♪♪
If your house were burning down,
would you want me to warn you?
So you're inside, I'm walking
outside, I see the flames.
Would you want me to warn you?
 Yes.
 Oh, but of course.
If the world were burning down,
should we warn it?
If America is beginning to burn
down, should somebody say
something?
Somebody like you?
"American Apocalypse."
A brand-new series that begins
right now.
Boy, I wrestled long and hard
this summer.
With God.
In prayer.
Do we go there?
Do we really go there?
The moment you speak of this
country...
you're gonna move into
controversial realities.
And somebody's gonna stand up
and say, "You can't say that."
But if the house is burning down
and you don't say anything,
aren't we morally culpable
if we know?
American Apocalypse in this
season of the pandemic.
Here we are with our masks.
American Apocalypse in this
season of racial fracture
and class warfare.
American Apocalypse in this
season of a broken economy.
All the Band-Aids in the world
won't save it.
American Apocalypse in this
season of a conflicted election.
And let me tell you something.
It's not the election we're
worried about.
It's the day after the election
that we're worried about.
Isn't that right?
American Apocalypse and the
remnant church that is sound
asleep, if not comatose, in the
West.
American Apocalypse.
Come to think of it, that's why
God gave prophecies in the first
place -- to be a warning.
A halogen light shining down the
pathway.
We talked about halogen lights
last night with the new
students.
Shining down the pathway,
saying, "Look out.
Look out.
It's coming."
Are you gonna say something
about it?
Am I gonna say something about
it, or do we just let it crash
and burn?
American Apocalypse.
Because the time is right.
Let's pray.
Oh, God.
My, oh, my.
If not now, when?
And if not prophecy, what?
Here we are with our masks,
physically distanced, but the
Holy Spirit is within us.
And we're all connected through
Him.
We're not alone.
Pastor Jenifer's beautiful
"Season of Prayer" a moment
ago -- We're not alone.
We're bound together.
Michelle having us wave to each
other.
"At least somebody greeted me
today."
We're here.
Gilbert reminded us, "You got to
pray."
You got to pray.
This is the season of the
prophecies.
And so we are praying.
Have at it right now.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Open your Bible with me, please,
to the Apocalypse, the Bible's
last book, the Book of
Revelation.
Revelation chapter 1.
The opening line.
We're together.
There are two lines that you
must get right off the bat.
Before we take another step into
these prophecies, two lines.
You get these two lines, and the
mysterious doors to the
Apocalypse will open wide for
you.
This is your journey.
Your exploration.
Your discovery.
Two lines.
Here's line number one.
Revelation 1:1.
I'm in the New International
Version.
"The revelation from
Jesus Christ..."
Now, the Greek can be translated
"The revelation of
Jesus Christ," revealing Jesus.
Or is it from Jesus?
Is it about Jesus?
It can go all three ways.
"The revelation of
Jesus Christ -- from
Jesus Christ, which God gave him
to show his servants..."
Well, who are His servants?
Anybody that follows Him.
This church is filled right now
with servants.
Livestreaming -- servants
watching.
The servants of Jesus.
So it goes from God the Father
to God the Son.
Now, what does God the Son do
with it?
"The revelation from
Jesus Christ, which God gave him
to show his servants what must
soon take place.
He made it known by sending his
angel to his servant
John..."
Do you know that Jesus has a
guardian angel?
In fact when he came here as a
little human baby, that angel
was assigned to him the entire
time he was here.
I happen to know the name of
that angel because that angel
shows up in the Book of Daniel,
which is a twin book with
Revelation, and that angel is
unabashed to say, "My name is
Gabriel."
Some of you are named Gabriel.
"My name is Gabriel, man of
God."
This is the same Gabriel.
He's the prime minister of the
universe.
Christ Jesus our Lord is the
King.
He has a prime minister.
"I have an errand for you,
Gabriel.
Go!"
So he sent it through Gabriel,
and who does it go to?
It says he sent it to his
servant John.
Which John is this?
This John Boy who's now the
elderly John.
You look at verse 9, he's on the
isle of Patmos.
Why is he on Patmos?
Because that's a penal
penitentiary Roman institution
of incarceration.
He's in jail.
For his faith.
Read verse 9.
It's for his faith.
And, by the way, Domitian is the
emperor in Rome, in the
Roman Empire at this moment.
Domitian has already tried to
snuff out the witness of this
John Boy turned elderly John.
He threw him in a boiling
cauldron of oil, tradition tells
us -- threw him in there.
"Let's watch him burn."
And he just stood there.
[ Chuckles ] Nothing happened.
He finally crawled back out, and
they said, "Dry the oil off of
him."
God did that in the
Book of Daniel -- put three boys
in a fiery furnace seven times
hotter, and those boys just
stood there like nothing's going
on.
Both books remind us that, if
you are a follower, if you are a
servant of the Most High God,
you have nothing to fear for
what's coming ahead.
Now, there's gonna be some stuff
that's gonna make us tremble a
bit.
It ought to.
That's why it's a warning.
But you don't have to be afraid.
So, let's see -- it goes from
God the Father to God the Son,
God the Son to Gabriel, Gabriel
to John -- oh, and John at the
end of verse 1, to his servant
John -- verse 2 now -- "who
testifies to everything he
saw -- that is, the Word of God
and the testimony of
Jesus Christ."
Now here it comes. Verse 3.
"Blessed is the one who reads
aloud the words of this
prophecy."
Oh, I'll take that blessing
right now because that's what
I'm doing -- I'm reading aloud
the words of this prophecy.
You're gonna find out in one
split second that that's you
reading aloud to yourself.
"Blessed is the one who reads
aloud the words of this
prophecy, and blessed are those
who hear it and take to heart
what is written in it, because
the time is --" what?
"The time is...
"The time is near."
Come on, keep that on the
screen.
"Because...the...time...is
near."
Now, there's some scholars, God
bless them, that push this point
too far.
"What point are you talking
about, Dwight?"
I'm talking about the point that
says, "Listen, we know that
Revelation was written for the
first-century Christians because
they're the original readers.
Therefore, the
Book of Revelation has to make
sense to them."
It does not have to make sense
to them.
I read another scholar this
summer that says, "Oh, whoa,
whoa, whoa!
Not so fast.
The Book of Revelation was
written for the last generation
of the human race."
Of course the first century read
it, but what do you think the
21st century is gonna do?
We're gonna read it, as well.
Why would it be especially for
the endgame generation?
Because they're the ones that
are gonna live through these
hairy, scary stories.
This was intended, in its
completeness, for one
generation, and it's the
generation that is the final
generation, and you can't tell
me and I can't tell you that
you're it or I'm it.
But I'm watching a house
beginning to burn --
"American Apocalypse."
Don't miss next week, whatever
you do.
Yeah. The time is near.
Now, there's a generation that
was intended to get the whole
story, and you and I are part of
that generation right now.
Hey, let me tell you about
William Shakespeare, because if
you take honors class here at
Andrews University, you'll read
some of Shakespeare's plays.
"The Tempest."
Honors students particularly,
you might remember this line if
you've already taken the class.
What did Shakespeare write?
That "what is past is prologue."
So, here's the deal.
That's true about prophecy.
What happens back here is a huge
clue as to what's gonna happen
up here.
What's happened behind us is a
clue to what's gonna happen
ahead of us.
You're gonna, in this -- You're
gonna run into all kinds of
strange stuff, but you're gonna
run into a woman who's drunk.
She's called a prostitute.
She's called a whore in some of
your translations.
And you know what she's drunk
with?
She's drunk with the blood of
God's friends.
Can you believe that?
She's drunk with the blood
[Gasps] of God's friends.
And if what is past is prologue,
what has happened behind us --
ohh -- is gonna happen in front
of us.
Yeah.
Warning -- the house is burning
down.
Whoa.
Yeah, make no mistake about it,
this book is for you.
This book is really for you.
[ Tapping book ]
Alright, read verse 1 again
because we got to get this.
Verse 1.
"The Revelation from --" of,
about -- "Jesus Christ, which
God gave him to show his
servants what must soon take
place."
How does it read in the Greek?
It reads, "The Revelation --"
the apokalupsis, the
apokalupsis.
That means "the unveiling," pull
the -- you know, they're
unveiling a new car model, they
take that cloth off and --
[ Exhales deeply ]
That's what's happening here, an
unveiling.
Of what?
The end-time events?
What does it say?
The unveiling of what?
It's the unveiling of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the unveiling taking
place.
I want to tell you something,
newbie reader of Revelation.
What you're gonna be looking for
is a portrait of Jesus.
This book is all about Jesus --
hands down, from stem to stern,
cover to cover.
It's about Him.
And if, in my teaching, I
neglect to point Him out, I am
praying to God already, "Send
the Holy Spirit immediately to
cover for me and show her, show
him the picture of Jesus that,
at this moment, is extremely
personal to you."
Do you need power?
On the eve of this new year, do
you need power?
You are going to be introduced
to a Jesus with all the power in
the universe.
There is nothing that can stand
in His way.
Do you need hope in this season
of the pandemic?
[ Chuckles ] You're gonna meet a
Jesus in the Apocalypse who will
have all the hope, the hope of
what's even ahead when we all
get to heaven.
What a day of rejoicing that
will be, when we all see Jesus.
We'll sing and shout the
victory.
Everything you need, you're
gonna find in Jesus, the Jesus
of the Apocalypse.
So don't run from this, whatever
you do.
Grab it.
"The revelation of..."
Put that on the screen there.
"Revelation of..."
"Revelation from..."
I'm gonna skip one.
Go to the next line.
"The revelation of, the
revelation from, the revelation
about Jesus Christ."
That's line one.
You got to get this.
There are two lines.
If you get the two lines, the
mysterious doors of Revelation
will open for you in your
private reading, alright?
There's line one.
Let's go to line two.
So now we go to the literary
middle of the book.
The heart of the book is
Revelation chapter 12, alright?
So now we're jumping down the
pike here.
Revelation chapter 12.
Let's begin in verse 7.
"Then war --" Whew!
War broke out. Guess where.
Guess where war broke out.
Long before it broke out in your
mom and dad's marriage, long
before it broke out in the
office where you work, long
before it broke out in the
dormitory where you live, long
before war broke out in that
relationship that has crushed
your heart, long before it broke
out on earth, it broke out in
God's home.
I have parents who sit in my
office and they are weeping.
"Dwight, what have we done?
We made a mistake.
Our child has run away from
God."
You know what I have to say to
those parents every single time?
"I know your heart is broken.
I want to remind you, however,
there is a perfect parent in
this universe who lost one third
of his family in a perfect
home."
Go figure.
God knows what war's all about.
It has wounded Him to the core.
He will carry secret wounds for
the rest of eternity.
He knows what you're going
through.
"War broke out in heaven.
Michael --" oh, that's the
apocalyptic name for Christ
before he was a baby Jesus.
"Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the
dragon and his angels fought
back.
And he --" the dragon -- "was
not strong enough --"
hallelujah, amen -- "and they
lost their place in heaven.
That great dragon was hurled
down -- that ancient serpent
called the devil, or Satan, who
leads the whole world astray.
He was hurled to the earth..."
Hit the pause button right
there.
Because if line number 1 is the
truth that Jesus is the subject
of the Apocalypse, line number 2
is His defeat of Satan is the
focus of the Apocalypse.
You got to get both of those.
He's the subject of everything.
His defeat of Satan is the focus
of everything in the
Book of Revelation.
You don't believe me?
"Oh, Dwight, you're just making
that up."
Nope. Keep reading.
Pick it up in verse 9 again.
"That great dragon was hurled
down -- that ancient serpent
called the devil, or Satan,
who leads the whole world
astray.
He was hurled to the earth, and
his angels with him."
Now, come on, hold on, hold on.
Verse 10.
"Then I heard a loud voice --"
megales phone.
This is a shout.
This is a megaphone.
That's how it reads in the
Greek.
"I heard a megaphone in heaven
say: 'Now have come the
salvation and the power and the
kingdom of our God, and the
authority of His Messiah --'"
Christ.
"'For the accuser of our
brothers and sisters, who
accuses them before our God day
and night, has been hurled down.
And they --'" these are the
followers of Jesus.
"'They triumphed over him --'"
that's that wicked dragon.
"'They triumphed over him by the
blood of the Lamb --'" code
language for Calvary -- "'and by
the word of their testimony; for
they did not love their lives so
much as to shrink from death.'"
You remember that drunk woman?
She was drunk back there, she'll
be drunk again.
That line is gonna be important
to remember.
When the moment comes, you will
not shrink.
You will not shrink...
from what stands before you.
"'They did not shrink from
death.
Therefore --'" verse 12 --
"'rejoice, you heavens and you
who dwell in them!'"
Whew! He's gone.
Lucifer is gone forever.
"'But woe to the earth and the
sea, because the devil has gone
down to you!
He is filled with fury, because
he knows that his time is
short."
Both passages we've read have
ended with the same point -- the
time is near, the time is short.
Either way, for an endgame
generation, this book is
absolutely your chart for your
spiritual journey with Jesus
through the endgame and the
house burning down.
Wow.
We're in a war, and this
battle's intensifying.
[ Chuckles ] Don't you let
anybody kid you.
It's worse today than it was a
year ago today.
It's worse today than it was
last month.
The battle is intensifying.
The war is intensifying.
This is not the little
mythological Luke Skywalker and
Darth Vader with that lightsaber
fight to the death.
This is not that!
This is the real deal!
There are only two sides --
Christ and Satan.
Only two sides in this war.
Only two sides.
