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The Key To Symbolic
Language
Many people feel that it
is not time for the Revelation message, or else
feel that it is past. The enemy wants to shield
people from the greatest book in the Bible. Our
scripture text tells us, …the time is at
hand. It IS time to hear it. You cannot
"hear" it just because you read it. You must
"have ears to hear", a mind to hear, and a heart
to hear.
Most of know that the book of
Revelation was written in the Greek alphabet,
but more than being written in the Greek
alphabet, it was written in symbolic language.
Symbolic expressions are used throughout the
Bible because they are more descriptive. They
also "paint word pictures", which allows us to
more clearly "see" (understand) that which the
Word says to us. Through symbols, one word can
clear your mind and you will get the message
which might have taken several pages to write
out in words. Jesus called Herod "an old fox",
and He got the whole message across. In another
place, Jesus spoke of Himself as a vine; every
true Christian who is born again and grafted
into Him is another branch. Symbolic language
gets right to the point.
A second reason
for symbolic language is because interpretation
of words can become confusing. One reason people
do not get more truth is because the devil has
sold them on the idea, "That is your
interpretation, and I have mine." Words
may be interpreted in many different ways, but
symbols cannot. There is only one meaning when
the symbol is used.
Symbolic expressions
were used in the morning time, and also in a
great way today they are still being used, as
the means of conveying truth without stirring up
unnecessary persecution. In Jesus' time, in
John's time, and it is still pretty much so
today, no man could be charged in court because
he had written or read symbolic
language.
In order to understand the
symbols, we must have a key. It is necessary
that we have keys for everything. Without keys,
our vaults, automobiles, and homes would remain
locked. Jesus said in Revelation 1:18,
…I…have the keys of hell and of death. He
has the keys to all eternal things. He said in
John 13:3 that the Father put all things into
His hands. In Revelation 3:7, we read of Jesus,
…he that hath the key of David…openeth, and
no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man
openeth.
So many people have removed
Jesus from his rightful position in their lives.
He has been taken from His rightful position in
the channels of religion. Men are telling you
that they can "put you in" and "take you out" of
The Church. (They can do this in "their" church,
but NOT in THE CHURCH.) Men are prescribing
creeds and doctrines by which they say you must
abide, or you have no part with them. Friends,
Jesus and nobody else, has the key.
We
need to see Jesus as He is, today! In Revelation
the first chapter, we see Him as He is today. He
said, I am he that liveth, and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore…
What
was He before He became a LAMB? He was the Lion
of the Tribe of Judah. What was He when He rose
from the dead and ascended to the Father? He was
made head over all things to The Church, FAR
ABOVE all principalities and powers. You can
also get a picture of what Jesus will look like
when He comes again: in the first chapter of
Revelation. He was stirred with The Church in
the morning time, and He is stirred with The
Church today.
The Way
To Find True
Peace
There is too
much coming short of the real Church of God. So
many people have loosened Christ's hold on their
lives; that is why we have so many troubles! If
Christ had control of people's lives as they
"say" that He has, there would not be nearly the
problems in the lives of so-called Christians
that there are! Judgment needs to be put on The
Church now, as never before. How troubled our
world is today. How hard they have sought to
unlock peace, yet we are FURTHER FROM peace
today than we have ever been!
Science,
politics, education and even religion have
miserably failed. There is very little, if any
at all, peace in so many people's hearts who
"claim" to be Christians. Much that calls itself
religion (Christianity) has failed tragically.
They are fulfilling the words of the prophet,
crying, "Peace, peace," where there is NO peace,
where it is impossible to have peace. You can
run all over the country, try everything you
want, and wear yourself out, growing old doing
it, trying to find peace-but there is only ONE
place to find TRUE, GENUINE, LASTING peace:
Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY ONE who has the key
to peace.
Isaiah said in Isaiah 53:5,
… the chastisement of our peace was upon
him… He is the ONLY ONE Who took the
chastisement for our peace. We find in Proverbs
3:1,2 that in the keeping of His commandments,
peace is added to our lives. For length of
days, and long life, and peace, shall they add
to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee:
bind them about thy neck; write them upon the
table of thine heart. Isaiah 9:7 says, Of
the increase of his government and peace there
shall be no end… What did Isaiah mean?
