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SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 26

TITLE: THE FIRST SEAL: FALSE PEACE

TEXT: REVELATION 6:1-2

INTRODUCTION: (1) ONE OF THE THINGS WE LEARN FROM HISTORY IS, THAT WE NEVER LEARN FROM HISTORY.

* LET ME EXPLAIN. WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT IS FILLED WITH HOT SPOTS THAT ARE ON THE VERGE OF WAR OR HAVE ALWAYS BROKEN OUT IN WAR.

** NO ONE WOULD ARGUE WITH ME TODAY THAT WE LIVE IN A HIGHLY VOLATILE WORLD THAT CONTINUOUSLY IS ON THE VERGE OF EXPLODING, THAT CONTINUALLY HAS WAR GOING ON IN SOME PART OF THE GLOBE.

*** BECAUSE OF THAT, ON OCTOBER 24TH, 1945 THE UNITED NATIONS CAME INTO EXISTENCE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PEACE AND SECURITY.

**** IT’S OFFICIAL SYMBOL IS AN OLIVE BRANCH WHICH SYMBOLIZES PEACE.

(2) AND IF YOU GO TO THE UNITED NATIONS WEB SITE, WHICH I DID THIS WEEK, YOU’LL SEE THAT THEY HAVE A HEADING CALLED PEACE AND SECURITY.

* UNDER THAT HEADING THEY HAVE WEB PAGES TITLED PEACEKEEPING, PEACE BUILDING COMMISSION AND PEACEMAKING AND PREVENTATIVE ACTION.

** WHICH SUMMARIZES ONE OF IT’S GREAT PURPOSES FOR EXISTENCE: THE U.N. WAS FOUNDED AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR II BY THE VICTORIOUS WORLD POWERS WITH THE HOPE THAT IT WOULD ACT TO PREVENT CONFLICTS BETWEEN NATIONS AND MAKE FUTURE WARS IMPOSSIBLE, BY FOSTERING AN IDEAL OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY.

*** NOW THAT HOPE AND PURPOSE HAS NOT BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, FOR SINCE 1945 WE ALMOST CONTINUOUSLY HAVE WAR AND CONFLICT AROUND THE WORLD.

**** WE HAVE PEACE TREATIES, DECLARATIONS OF PEACE, CEASE FIRES, DEMILITARIZED ZONES AND FALSE PEACE.

(3) THE REASON FOR THIS IS, BY MANY THERE IS A PASSIONATE DESIRE FOR GLOBAL PEACE AND WITH SOME, PEACE AT ANY PRICE.

* AND PEACE AT ANY PRICE AND MEN OF PEACE, WHO ARE NOT, LEAD ME BACK TO MY OPENING STATEMENT:

** ONE OF THE THINGS WE LEARN FROM HISTORY IS, THAT WE NEVER LEARN FROM HISTORY.

*** AND MY MAIN IDEA IS HISTORY AND SCRIPTURE ARE NOT TO BE POLITICAL.

**** FOR OUR WORLD HAS BEEN DECEIVED ABOUT PEACE BEFORE IN HISTORY AS IT WILL SOME DAY AGAIN IN A GLOBAL WAY.

(4) LET ME ILLUSTRATE. JOHN MACARTHUR IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION 1-11 GOES BACK IN HISTORY AND TALKS ABOUT BEING DRIVEN FOR PEACE AND DECEIVED IN THE PROCESS. HE WRITES:

* IT MAY SEEM INCREDIBLE THAT THE WORLD, HOVERING ON THE BRINK OF FINAL DISASTER, COULD BE SO TOTALLY DECEIVED. YET THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT HAPPENED ON A SMALLER SCALE BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF THE MOST DEVASTATING WAR TO DATE, WORLD WAR II.

** ADOLF HITLER SPELLED OUT IN DETAIL HIS PLANS FOR CONQUEST IN HIS BOOK “MEIN KAMPF” PUBLISHED MORE THAN A DECADE BEFORE WORLD WAR II BEGAN. YET, INCREDIBLY, THE WESTERN ALLIES (PARTICULARLY BRITAIN AND FRANCE) PERSISTED IN BELIEVING HITLER’S FALSE CLAIM TO BE A MAN OF PEACE.

