Revelation 11

By Charles Feinberg

Charles Feinberg:

Good morning radio friends and friends of the Institute of Los Angeles. This isn't Dr.

Talbot but this is Charles L. Feinberg, director of the Talbot Theological Seminary which is affiliated with the Bible Institute of Los Angeles Inc. I'm pinch hitting today for our beloved

Chancellor Dr. Talbot, your regular Bible teacher, so that Dr. Talbot may rest his throat. His throat's a little better, but it's a wonder it is as good as it is in view of the many preaching appointments that devolve upon him. Please open your now to the Book of the

Revelation, Chapter Eleven. We'll want to be taking up just exactly where Dr. Talbot left off yesterday.

Incidentally, Dr. Talbot says nothing will help his throat so much as to have a large mail. So if you haven't written this month, please get a letter into the mail today. All radio preachers are sensitive to the response of the audience, the radio audience, and I know it would help Dr. Talbot immeasurably if you'd get a letter into the mail today. Now with your Bibles open, beloved, to the 11th chapter of the book of the revelation. You remember Dr. Talbot was indicating the

Ministry of the and we feel with him the identity of these two witnesses is Moses and Elijah.

Feinberg: Revelation 11

After that material has been assimilated, and after that material has been covered by Dr. Talbot,

we're not going to be going into it with great detail. But we do want to come now to the 14th

verse. The second woe is passed. Behold, the third will come quickly. And the seventh angel

sounded, there followed great voices in heaven and they said "the Kingdom of the world has

become the kingdom of our Lord and of his ." it was always his by right, was always his by

title, warrantedly his, but as Dr. Talbot pointed out, now that which is his by right will be his in actuality and reality.

He will take over and rule. He shall reign for ever and ever, the investiture will take place. Now

verse sixteen, the four and twenty elders who sit before God on the throne fell upon their faces

and worshipped God saying, we give thee thanks, Oh Lord God the Almighty, who are and who

was, because thou has taken thy great power and its reign, and the nations were wroth, and thy

wrath came and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give the reward to thy servants,

the Prophets and to the Saints, and to them that fear thy name, the small and the great, and to

destroy them that destroy the earth.

Now our parenthesis between the sixth trumpet judgment and the seventh trumpet judgment

come to an end. The second one woe has passed, we've read, the third woe comes quickly. Now

for verses 15 to 19, we have the last trumpet and the final regime, the final regime. From verse

19 to the end of the chapter belongs to the next chapter, chapter 12, on the woman and the man

child and the dragon and the added details of the following chapter. Now verses 15 to 18 don't

give us the particulars of the many events of the end of the tribulation period. They go over in a

summary way, the seventh trumpet does not bring in the kingdom, it shows its proximity, it's sort

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 of a preview, a pre-showing, because actually the kingdom itself comes in in the twentieth chapter.

This is a preview of that kingdom. Kingdom of this world is going to become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ in actuality and in truth. How the earth groans. How the world of humanity longs for this hour of peace through the Great Prince of Peace. Thank God it will happen when our Lord Christ reigns. One universal, unified sovereignty and kingdom under the son of on the throne of David in our Lord Jesus Christ, and remember, we redeemed ones, we who have been bought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ are going to be there with him. Friend, will you be there? If you've never received Christ as savior, if you're not in the flock of Christ, you're not included in the bride but you can easily get in the bride. He died, the just, for us the unjust, that he might bring us to God. How did he do that? He bore in his own body our sins upon the tree.

Why? Because all we like sheep have gone astray. We turned every one to his own way and the

Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

How did it all happen? Well, the one who knew no sin, God made to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. What the great impulse and motivator of it all?

The love of God. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Well, you say "it's a rather complicated process isn't it, it's very complex." Not at all. God's made it very simple. What must

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Feinberg: Revelation 11

I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, acquaint thyself with him and be at peace.

Beloved, this one universal, unified sovereignty and kingdom will be the realized experience of the bride of Christ as Christ reigns gloriously. Wonderful then, that God gives us this preview at this particular point. And when you notice that the reigning of Christ is on the earth, yes it is, an important verse--covers it all--is the eighteenth verse. That includes the whole millennial period.

That's a tremendously large verse, verse 18. Notice how many distinct features you have in that verse. Covers the whole millennial period to the judgment of the dead. There're going to be rewards differing according to distinct positions to be occupied in the kingdom.

There will be differing rewards, ring degrees of glory, but all will be happy. Small vessels, yes, large vessels, yes, great capacities, small capacities, each will be filled according to its own position and condition, and God will be magnified and glorified in it all. The receiving of the reward is definitely the reigning with Christ. Notice verse 19, "And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven. There was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant. There followed lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail." That resumes the whole history now from a different point, that of the chief actors in the coming event. These verses, I said, really belong to the following chapter.

