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“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God”– Revelation 21:1-3

How amazing and wonderful it will be! Not only to see the new heaven and new earth, but to live with God Himself! The joy will be indescribable! Impossible to put into words!

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”-Revelation 21:7

We will never want for anything again! Can you imagine 🙂

But God’s Word does go on to say:

“ But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”-Revelation 21:8

God is perfectly Merciful, but God is also perfectly Just.

The next section of Revelation Chapter 21, goes on to describe just how piercingly beautiful Heaven is. There is a theme that runs through these paragraphs – and it is the number 12. Twelve Apostles. For without the Twelve Apostles, who would have carried Jesus’ Great Gospel 🙂

There will no longer be a need for a physical temple, for “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple” (Revelation 21:22)

“ And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”-Revelation 21:23

One of the real Gifts in Heaven, is we will not need to fear any longer. God will not allow anything that is not of Him to enter. Only those that God allows and those in the Book of Life will be allowed to enter. We will be forever safe 🙂

Pray, Prepare & Be Grateful, for God Always Keeps His Promises:)

An Angel with a key bound the dragon (satan) for a 1,000 years and cast him into the bottomless pit for a 1,000 years, and he could no longer deceive the nations during that time.  However, after this, he will be “loosed for a little season.”

In the “first resurrection”, those who rejected Christ and were dead, stayed dead.  Those who served Christ, some even died for Christ and all those who refused the mark and refused to worship the beast reigned with Christ for 1,000 years.  They will become “priests of God and of Christ”.

After 1,000 years, satan is allowed out of his prison for a little while.  He deceives the nations once again and he and gog and magog persuade many others to battle against God.  But a fire came down out of Heaven, sent by God Himself, and devoured satan and all those who made the fatal mistake of following him.  And the devil who had so deceived so many for so long will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are.  In this lake of fire, they will all be tormented 24-7, forever.

Finally, God will sit on the throne.  Both earth and Heaven will have “fled away” and the people whose names are written in the ”Book of Life” will live with God, but all of the rest will be cast into the lake of fire.

One cautionary note from James.  “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”  Just saying the words, I believe, is not enough.  For as James says in James 2, a true believer lives the life of a true believer.

Think about it like this.  If a mother says she love her children, but never feeds or hugs them, does she really love them?

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

“‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” – Revelation 19:9

And Blessed they are :). What is the Marriage of the Lamb? The Marriage of the Lamb is the union of Jesus with His people. It is a union so close, it can only be compared to a marriage. And we get ready for this great union by allowing God to work in us 🙂

Next we see the great Battle of Armageddon.  Spoiler alert:  Jesus Wins ?

We see Jesus on a White Horse, leading an army from Heaven clothed in white.  The “Sharp Sword” is God’s Word.  The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gather together to make war against our Lord, the King of Kings.

However, Jesus wins and the beast and the false prophets are thrown into the lake of fire.  And the kings of the earth and their armies and All who rejected Jesus are slain by the Sword (God’s Word) that came out of Christ’s mouth.

If you have not already done so-Accept Christ today! We do not want to be in the group who are slain. Rather, we want to be in the group which goes to the Marriage Supper With The Lamb (Jesus) 🙂

Pray, Prepare & Be Ready!

First, we read that “Babylon has fallen”, next we read that all of the evil spirits are contained within Babylon. God warns His people to come out of her!

Of interest, we later read that the harlot can not even see the sorrow she has caused:

“shall see no sorrow” – Revelation 18:7

This makes sense because clearly the Holy Spirit is not in her.  And without the Holy Spirit, we can not see the Truth of the world around us.

Next, we see God’s Judgement of her. And they are many such as  she is “utterly burned with fire”.

The kings of the earth, as usual, are fairweather friends.  While they mourn her demise, they do so from far off because they are afraid.  And well they should be.  The merchants of the earth also mourn her.  They had become very rich and very sinful during her time and now “no man buys their merchandise any more”.  The merchants will also stand far off to mourn her, because they are also afraid. 

God’s Word goes on to say, “in one hour so great riches is come to nothing”.  And that one reason why these verses are so important:

“ Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust^[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:19-21

Pray, Prepare & Be Ready!

In Revelation 17, we read of the “MOTHER OF HARLOTTS” riding the beast.  It’s hard to say who is ruling who, but we know evil is ruling evil.  The beast has 10 horns which represent the 10 kings who rule the earth.

God’s Word goes on to share will us the great visions of John.  But the point in this chapter is that evil rules the earth.  We see in Revelation 17:17:  “for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”.  So if the 10 kings rule the earth and they give their power to the beast.  Clearly, evil will rule the world “until the words of God are fulfilled”.

But we do not have to let evil rule us!

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

The First Angel poured out God’s Wrath and the men who had worshipped the beast and taken the mark became stricken with sores.

The Second Angel poured out God’s Wrath upon the sea and “every living soul died”.

The Third Angel poured out God’s Wrath upon the rivers and fountains of water and they turned into blood.