*** THEY STOOD IDLY BY AS HE REOCCUPIED THE RHINELAND (DEMILITARIZED AFTER WORLD WAR I), THUS ABROGATING THE VERSAILLES TREATY, THEN ANNEXED AUSTRIA, THE SUDETENLAND, AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

(5) DESPERATE TO APPEASE HITLER AND AVOID WAR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN MET WITH THE NAZI DICTATOR AT MUNICH IN 1938. UPON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND, CHAMBERLAIN TRIUMPHANTLY WAVED A PIECE OF PAPER (CONTAINING A WORTHLESS PLEDGE OF PEACE FROM HITLER) WHICH HE CLAIMED GUARANTEED “PEACE WITH HONOR…PEACE FOR OUR TIME.”

* WHEN WINSTON CHURCHILL (ONE OF THE FEW NEVER TAKEN IN BY HITLER) ROSE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO DECLARE THAT ENGLAND HAD SUFFERED A TOTAL, UNMITIGATED DEFEAT HE WAS SHOUTED DOWN BY ANGRY MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

** THE DECEPTION WAS NEARLY UNIVERSAL, ALMOST EVERYONE MISREAD HITLER’S INTENTIONS. ONLY AFTER HE INVADED POLAND IN SEPTEMBER 1939 DID THE ALLIES FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH. BY THEN IT WAS TOO LATE TO AVOID THE CATASTROPHE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.” (END QUOTE)

*** NOW THIS HISTORICAL FACT REMINDS US, WE DON’T SEEM TO LEARN FROM HISTORY.

**** FOR WE SEE IN OUR WORLD TODAY, AND WE’LL SEE IN A DAY TO COME, THE DEADLY LURE OF FALSE PEACE.

(6) WANTING IT SO BAD, WE’LL DO ALMOST ANYTHING TO GET IT.

* AND IT’S INTERESTING IN SCRIPTURE – THE WORD OF GOD, JEREMIAH THE PROPHET DESCRIBED THOSE IN HIS DAY WHO PRONOUNCED “PEACE, PEACE, BUT THERE IS NO PEACE” IN JEREMIAH 6:14 AND 8:11.

** AND THEN JEREMIAH CRIES OUT TO THE LORD IN JEREMIAH 14:13 AND SAYS: AH LORD GOD! I SAID, “LOOK THE PROPHETS ARE TELLING THEM, YOU WILL NOT SEE THE SWORD NOR WILL YOU HAVE FAMINE, BUT I WILL GIVE YOU LASTING PEACE IN THIS PLACE.”

*** SO THE PROPHETS IN THAT DAY IN ISRAEL WERE SAYING, LASTING PEACE WAS COMING.

**** BUT THE LORD RESPONDS IN THE NEXT VERSE AND SAYS IN JEREMIAH 14:14, “THE PROPHETS ARE PROPHESYING FALSEHOOD IN MY NAME. I HAVE NEITHER SENT THEM NOR COMMANDED THEM NOR SPOKEN TO THEM; THEY ARE PROPHESYING TO YOU A FALSE VISION, DIVINATION, FUTILITY AND THE DECEPTION OF THEIR OWN MINDS.”

(7) NOW THESE PROPHETS WERE TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR AND NOT SPEAKING FOR THE LORD.

* FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE WANTED PEACE, WE ALL WANT PEACE, THAT’S NOT A WRONG DESIRE, BUT THE QUESTION IS, AT WHAT PRICE?

** BEYOND THAT, WRITING OF THE DECEITFULNESS OF A FUTURE FALSE PEACE, PAUL WAS INSPIRED TO SAY IN I THESSALONIANS 5:3, “WHILE THEY ARE SAYING, PEACE AND SAFETY, THEN DESTRUCTION WILL COME UPON THEM SUDDENLY LIKE LABOR PAINS UPON A WOMAN WITH CHILD AND THEY WILL NOT ESCAPE.”

