King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Friday, December 29, 2023
Chapters: REVELATION 10-14
Message: Be Ready For Christ’s Return
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
One cannot read through Revelation without thinking about what Jesus said, [Matthew 24:24,2-43 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.]
False Christ’s are everywhere, likewise false prophets, false teachers, and not to mention false Christians. We are in the day and age that we are seeing many prophecies unfold in regards to the tribulation and those who would be deceiving even those who are true. As we continue in the reading of Revelation, Jesus, continues to give John visions into what will take place during the tribulation. This time John sees another angel like no other, he was clothed in a cloud, had a rainbow upon his head, and his face shone so bright that it was like looking at the sun. This angel had a tiny book in his hand, standing upon a shore somewhere, with his right foot in the water and left foot in the sand.
[Revelation 10:1-4,7,9 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, 3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.]
[the mystery of God should be finished,] No one knows what this mystery is yet, but when it is finished time itself shall be no more, [1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.]
[and it shall make thy belly bitter,] God’s Word is sweet as honey going in and it can be bittersweet coming out, but it is always life giving. The prophecies written in God’s Word can be bitter, especially regarding the tribulation and what is to come of those who never accepted Christ as their Saviour. Nevertheless, the Gospel is something that we must keep telling people, regardless of who they are, in fact, we are commanded by Jesus to tell everyone how they can get saved, [Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.]
During the great tribulation, when most of the earth will be in chaos, and just before Jesus returns, God will send His last two messengers to whomever is left to preach the Gospel, and for three and a half years they will be untouchable, that is until the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shows up.
[Revelation 11:1-3,7-8 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. 3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.]
[for it is given unto the Gentiles:] These are Pagan Christians, having introduced a great deal of heathen worship into the Church, such as the worshiping of the virgin Mary, angels, and saints departed, which is in imitation of the demon worship of the Heathens. Jesus calls this the time of the Gentiles, [Luke 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.]
[where also our Lord was crucified.] Both Sodom and Egypt are a picture of the world today. Sodom, is a picture of its great immoral condition, while Egypt, is a picture of its idol worship and man made gods. All of this will take place on the very spot where Jesus hung on the cross. Just like when the devil rejoiced for three days when Jesus was in the tomb, then got the shock of his life when He arose from the dead three day later so did these people when the two witnesses arose from the dead, and right before their eyes.
[Revelation 11:9-11,13 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. 11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.]
[And they of the people…and nations shall see their dead bodies] We think that all this technology is something great, satellites are going up everywhere, and everything from watches, to cell phones, and even Facebook has the ability to track your location. This is all falling right into place as the entire world will not only watch these men laying in the street dead, but rejoice over their death. And now the seventh angel sounded his trumpet.
[Revelation 11:15-16,18 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were 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 for ever and ever. 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 18 And the nations were angry, and thy 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 them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.]
[and there were great voices in heaven,] This is when both the Jews and Gentiles who are left on the earth will finally recognize Jesus for who He is, and accept Him. This is also when Jesus will return as KING and we will all His saints will join Him here and minister to Him while He reigns as KING. [Joel 3:1-2 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.]
So far, we have been reading about everything that is going to take place before, during, and after the tribulation. This time John gets a different vision, one that shows exactly how all this began, one that is not a prediction of things to come, rather a recap of things past. Remember when God said, [Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.] Chapter 12, reveals what happened that brought evil to the earth and how Satan attempted to keep the Church from starting as well as his attempts to keep it from growing. In this vision, John sees a woman who is about to give birth.
[Revelation 12:1-6 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.]
[a woman clothed with the sun,] The woman represents the Church, or believers of Christ. She was clothed with the sun, meaning she is justified, sanctified, and shining by her union with the Sun of Righteousness. The moon represents the footstool, by which all believers stand upon, having defeated the enemy. The crown represents the twelve Apostles and the doctrine of the Gospel preached, and is a crown of glory to all true believers as we are clothed in the Son.
[feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.] The true Christians who are the Church is fed and nourished with the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, by the faithful ministers of the word, of whom the two witnesses would be the last. The time of their departure lines up with the beginning of the reign of Antichrist, which was twelve hundred and sixty days. The seven heads represent Satan’s minions who would assist in persecuting and seducing the ministers and teachers of the Gospel. The ten horns represents ten kingdoms, having seven crowns, representing the seven forms of government that will form the one world government that is quickly coming into play as we speak. One third of the angels followed Satan and were cast down to earth to cause havoc on man, and then there was a war in heaven.
