John was a fisherman with his father
and his brother. He was the brother of James and a close partner with Peter. He is called one of the pillars of the Jerusalem Church. He was known for healing and preaching. This was the disciple exiled to the island of Patmos. He wrote the gospel of John, 1,2, and 3 John, as well as the book of Revelation. Jesus referred to him as "His Beloved Disciple."
The characteristics of John are unusual.
Before he had the indwelling life of Christ, he was known for being vengeful and fiery (Luke 9:54). He was known for being judgmental (Mark 9:38). He was also known for being selfish (Mark 10:35-37). One of the things he is known for by the Christian Church today is that he reclined next to Jesus at the last supper (John 13:23,24).
After Pentecost, John was known for being bold
, loving, and compassionate (Acts 4:13; I John 4). He was the caretaker of Jesus's mother, and like Paul, demons were afraid of him.
John was a unique character.
He is mostly known by the church today as the disciple filled with love, and he was undoubtedly shown as compassionate in all things. His writings are more of a description of the positive attributes of his negative characteristics before he became indwelt by the Spirit of the Living God. Instead of being vengeful, John became very forthright in his preaching in rightly dividing the difference between those who are saved and those who are unsaved. He had a clear understanding of the judgment of God, so instead of being judgmental, he became an expert, so to speak, on the judgments of God, and instead of being self-focused, he became Christ-focused. He became known throughout all the generations for being a selfless disciple.
The writing of the book of Revelation insists
that the universe, as we know it, is moral at heart and that God the Father will use whatever force necessary to punish Satan and his triune, which is the Beast, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. He will also use this unfolding of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to judge every demonic being and every evil man who chose not to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And last but not least, there will be a great judgment, and there will be great punishment upon the nations that would not support the great home and land of Israel.
The book of Revelation is all about the Bride and the Groom.
The Storyline is based upon the authority of our Groom, Jesus Christ—past, present, and beyond. It warns and prepares the Bride for the importance of suffering for righteousness sake. It both defines the persecution of today's church and challenges all future Bridal members with the trials they are about to face. This is also a book that is the most ignored by Christians today. It seems to be a book that is filled with symbolism. Still, the question that has to be asked is was the book written in symbols, or was John documenting things that he saw with his own eyes but had no other way to explain them than by what has been written in the book of Revelation. We're going to explore that throughout this series.
Revelation is about two destinations
.
I'm going to be discussing many of the details surrounding these two destinations. Soon I'm going to be talking about the seven Churches. But you need to understand that the book of Revelation is a book written about the two destinations—Heaven and Hell.
The Bible tells us this about Heaven:
It's the throne of God (Isaiah 66:1). It's a reward (Matthew 5:12). It's a very safe place from theft and destruction (Matthew 6:20). It's a place where there will be no marrying or giving in marriage. Yes, you heard that correctly; there will not be any marriages because the Bride of Christ will be wholly committed to the marriage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:29,30). Heaven will be a house of many rooms (John 14:2). It will be a home of righteousness (II Peter 3:13). It will be a garden paradise; it will be beautiful (Revelation 2:7). There certainly will be no hunger, thirst, tears, or scorching heat. It will be a pleasant place. Now, the big question that a lot of people ask is, "Will it be a planet?" Well, the new earth is being formed as I speak today (Revelation 7:16,17) Yes, we will have a new planet, a new place, a new earth where we will dwell with Christ for eternity. It will be a place of victory and holiness (Revelation 15:2 & 21:2), which makes it very clear that there is the only holiness in this place. Heaven is also a place where God dwells personally with authentic believers (Revelation 21:3). There will be no sadness, death, or pain (Revelation, 21:4).
Simply put, it will be a place lit up with God's Glory.
There will be no darkness (Revelation 21:23,25). No unclean thing or person will exist in Heaven. It will only house the righteous people who have been redeemed and made new through the indwelling life of Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:27). Finally, it will be a place of life and healing forever and ever (Revelation 22:1-5), which simply paints an unbelievable picture of how Heaven equals healing in righteousness.
Hell, on the other hand, is a different story.
Hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). A lot of people don't even know what gnashing of teeth is. Well, if you could imagine yourself trapped in a room, and there are creatures within this room that are not eating you, but they are just gnashing or chewing on you for eternity. Hell will be a place of outer darkness (Matthew 22:13). God is going to split the earth open, and all the core of the earth, the fire, will come forth. All those who have not received Jesus Christ, including the triune and demons of Satan, will be tossed into this fire. Then He will take this old earth, and He will throw it into outer darkness. This place will be a place of torment (Luke 16:23). It will be a place of sorrow (2 Samuel 22:5-7). It will be a place of everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It will be a place where people are tormented with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).
Can you imagine for eternity continually being on fire
, but there is no death in sight but just a constant burning? It will be a place of worms that don't die (Mark 9:43). It will be a place where the fire is not quenched. There is no relief from this fire (Mark 9:4). This will be a place where there is no rest (Revelation 14:11). On the worst day of your life where you experienced unrest, the type of "No rest" that will be in Hell is not even comparable; it cannot also be measured to your worst day. And think of people in this state of unrest forever and ever. Hell is a place that will ultimately be a lake of fire. There seems to be a lot of talk (Revelation 20:14) about endless fire, brimstone, heat, and torture. It will be a place of hopelessness, and no desires shall be satisfied.
There will be constant want
—constant want of relief and faithful want to get out, but there will be no passageway (Luke 16:24). And again, a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:42,50). It will be a place of constant separation (Matthew 13:49). It will also be a place for the cowardly and unbelieving, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, and those who practice magic arts, idolaters, and all liars (Revelation 21:8). Finally, it will be a place shut out from the Lord, His angels, and the Saints. We will no longer have access to evil. Evil will no longer have access to us.
These are the two places of destination
that are filled throughout the book of Revelation, where John made it clear to us of what Heaven looks like and what Hell looks like. There must be some great reason why God told this angel, who was ministering to John in this place, to make it clear about these two places.
A special note:
Most Christians have been taught that the book of Revelation is a part of the New Testament. Even though this is true regarding the canonization process of the early theologians, the real Truth is the Scriptures have the same quality of Trinity as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This trinity model of writing is also represented in the Holy Bible. The Bible is not divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, which is the conventional thinking of most readers. The trinity of the writing is the Old Testament, the New Testament, AND the book of Revelation. This is very important to understand because there's a warning given in the final chapter of the book of Revelation that if anyone adds or deletes from this book, God will remove his name from the book of life.
I'm going to spend a great deal of time
talking about that particular passage because what this communicates is that you were once in the book of life, and you were taken out. And the violation that would take you out of the book of life is tampering with the book of Revelation. I'll spend a lot of time talking about some of these details within the book of Revelation that is frequently misquoted, misrepresented, and many times simply avoided.
This is a book that we need to tackle with the empowerment
of the Holy Spirit only to communicate the primary principals that God Himself wanted taught to John to write down so that he could deliver this message, this book, this writing to the seven churches. I will spend an enormous amount of time talking about the seven churches—the description of these churches, and how these churches are integrated into our church today.
I'm excited about unlocking the power of prophecy
by going through this Revelation Series.
