Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Next on Light on the Hill, we're introduced to the final Antichrist's right-hand man, the false prophet.

It’s time for Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. We’ll be in Revelation today, so turn to chapter 13. We’ll learn about the false prophet. Virtually every dictator or powerful leader in history has relied on his accomplices to carry out his plans, and this is no different. Here’s Pastor James with more about the Antichrist and the false prophet.

James Kaddis: Revelation chapter 13, and of course I’ll start off by saying what I have continued to say as we've been going through the book of Revelation, and that is this: if you don’t understand the Old Testament, you are going to struggle with the book of Revelation. So part of my job is to give you a better understanding of the Old Testament so that you will have a more clear understanding of what we’re actually looking at right here.

Last week was a very Old Testament heavy review. Of course, we spent a lot of time last week going over Daniel chapter 7. We discussed briefly Daniel chapter 2. We talked about Daniel chapter 9, and of course, it also touches Daniel chapter 11, 12, and there’s a lot of other aspects that are discussed in this portion that we’re reading in lots of other of the minor and the major prophets.

By the way, I want to say this for the record: when we talk about a major prophet, the word major prophet is only used to be indicative of the size of the body of work that the prophet did, but not the significance of their prophecy. So when we say major prophet, it's because the work that they did was a lot larger of a work than a minor prophet because what the minor prophet did was a smaller body of work.

One of the minor prophets might have five chapters in their book, where one of the major prophets will have over 60. So that's the reason why they're called the major versus the minor prophets. It's not like you're in Major League or Minor League, talking about greater or better or worse; we're just talking about the body of work. And it should be also noted that much of what we read in the minor prophets are significantly important to the discussion that we’re having right now. It just happens to be that what they wrote may have been a lot less than what the major prophets wrote, but they’re all very significant.

As a matter of fact, what we read about in the book of Revelation is covered extensively in all kinds of passages, whether it be books that aren’t even considered to be prophetic books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. You have to know those books to be able to understand the significance of some of the things that you read about in Revelation.

For example, you will never understand Revelation chapter 5 if you don't understand what happened in Genesis chapter 3. It won't make any sense to you. Or if you decide that you want to dig into any part of Revelation, you won’t understand it unless you know the significance of certain words, phrases, or happenings or understandings that we learn from the Old Testament in general.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, even Ruth. Even though it's interesting when you think about like the book of Ruth and you start looking at just the story, what appears to be this long extended love story, it still bears a significant bearing upon what we read in the book of Revelation. Because if you remember when you learn the story of Ruth, you have an understanding of Ruth who is a person who's experienced a lot of tragedy and she's experienced a lot of difficulty.

Who does Ruth marry? Anybody remember? Boaz! And then Ruth and Boaz have a child. What's that child's name, anybody? Obed! And then Obed has a child, and what's that child's name? Jesse! Ruth and Boaz have Obed, Obed has Jesse, Jesse is the father of who? King David! King David is the one in whom the Messiah came from, which bears a significant role in what we read about in the book of Revelation.

So you need to know a book like the book of Ruth to understand where it all came from and understand aspects of its own historicity to be able to understand it. Or how about this? Esther, which is a book that doesn't even mention the name of God. Do you know the word God is not in the book of Esther at all? Yet Esther is one of the most significant books to understand in order to recognize what happens in Revelation.

It is by far one of the most remarkable post-exilic books to understand because then you will understand the nature of the kind of aggressive behavior that Satan continues to show towards God's ancestrally chosen people, the Jews, and the attempt that Satan makes to kill Jews, which we actually saw a bit of in Revelation 13 last week and we will continue to see as we move on into the book of Revelation.

So you have to know these things. You have to know books that aren’t even considered to be prophetic books. If you don't know Proverbs, you're going to struggle with the book of Revelation. If you don't know the Psalms, forget about it. If you don't know the Psalms, you're going to also struggle with Revelation because there are many prophetic aspects of things that we read in the Psalms, which although it's considered to be a book of poetry, gives us tremendous insight into things that are happening in the future because it’s also very prophetic.

How about the book of Job, the oldest writing in the Bible? If you don't know the book of Job, you're going to struggle immensely with what you read in Revelation chapter 12. Because if you don't know the book of Job, then you won't realize that Satan has direct access to God in heaven and you won't understand why Satan is being cast down from heaven in Revelation chapter 12 if you don't already know that fact. So by knowing the book of Job, you'll understand the spiritual consequence of what's happening in Revelation chapter 12 because it will make you a lot more aware of everything that's actually going on.

