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[0:00] Turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 1, and this morning we'll be looking at verses 1 through 7 in chapter 1.

[0:17] The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants, the things which must soon take place.

[0:32] And he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

[0:51] Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near.

[1:05] John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.

[1:27] And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood.

[1:46] And he has made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and father. To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

[2:03] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.

[2:18] So it is to be. Amen. In deference to a scratchy throat, I am going to modulate my enunciation and my speech, if I may, with the hope that this does not degenerate into laryngitis, as is sometimes the case, particularly in the fall and in the spring of the year.

[2:51] So I trust you will bear with me as we attempt to make our way through this content for this morning. I was thinking back over this when I realized that I might have a problem this morning with laryngitis, and that's been something that I've dealt with in the past, that in the 45 years that I have been your pastor, there was only one time that I was unable to come to the pulpit because of illness.

[3:17] And that was when I had the quadruple heart bypass surgery. I was out of the pulpit, I think, for three weeks then. But prior to that time, there was only one occasion, and I remember it like it was yesterday.

[3:30] It was in the 1970s, probably about 1977 or 78, and Paul Pannis and Joe were sitting right there, and I was making the announcements, and I got halfway through the announcements, and my voice was just reduced to a squeak.

[3:53] And I looked down at poor Paul, and I said, Paul, you're going to have to preach this morning, and we're going to sing two more hymns so you can go in my office and prepare your message while we're singing.

[4:08] Come out and deliver it. And, you know, he just nodded his head, got up, walked in the office, went ahead and sang those hymns.

[4:19] And I went out and sat where he was sitting, and he did a marvelous job filling in the spur of the moment, and I so much appreciated that. So I trust that my voice doesn't give out this morning, but if it does, I've got Ron Gannon sitting right there, and we'll take advantage of the situation however we have to.

[4:42] The very word Armageddon strikes a responsive chord in the minds and hearts of thinking people everywhere, and for good reason.

[5:00] Armageddon speaks of a doomsday scenario. Some refer to it as the world coming to an end. Well, the world is not coming to an end in that it will no longer exist.

[5:14] This orb, hurtling through space, will continue to do so as it predictably turns on its axis. So it's not correct to say the world will come to an end.

[5:27] But the world as we have come to know it most certainly will come to an end. There need be no fear that the world for which Jesus Christ died will end, but it will have a new beginning when it becomes a new heaven and a new earth.

[5:48] It will be one wherein peace and righteousness prevail, and the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are now in the very beginning of explaining how all this is to come about and the manner in which the end time events will take place.

[6:09] They are all unfolded in detail right here before us in this final book of the Bible called The Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a book replete with symbols, each of which we will labor to explain.

[6:26] You will gain a new appreciation for how the Bible itself explains the symbols as we move through the book. We will repeatedly appeal to other passages of Scripture to serve as our commentary on the Revelation.

[6:44] The Bible remains its own best interpreter. We will have occasion to consult the book of Daniel and other prophets in the Old Testament.

[6:55] These speak of the events to come upon the earth hundreds of years before John ever lived or wrote the book of Revelation. This confirms our oft-repeated premise that the Bible is an intensely Jewish book.

[7:15] In fact, it is far more Jewish than it is Gentile. The only part of the Bible that is actually Gentile consists of those letters written by the Apostle, of course, to the Gentiles, namely Paul.

[7:34] And even these are not exclusively Gentile, but include Jews as well as Gentiles. That is, Jews who, like their Gentile brethren, have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and have thus become members of the spiritual body of Christ, of which he is the head.

[7:55] You recall, as you read through Corinthians, for instance, and Romans as well, Paul makes reference to Jews in the audience at those places where he was writing these epistles.

[8:09] There were Jews sprinkled in with these believing Gentiles because they had one thing in common. They all had faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Most of them were Gentiles, but there were Jews, particularly a little later on in the century, when Jews who were believers in Yeshua HaMashiach as their Savior, they became persona non grata in the synagogues that they had been accustomed to attending.

