Revelation One Night Flyover

Opening Poll 1: Do you believe we should read Revelation… A. literally first, and symbolically where it’s clear to be symbolic, B. Symbolically first, and literally where its clear to be literal, C. not sure

Question 2: When do you think the rapture will happen? A. Pre-tribulation, B. Mid-tribulation, C. Post-tribulation, D. I don’t have an opinion rapture occurs

Trivia Question: How many countries have a death penalty for their citizens for apostasy (denying the “national” muslim faith)? A. 0, B. 1, C. 5, D. 7, E. 12

Did you know: In 2019, 40% of the world's countries and territories had blasphemy laws, which then increased in 2020 to 84 countries and again increased in 2023 to 95 countries (48.7%)?

Tonight we're just gonna be jumping from chapter to chapter… if you have a physical Bible or a Bible app you can follow along that might be helpful

Thank you for your patience, this might take us all the way up to the end of 9 o’clock tonight- but we’re gonna cover the whole book of Revelation

Revelation 1:1 the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants… that's us… the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

so we got this book is by John… this is the same John who wrote the Gospel of John…

John gets a vision and he hears these words from an angel…

and he says blessed is he who hears it… who reads it… takes it to heart…

now look at verse nine… this describes how he got this letter… verse nine 9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

so John says here I am on this island of Patmos… and verse 10 he says on the Lord's Day I was in the spirit…

so maybe he was praying or worshiping or something and he says and I hear this voice behind me like a trumpet

and the voice says write down what I'm about to tell you and then send it to these seven churches

so this is how we get Revelation, it is this voice John hears… he's on his own… hears this voice say write down what I'm about to say and then send it to these seven churches

these seven churches are literal churches

these are specific churches… send them this message I'm about to give you…

and so these seven churches back then… they existed in Asia Minor which is modern-day Turkey… in that area… and so they're the first ones to get the book of Revelation

okay so John hears this voice… he's about to write… but he turns around to look at who's talking to him and in verse 17 look what happens…

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

so John turns around to look at who's talking right now and telling him to write this stuff down… he says when he gets a glimpse of this person he is so shocked by his appearance he says it's like all the life came out of him

and he just fainted… he fell over like a dead man

? who is this “Being” that John saw?

verse 17… 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

? who's that ?

it's Jesus

we know it because look at verse 18 I am the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,

okay that gives you a clue… ? who else died and is alive forever and ever?

and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

and look at 19 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

verse 19 outlines the whole book of Revelation…

he says write on a scroll what you have seen…

? what did he just see?

this vision of Christ

verse 19 those that are and that’s in chapters 2 & 3

what John does is he writes through those seven churches things that pertain to their time

verse 19 those that are to take place after this

and that's what chapter 4 through chapter 22 is all about

the things of the future and that's the bulk of Revelation… is this prophecy about what's gonna happen in the end times… what's gonna happen in the future

so chapter 1 was what he saw

chapters 2 & 3 things that are taking place now

Chapters 4-22 things are gonna take place in the future

and so chapters two and three are just a bunch of letters…. several different churches that are all struggling with different things…

we’re not going to get into these… if you were part of our study when we went through Revelation you might remember we spent a night on each letter [pause]

so then we go to chapter four chapter… so if you can turn to chapter 4…

Now we start getting into the future… [pause]

chapter 4 gives us a glimpse of heaven… and now we get into the last part of Revelation which is about things of the future…

verse 1 of chapter 4 1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders,

John now gets this vision of heaven and he gets to see God and this is what he sees…

John sees God sitting on a throne… and John is trying to describe this… it's like stones… like emeralds… like Jasper… like all these different precious stones

it's just God on His throne and John says around his throne were these twenty-four other Thrones and these elders sat on these twenty-four Thrones

so John is describing this vision of heaven…. John sees God on His throne and all these other Thrones around God… and everyone's worshipping God

lets turn to chapter 5 verse 1… 1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

John is looking at God on His throne and John sees that God is holding a scroll in his right hand…

John says that scroll was sealed with seven seals… [pause]

so what they used to do on the official documents… things today would be like a title or deed to property… the Roman government would seal these Scrolls or these documents…

how they would seal a scroll is this they would put a piece of wax right where the paper is going to come apart

it would be a piece of wax that holds the scroll together…

and then a person with a signet ring would kind of push his insignia on that piece of wax…. and when it hardened… it would be sealed

you were not allowed to open that scroll unless you show that you've got the ring that fits into that wax seal

and so the Roman government could tell if someone had tampered with their documents because that seal would fall apart… and they were not allowed to open it until they could show that signet ring… [pause]

