0:00 So I have a ministry called Sanctuary Door Ministry, and you can find it at sanctuarydoorministry.com. I also do a podcast with Matthew Shonche. We have a podcast called The Truth Project. Right now it's on Matthew Shonche's channel, but we're going to be launching a separate channel for that and a separate website and everything for that ministry that we co-host together. So I have a few things going on. I travel and I speak and go to different places, travel out in North America to do evangelism, revival meetings, and Bible study training to try to train our members how to study the Bible like this, too. Because our people, you know, we sometimes think, well, I've heard Daniel and Revelation. I know what an evangelistic series is. We need to experience it like for the first time again as a people because we need to remember why it is that we're here. Because when we have that passion, the love for the truth from the Word of God and to be able to handle it, this is what is needed right now on this earth for every single one of us to become an evangelist in the world that we live in with the neighbors and the people around us is to share the Bible in a natural understanding.
0:56 When we understand something in complexity. We're able to share something in simplicity to someone that doesn't, has never heard of it because we have the understanding fully ourselves. And I think we kind of lack that today. We really don't. We're not sharp in our Bible like we should be. We really should know how to rightly divide the Word. And the Bible makes it so clear with the language how to match verse to verse and how to find line upon line. And that's really what my focus of the ministry is to try to bring that back, try to foment that again in our family. Because, I mean, where we come from is Bible study. I mean, that's really why we are Adventists. In fact, when people in the world are. Looking for the truth, they end up usually coming to the Adventist church eventually because they go to find the stuff in the Bible. They try to find a place where it's kept and it's pretty where, you know, it's not just in the Bible. It's actually also in the church. And that's what we need to be again, too, as a people, a people that really follow the Bible. Absolutely. So this is the kind of stuff that I do now. This is these. These are the kind of studies that I do, you know, using the Bible to explain itself.
1:51 And, you know, this I've used. I've used some, you know, some Ellen White in here. But I mean, I do plenty of stuff that is Bible only, like a lot of righteousness by faith. I'm using the Bible. Only, but just letting the Bible explain itself and, you know, we need to understand why we believe what we believe, not just about, you know, you know, for example, this, but, you know, say, the state of the dead, the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the second coming, all of these things. We need to understand really well and why we believe because we'll be tested on these things and we'll be alone in situations. We won't be able to rely on someone else to answer for us or maybe to be able to look it up on the Internet to have Google answer or an AI assistant answer it. We need to understand. We need to understand these things and be convicted because I know that the way that God brought me back to this church was that he gave me as a child. He gave me the conviction that Daniel and Revelation were true and that I was going to live through that time that it spoke of that is still future to us. And I never forgot that. So even though I wandered in the world and did what I did, there was something for me to come home to. What is the big picture of life?
2:51 You know, what is the big ultimate reality? You know, I, to me, what I was trying to do when I was doing that work in Hollywood, not so much the work on the television. Those are the movies, but my own personal projects that I was doing. It was like, you know, like life is existing, like in this in this place. But I want to pull back all like like pull the camera back to reveal everything that's around it, to reveal the entire scene. I wanted to see what was inside the fishbowl. Like I'm in the fishbowl. When you're a fish in the fishbowl, you're just a fish in the fishbowl. It just looks like what it looks like to the fish. But I want to come zoom out of the fishbowl and see the entire thing, the encapsulation of everything. I wanted to know reality like that. That was what I was. I was searching for. And so I went down that rabbit hole, which we talked about. But, you know, when I came back, you know, like I said, God provides all the answers and in the meaning in life. And and there's a there's a verse here in Psalms, chapter eight, verses three through six.
3:45 It says, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that which you've ordained. So I see God like, you know, working with all of it like it was like with his fingers, like the stars, the moon, the sun, the constellation, you know. And so it describes that in verse three and in verse four, it says, well, what is man? What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him? You for you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor. So God has made man on this earth amidst all of this man is on this planet and man and God has come to visit him directly, specifically that the son of man. Would come to him. Why? And, you know, we were created, it says in verse six, you have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. So God created all of this. God created us. And then he put us in place in charge of it on this earth to have dominion over it.
