The darkness, the
darkness is designed and ruled by our God, specifically for
the benefit, the everlasting benefit of his elect. So the
Lord God says, come out of that apostate church. Come out of
Babylon, 2 Corinthians chapter six. Come out of her, come out
of her. Don't be partaker of her sins,
lest you be partaker of her judgments. Come out of her, and I will receive
you, and I will be gracious to you, and I will be a father to
you. That's God's call in the Old
Testament and the New. Be warned, my brother. Be warned,
my sister. When God's Israel forsakes the
Lord and forgets the rock of her salvation, the sure consequence
is judgment, chastisement, and disappointment. The Lord withers
her gourds and causes worms to grow out of the root of her most
pleasant plants. At evening she finds trouble,
and before the morning her comforts are gone. There is nothing for
our souls to rest upon. Nothing for us to find joy in
but Christ. Nothing else, nothing else. I make it my determination as
your pastor, my determination as a preacher of the gospel to
offer nothing in this house of worship to anybody except Christ,
that's all. We have one thing to give, the
message of Jesus Christ crucified. One thing to declare, Christ
in Him crucified. One thing to set before men,
Christ in Him crucified. Not entertainment, not pleasure
to the flesh, not the honoring of men, but Christ in Him crucified. How come? Because if he's not
our delight, all our delights, even religion, the practice of
religion, the joy of religion, the entertainment of religion,
the good time of religion, it's just a delusion by which you
will sink into hell. Here's the fourth thing, verses
12, 13, and 14. We're involved in a warfare.
But the outcome is a matter of certainty. Satan's in a rage
because he knows he has but a short time. All our foes, all of them,
all our foes will fall before us. All shall be foiled. All our spoilers shall be spoiled.
All our robbers shall be robbed. All our captors shall be taken
captive. Verse 12, woe to the multitude
of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas, and
to the rushing of the nations that make a rushing like the
rushing of mighty waters. The nation shall rush like the
rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them. and they shall
flee far off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains
before the wind and like the rolling thing before the whirlwind
and behold at evening tide trouble and before the morning he is
not. This is the portion of them that
spoil us and the lot of them that rob us. These verses declared
the doom of all who oppose and persecute and spoil and rob the
people of God. Everlasting, universally known
ruin. Everlasting, universally known
ruin. It took place at Calvary when
the Lord Jesus said, now is the prince of this world judged.
And he led captivity, captive by his resurrection from the
grave. It takes place in the new birth when it comes into
the heart of a man and binds the strong man and cast him out.
And it will take place at the last day when at last Babylon
is fallen. Those who seek to injure God's
church God's calls and God's gospel. All who oppose us and
our Savior labor only for their own ruin. The seed of the woman
shall prevail over the seed of the serpent. Esau shall never
injure but only serve Jacob. The gates of hell will fall before
Christ's church. Our battering ram, the gospel,
and Babylon will soon fall. Babylon must fall. Pastor, what
are you talking about when you talk about Babylon? Babylon is
what's represented in Damascus in Syria. Babylon is what's represented
in the Hindu nations and in the Islamic nations. And Babylon
is what's represented across the street, down the road, and
uptown. the religions of this world. And let me show you, I
want you to see it for yourself. Turn to Revelation chapter 17
and read about the fall of Babylon. I'll wrap this up. There came one of the seven angels
which had seven vials and talked with me saying, come up hither
and I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore.
That's a good name for most churches. The great whore. They sell themselves to the highest
bidder. They send out circulars and ads to find out what you
want in the church. They say, well, that's what we'll give you. The great
whore that setteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of
the earth have committed fornication. What? Yeah, the kings of the
earth, they love religion. Haven't you noticed how the politicians
all say, God bless you? Haven't you noticed how they
all, liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican, black
and white, they all invoke the name of God? The kings of the
earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he
carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw
a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy. having seven heads and ten horns,
a woman of great power and influence around the world. And the woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full
of abominations and filthiness of a fornication. And upon her
forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon. the great, the
mother of all harlots and abominations of the earth, the mother of all
false religion. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
And I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. Verse 12, and
the 10 horns, which thou sawest are 10 kings. which have received
no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with
the beast. Just little tin horn fellas.
These have one mind. They all think exactly alike.
Doesn't matter whether they're in North Korea, South Korea,
Germany, the United States, they have one mind. And shall give
their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war
with the Lamb. But don't miss this. And the
Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King
of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and
faithful. Verse 17, God shall put in the
hearts, in their hearts, the hearts of these ungodly, to fulfill
His will. and to agree and give their kingdom
unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Well,
you mean, you mean when they sign treaties and tear them up
and they go to war and they end the wars and when the nation
rises and nation falls, when this party's in power and it
falls and another party's in power, they're fulfilling the
word of God? That's what he says. Until the
words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest
is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Verse 1, chapter 18. And after these things I saw
another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and
the earth was lighted with his glory. His name is Christ our
Savior. And he cried mightily with a
strong voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen
and has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every
foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For
all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of a fornication. Doesn't matter where you go anywhere
in the world, men believe exactly the same thing. They believe
they can make themselves good and acceptable to God by something
they do or something they decide. And the kings of the earth have
committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth
are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Politicians
and merchants, everybody uses religion to advance themselves.
And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her,
my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, that you receive
not of her plagues. For her sins have reached under
the heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her, even
as she rewarded you. And double unto her, double according
to her works. In the cup which she hath filled,
fill to her double. Verse 20. Rejoice over her. What? Rejoice over her like a
mighty army rejoices at the victory over her foes, thou heaven and
ye holy apostles and prophets. For God hath avenged you on her. Verse 23. And the light of a
candle shall shine no more at all in Babylon. And the voice
of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more
at all in Babylon. For in thy merchants were the
great men of the earth. For by the sorceries were all
the nations deceived. And in her was found the blood
of prophets and of saints and of all that was slain upon the
earth. Chapter 19. And after these things, I heard
a great voice of much people saying, hallelujah, salvation
and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true
and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore, which did corrupt the earth with the fornication, and
hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again
they said, hallelujah. And her smoke rolls up forever
and ever. And the four and 20 elders and
the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the
throne, saying, amen, hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, praise our God, all ye his servants and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard as it were, the voice
of a great multitude, as the voices of many waters, and as
the voice of mighty thundering saying, hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. The burden of Damascus is God's
word of promise to his church. He will accomplish his purpose.
He will save his people. And they shall suffer no injury
from Damascus. No injury from all evil. Victory is sure. This is the
portion of them that spoil us and of them that rob us. Amen.