John writes that there are seven seals…

and what that means is you have a seal nut on the very outer layer… and in the beginning you open it… and you unroll it a little bit… and you'll see there's another scroll… and another seal… and you have to show the ring again…

and this shows like “hey, I can open this part too” [pause]

so basically you open a seal and you can read for the first 1/7 th of the document

and then at the next seal… you need to show that you have authority to open the next part… and that goes 7 times to open all 7 seals [pause]

so God's holding a scroll in His right hand and it's got these seven seals on it

so that’s the picture, John is looking up and he sees God holding the scroll and look at verse 2 of Revelation 5… 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

So you got that picture… God's holding this scroll… He's got the seven seals and everyone wants to see what's inside…

because this scroll unlocks this future mystery of how the world's going to end

and so obviously everyone wants to see it… but no one can open it…

John is so devastated…. he's crying loudly… he is weeping loudly…

the one elder says “wait… here comes someone who can open it… here comes Jesus…”

and Jesus now opens up the scroll…

you can turn to chapter 6… verse 1… 1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

so he opens up a seal and he sees a horse…

this is what is describing the beginning of this end-time period

the first thing that is going to happen is represented by this rider on a white horse

and this rider on a white horse… he has a crown…

so this tells us he is a ruler…. [pause]

he also has a bow… it doesn't mention any arrows,,, but he has a bow…

and so many have said that this seems like some sort of ruler who rules the world not by making a war and taking it over… but somehow by bringing peace across the earth [pause]

why we get this… in Daniel chapter 9 this is the prophecy… Daniel 9:27 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week

so he will confirm a covenant with many for one seven year period…

so it seems like someone is gonna come along and make some sort of covenant or some sort of seven-year peace treaty with the world… or with many people…

and yet in the middle of that seven-year period… it says and for half of the week… in the middle of seven… he will put an end to sacrifice and offering

and sacrifices take place in the temple in Jerusalem- so this is talking about Jerusalem

it says in the middle of this seven years he's going to stop the sacrifices…

[pause] now there's no temple in Jerusalem right now…

the Jews have wanted there to be a temple there… but you've got the Arabs there and there’s been this fighting that's been going on there for centuries

and right now it's amazing that in our day and age it's heating up again…

In Revelation what appears will happen is someone is going to come alongside and bring peace to that situation… [pause]

someone is going to come and bring peace so that the temple can be rebuilt [pause]

he says sacrifices are going to be taking place until the middle of that seven years… or three and a half years into it…

then he's gonna break the covenant… and then he's gonna set up something in the temple… that’s what Daniel 9 tells us [pause]

so he's got to set up some sort of statue there which is the Antichrist Kingdom… that's what's gonna start the war…

so to get the picture… the Old Testament is talking about someone coming and bringing peace

that's why we go to revelation 6 and that first seal that is broken… that means the first thing that's going to happen… is this guy that's been talked about in Daniel… now talked about in Revelation… is going to bring peace in the Middle East

he's going to bring peace and the world's going to follow him…

because… ? how in the world did he bring peace?…. he must be an incredible leader…

but then keep reading in revelation 6… so that's the first seal… [pause]

and we may be gone from this earth by then…. or we may experience it… depending on what view you hold about the rapture… [pause]

but then verse 3 of revelation 6… verse 3 3 When he opened the second seal,

so now he opens the second part of it…

I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

so that's why we believe that three and a half years of peace is put to an end… and now there's war… just like Daniel said in the Old Testament….

now you're seeing it in Revelation… it seems like someone's gonna come along bring peace… then after three and a half years the next thing that happens is someone else comes along… or maybe it's the same guy… but now there's gonna be war…

it's just like Daniel prophesied…. now it goes on in verse five…

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be 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 wine!”

so the third seal he sees this vision of a guy on a black horse… and he's holding scales… you know scales where you weigh things… and the guy is screaming… a quart of wheat for a day's wages…

now to understand what this means… you need to know that a quart of wheat isn't enough for a meal for one person…

and he's saying you could work a whole day and your wages would not give you enough to pay for one meal…. So this is describing famine [pause]

he's saying that after there's peace… then there comes war… and then what often follows war is famine… [pause]

Verse 7… what happens next… he goes into the fourth seal…

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

so the fourth thing that happens is he sees this pale horse… and the riders name is death… and it says that he's given power to kill a fourth of mankind through the war… through the famine… and through plagues…

so it's kind of just the natural progression… you've got peace… then you have a war… and with war comes the famine… and then famine comes some plagues…. and he says by that time a fourth of mankind is dead…

a fourth the population has died by these wars… by this famine… and by these plagues… and then you get the fifth seal

in verse nine… 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

he opens the fifth seal and he gets a glimpse into heaven again… and this time he sees all the Christians who died during the tribulation… [pause]

these are the Christians who were martyred because that Antichrist is going to make it illegal for anyone to worship God… kind of like it is in some countries already

he says it's illegal to worship Jesus Christ… I want you to worship me… and so he puts to death anyone who proclaims the name of Jesus…

