They don't normally come on Sunday night, and I'm glad they're here. And so I'm gonna offer miss Wilma's help to anybody who might need it and so, you know Jeff if if you need help with gunner you let miss Wilma know and You know and vice versa. So anyhow, all right. Well Let's get started tonight and we'll open to Revelation chapter number one Revelation chapter number one First thing I want to say and I got lots of stuff and lots on my heart and mind and this is not This is kind of like trying to eat an elephant And you're just not going to do it all at once and so revelation chapter number one. We're going to start tonight and and it is being recorded and for my sake it'll be recorded for all the mess-ups and mistakes and and And for your sake maybe to go back and rehearse some things. I'm not handing anything out tonight I'm sure I will be handing some things out but tonight I'm not. But I wanna encourage you to just follow the word of God and I'm gonna try my best to just stick with the word of God. I'm gonna try my best to make sure that everything is just very straightforward and easy to understand from the word of God. I also wanna encourage you to understand that we use the King James Bible here because it's so simple when you keep it on a common playing field and you don't try to mix and match I've heard and seen other preachers that'll take a little bit from this version, a little bit from that version. And it's not necessary to do that. And I'll show you as we go through this, how that there's some serious changes and mess ups and mistakes and omissions that have been in the word of God. It's interesting enough at the very end of Revelation, it warns against adding or taking away from the book. And it says that God will take away his name out of the book of life, those who do that. And so it's a very serious thing. And that's at the end. But anyhow, Revelation, is a wonderful book. It is, and let me ask you this question. I'm sure you all have your page open to Revelation chapter one. What's the title that you have? The Revelation of Saint John the Divine. Is that the title you have on your book? Some of you do. I do. And I don't say that that's terrible. And let me just tell you that the titles and the chapters and breaks in the verse numbers were added afterwards for convenience sake. And I don't have a problem with that. It helps us to find each book and each chapter. But it is the revelation that God gave to John, as we'll read here in just a minute. But it's really, as chapter 1, verse 1 says, it's the revelation of who? It's the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servant things which must shortly come to pass. and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead. and the prince of the kings of the earth, and to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests, and to God and his father, and to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation in the kingdom of patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the pants with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. And his voice is the sound of many waters, And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, and sang unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest, are the seven churches." I'm going to go chapter by chapter. I don't know how long it will take. Unless God changes my mind, we'll go through the entire book. But I'm going to go through this chapter by chapter. And of course, this is an introduction. I want to just give you some things that others have maybe made comparison and made notes on, and I've copied some of those things down and took note of them myself. The book of Revelation is not a book that you can study all by itself. As a matter of fact, the more you know the other 65 books, the better you're going to understand the 66th book. And so if you jump into Revelation without having a very good understanding of the rest of the Bible, It won't be as clear to you, but the more you understand the Word of God, the more you can compare Scripture with Scripture, that's not to say that you shouldn't come and listen, because you'll get a lot of Scripture. In fact, this is called a Revelation series, but you're going to find even tonight, we're going to go see some other passages from other books than just Revelation. Why? Because it's all the same author. And it's all together. And what you find out is that the author had the last book in mind when he started writing the first book. And he knew the end before he ever started writing the beginning. For instance, in Genesis, you have the book of beginnings. In Revelation, you have the book of endings, the consummation. In Genesis, you have the creation of the heavens and the earth. In Revelation, you have the new heaven and the new earth. In Genesis, you have paradise lost. In Revelation, you have paradise regained anew. Genesis, the entrance of sin and the curse. Revelation, the end of sin and the curse, amen? Genesis, the dawn of Satan. Revelation, the doom of Satan. Genesis, the rise of Babel. Revelation, the fall of Babylon. Genesis, the cities of men. Revelation, the city of God. Genesis, the tree of life relinquished and taken back. Revelation, the tree of life restored. Genesis, the entrance of death. Revelation, the exit of death. And also the Gospels, comparing with the last book of the Bible, the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In