[8:38] And the reason they had become persona non grata was because they wouldn't keep their mouths shut about Jesus Christ being the Savior and the Messiah. And eventually, the other Jews who comprised the majority in those synagogues got tired of it and wouldn't put up with them anymore.

[8:57] So they eventually excluded them. And lo and behold, they filtered out and they joined Gentile congregations because they had a common faith with them, even though they had a Jewish background.

[9:10] So even the part of the Bible we would call Christian contains Jews, believing Jews as well.

[9:24] Try as you may, and many have tried furiously. You just cannot escape the Jew. His nation of Israel still comprises the apple of God's eye.

[9:37] The world at large will come to understand this in a way they never have as the book of Revelation unfolds. So, I'm sure what I have just said probably confuses some people.

[9:53] And there are those who say they have always thought of the Bible as being a Christian book, not a Jewish book. Well, that just goes to show you how much misinformation there is out there.

[10:03] There are plenty of things in this Bible that are Christian and that are Christian related. But it is not right to call the Bible a Christian book. Primarily, it is not.

[10:14] It is a Jewish book. All you have to do is look at who the human writers are. And to the best of our knowledge, every single solitary one of those authors numbering 40 plus is Jewish.

[10:30] The only possible exception is Luke. And he may not be a valid exception. He may be a proselyte or, for that matter, even a Jew himself.

[10:42] So, it is a very, very Jewish book. So, what about the Bible being a Christian book? Let me explain something about that. It is a Christian book in the sense that it is for Christians, even though it is not primarily about Christians.

[11:01] It is about the Jewish people and the land of Israel. Christians, even though the Bible is not about them nor to them, nevertheless, they, that is Christians, have the miracle of spiritual regeneration.

[11:19] And as Christians, we have maximum appreciation of the Bible. And Christians possess the greatest potential for understanding it, living it, and being comforted by its contents as no other people in the world.

[11:35] Even including the Jewish people as a whole. And I say the Jewish people as a whole because most Jewish people do not have a serious regard even for their own Bible, which they refer to as the Old Testament, or we refer to it as the Old Testament.

[11:57] And as far as the Jewish people are concerned, the Old Testament is the entire Bible. They do not regard the New Testament as we do at all.

[12:07] Today, while the Jew has potential for greatly benefiting from his Jewish book, so few Jews take it seriously.

[12:20] This will change dramatically, as we shall see in upcoming studies. For now, Jewish scholars who embrace the whole of the Bible as the Word of God are few and far between.

[12:35] Their number is increasing and will multiply rapidly during the contents spelled out in the book of the Revelation. Meanwhile, we are limited to a handful of Jewish scholars, the likes of Arnold Fruchtenbaum and his colleagues who give us the Jewish perspective on the Bible, which is far away better than the typical Gentile perspective.

[13:03] So may their tribe increase. And most assuredly, it will when the 144,000 Jews come to faith and begin their dramatic ministry in Revelation chapter 7 and 14.

[13:19] So, let us begin, if we may, and go to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1 and get underway. I don't know if it is true or not, or if this phenomenon still remains, but I do recall having heard about it, I think it was as far back as the 1960s or 1970s, when it was reported that one of the premier newspapers in New York City, I don't know if it is the New York Times or one of their competitors, but the word was out that they had secured a special print that was all ready to go to press and that it was in an isolated room just waiting for the time to come.

[14:12] And the headlines on this special print that the newspaper intended to publish on that day had to do with the second coming of Jesus Christ. And the name that was given to it was second coming type.

[14:28] And according to the authority that revealed the article at the time, the type that would comprise the headlines of the newspaper when it was published that day is the largest, boldest type that had ever been used or had never yet been used up to that time and was being reserved for that specific event.

[14:50] So just as if the newspaper was just waiting for Jesus Christ to return so that they could utilize that second coming print and put out that edition of the newspaper that day.

