Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Female): Welcome to Shalom Mariel, as we are still in chapter 6 of Revelation with Messianic leader, Jacques Isaac Gabizon. Back in the days BC, that is before COVID, when we were able to go to cinemas to see films, there usually was a hushed silence as the curtains were drawn and the story was unfolded. And here in the heavenly theater, the seal is about to be opened. Yet, no one is reading the scroll. Instead, we are watching all these visions come forth out of the scroll. The horsemen, the saints, the witnesses, the angels, the beasts, the coming of the King of Kings.

This film, even though it was produced 2,000 years ago, was already vibrant with all the modern cinematic effects. It had sound, it had color, transforming images from lion to lamb. All of this to grasp our attention and tell us this is it. There is no sequel, there are no second chances. Could these visions have then been any clearer? Many watched this film and are afraid of the days ahead, but they don't need to be. Fear of man is just a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the lamb who was slain, says this to us.

Peace is what I leave with you. It is my own peace that I give you. Do not be worried and upset. Do not be afraid. Yes, the Messiah is our future, and he is the screenwriter of our lives. He will put a silver screen around every cloud. He is our light and our salvation. And so, in the end of our film, we want to give him all the credits. Be blessed as you listen into this part of Revelation chapter 6 with Messianic leader, Jacques Isaac Gabizon and Shalom Shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: But is this not what we actually kind of seeing today as a prelude to Israel's increasing security little by little by these Arab nations who have begun peace negotiation with her. Israel may very well continue in this seeming peace right up to the coming of the Antichrist who would then ratify or secured worldwide peace, a false peace for 3 and 1/2 years. But look again at the seeming peace Israel is getting even today with Sudan playing her cards with both Israel and Russia be leading up the war of Gog and Magog. And by the way, when you read Ezekiel, the word safety in these verses is not Shalom.

No, it is bata. Okay, a word which expresses a sense of well-being and security, something the Israelites are getting, but surely not from God. They will get it from the writer of the white horse who will make a covenant with them. But only the prince of peace will give true peace from God. Prince of peace, the Shar Shalom, as prophesied in Isaiah. So, up to this point, we have mentioned just a few prophets and the Lord our Savior as well, who with many other prophets like Joel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and others converge to tell us that this individual on the white horse will come to establish a false peace with Israel.

And then the other horses are unrestrained, released to bring war, famine, pestilence, as we will see next time. Let me then put the information into a graph which shows the full period of the tribulation. First, Daniel gives us the length of the tribulation, that is 7 years. He also reports that the second 3 and 1/2 years, one individual will break his covenant and will bring in the abomination of desolation, as Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24 and in the third temple. And at the same time, will trigger wars. But what kind of covenant will he make with Israel?

Basing ourselves on the words of Jesus, Ezekiel and Paul among many others, it will be a false covenant of peace. With this information, we can place the first seal at the beginning of the first 7 year period. We'll also see that when the second seal is opened, the second individual will ride a fiery red horse and will bring war on Earth. And there we read that it was granted to him to remove peace on Earth, the peace that the first one has brought. And as we go forward, we'll place the other seals, the trumpets and the bowls on this chart.

And there is much more with the first writer. All these things now help us to interpret the meaning of the empty bowl, empty bowl, which truly is not empty for the direction of the text does not lead us to see an instrument of war, but mainly a covenant. The bowl then seems to represent this covenant with Israel. An understanding of the bowl as the covenant will open up a whole new understanding of the evil aims, okay, of this individual. The word bowl is the word also for rainbow, the sign of the covenant God made with Noah in Genesis.

The end times relation with the time of Noah, I want to tell you, goes much further. Let us begin to look at the word itself. The word in Greek is toxon, and is only used in the New Testament right here. But what did it mean for those who used that word? The Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, the Septuagint, which dates back to about 250 BC, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures done by 72 rabbis, six out of each of the 12 tribes of Israel making 72 of them. There in that translation, we find the word toxon used many times while it often describes an instrument of war.

It also is used to describe the sign of the covenant that God made with Noah and is translated in our Bibles as a rainbow. This is when God said, I set my rainbow, toxon, right, as they wrote in Greek, in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. The word used in Hebrew, keshet, okay, and the Septuagint translates this Greek word into toxon, the same word used for bowl that the writer on the white horse carries. This is the first time that the word keshet, rainbow, appears, by the way, in the scriptures.