The Fourth Angel poured out God’s Wrath upon the sun.  “and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.”

And still, they did not repent!

The Fifth Angel poured out God’s Wrath “upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,”

The Sixth Angel poured out God’s Wrath, on the river Euphrates; “and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared”

“Behold, I come as a thief.  Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments”

It is here that we read of the gathering at Armageddon.

The 7^th Angel poured out God’s Wrath men.  This particular plague was a plague of Hail. Each Hailstone weighed 129 pounds.  It’s hard to imagine, but true.  Men blasphemed God.  What does it mean to blaspheme God?  One dictionary says it is to, “speak irreverently about God”.  Big, big mistake.  Huge!

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready.

In the first paragraph of Revelation 15, we read that seven Angels will deliver the last 7 plagues of God’s Wrath. Woe are those that receive God’s Wrath!

Next, we read: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”-Revelation 15:2

What a wonderful and amazing sight this must have been!

Chapter 15 ends by making it clear that no man would be able to enter into God’s Temple until…

“no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.”-Revelation 15:8

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Finally, in Revelation 14, we read of Jesus’ Return.  And it is a glorious one!  Just as Promised.  We can’t miss it ?

Then we read, an Angel comes with them bringing the Gospel to preach to those still on earth. 

Next we read: “He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”-Revelation 14:7

The “He” above is an Angel.  Judgement has come, he cries!  Both those who truly believe and follow Jesus and those who reject Christ will be judged!

And Judgement for those who rejected Christ and took the mark will be harsh.  The Bible says that they will be tormented forever, never to rest…People need to truly accept and follow Jesus while there is still time.  For although God is indeed Merciful, He is also Just.

Another Angel appears to proclaim that Babylon has fallen!  Many have speculated on where Babylon is, and where it is not.  But the truly important thing to remember is that Babylon is evil.  It is the absence of the Holy Spirit.  It’s not necessarily where it is that matters so much, but who is consumed by it.

Another Angel appears, and this is important, and says that anyone who has worshipped the beast or his image, or received his “mark”, will face God’s Wrath!

And finally we read, “Blessed are the dead which died in the Lord” for the Spirit says:  “that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”

And then comes the Harvest ?.  The righteous are Harvested by Jesus.  The wicked are harvested by Angels and thrown into the winepress of the Wrath of God.

So we have a choice here, Heaven or Hell.  The Harvest of the righteous or the wicked.  God gave us a choice, we need to make it wisely.

Accept and Follow Jesus today!

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

The huge beast that we read of is the ruler of the kingdoms of the earth that blaspheme our Lord.  Indeed powerful and scary, but given that power only for a time,” forty and two months”.  Remember however, this time frame is in God’s Time.

Because they are so powerful and confident, because their words are sound so sweet, many will believe this ruler.  But there is a way to determine who is telling the truth!  Simply compare the temporary earthly ruler’s word to God’s Word in the Holy Bible.  For our Lord will never contradict what is in God’s Word.

And then, ^“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”-Revelations 13:7-8

We need to pray unceasingly that our “names will be written in the book”.  We need to read God’s Word daily, so we will understand what we see happening in the world around us.  And we need to call upon the Holy Spirit for help to see the world as it is, rather than as we wish it were!

Revelation 13 goes on to say that another beast will come that does great wonders.  But this is not the Christ.  There are so many reasons this is not the Christ, but here are three of them:

1.  Jesus loves us!  He would not harm us or kill us, but the beast clearly will. Jesus loves us unconditionally, but the beast clearly loves no one. Jesus wants us to be able to spend eternity in Heaven, but the beast wants us to spend eternity in hell!

2.  Jesus will never contradict God’s Word.  This is why it is so important that we read the Bible every day! We can not know God’s Word unless it is truly planted in our heart!

3.  We already know from God’s Word what the Return of Christ will look like and how happy people will be! ? What we see in Revelations, Chapter 13, is clearly not it!

In close, in verses 16-18, it says:

“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:  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.  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” – ”-Revelations 13:16-18

This is why so many are against any “implanted chip” that is to be used for purchasing goods.  While this may not yet be “the mark”, it may be a forerunner to it! At the very least it would make people more accepting of having the “mark” placed on them.  We should not allow anyone or anything to place a chip or a “mark” on us! And if we have already done so, then we need to have it removed. Now.

Lastly, we should be concerned that a number of countries wish to do away with cash. Cash is the only way that we can purchase items such as food and medicine without being tracked. So why is it really, that so many governments wish to do away with it?

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

When Jesus returns, we won’t miss it. With all of those fake messiahs roaming around, it’s easy to fear we will miss the real Jesus, but we won’t. For one, the verse above makes it clear that we won’t miss it. For another, Jesus will never contradict God’s Word.

So do not fear, we will not be confused and we will not miss Jesus’ Return. God gave us His Word to ensure both 🙂

Read God’s Word every day.

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready.