That's right. Okay, folks, let's turn over to Revelation 22. Revelation 22, we got three verses we're gonna look at tonight. Actually, we can also, I need to modify that. We're gonna look at three and a half verses tonight. That's it. Yes, sir. You got it, brother. Okay. It's good to see all of y'all here this evening. And again, once again, Miss Dorothy's okay. They checked her out, and they couldn't find anything the matter with her. So they sent her back home, so she's resting at home right now. I appreciate everybody's prayers and everybody pitching in and your concern. Everything's good. All right. Revelation 22. We're going to look at beginning with verse 12. If you have your place there, please say amen. All right. That's good. All right, let's look at beginning with verse 12 here. You don't have to read out loud, don't have to stand. Jesus says, and behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. Verse 13, I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Now drop down to verse 16. He says, 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 bride and morning star. And I said one more thing here that we need to look at. Look at verse 20. He which testifies these things saith, surely I come quickly, amen, even so come Lord Jesus. Those words right there in red, surely I come quickly, John is quoting He is re-quoting Jesus there. So I did not include that inside of our lesson here because he's quoting the words of Jesus that he'd already said. All right, well, let's pray. Father, we thank you tonight for your word. We ask now, Father, that you'll open our hearts and mind to your truth, to the wisdom and precepts of thy word. We thank you and give you praise, glory, and honor, Lord, for all that you have done already. May I decrease and may you increase, Father, and may your word go forth of our mouth as we seek to teach the book of Revelation. In Christ's name, amen. All right, remember Wednesday night, we'll be up in Virginia preaching and speaking. In Q&A, you will have lesson 198. I called it 197, my apology. But anyway, then next Sunday, we'll have lesson 199. And then next Wednesday, lesson 200. Wow, and during that lesson I'm going to bring out some interesting statistics about our study of the book of Revelation. I think you're going to be wowed by what we have there. And then, of course, remember the last Sunday night in October, we will have a special Q&A that will go from 6 to 8. We'll have a 5-minute break at every moment of the—every 30 minutes, basically, we'll have a 5-minute break. That way you can stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, whatever, and you don't have to sit there for that long to listen to me. Remember that if you have not submitted a question about prophecy, the book of Revelation, Ezekiel, Daniel, whatever it is, be sure to get that in writing to me so I can get you an answer prepared because we're going to have the mega super duper blowout, whatever it's called, Q&A on prophecy to celebrate our conclusion of the book of Revelation, which we have been studying since 2014 in the month of May. All right, let's go back up to verse 12 here and we'll get cracking here. We see the first two words, and behold, this is connected then to the previous statement, the word and. And what was that statement? Look back up in verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. What have we seen through that? Our past, our most recent study, we looked at there are ultimately two groups that will be affected by the content of Revelation. And those two groups are the lost and the saved. Tonight, we see Jesus' true last words. Previously, folks have said that the words on the cross or perhaps the Great Commission was his last words, but no, they are here, seen in the book of Revelation. What did all that mean back in verse 11? In a brief recap, let me remind you. He is not saying here for people to continue in sin. He is basically saying that the time is so close at hand of Jesus' return that here's the principle. that if you have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and you have not repented of your sin, and Jesus comes back and raptures the church out, the principle then is that if you have heard it and you have rejected it, the time is going to revert back to the Jewish age, and so therefore the implication will be the same as it was in the first century to the Jews. That if they heard the gospel of Christ and they rejected it in the first century, what happened? They would be eternally lost. So here's the give then, guys. People that know the gospel of Jesus Christ right now and they're lost, they've rejected salvation. If Jesus were to come right now and they're not saved, I'm of the opinion and of the belief, according to my study of prophecy, that they will be immediately turned over to a reprobate mind. That's part of that great delusion that God is going to allow to be sent. That if they know it and they reject it, who's going to be taken out with us? The Holy Ghost. And what is the Holy Ghost's mission according to the Gospel of John? To reprove men, to convict men of their sin, and to illuminate their minds by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If