Featured What is the Revelation and How Should Christians Read it

Re 1:1, which God gave unto him, to shew 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 1) the word of God, and of 2) the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear 3) the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ Is three things according to the text.

1)The word of God
2)The testimony of Jesus Christ
3) Prophecy

The Revelation is addressed to the 7 churches named, which at the time of the prophecy existed in Asia, a province of Asia Minor.

John the apostle was commanded to see and to write the prophecy of the Revelation and was commanded to write it in 3 divisions according to a time line. Here it is.


19 1) - past tense) Write the things which thou hast seen, and 2 - present tense) the things which are, and 3 - future tense) the things which shall be hereafter;



The things which "were," according to the text, when the command was given was after the vision of the glorified Christ in verses 12-19. Eight verses. John was to write that down. That was what was already past that he saw.

The things that “are” at the time of his writing are the seven churches in Asia. John received these instructions just before he saw the vision of Christ. Look!

11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, 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.

Following this line of logic and reasoning the things that are “hereafter” are those things that will be hereafter the Churches.

After this (testimony to the 7 churches) 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 shew thee things which must be hereafter.


This is the second trumpet sound in the context of the churches, and also the last.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The first trumpet sound was at the beginning of the Revelation before the testimony to the churches.

Re 1:9 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, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

This is basically the same words that are said here when a voice sounded as a trumpet.


11 Thess 4:3 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

What is most important among many important truths in the Revelation is the fact that it is the testimony of Jesus Christ.



16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.


Deut 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Revelation 4:2 through Re 22:21 is the testimony of Jesus Christ about events after the rapture of the church to heaven.

 

My Bible does not say that.
It says it is the word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and his prophecy of future things.

If a prophet gives a prophecy that does not come to pass, then the fact that it does not come to pass proves the prophet to be a false prophet. If there is not a rapture of the church, then you win the debate and if there is not a thousand year reign on the earth of Jesus Christ, after which the tribulation saints who were slain for their testimony and then raised to reign with him, then you have proven hundreds of prophesies in the covenants, the prophets and the Psalms and the types and the figures of the scriptures to be in error and open to private interpretation.

 

If you would have lived in the OT and exercised your same philosophy as you are now, you would have denied the first coming of Christ to the earth, a man who was not killed by his own people when he came because he said he came to save them, but because he said he came to be their King.

Satan is against his Kingship and, by extension, his citizens of his kingdom.

Joh 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Joh 19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.


Joh 19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.




Mt 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

 

Someone who adopts the position of amillennialism has in effect declared that they have missed the entire message and theme of the scriptures and are not to be trusted on any doctrines of the faith. It seems to me that it is generally the people of the Reformed traditions that teach this Amillennialism doctrine. It is surely not the only major doctrine of the scriptures they have wrong. I can say that it is my opinion they have no doctrine right because they do not believe the words of the scriptures and seek to make them say the opposite of their meanings.

When a letter is written that claims to be the testimony of Jesus Christ to the churches and preserved through 20 centuries for the purpose to warn the nations of the coming judgements when he, Jesus Christ, .will put down all opposing rule and destroy all rebels from off the earth, both angels and human, we can expect those who oppose God to show up to moderate the words. This is the day of the Lord judgements that God has been warning about since man was first tempted by the Serpent to change the word of God and to sin against him. The church of Jesus Christ has been charged to teach this truth to the nations at great peril to their own physical well being over the centuries.

The object of Jesus Christ in having the churches to teach this to the Satanically inspired nations is to showcase and highlight the wonderful grace of God of inviting his very enemies to come to him and be saved. That grace is extended at the end of the letter and is an appeal from God to come to him through Jesus Christ instead of facing his wrath in n,these judgements. Look at it here as the last message of the letter.


Revelation 22:16-21
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

The local churches of born again Bible believers have been the arm of the Lord to get the message of deliverance to the nations but the leaven of compromise and false doctrine has done its work and now few churches believe and are instead promoting the kingdom of the adversary by claiming the words of the testimony do not mean what they say. Who will fear God if there is nothing to fear?

Men simply must believe the words of God.

The Revelation from 4:1 is about things to come after the church of Jesus Christ is glorified and taken to heaven to be with Jesus Christ our savior.

 

You are being silly. The time line for the day of the wrath of God where he judges the world as the world has judged him is 3 1/2 years and he gives that time frame in the letter. There is not a word you and most of those men you mentiond believes. You are super-imposing your preferences over the words of God and you do not need the scriptures to teach it. They are just a prop for amillenialists.

They are wrong about the doctrine of man, the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, and the list goes on. They are wrong because they do not believe the words of God are true.

I am not driven by emotions, I am driven by what is written in it's context and I am not willing to spiritualize any revelation of God where the text does not demand it. If the text of Rev 20 is figuartive concerning the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth without the presence of Satan, then so is everything that is said about the great white throne judgement and sinners being cast into the lake of fire. Surely you do not want to go there.

 

These men are false prophets and false teachers if they are changing the prophecy. John was instructed to write the things that shall be hereafter the 7 churches. He was instructed to write the things he had seen, the things which are, and the things that shall be hereafter. In the letter he distinguished those three categories with words so there would be no doubt which things were past, which were present, and which were future. The trumpet like voice of chapter 4 told him he would show him things that must be hereafter. From this point on Jesus did not show him anything of the past or of the present but only things in the future. One of those things he showed him and that John wrote was there was going to be a thousand years of rule after the Dragon, Satan, was cast into prison and shut up.

Jesus Christ said these things MUST BE. Here, read it for yourself.

Re 4:1 After this (the prophecy of the churches) 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 shew thee things which must be hereafter.

Your teaching is clearly an attempt to spiritualize the truth and is unbelief in what John wrote. It cannot be sugar coated into something less by saying it is just a differing opinion and it does not matter that much.

This is silly. The use of likeness and imagery has been used in all the books of the Bible and is a common practice of God to use them so we can better understand them. The fact that Jesus in the vision had white hair, as white as snow, does not mean he did not actually have white hair. It was like wool. But it was hair that John actually saw. He also had eyes, actual eyes. What were they like? Well, they were like flames of fire. Were they flames of fire? No, they were eyes and one thought of flames of fire when he saw them.

But in Re 20, there was a thousand years without any imagery at all. The thousand years MUST BE in the hereafter. The statements are plain. We do not need to guess about them. Many people will die between Re 4 and Re 20 by having their heads cut off and will be resurrected to reign with Christ on the earth for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection and there is another resurrection in the chapter of those souls in hell that will be raised to be judged at the great white throne after the thousand years are passed.

The firstfruits of the resurrection of the just = Jesus and the OT saints who were in paradise in the center of the earth
The main harvest = the calling up of the church, the rapture, in Re 4,
The gleanings of the harvest = the resurrection of the tribulation saints

The trinitarian signature on the resurrection.

Why will people refuse to believe the words and teach contrary to what they say?


Joh 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

There are only two resurrections, and they both have names. They are one thousand years apart.
The first resurrection is called the resurrection of life and is the resurrection of the just. It is in three parts but it is one resurrection. Secondly, there is the resurrection of damnation and is the resurrection of the unjust where the unsaved will be judged for their works and cast into the lake of fire where they will be forever. This is at the end of the day of the Lord and the beginning of the day of God, an eternal day that will never end and no one will ever die again..

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which (we know it will be at the end of it) the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

[Re 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is]he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.]

But watch this in the same context.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.