Transcription
In those days, men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. Wow.
At this time, there's going to be those who are going to get hurt, injured, fall down, commit suicide, but they can't die. They won't have the ability to escape. Death would be a gift if you fall from a 12-story building, but you would lay there in pain. Judgment. That is terrifying.
I want you to think in three bucket terms. Three buckets. Revelation chapter 1 goes in bucket number one and that is the things that were passed. Revelation chapter 2 and three as we make our way through this. These are the things that are Revelation 4:1. This is the announcement of the third bucket. These are the things which will be of the future.
Behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven. So this is believed to be Satan. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child. Notice in your Bible it's capital C. The translators in the languages in the original languages understand this to be Christ.
Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast. Okay. So is this the same beast or a second beast? I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded. What? And his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast. Did you know the antichrist is going to get stabbed in the head, shot in the head? Something's going to happen to where he has a mortal head wound. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I'm coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
>> Get ready. We'll do the best we can as we begin now to dive in from 30,000 ft. understanding the book of Revelation. And it is God's will that you and I understand it. By the way, he did not give this book to us as a mystery. I'm going to prove that now. But the exact opposite. This is the revelation, the apocalyptus, the apocalyptto, the apocalypsis, the unveiling, uh, uh, the taking off of the wrapping. Or in our mind's eye, imagine a statue and you can see the outline, a symbol as it were, a silhouette of the of the Statue of Liberty, and you can tell that something is big underneath, but you don't know what. And they raise the the covering, the sheet off. That's the word that is used when it is the revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. We're going to dive into this, so get comfortable.
But as you get ready, as you get ready, think this way. I want you to think in three bucket terms. Three buckets. Buckets one, two, three, or or buckets by color. I don't care how you define them, but have three of them because you need to have a bucket of the past. You need to have a bucket of the things that are now. And you need to have a bucket that will hold the things of the future. So, get yourself ready. Here we go. Uh, may the Lord bless this as we trust that he will because he's promised to do so.
Um, here we go. Revelation chapter 1 verse one. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him, that's God gave to Jesus to show his servants things which must shortly take place or the word in Greek is quickly happen once they begin. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. There is the chronology of the revelation given. No secret about it everybody. Who bore witness to the word of God, to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all things that he saw. Listen to this. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near. That is what's known as the prologue to the book of Revelation. This is the foundational purpose and reason God is announcing here is how I'm giving it and this is the purpose. It is the glorification revelation announcement. It is the unveiling of my son Jesus Christ. Thus it's the book of revelation and verses 1 to3 is that prologue. And now verses 4 through8 is what is known as the salutation. It says in verse four, John, this is the beloved John. I believe that it is the same John that is uh John of the gospel. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, who is to come. By the way, that's the attribute of the God of Israel revealed in the book of uh Isaiah. and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. The seven spirits before his throne, folks, you can see in Isaiah 11:es 1 and two. It's not a mystery. In fact, it's good for me to insert this now. The book of Revelation is understood by those and only those who know their Old Testament. This is a this is a setup by God to reveal to you your Old Testament knowledge. Yes, that's right everybody. You in the New Testament era and the New Testament church, we are only a real New Testament church if we study and know the Old Testament. You say, "How can you say that?" It's so easy. Tell I I'll answer your question by asking you a question. When Peter, Paul, and James, and John when they were out preaching the gospel in the New Testament, uh were they carrying their New Testament Bibles? You know, you know, New Testament Psalms and Proverbs. Nope. What were they carrying? When the New Testament apostles went preaching, what were they preaching? The Old Testament. Why? Because the Gospels in the Old Testament. Jesus is in the Old Testament. In fact, it is the book of Revelation that alludes to, quotes from, reveals Old Testament scriptures more than any other New Testament book. Isn't that fascinating? Isn't that awesome?
He goes on verse 5, "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness and the firstborn or the preeminent one from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests uh to his God and father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Listen to John. Behold, he is coming with clouds. every eye will see him. That's reference to the second coming, by the way. And they also who pierced him. That's the Jewish religious leadership in the future. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. Folks, verse seven, as an example, is a great verse to to uh tear out, as it were, or copy down and put in your future bucket. Do you see that? It's simply placed in your future bucket. Verse eight. Oh, I love verse eight. The cults hate verse eight. We love verse eight. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end says the Lord who is, who was, who is to come, the almighty. That's a reference to God himself out of the book of Isaiah 48:12.
Mind you, I John verse 9. And now we come to the things which you have seen. So the what I just read to you previously um those are things that are part of the things that um that are foundational. Now watch how this ties in. We are still looking at uh chapter 1 as the things of the first bucket. These are the things that you've seen. I John both your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and pres uh and patience of Jesus Christ was on the aisle that is called Patmos. That's part of the Greek isles, Patmos, and that's where John was banished because John was guilty of preaching Christ Jesus. Church tradition has it that they attempted to kill John by boiling him in oil. Uh he it he it didn't kill him. Uh again, this is church tradition, church history. Uh he was then banished to the island of Patmos to work there the salt mines to eventually die. Thank God that didn't happen. God uh got him out of Patmos and got him over to Ephesus where he died in Ephesus. Uh but John is the only apostle that died of old age and of natural circumstances. Um and by the way, it's good to note right now that the book of Revelation is written somewhere between 93 and 95 AD. Uh so that is that is very very important.
He says listen to this verse 10. And he said that I was in the spirit, capital S, spirit. That's the Holy Spirit on the Lord's day. I personally believe that John now in verse 10 is seeing the things of the Lord in his day. God is allowing him to see into the future. And I heard be behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last." That is fantastic, folks, because that is again the God of the Old Testament. That's one of his titles. And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia to Ephesus and to Smyrna and Pergamos and Thotyra and Sardis and Philadelphia and Leodysia. And so he gives the seven letters to the seven churches. We're going to read them in a little bit. But there's a reason. We'll talk more on that. Why those seven when they were many, many hundreds. Why that one? We'll see. Or why those, I should say.
Now watch what happens. John now begins to see the content of of the vision. Then I turned to see the voice that uh spoke with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands. I want you to think about that for a moment. These are either seven independent standalone lampstands which are possible but not not likely. It may very well be the seven lampstands that make up the manora. The manora that is mentioned in Exodus. We find the manora throughout the old testament. And now we find the manora and the closing book of the bible. And Jesus says that he is in the midst as we as we shall see he's in the midst of these seven lampstands. One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band or uh sash. His head and his hair were white like wool and as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. We're going to find out more about those in a m moment. And out of his mouth went a sharp sword or sharp two-edged sword and his countenance, his face was shining uh in its strength or countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
Verse 17. Oh, get a load of this. Listen carefully. John says this. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last." Listen everybody, just out of chapter one already, who's the first and the last. There's no, you have no other. There's no option. It's him. It's Jesus. The Jehovah Witnesses will say, "Oh, no, no, no. Jehovah God is the first and the last. Yeah, Jehovah God is the first and the last. There's one savior, the Lord God. How does he save us? By the atoning work of the sacrificial son of God. That's why Jesus Christ, he's not another alpha and omega. There's only one. There's only one first and last. There's only one beginning and the end. Jesus Christ is God. Revelation chapter 1 just made that super clear. If you know your Old Testament, isn't this fascinating? It's thrilling. But this gets deep. Watch this.
Verse 18. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forever more. Okay, listen. Whoever the alpha and the omega is, the first and the last, the one who was, who is, who is to come, whoever is, I'm being sarcastic right now. Whoever he is, he died and he came back to life. Wow. And I have the keys of Hades and death.
Verse 19, write the things which you have seen. That is the first division to the book of Revelation. The things which you have seen. That's bucket number one. And here comes bucket number two. The things which are now. The things which are now presently, John. The things that I'm going to show you now, where you stand, John, in the world that you're in. And guess what? Mark this down in your notes. The world that John is in is the church age. John being of course a member of the church as you and I trust are. Jesus is speaking to him and announcing to him the division goes this way. There's things that have that I'm telling you about of the past. There's things I'm going to be telling you about about the now. And there's things I'm going to be telling you about about the future. Three divisions of the book of Revelation. And that outline is presented in verse 19. Maybe one of the most important verses of the entire book is Revelation 1 verse 19.
Verse 20 goes on to say, "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands." Listen to this. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Some say pastors. And the reason why some say that is because the word anglios means messengers. And so some have said, "Well, it's actual angels." And some have interpreted it to mean uh messengers being the ministers of I go with the latter to be honest with you, but that's my choice and you can have yours. The seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. That is God's description. Chapter one, the things which have been.
Now look at this. We pick it up in chapter 2 and everybody. Chapters 2 and three is the second bucket. And that contains the things that are now. And here we go. The message uh that we're going to see starting out with is this. And to the angel. Imagine, imagine if it is the pastor or the messenger or maybe whatever it is, we know for sure it is the ambassador or the one that will communicate to the believers that are in Ephesus, right? These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven lampstands. Wow. I want to believe that Jesus walks through our lampstand at our church. I hope Jesus is welcome at our church. Don't you?
