Revelation

Revelation 19:11-22:21

“Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” Revelation 19:11

For as long as I can remember the pinnacle of any romance scene was the damsel in distress, helpless to gain freedom from captivity under her own power. Then in rides her hero to save the day. In the older movies there would be a horse involved. In the newer movies it’s often an iron horse. But either way, sitting upon that horse would be the hero, the one who held the key to her heart and her freedom.

Many times the story goes that the enemy really couldn’t have cared less about the girl, but he knows that the hero would do anything to see his precious Beloved safely out of the clutches of His evil nemesis. The enemy capitalizes on this fact day in and day out all the while chuckling with his maniacal laugh. Never realizing that the traps he is setting for our hero will inevitably, and usually comically, spring back on the one who set them; gaining our hero victory over the enemy and access to his Beloved Bride.

Who is laughing now?

We see the final scene with our hero embracing his Beloved, the sunset over their shoulders casting them in back-lit shadow, you see them kiss as they fade to black, while overtop you can hear the moans of the fallen enemy as he is led off by the police to his prison cell where he will stay for a thousand years.

Any of this sounding familiar? It’s the end of about every movie known to man; at least most of the ones I’ve ever seen anyway. You know why they all end that way? Because we like watching it happen over and over and over again. Simply put, we’re all that Beloved girl who is trapped with no hope of escape. We’re that damsel in struggling distress praying for our hero on a white horse to ride in and save the day. Our day. We’re the ones in constant need of salvation from a Savior who is willing to give His very life for His Beloved Bride. We’re the ones who need that. We’re the ones laying our heads down on tear-stained pillows praying for the ache to cease, for the pain to lift from our hearts, for our heads to forget a past that continues to chase us down and a present that just won’t let up. We’re the ones who smile through loss and tell everyone we’re fine effectively shutting our doors and throwing away the proverbial key.

There’s only One whose light can penetrate that kind of darkness.

JESUS!!!

Jesus is the rider of that white horse. His name is Faithful and True (Jesus, not the horse) and He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Jesus is the true hero of our story. He is the only hero of any story to be fully faithful to His Beloved, totally Truthful to her at all times. He is the only hero with the ability to promise her salvation and then actually deliver it fully. He is the only hero so wise as to lure Satan into his own traps. The traps that were meant to kill Jesus the man, and did; only to then have Satan realize three days later that there is no killing Him because He is not just... a man.

Oh my friend, there is no hero like my Jesus. There is no God like my God. There is no savior like my Savior. Isn’t it glorious to remember how heroic He is? Doesn’t it just fill your soul with light and laughter?

Say it aloud with me, “Jesus loves ME”!

It’s the TRUTH. He is faithful. He does not forget promises. He does not lose track of time. He does not misplace His keys. He KNOWS you and He sees you in your trouble and desperate need. He is coming, soon and very soon, He is coming. And He’s coming for YOU. He will save you. He will embrace you and kiss you with a backlit sunset shadow kiss. And you will hear the clank of the Enemy’s chains as he is led off to his eternal prison where HE WILL PAY for his crimes against the Bride of Christ for all of eternity with fire and torture.

IN JESUS’ NAME!

AMEN!

It’s HERE!!!! 😀 My very own personalized notebook for writing through the Bible in a year is here just in time to finish the last MONTH of the project right! LOL. Maybe I’ll make more for the beginning when we start over in June. 😉 If you want one for yourself they’re available here.

Revelation 10:1-14:20

“And they have conquered him [the accuser of the brothers] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,” Revelation 12:11

Sorry folks, I’ve got nothin’ today. My brain is spent from these last two days! I’m going to go take a nap now. See ya tomorrow!

Revelation 5:1-9:21

“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14

OK, of all times to be reading Revelation, I would NOT have chosen it to be now. But it wasn’t my choice as to when we would read these books, it was God’s. Some of you may be familiar with the lunar events set to happen starting this week, but some of you may not. I am not entirely familiar with them, but I am familiar with the word of God, and the times, they are a-changin’.

On April 15^th, of all dates, there will be the first of four blood moons over the next 18 months. Each of these moon will be visible in Jerusalem and will appear on Jewish holidays (this first one is Passover). Now while this has happened before with somewhat unpleasant results, there have never been four in eighteen months with a solar eclipse in the center. In today’s reading we saw:

“When He opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that it being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” (Revelation 6:12-14)

Matthew 24:29 says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” [Read Matthew 24 & 25 for more.]

Next in Revelation and the events that take place after the signs in the heavens, we read in chapter seven about an “angel descending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:” (Revelation 7:2-4)

At this point revelation rolled over me in a wave of hopelessness. “Lord, 144,000 are so few in comparison to the entire population of the world! I want to be one of those sealed… but there is absolutely no way I could ever earn something like that.” I was crushed because I knew I was right. There is absolutely positively nothing that I can say or do to earn the privilege of being sealed and protected from the trouble that is to befall our planet.

