REVIEW
 
Well, today we will be concluding our series on the Book of Revelation entitled “The Revelation.” And I expect that you have learned things through this study that have imparted spiritual blessings to you! It has certainly ministered to me as we have focused on all the positive, good things that are found in this, the final Book of the Bible, and not on all the bad, confusing things.
 
So, let’s quickly review what we have covered thus far:

1. In part one (The Spirit of Prophecy), we began by seeing that this Book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, He is the Revelation of Revelations, and worthy of all the attention in this Book. Yes, Jesus Christ is the very spirit of prophecy.
2. In part two (The Golden Lampstands), we looked at what the Spirit is saying to the Church both of yesterday and today. We saw that even in the midst of the church’s need for correction and rebuke, He still sees us as golden and precious in His sight.
3. In part three (Come Up Hither), we saw how John was taken up to heaven to see the things which would take place. So, we learned that the things he saw were from a heavenly and spiritual perspective—the same perspective we should see current world events through. And like the apostle John, when we come up hither, we will see the throne of God, the worthy Lamb of God, etc. In short, we will see the glory and not the gory.
4. In part four (Woe or Wow?), we moved on to the description of the Great Tribulation, and what we learned was while there are certainly “Woes” involved in this time-period, to us there is a completely different perspective to be had. We get the “Wows” because God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, even though the birth pangs will be present, we are “expecting” the birth of something beautiful!
5. In part five (The Defeated Dragon), we looked at the utter demise of the dragon and his angels and studied how he has been disarmed, dethroned and defeated—past, present, and future! Therefore, now our salvation has come! Yes, today is the day of salvation. And we are to live from the perspective that we are ultimately victorious even though it might seem like the devil has the lead in these last days.
6. Then, in part six (Anti-Christ or Pro-Christ?), we looked the antichrist, his false prophet, and the mark of the beast that we’ve heard so much about in the Body of Christ. But we learned that the devil does not just have a counterfeit Christ; there is an anti-trinity—showing us that the devil counterfeits all that is God. And the reason why he copies God is because he knows God’s way works. And, church, we need to know His way works too, and begin following God’s pattern and structure also. We even saw that the mark of the beast was an idea stolen from God because we have three witnesses in Revelation that says that the people of God are sealed and marked too (See Revelation 7:3, 9:4 & 14:1). So, if we are marked and have His seal, then we need not fear being deceived in that day. Yes, we have God’s protection from deception as long as we handle the Truth and become intimately acquainted with Him.
7. Finally, last week in part seven (The Wages of Babylon), we looked at the rise & fall of Babylon—which is that one-world government that the antichrist will rule over in the last days. And we learned that since Babylon is going to be that city that Satan will establish, it will be founded on pride similarly to how the Babylon of old had that haughty king, Nebuchadnezzar, ruling over it. And we learned from that, this is what will lead to its fall—because what goes up, must come down. This illustrated to us how the wages of sin always produces death—which is why we see so much about God’s wrath, His judgment, etc. in Revelation. It’s not because He wants to do it; it’s because He has to do it. God is love, but He is also justice—and He has put the keys in our hand to choose life & blessing. But if one persists in serving sin, death is the only outcome possible. But we also learned that this is not just to be taken negatively. Sure, we will reap what we sow, but that works in our favor to. Yes, we can reap some awesome rewards from the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ if we will sow righteousness. Amen? 

 
So, as promised, today we will pick up in the final two chapters of this final Book of the Bible. And church, I want to let you know that what we will see today is God’s heart and the culmination of His will for His creation: It is to make all things new again!
 
Interestingly enough, when you read Revelation chapter 21 & 22, you see God essentially restoring what He created in Genesis chapters 1 & 2. In other words, He will recreate in the end what He created in the beginning. No, it will not look completely the same, having the name Eden, but it will be paradise restored, nonetheless. Glory to God!
 
But like the fact that these two chapters describe God restoring what He created in the beginning, as we look at these last two chapters that describe our hope as Christians, many of us will likely see that we haven’t clearly seen what our hope entails. In other words, we are going to see some things about the end of this world as we know it, and about the new one to come, that we might not have completely understood correctly. So, open up your heart and mind to believe what we will read today instead of only reading what we believe. Amen?
 
HOW OLD THINGS WILL PASS AWAY
 
Now we begin in Revelation 21:1 where the apostle John said, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.”
 
Now this is something that requires some explanation because I feel there are a lot of Christians that have not heard or understood what will ultimately take place with the heavens & earth at the end. I believe the apostle Peter sums it up best in his second epistle. Let’s look at it …
 
Peter begins by addressing the problems that scoffers either were or would be making, questioning the promise of Jesus’ Second Coming. Then he says in Second Peter 3:5-7 – “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
 
So, Peter compares how the heavens and the earth, which were created by the Word of God and were eventually flooded in the days of Noah, are being reserved now in our generation, not for water, but for fire.
 
You see, this is why we need to read our Bibles and believe what we are reading. Why? It’s because the world would have you believe that “mother earth” is in danger through things like global warming, etc. No, we don’t have to worry about global warming; the world ought to be worrying about global melting because that’s what the Bible tells us is going destroy this planet.
 
Peter goes on to explain this further in verse 10 – “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
 
So, the Day of the Lord—that Day when Jesus returns—will come unexpectantly like a thief in the night. It won’t be something we will see coming through a telescope and will be able to get ready for. No, this passing away of the heavens will sneak up on us unexpectantly—and as Peter says, “with a great noise.” So, we don’t need to have a big bang theory. You know what a theory is, right? I like Brother Hagin’s definition— “A theory is a supposition based on the ignorance of the subject under discussion.” No, the difference is this great noise isn’t what will create all things, but what will destroy all things. Then Peter says that the elements (that is, all physical things from the atom to Adam) will melt with fervent heat to where the earth and all that is within it will burn up.
 
Church, this is what will most assuredly take place in the end. So, knowing this, what should our response be? Should we be dreading that day? NO! Peter goes on to say that it should simply change our conduct—to where we are living holy and godly lives (See verse 11). Then we are “looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of the Lord” (See verse 12). Yes, as he says in verse 13 in light of this “global meltdown”— “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” And not just look for it, but look forward to it, according to verse 14.
 
Church, this is indeed a Day we are to look forward to! It has been prophesied over and over of a new heavens and new earth where peace will be experienced, no more death, no more killing. Only paradise and promise will be experienced in those days!
 
THE HOPE OF HEAVEN ON EARTH
 
But here is another major misunderstanding in the Body of Christ: Where believers go when they leave their body now is not their permanent habitation. Yeah, that’s right, heaven is not our eternal home; heaven will invade earth in that Day and that is where we will make our eternal habitation, ruling and reigning with Christ on the new earth! Amen!
 
Let me illustrate it to you so you can be sure to understand it— One of our longtime members, Barb Scott, will be moving to Pennsylvania at the end of November and she will be traveling by air. Well, suppose her flight includes a short layover in Cincinnati, Ohio. That is a lot like what the heaven we now go to is like. It’s a lot like that layover in Cincinnati while our permanent destination is in Pennsylvania—that symbolizing the new earth that will be created in that Day. Now, of course, Pennsylvania is a far cry from paradise. Perhaps I should have used the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, or something like that. But the point is that the layover city is different than the destination city. However, the intermediate heaven and heaven on earth will not be much different as far as I know. They will both be grand and glorious and worth looking forward to!      
 
But one thing John made sure to describe to us about what he saw is the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to the earth (See Revelation 21:2). He described this city as a bride prepared for her husband. So, I don’t know if the wedding march will be being played when the holy city is coming down from heaven to the new earth, but what I can guarantee you is that the full measure of the same joy and excitement a husband experiences when he sees his bride coming down the aisle is going to be experienced in believers when they see the New Jerusalem descending to the earth. Hallelujah! 
 
Then in verses 3-8, John heard a loud voice describing several characteristics of this new heavenly Jerusalem that will reign over the new heavens and the new earth:
 
The first thing we are told is that the tabernacle of God would now be with men and He would dwell with them. Again, God’s original and eternal plan is to come down and make His home with us! He did it in the Garden of Eden when He would come down and fellowship with man in the cool of the day, and He will do it again when Paradise is reestablished in the Millennium. This is God’s perfect will—to abide with us forever! This is undisputedly the greatest benefit of heaven being brought to the earth.
 
Verse 4 goes on to say that He will wipe away every tear, that there shall be no more death, sorrow, crying or pain, because the former things have passed away. How awesome is that going to be!?! All of these things that were brought on by the curse of sin will die—that is, they will not be a part of this new everlasting kingdom. Glory!
 
Then in verse 5, John sees where God said, “Behold, I make all things new.” This is what the Lord did for us through Jesus as it pertains to our salvation, and it is what He will ultimately do with His creation and for His creation. Amen.
 
For example, in Second Corinthians 5:17— “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” That sounds an awful lot like what God said He would do with His original creation, doesn’t it? Yes, all of the old things (that is, the heavens and the earth that He created in the beginning) will pass away, and yes, all these things will become new! That’s the new heavens and the new earth—where righteousness dwells!
 
But the fact is, this process started in each of us the day we got saved: The old creation we were born into through the transgression of Adam passed away on the day we received Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. At that moment, you and I became a new creation where Jesus made all things new in our spirit. This left us in the position to hope in the same transformation to take place in our outward man that took place in our inward man. And this will be experienced around the same time that God makes all things new on this earth! Amen.
 
Then, in verses 6-8, we see the Lord saying, “It is done!” Again, similar to what Jesus said when He hung on the Cross— “It is finished”—when this process of restoration and redemption began. So, we can now see that it is finished and it is done! Amen.
 
THE NEW JERUSALEM AND OTHER CITIES
 
Now in the rest of Revelation chapter 21, we have this New Jerusalem described in glorious detail. And because we see John spend some nineteen verses describing what this city will look like, we need to know that this is a big part of what we have to look forward to. So, let’s look at a couple of distinguishing characteristics of this city that is to come …
 
The dimension laid out to us in Revelation 21:15-16 equates to it being 1,400 miles in length, width, and height! This would stretch north and south from Canada to Mexico, and east and west from Macon, GA to Colorado Springs. If each story were a generous 12 feet high, this would give it 600,000 stories! That means that it could be anywhere from 600,000 – 1,200,000 stories, depending on the height of each story. (See illustration).
 
Now a building’s greatest strength is its foundation, and the New Jerusalem was said to have not one foundation, but twelve, each decorated with a different gem (See Revelation 21:14, 19-20). John names twelve stones, eight of which correspond to the stones of the high priest’s breast-piece (See Exodus 28:17-20). Church, whatever God builds will last! (See Hebrews 11:8-10).
 
Then, in verses 22-27, we see the glory of this New Jerusalem—that there will be no temple in this Jerusalem because the Father and Son will be its temple, there will be no need for the sun and moon there to illuminate it because the Lamb is its light, and the city’s gates will always remain open.  
 
Now as we move on to Revelation chapter 22, we see where John was shown a pure river (clear as crystal) of the water of life that proceeded from the throne of God. He saw the tree of life there. And then in verse 3 we see something that should excite us— “no more curse.” Glory! And in verse 5 we see that we shall reign with the Lamb forever and ever!  
 
You see, this concept of reigning with Christ is another thing not understood by many. Sure, we see Jesus as coming to reign, Him being the King of kings. But who are the kings He is king of? We are! He is the firstfruit of many brethren—so we, as sons of God, are meant to rule with Him. Yes, rule over sin, the curse, and death now in this life, but over the New Earth that will be created. Amen!
 
Jesus taught us things that lead us to presume that many other cities will be on the New Earth—not just the New Jerusalem. We get this through Jesus’ stewardship parable, the Parable of the Minas, where He indicates we will be given cities to rule over as we faithfully steward what He’s given us in this life (see Luke 19:11-27).  It is for this reason that I believe the New Earth will contain many different cities just like we have now. There will be the capital city of the New Jerusalem, but other cities given to His faithful servants to reign over in His stead.
 
THE HOPE OF THE REVELATION
 
Now, in conclusion, I want us to end this series with the resounding message we see at the end of this Book. Again, it is not bad news, but rather good news! Let me say it this way— The Book of Revelation is a revelation of the culmination of the gospel! As a matter of fact, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the terminology used to describe His Second Coming in other Scriptures (See First Corinthians 1:7-8 & First Peter 1:7). Therefore, the Book we call “Revelation” is ultimately a prophecy of the Revelation of Jesus Christ at His Return. This is evidenced in Revelation chapter 22 …
 
In this—the last chapter of the Bible itself—Jesus repeats that He is coming quickly three times! (See verses 7, 12, 20) In fact, the very last admonition given to us by Jesus is— “Surely I am coming quickly.” So, this must be an extremely important truth for us to understand if the Lord wraps up the Holy Scriptures by giving us this admonition. Then, to establish its importance further, He repeated it three times (for in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established). Therefore, we ought to pay close attention to these final words of Jesus by taking an in depth look at them… 
 
In Revelation 22, Jesus said twice “Behold I am coming quickly” (vs.7&12). The word “behold” renders, “stop, look, and listen.” It is a word used to make the hearers stop and pay attention to what is to follow. When I was in elementary school, I had a physical education teacher who would use this phrase— “Stop, look, and listen” –repeatedly to get our attention. He would say this to make us quit our goofing off, calm down, and pay attention to what he was about to say. Likewise, Jesus used this word to get us to quit messing around in worldly, carnal things and to become sober and vigilant concerning the truth that was in His following statement. 
 
In verse 20, Jesus used the word “Surely.” You know, Jesus oftentimes, during His earthly ministry, would preface some of His statements with the words, “verily, verily.” This meant that what He was about to say was absolutely true, certain, and sure. Likewise, here in Revelation when He said “surely” He was saying the same thing— “This is absolutely true, certain, and sure.” So, what is it that He wants us to heed and pay attention to and also to be certain and convinced of? It is that He is coming quickly!
 
Now when we see the word “quickly” we could think something like— “Now if He said He was coming quickly a little less than 2,000 years ago was He telling the truth?” This is what the apostle Peter was saying in Second Peter 3:3-13 when he said that in the last days scoffers will come saying things like— “Where is the promise of His coming because things haven’t changed in so long?” Peter then points us back to understanding how God’s time operates in verse 8. He says, “… do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” So, you see, God does not have the same timetable as we do. In His mind, since the time Jesus was resurrected, it hasn’t even been two days yet. But one thing is for sure… that we are closer than we ever have been before and, therefore, we need to “watch” (i.e. to stay awake and alert spiritually) because He is coming quickly.   
 
Now I understand that people think they already know this. Sure, we’ve all heard that Jesus is coming back. But that doesn’t mean we truly know it.
 
I remembered hearing of a man’s experience of being taken to heaven and meeting Jesus. He said that Jesus told him to go back and tell people that He is coming. This man thought, “They already know that,” and Jesus, of course, knowing his thoughts, said to him, “No, they don’t! They don’t know that! Go and tell them!”
 
Church, let’s not let it be said of us that we don’t know that Jesus is coming back! Let’s let this truth impact our hearts to where we will live our lives accordingly! Behold, He is coming again quickly to make all things new! Be ready and watch! Amen.
 
THE PARABLE OF THE KING AND THE WIDOW
 
Now let me conclude this series by turning back to Revelation 22 and taking a look at the attitude that John described as saturating the church of the Lord Jesus Christ…
 
In verse 17, he says, “And the Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’…” and in verse 20 he wraps up his Revelation by saying— “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” I hope you can hear the earnest, heartfelt desire in Christ’s bride pleading for Him to “Come!” In these words, I hear a desperate bride who longs for her husband who is in a distant land to come back to her that they may be together forever. This is exactly the attitude the church should have today concerning Christ’s return.
 
Let me paint this picture in a parable. I’ll call this the Parable of the King and the widow …
 
There once was an extremely poor widow woman who had been sold into slavery. Her situation was hopeless, and death seemed to be her only destiny. Then an extremely wealthy king looked from afar and spotted her. His heart was moved with compassion and he decided to do something about her poverty and bondage. So, he traveled a great distance to come to her rescue. When he arrived, he sold all that He had in order to redeem her from certain death and to purchase her freedom. Moreover, he even took her to be his bride! She marveled at the amazing grace that he extended towards her! Not only had he delivered her from certain death, but he also offered her an abundant life in his kingdom. She had never known love like this before! Her obvious response was that she fell in love with her redeemer and fiancé.
 
Then the time came for Him to return to His kingdom and He had to leave her behind because it was not time for her to return with Him. He did not want to leave her comfortless, so he sent her a helper to help take care of her while He would be away. On top of that, he sent her many letters that expressed his love for her and contained his promise that he would again return to her. Although she was left in the same environment that He found her in, she now had His help and the hope of his promise to come again one day and take her back with Him so that where he was she would be also.  
 
She always kept this hope before her—anticipating Him to come back to her at any moment. She would read the love letters that He left for her in order to bring herself comfort and hope, yet she, along with the helper he had sent to her, would groan—earnestly desiring the King to return to them. In her longing, the Bride would cry out— “O, Lord, Come!”
 
You see, this beautifully explains what the heart-cry of every believer should be. Because of our love for the Lord, our hearts should be desirous to see Him. We should actually long for His return!
 
Church, this is the summarization of this, the Revelation of Jesus Christ—it is a promise that our King will return again, and He is bringing His kingdom with Him. All of us who serve Him now, will reign with Him then.
 
This is our hope! It is that the curse will die! His kingdom will come! A new heaven and a new earth will be created with a new capital city, the New Jerusalem. The Lord will dwell with us and there will be no more tears, only blessing! And we will enjoy what God intended in the beginning—heaven on earth. Even so, Come Lord Jesus, Come!  

REVIEW
 
Well, we are getting close to concluding our series on the Book of Revelation. Today’s message is what just might be the next to last message as we get into the rise & fall of Babylon, the Beast, and God’s judgment of the sin contained in the world.   
 
So, let’s quickly review what we have covered thus far:

1. In part one, we began by seeing that this Book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, He is the Revelation of Revelations, and worthy of all the attention in this Book. Yes, Jesus Christ is the very spirit of prophecy.
2. In part two, we looked at what the Spirit is saying to the Church both of yesterday and today. We saw that even in the midst of the church’s need for correction and rebuke, He still sees us as golden and precious in His sight.
3. In part three, we saw how John was taken up to heaven to see the things which would take place. So, we learned that the things he saw were from a heavenly and spiritual perspective—the same perspective we should see current world events through. And like the apostle John, when we come up hither, we will see the throne of God, the worthy Lamb of God, etc. In short, we will see the glory and not the gory.
4. In part four, we moved on to the description of the Great Tribulation, and what we learned was while there are certainly “Woes” involved in this time-period, to us there is a completely different perspective to be had. We get the “Wows” because God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, even though the birth pangs will be present, we are “expecting” the birth of something beautiful!
5. In part five, we looked at the utter demise of the dragon and his angels and studied how he has been disarmed, dethroned and defeated—past, present, and future! Therefore, now our salvation has come! Yes, today is the day of salvation. And we are to live from the perspective that we are ultimately victorious even though it might seem like the devil has the lead in these last days.
6. Then, last week, in part six, we looked the antichrist, his false prophet, and the mark of the beast that we’ve heard so much about in the Body of Christ. But we learned that the devil does not just have a counterfeit Christ; there is an anti-trinity—showing us that the devil counterfeits all that is God. And the reason why he copies God is because he knows God’s way works. And, church, we need to know His way works to, and begin following God’s pattern and structure too. We even saw that the mark of the beast was an idea stolen from God because we have three witnesses in Revelation that says that the people of God are sealed and marked too (See Revelation 7:3, 9:4 & 14:1). So, if we are marked and have His seal, then we need not fear being deceived in that day. Yes, we have God’s protection from deception as long as we handle the Truth and become intimately acquainted with Him.

 
A GOD OF JUDGMENT?
 
So, as we pick up in the end of Revelation chapter 14, we see the angel’s reaping of the earth’s harvest and the grapes of God’s wrath. Then in chapters 15 & 16, we see what is described as the Bowl Judgments, which are the last seven judgments to be poured out on the earth before the end will come.
 
Now the judgment and wrath of God is certainly something that we see saturating the Book of Revelation, isn’t it? It is inescapable—for Revelation’s pages are filled with plagues that are sent by Him and his anger towards the sin & unrighteousness that will be present on the earth in the last days.
 
In fact, this part of Revelation about judgment & plagues has actually been a tool used by many well-meaning evangelists to convert people and see them repent from their sins. Yes, Revelation is probably the greatest evangelical tool that has been used to see people saved.
 
However, I see a wrong mentality present in the way many people understand these truths about the wrath of God and His judgment. What I think many people don’t understand is that it is not His will to be angry and judge people. No, I don’t believe that is our Father’s heart at all!
 
Now is there a wrath towards sin? Yes! Is He going to judge the world? Absolutely! But the thing we need to understand is that this is not His heart. God never has desired to judge people. Yet He does it because He has to, not because He wants to. 
 
Now the chastening of the Lord is different. Back in their day, children were raised differently than the world raises its kids today. They would let their children go through difficult situations in order to see them grow up by making good, correct decisions through the adversity. But that is not what this is referring to. What we see here is a judgment of sin and unrighteousness which is by far the most common cause of God’s judgment people are exposed to.
 
In fact, when we study the Old Testament, we see the children of Israel being judged time and time again. But in the vast majority of all of these “judgments” we do not find them obeying God, following after righteousness, etc. No, the judgements came as a result of their failure to obey Him and heed His voice.
 
THE WAGES OF BABYLON
 
Which leads us to chapter 17 where we see another vision that the apostle John had—that being of a harlot riding on the back of a beast. Many see this as “Babylon”—a symbol of a religious system and/or government that will be carried and led by the antichrist. In other words, we are seeing here the reign of the antichrist in the Last Days through his one world government and religion.
 
Now as we’ve made the point of throughout this study, this does not mean that this is how this one world government will appear. I highly doubt it will be called “Babylon,” but what it symbolizes is that ancient city of Babylonia that the Bible speaks much of. So, “Babylon” represents the epitome of a godless society—which is obviously what the antichrist will reign over.   
 
But as we move on to chapter 18, we see the Fall of Babylon—which we learned will be close to the time that the antichrist and his false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire. This will be around that third strike called on the devil where he will be “out” for good. Amen!   
 
But what I want you to see from all of these judgments & plagues that will be poured out in these last days is that God’s wrath is not reserved for the righteous and holy. It is reserved for the devil, his angels, and all of those who serve him. In other words, hell is not reserved for servants of the Lord; it is reserved for the devil and his angels.
 
For example, in Matthew 25:31-46, when Jesus explained how the Son of Man will judge the nations, He described it as a shepherd dividing his sheep from the goats. And Jesus then clearly teaches us what the conversation will be in that day between the shepherd and his sheep/goats. But what I want you to notice is what He said to each one …
 
Notice first verse 34— “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” Then He goes on to describe why they were considered His sheep and were placed on His right hand. But notice that Jesus said they would “inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.” That means that God’s plan from the very beginning was for a kingdom to be prepared for mankind. But notice what Jesus said when addressing the goats that were gathered on His left hand. Verse 41 says, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Notice this judgement was not prepared for them, but for the devil and his angels. So, when we compare what Jesus said to both the sheep and the goats, we see that God Himself has prepared for us an everlasting kingdom. But the judgment of everlasting fire was not prepared for us. It was reserved for the devil and his angels. But based on this passage of Scripture, we see that the goats will be sent there nonetheless, even though the judgment, punishment, and wrath was never intended for them.     
 
