(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Right, we're here in Revelation chapter one, and we talked about Revelation chapter one last week, but we didn't actually get into verse by verse. And today we're gonna be going through the entire book of, the entire chapter, Revelation chapter one. It is gonna be a long sermon though, because I have six pages of notes, and usually I have four. At most I have five, so I'll try to move quickly. But if you wanna take notes, because on Wednesdays it's more about verse by verse, if you have a bulletin with you or something such as that, you're welcome to take notes during the sermon because I'll probably cover a lot of interesting things, maybe things that are new to you. And so we're here in Revelation chapter one, and let's just get into the first verse where it says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave on to him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. Now, as a review from last week, it says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which means what's being talked about will be revealed. That is what revelation means, to reveal. And so the book of Revelation is not super confusing, where you cannot understand it. No, in the first verse it says this is gonna be revealed to you, and I think you'll see as we go on week by week, if you stay with us, that there's a lot of stuff that maybe seem complicated, but it's actually very clear, and the Bible actually gives you the answers. Now, there are complicated things in the book of Revelation, but by and large, like most of the Bible, most stuff is just on the surface and you can understand. And let me just say right up front, what we believe in terms of the timing of the rapture, we do not believe that we go through God's wrath, but we do believe we go through the tribulation. We believe that we're basically pre-wrath and post-trip. Usually people think of the wrath of God and the tribulation as being both seven years. The Bible does not teach that, though. Now, I'm not gonna be covering every single week, though, the timing of the rapture, because that's a small part of Revelation, okay? But I encourage you to stick with us, because I don't wanna just jump ahead in this chapter by chapter series, especially in Revelation 6 and 7 and 8, we'll talk about the timing of the rapture. We're not gonna cover that necessarily in every chapter, although there is some information that's gonna give us some hints. But here we are in verse number one, and what I want you to see here is this, where it says, which must shortly come to pass, okay? Now, obviously, this was written 2,000 years ago. In our perspective, this is not a short amount of time. We only live 100 years, you know, if we're lucky, if we're in good health and God blesses us. So to us, 2,000 years is a long period of time. But in God's perspective, 2,000 years is not, because He is outside of time. We're created in time. And so when it says things which must shortly come to pass, not everything in the book of Revelation just came to pass like that. I mean, we're 2,000 years later, and we're still waiting for these events to occur, okay? Now, there are things that are in the present day that it's gonna mention in the book of Revelation, but most of the book of Revelation is in the future, and this was written 2,000 years ago. In God's perspective, though, that's not a lot of time, okay? But I want you to see in verse one also, it says, which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants things, okay? The reason why God gave John this information was because He would show it to other people. There would be no reason for John to know this information when he's 2,000 years away from this unless he's passing it on to other people. There is no purpose, okay? Now turn back in your Bible to Daniel 12. Daniel 12. See, I want you to understand that when it comes to actually reading your Bible and learning the Word of God, if you never actually use what you learn, there's a good chance God's just not gonna give you the information because there's no purpose for you to learn. But if you're actually gonna use the information that you read in the Bible, then God can show you great truths because you're gonna pass it on. If you're not willing to pass it on, what's the purpose of Him showing that to you? See, what it said in Revelation is to show unto His servants. That is the reason why God gave the information to John is because He knew He would pass it on to other people, okay? Daniel chapter 12, Daniel 12 verse 8. And we looked at this last week, but I wanna talk about something a little bit different here. Daniel 12 verse 8, Daniel 12 verse 8, and I heard, but I understood not. Then said I, oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? So Daniel wants to know, hey, you know, you've given me this information, but I don't fully understand it. What's gonna be the end of this? Verse 9, and he said, go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. What Daniel is told is you don't need this information because you're not gonna live when it's gonna take place. It's sealed up until the end, thousands of years later. So Daniel, it's just not important for you to understand this information. That's what he's telling you. See, I want you to understand that there might be certain things we read in the Bible that maybe we don't fully understand, but maybe there's not really a purpose for us to understand that. Maybe we're not at that stage in life. Just think about being like a parent, raising kids. Look, I was a saved person who read the Bible many times before I had kids. And you know what? Information about raising kids is not really something I needed to know at that time. Now that I do have kids, when I'm reading the Bible, I'm like, man, I can apply this and this and this, and so there's information I can use, okay? But also think about people that are preachers. When you have preachers that refuse to