The more you let Christ govern your life, the
greater your peace will be. Shall I repeat
that for you? It's certainly worth it: The more
you let Christ govern your life, the greater
your peace will be. There is NO end to His
government and His peace, but people refuse to
let Jesus govern their lives. They seek peace,
talk about peace, sing about peace, but they do
not have it. Now why is that???
Brothers
and Sisters, the ONLY place where REAL PEACE can
be found is where we make a 100% commitment, I
repeat, a 100% commitment of our lives into the
hands of Jesus Christ, and LET Him be the
governor of our lives. Here, let's go there
again: The ONLY place where REAL PEACE can be
found is where we make a 100% commitment of our
lives into the hands of Jesus Christ, and LET
Him be the governor of our lives. Oh no, no,
no-we just can't do that, can we? WE,
with all our "knowledge" (believe me, all that
we know is less than nothing compared to the
wisdom of God), WE want to be in control,
we want to be the dictator of all that
transpires in our lives, don't we? And then we
wonder how they get so fouled up??? And then we
add to the confusion and mass chaos by insisting
on trying to control others! Yet, there is a
solution: my friends, you CAN have peace
in an experience that IS everlasting.
Too
many feel that because they are saved and
sanctified, they have come to an end of His
government. I have a news flash for you: there
is NO END to His government, the same as there
is no end to Truth. God's Word is settled in
Heaven. The bottom of this spring is in Heaven.
It is God's eternal Word. It is infinite, all
powerful, and never
ending.
The
Purpose Of The
Revelation
God had a
purpose in sending the Revelation. When He told
John to write down what he heard, He told John
to send it to the seven churches. EVERY ONE of
the seven letters ends this way: "He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches," letting it open out to any
congregation, anywhere, that needs that
particular truth.
What is the purpose? He
begins in the first chapter by opening our minds
to the purpose. There we see a vision of Christ
walking in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks, representing the seven
congregations of The Church. The letters were
given to THOSE congregations, and Jesus so
positively said to five of the seven, "Repent,
or else." The first purpose of the Revelation is
for everyone to know that He is STILL in charge.
We need to see a repeated vision of Christ as He
is today.
So many people think that
Christ, or Christ's leadership, Christ's
authority, Christ's power, ended when He "went
back" to Heaven. Apparently, they must-they hold
Him in such little regard any more. Let me tell
you this: Jesus Christ is STILL in full control
of all. I said, Jesus Christ is STILL in full
control of ALL. Not only has He NOT lost any of
His authority or power, He sent us "The
Comforter", the Holy Ghost, to abide within us,
even TODAY! These lies from the pits of hell
that it all "ended" when Jesus died, or when He
ascended to Heaven, or when the "last apostle"
died is just that: lies from the pits of hell to
delude and deceive!
Now I want you to
notice something MOST vital: The Revelation is
NOT written like a book wherein you read chapter
after chapter. It it written in SEVEN series. A
series begins in a certain place in the
Revelation and carries you through a portion of
the Gospel Day, clear up to the end. This is how
you can know when a series ends: that series
brings you up to the threshold of the second
coming of Christ. Then the next chapter will
start another series.
There are SEVEN
series:
- Chapters One through Three
are the letters to the seven churches in Asia,
or letters that cover seven periods of time.
- The
second series is Chapters Four and Five, a
vision of God's throne and the government of The
Church, the opening of God's plan of salvation,
and how God lined out His people in the
government of The Church.
- The
third series is Chapters Six through Eleven: the
opening of the seven seals and the consequences
that follow.
- The
fourth series is Chapter Twelve: the parental
phase of The Church, showing the pure woman, The
Church, bringing forth her new converts, and the
power of Pagan Rome working in that day to
devour her converts.
- The
fifth series, Chapters Thirteen through
Nineteen, shows the false systems of religion
brought forth by the devil and how The Church
overcame them.
- Chapter Twenty is a series
in itself, picturing the binding and the loosing
of the dragon.