And remember, these events rapidly coming to pass may be on us before many have planned for them; the best thing is to trust Christ. Be saved and be safe forever more. Some say I've noticed in this book of the revelation, the mention of the . Remember, this is not the

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Feinberg: Revelation 11

Ark of the Covenant on earth, it's the Ark of the Covenant in heaven. We have questions sent into us on this hour and through our Bible Institute hour, which is heard three times a week to other stations. But some ask us, where is the Ark of the Covenant that was in the Temple of

Solomon? And, was it in the temple of Zerubbabel? There's no indication that it was in the restoration temple, but it was, in the ark, the Ark of the Covenant was in the temple, in the holiest of all, in Solomon's day. Where is it now? No one knows where it is, a good thing because it would be like the manuscripts, the original manuscripts that came from the hands of the pen men of the word of God.

Some folk would find it a thing to be worshipped, a thing to be put above our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we don't know where the Ark of the Covenant is, but this is the Ark of the Covenant in heaven.

And the mention of that, beloved, shows that we're moving in a realm that relates to Israel. Some folk wonder how we know so clearly that the church will not go into the tribulation, will not pass through a part of it or all of it. How do we know that? Because little telltale signs throughout the book of the Revelation connect these events with the people of Israel, God's earthly people. For instance, the mention of the Ark of the Covenant. The mention of the temple and the very way in which the Lord Jesus Christ appears in the revelation from time to time as an angel.

That's Old Testament ground, where he appeared as the Angel of Jehovah, Malakh Adonai, the angel of the Lord. That was the way he appeared to them. We know him now as the Virgin-born one, as the crucified, risen, ascended, seated, coming one. This revolves in the area and in the

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 field where Israel is expecting their Messiah. We know he's going to come a second time, they're expecting him home for the first time, because, morally and spiritually, they are now exactly where they were before the Lord Jesus came as it's recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John. Now beloved, we're on the ground of Israel and we see there are lightnings, voices, thunders, earthquake, great hail.

What can that mean? Beloved, it doesn't mean the blessing of God, surely. Read your Bible from Genesis through Jude, and you'll have the preparation for knowing what these mean in the revelation. The book of the revelation isn't as mysterious and uncanny and covered and concealed and hidden to some folk want to make out.

It's actually a disclosure, it's an unveiling, and you can understand the figures from other portions of Scripture. And other portions of Scripture reveal that lightnings and voices and thunders and earthquake and great hail are accompaniments of judgment, of the wrath of the visitation of God.

Now we come to the wonderful twelfth chapter on the woman, the man-child and the dragon. It's actually one of the pivotal chapters of the book. Beloved, I say deliberately and boldly: if we're not clear on the 12th chapter of the revelation, there's grave danger that the whole book of the revelation will be confused. The identity of that woman is important. From Chapter 12 on, we have a new beginning. We have fuller details. The last verse of Chapter 11, we've said, belongs here. And it chose Israel in prominence again, God's earthly people. Now chapters 12, 13 and 14 are a connected, important prophecy of the book. But what's their purpose? Why, in chapters 12 and 13 we have outlined for us the principal actors for good, and Dr. Talbot, when he comes

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 back with us, will be giving us the important details in these chapters. We're not expecting to cover them at all. We're going to go slowly over some of the material, and I do hope when Dr.

Talbot can be back, when his throat is better and relieved, that he will go over some of the material that we'll touch on even today.

But in these chapters, 12 and 13, we have outlined for us the principal actors for good and for evil as well in the end time. Chapter 14 will give us the consummation, the completion, the end, preparatory to the setting up of the kingdom, the grand finale. From Chapter 12:5 to 14:20, you realize, friends, that we're taken from the birth of Christ to the time of his treading of the winepress of the wrath of God Almighty. And in this chapter twelve, we have a grouping together of events second to none in this marvelous book of the revelation. Actually, Chapter 12 takes us back farther than any chapter in the book, takes us back to the birth of the Lord Jesus

Christ. Now Chapter Twelve, not a long chapter--17 verses--has a threefold division. In the first six verses, we have the birth of the man-child. We'll repeat that, some of you may be taking these down, although, as we've indicated, if you write in, you can get these in booklet form as Dr.

Talbot's giving them. The first booklet is ready. It's been prepared for you, right in. And if you want the chart, ask for that at the same time. And Dr. Talbot would be happy to accede to your request.

In the first six verses of Chapter Twelve, we have the birth of the man-child. Notice the words:

"and a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman, arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, and she was with child and she crieth out, travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven. And

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his head seven diadems, and his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and it cast them to the earth. And the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered, he may devour her child.

She was delivered of a son, a man-child." Very interesting, a son couldn't be anything but a man-child. But beloved, scripture isn't just repetitious. Oh no, there's a reason for that and we'll see it later. "She was delivered of a son, a man child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and the child was caught up unto God and unto his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God.

That there they may nourish her, a thousand, two hundred and three score days."

I say, the first six verses we're dealing with the birth of a man- child. The great sign is seen in heaven. What is the sign?

It doesn't mean that the actual events are going to be in heaven. Actually, they're on Earth, as we have it. The woman fled in the wilderness. That doesn't mean a wilderness in heaven, it's a wilderness on earth. The events actually take place, transpire on Earth. But the sign is seen in heaven. The councils of God are manifested from heaven.

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And beloved, that's another thing we need to remember in these days of great confusion, that the plans of God are not revealed through this one, or that one or the other one, through some man's newly acquired ideas.

They must be revealed from God himself. And we don't look for them from some new revelation of some man that he's concocted out of his own mind.

We look for it from the unveiling God's already given in his word. We want not something new, but that which was from the beginning. That which was from all eternity and from the revelation of God manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. For no man hath at that any time seen

God. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. The Son, blessed be his name, has declared the father. He's told him forth in such a way that Isaiah couldn't do it, Nor Paul, nor Peter nor John. The Lord Jesus Christ is the preeminent prophet, he tells forth God. And so get your information, beloved, from headquarters.

Get it from God himself. That's where the councils of God are made, in God's council room in heaven. The great sign was seen in heaven, a woman arrayed with the sun.

Isn't this a splendid picture? Arrayed with the sun, the moon under her feet, upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Well, that could only be the adorning of God, and oh, how we need to see

Godly adorning. We don't need this sham. And the tinsel and the empty apparel of the world, no, it's God adorning the woman, she's arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, upon her head a crown of twelve stars. She's with child.

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She crieth, travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered. Now a sign, beloved, is something pointing to a definite subject or object. If you were to come out to the city limits of Los Angeles and saw a sign, you wouldn't go up to the sign and say "well how do you do, all my friends, in

Los Angeles? This is certainly a beautiful city." You wouldn't see the city on the sign, the sign's pointing to the city beyond. And this sign is in heaven.

The woman, as I've indicated, is actually on Earth, on the earth. Palestine, actually, whereas the sign is in heaven. God's purpose for her is disclosed in heaven. There're four representative women in the book of the revelation, and each one has a real message. I trust you'll put them down in your Bibles, you'll underline them. The first one is , chapter 2, verse 20. The corrupt system on earth. The woman here in 12:1 is Israel. We'll prove that in a little while.

Israel. The great harlot in 17:1 is the apostate, professing church headed up in the last days.

And then the woman in 19:7, the nineteenth chapter and the seventh verse, is the bride, the church in heaven.

Now this woman in Chapter 12:1 was arrayed with the sun, moon and stars. Beloved, you've studied the word of God. What does it remind you of to hear of the sun, moon and stars? Why, that reminds you of the dream, the latter of part of the Book of Genesis. It reminds you of the dream of , relative to his brothers. Remember, those sun, moon and the 11 stars, and they did obeisance to Joseph, and even his father then rebuked him and said, "Do you mean to say

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 that your mother and I and your 11 brethren are going to come down and worship before you, we're gonna bow down and worship you?"

Course it actually transpired that way.

The sun, moon and stars constitute a complete system of government, authority, and derived authority are all centered around the woman. Beloved, if you will read the thirty nine books of the Old Testament, you'll be without doubt as to whom God has given authority on the earth.

Israel, she's crowned with all dignity. You say, "Well, she doesn't figure very largely now in the council of the earth."

Granted, granted beloved, she is the tail of the nations and being wagged very hard, and by the way a dog slaps that tail on the ground, and Israel is slapped down to the ground so often, but

God says they'll not always be the tail, they'll, in a coming day, be the head of the nations as

Moses tells us in the Book of Deuteronomy. She's crowned with all dignity, the 12 stars. What's that mean? It's the fullness of government and responsibility. They remind us, these 12 stars, of the twelve patriarchs in Israel. This woman is Israel in a figure and the child that comes from

Israel is Christ, not the church.

Israel gives birth to Christ, not the church. The church doesn't give birth to Christ. It's well been said that the Christ came from the Virgin womb. The church was born of the Virgin too. The church didn't give birth to Christ. Christ makes possible the church. It's Israel that brings Christ into the world. Look at Romans 9:5: and of whom of Israel as concerning the flesh Christ came,

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 who is God over all, blessed forever. You say, "Are you sure. Are you sure this is Israel?" Yes, this is Israel.

Not as she has been or as she is now, but as she will be. Beloved, if you have a pencil with you there, paper, will you mark down right now, besides your radio, will you mark down Isaiah, chapter 66, the last chapter of the Book of Isaiah? Isaiah 66, verse 7. And notice this remarkable verse: before she travailed, before Israel got into her time of tribulation, she brought forth, yes she did, many centuries before the Great Tribulation, there came forth from Israel the Lord Jesus

Christ. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Actually so, that's a fact of history. Who have heard such a thing, who has seen such a thing?

Now we look to the future: shall a land be born in one day, shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, when she does come into the time of her Tribulation, she brings forth her children. Right.

That will be the rebirth of Israel in a day, before Israel's hour of trial, she brought forth a child.

That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all the intervening history, that's a tremendous span of history that's covered here. All the intervening history between the birth of Christ and the tribulation is passed over. Now the woman cannot be the Virgin Mary, highly honored as she is and should be.

The woman can't be the Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord. Nor can it be the church; it's Israel, seen as God intended her to be and as she will be in the future.

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When Christ was born, we know Israel was not in the place of dignity and power, but under the imperial power of Rome. Nevertheless, we know she gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse three, we read of an amazing personality. We see another sign in heaven. The Great Red Dragon.

That Red Dragon has seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. We're seeing.

His tail draws the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman, and what did he want? What did he want of the woman who's ready to be delivered?

He wants, that when she is delivered of that man- child, he may devour and destroy that man- child. That man-child is the Lord Jesus Christ and he is, he wants to do away with the Lord Jesus

Christ. Remember, there has been an age-long, centuries-long conflict that's been going on between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. All hell has been arrayed to keep the

Lord Jesus Christ from being born into the world, to keep him from bringing salvation full and free to a world lost in sin, but God's plan will not be thwarted. It will be opposed. It will be opposed by men instigated by the devil, but it will not be frustrated.

So the woman's child is brought forth. She's delivered of a son, a man child. He's to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and the man-child is added to relate him to his sovereign rights, to rule.

He is the son of man seen in Daniel 7:13 and 14. Unto him, as he comes to the ancient of days, unto him is given a kingdom that shall not pass away. He is given glory and majesty. This is not some temporary thing, as with the Assyro-Babylonian Empire, or the Medo-Persian Empire, or

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 the Grecian, or the Roman. Power must pass from them, they're transitory, they can't be permanent.

That's the rule of ungodly man. But this is the Son of God. The Lord of Glory. The all-gracious one, the impeccably sinless one. Yes, he's going to rule the nations with the rod of iron. Beloved, listening in, doesn't your heart long for that hour? When all the wrongs of Earth will be righted, but the all-righteous one, the righteous branch that comes from Jesse, he shall execute righteousness and justice in the land, and no wonder, this is the name where-by he shall be called the Lord our righteousness, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. He couldn't lead you in any other path, it may be difficult for the moment; it may be the path of the valley of the shadow of death, you need fear no evil. He's the Lord our righteousness, he won't lead you in an unrighteous path. He won't deal with you in unrighteousness if your heart's troubled this hour, friend. If you're in great distress, remember God leaves none of his children alone, there's no testing overtaken you but such is as common to man. God will give you a way of escape, First Corinthians 10:13, so that you may be able to bear it. Thank God for that man- child, that one who will right all wrongs and that child is caught up into heaven. The dragon cannot overcome the man-child, the offspring of the woman. He's a Red Dragon, red because he is so eager to shed blood. That's Satan. We know it from verse 9 to this chapter, and from the twentieth chapter of the revelation in the second verse, the figure of the dragon. Why is Satan seen under the figure of a dragon? That seems to bear out all his cruelty, all his barbarous, savage plans. This severe cruelty of the devil. That's the first place in the Bible where Satan is called the

Dragon, he's called the accuser, the devil, the serpent, now he is called the Dragon. Seven heads he has, just as later said of in the thirteenth chapter. Completeness of earthly power and

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Feinberg: Revelation 11 wisdom are in view, but beloved, before we close, isn't it blessed to know that though Satan may have great power, much power, multiplied power, that our God has omnipotent power?

Flee to Christ, trust in him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He is the deliverer, he is the victor, he is the master; if you want deliverance, if you want victory, if you want mastery, take it from Christ, the deliverer, the victor, the master.

Our God and Father. In these closing moments, may some heart in ready plan see that there is refuge, rest, deliverance, salvation, redemption only in Christ our Lord. May thy hand of healing upon our beloved Chancellor Dr. Talbot, may he be able to be with us on the morrow. Bless him and the ministry tonight in Canoga Park. We pray in Christ's name, amen.

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