[15:01] Like I said, I don't know if that still is true, but my suspicion is that many in positions of the powers that be now would probably ridicule that, laugh at the idea, because they simply do not put any credibility at all in the second return of Jesus Christ.

[15:21] We, however, as believers are thoroughly convinced that he will return again because he said he would. And the reason he came the first time is because God said he would.

[15:34] And the greatest reason we have for believing those prophecies that are yet unfulfilled, that they will ultimately come true, is based on the hundreds of prophecies that have already come true and have been fulfilled to the very letter.

[15:47] The second coming of Jesus Christ is a very, very serious issue. And it is as certain and as definite as his first coming, which is, of course, now history.

[16:00] That's what this book is all about. It is the central message of revelation that is the revealing or the disclosing of the person of Jesus Christ, both as John describes him in the first chapter and as he is described in connection with his second coming as revealed in chapter 19.

[16:23] So while it is true that there are multiple revelations, plural, an abundance of revelations that will come forth from this book, yet the principal idea and theme of the book is singular.

[16:41] It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And everything else is secondary to that. This is the central focus.

[16:51] It is Jesus is coming again. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things which must shortly take place.

[17:07] And he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant, John. There is a kind of chain of command that is set forth here in this very first verse.

[17:19] Because the origin of the revelation is God the Father. And God the Father reveals the content to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:33] And the son conveys the revelation to his angel that is unidentified, just referred to as an angel. The angel, yet unnamed, then relates the revelation to John.

[17:50] And John is instructed to record the revelation as given. And it is intended for the world audience. And we are recipients of that. So there is a five-fold program that has taken place here.

[18:05] This information is filtered through the minds of five individuals. They are both divine and angelic and human.

[18:16] We've got all three strata of humans, angels, and deity involved here. To the best of our knowledge, there aren't any others.

[18:27] If you are not of a divine nature, or an angelic nature, or a human nature, you are not. We wouldn't know what else to categorize you as.

[18:40] So it is very significant that this revelation is filtered through all of the possible parties that could be and will be involved in the events that are transpiring within this book.

[18:54] It is the whole of humanity, angels, and deity. All are incorporated because all are going to be players. After all, this is the way things are going to unfold in the consummation of the ages.

[19:12] Why is it deemed necessary for angels to be involved? Why are they included in the briefing? Angels were utilized in the law God gave through Moses.

[19:25] Referenced in Galatians 3.19, in Acts 7.53, and in Hebrews 2.2. I'll tell you what I'm going to do for time's sake, because otherwise we would just spend too much time ruffling pages, and I don't want to do that.

[19:43] So these references will be a matter of record, and they will be recorded on the CD, and if anyone wants to obtain a CD, then they can look up the references at their leisure.

[19:54] But if we take time to look them up now, that will take away too much from the body of the message, so I'm trusting you to do that on your own. And the angelic involvement is referenced in Galatians 3.19, Acts 7.53, and Hebrews 2.2.

[20:13] We are not told why God utilizes these angels as messengers. And by the way, the very word angel, angelos, in the Greek, literally means messenger.

[20:26] Angels are God's messengers. It was an angel that was sent to Mary to announce that she was going to become the mother of our Lord.

[20:38] It was the same angel by the name of Gabriel that was sent to Joseph when he was minded to put Mary away, because he considered her pregnancy being the result of her being involved with some other man.

[20:51] And the angel Gabriel came to Joseph and told him, Same angel, Gabriel, busy guy. He appeared to Zacharias and told him about the upcoming birth of his son, who would be John the Baptist.

[21:06] And angels were strategic in multiple revelations given to Daniel, commonly called, and I call this, this is just my title for it, but I suspect it's not original with me.

[21:18] See, the book of Daniel is kind of like the book of the Revelation of the Old Testament, because it has so very much content in it that is connected to the Revelation, and we will see that as we go through.