- The
seventh series, Chapters Twenty One and Twenty
Two, gives a clear vision of The Church in the
evening time, letting us see, Thank God, that
she is just as complete, perfect, and powerful
in the evening time as she was in the morning
time.
John knew all about the
morning-time church, but an angel, a messenger
or a minister, had to show him the evening-time
church.
John's
Vision
We are going
to study the pouring out of the seven last
plagues, or vials, of God's judgment on
everything false. When John was talking about
Heaven, he was sitting on the Isle of Patmos.
God gave him a panoramic vision stretched across
the sky. We read in Revelation 9:17, And thus
I saw the horses in the vision… He let us
know over and over that it was just a
vision; he did NOT see actual
happenings. He saw a vision of things
that would happen right here on earth after
his day(s).
Before we begin reading
the 15th Chapter of Revelation, I want to
clarify something. A sign throughout the
Revelation means that it is a prophecy, a token
of something else coming. Many people trying to
teach prophecy get the sign of Christ's
coming confused with His actual coming.
The sign of His coming is one thing, and
His actual coming is quite another! As an
illustration, when you see a sign that says,
"Drink Coca-Cola," you cannot stop and drink
(from the sign). It is just an advertisement
telling you about Coca-Cola. As John was
watching this portion of the vision, he was told
to write what he saw.
In Revelation
15:1,2, he wrote: And I saw another sign in
heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels
having the seven last plagues; for in them is
filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were
a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that
had gotten the victory over the beast, and over
his image, and over his mark, and over the
number of his name, stand on the sea of glass,
having the harps of God.
Now I want
you to note some things: the "seven angels" are
seven messengers or seven ministers. The "sea of
glass" is a symbol of the Word of God. As you
look into it, you see yourself as you truly are.
You seek Jesus, and then look to the power of
the Holy Ghost. He changes you into that same
image. In the Old Testament, the sea of glass
was that brazen place where the priest washed
before he entered the temple (tabernacle). It
was a type of the reality of the New
Testament.
Paul said in Ephesians
5:25,26, Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word. That
washing was a type of God's Word. So John saw a
sea of glass there in Revelation 15:2. The
"fire" that was mingled in the "sea of glass" is
the fire of the Holy Spirit. So, so far John had
seen people standing on a Word that is anointed,
that is preached, which is "mingled with
fire".
John said, … I saw another sign
in heaven, great and marvelous… There are
not too many people who think the minister
pouring out the vials of God's wrath on all
falsity is great or marvelous. There, the
ministers were with the last plagues, vials full
and running over with the wrath of God. John
thought it was great and marvelous because of
what it was going to produce. It produced a
people with victory over the beast and his
image, a people with clear lives, a people with
harps, praising God for His wonderful
goodness.
How To
Find Strength And
Courage
Another
purpose for the Revelation was to bring
encouragement and strength to God's people, and
it will STILL do it. Some congregations never
will be strong until they are taught some of
these divine truths. What was the first thing
Jesus said to the Churches? "Grace divine,
strength and peace be unto you. Blessed are you
if you will read, hear, and keep this Book. It
will bring strength back to you." Blessed is
he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are
written therein: for the time is at hand.
Revelation 1:3.
The devil is robbing us
poor of our praises, of our overcoming power, of
the real victory God wants us to enjoy. Men and
women in the past have laid down their lives,
and nothing could stop them from going forward
and living for God. Too many are so spiritually
weak today.
I want to ask you a question:
are you a part of the TRUE Church of God? Take a
look. Do you have a harp? If you have a harp,
are you free to play it? You can get in a
condition where your harp is hung on the willow.
Brothers and Sisters, if you look at the world,
and look at the situations going on, it will get
anybody down, but the Bible tells us, Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith… Hebrews 12:2.
You cannot look
unto Jesus and get discouraged. I said, you
canNOT look unto Jesus and get discouraged. If
you are operating under a spirit of
discouragement, you are looking somewhere OTHER
THAN unto Jesus. No one has ever gotten
discouraged looking unto Jesus. The devil tries
to get us to look at something else: all our
problems, all our burdens, the shape the world
is in, the problems we have in our schools, the
problems we have on our jobs. Look unto
Jesus!!
