GYC 2017: Arise

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Making Sense of Last Day Events

Mark Finley

1. Revelation Unlocks the Future

This message was presented at the GYC 2017 conference, Arise, in Phoenix, Arizona.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

Before we pray, let me tell you a little bit about my intent in the class.

When you think about last day events and you think about coming events, many thoughts can come to your mind.

Some young people think about coming Mark of the Beast, the time when no man can buy or sell, no woman can buy or sell.

They think about a coming death decree, time of trouble, and they really focus on that, and it brings them a lot of fear and uncertainty.

Some young people have heard about a time of trouble when there is no mediator, and they say, well, look, I really am filled with fear.

So 1 of my goals is to help you sense the presence of Christ in the coming conflict.

So we will focus on the events that are coming, but we're going to focus on Christ in the coming conflict.

Second goal is this, I want to show you biblically that what Seventh-day Adventists believe about last day events is solidly in Scripture.

There are many people who will say to you, let's study coming events, and they will predominantly study that from the gift of prophecy and Ellen White.

We're going to look at the teachings of Ellen White about the last day events, But the first presentation or 2, this presentation and the next 1 this morning, I'm going to really spend a lot of time in the Bible.

We will look at statements from the Spirit of Prophecy as corollary to the Bible, but I'm going to give you a very solid biblical base so that you'll be able to explain to any friend what Seventh-day Adventists understand and believe from the Bible.

You are aware that Seventh-day Adventists understand last day events quite differently than the traditional evangelical world.

The evangelical world basically will say that Christ can come essentially at any time, and you might be walking down the street and Jesus will come.

Seventh-day Adventists don't believe that.

We believe that there are certain events that must take place before the return of the Lord.

And those events are all part of a larger picture of the Great Controversy.

And if you understand the Great Controversy, that makes all the difference in the world.

So we're going to look at the Great Controversy theme in the light of last day events.

So that's another goal of mine, is to give you a strong biblical foundation.

If you come to 1 class, you will get something out of it, but if you stay with us all 5 classes it'll make a dramatic difference in your life.

You will see last day events in a new perspective, in a new way that you really haven't seen before.

I have a third objective, and the third objective is to give you a very solid biblical and spirit of prophecy understanding of the sequence of events, and to help you to avoid a lot of the heresies that are currently in the Adventist church and currently and a lot more will be coming in the future.

So those 3 goals, 1 a Christ-centered approach to last day events, second, a biblical approach to last day events, and thirdly, an approach to last day events that helps us to avoid many of the conflicts, many of the controversies and crises that are coming in the heresies in our world.

So let's bow our heads and pray, and then we're going to go right into Scripture.

Father in heaven, we thank You with all of our hearts for the Word of God.

We thank You for the events that you have clearly outlined in Scripture.

And as we study particularly the book of Revelation, combined with the book of Daniel, combined with the prophetic understanding of Jesus in Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, and as we look at those varying chapters, give us a clear mind and give us a deep understanding of your Word.

If you have your Bible, I invite you to take it and turn to the book of Thessalonians.

We're going to be taking a look at 1 Thessalonians, the fifth chapter, because here Paul invites us to have our eyes wide open.

There are many who look at the events that are taking place in our world and have very little understanding of them.

They will see hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, natural disaster.

They will see a world that is arming for nuclear war.

Then they won't quite understand these events.

They'll see an economy that is teetering on disaster.

And they look out at the world and they see these things through natural eyes.

We who are Bible students see them through divine eyes.

And Here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul begins with verse 1, But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.

For you know yourselves perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." Now notice the expression thief in the night.

Does not mean in any way Jesus is coming silently or in some kind of rapture.

You know Revelation 1.7 says he comes with clouds and what?

The Psalm 50, verse 3 says, he comes and he will not keep silence.

And so, throughout Scripture, the coming of Christ that is described is a glorious coming with every eye to see it, every ear to hear it.

