REVELATION SESSION 3

---

REVELATION SESSION 3

Shelbia has ordered the book for Bible Study: Wrath and Glory by David Reagan.  Wrath and glory are the two main topics in Revelation.

-The wrath of God people don’t think about much cause we see God as a big cosmic teddy bear.

-People say a loving God won’t send anyone to hell.

-When people believe this they are uninformed. 

Wrath means violent anger, indignation, rage and furry. This will be poured out on unbelievers during the time of tribulation. People need to be informed NOW because we still have a window when we can make our own choices.  By rejecting God, a person sends themself to hell. 

-David Reagan says most people are ignorant of the book of Revelation and are downright afraid of it. 

- David Reagan, 82, was born 1938.  He’s the one that said he’d been in his ministry for a number of years. The first 30 years of his life, his church didn’t acknowledge Revelation at all. 

Glorify means to exhault and praise, especially in worship.To praise and worship God! To make eternally blessed.  This is why and how Jesus went to the cross for us - to glorify God! 

Revelation is to inform us, to gather facts and encourage.  God says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.  One of the devils chief tools is to discourage us. 

Hal Lindsey says to keep witnessing - say whatever God tells you to say because when the Christians are gone, they will remember what we told them and they will come to Christ. 

-Each person has a unique mission field for God.  Shelbia saw recently where someone said to God, I’m hungry and I need you, please use me - this person’s spiritual life picked up after they talked to God. 

-We all need to be doing this - talking to God and asking him to use us. 

-We all want to hear well done good and faithful servant when we meet Jesus! 

-The most horrible words we could hear from Jesus are ‘depart from me, I never knew you’. People don’t have a clue how bad hell is. Shelbia says there are more verses about hell in the Bible, than heaven. Hell is a lake of fire, total darkness, and isolation. Hell is a reality! 

Shelbia doesn’t remember people talking about Revelation when she was a young person. She read through the Bible several times, but it was words that didn’t click for her. She didn’t have a clue about it. 

Bible versions - Amir says whatever version you understand, you should read. Memorize verses out of the King James Version. It’s good to read another version now and then. But if you have other versions, watch for what they call Mary. If they refer to her as a young maiden instead of a virgin, it waters down the message. It has to be Mary identified as a virgin. Another watered down version to watch for is in the fruit of the spirit - watch for it to say patience vs. long suffering.  FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: love; joy; peace; long suffering - which is much more than patience; gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. NOTE: Long suffering is praying for a loved one who is not saved, who does not know the Lord. It is much more intense than patience. 

Old Testament scripture related to Revelation:

Isaiah 64:4 - its very different in the King James Bible.“For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard not perceived by the ear, or has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. “ 

Rev 1:3 says “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written in it, for the time is near.” 

Revelation is the only book in the entire Bible that promises a blessing to the person who reads it, hears it, and keeps those things that are written in it, for the time is near. 

Reading and understanding are vitally important to Christianity because it tells us we are going to win in the end. We are living in a pagan world now. Things are happening so fast, that His return is going to be very soon. The last generation before the tribution is living now. 

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW - TRUST JESUS TODAY! It is time to study the book of Revelation at the beginning of the 21st century cause we are challenged with the decay of society and the second, is the growing apostasy in the church. Shelbia see’s it. There are still some true churches. Shelbia is glad she doesn’t have to look for another church because she has grace. 

Apostasy is really growing in the church. Apostasy - is one who has light (the Holy Spirit) but no life. 

Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life! 

Another reason to focus on Revelation - the signs of the time clearly say we are living in the last days; the state of Israel has been established for 72 years; and this generation will not pass, but we don’t know what the definition of generation is. 

A generation was a lot longer in the Old Testament, so no one really knew the true number of a generation now. In the New Testament, a generation is shorter. We consider a generation to be between 40 and 100 years. Generation - the whole body of individuals born about the same time. Nation, racial group. Age or era. Another definition says the average time interval between birth of parents and birth of their offspring. 

Shelbia says the bottom line is that we are very close to the rapture. Last Sunday, Pastor David Parmley said he was expecting or felt like Gabriel’s lips are on the trumpet, ready to blow. 

David Reagan says we are on borrowed time. This is another reason we should be focused on the book of Revelation, big time. David Reagan said he is no longer looking for signs, he’s listening for the sounds of a trumpet and the shout of an angel. 

Jesus is returning soon - and this fact makes Revelation very important for our lives. Jesus will return. 

 Revelation 1:7 - behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him...to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Even so, Amen. Even those who pierced him will see him come. 

Revelation 1:20 - The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand; and the seven golden lamp stands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lamp stands which you saw are the seven church’s. 

DONE: Jesus is returning soon! Behold I am coming quickly and my reward is to render to every man according to what he has done. Every person is either: under the wrath of God or the grace of God. It is glory to be under the grace of God; it is terror to be under his wrath! 

John 3:35 - “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.“ 

John 3:36 - “He who believes in the son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” 

Rev 19:11 - “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.“ 

The return of Jesus will bring glory or wrath for each of us. When he returns to the earth he will come in wrath, but the wrath will be followed by the glory as he is crowned and begins his majestic reign at Mt. Zion. Muslims are buried outside the eastern gate, facing Mecca. They believe they will be able to keep Jesus from coming through the eastern gate when he returns. 