Verse 5-8 is a list; the list of how many people from each of the tribes of Israel will be sealed. There will be 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes. The seals are for the Jews, the pure bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And there goes the last of my hope for a seal of salvation from tribulation. I’m not Jewish.

Buuuut, verse 9-10 says: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'”

Who is this great multitude that no one could number, from EVERY tribe, people and nation? “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14

IT’S THE CHURCH!

While I know a good deal about the Bible, I certainly do NOT claim to be an expert of any kind. Especially when it comes to the book I avoid the most – Revelation. However, according to what I recall David Jeremiah preaching about this passage of scripture, from this point forward there is no mention of the church on Earth.

There are MANY speculations of “The Rapture” as most refer to it. But, in Matthew 24 Jesus explains it like this, “Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.” Wouldn’t the “unexplainable” sudden disappearance of a “great multitude” of people from all over the globe cause the greatest tribulation imaginable? There’s no detective alive that would be able to come up with any natural clue as to how it happened or why.

In Luke 21:36 (NKJV) we read the words of Jesus, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

There is hope my friend.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and He will guide them to springs of Living Water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:15-17

“He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence.” We may not have His seal on our foreheads, but we’ve got something MUCH better. We’ve got His blood on our hearts. We have His Holy Spirit as a seal IN us. At this very moment, we are being protected in the best and most complete way possible, from whatever tribulation comes our way, colossal or minute.

We’re covered by the blood of the Lamb!

Hosanna to our crucified and risen King! 😀

Happy Palm Sunday.

Revelation 1:1-4:11

“the one who conquers…” Revelation 2:7, 11, 17 & 26; 3:5, 12 & 21

Throughout today’s reading the phrase, “the one who conquers” kept popping up. And by the end I wanted to be one of “the ones who conquered” because they are rewarded with some pretty great stuff!

“To the one who conquers…

*Revelation 2:7 … I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the paradise of God.” – Yes please!

*Revelation 2:11 … will not be hurt by the send death.” – Yup, definitely want that!

*Revelation 2:17 … I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.” – Cool! Yeah!

*Revelation 2:26-28 … and keeps My words to the end, to him I will give authority over nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from My Father. And I will give him the morning star.” – Wow! Seriously?

*Revelation 3:5 … will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life. I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” – Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!

*Revelation 3:12 … I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from My God out of heaven, and My own new name.” – Eternally in close physical proximity with the Father? Oh my!

*Revelation 3:21 … I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne.” – OK, seriously, where do I sign up!?! How do I become one who conquers? What does that mean?

Well, if you’ve heard of Nike shoes you’re already semi-familiar with this word. It’s the Greek word “nee-kay” and it means: to conquer, to carry off the victory, come off victorious; for example 1) Christ’s victory over His foes 2) Christians that hold fast to their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions 3) when one is arraigned or goes to law, to win the case, maintain one’s cause.

You’ve heard me say before, the Bible defines the Bible. So to better answer my question of how to be a conqueror I pulled up all the other instances of this word in the New Testament, all 28 of them. Most of them simply helped explain the meaning of the word: Luke 11:22, Romans 3:4 & 12:21, 1 John 2:13-14. But then there were others that really delved deep into the heart of my quest.

1 John 4:4 “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

When we are from God, His children, we are able to overcome and conquer because God is in us and helping us along the way.

1 John 5:4 “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

So to be one who conquers, you must be born again by believing in your heart – which justifies you, and confessing that belief in Jesus with your mouth – which saves you. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:9-13)

Revelation 12:11 “They conquered [the accuser of the brothers] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Our testimony of how the blood of the Lamb has changed and saved our lives conquers Satan.

But the big key I found was in the interesting fact that John used the word nee-kay more than anyone else in the New Testament, 21 of the 24 verses that contain nee-kay are John’s. Why is that an important fact? John is known as the beloved disciple, he understood the power of the Truth that God first loved us, not the other way around. He discovered that while there is power in our love for Him, our real strength is in the knowledge of how much Jesus loves us! And when we’re expressing that love that we first experienced for ourselves, Satan’s power is destroyed in our lives.

Romans 8:37 is a really fun verse for nee-kay, because it’s not actually just nee-kay alone. It’s hooper-nee-kay. Just like hyper in English, the word hooper is often used as a prefix to words to add emphasis to their meaning. Sensitive – hypersensitive, active – hyperactive, conquerer – more than conquers.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors (hooper-nee-kay) through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

So while choosing to trust Christ with our salvation and voicing that choice makes us conquerors; receiving God’s amazing and abundant love for us makes us hyperconquerers!

Praise God we are loved!!!