These prophecies that we are
plunging into now describe the
stunning detail of the desperate
war raging between the forces of
light and the forces of darkness
on a battlefield called earth.
But guess what.
Where the battleground really
is, it's between your two ears,
between my two ears.
This is where the battle is
being waged.
And I'm telling you, both sides
are playing for keeps.
One side will use intimidation
and brute force, if he can get
by with it.
The other side will only use
persuasion and woo and love and
just draw -- "No, no, no, no.
Don't -- Come back, come back."
It will feel like you're going
crazy.
You are not going crazy.
That battle going inside of your
mind is as real as the nose on
your face.
They're all battling for your
allegiance, for your loyalty.
They need you to say yes to
them, and there are only two
sides.
There are not three.
"No, Dwight, I have a third
side."
"Oh, really, Miss?
What's your third side?"
"My third side is me."
[ Chuckles ]
You?
If you're making you the third
side, guess what.
You're automatically on the side
of the one who said, "Me first,"
and started this
whole...bloomin' mess.
There are only two sides, and
every morning when you awaken,
you have to answer the question,
"Yo, boy, girl, whose side are
you on today?"
Every night when you go to
sleep, in that dormitory room,
no matter what has happened
before, you're going to sleep,
the question will be put to you
again...
"Whose side are you on?"
Only two sides.
Which side am I on?
Was talking with a young man
last summer who got sucked into
the drug culture, okay?
Started off with a little bit of
weed.
Then it was prescription
drugs -- not his own.
And then it was meth.
And then the dragon said,
"Gotcha.
I gotcha, boy."
He told me -- speaking of this
war that we're all in -- he told
me there were moments of
sobriety when he could think
clearly and, in those moments of
sobriety, the voice of God would
speak to him and say, "Come on,
come on, come on, come on.
Come back. Come back to me.
You want peace?
I'll give it to you.
You want fulfillment?
I'll give it you. Come to me."
And he said, invariably, in
those moments of sobriety, when
he would hear the voice of
God -- [Exhales dramatically]
there would be that dark dragon,
this accusing voice.
You know what the dragon would
say to him?
"You can't go back now.
[ Snickering ] Look at you.
Look at you.
You are hopelessly addicted.
I mean, how many times have you
asked God to deliver you?
And, apparently, God can't do it
or you don't want it.
You cannot go back.
I'll tell you what, boy.
You know what you are?
You are a loser.
That's what you are.
You are a loser.
You have lost this thing.
You know what you want to do.
You want to belong to me.
You come back.
We'll just put that little
conscience to sleep, and then
I'll give you everything you
want."
As he's telling me this, my eyes
are just welling up with tears
because I'm realizing how brutal
the fury of the dragon who's
about to lose his victim.
You've heard the accuser.
I've heard the accuser.
I've heard that "loser" line.
It's so old.
He ought to give it up.
"Loser."
You've heard that voice.
But I'm telling you what, on the
authority of what we just read,
that boy who told me his
story...
I'll show you. Read it again.
Lookit. Verse 10.
"Then I heard a megaphone
in heaven saying: 'Now have come
the --'" this is at Calvary --
"'Now have come the salvation
and the power and the kingdom of
our God, and the authority of
His Messiah.
For the accuser --'" the
accuser, the accuser -- "'of our
brothers and sisters --'" and
you and me, who accuses us day
and night before God -- he has
been hurled down.
And they -- you and me --
triumph over him by the blood of
the Lamb, and we triumph over
him by the word of our
testimony -- and we're gonna be
sharing those testimonies here.
For, "'They did not love their
lives so much as to shrink from
death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the
sea, because the devil has gone
down to you!
He is filled with fury, he knows
that his time is short.'"
The generation that reads this,
when the time is short, needs
the fullness of what has just
been promised.
And I'm telling you, I'm happy
to tell you today that he was in
church today -- that boy.
He had a face mask on, so you
won't recognize him.
He's a volunteer in this church
today because he found out, "Now
has come salvation and power" to
the one who yields his life to
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's no longer a loser.
Guess what.
He's a winner.
He's a winner!
The devil was lying to him
because that's the only language
the devil knows.
He's a liar from birth.
He's a liar.
Don't you ever believe him.
Wow.
[ Chuckles ] Hallelujah.
That young man is living proof
of these words.
Gonna end with these words.
Put them on the screen for
you -- "Steps to Christ."
There it is.
"When Satan --" the accuser.
"When Satan comes to tell you
that you are a great sinner --"
guess what, no surprise -- "look
up to your Redeemer --" the
Jesus of the Apocalypse -- "and
talk of Jesus' merits.