4:48 Like God has dominion over the world. You know, he gave man to have dominion over this planet, you know, for him. We're still under God. But on this planet, we were to have dominion over over creation. That was what our place was. And what is it? What is man? In Genesis 2, 7, it says the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul. So in our creation, there's a most amazing thing that takes place here is that, you know, we have bodies of flesh. I'm looking at you. I see, you know, your face. You've got hands. We interact with each other in the physical world. All of these things come because of matter, because of being made flesh. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. There's something else there in the ingredient that makes a living soul, and that is the breath that came from God. That word breath, it means spirit or mind as well. It's not just air, but it also in the language means mind, divine intellect. So God blew something into this form that he created in the Garden of Eden, and he put his spirit like he put his spirit came into us and it created.
5:53 Yeah. Neshima. It created our minds. It gave us life. It gave us consciousness. So we are not God, but God created us, and this is a really interesting thing. We're two things. We're flesh and we're spirit, you know, that we're both together. Without one, there's not the other, right? The mind, you know, if it is gone, if the spirit without the body is dead, right? There's nothing there, you know? So we're this interesting creation, and why? Well, if we look at the timing of our creation, our timing of our creation, this is a story of redemption, chapter one. In the fall of Lucifer, it says, Then there was war in heaven. The Son of God, the Prince of Heaven, and his loyal angels engaged in conflict with the arch-rebel and those who united with him. The Son of God and true loyal angels prevailed, and Satan and his sympathizers were expelled from heaven. And it says, The Father consulted his Son in regard to at once carrying out their purpose to make man to inhabit the earth.
6:52 So what happened in heaven just before we were created is very important for us to understand. It's like we were created. We were created for a very specific purpose. In Manuscript 38, 1890, paragraph 13, it says, Satan hates mankind because they are the workmanship of God. He opposed the creation of man. So Satan, Lucifer, did not want God to create us. And when there was war in heaven with the rebellion of his angels, that's exactly when the Father said, Now is the time to create man, right now. In Manuscript 43, being 1891, paragraph 3, it says, The creation of our world was brought into the councils of heaven. So there was disgust in heaven, like the creation of man and the earth. There the covering chair prepared his request that he should be made prince to govern the world then in prospect. So when our creation originally came up before the councils of heaven, Satan, because of his rebellion against God, wanted to take charge of this planet, to work out his own plan and his own idea to show everybody that what he was doing was superior to what God was doing.
7:52 He wanted to have the position that God had for this earth, that the Son of Man would have. It says, This was not accorded to him. That statement, Jesus Christ was to rule the earthly kingdom, so Satan wanted to, you know, and then, of course, he was not allowed, and then he hated our creation because he was not given the opportunity to be our ruler. The Son of God is to be our ruler. But then it says that, the italicized underlying part says, He engaged to take the world with all its probabilities, so when God created man, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was to come, I'm saying to come because he hasn't come yet, he's not Jesus Christ yet until he comes, you know, incarnated and then baptized. He's the Messiah, the anointed one, but he's the Son of God in heaven, same, very same Son of God, same, same Christ. It was his responsibility to take care of this planet no matter what happened. He decides to engage to take the world with all its probabilities. So there's an understanding that whatever would happen on this planet, that he would come to help and deal with it, whatever would happen.
8:59 So, like, from the very beginning, there was a promise that, you know, the Son of God would come and save us, would help us. So he took the full responsibility when he created us, and that's an incredible thing. So sin was something new that was in heaven. They had never seen sin before. Like, this is the beginning of sin. So this is the big picture, right? I want to pull all the way out and look like outside the fishbowl, what's this entire world all about? So I see, I pull all the way back to see this whole universe, you know, what's really going on. And you see this contest between Christ and Satan, and we are created just at the time when this reached a climax in heaven. So then we go back down to look at our creation, Genesis chapter 1 again, verse 26 and 27. It says, God said, And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.
9:56 Male and female, he created them. So God created us in his image. And he created us on the heels of the fall of Lucifer from heaven, specifically so that we would reflect and show to the universe who he was. This was God's way, God's plan of dealing with Satan, with sin, and proving to the entire universe who he was, and to show who Satan was. So we come at this very important part, and we're made in his image. In the book of Education, chapter... Chapter 1, page 15, it says, When Adam came from the Creator's hand, he bore in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature a likeness to his Maker. God created man in his own image, and it was his purpose that the longer man lived, the more fully he would reveal his image, should reveal his image, the more fully reflect the glory of the Creator. All his faculties were capable of development, their capacity and vigor were to continually increase. So we were created not just to be static, but to actually continue to grow and grow and grow in knowledge and understanding. And wisdom, like, we were created to constantly forever grow.
