But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8). The times we live in, our own history, was written 2,000 years ago. John, the beloved disciple wrote what he saw in a vision, and we call his writing Revelation. Planet Earth was corrupted then, in his day, as it is today, our day. The sin committed between the time of Noah’s flood and today with the Corona Virus is what accounts for all disasters, whether “natural” or “an act of God,” sin is responsible. Blessed is he who reads (the book of Revelation) and those who hear the words of this prophecy, (the book of Revelation) and keep those things which are written in it (the book of Revelation), for the time is near (Revelation 1:3). This is the only book in the Bible that has a special blessing for those who read and/or teach it. Please note that Revelation is the only record we have of what will happen in the end. It’s not a pleasant story, but if you are a Christian, what is written in the book of Revelation is not your history, but it is the history of those who will be left behind.
Chapter one establishes Jesus as being the one in charge. 5 Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Revelation 1:5, 6). Chapters two and three are aimed at believers getting their houses in order. The time is short. Jesus is being explicit about getting rid of the spirit of Jezebel. That’s a massive evil spirit that sends smaller but the same evil spirits into people’s lives with the objective of taking control out of God’s hands and establishing the giant Jezebel spirit in charge. Jesus rarely names evil spirits, but this one is intolerable. 20 …I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works (Revelation 2:20–23). Chapter four has the sound of a trumpet. In the Bible a trumpet announces something special. John describes what he sees in the Spirit that truly is special. God, Himself, is sitting on His throne which is centered in the middle of a rainbow. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones with twenty-four Elders seated on them. From the middle of them come lightnings, thunderings, and voices, also a sea of glass like crystal, and four creatures full of eyes and wings calling out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8). At this point John is speaking from heaven. Please note that also from this point, the church is no longer mentioned. That’s because we have been raptured. We are out of the way, and the Tribulation can now begin. In chapter five the scroll is presented. In the scroll is the knowledge of what will begin to happen on the earth since the church no longer hinders the events. However, no one was able to open the scroll. John reports-- 3 …no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:3–5). Jesus takes the scroll from the hand of God, and the Elders and the creatures sing in triumph. Only Jesus is able to open the scroll and then to open the seven seals that have kept the scroll shut tight throughout the centuries. In chapter six, each of the seals are broken, and each one unleashes a different trouble that will now come upon the earth. These troubles are what the unbelievers will live with. Chapter seven introduces the one hundred forty-four thousand servants of God whose foreheads are marked by God so that anyone can see who they are and who they belong to. These are Jews who, since the rapture of the church, have received Christ as their Savior, and they now are selected by God to be His evangelists on the earth. It has been said that only a Jew can lead a Jew to Christ. Perhaps this chapter proves that. At this point the number of troubles unleashed on the humanity left on earth after the rapture, drives people to repent—but not all. From chapter eight through to chapter twenty we see the full Tribulation. But in chapter twenty things change dramatically. 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (Revelation 20:1–3). Chapter twenty-two brings us back to present day. This chapter is for the church. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:3–5).
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Marty
Delmon Writer
Evangelist Teacher Writing has been in my blood, so to speak, but when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and He told me to write, all my trepidations rolled away, and I began in earnest! After all, if God Almighty says it was His idea that I be a writer, who am I to stand in His way? My hope is that you not only like what I write, but that your life is moved by it, and that your party to Jesus and with Jesus turns your life into days of Heaven on Earth.
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