As we anxiously await His return. Revelation 22: 18 - 21.

 With the last few posts, we should have been encouraged and established as we read and studied Revelation 22, verses 16 and 17.

Why?

Because we have good witnesses and reliable testimony, this testimony primarily comes from the mouth of Jesus, who established the trustworthiness of His word by satisfying the demands of the law with His own body, and from the mouth of the prophets and thus fulfills the prophetic pattern. All this affirms our hope and understanding of why we can have that hope is valid.

Good, now that we are past that, let's finish this chapter and the book of Revelation.

“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;”
(Revelation 22:18 NASB)

The Amplified Bible makes the statement a bit more intense by saying, “warn everyone who listens to the statements of the prophecy.”

Is it possible that there is a difference between hearing and listening?

I hear stuff all the time, but my mind is bouncing at least two more ideas around in my head while my wife's instructions are being said to me. I may have heard, but I was not listening. Now, if I symbolically move to the front row in the classroom and purposefully listen to the instructor, I stand a better chance of comprehending what is being said.

In defining the word hears, Thayer’s Greek Definitions tell us that the word akouō can also mean attending to or considering what has been said. 

So, it appears that Jesus is talking to and about persons who have invested the time to understand this book, whether through personal readings and study or under the inclination of theological training.

Now, if you invested that kind of time in understanding, why would you go about changing the meanings of the things you read in the Revelation?

An example of something that has been changed and brought about drastic confusion is Revelation 4:1. It reads,

“After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
(Revelation 4:1 NASB)

The first three chapters of Revelation focus on the church age and end with God talking to the “church” of Laodicea. Revelation 3:14 opens with this statement.

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,”

You may not pick up the importance of what He said here, so let me show you an example of how God addressed the previous six churches. In Revelation 3:7, we see this,

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,”

It wasn’t Jesus’ church in Laodicea but the Laodicean’s church. Sadly, we are living in the age of the Laodicean church. Just look around you as churches of every denomination are going “woke,” becoming an arm of the government by opening their doors to become inoculation centers for the C19 vaccine, a vaccine meant to kill you; and note how quickly the churches are giving themselves over to blatant sin. See Leviticus 20:13.

The drastic confusion stems from the phrase “ After these things.” The church, on the whole, cannot seem to grasp that the events that will progress in Revelation are happening AFTER the time of the churches – after the rapture.

Now don't get me wrong, woke, progressive churches will continue to have a function in the seven years, for a time, as long as they comply with government demands, such as taking the mark, worshiping the beast, and worshiping the image of the beast, but the church, as I now know it, will be gone. We will be like the Chinese are now, meeting in secret at odd hours of the night.

Let's finish chapter 22.

“And if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which have been written in this Book.” (Revelation 22:19 MKJV)

As church people have read Revelation, I imagine many have wished they could remove many of the painful aspects we find there.

Why?

I can think of two reasons someone might do that.

1. Most of us know people who will probably have to go through the time of wrath, and we want to save them from having to do that.

2. Many “Christians” have not been taught properly and, therefore, believe they must go through the time of wrath or at least some portion of that time.

So, if you were like me, weaving your way through Revelation with the hope of understanding and causing others to understand. What advantage do you gain, by leaving things out or misrepresenting others, like Revelation 6:2?

“And I saw. And behold a white horse! And he sitting on it had a bow. And a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.” (Revelation 6:2 MKJV)

Saddam Hussein accepted only one verse from our Bible as true, Revelation 6:2. He also believed that he was this rider. He was not, and to prove my point, Saddam was hanged. This rider (symbolic language) is the antichrist personified in a man (sorry ladies) and will emerge shortly after the catching away of the church. This man, because we see him putting forth a seven-year peace treaty (Note: Israel is NOT mentioned in this treaty; the treaty, therefore, may be perceived as giving the Islamic nations a chance to reload. This war is probably associated with the war against Israel that we see in Ezekiel 38,39, which appears to have a nuclear aspect.)

Verse 19 tells us, “if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city.”

The Amplified Bible says it this way. “ And if anyone cancels or takes away from the statements of the book of this prophecy [these predictions relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions or warnings pertaining to them], God will cancel and take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the city of holiness (purity and hallowedness), which are described and promised in this book.”

How, in God's name, could we humans cancel God's actions?

The reality is, we can't, unless, as the Greek word aphaireō conveys, we take from or remove. This idea of not speaking is what I was talking about when I said that one of the ways would be by exclusion as we choose to NOT talk about some aspect of God's Word, in this case, the Revelation. A Pastor told me that no one can understand prophetic books like Revelation and Daniel, which is why I will not teach from them, and neither will you if I have any say over who teaches here.

The reality is that the person who intentionally does this will be removed from the book of life and eliminated from entering the Holy City. If this is true, then you would think that there are a number of pastors whose names have been removed from the book of life. 

Here is my problem with this. Having been raised in a Pentecostal environment, I was brought up with the idea that many sins, all of which seem to be built into our DNA, will send you to hell. A “brother in Christ” who led the weekly Bible study told the group of men every week (the average age of these men was about 75) that they were going to hell for their sins. a friend and I have talked about this scenario several times. It was my friend who pointed out the age thing and the fact that most of these men raised their families in this church. 

If they had been receiving sound teaching every week, why would you possibly think they were perpetually sinning sins that would send them to hell?

What does a teacher like this do with a passage in which Jesus directly says?

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28 NASB)

In talking about losing our salvation, I suspect teachers like this are trying to manipulate you because it is known that we have a propensity to sin. All you have to do is be awake, and the opportunities to sin will come.

Perhaps it is merely this simple. Just as someone has chosen to remove themselves from God’s hand, we have the same ability, in Jesus' name, to declare that under no circumstance will I remove myself from God’s care. Peter seemed to do this and yet denied Christ three times. Fortunately, for our sakes, n Christ forgave Peter and showed him what forgiveness looks like in God's eyes as he comforted Peter back into the grace of God. 

And just as King David would tell you, there is no doubt in my mind any longer, as God wrote my name in His book before time began.

We are almost done.

Revelation 22:20 NASB “He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

It now seems like a simple question, and you should know the answer, who is the “He who testifies to these things.”?

He is the lamb that was slain; 

He is the only one worthy to open the seals; 

He is the risen one, 

the Son of the living God, 

The one who now sits next to the Father; 

He is the one who anxiously awaits that signal from the shofar;

And He is the one who will come and collect His bride – the church. 

And He testifies that He is finally coming quickly.

Did that cover it?

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

 

Revelation 22:21 NASB 

“ (May,) the grace of the Lord Jesus be with (you) all (as we anxiously await His return). Amen.” Emphasis mine.

Everyone who loves and practices lying. Revelation 22:15.

 In the last post, I focused on Revelation 22:14 and people outside the Holy City who could not enter through any of its gates during the millennial reign because their robes were NOT washed. We have to make the assumption, and it is a good one, that this washing is an allegory to the blood of Jesus Christ and NOT some disgusting Satanic practice, to a demon that is working very hard to dominate the world.

It is through the acceptance that Christ's blood has been shed for us so we can be cleansed and sanctified for service in His temple. Two good examples of washing in the blood were given in the Revelation (I have pulled both from the KJV.)

In the first passage notice that the verse is filled with descriptions of our King:

Revelation 1:5  “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. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”

• Jesus Christ – Christ meaning the Messiah;

• He is the first begotten from the dead – there is no doubt about it, and others are rapidly following, and, therefore, also begotten from the dead; (The KJV used begotten instead of born. Jesus had been born through His surrogate mother, Mary, but this verse references death. Jesus had to be reborn and brought back to life as God's Son.

• He is the prince of the kings of the earth – to be a prince is to be the Son of the King, and yet it uses the earth as a reference. If you think you are a prince on earth, it would only be because you have His life in you;

• The verse acknowledges that He loves us, which is why we gain the right to be washed in that blood spilled on the cross that day. 

• And finally, that it is Jesus that washes us from our sins in His blood.

  He had no sin, so, as an old church song says, He paid a debt He did not owe because He loved us and paid it with His own blood.

I hate to admit that I don't know all the answers, but here is an exciting thought. When it says He washes us from our sins, is His forgiveness an all-encompassing thing, like a flood? 

(I have contended that the forgiveness of sin happened at the cross; therefore, no one is to be judged for sin; they will be judged for what they did with Christ. Those following Christ will be caught up in the church's rapture, and this discussion becomes a non-issue. Assuming that many will reject Christ, they would then have cast their allegiance for Satan and, therefore, follow him to the hell awaiting him and his followers.) 

The alternative thought is that our robes are washed when we come humbly to Him and admit that we are sinners. If you have ever been around people in recovery, who are far enough in their recovery to speak with you openly, you will find that those who have gained the most from recovery have done so because they were humble and recognized their need for help. Unfortunately, not everyone comes humbly; some are forced by the courts, in denial, or unwilling to take the walls down.

Talking about this with my wife, she mentioned the thief on the cross. That man yelled back at the other man who was being disrespectful, “We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” ⁱ I will add that the thief on the cross, in a sense, came to Jesus.

My other example of being washed in the blood comes from Revelation 7:14.

Please pay particular attention to the terminology used, especially since I opened this discussion about forgiveness.

Revelation 7:14  “... These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

“...These are they which came out of great tribulation,” as though they walked through it unscathed, Hardly, as they were killed because of their testimony. In the previous post, I touched on the idea that separating the soul from the body may play a role in our being changed. You should see some keywords and phrases in this quote from Paul.

“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.”
(1 Corinthians 15:51-54 NASB)

Mystery, this is the Greek word mustērion, and its meanings include Something hidden or not fully manifest; a thing not obvious to the understanding;  or a secret – much like the Masons' practice.

The mystery implies that most will never know what is being discussed, and God never wanted that. He has always been open and straightforward in His dealings. Yes, there have been things that were not beneficial or necessary for humanity to know at the time, and we see comments to that effect when we read Daniel or when Jesus responded to the jealous disciples by saying, what is that to you? Until Jesus rose from the dead, this whole redemption thing was a mystery to Satan. Scripture implies that he might have thwarted God's plan if he knew. (That possibility seems so outlandish to me, as. God's plan was airtight and perfectly designed to redeem humanity).

When you read the Apostle Paul's writings (His letters to the churches in Ephesus, Galatia, Corinth, Thessaloniki, and Rome), he tells you, repeatedly, that the mysteries are for you to know and that they have been made known. (Read Ephesians 1:9; 3:3, 3:5; 3:10.)

How then, are we to understand?

Paul, like John, wrote to Jewish believers. Those words now apply to you, but you must grasp a Jewish perception of God and the world. When Paul, in 1 Cor 15:52, says, “at the last trumpet,” this is exceptionally Jewish and Holy and leans heavily to Rosh Hashanah. When John talks about death, you must ask yourself, whose image were we made in? The answer is God's, and Jesus told us that God is a Spirit and nobody has seen Him, but you have seen me. By the way, the Father and I are one, so yes, you have seen the Father.

In studying Revelation, we have been reading one of the most mysterious books of the Bible (next to Daniel's prophecies), and the God of the universe has been so excited to see someone else with the desire and heart to unlock this mystery in their spirit. Praise God.

Sleep is the Greek word koimaō. This word means to put to sleep. Figuratively, it means death.

I think of Adam when God put him to sleep to extract the rib from which He made Eve. If God made him die, then God brought him back to life.

Did you know that to the Jew, the soul remains in the body for three days?

This concept of death played a huge role in why Jesus did not go to Lazarus' grave until the fourth day; this is why Jesus spoke of Jonah as a symbol of His death and why He stayed in the tomb for three days. So again, God was putting their beliefs back in their faces and proving that NOTHING could hold Him down.

What about this idea of being changed? How do you change something that is built into the body? 

Maybe the primary method is to kill it and make it new; this may be what happens to us during our rapture. I noted it above, but I need you to see what Paul said again.

“For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.”
(1 Corinthians 15:53-54 NASB)

What is imperishable? Having already died in Christ, we would no longer be subject to death, sin, and the draw from fear associated with those things. Paul says, “this mortal, (having moved to the imperishable – physical death,) must put on immortality.” I only recently started using the term immortal. I hesitated to use it because it is associated with comic book characters. We are NOT talking about fictional characters, but something that God has planned for ages; the result is that we would be, as He is, immortal. 

Can you kill an immortal? 

No, unless you have some comic superpower, and NO ONE has that. Our best examples come from Adam, Eve, and Satan. Adam and Eve lost their physical immortality when they ate the fruit. Satan lost his position, not his immortality when he tried to overthrow God. Satan is immortal and cannot be killed; therefore, his punishment will be an eternal, fiery exclusion from God's presence. Hell was created for Satan and the angels that followed him. Now, we have the choice to follow him as well. Not a wise decision.

With all this to think about, why do you think Paul would say, “death is swallowed up in victory,” unless death played a role in our transition?

The Ultimate Cross-Reference Treasury gives this definition of death.

“Those who believe that death is the utter extinction of being, a concept utterly incompatible with the use of the word throughout the Bible, must logically deny the possibility of future existence by means of resurrection. If man is all mortal and death returns the whole man "to dust as it was," then man is extinct—there is "dust" but no man. Before man was formed it was all dust, and after he returns to it, it is all dust again—all dust, no man. Hence, under this view, a resurrection of man is impossible. All is dust "as it was" before man existed, and there can no man exist again except by means of creation.”

While scriptures do not directly say that we are created again, Paul alludes to it in 1 Corinthians 15.

He supposes that we have solved the great mystery of what becomes with these who have NOT washed their robes. Since we know that God wants all humanity to be saved, we must assume that He wants them in the Holy City as well; but there is this very peculiar statement.

Revelation 22:15 NASB “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

I have sat under “Bible teachers” that told us that only Christians make it into the millennial kingdom. Revelation 22:15 makes it very clear that this is NOT true.

The Greek word for dogs is kúōn; The Word Study Dictionary defines dogs in this manner.

“ In the East, dogs were not usually pets and were without masters, wandering at large in the streets and fields and feeding upon whatever they could find (1Ki_14:11; 1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:19; Psa_59:6, Psa_59:14). They were looked upon as unclean, and to call one a "dog" was a stronger expression of contempt than even today (1Sa_17:43; 2Ki_8:13). The Jews called the Gentiles "dogs." It is used metaphorically for an impudent, shameless person in Php_3:2 where it is spoken of Judaizing teachers (cf. Isa_56:11).”

In talking about the Holy City, Revelation 21:27 conveys that only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of Life. The implications of this are that God has allowed many from among the nations, whose names are not in the Lamb's book of Life, into the millennial reign.

As you see above, dogs are a very derogatory comment. Sorcerers are the Greek word pharmakos. The noun form is pharmakeía. Aside from sorcerers, the term also means the preparation and giving of medicine. Think that through for a few seconds. What is the deadliest “vaccine” going around the globe currently? If you guessed the C19 vaccine, you would be correct. So what are these people doing living in the millennial reign? I don't know, but I do know I serve a merciful God.

Also, living outside the Holy City and quite possibly unwilling to change are immoral persons. Immoral is the Greek word pornos. Honestly, for most of us, this word needs little definition. The Greek word pornos means a (male) prostitute, fornicator, or whore-monger.

We also find murderers, idolaters, and everyone that loves and practices lying. Murderers? Why not? We have everything else. 

Idolaters are those who continue, in the face of the almighty, continue to worship other gods. And everyone that loves and practices lying. Unfortunately, several of this group live in my home.

The resounding message that I hear in my head is that there will be peace. We are told that the martyred saints will be seated on thrones and help to keep the peace. However, seeing as the seven years of wrath initiated with the two witnesses from God that come down out of heaven and spew fire upon anyone who tries to harm them, why stop that process? There are so many possibilities, and it is easy to see how quickly any form of violence will be quelled.

As usual, I realized it was worse than I imagined. The reality is that I will be immortal, and none of this will matter to me. I might become a mix between Ray Comfort and the apologist Seth Gruber. Do you think there will be forced sex changes there? Not a chance. How about abortions? Unheard of. For the most part, we will sit on our plots of land, grow a few crops, and worship the God we have come to love.

iLuke 23:41 NLT