End of Days Series

Laying Groundwork for the Last Days

As we are going through the book of revelation you need to understand the layout of the Book. There is a fair amount os symbolism in it, which has lead many to avoid it, or mock those who read it. But there is a mystery to crack, there are things that you need to know in the Book of Revelation.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES IN REVELATION

1. The first obstacle to overcome is the Symbolism of Revelation

When you understand the symbol and what it represents then there is a literal interpretation.

The thing about symbolism is that when you understand the symbol and what it represents then there is a literal interpretation. Great and precious treasures that will sustain, correct and guide you.

2. The Second obstacle is understanding the way Revelation is written

Revelation is not written chronologically or linear, but it written in such a way as to capture a panoramic view of the last days.

Another problem that people face when reading the book of Revelation is you can’t read it like every other book that is written. How is every other book written? Linear, Chronological, not so with the book of Revelation, it is chalked full of symbolism and hyperbole but it also is not written chronologically. A better way to understand it is that it is written in a panoramic view.

Now you understand the word panoramic…

Like the panoramic setting on your phones camera. The panoramic setting is that it catches a very wide angle. Like when you set the panoramic setting on your camera, it tells you ok start here and you have to turn a full half circle. MOVE BODY ( Acting like you are taking shots).

So the book of Revelation is not linear…. Its not chronological, that is there isn’t one natural progression. No the book of Revelation is panoramic. It deals with the things that are, and the things that will be. So some of the story has happened in the past, some thing are true for the present and most other things are yet to come.

So let me give you a little example, The main bbody of the book of Revelation deals with the seven year tribulation. If you don’t know what that means, well it is the finals seven years of earth before Jesus returns. It was prophesied by Daniel, yeah remember that book, and it is seven years of chaos. It will be unlike anything the word has ever seen. And even the seven years of tribulation are divided into two segments. The middle of the seven years, the last 3.5 years is known as the Great Tribulation.

During this 7 year Tribulation, there are 3 sets of judgments.

Seven Seals

Seven Trumpets

Seven Bowls of Wrath

With each judgment we get a fuller picture with more details of the same story.

It would be like me telling you a story about the time I went to jail. And the first time I only hit the highlights. But later that night you hear me tell the same story. But this time I add in some details.

You find out yes I went to jail, but it was because my car died a mile from the jail and the officer was gracious enough to bring me to the jailhouse to use the phone. And then later you hear me tell the story a third time. And you find out the reason my car went dead, was because I was a t the grocery store earlier in the day, and I witnessed a child abduction and secretly followed the kidnapper back to his hideout and I then kicked the door in rescued the child and disabled one of te robbers to only find he had a whole crew, so i got the kid into the car and we had a high speed chase down Broadway and my car had died because they shot the engine block, but when they saw the officers they hightailed it out f there.

Thats

So for instance when we get to the seven seals, its going to sound bad like there is really nothing left that can be done. But it is panoramic. When we get to the seven trumpets, it doesn’t kick end on the tail end of the seals, no it goes back and begins to fill in more information, and the same thing with the bowls, it is filling us in with even more detail of the seven year tribulation. Also Daniel will fill us in with details about that time

3. The third obstacle, numerology.

In The Book of Revelation numbers have meaning!

The last thing that throws people off is the numerology of the book of Revelation. Numbers matter to God. So for instance we just read about three different judgments, the seals, the trumpets and the bowls… Now since there are three different kinds… well 3 represents the Divine nature f God. God is Father, son and Holy Spirit. Here in a minute we will read about angels that go around crying holy, holy, holy, Holy is the Father Holy is the Son and Holy is the Spirit. There are 3 different forms of judgement but there are 7 in each. Well 7 is the number for God. Mathmaticials will tell you that seven is a perfect number. There are seven colors in a rainbow. There are seven days in a week. There are 7 notes in a diatonic scale.

Seven represents the perfect spiritual nature of God

The Number 6 has significance. Six is the number of Man, Man was created on the sixth day. In Revelation we will read about a coming day when people will be forced to take the mark of the Beast. And that number is 666. 6 the number of man, 3 the number of the deity of God. What is the mark, will will be man trying to make himself God. They will be forced to reject Jesus and worship the Anti Christ.

You say that is crazy talk, aint nobody going o get those? Well let me tell you of some things that have come to the forefront with this current crisis of Covid 19.

Right now Bill Gates has developed a Quantum dot Digital tattoo, that he wants to implant inside of everyone who is vaccinated.

According to BioHackInfo.Com: “The quantum-dot tattoos involve applying dissolvable sugar-based microneedles that contain a vaccine and fluorescent copper-based ‘quantum dots’ embedded inside biocompatible, micron-scale capsules. After the microneedles dissolve under the skin, they leave the encapsulated quantum dots whose patterns can be read to identify the vaccine that was administered.”

Gates is simultaneously working on the ID2020 Certification Mark, which according to pymnts.com utilizes “immunization to serve as a platform for digital identity”.

Let me tell you what another Billionaire is doing. Elon Musk the Ceo of tesla and Space X is working on a project called Starlink. He has launched hundreds f satelites with a plan to have over 12 thousand satelites orbiting earth, and they are all interlinked to provide broadband internet to every part of the world.

The act of the matter is that for the last 100 years technology has been evolving at such a great rate that we do not think about the consequences of our actions. It’s the Law of Exponentiality. That things happen at such a fast rate that we get to a place where we can no longer control them.

So with those three obstacles in mind… Sybolism, The Panoramic Writing style and Numerology lets see if we can start cracking the code to some of these things

Question: What is the Great Tribulation? And why is there a Tribulation?

-It represents the final seven years on Earth before the Second Coming of Christ.

Have you ever just asked that question? Why this grand showdown, this great climax of sin and destruction. Why will God not only allow the suffering but will inflict a great deal of it on the world. Well there are a couple of explanations

THE Tribulation is a double edged sword

It is a time when Holy God pours out his wrath on sinful humanity in extraordinary ways

It is a time when God restores the Jewish People as a whole, and they will receive Jesus as Lord!

He loves His chosen people the Hebrews.

You see the Bible is distinctly Jewish, but the Old Testament revolved around the Jews. But in the New Testament you see something take place. And that is God expands his horizon of pours out His love, mercy and forgivenss through the life saving Gospel message of jesus Christ.But As I said it is deeply grounded in the Old Testament….

Understanding where we are in history

1. We are living in the era of Grace, the church age.

2. When Jesus Rose from the grave and established the church to carry the message of the Gospel, this is known as the age of grace. The good news is if you want grace you can have it. You want forgiveness it is yours for the taking. And God is freely pouring out his spirit on the Gentiles (Gentile stands for everyone that is not a Jew) Jews are the People of God. You need to understand the importance of the Jews/ They are chosen by God. Through them came the Prophets, the promises, the covenants and eventually the Savior.

Right now God’s focus is on the nations of the world

During the Tribulation Period, God’s focus will be on one nation, the Israeli nation.

Right Now the Nation of Israel is blinded by God. They are blinded because they rejected the Lord as their Messiah.

Romans 11:25–26 ESV

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

Do you see that until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in? That is speaking of the church age. But when the church age is up there will be a rapture of the church. and the Mystery of lawlessness will be in full power. When the salt and light of the earth the church is removed. Hell will have a Holiday. There will be mass panic, mass fear, and through these things a final ruler will arise out of the shadows. He will be Satans Superman and reak havoc on the Earth. There will be full rebellion, no wicked thing will be hindered. And through this chaos, God will turn his gaze back on his origical love, The Jew and rescue her from the devils grasp,

The Old Testament Prophesied this day of Tribulation.

a. It is known as the Time of Jacob’s troubles...

Jeremiah 30:7 ESV

7 Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.

This tribulation was prophesied thousands of years ago

Jacob was the grandson of Abraham. A man who had his name changed by God after God changed his heart. Do you know what Jacobs new name became.... Israel

You see Jacob was an obstinate man, stubborn to the core. A lier and a deceiver. Master manipulator. He always found himself in a bind and he always figured out how to get himself out. He was a man of the flesh. He was not spiritual at all. But God hemmed him in on all sides. You see God knows how to exhaust the flesh. He knows how to let you fight and strive and struggle till you come to the end of your rope, and then he shows you he was the onbe holding the rope. Jacob wrestled with Jacob all night until God touched his hip and put it out of socket. And that night God changed HIs name and changed his heart. That night Jacob got born again. And His name changed to Israel. Israel means one who wrestles with God

Jeremiah 30:10–11 ESV

10 “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

It will be through the great struggle of the tribulation that jacob will once again become true Israel. When God removes the Blindness from their understanding and the hardness from their heart

During the Tribulation the nation of Israel will become the whipping boy for all of the Worlds problems.

Zechariah 12:3 ESV

3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.

Zechariah 12:10 ESV

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

God loves His church and God loves his chosen people the Jews

Now the question is will we be here when hell breaks loose?

Answer is I hope not. There is good reason to believe in the rapture of the Church

1. God has not destined us for wrath

1 Thessalonians 5:9 ESV

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Revelation 3:10 ESV

10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

The powers of Hell cannot flourish the way they want until the Church is removed

2 Thessalonians 2:1–2 ESV

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

2. The Thessalonians were shaken in mind because they thought they had missed the Lords return and they were already in the tribulation

2 Thessalonians 2:3–6 ESV

3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

There is coming a day when the Lord returns like a thief in the night and he will call his bride out of hear. Those that are heaven born are heaven bound and as we get through the revelation you will see that while the earth is languishing from the wrath f Heaven the sainst will be enjoying the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will be at a wedding.

Do you know Him. Do you love Him. I want to tell each one of you that I love Jesus and I am not ashamed of his name

3. The Church is not mentioned during the actual tribulation in Revelation