*** AND THE CONTEXT OF THIS I THESSALONIANS 5:3 PASSAGE IS THE DAY OF THE LORD WHICH IS FUTURE, GOD’S FUTURE CATACLYSMIC FUTURE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED.

**** AND THE WORLD’S DESPERATE DESIRE FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE WILL SERVE AS THE BAIT FOR A FALSE TEMPORARY PEACE.

(8) THAT LONGING FOR SECURITY AND SAFETY WILL PLAY INTO THE HANDS OF THE ANTICHRIST, SATAN’S HAND PICKED RULER, WHO WILL CONVINCE THE WORLD THAT HE IS A MAN OF PEACE.

* AND THIS LEADER WILL PARTICULARLY DECEIVE ISRAEL FOR AS A PEOPLE THEY FOR SO LONG HAVE DESIRED PEACE, BUT THROUGH THEIR ENEMIES WHO DO NOT WANT THEM TO EXIST AS A NATION LIVE WITH TERRORISM AS A WAY OF LIFE.

** I MEAN FOR PEACE, THEY ARE GIVING UP LAND THAT MOST PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY WOULD NEVER GIVE UP.

*** BUT DESPERATE FOR PEACE, THE ANTI-CHRIST WILL BRING A PEACE PACT IN DANIEL’S 70TH WEEK, WHICH I UNDERSTAND TO BE THE SEVEN YEAR TRIBULATION.

**** AND THE ANTI-CHRIST WILL MAKE A FIRM COVENANT WITH THE MANY (ISRAEL) FOR ONE WEEK.

(9) FOLLOW ALONG WITH ME ON THE SCREEN THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL’S 70 WEEKS IN DANIEL 9:24-27.

* V. 24 – SEVENTY WEEKS HAVE BEEN DECREED FOR YOUR PEOPLE AND YOUR HOLY CITY, TO FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION, TO MAKE AN END OF SIN, TO MAKE ATONEMENT FOR INIQUITY, TO BRING IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, TO SEAL UP VISION AND PROPHECY AND TO ANOINT THE MOST HOLY PLACE.

** V. 25 – SO YOU ARE TO KNOW AND DISCERN THAT FROM THE ISSUING OF A DECREE TO RESTORE AND REBUILD JERUSALEM UNTIL MESSIAH THE PRINCE THERE WILL BE SEVEN WEEKS AND SIXTY-TWO WEEKS; IT WILL BE BUILT AGAIN, WITH PLAZA AND MOAT, EVEN IN TIMES OF DISTRESS.

*** V. 26 – THEN AFTER THE SIXTY-TWO WEEKS THE MESSIAH WILL BE CUT OFF AND HAVE NOTHING, AND THE PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE WHO IS TO COME WILL DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY. AND ITS END WILL COME WITH A FLOOD; EVEN TO THE END THERE WILL BE WAR; DESOLATIONS ARE DETERMINED.

**** V. 27 – AND HE WILL MAKE A FIRM COVENANT WITH THE MANY FOR ONE WEEK, BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK HE WILL PUT A STOP TO SACRIFICE AND GRAIN OFFERING; AND ON THE WING OF ABOMINATIONS WILL COME ONE WHO MAKES DESOLATE, EVEN UNTIL A COMPLETE DESTRUCTION, ONE THAT IS DECREED, IS POURED OUT ON THE ONE WHO MAKES DESOLATE.

(10) NOW THE FALSE PEACE THAT THE ANTI-CHRIST BRINGS WILL COME TO AN ABRUPT END AT THE MID-POINT OF THE TRIBULATION WHEN HE DECIMATES THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, BETRAYS THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND LAUNCHES DEADLY ATTACKS ON THEM.

* THIS MAN OF LAWLESSNESS, THE ANTI-CHRIST, IS CALLED THE LAWLESS ONE IN II THESSALONIANS 2:8.

** HE IS CALLED THE ONE WHOSE COMING IS AFTER THE WORKING OF SATAN WITH ALL POWER, AND SIGNS AND WONDERS IN II THESSALONIANS 2:9.

