UNDERSTANDING THE SOON COMING DESTRUCTION OF THIS WORLD, ESPECIALLY AS FORETOLD AND DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.

Revelation means the taking off of a veil. The Book is prophetic in nature. It is the Mystery of Jesus Christ. The implication is it is impossible to the understanding of man without the divining of the Lord. But once understood and applied, it holds a great blessing.

We must have clear Scriptural understanding on key Truths to have the Book of Revelation opened to our minds. WHY DID GOD CREATE MAN? Because it pleased Him to do so in the Wisdom of His many faceted thoughts, now revealed, that were behind His blessing and command to Adam and Eve, “…Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over…..” [Genesis 1:28 with Ephesians 3:9,10,11]

The Book of Genesis reveals the Curse upon man. The Book of Revelation reveals the end of that Curse and the restoration of man.

Genesis predicts Jesus the Messiah as the chosen Seed of the woman which will destroy the works of satan. [Genesis 3:15] The Book of Revelation, written about 60 years after His first coming, death and resurrection as the sacrificial Lamb, gives us details as to His present and future Ministry with exhortations to service and promises to the faithful upon His 2nd bodily coming.

TYING TOGETHER THE OLD COVENANT WITH THE NEW COVENANT GOSPEL IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? It is the Good News that God did not Create man in vain, that He will finish the good work He had begun.

Galatians 3:8 says the “Gospel” was preached to Abraham, that he believed the blessing of a future inheritance in the Earth to his faithful seed in resurrection.  It was first made evident in that he believed God was able, seen in his willingness to obediently sacrifice his only son. And then in the promised blessing of the Gospel extended to the Gentiles who mysteriously entered into it by being heirs through Abraham’s “Seed”/ Jesus Christ. [Galatians 3:29] So we now understand from Scripture that the Gospel has both an Old Covenant connotation and a New Covenant connotation… His Kingdom coming in both a heavenly and a earthly contingent. God is both comparing the blessing of the Seed/seed of Abraham as prolific as the stars in the sky…and… the sand upon the sea. God has in view here both an earthly seed and a heavenly seed, BOTH BEING THE SEED OF PROMISE TO ABRAHAM.

And who is then the Church/the called out ones?… that “Woman” / the Seed, representative of both groups. [Revelation 12] Along with that, it is then understood,   “…..the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ….”  for us to keep in view that “the Word of God” gives us the prophetic and Old Testament aspect in the Book, while however “the testimony of Jesus” means that His testimony is bound up with it, therefore anyone who is to be blessed by the Book must acknowledge Jesus risen and ascended. [Revelation 1:2]

THE TWO GOSPEL GROUPS’ SALVATIONS

The Book of Revelation deals with both beloved groups throughout. In the first 3 chapters, Christ deals with New Covenant Believers, primarily made up of Gentiles, from just after His Resurrection until a certain declared moment nearly two thousand years later in the midst of the last 7 yrs before His 2nd Coming. This is when the faithful “awake” Ones, (those judged living a suffering life with Him [Romans 8:17], in New Covenant, those of “a people for His name”, [Acts 15:14] and then living will be caught up into the heavenlies. (2 Thessalonians 2:7; Matthew 24:40,41; Revelation 12:5] From there, just above the Earth in the first heaven, will the Bride of Christ rule and reign with Him over the Earth. [Revelation 12:5; 2:26,27]

At that same declared moment, those New Covenant Laodicean-type Believers will be judged unfaithful and unmindful of Word and Spirit (Revelation 12:17; 14:12,13) will remain upon the Earth to endure now in faith with patience and will need to prove their faith in whatever portion of the Tribulation that remains. They will be alongside all the Old Covenant servants (living at that time) who shall also be tested in the fires of the Tribulation, to whom Jesus shall reveal Himself to at His Coming to the Earth at the end of that terrible 7yr period. Then shall be the First Resurrection: All those who are in Hades/the place of the dead, who were faithful while alive on the Earth unto God, will be raised from among all the dead, and those found wanting will remain in Hades, and the then-resurrected take their perspective places according to the Judgments of Christ, and will rule and reign with Him for 1 thousand years on and over the Earth. [Revelation 20:4-6]

Then Israel, too, shall be saved. [Romans 11:26] It is through the natural seed of Abraham, the Jew, who God promises to give preeminence in the Earth in the administration of His New Covenant to all mankind. [Jeremiah 31:31-34; Isaiah 60:5] In the Millennium, after Jesus Christ reveals Himself to the Jew, that Israel will now be reestablished as the great nation. She will be the nation from whom the blessings will flow to all the world. For it is written, “Many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” [Micah 4:2-4] Likewise it is said, “Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts- In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” [Zechariah 8:22, 23]