You see, we learned earlier in this series from First Thessalonians 5:8 that you and I are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation. But that does not mean that you and I cannot experience the judgement that we were never appointed to. 
 
This is why I believe that question of “How can a good God ever send someone to hell?” is not based on correct thinking. The truth is things like judgment, punishment, hell, etc. are not what God appoints people to. People make choices that determines those things. This is why the Lord told His people in Deuteronomy 30:19-20— “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
 
So, the choice is ultimately ours! We are the one who choose life or death, blessing or cursing. It’s not God choosing that for us. Sure, He had to choose to make those things available for us to choose. But He will not force it on us. So, if someone persists in making poor choices, He will let them.
 
So, in a lot of ways, our lives are a product of the choices we make—the choice to do things God’s way or our own way. We know what Proverbs says, right? “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). So, this means that there are Scriptural principles that are laid out to us by the Lord, and by embracing them in our lives, we choose the life God has prepared for us. In other words, there are spiritual laws that will consistently produce the same results if we take heed to them.   
 
THE FALL OF PRIDE
 
Let’s look at a specific Biblical principle that illustrates what I am saying that’s along the lines of what we are looking at in Revelation today:
 
Revelation chapter 18 describes to us the “Fall” of Babylon, right? Well, I would venture to say that we all have heard the following statement from the Book of Proverbs— “Pride goes before a fall.” This comes from Proverbs 16:18 that says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
 
Now how many of you know that this “Babylon” that we are reading about—since it was a city built by the devil himself—was likely built on pride since the is a distinguishing characteristic of Satan. So, should it surprise us that Babylon will fall? Absolutely not! Why? It is because this is a law, a principle, and is just the way it works.
 
Like we say because of the law of gravity— “What goes up, must come down.” Likewise, a person or a people who lift themselves up, will come down. We need look no further than the Babylon of old to discover this:
 
We all know that the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, suffered from the sin of pride and lost his kingdom for it. No more than twelve months after being warned by Daniel the prophet of God's displeasure with him, Nebuchadnezzar looked out across the great city of Babylon and said in his pride, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30)
 
But noticed what happened in verses 31-32: “While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”
 
Then in verse 33 we see the fruit of his fall: “That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”
 
Now this example of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and subsequent fall is probably one of the most extreme examples of this principle we have the entire Bible. Of course, other than the fall of Lucifer as a result of his pride. But my point is—This is a law, and it’s not that God had planned for Nebuchadnezzar to be brought to this low place. In fact, we know it wasn’t because in the proceeding verses, we see that he humbled himself, gave glory to God, and apparently experienced a restoration in certain areas. He just simply fell as a result of his own choice to think more highly of himself than he ought to have thought.
 
So, my point is there are spiritual laws & principles that will yield specific fruit—whether towards life or death.
 
THE WAGES OF SIN
 
Now let’s pick up in Revelation chapter 18 where we see further evidence of this by God’s judgment upon Babylon: It begins with angel coming down from heaven with great authority pronouncing judgment over the great city falling.
 
Then verse 4 says something very interesting: After the angel makes his statements, we read this: “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’”
 
Notice the angel referred to the judgment that would come upon Babylon as “her plagues,” not “your plagues.” In other words, they are not for His people, but are strictly reserved for sin. But this verse also indicates that if His people do not “come out of her” (i.e. remain enveloped in her ways and  choices) and share in her sins, then they can and will (unless they repent, of course) receive of her plagues.
 
But, again, this is not God’s choice; it’s the choice of each and every one of us as to who we are going to serve and what we will share in. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Amen?
 
Now if you continue reading in Revelation chapter 18, you will see the following statements regarding sinful Babylon— “render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works” (verse 6) and “In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow” (verse 7). All of this sounds a lot like a New Testament principle that we see from the pen of the apostle Paul …
 
You see, the Bible is crystal clear that the wages of sin is death. The apostle Paul said in Romans 6:23— “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now if the gift of eternal life is not forced upon us, but must be received by our choice to receive it by faith, then why would the wages of sin—that being death—be forced on us? It’s not. It too is a choice.
 
Now I understand that everyone will die—for that choice was made for us by Adam in the garden. But I’m talking about “death” has the absence of God, His promises, and His blessing on our lives. That part is in our control. And when one persists in choosing sin over righteousness, the same death principle applies to all of us.
 
Let me explain: Paul was teaching in Romans chapter 3-6 of the free gift of righteousness and how everyone who receives the Way of this free gift—the Lord Jesus Christ—has been redeemed, forgiven, and sanctified in Him. But a question came up in Paul’s teaching, and a legitimate one in that, that can we continue in sin then if we are made righteous by His grace and the sin-issue has been taken care of? Paul’s response to his own question was— “Certainly not!” Then in verses 16-23, he begins to explain how if someone presents themselves as a slave of sin then they are that one’s servant. And if sin becomes our master, then we can expect the wages that our master administers. This is what led to his statement in verse 23 that the wages of sin is death.
 
So, I say all of this to say that sin demands judgment. Death is its offspring. It doesn’t matter you or who’s you are. If you or I choose to the way of unrighteousness, death will eventually follow if we do not repent. That is why it is on us to choose life and choose blessing! We choose them by faith—a faith that follows the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen?
 
So, all of the death and judgment that we see in the end times is not because God delights in pouring out His wrath—for He is not an angry God, but One who delights in grace & mercy. However, the sin that will permeate the world in the last days demands the completely righteous judgment of God. And this is why we will see the wrath of God poured out on the earth. But, again, when you see God judging folks in the Bible, you do not see God judging righteousness. It’s sin, transgression, and iniquity that the Lord punishes, not holiness, righteousness, and obedience.
 
WE REAP WHAT WE SOW!
 
But let me end today’s teaching by flipping the script: Just because it is true that the wages of sin is death and there will be judgment on the sin of the world, this is not to just be taken negatively. You see, just as it is true that the wages of sin is death, the wages of righteousness is life! And just as it is true that there will be negative judgments, there will be positive ones too!
 
You see, only see the judgment at the end of Revelation as being negative, but we have a lot of other Scriptures that talk about rewards being dealt in that Day See Second Corinthians 5:10. In fact, the word that’s used in many cases to describe the judgment seat of Christ is the Greek word bema which was oftentimes used to describe how someone was rewarded for winning some athletic competition. This wasn’t a somber time, was it? No, this was an exciting time for the winner!
 
Saints, we are called to be the winners! We just need to run in such a way that we obtain the prize! Then that day won’t be a day to dread, but a day to look forward to!
 
So, church, while the tendency is to only hear these truths from the negative slant, we need to understand that just as this works against people who make wrong choices, it also works for people who make right choices! Amen!
 
For example, we talk about the law of sowing & reaping, and most of the time people only refer to that negatively like— “You know, brother. You will reap what you sow.” Totally emphasizing that if you sow bad seed, you will reap bad fruit. What should our response be if someone says that to us? We should respond with— “Praise God!” Why? It’s because it is just as simple to make good choices and sow good seed as it is to make bad choices and sow bad seed—and we have chosen to sow good seed!
 
If I will sow unto righteousness, I will reap a righteous reward. I can absolutely expect that in my life. So, let’s not take this only from the perspective of— “Oh, I better not make a mistake and open myself up to the wages of sin.” No, let’s focus on following God’s principles and doing what He said!
 
So, in light of all of this, who is it that will eat from the bowls of wrath? It’s not the wise, the righteous or the holy, it’s the world and those who persist in unrighteousness that are partaking of God’s wrath. In other words, the death, plagues, and destruction that are to come are coming for sin’s sake, not for righteousness’ sake.  

REVIEW
 
So, we are continuing our series today based on the Book of Revelation entitled “The Revelation”—this being the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrected and glorified state! So, it is a message containing the good news of Jesus’ ultimate victory, not just the bad news that most have made it out to be. That means that when we read this Book, we don’t need to get stuck in the chapters in the middle that prophesy the negative things that will take place during the end-times. No, we need to understand that Jesus, being the Alpha and the Omega, is the beginning and the end of this Book of Revelation. So, let’s focus on our ultimate destination of victory, not the bumps in the road before we get there. 
 
So, we are now on part six of this teaching and we have covered some important things in the first five parts:

1. As I just said, we have learned that Jesus is the very spirit behind end-time prophecy. He is the Revelation of Revelations. Therefore, when we study this final Book of the Bible, we need to see the Gospel of Jesus throughout its pages.
2. Then we spent a week talking about Revelation chapters 2-3, learning about the seven golden lampstands—which were the seven churches of Asia Minor that Jesus had the apostle John write letters to. In this message, we studied what I called seven pillars contained in these seven letters to the churches, which were seven things that we see repeated and emphasized in these seven letters that not only related to the church then, but to the church of today as well.
3. We then moved on to Revelation chapter 4 & 5 and looked at a big transition in this Book. We saw that the apostle John was invited to come up higher and see things from God’s perspective in heaven. I made the point that I believe this statement is extremely important in leading into the things John saw and wrote down for us. Why? It is because everything the Lord showed him that was to take place was from “up there.” In other words, it was from heaven’s perspective, not an earthly, carnal perspective. So, I made the point that we need to “come up hither” too and become more spiritually minded concerning these things contained in Revelation because when we do, a new perspective of the Revelation will occur. Like the apostle John, we will see the throne of God, the worthy Lamb of God, etc. In short, we will see the glory and not the gory.
4. Then we moved on to Revelation chapters 6-11 where the Great Tribulation began to be described. And what we learned was while there are certainly “Woes” involved in this time-period, to us there is a completely different perspective to be had. We get the “Wows”, not the “Woes”! And the biggest “Wow” that we took away from it is found in First Thessalonians 5:8— “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Sure, we are going to have some birth pangs to endure. Yes, there might be some discomfort as these things come to pass. But we learned that no matter the pain or the discomfort, we know that we know that the baby is on the way! All of this pointed to the fact that you and I ought to be “expecting” (i.e. hope) because, oh “baby,” do we have something to look forward to! Amen!
5. Then, last time, we turned our attention to Revelation chapter 12 where John saw a great sign in heaven. In this vision, he saw a woman ready to give birth to a child and a dragon present to consume that child. But we saw in verse 5 that she bore the male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.” Church, this verse describes everything from the birth of Christ to His ascension to the right hand of God! Glory to God! And I can just imagine that this beat-down the devil got seemed just about as quick! Before the devil knew it, he was disarmed, dethroned, and defeated! So, we saw this is how that war in the heavenlies described in verses 7-9 went down: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, but the dragon did not prevail and was cast out. We saw how Jesus described him being cast out as lightening from heaven. So, as verse 10 goes on to say, “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 accused them before God day and night, has been cast down.” So now salvation has come! It didn’t say yesterday salvation or tomorrow salvation; it said now! So, now is the day of salvation! Then we learned how we overcome the defeated dragon in Revelation 12:11—through the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives to the death. But we also learned in Revelation chapters 18-20 the ultimate defeat of the dragon which is to come. Therefore, since we know the outcome of the game, we don’t need to be troubled when these end-time events come to pass—because we know that we win. It’s like if someone ruined the end of a suspenseful movie for us—it will remove many of the negative emotions that come from not knowing what’s going to happen. Amen!

 
NOW ARISES THE BEAST
 
So now, let’s move on to chapter 13 in the apostle John’s Book of Revelation where we see something else “arising” (literally, a beast arising from the sea). Now we understand that this “beast” is what is commonly referred to as the antichrist. And, oh, we’ve all heard a lot about this guy, haven’t we? Heck, some of us might have even been a part of those conversations. But the antichrist has certainly been a topic of conversation in a lot of parts of Christendom because people’s desire to identify him or when he is coming has been a hot topic of discussion for some time.
 
Now the “antichrist” is described by the apostle Paul as “the man of sin” and “the son of perdition” (perdition being a state of eternal condemnation and damnation) (See Second Thessalonians 2:3-4). Paul goes on in this passage to describe the antichrist as the one who “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped.” Paul even describes him as one who will “sit as God in the temple of God…”  
 
But what the apostle John saw in Revelation chapter 13 was different: He saw some kind of beast rising out of the sea.
 
Now as it is with the devil himself, the antichrist is not going to come looking like this beast that John saw. As we’ve noted, the things John saw were from a heavenly, spiritual perspective. So, what we will see from this earthly perspective will not appear like this at all. It will be much more deceptive and appealing to those who do not know the truth. You see, the devil himself comes as an angel of light, and his earthly representative will come in like fashion to where the whole world will be deceived, including many Christians.  
 
But that’s just about all I am going to say about him. And the reason why is because I don’t want to glorify and magnify him any more than he already has been.
 
HOW TO HANDLE THE COUNTERFEIT
 
You see, I wonder why there is this inordinate desire in people to talk about him. I’m of the opinion, that instead of emphasizing the antichrist, why don’t we focus our attention on being more “Pro-Christ” (which is essentially being Pro-Life because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life).
 
You see, the prefix “anti” literally means “against, opposed to, opposite of, or instead.” So, all the antichrist is, is a “Christ counterfeit.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that the devil loves to copy the original article and use the things of God for his own purposes. And he does the same here with the first beast, known as the antichrist.
 
But like I have learned through years in banking, the best way for one to recognize a counterfeit is to study the genuine article thoroughly. When I handled money for hours on end, I found that when a counterfeit bill was presented to me that it stuck out like a sore thumb. Now the client who accepted the fake bill didn’t recognize it when someone passed it off on them nor did they recognize it when I told them it was fake. But to the person who handled money all day, a counterfeit bill was obvious.
 
It is for that reason that I strongly believe Christians should spend the majority of their time studying the truth as opposed to error. I have seen believers spend their time studying this false religion and this bad doctrine in an attempt to become more familiar with it. They do it for noble reasons such as wanting to reach the people who ascribe to those wrong beliefs or so to make sure they don’t fall for those lies. But I am of the persuasion that we need to be doing the opposite—both becoming so familiar with the Word of God and spending time getting to know the Word Himself. The reason is because as it is with recognizing counterfeit currency, the more we know the true, genuine article, the more we will be able to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
 
Speaking of handling money, do you remember how John said in First John 1:1 that he had “handled” the Word of Life. Then he proceeds in his epistle to talk about the spirit of error and how they can be kept from being deceived by the spirit of antichrist. So, the protection from deception of the antichrist spirit is found in having heard, seen, and handled the truth Himself. This is certainly done through studying the truth to show ourselves approved, but it is also in knowing Jesus on a personal and intimate level. If we handle Christ like so we will have a hard time being deceived when the spirit of antichrist is before us. 
 
In fact, it’s not just the anti-christ that we see in the 13th chapter of Revelation: It’s the Anti-Trinity! If you read the entire chapter, you see that the dragon (i.e. the devil) was the one who gave the antichrist his power, throne, and authority (See Revelation 13:2) just like God the Father gave His Christ the same. We even see in verse 3 about how the antichrist apparently will have a mortal, deadly wound to his head (See verse 3) and that wound will be healed. Some take this to mean that he will be raised from the dead, which will cause the world to marvel and follow him. Sounds a lot like Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, doesn’t it? Again, the devil’s plan is to ultimately counterfeit what the Lord God has done!
 
Then, moving on to verse 11, we see another beast coming out of the earth and this one—known by many as the false prophet—is said to exercise all the authority of the first beast and cause everyone on the earth to worship the antichrist that he is representing. I don’t know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like the Holy Ghost who is said to not do things on his own authority but to represent the Lord Jesus Christ and lead us all to glorify Him. This false prophet also is said to perform all kinds of great signs on the earth for the antichrist similarly to how the Holy Spirit is here with us today to perform various signs, wonders and miracles through the Christ’s church.
 
So, again, what we see in this chapter is not just the antichrist, we see the anti-trinity: The dragon, who is the devil, being a type of God the Father. The antichrist being a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the false prophet being a type of the Holy Spirit. The devil will counterfeit everything that is God.
 
THE RANK & FILE OF THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS
 
We even see this in the rank & file of the kingdom of darkness in Ephesians 6:12 where Paul describes the devil’s structure of authority with his demons. In this verse, we are told— “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
 
Now it is noteworthy that the apostle Paul began by saying that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Why, you ask? It is because that is exactly what the devil wants us to think—that our warfare is carnal and aim all of our aggression on other physical human beings. If the devil can get you and I to aim our anger at other people and see them as the issue, then we are playing on his turf. This means that we are giving the devil the home-field advantage. No, the truth is that we are really wrestling with the devil’s workers, which is a specific structure, rank and file.
 
Paul begins by referring to the first class of demonic spirits called “principalities”: The word used for “principalities” is the Greek word arche. This word literally means “first ones, leaders, or preeminent ones from ancient times.” It is where the title “arch angels” comes from, which are the highest-ranking angels in God’s kingdom. So, it would be accurate to say that “principalities” are Satan’s “arch demons.” In other words, they are the highest-ranking demons in his army.
 
Interestingly enough, Satan is called in Ephesians 2:2, “the prince of the power of the air” and in John 12:31 and 16:11, he is called “the prince of this world.” The word “prince” that is used in these references comes from a derivative of this same word for arche, the word archon—thus showing us that just as Satan is referred to as a ruler or a prince, these principalities have been given a ruling position within the devil’s ranks.
 
Now the next group of demonic spirits listed are “powers.” The Greek word for “powers” is the word exousia and would better be translated as “authorities.” These are apparently the second level in the ranks of Satan’s army. They are the demonic spirits that were given a certain amount of authority by Satan himself and they exercise that authority over the next two levels of demonic spirits listed.
 
These two levels of demonic spirits are the classifications of demons that we more regularly deal with in our everyday lives— “the rulers of the darkness of this age” & “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
 
Let’s quickly look at the third level in Satan’s kingdom— “the rulers of the darkness of this age.” The word “rulers” here comes from the Greek word kosmokrateros, which describes “raw ruling power that has been brought into order and arranged.” So, this particular class of demons has been brought into rank and file and specifically arranged so that their raw power can be best utilized against this “age.” The word “age” describes the “characteristics of a society.” This means that these demonic spirits’ jobs are to influence and inspire society’s philosophies and ideas. Inspire them with what? Paul revealed to us that their job is to flood our society with “darkness!” In other words, “the rulers of the darkness of this age” focus more on a specific generation’s belief system and on a specific society’s philosophies rather than working against us on an individual level. In other words, these demons are working more on this world’s system than they are on us individually.
 
You see, this is why the devil is called in Second Corinthians 4:4, “the god of this world.” This title reveals to us that what Satan rules over is this world’s system—influencing the population’s general beliefs, ways of thinking and philosophies. And he obviously does this through this particular class of his army— “the rulers of the darkness of this age.”
 
Now, the fourth and final level of demonic spirits that Paul listed are the ones that we more regularly deal with in our everyday lives. And they are called “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” First of all, notice that they are called “hosts.” This word “hosts” carries with it the idea that there are a bunch of these particular kinds of demons—denoting a multitude. So, this means that this is likely the most populated classification of demons.
 
Yes, there are thousands upon thousands of these lowest ranking demon spirits, and Paul says that they are “in the heavenly places.” Now this term “heavenly places” describes the earth’s atmosphere all around us. And the phrase “of wickedness” shows us that they are simply imitating their master…
 
Now when you study out this word “wickedness” you see that it describes things that are “evil, bad and vile.” Therefore, the desire of these spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places is to influence us into all that is evil, bad, or vile, which would include “sin, ungodliness, oppression, sickness, poverty, etc.” These are the demons that get directly involved in our lives and try to manifest “wickedness” in us, whether it be by trying to influence us to sin and live ungodly or by trying to bind us with some sort of physical, emotional or mental infirmity.
 
THE POWER OF UNITY
 
So, when combining both what we’ve seen in Revelation chapter 13 and Ephesians 6:12, we can clearly see that the kingdom of darkness is not disorderly and chaotic. There is actually a lot of organization in the devil’s camp. Therefore, by seeing the order and arrangement that Satan has in his army, we can understand why he has been so effective against mankind. It is because we tend to succumb to one of the devil’s biggest ploys, which is to divide or de-unify us.
 
Friends, we have countless things that promote division in our world today. Naturally, we have things like political factions and racism. Spiritually, we have our denominations and our doctrines. On the other hand, the devil has had his army working together and thus the reason for his success and our failures. We have far greater power in us than he has and if we could learn to come together and operate in our proper rank and file, we would be unstoppable by the enemy. Amen?    
 
So it is no wonder why Satan fights unity so much! It is because He fears the body of believers who might join together with one common goal. This is why you see church splits. This is why you see division in the community. And this is why you see such an escalation of divorce. It is because his number one goal is to divide! For a house divided against itself cannot stand.
 
Do you remember when Jesus was accused of casting out demons by Beelzebub (see Mark chapter 3)? What was His response? He said that Satan cannot cast out Satan, for a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). So, as we have seen, there is order in Satan’s camp. It is not perfect chaos. He has a systematic order in his kingdom because he knows the power of operating in this way. Friends, he has order, and each demon in his kingdom works according to their assignment and their position. 
 
So, let’s quickly turn over to Genesis chapter 11 and see an example of how Satan inspired the event called the Tower of Babel: In this chapter, we see the story of a man called Nimrod, and this man had a plan. He and his people decided they wanted to make a name for themselves. So, they planned to build a tower that would reach to the heavens lest they be scattered across the earth. Well, God saw what they purposed in their heart to do and came down and divided their language because He said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them” (Genesis 11:6). That is a powerful statement!
 
GOD’S STRUCTURE WORKS!
 
But again, my point is, we can see that the devil counterfeits everything that is God. Why? Because he knows it works. Yes, the devil knows that God’s structure of authority and His way of operating works! And, church, we need to know it works too!
 
For example, God basically said something similar that he did in Genesis 11:6 but this time is was out of the mouth of Jesus when He said that nothing shall be impossible for us. And why was there the prospect of this people accomplishing anything and nothing being impossible for them to do? It was because they were one! It was because they all had one language! It was because they had tapped into a spiritual law that when a people become one and they pursue a common goal—with one mind, one mouth, and in one accord—nothing shall be impossible for them.
 
So, if this is a true principle for Satan and the ungodly, how much more do you reckon this will work for the body of Christ!?! I guarantee you that if it works for them tenfold; it will work for us a hundredfold! And, as a matter of fact, the Lord said it this way—if one can put a thousand to flight, then two can put ten thousand to flight! This is why the Bible tells us that a threefold cord is not easily broken—because when two of us agree on earth concerning anything we ask; God gets involved and all things are possible!
 
We’ve already seen it work like this in the Book of Acts, haven’t we? Acts 2:1-3 says, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord and in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues (that’s the only thing you will ever find divided in God’s kingdom), and one sat upon each of them. And then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
 
Friends, when they gathered together in that upper room in one accord, the Holy Spirit—the anointing Himself—came upon each one of this royal priesthood and took ordinary men and women and made them extraordinary! That oil was poured out on them and was mixed with those tongues of fire and they became the light of the world. Hallelujah! They became that golden lampstand filled with oil and with fire at the wick to burn bright in this dark and perverse generation. But how did it all start? As they were in one place and in one accord!
 
So I encourage you today—do not let the kingdom of darkness bring division into your house, our house, etc. Guard your hearts from those spirits of strife and division that seek to de-unify us from others. It is a ploy of our enemy—he arrays his army in a unified way for the primary purpose of de-unifying us. Don’t let him do it. Don’t give division place. Amen.
 
YOU ARE MARKED AND SEALED!
 
Finally, let’s look at what the apostle John saw next in verses 16-18. It was that mark that the antichrist & false prophet caused all of the human population to receive, commonly known as the mark of the beast.
 
Now this, like the antichrist and many other negative parts of Revelation, have caused a lot of anxiety and fear in the body of Christ. I have even seen movies made about this and in these movies, you see the people actually being given a mark on their foreheads of 666. That is not what the apostle John saw!
 
While it is true that there will be something that will be required to buy and sell in that day, Revelation 13:17 does not tell us that the mark will be a literal 666; it says to let him who is wise & understanding calculate the number of the beast. That means that the numbers themselves are not that evil, mark of the beast.
 
Now before we go on a tangent, trying to figure out what this mark is and what the numbers 666 add up to, let me say this—Why would we spend our time trying to figure out the mark of the beast when there is also a mark given to us by God? That’s right! The Bible says that you and I already have a mark—no, not the mark of the beast, but the mark of the Lamb!
 
You see, according to the following chapter (Revelation 14:1), He puts His seal on the foreheads of those who are His. And as we saw earlier in this series, this seal that the Lord put on the foreheads of His people was a sign that kept them from harm (See Revelation 7:3 & 9:4). So, if one has the seal of God on the forehead, they are kept—from both harm upon their person and from the deception of the enemy. That’s something to get excited about, right there! 
 
Let me give you a good biblical example of this: Second Timothy 2:17-18 tells us— “And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.”
 
Allow me to take some liberty with this verse in order to make a point: Let’s say it this way— “And their message will spread like cancer. The antichrist and his false prophet are of this sort, who needless to say are so far from the truth and will overthrow the faith of even many of the elect.”
 
How many of you know that they could have camped on this verse and started wringing their hands worrying about how these false teachers were evidently capable of overthrowing the faith of some through their false teachings like many have feared concerning the antichrist. But what does Second Timothy 2:19 go on to say? “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’”
 
Church, that is what we need to focus on when it comes to the antichrist and his mark—the “nevertheless” that says that we stand on the sealed, solid foundation of God! That means that you and I do not have to be moved when the worst of times and greatest deceptions occur—because we stand on that solid foundation that has the following seal— “The Lord knows those who are His” and “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Amen!
 
Saints, we have to know that God’s mark on us says He knows us! What a remarkable thing to know that God knows you and I! Praise God! But here is the truth that reiterates what we said earlier—He knows those who know Him. And because he knows us by name and we know His name, He will keep and protect us! Amen!
 
But the second thing is how we can make sure we have protection from deception—departing from iniquity. You see, sin deals with the action or lack of action that is wrong; iniquity, on the other hand, deals more with the character or nature of the wrong action. In other words, iniquity seems to be the motivating factor behind wrong behavior. Therefore, for us to allow iniquity is to allow more of an opportunity for entering into deception. This is why the heart is to be guarded with all diligence. Amen?
 
So, when it comes to the great deception that will come in these last days, let me share with you something the Lord told me early in my Christian walk when I was concerned about ever being deceived myself:
 
Knowing I was called to the ministry, I was concerned as to whether I would teach things that were incorrect, thinking I was teaching the right things. So, I pleaded with the Lord to protect me from ever being deceived. So, the next morning after praying that, I woke up to these words replaying in my spirit— “Second Peter, Second Peter, Second Peter…” After laying there for a bit, I finally realized that the Lord wanted me to get up and read that Book of the Bible. And to make a long story short, He showed me from Second Peter 1:5-8 that all I need to do is walk in the light that I know, and He will always keep me free from deception. In other words, what the Lord was teaching me was that in order to not led astray by error, all I need to do is walk in the truth that He has given me.
 
Church, there are things we can do to keep ourselves from the great deception to come. But the same truths will keep you and I from the spirit of antichrist that John told us is already in this world (See First John 2:18 & 4:3). So, let’s walk in the light as He is in the light! Let’s handle the Word of Life so that we can discern the counterfeits. It is all based in knowing Jesus—both through an intimate relationship with Him and through the Scriptures. Let’s be Pro-Christ, and we will live Pro-tected. 

REVIEW
 
Let’s continue our series today based on the Book of Revelation which is entitled “The Revelation.” Again, I have titled it this because this Book is not a Book of Revelations, but rather a Book revealing to us one Person—the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrected and glorified state! In other words, it is a message containing good news, not just the bad news that most have made it out to be. Therefore, when we read this Book through this lens it will produce hope instead of dread, fear, and anxiety. And that’s exactly what I’ve noticed this series doing for most of you—I’ve seen that it has produced joy and happiness, which should not be strange to us because we saw in Revelation 1:3 that we are supposed to be blessed when we read and hear the message of Revelation.
 
So, we have covered that Jesus is the very spirit behind prophecy, and that includes end-time prophecy. In other words, He is the message behind the message! So, we are focusing on the fact that He is both the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end—of the Book of Revelation, and not just focusing on what happens in the middle of it all.
 
Then we looked at the seven golden lampstands—those seven churches of Asia Minor that Jesus had the apostle John write letters to. In this message, we studied what I called seven pillars contained in these seven letters to the churches, which were seven things that we see repeated and emphasized in these seven letters that not only related to the church then, but to the church of today as well.
 
Now some of these seven things were encouraging words and others were corrections. But we saw that even though five of these churches were corrected for many things, John did not see a couple of golden lampstands and then the other five were silver, bronze, etc. No, he saw seven golden churches—showing us that even though some churches and their members are “tarnished” with sin, flaws, and failures, they were still gold—the most precious commodity in the kingdom of God. Amen! 
 
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we moved on to Revelation chapter 4 & 5 and looked at the transition of this Book. We saw that “after these things” the apostle John looked and saw a door standing open in heaven where he was invited to come up through and to see things from God’s perspective. I made the point that I believe this statement is extremely important in leading into the things John saw and wrote down for us. Why? It is because everything the Lord showed him that was to take place was from “up there.” In other words, it was from heaven’s perspective, not an earthly, carnal perspective.
 
Church, we need to “come up hither” too and become more spiritually-minded concerning these things because when we do, a new perspective of the Revelation will occur: We will have that hope replace the fear! We will have that excitement substituted for dread! And we will have His joy overcome our anxiety!       
 
Then in the second verse of Revelation chapter 4, John began explaining what he saw: So, we learned that what John saw first is what we need to see first in our lives—the throne and the One who is seated on it! In other words, we need to see what the highest authority is and who is He who is seated in that seat of ultimate authority—and we can see that it is El Elyon Himself! And we learned that no matter what happens on this earth, no matter how bad things get, the Lord God Almighty will always remain on the throne! He doesn’t fall off! He doesn’t change. He doesn’t deviate from His consistent rule and victory over all! That’s only us who does that—and the way we can keep ourselves from doing so is by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth that God indeed is the King of kings and Lord of lords and He reigns forevermore! 
 
So, I believe it is important for us to know the first thing the apostle John saw when he came up hither. It wasn’t the dragon. It wasn’t the beast. It wasn’t the plagues, the bowls of wrath, or the judgments. No, it wasn’t all of the bad things that are to come upon the earth; it was the throne of God that he saw first. So, we learned that living down here on the earth, it is easy to keep our mind stayed on things of the earth. In other words, it is easy to focus on the curse, the death, and all of the things the god of this world is doing. But I believe we are called to elevate our way of thinking and see things, not from an earthly perspective, but from a heavenly perspective.
 
But then we read that what John saw happening around the throne of God was lost in the sound of heaven—that is, the Father was being praised and glorified by the various hosts of heaven! So, we learned that this is not just what ought to be done in heaven; we learned that what is done in heaven ought to be done on the earth too. And here is the good news that we learned regarding that: when we lift the Lord Jesus up like they do in heaven and we see the earth as filled with the glory of God, all of heaven is drawn to it. He is the King of God’s kingdom and whenever and wherever the King is praised, heaven will be there to participate. Glory to God!
 
Then last time, we moved on to Revelation chapter 6-11 where the Great Tribulation began to be described. So, what we learned last week was how we can be ready for not only the “Great Tribulation” that is going to come upon the earth, but also how we can be prepared for the other little tribulations that you and I face in our everyday lives.
 
But when it comes to the Great Tribulation that will occur at the end, we learned that there are certainly “Woes,” but to us, there is a completely different perspective to be had. We do not have to focus on the “Woes” because we got the “Wows”!?! And the biggest “Wow” that we took away from last week is found in First Thessalonians 5:8— “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
Now some take this to mean that we will be raptured before the Great Tribulation comes upon the earth, and that might be exactly how He does it. But we learned that it could also mean that even when the fire is going on around us, we come out of it without even the smell of smoke. Amen! So, whether we are here through the Great Tribulation to come or we at some point at the beginning of these birth pangs are taken off the earth, the bottom line is that our lot is salvation, deliverance, and protection! Period. Amen!
 
Sure, we are going to have some birth pangs to endure. Yes, there might be some discomfort as these things come to pass. But we learned that no matter the pain or the discomfort, we know that we know that the baby is on the way! All of this pointed to the fact that you and I ought to be “expecting” (i.e. hope) because, oh “baby,” do we have something to look forward to! Amen?
 
So, the point I left you with last time is the encouragement that it is not for us to eat from these bowls of wrath—for we are not appointed to God’s wrath! Our lot is salvation and all that goes with it. So, whether we are here, or we are gone, we need not fear these birth pangs that are coming upon the earth. Why? Because we live in that spiritual Land of Goshen to where when the plagues were poured out on Egypt (i.e. the world), they were kept by the Blood of the Lamb. Amen!
 
THE WOMAN, HER CHILD, AND THE DRAGON
 
Now we turn our attention to Revelation chapter 12 where John saw a great sign in heaven. It was of a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
This woman certainly seems to represent Mary, the mother of Jesus—as she was the woman chosen by God to give birth to our Messiah, which the child obviously points to. However, I believe this woman represents God’s people in general in that Israel was considered to be married to the Lord and were the ones whom the Lord Jesus came through. So, as we look at this woman and her child, look at it like the people of God—both past and present—and their Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ.
 
Then notice the sun, moon and stars that were a part of what John saw when he saw this woman: These were those two great lights and the rest of the stars that God created in the beginning. You see, we as the people of God today are clothed with the sun in that we have put on Christ, who is the Sun of Righteousness. The moon under our feet represents the light that we, as His church, now possess to place all things under our feet. And the twelve stars on her head represent how God has crowned His creation with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5).
 
So, praise God, this is the way the Lord sees His covenant people! We are clothed with the “Son” Himself! We stand on the Moon in that we reflect the Light of the world! And we are crowned with God’s lovingkindness and tender mercies! 
 
Then we see in the second verse that the woman began to cry out in labor and pain as she was about to give birth to the Lord—which we saw last week how all of these birth pangs are symbolic of the difficult things which will take place on the earth before the end comes. So, I see this as the hardship and “tribulation” that Israel incurred as they were the one’s called to birth the Messiah.
 
This is reflected in the following verse as John saw another sign appear in heaven: He said, “Behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” (Revelation 12:3-4).
 
So, this great fiery red dragon is obviously the devil (See verse 9). His seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads are subject to interpretation, but the bottom line is they represent characteristics of him and his reign here as the god of this world. Now his tail drawing a third of the stars of heaven and throwing them to the earth seems to represent the third of the angels that he deceived into following him and how they were cast from the presence of God onto the earth.
 
Then the next thing we see the dragon doing was standing before the woman to devour her Child she was giving birth to. And, oh, isn’t this something we see the devil doing in history? For example, when Moses was being born, he stirred up Pharaoh to have all the male babies put to death because he knew the deliverer was coming. Then, at the time of Jesus’ birth, he stirred up Herod to have all the male children put to death because he knew the Savior was being born.
 
So, we see the devil using evil men to kill babies because he has always wanted to stop the Savior, Deliverer, and Messiah from coming forth. And we can see the same thing happening even today with the millions of babies who are being murdered—perhaps the devil is trying to kill off a generation of deliverers whom God is birthing??? But, of course, we know the devil was not able to stop the birth of Moses and Jesus—showing us that the devil’s best attempts to kill God’s purposes will never succeed. Amen!
 
Verse 5 goes on to tell us--"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 His throne.” This verse describes everything from the birth of Christ to His ascension to the right hand of God! Glory to God! And I can just imagine that this beat-down the devil got seemed just about as quick! Before the devil knew it, he was disarmed, dethroned and defeated! Hallelujah!
 
Then in verse 6, we see the next dispensation of God, as the woman (i.e. the Israel of God) flees into the wilderness where God prepared a place for her to be taken care of for 1,262 days. Many people see this as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ after His ascension because this specific time-period is a consistent symbol of the persecution and tribulation of the early, first century church.
 
THE WAR IN THE HEAVENLIES
 
Then we move on in verses 7-9 to what seems to be what transpired in the heavenly realm through Jesus’ birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension: Which is what? “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with 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.”
 
Of course, this “war” was no contest and the dragon and his angels did not prevail. And the result was that the great dragon was “cast out” and there was no place found for him in heaven any longer. This is extremely important to understand because when we look at another passage of Scripture that parallels these verses in Revelation, we will see that Jesus referred to this exact event with His disciples…
 
In Luke 10:17-20, we have the account of Jesus’ seventy disciples returning with joy saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” after they were sent out to heal the sick, cast out demons, etc. Now notice the language here, “even the demons are subject to us…” This statement makes it clear that His disciples had a certain sense of awe over the power and authority of Satan and his kingdom because when they said even the demons are subject to them, they are basically putting the casting out of demons in an elite category.
 
But notice how Jesus responded to their rejoicing: I guarantee you that He did not respond like they expected Him to respond. He said, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven.” Now the question they might have had when He made this statement (and we should be asking as well) is why did Jesus say this? Well, if you look down at verse 20, He explains--“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven!”
 
So what Jesus was saying was that our cause for rejoicing should not be because the demons obey us when we tell them to leave; our cause for joy should be because our names are written in heaven! Why? It is because demons obeying our voice is evidently a much lesser deal than our names being written in heaven. And let me explain why…
 
Notice again that Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven” and here in verse 20, He said that we are to rejoice in the fact that our names are written in heaven. So, Satan fell out of heaven and our names are now written up in heaven. I submit to you that Jesus was saying that we are not to rejoice in the fruit of our authority, but rather, we are to rejoice in the root of our authority! In other words, because our names are now written in heaven, we have assumed the position that Satan and his angels lost in heaven (and an even better position than that because we are in Christ).
 
You see, when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are immediately made citizens of heaven—thus, our names being written in heaven. And through this establishment of our citizenship in heaven, we are delegated authority from heaven. So, it should be of no surprise to us that the demons must bow their knee when we give them orders in the name of Jesus. Why? It is because we now occupy that position that he (i.e. Lucifer) once held! And as I just said, our position is even greater than the one he held while he was in heaven because we are in Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places. So, this makes it even more clear why Jesus downplayed their rejoicing over the demons being subject to them. It was because having authority over the devil is really not a big deal when you look at it from this perspective—namely, from the perspective of being seated at the right hand of God in Christ. Hallelujah!
 
But the very fact that Satan, that old dragon, fell like lightening from heaven should convince us without a shadow of a doubt that he is under our feet and must heed the voice of God’s Word spoken through us, the Lord’s legal representatives! I mean, it is no contest! We have been given the name above all names, the name of Jesus! We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb! We have been born from above and made citizens of His omnipotent kingdom! So why do we let Him push us around—using our minds for His own personal playground and afflicting our bodies with all of these damnable sicknesses and weaknesses? He has no legal jurisdiction in our lives, saints! So, give him no place in your life!     
 
NOW SALVATION IS
 
Now put your shouting clothes on because look at what Revelation 12:10 goes on to say which echoes Luke chapter 10— “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 accused them before God day and night, has been cast down.’”
 
Notice that this loud voice in heaven said, “Now salvation …” It didn’t say yesterday salvation or tomorrow salvation; it said, “NOW salvation!” As we see in Hebrews 11:1— “Now faith is…” It doesn’t say, “Now faith was” or “Tomorrow faith is.” Faith is now, and the faith that now is, is for a salvation that is now! Amen!
 
This is why the Bible teaches us what it does in Second Corinthians 6:1-2— “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
 
Notice that the grace of God can be received in vain. How? By believing it is all up to God. So how would we then receive it to where it’s not in vain? This is our receiving His grace in faith—the faith that understands that the day of our salvation is now and that it is the acceptable time for us to receive that salvation. Amen?
 
Church, because the accuser of the brethren has been cast down and fell like lightening from heaven, our salvation has already come! Because our names are now written in heaven—salvation, strength, the kingdom of God, and the power of Christ have come us ward! We are not waiting on these things now that the roles have been reversed! They are our present inheritance in that we are now citizens of the kingdom of God in heaven and Satan has been cast down from heaven! We are seated in the position of authority—at the right hand of God in Christ. Therefore, salvation, strength, the kingdom of God, and the power of Christ have come in us because we are positionally seated in the heavenly places in Christ.
 
There is significance in all of these terms—salvation, strength, the kingdom of God, and the power of Christ—but because of time restraints, I want us to look specifically at the first word “salvation,” because this particular term encapsulates the point the Holy Spirit wants to make with us today.
 
Friends, salvation has come, and salvation means more than what most see it as. Most of the church today sees “salvation” as a “get out of hell free card.” In other words, they only see their salvation as the free gift of God which keeps us from going to hell and enables us to go to heaven. But it means so much more than that, saints!
 
The Greek word for “salvation” is the word soterion and describes deliverance, but not just deliverance from the penalty of sin; it describes deliverance from all the dominion of the kingdom of darkness! Hallelujah! It means deliverance, freedom, and liberation! It means healing, prosperity, and peace! Salvation means to be delivered from all the kingdom of darkness—both spiritually and naturally! So, our deliverance from the rule of Satan and sin spans much wider than many have seen! We are delivered from all of the works of darkness—all except that last enemy which is to be defeated, which is death.
 
Friends, our salvation has already come! And with this salvation package we have already received comes many other benefits and in this case, they are strength, power, and the kingdom! This is a far cry from the way the majority of the church lives: Most of the church today is weak, powerless, and does not rule over the kingdom of darkness. But this is not what we are called unto! We are called to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! We are called to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner man! We are called to rule and reign in life as kings because His kingdom is within us! We are overcomers because we are positioned far above all principalities and powers!
 
Let’s look some verses that establish these things to us …
 
DISARMED, DETHRONED, AND DEFEATED
 
First John 3:8 tells us one of Jesus’ purposes for coming to this world. John says, “…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” The word “destroy” literally means to “loose” or “untie” This means that Jesus came to set us free from sin’s control and sin’s effects. Sin no longer has dominion over us (Romans 6:14)! We have a new master and are no longer slaves to our former master.
 
In Hebrews 2:14 we are told that Jesus came and lived as a man and then died in man’s sins “…that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The word “destroy” means “to make of non-effect, to paralyze, or to render inoperative.” One translation said that Jesus made Him a “zero”. This verse is saying that Jesus “paralyzed” the devil through His triumph at the cross. He took away Satan’s power over our lives.
 
Jesus didn’t just get back the authority we lost from the devil in a quiet, nice way. He literally rubbed the devil’s nose in it: Colossians 2:15 says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
 
This verse describes what Jesus did when He was resurrected on the third day. When He was made alive after spending three days and three nights in the pit of hell, Jesus plundered the enemy’s camp, totally defeating him.
 
Notice the first two words in this awesome verse— “Having disarmed.” This isn’t something Jesus is going to do; it is something He has already done! The word “disarmed” describes “stripping the garments and/or armor off.” This word was used to depict the stripping of the enemy’s weaponry and artillery and leaving him without any weapons with which to respond. One scholar even noted that this word describes “stripping to the point of complete nakedness.” The King James Version translates this word as “spoiled” which would describe Jesus as taking the possessions of the principalities and powers.  This means that when Jesus was resurrected, He totally whipped and stripped the enemy and left them with nothing. He took all of their armor away from them! This gives new meaning to the Old Testament verse that says, “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” Under the New Covenant, Satan has been stripped of his weapons that he used to keep us in bondage before Jesus came. Now the only effective weapon that he can form against us is the illusion that he even has an effective weapon! In other words, his only effective weapon now is deception!
 
So, we can gather from these first two words “having disarmed” that Jesus has already (past tense) taken away the enemy’s weapons. How could he ever defeat us if he doesn’t even have any weapons left? The only way he can is if he can convince us that he’s got an effective weapon against us. The only way he can win is if he can get us to give up, thinking he’s won. His only effective weapon left is deception. It is like someone who robs a bank with his pointed finger in his pocket. If that robber convinces the bank employees that what he is pointing at them is a real gun then he can cause them to give him all the money but if they know that he does not really have a weapon then they will not give him squat! 
 
So, what all of these verses tell us is that Jesus has already totally defeated Satan and his cohorts. It is a finished work! The devil is not going to get any more defeated than he already is! Therefore, we must always approach the end-time events we read in the Book of Revelation with this mindset—that the enemy has already been defeated and we already have the victory!
 
In Second Corinthians 2:14 the Apostle Paul said, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…”  The word “triumph” here is the same word used for “triumphing” in Colossians 2:15 which describes a victory parade for a conquering army and its leader. So by saying that He is leading us in this victory parade, Paul is saying that we are the soldiers that accompany Jesus after He spoiled the principalities and powers and led them in this humiliating parade. In other words, we partake in His victory without ever having to fight the battle. That’s why Paul said what he did in Romans 8:37— “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We are not just “conquerors” but we are “more than conquerors”! This means that we are conquerors that didn’t even have to fight the battle and we still get to partake in the victory parade.
 
First Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We already have the victory in every trial and tribulation that comes our way through the works of our Lord Jesus Christ! Look at what verse 58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable…” Paul was saying, “Therefore (in light of this victory Jesus gave us) be sturdy and immovable”. The devil will always turn up the pressure on us but all we are to do is stand and resist his pressure to give up. The only way the devil can defeat us is if he can make us stop standing our ground and quit. That’s why in the early church “patience” was most the most desired virtue. The word translated “patience” meant “staying under power.” In other words, it was the power to stay under Satan’s pressure without moving. The early church had an extreme amount of pressure on them to deny Jesus but they knew if they had “the queen of all virtues” (what they called “patience”) they would win one way or the other.
 
Through this verse and Second Corinthians 2:14 what do we see that our reaction should be in response to this victory and triumph that we have? They both start with “thanks be to God!” Our response to trials and tribulations that come our way should be— “Thanks be to God who always leads me in triumph and who always gives me victory!” Our job is to thank God for the win that He has already provided. Amen.
 
But let’s now look at how John saw the church overcoming in Revelation chapter 12 …
 
THEY WHO OVERCOME HIM
 
Revelation 12:11 goes on to say— “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
 
Who is the “they” here? It’s obviously talking about the people of God, God’s children, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They (we) overcame him. Now as we learned already from First John 5:4-5, this victory that overcomes is our faith—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice what both our faith is in and how it is evidenced—in three things:

1. By the blood of the Lamb
2. By the word of our testimony
3. Not loving our lives to the death

 
Well, the first and most obvious key to overcoming the dragon is the blood of the Lamb: You see, if it weren’t for Jesus’ sacrifice and His shed blood on the Cross, there is no way we could overcome the enemy of our soul. But because of the blood—the blood that has washed us from our sins and is now presently applied to our lives—there is no way we should lose.
 
But this is why we must go back to the basics on some things. Few people preach on the blood anymore lest they offend people. Well, let them be offended—for it is the blood that has cleansed, forgiven, blessed, delivered, protected, healed, and prospered me! Amen? Church, we need more pleading of the blood in our lives because I can assure you, it is speaking on our behalf better things than Abel’s blood was speaking. Amen!
 