*** AND HE WORKS WITH ALL THE DECEPTION OF WICKEDNESS IN II THESSALONIANS 2:10.

**** HE WILL COME AS A MAN OF PEACE, BUT IN REALITY HE IS A MAN OF WAR ENERGIZED AND ENABLED BY SATAN LIKE NO OTHER HUMAN IN HISTORY.

(11) AND I BELIEVE HE RIDES OUT ON A WHITE HORSE AT THE BEGINNING OF TRIBULATION AND LITERALLY TAKES OVER THE WORLD WITHOUT A FIGHT BRINGING A MESSAGE OF PEACE AND SAFETY AND SECURITY AND PROSPERITY.

* AND THINK ABOUT IT, WHAT WOULD THE WORLD DO WITH A MAN THAT COULD NOT ONLY DELIVER THIS MESSAGE, BUT DELIVER THE GOODS.

** IF A MAN COULD BRING PROSPERITY, PEACE, SAFETY AND SECURITY, WHAT DO YOU THINK OUR WORLD IN 2006 WOULD DO WITH A MAN LIKE THAT?

*** PUT IN POWER. THE SAVIOR HAS COME. PEOPLE WOULD LIT. BOW DOWN TO THAT KIND OF LEADER WHO COULD DELIVER THOSE THINGS.

**** WELL, IN MY HERMENEUTIC, HE COMES ON THE SCENE IN REVELATION 6:1&2 AS OUR LORD BREAKS OPEN THE FIRST SEAL WHICH LEADS TO THE TITLE OF MY MESSAGE TODAY, THE FIRST SEAL: FALSE PEACE.

(12) AND UNDER THAT THEME AND TITLE WE’LL LOOK AT JUST TWO POINTS AS WE STUDY REVELATION 6:1&2.

* NO. 1 THE LAMB, SPEAKING OF CHRIST IN V. 1; AND NO. 2 THE LIAR, SPEAKING OF THE ANTI-CHRIST, V. 2.

** AND WITH ALL OF THIS BACKGROUND AS A FOUNDATION FOR OUR STUDY TODAY, LOOK AT REVELATION 6:1 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR FIRST POINT, THE LAMB.

I. THE LAMB, (READ V. 1)

A. NOW JOHN THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, THE HUMAN AUTHOR OF THIS INSPIRED BOOK, HAS RING-SIDE VIEW OF ALL THE EVENTS THAT WILL HAPPEN ON EARTH IN HIS VISION.

* BUT THAT RING-SIDE VIEW IS IN HEAVEN, FOR JOHN IS STILL AROUND THE THRONE OF GOD AND HE SEES FIRST HAND THE LAMB, WHICH IS THE LORD JESUS BREAK OPEN ONE OF THE SEVEN SEALS.

** NOW IF YOU RECALL, IN REVELATION 5:1-7, CHRIST RECEIVED FROM GOD THE FATHER A SCROLL, A SCROLL BOOK, SEALED WITH SEVEN SEALS.

*** AND CHRIST WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THE UNIVERSE WORTHY TO OPEN THIS BOOK OR SCROLL.

**** NOW THIS SCROLL CONTAINED THE TITLE DEED TO THE EARTH.

1. BUT UNLIKE A NORMAL TITLE DEED, IT DID NOT CONTAIN A DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST’S INHERITANCE, BUT RATHER DETAILS IN HOW HE WILL CARRY OUT HIS RECLAIMING OF WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY HIS, THE EARTH.

* NOW SPECIFICALLY, BEGINNING IN CHAPTER 6, THE SCROLL IS UNROLLED AND IT’S SEALS BROKEN.

** AND THE UNROLLING OF THE SCROLL MARKS THE BEGINNING OF GOD’S WRATH AND JUDGMENT ON REBELLIOUS MANKIND AS THE LORD JESUS TAKES BACK THE EARTH FROM THE USURPER, THE GOD OF THIS WORLD, SATAN.