[21:31] And by the way, as a result of this study, we are going to engage in the Revelation. I am satisfied that you are going to gain a whole new appreciation for how interconnected and interrelated the Bible is with itself.

[21:51] Everything in the book is connected to everything in the book. Nothing is just out there dangling by itself with nowhere to go.

[22:01] Everything is connected. And all of that, of course, bespeaks the idea of inspiration and the fact that it was a supreme divine mind that put this book together with all of this connecting content.

[22:15] It is impossible that man should be able to do this. One of my favorite quotes was, I think, uttered first by Dr. Louis Ferry-Chafer, who founded the Dallas Theological Seminary, when he said, The Bible is such a book as man would not write if he could, and could not write if he would.

[22:35] And you will see that played out more and more as we move through this book. It is remarkable. And speaking of the book of Daniel, Angels play a strategic role in chapters 7, verses 16 through 27, 8, 16 through 26, chapters 10 through 12, Zechariah 1 and verse 9, chapters 2 and verse 3, Zechariah 4, verses 1 through 5.

[23:03] Angels are going to be major players in the incidents that develop and unfold in the Revelation. There is going to be a contest that is going on, which will be unmistakable, between fallen and unfallen angels.

[23:21] Demonic activity is going to flourish. The world will never have seen a plethora of demonic beings active among men on the earth, as is going to be during the 70th week of Daniel.

[23:35] It will be a period of just seven years. But Satan is going to pull out all the stops. And there is going to be demonic activity, the likes of which will be undeniable.

[23:47] Nobody will be poo-pooing it, because they are going to feel the wrath of these demonic spirits. It is going to be hell on earth, the likes of which the planet has never seen.

[24:04] In verse 1 of the text, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, Christ is the first recipient, and then he sent and communicated it to his angel, another recipient, and then to John, another recipient, and then John, of course, is writing it for us.

[24:33] And we are told that these are things, in verse 1, which must shortly take place. The text that was read this morning from the Scriptures, I think, did not give us the actual idea.

[24:48] These things that shortly, or that shortly take place, I think was read that will be soon. And the question, of course, automatically arises, well, if John wrote these things 2,000 years ago, it's hard to call the passing of 2,000 years soon.

[25:10] What is meant by that? And the Greek uses a term that clearly defines what is involved here, because I would be the first to agree, at least in human terms, I know a day with God is with 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is as a day, but you've got to understand that the Bible is written in very plain, straightforward language.

[25:35] And we will see that again and again, despite the fact that there is a lot of symbolism. It sets forth truth that is intended to be understood. This is not a book that is designed to obfuscate anyone.

[25:48] It is not a book of riddles. It is not a book that God is providing to man with the idea, now, just see if you can figure this out. No, no, no. It is fully intended to be understood.

[26:01] And I think as we move through it and you see how the symbols connect, they will, at least in my estimation, make perfect sense. So, the idea that these things are not intelligible is just right out the window.

[26:19] And when John says the things must shortly come to pass, he is talking about a period of time that is coming upon the earth which will be but seven years in duration.

[26:32] And, at the end of that seven year period, God is going to terminate it. He is going to cut it off right there. Because if he allowed it to continue on, there would be no flesh saved.

[26:48] And the text will make that quite clear as well. So, God brings it to an abrupt halt. And all of these things that are coming upon this earth are going to transpire within this seven year time period.

[27:04] And that indicates that they are going to be happening in rapid fire order. Because what has been building up to this time is the amount of time that would represent the end of the flood and the first destruction that was brought upon the earth.

[27:28] And I'm not sure exactly where to date that, but somewhere probably between 4,500, 4,000 years ago. Up until the time these events are going to begin transpiring.

[27:40] And it will probably be somewhere in the area of 4,500, 5,000 years. So, we've got an accumulation, if you will, of human evil that has been building up, testing the patience and long-suffering of God for this length of time.

[27:56] And when God brings the curtain down, He is going to do it within a time span of seven years. The first destruction, He did it within a time span of 40 days.