[Revelation 12:7-11 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.]
[And the great dragon was cast out,] Some commentators suggest that this took place during the time that God created the heavens and earth. Others suggest that this is actually Jesus fighting with Satan during the tribulation. How I come to understand that this particular instance was not during the tribulation is because it reveals when Satan was cast out of heaven, him being an archangel Lucifer, [Isaiah 14:12-14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.]
[And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,] It was important that God wait until this time to reveal what took place in the beginning so that we can better understand that there is no need to be troubled in the end because we have a new and better a beginning awaiting us. These were attempts of Satan to prevent the offspring of Israel and Jesus Himself from coming here, and they were unsuccessful. We who receive Christ do overcome Satan, death, and hell through the blood of the Lamb and that is something to rejoice about.
[Revelation 12:12-13,17 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.]
[because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.] Satan, might deny that his days are numbered and do whatever he can to keep the judgment on him from happening, but he knows that he has, but a short time. Now, Jesus, reveals to John the opening of the bottomless pit where two beasts will be released before He returns. This is Satan’s last attempt to change his fate and get revenge on God’s creation.
[Revelation 13:1-5 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.]
[and they worshipped the beast,] These are the ones whom have not received Christ as their Saviour. A true believer in Christ belongs to Him, and just like they cannot know the mysteries of God, we cannot worship the Antichrist, [John 17:22-23 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.] And now we come to the second beast, who is the false prophet, and he is the one who will entice the unsaved into worshiping the Antichrist.
[Revelation 13:11-14,16-17 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.]
[And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,] Sadly, we are seeing this forming as we speak, and anyone without the mark of God will fall under the control of the Antichrist and will be marked as well. While devil possessed people may seem like no concern to us, we need to be very concerned, there are thousands of people out there right now. They are normal looking preachers, teachers, doctors, politicians, officers, and layman claiming they know Christ, sound like Him, and have people eating right out of their hands. How can we know who is true? Subtle hints will let you know, but it is going to get very hard to distinguish them, [Matthew 7:15-17 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.]
Yes, the devil knows his fate and because he knows it he is going to try everything to prolong his life and take as many of God’s creation with him. Does he care that he is sending multitudes to a pitch dark, burning, fiery, furnace of torment? No, all he wants is for all of God’s creation to face what he is about to face, but the day will come when his time will be up, and when Jesus returns, he will answer to Him. And as John continues to see this vision, who should appear, but Jesus along with one hundred forty-four thousand men.
[Revelation 14:1-4 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.]
[a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,] Does this sound familiar? [Joel 3:16-17 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.]
[having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.] The devil might have his people numbered with the same number mind you, but God has each and every one of the names of His people in a book. This is only possible if His name is written on their foreheads, He knows every one of His people by name, [Psalms 91:14-15 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.]
As Christians, we are going to witness some devastating things as we get closer to the tribulation, but we will endure, even in death, because we will be with Jesus. Praise God! We could ask ourselves why all this has to take place anyway, and why God does not just end it all right now and destroy Satan this instant. From what the Bible tells me, this is for two reasons, one, for God to put His wrath upon the reprobates, and two, to save those last few who are not. And now comes the judgment of those with the mark of the beast.
[Revelation 14:6,9-10,12-13 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.]
[Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:] These are those whom have died in their faith. Every soul that receives Christ as their Saviour may die before Christ returns, but they are alive in Christ, while their bodies are here on earth awaiting the day of their resurrection, their souls are with Jesus, [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 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.]
How is that for vengeance? All those who worshiped the Antichrist will be tormented with fire and brimstone right in the presence of the angels as well as Jesus. That is when Jesus will come for the very last souls on earth to receive Him, [Revelation 14:14-16 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And 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 is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.]
[and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man,] This is similar to Daniel’s prophecy, [Daniel 7:13-14 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. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.]
Today’s Prayer: God, As the years go by it is devastating to witness nation after nation falling into such evil. To think that it is only the beginning of sorrows is terrifying, but thank You for giving us a heads up on this, and for giving us a way to escape it through Your Son. Only by putting our faith and trust in Him can we be saved, not only from hell, but the tribulation. Lord, although things get crazy and life seems unbearable at times, keep my eyes looking to You, remind me that this is only temporary and that You have a wonderful, sin free, sorrow free, pain free, life awaiting me as I endure all with my Saviour by my side. I pray this in Your name, Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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