*** AND EACH ONE OF THE SCROLL’S SEVEN SEALS REPRESENTS A SPECIFIC DIVINE JUDGMENT THAT WILL BE POURED OUT SEQUENTIALLY, ONE AFTER ANOTHER.

**** AND THE SEVEN SEALS CONTAINS THE SEVEN TRUMPET JUDGMENTS AND THE SEVENTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT CONTAINS AND REVEALS THE SEVEN BOWL JUDGMENTS.

2. AND ALL IN ALL THESE JUDGMENTS SPAN THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION AND LEAD UP TO THE COMING OF CHRIST TO THE EARTH IN REVELATION 19:11-21.

* NOW WITH ALL OF THAT IN MIND, HAVING RECEIVED FROM HIS FATHER THE TITLE DEED TO THE EARTH IN REVELATION 5:7, THE LAMB, THE LORD JESUS BROKE OPEN THE FIRST OF SEVEN SEALS.

** NOW AS EACH SEAL IS OPENED IN JOHN’S VISION, WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE SCROLL IS NOT READ, BUT SEEN, AND PLAYS OUT IN FRONT OF JOHN’S EYES.

*** SO AFTER JOHN SEES THE SEAL OPENED, HE HEARS SOMETHING IF YOU LOOK BACK TO V. 1.

**** AND HE HEARS ONE OF THE LIVING CREATURES WHO ARE CHERUBIM OR SERAPHIM, OR AN EXALTED ORDER OF ANGELS, HE HEARS ONE OF THEM SAYING WITH A VOICE OF THUNDER, “COME.”

3. SO THE FIRST RIDER WILL COME FORTH IN V. 2, HE IS SUMMONED HERE BY ONE OF THE 4 LIVING CREATURES WITH A THUNDER LIKE VOICE, COME.

** AND CERTAINLY THERE IS A JUDGMENT LIKE TONE TO THE VOICE OF THIS LIVING BEING, FOR THE VOICE OF THUNDER REMINDS US THAT A STORM IS COMING.

*** FOR NORMALLY WHAT FOLLOWS THUNDER? A THUNDERSTORM AND JUDGMENT.

**** SO THE SUMMONS TO COME IS FOR THE RIDER ON THE HORSE AND THE WORD SEE IS NOT IN THE OLDER MANUSCRIPTS.

4. AND THIS SUMMONS REMINDS US THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL, HE IS SOVEREIGN, THIS IS A PART OF HIS PLAN.

* FOR THE RIDER CANNOT COME FORTH UNTIL THE LORD OPENS UP THIS SEAL. AND THE LAMB OPENS THE SEAL IN V. 1, WHICH LEADS US TO OUR 2’D POINT TO THE ONE WHO IS THE ANTI-CHRIST OF THE LAMB, FOR THE LAMB IS TRUTH, BUT THE FAKE CHRIST IS A LIAR, THE LIAR. LOOK AT V. 2 PLEASE.

II. THE LIAR, (READ V. 2)

A. NOW JOHN LOOKS AND SEES A WHITE HORSE COMES OUT WITH A RIDER ON IT.

* AND THE FIRST 4 SEALS INVOLVE HORSES AND RIDERS, THE 4 HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE.

** NOW HORSES IN SCRIPTURE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CONQUEST, POWER AND TRIUMPH.

*** AND BECAUSE CHRIST COMES BACK IN REVELATION 19:11 RIDING A WHITE HORSE IN POWER AND TRIUMPH AND IN CONQUEST, SOME SUGGEST THAT CHRIST IS THE RIDER HERE IN REVELATION 6:2 UNDER THE FIRST SEAL.

**** BUT THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO ME. NO. 1 CHRIST IS IN HEAVEN BREAKING OPEN THE SEALS. IN OTHER WORDS, SINCE CHRIST OPENS THE SEALED SCROLLS, HE CANNOT BE THE RIDER.

1. FURTHER THIS RIDER IN REVELATION 6:2 HAS A BOW, IN REVELATION 19:15, CHRIST COMES BACK WITH A SWORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM HIS MOUTH.