[28:10] But mankind had been here for a decidedly shorter period. This time, the bill is going to be larger.

[28:21] And it will be a seven-year span of time. It is going to be a time of great woe, great anguish, great consternation, great confusion, great mortality, great death rates, great deprivation, great perplexity, great anxiety, great everything.

[28:51] It is called the great tribulation. Ho, flipsis. The word that Christ gives it to it is a tribulation such as the world has never seen before and will never see again.

[29:04] The Greek expresses expresses the word tribulation in a graphic kind of way as a human being taking a plump grape. And you hold the grape in your fingers and you begin squeezing the grape.

[29:20] And pretty soon you crush it and it begins to bleed. That's the way the planet is going to be. It's going to be crushed. It will be a time like the world has never seen before.

[29:34] And it will be a brief duration. What it is that will be shortly or a brief duration is the time it will take for all the events included in the revelation to take place.

[29:49] Seven years. And that's it. So those things are going to take place in a relatively short time period. Seven years is not long at all when you compare it to the thousands of years of human history that has gone by.

[30:06] This is why John is saying when this wrap up begins, when it gets underway, when the 70th week of Daniel kicks in, it's going to be realized in rapid fire order.

[30:19] And it will be a very, very fast moving thing. The book of Revelation opens with the promise of a blessing that is a spiritual benefit for those who read it and for those who keep it or observe and take note of it.

[30:35] And that promise is given again at the end of the book when Christ closes it in the 22nd chapter. Virtually the same statement is made again. So let's get back to our text in chapter 1.

[30:50] And John is bearing witness in verse 2 to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw. these visions that John is going to be seeing, if you can picture this in your mind's eye, and I know you can because you are very familiar with television and with all of the electronics that allows us to look at history and to see things unfolding even in our own living room right before our eyes from the other side of the world.

[31:22] It is transported live and we get it right here. And now, if you can imagine, John is seeing this as a vision that is portrayed before him and he is instructed to write down the things that he sees, he is going to have absolutely no frame of reference for many of these things.

[31:46] He is going to see objects that he cannot even actually identify. So he does the best he can to describe them and to use his terms like, like, or as it were.

[32:00] Because he doesn't have the vocabulary to describe what he is actually looking at. He's never seen anything like that before. In fact, there are going to be entities, I don't know what else to call them, you cannot call them human, you cannot, I don't know that you would call them angelic, they are going to be entities that are going to appear that have an appearance the likes of which we cannot compare to anything.

[32:28] We just have no basis of comparison. When he sees an image with seven heads and ten horns, what is that?

[32:42] How is that to be understood? What do these symbolize? And some, of course, unfortunately, have taken the position that the Bible and the book of Revelation in particular is so filled with symbols, we don't have any idea what they mean.

[32:57] So, frankly, you're just wasting your time trying to figure it out. And you'd be surprised how many people have come to that conclusion. But I trust as a result of our going through it, nobody here will ever be able to say that again.

[33:10] It makes a lot of sense and it is all connected. I am not going to be giving you Wiseman opinions. We're not going to be looking at theories or things that are far-fetched.

[33:23] We are going to be looking at things that can be viewed and understood in concrete terms so that we are able to say comfortably and confidently, yes, that's what it is.

[33:35] It has to be. And it makes perfect sense when you connect the dots. So, we'll be connecting a lot of dots. verse 4.

[33:49] John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. This Asia, of course, is modern-day Turkey. It is not Asia that includes China and Japan and so on.

[34:01] That's not that Asia. We're talking about this Asia and this is referred to as modern Turkey. And it is a strategic area in the Bible.

[34:14] Old and New Testament. There's a great deal that is happening here and will happen in the future. These churches, of which there are seven, are located in that particular area.

[34:24] And John says, Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.

[34:37] Now, what are these? This is the first reference we have to the number seven in the book of the Revelation. It is going to be repeated time and time and time again.