the Gospels, you have the Lamb upon the cross. In Revelation, you have the Lamb upon the throne. In the Gospels, you have the Lamb amidst his foes. In Revelation, the Lamb is amidst his people. In the Gospels, you have the suffering servant. In Revelation, you have the reigning Lord. In the Gospels, you have the rejected Lord. In Revelation, you have the King of kings and Lord of lords. John was exiled to an island called Patmos, a small little tiny island out there in the middle of the Mediterranean. And he was writing to the seven churches in Asia, or what we would call Asia Minor. And these churches are real churches, and we'll talk about them in the next couple chapters, because they're talked about in the next few chapters. But I want to show you here in Revelation chapter one, what John says. And we see some things right off in verse four. John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne." And you see also the Trinity is here listed and mentioned. We have the seven spirits, capital S, and you say, I thought there was just the Holy Spirit. Yes, but he's split into seven, and I'll show you that in a minute. And from Jesus Christ, And then verse number six, God his father. And so we have the Trinity present, of course, and we have John writing to who? According to verse four, John is writing to who? Is he writing to unsaved people? Is he writing to Jews? Who is he writing to? He's writing to the churches. Now, If you keep your finger there and go all the way to Revelation chapter number 22, you have the end of the book. And in the end of the book, it says in verse number seven, behold, I come quickly, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Verse eight, and I, John, saw these things, heard them, and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things. And we can drop down, in fact, I should have read verse six, These things, sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. And we go down to verse number 12, and behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, just like chapter one. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, and they may have right to eat of the tree of life. And I'm sorry, excuse me for a minute. Let me look at my notes. I got ahead of myself. I started getting off track here. Verse 16, and I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto these things in the churches. I am the root of the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. So in chapter one, John's writing to the churches. In chapter 22, still writing to the churches. Now right there what I just said will make some pre-tribbers very grumpy because a pre-tribulation theory says that the book of Revelation is mostly not to the churches. They'll say that after chapter 3 when you get to chapter 4 there is no more mention of the church until you get all the way to the end of the book and therefore the rest of the book from chapter 4 all the way through chapter 21 is not for the churches. Well, it starts out to the churches and it ends to the churches. Let me just ask you this question as you go to 1 Corinthians 1 with me. I'll ask you a question as we go there. 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. And we'll just read 1 Corinthians 1 and then we'll go to 1 Corinthians 16, the very last page of 1 Corinthians. So 1 Corinthians 1 and then 1 Corinthians 16. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. And so we have this epistle, this letter written by Paul inspired and given to the Corinthian church. You get to the end of the epistle which is chapter 16. Chapter 16 And verse 20, all the brethren greet you, greet you one another with a holy kiss, the salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand. If any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. And so you have greetings and salutations and you have this beginning and this ending. Now, I just showed you another example from the Bible, a book of the Bible called First Corinthians. It starts out being addressed to the church at Corinth, and in the end of it, it is still talking about the church at Corinth. Let me break it down for modern times. Let's say that I was writing Jeff Pryor a letter. Dear Jeff Pryor. And then I began to write the body of the letter. Then at the very end, I have the salutation. I have the closing. And in the closing, I have, and so, Jeff Pryor, I just want you to know. Now, in the body of the letter, I didn't keep referring to his name. I didn't keep saying Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, but at the beginning, dear Jeff, at the end, and so Jeff. Let me ask you a question. Does the middle, if it doesn't have Jeff in there, is it not Jeff's letter? Is it not written to Jeff? Do you see what I'm trying to tell you? Do you see where I'm going with this? It's silly for people to say that even though the beginning was addressed to churches and the very end was addressed to the churches, the middle's not for the churches. But they say that for a reason. want to exclude the churches from what we are going to find in the book of Revelation. Okay? And they try to exclude them from it and say it is not. And we will talk more about the nonsense behind all of that as we go on. Go back with me now to Revelation chapter 1 if you would please. Revelation chapter number 1. In Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1 and 2 it shows that the Holy