He says in verse two, I know your works, you uh your labor and your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil and have uh tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them to be liars. Wow. How would they know that? Because this church at Ephesus judged what was being taught against the revealed word of God. What? What revealed word of God? They didn't have a New Testament yet. They judged what was being said by these ministers against the Old Testament prophecies of God's word. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Jesus is saying, "Unless you love me more than anything else, including ministry, I'm going to remove your influence." When the light goes out, it doesn't mean the church at Ephesus loses their salvation. It means that they lose their witness. They lose their they the the lamp goes out. And Jesus says, 'I need you to repent so your light can keep burning, but this is what you need to do to repent. You need to come back to me and make me the object of your uh Christian witness, your Christian love, and your Christian uh witness. It's it's awesome. And verse five, he tells you how to do that. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Notice the first works is the work of love. But this you have that you hate the deeds of the nicicoatans which I also hate. Jesus says I hate those who are nicoloti lords over the people. They are they are spiritual ministers in my church but they lord them they lord themselves over the people. They do not let me be lord. They are men of controlling powers over my people. Jesus says,"I hate that."
Verse seven, "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to uh eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Awesome.
Now watch this. Now we go to church number two. And this is the church at Smyrna. And remember everybody, these are the things that are present before John. John is seeing the church age from his day all the way out to when the church leaves the earth. So certainly this speaks to our time. And to the angel of the church at Smyrna, write these things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life. Oh my gosh. If you're a Jehovah Witness right now, your head's spinning around in circles. If you are a Mormon, this concerns you very, very much so because there's no other first and last. There's not thousands of gods, a god. No, there's only one the God in the redeemer. God died for you and he lives again. That's the second time you've heard that in just these two chapters. Remarkable. Absolutely amazing.
He goes on to say in verse 9, "And I know your works, tribulation, and poverty, but you are rich, and I know the blasphemy of those who say that you are Jews, that that they say they are Jews and are not, but they are of the synagogue of Satan." What? replacement theology. Is that what he's possibly thinking about? Is it possible that replacement theology is being referenced here? Replacement theology beginning with many who denounce the word of God, but probably the most fervent replacement theology people today are those of Islam, saying there are no Jews. Jews don't matter. Jews no more. uh whatever was the Jews is ours now. We we've taken their blessings. We've stepped in. We've taken over. What about those who say the church is Israel? That the church is made up of Christians who are spiritual Jews and so there is no real Jew or Jew to come as a believer or Israel or Jerusalem. Something to think about. I would watch out. He says there of the synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days. That is under uh that certainly took place under one of the particular Roman emperors. But I think it speaks regarding the future as well. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. This is the church of martyrdom. There are those believing I told my granddaughter just the other day, I said, "How was your Sunday?" She said, "It was great." And I said, "You know, I heard on the news today that uh we had a great day at church, but there were uh Christians in Sudan uh just on the same day in Africa who were locked inside of their church and burned to death by jihadists. Uh wow. God's church is all over the earth. Some people who are of his church are called to be martyrs. And Jesus said, Jesus says, 'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Verse 11, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. That's a key challenge. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Meaning, you may die spiritually. I mean, sorry, take that back. You may die physically once in your life as we all shall do. But um the second death is spiritual death and spiritual death. The believer never goes through spiritual death. The believer will only go through spirit uh physical uh death not spiritual death. The first death everyone must go through believer or not. The second death only unbelievers go through. Make sense? Um, that's a key thing to remember. All of us are going to die unless the rapture happens. But make sure you do not die the spiritual death which is called the second death. That is the last thing that you ever want to experience.
Now to the church at Pergamum and to the angel of the church at Pergamum, write these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword. That's the word of God. I know your works and where you dwell where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipus was my faithful martyr who was killed among you where Satan dwells. Wow. But I have a few things against you. And here he's going to tell you because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balum who taught Bale to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Uh Balam was a false representation, a false a prophet who misrepresented God to say the least. Thus you also uh have those who hold to the doctrine of the nicicoatans which things I hate. That's the second time Jesus has said this. Repent or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Wow. He who has an ear, let him hear with the spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden mana to eat. the hidden mana, the the the word of God to give them strength in the hour of need. I will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except uh him who receives it.
Next church everybody is the church at Thotyra. Listen carefully to this. A lot of people believe that in the chronological fashion that the third that the age of the Thotyra was the church of the dark ages. If you lay that out, that's for a deeper study for you to do on your own, but there are chronological um uh commentaries on the book of Revelation that that reveal that that breaks it down. It's quite fascinating. I encourage you to look at uh the writings of that by Dr. John Wolver would be great. the church at Thotyra. He says, "And to the angel of the church at Thotyra, write these things, says the son of God, who his eyes uh like a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass. I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience. And as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetus to teach and beguile my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat those things or eat the things sacrificed to idols. And I and I give her time or I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a sick bed, and those who commit adultery uh with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and the hearts, and I give to each one of you according to your works. But to you I say, and to the rest in Thotyra, as many as uh do not have this doctrine, and who do not have not known the depths of Satan as they call them, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have, till I come. And he who overcomes and keeps my works until uh the end. And to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron as the potter uh potter's vessels shall be broken to pieces as I also have received from my father. And I will give him the morning star. It's amazing. and he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.
That's absolutely stunning and remarkable. Um, remember we are working now in what is called the second bucket. Pausing for a drink. Maybe you can do the same. Revelation chapter 1 goes in bucket number one and that is the things that were passed. Revelation chapter 2 and three. As we make our way through this, these are the things that are not only John's time all the way through to our day. This this would include the time of of Zwingley and Luther. It would include the time of uh uh the the church fathers. uh the the times of um the birthing of the church, the day of Pentecost all the way through to the spirit of God delivering up the church at the rapture of the church. And so we pick it up together everybody. We are reading regarding the church of Sardis.
Now, and to the angel of the church at Sardis, write these things, says he who has the seven spirits of God. Remember, we talked about them earlier. They're found in Isaiah 11:es 1 and two. And the seven stars. I know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Yikes. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard, hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, you know what's amazing? God is always saying to us, "Watch, watch, watch, be watchful, be watching." Even in our waiting as believers, we are to be watchful. He says, "I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know the hour I will come upon you. You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy." What makes them worthy? They've kept his name. It's not their works. It's not their talent. It's not their magnitude of Christian ministry. It's the fact that they were faithful to what God had called them to do. Absolutely 100% tangible, applicable, usable information given by God. And this is a great exhortation from none other than Jesus Christ himself. And so verse five, he who overcomes shall be clothed in uh white uh garments and will not I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father before his and before his angels. He who has an ear to ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.
Before we read about Philadelphia very very quickly, you might say, "Well, Jack, what about this uh blotting uh blotting the name out uh of of the book?" Notice he says, "If you do these things, uh your name will not be blotted out of the book of life." Uh to get your name blotted out of the book of life means you never had it written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Go look and see. It's two different books. There's the book of life that records the name of every human being that's ever been born, known to God only at this time. The second book is the Lamb's book of life. And only those who are born again are written in the Lamb's book of life. On the day of judgment, those whose names are written in the book of life, their names are also in the Lamb's book of life. On the day of judgment, when the books are opened, if your name is not in the lamb's book of life, then it's blotted out of the book of life. Go study that on your own. But that that is uh that is something. If you're born again, your name cannot be blotted out of the book of life because it is preserved, sealed, and stamped until the day of redemption in the lamb's book of life.
Now, here's the church that all of us want to be a part of. This is what I strive here at the church that I pastor at Calvary Chapel is, dear God, please may this church be a Philadelphiaian church. May it be a church of brotherly love, Philadelphia. And to the angel of church of Philadelphia, write these things, says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David. I find that interesting, right? He who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. By the way, in my Bible on April 26th, uh God gave me this verse to open up the church during COVID because he says there that he who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. God told me in my heart loud and clear. Wasn't my heart. God spoke it uh to my heart and it was this. Jack, you don't have the authority to close the doors of my church. My church must remain open. And so we did. I know your works. Behold, or see, I've set before you an open door, and no one can shut it, not even the governor. For you have a little strength, and you have kept my word and not denied my name. Folks, you do that, you'll do fine. Keep his word, don't deny his name. Wow. That's the You want to You want the key to success? Save S save your money on buying Tony Robbins books on how to be the best uh or whatever. There's the key. Uh keep his word and don't deny his name. Indeed, he says, I will take those of the synagogue of Satan, we read about those guys earlier, who say they are Jews and are not, but are liars. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you because you have kept my command to persevere. Listen everybody, let God's word speak to you. Do not do not twist God's words. Ready? Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. That's Revelation 2:10 or sorry, Revelation 3:10. There's a promise that God says, "I'm going to deliver you from a time coming that will engulf the entire earth." What possibly could that be? The answer is in Luke 21:36. In Luke 21:36, I'm paraphrasing because it just popped into my head. He says, "If you watch and if you're faithful and you're looking for me, I will provide for you a way of escape. When that time comes where all those on the face of the earth will be tried, I believe that that is the blessed hope that Christ is going to John 14:es 1, 2, and three pull us off from the face of the earth. I hope it's my generation. I hope it happens today. But wow, what an amazing thing. What a great promise. That was Revelation 3:10.