IMPORTANT KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF REVELATION

  1. Old and New Covenant understanding and proper application of Scripture Topics, both prophetic and instructive…. For example, the Topic and word “kingdom”, as in the mysterious kingdom of heaven of Jesus Christ, hidden of (Matthew 13:11) or when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not” (verses 18,19) references to co-ruling as the Bride in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ in the heavens above the Earth, that to which Israel is shut out. [Matthew 21:43]
  2. Proper context …The subject matter before and after.
  3. Understanding representations, symbols and emblems…. Exampled in purpose in the parables to the unbelieving Jews. [Matthew 13; Mark 4:11,12] (There are some symbols explained and as many unexplained in the Book of Revelation: 1.) lampstands = Churches 2.) stars = Angels of Churches 3.) Torches = Spirits of God 4.) Horns and Eyes = Spirits of God 5.) Odours = Prayers of Saints 6.) Dragon = satan 7.)  Frogs = Spirits 8.) Wild Beast = a King  9.) Heads of Wild Beast = Mountains 10.) Horns = Subordinate Kings 11.) Waters = Peoples 12.)  Women = City 13.) Fine Linen = Righteousness 14.) Bride of Christ = City of God)
  4. Understanding types and shadows…. For example, “Christ our Passover” or Christ, “the Lamb of God”, etc.
  5. God’s Time Line…. For example, the significance of the number 7 and 12 used many times in the Book. i.e. Seven Churches, its number being significant, it is the number of dispensational fullness, or completeness, as instituted by God. 7 being the make-up of  three and four. 3=Divine nature, as Father, Son and Spirit. 4=the material world, or the creature……i.e. four quarters, four winds, four elements, fire, air, earth, and water, four directions, four dimensions, four seasons, four corners of the altar, etc… Thus the combination 3 & 4 represent the Divine and human brought into contact in dispensations of various conditions in the trials of man, the last being most significant…. the 7th Day Millennium Period, to which the vast majority of the Book points. 7 then brings to completion but is not abiding. The number 12 is representative of a higher and more intimate contact with union, having the creature represented in the four now multiplied by the Divine 3’s influence and represents now an eternal abiding. Clearly seen in the absence of 7’s and the presence of 12’s in the Eternal City come down from Heaven…..12 Tribes, 12 Apostles of the Lamb, 12 months, etc.
  6. If not absurd, take it literally. (Note: If it or its like is exampled elsewhere in Scripture, it is then not absurd) i.e. “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth….”  The coming up out of Hades, the place of the Dead, has plenty of Scriptural precedent including our Lord in Acts 2:27-34. Thus no need to spiritualize it but to take it as to happen literally.

Let us read The first few verses of the Book of Revelation: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto his servants….”  Keeping in view the prophetic aspect of this revelation by the Father to the Son, we see the encompassing here of all His servants, not just the New Covenant Church, then and now with fading luster,  but of future glory of all faithful servants. The Book of Revelation is practical “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein…” It is in this practical application with its blessing that we humbly approach. The Book of Revelation is understood to be a Book of warnings “…for the time is at hand.” What time/season? That of great temptation, to which we are exhorted to pray and watch. That of the time of the First-fruits and the time of the Harvest, the time of the Promises of the Prophets shall be fulfilled, that time of great Judgment, when all will be noted for good or for evil, and the time of Reward for the faithful and fruitful.

MORE SUMMARIZING OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND ITS TIMES……

Generally (loosely) the Book is divided up into three parts….

  1. For all practical purposes, chapters 1 through 13 deal with the entire Gospel Age of Mercy and Grace for the last near 2 thousand years. These 13 chapters accomplish primarily three objectives:
    a) They prophesy the growth and power of the apostasy of which both Jesus and the Apostles warn. [Matthew 24:5, 11, 12;11; Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7] b) They document in detail the history during this period which Jesus sums up in only a few verses in Matthew 24:4-14.
    c) They predict in detail the experiences of the Christian Church repeated in the example of the Church of Israel, both true and apostate/ apathetic. But centering up in the 12th and 13th chapters in the future transition from this Age into the Age of Judgment with the first monumental event; the First Fruits’ catching up, and the corresponding casting down of satan to the Earth, and then the manifestation of the Anti-Christ quickly following.
  2. Chapters 14 through 19 focus almost exclusively on events of Christ‘s Harvest and the Vintage Reapings, the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation/Jacob’s Trouble.
  3. Then Chapters 20 through 22 deal mainly with the Messianic Age, the 1000 years of the 7th Day unto the 8th day of New Beginnings.

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