Spirit of God is split into seven parts and we don't need to get hung up on this too much I just want to mention that. Revelation 1 verse 4 to the seven spirits which are before his throne in Isaiah 11 verse 1 and 2 and you can go there if you care to but I'll just read to you quickly the spirit of the Lord the spirit of wisdom the spirit of understanding the spirit of counsel the spirit of might the spirit of knowledge the spirit of the fear of the Lord and so don't get hung up about the fact that it says seven because seven is still a complete one and And that's what it's talking about here. And then to Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, verse five, the first begotten of the dead. Aren't you glad he's just the first of the dead that's begotten, that's been raised back to life? He's not the last one, he's the first one. And the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Now that doesn't mean that we literally take a bath in Jesus' blood. It doesn't mean that we have a baptism in the blood of Jesus Christ. rather it just spiritually emphasizes that we are saved and we are cleansed and we are washed, spiritually speaking, by the blood of Christ. Oh, by the way, sometimes we'll talk about literal things and sometimes you have to take it with a spiritual context and a spiritual illustration here. And there's one of those times where we recognize that it was literal blood and it literally was spilt and he died on the cross. However, we don't literally have his blood today. We understand that. But we are, spiritually speaking, still washed by the blood of the Lamb. And it says in verse six, and he made us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. I want to just have you go with your finger stuck here. Go all the way to, well, go to two places. Go back to 1 Peter 2 and then go to Revelation chapter 20. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1st Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, but you are chosen generation a royal priesthood and holy nation a Peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness Into his marvelous light if you're saved you are part of this chosen generation and you are a royal Priesthood and an holy nation and you're considered a peculiar people praise God for that understand that when you get saved, you're peculiar, you're a treasure, you are a valuable treasure, a peculiar people unto God. Go with me to Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20 verse 4 and 6. This is when the millennium will be started, when God comes back and sets up his kingdom and the millennium on the earth. And we have that thousand year reign with Christ. Verse 4, And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. They lived and reigned. Verse 6, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. A kingdom of priests, a king. He makes in verse six, chapter one, he made us kings and priests unto God and his father. I know nobody in here looks very kingly, but we're adopted by a king. We're in the kingdom of God. We're in his family. I'm adopted by a king. I am royalty because of Jesus Christ. I hope you appreciate that and enjoy that and understand that. Let's go to verse number seven here, and we're gonna park here for a little bit in verse number seven. Caleb, I want you to get up and change the temperature in here. I'm getting warm, and I don't know if anybody else is, but Revelation chapter one, verse seven, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen. Let me just read that slower. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. The Bible teaches that Jesus is coming again. We call it the second coming of Christ. I believe the second coming of Christ is when he comes for his people. I believe the second coming of Christ is at the last trumpet. I believe the second coming of Christ is when all things will change ultimately. I do not believe that after a secret rapture, see, what they have to, and I don't mean to go off on a rabbit trail all the time, but the pre-tribulation theory says that there's a secret rapture. There is this secret vanishing of people off the earth. You've probably heard it where, you know, the people will be flying in an airplane and all of a sudden there'll be people vanishing and cars will be without drivers and on and on it goes. And there's a lot of imagination that goes on here. Well, the Bible does not clearly tell us a secret rapture is happening. If you find it, show it to me. But what the Bible says, behold, he cometh with clouds, and how many eyes will see him? Every eye shall see him. Behold, he cometh with clouds. I am not pushing this person, but in my Bible college, I was given an assignment to read two sermons from him two of his sermons every week. At least one sermon, two sermons, and at least one of them had to be from him every week. So I was reading a sermon of his every week. His name is Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was a Baptist preacher in London many years ago. This particular little book, and I've got a couple different copies of it, it's called The Second Coming of Christ. The very first sermon in here is he is coming with clouds. And it's all about how that is the return of Christ, the rapture of the church. Now I say that more for the people who are gonna watch this and listen to this online than for you and I. Because Charles Haddon Spurgeon is worshiped by a lot