Book of Revelation, #297 Part 2

Transcript from show #297 Part 2. 

(Please note that the transcripts are written pretty well as they were delivered on air).

Radio Show...

This program continues on various series of different topics on theology such as end times, prophecies, daily living, etc. as the subject matter comes up.

The e-book on end times and Revelation, answering the questions “where are we in the events of the end times?” and “Are we now in the tribulation?” is available on this web site, which you can find throughout the pages. 


Want to Share Timing Revelation

Opening Narrative

This program continues on the replay of the show series on the Book of Revelation. As mentioned then the Lord gave me a vision some months ago of a chart outlining the events of the book of Revelation, which I produced along with a 100-page e-book on the end-time events. A lot of people are asking “where are we in the events of the end times?” This is a summary of that and interesting excerpts from the book of Revelation.

First, let's listen to the opening music, prayer and worship time...

(Opening Music interlude on the live radio show)

Let us pray...
The Lord's Prayer...
Praise God Doxology...
Worship Music...

Narrative 1

So as I said in the last program, I started a series on the Book of Revelation, based on the e-book Timing Revelation that I mentioned to you last week.

In that program I gave an overview of the whole book of Revelation.

This week I will begin to go through parts by parts as opposed to chapter by chapter. Interestingly on that note, the chart that the Lord gave me in the middle of the night which I shared with you in the first program, is broken down into 8 parts.

That's interesting because the number 7 is very significant in the divisions of divine historical things and events, taking place, etc... but here, the eighth part is the New heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem that begins the new eternal time line of God the Creator.

In other words, the whole of the book of Revelation is divided into 7 parts from chapter 1 to chapter 20 which includes the millennium. After that, the 8th part is about the the whole new universe that creation is so eagerly waiting for.

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Romans 8:22)

and, verse 23, ”And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23)

And Isaiah 34:4, “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.”

And Revelation 6:14, “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” (Revelation 6:14)

We'll get into all that, but first let's listen to this opening music...

(Station ID)

Narrative 2

Alright let's continuing on our 2nd part of the series on the book of revelation based on the e-book Timing Revelation...

Before we get into our program for today I want to say a word On the war of Armageddon... because there are so many quotes and references to this in the media these days where a lot of news media outlets are talking about Armageddon as if it was an imminent war to expect....

yes we are hearing a lot about wars and rumours of wars, but I just want to clarify that this war of Armageddon is not until after the last 3-1/2 years of the 7-years Tribulation, at the very end when Jesus returns to earth with all His saints following Him. (Rev. 19:11-21).

If there is a prophetic war that could take place now before the Rapture, it would be that of Gog and Magog spoken of in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38-39. And that would be quite possible.

However, there are various thoughts as to whether this Gog and Magog unit mentioned here is the same as the one mentioned in Revelation 20:8 that rises up clearly “after the thousand years are expired”.

Where it says from v. 7 to 10, : “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

“And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

And then it gets into the “great white throne judgment”... which we'll get to later in the series.

So we have two places that speak of the Gog and Magog war. Was Ezekiel referring to the end times before the Rapture or the end times after the thousand years? No-one has been able to explain this question yet that I know of.

But in Ezekiel, it seems to be clearly a circle of like-minded nations led by Russia. And we are seeing the rattling of that quite a lot lately, where it is top subject matter in the media who mistakes the war of Armageddon for a present threat.

No one knows the Gog and Magog spoken of in both Ezekiel and Revelation (except for the ancient names mentioned in Old Testament passage. We also know that many nations will come into the Millennium. It could be that some of them will rise up again at the end of the Millennium reverting back to their reluctant ideology of conquering the true God and the world.

Who knows? Nobody right now.

At the same time we know that time is closing in... Jesus said that the generation who sees Israel become a nation again will be the last generation before the Great Tribulation. According to the Bible a generation is 70-80 years. We are now at 74 years since 1948. The Rapture could happen at any time – anytime at all.

The key, again, is for every one of us to be ready for the Lord to call up His saints – those who have accepted Him as their personal Saviour and Lord, through His redemptive work on the cross. Read the book of John in the Bible if you are not familiar with the Gospel message...

(Music Interlude)

Narrative 3

So getting back into the the book of Revelation... the first 3 chapters -- as most of you listeners know, are about

1)_the revelation of Jesus Christ given to John the apostle,

2)_John's greetings to the churches of his time and the vision of Jesus Christ and of the things that were, that are and that will be, and

3)_the messages of Christ to each of the 7 churches of that time, which represent the conditions and characters of the church that will be throughout the future generational periods...