[34:50] Seven is God's number. It's the number of completeness. It was established with the creation of the earth and the resting on the seventh day and from that time point on seven becomes God's number.

[35:03] It is used all throughout the book. We're going to see it recurring time and time again in the Revelation and it is not coincidental. Neither is it coincidental that six is the number of man.

[35:15] It's the number that was assigned to Goliath in the Old Testament, representative of humanity in general and it is the number that is assigned to man in particular because in part he was made on the sixth day and six of course is that number that is short or shy of seven which is God's number and there is a distinct difference between humanity and deity.

[35:39] This also establishes the seven day week that we still utilize throughout the world to this day. Nobody has ever attempted to change it or to improve upon it.

[35:50] It is something that God established from the beginning and it will play a very definite role as we move through the Revelation as is the time period itself. It is seven years in duration.

[36:03] Not six, not eight, it is seven. So God is going to be dealing repeatedly with that number seven and for good reason that is his number.

[36:14] These seven spirits if you were to consult and I trust that you can do this at your leisure in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 2 you will find the characteristics or the attributes that are ascribed to the spirit of God and they are seven in number beginning with the spirit of God himself and as the principal or as the head and then the six attributes that come from him making it a seven fold proposition and Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 2 indicates that it is just one incident of connecting the dots and putting these things together.

[36:53] and from verse 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead this of course is referring to his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ has become the first fruits of them that slept and that simply means that he was the first one out of the grave with a glorified body.

[37:19] We have instances in the scriptures of people being brought back from the dead such as Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead in John chapter 11 and Elijah raising the son of the Shunammite woman and Jairus' daughter being raised from the dead and so on and Dorcas being raised from the dead by Peter and Anas who fell down from the balcony where he was situated when he fell asleep and Paul was preaching a long sermon and Paul brought him back to life.

[37:53] These are all instances of individuals coming back from the dead none of which were resurrected because the resurrection is radically different from resuscitation.

[38:05] Jesus Christ came forth from the tomb with a resurrected glorified body not simply back from the dead but back from the dead with a glorified body and that is the kind of body that is going to be referred to here when he talks about this as being the firstborn in verse 5 the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood.

[38:43] Beautiful word here this word release taken from the Greek which conveys the idea of set free or loosed or untied or dismissed. That's what God has done with our sins.

[38:56] They are dismissed. He has loosed us from our sins. We were bound by our sins and when Christ came in he broke the bonds.

[39:07] He broke the bonds. He broke the power of canceled death. He set the prisoner free. That's precisely what he did when he regenerated you and loosed you from your sins.

[39:18] He and he alone of course is the only one capable of doing that. He did so by his blood. This does not refer to the liquid blood, the red blood filled with white and red corpuscles coursing through Christ's veins.

[39:34] The blood of Christ is a technical term used in the New Testament and it speaks of the death of Christ. How many times have we told you it was not sufficient for Jesus Christ to bleed for our sins?

[39:49] He had to die. It had to be a complete death and the shedding of his blood was simply the avenue that was taken to get there. So we use the word blood but in reality it is the death of Christ that redeemed us.

[40:07] It would not be satisfactory for Jesus to have his finger pricked on the other side of Calvary and save anyone by shedding some blood. It was death, burial and resurrection.

[40:22] And he has made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father. Should that not give us an indication right there that something Jewish about this is beginning to surface?

[40:37] Some Christians refer to the priesthood of the believer. I do not see that as a biblical concept. The body of Christ does not have priests although there is one great high priest after the order of Melchizedek who is prophet, priest and king.

[40:55] But we are not priests. The Jews have priests. A priest is one who is a go-between between man and God and a prophet is a go-between between God and man.

[41:09] We are not priests. We are redeemed saints, but we are not priests. Israel has the priesthood. It was established by Aaron and the descendants of Aaron.

[41:21] So, right from the get-go in the very first chapter here, the Jewishness of the book of Revelation begins to surface. And let me tell you, there is only one book in the New Testament that is more Jewish than the book of the Revelation.

