LIGHTS OUT FOR THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS

Acts 2:14-21  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all [ye] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is [but] the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

• Peter gave these great words.
• The first Holy Ghost sermon given by someone other than Jesus Christ.
• Nobody else had the Holy Ghost baptism in this manner until this day of Pentecost.
• John Baptist had the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, but He was not born again by the Holy Ghost infilling like they were on the day of pentecost.

• Many people feel these things refer to the end of the world.
• "Wonders in the heavens, and signs in the earth"
• And then he lists these things: blood, fire, vapour of smoke, the sun turned to darkness and the moon into blood.
• Notice how Peter lists these things.
• Notice what Peter said before and after these things.

• God would pour out His Spirit and sons and daughters would prophesy and old men dream dreams and young men would see visions.
• Servants and handmaids would receive the Spirit.
• That occurred that day.
• And then we read that signs in heavens and earth would occur.
• And we read of the sun turning black and the moon to blood.
• Then we read that at that time, whosoever would call on the name of the Lord would be saved.
• It appears that the time when the sun would turn to darkness and the moon into blood would be the time when all who call on the name of the Lord would come to pass.
• But that is not the actual case.
• The verses before verses 19 and 20 (vv. 17-18) are easily recognized as having occurred that day.
• And the verses after vv. 19-20 are also easily recognized as having started that day.  (Whoever calls in the name of the Lord can be saved.).
• We read that when these things occur in verse 19-20 that it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
• The sun turning to darkness and the moon to blood are figurative terms used to describe the destruction of a kingdom.
• This actually did occur 40 years later when Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70.
• Peter had addressed this same people that day and told them to save themselves from that untoward generation.
• A generation is a 40 year period in the Bible.  
• From Pentecost to AD70 was about 40 years.
• So Peter understood the words of Joel spoke of Pentecost to Holocaust, AD70.
• But we can see a spiritual application to us as well who experience the  Pentecostal experience of Acts 2:4, and that is our subject in this message

EGYPT

Ezek 32:2-3  Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou [art] as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.

This is about EGYPT.

• How many know that Egypt is no longer ruling the world?
• One day it did.


Ezek 32:7-9  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD. I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.

• The stars of heaven were shut off.
• Now these things did not actually occur, but the Bible tells us that the stars, sun and moon are like signs in the heavens.
• And notice the terms used in describing them in Genesis 1.

The greater light RULED the day.

• The lesser light RULED the night.
• Sun and moon.
• They were said to RULE.
• So when Egypt lost its power and no longer ruled, we read that God poetically said it was the darkening of the sun and the moon and the stars, for Egypt.
• LIGHTS OUT FOR EGYPT.

We read that Babylon conquered Egypt.

Ezek 32:11-12  For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.

BABYLON

Isa. 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Now, Babylon, who took over Egypt, was doomed to fall.

Isa. 13:6-11  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces [shall be as] flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

• they, too lost their dominion.
• Who conquered them?


Isa. 13:17  Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and [as for] gold, they shall not delight in it.

Medo-Persia conquered Babylon.

• So we see the loss of Babylons rulership was like the sun going black and the moon dark and the stars turned off.
• The rulers of the skies were used to represent the rulers of the earth.

ISRAEL

Amos 5:1-2  Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.

Now, Israel is mentioned.

• Israel sinned and forsook God.
• So God said she would fall.
• He rebuked them for the following:


Amos 5:10-11  They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

And verse 18 tells us:

Amos 5:18-20  Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

• LIGHTS OUT FOR ISRAEL.

Same thing noted in:

Amos 8:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

• Another kingdom conquered this kingdom.
• Rulers changed.
• Old kings no longer ruled.
• New Kings arose over the land.

• Satan has no victory, the Lord our God has set us free.

Matt 27:35  And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

Matt 27:45  Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

Kingdoms were changing.

• The prince of this world was being deposed by the Prince of Peace.
• The sun literally darkened that day.
• It was lights out for Hell.

Matt 2:1-2  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

• A new ruler.

Eph. 1:20-23  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Eph. 1:17-20  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places],

Eph. 2:1  And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Eph. 2:4-6  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:

Praise God!

• Jesus rose from the grave and rose up above all enemies and sits far above everything in the universe.
• Far above every kingdom and power.
• We read of the terms used to describe kingdoms when we read that he is above principalities and powers.
• And we read that we are up there with Him!

• Since then, there is no kingdom that is not under His.
• He is already King.
• And he was king and all the people of the world were buried with Him and risen with Him 2,000 years ago.
• But they did not see this right away!
• Jesus resurrected and began preaching something after He was already King.


Acts 1:1-3  The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

• He was then King of Kings.
• And note what He said after He taught all about this.