of people and they think of him, but yet he thought and saw this verse here as being what we would hear, the rapture of Christ. Now understand the rapture of the church. Now understand, that messes up everything that they've tried to say, all right? But what it really is, and they don't like it when I call it a secret rapture, but that's what it is, because supposedly the people of God will just one day vanish off the earth, all right? And they'll say then later on, seven years later, then he's gonna come back all the way to the earth. And so they try to say that this secret rapture is different than behold he come, because in the secret rapture, not every eye sees him. Do you understand what I'm trying to teach you here? I'm sorry I have to un-teach you things in order to teach you some things. But let me show you some things from the Bible. We'll go back to Revelation after a while. But let me show you some things starting with Daniel chapter number seven. Daniel chapter seven verse 13. Daniel seven and verse 13. I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before Him. And so we see the Son of Man, and by the way, capital S, Son of Man, who is that? That's Jesus Christ. Now let me show you another passage. We go all the way to Matthew chapter number 24. This is the passage that really got me to get started thinking about how this all was unraveling in my mind because I was raised and I was taught in good evangelical type churches and Baptist churches across the land that the tribulation doesn't happen until after the rapture oh by the way I forgot to point this out so if you if you'll forgive me for a minute I'm gonna go back to Revelation and I'm gonna read what we read already as we keep your finger Matthew 24 I'm just gonna show it to you again real quick but did you notice what John said in Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 9 By the way, where is he right now when he's writing this? He's in the Isle of Patmos. You know why he's on the Isle of Patmos? Because he'd had a hard, he had a pretty hard year that year, and so he took a little sabbatical and went to the Patmos Resort and sat on the beach and just kind of suntanned for a while. No, no, no. No, he got oiled. He got boiled in oil. And they took him and threw him on this dumpy island called Patmos as a prison, as a punishment. And in verse nine of chapter one, John says, I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation. We've been so brainwashed to think that tribulation is future. And then they'll say, well, no, no. Of course there's tribulation, but it's not the tribulation. Actually, and I don't want to go into Greek, because I don't think it's necessary, but for all the Greek students that might listen to this, if you read it in Greek, there's the articular, the tribulation in the Greek. John says, I'm your companion in tribulation. That ought to be a clue, all right? But what really got my attention was in Matthew 24, in Matthew 24, and I want to first mention some things here before we get to where I'm going with this and talking about the clouds. But it says here that at the beginning, this is a beautiful chapter, it's a very important chapter, because at the beginning they're asking Jesus, when shall all these things be? What are the signs, verse 3? When is all this going to take place? When the temple is going to be destroyed? And what are the signs of your coming? That's what they're asking him. And he said in verse 4, take heed, let no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. We've seen that. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places. All these things are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and it shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my sake. But if you compare this with Mark and Luke, you'll find that he's saying, but the end is not yet. And so folks understand that, and I'm not saying it's wrong, but every time we, did you see Russia and the movements they're making with their army? Did you hear about the earthquakes over here? The coronavirus, that's a pestilence. All those things are gonna happen before the end comes. You know what Jesus told them to do, though, as you go to verse 29 and 30? He said, those things are gonna happen, and that's tribulation. But you know what we're supposed to be doing as Christians? We're not supposed to be looking horizontally at everything that's happening on the earth. You know what you and I are always supposed to do? We're supposed to be looking up, vertically. We should have a vertical outlook. He said, keep your head looking up. Don't get so caught up in conspiracy theories and this and that, what's going on in the world. I understand there's a lot of significance to it. But verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And by the way, if you compare that verse 29 with Revelation chapter six, you'll see that that's when that happens. chapter 6 of Revelation after the tribulation of those days and then notice verse 30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory does that sound like Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 6 does that not sound exactly like what John said Every eye shall see him, and even they that pierced him. Why? How could they that pierced him see him? Because they'll all be risen. They'll all be resurrected to stand before him. And then notice what verse 31 says. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Wow. Notice what Jesus said to Caiaphas, the high priest, in Matthew 26 and verse 64. Caiaphas, the high priest, standing before God. Verse 62 of Matthew 26. And the high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witnesses with these witness against thee. But Jesus held his peace, and the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Do you know where Caiaphas the high priest is right now? I think I know. I think he's in hell. I think if he got saved, we'd have read about it in the Bible. Caiaphas most likely is in hell, but one day he's gonna see the son of man coming, the man that he stood and screamed at and blasphemed. Do you think that if Caiaphas is in hell, I'm sure he is, do you think he's not thinking about that? Do you think this verse 64 is not being rewinded and played over and over again in his memory? But the point is, is once again, in Revelation chapter one, I said verse six earlier, verse seven, behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. Oh, and notice also Acts chapter one, Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one, when Jesus left the earth, this is how he left. Acts chapter one, verse eight, he says, you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost will come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the outermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel Which said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, will secretly zap you up out of here one of these days. Is that what it says? No. This same Jesus, which went up into heaven, shall so come in like manner. What was the like manner? In the clouds. Shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. That's how he's coming back. Look with me in 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I really am concerned and I have prayed that God will help me to have a meek and humble spirit in all this and yet also be entertaining enough to keep you awake so that you're not falling asleep with some of this stuff. But I do not want to just come across as being a know-it-all and to be sarcastic. I hope that if someone out there is listening and watching, whether live right now or otherwise, they'll understand that there's a lot of foolishness with the idea of a secret rapture. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Back in Revelation chapter one and verse seven. Behold, he cometh with clouds. And every eye, not just a couple eyes, not just the believing eyes, every eye shall see him, including the people who pierced him. All the kingdoms of the earth shall wail the ones that aren't saved are gonna wail because of him I Got myself into a discussion last night on social media and I said According to the Bible, you know hit this this preacher was trying to say, you know, don't worry. We're gonna miss all the tribulation By the way, that preacher's church did not have church today. I May I remind you, the pre-tribbers, a lot of them had parking lot church or no church at all today. We're not going through tribulation. Wake up and smell the coffee, man. I'm sorry. The state of Kansas wants your church registry to be turned into the government. Wake up and smell the coffee. But they said, I can't believe that you think that we're gonna go through the wrath of God. I do not think we're gonna go through the wrath of God. But the brainwashing has been so thorough in their minds that they can't understand that the word of God never combines tribulation and wrath. Tribulation is trouble for saints. Wrath is the judgment of God. And that's why at the end of verse seven, they're gonna wail. Because when Jesus comes, the ones who are not right with him are in big trouble. But the ones who are right with him, whoopee! Hallelujah. And so look at Revelation chapter number 11 and then chapter number 14. I'll explain this more as I go along through the book of Revelation. But when you get to Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15, the seventh angel sounded. You know the seventh angel has the seventh trumpet? And did you know that the seventh trumpet is the last trumpet you will find in the Bible? And the Bible says, and we just read it, at the last trumpet, 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4, the last trumpet, and the seventh angel sounded, there was a great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and 20 elders which sat before God on their seats fell down upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was and are to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned, and the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come." This is the first time that Revelation says that heaven announces the wrath of God. When the seventh trumpet sounds and the kingdoms of this world are become his kingdom, then God says from heaven, the wrath is come. and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament, and there were lightnings and voices, and thunderings and earthquakes, and a great hail." Chapter 12, chapter 13, and chapter 14 is kind of like a parentheses behind the scenes. We'll talk about this more later, but after you get to chapter 11, chapter 12 is kind of a meanwhile back at the ranch. It's kind of a let's pause and go back and rewind a little bit and talk about some of these things. So you have chapter 12, you have chapter 13, you have chapter 14. At the end of chapter 14 here's what you have and here's the last point I want to make concerning the clouds of Revelation 1-7. In Revelation chapter 14 And verse 14, it's parallel with Revelation 11 that we just read. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man, just like it says in Daniel. Having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle, another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap. For the time has come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. I want to be a part of that reaping, and I know I will be because I'm saved. But you know there's another reaping right after that. Verse 17, and another angel, not the man on the cloud, not the son of man sitting on the cloud. But another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharpsicle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had the power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharpsicle, saying, thrust in thy sharpsicle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." You've heard that phrase, where the grapes of wrath are stored. You see, as soon as the Son of Man reaps His own, then the grim reaper comes and reaps the grapes of wrath. You don't want to be a part of that second reaping. You want to be a part of the Son of Man's reaping. Praise the Lord. Now, let's go back to Revelation chapter 1. I don't want to keep us all night. I want to keep you interested, but not overwhelmed. Revelation chapter 1, verse 8, I am the Alpha and Omega. Verse 11, I am Alpha and Omega the First. and the last. By the way, verse 10 says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. What day is the Lord's day? Christmas. What day is the Lord's day? Sunday. I don't know why we call it Sunday. It doesn't matter what we call it. Some people think it does. It's the first day of the week. the first day of the week, and we try to do things in honor of our Lord on the first, the first of everything, the first of our income, the first of our days, the first of everything. Seek first the kingdom of God, and John is in the spirit on the Lord's day. So even though he was in the Isle of Patmos, he was still communing with God. He knew it was the first day of the week, and he couldn't assemble with the church. But you know who he could still talk to? God. And you know, if it comes to the point where you or I are all by ourselves, we should still, as best we can, have church, even if it's just us and God. And he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and God spoke to him these things that we're reading about tonight and the rest of this series. Talked to him about these seven literal churches in Asia Minor. Now a guy named Schofield wrote a Bible called the Schofield Reference Bible, and I think he probably had some inside help with it, In my personal opinion, I don't like the Bible, mainly because of the notes and the doctrines that are in it. But he tried to say that the Ephesus church was the apostolic church from the days of Christ to 100 AD. And by the way, I didn't say this earlier, but the book of Revelation was probably written about 95 AD, 96 AD, somewhere in there. It was the last book of the Bible to be written, I believe. And Smyrna, the persecuted church, Schofield classified it as the persecuted church. And he said that was like AD 100 to 316. And then Pergamos, the settled church with imperial favor and Constantine, AD 316 to the end. And then Thyatira, the idolatrous church or papacy in AD 500 to 1500. Does anybody notice a problem with this? He's including the Catholic church with the real church and calling it all church. And then Sardis, he called the dead church in AD 1400 to 1600. Does anybody have a problem with that? The church can't die. The true church will never die. Now, a church can die. In fact, these literal seven churches don't exist anymore in Asia Minor. But the church will always be, heaven and earth will pass away. His words won't pass away. And he said, the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. And then he called the Philadelphia church the revived true church, 1600 to present. And then the Laodicean church he called the apostate church of the last days. I don't think that's something we should take literal and follow, and I just want to warn you that I don't follow the Schofield notes and texts on things. But I don't believe that the church dies and then comes back to life. In fact, you know what that lends to? That leads to what's called Protestantism. The idea that the Catholic Church was the true church, but she got way off track, and so we have a Protestant, a protestant movement, and so now the true church is Protestant. We believe, and you can read what Mr. Spurgeon said, and there's a quote on the wall out there, we believe that the true church of God has always been, and she never came out of Catholicism because she never joined it. So we're not Protestants. because we're not coming out of Mother Harlot Church, you know, Catholic Church, no, no. We just are Bible believers and they got to be known Anabaptists because they would re-baptize a lot of people who were saved and kind of like, you know, some of you who got baptized when you were babies or you got baptized before you were saved and then after your salvation you got, you're kind of an Anabaptist too. And they dropped the Anna because We really don't consider the first baptism to be baptism. Oh, by the way, the man who came to prepare