Prophecy - 2 Tim 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.  These are verses most Christians know very well. 

Why would we begin a study of Revelation with these two verses. There is no more important part of Gods word than his prophetic word. Almost 1/3 of the Bible is prophetic in nature. 

A lot of the Old Testament refers to the second coming of Jesus. Every prophecy that talked about the first coming has been fulfilled accurately. This gives us every reason to know the second coming prophecy will be fulfilled this way too. 

By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, all scripture is inspired by God. This includes Bible prophecy. Why would God put a book in the Bible that no one could understand? 

The book of Revelation is for all of us - its relevant to all of us and we are able to understand it. 

The key’s will help us understand it:

-David Reagan said, ‘As a result of 30 years going to churchand not hearing about bible prophecy and being so ignorant of it, if you would have asked me what the rapture is, I’d probably say its a sensation you feel when your girlfriend kisses you.’ 

-He also says ‘I would probably identify God and magod as a comedy team.’ -We just simply ignore God’s prophetic word but the tragic thing is that our spiritual growth has been stunted. (Because we believed we couldn’t understand it or we were afraid to study it). 

-Our sanctification (which is our development into the image of Jesus) was delayed cause the spirit of man was designed to feed upon the word of God. 

-The major barrier to Revelation is fear or being told we cannot understand it. This is the devils deception. As a result of this psychological barrier, most Christians haven’t even read the book. The devil loves this - he doesn’t want us to read the book nor does he want us to know he’s going to lose. This is a wonderful reason to read Revelation!!! 

The left behind books say the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. Enoch (gentile) and Elijah (Jewish) was taken directly into heaven so others think it will be these two. 

PERRY STONE says, satan, I’ve read your obituary in the back of the Bible. It is a blessing for all that read, hear and do Revelation!!! 

Revelation:

-The book states in no uncertain terms that the devil will be totally defeated and Jesus will be victorious.

-The book reveals the cosmic battle that’s been going on since the beginning of time.

-It will be won by the God of the universe and those that accept him will reign with God eternally. 

Satan:-The devil was the most beautiful angel who led worship until he became so full of himself that he was kicked out of heaven with 1/3 of the angels. 

Old Testament scripture related to Revelation:

Ezekiel 28 tells this story. “Proclamation against the King of Tyre”:

1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. Lamentation for the King of Tyre:

11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. Proclamation against Sidon:

20 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Israel’s Future Blessing:

25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.

26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God. 

This passage talks about the king of Tyre, but this has double meaning as satan as well. There are demons released that are doing extra work because the web of deception that satan has wound around makes it very hard to get true salvation.The mindset of people is distracting. Kids are being brought up with political correctness and a lack of Bible teaching. 

Archangels: Michael is the warrior angel and Gabriel is the messenger angel of God. 

Ephesians 6:12-18 talks about spiritual warfare - the powers and principalities and the levels of demonic spirits. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you wil be able to quench all the firey darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints-“ 

OUR GOD IS MORE POWERFUL - THAT’S ABSOLUTELY WHY WE HAVE TO PUT ON GOD’S ARMOR EVERY SINGLE DAY! 

This spiritual battle is the real thing - we can’t let our guard down. The devil knows our weaknesses and how to get to us. He really loves that we don’t read the Bible - especially the book of Revelation, so we don’t know the truth and who wins. He wants to keep us focused on this evil world so we give up hope and cast our lot with the wicked. He doesn’t want anyone reading Revelation cause he loses and GOD WINS. 

Wrath and glory is the message - we need to yearn for Jesus return. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD

Nature of God: Grace, mercy and loveSent Jesus to die for the sins of the world. 

Wrath of God: Perfectly just and holy and righteous. Because he is just, holy and righteous, he can’t look upon sin. It was dark for 3 hours when Jesus died on the cross - because God couldn’t look on sin.

Jesus called out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me. 

 Shelbia says the theme of the book is the second coming of Jesus and it points to the soon return of Jesus. 

8 KEYS: You absolutely must believe that God wants you to understand Revelation.

1. This is not a book for unbelievers. You have to have the Holy Spirit in you to believe this book. God wants you to understand Revelation. 

2. Rely on the Holy Spirit to teach you.

3. Look for the literal meaning of symbols.

4. Very important - even if you don’t understand it, just accept the plain sense meaning. If the plain sense makes sense don’t look for any other sense or you will end up with non-sense.

5. Follow the table of contents, which is the things you have seen (glorified Jesus), 7 churches, the tribution, the millinium and eternity.

6. Watch the time frame of what you are raeding, referred to in the DVD and then a flash back or a flash forward to encourage you. We have to understand Revelation is not in chronological order.

7. Study the old Testament, especially the prophetic lieterature. You have to know the Old Testament and the New Testament and the book of Daniel is essential to understanding Revelation. The Bible is best commentary on itself.

8. Keep your eyes on Jesus. This is a point that Shelbia cannot emphasize enough. 

KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS!  PRAISE THE LORD!