• He was asked about when the kingdom would be restored.
• To which he replied:...


Acts 1:7-8  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Now that I am King, you will receive POWER.

• The work was all done the day He resurrected.
• And He was going to anoint some kings and priests now.


Rev. 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

• In the Old Testament days, Kings and Priests were ANOINTED with oil.
• It is said that when David was anointed with oil, the Spirit of God came upon him.
• Jesus made us kings and priests with the day of Pentecost.
• The sun had already darkened for the devil's kingdom.
• But on the day of Pentecost, when Peter said Joel's prophecy was fulfilled, it was lights out for the devil all over again, because on that day 120 people were ANOINTED with the Holy Ghost Baptism as KINGS AND PRIESTS, and a change of kingdoms occurred for the people!

• I need to see that.
• Paul said we have eyes of understanding.
• We need to see.
• We need to understand.
• Then Paul talked about how God raised up Jesus Christ to sit above all principalities and powers.
• And he said

Eph. 1:19  And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

• The power for us is according to the power that raised Him up.
• Therefore, we are raised up together with Christ.
• The same power that raised Him up is ours.

• Elishah saw Elijah ascend.
• How do we see Jesus' ascent so that we can have double power?
• We see with the eyes of our understanding.
• We understand.
• God gives us a revelation.
• We need a revelation in the knowledge of Him.

• Jesus already was ascended, but He had to teach about the Kingdom because their minds could not know everything He did for them.

• If you believe in Jesus, then you died with Him and were buried with Him and resurrected with Him.  You even were raised with Him.
• But you need to be shown all of that.
• If you can SEE all of that, then you will have power.
• Actually, you potentially have that power now, but just do not know it for you have not seen it yet.
• So when we read that we must SEE Jesus, we are reading that we must understand that HE IS above all powers and we are THERE WITH HIM.

They became KINGS.

We need to see a revelation of Jesus.

• If you see Him above all powers, and UNDERSTAND what that means, you can put the devil's lights out!


Rom.  16:19-20  For your obedience is come abroad unto all [men]. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you. Amen.

• SOON?
• As soon as you get a revelation you will see Satan under your feet!
• Jesus bruised him under his feet already, 2,000 years ago on the cross.
• And the saints would see satan bruisd under their feet when the devil's tool Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70, which was soon in that day, but there is a spiritual thought to be gained here as well.
• We are raised up with Jesus above all powers.
• So why "soon?"
• As soon as we get a revelation of where we already are!


Rom.  6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

• Death has no dominion over Jesus.
• Dominion means government.
• But when YOU see that YOU were crucified WITH HIM, then you KNOW that death has no dominion over you either!
• You may believe death has no dominion over Jesus because you see Jesus ascended.
• But you actually do not see HIm ascended.
• If you did, you would see THAT YOU ARE THERE WITH HIM.
• He raised you up to sit together with Him.
• And when you really see Jesus ascended, then you bruise Satan under your feet!


Rev. 3:20-21  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

• You will get a revelation.
• You will enjoy the next verse, and sit together with Him in His throne as He is set down in His Father's throne.
• You are already there, according to Ephesians.
• But until you see that, you do not enjoy that.

Rev. 4:1-2  After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard [was] as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and [one] sat on the throne.

John sees a throne.

• He was fixing to see a revelation of Jesus Christ, for that is precisely what Rev. 1:1 said the book is about.
• He saw God on the throne.
• And then we read in chapter 5, He saw a lamb appear and go to the throne.
• And then he heard a bunch of elders and beasts (representing the church) cry out..


Rev. 5:9-10  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

They saw that they were now made KINGS AND PRIESTS when they saw that the LAMB was resurrected.

• Can you see Him resurrected?
• They were made kings and priests and THEY SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.
• LIGHTS OUT FOR THE DEVIL!
• (in FACT YOU READ THAT IN REVELATION 6:12-13).

• We know what the seal is!

Eph. 1:13  In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

• He is the STAR, the NEW RULER.
• King of KINGS.


2Pet 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

• Heed it until the light shines in your heart.
• Heed it until you get a revelation.
• Heed it until the day star, Jesus, rises and resurrects IN YOUR HEART, and you truly know He resurrected, and its lights out for the kingdom of darkness!!!!

• Peter saw then what many people still do not see.
• He spoke not of the actual sun being darkened and the moon turned to blood.
• He spoke of KINGDOMS CHANGING.
• LIGHTS OUT FOR THE DEVIL.

• But until you see WHY HE DIED...
• Until you UNDERSTAND you died with Him...
• Then you will not see that you are with Him and above all powers.
• And if you are above all principalities and powers, then for you it is LIGHTS OUT FOR THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS!