THE LORD OUR GOD IS TRIUMPHANT

While Revelations is very hard to read and interpret, it is full of vital information for the end times. The basic information being Jesus Christ is Lord and He is triumphant over evil. I have heard Christians say they did not want to study Revelations because it was to depressing. In reality, it should be a source of comfort and inspiration to us.

In Chapters 20-22: the battle of Armageddon has been fought and won. The tribulation is over and Satan has been bound for 1,000 years. The tribulation saints are going to serve with Jesus for these 1,000 years.There will be peace under the Messiah. A new temple will be built during the Millennium but it will not be there after. For:
"the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (21:22)

There will be people from the Millennium who will decline a faith relationship with Christ. Satan will use these people for his last resistance for eternity. Then there will be the White Throne Judgment where if your name is not written in the book you will be tossed into the Lake of Fire along with Satan where the beast and the false prophet are.

Many times I have heard people say they are going to hell because all their friends will be there and they will par te. There won't be friends or parties there. It will be a place of torment for ever.

Earth will be destroyed and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem will be created. All things will become new and God will dwell with man. Doesn't that make chills of joy and happiness run through you.
"He which testifieth these things saith, "Surely I come quickly
Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. (22:20)

Last January we started with "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Seven ladies committed to reading the Bible through in a year and posting our thoughts for others to read. We have had over 40 followers who have joined us and encouraged us along on our mission. Now we have come to the end. We have finished the Book and: WE WIN WE WIN WE WIN!!!!
Oak Hill Ladies 7 Satan 0.

"MAY THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU ALL. AMEN"
(22:21)

Faithful and True

My last post of the entire year and of this blog...and God gives me the joy and pleasure of having the chapter with one of my TOP favorite verses in it and I am sure you can probably guess why.  Here it is:

"Then I saw heaven opened and there was a white horse.  Its rider was Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness."
                                 ~Revelation 19:11

Indulge me for just a moment on this verse...God is God and He could come back to the earth ANY way He wants to because He can do ANYTHING.  So, having said that, don't you think it says something special about the place of horses in His creation if He chooses to come back on one of them?  The book Heaven is for Real (which I HIGHLY recommend by the way) is a book about a little boy who almost dies during surgery for a burst appendix and he takes a trip to heaven and spends some time with Jesus and His angels.  If you read the book, you will see that there are A LOT of things that take place to make the validity of his story rock solid.  Well, once his mom and dad figure out a few years later what had happened during that surgery and they are uncovering the events slowly, the FIRST thing that he tells them about his encounter with Jesus is this (are you ready?):  JESUS HAS A RAINBOW HORSE!!!!  When I was reading this at about midnight one night, I about came unglued because I felt like my intense love of horses and how special I think they are was finally validated!  So, here's what I think happens...Jesus turns to His rainbow horse on that VERY SPECIAL DAY and says to him, "Go WHITE, we are going back today!"  This just makes me absolutely CRAZY!!!!

Okay, back to the Scripture. :)  My HCSB Study Bible has this to say about Chapters 17:1 to 19:5:

"This section is a postscript to the bowls of wrath, expanding the reader's understanding of Babylon the Great, her relationship with the beast, and the scope of her just and final judgment."

 In Chapter 17 verses 1-6, one of the angels who had the bowls gives the meaning of the previous vision of the AntiChrist beast that was to reign for 1,260 years, and then was to be destroyed.  In verses 7-18, the angel explains the mystery of the woman, and the beast that had seven heads and ten horns.  As with most of Revelation, these verses bring up a lot of controversy and a lot of different interpretations.  A few things to think about here though:

• What effect to the descriptions of evil in this book have on us?
• How can we best fight evil and promote good?

Jeremiah 51:7 states "Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord's hand, making the whole earth drink.  The nations drank her wine; therefore, the nations go mad."  Hmmm...sounds familiar doesn't it?

Chapter 18 verses 1-3 proclaims the fall of mystical Babylon.  Verses 4-8 tells us about a voice from heaven that warns God's people about taking part in her plagues.  Verses 9-19 proclaims the lamentation over her fall.  Verses 20-24 calls the Church to rejoice because of her utter destruction.  A few key things to consider here:

• The "merchants of the earth" great wealth came from the exploitation of others and the complete indifference to people's needs.
• There are MANY parallels between "the merchants of the earth" and Western society...what can Christians do about this?
• Babylon stands for any political system that opposes God.  It represents political power, decadence, and hatred of God's followers.

Ezekiel 27:31 reminds us that "They shave their heads because of you and wrap themselves in sackcloth.  They weep over you with deep anguish and bitter mourning."

Chapter 19 verses 1-5 proclaims the joy at God's victory over Babylon.  Verses 6-10 announces the great and awesome marriage of the Lamb.  And verses 11-21 are a vision of the Christ going out to destroy the beast and his armies.

Some things to consider and think about here:

• These hymns of praise should be used by us today in our worship and prayers.
• The white horse is a symbol of victory, power, and triumph.

Ephesians 5:25-27 states this about the marriage of the Lamb:  "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.  He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless."

I think this is a quote worth reading about ALL of Revelation:

"To comment in detail on this severe and vivid poetry would be like trying to analyze every note in a piece of music:  we wouldn't hear the tune.  It is best simply to read it, perhaps aloud, and sense how tragic, how poignant, how catastrophic and inevitable is the collapse of a world power which overreaches itself."
                                               ~Stephen Travis

So as I am about to hit the "button" to send my very last post of this amazing year we have had together, I cannot help but say ONE MORE TIME thank you...thank you for the insights...thank you for the laughs...thank you for the tears...thank you for the time you spent on this...thank you for the hard work...thank you for the friendships becoming closer...thank you for the journey...I love you ALL more than words could possibly ever express!!!! 

Live Like You Can Not Die

Satan is angry! He is mad because he can read the calendar as well as anyone else. His time is coming to an end. He takes his anger out on God by attacking the crown of His creation. He has sought to destroy life from the beginning, he is "the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan." Although our salvation was secured long ago at Calvary, the dragon is enraged by his defeat and makes war upon the saints. He stirs the hearts of and minds of man against God, and for themselves. Rebellion and unparalleled evil are the order of the day....

Counterfeit Trinity- Satan wants to be God. He wants to be worshiped. It is pride that caused him to believe he could take God on......and his "lifted up heart" that gave him the audacity to think he could get away with it. In Revelation 13, we find the counterfeit trinity that Satan has put in order: The Beast, the Dragon, and the false prophet. So, Revelation is kind of a picture of a defeated foe waging his last desperate efforts against his enemy. He makes a final attempt to escape his coming doom when he raises two beasts....one from the sea, and one from the land. The people say worship the beast and say, "Who is like the beast, who can make war against him?" He is certainly powerful. The second beast, the false prophet, performed signs and wonders for the whole world, and caused them to worship the first beast. He even appears to experience a miraculous healing from a fatal blow, mirroring the miracle of the resurrection. This beast openly blasphemes God, seeking to take power of the world through government to further prevent the spreading of the gospel, going as far as to force a mark of the beast on all of humanity to buy, sell, or trade.

A Song only the Redeemed can sing! Revelation 14 shows the Lamb of God, surrounded by 144,000 redeemed of the earth, singing a song that cannot be learned by any other. Music seems to be the language of the soul, it comes out when spoken words fail us. When I am at the end of my rope, when life and circumstances threaten to overwhelm me, I sing. Sometimes, it's a song that I've never heard before....one I make up on the spot. You know what I mean? Something tells me that the song described here in Revelation will be sung from the hearts of saints, the words driven by the lives they led!

We also learn that the eternal gospel will be preached to every last person on earth. Those who choose to worship the Beast have a horrifying future of torment from fire and brimstone, day and night, with no rest. Then, a harvest happens. It seems that the patience of saints will at last come full circle. The grapes are ripe, and are harvested to the great winepress. The thing about God, is that every event is perfectly timed and carried out. Remember when we read through the old testament, and there were countless times that God told his servants to "wait" until time had come to full measure??? He's perfect, and so is everything He does.

Exodus? It's all tied together. It's all one story. It's the history of the ages. Like, Natalie mentioned, it's His-story. There are so many parallels between events in the Bible, it's countless really. We can't possibly recognize everything. In the Beth Moore study we did on the book of Revelation, she points out the comparison of the Moses Exodus and the Final Exodus in Revelation 15. She mentions the songs of deliverance by Moses and by the Lamb. One song is sung over the Red Sea, and one over the Crystal Sea. One song is sung over Egypt, and one is over Babylon. The song of Moses is how God brought them out, the song of the Lamb is how He brings them in. One overcomes Pharoh, one overcomes the Beast. There were plagues in Egypt and there are plagues in Revelation. There the cloud filled the temple, and here the smoke fills the tabernacle. Amazing!

Destruction. Revelation 16 includes many signs and wonders, but certainly not from God. The spirits that proceed from the mouths of the beasts and dragon are preparing the armies for battle of Armageddon. The seven angels pour the bowls of wrath. The proclamation that, "It is done!" and an earthquake like no other ever before, land disappeared and mountains gave way under hail the size of boulders....and the people curse God.

And, so it has been from the beginning. There is a choice to make. You cannot serve two masters.

It's time to live like you cannot die.