REVELATION

The Apostle John introduces the book of Revelation by describing the who, what, when, where, and why of how the Lord presented him the revelation. From here, Jesus begins to describe what he has against the members of each church, and what judgments will happen if they fail to make the changes the Lord requires.

 

Although the specific Asian churches addressed in Revelation have all disappeared in the sands of time, it is our belief that the Lord's descriptions of the problems listed are the things that will be occurring within the greater church just prior to the second coming.

 

 

Let’s start off by examining the seven churches and their state of righteousness just prior to the judgments of the Lamb.

 

Revelation 2:2-7

To the angel of the Church in Ephesus write:

 

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

 

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

 

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

 

Here Jesus is accusing the church of a love that has grown cold. Many times, after a person has been together with their loved one the passion that first brought them together leaves their relationship and this brings about many opportunities for the devil to wreak havoc between the loved ones. Jesus is warning the church that a love grown cold invites the sins on the Nicolaitans to manifest. The sins of Nicolaitans were sacrificing to idols, and sexual immortality.

 

So, what is happening in today’s church that might be manifesting the sins of the Nicolaitans? Let’s start out by examining the worse examples of sacrificing to idols in the Bible. Baal and Moloch worshipers sacrificed their children to receive blessings of prosperity and pleasure from the Gods. The sacrifice involved taking a live infant baby and placing him/her into the burning belly of an idol of the god Moloch. In the scriptures, this horrific act was called “passing the infant through the fire.”

 

Today much of God’s church has been silent on the millions of abortions that occur each year that happen or are the result of sexual pleasure and the desire to not spend the resources it will take to raise the child. Sadly, many abortions use chemicals (hypertonic saline) that poison and actually burn the babies to death in their mother’s wombs.

 

 

Revelation 2:8-11

To the angel of the Church in Smyrna write:

 

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

 

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

 

Here Jesus is telling His church that prior to the Judgments of the Lamb and the tribulation period, members will suffer poverty and persecution, some even to the point of death by the uber religious acting on direction of Satan himself.

 

So, what is happening with today’s church that might fit this warning? The actions of followers of radical Islam (ISIS in Iraq, Libya, and Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Turkey) attempting to exterminate all Christians in the Middle East, or make Christians pay a tax for being non-Islamic seems to very much fit this warning to the church at Smyrna.

 

 

Revelation 2:12-17

To the angel of the Church in Pergamum write:

 

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.  I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.

 

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

 

 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

 

Interestingly, Jesus again issues warnings to the church in Ephesus about the sins of Nicolaitans who were sacrificing to idols, and taught sexual immortality as normal to their believers. Currently, our world is so hyper-sexualized in every aspect of society it’s not surprising that the sins of the Nicolaitans are mentioned twice in Jesus’ warnings to the church.

 

The world we live in is rampant with bizarre deviant sexual sins including adultery, rape, pedophilia, bestiality, and homosexuality to mention but a few sins that God strictly forbids. The church is not exempt from these sins and some even openly ignore God’s laws. For example, many main stream Christian denominations welcome and ordain openly practicing unrepentant homosexuals into the clergy and even upper leadership roles in the church. Modern news stories document transgender clergy as well. God warns he will himself come and fight against this apostasy.

 

We need to consider the very fascinating statement that is made in the 13th verse of this chapter of Revelation. Here Jesus states Satan’s throne is located in the city of Pergamum. The ruins of the ancient city of Pergamum is located on a hill overlooking the modern Turkish city of Bergama.

 

Revelation 2:18-29

To the angel of the Church in Thyatira write:

 

These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

 

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

 

Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’

 

To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery —just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

 

Here Jesus issues warnings to the church in Thyatira about the sins of Jezebel (wife of King Ahab, and the most famous Baal worshiper in the scriptures). Jezebel’s society and religious worship was filled with child sacrifice, male and female temple prostitutes, adultery, homosexually, bestiality, incest, and all manners of deviant behavior.

 

As we saw in his warnings to the church at Ephesus, sacrificing to idols and sexual immortality are the deadly sins that cause Christians to lose their eternal reward. The Lord very plainly warns the church that those who ignore God’s law will pay an intense price of suffering and lose their reward.

 

For modern Christians, the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s in America gave birth to a fulfillment of this sad warning which the church sees as growing problems today. For example, according to a 2014 CDC report on Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in America, gay and bisexual men face the highest (and rising) rates and numbers of syphilis infections, and yet our society and some in the church clearly accept the gay lifestyle as normal and healthy. Sadly, the same study indicates that teenage children who are sexually active are the second most infected group with as much as 25% of teenage girls suffering from STDs.

 

For much of today’s church, Jesus’ Jezebel warning keeps falling on deaf ears. A 2008 study found that 33% of all Christian marriages end in divorce. Similar studies reveal that adultery/pornography is the number one cause of divorce for Christians in North America. The 21st century rush to sexualize technology with virtual reality simulations and the dawning of sex robots will no doubt steal countless other souls from the kingdom.

 

 

Revelation 3:1-6

To the angel of the Church in Sardis write:

 

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits   of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

 

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

 

Here Jesus issues warnings to the church in Sardis that seems a little vague, but it can be in understood to mean a church or Christian who fails to be an active believer and worker for the kingdom is in danger of losing their reward. This very plainly calls into question the beliefs of some hyper-Calvinists, who teach that since salvation is predestined by God and there is no need to attempt try and win souls by evangelizing. As James, the brother of Jesus wrote the New Testament book named after him, faith without works is dead. This warning to the church at Sardis appears to be a grave warning about passionless beliefs.

 

 

Revelation 3:7-13

To the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write:

 

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

 

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

 

The statement that Jesus makes to the church at Philadelphia is actually a word of encouragement to those Christians who do not deny his name in the face of great suffering at the hands of the followers of Satan.

 

The most important message here maybe that the Lord promises he will “keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.”  This verse maybe the strongest, most convincing one in the Bible for a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. Perhaps the open door that Jesus mentions in verse 8 gives us a clue as to how he will remove his church prior to the great tribulation. Amen let it be so.

 

Revelation 3:7-13

To the angel of the Church in Laodicea

 

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

 

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

 

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

 

The warning here is similar to the message given to the church in Sardis. God will judge those who claim to be followers of Christ if they fail to actively seek his face and work to expand the kingdom. By just lukewarmly claiming faith in Jesus, and relying on one’s wealth for security, you are in danger of being spit out of the kingdom of God and have you name erased from the Lambs Book of Life.

 

 

Immediately after Jesus finishes dictating these messages to the church, John is taken to the throne room in Heaven. The 4th Chapter of Revelation is John's description of a divine ceremony that authorizes beginning of the judgments of the people who take the mark of the beast.

 

Revelation 4:1-11

 

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

 

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

 

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,

who was, and is, and is to come.”

 

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

 

 

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

    to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

    and by your will they were created

    and have their being.”

 

Revelation 5:1-14

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.  Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

 

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  And they sang a new song, saying:

 

“You are worthy to take the scroll

    and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

    and with your blood you purchased for God

    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

    and they will reign on the earth.”

 

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

 

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength

    and honor and glory and praise!”

 

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

 

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

    be praise and honor and glory and power,

for ever and ever!”

 

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

 

 

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