But when the Bible uses the term thief in the night, it uses it as quickly, rapidly, unexpectedly.

So Christ is coming quickly, He's coming rapidly, he's coming unexpectedly.

Now notice, verse 3, when they say peace and safety, do you see the word safety in that text?

And so people today are looking for security.

Security when it comes to financial security, security when it comes to health care, security when it comes to national security and freedom from terrorism.

It says, When they say peace and security, the world talks about peace and security.

Then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape.

But you brethren are not in darkness, So this day should overtake you as a thief.

Now notice you're not in darkness, and it's verse 5 and 6 that I want to look at.

You are all sons of the light and sons of the day.

Therefore let us not sleep as others, but let us watch and be sober." So here the Apostle Paul calls us to be alert.

He calls us to be cognizant of what's going on in our world.

Ellen White makes 2 fascinating statements commenting on this idea of being alert.

The first is found in 8th volume of the Testimonies, page 28.

That's 8th volume of the Testimonies, page 28.

She says this, we who know the truth, We who do what?

The seventh-day Adventists know and understand the truth, certainly.

Should be preparing for what's soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

So something's going to come to this world, and for the world, it's going to be what?

He says, concerning the times and seasons, I don't need to write to you because you know perfectly the Lord's going to come as a thief in the night.

The second reference is found in the seventh volume of the testimonies, page 14.

And it says, those who place themselves under God's control, that's where I want to be, don't you?

To be led and guided by Him will catch the steady tread of events ordained by Him to take place.

I'm interested in this expression, The steady tread of events.

When you look at the books of Daniel and Revelation, there are a clear outline of events that are going to take place just before the coming of Jesus.

And that's what we're going to take a look at, this steady tread of events in the first session.

So let's go back to the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation is really divided into 2 parts.

The first 11 chapters are largely historical.

The last 11 chapters are largely prophetic.

The first 11 chapters of the book of Revelation largely deal with the 7 churches, the 7 seals, and the 7 trumpets.

They all start in John's day, and they end with the coming of Christ.

So when you look at the first 11 chapters of the book of Revelation, they start in John's day and they end in the second coming of Christ.

Here are 2 very important principles of prophetic interpretation.

First, the prophecy always begins where the prophet is.

You remember Daniel chapter 2, the head of gold, breast and arms of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron, the image.

Where does the prophecy begin in Daniel 2?

The prophecy begins where the prophet is.

Somebody said the journey of a thousand miles begins where you are, with the first step.

So in the prophecies of Revelation, They typically don't take you back to Babylon.

John is living at the end of the first century and they begin there.

7 churches are sequential prophecies that begin in the first century.

The same with the 7 seals and the 7 trumpets.

2. When Church and State Unite

A couple of things before we start this class, then we'll pray.

If you don't and you want to stand, that's perfectly okay.

If you are not, if you sit on the floor, that's fine.

If you want to do that, just however you are most comfortable, feel free to do that.

If there's not enough room in the back, if others come and you want to come up and sit on the floors over here or over here, however you are the most comfortable and get the most out of class, does anybody have any seats by them that somebody may want to sit in?

There's a seat here, there's another seat over here, so we do have some hands raised with some seats.

What I'm going to try to do in this session is I will teach until about 1115, 1120, and then give you a chance for some questions as well at the end until 1130.

I think our time this particular second session is over at 1130.

Let me tell you what we're going to do this afternoon.

I'll tell you a little bit about this class.

I'll give a brief summary of where we were this morning.

How many of you were not here this morning?

So I'll give you a brief 3 or 4 minute summary of the first class and so you'll kind of catch up to us of where we are right now in the class period.

This afternoon at the first period I will talk about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the latter rain.

What's the difference between the early rain and the latter rain, or the prerequisites of receiving the latter rain.

Then the second section this afternoon, I'm going to talk about the shaking and the sifting.