* FURTHER, CHRIST IN REVELATION 19:12 HAS MANY DIADEMS ON HIS HEAD, ROYAL CROWNS WHEREAS THE RIDER IN REVELATION 6:2 WAS GIVEN A CROWN, LIT. A STEPHANOS, A CROWN WON AS A PRIZE, A VICTOR’S WREATH, NOT A ROYAL CROWN OR DIADEM.

** AND BELOVED, THE ONLY POINT OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THIS RIDER AND CHRIST IS REVELATION 19:11 IS THE WHITE HORSE.

*** AND THE WHITE HORSE IS A SYMBOL OF VICTORY AND PEACE IN REVELATION 6:2, FOR WHITE IS TRADITIONALLY ASSOCIATED WITH PEACE IN ALMOST EVERY CULTURE.

**** AND WHITE FOR VICTORY REPRESENTS THAT THE RIDER HERE GOES OUT CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER.

2. AND THIS RIDER MIMICS CHRIST RIDING ON A WHITE HORSE, FOR HE IS A FALSE CHRIST, AN IMITATION, A DECEIVER, A CHRIST WANT TO BE.

* AND THE RIDERS IN REVELATION 6:2 AND REVELATION 19 ARE NOT TO BE COMPARED, BUT CONTRASTED.

** SO WHO IS THIS RIDER IN REVELATION 6:2? WELL, SOME SAY THIS RIDER IS SYMBOLIC AS A FORCE, A PERSONIFICATION OF A GROWING MOVEMENT OR FORCE THAT WILL BE AT WORK DURING THEIR FUTURE PERIOD.

*** BUT I SEE HIM NOT AS A FORCE, BUT A PERSON. GO BACK TO V. 2. NOTICE THE MASCULINE PERSONAL PRONOUN – “HE” WHO SAT ON IT. A CROWN WAS GIVEN TO “HIM”.

**** AND “HE” WENT OUT CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER.

3. AND AS I SAID EARLIER, I BELIEVE THIS RIDER IS THE ANTI-CHRIST, AND POWER WAS GIVEN TO HIM AS A FALSE MESSIAH.

* NOTICE SEVERAL THINGS HERE IN V. 2. HE RIDES OUT WITH A BOW, BUT WITH NO ARROWS. HE CONQUERS WITHOUT ARROWS TO GAIN HIS POSITION.

** NO ARROWS IS A DESCRIPTION OF A BLOODLESS VICTORY. HE COMES FORTH ON A WHITE HORSE REPRESENTING PEACE.

*** PEACE IS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH PEACEFUL MEANS.

**** WORLDWIDE PEACE IS THE CONDITION AT THE END OF THE FIRST SEAL PERIOD OF THE FIRST SEAL PERIOD, BECAUSE ONE OF THE RESULTS OF THE SECOND SEAL IS TO TAKE AWAY PEACE IN REVELATION 6:4.

4. REVELATION 6:4 SAYS: AND ANOTHER, A RED HORSE, WENT OUT; AND TO HIM WHO SAT ON IT, IT WAS GRANTED TO TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH, AND THAT MEN WOULD SLAY ONE ANOTHER; AND A GREAT SWORD WAS GIVEN TO HIM.

* SO PEACE BEFORE WAR IS THE CONTEXT.

** AND BELOVED, WITHOUT ARROWS, THE BOW IS NOT A DEADLY WEAPON AS THE SWORD IS UNDER THE SECOND SEAL.

*** SO HE, THE ANTI-CHRIST, GOES OUT CONQUERING AND CONQUERS NOT BY MILITARY FORCE TO BEGIN WITH, BUT WITH CUNNING, DECEIT, A MESSAGE OF PEACE, PROSPERITY AND SECURITY.

**** AND HE DOESN’T NEED AN ARROW TO CONQUER, IF HE BY HIS TRACK RECORD UP TO THIS POINT BEING PEACE, PROSPERITY AND SECURITY.

5. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, A CROWN IS LIT. GIVEN TO HIM IN V. 2, IT IS LITERALLY HANDED OVER TO HIM ON A PLATTER, BESTOWED UPON HIM.

