Past, Present, and Future Revelation

[0:00] How great is the mercy of God, our Savior. Please take your Bibles and turn to the book of Revelation. If you are new to this study, you're new to this Christianity, understanding what we are about, Revelation is found in the very last book of your Bible.

[0:24] If you weren't with us last week, you would have missed the announcement. We have partnered with a company called Right Now Media, which has a type of Netflix, type of Christian programming Bible studies, children's programs, thousands of different type of episodes that cover just about everything from apologetics to specific studies of the Bible to biblical counseling issues, marriage issues, raising your kids, a whole bunch of, bunch, plethora of teaching for you.

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[2:05] There's any type of changes that need to happen with it. But just as a church, we want to be able to provide more avenues for you to grow, especially during this time when we cannot be together.

[2:20] So let's go back to today, Revelation. In case you missed it, we are on the third part of Revelation. And just so you understand, we're not here to get into the nitty gritty of Revelation.

[2:36] But what I want to do is I want to be able to give you a general understanding of the book. Kind of think of it as looking at the forest, understanding the forest, rather than all the particular individual trees within the forest.

[2:51] And I really believe that this will help you and perhaps remove some of the fear that some people feel when they come to Revelation, the confusion, but will help you when it comes to your own personal study, devotions.

[3:05] You're going to understand how it all fits in, not only with God's timeline, but how the book itself is partitioned. So that's probably the biggest thing that I really believe that we need to understand when we come to this book is understanding its structure.

[3:26] Once you understand its structure, it will help you to understand the bits and pieces along the way. So let me just ask for God's continued blessing upon us that communication would be clear that you'll be able to understand.

[3:46] And I pray that you'll be blessed through this. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, just as we come to this wonderful book, oh Father, weekly, I appreciate it so much more.

[3:59] And just as we dive into it, oh Father, I please ask that you'd remove our fears and stigmas. It's interesting. Everybody has a story of either a friend or a family member who was right into Revelation.

[4:14] And they feel it is their need to understand everything perfectly. But I believe it's impossible, Father. There is so much symbolism.

[4:26] And I believe when we go through some of these times, we will be able to look back and understand. But today, the purpose that we can understand is that you do have a plan.

[4:45] You have a mighty plan. And it is to reveal yourself to the world in a way we have not seen.

[5:02] 2,000 years ago, you walked on this earth and many rejected you. They will have another opportunity.

[5:17] But when you come, you're not coming as a man. You are coming as a God. Fully man and fully God. But it will be your all power on display.

[5:37] Your justice, your righteousness, and your glory. So give us an understanding of this, O Father, an appreciation and a deeper longing for worship.

[5:49] In your most holy and precious name. Amen. I believe that one of the ways that helps us to interpret and understanding this book is seeing the three-fold separation that exists within it.

[6:12] Meaning there's three separate timelines that are being spoken about in this book. If you would look at verse 19.

[6:24] And we're going to be at different parts of our first few chapters today as we understand the flow and the breakout of this book. But if you look at Revelation 119, you're going to read.

[6:40] We're going to read a command that Jesus Christ is giving to the Apostle John. We're going to get into the background a little bit. But he makes this statement.

[6:51] This command. He's telling John, I want you to write, therefore, the things you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place.

[7:08] And that is the three-fold separation that we read within the book of Revelation. The first one is the things that are. That essentially is Revelation chapter one.

[7:23] The second part is, so first of all, I'm sorry, the things that you have seen is Revelations chapter one. The things that are are Revelations chapters two and chapter three.

[7:40] And then finally, the things which will take place after this, which is Revelation four to the end at Revelation 22.

[7:53] Now, when we get to that part, we will subdivide it again to help you understand what's going on in there. But it's important for us to understand that Jesus Christ is referring to things seen, things that are, and things that will be.

[8:12] So let's just take a look again at verse one of Revelation one. Remember, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation is the apocalypse, the revealing of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place.

[8:33] He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

[8:45] So right from the get-go, John is letting us know that this is truly all about Jesus Christ. That this revelation of Jesus Christ, that this is a revealing of Jesus fully.

[8:58] So we've seen what will take, what is happening, and what will take place. So this apostle, John, is receiving this message, which has been given from God the Father to God the Son.

[9:13] God the Son has given it to this angel, and this angel has given it to John. And the entire purpose is the revealing of Jesus.

[9:26] Now just to give you a little bit of a background, which gives us a purpose for his writing. It's about 70, or sorry, it's about 90 A.D.

[9:39] And Christians are being persecuted in great number at this time. When Christianity began, when Jesus Christ died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, and then we have the book of Acts, which describes the growth of the Christian church, Rome confused it with the Jewish religion.

[10:05] But as Christianity began to spread, the government, Rome, started to see it as a very distinct religious group than Judaism.

[10:18] So when we read about persecution in the early church, it was largely from Judaism within the Jewish faith, where many people were called out of, than it was from Rome.

[10:32] It wasn't until A.D. 67 when Nero burnt Rome and blamed it on the Christians, did the Christians become the targets of the governing authorities.

[10:46] So now, it's later, and there's another emperor called Domitian who desires to be worshipped.

[10:59] If we understand the Roman belief system, they believed the emperors were gods, and you were to bow down to them. They created idols, and they were a very syncretistic group, meaning they accepted all forms of religion, but as long as you bow down to the emperor, you were fine.

[11:21] What's ironic, reading some church history, is that Christians were considered atheists in the way that they did not have idols that they bowed down to.

[11:33] There was no physical God. Their God was the invisible God. It was Jesus Christ who had rose again who they worshiped. So, we here have John.

[11:48] John essentially is the last apostle standing. Every other single apostle that walked with Jesus Christ has suffered a martyr's death.

[12:02] John has already, to this point, been boiled in oil, and now he's been exiled to the Isle of Patmos, which is off Turkey in the Aegean Sea.

[12:22] And here he's been given this job. One last assignment by his Lord and Savior to write this letter to encourage those who are being persecuted by the Roman Empire and the powers that be.

[12:47] So, he's writing this letter and we're going to read about it in a bit, but it's going to be written to seven specific churches. These are real churches in real physical locations in what is modern day Turkey today.

[13:02] And this is how he begins his letter. Verse 4 of chapter 1. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.

[13:18] See there, we're getting that theme again and we're going to see this several times. Who is, who was, and who is to come.

[13:28] There's this trifold, past, present, future, working into this section. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

[14:02] Amen. Verse seven, behold, Jesus is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will wail on account even so.

[14:18] Amen. Verse eight, I am the Alpha and the Omega, which means the first and the last, says the Lord God, who is and who was and is to come the Almighty.

[14:32] There we go again. We're seeing that trifold, who was, who is to come, who is and who was and who is to come.

[14:43] We're seeing that distinction. Now, I want you to take a look just in this section from verses five to nine how powerful and how informative this section of Scripture is.

[14:55] The first thing is it tells us who Jesus is. Verse five, it says Jesus is the faithful witness. It tells us that he is the firstborn of the dead.

[15:07] He is the ruler of the kings of this earth. He is the Alpha and Omega and he is the Eternal One. All right, so John, writing this letter, is writing that these are the things that Jesus is.

[15:23] Then he also tells us what Jesus is to do. or what Jesus did. One, he shed his blood to redeem us and that is a reference to the cross of Christ on Calvary.

[15:36] What we celebrate on Easter to save us and he said and he made us a kingdom of priests that we now do not need a priest to mediate for us but there's nothing between us and God anymore.

[15:54] we can come to him and then he tells us what Jesus is going to do. One, and we covered this last week, Jesus is coming.

[16:09] The Christian faith is based on this understanding that Jesus will come again. If you missed last week's sermon, I went through what the Old Testament prophets said, what Jesus said, what the New Testament writers said, all with the expectation and understanding that Jesus is going to return.

[16:33] Last time he came, he was born to a lowly couple, born in the inn. We read the Christmas story, very humble beginnings.

[16:48] Very few people saw him, shepherds, some kings, wise men. If you follow the Sunday school stories, a few goats and donkeys were there too.

[17:00] But when he comes again, it's not like that. Notice he said he's coming with a cloud. That means he's coming in glory.

[17:10] And John says, every eye will see that Jesus is going to be known not only to those who believe but even to those who do not believe.

[17:23] Every eye from every nation will know that their God, Jesus Christ, is coming back. Verse 9, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, guys, I've been there with you.

[17:40] I'm in the middle of these things. And the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word and the testimony of Jesus.

[17:52] I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

[18:16] These are the instructions given to John on that day. So, this is the end of the introduction that we find in verse 12.

[18:30] John. The reason I'm including this part is I want you to see how Jesus responds to John and how John responds to Jesus.

[18:46] Remember, John is known as the apostle whom Jesus loved. This is a man who walked with Jesus for three years of ministry, day by day, week by week, month by month.

[19:06] This is the man who is charged to take care of the mother of Jesus as Jesus hung on the cross.

[19:18] All right? Probably as close to best friends as you could think about. It's incredible. It goes, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me.

[19:32] And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

[19:44] The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace.

[19:58] And his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

[20:12] There is tons of symbolism here. And basically, I'm going to sum it up. This is Jesus Christ coming in his full royal majesty.

[20:26] And it's interesting. John's response to it is, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

[20:45] That is the right response to the holy God of this universe. But what stands out with me, out to me, is how Jesus responds to John.

[21:08] Fear not. We still get this glimpse of this ever-loving God who is seeking to comfort his apostle.

[21:21] Even in this moment where he's coming with complete majesty, sovereignty, all power, all glory. And he goes, Fear not.

[21:33] I am the first and the last. And the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. Right, therefore, the things that you have seen, those that are, those that are to take place after this.

[21:52] There we go again. Just that separation. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars and the angels and the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

[22:10] These are the things you have seen. So that is the first section of Revelation, which is essentially the introduction. So chapter one sets the stage, the introduction to what's going on.

[22:24] It gives us who's writing, why he's writing, what's the purpose, who he's writing to. And who he's getting this incredible information from.

[22:35] So now we're going to move to the second part of Revelations, which is chapter two and three, which is the things which are. Now, if you're talking timeline, in the first series that I did on this, the first lesson, I believe that the timeline that we are in, Revelations two and three is today.

[23:01] And I'll explain why in a second here. But here we go. Here, Jesus Christ is, we know and understand, is he's writing this letter and he's going to send it out to these seven churches.

[23:12] And you need to understand the habit of the day. When you received one of these letters, you would send it on to the other churches that flow from it. Scholars believe that all of these churches began in Ephesus.

[23:24] And we just studied the book of Ephesians. But as the people were faithful to the gospel, faithful to their teaching, they spread out to the various communities and planted these churches.

[23:36] So here we are another 30 years later. These churches have grown up and they've planted churches. So not only would they receive letters, they would receive them, generally copy them, and send them on.

[23:48] So we have these seven very real, very distinct churches. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

[24:05] Now I want you to understand, I believe that all seven of these churches represent the churches today. And as we go in and we look at the qualities, we're going to see many of the qualities that you and I today can identify in many churches of this time.

[24:25] And what's interesting, and it's frightening to some degree, it's wonderful, but he begins each statement with, I know.

[24:39] the no, the no is, I have cognitive knowledge of you, my bride. And as he goes in to chapters 2 and 3, he explains what he has for them and what he has against them.

[25:03] So he begins in Ephesus, and this stuff is really easy to read. There's no mystery to what he's writing here. Ephesus. They're known to be a church that worked hard.

[25:16] They demonstrated patient endurance. I would say that they were the heavy doctrine churches. But what Jesus Christ had against them was although they taught the right things, they had lost their love.

[25:36] They had grown weary. And Jesus Christ has instructions for them. Repent. Repent. I think this is the danger for all evangelicals.

[25:50] We can sometimes get so into the nitty-gritty of our knowledge that we forget what it is to love our neighbors, to care for others around us, to share the message and to have the love that we once had for Jesus.

[26:05] So that's the first, church, it's Ephesus. What's interesting is this next one he mentions is the church of Smyrna. What's interesting is this church is under tribulation.

[26:18] That means they're under fire. They're under temptation. They are a poor church. And we see that they are being slandered against.

[26:31] What's interesting is Jesus Christ has no negative things to talk about them. He says, do not fear what you are about to suffer, about to be tested.

[26:44] Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. So he's telling them, hey, I'm aware of what's going on.

[26:58] I am not forgetting you. Then we have the next church, Pergamum. And they state here that, John states that they withstood persecution.

[27:12] They held fast to the name of Jesus. They did not deny the faith. However, they allowed false teaching to enter into their church and they allowed sexual impurity.

[27:24] As one author says, this is the church that was married to the world. This is the church we see today that so often wants to connect with the world that we accept the world into the church.

[27:42] The message that Jesus Christ has for that church is repent. Turn away. Confess your sin. Repent. Then we move on to the next church, Thyatira.

[27:55] John writes, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. And he says in verse 19, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your letter works exceed the first.

[28:17] However, they tolerated sin, immorality and even idolatry. That means they have allowed false religion to enter into the church.

[28:32] And he uses the word Jezebel. They've allowed a Jezebel type of character to exist within the church.

[28:43] They did not discipline this Jezebel. They did not confront this Jezebel. Now, if you are new to Christianity or you're unfamiliar with the Old Testament, Jezebel is one of the most wicked individuals that ever existed in the Old Testament.

[29:02] She was a woman married to King Ahab and she turned his heart to all sorts of despicable evils and idolatry.

[29:14] In fact, 1 and 2 Kings portrayed Jezebel as a woman of great wickedness who persuades her husband and others to not only worship other gods but to oppose Yahweh and commit evil deeds.

[29:33] Her legacy is preserved for us in 1 Kings 21-25. It says, truly there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh whose wife Jezebel urged him on.

[29:53] So we have this church, Thyatira, that has allowed Jezebel to exist within it. They did not discipline the instructions that Jesus Christ has for Jezebel's Thyatira, repent.

[30:15] Repent. Then we have the church of Sardis. This church can be identified as a church that was heavy on works but dead inside.

[30:28] That was probably one of the greatest accusations that Jesus Christ brought against the Pharisees. They were whitewashed tombs.

[30:40] They looked really good on the outside but on the inside they were defiled by the world and they were marked by spiritual decay.

[30:52] Essentially this was unbelieving people playing church. church. Just like the former churches we talked about we know this church is represented today.

[31:06] It is the church that has no life, no fruit, no joy. They may say the name Jesus Christ but there's no power in that name.

[31:17] There's just this attitude of slavish showing up on Sundays or other times of worship but it's dead. the next church he mentions is the church in Philadelphia.

[31:34] They were known to be faithful, loyal. They kept God's word. They had not denied his name and he uses this term they had little power.

[31:53] Power. power. But they are loved by God. He says I am coming soon. Hold fast that you have not that you have so that no one may seize the crown.

[32:11] there is no negative words for this church in Philadelphia. This faithful, loyal church that keeps God's words and doesn't deny his name.

[32:29] Then finally we have the church of Laodicea. They were not cold. They were not hot. They were lukewarm.

[32:39] warm. What's interesting is what he's saying here is their faith wasn't so bad that it made God angry. Their faith wasn't so good that it made God so joyful.

[32:53] Their faith was such a mish mash of uncaring lukewarmness that it made Jesus sick.

[33:05] That's that church. church. It is the self-reliant church. That's the church that hey Jesus we kind of want you here but we want to do it ourselves.

[33:17] That's the lukewarm church. What Jesus Christ is calling them to repent and also to find their true riches in Christ.

[33:30] I think when I describe all those churches we know churches today that are like those churches. Now what's interesting to me the two churches that Jesus Christ doesn't have anything against guess how they are described right?

[33:56] Smyrna is a persecuted church. It's a persecuted church. You know what persecuted churches are?

[34:08] persecuted churches are pure churches. Fake believers do not want to hang out in persecution. It's not comfortable.

[34:20] It's hot when you sit in this church and you belong to this body of believers. So through that persecution it drives the fakeness out and what's left is the jewel, the pure.

[34:37] It's like the melting of metals of gold to get out the impurity. The second church Philadelphia is known to be a church of little power.

[34:52] in your flesh who wants to belong to either of those two churches?

[35:10] The persecuted church or the church of little power? Think about how twisted our minds get. church and I'm talking that attracted us to those churches.

[35:35] What we see is written out I believe as one author describes we have orthodox church. We have the persecuted church. We have the church married to the world.

[35:47] We have the church that tolerate sin. We have the dead church, the faithful church, and the apostate church. And there's only one remedy for all those churches.

[36:00] It's the same remedy for us. Repent that these churches can be made right in the eyes of God by repenting.

[36:11] But in doing so you might lose your self-sufficiency and you may come under persecution. But those are the churches that Jesus Christ says I know your works and I will save you.

[36:35] Chapter 3 verse 19 it says those whom I love I reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent. Behold I stand in the door and knock.

[36:47] If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I have also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.

[37:06] He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Now sermon number one I talked about the three different positions about the awe mill the post mill and the pre mill position and that is what is the timing of Jesus coming.

[37:35] Now I shared with you that I'm a pre mill I believe this is future and because it's future I also hold to what's called a pre mill pre tribulation view.

[37:53] If you've heard of the term rapture or that God's removing the church during the time of revelations chapter four and on this is what I believe and I believe it for the reason that that this is the age this is the age that Jesus Christ is speaking to from the cross forward so what I mean by that is from the time of the cross till now we are in that church age.

[38:25] these seven churches describe what this church's age. These type of churches have existed for two thousand years. Now to those that are faithful to him I believe he's going to call out of this world.