he's taken out, and they have heard it, and they understand it, and they reject it, then there is no hope for them at that point. Now people say, well, who's then going to be able to be saved? Guys, you've got to think about this. We are seeing the falling away of the faith. There are people that live in Rutherford County that have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. There are people whose grandpas were preachers, and they don't know anything about the church because they never go to church. We cannot assume just because they live in the South that everybody's saved. They're not. There's heathen all around us, and it ain't just the ragheads, neither. It's some of our own family. It's some of our own coworkers. Because it is not the society and the culture that we had 50 years ago. It has radically changed before our eyes, and it is changing even now in a negative way. That is why if we do not stand up and be counted and preserve our heritage as Christian Southerners, we're going to lose the whole ballgame. It ain't going to be pretty. It's not pretty. We're seeing it right now. But that's what the implication is. And behold. So that word and right there connects verse 12, Jesus's word, back with what was previously said, which is meaning that you need to get saved before he comes back, and that's what he says, behold. Behold means to look here. It's kind of like most folks said around here, now, now look here, boy, or look here, young girl, look here, young lady, you know, it's basically saying, pay attention, okay? And what is Jesus saying to us, pay attention about? I come quickly. That's what he's telling us. McGee said, Our Lord promises that he's coming again. This is his personal declaration. No believer can doubt or deny this all-important and personal promise of the Lord Jesus. And match that with what he says in, is quoted as saying in verse 20, where John says, He which testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly. So that's again what Jesus is saying. I'm coming quickly. God This has been about 2,000 years since this was wrote back in 96 AD. If Jesus said, I come quickly then, it's even more quickly now. The coming of our Lord is at any moment. But yet you've got Christians, you've got people out there who are saved and on their way to heaven and they're living like they got 50 years left to live. I'm looking at the coming of Jesus next week. If he don't come next week, maybe he'll come the week after. If he don't come that week, maybe the week after that. In other words, as long as I'm alive, there is a opportunity, there is a chance, there is a blessed hope that he will come in my lifetime. And I don't know about you, but I like that idea. I don't want to have to go through the throes of death, whether it, I mean, most of us probably wish that if we do have to go, we'll die in our sleep, go to bed and wake up in heaven. But you're not promised that. I'm not promised that. We could be murdered. We might be in a car wreck. We may suffer through cancer. We don't know what or how we'll die. That's something most people don't want to think about. But Benjamin Franklin said there are two things certain in life, death and taxes, but he forgot about the rapture. The rapture is there as well. It's the great hope that we have that maybe we may be able to skip death. I don't know. God knows. But he did say, I come quickly. Then he says what else? And my reward is with me. Now this ain't just for the same, God, as we shall see. The reward for the same will be given out at the judgment seat of Christ. The reward for the lost will be during the great white throne judgment. And what does he say? How do we know this? He says, and my reward is with me, watch what he says, to give every man. So it isn't just the same then. And it ain't just, ladies, it ain't just for us, God, it's to every man that is a member of the human race. member of mankind, okay? And then he says what? According as his work shall be. That is the basis, guys, for all judgment. The Bible tells the saved man he will be judged according to his work. And the Bible tells the lost man he will be judged according to his work. Let me show you. For you and I, the saved, we will be judged according to our works in 1 Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 9. Let's know what it says. Paul says, for we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. Now right there, I bring that in because of this point. That is the foundation of how we labor, of how we work. Listen, we are laborers together with God. Hold on to that thought. I'll come back to it. Verse 10, According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So there's your foundation, Jesus. Now verse 12, here it is. Now if any man, now if the first, the third class condition, Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but if you do, this is what will happen. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble, verse 13, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day, what day? The day when we stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. Remember, the judgment seat of Christ is not the same as the great white throne judgment. for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive no reward. Now look at verse 15. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. All right, let me put this so we can kind of grasp an understanding about it. Every one of us at the moment of salvation, we get saved, we are baptized by the Holy Ghost, we are indwelled by the Holy Ghost, and we are said by the Bible in Ephesians to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Now that status remains until You and I are tempted. At the moment of temptation, the Holy Ghost kind of has the driver's wheel. All right? So while he's driving, you and I are in God's plan. We're in God's wheel. We're going to be the most used to God that we can be as long as he's in the driver's seat. But the moment we have a temptation, that's where free will pops up. That's where your choice and mine is. And so the Holy Ghost kind of puts the brakes on and he's going to slow the spiritual car down and he's going to say, okay, what do you want to do? Do you want to yield to the temptation? Do you want to give in to the temptation? Now guys, all this happens in a blink of an eye. It's our choice. And so we look at that, whatever it is, we want to lie or whatever it is. Remember, a Christian is not perfect. We are not saved so then that we no longer sin. We can sin, because what does he say? If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. That means that we have the freedom. We are the freest of all people. Because before salvation, we are sinners. And that's the only thing a lost man can do is sin. But as a saved person, now I have a choice. I can serve my savior or I can serve myself, the world, the flesh, or the devil. It's my choice. And so let's say I choose to sin. So I choose to yield to temptation. So what happens is you have a reversal of seat. The Holy Ghost gives me the steering wheel and he gets inside the passenger seat. Remember, I'm still inside the spiritual car, which means what? I'm still saved. Even though I'm going now to sin, I'm still saved. I'm still on my way to heaven because I cannot lose my salvation. It's just like the Bible tells us that Jesus has given unto us eternal life. Eternal means without end. Now most people, I say most people, some people look at this and they say, well you're preaching or teaching a license to sin. I'm not saying we have a license to sin. Because when you as a saved person get into sin, immediately the Holy Ghost is going to let you know. He's going to use whatever word of God you have in your heart to convict you. He's going to prick your heart. He's going to let you know that what you're doing is wrong. So then that's conviction, that's punishment number one. If you reject that and say, shut up, I want to enjoy my sin, leave me be. Then he'll ratchet up step number two, and that's divine discipline. That's usually where God will knock you on your feet to make you look up to see the bottom. Now remember, everybody that has a terrible disease, everybody that's in a wreck and in a body cast, that does not always mean they're under divine discipline. Don't judge them like that, or else you'll be like Job's friend. Remember, he got everything he pretty much had taken away from him, but he didn't do any specific sin to deserve that. God was allowing him to be tested. In other words, don't judge them because you don't know the whole story, you don't know the whole picture, only God does. And then if you are under divine discipline and you say, well, screw you, God, I don't care about that. I'm lacking my sin and I want to do what I want to do. That person is going to be the most miserable creature on the face of the earth because they are born again, saved, child of God, and they are living for the devil. And at that point in their life, there is nothing in their life that will show to the world that they are a child of God. They will talk like the world, they'll dress like the world, they'll smell like the world, they'll look like the world, they'll think like the world. There is no indication, no fruit to show they're a child of God. And you know what some preachers and some Christians say? That person never was saved to begin with. That's a lie out of hell. Because when you got saved and I got saved, we are children of God. And the Bible commands us to desire the sincere milk of the word. The problem is that many people, especially nowadays, who get saved, they don't desire the sincere milk of the word. They never grow. In other words, they're stuck as spiritual babies. And you know what babies do, they poop a lot, they cry a lot, they sleep a lot, and that's why we're seeing the mess we're having in our churches nowadays. Because you've got too many whining, crying babies screaming for their diapers to be changed, and I don't change babies' diapers, well, except for I have, but anyway, I don't change your diapers. And, furthermore, baby Christians are asleep half the time. So they are not cognizant of the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil all around them, you see. All right, moving on. This is not in my notes, no extra charge. And so what happens is, is that we begin to see then the next step God ratchets up, because if