10:59 I mean, think about, like, how curious we are. And you think, like, curiosity killed the cat. Like, in my example, in my story, it's like, I became very curious about the thing that I couldn't see, the noumenon, the object of knowledge that I could not perceive. But that's a natural state that we're created with, with a desire to learn and to grow and to, you know, to continually expand our horizons. And God was going to use that to reflect his character. But Satan... Satan comes along, causes the earth to fall. And so we either reflect the Creator's character, or we choose to reflect Satan's character. So we're kind of like an object lesson to the world, to the universe. It says, Throughout eternal ages, he would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh springs of happiness, and to obtain clear and yet clear conception of the wisdom, the power, and the love of God. More and more fully would he have fulfilled the object of his creation. More and more fully have reflected the Creator's.
11:56 We were to reflect God's character and who he was in this entire contest between Christ and Satan. So the verses where it talks about the fall of Lucifer from heaven is very interesting because it actually uses numbers. Numbers are always interesting in the Bible because they always, they have significance. In Revelation chapter 12, verses 3 and 4, this is the one you referred to earlier. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head. And Satan said, we're not going to go into that part. But just the identification of the dragon, which we know is Satan. In verse 4, it says, So we'll have to let the Bible explain to us what are stars. If we just go back to Revelation chapter 1, verse 20, earlier in that book, it says, that the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand are the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Stars are angels. So okay, so when Satan was at, he caused a third of the angels to fall.
12:58 A third. Now we go back to Revelation 12, verse 9. It says, So it confirms the understanding of what stars are, that they represent angels. Okay. So a third of the angels. So in verse 4, it says that his tail did this. Well, if this is symbolic language, the tail has to be symbolic of something, right? Sure. It's not really just a big tail that just grabbed people. Grabbed people and they couldn't help it. They were, you know, like a big octopus tentacle and just sucked them out of heaven. This has to represent something spiritually significant. In Isaiah chapter 9, verse 15, it says, The ancient and honorable, he is the head, and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. So that's where the idea of telling tales comes from.
13:47 It's the idea that you're weaving a story that's not true. You're fabricating something. You're telling tall tales. Tales is lying. Wow. Telling tales. So here's the tale. So how did he get the angels to fall with it? He told them lies. He deceived them. He went around whispering in one corner to get one corner against another corner that God is really doing this and this. I'm here to try to set things. You know, it was a rebellion in heaven against God, and the angels fell because they listened to the lies of Satan. And it takes a lot to undo a lie. Because in a universe that had known no sin, how do you expose a lie if you've never heard a lie? I mean, it was just like, how could there be something that you say that's not true? Hmm. The concept of lying. The concept of lying did not exist. It says in John 8, actually, John chapter 8, verse 44, that the devil is the father of lies. He is the father of it. So we've got this example of thirds, right?
14:41 A third of the stars from heaven. So if you find the Bible, where else does it talk about thirds? If you look in the book of Revelation, you see that there's a third, third, third, you know, the fall of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. Babylon is divided into three. There's thirds, and there's a falling. And in the trumpets, there's a third falling. Third seems to be related to judgment, that there are judgments. So if we look for this concept somewhere else in the Bible where it talks about thirds, in Zechariah chapter 13, verses 8 and 9, which is kind of like the Old Testament revelation. Zechariah's, a lot of revelation is, you know, is also found in Zechariah and vice versa. They're very complementary books. And it says in verse 8, So in all the land, where is that? Everywhere. Everywhere. So that's the earth. So we're talking about the big picture. It's the earth. So in all the earth, says the Lord. In all the land, that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it.
15:35 And I will bring the one-third through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. And they will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, this is my people, and each one will say, this is my Lord. So there you have, you have a whole, you have two-thirds fall, you have one-third saved. You have heaven with one-third fall, and you have two-thirds left. You see, there's... There's a missing... Because if you look at it as a pie, there's a third missing in both. So what happens? So I'm going to share a couple of quotes again about our creation. This is from Sons and Daughters of God, January 1st. It says, God created man a superior being. He alone is formed in the image of God and is capable of partaking of the divine nature of cooperating with his creator and executing his plans. And if we go to my life today, May 2nd, that devotional, there's a passage that reads, Man was the crowning act of the...