the way of the Lord was called John the Baptist. It's a Bible word and so we use it and we like it. They don't always have a great, wonderful, glorious, glamorous history because a lot of times they were being persecuted by both the Romanists, the Catholics, and even the Lutherans, the Protestants. And I say all that to say that we don't think that these seven churches are just spiritual or just prophetic, but they were literal churches. And they, just like the Corinth church or the church at Philippi, the church at Colossae, or the churches in Galatia, The church of Ephesus, they were literal churches. And literally, John was writing to them because that's who existed at the time. But now you and I can read it and say, this is written to our church in Custer, South Dakota. And we can take it for ourselves and recognize it for us. And anyway, Jesus is talking, I am the Alpha and Omega. I'm sure you figured that out by now. And he says here in verse 12, I turned to see a voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. In the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as they were burned in the furnace. And his voice is the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, Let me stop here for a minute and explain to you what it means by that. Verse 20 it says, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. Here's the explanation. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Now the word angel is an interesting word. If you look closely at the word angel, if you add a few letters on the front of it and a few letters on the back of it, you'll get the word evangelist. The word angel and the word evangelist means the same thing, messenger of God. We think of angels as some Christmassy, glowy thing with wings, but an angel is simply someone who is a messenger of God. And the angels of the seven churches were God's messengers. And so I believe that the angels of the seven churches were the pastors of the seven churches. Not in the idea that the pastors were perfect with halos around their head, but simply that they were angels You know, the Bible says, do the work of an evangelist. And notice that the seven stars are in his hand. And he's in control because the seven golden candlesticks, guess what they are? They're the churches. And Jesus, if you can picture this, he's painting an object lesson, an illustration for us. He's saying, I'm walking around, here's these beautiful golden candlesticks, my churches, and I control the leadership. It's in my hand. You know, people get angry with pastors and sometimes I can understand why. But understand that Jesus is in charge of the pastor. He is. I mean, if Jesus wants this pastor's heart to stop beating, it will. You know, you don't have to help him. He's in charge. You know, trust the Lord, and just like I was saying this morning, when you disobey your parents, and you're bitter at your parents, it's really a disobedience to the one who gave your parents to you. And the Bible tells us that we need to obey them, have the rule over us, who have spoken us the word of God. I'm not saying dictatorly or as a pope. You understand that. Follow me as I follow Christ. That's why every one of you right now should have a Bible in your own hands. You know why? So that you can find out if I'm really telling you the truth or if this is a bunch of baloney. I hope you appreciate the fact that I've tried to show you from the Bible why I'm saying what I'm saying tonight. I didn't give you any sensational things to watch. I didn't talk anything about modern times really. We're just focusing on what does the Bible say. Notice the rest of the description about Jesus. Verse 16 he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp Two-edged sword. I love that What is that what is the sharp two-edged sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus the Word of God Hebrews 4 12 The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword Isaiah 49 Isaiah 49 is a description of Jesus and it says that Jesus his name is Israel and And it says that out of his mouth, his mouth is sharp as a two-edged sword. You say, Jesus' name is Israel? Isaiah 49 says it is. We'll talk about that later. But I wanna close with this. What signs should we be looking for? We should be looking up to heaven. We should be focused on what God's word says to do. But Pastor, did you hear the latest? Did you hear the new conspiracy? Did you hear what Bill Gates is doing now? I can only imagine what Bill Gates is doing now. And honestly, the truth is, I can't stop Bill Gates. I mean, the guy's got more money than 140 other countries in the world. Pastor, the Democrats. Yep. But folks, Don't get mesmerized and decoyed with all this stuff. I'm not saying we can't have a part in our local politics and government. I think we should. I think you should. If God's leading you that direction, go for it. I love our country and the way it's set up. We have opportunity. I'll be voting next month. But folks, the big picture is this is gonna happen just like it says it's gonna happen. That's encouraging to me. And and I I'm not I'm not bragging on me, but I'll tell you what This book hasn't let me down And with all the all the rottenness that I'm seeing in our country This book has warned me and and prepared me mentally and spiritually To not be overwhelmed with the negative that's going on right now I see what's, and as you