we're not for God, we're against God. We've become God's enemy. And we are all ambassadors of the Lord. And so if we're not for the Lord, if we're not witnessing for the Lord out there, and people look at us and they don't see Christ, All they see is the world, the flesh, and the devil, and they see a rotten mess. Then the Lord will then put into the final stage of discipline, and that is strike number three. Three strikes and you're out. I guess God likes baseball. And so what happens is that then you have the sin under death. And that is where that believer will be turned over to the power of Satan, and Satan will have all right and all authority to destroy the human body. But any point along that line of discipline, if the believer wakes up and comes to themselves, repents of their sin and confesses their sin, God will stay the brakes. That don't mean you magically get healed or automatically get healed. You'll still have to deal with the results of what you've sown, because as a man sows, that shall he also reap. In other words, if you went out there and planted in the world and suddenly you got AIDS and then you get right with God, that doesn't mean God's going to cure your AIDS. No, you get what you sow. You're going to reap that harvest, whatever it may be. So anyway. I'm not saying you're going to get AIDS, I'm just saying it. That's how it works. So when you repent and you confess of your sin, what happens? You switch seats again. The Holy Ghost takes over driving and you're now the passenger. So you're again filled with the Holy Ghost. You are controlled by the Holy Ghost. See guys, most preachers never explain that. Most believers get saved, they hopefully get baptized, they go to church off and on, and that's about it. There's no solid, I say there's no, there's few and far between of sound biblical teaching out there. I like Hellfire Brimstone preaching, that's the way I preach. But when I teach, guys, you've got to get the milk, you've got what I like to call the mashed taters and gravy, and you've got to get the meat, because if you don't, you're never going to grow. Remember, that's what I was preaching about in the last point this morning, that if you don't get the Word of God and all these other things added to that faith, you're going to be blind spiritually. And too many people are nowadays, because they don't build upon that through the Word of God. All right? Why did I say all that? Here's why. Because how do you determine what reward you're going to get in heaven? Here's how. If I'm filled with the Spirit and I give a cup of cold water to my dad or to one of you and you're thirsty, I didn't do it. I was the instrument. The Holy Ghost did that good deed through me. So he's the one that did the reward. I mean, he's the one that did the work. And I'll get the reward, either gold, silver, or precious stone, because he did it through me. But let's switch gears. If I am out of fellowship with the Lord, and I, as a, I guess, you know, kind of a nice guy, and I see him, and he's kind of thirsty, I say, okay, you need something to drink. And so I do that, guess who did it? I did it. I did that. Not the Holy Ghost. He didn't use me. I did it myself. And so that means that good work, although it was a good deed, it will be wood, hay, or stubble. So it depends on if you're filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, or not, at whatever you do. Just like when you pay your tithe. When you pay your tithe, if you're filled with the Spirit, then that's going to be counted on your account, because the Lord did that through you. If you're not filled with the Spirit, then it ain't gonna be beans, it ain't gonna be nothing. It's gonna be wood, hay, or stubble. That's the criteria. Most preachers say, well, it depends on what your motive is. No, it don't depend on what your motive is. That don't matter a hill of beans. What matters is if you're led by the Holy Ghost or not, because that's why it goes back there, for we are laborers together with God. That's the whole idea. God is laboring through us, and we are then laboring with Him. Does that make sense? All right, so that's where Jesus is saying, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. But notice, none of these judgments, none of these rewards involve salvation. Let's even look at the lost man. The lost man, he will also be judged by his work. We read this back in Revelation chapter 20. If you want to flip over there, you can. We'll look at verse 12 and 13. John says, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Why do their works matter? Hang on, look at verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their work. Now, I'm going to show you a case history of that. It's back over in Matthew chapter 7. And Jesus actually shows us what's going to happen. In verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. What is the will of my Father which is in heaven? That God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So God's will is that everybody gets saved, but God is not going to save everybody because you have free will. It is your choice. You can receive the free gift of salvation or you can reject the gift of salvation. That's why God