And by the way, I could name every single Old Testament book in the Bible. We could sit here for the next 20 minutes because we have the time to do it at third service. We could sit here for the next 20 minutes and go over every single Old Testament book in the Bible and I could tell you why it bears significance to the book of Revelation. Literally, I'm not exaggerating.

If you want, I can open up the list right now and tell you why it bears significance. Because every single book in the Bible, even the books that you think have no significance at all, like Leviticus. You would think Leviticus doesn’t have any real bearing on what you read in the book of Revelation except for the fact that the Levitical law that’s given to us and the function of the priests specifically, that section of the Levites has a significant bearing on some of the understanding that we pull from what happens in Revelation, especially when we start talking about the white throne judgment and the premise by which man is actually judged. The Lamb's Book of Life—a very important understanding to recognize that there are people who live righteously, and even them living righteously does not earn them the Lamb's Book of Life. It's putting their faith and trust in the Lord to bring them that deliverance.

So there are so many aspects of what we read about throughout the Old Testament that if you don't understand, you are going to significantly struggle with the book of Revelation. And there are so many more passages like this. I mean, we could go on and on. Proverbs chapter 31 bears a significant resemblance on why we look at what Christ does, especially when he speaks with that one word and destroys his enemies.

You think about so much of the things that we read about in all the minor prophets, the major prophets—they all bear significance in what we read in the book of Revelation. Passages that talk about the resurrection or talk about the grave—all very significant for what we read about in the book of Revelation. There are certain practices and customs that you might not be familiar with that are given to us or taught to us in the Old Testament, specifically in 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, things that you would not know unless you read 1st and 2nd Samuel that bear significance in what you learn in the book of Revelation.

I'll give you a simple one, a really simple one. How about you go through the book of Samuel, and in the book of Samuel, you learn of a very specific situation where David finds himself in a position where he's in his palace and he says, "Man, I live in this beautiful palace, but God lives in this tabernacle, in this tent. I want to build him a house." And the prophet says, "That's a great idea, David, go for it." And then what happens? God wakes up the prophet at night and goes, "Hey, you made a big mistake. Go back to David and tell him that you weren't speaking on my behalf. You tell him he can't build the house because his hands are too bloody, that his son will build the house, but tell him I'm going to build him a house."

And what God says is, "The house I will build you sits on the fact that someone from your bloodline will always rule in perpetuity." What’s he talking about? He’s talking about the promised Messiah. And when we talk about the kingship of the Messiah being expressed to us in Revelation, we’re talking about a direct fulfillment of the prophecy that we read about in the book of Samuel. So 1st and 2nd Samuel are important, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles—they're all very, very important for us.

If you don't know the history of the nation of Israel, then you’re going to struggle deeply with some of the patterns that begin to emerge when we look at the beginning and quite frankly the end of Israel, or the end of Revelation. And when you start looking at and understanding the region of certain areas that you read about in the Bible, if you understand those things, you're going to better understand the book of Revelation. It's that simple.

I want you to understand this. This is something that you need to deeply grasp. And you could sit me down right now and I could literally walk you through step by step the significance of each and every single one of these books to Bible prophecy, which by the way, I did a series on this. It was a 20-week series. It was called In the Volume of the Book, and I sat down and I went through every single book in the Bible and explained to you why every single book, by the way, explained to you why they were significant in the subject of Bible prophecy.

And you can go over these Bible studies and learn from them. Each of these studies average on average they’re about 75 to 80 minutes, and I go over every single book of the Bible. I teach through those books and I give you very poignant issues that come up in those books that relate to Bible prophecy. Like for example, in the book of Genesis, do you understand right at the very beginning of the book of Genesis, we have a formula that's given to us by God, by the way, on how to read and interpret Bible prophecy? Most people don't even think about that, they don't make the connection, but it's there. And some of the most brilliant minds that study this stuff don't even talk about it, even though it's right there in front of us.

So my whole point is, if you know the book of Revelation, then that means in essence you know the Old Testament. And it’s vice versa: if you know the Old Testament, then of course you are going to know the book of Revelation. And this is why I think the Bible tells us that you will be blessed by God for studying the book of Revelation because studying the book of Revelation necessitates that you know the whole Bible, and in knowing the whole Bible, you will be blessed because you know God's word, you know God's standards, and you have an understanding of what God requires of you because you've spent the time studying the word of God and knowing the word of God.

