David Pawson - Revelation Part 5b

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THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS 10.7.26 BY JOHN DUNNING; REVELATION Part 5b

GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH! REVELATION 21-22.

1). Catch -up…

1a) In Rev. 19.11-16 we read about “Him who is called ‘Faithful and True’, riding on a white horse. He judges in righteousness and makes war.

1b) In Rev. 19:17-21 there’s a war, which is over with a word from Jesus.

The first two humans to be cast into hell will be ‘the beast’ and ‘the false prophet’, (Rev. 19:20).

1c) In Rev. 20:1-3 Satan is bound by an angel and is dropped into the abyss while Jesus reigns for 1,000 years.

1d) In 20:11-15 the final judgment comes when the books are opened. We learn here that there will be two resurrections. There will be one for the righteous and then a second one for the unrighteous. That was a summary of last time… now we continue with…

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1e). INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTERS 21-22.

All of this is the order of events Jesus presented to John in the lead-up to end times…

So much will be happening that we have to try and look at it in slow motion…

John shares his visions in ch.21-22 of the judgment, of hell, of the ‘Book of Life’, of heaven, and of the new heaven and new earth. 

It means that it will end in tears for those who are not in the Book of Life… 

But for God’s “Overcomers” who remained faithful to Jesus, in spite of all the trials and troubles and persecution, they will find joy, and be rewarded. 

But that will be decided by whether or not someone’s name is in the Lambs Book of Life. Jesus said He is given the right to open the seals to start the countdown…

Jesus will win and reign forever, and there will be no more tears. From there on, everything gets better.

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2). Chapter 21 — Proof that the book of Revelation is inspired….

The new heaven and new earth…

Eventually there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21:1-2).

i). John mentions in Rev. 4:3 that he saw a rainbow in heaven. 

ii). Chapter 21 mentions the stones chosen for the building of the new Jerusalem. These are the stones that turn all the colours of the rainbow in pure light. 

As man only discovered pure light in the last century, John could only have known about that 2,000 years ago by divine revelation. Our picture shows those stones displaying all the colours of the rainbow.

3). Chapter 22. The Lamb’s Book of Life… 

An angel said in Rev. 22:9 that the ones considered to be servants of God are “Those who keep the words of this book”. 

Revelation 22:19. The most important thing for you to know is that “The Book of Life” needs to have your name in it, for you to be included in God’s family.

So, how does that happen?

It is not enough to be religious and call Jesus ‘Lord’, and say all the right religious words, if we do not stop sinning, (called, “changing your clothes”). For them, the King will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you”. So there is even a warning to those who join empty words together, even professionally, for their religious job. (ie like “Mr Talkative” in “Pilgrim’s Progress” who might be called a “wordsmith” today). 

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4). SUMMARY 

I saw a documentary where a Greek historian and archaeologist explained that Greek citizens were given white stones to use to vote for their chosen elected representative. Only citizens of Athens could have the white stones as it was a privilege of citizenship. Whilst that history lesson has been lost in the mists of time, it spoke to me, anyway! 

There were things understood by the locals, as they were common knowledge at that time, as the special white stones would have been. In Revelation chapter 2 God’s people are promised white stones – which I take to mean a sign of citizenship. The important thing we need to be sure of is that our name is written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life”.

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5). EPILOGUE - How can Revelation help us? 

This epilogue is longer as we complete our journey through Jesus’ Revelation.

a). How can I GET INTO the ‘Lamb’s Book of Life’? 

Jesus told this parable to help us understand forgiveness… A King forgave an official who owed him a huge amount of money. Later on, the King re-imposed the debt, after the official refused to forgive a fellow servant a tiny sum of money. We must change after we are forgiven, to include forgiving others.

Peter answered a question from his congregation about what they had to do to respond to his sermon on being saved in Acts 2:37. He replied in verse 38 saying we must: 

i). “Repent,

ii). be immersed, (or in Greek, ‘baptizo’), every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. 

iii) and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 

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b). STAYING in the Book of Life…

Only those names in the Book of Life will be accepted into paradise, and Jesus warned in Rev. 22:19 that He will remove people’s names from His Book of Life those who take away any teaching from His Book. Jesus tells us that names in the Book of Life can have their names removed and therefore lose their place in paradise. As these are Jesus’ words, we need to pay attention…

Jesus also taught the parable of a religious person who had cast out demons in His name, but who was still thrown out of heaven’s marriage feast into outer darkness, because he had not changed his dirty clothes, (meaning, ‘behaviour’). 

It’s not enough to have once been converted, IF we permanently go back to our old ways. Paul said that if we return to our former life of sin, it is like a dog going back to its vomit. We must practice what we preach. (Also see Rev. 22:19).

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c). REWARD for those whose names are in the ‘Book of Life’...

Eventually, in Rev. 21:1-2 there will be a new heaven and new earth, with a huge new city of God, (about the size of the moon, but cube-shaped), named ‘Jerusalem’, or ‘city of peace’, (Rev. 20). This is when we are told that the angels will be lost in wonder as God moves to earth to live with His redeemed. God wants to be with His creation. After all, God once walked in the garden of Eden. At that time, there will be no more tears.
In Revelation, Jesus is called the Alpha and the Omega; (The beginning and the end), just as God the Father had been called. 

Jesus is the King who is returning to fix the mess made by His old enemy. God’s re-creation came at a terrible personal cost, but it’s leading up to Jesus coming back.

A summary on how to get into the Lamb’s Book of Life is provided by Peter in Acts 2:38. Read what was spoken by the One who the disciples called “Rabbi”, and “Lord”…  the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He is the One who died to save us. Build your life on the Rock, who is our Messiah, not on the shifting sand of man-made religious ideas, so that you too can say as John did, “Even so, come Lord Jesus”.

Do share this study with your friends…

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

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PS. To help pray for the ‘suffering church’ see;- https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates

PPS. If you would like to know how to find peace with God, listen to the podcasts at this link…

https://www.inspirational.org.nz/pages/johns-devotionals-podcast

For a message on Hearing God, called “The Cost of Discipleship”, 

visit this podcast link https://share.transistor.fm/s/1263bbab

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