Verse 11. Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. And he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write on him my new name. We'll read about that in future chapters. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.
And sadly, but to be uh warned is to be foremed. The church period of Leodysia. This is what I firmly believe we are living in right now is this age. It's the final church here. And to the angel of the church of Leodysia or the Leodysans, these things says the amen. The amen is these is let it be true. The faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. Because you say, "I'm rich, I've become wealthy, and I have need of nothing. And do you not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked?" I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with Isav that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasen. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand. Isn't this sad? Jesus is saying, "Hey, behold, I stand at the door and knock." He's knocking on the door of this church. I think it's Rembrandt. Don't quote me on this, but I think Rembrandt painted this painting. one of the great one of the great oil uh painters of the day did where Jesus is outside knocking on the door of the church of Leodysia and the the the door has no handle on it. It has no door knob. Has no latch. Jesus is knocking on the door which means which implies whoever's on the inside they have the ability to unlock the door and open it up. But Jesus doesn't have that ability to barge in. He can only knock. You have to invite him in. And um you can go research. I'm sure I'm wrong. Rimbrandt did some 90 or so religious paintings. I I do think that he may very well have been the the artist of that one. It doesn't matter. You'll find it when you uh search for it. Um behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice opens the door, I will come in to him. Sounds personal, right? And dine or eat with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear to hear what the spirit says to the churches.
Now watch this everybody. Revelation 4. Mark it down in your notes. Revelation Revelation chapter 4 verse one. This is the announcement of the third bucket. We now move to the third bucket. These are the things which will be of the future. So can I just repeat this for you? Chapter one is placed in bucket number one because it's the things that John saw. Bucket number two is chapters two and three which is where John is living in the church age period of time. Chapter 4 technically chapter 4:e 2 to Revelation 22 to the end is what's of the future things that are going to be Revelation 4:1 is a unique moment and I want to want to see if you'll grasp this if you'll see this if you'll entertain this medata that is after these things I looked This is John speaking. And behold, a door standing open in heaven. Okay, watch everybody. John looks upward. He sees a door open. It's in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Oh, wow. After what? After you come up here. Gosh, I wish I could spend the rest of our time together just on that. John. Hey, come up here. How come? Why? I want to show you things that are going to take place after this. After what? After you're up here. Not hard. Could it be that John who died of natural causes, the oldest of the apostles, the last author of the Bible, is it possible that John signifies the church? Because John is never again mentioned technically, meaning the church is never again mentioned. As we leave chapter 3, end of chapter 4, the church isn't mentioned anymore again until the end of the tribulation period. And we find her. And where is she? She's found in Revelation chapter 19 on the other side of the door. John looks up and he sees a door. It's in heaven. The door is opened up and the voice says, "Come up here." The voice sounds like a trumpet. John goes on up there. John records everything what's going on up in heaven and on earth from that point on. And we don't hear any more doors being swung open until Revelation 19 when the door is opened up again. But John's in heaven with the church with Jesus coming out of that door down to earth. Are you excited? Does that excite you? I'm excited.
After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Verse two, immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne, and he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardis stone in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne. I don't understand this, but it's going to be awesome. A rainbow around the throne in the appearance like an emerald. I don't get it. But it must be cool. A rainbow is a rainbow. An emerald is green, isn't it? I mean, I don't know my stones. I don't know rocks. But isn't an emerald green? But a rainbow's the spectrum of the rainbow. What's going on? Wow. These are things we're going to see. You and I together, we're going to see these things. We're gonna we're going to go through that door going. Now, if you know your Bible, you're going to say, "I remember that day we went through that podcast and Jack was talking about this." And there is that emerald rainbow thing. And now it makes perfect sense. We're going to see it. I love it.
Verse four. And around the throne were 24 thrones. And on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white robes, and they have crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Now, this is getting exciting. And I know that some of you guys have different views. That's fine. That's okay. That's fine. But but this we know John is showing us. He's taking us on a on a tour of of heaven right now. And don't you find it kind of fascinating that there's 24 elders that are up there? We need to keep our eye on these guys. Who are they? A lot of speculation, by the way. Let's be honest. Nobody knows for sure. Some say it's the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes of Israel. Maybe, could be, it could be that there were 12 orders of priests in the in the Old Testament priesthood to keep the fire burning at the temple and worship going at the temple 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. There were 24 orders of priests. Could these elders represent those guys? It's possible. Then who would they be? We should ask that question. Who are these guys? What are we? And that's something, by the way, you should write down and say, let's let's see if we can find out who. There's speculation. Let's remember the 24 elders. Let's listen. If they say anything, let's try to capture what they say.
Verse six. Before the throne, there was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures. Oh boy. Full of eyes in front and in back. I don't know what to tell you about that except freak out. In fact, somebody put this in AI. They told AI to give them a description. It freaked me out there. By the way, everybody, sorry, I have to mess around these glasses. My eyes aren't working today. There are all kinds of different ranks and orders of angels. So this is one particular order of angel that has that has that has eyes in the front of it and in the back of it. Full of eyes. Tons of eyes. Creepy. Weird. Wow.
Verse seven. The first living creature was like a lion. Oh, this is going to be fun, everybody. The second living creature like a calf. The third living creature had a face like a man. And the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Guess what? Verse seven. Verse seven is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm not kidding. Represented before the throne of God is the gospel of God. And it has been for eternity. the four living creatures, they have uh as if we if we were to jump over to Ezekiel for example and read about them um the four living creatures uh they appear to have they they they appear to be four living creatures. Each of them have one head with four faces. Face face and face. And what are those faces? This is this is this is like just extra credit kind of stuff that we're messing around with here. But it is cool. Uh when it says the face of a lion, did you know that Matthew's gospel presents Jesus to the Jew as being the lion from the tribe of Judah more than uh Mark, Luke, or John? Did you know that? Is that a coincidence? Um the second creature uh was the was that of a calf or an ox. A beast of burden. A calf, an ox is a beast of servitude. Which gospel has Jesus serving mankind more than any of of the four gospels? There's only one gospel. It's got the most miracles done by Jesus to benefit others. And it's the shortest gospel with the most miracles. The book of Mark. By the way, Matthew has a genealogy. Mark doesn't. Luke does and John does. Interesting. Is this a coincidence? I'm just saying. I'm just laying it out there for you to think. The third living creature had a face like a man. What comes after Mark? Luke. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is not referred to as the lion from the tribe of Judah, nor of the servant. Luke is the book that introduces us to Jesus Christ, the son of man. Coincidence? I don't know. Let's see what the fourth face is all about. And the fourth living creature was that of a flying eagle. Eagle speaks of God. I will bear you up on eagle's wings. Eagle. The eagle speaks of uh the deity of God. Uh the strength of God, the promises of God. One gospel is left. What gospel declares the deity of Jesus Christ as being God unlike the other three? John. In fact, John is the one that has the third and final lineage. It's in John chapter 1. It shows you the genealogy of Jesus as God in John chapter 1. in Luke's gospel is the genealogy of Jesus Christ through uh I believe it is Mary and the genealogy that is given in Matthew is the genealogy of Jesus Christ through Joseph and there's and and again Mark has none because Jesus came to serve and he's represented in heaven by I believe he's represented in heaven by these faces which are Um, it's kind of fun. Can't prove it, but I like it.
And the four living creatures, each having six wings, oh man, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying, "Holy, look. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." So, three holies and then singular, Lord God Almighty. singular, three plural, holies, but one Lord God Almighty, who was and is, who is to come. All right, freak out. Let's freak. Time to freak. We just learned in the first three chapters that the one who was, who is, who is to come, who is it? You know, you know the answer. Do you see how what we're doing here? It's so fun. The Bible is interpreting the Bible. We don't get to make stuff up. There's only one who was, who is, who is to come. That's Almighty God. He's also the one who was living and died and rose again. He's also the one that touched John and said, "Don't be afraid. I am the alpha and the omega. I'm the first and the last." Are you excited? I hope you're excited. I'm so excited. I don't know we'll ever make it through here. I'm going to pass out. But this is thrilling stuff, man.
Whenever the living creatures give, sorry, verse nine. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 20, here they come. The 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and and worship him. So these 24 elders, they worship him who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Okay, so wow. Now they're going to talk to us. Whoever these guys are, they're going to talk to us." Watch. You are worthy, O Lord, to
receive glory, honor, and power. For you created all things. Wow! And by your will they exist and were created.
Hey folks, I don't want to derail you at all, but the book of Colossians, the book of Hebrews, tells us that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things.
Chapter five. Chapter five.
Now, this is very, very critical, you guys, because chapter 5, as we begin to look at this, we begin to look at the seventh seal that's being opened, which introduces the seven trumpet judgments of God. Um, this is going to be a powerful, powerful section of scripture.
Um, I don't do art very well, you guys. I, I, I've got papers here and some colors. I might try, but as we get into this, you're going to see a scroll. Okay, imagine here: imagine a scroll. It's rolled up. Inside this scroll, it's going to be—it's going to be opened up. Okay? And when it comes down to the end of this—this end of the scroll—the last seal of this scroll is going to open. Another scroll is going to come out of that opening. And you're going to have all of these things, these seals that are open. And then, at the final one, there's going to be another seal that opened, and it's connected to another revelation of judgments. These—these uh—judgments that are coming upon the earth come in a wave of revelation. And, um, just keep that in mind, and we'll see if it helps you.
Revelation chapter 5. Remember now, what do we know? John's in heaven. John's in heaven. He's telling us what he's seen. So, you are listening to an eyewitness account of our reporter on scene. And his name is John. And where is he reporting from? From heaven. How'd he get there? Uh, why doesn't he talk about the church anymore on earth? Let's watch. Let's see what happens.
Uh, chapter 5, verse one: "And in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back." So it's written on both ends, "and sealed with seven seals."
John says, "Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it."
So John says in verse four, "So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it." But one of the elders—how many elders? 24—one of them said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals."
Everybody, this is future. This is the future. And current time replacement theology people say that the things about Israel don't matter. Well, I don't know what they're going to do with verse five of chapter 5, because it talks about the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David. This is a big deal, everybody. You might want to put in your notes, just—just for reference sake—this is a reference to the things of Israel. Just write that down. Let's see if it's true or false.
Verse six: "And I looked, and behold, and in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth."
Again, Isaiah 11:1 and two. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now listen to this song that's about ready to be sung, and ask yourself this question: Who can sing this song?
"Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." Wow! And they sang a new song.
So, in the Greek construction, it's possible that the angels join in. We don't know about that, but we know that the singers of the song are those that are in heaven, and it includes the 24 elders. Okay, very important. Let's hear what they say.
By the way, "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us"—have, wait, not them, not those—"redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth." People, everybody, I am trying to contain myself for sheer joy, and I'm not exaggerating! It is essential to find out who the "us" are, because whoever the "us"—whoever the "uses" are—it includes the 24 elders.
Now, we know something about them. They're one of us; one of them speaks to John. Whoever they are, being one of us, they came from out of the world, from every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation of the earth. Are you sitting down? They're not Jews. This is the church. God is going to start working with the Jews. And we'll see this clearly with—with the Jews and the nation of Israel and Jerusalem—in a moment. That's what the tribulation period's for: the seven years of what is called the time of Jacob's trouble. But everybody, that should have just blown your socks right off your feet! The 24 elders are those who were redeemed out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation of the earth. Gentiles. Wow!
Verse 11: "Then I looked, and behold, a voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands," meaning innumerable numbers, "saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!'" Notice the redeemed, the angels, everybody in that statement. No problem there. Angels can say it. Redeemed church, redeemed Israel—anybody can could say that. Beautiful.
Verse 13: "And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth, such as are in the sea, and those that are in them, I heard saying, 'Blessing and honor and glory and power to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!'" Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever. This is awesome. Wow!
Now we come to—watch! Now we come to these, um, seal judgments. Now, I—I'm going to share again. I'm just—this is personal. This is just with us. So, how do you keep this straight in your mind, beginning with chapter six? There's—there's three revelations of God's judgment on earth. And this is how I re—this is how I remember it.
Um, do you remember—some of you might remember—um, STP? STP was, uh, invented, I think, by Andy Granitelli, and it was a big product that sponsored, uh, Mario Andretti's racing team back in the day. STP: special automotive additive, automotive oil. STP. Why am I telling you this? Because this is how you're never going to forget what I'm about to say: uh, recollection by association. STP, in that order.
What comes first in the book of Revelation during the tribulation period? The seal judgments. S. T—the trumpet judgments. T. And P—the Bible says "bowl," but I can't remember STB. So for me, "pans"—like a pan. Pan poured out like a bowl. STP: Seal, Trumpet, Pans (Bowls). Seal, Trumpet, Bowl judgments. Got that? STP Pan.
Now, that may sound nutty, but you'll never forget it after this moment. From this time on, you'll know the order of them, and you'll know what they're about. Number one, we're talking about the sealed judgments.
And so it says, "Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a—with a voice like thunder, 'Come and see!'" And I looked, "and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."
Revelation 6, verse 2—write it in your margins—is the revelation of the Antichrist. Okay, that is the first seal. The first seal reveals the advent of this man called the Antichrist. Just file that away.
We're going to go now to the second seal is opened up, and that's verses 3 to 4. "When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, 'Come and see!' And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given him a great sword."
So, global mass murders will happen during what is—what I would just call—open war. And it's—it comes out of the second seal judgment. I hope this is, um, either this is boring you to death and you already fell asleep, or you're—you're getting excited. One thing's for sure is that we're getting blessed. I'm reading it, and you're hearing it, and God's promised to bless us.
Third seal. So, imagine the third seal being pulled down now. "And he opened the third seal, and I heard the third living creature say, 'Come and see!' And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.'" Uh, do not harm the oil and the wine. Next page. Page Turner. We—oh, yeah. Okay.
Fourth seal. The fourth seal. "When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, 'Come and see!' And I looked, and behold, a pale horse." That's an interesting word, the word "pale." In the West, we think of "pale" like you—you need to go get some sunlight. Pale. The word is actually, um, the word "pale" in Greek is, um, green. It's a weird kind of green, like a—like a pale green or a dull green. I don't—I don't know why he pointed that out to you. I don't—who knows if it's important or not, but "the pale horse, and the name of him who sat on it was Death; and Hades followed with him. And power was given to him over a fourth of the earth." Wow! One quarter of the earth. To do what? "To kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth." How sad. How horrific. The animals are going to start going insane during the tribulation period. Wow!
Now, the fifth seal. "And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar"—listen—"the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held." In your margins, friends, in verse 9, write down "tribulation saints." Write down "tribulation saints." Whoever these people are, they died after Revelation 4:1. These believers have died during the tribulation age. It's important to make a note: Don't assume for one moment that this is the church. It's not at all the church. It's tribulation believers. "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood, you see, on those who dwell on the earth?' And a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed." Wow!
The sixth seal, verse 12: "I—I looked, and when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, like, uh, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind." That's amazing. Meteoric events, some sort of astronomical events. Uh, and then verse 14 says, "Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up." By the way, that's Isaiah 34:7. Wow! "And every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, and great men, and rich men, the commanders of the mighty men, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains." Listen to this: "And said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne!'" Listen: "And from the wrath of the Lamb."
Stop right there for a second. I speculate right now. Warning! Warning, I speculate. We know that at the time of the Second Coming—Revelation chapter 19, Isaiah chapter 66—it is asked of Jesus, the Lamb of God, "When did Your robe get all bloody?" And He said, "I got My robe bloody when I treaded out the fierceness of My wrath and of the wrath of My Father." We also know that the Bible says regarding the time of Jacob's trouble, the seven years, that the Lord will fight for Israel as He did in the day of battle. Is it possible that during the tribulation period, in some way, shape, or form—invisibly, visibly, I don't know—but Christ is going to be literally intervening in those seven years, and especially the last three and a half years, on defense of Israel, to where we see Him with a blood-splattered robe? We know that His—His robe is blood-splattered. He tells us it's the blood of His enemies, and that it's yet future from where you and I sit today. Something fascinating to ponder, isn't it, to think about? And by the way, those of the entire world, they want to commit suicide. They want to be killed. They—they cry out, asking the mountains and the hills to crush them. They—they run and hide, and they want to hide from the wrath of the Lamb. John sees the Lamb at the right hand of the Father. The world sees the Lamb wrathful, full of indignation and judgment. Wow!
Verse 17: "And a—and the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" Now watch this. There's, uh, what is known as the interlude, uh, where the—the redeemed, uh, are spoken of during the tribulation period, and this is important. Of course, all of this is important, but watch this.
In fact, I don't know if you guys can see my Bible right now, but, um, you're probably saying, "What the heck is going on with his Bible? He's got like the Stars of David all over it!" Yeah, it's because, uh, it works. You'll see. "After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth." No, it's not flat. If you want to look at the entire round sphere of the earth, you unfold that round sphere—like all round spheres can be, uh, slit open and unfolded and made flat—and you can see the entire world in one glance instead of spinning it around. Sorry, folks. I know some of you are using this to be a flat-earther, but, um, that's all the attention I'm going to give, uh, you of that there.
Um, "holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. And then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, 'Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till—or until—we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.'" And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000. Of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed. Not Palestine, not Gaza. Israel: 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe.
The seven-year tribulation period begins with the advent of the Antichrist, with the peace treaty. Daniel chapter 9:24-27. At the halfway mark, he's going to deceive the nation of Israel and break that peace treaty, and that's when they're going to understand that they're going to flee, and what comes out of that is a massive revival and awakening of Jews unto salvation.
Verse 5: "Of the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed." I'm going to skip this. I'll name the names this way: Judah, 12,000 were sealed; Reuben, another 12; Gad, another 12,000; Asher, another 12,000; Naphtali, another 12,000; Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun—all of these 12,000 each; Joseph, 12,000 each; Benjamin, 12,000 each. Where is the tribe of Dan? Isn't that interesting? There is a reference regarding Dan that—that Dan, uh, Dan was like a—a riderless horse, and he would fall backward. Some believe that Old Testament verse, that passage, might reveal the fact that the Antichrist could possibly descend from, or be a desent—uh, uh—a descendant from the tribe of Dan. You say, "Jack, who cares?" Apparently, the Jews are going to care about the tribes. And apparently, God cares about the tribes, because the last book of the Bible speaks about the 12 tribes of Israel that God is redeeming and using 12,000 men out of the 12 tribes to become—imagine this—Billy Graham type of Paul the Apostle types, with who knows what technologies or abilities. It's amazing. Medata.
Verse 9: "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples"—these are Gentiles—"and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" And all the angels stood around the throne, "and the elders and the four living creatures"—remember the 24 elders—"fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!'" Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes?" Isn't that a great question? That meant enough to him. Who are these in white robes? Who are these guys? Wait, look at this. Who's asking the question? "And one of the elders answered and said to, uh, to me, 'John, who are these arrayed in white robes, and where do they come from?'" Verse 13 tells me that they're not the church. The elders would have known that, and John would have known that. The elder says, "Hey, John, who are these people?" Let's see what John's answer is. Verse 14: "And I said to him, 'Sir, you know.' So he said to me, 'These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" Tribulation saints, everybody! "Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living, uh, fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." These are absolutely tribulation saints after this massive, awesome conversion of—of Gentiles throughout the entire globe that comes out of the preaching of the 144,000, uh, evangelists, 12,000 from each tribe. And it's amazing how God has kept track of the tribes.
We now go into chapter 8. And chapter 8 is—listen—is the, uh, the six, uh, trumpet judgments. So, do you remember STP? So now we go from the seals to the trumpet judgments. And S, T, and P—they increase in horror and intensity, and with that, you—you'll see the advent at some point in time of, uh, of Satan himself, and the Antichrist, and the hosts.
Chapter 8, verse one: "And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood, uh, at the altar. And he was given much incense, that which he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." So, we are watching heaven throne room events here. "And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from, uh, the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer"—watch this—"and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it." Isn't that violent? "Threw it to the earth. And there were noises, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound."
Trumpet number one, verse 7. By the way, this correlates with Isaiah 28:2. By the way, Isaiah 28:2: "The first angel sounded: and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up." Think about the ecological damage of all of this.
Trumpet number two: "Then the second angel sounded: and something like a great mountain"—so it's not a mountain, but it's like a great mountain—"burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood. And I heard and—and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." So, we're talking about some meteoric thing hitting the waters of the sea and causing what must be tremendous death and tremendous, uh, like tsunami. I'm—I'm guessing like a tsunami effect to wipe out, uh, that magnitude of ships that are in the sea, that a third of them would be destroyed.
And then, uh, we see now the—the third trumpet: the waters are smitten. In verse 10: "The—the third, uh, angel sounded: and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch; and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. And the name of the star is Wormwood. And a third of the waters became wormwood." That is bitter. Poison. Poison is bitter. "And many, uh, men died from the water, because it was made bitter."
Verse 12 now is the fourth trumpet blast: "Then the fourth angel sounded, uh, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened; and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night." Wow! "And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!'" So if it ain't bad enough, uh, here it comes, man.
And we come now to the fifth trumpet, which—which is chapter nine. "Then the fifth angel sounded: and I saw a star falling from heaven, uh, to the earth. And to him." Isn't that interesting? "The star falls from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit." A star in the Old Testament often refers to kings or angels, rulers or angels. And here it does—a pronoun. The star is a "he." So that is pretty amazing stuff.
Verse two: "And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them it was granted power, as scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads." So, everybody, remember the 144,000, 12,000 from each tribe. It says here that they're men, and they're not to be touched by these plagues. Verse five: "And they were—and they were not given authority to kill them, but, uh, but to torment them for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them." Wow! Oh my gosh! Can you imagine? Can you imagine? At this time, there's going to be those who are going to get hurt, injured, fall down, commit suicide, but they can't die. They won't have the ability to escape at this period of time, as—as death at that—death would be a gift if you fall from a 12-story building, but you would lay there in pain. No one's going to be able to die. That's part of—that's part of a judgment right there. That is terrifying if you think about that. Wow!
Uh, verse 7: "And the shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads were crowns, uh, something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. Uh, they had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lion's teeth." These are obviously demonic manifestations. "And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like that of sound of chariots with many horses running to battle." That's a—that's very, very, very noisy. Very me—uh, very mechanized or metallic in sound. I wonder if it sound—I wonder if it's like engines of some bizarre sound. "And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in—were in their tails. And their power was to hurt men for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon." One woe was passed. "Behold, two more woes are coming after these things." And now, you guys, it's the sixth seal.
Verse 13: "And the sixth angel sounded: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.'" So, the four angels who had been prepared for the—listen to this—"the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of those horsemen was two hundred million; and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, uh, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. And the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone." Sheesh! "By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and by the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their—for their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm. But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent." Unbelievable! "Did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, and of their sorceries." By the way, the word "sorcery" in Greek here is "pharmakeia." "They did not repent of their hallucinogenic drugs, or sex, or their sexual immorality, or their thieves, or thievery."
Chapter 10. Watch this! Chapter 10. Now we have this section. I want to make sure I'm just sticking, uh, to our—our notes and timewise. I want to be a little bit sensitive of time, uh, to some degree here. We're going through the book of Revelation here, folks. And so, chapter 10: "I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire." Please again, everybody, notice John is telling you everything from heaven. John represents the church. The church is in heaven. Revelation 4, verse 1. Just keep that—just, just even if you don't believe it, just write that down. Let's see what happens.
"And he had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices." What in the world is that? Seven thunders uttered their voices. "Now when seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.'" Wow!
"And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, lifted up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the—and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets." That's a huge statement.
"Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, 'Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.'" "And I went to the angel and said to him, 'Give me the little book.' And he said to me, 'Take it and eat it; and it will be in your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.'" "And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, 'You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.'"
Chapter 11. "Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave the out—but leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles; and they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.'" This is fun. Write it down: 42 months is three and a half years in biblical counting. 42 months is equal to 1,260 days in your Bible. Why? Your Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, works off of a 360-day calendar. So this is—this is a—a tremendous bit of technical insight that he's g—giving us. Uh, 42 months the Gentiles are going to be trampling the area that is sacred to the Jews and to God. Um, let's keep going. Verse three.
"And I will give power to my two witnesses." So, two witnesses are coming in the tribulation period. Two special people. "And they will prophesy 1,260 days"—three and a half years, excuse me—"clothed in sackcloth." Oh, sackcloth is Old Testament garb. You say, "Ah, Jack, John the Baptist wore sackcloth." You are correct. John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet. So, you're right. Sackcloth is indicative of Old Testament prophets. So, this is kind of fun. Let's just keep reading here.
Um, verse eight: "And, uh, then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, 'Go, take the little book which is open and h—in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.'" I'm sorry, you guys, I just messed that up completely. Jumped into the wrong spot. Chapter 11, uh, verse three: "And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." Verse four: "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth." That's Zechariah chapter 4. So, you're going to want to look at that later. You're going to want—there's a lot of stuff you're going to want to look at there. There's a lot of Old Testament references in verse 4. You can research that later. "And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut up heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire."
Opinion at this moment. Opinion. I'm going to guess that these two sackcloth-wearing witnesses—prophets—are either types of Elijah and Moses, or they are Elijah and Moses brought back to earth for this ministry. Why? The two miracles that they're known for: turning blood—turning water to blood—and Elijah bound up the—the sky so that it didn't rain for three and a half years. He also had the ability to call fire down from heaven. I'm just saying, just guessing.
Um, verse seven: "And when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, and overcome them, and kill them." Let's find out who this is. So we get introduc—introduced now to our first beast. Whoever he is, he ascends out of the bottomless pit, and he's able to make war against the prophets and to kill them. "And their body—their dead bodies—will lie in the street of the great city which is spirit—which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Sodom—Jerusalem was referred to as Sodom because of its depravities and its godlessness, and called Egypt because of its paganism. Um, Jerusalem is named several things, often bad, because of their unbelief. But we have that all answered. We don't have to speculate. It tells us it's where our Lord was crucified. That's Jerusalem. Jesus was not crucified in Sodom, and He was not crucified in Egypt. These are nicknames over Jerusalem.
"Then those from the people, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves." Verse 9 tells me that live TV will be broadcast. It says the entire world will see these two guys lying dead, uh, for, uh, these amount of days, uh, globally. You know what's fun about this? And I—I need to pick up the pace, I know. But you know what's fun about that? I'm reading a 2,000-year-old document. You could have stepped back a hundred years ago and asked the most knowledgeable theologian, "What does that mean?" They'd say, "That's—that's impossible. Must be symbolic." Today, you and I know exactly what that means. CNN or TBN, they're going to be there recording, broadcasting to the world live, and all the Gentiles that live—are still alive—are going to be seeing this satellite news. Absolutely amazing! What do they do about this? "And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them"—that is, the dead ones, the two dead—"making merry and sending gifts to one another." So FedEx and—and Amazon's going to do great that day, because, uh, these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Verse 11: "Now after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet." Oh my gosh, that's awesome! "And great fear fell on all those who saw them." I bet. And verse 12 says, "They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here!'" Hey, that's what John heard. John heard that in chapter, uh, 4:1, didn't he? "And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. And in the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand men were killed, and on the rest of were, uh, afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven." The second woe is past. "Behold, the third woe is coming."
Verse 15: "Then the seventh angel sounded: and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!'" And the 24 elders—here they are again, and church friends, where are they? The 24 elders were in heaven watching all this—"who sat, uh, before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: 'We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead'"—listen, that's Psalm chapter 2 if you want to keep reading—"that they should be judged, and that You should re—uh—reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who were—those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.'"
Verse 19, chapter 11: "Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in heaven." That's what Indiana Jones—we, we—that's what Indiana Jones needed to know. And, uh, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he—he'll never find it. Apparently, the real one's in heaven. That's cool. The one that's on Earth is just a model. The real one's up there, um, in His temple. "And there were lightnings, and noises, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
Chapter 12. Chapter 12. "Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun." So notice this is a vision in heaven. This is seen in heaven. "It is a—a woman, uh, clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet." Hey, that's pretty wild. That's Genesis. This is—this is in reference to the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. This is the stuff dealing with Joseph, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And interesting regarding Joseph's dreams. Remember that? Now, so I want to read that over. "So a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven." So in the spirit realm, "behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his head—heads. His tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven." So this is believed to be Satan. This is a parenthetical insert, this portion. So, um, pause the scene: tribulation period. This imagery go—gives us a flashback. Uh, the Messiah is about ready to come into the world. It's—the Messiah will come from the nation of Israel. Uh, He will be in association with the 12 stars, or the patriarchs of Israel. Jesus is the descendant of David. He's the Son of, uh, David. He's a descendant of Abraham. Um, and you're getting a very, very unique and remarkable prophetic insert of these events that are going to describe Israel's latter end of the three and a half years, um, deliverance. Stay tuned, uh, to this. This is—this is really, again, I'm telling you, if you knew—if a Jew is reading this right now, they're saying, "Oh my goodness, this sounds like I'm reading Hebrew scriptures!" Well, in many ways, you are, my friend.
Verse four: "His tail drew a third, uh, part of the stars from heaven." My translation: Satan deceived a third of the angels from heaven, and they fell with him, "and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child." Notice in your Bible it's capital C. The translators in the languages—in the original languages—understand this to be Christ. "As soon as it was born. And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there 1,260 days." How many days is that? What does that time equal? Three and a half years. So you see the three and a half years in correlation. There's the first three and a half years. There's the last three and a half years. Together there's seven years: the tribulation period. Daniel 9:24-27 tells you that it is, in fact, seven years in total.
And verse 7 says that "war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been cast down." Amen! "And they overcame him"—that's the devil—"by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives, uh, to the death." Again, tribulation saints. "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, uh, and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time."
Please look this up later. I'm really running over time, but you—what I just read. Will you go read Isaiah chapter 26, verses 19 to 21? Isaiah chapter 26:19-21. It's almost verbatim what you just read a moment ago. God will pour out His wrath upon the earth because of their sins. But in Isaiah 26:19-21, before He does that, He says, "Come, My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past." Guess what the word is for "chamber doors"? It's a wedding chamber. It's technically a chamber of consummation. It's where the bride and the groom rejoice over their vows and their relationship. Isaiah 26:19-21. Overlay that right here, as you should, on top of Revelation 12.
We pick it up. Verse 13: "Now, when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman." I believe the woman is Israel, "who gave birth to the male Child." I believe that's Jesus. "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." That's time, times, and a half a time. That's three and a half years. That is 1,260 days. "So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman." Listen, the dragon has always been upset with Israel, and those who are upset are in league with him regarding Israel. Of course, Israel is not perfect. I wonder—I wonder how—I wonder how imperfect America is. I wonder how people—I just can't stand anti-Semitism, because it's so hypocritical. If somebody's an American, a Canadian, a—a German, um, a Saudi, a Jordanian, and they're ragging on Israel, and your nation's as bad or worse? Shame! That's just so despicable. I just—God's faithful. So, "the dragon was enraged with the woman"—again, who I think is Israel—"and he went to make war with her with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Oh! Oh! Oh! Wait, wait, wait, wait! What? Wait, what? Did you read that? Did you hear that? Verse 17. We got to see this again. "The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring." Who are they? "Who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ"—born-again Jews, saved Jews that come to Messiah Yeshua during the tribulation period. There is literally no other way to interpret that, because the Bible interprets that for us.
Verse or chapter 13. Wow! Here's—this is amazing. Here we go. "Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast." Okay, so is this the same beast or a second beast? We're going to find out. "Rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear." Okay, so this is heaven's perspective of global power, "and his mouth like the mouth of a"
The lion and the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. So remember earlier, the dragon, early on, we remember, was he was called a beast, Satan. And now we have this, what I'm going to call, I'm speculating here. I'm just speculating. This could be, we'll write this down. This could be another beast, different than the first beast, but he's in the same corral with the first one. If we do, in fact, have two, one ascended out of the bottomless pit. This one comes out of the sea. And if you're Jewish right now, you know what that means. The sea of humanity. That's where we get that term from. The sea of humanity. That's a Jewish idiom. Did you know that? The sea of humanity. That's a Jewish idiom. The Jews view the Gentile world as the seas. Isn't it interesting that in eternity, there's a lot of water, but there'll be no sea, the Bible says. I just hope there's really big lakes that look like a sea, because I love the ocean. But, uh, God's got a different plan about it. He's got a whole different thing. None of us will be disappointed. So, cheer up. You'll be okay.
And so, um, and so the dragon gave his gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. So I'm pretty certain we're looking at a second beast here because the because the dragon gives him authority. Verse three, I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded. What? And his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast. Did you know that before? Did you know that before? That the antichrist, we're going to call him the antichrist, the second beast. Did you know the antichrist is going to get stabbed in the head, shot in the head? Something's going to happen to where he has a mortal head wound. Does he die, or does he look like he's dead? Is this Satan mocking the resurrection of his son, the Antichrist? Satan cannot give life. But does the antichrist, who somehow gets wounded in the head, appear to be dead to the point that when he comes back from the dead, or that it appears he's resurrected? Have you ever heard this before? Listen, this comes out of the Old Testament. You guys look at your margins. We don't, we can't take the time to do it. I just encourage you to look up some of the other scriptures, um, regarding that. You can look at, um, at the antichrist in the Old Testament.
So they worshiped the dragon and gave authority, who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast. Uh, now it's confirmed saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Revelation 13:4 introduces us to Satan and the Antichrist. And he was given, verse five, a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And he was given authority to continue 42 months. This is the antichrist. He's going to continue 42 months. 42 months equals time, times, and a half a times, which equals 1,260 days. All those are the same, same period of time. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given to him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. Friends, I'm sorry I'm not going as fast as I'd want to go. Please mark this down. If my memory serves me correct, Revelation 13:7 is equal to Daniel 7:21. So many people believe that the church is in the tribulation period and they are destroyed by the antichrist because of this verse. They are very, very wrong, both in Daniel 7:21 and Revelation 13:7. These are the tribulation saints that are destroyed by the powers of the Antichrist. They will die for their faith. They're not the church.
Verse eight. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. They're not born again. Their names are written in the book of life. They've not been blotted out yet. Their names are not written in the lamb's book of life. To keep your name in the lamb's book of life, that is for eternal life. You got to take your name from the book of life. Everybody's names are written in the book of life, everybody. But in life, during your lifespan, you need to get your name highlighted, copy, and paste into the lamb's book of life. Because if it's not in the lamb's book of life, your name will be blotted out of the book of life on the day of judgment. To get your name blotted out of the book of life means you were never born again. To keep your name in the book of life is to get your name in the lamb's book of life. Your name appears in both places on both ledgers. Does it make sense? It's simple. We do it all the time on a spreadsheet, don't we? When we move or copy numbers or copy a statement, copy, paste, and there you go.
Verse nine. "If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He, uh, who kills will be, uh, with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patient patience and the faith of the saints." Again, those are tribulation saints.
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. Is this beast number three, everybody? I don't know. We'll see. And he had two horns like a lamb. Like a lamb. H. And spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. So he mimics, uh, God's miracles, just like, uh, Pharaoh's magicians mimicked Moses's miracles in the book of Exodus. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by the signs in which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image, statue, thing to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Wow. We have Satan. We have the Antichrist. And we have this guy who is saying, "I honor the one who gives power to the beast, and I honor the one whose fatal wound was healed, and I want all the world to honor him as well." This guy's a spokesperson. He's, he's party number three to an unholy trinity. Think about that. Satan, Antichrist, false prophet. And the false prophet calls for a statue to be made. How many times does that appear in the Old Testament, right? Statues all the time. Pretty remarkable stuff, everybody. But it gets more amazing. Oh, wow.
Verse 15. This is an AI verse if I've ever heard one. He was granted to, he w, he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, and the image of the beast that it should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Some sort of created machine is going to appear to come alive, look very humanlike, apparently, and certainly be able to discern in the masses who's got the mark of the beast and who doesn't. And whoever doesn't have the mark of the beast will be killed. Wow. I think this is, I think a, this is my opinion. I think this image, this machine, this robot is going to be a demon-possessed AI device image thing that somehow looks humanoid in honor of the Antichrist. And no one may buy or sell except the one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who understands calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
Then I looked, and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000, having his Father's name written on their foreheads. Well, now we know. And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of a loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists, uh, playing their harps. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures. Listen. Location, location, location. And the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. Everybody, the 144,000, you know where they came from. You know that they're all men, that they're evangelists, and that they're from the tribes of Israel. These are the ones who were not defiled with women. Okay, now we know they were virgins, for they are virgins. The, the Bible says it right there. Here. If I would have shut up and just read it, it would have told me, uh, these are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from every, uh, from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, uh, tribe, tongue, and people. Wow. Remember Jesus said, by the way, this nation will be preached in all the world, and then the end will come. This is how I know missionaries think that that's how we're going to do it, but we're not going to do it. We should keep going, but we're not going to make it. An angel's going to do it, saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water."
And another angel followed, saying, "Babylon is fallen, has fallen, the great city, because she has made all nations, uh, drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Then a third, uh, uh, then a third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, "If a, if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image. Whoever receives the mark of his name. 666. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." Yes, says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors and and their works followed them." And verse 14, and I looked, and behold, John says, a white cloud, and on a cloud sat one like the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle, and another angel coming out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also having a sharp sickle. Wow. A lot of judgment, a lot of, a lot of blood going on. And another angel came out of the altar, verse 18, who had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry with him to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe." So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the grape wine press of the wrath of God. Please read Isaiah 63, everybody. I mean, almost verbatim. I think Isaiah, Isaiah 63, though, will give you more insights, actually. And the wine press was trampled outside the city. That's outside of Jerusalem. And blood came out of the wine press up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs. 1,600 furlongs, as a, as a biblical furlong goes, is about 180 miles to 200 miles. That's pretty amazing. Everybody from Jerusalem, those of you who have been there, follow me. Step out of the old city. Go down into the Kidron Valley beneath the Golden Gate, the eastern gate. Drop a pin, pin drop. Follow the Kidron Valley, which turns into Megiddo, which goes up near, um, what's up there, just near Carmel. It heads eastward toward the Galilee. It's like a big arc that's called Megiddo, or the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Megiddo, Armageddon. So, we got something going on here. This is so cool because in Israel, you can walk this. I've been all over that 200-mile arc. Man, are you not glad that Jesus Christ has saved your soul and given you eternal life and opened up your eyes and brought you out of darkness? Oh, I'm so grateful to our God.
Chapter 15. When I saw another sign in heaven, then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, oh king of the saints. Who shall not fear you, oh Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before you. For your judgments have been manifested."
After these things, I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. This is great. So John's up there. He sees this happen up there. And out of the temple came seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen and having their chests girded with golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls. Remember bowls, pans, or bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. So here we go. These are the bowl judgments, or the pan judgments, seal, trumpet, pan, or bowl.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying, "The seven angels, to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth." So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died. Wow. It sounds like we're reading Exodus again, huh?
Then the third angel poured out his bowl, and on the rivers and the springs of water, they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be. Because you have judged these things, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink, for it is their just due." And I heard another from the altar saying, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments."
Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over the plagues, and did not repent and give him glory.
Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues. Yikes. Because of the pain. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.
Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water dried up, so that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Wow. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." That's a quotation from Jesus. It's awesome. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven. So that's above, from the throne, saying, "It is done." And there were noises and thunders, thunderings and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake. Such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and great hail from heaven fell upon every hailstone about the weight of a talent. Okay, that's pretty, uh, insane, because you're talking about a 100-pound, 100-pound hailstone falling. Um, it just so happens today in our daily Bible reading in the one-year Bible, Lisa and I read about 100-pound hailstones that God sent against Egypt. And the stones fell on Egypt when he delivered the children of Israel, but none of the hailstones fell upon Goshen, the land within Egypt where the Jews were were kept. Here we are in the. You see why the book of Revelation, you read the Old Testament and then jump into the book of Revelation, and it, it just absolutely makes sense. This screams context. God is judging the with his wrath and the unbelieving world, and he's rescuing his Jewish people who believe, and how he does it with blood turning to water, frogs, hailstones. Every Jew gets this. Every Jew understands this. It's absolutely amazing.
Verse 21, chapter 16, the great hailstones from heaven fell upon men. Hailstones about the weight of a talent, 100 pounds. And men blasphemed God because of the plague and the hail, since the plague was exceedingly great. Uh, then one of the seven angels, chapter 17, uh, who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, and with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Oo, who could this be? Wow. She, she, a female pronoun. So she's not, she's not a beast, but she's somehow in concert with Satan and his Antichrist and his false prophet and his image, whoever she is.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads. Hey, seven heads and 10 horns. That was the description given to the Antichrist and to Satan earlier on. The two beasts, or Satan and the beast, I should say. That's for sure. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth. Well, Babylon the Great, uh, Babylon the Great. This, my speculation, this tells me that in the last days, pro, probably rather abruptly, the world's going to change so much after the Ezekiel 38 battle that precedes, I believe, the seven years, that somehow the ancient area of the Euphrates region, Iraq area, Persia, Iraq, mainly Iraq, will somehow be rebuilt, built. Why? Because the cradle of civilization, the area of ancient Babylon, uh, Shushan, that region, uh, is the epicenter. Not a guess, it's a fact. Is the epicenter of all pagan worship systems. That is a historical, geological, archaeological fact.
And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. And the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her." Ooh, who has the seven heads and the t horns? The beast that you saw was and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. Perdition. Perdition. Perdition. Interesting. Two people are referred to as the sons of perdition. One is Judas Iscariot, and the other is Satan himself. Interesting. By the way, I'm not saying Judas Iscariot has anything to do with this. I'm just saying perdition, the son of perdition. It says here they will go into perdition. There may not be any con, uh, linkage whatsoever. I'm just pointing that interesting word out. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. See that? When they see the beast that was and is not and yet is. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. Just speculating, but could the, the world, there's only one famous city that I know of that is famous for having seven hills or seven mountains, and that's Rome. Rome has seven mountains. Is it possible that the seven hills or mountains of Rome, that Rome will be the epicenter of a false religious system called a harlot? The one who propagates to the entire globe Babylonian worship, which is, by the way, any kind of worship you name it, go for it. Whatever your culture wants. And yet it does parade, is it, is this woman parading herself as a false church of some sorts, or a false religious system? I speculate. But it is interesting that the Bible points out the seven hills or seven mountains where this woman, where this woman is in association.
Verse 11. The beast that was and is not, is himself also the eighth. That's important in the book of Daniel. The eighth is of the seven and is going to perdition. That's a reference to the Antichrist. Daniel tells me this. And the 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as of yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. Oh my goodness. That is Daniel chapter. Wow. Daniel chapter 2, 7, 9. Daniel chapter 11. You must read the book of Daniel. Uh, these are of one mind and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.
And he said to me, this is so, John is saying he said to me, so it's not capitalized H. So maybe, I guess it's an angel speaking to John. The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And the 10 horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill his purpose, to be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Wow.
After these things, verse eight, or chapter 18, verse one, I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, in a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the inhabitants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury."
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, lest you receive of her plagues." So, this is God calling the, uh, tribulation believers, run, flee from this paganism. Get out.
Verse 5. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works. In the cup in which she has mixed, mix for her double. And the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, and in the same measure give her torment and sorrow. Uh, for she says in her heart, "I sit as queen, I am no widow. I will not see sorrow." Therefore, her plagues will come in one day. Oh man, one day death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire. For strong is the Lord God who judges her.
And the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, "Alas, alas, the great city, that mighty city, for in one hour your judgment has come." And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her. For no one buys their merchandise anymore. Merchandise of gold and of silver and precious stones and pearls, scarlet, every kind of cotton, wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of precious, uh, wood, bronze, iron, and marble and cinnamon. So now we go from the hardware department to the produce section, I guess. Cinnamon, uh, incense, frank, uh, fragrant oil, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat. Man, isn't this amazing? So specific. Cattle, sheep, horses, chariots. Oh, wow. And bodies and souls of men. That just reminds me of human trafficking right there. Creeps me out. Wow. They did merchandise with bodies and the souls of men. And the fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you. And all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things who became rich by her will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, "Alas, alas, the great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. For in one hour such great riches came to nothing." And every shipmaster and all who travel by ship, sailors and as many as trade on the sea stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, "What is like this great city?" And they threw dust on their heads. It's a Middle Eastern thing, by the way, weeping and wailing and saying, "Alas, alas! The great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth. For in one hour she is made desolate. Rejoice over her, oh heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her." That's a deep, that is deep consideration there. That's Revelation 18:20. Wow.
Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence, the great city Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore. The sound of the harpists, the musicians, the flutists, the trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore. And the sound of the millstone shall not be found in you anymore. And the light of the lamp shall not shine in you anymore. And the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth. For by your sorcery, ooh, by your hallucinogenics, all the nations were deceived. Wow. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth."
Revelation 19. Revelation 19. Everybody mark your notes. This is the commencement of the latter moments of the seven-year tribulation period. The seven years, we're right at the end of it by the time we get to Revelation 19. Everything we've been reading from chapter 4:2 has been horrific, and you've been hearing it, and we've been reading it. Now, here we go. After these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. John's speaking to us, everyone saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and power to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments because he has made the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her." Okay, whoever is saying this is speaking about the tribulation martyrs. They reference those people as those who were martyred by her. Again, they said, "Hallelujah!" And her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah."
Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, and those who fear him, both small and great." And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns." So, we're going to, we're about ready to, we're in heaven, right? I'm going to be blunt. You can't, you cannot have an opinion about what we're reading now. The cameras are all in heaven. John's in heaven. He's talking to us. Everything you're seeing is in heaven. No more. We're not talking earth now. Right now we're in heaven. The cameras went from earth. Now the cameras are in heaven. And this is what they said.
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready." All right. Wait a minute. Hang on, everybody. How can this be? And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. She was given a wedding gown. Fine linen, clean and bright. That's what that is. Fine linen, not robes. Fine linen. Where is she? She's in heaven. John sees the church being dressed up in heaven. How'd she get there? Revelation 4:1. That's how she got there.
Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are the true saints of God." I got, I got a news flash for you. If right now you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the bride of Christ. You're in the church. Okay? There's the trib, there's the Old Testament saints there. They wear robes. We know that. There's the tribulation saints. They wear robes. We know that the church is the only group that's that's given fine linen, clean and bright white fine linen. Is a wife invited to her wedding? You say, Jack, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. It is dumb. It's because a wife is never invited to her wedding. Without a wife, there is no wedding. Without a groom, there is no wedding. Look, you can be invited to, uh, the wedding of some king and queen, and you can go there and fly there and get all dressed up. If they don't show up, you ain't at no wedding. So, let me read that again. Then he said to me, "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Hey, happy are those people who got the invitation to go to the, the, the wedding ceremony of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and his church, the bride of Christ. Who's invited to that? Tribulation saints, for sure. Born-again Jews, those are also tribulation saints. I find this fascinating and very comforting, by the way.
And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Verse 11 is a verse that is telling us that whatever is going on in verse 11, John sees what implies a going and coming, going and coming of Christ in judgment upon the face of the earth during this tribulation period. Again, go read, uh, Jer, uh, Isaiah 26:19 to 21. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no one knew except himself. And he is clothed with blood-dripped, uh, a robe dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean. This is the church, the bride of Christ, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. He himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a loud voice, saying to the, to all the birds that fly in the midst of the heaven of heaven, I should say, atmosphere, "Come and gather together for the, uh, supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great." Listen, those birds are going to consume the flesh of the unbelievers when Christ judges. Mark it down. The world in Matthew chapter 25. Go read it and see the correlation there, as well as Isaiah 63-66. Um, and I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Yeah, good luck.
Then the beast was captured and with him. Interesting. They gathered together to make war, but there's no, did you know this? There's actually no evidence of war. Uh, the, there is no evidence of an Armageddon war. You know, the war of Armageddon, the battle of Armageddon. It's, it's the war that doesn't happen. They gather together to make war against Jesus and his, and the church, the bride of Christ coming from heaven. They gather together in Megiddo, Har-Megiddo, Armageddon. But it doesn't appear that they go to war because they direct their vengeance toward the coming of Christ, the, at the second coming.
Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped the statue, the image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire and brimfire, burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. Folks, that's the second coming.
Chapter 20. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years. And he was, and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. But after these things, that's after the thousand years, he must be released for a little while.
And I saw the, and I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast, listen, or his image, or had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Tribulation saints, not the church. Those are tribulation saints. So crystal clear. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were over or finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Why? Because those are the ones that are born again. Over such the second death. That's the death that takes place after the judgment of God. You Christian, you're not going to see that. Has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for a thousand years.
Now, when, when the thousand years have expired, so we're looking way into the future. We're looking at least 1,700 years from today. How about that? Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. You see, why would God do that? Because Satan will be released, and he will go out and and tempt those who were born during the tribulation. I'm sorry, scratch that. He will go out to tempt those who were born during the millennium. The, the book of Isaiah tells us that those who live into the millennium where Christ is ruling from Jerusalem upon the throne of David, there'll be people having babies, not us. We'll be glorified. We'll be with Christ. The mortals who live into the kingdom age, enter into the kingdom prepared when they, they're mortals. And Isaiah says, you know what? During that period of time, when a man dies at the age of a 100, everybody's going to weep like a baby, like a baby died. That means longevity is going to come back. The earth's going to be repopulated. But Satan's been bound. And so, Satan is going to be released again. And, well, let's just read it.
So now when the thousand years had expired, Satan will be released from, uh, his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. Don't let that worry you. Those are, uh, geographical names of northern powers that have always been Israel's enemies, to gather them together to battle, whose name, I'm sorry, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. How long, folks? Forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the, uh, earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And the books, plural, were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. Listen, none of this is good, people. You do not want to be found in Revelation 20. The poor Mormons, Mormons will read this portion and they'll say, "See this, we're judged by our works." They see this as a positive. It, it's so sad. It's very bad. Very, very bad. There's no recovery from this judgment. Watch this. The sea gave up the dead that were in it. Death and Hades gave delivered up the dead who are in, in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. The reason why they're not found in the book of life is because they were never born again, and their names never made it into the Lamb's book of life.
Revelation 21. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Don't be sad. It's going to be amazing. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So all sparkly and beautiful. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God." The tabernacle is where God meets man. The taber, tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor shall sorrow, no sorrow, nor crying. Uh, and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
Then he who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And he said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And he said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirst." That's Jesus, folks. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will give, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the cowardly, notice the top of the list, the, I love this. At the top of the list of those in hell are cowards. They shall not inherit, I'm sorry, cowards, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, drug addicts, uh, those that are are devoted to drugs, idol worshippers, idolaters, all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Then of the, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. And he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her light is like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also, she had a great and high wall with the 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates and names written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. There you not the 12 tribes of Palestine people. It's Israel. Three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were written the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. And who, and he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, in its gates, and its wall. And the city is laid out as a square. So everybody, I should probably insert this right now. The earth is heaven, the new heaven and the new earth. The atmosphere is the new heaven. And then the, the, the house of God, the dwelling place of God where the bride lives and where the Lamb lives descends out of heaven. And it's, it's a city. Listen, heaven, heaven is not the city. There's the city of God that is in heaven. This is a completely new, redeemed, renewed forever. And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as its width. And it measured the city with the reed 12,000 furlongs. Uh, its length, breadth, and height are equal. In other words, something, something to the effect of 1,500 miles in each direction is
the city. 1,500 miles that way, that way, that way, and that way back. It's a cube or as a cube. Then he measured its walls and measured uh 44 cubits according to the measure of a of a man, which is this from the pinky finger to um no, I'm sorry, a cubit from the elbow to the pinky finger.
Uh then he so he's measured that. Well, verse 18. And the construction of its wall was as jasper, and the city was pure go pure gold like clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third uh chelon, the fourth emerald, the fifth sard sardin, the sixth sardis, the seventh crystal, the eighth burl, the ninth topaz, the 10th uh crystal praz, the 11th jasmine, the 12th amethyst, and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each individual gate was one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
But I saw no temple in it. That kind of freaked John out. For the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it. For the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light. And all the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light. And the kings, there's going to be kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Wow. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day. There shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. Isn't that interesting, you guys? In eternity, in heaven, in eternity, there's going to be kings and there's going to be nations, which means God made borders. But there shall be no means enter anything that defiles or that causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There you go. Please make sure your name's in the Lamb's Book of Life, everybody.
Chapter 22. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and from the Lamb. And in the middle of the street, and on the on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. So there's 12 months in eternity. There's going to be 12 months. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Wow. And there shall be no more curse. Thank God. But the throne of God and of the lamb shall be it shall be in it and has and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads and there shall be no night there for they for there no need of lamp nor lamp of the nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever.
Then he said to me, "These are faithful and true." These words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to to show his servants the things which must shortly or the word is quickly. When it happens, it goes quickly take place. Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and I saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant and of your brethren the prophets." Wow. "And of those who keep the words of this book, worship God."
And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside or in hell are dogs, sorcerers, sexually immoral, murderers, idolattors, whoever loves and practices a lie. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches." Wow. "I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star." By the way, he said that in verse 16, he said that to the seven letters to the seven churches, those same things.
And the spirits and the bride say, "Come." And let him who hears say, "Come." And let him who thirst come. And whoever desires, let him take the waters, the water of life freely. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life and from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus." The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
The book of Revelation cannot be understood without reading the Old Testament. So to get you going, I'm going to give you some homework. Start reading the book of Daniel, the book of Isaiah, the book of Zechariah, the book of Jeremiah, the book of Joel. Start there. Start there. And then when you're done with those books, start reading in Genesis to Malachi. and then jump over the New Testament if you'd like to the book of Revelation and watch what happens to your understanding. Thank you guys for being with us. I have no idea how long we've been going, but it's been a long time. Have a great day. God bless you. And uh let's keep walking with Jesus until we see the whites of his eyes or the flame of his eyes because he's coming. God bless you guys.