in this fifth seal John gets a glimpse of heaven and all these martyred Saints who are crying out to God… saying God when are you gonna avenge our blood…

when can you go down to the earth and destroy these people for what they have done to us… and that's where we start the sixth seal… and this is gets eerie…

verse 12- 12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

he breaks open that sixth seal and this is where it gets scary… not that the other stuff is normal…

but the sixth seal… and he says I saw stars falling from heaven…

maybe these were meteors just hitting the earth… he says because it was like the Sun turned black… the moon turned like this reddish color

and he's just seeing this massive destruction… he says its like the sky falling down on the earth… like when you shake a fig tree when it's ripe and everything is just falling down…. he says that's what it feels like… all these objects hitting the earth… it's getting destroyed…

and it says it's getting so horrible that it didn't matter who you were… even the kings… you just get this picture of everyone was just running and wishing that the rocks and the mountains would fall on them and kill them

because they were so terrified by the wrath of God that was finally being poured out on the earth

it's pretty terrifying as he is explaining what goes on in the end times…

in chapter 7 what he does is… he's just described some of the end-time events… and now in Chapter 7 he goes back and he fills in a few details

in Chapter 7 he explained something that was left out

verse 2 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

see what's going on here… he says before all this devastation comes… one of the angels cries out… wait a second… before we pour out all this wrath on the earth… first let's take those who serve God…

and it says that there were 144,000 that they sealed on their foreheads… so the angels would know not to harm them… these people are protected by God as they love Jesus Christ…

and yet it says that there are 144,000 from the tribes of Israel…

these are Jewish people…

so somehow in the midst of the tribulation there will be 144,000 Jewish people who give their lives to Jesus… who decide to follow Jesus… and the Bible says that they will be protected during this calamity

in the Old Testament God said there will always be a remnant of true believers among the Jewish people and here is the fulfillment of that…

here in the very end is the remnant… 144,000 sealed by God…

verse nine…. 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number,

so it's way beyond 144,000… this is a number no one could count

from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, 

so now John sees a vision of people beyond the hundred forty-four thousand… because they're from every tribe… every nation… and they're before God worshipping…

if you look at verse 13 and we find out who those people are

verse 13 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”

So the elders asking John… and John responds in verse 14 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

this seems like these are people that are in the tribulation… who after they begin to see some of the events they realize that Bible really is true…

this whole revelation thing… it really is how the world's gonna end…

and so these people believe in Christ… [pause]

now that's what it appears to be… these people are saved during that time… because you read on in verse 14 it says They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “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 shelter them with his presence. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

remember if they were in the Tribulation Period they would experience the famine and so he says They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them, … which is another one of the curses we will get too…

nor any scorching heat

verse 17… 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

so these are the people who endured some of that tribulation and seems like at the end you get a picture of them before God… and God wipes every tear from their eyes… [pause]

chapter 8 verse 1 and here is the seventh seal…. remember Jesus has been opening the scroll and we've seen so many things happen… now He finally gets to the very end… the seventh seal…

chapter 8 verse 1 1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

He opens the Seventh Seal and everything is totally quiet for half an hour

? why is it quiet now for half an hour ? [pause]

Jesus has been opening this scroll and the things are pretty amazing… it's pretty devastating… but when he opens the final part of it and everyone gets to kind of see what's there…

it is so awesome… so terrifying… [pause]

and up until then everybody's been worshipping… and then he opens the seventh seal…

and this is horrifying what John's about to see [pause]

verse two 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

? okay so what is so terrifying? [pause]

seven angels lined up and each one of them has a trumpet… and then look what happens in verse seven

verse 7…. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

so the first angel blows his trumpet and John says I saw a mix of hail… fire… and blood… it's just some sort of mixture coming down to the earth that burns up a third of the vegetation…

then he says in verse eight…  8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

so the second angel blows his trumpet and John says I see like this huge mountain that's just on fire and it just looks like it falls into the ocean… and it turns the ocean into blood… he says it's a third of the ocean…

so maybe it’s the Pacific Ocean or something like that…

just see this huge thing… just come down on it… and destroy the whole ocean

all the animals there destroyed… anyone that was on a boat that was out there is destroyed… it's all gone… [pause]

then he goes on in verse 10… 10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

so the third angel blows his trumpet… a star falls on the rivers… and the streams and all the drinking water… and turns a third of all the water bitter so that it if anyone drinks they would die from it… [pause]

then verse 12… 12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, 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 their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

So with the fourth one… something catastrophic is happening now… a third of the Sun is blacked out… and a third of the moon is blacked out…

and it kind of has an effect on the Stars because a third of those are blacked out [pause]

you know how right now the world is just working so perfectly… as far as the earth and how it spins around the Sun and stars and everything else…  it’s just amazing…

he says it's not gonna be like that… God is going to pour out His wrath on the creation…

and the Sun now is turning black… the moon is turning black… some of the stars are gone now… [pause]

and then verse 13 13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

after those four trumpets he sees an eagle flying by yelling “wait until you see the last three… you thought this was bad… wait till you see what happens next” [pause]

if you’ll turn to Revelation 9 verse 1… 1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

? what is the abyss ? [pause]

the abyss is like a dungeon in the depths of Hell… where demons have been bound up…

and it says that this star is given the key to open it up…

when you hear the word star in Scripture sometimes it refers to the stars in the sky… but sometimes the word star can also refer to angels or angelic beings

in this case I believe this is referring to an angelic being… because he's given a key and it doesn’t seem reasonable that a star in the universe would be given a key…

so I think this is an angelic being…

and this appears to be Satan coming down… the fallen angel coming down… and he unlocks this dungeon in Hell… [pause]

and in verse 3 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

So there are these crazy demonic locusts like creatures that are released and they go around and they sting mankind… but not people who've been sealed by the seal of God… but everyone else…

and it tortures them for five months straight… but they can't die… they just have to endure the pain…

verse 13 13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.

Twice ten thousand times ten thousand is 200 million

and the geographical location… he says at the river Euphrates… there have been these four demonic type angels who were bound there…

and at this point God releases them and says okay now you can release this army that's been bound up at the river Euphrates…

and where is that… that's over by Asia… it runs through Iraq, I drove along the Euphrates as a Marine… it begins in Turkey, runs through Syria, then Iraq, then it joins the Tigris and empties into the Persian Gulf just north of Kuwait… so that’s where the Euphrates is- kinda cuts through the middle of the middle East

and it says at that point these angels released the army to go out and kill a third of the world… [pause]

so much of the world's already dead… at this point half of mankind is already dead… and this army goes and wipes out a third of the people that are still alive [pause]

question… ? is this a demonic army or are these actual people ? [pause]

I believe it's actual people… You can take it literally as 200 million mounted troops…

In 1988, at the very end of the Cold War, Time magazine published an article claiming that the Chinese army was over 200 million…

So whether or not that number was exactly correct, the point is it’s possible…

And we see the times we are in now with Russia and Ukraine, North Korea, Iran, China, and Venezuela and so many other areas in the world- it’s not out of possibility for a country like China or Russia to start reassembling a Cold War level army… [pause]

If you’ll look down at verse 20… 20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

This is amazing… so the people that are left on the earth… they still don't get it… they still refuse to bow down to God… instead they go back to their sin…

and if you don’t think this is possible just look at the arrogance of man in the day and age in which we live…

? what happens when something horrible happens? [pause]

? they come before God and humble themselves? [pause]

no- we rarely see that…

what you more often see from non Christians- from the world… the response is… “God… ? how could you let that happen?”

you hear… “? how can there be a loving God in heaven if that just happened?” [pause]

? what do you think is gonna happen when the world is starting to get destroyed? [pause]

? What are people going to do? [pause]

look up in heaven and say okay God now I humble myself…

No…

they are going to say “God if you just killed my whole family… I'm not going to worship you… and they'll shake their fist at God… and they'll go right back to their sin…

they'll say there must not be a God if all this stuff is happening… not realizing this is all written… it was going to happen…” [pause]

if you’ll turn to chapter 10… chapter 10… verse 1…

verse 1 I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven… verse 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand… and verse 3… 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”

John hears these thunderous voices…. And John is about to write because he was told write everything down… but a voice from heaven says no…

I don't want you to write this down… so what these guys just said is a mystery…

Verse 9…  9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

John goes to the angel and says “hey can I have that little scroll”… the angel says “alright… but you got to eat it” and it says that John eats this little scroll and it's sweet in his mouth but in his stomach it turns sour or bitter…

I believe this little scroll… it seems to just symbolize the bigger scroll and everything that's going on…

because it's like there's a sweetness to all of it as you realize this is when Christ is coming… and I'm so sick of sin and all the persecution on this earth…

for Christians it's realizing finally Christ is going to take over the world…

this is awesome… but the more you read…

it kind of makes you sick to your stomach too… because you realize the devastation that's gonna take place [pause]

and it’s just like “wow… this is really horrible” [pause]

and so I think that little scroll just represents the bigger scroll…

where John's saying man this is good stuff… and yet it's horrible stuff at the same time [pause]

and if you can turn to chapter 11… and chapter 11 verse 3… 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

what's 1,260 days… three and a half years…

remember how we just talked about how it's a seven year period broken up into these three and a half year periods…

and the reason why it's 1,260 is because the Hebrew calendar has 360 days in it… so if you calculate it all 1260 days it's three and a half years…

some people think this is during the first half of the tribulation… when there is peace… and during that first part there are these two witnesses on the earth… and these two witnesses are gonna be telling people about the truth… they're witnesses for God… and 144,000 Jews come to believe… possibly it's through these two witnesses…. [pause]

so I think this is during the second half of the tribulation and base that off of they bring in the return of Christ, it seems like there is no gap, the two witnesses are taken to heaven and Christ comes… [pause]

If you can look at verse five… it talks about these witnesses… if anyone tries to harm them fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies…

so these are unique people… God gives them this power and John's just describing this… [pause]

John says this is what it looked like… it's like they'd open their mouths and fire comes out and just destroyed anyone that tried to harm them… [pause]

and look at verse seven….  7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

that's Jerusalem… so Satan's given power to kill these two witnesses…

and look at verse nine…  for three and a half days men from every peoples… tribes… languages… and nations will gaze on their bodies and refuse them a burial they just leave these two witnesses dead on the street… and it says everyone in the world will see them… from every nation….

? how can we accomplish that ? [pause]

Television… internet streaming services…

This is stuff that can only be happening now… this couldn’t have happened 100 years ago…

everyone in the world is seeing these two lying on the street…

and then look at verse 10 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.

okay the world gets so arrogant they're gonna say look we killed the two witnesses…

to the world these guys were bad, these guys were evil to the world because these witnesses stood against the Antichrist… and yet it was the Antichrist who actually was the evil one [pause]

and the world is now celebrating over them to the point where they're sending each other gifts…

this is like a really twisted and evil Christmas morning gift exchange… that’s what this is like…

this is calling that which is good to be evil… and calling that which is evil to be good… and creating a world-wide holiday where people buy each other gifts because their minds are so twisted and distorted- they can’t tell right from wrong anymore [pause]

and look at verse 11 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

Obviously great fear fell on the world- your party is over…

they're back to life and God takes them into heaven and there's an earthquake

if you can look at verse 15…  the seventh angel sounded his trumpet… verse 15… 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

so with the seventh trumpet comes the actual return of Jesus Christ… this is signifying the very end when Jesus Christ actually returns

now after the plagues… after the wrath… after all that stuff… Jesus Christ returns… [pause]

chapters 12 and 13 show the devil and his role in the Tribulation Period

to understand chapter 12 you have to know that there are three main characters… there is the woman… there is the child… and there is the dragon

the woman represents the nation of Israel

the child represents Jesus Christ

and the dragon represents Satan [pause]

you'll see that it's clarified as you read the narrative… but when you read it on your own… just so you know… when you read about the woman… the child… and the dragon that's who they are

if you look at verse 5 of chapter 12… 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,

? who is she ?  [pause]

Israel gave birth to a son… ? who was the son? Jesus [pause]

a male child who will rule all the nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God and to his throne,

so that is Jesus Christ who was born out of the nation Israel

if you can look at verse 6 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

? what is 1260 days ? [pause]

three-and-a-half years

so somehow Israel… remember the 144,000 that are sealed… they're protected by God… part of their protection is they were taken to this place in the desert or someplace where they're hidden…

so they don't experience a lot of this wrath that the rest of the world is facing… they are hidden… they're protected for 1260 days…

verse seven and there was war in heaven…

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

So there is this war… and it’s not God Himself who is fighting Satan…

It’s the high Arch-angel Michael is fighting against Satan… and you see Satan losing and being thrown down to the earth along with the angels that were following Satan… [pause]

Poll Results

If you can turn to chapter 13… Satan has now been hurled onto the earth in chapter 13… and we see a little bit of what he does during the Tribulation Period…

chapter 13 verse 1 1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea,

John is standing on this seashore and he sees this beast… Satan… coming out of the ocean…

Now this beast is the Antichrist… or this is that ruler that first brings peace to the earth from the first seal referring to this one world ruler…

there's gonna come a day when we're gonna work toward a one-world government…

we're already working toward it… you know the world has been pursuing that for a while… [pause]

as a people… this one world government at some point will be under the reign of this guy the Antichrist… or what he's referred to here is the beast [pause]

if you look at verse five this beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months

he opened his mouth to blaspheme God… and to slander God and God’s dwelling place and those who live in heaven…

in verse 7 he was given authority to make war against the Saints and to conquer them and he was given authority over every tribe… people… language… and nation

so here's a guy who is obviously against God and yet he becomes a world ruler… and all the nations begin to follow him…

but not only do they begin to follow him… verse 11 says 11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth…. so this is a different person…

this is not the first beast… a second person is gonna come as a person we call a false prophet…

and verse 12 he exercised all the authority of the first beast in its presence or on it’s behalf… and he made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast

so it's not enough that this guy is ruling the world… the second guy comes along and tells people you need to worship this ruler

verse 14 tells us how he gets people to worship the first beat… verse 14… by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

? how does this second person get everyone to worship the first guy?

he does miraculous signs… he creates like a statue or some sort of image of the first guy… and the statue to begins to speak…

imagine if some guy comes along and he is able to create these statues and then makes these statues speak… then it begins to call fire from heaven and all these different types of signs… you go “okay this is not a normal human being”

and he is telling me to worship this guy… ok I'll worship him…

you can see how the whole world begins to… because that could happen if someone that powerful was here on the earth…

this is something we've never seen before… people would worship Him… not only that but the Beast says “look you have to take my mark upon you… and if you don't take my mark I'm not gonna allow you to buy or sell…”

and remember it's a one world economy now…

it's under one ruler and we're very close to this… we are close toward this cashless society… our government is researching the possibilities of moving towards digital currency… [pause]

That is different then crypto- what digital currency means is there is no more cash- whatever cash you have- I guess the government would ask you to turn it in and they would give you credits, so if you had 7,500 dollars in a safe you turn that in and now its just a digital thing- those dollar bills become worthless…

you wouldn’t be able to use them anymore- you would be stuck with digital currency only…

And even before COVID people really didn’t use cash much anymore… we use credit cards and when you swipe a credit card they know everything about you… I think with digital currency same thing- you would not be able to buy anything at all without a digital transaction… which means somewhere information is stored… and if desired… the government could know every purchase you had ever made… [pause]

Even things like giving money to a friend- with digital only the government would be able to know that…

and by the way they would want to know that so they could tax it…

And this mark… just common sense… it would seem to work well with a digital currency…

And I can’t know if digital currency will be what leads to the mark… but the technology is already there to accomplish it… [pause]

So not only do we have the technology to do this… people are becoming more and more open to the idea of being chipped…

And the whole idea of putting this mark on the hand or the forehead… in cold climates those are the two parts of the body that are most easily exposed

when it's freezing out… forehead you don’t even have to take your glove off, just scan the person… it's right there…

so that's the whole idea of this mark… [pause]

and you can't buy or sell… so if you want to feed your family and you don't have the mark of the beast…

the cashier is going to say “sorry… you can't do it… we don't accept cash… we don't accept credit cards… you know we're in this cashless society…”

so that's what it appears that we are heading toward… this one-world government… [pause]

and it appears like we're heading toward a one-world religion… as so many religions of the world are coming together and saying “you know what… we all believe in the same God right” [pause]

and so that's what this false prophet is getting everyone to worship…

the same god (little g god)…

the false prophet is going to get the world to say “hey all religions are the same- we are just worshipping the same god in different ways… and

he will be able to unify the world to worship this god that the world has invented, this god of universalism”

and then he has the world worshiping that invented univeralism god and then he will have the world transfer that worship to this beast… [pause]

so you understand how we're heading towards that right now… that is what Satan is trying to do Revelation 13… [pause]

if you can turn to chapter 14… verse 1… 1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

? who's the lamb? [pause]

Jesus

he says this is the very end… now he's going towards the very end of time… it is said that Jesus Christ will come back and he will stand on mountains…

this is a literal place right outside of Jerusalem… there is a mountain range around Jerusalem

so he's gonna stand on this mountain in this great earthquake… there's gonna be this great slaughter… and that's describing in chapter 14 verse 1 and verse 6 it says this…

6 Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

so the first angel says worship the true God… and the second angel says Babylon the great has fallen…

Babylon the Great is just another name for this end-time Kingdom that the Antichrist leads… this one-world government… this one-world religion… this is referred to as Babylon the Great…

and the second angel is saying this Antichrist time of reign is over… then it's God's turn…

and then in verse 9 it says… 9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

so this is important… this is why we need to understand this stuff and proclaim truth…

the Bible says if you take that mark that's automatic condemnation on you and you'll be tormented day and night forever and ever… not temporarily… not till you die… it's eternal torment for those who have taken the mark [pause]

there are scholars on both ends of when the rapture happens… many Godly men and women and many knowledgeable theologians believe that all the believers will be taken out of the earth before this Tribulation Period

but there are also a lot of great scholars who do not believe that… and

I don’t know if there is a majority… it's seems pretty split…

Joe Schimmel who I think is the best expert in Revelation I know of is post-trib… Voddie Baucham and John MacArthur have opposing views…

and so there are a lot of people who believe Christians will be around for the whole Tribulation Period [pause]

the “so what” there is…

Either way we need to be prepared…

If the rature happens right now that you are a believer and you will be out of here with the rest of the saints… you’re going with Jesus…

If the rapture happens during or after tribulation…

You have to be prepared ahead of time… I'm not going for it…

A strong Christian needs to have strong convictions and you need to be grounded and rooted in truth and you need to stand firm that there's one way to heaven…

and that is through Jesus Christ… and that's what Scripture teaches and I got a stick with these convictions… and I'm going to stick with these convictions even it means it costs me my life… and the life of my family…

because the Bible says if I take that mark I'm tormented forever… so I'll go through whatever torment I need to here on this earth…

it's all worth it rather than taking the mark and being tormented for eternity [pause]

so if you’ll turn to chapter 15 and verse 1 1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

So here he says now there are seven last plagues…

at the end of chapter 14 it talks about the last trumpet…

so remember there were seven seals… he unrolled them… then there were the seven angels with the trumpets…

now he's saying it's the very very end of it all… and now we see seven angels with bowls… and each time one of them pours out a bowl it's like pouring out wrath upon the earth… [pause]

Joe Schimmel believes that Christians will be around for the persecution but will not suffer through the wrath, which is this section [pause]

So this pouring out wrath upon the earth… and we don’t know how long each of these pouring of the bowls is… it could be a long time or could be a short time… I don’t think we have a way of knowing

If you will turn to chapter 16 starting verse 2… 2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

Verse 3… 3The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

Verse 4… 4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

Verse 8… 8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

This is really sad… it reminds me of Romans and how mans heart can be hardened to a point where you’re just given over to sin… where you have gone too far

and if you don’t want God… He will let you go off and destroy yourself

can you picture all this devastation happening… the earth and now the Sun is scorching everyone with intense heat to where you're burning up…

And here these people are, they have seen all this great devastation… and despite all the destruction they have seen… instead of repenting they look at God and say “God I can't believe you would do this to your creation… you are not allowed to do this” and God says “watch me”

verse 10 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

verse 12 12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, 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, three unclean spirits like frogs.

so the sixth angel pours his bowl on the Euphrates rives… and remember we talked about the Euphrates and how that army of 200 million would come from there…. some would say that this is relating to that same incident…. Some people believe that it's two separate incidents…

we don't know… but somehow he releases these armies of the world and these spirits come out and it says that these spirits go around to all of the nations and they tell all the nations to come to this one place for this great final battle… this great final war…

and you read about that in verse 16… The NIV translation has it they gathered the kings together… the ESV reads 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

This is the great battle of Armageddon… this is it…

all the nations are gathered in this place… and it's a literal place… you can go there now…  this is the valley of Megiddo… its massive…

Napoleon said this is the greatest battle ground on this earth…

it is this huge open plain where all these people come to… for some sort of war…

we don't understand the cause of it yet… maybe they're all going against Israel… maybe they're fighting with each other…

all we know is that in the midst of this war Jesus Christ returns and everyone begins to try to fight against Jesus Christ…

and that is when God just decides I'm killing them all… He wipes them all out… [pause]

Chapter 14 talks about this angel taking a sickle and just slashing everyone… it talks about this tremendous bloodbath where it says it goes on for 200 miles… just blood everywhere… all these people are slaughtered who try to fight against God…

and that's what is described

in verse 17 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings,3 peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.

when Jesus Christ returns there on Mount Zion… it says that when he steps foot on that on that mount… the city's just gonna divide… it’s gonna crack into three parts…

this tremendous earthquake… it's all the armies are there… and God destroys them all… and this is true… this bloodbath… and that's the way it all ends… [pause]

if you’ll turn to chapter 17 verse 1 1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

       The point here is “look what happens to the great prosititute”

? who is the great prostitute? [pause]

this refers to this whole Antichrist kingdom…

again we know that because look at verse five… it says 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.”

Babylon the Great… again that was a world system… that one world government… one world religion… headed up by the Antichrist…

the Bible says look at how it falls… it is just destroyed… it calls it the mother of prostitutes…

? why is that? 

it's because the church is the Bride of Christ… we who believe in Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone for salvation… the Bible refers to us over and over again as the Bride of Christ…

we are His bride… we are the ones that are going to get involved in this marriage to Jesus Christ in that last day…

but this one world religion that everyone else joins into… it's a prostitute… you don't get involved with this great prostitute…

and that's why strong convictions are important because it doesn’t matter how popular it gets when everyone in the world is saying “all religions are the same… it doesn’t matter if your Hindu, Buddist, Muslim, Chrisitian… its all the same God… why are you Christians so intolerant”

and when the popular thing to do is just go with universalism… we don’t go along with what’s popular…

that is the great prostitute that will cause all sorts of people to follow it…

but we are the Bride of Christ and we follow Christ because one day it says that great prostitute is going to fall…

that's why we don't get involved in this one world government and why we don’t take the mark… because we know the end… it's gonna fall…

that's why we don't take part in this one-world religion… we know it's all going to fall…

the Bible has told us the end… [pause]

if you’ll turn to chapter 18 and look at verse 8 8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

? how long is it gonna take for this system that everyone thinks is invincible… that’s promising world peace… and of course you take the mark… and we've got one religion… no more battling between all these different faiths…. everyone believes in the same God…

that seems pretty powerful and

yet the Bible says… in one day… it's over

God's gonna destroy it… don't fall for it [pause]

chapter 19 after the destruction of everything… if you’ll turn to chapter 19 verse 1… 1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” 3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

So in the end he hears heaven now cheering… roaring… it's over… this world system that sucked so many people into it… God has destroyed it… and now it is His time to reign…

the rest of the chapter talks about Christ…  it gives a picture of Him riding on this white horse… [pause]

verse 11 of chapter 19 11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule3 them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

17Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. [pause]

If you’ll turn to chapter 20 verse 1 it says 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

okay so now Christ has returned… He's here on earth and He's got all these Saints with Him… and it says that Satan now is bound… and an angel comes down… he binds the dragon with a chain and throws him in this pit…

the same pit that Satan had the key to… now the angel had the key… and he locks Satan in this pit for a thousand years…

then look at verse four… 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

I believe this thousand years are literal… there are people who believe that it isn't literal…

To me… if it makes sense literally… then I just accept it… and to me this makes sense literally… [pause]

Christ returns and there's actually a reign of Him here on this earth for a thousand years…

and John said some of those people who were martyred… who were beheaded… they reign with Christ for that thousand years…

Christ sets up a kingdom here on earth for a thousand years…

and Satan is bound… some people say we're actually in that period…

I think that's impossible… because Satan is alive and well here on the earth…

in fact the Bible warns us to beware of him… he's like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour… and during this period Satan is bound… so he's not doing anything

Christ rules the earth… righteousness reigns… it's what the earth was intended to be….

verse seven when the thousand years are over Satan will be released from his prison… will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth… 

so after a thousand years Satan gets a little breath of life here on the earth but tried to deceive people again… and isn't it amazing that he is successful in deceiving people even after a thousand years of Christ reigning on the earth

it shows us that even if Satan was not here… the depravity of man… [pause]

people will still not want to worship God… and at the end Satan is still able to deceive people… but what happens to those people…

verse 10 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

This is the place where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown in to… they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever

verse 14 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

again this is the lake of fire… Satan's doom… that's where he is thrown… that's where the Beast… the false prophet were thrown… he says anyone whose name was not written in the book of life… he is thrown there as well…

and it says that they are tormented day and night forever and ever…

some try to teach that hell… this means annihilation… you go there and you just cease to exist… but that’s not what Scripture teaches… [pause]

Scripture teaches hell is a place that is far worse than that… people are actually tormented there day and night forever and ever… [pause]

then if you can turn to chapter 21 verse 1 it says 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

this is where it gets real good… [pause]

look at verse three 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

now after all of that comes the eternal state where now there's a new heaven and a new earth…

where we are with God forever…

this is how it ends for those who believe…

we're with God forever… others are in the lake of fire to be tormented forever…  we are with God where there's no more pain… no more weeping… no more crying… it's done…

God has finished His story…

He is finished with His work on this first earth

it is over with… we are with God to celebrate for all of eternity… that's how the story ends

verses 22-27 22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. [pause]

If you can turn to chapter 22 … if you can turn to chapter 22… verse 1… 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

And if you’ll look down to verse 10…10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

he says you know what… if you're doing wrong just keep doing wrong…

? what does he mean by that? [pause]

he means if you can read through this whole book of Revelation and after the end of all of that you still decide no big deal… I'll go back to my sin… [pause] you're gonna keep sinning till the end of time… this is a scary verse… [pause]

if you can read all the warnings of Revelation and that does not literally scare the hell out of you to get your life together and start walking with God…

if that does not cause you to walk with God and walk away from your sin… he says nothing's gonna do it… [pause]

I just want to encourage you… don’t fight God, don’t resist Him… just worship Him… and this verse ends telling us to worship Him… [pause]

And keep worshiping God no matter how hard it gets… [pause]

Jesus tells us to repent from our sins, to turn away from our Adam nature and to trust in Him and turn to Him and live for Him [pause]

Matthew 4:17 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

In John Jesus promised us that anyone who comes to Him he will never be casts out- John 6:37 whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

                 So you can have assurance and you can have it right now- you repent from your sins… from your old way of living… and

            you talk to Jesus and you tell him your sorry for your sins and that you trust in Him for eternal life, that you believe He is God who was crucified for our sins and He died, and on the third day He rose again, and that He is now living… seated at the right hand of God the Father…

                And you go from living for this world… this system… things of the flesh… things of the temporary… and you are transformed… and it’s a progression… [pause]

              At the moment you trust in Christ you are eternally secure… that’s justification…

              the rest of your life is your Christian race, that’s sanctification and that’s a progressive walk becoming more and more Christlike as the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and convicts you of sin and leads you in the ways you should go…

               and then what we are reading about here at the end of Revelation, this is where you will spend your glorification…

               which is after you die you go to be with the Lord and finally all sin is removed… and

              there you will finally be able to worship God fully [pause]

                And finally you will be able to love God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind because every sinful desire and thought and action- it will all be gone- [pause]

         If you’ll look at verse 12, Revelation 22- we will just read to the end- the very end of the Bible here…

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

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