* HE WINS A CROWN FROM THE WORLD FOR HIS TRIUMPHANT ACHIEVEMENTS LEADING TO WORLD PEACE.

** A PEACE AGAIN WON BY AGREEMENT, NOT CONFLICT. THE CARPET IS ROLLED OUT AND A VICTOR’S CROWN IS HANDED OVER TO HIM.

IN WRAP UP: (1) A TIME OF FALSE PEACE IS COMING BECAUSE THE WORLD’S DESPERATE DESIRE FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE WILL SERVE AS THE BAIT FOR THE SATANIC TRAP.

* AND THAT LONGING FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY WILL PLAY RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ANTI-CHRIST.

** AND HE WILL BRING A FALSE PEACE FOR A SHORT TIME, FOR IT WILL NOT BE A LONG LASTING PEACE.

*** FOR THERE CAN AND WILL BE NO PEACE UNTIL THE PRINCE OF PEACE COMES BACK TO THE EARTH AND SITS ON HIS EARTHLY THRONE.

**** AND THERE IS NO PEACE OUTWARDLY IN RELATIONSHIPS AND WITH NATIONS BECAUSE THERE IS NO PEACE WITHIN.

(2) I MEAN THE WORLD IS JUST A PROJECTION OF WHO AND WHAT WE ARE.

* AND BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ARE AT WAR WITH GOD THEY ARE AT WAR WITH ACH OTHER, READ ISAIAH 57:20&21.

** AND TRUE LASTING PEACE WITH PEOPLE BEGINS WITH PEACE WITH GOD, PEACE FROM WITHIN.

*** AND ROMANS 5:1 DECLARES: (READ IT).

**** NOW THE TRUTH HERE IS WE NEED PEACE WITH GOD. AND UNTIL WE TURN TO JESUS CHRIST IN REPENTANT FAITH WE ARE AT WAR WITH GOD BECAUSE OF OUR SIN.

(3) WE ARE GOD’S ENEMIES AND ARE AT WAR WITH HIM UNTIL WE ARE RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH CHRIST. ROMANS 5:9 SAYS: (READ IT).

* ROMANS 5:10&11 SAYS: FOR IF WHILE WE WERE ENEMIES WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, MUCH MORE, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, WE SHALL BE SAVED BY HIS LIFE.

V. 11 – AND NOT ONLY THIS, BUT WE ALSO EXULT IN GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH WHOM WE HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE RECONCILIATION.

** SO PEACE COMES THROUGH CHRIST, THROUGH FORGIVENESS OF OUR REBELLION BY HIS GRACE ALONE, THROUGH FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST ALONE.

*** FROM THAT POINT ON PEACE IS MADE WITH GOD AND WE ARE NO LONGER AT WAR WITH HIM.

**** AND AFTER THAT AS CHRISTIANS, FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, WE HAVE THE CAPACITY TO EXPERIENCE THE PEACE OF GOD THAT PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING.

(4) FOR YOU SEE THERE ARE CHRISTIANS THAT ARE NO LONGER AT WAR WITH GOD THROUGH SALVATION BUT THEY ARE AT WAR WITH GOD THROUGH A LACK OF SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFYING TRUST.

* AND WE MUST CONTINUALLY TAKE OUR BURDENS, CARES, ANXIETIES AND OUR CONCERNS TO CHRIST AND CAST THEM UPON HIM.

** WE NEED TO TURN CARES INTO PRAYERS, FOR PHILIPPIANS 4:6&7 AND 8&9 SAYS (READ THEM).

*** AND BELOVED I PETER 5:7 SAYS: (READ IT AND PSALM 55:22).

**** BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WE BUCKLE UNDER THE LOAD. EXPERIENCE AND KNOW THE PEACE OF GOD THROUGH THE GOD OF PEACE BY APPLYING THESE TRUTHS, COMMITTING YOUR WAY TO THE LORD.

(5) AND FOR YOU THAT KNOW NOT CHRIST, END THE WAR TODAY, TURNING TO CHRIST IN REPENTANT FAITH THAT THERE MIGHT BE PEACE WITH GOD!