I will not get into the details of the 7 churches right now – I'll pick that up at the end as a circling back to the beginning of this series on the events of the book of Revelation... but I will get right into chapter 4 which is where we get a glimpse of the throne of God as seen by John....

and as well, this is where most of those who believe and expect the promises of the Lord about the rapture – recognize the vision of the rapture of the church just prior to the 7-years tribulation.

Now I must mention here that some people do not take this vision of the calling up of John into heaven as a sign or a clue of the rapture of the church – they say that although this may be so, it is but an opinion...

however I personally say that it is a revelation to the saints rather than a mere opinion.... it just took the time of the book of revelation up to now to recognize it as such.... just as we recognize everything else in this book of revelation as we get closer to it's actual time of delivery... more on that later as we go along.

But first, I will get into chapter 1 which describes the “star” of the book of Revelation – that is Jesus Christ Himself...

(Music Interlude)

Narrative 4

Verses 1 to 3

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

1.The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2.Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

3.Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

So her we see:

1.The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him – who? -- Jesus Christ. The
Greek word for revelation is apokalypsis which means 'the revealing', 'the uncovering' of or by Jesus Christ.

We see here a sequence of ranking of the orderly commands of God, as we see in the
vision of Ezekiel. It is given by God the father who sits on the throne, to the Son Jesus
Christ, to the Holy Spirit, to the mediating angel(s), to the servant(s) or prophets, to
those on the earth.

2.Who bare record... the word here is martyreō which means to bear witness, to
testify. In this case to testify of all the things that he, John, saw.

3.This prophecy is so important that a special blessing is promised for its reading, hearing and keeping of the words therein

Next we will look at verses 4 to 8 right after this...

(Music interlude)

Narrative 5

Getting back to our reading of the book of revelation, let's look at verses 4 to 8...

Verses 4 to 8
Greetings to the seven churches.

4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

6. And has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

7. Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

End of John's introduction letter.

So,

4.Asia here is not the continent as we know it today but rather the Roman province of Asia Minor of the time of John. There were other churches as well, such as Colossae, for example, but these specific churches here were picked out by the Lord because of
certain characteristics He deemed critical for their spiritual safety.

Note the salutation of Grace and Peace which are elements of each the New Testament and the Old Testament, and which are issued from the Godhead: God the eternal Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ the Mediator between God and man.

6.Here, we see Christ in His authority making us the redeemed, priests and kings unto God the Father.
--wow that is amazing!

7.Future event reference made of His visible return to come in the end of these things
being revealed in this final book of the Word of God. Amen

Verses 8 to 20
Beginning of the recording of John's vision.

8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom
and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God,

10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet,

11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a
book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto
Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Verses 12 to 20

12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks;

13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as
a flame of fire;

15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the
sound of many waters.

16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.

17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me,
saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

18. I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

19. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things
which shall be hereafter;

20. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the
seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.

So, here we have:

8.John quotes the words of Jesus Christ: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (red letters).

9.The word 'tribulation' in this verse refers to general tribulation as we have in the world, it is not speaking of The 7-years Tribulation of the end time.

10.Some people debate whether “on the Lord's day” is the Jewish 7th day of the week
(Saturday) or the Christian 8th day (Sunday). Most expositors understand this as being the first day of the week which had become known as the day the Lord was resurrected.
Either way John was under the control of the Holy Spirit on that day dedicated as “the
Lord's day” in the new covenant. In John's pre-Patmos days, he would have been
worshipping in his church at Ephesus.

11.Alpha and Omega is used only 4 times in the Bible -- all in the book of Revelation—1:8, 1:11, 21:6, 22:13. Jesus also refers to Himself as “the first and the last” in Rev. 1:17. This is the Lord's description of Himself. The beginning and the ending. It speaks of “eternal”, see also John 1:1-3.

In the Old Testament God calls Himself “the first and the last” in Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, 48:12; also God is referred to as the eternal God in Deuteronomy 33:27.

verses 12 to 20

12.The voice heard by John is as a trumpet sound, indicating the coming of a matter of
great public importance, reminiscent of the Old Testament trumpet sound of the Jewish
call to convocation.

13-16.The next verses describe the awesomeness of Jesus as in the judgment
scene of Daniel 7:13-14, in reference of the Ancient of Days of the Old Testament who is the same as the Son of God and the Son of man in the New Testament. John was very familiar with this having been a personal witness to the life of Jesus the Christ.
Now John was beholding this presence of a glorified Jesus beyond what he had seen on
the mount of transfiguration. This Jesus that John was looking at was everything to do with power and judgment. The sharp two edged sword is the Word of God.

17-18. “Fear not” is a familiar statement to John who heard it spoken from the Master
many times during His earthly life. “I am He that lives” refers to His physical living during His earthly life, then His physical death and now His forever spiritual living.

Christ has “the keys of hell and of death” means that we need not be afraid of either if
we know Him and have accepted His work on the Cross which redeemed us from sin.

19.After re-emphasizing who He is, Jesus gives John his mission of writing down what
he has seen up to now, what the present event is about, and the future things that he
will be shown to include in his recorded letter.

20.The word “angels” for the seven churches is the Greek word “angelos” used some 184 times in the new testament. It means heavenly angels or messengers. Here it is
speaking of the “pastors” of the churches and not heavenly angels because Jesus tells John to “write” to the angels of the seven churches —obviously He does not mean heavenly angels in this context.

But this tells us that the pastors of the churches of Jesus Christ are messengers
appointed by the Lord to shepherd His flock.

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Side Notes:

1)_These narratives here in transcript seem to be quite long. That is because I am here writing the scriptures that normally people listening to the radio show would be reading  from their Bibles. 

2)_I'd like to give a little word of advice for when you're reading the book of revelation that when the book was written, there was no chapters and verses separating passages, so when you find it hard to follow sometimes, re-read the chapter again without paying attention to the chapters and verses.... like read right through... you'll find that it often helps and clarifies some hard to read places... and that goes for any other place in the Bible...

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Narrative 6

Chapter 4

As I said at the beginning I am skipping over the letters to the churches at this time and will be getting back to that at the very end... so we're moving on here through to chapter 4, where John is called up to heaven.

And this is the Transition between the present things to the future things to come.

Verses 1 to 11
Vision around God's throne

1.After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter.

2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one
sat on the throne.

3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a
rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

So,

1-4. We are given a description of the vision that John experienced, which is totally
awesome and literally “out of this world”.

Chapter 4 is believed by the born-again church to be representing the time of the
rapture, (v. 2). From this point on the church is not mentioned any more. This is confirmed by it's location within the timing of the events of the end times. More on this later.

4.It is customary for John to tell his audience whenever a group is observed or arrives on the heavenly seen. Here the 24 elders of verse 4 are the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles according to many reliable commentaries and old manuscripts (for example Victorinus in his “Commentary on the Apocalypse”. And these


24 have just arrived out of the Rapture along with multitude others. Again we'll get to this further later on. (Liberty Bible Commentary.) The word “crowns” which they had been given are “spephanos” in the Greek which represent crowns of victory, rather than “diadema” for crowns of kingship.

5.The seven Spirits of God that we have already seen in Rev.4-5 is quoted again here
representing the Holy Spirit in His completeness and perfection. We read about the Spirit of the Lord which shall rest upon Jesus in Isaiah 11:2.

Narrative 7

And verses 6 to 11

6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes
within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
which was, and is, and is to come.

9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the
throne, who lives for ever and ever,

10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship
him that lives for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.

So,

Verses 6-7. What we read here is all in confirmation to the vision of Ezekiel in chapters 1 and 10.

8-11. Notice the characteristic of the God who sits on the throne, given Him by the four
beasts: holiness. He is totally sinless and perfect. He was for ever, He is now. And He
will be forever. The 24 elders join in to worship and praise in honour of this magnificent Creator of all things.

Closing Narrative…

Alright, so with all that, I am out of time again... 

Before I dismiss the service today, I want to read to you the Blessing that was read to the people of God in Numbers 6:24-26 which is the benediction from God to you today:

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

I hope and pray that you will come back next Sunday at SpiritFM.ca, 7 am and 7 pm pacific time. And if you want to hear the service again at any time, you can go to my website at TimingRevelation.com, and click on the Radio Shows navigational tab along the left side. The replays are available there for five weeks, then they are transcribed into articles as new radio shows are put up.

I encourage you to go to your Bible and read further on the scriptures that were given throughout the program today. And if you like these programs and you've been blessed, call or write the station and let them know... if you said the prayer and have accepted the Lord or you've been healed or touched in some way by the Holy Spirit, write to me on the contact form of this web site...

...and this web site is also where you will find the Free Offer of the “Christian Growth and Maturity Chart” that I talked to you about in the last weeks... you will see the graphic on any page called “Get your free CGM Chart”, click on it and it will take you to a page that will tell you about it and how you can subscribe to my newsletter to get your free copy of the Chart sent to you.

Until next week, Maranatha, the Lord is coming, very soon. Goodbye and Blessing.

Click here to hear "The Revelation Song"

/DMH

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Blessings,

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