can't save everybody, because it's up to you. It is your choice to receive that gift or not. All right, now look what he says, verse 22. This is another reason why you cannot get to heaven by your works. Jesus says, many will say to me in that day, what day? The day of the great white throne judgment, not the judgment seat of Christ. That's for believers. This is for lost people. Cause where did all these people come from? They came out of hell. All right. They'll say, he says, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or preached in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils. And in thy name, watch what he says, done many wonderful works. If there is any chance whatsoever for somebody to get into heaven by their works, that should be it. These people then have burned in hell, and now they're standing before the great white throne judgment. And Jesus is giving them their day in court. He is giving them an opportunity, all right? Before we cast you into the lake of fire, why should I let you into my heaven? And they're saying, we preached in your name, Lord. We cast out devils in your name. We've done all these wonderful works in your name. And see, that's what's happening. See, when we get saved, God... Imagine it this way. God's got a ledger. What's a ledger? All right? Think about a checkbook, all right? When you balance your checkbook. Hopefully people still do that. And I forgot the saying of Dr. Hovind, something about if your income is less than your outgo, then your upkeep is gonna be your downfall, something like that. Anyway, take that for what it is. So anyway, you got to have more coming in. So looking at it this way, we're gonna look at, I'm tired of picking on Charlie Brown, so we're gonna let Charlie Brown be the good guy here. Why is everybody always picking on me? Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown got saved, all right? Oh, Charlie, when he stands before the Lord, he's got, you know, 5,875,361 good works. Those good works, they go into the fire, and they're judged, and out come, you know, gold and silver, precious stones. I think, you know, God's gonna probably make our crowns that we'll wear, you know. And then we'll take those crowns and cast them at his feet. All right? But Charlie, he's okay because his His problem is that he has sin. Well, one day in his life, he got saved. So God applied to him. He credited to his account the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So the balance then is salvation. Because Jesus covered, he took away Charlie's sin, right? Now he was judged for his work because everybody's going to be judged for their work. But the works there are going to be his reward. All right, now let's go to John Brown, okay? I'll pick on John Brown, you know, Harpers Ferry and all that good stuff. All right, so John Brown, he didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and so he stands before them and he says, oh, I did all these wonderful works, all these wonderful deeds. So John is trying to get into heaven by his work, but he's still got the same problem, sin. There's no credit to his account for salvation, for the righteousness of Christ. So the balance then is going to be condemnation. So God's going to allow him to have all of his works weighed. Because remember, his works didn't go through the fire. That's only for believers. But his works are all there. So God's going to basically say, all right, here's your sin, and you put anything and everything you can over here. If you can make it do like this, your good works will outweigh your sin. You'll get in. And all these works, you know, 10,275,461, all them works were there, and it ain't budged. It ain't went down at all by a millimeter. It's just sitting there, just like it was before. And Jesus will say, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquities. And that's where he says, everybody that's lost, the only thing they can work, the only thing they can make or produce is sin, iniquity. That's it. I don't see how that's so hard to understand. But that's what Jesus said. I'm coming to get every man his just reward. To the saved man and to the lost man. And that is right back in connection with what we have already previously studied. Because he's saying, if you ain't right with God, you better get right with God, because if you don't, and he comes back, let him that is unjust be unjust still, and him that is just, let him remain just still, you see? But none of this, none of this is involving salvation. Remember what the Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. lest any man should boast. And then what does he say? Verse 10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. You see verse 10, that's what it says. Good works come after salvation, not for salvation. All right, now what does Jesus say? He says next, I am Alpha and Omega. The first part here of verse 13. And we're going to look at the whole of verse 13. He says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Jesus has already said this before back in Revelation 1.8. And also back in Revelation 1.11. And also in Revelation 21.6. And now here for the last time. It is interesting to me, God, that if you go back to Revelation 1.8, let me read you Revelation 1.8, because you know what that is? That is Jesus' first words in His last book. What are we looking at tonight? His last words in His last book. Revelation 1.8 says the following, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Isn't that neat? That the first word Jesus said in Revelation, in the last book of the Bible, matches almost the last words he says in the last book of the Bible. He's telling us here, God, that he is not an alpha out of other alphas, or an omega out of other omegas, but he is the sole alpha, and he is the sole omega, period. What does he mean with this? Those of you that took Greek, what is alpha? The first what? All right, the first vowel. What else is it? It's the first letter in what? The Greek alphabet, that's right. What is omega? The last letter in the Greek alphabet, correct. And you know what? The fact is eluded to in our next phrase where Christ states the beginning and the ending. And elsewhere in the other three occurrences, the first and the last. Remember, the King James Bible is the only Bible that has a built-in dictionary because you might say, I don't know Greek. I barely speak English. What does alpha and omega mean? Look what it says, the beginning and the ending. You see? It defines itself. The letter alpha is used in mathematics, algebra, physics, chemistry, and astronomy, in many problems, theorems, solutions, and concepts. In biology and zoology, it is used to designate the highest individual in the community, the one with the highest rank, as in the alpha male in a wolf pack. Though rare, some females can be the alpha in such hierarchies in nature. Many, if not most of the alphas in nature, arrive at their rank by alliances or violence. When Satan attempted to be like the Most High, he attempted an overthrow by rebellion in heaven against Christ to become the alpha. But since there is no other alpha, Jesus said there can be no other alpha except him because he is the alpha. The word Omega is like the second half of this name of God. It is the 24th and last letter in the Koine Greek alphabet. It looks like a round bottom W or an upside down McDonald's arches. Yep, we're in America, so stop thinking about fast food. Here we go. It literally means the great or long O, as in sound. There are two O letters in Greek, the omicron, which is short for A, and it sounds for A sound, while the omega make the long A sound. Lesser known than the alpha in social order, there is also an omega, or an omega male. No, not Charlton Heston in 1971 as the Omega Man. The omega in a group is the lowest of the hierarchical society. Omega animals are subordinate to all others in the community, and they are expected by others in the group to remain submissive to everyone. Omega animals may also be used as scapegoats or outlets of frustration, or given the lowest priority when distributing food. Well, isn't that exactly what Jesus did for us in Leviticus 16, 8? And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat, Leviticus 16, 10. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. Jesus became our scapegoat. He became our Omega, the lowest of the low. What did Jesus do to His disciples? He washed their dirty, rotten, stinking feet, which was the job of a servant, of a slave. He came not to be served, but to serve others. He became the Omega, guys. And what did He do? He that knew no sin became sin. He didn't deserve to die. He didn't deserve to take my sin upon Him, but He did when He hung upon the cross. And as such, he became the lowest of the low. He became the real Omega Man. Ain't that amazing? He was the servant. Let's see that in John 13, 4 and 5. Let's see here. Tim LaHaye says, the name is nothing less than an official affirmation by Jesus of his personal deity. He cannot have been just a mere man. Think about it, no ordinary human could say, I am the first and the last human. Now, you know, Mark Twain might have said, I'm not an American, I'm the American. But then again, Twain was no ordinary American. But Jesus is no ordinary person because he says, I am the first and the last. Before we leave this name, I want to throw in the understanding that the Greeks used their alphabet also to represent numbers as well. Kind of like Roman numerals in the Super Bowl. Thus, a value was given to each letter. This process is known as gematria. Some use gematria in an attempt to divide information, which is called numerology. More on that later. But the letter alpha was given the value of 1, while omega was given the value of 800. These values have no bearing upon the meaning of the text as far as I can see. This will change later because it did when we reached the passage of scripture detailing what? 666. We studied that already. Now this verse uses definite articles. We notice the alpha and the omega, the word the. This shows us that there are various beginnings and endings in the world, but Christ is the true beginning and the true ending. In other words, think of what old Oliver B. Green said. He is the beginning of all things. He is the beginning of all truth, of all life, of all creation. He's the alpha. He's the beginning. but he's also the omega, he's the end. God's glory is the ultimate goal of his program. Everything finds its answer in Jehovah God. Isn't that amazing? Now don't misinterpret that to mean that Jesus had a beginning and an ending. Okay? That's right. Think about what Micah said about God in the prophecy that was told to Herod the Great. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah, and Micah 5, too, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of these shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth have been from of old, from everlasting. This is talking about Jesus Christ and the NIV messes that whole thing up terribly, bordering on heresy. It makes the prophet say from ancient days. It says whose origins, what? It makes Jesus to have an origin or a beginning. He has no origin for he has always been, he's always been God. Jesus is described here as the first and the last. Consider the following related to us from Jewish teachers or rabbis in Albert Barnes' commentary. It was common to use the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet to denote the whole of every... the whole of anything from beginning to end. Thus it is said, Adam transgressed the whole law from a left to tall. Abraham kept the whole law from a left to tall. Such is the first implicit understanding that we should gather from this title, which also serves as another built-in definition in our King James Bible, that the alpha is the first letter and omega is the last letter, respectively, in the Greek alphabet. So either this guy, Jesus is either God in the flesh or he isn't. He's not the first thing that God created. Had information on this, you can go look it up in our previous lesson, that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that. They believe that Jesus Christ is the first thing Jehovah created. And that's a lie. Let's see here. All right, Jesus goes on and says, I have sent mine angel. Now who is the angel? He's calling John an angel here. For it is John who wrote these things down to send to the seven churches in Asia Minor. To do what? To testify unto you these things in the churches. He's saying again, John has been sent so that his testimony will be sent to the seven churches in modern day Turkey. And then he says, right here, We're down to verse 16 now. I am the root and the offspring of David. Now we touched on this a little bit back in lesson number 70 when we covered Revelation chapter 5 verse 5. Of all the people's of the Jews wherein the Messiah could be born. God narrowed all that down to the tribe of Judah. And He then whittled down the number of Judahites who could probably be considered to rear and raise the promised Messiah when He issued the Davidic Covenant found in 2 Samuel 7 and Jeremiah 33 verses 17 through 21. And you can go back and study those and you can see that Jesus was born of Mary's lineage, which is found in Luke chapter 3. He cannot come through Joseph because Joseph was not his earthly father. Joseph was merely considered his legal father. In other words, he was adopted. Furthermore, Joe cannot be considered because Joseph's line has a curse upon it, which was done by the prophet Jeremiah in the curse of Conniah. So Jesus' claim to the Davidic promise comes through Mary. Now Mary's name is not mentioned in Luke 3 right there inside that lineage. You have to do some very, very, very important homework there and see that the man Heli mentioned there is actually Mary's dad. Because the woman was not to be considered as a part of that genealogy. But when you go back and study that genealogy, you'll find out very easily that there's two branches right there. Both of them, though, coming from David. Because Joseph's line goes David, Solomon, David, and then Solomon. But then you go over to Mary's line, and it goes from David down to, oh dear, it flew the coop. Yeah, Nathan. Yeah, I had that right there, yeah. Some people try to make the two branches come back together, but they don't. They are two separate individual branches. All right, now notice again what he says here in verse 16, and then we're done. He says, I am the root and the offspring of David. Again, he has to be that because he has to be the son of David to have a claim to the throne of David. And then he says, and the bright and morning star. Now here is something that has whetted my appetite, and I've been searching on this, and I'm going to try to keep my comments to a small degree, but suffice it to say, hang here with me. It's my understanding that we ought all to be somewhat of amateur astronomers. Because Psalm 83 declares, when I consider thy heaven, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. So every once in a while, we need to look up into the night sky and see the beauty that God has created and what he's made. And it's all free right up above our head. The ancients were sky watchers. They looked at all of these things. David talked about it in Psalm 19, verse 1, that the heavens are said to declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. The ancients also called the planets wandering stars. They would look up and see these dots of light, and they would move about. And that is asteris planetae. That's where we get our