But the next key to overcoming the devil is the word of our testimony: Bless God, the word of our testimony is also a key component in this victorious life because how many of you know, there are a lot of people out there who have experienced the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood, yet they do not live victorious lives? Why? It is because experiencing all that God has for us is not just based on what He has done for us by His grace. We must cooperate! And one of the ways we cooperate is by our words.
 
I like to look at this way—Did you notice that the devil is called in the preceding verse “the accuser of the brethren” and that he would accuse them before God day and night? Well, imagine you are on trial in a courtroom, and your father—God the Father—is the judge, your defense attorney (i.e. Advocate) is your older brother, the Lord Jesus Christ (who just happened to never have lost a case), and the prosecuting attorney (i.e. adversary) is the devil.  
 
You see, the accuser of the brethren will constantly make accusations against us in an attempt to get us to agree with him and accept the guilt of our mistakes. The biggest mistake we can make as saints of God is to plead guilty when those accusations are brought against us. If we do that, then I don’t care who your lawyer is—you will be condemned! But the reality is that Jesus Christ is our advocate and if He be for us who can be against us (Romans 8:31)! So, with that scenario, how could we lose a case? The answer is what we have already learned—to admit to the guilt.    
 
That is where the word of our testimony comes in: We must cling to the Word (i.e. logos)—that is, what is written, and hold fast to our confession of faith. This is the testimony that we are to speak when we are put on the stand—not what we feel or what we think. We only speak the truth—the truth of what we read in the Scriptures and what we’ve experienced in our lives that agrees with the truth. Amen? If we only speak this, we won’t lose the case and the devil will never be able to overcome us! Amen!
 
But then there is one final element to overcoming—not loving our lives unto death. A lot of people like to leave this one off, but it is important because how many of you know, if you love your life too much then if the threat of you losing your life for what you believe comes up, you might lose your confession? That is why the willingness to die for what you say you believe is a big part of overcoming. That’s because if one does not quit—does not quit believing, standing, confessing, etc.—they will always win. Therefore, endurance and patience are key to overcoming the devil.
 
THE END OF THE STORY
 
Then, in the remainder of chapter 12, we see the wrath of the dragon and how he now persecutes the “woman” and her “offspring.” But what I want you to see is how, even though the devil persists in trying to destroy the people of God, the Lord provides ways of escape from him.  
 
For example, notice in Revelation 12:15 that the dragon spewed from his mouth something like a flood that he might carry the people of God away. But we see in the following verses that the earth actually fought for the woman by opening up and swallowing the flood. This reminds me of that Scripture found in Isaiah 59:19 which says, “…When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”
 
So, this is where our faith must always be—that no matter when that old dragon spews that flood against us—doing the things he does to try and destroy us—the Holy Spirit will lift up a standard against him! Therefore, no matter what the devil throws at us in these end-times, we can rest assured in the fact that both heaven & earth will raise up a standard to protect and keep us! Amen!
 
So, my point today is this—The devil was defeated in the past when he and a third of the angels tried to take over heaven. He was defeated after that through the Cross of Christ when Jesus plundered the gates of hell through His resurrection. But guess what? One of the big parts of the Book of Revelation is the victory we have to look forward to in the future. Yes, we have the end of the story, and it forecasts the ultimate defeat of Satan and the kingdom of darkness. 
 
You see, in Revelation chapters 18-20 we see the fall of the empire Satan will build in the last days known as Babylon. It will be destroyed, the beast (i.e. the antichrist) and his false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, and Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years! Then after those thousand years have expired, the devil will be released but soon will also be cast into the lake of fire with the others to be tormented day and night forever and ever! Glory!
 
So, here is the lesson to be learned—no matter how much it looks like Satan is winning (especially in these last days), don’t lose heart because we know the end of the story! And when you know what’s going to happen at the end of the story, all the suspense should be eliminated! Why? Because we know the outcome of the game—and that is that we will ultimately win! Church, let us rejoice now like we know the final score!

REVIEW
 
So, we are continuing our series today that is based on the Book of Revelation entitled “The Revelation.” I call it the Revelation because who it reveals to us is the only one true revelation, Jesus Christ. 
 
Yes, many believe that this last Book of the Bible is a book “revealing” many different things, but the truth is that it is primarily meant to reveal to us one thing, the Truth Himself. Therefore, when we read this Book through this lens—that it is actually good news and not bad news—it will produce hope instead of dread.   
 
So, a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the seven golden lampstands—those seven churches of Asia Minor that Jesus had the apostle John write letters to. And while we did not spend a fraction of the time we could have spent studying Jesus’ words to these seven churches described in Revelation chapters 2-3, we did look at what I called seven pillars contained in these seven letters to the churches. These were seven things that we see repeated and emphasized in these seven letters that not only related to the church then, but to the church of today as well.
 
Now some of these seven things were encouraging words and others were corrections. But we saw that even though five of these churches were corrected for many things, John did not see a couple of golden lampstands and then the other five were silver, bronze, etc. No, he saw seven golden churches—showing us that even though some churches and their members are “tarnished” with sin, flaws, and failures, they were still gold—the most precious commodity in the kingdom of God. Amen! 
 
Then, last week, we moved on to Revelation chapter 4 & 5 and looked at the transition of this Book. We saw that “after these things” the apostle John looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. So, we saw from this that the veil has been rent! Now we can enter into His most holy place by the precious blood of the Lamb! And it is from this spiritual place that not only we can worship Him, but where we can see things from His perspective better.   
 
Which is exactly what the Lord invited John to do—to “come up hither” and see the things which would take place after this. I made the point that I believe this statement is extremely important in leading into the things John saw and wrote down for us. Why? It is because everything the Lord showed him that was to take place was from “up there.” In other words, it was from heaven’s perspective, not an earthly, carnal perspective.
 
I stated last week that it is for this reason that I believe much of the things we have written in the Book of Revelation between chapters 4 & 22 are written from a spiritual perspective and are not necessarily describing to us literal events. So, in my opinion, for people to spend their time trying to make all of these things fit into the worldly events we will experience might not be exactly correct.
 
But the main point the Holy Spirit made to us was that we all should have more of a heavenly perspective on things. I believe this is even more important for the days we are currently living in because all of the things we are experiencing in this world right now and the things that lie ahead require a spiritual perspective to where we can see what is really happening, and for us not to get swept away with the issues of this world.
 
Church, we need to “come up hither” too and become more spiritually minded concerning these things because when we do, a new perspective of the Revelation will occur: We will have hope replace the fear! We will have excitement substituted for dread! And we will have joy overcome the anxiety!       
 
Then in the second verse of Revelation chapter 4, John began explaining what he saw. So, we learned that what John saw first is what we need to see first in our lives—the throne and the One who is seated on it! In other words, we need to see what the highest authority is and who is He who is seated in that seat of ultimate authority—and we can see that it is El Elyon Himself!
 
You see, church, no matter what happens on this earth. No matter how bad things get. The Lord God Almighty will always remain on the throne! He doesn’t fall off! He doesn’t change. He doesn’t deviate from His consistent rule and victory over all! That’s only us who does that—and the way we can keep ourselves from doing so is by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth that God indeed is the King of kings and Lord of lords and He reigns forevermore! 
 
So, I believe it is important for us to know the first thing the apostle John saw when he came up hither. It wasn’t the dragon. It wasn’t the beast. It wasn’t the plagues, the bowls of wrath, or the judgments. No, it wasn’t all of the bad things that are to come upon the earth; it was the throne of God that he saw first.
 
You see, living down here on the earth, it is easy to keep our mind stayed on things of the earth. In other words, it is easy to focus on the curse, the death, and all of the things the god of this world is doing. But I believe we are called to elevate our way of thinking and see things, not from an earthly perspective, but from a heavenly perspective.
 
But then we read that what John saw happening around the throne of God was lost in the sound of heaven—that is, the Father was being praised and glorified by the various hosts of heaven! But we noticed that these words they were saying were not verses to songs. They were simple statements that praised and glorified Father God. 
 
But we learned that this is not just what ought to be done in heaven; we learned that what is done in heaven ought to be done on the earth too: Jesus taught us to pray like so— “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9-10). So, if we are to pray for things to be done here on the earth like they are done in heaven, then don’t you suppose we ought to be declaring the things that they do in heaven? Absolutely!
 
But aside from the praise of God the Father, do you know one of the primary things you and I are going to see in heaven? Worship of the Lamb of God! This is what we saw in Revelation chapter 5. Church, this is what they are declaring over and over in heaven—that Jesus is the One who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. And if we have heaven’s perspective, this is what we are going to be both seeing and declaring. The Lamb is worthy! Therefore, it’s what we ought to be doing here on the earth as well.   
 
So, we ended in John chapter 12 where Isaiah’s vision of the Lord being high and lifted up in Isaiah chapter 11 is quoted. And we learned that it was seeing the Lord high and lifted up which changed Isaiah’s perspective on things. Therefore, we learned that we too ought to be lifting Christ Jesus up like they do in heaven.
 
But this is the point that I believe the Holy Spirit wants emphasized today—when we lift up and exalt Jesus on this earth through magnifying His Lordship and celebrating His salvation, all of heaven is drawn to that. He is the King of God’s kingdom and whenever and wherever the King is praised, heaven will be there to participate. Oh, glory to God!
 
Church, it is all about the Lamb. He is the Theme of heaven. He is the Song of heaven. He is the only Way to heaven. It’s all about Him. Jesus alone is worthy!
 
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
 
So now let’s move in the Book of Revelation where I will give you an overview of chapters 6-11: That means that today, we are going to cover a plethora of verses in the Book of Revelation, but again, we are not going to go verse by verse through them with me attempting to give you my explanation. I’ll leave that to the so-called eschatology experts because there are a lot of books that one can read, videos they can watch, and information on the internet to get into all of that if you care to. But what I feel the Lord would have us emphasize out of these chapters today will again be the attitude you and I should have towards these things.
 
You see, all of the things covered in Revelation 6-11 are what many consider to be part of the “Great Tribulation”—which is commonly believed to be a future seven-year period of time when God will finalize His judgment on the unbelieving world.
 
Now there are a lot of opinions out there regarding these things like whether the church will be here for this “Tribulation” or if we will be raptured before then. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit would have me give you my opinion on those things. Rather, I believe He would have us to focus our attention on being prepared for whatever might happen, not being able to correctly interpret the things that are going to happen. Amen?
 
So, that is what we are going to learn today: We are going to learn how we can be ready for not only the “Great Tribulation” that is going to come upon the earth, but also how we can be prepared for the other little tribulations that you and I face in our lives today.
 
But let me give you a quick overview of the things covered in these chapters of Revelation:
 
In Revelation 6:1-8:6, we have the opening of the Seven Seals from the Scroll the Lamb taken from the hand of God (See chapter 5). And these seven seals are a series of end-time judgments that are released on the earth. They include what are commonly known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the 144,000 Jews who receive their Messiah during this time-period. 
 
Then in Revelation 8:7-11:19, we have the Seven Trumpets which will be sounded by the seven angels. These events are characterized by more plagues coming upon the earth in the Last Days—which will include unprecedented natural disasters.
 
But I want you to notice that after the sounding of the fourth trumpet that John looked, and heard an angel flying through heaven saying with a loud voice, “Woe, wow, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” (Revelation 8:13). Now I would venture to say that those three woes he gave were for the three remaining trumpet blasts—which will include some terrifying things.
 
But this is what I want you to see in today’s message: While these are certainly “Woes,” they are only a “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth.” Guess who this is NOT referring to? The children of God! Glory to God, we are not the earth’s inhabitants—for while we are in the world, we are not of the world. Our citizenship is now in heaven!
 
So, to the world, yes, these are “Woes.” But to us, there is a completely different perspective to be had. We’ve got awesome things to look forward to even in the midst of these judgments—things that accompany salvation.
 
For example, there are many who read Hebrews chapter 6 and focus only on the part that talks about if one falls away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God (See Hebrews 6:4-8). Woe, they say, but keep reading … Hebrews 6:9 goes on to say, “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.”
 
So, my point is, why do we tend towards the alarming, negative things and not ever get to this verse? In other words, why do we focus on the “Woes” when we’ve got the “Wows”!?! It’s just human tendency to see the glass as half empty and focus on the negatives.   
 
This is why we see in Revelation chapter 9 that when these locusts that come up from the bottomless pit with faces of men and tails like scorpions, they will not be given power to harm those who have the seal of God on their foreheads (See Revelation 9:4). So, my point is, even though there will be terrifying things to come upon the earth, that doesn’t mean the people of God have to be touched by it! We are redeemed from the wrath of God and His judgments on the world! Amen! (We will look further into that in a moment, but first …)
 
Now there are some things we are redeemed from, but other things that we aren’t. Sure, we are redeemed from natural things such as sickness, disease, and poverty. We are also redeemed from our sins, transgressions, and iniquities. But a couple thing that we are not redeemed from is persecution and the potential of dying for our faith.
 
You see, Jesus promised us that in the world, we will have tribulation (See John 16:33). Now the word “tribulation” simply describes a tight, heavy, and pressure situation. So, what Jesus was saying was, that as long as we are in this world, there will be tight, heavy, and pressure situations. And why? Because Satan is the god of this world, and he has control over the vast majority of people on the planet. Therefore, until that day when Jesus returns and His enemies are put under His feet, we will be harassed and persecuted by the enemy of our soul and by his representatives.  
 
However, guess what else we are redeemed from—the wrath of God. Yes, everyone who is born again, washed in the blood, and makes Jesus their personal Lord and Savior, is redeemed from the wrath to come! That much is the truth!
 
Let me take you over to some verses in First Thessalonians that teaches us this and also shows us about the attitude the church ought to have concerning these things:
 
First Thessalonians 5:1-11 says, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
 
Now, first of all, notice in verse 8 the truth that I believe we should put our faith and hope in when it comes to all of these things: Paul said, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
Oh, praise God! This should greatly comfort and edify us in many ways! For one, God has not appointed His children to His anger and wrath. In other words, He will never be angry with us (as we regularly remind ourselves here @ HPC). Hallelujah! 
 
Now the word “appoint” comes from the Greek word tithemi which means to “set, put or lay.” So, basically Paul was saying that God has not “positioned” His people for the wrath to come. But guess what He has “put” us here for—to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ!
 
Now some take this to mean that we will be raptured before the Great Tribulation comes upon the earth. And that might be exactly how He does it. But it could also mean that even when the fire is going on around us, we come out of it without even the smell of smoke. Amen!
 
So, whether we are here through the Great Tribulation to come or we at some point at the beginning of these birth pangs are taken off the earth, the bottom line is that our lot is salvation, deliverance, and protection! Period. Amen!
 
You see, as the apostle Paul goes on to say, Jesus died for us! So, whether we are awake or sleeping, whether we are here or not, we are promised that we should live together with Him. Like Paul says in verse 11, these are the words that we are to comfort and edify one another with! And I’m here today to do just that, church! 
 
Now notice back in verse 1, Paul told this church that concerning the times and the seasons, they had no need that he should write them. That’s the way I feel about these things too—that concerning all the questions like what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, etc.—you have no need that I teach you. Why? Because as Paul goes on to say in the following verse— “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night…” Notice Paul said that we know this perfectly, not just partially. So, we know completely that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. You know, this is something that is crystal clear about the last days that so many fail to emphasize—that Jesus is returning!
 
I wonder why everyone wants to spend all their time interpreting the events of Revelation when the thing that we see repeated time and time again in the Scriptures is Jesus’ Second Coming. Now again, whether one believes this is before the Great Tribulation, in the middle of it, or at the end of it, that’s irrelevant. My mentality has always been and always will be—just be ready for whatever happens, not necessarily try to understand what’s going to happen. And that is what Jesus constantly taught us and what the early church evidently echoed—that He is coming again soon and very soon!
 
But there is another truth about His Second Coming we need to understand and that is that His day will come like a thief would come in the middle of the night—that is, when those in the world are not expecting Him to.
 
So, what that teaches me is that trying to interpret the times and seasons might not be the best use of our time. What we should do, however, is live our lives ready by being sober, awake, and watching. 
 
Now there is a place for knowing the times and the seasons. Otherwise, we would not have been given the information we have by Jesus, Daniel, John, and even Paul here when he said in verse 3— “When they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them…” And the fact is, this information is vital to being able to weather the storms when they do come.
 
TIME TO DO THE MATH
 
A good example of this is found in James chapter 1: In the beginning of his letter, Pastor James says, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2). Now the word “count” there is an accounting term. It means to conclude, the calculate, to consider. So, what this teaches me is that when I fall into various trials, I need to sit down, gather myself, and “do the math.”
 
You see, it is easy to let our emotions take control when we are going through an alarming situation, but here we see that we need to be “logical” from a spiritual perspective. Instead of flipping out about the bad things going on around me, I can gather myself and “add up” all the information Jesus has given me about situations like this. For example, my response might be: “Ah, Jesus told me not to think it strange concerning things like this happening in my life. In fact, He told me that they are opportunities to please God—for without faith it is impossible to please God. So, that means that with more faith (i.e. having to walk less by sight, feelings, etc.) I can please Him more. That means if I rejoice now, if I praise Him now, and if I worship Him now by faith, I can bring a bigger smile to His face. So, let’s do it!” What did I just do? I just “counted it all joy.”
 
Then in verse 3, James told us one of the main reasons we can count it all joy: He said, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
 
So, notice what James uses as motivation for us counting it all joy when problems come into our lives. It is not looking ahead to our victory & deliverance from the problem. He essentially said, “We are to count it all joy knowing that it is producing patience in us!” In other words, James was using the spiritual benefits of character being built in us and virtues being developed in us as the motivation for us rejoicing in the midst of life’s difficulties. How awesome is that!?!
 
Now, again, this is something where we are going to have to settle ourselves down and prayerfully consider how we think about these trials & tribulations and what our response ought to be. If we respond emotionally, we will usually be led astray. We’ve got to “count” things.   
 
Then notice what Pastor James says next in verse 4 – “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
 
You see, I see this verse as like a picture of pregnancy: The patience being developed in us through these trials is like the baby. But like it is with pregnancy, the baby needs the time to grow and develop in the womb. So, we need to let the patience have her perfect work in us in order that we may be truly perfect and complete.
 
Now I know we don’t want to stay in the trials and tribulations any longer than we have to, but this verse makes it clear that there are certain spiritual benefits to carrying it out full term. Amen? Imagine what a monstrosity it would be if a woman were to conceive a child one day and then go into labor the next day!?! She wouldn’t have had time to “count” it all joy, would she?
 
Likewise, we need time to make all the mental and spiritual calculations necessary to be perfect and complete to where we are lacking nothing. Amen or oh me? 
 
BABY, IT’S ON THE WAY!
 
But back in First Thessalonians 5:3, notice how Paul describes these destructive times that are to come— “as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” This is an analogy that we see used by the Master Himself. Let’s look at …
 
In Matthew 24:4-8, Jesus answered His disciple’s question about what will be the signs of the end-times and the end of the world as we know it. He said, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
 
Now when you look up the word “sorrows” it describes these birth pangs (i.e. the pain of childbirth). Now in the verses preceding, Jesus describes false-Christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, plagues, and pestilences (See verses 5-7). These are things He called the beginning of labor pains at childbirth. So, let’s run with this for a moment—for in the mouth of these two witnesses—the apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus—we can see that these end time events are likened to labor pains upon a pregnant woman.
 
When a woman discovers she is pregnant, is this generally a time of depression and discouragement? I understand that sometimes that could be the initial reaction because the man and woman were not trying to have a child. But when a couple is trying to have a baby and they find out they are going to have one, they rejoice! Then, after carrying the child through the three trimesters, there is obviously discomfort for the woman. She might have morning sickness. Her belly makes things less comfortable. And whatever else goes on. But then, when those birth pangs begin, things become real!
 
Of course, those contractions start gradually and pretty far apart (15 or 20 minutes). But then once they start getting closer together, like say 5 minutes, she is encouraged to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Then, when they get to around 2 minutes apart, baby is almost here!
 
Now I know that it is not comfortable to give birth to a child and many women consider it to be the worst physical pain they’ve ever experienced. But I have never heard a woman who has gone through this say that they wish they would have never become pregnant after holding that baby in her arms. Likewise, I know the end times will hold many painful contractions, but we need to always be mindful that they are simply a part of the process of the birth of something beautiful! That is something to rejoice in! 
 
Now whether or not the church are the “Sons” of God who will purely be spectators to the labor pains the woman goes through or if we are the “bride” of Christ who will experience these birth pangs first hand, what we do know is that neither the man nor the woman ought to let the contractions that will come upon the earth be their focal point. As it is with childbirth in the natural, the process is not the focal point. The fact that the little bundle of joy is on the way is where the focus is at! Therefore, like Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, all who are Christ’s ought to be willing to endure said birth pangs for the joy that is set before us. And what is that joy? It is the birth of the new heavens and the new earth where only righteousness dwells and we will rule and reign with Him forever and ever! Glory to Jesus!  
 
Now another interesting point is that in the process of childbirth, something else is supposed to happen. The woman’s water needs to break which, of course, speeds up the process of the delivery. Well, I see this water breaking as another great sign of the last days—for we are promised the outpouring of the latter rain in those days! Glory to God!
 
How many of you know that out of our belly will flow rivers of living water, and this is the promise of the Holy Spirit being poured out in abundance over the whole earth! Glory! These are exciting times we are living in, saints!   
 
All this points to the fact that you and I ought to be “expecting” (i.e. hope) because, oh “baby,” do we have something to look forward to! Amen?
 
So, the point I want to leave you with today is the encouragement that it is not for us to eat from these bowls of wrath—for we are not appointed to God’s wrath! Our lot is salvation and all that goes with it. So, whether we are here, or we are gone, we need not fear these birth pangs that are coming upon the earth.
 
In fact, these plagues that we read about in Revelation are reminiscent of the plagues that came upon Egypt (which was a type of the world), but guess who was protected from the plagues even though they dwelt in the land of the Egyptians? God’s people in the Land of Goshen!
 
Glory to God, church! We live in Goshen—which is that proverbial secret place of the Most High where we dwell under the shadow of the Almighty (See Psalm 91:1). So, no matter how hot the fires of judgment get here on the earth, know that you do not have to get burned by it.
 
Just apply the Blood of the Lamb to your doorpost and trust God to protect you for the destruction that will come upon Egypt around you! 

​REVIEW
 
So, we are on a new series right now based on the Book of Revelation, which I have entitled “The Revelation.” The reason I call it this is because this final Book of the Bible is not called “Revelations” even though most people refer to it that way. No, the apostle John calls it— “the Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
And so in part one of this series, we spent the entire time seeing that this Book is not the Book of Revelations, such as a revelation of the antichrist, a revelation of the tribulation, the revelation of judgment, etc., etc., etc. No, this Book of the Bible’s purpose and intent is to reveal to us one thing—namely, one Person—and His name is Jesus Christ!
 
Therefore, when we read this Book through the lens that it is actually good news and not bad news, it will produce a different emotional response in us. Like we saw in Revelation 1:3, it will make us happy when we read and hear the words contained in it, not fearful and confused. 
 
So, we started out studying the “End Times” in a way we may never have heard it before. We got excited about the things that lie ahead! We started out rejoicing in the things the Lord has told us were on the horizon! We did this because we emphasized Who this Book reveals to us—JESUS!
 
For example, we learned that Jesus is the “apocalypse!” Now this word generally terrifies people because they only associate it with the doom, the judgment, and the woes that are coming on the earth at the end. But the word “apocalypse” is simply the word for “Revelation” in that it comes from the Greek word apokalypsis. So, while the picture that has been painted of the apocalypse is smeared with doom, gloom, destruction, and judgment, technically it doesn’t “reveal” that to us. No, the apocalypse is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
In fact, we learned that Jesus Christ is the revelation, not just in this final Book of the Bible, but all throughout the Scriptures because He is the Word. Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and that includes end-time prophecy.
 
So, last week, we looked at the seven golden lampstands—those seven churches of Asia Minor that Jesus had the apostle John write letters to. And while we did not spend a fraction of the time we could have spent studying Jesus’ words to these seven churches, we did look at what I called seven pillars contained in these seven letters to the churches. This was seven things that we see repeated and emphasized in these seven letters that not only related to the church then, but to the church of today as well.
Now some of these seven things were encouraging words and others were corrections. But we saw that even though five of these churches were corrected for many things, John did not see a couple of golden lampstands and then the other five were silver, bronze, etc. No, he saw seven golden churches—showing us that even though some churches and their members are “tarnished” with sin, flaws, and failures, they were still gold—the most precious commodity in the kingdom of God. Amen! 
 
But the fact is we covered seven very important things that the church today needs to be reminded of and emphasize. If you missed last week’s message, I encourage you to go to our website and listen to it and get a hold of the video and watch it. There is bound to be at least one of those pillars that the Holy Spirit will encourage you to apply to your life so your spiritual house can stay solid and strong. 
 
WE HAVE AN OPEN DOOR!
 
Now, this week, I want us to pick up in Revelation chapter 4 where we have a transition. We see that “after these things” the apostle John looked and saw a door standing open in heaven:
 
This illustrates to me something awesome: I see it as a metaphor that the door to heaven is indeed open for the Lord’s church. Yes, we have access with boldness into the Holiest and can enter into His presence whenever we want, however much we want! Glory to God!
 
So, look at this more as an invitation for you rather than just what the apostle John experienced. The door to God’s presence along with seeing His kingdom come and His will be done is always open and available to us.
 
And let me remind you, this is not a physical place. We don’t have to wait until we come to church or go to some other religious institution to experience heaven on earth. No, our “closet” or “secret place” is wherever we decide to make it.
 
Jesus taught the woman at the well this lesson when she brought up the subject of where one ought to worship. Was it on this mountain or was it only in Jerusalem? Jesus clarified that the hour was coming—and now is—when men and women would not need to go to a physical place to worship God. They only need to worship in spirit and in truth! (See John 4:21-24). In other words, the true worshippers that God seeks now don’t have to go to a physical place to do so like “in church”; now they simply worship in Spirit and in truth. Glory be to God!
 
That means we only need get into the spirit like John did (Revelation 1:10). That’s where God is, and that’s where we can go too! In fact, that is where we must go in order to truly worship Him effectively.  
 
Church, the veil has been rent! Now we can enter into His most holy place by the precious blood of the Lamb! And it is from this spiritual place that not only we can worship Him, but where we can see things from His perspective better. Let’s take a deeper look into that …   
 
COME UP HITHER!
 
Then John heard a voice like a trumpet say to him, “Come up here (KJV- Come up hither), and I will show you things which must take place after this.” I believe this statement is extremely important in leading into the things John saw and wrote down for us. Why? It is because everything the Lord showed him that was to take place was from “up there.” In other words, it was from heaven’s perspective, not an earthly, carnal perspective.
 
It is for this reason that I believe much of the things we have written in the Book of Revelation between chapters 4 & 22 are written from a spiritual perspective and are not necessarily describing to us literal events. So, in my opinion, for people to spend their time trying to make all of these things fit into the worldly events we will experience might not be exactly correct.
 
But here is an important point for us: How many of you know that we all should have more of a heavenly perspective on things? I believe this is even more important for the days we are currently living in because all of the things we are experiencing in this world right now and the things that lie ahead require a spiritual perspective to where we can see what is really happening, and for us not to get swept away with the issues of this world.
 
Church, we need to understand that there is a spiritual world that is even more real than this physical world. In fact, the spiritual world parented this physical world we live in. A great example of this is in the story of Elisha and his servant in Second Kings 6:14-17:
 
In this story, Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the king’s army, and the servant feared, asking the prophet what they were going to do. And Elisha answered and said to his servant— “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them!” Then Elisha prayed and asked the Lord to open the eyes of the young man that he may see what he saw, and the Lord opened his eyes to see the mountain being full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
 
You see, fear gripped the young man when he looked only through his natural eyes. But when his spiritual eyes were opened to see what was happening in the spirit realm around them, he was seeing from “up there.” Saints, that’s how we ought to look at everything! We must look at things “in the spirit” and from “up hither.” This is where we can live on a higher plain than the vast majority of this world because we are seeing things as they truly are.  
 
And I believe that is exactly what so many have failed to do in regard to this subject we are covering right now. They have only looked at the Book of Revelation through a carnal, natural perspective and in doing so, it has sparked fear and anxiety in their hearts.
 
Church, we need to “come up hither” too and become more spiritually minded concerning these things because when we do, a new perspective of the Revelation will occur: We will have hope replace the fear! We will have excitement substituted for dread! And we will have joy overcome the anxiety!       
 
THE THRONE ROOM OF GOD
 
So, we see in Revelation 4:1 that the Lord called John up to enter that door of heaven so that He could show him things from that spiritual perspective …
 
Then in verse 2, John began explaining what he saw: He said, “Immediately I was in the Spirit…” Now this is opposed to being in the flesh, right? You see, if we are in the flesh, we won’t see these spiritual realities. Our senses will be dominated by natural, carnal things. We will be moved by what we see instead of what we should be seeing—for we are called to look at things that are unseen instead of only looking at what we can see (“See” Second Corinthians 4:18).
 
And let me tell you how one can more readily be “in the Spirit” than “in the flesh”: As Jesus said in the Garden on the eve of His crucifixion— “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation—for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41).
 
You see, the watching is simply being willing to keep our spiritual antenna up and the praying is us staying connected to the spirit. If we do this regularly, we can get out of a flesh dominated life and get into the spirit where we can see things from a totally different perspective. Amen? 
 
Then notice what the first thing John describes that he saw when he entered this open door of heaven— “…and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.” Oh, glory to God, what John saw first is what we need to see first in our lives—the throne and the One who is seated on it! In other words, we need to see what the highest authority is and who is He who is seated in that seat of ultimate authority—and we can see that it is El Elyon Himself!
 
You see, church, no matter what happens on this earth. No matter how bad things get. The Lord God Almighty will always remain on the throne! He doesn’t fall off! He doesn’t change. He doesn’t deviate from His consistent rule and victory over all! That’s only us who does that—and the way we can keep ourselves from doing so is by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth that God indeed is the King of kings and Lord of lords and He reigns forevermore! 
 
So, I believe it is important for us to know the first thing the apostle John saw when he came up hither. It wasn’t the dragon. It wasn’t the beast. It wasn’t the plagues, the bowls of wrath, or the judgments. No, it wasn’t all of the bad things that are to come upon the earth; it was the throne of God that he saw first.
 
This illustrates something to me: What is the first thing we see when we look in this Book of the Bible? Is it the things that generate fear or is it the glorious beauty of who Jesus is? I believe the latter is to be true for all of us.
 
You see, living down here on the earth, it is easy to keep our mind stayed on things of the earth. In other words, it is easy to focus on the curse, the death, and all of the things the god of this world is doing. But I believe we are called to elevate our way of thinking and see things, not from an earthly perspective, but from a heavenly perspective.
 
I’m going to tell you—I watch the way people have flipped out about this pandemic and other things, and I wonder—what are they are going to do if humongous hornets with the faces of men come up out of the earth and start stinging people? You know, that’s one of the things Revelation tells us is going to happen. Now like I said earlier, those things might just be the spiritual influence behind the natural things that will take place on the earth at that time, but my point is, these things we’ve experienced in 2020—although certainly inconvenient and probably as bad as any year most of us have had in our lives—is nothing compared to things others have lived through and others will live through. In other words, it could also be worse. But guess what else is true? It could all be better too! Yes, we could choose to view things from our place seated at the right hand of God.
 
Church, it is easy to look at all the bad things going on in the world and even try to spiritualize it by saying, “Oh, look at all the people dying and going to hell today!” Well, you can look at that two ways: You can either choose to focus on all the negative things the devil is doing or you can choose to focus on those who are getting saved, healed, blessed, etc. You know, that’s actually happening today as well, right? I know this good news doesn’t generally capture the headlines, but it is happening, nonetheless. Jesus even told us that the angels rejoice over the one sinner who repents rather than in ninety-nine which need no repentance (See Luke 15:10). And he never says anything about angels weeping over those who don’t repent; just that they are joyful when someone does.
 
So, that’s the mentality I believe we ought to possess all the time—rejoicing to see God’s kingdom increase and prosper instead of letting what’s going on in the kingdom of darkness steal our joy from us.     
 
You see, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (I know you can go to some churches and that doesn’t seem to be true, but it actually is😉), but it’s righteousness, peace, and joy (See Romans 14:17). That means that in God’s kingdom three of the predominant virtues you will find are these—righteousness, peace, and joy. So, there is no depression or anxiety in heaven, only joy and peace. Therefore, if we are living our lives in the kingdom of God, then there is no room for any of these negative emotions and ways of thinking.  
 
Church, I believe there is an open door in the kingdom of heaven for us to live in its victory. But it’s going to take us “coming up hither” and living from heaven’s perspective.
 
THE SOUND OF HEAVEN
 
And as the apostle John goes on to describe in verses 3-7, heaven is amazing, containing things which are difficult to imagine! But what I want us to now look at is one specific thing that John saw happening in heaven.
 
In verse 8, he explained how these four living creatures that he saw and described in verse 7 did not rest day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” And then John went on to say in verses 9-11— “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.’”
 
So, what John saw happening around the throne of God was lost in the sound of heaven—that is, the Father was being praised and glorified by the various hosts of heaven! But I want you to notice that these words they were saying were not verses to songs. They were simple statements that praised and glorified Father God. 
 
You know, sometimes I feel that we let the praise God desires be inhibited by our apparent lack of ability to sing well. We say things like— “Well, I cannot carry a tune like so and so.” But, again, they were making simple statements declaring things about the Father, not necessarily singing songs to Him.
 
I’m guessing we all should be doing this. Why? How many of you know that Jesus taught us to pray like so— “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9-10)? So, if we are to pray for things to be done here on the earth like they are done in heaven, then don’t you suppose we ought to be declaring the things that they do in heaven? Absolutely!
 
Now I know that not every word we say or song we sing needs to be verse for verse what we read here in Revelation. There certainly is the place for psalms, hymns and spiritual songs too, where we declare other things. But I also believe it is clear that heaven sounds like this. Therefore, this ought to be a part of our verbiage too.  
 
WORTHY IS THE LAMB
 
But do you want to know one of the primary things you and I are going to see in heaven is this—that the Lamb of God alone is worthy! This is what we see in Revelation chapter 5 …
 
Following the worship of God by the four beasts and twenty-four elders, in this chapter, we now have our concentration placed upon the sealed scroll that is in the right hand of God. This scroll represents the eternal inheritance that is awaiting the saints of God and God’s redemptive plan for us to obtain it. The seven seals represent the events that must take place before the saints can receive that redemption & inheritance.
 
So, a search begins for one who is worthy to receive this scroll, break the seals and reveal its contents.  And no angel nor man is found worthy to open it, and the situation seems hopeless. But then, the Lamb—which we know to be the Lord Jesus Christ—comes onto the scene and, rightfully, takes the scroll from God’s hand. John is shown that the Lamb is the only One that is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll.
 
And what we see in the remaining part of this chapter is the praise & worship that is given to the worthy Lamb of God where they said the following things:
 
Verses 9-10: And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have 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.”
 
Verse 12: 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!”
 
Verse 13: … I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
 
Church, this is what they are declaring over and over in heaven—that Jesus is the One who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. And if we have heaven’s perspective, this is what we are going to be both seeing and declaring. The Lamb is worthy!  
 
Like we’ve seen in the Book of Revelation, it all points to the Lamb of God and how He alone deserves all the glory, all the worship, and all the praise!
 
IS IT JUST THUNDER?
 
Now, finally, I want us to go over to John chapter 12—because I believe it illustrates to us many of these things we’ve been learning here today: In John 12:28-41, we have an interesting event in the ministry of Jesus:
 
In verse 28, Jesus turned His voice towards His Father and said, “Father, glorify your name.” Then we are told that a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” Now this was not God speaking just to Jesus—for we see in verse 29 that the people who stood by and heard it thought it had thundered. But others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
 
So, what was it about this audible voice of God that caused some to think it was just normal thunder and others thought it was angel? Well, it had nothing to do with the audible voice; it had to do with the ears of the people present. So, what this shows us that what we perceive is based on what we have ears to hear. So, if we are predominately carnal, we might take something that is spiritual and only perceive it carnally. For example, the Bible teaches us that oftentimes we entertain angels unaware, but that doesn’t mean we have to be unaware. It’s just that we get swept along with the physical, natural, and carnal things of this world and our spiritual ears and eyes are not open to hearing and perceiving the spiritual things that are going on around us.
 
I’ll give you a great example of this: you can have two different people attend a worship service, and one person experiences the presence of God and are on their knees weeping before Him, but the other person is bored, twiddling their thumbs, and experiences nothing. How is that possible? It shows us that it’s not just on the ministers to usher us into the presence of God. We have to enter in ourselves.
 
Now, sure, there are times when His manifest presence is so obvious that just about everyone in the room will experience it, but this is not the common experience. Most of the times we are not going to be overwhelmed with His presence to where He is breaking through all the things we bring to church with us. We must press in and give Him our undivided attention and all of our hearts. This is when we will be the ones who perceive His presence and can experience the supernatural.
 
Another good example is with the preaching in church: I have ministered many times to large groups of people and while the majority of them are like— “Eh, that was alright. I enjoyed that.”—and then they go on their way never letting that truth impact them, there are others who come to me saying, “That changed my life! It was awesome! I’ll never be the same.” Both of these examples of people heard the same message, and one is changed forever, and the other is no different. What’s the difference? The hearts of the people.    
 
Now skipping ahead to verses 37-41, we see John addressing this very thing:  
 
We are told that although Jesus had done so many signs before the people, they still did not believe in Him. And the reason why is because they couldn’t—for Isaiah said prophetically, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” Then John goes on to say in verse 41, “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.”
 
SEEING THE LORD HIGH & LIFTED UP
 
So, I want us to go back where Isaiah saw His glory—because I believe it shows us how one’s eyes can be opened and how their hearts can understand: In Isaiah chapter 6, we have Isaiah’s testimony of his experience where He saw the Lord’s glory similarly to how the apostle John saw it in Revelation.
 
In Isaiah 6:1-4, we read: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.”
 
Notice how this sounds very similar to John’s Revelation: He saw the Lord sitting on His throne and he saw angelic being who were also singing similar praises to God saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
 
Now that last phrase is interesting—because is the whole earth really filled with His glory? To the natural eye, it doesn’t seem to be because we see the curse, sin and death filling the earth. But again, it depends on what perspective we are viewing the earth from. If we look at the earth from an earthly perspective, we will tend to only see negative things. But if we look at it from heaven’s perspective, we can see the glory of God filling the earth! Hallelujah!   
 
And guess what this experience did? It made him very aware of his own unrighteousness and inadequacies.
 
Verses 5-7 tell us the following— “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’”
 
So, can you guess why the Lord’s people were hearing but not truly understanding, why they were seeing, but not really perceiving? It was because they had not had Isaiah’s experience.
 
You see, when you and I see the Lord high and lifted up, it will change our perspective. Then we will be able to truly hear His voice. Then we will be able to truly see what we need to perceive. It is these spiritual experiences that make things we read in the Bible true in our hearts.  
 
But, again, it was seeing the Lord high and lifted up which changed Isaiah’s perspective on things. And I believe that when we choose to enter that open door of heaven and begin seeing things from a heavenly perspective, we will see things like Isaiah did—the glory of the Lord filling the earth and our need to no longer fall short of that glory.
 
As Jesus also said in John 12:31-32, if He be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Himself. Now I believe these verses have multiple meanings. I believe it means that people will come when He is exalted. I also believe it means that when He was lifted up on that Cross, that He drew all sin and the judgment for that sin upon Himself.
 
But this is the point that I believe the Holy Spirit wants emphasized today—when we lift up and exalt Jesus on this earth through magnifying His Lordship and celebrating His salvation, all of heaven is drawn to that. He is the King of God’s kingdom and whenever and wherever the King is praised, heaven will be there to participate. Oh, glory to God!
 
Church, it is all about the Lamb. He is the Theme of heaven. He is the Song of heaven. He is the only Way to heaven. It’s all about Him. Jesus alone is worthy!

REVIEW
 
Last week, we began a new series on the Book of Revelation, which I am entitling “The Revelation.” And as we learned last week, the reason I am titling it this way is because this final Book of the Bible is not called “Revelations” even though most people refer to it that way. No, in the first verse of this book, the apostle John calls it—the Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
So, we learned that it is not to the Book of Revelations, such as a revelation of the antichrist, a revelation of the tribulation, the revelation of judgment, etc., etc., etc. No, this Book of the Bible’s purpose and intent is to reveal to us one thing—namely, one Person—and His name is Jesus Christ!
 
But I made the point last week that just as many people do not know how to even refer to this Book correctly, they certainly don’t interpret it correctly either. And the reason I say this is because of how most people steer clear of Revelation because it scares and confuses them. This is not to be the case! As we learned from Revelation 1:3, when we read, hear, and keep the words in this Book, it promises us that we will be “blessed.” And we learned that the word “blessed” can be translated different ways. Yes, it means to be blessed, fortunate, and to be envied, but it also means to be happy and joyful. In other words, to be blessed is not just to have our lives filled with things, it is to have our hearts full of happiness and joy at the same time.
 
So, the point we made is that the reading, hearing, and keeping of this Book of the Bible is supposed to produce these blessed emotions in people. But, again, when you look at a lot of people who read the things from this Book, they are not happy when they hear its truths. On the contrary, they get depressed, become anxious, and are filled with fear. And I believe a lot of the reason for this is because they are looking at the Book of Revelation through the wrong filter. Yes, they are not hearing the heart of what it is saying because they are looking at it through a carnal mindset—trying to figure out what all of the things John saw mean and only looking at them from an earthly perspective. Church, I’ll tell you—if we look at this Book through the wrong filter, it won’t lead to life & peace. We must be spiritually minded when studying the Book of Revelation!
 
So, we started last week studying the “End Times” in a way we may never have heard it before. We got excited about the things that lie ahead! We started out rejoicing in the things the Lord has told us were on the horizon! We did this because we emphasized Who this Book reveals to us—JESUS!
 
And we learned that Jesus is the “apocalypse,” a word that terrifies people because they only associate it with the doom, the judgment, and the woes that are coming on the earth at the end. But the word “apocalypse” is simply the word for “Revelation” in that it comes from the Greek word apokalypsis. So, while the picture that has been painted of the apocalypse is smeared with doom, gloom, destruction, and judgment, technically it doesn’t “reveal” that to us. No, the apocalypse is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
And what we learned last week is that this phrase “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” is used elsewhere in the New Testament, and the apostle Paul used it a lot of times—specifically to describe the revelation of the mystery of our new covenant. We specifically looked at Galatians 1:11-12 where Paul used it this way and learned that this “apocalypse of Jesus” is not a scary thing; it’s actually good news! Likewise, the Book of Revelation is intended to reveal to us the good news of what is to come, not the bumps in the road that it will take to get there.
 
So, what we did last week was we emphasized the Gospel Himself and we did so by looking at that title Jesus declared about Himself several times in this Book—that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end!
 
And we saw that what this means is that Jesus is the beginning of the alphabet and the end of the alphabet. And guess what? He’s everything in between too! This is how we should read the Book of Revelation, and, in fact, how we should read the entire Word of God—seeing Jesus in the beginning all the way to the ending. All of these things prophecy of Him!
 
So, as many have taken in hand to describe Jesus in every Book of the Bible, it seemed good to me to do likewise. And we looked at Jesus in every Book of the Bible! It was awesome!
 
And the last thing we did was we jumped forward to the nineteenth chapter of Revelation and took a look at one thing that I believe summarizes what the Revelation of Jesus Christ consists of— “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). What this means is that at the very heart of all prophecy is Jesus.
 
Church, that was the point last week: When studying this Book, we must do what Hebrews 12:2 encourages us to do— “Look unto Jesus!” That means keep our eyes on the prize and off of the struggle of the race that is set before us—for when we keep our focus on Him, we will walk on water. We won’t sink into the depths of fear and despair. No, we will walk in joy unspeakable and full of glory—for our attention is set on the spirit of all prophecy. That is the Jesus who was, the Jesus who is, and the Jesus who is to come. Glory and amen!
 
THE GOLDEN LAMPSTANDS
 
So now let’s pick up in Revelation 1:9 and move on to the next thing the Holy Spirit would have us emphasize today: 
 
Beginning in this verse, the apostle John begins to give us the background and setting of this Book: He starts out by identifying with these churches he was writing to by saying, “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In other words, he was saying, “I am suffering the same persecution as you guys! That is why I am here on the Isle of Patmos (basically a volcanic rock where the Romans sent criminals to work in granite quarries).”
 
Then, beginning in verse 10, he gives the account of how he received this revelation: He said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’” So, what this means is that originally, this Prophetic Book was intended for the seven churches located in Asia Minor. 
 
Now there are various theories about these seven churches: Some believe that because they were actual churches in the cities mentioned, Jesus was simply speaking to these seven churches of Asia Minor that represented the early first century church, while His Words certainly apply to all of the Lord’s church even in our generation. However, there are others who see these seven churches as prophetically describing the seven stages of church history. For example, those that ascribe to this say that the last church Jesus addressed—the church of Laodicea—is likely referring to the church of today.
 
I’m not sure where I stand on all of that, but it certainly could be that it is not just one or the other. It could mean both. However, what we can be sure of is that because Jesus obviously intended this book to be written down and physically sent to these seven churches in Asia Minor, then these were actual churches full of real people that Jesus was talking to. And, of course, we know that these words were not just for them, but they were Holy Spirit inspired words that also apply to us as well.  
 
But then notice what John saw after he turned to see the voice that spoke these words to him: He said, “I saw seven golden lampstands.”
 
Now this is reminiscent of Zechariah’s prophecy in chapter 4 of his Prophetic Book where an angel came and asked him what he saw, and the first thing he saw was a lampstand made of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps (See Zechariah 4:2).
 
Now, according to Revelation 1:20, we know exactly what these seven golden lampstands represent: They are these seven churches. And it is significant to me that these lampstands are “golden”—being made out of the most valuable and precious commodity we have on the earth. And as most of us are aware of, these churches were full of flaws and had all kinds of defects based on some of things Jesus said to them in Revelation chapters 2-3. But here is the good news: Even with their imperfections, that does not change how the Lord ultimately saw them! Likewise, even though we are also full of failures and shortcomings today, that does not change how the Lord sees us. So, turn to your neighbor and tell them, “You’re golden!”   
 
Then in verse 13, John goes on to describe what else he saw— “and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man…”
 
Now I see an illusion here to the three Hebrew boys—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego—in the midst of the fiery furnace, when Nebuchadnezzar looked in and saw one “like the Son of God” walking around with them. And what this illustrates to us is that no matter what we are going through, no matter how fiery the trial, Jesus—the Son of God and the Son of Man—is in the middle of it with us. Glory to God!
 