[38:43] One of the reasons why I believe that is the church is no longer mentioned after chapter three. Going forward there's going to be two types of people.

[38:57] First there's one type in that they do not believe because they do not believe they're not a part of the church. And remember when Jesus Christ came he said blessed are those who believe and do not see.

[39:13] That there was a blessing in there for them. Now when we turn the pages to the future the things that must happen I believe and I'll tell you I'll read the verse in a little bit but what's going forth now God's coming as we read earlier he's coming in his glory and he's coming for every eye to see.

[39:36] I get that someone could have mistaken Jesus not being God because he walked as a man talked as a man and although he healed and he showed power and dominion over this world over storms over life and death he humbled himself he emptied himself that Paul teaches in Philippians but now when Jesus Christ comes when it says he's coming in the clouds not only is he coming in his full glory he is coming as unmistakable God there is going to be no need for apologetics class to reason whether Jesus Christ or God is not that was really bad English there's no reason to argue if it's God or not Jesus is coming in his full power full royalty there's going to be no confusion all right so that's this future age so those who are not saved go into this next age and that's what I believe revelations 4 to 22 is going to talk about what's interesting in that there's two types of people there's people who will believe and there will be people who will not believe now there's several passages but I'm going to read the strongest passage which I believe supports the pre-millennial view and I'm not getting into the other views the only reason

[41:22] I'm talking about this is because this is the transition and this is the reason why I get asked a lot of why I hold the position that I do Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13 writes he says but we do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep and those who are dead in Christ before this time that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel with the sound of the trumpet of

[42:26] God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord therefore encourage one another with these words so that's when people use that term rapture that's what they're calling forth that God is coming removing his church and then moving forth now you've heard me before not every Christian believes this there's many great I've got friends I'm sure there's people here in the church who are as wrong as they are who believe I'm just teasing you the other position some believe they're pre-mill but the church still has to go through that persecuting time called the great tribulation some believe it's already started in history from 80 70 some believe it is a regular battle of good and evil that exists in the world today and they're just waiting for

[43:36] Jesus Christ to come back however the way I look at this and I read this text that's what I believe will happen regardless revelations 4 whether the church is here or not doesn't matter to what's going to happen this is the third section of our text future things the things which will take place after that so remember John write the things that you saw that's chapter one what he wrote just seeing Jesus there with him write to those that are today to the church give them these messages give them these encouragements hold them up during these times of persecution and now I want you to write what's coming next what's going to happen in the future now for the rest of this sermon

[44:39] I'm just going to read you chapters 4 and 5 and next week we're going to get in to the understanding of the throne and of the lamb because these two themes are going to carry through majestically through the rest of this book but it's important for us to understand and honestly I know of two these are just glorious chapters to read so please just read along with me beginning in chapter 4 so he says after this referring to this letter that he wrote to the church I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said come up here and

[45:40] I will show you what must take place after this at once I was in the spirit and behold a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne and he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had appearance of an emerald around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and pearls of thunder and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire which are the seven spirits of God and before the throne was it were a sea of glass like crystal and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind the first living creature like a lion the second living creature like an ox the third creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight and the four living creatures each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never cease to say holy holy holy is the lord god almighty who was and is and is to come and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and ever the twenty-four elders fell fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever they cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy are you our lord and god to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created then

[47:57] I saw in the right hand of him who is seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the lion of the tribe of

[49:05] Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll in its seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth and he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne and when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for

[50:11] God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth it's an incredible story that I looked and I heard around the throne the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshipped this is our

[51:35] Lord and our God and we're going to be reading after this what happens when he begins to open these seals and making himself known to all the earth unquestionably please pray with me father I cannot think of any two chapters are that are filled with so much majesty so much drama so much glory the spectacle of the throne room is intense and it's immense and it's glorious and it's loud and it's all worship to you just to see the lamb step forth father as you fulfilled the law as you did as you lived in this world and you died for us perfectly fulfilling the will of your father you have been found worthy to open these seals the scroll and then we're going to be reading how you will make yourself known in this world father

[53:06] I pray just by reading this we would simply fall down and worship you honor you give you all the glory father may we be the church of philadelphia who is without power and must be fully dependent on you father we may be moving to the church of smyrna I do not know father if we be found to be any of these other churches I pray that we would repent and move to a perfect dependence upon you rather than ourselves may our worship be found pure and right in your eyes as we come to seek pleasing you and not man thank you for your mercy and your patience with us may your name be lifted high your name we pray amen pray and pray and pray and pray and hear other