That which will help you is to
look to His light."
We talked about the light last
night.
Keep your eyes on the light.
Next line.
"Acknowledge your sin, but tell
the enemy that 'Christ Jesus
came into the world to save
sinners' and that you --" that
I, that we -- "may be saved by
His matchless love."
Hallelujah. Is there more?
"We have been great sinners --"
yep, yep, yep, yep -- "but
Christ died that we might be
forgiven.
It is when we most fully
comprehend the love of God that
we best realize the sinfulness
of sin."
Keep going.
"When we see the length of the
chain that was let down for
us --" at Calvary.
Man, somebody climbed all the
way down that chain to save me
from my pit.
"When we understand something of
the infinite sacrifice that
Christ has made in our
behalf --" here we go now --
"the heart --" talking about
your heart and mine -- "is
melted with tenderness and
contrition."
Good news that Jesus Christ
revealed in the Bible's last
book is everything you need for
the new journey in front of us
all -- everything you need.
When you're standing in line,
read the Apocalypse.
Say, "Dwight, I'm not gonna
carry my Bible around."
You have it on your phone.
The lines are longer now with
the pandemic anyway.
Pull your phone out.
Read it in your room.
Read it in your home.
Something -- there's some
mysterious power in the reading
of the Revelation.
I end this line from the same
author as "Steps to Christ."
I couldn't skip this.
"When we as a people --" this
little faith community --
"understand what this book --"
we're talking about Revelation
here.
"When we as a people understand
what this book means to us --"
as a faith community -- "there
will be seen among us a --"
what's this word right here?
What's this word?
Call it out to me.
 Together: "Great."
 "Great."
And what's this word right here?
 Together: "Revival."
 "There will be a great
revival."
We have been praying for a
revival for years on this campus
and in this congregation.
Guess what.
I just found out this summer --
you want a revival, you want a
revival at Andrews University,
you want a revival in the
Pioneer Memorial Church, you
want a revival in the
Seventh-Day Adventist Church,
then go back to the
Book of Revelation.
Go back to the Apocalypse.
It's all about Jesus, and it's
the Jesus we need to know now
for what's just ahead.
Would you join me in praying for
that revival?
Would you join me?
Every day when you pick the book
up, say, "Jesus, I don't know.
Dwight said to read the book, so
I'm just slowly working my way
through it, but, Jesus, I see
here -- would You please do for
us what we have never in a time
of peace and prosperity been
able to do for ourselves?
Do it now as the house burns
down.
Give us the time we need to tell
Your story while there's still
time."
Let's pray.
Oh, God...
Oh, God.
We're not asking You to burn
down Your house.
Boy, the devil doesn't like that
Book.
Whew!
He doesn't like that Book.
He'll throw it to the ground.
You know what he'll do, God.
We just saw that.
We just saw that.
He walked by.
We just saw that, Lord.
That's what we're up against.
But you know what?
It doesn't matter to You.
They can destroy the Book.
They can get rid of every
printed word that speaks of
Jesus.
But we have Jesus in our hearts.
And we're facing this brave new
pandemic new year.
We're facing it with confidence
and courage.
Because Jesus already won the
war.
There are a few battles that got
to be taking place, but He's
already, at Calvary, won the
war.
And we praise You.
Now, Father, don't burn our
hearts down.
Ignite our hearts, please.
Ignite our hearts with this
great revival so that we are
compelled to move away, move
out, move out.
We are propelled into a world
that desperately needs to know
its house is burning down.
Set us ablaze with Your reviving
love.
We humbly pray in Jesus' name.
Let all the people say amen.
And amen.
The world is coming to an end.
We have nothing to fear.
We have everything to look
forward to, and we have a
friend, our very best friend,
who goes with us.
And to that I say amen.
 Amen.
 Think of the last time
someone said, "I'm praying for
you."
Didn't it give you a sense of
peace and reassurance that,
"Somebody cares for me"?
I know how I feel when I get an
e-mail from one of our viewers
saying, "Yo, Dwight, I've been
praying for you lately."
There's nothing like knowing
someone is praying for you.
So I want to offer you an
opportunity to partner -- let
me, let us partner with you in
prayer.
If you have a special prayer
request or a praise of
thanksgiving you'd like to share
with us, I'm inviting you to
contact one of our friendly
chaplains.
It's simple to do.
You can call our toll-free
number 877-HIS-WILL.
877-HIS-WILL.
That friendly voice that
answers, you tell him, you tell
her, what your prayer need is.
We'll join with you in that
petition.
And may the God who answers
prayer journey with you these
next few days until we're right
back here together again next
time.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
