Our Blessed Hope
Our deliverance from this world of evil is imminent, and we must be ready.
Let us be filled with the joy of Jesus overflowing in our hearts and loving others as ourselves. We hate sin and do not condone it. We are assertive men who with boldness preach the throne of grace to all; in the blessed hope of the calling of the trumpet to usher us home to Him who loves us and calls us to glorify Him.
Titus 2:11-15 AMP For the [remarkable, undeserved] grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. (12) It teaches us to reject ungodliness and worldly (immoral) desires, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives [lives with a purpose that reflect spiritual maturity] in this present age, (13) awaiting and confidently expecting the [fulfillment of our] blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, (14) who [willingly] gave Himself [to be crucified] on our behalf to redeem us and purchase our freedom from all wickedness, and to purify for Himself a chosen and very special people to be His own possession, who are enthusiastic for doing what is good. [Deu_14:2; Psa_130:8; Eze_37:23] (15) Tell them these things. Encourage and rebuke with full authority. Let no one disregard or despise you [conduct yourself and your teaching so as to command respect].
I have no idea why eschatology (the study of end times) has such a small place in the hearts of most Pastors. I suspect it is due to the lack of emphasis in seminary courses. I have learned about end times due to my own diligent study.
Dr. Stephen Covey wrote a best-selling book called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is timeless because it focused on the human dignity of fairness, honesty, and integrity. One of the seven habits was to Begin With The End In Mind.
Dr. Covey was a Christian, and perhaps he had inspiration from the Holy Spirit in the writing of this book.
The last book of the Bible is Revelation and it details how the biblical narrative of the redemption of mankind completes. This book gives me great hope because I know my destiny is to be with Christ. We would all do well to make the study of Revelation a very high priority in our lives from now on because the end is closer than we all think.
The Blessing of Revelation
Revelation is the only book of the Bible that holds special blessings for the reader:
Revelation 1:3 AMP Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and who keep the things which are written in it [heeding them and taking them to heart]; for the time [of fulfillment] is near.
The Structure of Revelation
The entire book is a book of prophecy:
Revelation 1:1 AMP This is the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries], which God [the Father] gave to Him to show to His bond-servants (believers) the things which must soon take place [in their entirety]; and He sent and communicated it by His angel (divine messenger) to His bond-servant John,
Revelation 1:19 contains the overall structure of the book within the context of the book being a prophecy as shown above:
Revelation 1:19 AMP So write the things which you have seen [in the vision], and the things which are [now happening], and the things which will take place after these things.
Chapters 2 and 3 represent “the things which are now happening” but also represent prophetic words about the Church Age, and Chapters 4-5 represent a Divine Council setting of the worship of the raptured saints, while Chapters 6-22 are future and are reserved for Israel as per the 70th Week of the interpretation by Gabriel of Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7-9.
The Church Age
The 69th week of Daniel’s vision was completed with the stoning of Stephen in Acts Chapter 8, dated approximately 3.5 years after the death of Jesus. Paul was saved in Acts Chapter 9 and Acts 10 detail the visions of Peter and Cornelius leading to the blessing and inclusion of the Gentiles into the New Covenant.
After Acts Chapter 10, we start to see the spread of the gospel throughout the Roman Roads of Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, Africa, and Europe. This is the beginning of the Church Age, and in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, we see both the ills (Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea) and the obedience (Smyrna and Philadelphia) of the Church Age churches in modern-day Turkey.
So between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel, God places a pause on Israel and focuses on the Gentiles until, as Paul calls it, “the fullness of the Gentiles” has come in.
Romans 11:25 AMP I do not want you, believers, to be unaware of this mystery [God's previously hidden plan]--so that you will not be wise in your own opinion--that a partial hardening has [temporarily] happened to Israel [to last] until the full number of the Gentiles has come in;
These seven churches were also prophetic in their order. Of the seven, there were 5 that were under threat of having their Lampstands removed, or put another way, losing their divine blessing.
At this point, I would like to recognize the work of Tim LaHaye in his book Revelation Unmasked, where he detailed the prophetic nature of the order of the churches in Revelation.
Ephesus - this represents the church from around 50AD and was Paul’s shining glory church plant. Right in the heart of the pagan god worship, the Ephesian church was immensely enthusiastic in pursuing Paul’s teachings. However, some 40 years later, Jesus identifies that they had lost their first love, and that to love Jesus with all they had was the most important thing. They had fallen into works-based theology; they were eating the fruit of the vine without caring for the vine. Is this still apparent today?
Pergamum - this prophesied the marriage of the Church and State when Roman Emperor Constantine in 312AD declared the Roman Empire to be Christian. This put an end to Christian persecution and crucifixion was banned. The Church received land and titles and cash from Rome and from that time lost its independent worship of God.
Thyatira - from around 600AD with the ordination of the first Roman Catholic Pope. This era was a sexually immoral era of the controlling Jezebel spirit we see in 1 Kings 18-21 and culminated in the slaughter and persecution of all who were not Christian in the crusades throughout Europe.
Sardis - from around 1500AD where we see the Reformation led by Martin Luther, and later John Calvin. Their reputation was for being alive, but Jesus said they were dead. This age is what led to the outbreak of the denominations within the church. Every little slight emphasis created a schism and split after split. Jesus was right!
Laodicea - that brings us to our current modern cultural “lukewarm” Christianity, which commenced around 1850AD, with the industrialization of production methods. More people had jobs with good pay and conditions of existence began improving. Churches were established in every town in western civilization, but what were the partitioners being taught from the pulpit?
There were two churches in the Church Age of Revelation that did not have their Lampstands removed.
Smyrna - Smyrna is a Greek word meaning myrrh, a herb used in the embalming of bodies to reduce odor. This age commenced around 100AD and represents the age of martyrdom of Christians by the Romans. The ten days referred to in Revelation 2:10 refers to the ten Roman Emperors up to Constantine that murdered Christians.
Philadelphia - this is the faithful church of the open door that will be saved from the trial to come (the tribulation period). This age commences in the 17th Century and represents the great missionary expansion of the gospel to the nations. Some of the great preachers of our time are from the Church of Philadelphia, preachers like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitfield, followed later by Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, and A.W. Tozer.
So our job as the glorious remnant of God-fearing lovers of Christ is to move people from Laodicea to Philadelphia.
Seven is God’s divine number of completion. There is no 8th day of the week, and there is no 8th Letter. So Laodicea represents the completion of the Church Age.
We are not to know the day or the hour of Jesus’ return to bring His believers home, but it is imminent. We now know the season.
Time is running out! Are you ready?