16:29 The creation of God, made in the image of God, and was designed to be a counterpart of God. Man is very dear to God because he was formed in his own image. In Bible Commentary, Volume 1, 1081, Paragraph 4, it says, All heaven took a deep and joyful interest in the creation of the world and of man. Human beings were in new and distinct order. They were made in the image of God, and it was the creator's design that they should populate the earth. So I don't, you know, there is so much. I mean, I know not everybody understands. What I'm reading, but I mean, an Adventist would understand what I'm reading from and would hopefully realize the incredible information and blessing we've received and understand what the big picture is, what's going on behind the scenes, why we're here. This is so, I mean, all the questions I had, because if you don't follow this truth that God has revealed to you, you're only going to end up with a lie in the end, no matter how fanciful it might seem, no matter how interesting and how much it manifests in the world. If it doesn't follow. According to the law and to the testimony, it speaks not according to this.
17:31 There's no light in it. So we've been given this great answer. And so this is answering to me the great questions of life is saying we were created specifically to reflect our creator. We were created unique in all the universe for this purpose, right at the fall of Lucifer from heaven. Wow. So we'll just take a look at these verses together now. So a third part of the stars of heaven fell. There's a whole pie. One third is gone. In Zechariah 13, 9, it says, So we've already seen the Bible says that, you know, stars represent angels. But there's another application for stars, and that is that they also represent people. In Genesis 15, 5, it says this is God bringing him. This is Abram outside before he became Abraham, because he'd been promised, right, that he was going to be a father of a great nation, and yet his wife was barren.
18:32 They couldn't have any children. So he's thinking like, Lord, how am I going to be this father of a great nation with all this kin, all this seed that comes from me, and I can't even have a child? So this is God giving him an example of what he's to look for, what he'll get. So he brings him outside and says, God says, look now toward heaven and count the stars. Just think, what kind of light pollution did they have back then? Nothing. Nothing, no light pollution. They saw so clearly so far. Count the stars. If you're able to number them, and he said to him, so shall your descendants be. So the numbers of the stars in heaven is representing God's people, God's redeemed from this earth, the one-third that go through the fire that say, this is my people. So there's at least six references in the Word of God. I'm only just giving one right here just for efficiency, you know, for time's sake.
19:23 But there's six other places in the Bible where people are referred to as stars. The stars of Israel, number them as the stars of Israel. So it can also mean people. Here in the Review and Herald, February 24, 1874, paragraph 26. It says, If the holy pair should be obedient, the race would, after a time, be made equal to the angels. Wow. So man was created to grow and grow and grow and never find the end of that growth and continue forever learning and growing and always reflecting the creator more and more and more. And at one point, we were to be made equal to the angels. Another quote is found in Bible Commentary, Volume 1, 1082, paragraph 4. God created man for his own glory, that after test and trial, the human family might become one with the heavenly family. It was God's purpose right there. It was God's purpose to repopulate. He repopulated heaven with the human family. If they would show themselves obedient to his every word, that's our destiny.
20:37 That's what we were created for. That's the big picture of why there was the tree of the nature, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to see if we would choose rebellion or choose obedience. Would we choose to trust our God or would we listen to the lies of Satan that took a third of the angels from heaven? It answered the questions that I wanted. And it showed that we are all, all of us, we're created for this higher purpose. Not just to reflect God, but to actually have a purpose to repopulate heaven, to be the one-third from the earth, to replace the one-third that fell. Because when you have two-thirds and you add a third to it, you have a whole. It's the family of God made whole in heaven. Wow. Wow. I had not heard of all those quotes before. That was really interesting because I knew we were supposed to repopulate.
21:31 We were supposed to be. We were supposed to be a part of heaven somehow. But from the very beginning, that's what was really astonishing. They wanted us to grow up into that spot where we could be right beside God. So essentially, we're going to be fulfilling the main purpose. God is placing everything back to how it was supposed to be. Yes. Yeah. Revelation ends with the new heavens and the new earth. Everything is recreated. Man is restored to the Garden of Eden. But now there's a new, that there's a member of the human race that is the son of God. He will always be one with us as a human, too. So Christ is that reconnection from what fell in Eden to return to the new heavens and new earth. Everything is through Jesus Christ, and he is the son of man. And it's the greatest truth. I mean, it's like he's everything to us. Mm-hmm.