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Three Angels Fellowship SDA Church

Let Freedom Ring

Garhett Morgan

Let Freedom Ring Part 1

Let Freedom Ring Part 2

You are the 1 that gives us true freedom, freedom from self, freedom from the evil that this world has, freedom.

Father, as Americans, we love freedom, and as Christians, we should love it even more.

May we understand what freedom means this morning.

We've been going through the 7 churches and you thought you were done.

Last few months we've been taking a look at the 7 churches and you'll remember the pattern that we saw with those 7 churches.

Each 1 of those churches, as a general rule, there's some exceptions, but Most of those 7 churches opened with the description of Jesus that was borrowed from Revelation 1.

Then it talked about some encouragement that the church usually did well as a general rule, and then it went into some things that the church could be doing better, and then there was a promise at the end of all those 7 churches.

And at the end of those 7 churches, there was a pattern that each of those churches fall into.

Jesus says, he that hath an ear, let him hear.

Which means that what he has said is important, right?

That's what that means, among other things.

There's 1 other place in Scripture where we find that very thing.

And often we skim over it, but it's right in the middle of Revelation 13 as the sea beast is introduced and as the earth beast is being introduced.

Right in the middle of that, John writes, if anyone has an ear, let him hear.

Otherwise, in other words, this is important.

If you'd go with me to Revelation chapter 13 here for just a moment.

We're going to look at a couple of things here in Revelation.

Revelation chapter 13, I'd like to read a few things.

Revelation chapter 13, we're going to be looking at verse 11, and Let's hear what the Word of God says.

In my hand, I have the King James with me this morning.

It says this, "'And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth.

And he had 2 horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.

And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

And he does great wonders so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

What is this image of the beast that Revelation speaks of?

Can we relate it back to Daniel with the image that is on the plane of Dura, yeah, that's a parallel.

But what else is this image talking about?

Those of you that know me personally know that I like to read.

And the last year, I have been reading a lot about, of 2 specific individuals.

I've been reading a lot of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that was a hero in Germany and was killed by the Nazi regime for standing up for what was right and opposing the persecution of the Jews.

He wrote some fantastic theological things about what we're talking about this morning.

He had a professor, and his professor's name was Karl Barth.

Karl Barth wrote a gigantic series of books, and in this book, he talks about Revelation 13.

In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer identified Revelation 13 with Nazi Germany, and it's not hard to blame.

It's easy to see where you would see that, right?

He identifies Revelation 13 with Seventh-day Adventist as the United States in Bible prophecy, which is quite interesting.

As I was reading his works this last week, He mentioned something that I hadn't seen anywhere else before and it struck me.

He said this, and it seems so basic, but I'd never thought about it before.

Now in my years as a Seventh-day Adventist, he said, in order to understand what the image of the beast is, first You must understand the origins or the original image.

Now we know this, the Seventh-day Adventist and the pattern of prophecy.

Prophecy's pattern is this, God has a truth and a beautiful truth, and what does the devil always do?

He always counterfeits something that is God's.

So, Barth goes on to say, if you're going to understand what the image of the beast is, first you must understand what the image of God is.

If we're going to understand what the image of the beast is, it's probably best to understand the original part that God has for us, which is the image of God.

You know, it's interesting when you look at the Old Testament, God never tells his people to make an image or a statue of him.

I believe that 1 of the reasons is that God's presence was with them I mean we've been studying Exodus in the Sabbath school lesson is God's presence very much viably there Of course it is they can see it.

So there's no need for a graven image think another reason why there was never an image made of God, carved out of stone, is all the other pagan nations had images that they worshipped and God did not want to be confused with them.

But there's a better reason, and this is the reason why there was no image of God that is crafted by the skilled craftsmen that we know lived in Israel.

First, let's look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, which is the first place that we find the image of God mentioned very early on in the biblical narrative.

It says this, and you'll recognize this is the creation story, then God said, let us make men, men and women by the way, in our image.

We know from Genesis 1 that the Father is present, that the Spirit hovers over the waters.

John chapter 1 says that Jesus was there.

So the Godhead or the Trinity, or Godhead, if you're more familiar with that, the Godhead is talking to each other, and they say, the Father says to the Son, the Son says to the Spirit, let's make man in our image.

That's something to think about, that you are made in the image of God.

Now don't confuse that with you being God, because you're not.

I'm still chewing on that, and I think we'll be continuing to understand what that means for all of eternity.

But you, with all of your flaws, are still made in the image of God Himself." Continues, "'Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God makes man, which is the image of himself, and then he says, you have dominion over the sea and the dry land.

The earth is yours." Now that should ring a bell, maybe.

Revelation chapter 13 talks about 2 beasts, 1 that comes from the sea and 1 that comes from the dry land.

This land beast is interesting and it talks about this image, not the image of God but the image of the beast.

It says this in verse 5, and it, this land beast, was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, or the papacy, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

This land beast and sea beast working together are giving the dragon ultimate authority which we know as Satan and they are persecuting the people of God.

Now this is a false Trinity and I know we don't have a lot of time this morning and this is a lot of words for 1 screen, but I wanted you to see it all at the same time.

I don't know if you know this, but in the book of Revelation, there is a false godhead or a false trinity.

Now, I know the word trinity is not found in the Bible.

I simply use it because it's very descriptive.

Tri is 3, like tricycle has 3 wheels, right?

The Godhead is what the biblical term is.

We can use the biblical term, but the 3 in 1, right?

We know God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

That's what Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of, and All of them are separate entities, but they're all God.

Satan has a similar pattern that we find in the book of Revelation.

You have the dragon, you have the sea beast, and you have the land beast.

Back to Menu

Series

Let Freedom Ring

Let Freedom Ring Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Religious Liberty Under Pressure

When Churches Gain Control

57m

Back to the Mission

The Battle Cry of the Remnant

1h 1m

Confidence in Crisis

Confidence in Crisis - Part 5: Prophetic Lockdown

56m

Religious Tyranny Rising

46m

Two Images are Forming

1h 19m

Let Freedom Ring

Let Freedom Ring Part 2

33m

Why America? Why Thanksgiving?

50m

Holy, Don’t Touch

50m

The Unveiling

The Women & the Dragon

39m

Discerning the Times

1h 9m

Dennis Priebe Weekend 2007

Christian or Adventist?

46m

Trump, Biden and the Image to the Beast

1h 8m

Sound Doctrine