You know, if you look down through history, God has always purified his church by calling out a group of believers.

If you look at the days of Abraham, God called out Abraham from the larger body.

If you look at the days of Israel, God called out Israel from the pagan community.

If you look at the New Testament church, God called out a group of believers.

If you look at Protestantism, God called out Protestantism from Catholicism, and if you look at Adventism, God called out Adventism.

In the last days of earth's history, will God call out another movement out of the Adventist church?

And what I'm going to show this afternoon is theologically that's not true.

That all the idea of God calling out another movement, But God does have a method and it's the shaking.

And so rather than calling out, there'll be a shaking out.

And we're going to see what elements lead to the shaking, what trends can we see in the Adventist church today that are preparing for that great shaking.

Some are going out today, many more are going to go out in the future, and many more are going to come in.

And we're going to see the mighty working of God in miraculous ways.

So this afternoon, the latter rain, loud cry, what is the latter rain, what is the loud cry, how does that function from the Bible and the writings of Ellen White, then the shaking, we're going to look at that.

Let's pray and then we're going to jump right into this session.

Father in heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for Jesus.

We sense that Jesus is the center of all prophecy.

Prophecy without Jesus is like dry bones, but we know that Jesus has substance and he teaches clarity of truth about the last day events.

And we've been told that we who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

So grant to us, our dear Father, eyes to see and ears to hear, hearts to experience and minds to comprehend.

As you look down through history, God has always been with his people in times of crisis.

Was God with Moses during the days of Egypt?

Was God with Israel even in the days of apostasy in 40 years when they wandered in the wilderness?

Think about Daniel, faithful to God, yet a captive in Babylon and eventually thrown in the lion's den.

Think about Joseph in his bondage in Egypt.

Think about the Apostle Paul when he was beaten with rods, shipwrecked, stoned, cast into prison.

I want to give you the absolute assurance that in the coming time of trouble, God does not forsake His people.

Often young people have come to me and they've said, you know, I can't possibly think about making it through the time of trouble because I'm just not strong enough and I know I'm going to fall apart at that period of time.

Let me assure you that nobody can make it through the time of trouble.

But let me also assure you that in Jesus and by Jesus and through Jesus you can make it.

I love the old song, Just when I need Him, Jesus is near.

Just when I falter, just when I fear, just when I need Him most.

So when we study the events of the future, Christ does not forsake His people at a time when we need Him most.

In the early session in the morning, we looked at the book of Revelation, and we've seen that there are 3 chapters in the book of Revelation that describe the true church.

Revelation 10 describes the prophetic rise of the true church, that just as New Testament Christianity rose out of disappointment, God would have a church, a people, a movement that would rise out of disappointment, that just as the disciples failed to understand prophecy of 31 AD and were bitterly disappointed when Christ was crucified, so another band of believers in 1844 would be bitterly disappointed.

But yet, just as the New Testament church looked to the resurrected Christ in the sanctuary so God's people would look to Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary, the heavenly temple.

There they would see Jesus as the great high priest.

They would see a manifestation of Christ in the law of God.

And as the result of that, they would go out to proclaim that law and proclaim the living Christ and lead men and women back to obedience.

We pointed out in Revelation chapter 10 especially that the angel says in Revelation 10 verse 6 that there would be time no longer.

The chronology, we get the word chronology from that.

The chronology of the book of Daniel would run out at the end of the 2300 year prophecy after 1844.

So after 1844, there would never be a message again based on a specific, definite time prophecy.

You find that in the seventh volume of the Testimonies page.

I think it's 971, but I don't want to misquote it, so I'll tell you exactly.

It's 7th volume of the Testimony, page 971.

It says, after 1842 and 1844, there can be no definite prophetic time.

The longest time reckoning is to the autumn of 1844.

So when you hear people say, for example, well we need to figure out the 2520 prophecy, or 1335, and this is going to come down to a specific time prophecy that's going to give us an advance, let us know when the National Sunday Law is.

