1008 The End of the Unholy Trinity

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message called The End of the Unholy Trinity. We're headed to the book of Revelation chapter 20 in just a moment, but we're also connecting on the phone at 866-899-9673 and online at www.tewonline.org.

Let's connect today. And now, how does heaven begin? You know, it's like the storm before the calm. You know, we usually say the calm before the storm. It's like the storm before the calm. It makes me think of life, your life and my life and the life and the world in which we live today.

I mean, just think of our current election in the United States, the presidential election, all the issues, the talk, the discussion, the debate, the things said, the things not said. You know, and then finally, we elected our new president and all the hope and the aspiration and the dreams and people are let down, people are let up, and then just think about our personal lives and the things that you and I go through. I just want you to know that I really love you today and I want you to know that I pray for you very, very much and I thank you for your partnership and for the way in which God speaks to us. And that's why these things, I came to Israel because I love you.

I love being in Israel. I've been here many, many times. When I come to this land, this place where Jesus walked and this place where Jesus is coming back again, this headquarters of heaven, this is going to be the headquarters of heaven, folks, forever. This earth is going back to the Garden of Eden. God is going to make all things brand new.

That's what he said in Revelation chapter 21. Behold, I make thing all things new, not some things, not this tree and not that tree. All things, that's you, that's me, that's nature, that's the place we live, that's the heaven we're in. We're going back to the Garden of Eden and I'm going to be there and you're going to be there too.

Isn't that great? And the only way you're going to get there is because you've given your life to Christ. That's what I've done. I've given my heart to Jesus. And if you haven't given your heart to Jesus, do it now or call that number on the screen.

Speak to one of my friends right now. Pray with them. Trust Jesus as your savior because these things are real.

They true. And as I stand here in the battlefields of Armageddon, getting my hair blown about and rain falling and then the sun coming out and jets flying overhead, I just think about the storm before the calm. That's what the book of Revelation is. The book of Revelation presents the storm. It shows what it is. It shows the tumult.

It shows the pain and the agony. But then Jesus comes. So let's just be reminded of what happened. How do we establish when heaven begins? Heaven begins, number one, when Jesus comes back. Number two, when the battle takes place. And we've talked about that. And how that Jesus as conquering king, as Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, Messiah, comes and he defeats the kings of the earth.

It's amazing. You know, just right here on the other side of this battlefield is Mount Carmel. And you'll remember in the Old Testament, whole Bible is true. Everything's connected in the Bible, folks. Everything is connected.

Everything's true. And you'll remember how that the prophets of Baal came against God's servant, Elijah. And they tried to prove him that their God or their gods were the true gods. They cried, yelped, hooped and hollered trying to get their gods, their pagan gods to manifest themselves.

And they couldn't do it. Then Elijah, the man of God, stepped up right there on Mount Carmel. He stepped up and he called upon the name of God, Jehovah, the King, Lord of all, King of Kings. And God manifested himself, poured fire down from heaven and devoured the offering and everything and even the water that surrounded the sacrifice. And what did God do at the end? He took the false prophets, the pagan prophets, those who would dare to challenge a holy and a righteous God, and he marched them down the hillside of Mount Carmel and he executed them right there in the fields of Armageddon.

That's exactly what this battle is all about. God was just showing us through his servant, Elijah, the things that would soon be. We had a picture right there of the conquering king, the same picture that we're given in Revelation chapter 19. So what takes place next in order for heaven to begin? Well, the unholy trinity is crushed. In chapter 19, the Bible is so clear about what takes place with them. The Bible says that the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. Remember in our previous study, the unholy trinity.

Go and have another look at chapter 13 of the book of Revelation. The beast? Yep, that's antichrist.

The other beast? The false prophet. And of course the third and the most important, the kingpin of the unholy trinity, that old serpent which is the devil. Well, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 19 and verses 20 and 21 that two members of the unholy trinity in the battle of Armageddon are taken not just into custody, but they are crushed. And they are cast into eternal hell. The word there is exactly the same word that you get referred to later in chapter 20 when the same sentence is poured out on the devil when fire comes down out of heaven.