[41:37] Understandably, it's the letter to the Hebrews. That's very, very Jewish. That is totally Jewish all throughout. The book of Revelation is Jewish. It's going to involve more people who are not Jewish because the Jewish population of the world, as we have noted in the past, comprises only two-tenths of one percent of the world's population.

[42:03] So, insofar as the principles are concerned, there are going to be more Gentiles involved in the events described in the book of Revelation than there are Jews, by far.

[42:16] But, it is still an essentially Jewish document. He has made us to be a kingdom priest to his God and Father. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

[42:30] Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds. There is what we're after. He is coming, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.

[42:46] And who are they? Once again, they are the Jews. Zechariah tells us in chapter 12 and verse 10, that they shall look upon him whom they pierced, and they will mourn.

[43:01] They will weep great tears of sadness, for their forefathers having crucified their Messiah. Now, they certainly don't see it that way, but they are going to.

[43:15] And the time will come, even though it does not surface until Revelation chapter 7, with the appointment of the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes.

[43:29] I am satisfied, and I think I can justify this and show you why, that these 144,000 are going to be active well before chapter 7.

[43:41] There is going to be an enormous revival among Jewish people regarding this Messiah Savior.

[43:53] I am not completely confident of what it is going to be that triggers it, but I have got a few ideas and I will share them with you. And I will admit when the time comes, they are purely speculation and I cannot take it to the bank, but it does make sense and it does fit in.

[44:09] There is going to be a huge revival of Jews coming to faith in Christ as their Savior, and they are going to pay a very terrible price at the hands of the Antichrist.

[44:21] That too will be revealed. So verse 7 is actually looking forward to chapter 19, which is near the end of the seven-year period and the coming of Christ.

[44:32] And every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him, even so.

[44:43] And they are not going to mourn over him, or for him, or because of him, for the same reason that the Jews will. They are going to mourn for themselves, because they know their day of reckoning has arrived.

[45:01] Dr. R.G. Lee, who is now with the Lord, was the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, for probably 30 or 40 years.

[45:15] And he had a message that he delivered all throughout the world, and everywhere he went to hold meetings, he was always asked if he would preach that message. And it became his trademark message.

[45:28] And the message was called Payday Someday. And in it, he waxed quite eloquent about the coming of Jesus Christ, and the fact that the books will be opened and accounts will be addressed.

[45:46] The time is coming. Payday, someday. Really, this is what the entire book of Revelation is about. It is payday for mankind.

[45:59] And man is going to be judged, he's going to be brought into account for his sin and rebellion against the God who created.

[46:12] It's going to be something. And it is going to be a bloodbath, the likes of which Hollywood has never been able to depict, and never will be able.

[46:27] It's going to be bloody, gory, messy, very much so. all because of the heinousness of human sin, which we are all too eager to play down or dismiss.

[46:47] But God does not. The curtain will come down, and the revelation will record it, blow by blow, and it will be something.

[47:00] let us pray together. Father, who is sufficient for these things?

[47:14] Certainly not anyone apart from Christ. But in him, you have made us something that the world knows not of.

[47:26] You have given us a perspective along with the forgiveness that you have tendered to us. Enabling us to see mankind and even to see ourselves not as we'd like to think we are, but as you see us, as we actually are.

[47:46] And we pray that as we begin undertaking this most solemn book that will reflect the righteousness of God and the glory of Jesus Christ and the sinfulness of man, you will enable us to appreciate your viewpoint regarding these items so that they will serve to draw us closer and closer to you and more and more distant from the world.

[48:15] we revel in the fact that you've been pleased to give us this revelation and we believe that you've also provided the keys for understanding it, appreciating it, benefiting from it, so as to be blessed by it.

[48:29] And we look forward to that reality. Thank you for it in Christ's name. Amen. All the people said, you are dismissed.

[48:40]  Okay.