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.