open the pages of Revelation and you start to see, wow, this is going to get tough. But just knowing, and I said this a few weeks ago and I'll say it again, I think it's a bad thing for pastors. And they mean well, I know they mean well, and they're hanging on to a thread of positivity and optimism. But when they say to their people, don't worry, we're not gonna go through tribulation. Jesus is coming before it gets bad. Don't worry, the man of sin won't happen until after we're out of here, which is exactly opposite of what the Bible says. Don't worry, don't worry. Listen, when all of a sudden it does get bad-er, what are they gonna do? What will happen to these people who have been trained to think, it can't happen to me? So as a pastor, I'm trying to prepare, not to depress you, not to discourage you, but to prepare you, hey, the devil's got some bad stuff ahead. But don't worry, we still win. Did you read that last chapter? We still win. Worst thing that happened, we were eating lunch today, somebody said, if I die, I go to a better place where I'm at now. The meek shall inherit the earth. Did you read that about the millennium, the thousand year reign with Christ? A lot of us in here, our houses aren't quite what they should be or what they, we want our dreams in our houses and our properties and whatever. You know what? It doesn't matter because one day there's a thousand year reign with Christ and there's a mansion waiting and a new heaven, a new earth. Let's not forget that. I'm not gonna have you turn there because I think we're gonna go too long, but let me just explain this to you very quickly and we'll stop tonight. I have a lot more I want to tell you. I have a lot I want to talk about and I just can't because of the sake of time. But in Luke chapter 20, Jesus tells the parable and he's illustrating the people from the days of Abraham all the way up until his day. In Luke chapter 20, I'm just gonna paraphrase and read it quickly, but he said that the husband sent servants and they beat him and they shamefully used these servants and finally the husband sent his own son and they said surely they'll reverence the son and of course we know that that was a picture of Jesus, the son. And Jesus was illustrating to them that this parable was them and how that all these generations, all these generations from the time of Joseph sold by his brethren and Moses rejected by the majority of people a lot of the time and then even John the Baptist before the days of Jesus and how that he was beheaded and then of course Jesus was put on the cross. But one thing he said in Luke chapter 20 when he's told that parable he said, long time The husband went into a far country for a long time And what's interesting about that is if you if you consider the Abrahamic covenant from the time of Abraham's promise all the way until Jesus You know how many years it's been since Abraham to Jesus if you were to go look at a chart that they've made of the Bible charts and figures most people agree that it's somewhere between 2,000 and 2,200 years. That's considered a long time. Now, Matthew chapter 25, Jesus told another parable. And in this parable, he said, the kingdom of heaven is a man traveling into far country, called his own servants, deliver unto them his goods. And you know, that's the parable where he says, he goes and he reckons with them, and he says, well done, thou good and faithful servant. What parable, what is that illustrating? It's illustrating how that Jesus is going to be gone. And you know what he said? A long time. Are you following where I'm going with this? A long time was about 2,000 years, give or take, from Abraham to Jesus. And from Jesus until 2020, how long has it been? A long time. Same word, same phrase, a long time. We're there. There's no denying. that what's happening. There's no denying that the idea of a digital ID, there's no denying that the mandate for a vaccination to fix the problem, which I think is a bunch of baloney, even if there really is a problem, I think the whole thing is conjured up to, and we could go on and talk about all that right now. There's no doubt in my mind that the stage is set and the mark of the beast is just around the corner. There's no doubt in my mind that we're being set up for that. And we can get angry about it, we can fight it, but let's understand something. The book we're studying tells us it is going to happen. I'm not gonna in hurry it. I'm not gonna rush it. But it is going to happen. And it has been a long time. And he is going to come again, but the man of sin will be revealed, 2 Thessalonians chapter two first, before he comes. Looking forward to the day of Christ. We're gonna stop tonight But let me encourage you if you're not saved you better get saved Jesus was the prophet who came and preached Jesus currently is The priest who intercedes for us if you were in Sunday school this morning He is our priest. He he was the prophet who came and preached Moses said there'll be a prophet that's coming He was the prophet who came and preached. Currently, he is our priest. Is he dead or alive? Can we pray to Jesus right now? If you've had problems, can you go to him right now? Jesus came as the prophet and preached. He is currently the priest who intercedes for us. And you know what's gonna happen? He's coming back as the king. He is prophet, he is priest, and he is king. Let's close in prayer.