When you see them look at, for example, Revelation, the 17th chapter, and they begin to talk about the 7 heads and 10 horns, and they claim that the 7 heads are 7 so-called popes, totally out of the context of the prophecy, and try to talk about time events, you know immediately that they're going in the wrong direction.

Because since 1844, God is not waiting for time, he's rather waiting for people who love him enough to proclaim his message to the ends of the earth, who reveal his loving character to a waiting world in a watching universe, who reflect in their lives the obedience of Christ.

And so through Jesus and by Jesus, Jesus will have a people that are totally in love with Him.

So what we are looking at is great events that will take place, but those events are not locked to a specific time period.

They're rather, they are intimately related to a group of people who are committed to the living Christ, who reveal Jesus and are passionate about proclaiming His message to the world.

3. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Latter Rain Power

You can put your hands down and if I see some come in standing I may have you do it a little later.

Let's pray and then we're going to jump right into our topic again.

Father in heaven how thankful we are for clear light on the road ahead.

How thankful we are for the sure word of prophecy that gives us hope and encouragement to face the future.

As we study the latter rain and true and false revivals, help us to be able to clearly distinguish the false from the true, but not only distinguish the false from the true.

May our hearts be open to receive the power of your spirit in latter rain, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

We finished this morning talking a little bit about the close of probation.

And there were some questions that folk had about does probation close all at once or does probation close for individuals as time goes on?

2 thoughts that I had about that at lunch, and then I looked up a reference or 2 to make it a little clearer.

If we do not live till the coming of Christ, There are people that are dying all along the way, aren't there?

So when an individual dies, probation closes for that person.

Does it close for every individual at the same time?

So when a person dies, probation closes for them.

Let me read to you some very fascinating statements from Ellen White that, to me, helps to clarify this issue.

And I'm reading here from the first selected messages, page 191 to start.

God has not revealed to us the time when his message will close or when probation will have an end.

The things that are revealed we shall accept for ourselves and for our children, but let us not seek to know that which has been kept secret in the councils of Almighty." So has God revealed the time when probation will close?

She says, letters have come to me asking if I have any special light as to the time when probation will close.

And I answer that I have only this message to bear, that it is now time to work while day lasts for the night cometh which no man can work." So God did not reveal to Ellen White a date on the calendar when time would close.

Let's look at second selected messages, page 81.

So he didn't show her a date on the calendar, but what did he show her clearly?

The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed before probation closes.

So does probation close before or after the National Sunday Law?

So notice, the Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed before probation closes for it is the great test for the people of God by which their eternal destiny will be decided.

So when the National Sunday Law is passed and people make a decision individually to receive either God's seal or the mark of the beast, at that point, probation closes for them, and the judgment of the living occurs.

So, from the time of the National Sunday Law, there is the full manifestation of the outpouring of the latter rain.

Men and women have a chance to make their decision for or against Christ to receive the mark of the beast and the seal of God.

When that is done, when that is done and every human being has made that decision, the decree goes forth, he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, he that is unrighteous, let him be unrighteous still.

So probation does not close for each individual at the exact same time.

Because has everybody had full light on the Sabbath when the National Sunday Law was passed?

There are some who have not heard of it, and so the latter rain is poured out, the gospel is preached.

For some who have had that light, probation will close sooner as they make their decision than others who have not had that light who will receive it and either receive the seal of God or the mark of the beast.

So I hope that clarifies that subject for you.

We're going to talk this afternoon about true and false revivals, and about the outpouring of the latter rain in the first session, and then the sifting and the shaking in the second.

And as we let our minds go back to the first century, we go back to the days of John.

It was a violent land in a violent time, and they were violent men.

It was a pleasure-seeking land in a pleasure-seeking time, and they were pleasure-seeking men.

Series

Making Sense of Last Day Events

5. An End Time Life Worth Living

Transcript

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