The Revelation was sent for
encouragement and strength. Who needed
encouragement? John needed it, and many others
who were living on the earth at that time. Why
did they need encouragement? They had watched
false religion work; they had watched the power
of Satan work through false religion. They had
watched their brethren (and sisters) thrown to
the animals, burned at the stake, beaten,
misused, and chased out of town.
Jesus
was saying that it was enough: there was message
for them and for us. If you will read the entire
book of Revelation, you will see that millions
of others who were being misused needed an
encouraging message. They had already felt false
religion's sting. They were made to wonder if
God would ever come to the rescue and put His
judgment on it.
This message was not only
for the saints here on earth. You can read in
Revelation 6:9 and 10 that under the altar the
souls of them that had been slain and had made
it to Glory asked God "how long" before He would
bring vengeance and judgment down on the powers
and systems that were working so against real
salvation. The Revelation is an answer to that
cry. They had pleaded for judgment, and now it
was time for the wrath of God to be poured out
through the preaching of the Word against those
false systems.
Pouring
Out The Plagues Of
Judgment
When God
pours out preliminary judgment today, the same
kind of judgment you are going to meet in the
last day, except it is poured out early, it is
called preliminary judgment. God, through
preliminary judgment is judging you in mercy
when He pours out judgment on a condition that
is wrong. Why? He could just let you live right
on up to the final judgment and come up short,
and be cast away into eternal torment. Instead,
through preliminary judgment, through the
pouring out of His Word, He lets us see our true
condition while there is still time to "get
right"!
There are lots of things today
that man tells you about sin. They say that God
smiles on it, but the Bible says that God HATES
sin. It is an abomination to Him! Preliminary
judgment brings out the hidden works of
darkness, so that man may see and flee before it
is everlastingly too late.
Why are the
plagues called the seven last plagues? The
plagues were poured out on Pharaoh in Egypt, and
before God poured out any of the plagues, He
said, "Let my people go." Oh yes, He did. He
gave ole' Pharaoh the opportunity to soften his
hardened heart and do that which was right, but
each time, Pharaoh refused. Today, God's people
have gotten hooked up in religious organizations
and societies that are abominations to God.
There are honest hearts who are not saved in the
darkness of these things, and God, in His love
and mercy, is pouring out the vials of wrath,
the plagues. What does He want? He wants His
people loosed, whoever they are and wherever
they are, so they can serve and worship Him in
spirit and in truth as He has
ordained.
God is pouring out the plagues
of truth and judgment so that the truth will set
you free. Judgment is part of truth. I said,
judgment is part of truth. Jesus said, And ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. John 8:32. Hallelujah! People need
to hear the truth about false religion today.
Some people say, "Now, don't say anything about
them." It is almost to the place where they
charge you with being "unChristian" if you tell
people the TRUTH of God's Word about false
religion!
There will not be a child of
God left in Babylon (false religion) before
Jesus comes. Read Revelation 18:1,2. Babylon
will completely become the habitation of devils:
And after these things I saw another angel
come down from heaven, having great power; and
the earth was lightened with his glory. And he
cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of
every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean
and hateful bird. Jesus is trying to set
people free-of course, in order to do so, they
have to be willing to accept freedom, and we get
freedom from where? From the TRUTH. It is the
TRUTH that sets us free! According to the
Revelation, those vials are filled up with the
wrath of God.
In Revelation 15:6, you can
read: And the seven angels came out of the
temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in
pure and white linen, and having their breasts
girded with golden girdles. These are the
seven angels (ministers; messengers) that came
out of the temple clothed in pure and white
linen. I must keep myself pure inside and clean
outside. They had golden girdles around their
breasts. Friends, God's wrath is stirred. Why is
He so stirred? Christ's offices and Christ's
authority have been usurped by men. The Pope of
Rome used the expression, "Dominus Deus Noster
Papa", which means "I am Lord God, the Pope." I
want you to understand this VERY CLEARLY: the
"Pope" is NOT Lord God! Men today have usurped
offices that belong to Jesus Christ
alone.
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