And by the way, I have news for you, and we're going to talk about this a little bit later: there's no way ChatGPT can teach you a message that requires all of this knowledge in order to be able to understand it. You'll know where I’m going with this in just a second because the reality of it is, there is such a significant bearing in what we're looking at and why it's so critical to be an avid student of the word of God.

By the way, it is really interesting if you go back to the book of Exodus and you just study something as simple as the tabernacle. The tabernacle—you will understand God's model for heaven. Did you know that? Just a simple study of the tabernacle itself will give you a better understanding of the economy of heaven and how it all works. It's amazing what the Bible tells us and the insight that God gives us to these things.

As a matter of fact, tonight we’re going to do this. The Bible tells us everything that we need to know about how to do certain things. And if you want a formula for success, if you’re struggling in your job or you’re struggling with a business you’re starting or you’re struggling with managing your finances or you’re struggling in school—hopefully it’s homeschool—whatever it is that you’re struggling with, whatever thing that you’re just looking to find a way to be successful in it, you know God gives us formulas on how to do that. There are simple formulas that are based in the spiritual realm because the Bible gives us these things. They unlock everything. The Bible unlocks it all for us.

It tells us everything that we need to know and gives us every last bit of insight necessary in order to discern what God's word has to say about all of these issues, and they are critically, critically important for us. And really, it's more than ever we need to become more avid students of the word of God because by becoming more avid students of the word of God, we develop a clearer and better understanding of what it is that he's trying to communicate to us on a day-to-day basis and we become more effective in the wisdom that we need to be able to translate that and put that into a set of practical applications.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor James Kaddis on Light on the Hill. He'll be right back with more. As we go through this study of Revelation, there may come a time when you miss a message or would just like to hear a program again. If so, visit lightonthehillradio.com and click on Radio or listen through our app. We have a Light on the Hill app available for iPhone and Android users; just search for Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

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As we're going through Revelation, this is a great time to mention Pastor James's new book entitled The Last Book. It will share what you need to know about Revelation, the Rapture, and the end times. This guide to Revelation is part one of two, and you can order it today at lightonthehillradio.com or at Amazon.

Pastor James, you're in the process of working on another book based on the second half of Revelation. Can you give our listeners a sneak peek of what you're writing about and when it might be available?

James Kaddis: Well, I’m very excited about it, and I believe that it will be available near the end of June or July, and it will cover the remainder of the book of Revelation. So my first book has covered the first 10 chapters of Revelation; my next book is going to cover the remainder of all of those chapters and it's something you’re not going to want to miss out on. It's an exciting book. Looking forward to it and really truly believe that God is going to use it greatly.

Guest (Male): We’re all looking forward to it. Thanks, Pastor James. Now let’s return to our Bible study. Again, we’re in Revelation chapter 13.

James Kaddis: Look what it goes on to say. It says, "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by the sword and did live."

Okay, here's something else we have to talk about, and I think this is really critically important. The reason why these people will be mesmerized by supernatural works, the reason why these people will be shocked by signs and wonders, is because when they do not have the spirit of God living inside of them giving them insight into the invisible world, all of these things are going to seem godlike to them.

Folks, understand this: if you are a Christian today and you are living as a person filled with the spirit of God, which is in essence a definition of you being a Christian—you're Christlike, you're walking because the spirit of God has lived inside of you because you've invited Christ into your life—you understand that you’re going to be able to see through all those lies? You understand that you're not going to be taken very easily by a lot of that kind of stuff? Why? Because as Christians, we have a better sense of what we're walking into. We have the spirit of God living inside of us. There’s a discernment variable.

There's a reason why the Bible says that Christians have to be off this earth first before the final Antichrist comes in. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 says that we have to be raptured before that happens. Why? Because the Bible tells us that we are the preserving influence in this world. We're the ones that are keeping all of that stuff from coming into fruition. If you had a false prophet that came out and did all of these miraculous signs that were being done and there were Christians on this earth, there would be a ton of people going, "That's demonic, that's demonic, that's demonic, that's demonic." And you know what? He wouldn't be able to do what he did effectively. He wouldn't.

So with Christians gone and he does these signs and wonders, people are going to look at this demonic stuff and go, "Wow, that's incredible!" That's what's going to happen, and that's exactly what he's going to do.

Guest (Male): We'll save the rest of this message for next time. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is presented by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.