I'm going to talk about that in just a minute. What fire? The same fire that God showed us through his prophet Elijah on the top of Mount Carmel when God sent fire down from heaven and devoured everything in the presence of these pagan gods and pagan prophets and then he eliminated them right there in the battlefield of Armageddon. Well, that's what we sing at the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 19. These two members of the unholy trinity, Antichrist and the false prophet are eliminated.

They're taken out of the picture. We never hear about them again excepting when the devil is assigned to their same place in chapter 20. And that eternal damnation is the same word used at the end of Revelation chapter 20 when God's word said, anyone whose name is not found written in the Lamb's book of life is cast into the same place that the beast, Antichrist and the false prophet and the devil have been assigned where they will be wailing and gnashing of teeth forever and forever. It's an amazing series of events.

So here's the point, right? When does eternal heaven begin? This is the storm before the eternal calm. This is the few moments, so to speak, that God is just showing us before he begins this most incredible, never-ending, forever, blissful, joyful, wonderful, two amazing things to think about that all of those of us who love him are going to be with him. We're going to live in this most magnificent place.

We're going to be perfect. Now wait a minute, there's going to be no more mourning, no more jets flying, no more elements to deal with, no more suffering, no more cancer, no prostate cancer, breast cancer, no pancreatic cancer, no more toothaches, tummy aches, belly aches, no complaining, no more death, no more dying, no sir, no sir, no, never again, gone, because sin has been defeated. Jesus paid the price, conquering sin and death in the grave. And we're set free, and so shall we forever be with the Lord. And so the battle of Armageddon takes place.

Chapter 19, it's an amazing battle. It's a devastating battle, and I'm going to be there. And you're going to be there, and we're not even going to fire one shot. I just can hear some gunshots in the distance. There's not going to be any gunshots, nothing, because Jesus the Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, totally, completely victorious. See, friend, that is the essential theme of the whole book of Revelation. Are you getting it now? Someone asked me one time, Dr. Wilton, what is the book of Revelation all about? I gave them this answer that I've given to you.

Here it is. Jesus Christ was, He is, and He always will be totally victorious. Isn't that great?

I love that. You know, I want to just turn around and just yell over this battle scene behind me here. Jesus Christ was, He is, and He always will be totally victorious. I want to make an announcement. He wins. We win. The Bible tells us.

Isn't that amazing? And as soon as the battle of Armageddon has taken place, there's a series of events in chapter 20 of the book of Revelation. Too much for me to read for you, but the Bible says that the first thing that takes place is that an angel comes down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit. By the way, the bottomless pit is not eternal hell. It's a place of incarceration designed specifically for the devil. And the Bible says that God commands an angel to go and to arrest the devil who is the last surviving member of the unholy trinity.

He's the perpetrator, the instigator. He's that old devil. He's the roaring lion who has been prowling around seeking whom he may devour.

Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the completion of today's message, the end of the unholy trinity in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you about 1 John 4 for greater is he that's in me and in you than he that's in the world. You are not alone in your struggle and your fight with the enemy.

He is seeking to whom he may devour, but God has promised never to leave you or forsake you. We pray with you and for you right now in unity at 866-899-WORD. That's our phone number.

Jot it down. It's available 24 hours a day, 866-899-9673. And we have resources available online at our website, tewonline.org, that will help fortify you in your fight every single day to make the right decisions, the right choices to live for Jesus Christ.

Visit us on our website, tewonline.org, and we'd love to help you connect with those resources today. Now let's dive back into today's teaching, the end of the unholy trinity with Dr. Don Wilton. He's the prince of darkness, and God commands one of his angels to go having the key of the bottomless pit. And the Bible here says that he sees the dragon, that old serpent who is the devil or Satan, and he threw him into the abyss and bound him for a thousand years, and he locked it, and he sealed it over him. By the way, if you've ever wondered where the abyss is, it's down there. It's like hell. I can't tell you exactly where hell is, but I do know that hell is a place of eternal burning. You know, I remember being in Hawaii one time, and I had the privilege with my wife of flying over one of those volcanoes. You ever done that? Big hole in the ground, you look down, and that red-hot lava just bubbles up.

It just bubbles up, and it just goes down the side of the mountain, and it just vaporizes anything in its pathway. I've often wondered if heaven prior to eternal heaven is up there. I wonder where people are who have been consigned to eternal hell.

Given the fact that in Luke chapter 16, Jesus, Jesus, told us that the rich man who died and was buried went to hell, and he was tormented in flames, in flames. Just wondering. I don't know. I'm just wondering.

It doesn't matter. All I know is that I'm not going there, and you're not going there, and I sure pray and hope that you're not going there, and I'm begging of you to give your heart to Jesus because God loves you. He loves you so much. He sent Jesus to die for you because Jesus paid the price. He loves you, my friend. Why don't you just draw a line right now and give your heart to Jesus? Trust him as your Savior and your Lord.

Turn your life over to him. It is the most incredible thing that you will ever do. The peace that will come into your heart knowing that you're forgiven, and get this.

Just get this. I've got to tell you this right here in the battlefields of Armageddon. When you give your heart to Jesus, he writes your name in his book in heaven. Isn't that amazing? We sing a song.

You know, when I grew up, maybe you did. There's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine. Oh, yes, it's mine. Is yours written down in glory? You can give your heart to Jesus now.

Call that number. Speak to one of my friends right now. Settle this issue and know that you're going to heaven. All right, so let's get back here. So the battle of Armageddon, and here's the devil, and he's thrown into the abyss, set a seal over him so that he would not deceive the nations anymore, and this is when the thousand-year reign is established. The Lord Jesus goes back to the capital, to his headquarters, and he establishes right there in Jerusalem a thousand-year reign. That's what the Bible says. You'd be interested to know, by the way, that there's not a lot of information in the Bible given to us about this thousand-year reign, its purpose, its plan, why God does this. This is what the Bible does say.

I just read it to you. He says that the devil in verse 3 of chapter 20, you might want to see this for yourself. The devil has a seal set over him.

He's locked up in the abyss to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years are over, and then when the thousand years are over, God lets him out of his prison just for a moment, just for a moment, and so the rest of that from verse 4 through verse 7, the Bible tells us that Jesus the Christ establishes his thousand-year reign. We're going to be with him. We're going to surround the throne. I think we will be joined by the heavenly chorus, by millions of angels, by the 24 elders. We're going to be singing, praising, loving on one another, and that's all of us, by the way, all of those of us who have given our hearts to Jesus. I'm just being human here.

Would you forgive me if I'd just be human for a minute? I tell people, you know, you need to come to Israel and get your reservation. You can leave home without your American Express card too. I just tell people I love coming to Israel. I love being here. I love traveling to Nazareth and to the Sea of Galilee. I love going down to the Dead Sea. You know what I love about going down to the Dead Sea?

I just want to see it in all of its deadness because I know that I'm going to live around there in all of its living hopefulness forever. Dead Sea's going to come alive because the living water's going to flow into it. Listen, dead water has got no feet to stand on when living water flows into it. Jesus is our living water.

That's what he does. Watch me, I'm a dead man when I'm born because I'm born dead in my trespasses and my sins. When I receive Jesus, I take a drink, so to speak, of the living water. His living water, his livingness comes into my deadness as a result of which I now become alive. I'm alive in Christ. I'm no longer dead. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

I think I've got to run that by again in case you missed it. I'm born dead because I'm born in the sin of Adam. Lost in my sinfulness, I'm dead in my trespasses and sins. When Jesus comes into my heart, I take a drink of the living water because he is life. I receive his living life, his resurrected life.

So when I receive him into my heart and into my life, I become the temple of the living God. My deadness is cancelled. I now receive life. I am forever alive. I've got eternal life living in me.

Isn't that amazing? I can never die again. I hope that you've given your heart to Jesus. Just do it right now. Don't put this off. Don't mess around.

I'm standing on the battlefields of Armageddon here. This is serious stuff, my friend. Give your life to Christ.

Do it right now. Make certain. Be set free. Come alive. And if you've given your heart to Jesus, in the name of Jesus, I congratulate you because you're alive in Christ. All right, so at the end of the thousand-year reign, verse 7 of chapter 20, the Bible says when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released, will go out, and he will deceive the nations just for a little bit. This is the ultimate manifestation of the power and the glory of God. And so the nations, this is the final battle. They will march against him again.

But look what happens. Remember Mount Carmel? Uh-huh. Remember what happened to the prophet Elijah with the prophets of Baal? Remember what happens when a holy and a righteous God comes against the pagan gods of this world? Let me read to you. This is it. This is the final moment. Battle of Armageddon was not the final battle. This is it.

I'll just read it to you. Verse 9, chapter 20. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves.

What's the city he loves? Jerusalem. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown.

They will be tormented day and night forever and forever and forever. And so the great white throne judgment begins from verse 15 through to the end of chapter 20. And the Bible says that Jesus, the righteous judge, will be seated upon his throne, the judgment seat of God. And the Bible says people will be told to stand up there.

They will be lines and lines, millions upon millions of them. And the books will be open. And another book, which is the Lamb's Book of Life, and anyone whose name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be cast from the presence of God. And this is what the Bible says. The Bible says then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. And if anyone's name was not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that person would be thrown into the lake of fire.

Please don't let that be you, my friend. God loves you. Jesus died for you.

Give your life to him today. And this is when eternal heaven begins, because in chapter 21, which is where we began, the Bible says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had passed away. And then I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from out of heaven, from God to this earth. And God from the throne said, From now on, from now on, for eternity, forever, I now make my dwelling place upon this earth among mankind. And Jerusalem becomes the permanent headquarters of the new Garden of Eden.

And the entire world reverts back to prior to the in the beginning God of Genesis chapter one, the way God originally intended all to be. And when God created the heavens and the earth, we sinned. And God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to give his life for us.

And he made a plan. He gave to us his glorious redemption, his free gift of grace, that by his Spirit, we would belong to him. And now Jesus comes. And establishes his kingdom on this earth. Yeah, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

In chapter 20 and 21, 22, we start reading about all the descriptions of heaven. I mean, it's an incredible place. I can't wait.

I've been to a lot of great places in this world, but nothing's going to compare to heaven. Are you going to join me there? I know you are.

I can't wait. You're stuck with me. You know, maybe some of you. I know, I know you're looking at me right now, and we're all going to be in heaven. At least one of you is going to come up to me and say, Dr. Wilton, remember all that teaching you did in Israel, teaching us?

You weren't quite right about this. And I get it. I get all of that. I'm just trying to show you what God says. Don't you just love being a Christian?

I do, and I love you, and I'm so grateful for you, and I'm so grateful we can be together, and I'm so grateful. And it's in that spirit of gratitude we're wrapping up this week of broadcast, and I pray that you would have heard more than just great teaching from our pastor, but you've heard the voice of God calling out to you to make a change, to make a course correction. Before we get away, would you please open your heart to these closing thoughts from our pastor, Dr. Don Wilton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

Exciting news. If you just gave your life to Christ or rededicated your life to Jesus, oh, we have some wonderful resources Dr. Don wants you to have absolutely free, but you need to call 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to walk you through the next steps of growing in your faith, and speaking of growing your faith, we have wonderful resources on our new website for that very purpose as well. We are excited to announce that we have a new, updated website. On our new website, you can find current and past broadcasts, order the current monthly offer, post prayer requests or praise reports, sign up for the daily Encouraging Word, see our current broadcast schedule, and donate to the Encouraging Word. Find us at www.tewonline.org. It's been a great week of connecting with God's Word and we'll feature you here at the Encouraging Word, and over the weekend we can do that as well. Visit our website, www.tewonline.org, to discover where you can watch the broadcasts on the Daystar Network and other networks. You can even watch it online at www.tewonline.org, and know we're there to pray for you as well. Until last week, we'll see you again on Monday.