Then, in verses 13-16, John begins describing Jesus: He said, “…clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, 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, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.”
 
Now all of these things that John saw in the Son of Man describe His omnipotence and omniscience—His absolute authority and power. They are also reminiscent of the things that Daniel saw in the Son of God in his prophecy (See Daniel chapter 10).
 
The apostle John goes on to say that when he saw Him, he fell at His feet as dead (See verse 17)—and, church, I can assure you that when we see Him like this, we will hit the deck too!
 
We see this throughout the Bible—that when people have some sort of physical experience with God like seeing His glory or hearing His voice audibly it always provoked a response of demonstrative worship. And I believe the reason why so many of God’s people today, do not worship demonstratively like by getting on their knees or laying prostrate before Him is because they don’t see Him. We need to see Him too, church, and no, I am not talking about just have supernatural experiences; I am referring to seeing Him in our hearts to where the reality of Him has truly impacted us.
 
In fact, I don’t believe we have to wait until His Revelation at the Second Coming; I believe we can see Him now and it will breed in us a heart of worship and the true fear of God. May it be so for all of us!   
 
Then in verses 17-20, Jesus laid His right hand on John and said to him, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”
 
In verse 19, we see a short description of what this Book of Revelation entails: the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The things which he had seen would be all of the things he had revealed to him about Christ thus far (See 1:9-20). The things which are would be the things going on in the church (See 2:1-3:22). And the things to come would be the rest of this Book from chapter 4 and on. However, there is a possibility that there are things contained in chapters 4 through 22 that had already come to pass at the time that this Book was written.  
 
Then in verse 20, Jesus explains to John what the seven stars in His right hand were and what the golden lampstands were (as we have seen already). The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven golden lampstands are the churches.
 
THE ANGEL OVER THE CHURCHES?
 
First of all, I want you to notice that they were all written to the angel of each church—to the angel of the church of Ephesus, to the angel of the church of Smyrna, to the angel of the church of Pergamos, etc.
 
Now we can only speculate as to what these “angels” were. Some believe that because the Greek word angelos is used here—which is used to refer to angelic beings, but also to “messengers”—that these are letters to written to each church’s messenger. Which is who? The pastor of each church.
 
But since the word angelos is also the word used for actual angels, this could reveal to us that each church has a guardian angel set over it. If that is the case, I am not sure why the Lord is writing these letters to an angel unless somehow, someway, these angels communicate these words to the pastors, prophets, and others who speak to the church congregation.
 
But the real point we need to understand here is, the Lord was speaking directly to these seven churches which consisted of real people through some medium agent called an angel or messenger. However, this ought to provide some solace for us too—for it shows us that we all have something or someone set over us who is there to protect us like an angel or direct us like one in the fivefold ministry. Either way, God has given gifts to the church that if we will open those spiritual ears and eyes, we can receive more grace in our lives.   
 
THE SEVEN PILLARS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES
 
So, what I want us to do now is spend the rest of our time looking at some of the predominant things that we see repeated in these seven churches. In fact, I want us to look at seven things that we see in these seven churches—seven things that we see repeated and emphasized.
 
You see, while we could certainly spend months talking about everything Jesus revealed to these seven churches, I am going to give an overview of the things we see repeated in and consistencies between all seven letters.
 
Now most of these we will find repeated to all seven churches. Others are mentioned just to a few of them. But what we can be assured of is that all seven of these things are to be foundational things we are established in, since in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word is to be established.
 
However, let me encourage you with this—Don’t try to apply all seven of these pillars to your life today. The reason I say this is because the likelihood is that not all seven of them are what the Holy Spirit is saying to you individually today. Now I believe that each of these seven things are a Word from God for somebody here today, but it is highly unlikely that the Holy Spirit wants anyone here to get all seven of them at this time.   
 
So, with that being said, let’s begin with the first of seven pillars of the seven churches that goes along these lines:    
 
PILLAR #1 – HAVING EARS TO HEAR
 
One of the things that we see repeated to all seven churches is the encouragement for—"He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
 
You know, this was something Jesus was known for saying throughout His ministry on the earth. In His messages, we see Him saying time and time again—"He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
 
Now we know that everyone who came to hear Him teach probably had two physical ears, right? So, Jesus was not talking about audibly listening to His words. No, He was more referring to hearing with the ears of our heart than just physically listening to Him. And that is the key—not just auditing the Word being preached but having hearts that are receptive to those Words to where they are retained and valued like they ought to be.
 
So, I begin with this one today because this is the way we should listen to every message, read every verse, and study every Scripture—with ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us through them.
 
In my experience, I’ve seen two types of Christians who listen to God’s Word:

1. Those who are very studious and ambitiously want to understand everything that they read and hear. To their credit, they want to learn and retain everything. But the problem with that can be, we want to not miss anything, and we miss the very thing the Holy Spirit was attempting to speak to us.
2. Those who hear messages and don’t do anything to retain what they are hearing—meaning, they don’t take notes, they daydream, etc. and in the process miss everything that is being said and get nothing out of the message. This person definitely will not have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to them.

 
So, my point is—we need to have the ears of our heart attune to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us in this hour. As the writers of Hebrews say, “Today, if you will hear His voice …” (Hebrews 3:7,15). It doesn’t say, “Tomorrow” or “Yesterday”; it says “Today.” We need to be most concerned with hearing the Spirit’s voice today.
 
So, make sure you write down and meditate on those things that the Holy Spirit is saying to you right now, and don’t become distracted by everything else. These are the things that bear witness in your heart when you hear them. They will be accompanied by peace and joy. Sure, they might be corrective and even involve a rebuke, but will also be accompanied with the witness of the Holy Spirit letting you know it was for you.    
 
So, let’s move on now into some other details of these seven churches.
 
PILLAR #2 – A SPECIFIC REVELATION OF JESUS
 
Next, I want you to notice that all seven churches are given a specific revelation of Jesus at the beginning of each letter. In one, Jesus reveals Himself as the First and the Last; in another, He reveals Himself as the One who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass. In one, He is the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand; in another, He is the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness.   
 
And the fact that Jesus began each letter by declaring who He was, is and evermore shall be shows me that the first thing Jesus wants His church to know is who He is. Yes, even before He addresses the things we’ve done right or the things we’ve done wrong, He addresses His nature and character.
 
Oh, how important this is to our everyday lives because seeing Him and understanding who He is, is the chief cornerstone that a successful church is built on. If the truth of Christ is not being presented, there will be a faulty foundation. Jesus is the Rock that keeps His house from falling when the storms come, but if the house does not hear and do His sayings, I can assure you it will not stand. Likewise, when any individual member of the Body of Christ does not see Jesus in truth, he or she is building their life on the wrong foundation.        
 
So, a good prayer for us would be— “Father, I want to have the revelation of Jesus Christ! Open my eyes to see who He is in truth! Reveal His greatness and His glory, His grace and His goodness! I want to know You and Your Son! Amen!” And the Bible teaches us that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him. Amen and so be it! 
 
PILLAR #3 – HE SEES OUR WORKS
 
The next thing we notice about all seven churches is that right after Jesus gives the different descriptions of who He is, He would let them all know— “I know your works!”
 
This is evidently something that Jesus wants all of His church to know—that He does indeed know our works. And when you look at the words He used, it literally means that He “sees” our works. In other words, He knows first-hand what His church is doing. And why? Because He is walking in the midst of His golden lampstands.
 
I want to tell you—this is important information to have! The Lord knows what we do even when others don’t. I don’t say that to scare anyone, but if it does scare us, then we probably shouldn’t be doing the things we are doing, right? This is just something we evidently need to remain cognizant of because knowing that the Lord is with us everywhere we go and that He knows not only everything we do but also knows everything we think, will help us to not think or do those things.
 
It’s called integrity—doing what is right even when others don’t see. This is the way we ought to live before the eyes of Him who knows all our works.
 
PILLAR #4 – A CALL TO REPENTANCE
 
Now another thing that we see repeated in the letters to the seven churches is the word “repentance.” In fact, the word “repent” is used seven times—not once for each church because some churches didn’t need to be told to repent. But for some churches, they needed a double portion of repentance.
 
And I can assure you that this is not a favorite word in our modern-day church today, but that does not change the fact that it was a favorite word of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
You see, when Jesus came on the scene at 30 years of age, He came with one message— “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” What He was saying was— “Change sides, think a different way, and go in another direction—because the kingdom of God does things differently than this world.” 
 
You see, many Christians do not understand what repentance really is. They think it is simply just feeling sorry for what you did and maybe shedding a tear. Too often sorrow is confused with repentance.
 
In the Parable of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), repentance is described beautifully by the Lord Jesus. After the prodigal son left his father’s house and spent all that he had, he came to a place where he was wallowing with the pigs (i.e. he hit rock bottom in sin). Then in verses 17-18, Jesus said “when he came to himself, he said, ‘…I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you’…” What this prodigal child did was he confessed his sin (or, acknowledged what his father already knew) and backed up his words with his actions by getting up and heading back to his father’s house.             
 
You see, repentance is a distinct decision to return to the Lord. It is not an emotion, nor is it remorse. It is an act of our will to not continue wallowing around in the sin that we have been stained by.
 
And the great thing about repentance is that God does not make us do it all ourselves! In the parable of the Prodigal son, after he repented and started on his way back to his father’s presence, his father “ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” God will not make us do all the work of repentance. He will run to meet us, as we have taken the first few steps, and he will put the sandals on our feet, the best robe on our back, and a ring on our finger. God will be there with us to help us return home!!! That is just the loving and compassionate God that He is. He gives us grace to repent! Therefore, repentance is a gift from God. Selah.
 
So, when Jesus told these churches to repent seven different times, what we need to understand is that repentance is for all of God’s church—yesterday, today and forever. Therefore, we need to be reminded of it constantly and certainly practice it regularly.  
 
PILLAR #5 – HOLD FAST TO WHAT YOU HAVE
 
Another pillar found a couple of times in these letters to the seven churches was the following phrase— “Hold fast to what you have.” (See Revelation 2:25 & 3:11). And although it is specifically said only a couple of times, it is alluded to throughout the churches—for persevering and having patience is encouraged and celebrated.
 
And there was a reason for this: You see, the early church experienced a tremendous amount of persecution and tribulation. One of these churches was said to be positioned right where Satan’s throne was! You know that had to be a tough situation. So, what these churches preached on and embraced was “patience”—which literally described “staying under power” meaning no matter how much pressure was put on them, they were to stand fast and, yes, hold fast to what they had.
 
These churches understood that if they just wouldn’t quit, then they would never lose. They knew what they had, and they understood that if they just wouldn’t relinquish it, there was great recompense of reward. This is why they called this virtue of patience—the queen of all virtues!
 
I believe this, likewise, needs to be high up on our priority list. Yes, we need to possess this staying under power. For Jesus even said that by our patience we possess our souls (See Luke 21:19). This means that when times inevitably get tough, we will have need of patience so that we can hold on to the things which we have.
 
How many of you have heard of people losing it when they become faint and weary? Our patience will help us not do that. We can keep our wits, hold on to our faith, and not allow discouragement to enter in. It is ours to hold and it is ours to let go of. Our patience is what we use to possess it!
 
PILLAR #6 – A PROMISE TO HIM WHO OVERCOMES
 
Now for pillar #6: What we see at the end of every letter to the seven churches was a promise—a promise to him who “overcomes.”
 
One thing we must understand about God is He is a rewarder. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 says that in order to please God, those who come to Him must believe that He is a rewarder. So, it’s a big part of Christianity for us to embrace God’s heart to reward us. His desire is not to punish and chasten His kids; His heart is to reward them! Yes, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom! 
 
And He is even good enough to share with us the various rewards that await us like being able to eat of the tree of life, being given the morning star, a white stone with a new name written on it, etc. Now I don’t know what all of these rewards Jesus mentioned are, but how many of you know that you don’t have to know what they are to know you want them!
 
But the fact is, all of these wonderful things are promised to Him who overcomes: Who is he who overcomes? John answered this in his first epistle (First John 5:4-5), and in short it is he who is born again and he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. It’s our faith! So, overcoming the world through our faith is a big part of the Christian life. In fact, it seems to be the ultimate goal of the faith considering what we see here in the seven churches. Jesus declared that He overcame the world at the end of His ministry in John 16:33, and I believe we ought to be able to say the same thing when our time of departure is at hand.
 
PILLAR #7 – OUR FIRST LOVE
 
Finally, and arguably the most important pillar: When you look at the first and the last church—the Churches of Ephesus and Laodicea—you will find the Lord’s call to relationship. 
 
In the Church of Ephesus, the Lord’s lone correction for them was to return to their first love. This is their love for the first thing. And I am convinced that our first love is that pure, zealous and genuine love that we had for the Lord in the beginning of our Christian walk.
 
But then in His letter to the Church of Laodicea, we see the Lord in Revelation 3:20 where He said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Now while most people have used this verse evangelistically to tell the lost that Jesus wants to come into their lives, this is not being written to the lost. This is Jesus’ words to the church—showing us that a believer can be saved, but not experience the fullness of their salvation. Amen?
 
Many use this as an evangelistic verse, but the fact is, this is written to a church full of believers—not to unbelievers. So, is it possible that a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian can have the Lord knocking at the door of their hearts and not already living in their hearts? Apparently so. Now that doesn’t mean that they are not saved; it just means that Jesus is not occupying their lives like He desires to. And that is a major point: He obviously desires to, or He wouldn’t be standing at the door knocking. Amen? And the way we let the Lord back in is by returning to our first love like He told the Church of Ephesus.   
 
So, my point is, He is not going to kick the door down. He will patiently wait until we decide to open the door by returning to our first love and inviting Him in. Amen?
 
CONCLUSION
 
Church, these are what I consider to be the seven pillars to the seven churches of Asia Minor. And like I said, all seven of them might not apply to your life today, but I believe that all seven of these things are pillars to the Lord’s church. The Lord Jesus evidently wants us to be mindful of these things so that we can be as strong and vibrant of a church as possible. Not to mention these things will certainly keep us ready for His soon return. Come, Lord Jesus. Come. 

​INTRODUCTION
 
Well, church, hell has officially frozen over! Why, you ask? It is because I am beginning a teaching today on Biblical eschatology out the Book of Revelation (Eschatology is the part of theology concerned with the final events of world known as the "end of the world" or "end times"). You see, this is a subject I have said I never would want to teach on.  
 
Now the reason I have always been so reluctant to share on this particular subject is because of the perversion I have seen of it in the Body of Christ. You see, there are many dogmatic views on end-time prophecy—groups that ascribe to the belief system of a pretribulation rapture of the church to a belief system that we will be here through the tribulation until Jesus returns. And there are those who will fight you tooth and nail on this subject. But in this series of teachings, I am not going to do that.
 
What I have on my heart to do is to focus on the heart of what all end-time prophecy points us to. In other words, I am wanting to put the emphasis on what I believe the Bible puts the emphasis on—not how to predict what’s going to happen or interpreting the various events that are described in these prophecies, but the good news that God promises us is going to ultimately happen.
 
Yes, church, what I believe is the objective of the Holy Spirit through this study is for us to eliminate the fear, confusion, and anxiety from this Book, and see the good contained within its pages! And I can assure you that it is ultimately “very good.”
 
As I wrote these words “very good,” it reminded me of God’s original creation: When the Lord created the things He did for those six days, we saw His process of creating the stars, the sun, the trees, the fish, the animals, etc. But then after the sixth day, we see that as God was about to rest from all His works that He said, “It is very good.” I believe that is what we are supposed to see in the Book of Revelation—that with God, the end is always “very good.” So, that is what I want us to see in this final Book of the Bible: I want us to see the very good news that it proclaims to us!
 
You see, through some of these teachings on end-time prophecy, people in the church become confused, paranoid, and have even become terrified. How many of you know that this ought not be the case? The “apocalypse” is not something that should generate fear in the Lord’s church. It should actually create an excitement in us!
 
Now those in the world who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior should definitely be afraid! Yes, they ought to dreadfully fear that time, which would hopefully inspire them to call on the name of the Lord today and be ready for what must soon take place. But for the true followers of Christ, there is nothing to fear about that Day. While it should be the dread of the unrighteous, it is the hope of the righteous, which should provoke joy and peace as opposed to depression and anxiety. But that is exactly what many of these end-time teachings do to believers—it generates feelings and emotions that are not conducive to the peace and joy of the kingdom of God.
 
So, we are going to study the “End Times” in a way you may never have heard it before. We are going to get excited about the things that lie ahead! We are going to rejoice in the things the Lord has told us were on the horizon!
 
But let me first say that while we will certainly cover a lot of the chapters and verses in this Book, we are not doing an exhaustive study of everything it contains. For example, I am not planning to do what so many have taken in hand to do—explain all of the theological parts of what John saw. I will be the first to tell you that I do not know what all of these things mean, nor do I believe too many others do either.
 
Again, we are going to go for the heart of the Book of Revelation! Yes, we want to capture the spirit of it so that we can receive the blessing associated with it. In fact, that is what I want us to begin with this week—the spirit of prophecy.  
 
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
 
So, let’s begin in the “genesis” (i.e. the beginning) of the Book of Revelation …
 
First of all, notice I did not call it “Revelations” (plural) as many call it. So, not only do many people look at this whole Book of the Bible in the wrong way, they even refer to its title incorrectly because it is not the Book of Revelations, it is the Book of Revelation. But notice what the apostle John specifically called it in Revelation 1:1: He began this Book by referring to it as— “The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”
 
So, notice that this Book is not the Revelation of the Antichrist; it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And, you see, this is why I believe there have been so many misconceptions about end-time prophecy—it is because people want to spend so much time focusing on the part that the devil will play in end time events. They want to focus on all the doom and gloom that will come through the beast, the false prophet, the bowls of wrath, etc. I don’t believe that is the emphasis of this Book of the Bible, church! JESUS is the revelation, not the apocalypse!   
 
As a matter of fact, let me correct that previous statement: Jesus is the apocalypse! Say what? Let me explain: Did you know that the Greek word used for “Revelation” here is where we get the word “apocalypse” from? It sure is! It comes from the Greek word apokalypsis, which when transliterated, gives us the word “apocalypse.” So, while the picture that has been painted of the apocalypse is smeared with doom, gloom, destruction, and judgment, technically it doesn’t “reveal” that to us. No, the apocalypse is “the revelation.” So, it is not such a scary word when we look at it this way, is it?
 
Now, let’s look at this word apokalypsis to learn exactly what it is: It comes from the words apo, being a prefix that describes a separation and could be defined as “away from.” And it also comes from the word kalypto which describes something that is hidden or covered up, like a veil is placed over it. So, when you put these words together, you get apokalypsis which then means to “take away the thing that is hiding or covering something up” or you could say, “to separate the veil.” Therefore, good definitions of this word are the words “unveiling, uncovering or disclosing.”
 
This is an interesting word because of how it was often used when referring to Jesus Christ. In fact, the apostle Paul used this word a lot of times—especially to describe the revelation of the mystery of our new covenant (See Romans 16:25 & Ephesians 3:3). 
 
One of my favorite passages of Scripture where Paul uses this word is in Galatians 1:11-12 when he said, “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
You see, what Paul was doing in these verses is letting the Galatians know that the gospel he preached to them was not second-hand information: First, he says that it was “not according to man.” What he was saying here was that his gospel was not something that was “passed down” to him by other people. No, he hadn’t received passed down information from Peter, James, or John. Then he goes on to say he “neither received it from man.” In the phrase “from man,” he used the word para which is where we get our word “parallel, para-professional, para-medical, etc.” from. By using this word, Paul indicated that he did not receive his doctrine by being “alongside of” another person. Then Paul goes on to say, “nor was I taught it.”
 
Now we know that the apostle Paul was certainly not against being taught by men. He himself taught these churches the gospel that he had received. What he was stressing to them, however, was that he personally was not taught by man the things that he had taught them. His teaching came by personal revelation—which is certainly a better way to be taught (by the revelation knowledge given by the Holy Spirit). Which is exactly where he goes to describe his revelation coming from— “but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” My point in bringing this out is that this phrase “the revelation of Jesus Christ” is the exact same terminology that the apostle John used in Revelation 1:1. So, the apostle Paul was describing here that the gospel of grace that the Lord gave Him—the revelation of the mystery—was given to him the same way that the apostle John was given his prophetic vision of the glorified Jesus and the end time events that would surround His revelation to the world: all of this was disclosed, unveiled, and revealed to Him.
 
Now we don’t know if Paul had an open vision like John did on the Isle of Patmos to where he saw the resurrected & glorified Lord Jesus and was shown these things in person. It might very well have occurred that way, or Paul’s revelation of Jesus Christ might have come differently. Perhaps the Holy Spirit revealed the truths concerning Jesus to Him spiritually to where he “saw” them in his spirit and knew them accordingly.
 
But here is one thing I find noteworthy about the revelation both the apostles had of Jesus Christ—it came while they were away from everything and everyone else. Yes, it occurred while they were separated from the things of the world—Paul in the deserts of Arabia and John while exiled on the Isle of Patmos.
 
In fact, did you know that the two men who had more revealed to them which resulted in them writing more Scripture than anyone else (I’m talking about Moses and the apostle Paul) had their “apocalypse” given to them while they spent years in the deserts of Arabia? They did! And this revelation given to John was “unveiled” to him while he was on an island—showing us that things can be best “revealed” when we are not clouded by the cares of this world, but are alone with the Lord in a secluded place. 
 
Nonetheless, was this “apocalypse” of Jesus Christ that Paul described in the Book of Galatians that he received a scary thing? Of course not! Wasn’t it actually a “good” thing in that it contained the “gospel of grace” that you and I benefit from today? Absolutely! Therefore, this word “Revelation” should be an exciting word to us because it is the “unveiling & disclosing” of the good news of Jesus Christ! Amen!
 
WHAT THE WORD REVEALS
 
But I want us to notice what John continued to say in this first verse of Revelation: He said, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place…”
 
Notice this phrase, “which God gave Him to show His servants.” What that means is that this Revelation of Jesus Christ is not just what we have been shown about Him; it is what God showed Him (i.e. Jesus Christ) to then in turn show us, His servants. In other words, this Revelation of Jesus Christ is what God the Father revealed to His Son to share with His body. Glory!
 
You know, people have the misconception that Jesus, being God the Son, knows all. But that is not entirely accurate. There are some things He told us He does not know. And one of them revolves around what we are covering here in this series—His Second Coming.
 
Jesus said in Mark 14:32-37— “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
 
So, let me give you a great piece of advice: Not if, but when someone arises in the Body of Christ saying they know when Jesus is coming back, liquidate all your assets and bet everything that you have that Jesus will NOT be coming back on that date! Of course, I am joking about the betting part, but I am very serious about being that sure that Jesus will not come back on a date someone says that He is.
 
In fact, I’ll go a step further and say that when so called teachers, prophets, etc. start telling you exactly how all of these end-time events are going to happen, don’t swallow what they are saying hook, line and sinker. The fact is, it is highly unlikely that anyone knows exactly how all of these things are going to come to pass and what they will look like when they do.
 
Consider the First Coming of Jesus 2,000 years ago: Did the Jews correctly see how their Messiah was going to come? No, they incorrectly took their prophecies of the Messiah literally as Him coming as a conquering King to free them from their physical oppressors. And understandably so—for that’s what it seemed like many of those prophecies were saying. However, we know now in hindsight that Jesus was coming to first free mankind from their spiritual oppressor—Satan, sin, and death. And we can now see how those prophecies made this clear. But the Jews didn’t see it, and they were much more learned in their Scriptures than the church is today with our Bible.
 
So, all I am saying is take everything you hear with a grain of salt regarding end-time events like exactly what’s going to happen and when it will happen.
 
In fact, let me give you another good nugget of wisdom: Just as it was given to the Lord Jesus to show us these things which must take place, know that everything we need to know is recorded in the Word of God. Jesus is the Word, right (See John 1:1)? So, everything God has given us through His Word is all the information we need to successfully navigate life in the last days.
 
I say this because I see so many people try to emphasize things the Bible does not emphasize. For example, there are folks who get hung up on the First Book of the Bible, Genesis, and read between the lines of those 50 chapters, trying to figure out what all happened in the beginning. Well, let me just say that as far as we know, the Book of Genesis covers close to 2,500 years of human history. That’s a long time to cover in just 50 chapters, right? Just to put that into perspective—the Book of Acts, which is 28 chapters only covers 30 years of the history of the church. And we know there was a lot left out of those first 30 years of the church. So, with that in mind, do you reckon God left some stuff out of those 50 chapters? He left a whole lot out!
 
So, my point is that when it comes to the last Book of the Bible—Revelation—understand that the Lord Jesus had this specific information given to Him to give to us, but that does not mean that we have everything that will happen revealed to us in this Book. So, there is a lot in these 22 chapters that might seem muddy and difficult to understand, but it will be revealed to us in time. You can be sure of that!       
 
THINGS SHORTLY TAKING PLACE
 
But that leads me to another point: Notice that the apostle John goes on to say that these things Jesus was going to show His servants were “things which must shortly take place.” This, my friends, is the purpose of the Book of Revelation! It is to show you and I things which must shortly take place.
 
Now I know that we might read statements like that and think— “Things which must shortly take place? Well, that was around 2,000 years ago when John said that. What is God’s idea of ‘shortly’?” The short answer is this—His idea of “shortly” is not the same as ours. God doesn’t operate within our idea of time. The Bible teaches us that one day to the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day (See Second Peter 3:8). And this was said in the context of scoffers arising in the last days saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Because all things continue just like they were before!” (See verse 4).
 
So, just remember—God’s timeframe is vastly different than ours. When these times come where people will ridicule us for believing Jesus is coming again, be mindful of these words from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is coming quickly indeed!
 
But this also applies to when we pray for something: God looks at it like— “Alright, the answer will come in 15 minutes.” In our timeframe of a day being as 1,000 years, that would be something like 10 years, saints! Do you see how our timetable is totally different than His? In fact, we all know of people whose references to time are different than ours. For example, you have might have someone who is coming to do some work for you say, “I’ll be there in a minute” and sure enough, they show up an hour later. Well, when the Lord Jesus says, “I’ll be there in a minute,” He means something like 8 and a half months. So, like when Abraham had to wait 25 years for the promise he had been given, that was only like a little over 30 minutes in God’s timeframe.
 
That means for us to grow faint after a couple of weeks would be like saying, “Well God, I have been believing you for this thing for fifteen whole seconds. I’m tired of waiting. Maybe it’s not your will or maybe you just don’t love me enough to answer my prayer.” Many Christians would not verbally express it like that, but that is really what they are communicating through their actions. 
 
But what we should take solace in is the fact that if God’s “shortly” is obviously 2,000-plus years, then that same different standard of time works with how long He puts up with us. That is why the apostle Peter went on to say in verse 9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 
 
You see, the Lord is looooooooooooongsuffering! The word “longsuffering” describes a stick of dynamite with an extremely long fuse to where, although it possesses a great amount of power to destroy anything around it, it can get “burned” a lot before it will explode. That is our God! He is slow to anger and abounding in patience & longsuffering! He is this way towards the world who needs to repent and to His children who also at times need to repent! God is full of mercy! Thank God for that!
 
THE BLESSED BOOK
 
Then in the rest of verse 1 through verse 2, the apostle John went on to describe himself and how he received this “Revelation”: “And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.”
 
But I want you to notice what the apostle John then said in verse 3: “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.”
 
Now if for no other reason, we ought to embrace this particular Book of the Bible because of this one single verse. And that reason is because we are promised here that a blessing is associated with reading, hearing, and keeping the things written in it! And notice that it does not say that you have to understand the things contained in it either! It just says a person is blessed in reading, hearing, and keeping the things written in it. That’s all.
 
What a blessing to know that when I choose to study Revelation and let my heart capture its heart, I am going to receive a blessing from God! But until just recently, I always believed that this was all that verse 3 meant. However, the Lord showed me something a little different as I prepared for this series. 
 
You see, the word “Blessed” can be translated different ways. Yes, it means to be blessed, fortunate, and to be envied, but it also means to be happy and joyful. In other words, to be blessed is not just to have our lives filled with things, it is to have our hearts full of happiness and joy at the same time.
 
And this is true prosperity, church! Prosperity is not just having things and possessing a bunch of stuff. No, true prosperity is having a full heart—a heart full of joy and peace. If one does not have that, then all of possessions of this world will not truly “bless” them.
 
So, my point is that the reading, hearing, and keeping of this Book of the Bible is supposed to produce these blessed emotions in people. But if you look at a lot of people when they read the things from this Book, they are not happy when they hear its truths. On the contrary, they get depressed, become anxious, and are filled with fear.
 
But I believe a lot of the reason for this is because they are looking at the Book of Revelation through the wrong filter. Yes, they are not hearing the heart of what it is saying because they are looking at it through a carnal mindset—trying to figure out what all of the things John saw mean and only looking at them from an earthly perspective. Church, I’ll tell you—if we look at this Book through the wrong filter, it won’t lead to life & peace. We must be spiritually minded when studying the Book of Revelation! Amen?  
 
So, that is what I am going to do, through the help of the Holy Spirit. I am going to take you through this Book of the Bible to where you will receive the blessedness that accompanies the hearing and keeping of this Book. 
 
THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA
 
So, after John’s introduction to his prophetic Book, he then begins to address the recipients of it by writing (and I’ll put these verses in bullet points):

1. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: - We will get into these seven churches next week …
2. Grace to you and peace - Notice that this is the Lord’s wish for all of us—to possess grace and peace in our lives. Again, a far cry from what people who read the Revelation possess in their lives) 
3. from Him who is and who was and who is to come, - And here is why: because they have not seen the One who is, who was, and who is to come. You see, it is all about knowing God—who He was, who He is now in our lives, and who He evermore shall be.  
4. and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, - It’s difficult to be dogmatic as to exactly what these seven Spirits are because the Bible does not specifically tell us, so we will not harp too much on it. Let’s just say that some believe that they describe seven distinct aspects of the Holy Spirit and others believe they are seven different spiritual beings like angels who stay before His throne.
5. and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. – Notice the various descriptions of Jesus here. He is the faithful witness, meaning He is the One who came to testify to the truth and He and His sayings are faithful and worthy of all acceptance. He is also the firstborn from the dead, meaning He was the first to receive the resurrection that we all hope to experience. Lastly, He is called the ruler over the kings of the earth. Why? Because He is the King of kings & Lord of lords. 
6. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father – Oh, praise God for this! Jesus has loved us, and through His blood, washed us from our sins. And through His grace, He has made us kings and priests. Glory! 
7. to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. – All the glory and dominion belong to Him forever and ever for all that He has done for us! So be it!
8. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. – What an awesome Day this is going to be! Yes, terrible for those who put Him on the Cross, but exciting for us who hasten His Second Coming. Which again, is the point of John’s Revelation—to proclaim that He is coming quickly! So, watch and be ready!
9. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” – Now we see Jesus speaking, declaring Himself to be the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. What this means is that Jesus is the beginning of the alphabet and the end of the alphabet. And guess what? He’s everything in between too! This is how we should read the Revelation, as it is—the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In fact, we would do well to read the Word of God this way—seeing Jesus in the beginning all the way to the ending. These things prophecy of Him!

 
So, as many have taken in hand to describe Jesus in every Book of the Bible, it seemed good to me to do likewise. (See the Addendum at the End of this Article for “Jesus in Every Book of the Bible)
 
With that being said, let’s jump forward to the nineteenth chapter and take a look at one thing that I believe summarizes what the Revelation of Jesus Christ consists of:
 
THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY
 
In Revelation 19:9, after heaven rejoiced in the destruction of Babylon, the angel with John said to him, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’” And then in verse 10 we see John falling at the angel’s feet to worship him, and the angel said to him— “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!”
 
You know, it is easy for one to idolize either the messenger of God or even a message from God. And I see that happen with various topics. I had one tell me before that they believe the Pauline epistles, and I wondered— “Do you not believe the other apostles’ epistles? What about the Gospels?” But man has the tendency to repeat the same error of the Corinthian Church— “I am of Paul” or “I am of Apollos.” We need to all be of JESUS—for it is God who gives the increase, not another servant of God or his writings.
 
And the same goes for this Book we are covering: A lot of people have an undue affection for end-time prophecy and essentially “worship” this subject. We ought not do that with any biblical topic. Yeah, I love the subjects of grace, faith, the Holy Spirit, etc. but I dare not “worship” something pertaining to the kingdom of God more than I do the King of the kingdom Himself.
 
And then I just love what the angel told the apostle John at the end of verse 10— “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”   
 
What this means is that at the very heart of all prophecy is Jesus. We see the apostle Paul saying this in First Corinthians 12:3 when he said that if anyone is speaking by the Spirit of God, they will be saying, “Jesus is Lord.” That means that with the gift of prophesy, Jesus is being testified of.
 
But it is not just the gift of prophecy, which we can all operate in, that testifies of Jesus; Even the prophecy contained in the Book of Revelation speaks of Jesus Christ.
 
And that is the point I want to leave you with today: When studying this Book, we must do what Hebrews 12:2 encourages us to do— “Look unto Jesus!” That means keep our eyes on the prize and off of the struggle of the race that is set before us—for when we keep our focus on Him, we will walk on water. We won’t sink into the depths of fear and despair. No, we will walk in joy unspeakable and full of glory—for our attention is set on the spirit of all prophecy. That is the Jesus who was, the Jesus who is, and the Jesus who is to come. Come quickly Lord! Amen.    

So, this week, I had on my heart to piggyback on what I talked about last week as we dealt with the steps we are to take when our brother sins against us. In that teaching, I spoke a little about forgiveness, but I felt led to spend a little more time on this subject today—namely, how to forgive others who have hurt and offended us.
 
You see, a lot of times we hear sermons telling us what to do, but not necessarily how to do it. It is certainly that way with the subject of forgiveness too. Sure, we hear how important it is to forgive, but we rarely hear practical ways in which to do it.
 
However, let me first say that even though we do have some practical instructions in the Bible on how to forgive, they are not laid out like “3 Steps to Forgiveness” or “7 Keys to Forgiving Others.” No, for the most part, forgiveness is simply an instruction given to us without a lot of explanation behind it. And the reason I believe this is the case is because forgiveness is not a complicated thing; it is a commanded thing. Let’s look at some Scriptures that teach us this …  
 
ORDERS FROM HEADQUARTERS
 
A few years ago, we spent a lot of time looking at John 13:34, but I want us to look again at what this oh so important Bible verse says: Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
 
Now I want you to notice that this is not the new suggestion or the new ideal. No, this is the new commandment of the New Covenant!
 
So, I believe the fact that Jesus called love (which is certainly to involve forgiveness) a “commandment” is a great place to start in discovering how to forgive one another. Why? It is because a commandment does not necessarily involve emotions or feelings. In other words, a command is something we do whether we feel like it or not.
 
You see, a “command” is most commonly defined as “to give someone an order.” A common usage of this is with a commanding officer in say, a military leader, giving orders to those under himself.
 
Now those of you who have served in the military would agree to this point, but more times than not, when you were given orders to do something, you didn’t feel like doing what they told you to do. Particularly, when you were in basic training and those drill sergeants gave you orders like “drop and give me twenty” or “go run 5 miles!”, nothing in your flesh or your soul wanted to do it. But guess what? You did it anyways! And why? Because you were given orders by your authorities.
 
One very important lesson I have learned in this regard is that when it comes to submitting to your authorities, you are not submitting when your authority figures tell you to do something that you like or agree with and then you do it. No, you only truly submit to your authorities when they tell you to do something, and you don’t agree with it or you dislike what they are telling you to do, and you do it anyways. This is when true submission to authority occurs.
 
So, when it comes to this new “commandment” of loving and forgiving one another, it has nothing to do with what we feel, what we think or what we want; it all has to do with simply following orders. Love is the orders from headquarters!
 
LOVE IS SPIRITUAL
 
You know, as a general rule, the world believes that love is a feeling. They’ll use terminology like “I just fell in love with them” or “I just fell out of love”—indicating that love is a feeling and not a decision. But this is wrong!
 
What do they say when they “fall out of love”? “I just don’t feel for you the way I used to feel about you.” This, again, indicates that love is a feeling or an emotion. No! When someone says they have fallen out of love with someone, really what they are saying is that they have “fallen out of feelings.”
 
It is actually impossible to “fall out of” true love. Why? Because love is an act of your will! It is not a feeling! No, real love never ENDS (First Corinthians 13:8)! It changes not! Yes, agape is a spiritual thing! Therefore, it is eternal and unchanging!
 
Aren’t we taught that God is Spirit (John 4:24)? And we are also taught that God is love, right (First John 4:8)? So, this means that Love is a spiritual thing! You know, we are a spirit too. We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body, and it is vital that we understand what the Lord accomplished in us through the new birth.
 
You see, Galatians 5:22-23 teaches us that the fruit of the Spirit begins with love and includes joy, peace etc.
 
Now the word “Spirit” here is given a capital “S” because the translators believe that the Holy Spirit is who is being referred to here. I differ on the other hand—because the context suggests the flesh of man versus the spirit of man. Therefore, I believe the fruit of the Spirit (while certainly is the nature of the Holy Spirit and are produced by Him in the life of those who are led by Him) is the fruit of our new, recreated spirit that we were born again with. 
 
But whether or not you believe that these fruit are the fruit of our reborn spirit or the fruit of the Holy Spirit, either way, this means we already have this fruit within us. Amen?  
 
Yes, I already have love in my heart for in Romans 5:5, the Apostle Paul says that the love of God has already been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Amen! So, my point is that love is already in there! We are not trying to get more love from the outside in; we are simply working out our salvation to get more love from the inside out! Amen! 
 
But so many have a hard time believing this because they feel that they do not have love because they don’t “feel” love. In other words, because they don’t have the emotions of love and there is selfishness, anger, etc. in there, they believe that they are void of love. But this is when we must believe what the Word says more than what our feelings and our heads are telling us. Amen! 
 
And, as it is with everything spiritual in nature such as love, we are not led by our feelings.
 
We wouldn’t say “Well, I don’t feel like reading my Bible anymore” and then just cater to that, would we? No, we have enough sense to know that is wrong. Nor would we believe that because we don’t feel like praising God that we evidently do not need to press through those feelings that cater to our flesh.
 
Saints, what I am saying is—do not wait until you feel like operating in these spiritual things before you practice them. Know that they are fruits of the spirit and spiritual things are not based on feelings.
 
Now the reason I bring this out is because I have been around long enough to see that most believers that even desire to forgive others are waiting for the feelings and emotions to come all over them. In other words, they are waiting to feel like forgiving before they actually act on this commandment to forgive.
 
Saints, I’m here to tell you that if you are waiting for all of these “lovey dovey” emotions to come all over you and overtake you, you are going to be waiting a long time! As you have heard me say before, I believe you are walking in love the most when you feel like strangling somebody, but as an act of your will, you decide to bless them instead. In other words, love is being exercised the most when our feelings are completely contrary, but we act on the decision to love. Amen!
 
As we have seen, love is a fruit of the Spirit—meaning, it is spiritual in nature. It’s not something that is tied into our flesh or our soul. Therefore, it doesn’t involve our feelings (a product of the flesh) or our emotions (a product of the soul). Love is spiritual thing—meaning, it is an action that comes as a result of our will.  
 
Church, if we are going to be a “spiritual” man or woman, we are going to have to learn to live out of the part of us that is willing by faith (i.e. the spirit) and not yield to the part of us that is weak by feelings (i.e. the flesh). Amen!    
 
Being spiritual is a decision! It's an action—an act of our will (for the spirit is willing). To act on our feelings and emotions is carnal; to act on what we know is true and, by faith, will to do those things, is spiritual.
 
Let me give you a good Scriptural example of this:
 
In Titus 2:3-4, the Apostle Paul told Pastor Titus that the older women were to, among other things, admonish the young women to love their husbands and to love their children.
 
So, were these older women to admonish the younger women to “feel” more like loving their husbands and their children? No! You do not admonish someone to have certain emotions and feelings. What these older women were being admonished to do was to teach the younger women how to love their husbands and children—which, of course, would be actions and deeds of love. Amen!
 
You see, love and forgiveness are more of an action than they are an emotion. And if we can be taught how to love, then we should know that it is an act of our own volition. If it were an emotion, then it would be out of our control because we are always going to have ups and downs in our emotions. But since love is a commandment, we know that it is in our control because the Lord would not have told us to do something that it wasn’t in our control to do. Amen!  
 
So, let’s begin talking specifically about that aspect of love the Lord wanted to look at today—forgiveness—by going over to Colossians chapter 3.
 
FREELY FORGIVE
 
In Colossians 3:13, the Apostle Paul, in the midst of His exhortations to put on all of these virtues related to love, says, “bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
 
Now I looked these words “forgiving and forgave” up and noticed something very significant about forgiveness: The word “forgive” comes from the Greek word charis which is commonly translated “grace.” Now the word “grace” means to give something freely, with no strings attached. If you are giving someone “grace,” you are giving them something they don’t necessarily deserve, nor have they done anything to earn it. Therefore, a common definition for “forgiveness” when considering the word “grace” is to freely forgive.
 
Now let me include this important point in here: Since we see the word “forgiveness” is so closely associated with grace, then our ability to forgive is tied together with us receiving the grace of God ourselves. And I believe that those who truly have come to embrace God’s grace for them will themselves be gracious—which will result in them being more apt to forgive.
 
You see, this is one of the reasons we emphasize the grace of God at our church; it is because it empowers one to be more gracious and loving. Amen!   
 
But I make this point of the word “forgive” coming from the word charis because oftentimes the mentality that people have, which causes them to have a harder time forgiving people, is that the person that offended them doesn’t deserve to be forgiven—maybe they haven’t even been repentant and asked for forgiveness.
 
Now I would venture to say that most of us, if the person that hurt us came to us and said something to the effect of— “You know, I was wrong. I am so sorry. Please forgive me” that we would forgive them. But what makes forgiveness a little more difficult is when the person who hurt us doesn’t show any signs of being repentant and no remorse for what they did—which is, unfortunately, what happens most of the time.
 
But that is when this true meaning of forgiveness becomes so important because now I know I am called to forgive freely whether I feel they deserve it or not. I am “for-giving”—that is, I am giving them grace in advance of them deserving it or asking for it.
 
Then notice what Paul goes on to say in the rest of verse 13 that “if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
 
You realize that if everything you and I did to sin against the Lord and everything we did to put Jesus on that Cross could be weighed, there would not a be enough scales on the planet that could measure the greatness of that sin? We have truly been forgiven much! And you also realize that with the vast majority of these sins that Christ forgave us of, we are unaware of them and have not confessed them to Him? Absolutely!
 
Let me ask you this question: Do you think the Lord forgives us of the things we do wrong and are unaware of? In other words, does God give us mercy even for the things we do not confess to Him? You better hope so!
 
I know there are people in the church out there who believe that we have to specifically confess our sins in order to be forgiven of them, but that is not what First John 1:9 was teaching. Do you realize if that were true, then we are all in trouble because there is no way that we can specifically confess every single sin we’ve ever committed?
 
So, it is apparent that Christ has freely forgiven us of things we never sought forgiveness from— and aren’t you glad for that?  
 
Well, when Paul said, “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” the words “even as” literally mean “to the degree that.” So, we are told to forgive one another to the degree that Christ has forgiven us.
 
So, this tells me that if Jesus forgave me of this magnitude of sin that I committed that put Him on the Cross, then I am expected to forgive others to the same degree. This is why Paul said at the end of Colossians 3:13 “so you also must do.”
 
So, forgiveness is a commandment, and it is expected of us! It is our duty!
 
FORGIVE BY FAITH
 
There is a Scripture that reiterates this point and it is found in Luke 17:1-10:
 
In the beginning of Luke chapter 17, Jesus begins to talk to His disciples about offenses and how we must do whatever is in our power not to cause others to stumble (verses 1-2). Then He tells His disciples to take heed to themselves that they live a life of forgiveness no matter how many times someone sins against them (verses 3-4).
 
Well, it is interesting to note the reaction that this call to forgiveness generated in His disciples: In verse 5 we are told: “And the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’”
 
Now what does “increasing our faith” have to do with forgiveness? In other words, why would they ask the Lord to increase their faith immediately after He tells them to keep forgiving that sinning brother who keeps sinning against them?
 
Apparently, it is because we forgive by faith. In other words, if we are called to raise our standard of forgiving one another, then we also need an increase of faith to forgive them by.
 
You see, saints, we don’t forgive because we feel like forgiving or even because we feel like we have been forgiven; we forgive because of our faith in God and through our faith in God.
 
You know, I’ve dealt with people who think they have not forgiven because they have all of the feelings and emotions that scream on the inside of them telling them that they hate that person. But those thoughts and emotions are not necessarily proof that you haven’t forgiven them.
 
You see, people just want to feel like they’ve forgiven, but that it is not what a spiritual person does. A person who has decided to walk in the spirit does not go by how they feel; they are only moved by their faith. And because they have made the choice to forgive by faith, that is all they need. As it is with receiving anything from God, they don’t need the feelings to confirm it. 
 
This call to forgive by faith is reiterated by the Lord in verses 7-10:
 
In this lesson, Jesus gives us the example of a servant who, when he comes in from his day’s work, is not afforded the opportunity to sit down and eat, but first must serve his master and then he can serve himself. Jesus then gives the point of this story that this servant is not rewarded nor even thanked for serving his master because he simply did what was his duty to do.
 
The point that Jesus was making by giving this example in context is that we don’t forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ because we feel like it or because of any benefit that we get out of it. No, our primary motivation for forgiving (next to loving God and loving the person) is because it is simply our duty as Christians! We do it because it is the right thing to do! Amen! 
 
HOW TO FORGIVE
 
So, this is the first step to forgiveness—understanding that we are expected to forgive, that it is a command, and it is our duty to do so.
 
But I understand and the Lord understands that this is not easy to do. I’ve had people who have been hurt that, while they honestly want to obey the Lord, do not know how to forgive because the offense was so great.
 
Well, as Jesus’ disciples obviously understood, we will need faith to forgive sometimes. It might be too much for us to handle—releasing someone from the pain that they caused us. This is when our faith in God becomes key.
 
The Lord recently showed me that one of the ways that we forgive by faith is through our prayer life. What do I mean by that?
 
Have you ever noticed that in some of our greatest exhortations to forgive others that the forgiving is being done while in prayer?
 
For example, in Mark 11:22-26, where Jesus was teaching on how God’s faith works (i.e. speaking to the mountain, believing that the things we say will be done, believing we receive when we pray, etc.), He continues in verse 25 by saying, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him…”
 
So here, Jesus was talking about making sure that we forgive while we stand praying. In other words, forgiveness is something we do in our prayer time. It is not just something we do on our own all of the time. In many of these cases, we need to involve the Lord’s help through prayer to remove the residue of unforgiveness.
 
But in this passage of Scripture in Mark chapter 11 I want you to notice again that praying in faith (speaking to the mountain, believing we receive when we pray, etc.) is joined to together with forgiveness. Do you think the Lord had a lapse in memory here and forgot what He was talking about in verses 23-24? I think not! Obviously, the Lord wants us to understand the association between the prayer of faith and the prayer of forgiveness because they are similar in nature.
 
You see, when you stand praying and you need to forgive someone, you treat that unforgiveness like you would that mountain. You speak to it! You use your authority to tell it that it has no right to stay in your life, and you take the mountain of offense and get rid of it! Then, when you’ve spoken to the mountain, you believe you receive when you pray. You don’t wait until you feel like its gone. You don’t base the effectiveness of your prayer on whether the unforgiveness seems like it has been removed. No, you believe it because you spoke to it.  
 
We see our Lord Jesus Christ praying to His Father when He needed to forgive, when hanging on the Cross, said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
 
Amid His agony and pain (things far outweighing the hurt that we feel), Jesus addresses His Heavenly Father and asks Him to forgive those who had put Him on that Cross due to their ignorance. So, the Master practiced what He preached by including forgiveness in His own prayer life.
 
So, what I am seeing here is that there is apparently a connection between the process of forgiveness and our own personal prayer lives. But I believe the point of understanding this is that we obviously need the Lord’s help in forgiving. It is hard to do this on our own—particularly when the offenses are so great. Yes, some of it is us simply choosing to forgive and following the orders from our Heavenly headquarters. But others, where our soul has been torn to shreds, will require faith to forgive them. And this is why the Lord taught us to forgive while we stand praying and by faith because this is where we get the help to legitimately release people in our hearts.
 
You see, in order to get the grace that we need to love the way we are called to, we need to walk in truth. And a part of walking in truth is not hiding our feelings. We need to be real with God and put everything on the table.
 
So, by first understanding that we forgive because it is our duty to forgive, we are to take those things before the Lord and say, “Lord, I choose to forgive them for the thing they did to me. I have no rights anymore and you have called me to forgive. So, I forgive them and ask you to forgive them as well. I ask for your richest blessings upon them and that you would pour out your goodness upon them.”  
 
This should not surprise us because how did the Lord teach us to respond to the pains and offenses of our enemies? He said, in Luke 6:27-28 to love them. How? By doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse us, and by praying for those who spitefully use us.
 
It is no surprise then that so many people have a hard time releasing people in their hearts. Why? Because they are not doing it God’s way; they are doing it their own way—trying their best to forgive but failing to truly release that person in their hearts.
 
When we do it God’s way—which is, by faith taking it before the Lord when we stand, praying and confessing before Him our willingness to release them for the hurt they caused us, and sincerely praying for them—we are given the grace to truly forgive and release them.
 
This is where God’s supernatural ability to forgive gets activated in our life! It is where we are truly able to release them and the anointing to forgive is released in our lives! Hallelujah!
 
So, in conclusion, forgiveness is a commandment and we are called to forgive others to the degree that we ourselves have been forgiven. It is us giving the grace to others that we have received ourselves. But it will require faith to do so—our faith in God and our faith through God. In other words, we need to put the same principles of faith that move any mountain in our lives to work in removing the mountain of offense, bitterness, and unforgiveness from our lives.
 
Church, I wholeheartedly believe that if we put these things into practice, we can forgive anybody of anything. So, let’s do it! Amen!

Now I felt led to share a very practical message with you this week and one that is very important to be reminded of in the Christian walk because we all face this on a regular basis. So, let’s hop right into it …
 
As I briefly mentioned last week, receiving the Judas kiss is something that every believer can expect at some point in their lives—particularly those who are seeking first the kingdom of God and are pressing into the things of God. And if you have been a part of the body of Christ for any length of time, I am sure that you have experienced hurt, offense, and disappointment because of the words or actions of a fellow believer. This is inevitable for two reasons: Number one, each member of the body of Christ is human, lives in a fleshly body, and makes mistakes. Therefore, we all are likely to disappoint one another by saying or doing the wrong thing because we are all imperfect. Number two, we can be sure that the enemy is going to do his very best to cause division in the body of Christ. He will do this by inspiring one believer to do or say something hurtful and then he will tempt the other believer, who the word or action was aimed towards, to get offended and bitter towards the offending Christian.
 
So, in light of these two reasons, think it not strange concerning the temptations that have or that will come your way to be unloving, unmerciful, and unforgiving towards our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
But did you know that the Bible gives you and I some practical steps of what to do when a fellow believer sins against us? It sure does! In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus gave His disciples the steps to reconciliation when one of His sheep offends another. So, let’s take a look at what the Holy Scriptures have to say so that we can learn how to properly handle these times of being hurt and disappointed by our brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
In Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus said, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
 
First of all, notice that Jesus began in verse 15 by saying, “Moreover.” The reason Jesus started off with this word was because He had just taught the Parable of the Lost Sheep which emphasized the importance of restoring someone who had left the sheepfold, seeking to reconcile the wandering Christian. This is an important foundation to have as we enter into these verses because it will show us the mentality that we should have in confronting a brother or sister who has hurt us. Not to mention, understanding the context here will make clearer what He went on to say in these verses we will be covering …
 
 
 
HOW MOST CONFLICTS CAN BE RESOLVED
 
Jesus then says, “…if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” This is the first step we are to take when someone sins against us: we are to confront them about it! And it is important to see that Jesus said that you are to do this between you and them alone. Oh, how many offenses would be averted if people would just put into practice this one simple step!
 
You see, most Christians do the exact opposite when someone hurts them. They will either internalize it—never dealing with the hurt—or they will go to someone else about it saying something like— “Guess what so and so did to me!”
 
You see, the first and best rule to go by when someone hurts us is to confront them about it without ever mentioning it to anybody else. This is so important to do because, as I am sure many of us have learned, many times when someone has done something to hurt us they did not even realize what they did, much less intend to do it. Therefore, if we would just confront the person who hurt us, then many perceived hurts and offenses would be resolved immediately. But how many people have held on to their hurts for years when the person that hurt them was oblivious to the fact of what they did simply because this offended person never followed this first step? When, if they would just have gone to the person, they could have resolved the issue on the spot instead of holding on to it for years.
 
On top of that, many times the things that people do to offend us are so small and petty that if we would be forced to deal with those things in this way (by confronting them), we would be too embarrassed to mention to them what hurt our feelings. What I am saying is that oftentimes the things that we get hurt over are really just silly. They are not big enough to even be worth confronting someone over. And let me assure you: if someone does something that upsets us and the prospect of confronting them about it seems ridiculous, then I can assure you that the fact that we are offended is indeed ridiculous.
 
For example, say someone in church does not acknowledge one of us in the service. They even looked right at you and didn’t even say hello, good morning, etc. What will we tend to do? Well, certainly we do not go to them and say, “You know, you looked right at me this morning and did not say anything to me, and I was wondering why.” Why would we not do this? Well, one reason is because we do not want our fellow church member to know that we were so sensitive and easily offended by something so petty. Another reason is because we simply don’t like confrontations. But what usually happens is we internalize our hurt feelings and allow the devil to cause us to speculate as to why they did not say anything to us. We start thinking things like “they must not like, respect, or value me”—speculating as to why they didn’t give them what they felt was their due attention. On top of that, they then go to others and begin to defame the other person, saying things like they do not care about them, etc. Maybe (just maybe) the other person did not intentionally ignore us. Perhaps they had something on their mind and did not consciously shun them.
 
But what if we, first of all, began giving our brothers and sisters in Christ the benefit of the doubt instead of having a speculative imagination and judging their motives? And then, if we are either certain that what they did was intentional and/or we cannot get past the hurt we experienced, what if we just confronted them about it? I can guarantee you that just putting into practice this first step would solve most of the issues we have with other Christians.
 
LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS
 
Then Jesus said that step number two is, if they will not listen to you and you cannot resolve it with them by yourself, you are to take one or two more and let them, in a sense, act as arbitrators between you and the one who hurt you.
 
Now this does not mean that we go to one or two of our brothers and sisters in Christ just to tell them what a lowdown dirty scoundrel the person who hurt us is. Getting others involved is strictly for the purpose of having someone come in who will have an objective viewpoint of the situation. In other words, bringing others into the quarrel is not to get the odds stacked in your favor or to get somebody else offended and upset with the person who offended you; it is for the purpose of having someone else hopefully help in resolving the dispute.
 
You see, sometimes when we have a dispute with someone else, we might think they have done us wrong, but they might disagree with our viewpoint. This is when a third or fourth party might be necessary to be an objective judge in our dispute. But, again, this is only for the purpose of seeking reconciliation with our sinning brother or sister.  
 
But then, there might be situations where the sinning brother will not hear the arbitrators either. This is when Jesus said that we are to take it to the church that both parties of the dispute attend and let them hear the situation in order to make a judgment.
 
The important point is that we see the order here. First, we go (by ourselves) to one who sinned against us. Second, we let one or two know for the sole purpose of helping to resolve the situation. Thirdly, we take it to the church and let those who are spiritual authorities in our life make a judgment in the dispute.  
 
But do you know what most people do? They do the exact opposite… They take it to the others in the church first and do not even consider confronting the other believer. According to Jesus’ teaching, this is the wrong process.
 
You see, we need to understand that when we are offended, the first thing the flesh wants to do is tell someone else. Our flesh just loves to “vent” by telling our friends the sins of others—especially when that sin affected us personally. But love does not do this: Love seeks to cover sins, not expose them (First Peter 4:8). Love will only inform someone else of the sins of another when it is genuinely seeking the restoration of the sinner.
 
But so many err in this way as well: They will go to others and start off by saying, “I am only telling you this so that you can pray for them, but…” Now, while this can be done out of genuine love for someone, my experience is that it usually is not. These are not gossiping about the sins and shortcomings of others because they love them so much but because their flesh just loves to uncover and expose the sins of other people. We need to be very careful about this. Whether we are a witness to or a victim of the sins of another, we should more often than not, keep it to ourselves and pray for that individual. 
 
LET IT GO!
 
But I want us to now turn our attention to what Jesus said to do if that offender will not repent after all three of these steps have been taken. He said, “let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”
 
What does this mean? Well, first of all, it could certainly mean that you’ve gotten to the place where church discipline must take place and you have to remove the person. But I want us to look at it from a different perspective: Notice that Jesus said, “let him be to you.” This basically implies to “let them be that way.” In other words, it means just to let it go—to forgive them and forget about it. We know this because just a few verses later, when Jesus concluded His teaching on what to do when our brother sins against us, Peter immediately asks the question— “Well, how many times do I have to forgive my brother?” You see, something had to have instigated Peter asking this question—and I believe this step in the process of dealing with those who sin against us is it.
 
But what did Jesus mean by saying that you are to let him be to you “like a heathen and a tax collector?” Again, it could mean that fellowship needs to be withdrawn, but it is important to understand that this does not mean— “Fine, if you want to be that way, then you just gained an enemy, buddy!” No, letting them be like a heathen or a tax collector to us does not mean that we treat them like an enemy as some have mistaken this statement to mean. We are called to love our enemies and Jesus Himself was called a friend of tax collectors and sinners. So, it should be fairly obvious that this statement is not a license to be unloving towards the one who sinned against us. What this statement means is that we need to treat them like we would a lost person—forgiving them for their sin against us and seeking to see him or her reconciled into right relationship with God. It means to let the problem go and continue to seek the restoration of your brother through prayer.
 
You see, we are commanded, if it is at all possible, to live peaceably with all men (Romans 12:18). So if we have done our best to seek reconciliation with someone and they still will not repent, the only thing left to do is to forgive them and forget about what they did to you, especially another Christian.
 
I can assure you that it is not worth holding on to, my brothers and sisters! It is not worth becoming embittered and resentful. This only keeps you in bondage and hinders God’s best from being accomplished in your life. So just let them be that way! Let them act like they are! If they have taken something from you, give them a little extra! This is what Jesus taught us to do, is it not? It is just not worth it, and I can assure you, God is able to add it back to you in fullness and abundance when you walk in His ways—which are love and forgiveness. Amen!?!
 
THE PRINCIPLE OF BINDING AND LOOSING
 
Then after Jesus covered these steps to reconciliation notice what He went on to say in verse 18: He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” It is important to note that Jesus had not changed the subject here. Although many have interpreted this verse in different ways, we need to understand that the context of this verse is still reconciliation and forgiveness.
 
So, the “binding and loosing” mentioned here must have more to do with “binding” our brothers and sisters to their sins or “loosing” them from their sins. This should become even more obvious when we understand that Jesus concluded His teaching with the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant where the literal binding and loosing of individuals is the illustration He used to describe the forgiveness or unforgiveness of debts. Of course, the principle of binding and loosing has to do with more than just forgiveness. The sphere of our authority is great and is not limited to one particular area (see 16:19). So, I am not saying that people’s sins and the consequences thereof are all we have the authority to bind and loose. But from the context here, we know that it definitely involves this.
 
Therefore, when Jesus said, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”, He was describing the authority that God has given us on earth to either bind someone to their sin’s consequences or to loose them from their sin’s consequences.
 
Of course, this requires some further explanation, so bear with me as I will attempt to explain what I mean by this: Jesus went on to say in verse 19 (which is still the same teaching, mind you), “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”
 
Notice Jesus said “Again I say to you…” So what Jesus was doing in verse 19 was reiterating what He said in verse 18. In other words, I see verse 19 as kind of like the description of how to practically apply the binding and loosing Jesus just mentioned in the previous verse. So how do we bind and loose a brother or sister who sins against us? We bind and loose them through intercessory prayer which is done when two of us agree on earth concerning anything that we ask.
 
Now let me quickly interject this: Who are the two of us that are praying this prayer of agreement? Well, in context, you would have to say it is the one or two that we involved in our dispute earlier when we were attempting to reconcile our brother (see verse 16).
 
So, what do we see happening here? We see the believer who was sinned against joining together with the one or two that were privy to the situation and tried to help, interceding for the wandering sheep who is in need of restoration and reconciliation. And Jesus said that the result of this intercession is that it will be done for us by our Father in heaven!
 
You see, verse 19 clearly portrays the truth of verse 18 that if we bind or loose anything on earth that it will be bound or loosed in heaven because again notice what Jesus said in verse 19— “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” In other words, because of the authority God has given His church, whatever two or more born again believers agree in prayer to bind people to or to loose them from on the earth will be done for them by their Father in heaven.   
 
You see, it is not that we have the power to forgive sins. Only God Himself has the ability to forgive sins. It is simply that we have been given the authoritative position by God as His legal representatives on the earth to loose people from the consequences of their sins and then to intercede on their behalf.
 
LIFE FOR DEATH
 
So here is a good question: When Jesus described this binding and loosing as two of us agreeing in prayer and petitioning the Father, what specifically are we asking God for? Let’s look over at First John chapter 5 to get our answer…
 
In First John 5:14-15 the apostle of love says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Then I like what the Message Bible says at the beginning of verse 16: “For instance…” The reason I like this is because of what John says immediately after the previous statements about prayer. He says, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He (being God) will give him (being the sinning brother) life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.”
 
So this verse shows us specifically what Matthew 18:19 said we are agreeing together to ask the Father for: It is for God to grant them “life” (as opposed to “death”—for the wages of sin is death). In other words, when someone sins against us and we have gone through the necessary steps of reconciliation, we are to intercede for them and ask the Father to mercifully grant them “life” as opposed to the “death” that they might deserve.
 
Now based on what we see in the Scriptures, this one word “life” can have 3 different implications: The New Testament refers to three kinds of life—eternal life, resurrection life, or abundant life.
 
First of all, eternal life is defined as knowing the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ (John 17:3). So, if we intercede for someone—asking the Lord to grant them “eternal life”—we are asking God to bring them into a more fruitful and intimate relationship with Him and His Son. This is obviously an appropriate form of intercession for a believer who is living in sin simply because their relationship with God is waning. 
 
Secondly, if we ask the Lord to grant our offender “resurrection life,” we are asking God to grant them freedom from the old man. Resurrection life is described as living a new life, not like the life we did before we were crucified with Christ. So, we can agree together, asking that God would grant them repentance from those old habits of the old man and walk in the newness of life.
 
Finally, there is abundant life, and this is the toughest one to ask the Father to grant to those who hurt us. Abundant life describes a better quality of life—one that is experiencing the abundance of God’s blessings. So, to pray for a brother or sister to have “abundant life” is to ask that they would be blessed and that their sins against us would not yield any harm in any area of their life.
 
You see, this is how we are to intercede for our brothers and sisters who sin against us: We are to ask the Lord to grant them eternal, resurrection, and even abundant life in place of the “death” that they deserve for the wrong things they have done to hurt or injure us. This is our duty as followers of Christ—to pray for those who spitefully abuse us (see Luke 6:28).
 
Now, even though we are to forgive people for their sins against us, sometimes we are not always to go through the steps of intercession for them because, as John went on to say, there is a sin leading to death and we are not supposed to pray for God to give them life for that. Of course, this does not mean that we are to stop praying for them; it just means that we are to pray for them in a different way. The apostle John was saying that there is a time to remove our intercession and not pray for God to bail them out of the fruit of their doings but rather to ask that they would reap what they have sown. This would be when they might need to reap the wages of their sin so that hopefully they might repent and be restored into fellowship with their God.
 
One obvious example of this is in First Corinthians chapter 5 where Paul made mention of the guy who was having an affair with his stepmother. In this situation, Paul said that he was turning him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved. What does this mean? It means that with some sins (i.e. what John called sins unto death), people need to reap the consequences in the natural so that they will hopefully repent and not face any of the eternal consequences.
 
DOES LOVE HAVE A LIMIT?
 
Now for the sake of time, I want you to notice what happened immediately after Jesus finished His teaching on forgiveness and reconciliation: In verse 21, Peter approaches Jesus and asks, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Basically, what Peter was saying was, “Lord, how many times do I have to go through these steps of reconciliation and then forgive my brother who offends me? Is seven times enough?”
 
Evidently when Peter heard this, his thought was exactly what many of you likely thought when you read this: Well, how many times am I to forgive someone who hurts or takes advantage of me? When can I stop seeking to be reconciled with them and stop forgiving them for what they do to me? Of course, we already know Jesus’ answer to these questions. He said, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” In other words, Jesus’ answer was that we are to offer an unlimited amount of forgiveness.
 
You see, forgiveness is such an important part of Christianity. It was absolutely an integral part of how we came into relationship with God. Therefore, it is also an important part of our walk henceforth. As Jesus told us through the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (See Matthew 18:23-35), God expects us to forgive our brothers as He has forgiven us. He is very serious about this! Love has no limit! Just as God has chosen to wipe our slate clean, separating our sins as far as the east is from the west, likewise God expects us to do the same with our brothers and sisters in Christ.     
 
Now, before we end this teaching, let me say this… While some of these principles that we discussed this month are also applicable to what we should do when we are sinned against by unbelievers, these steps were primarily given so that we would know how to handle these types of situations within the church walls. And Jesus gave us this because He wants His body to walk in unity and in love towards one another. For how will the lost know that there is a God? John 13:35 says that they will know this by the love that we have for one another. Selah!
 
 
                                                  
 
*BONUS*
 
THE PARABLE OF THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT
 
In this parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus used a powerful illustration that shows us why we must forgive our brothers and sisters to the extent that He has commanded us to… He likens God to the King of a particular kingdom, and this king wanted to settle accounts with his servants. One in particular owed him ten thousand talents (I have heard that that equates to about four hundred million dollars). When the king’s judgments were made known to this particular servant, he threw himself down before the king and begged for patience and mercy until he could pay back the debt.
 
Verse 25 says “but as he was not able to pay.” To me, the way this is worded shows me that there was no way that he could have paid it. It is a statement that basically says, “And, of course, he was not able to pay back that kind of debt.” Likewise, we could not ever have done enough works to deserve forgiveness. Our debt towards Him was so large that it was impossible to deserve the mercy He showed us.
 
Now an important thing to point out from verse 26 is the attitude of the servant as he pleaded for mercy. He wanted mercy so that he could pay back the debt. He was not asking the king to just cancel the debt. This shows a truly repentant heart. He wanted to do what he could to make it right. You see, if you are truly sorry for what you have done you will have a heart to make it right and not just expect someone to give you a clean slate. Now, of course, we know we cannot make our sin debt to God right no matter how hard we try but the principle still holds true. Our repentant heart will be to serve Him for the massive dept He forgave us of.
 
Of course, we know that the king was moved with compassion, He released the servant (i.e. loosed him), and he forgave him of the total four hundred-million-dollar debt that he owed.
 
The story then progresses to that same servant going out and finding a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii (probably only around twenty dollars). When he found that fellow servant he grabbed him by the throat and said, “Pay me what you owe me!” Notice what the other servant’s response was in verse 29… It was exactly the same response that the original servant gave to the master! But the outcome was different… The servant who was forgiven of the huge debt threw his fellow servant into prison till he could pay back the little debt that he owed.
 
There is another important point here… How was this servant going to be able to pay back the debt while he was imprisoned? That is exactly what we do when we do not forgive people… Instead of showing them mercy and restoring them into your good graces, we ostracize them to where they do not have the opportunity to make up for their mistakes against us. If we would just give them grace then that kind of unconditional love would probably end up bringing conviction to them and they would be more apt to pay us back.
 
When this got back to the king, he was angry. He called that servant back to himself and said some powerful things… He said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” (verse 32-33)
 
THE HINDRANCE TO WALKING IN FORGIVENESS
 
You see, the main issue of this parable is compassion and pity. These virtues really describe being touched with the feelings of another—that is, being able to sympathize or empathize with them. But how do we do that? By staying mindful of the great sin debt that God canceled on our behalf. If we would keep this fresh on our minds then when our brother sins against us we can just refer back to all that God has forgiven us of and be able to have compassion on them.
 
You see, this is the main point of the parable… We ought to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ because God has forgiven us of infinitely more than they could have ever done to us. In other words, in light of how much mercy God has given us, forgiving the brethren of the sins that they commit against us should be no problem whatsoever.
 
Let me give it to you the way that God gave it to me several years ago…
 
Back in the first few years of my Christian walk I was spending some time with the Lord and was specifically thanking the Lord for making me the righteousness of God in Christ. I was praising Him for putting me in right standing with Him not by anything good that I had done but simply by His awesome grace. As the words—“Thank you Lord for freely putting me in right standing with You”—came out of my mouth, I heard the Lord say to me, “Freely you have received, freely give!”
 
What I knew Him to be saying was, “Just as you have freely received right-standing with Me, you freely give right-standing with you to other people.” In other words, when people are hurtful, hateful, and just plain ugly towards me I should grant them good-standing to me even though they do not deserve it. Why? Because what someone does to me in the natural can not hold a candle to what I have done to God in the spiritual. It was my sin that put Jesus on that cross. He would not have had to die in my place if I would have not sinned against Him. And no one has ever done anything so wicked to me as killing my own son. Therefore, if God can extend me grace for all that I have done against Him, then I most certainly can extend grace to someone who has done much less than that to me.
 
You see, this is the main reason why a believer has such a hard time forgiving someone else for an offense… It is because they are totally focused on the sin committed against them and are absolutely not considering the sin God has forgiven them of. If we would just take the time to consider all that God has forgiven us of when someone has hurt us, we would be more able to show mercy to the ones who have hurt us.
 
It is just a matter of perspective…  Are we going to magnify the sins people commit against us or rather, are we going to choose to consider all that we have been forgiven of by God?
 
Freely we have received, so freely we ought to give!