preach the Word of God, does God have a purpose to give them information and understand scripture if they won't preach it? There's no purpose to it. And you listen to some preachers that have been preaching for 25 years, and they don't have a lot of knowledge. Look, I am not an old man. I'm 35 years old, okay? I'm not an old man, and I'm not trying to sit up here and say I know more than everybody because there's plenty of people that know more about the Bible than me. But look, I am confident that when I preach sermons, people learn new things. But there's a lot of preachers you listen to, and you literally learn this much information in sermons. You learn nothing, and the reality is, if they're not willing to use the things that they're going to read, God might just not give them the knowledge. There's no purpose. With John, there was a purpose for him learning it because he's passing it on to other people. Turn back to Revelation 1, Revelation chapter 1. I mean, the Bible does say, He that win its souls is wise, and the Bible says the people that are soul winners are going to have wisdom, and a large part of that wisdom is understanding the Word of God. And look, you talk to some people, and it's like they don't understand the Bible, and they're saved. They've got the spirit of truth inside of them, but they just don't understand the Bible. And it could be because if they refuse to apply the things that they're actually going to learn, God might just say, There's no purpose for you to learn it to begin with. And that's the reality. Okay, Revelation chapter 1, Revelation chapter 1, verse 2. Notice what it says. And it says in verse 1, Things which must shortly come to pass, and he sinned and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. So we know this was written by John, who bare record, and this is not John the Baptist. This is different John, one of the sons of thunder. Verse 2, who bare record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. And so once again, John gets this information, and when he learns this, he bears record of the Word of God. He preaches it. He teaches it. He teaches about the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw, every single thing he saw. When you read the Bible, if you're a preacher, you must preach everything you see, everything in the Bible. You don't hold anything back. There is no topic that we're just going to avoid preaching on. We must preach on everything, everything the Bible has to offer. And look, the Bible covers all areas of your life, whether it's in terms of how do you get to heaven, whether it's in terms of how to raise kids, how to be a good husband, how to be a good wife, how to be a good employee, how to be a good boss. It covers everything in the Bible, okay? And so we're going to cover everything because everything that I see, everything I learn, I need to pass it on, and if I refuse to, God's not going to give me new knowledge because I'm not bearing record of the Word of God. That is the reason why John got this is because he was willing to bear record of the Word of God. And I want to highlight where it says, the testimony of Jesus Christ. What does it mean by the testimony of Jesus Christ? Turn to John chapter three, John three, John chapter three, and this is going to be very important later on in the sermon, understanding what the testimony of Jesus Christ is. The testimony of Jesus Christ. And so the Word of God is, when it said bear record of the Word of God, that's just the Word of God in general. When he's saying he bear record of the testimony of Jesus Christ, what it's referring to is actually preaching the gospel, actually being a soul winner. And we can see that in John chapter three, John three verse 32, and what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony, referring to Jesus Christ, hath said to his seal that God is true. So the Bible says that it's not our testimony that saves anybody, it's the testimony of Jesus Christ. So what is the testimony of Jesus Christ? That Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, he was the son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, he came, he died for our sins, he was buried, and three days later he rose again. That is the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so when people go on and on for 20 minutes about their personal testimony, about how they used to drink, they used to smoke, they used to listen to bad music, and then they just gave up their life and gave it to God, their testimony, that doesn't save anybody. The Bible says receiving the testimony of Jesus Christ is what saves you, okay? Because it's not what we do, it's what Jesus did. So when we go soul winning, we don't talk about how we changed our lives and things such as that. No, we talk about Jesus died for you, he was buried, he rose again. We show them the verses, and then we hope they'll believe on Jesus and get saved. But me talking about the changes I've made in my life since I was 18 years old, that doesn't save anybody, okay? Now obviously if somebody gets saved and they start coming to church, you can maybe help them with changes they're making in their lives by telling your personal story and things such as that, but that's not part of the gospel. The gospel is that Jesus died, was buried, and he rose again, and that is what saves the testimony of Jesus Christ. So John, who wrote the book of Revelation, was a soul winner. Now that should not surprise us. He bare record of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and everybody that wrote a book in the Bible was a soul winner, okay? Go back to Revelation 1, Revelation chapter 1, I mean it makes sense if he that win its souls is wise, and you're going to have the wisdom to write the word of God, it makes sense that everyone who wrote the word of God was a soul winner, okay? And John was because he bare record of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and in John 3 we see that is what actually saves you, okay? Revelation 1 verse 2, Revelation 1 verse 2, who bare record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. So we understand he's bearing record of the word of God, he's preaching everything in the Bible, all things he saw and all things that he's going to see in these chapters, he bare record of it, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, he was a soul winner. So it looks like soul winning worked 2,000 years ago. Look like it worked everywhere. Everywhere he lived, every time period, soul winning has always worked, okay? Now look at verse number 3, it says, blessed is he that readeth, and they did hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. And so I want you to understand that it says the person who reads this prophecy and hears this prophecy referring to the book of Revelation because it's this prophecy. Now I believe any part of the word of God you read you're going to get a blessing and understanding and it will help train you and teach you, but it's specifically referring to the book of Revelation here in verse 3 where it says if you read and you hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein. Why is this going to give you a special blessing? Because for the time is at hand. The time is at hand. Now what does it mean to be at hand? At hand means it's about to happen. Now at first glance you might say, Brother Stuckey, it's been 2,000 years and there's certain events that must take place before Jesus comes back. Yeah, but what you have to understand is not all of what's talked about in Revelation is just the coming of Jesus Christ. When it says the time is at hand, he'll talk about in this chapter persecution. He's our companion in persecution and tribulation. And guess what? That's at hand because of the fact we get persecuted today. They got persecuted 1,000 years ago and 2,000 years ago. And so the events, although the end times when Jesus comes back has not taken place yet, the time was at hand for these events to start to happen, the persecution. You see basically the enemies of God that persecute us. Look at the Roman Catholic Church since the fourth century A.D., persecuting and killing Christians. The time was at hand in the fourth century. Not the time at hand meaning the return of Jesus Christ, but the persecution which all Christians will go through, those events were at hand. They were about to take place and they were taking place because John said he was the companion in tribulation. So he went through that in the first century A.D. And all of God's people will go through that. So although the book of Revelation is going to reveal about the end times, a lot of these things apply to our lives today or 1,000 years ago or 2,000 years ago, okay? Because everyone that lives godly shall suffer persecution. So many of these things were at hand happening, okay? Verse number four, verse four, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be on to you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Now he talks about the seven churches in Asia. Now the next two Wednesdays we'll talk about the seven churches in Asia. We'll go in depth about that. It only briefly mentions it here in verse four, but all of chapter two and all of chapter three are about the seven literal churches that existed during that time period. And we'll talk about that next week. But I want you to see also at the end where it says, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, from the seven spirits which are before his throne, you say, what is that referring to, okay? Now there's a lot of different ideas about this because some things that are really in depth, you could have a lot of different opinions, and I'll be completely honest with you. I do not fully know what the seven spirits are, okay? There's a lot of different theories I've heard. One of the big theories is that in Isaiah chapter 11, and we don't have time to go there, but they'll say, well, those are the seven spirits of God. I don't believe they are because when I count those, I only read six. The first spirit mentioned is kind of like an overview, and then there's six other ones mentioned, but I could be wrong. The first one mentioned is the spirit of God, so I don't think that's referring to one. And what you see in Isaiah 11, you don't have to turn there, but it says the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and wisdom and understanding are grouped together, and you can see how wisdom and understanding are very similar. Then it says counsel and might, and then knowledge and fear of the Lord. So groups two, two, and two together. I don't think that's what the seven spirits are, but I will tell you this. The book of Revelation actually does give us more information about the seven spirits. Turn to Revelation chapter 4. So I'll show you what I know about it, and you can kind of come to your own conclusions about this, and we're going to look at a lot of places in the Bible here about the seven spirits. But I want to show you something the Bible directly mentions about these spirits. Revelation 4 verse 5, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. What are the seven lamps of fire? Which are the seven spirits of God. So the seven lamps of fire are the seven spirits of God. Now let me say this, when it mentions the spirit that does not necessarily mean it's an angel or a fallen angel, like, oh, it's some, you know, in the occult realm or something like that, it doesn't necessarily mean that, because when I mentioned in Isaiah 11, it talked about the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of understanding. It's not necessarily like an angel or something like that. Sometimes spirit refers to different things. But what the seven spirits of God are, are the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Well, what are the seven lamps of fire? Return to Exodus 25, Exodus 25, and as I mentioned, I'm not 100% sure, but when we're cross-referencing, we don't have to just look up the seven spirits. We can also look up the seven lamps of fire, okay? Now the other place, the first one I referenced is Isaiah 11, where it talks about different spirits, and it could be those are the seven spirits. I don't personally think that, but I could be wrong, okay? But it mentions seven spirits in Isaiah 11, and then it mentions in Revelation 4, verse 5, the seven lamps of fire are the seven spirits of God, okay? We go a little bit deeper on Wednesdays. We go verse by verse. We try to cover everything, okay? Isaiah 25, verse 37, and thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, Exodus 25, verse 37, and thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof that they may give light over against it. So it mentions seven lamps in Exodus 25. Turn to Exodus 37, Exodus 37, Exodus chapter 37. There's actually several references where it mentions seven lamps, seven lamps, seven lamps, and I'm sure that there's symbolism there towards this, but I haven't fully necessarily tied this all together. But notice what it says in Exodus chapter 37. See, I thought we were studying Revelation, and we're in the books of Moses, like what in the world? Exodus chapter 37, verse 23, and he made his seven lamps and his snuffers and his snuff dishes of pure gold. So once again, it mentions seven lamps. Now turn to Numbers chapter 8, Numbers 8. Now Numbers 8 will give us a little bit more information, which clearly is giving symbolism towards Revelation, okay? Numbers chapter 8, Numbers chapter 8. Your fourth book in your Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Numbers 8, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and Sandam, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. Now what's interesting about this in verse number 2 is it says seven lamps will give light over against the candlestick, and in the book of Revelation, in chapter 1, we're going to see seven candlesticks refer to seven churches. A candlestick is given as the symbolism for being a church, and here it's mentioning the seven lamps before over against the candlestick, okay, which is very similar to Revelation, okay? Now turn to Zechariah chapter 4, Zechariah chapter 4. I say, Brother Stuckey, this is confusing. Well, there are some deep things in the book of Revelation. The Bible speaks about the deep things of God, and some things to understand we do have to search out. Now what we're going to see, though, is that the timing of the rapture in future sermons, that is actually not complicated. And so people see a lot of symbolism, and they think everything in Revelation is confusing. Not everything in Revelation is confusing, but there are some deep things, and we're looking at something very deep right now. Zechariah chapter 4, verse 2, Zechariah chapter 4, verse 2, this is your second to last book in your Old Testament, Zechariah, Malachi. Zechariah chapter 4, verse 2, And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof. Now you have to understand that Zechariah largely talks about the end times. The books of Moses not so much, but the book of Zechariah is one of your big end times books. And a lot of it is symbolism toward the end times, and in verse 3 we see it's clearly talking about the end times, so it makes sense that in verse 2 when it's talking about the seven lamps and the seven pipes that this is referencing towards the end times. Verse 3, And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. As we mentioned last week, these two olive trees which we'll see during the Revelation series are Moses and Elijah. That's what I believe the Bible teaches, and so this is referencing to the end times when Moses and Elijah will be here during the end. But notice verse 4, you say, Brother Stuckey, what are these? What does this mean? Well, notice verse 4, So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? And Zechariah is seeing these things, and he's confused about it. Now I believe when he says, What are these, my lord? I believe he's referring to both the olive trees and the seven lamps and the seven pipes and all of it, to be honest. I don't believe he's just referring to the olive trees, although later in the chapter he goes specifically talking about the olive trees, but I don't believe he understood any of it. I think he's seeing all these things like lamps and pipes and olive trees, and he's like, Man, just explain any of it. It's like, What are these? I don't know what any of this is. I believe he's referring to all of it. Verse five. Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? He's like, You don't know what this is? And I said, No, my lord. And so what I'm telling you here today is I do believe I know what the two olive trees are. I'm not for sure what the seven lamps are, though, and I believe it is possible that this might still be sealed up where we cannot necessarily know this. Why? Because we're not at the end times yet. I believe there's things in the Book of Revelation that we cannot fully understand, but maybe in 50 years they might be able to understand it because the world will be a different place. The Bible speaks about every eye seeing Jesus when he returns, and we'll see that later on in this chapter. And that was probably pretty confusing to people thousands of years ago. But with cell phones and TVs and all that stuff and this information being the Bible speaks about the two witnesses being killed and everybody's gonna see it. It's like, How would everybody see this? But with cell phones and TV and the Internet makes a lot more sense today. And so it is possible with these seven lamps that maybe we don't have that knowledge. I'm not sure. Turn to Revelation one Revelation Chapter one, Revelation Chapter one. And so what I try to do, and I'll do this during the Book of Revelation. If there are things where I say this is what the Bible teaches, I'll tell you this is what it is. Okay, there's no questions about it. But there are