word planet from. Remember, the Earth is not a planet. because the Earth was here on day one. The planets come about on day four. Sometimes Venus can be seen at the sunset, not right now. When it is seen, it's called the evening star. Other times, like now, if you get up before the sun rises, you'll see a brilliant shining star, and that is Venus. And so Venus then is called the morning star. The Greeks thought that Venus was two separate stars. They called Venus in the morning Phosphorus, the light bringer, and when evening was the evening star, they called it Hesperus, the western star. The Babylonians, they knew the morning and evening star were one and the same. It was Pythagoras in the sixth century who straightened the Greeks out and they said they're looking at one celestial body. The reason Venus changes from a morning to an evening appearance is due to its orbit around the sun. I'll say this, then we'll move on. It takes 224.65 Earth days to go around the Sun once. But, get this, how long is a Venusian day? 243 days. So his year is shorter than a day. Wow, that's kind of interesting. Oh, and by the way, it also rotates backwards. and that's got all the evolutionists up in an uproar. They don't understand why. I think God did it to make the Big Bang Theory look stupid. All right, so as the Sun, as Venus orbits the Sun and all that moves around the Earth, Venus is seen at various places. So right now it is a morning star, but very soon it is going to become an evening star. What does that matter? Watch this, guys. Now, I didn't get this out of no commentary. I did my own study, and I believe this is what God showed me. I may be wrong, but this is what I think. 2 Peter 1.19 says this, We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light which shineth in a dark place, until the day doth watch this, and the day star arise in your heart. The day star is Christ. Here, the Apostle Peter referred to the day dawn, which refers to what? The second coming. Then he speaks of the day star, which is the morning star. So I believe this here, God, that prior to the Lord's return, Peter said the day star will arise. Jesus spoke to the saints of Thyatira to hold fast till I come, that he would give them the morning star. And then what does he still say here in verse 16? He says, I have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the church that I am the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning star. I believe that when you read Matthew 24, 36, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Thus I cannot know when he's coming back, but hear what he said in Matthew 16, 3. And in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but can you not discern the signs of the times? God said that the lights in heaven would be for signs over in Genesis 1 14 and God said let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let there be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. See he didn't just put the lights up there to give light upon the earth But in Luke 21-25 he spoke of signs being seen before he returned. And thus shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, and the sea, and the waves roaring. This is what I think, guys. I think that whenever Jesus comes, Venus will be the morning star. So that takes out roughly six months of each year. that if I see in the evening, Venus is the evening star, I think that we can pretty much conclude that the Lord will not return while Venus is an evening star. I hope I'm wrong because Venus is about to be the evening star, but that's my opinion. But I believe I'm standing on pretty much an educated guess through my studies here, that when Jesus does come, Venus will be the morning star. And I think he's saying that because he's saying you see the morning star rise But I am the real and the true Bright and Morning Star. Wow. Kind of neat. All right. I think I've covered it all there. Y'all have been patient enough. And I'll go ahead and tell you now that Wednesday night, the lesson won't be that long. When I taught it the other night, I got it about at 20 minutes. So y'all will have a lot of fellowshiping time before the preaching hour. So anyway, I appreciate everything that y'all have done. So what we've seen here is Jesus's final words or his last words in his last book of the Bible. So stay tuned for lesson 198 coming up Wednesday night during our Q&A hour, which is five to six o'clock. All right, well, I hope y'all got something out of this. Again, continue to pray for Sister Dorothy. And let's continue to, as Jack Horkheimer used to say, out of the planetarium down in Florida, he used to say, keep looking up. And I'm looking up because I'm looking for the return of my savior. to take us home out of this old sin-cursed world. I tell you guys, every time you look at the news, every time you look around, you see it's just a mess out there. But you know what? That's all right, because the Bible said it would be a mess out there right before he comes back. And so let's keep on keeping on for Jesus' sake, shall we? All right, let's bow our heads, let's close our eyes, and let's all stand if we can. And Daddy, why don't you dismiss us with a word of prayer, sir?