Later, this word has been understood as a sign of a covenant. For instance, when we read that Jacob's prophecy on Joseph, he said that Joseph's keshet or bowl remained in strength and his bowl abode firm. According to Genesis 49:24 and one rabbi in the Zohar actually connected the bowl with actually the covenant. He says the bowl here has a parallel in the text, but his bowl abode firm, that is the covenant of Joseph because he was a righteous man and had for its symbol the bowl since the bowl is linked with the covenant and the covenant and the righteous are integral in one another.

This is in the Zohar. Here, the bowl is three times linked with the covenant, the covenant of the righteous. And so, the 72 rabbis in the Septuagint must have understood that the best way to translate this covenant with Noah is with the word toxon, where we see the individual on the white horse carrying the bowl. And the word toxon brings us to consider some other things. There is so much more in the relationship between the Noaic covenant and the false covenant in Revelation 6. It seems that this relationship goes very far when we consider how the Antichrist destroy nature in the coming trumpets and bowl.

Why nature? First, the covenant with Noah was not only done with man per se, but with the Earth as well, the nature and with all living creatures. And this the Lord repeats four times in Genesis. It is of such great importance that it is called actually an everlasting covenant. In Genesis 9:12, the Lord says, a covenant between me and you and every living creatures. In verse 13, a covenant between me and the Earth. In verse 15, a covenant between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And 16, an everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the Earth.

But when one looks at these things and compares them with what this individual on the white horse will do to the Earth and all the living beings, it seems that he goes a long way to destroy every aspect of this everlasting covenant. When we consider the trumpets and the bowls which are of the same kind as the seals, this is how they are described concerning first the trumpet. We read of four angels holding destruction over what on the Earth or the sea or any tree. Then in 7 2, he will stop them to harm the Earth and the sea and then to harm the Earth and the sea or the trees.

And where they are unleashed, we read in the bowls that a third of the Earth was burnt, a third of the trees were burnt up. All green grass was burnt up. Sea and a third of the sea came blood. And the third of the creatures which were in the sea had life died and so on so forth. Why so much on the Earth and on nature? Is this an attempt to reverse the everlasting Noaic covenant? If it is the presence of the bowl with this man on the white horse speaks volumes to us. But see that the Lord allows him to destroy 1 3 1 3 1 3 of each and no more because the Lord restrains.

The Lord is our restrainer. This is one covenant the Antichrist will try to break, but there's another one. We will see he will pour out all his energy to break is the covenant that God made with Israel. This will become clearer as we move on. In Daniel 11:22, the prophet speaks about this covenant. We read that he will break away the prince of the covenant referring to the high priest at the temple. But even further, the true prince of the covenant is Yeshua, but he did not realize that ultimately this is the one he fought.

And in verse 28, we're told that his heart will be set against the holy covenant. This is what he wants to destroy. That is all the promises of God for Israel. These are not yet fulfilled. Whatever God told Israel is not yet fulfilled. The extend of the land, the king in Israel. However, both covenants will be preserved, but they will suffer much under the hands of the Antichrist. And all these things bring us to consider the depth of the action of this individual which introduces us to the beginning of the tribulation or the day of the Lord, as the Hebrew scriptures or the prophets actually call it.

There's another indication in verse one which brings out the importance of this day. Let me bring you to the first two verses again. There's something there. When it says that the lamb opened one of the seals as opposed to the second, third up to the seventh and as opposed to the first trumpet or the first bowl, this seal is not described as the first, but as one, as one. The first writer is not described as the first, but as one, as if something important is actually starting. The word one is haze as opposed to protos for the others.

And what can we understand from this? As it was for the first day of creation, if you remember in Genesis, the first day is not called the first, but one, instead of rishon. And the rabbis have understood that it was the day of the Lord, his day. Perhaps his day of creation then. Rashi from the beginning of the year, 1,000 translated Genesis 1:5. God named the light day and the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, a day of God, a day for God. And we have seen how all of heaven is summoned on this day to witness the opening actually of the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord.

So, this day introduces us to the tribulation. In Greek, this word conveys the idea of distress and opposition, right, the word tribulation. This it means to press, to squash. And so it was, this is why I believe there was complete silence in heaven as Jesus opened the first seal. But that while that is this writer comes so mysteriously, even hiding his identity, actually the Bible reveals him quite clearly. Let us consider a few of what the prophets are saying about him like because all prophets in the Old Testament speak much about this man. Let us start again with Daniel who who unravels him for us.

Let us begin with this one. You may remember from our studies of this book there Daniel calls him the insignificant horn, not katan, the little horn as you have it in your translation. That's too cute by the way. But the insignificant is heaven's actually view of this man. And in both Daniel 7:8 and 8:9 the word is Zera, Zera, horn for Zera often speaks of what is senseless and meaningless. It is also called the willful insolent king in Daniel 11:36 8:23 for he will do what he wants that is evil and destruction. He is called a vile person in Daniel 11:21.

This is the lowest word by the way in our language, vile person. Other translation have despicable person, contemptible person. You can't find worse. The Hebrew word is used for those who despise the Lord and his word for at the end his battle is against the Lord. He wants to destroy everything that's God's. Paul calls him the son of perdition which also opens up so many spotlights on these men so that his identity is fully revealed. The title son of perdition, this title by the way brings us very far first in considering the first time this individual is mentioned in the Bible.

And you know where? In the first Messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15 when God spoke to the serpent, he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between what? Your seed and her seed. As Yeshua is the seed of the woman, that is Miriam or Mary, the Antichrist will be the seed of the serpent. The word is Zera, right? Zera comes from the Hebrew word Zara which means to sow, to sow. And this title further brings us to consider the false Trinity. This we're going to see actually in Revelation 13 when you have the dragon which is Satan and you have the Antichrist which is the son of perdition.

And then you have also the false prophet. And it is John himself who calls him by his name, the Antichrist, the Antichrist. He writes in 1 John 2:18. Little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist one is coming. Even now many Antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour. He mentioned the Antichrist who are to come and the many Antichrists who have already comes. The small Antichrist, by the way, are those who come into the churches to introduce false doctrines. But there was one that is to come and it is the one I believe that is sitting on the white horse.

By the way, in the Didache, that is was a book that was written in the second century and was sent to all the churches. They were aware. They were actually aware of an Antichrist that was coming. It's written in chapter 16. And but today actually who is teaching about the Antichrist? Who is teaching about the word of God? It's going more and more away. And this is why I'm excited actually to be able to teach on this part of the Bible. And the Bible also tells us how is this man going to proceed to bring peace on Earth?

This also we are told and clearly so that those present when he appears, I believe the 144,000 and the new believers of the tribulation time will have his complete biography when actually he appears. For this, we can thank Daniel the prophet. This is what he says. He will seize the kingdom by what? Intrigue, not by war. That is through lies he will do it, through falsehood and then through force, as we read in Daniel 11:21. The Hebrew actually is halak lakot, that is smooth, flattery. Furthermore, we are told in verse 23 that we will practice deception, mirma, use of someone who causes others to believe a lie.

Then in verse 32, we are told that he will use smooth word of flattery, the same word as the word intrigue, slippery words. And the Antichrist then will be an intellectual genius. This is what Daniel tells us. Daniel 8:23 also tells us that he is an insolent and skilled in intrigue, not the same word this time. The Hebrew is hida, right? It speaks of what is ambiguous, a riddle, a parable. He will be a political, commercial and military genius. Daniel tells us that he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and precious things.

He will be a great speaker emerges. Some are so taken by these people. They forget to test the content or ask question about them, about their lives. But the best of them is yet to come. He will have an much charisma because he's spoken of mouth like a lion that we see in Revelation 13:2. Where does this man come from? While Israel will believe in this individual, actually he is not the Jewish Messiah. The false prophet mentioned in Revelation 13:11 will be the individual who Jews will accept as their true Jewish Messiah. The false Messiah will appear as a lamb, if you read passage when we get there we will imitating the true Messiah.

We will cover that text when we get there. The scriptures indicate that the Antichrist will be a Gentile, a Gentile, for he comes out of the sea, as in Revelation 13:1. He is the head of a Gentile nation or many Gentile nation. He is the last leader of those nation that Daniel saw rising and could not even describe so powerful he would be. The idea that the Antichrist is Jewish, by the way, comes from such a silly interpretation. You want to hear it? It's like a pie in the sky. Okay. It goes from the church father who noticed that the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in the 144,000 which constitute 12,000 of each tribe of Israel in Revelation 7.

And so the Antichrist, they said, they concluded must be from the tribe of Dan. So, this is one we say in French you know, they just shoot what they want. More on this, by the way, when we reach Revelation 7. Let us sum up what we have seen so far. We have looked at the first horseman of the Apocalypse and through many passages of the scriptures, we have seen that the first comes to establish a false peace in the Middle East and also in the world. Through Yeshua's prophecy in Matthew 24, we learned that just before he's coming, people will live as they did during the days of Noah very well, oblivious of the danger that was fast approaching, just like when the Israelites, right, were living so well in Ezekiel and Jeremiah says, why do you do that?

There at the door, the Babylonians are at the door, the Assyrians were at the doors. And through Daniel the prophet, we learned that this individual will break his covenant in the middle of the 7 years. After 3 and 1/2 years and they all will begin the wars. The first 3 and 1/2 years will be of false peace which is confirmed by the second horseman, by the way, who says, actually it is said of him in Revelation 6:4 that he who said on it took peace away from the Earth. So, we understand that one brings the peace.

So, these prophecies concord with that of Ezekiel where the Lord says that Israel will live under a false feeling of peace before the northern enemies will attack her, enemies which already at her border. And these words are also in line with Isaiah's prophecy, by the way, when he speaks of a covenant made with death. Okay, this we will see especially next week. So, so far and with what we know, we place the first seal over the first 3 and 1/2 years, as you can see in the graph. Since the first seal is the only one speaking of peace, false peace, it then covers the whole the first 3 and 1/2 years as we move forward, we'll place the others accordingly.

All of these things are looming in the horizon. And one question we need to answer before we close. Why are we studying this? Why do we need to study this since we were going to be actually be taken away from this Earth at the rapture before even the white horse, the man on the white horse appears? Let me illustrate this through a true story. It's about Henry Truman. Henry Truman, not the president, but a man who did not want to listen. The story brings us in the spring of the year 1980 just before month sent Helen blue and left a long trail of destruction.

The authorities knew that the volcano that is was about to erupt. They did their utmost to warn everyone from loudspeakers on patrol cars and helicopters, radio, television announcers played with the audience to flee to safety. Nature also gave strong signs of warning. There was a smoke of plumes actually coming out of the volcano and there were many earthquakes. So, Harry Truman ignore them all. On an interview on national TV, he said nobody knows more about this mountain than Harry. And he won't dare blow up on me. Until May the 18th at 8:32 a.m., a boom was heard over 320 km or 200 miles away.

Even 75 km or 45 miles away, they witness salmon actually starting to leap and to the banks for the streams of water was getting too hot. When the volcano blew, black plume of hot ash came charging down the mountain where Henry Truman was. It is estimated that the ashes came down at 575 km an hour or 350 miles an hour. Harry had not one chance of survival. His campground lay so close actually to Mount St. Helen, he must have been vaporized almost instantly. Harry saw the signs of impending danger and he did not believe them.

In the same way today, there are so many signs of the coming wars and destruction from all the prophets of the Bible because they speak as one voice and they are coming. These signs are coming. We can see them in nature. We can see the weather, the earthquakes. We can see the political signs, the preparation for wars, the famines, the pestilence. All of these things reminds us not to be like Harry, right? But to act on them. Okay, we won't go through this, but we must as believers act on these signs. Today, Harry Truman, by the way, is a legend in Oregon.

Gift shops have big posters of him and sell t-shirts with beer mugs and so on with pictures of him. There's even a song made about him. Title of the song is Your Spirit Lives On. The musical legend of Harry Truman. Okay, well the signs or the sign of Mount St. Helen were very serious. Those of the Bible, I want to tell you, are much more for this speak of the eternal future of one's spirit. It is really a question of eternal life for the people. I actually believe they're coming very soon. These signs are coming very soon or the fulfillment of these signs are.

And so we need to tell the people about them. Amen. Let us bow our head in prayer. Our heavenly Father, when we consider the heart of man, our hearts, we are so grateful for the the faith that you are given us. We thank you that you've made the first step towards us to offer us your salvation, your Yeshua, who became our Yeshua. Blessed are you for you are so patient. For and through your word, you graciously open your eyes and our hearts to your goodness. Bless us, Lord, as we pray in Yeshua's name. And to the congregation, the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen and amen.

Guest (Female): Shalom Mariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will he renege any of the promises he has made to her. Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel congregation right here in Montreal. If you've been encouraged by the messages, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 1 888 685 5902 or you may write us at info at Beth Ariel b e t h a r i e l all one word .ca.

You are also welcome to join us for our Saturday morning services. We are located at 6297 Monkland Boulevard, corner of Madison in NDG. The message is given in English, but we do offer simultaneous translation into French and Russian. Services begin at 11 a.m. We have Shabbat school for children of all ages up to and including teens. You may also download audio messages from our website at bethariel.ca and enjoy other in-depth teaching from Jacques Isaac. If you would like to sign up for informative newsletters, log on to our website and add your name to our email list.

Shalom Mariel is a listener supported program. If you have it on your heart to donate, it will be a great blessing for the continuing ministry and outreach of Beth Ariel. Thank you and Shalom Shalom. I worship before you, Lord. I'm down on my knees. I'm giving you all my days. My God, my King.

Guest (Male): I will praise you forever, Lord, for you are Adonai. You alone, Yeshua, are the joy of my life.

Guest (Female): Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord. Holy, holy are you, Lord. Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord. Holy, holy are you, Lord.