probably gonna be some things I cover, and I'm like, You know, I'm not for sure exactly what that's talking about. Okay, Revelation Chapter one, verse five, Revelation one, verse five, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. First, it says Jesus Christ is the faithful witness and look, no man is completely faithful. But Jesus Christ was without sin. He is the faithful witness, always faithful. It says the first begotten of the dead. Okay, now Jesus Christ is the first begotten of the dead. This is different than the only begotten son. Okay, Jesus is the only begotten son. He's the only one that proceeds directly from God. Okay, that came from God, he has God's nature because he has always existed in the beginning was the word. But when it says the first begotten of the dead, what that's saying is that one day we will also have new bodies given to us. When the rapture comes, we're going to get our new bodies, we're going to meet the Lord in the air, the Bible says, those that are dead in Christ arise first, the Bible speaks about that. So Jesus is the first begotten of the dead. But he's not the only begotten of the dead, but he is the first, okay, and the prince of the kings of the earth, obviously, Jesus is above all the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. The proof of Jesus loving us is the fact that he washed us from our sins in his own blood. That's what it's saying. He loved us. What's the proof? He died for us. Okay. And realize this, it says he washed us from our sins in his own blood. Okay. Now, I don't want to go into too big of a rabbit trail, but the Bible is very specific that the blood of Jesus matters. But if Jesus just jumped off a cliff, remember when the devil was talking to Jesus, just jump off a cliff is what he told him. If Jesus had done that, guess what? That wouldn't have paid for our sins. He had to die of blood shedding death. Okay. Throughout the Old Testament, you see that there's significance. So when we sing songs like, are you washed in the blood? There is power in the blood. There is a fountain. All those, when I see the blood, those songs are significant because the blood of Jesus matters. Every year, we take communion around Easter time here. And we remember, you know, as we take grape juice, we remember Jesus dying and paying for our sins. It would not have been good enough if he just jumped off a cliff. Okay. He had to actually die of blood shedding death. That is what it says in Revelation 1. Now, I think that's pretty obvious and most people would agree, but there's a famous false prophet named John MacArthur who disagrees with that. He says it doesn't matter about the blood of Jesus. The only thing that's significant is that he died. Well, not according to Revelation chapter 1 verse 5. What it says in Revelation 1 verse 5 is the fact that his blood actually was significant. Verse 6, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. We are kings and priests. It's known as the priesthood of the believers. In the Old Testament, you would have the Levitical priesthood. You had to come from the tribe of Levi to be a priest. But all of us are kings and priests, the Bible says. It's known as the priesthood of the believers. Now verse number 7, and verse 7 is a very significant one. He says in Revelation 1 verse 7, behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him, even so amen. Now look at what it says, behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. Every eye means every eye. When Jesus returns, everybody will see him. Every eye shall see him. Now if you're familiar with the pre-trib rapture, what they teach is this, that when Jesus comes back, nobody's going to know what happened. All of a sudden people are going to be raptured up in heaven and people are rallying, where did everybody go? What happened to everybody? They say it's a secret rapture that nobody sees, whereas the Bible says here in verse 7, every eye shall see him. Now I've listened to a lot of pre-trib pastors and I'll be doing that over these next 22 weeks to hear their arguments on verses and let me just tell you what they're all going to say here in verse 7. They're going to say in verse 7, this is not the coming of Jesus to rapture up believers into heaven. They say this has nothing to do with the rapture when it says he cometh with clouds, although the Bible speaks in other places about when he comes with clouds to rapture people. They say don't confuse the rapture with the second coming of Jesus. Now look, the first coming of Jesus was when Jesus died for us 2,000 years ago. So logically to me if he's going to be coming again, it would make sense that would be the second coming. But no, apparently he comes but that doesn't count and then there's the second coming according to them. I mean it's very confusing. In verse 7 they'll say this is not the rapture. They say every eye is going to see him when he comes and pours out his wrath but when Jesus comes and raptures everyone else up, everyone to heaven, nobody's going to see him. It's going to be a secret rapture, it will happen in the twinkly of an eye like a thief in the night, nobody's going to see it. But look, if you're just looking at this logically, this is referring to when he raptures everyone. He's going to rapture and then pour out his wrath right afterwards. When you line up everything in the Bible, this is very clearly what's taking place. But let me just think about this logically because I'm not going to talk fully about the timing of the rapture tonight because that's in future sermons. But look, the book of Revelation is about the end times. Does it really make sense if he's going to come back two more times that it will make reference to the second time he's going to come back here in the future but not the first time? I mean if he's going to come back two more times, doesn't it make sense they would mention the first time before the second time? But you know, here's what a lot of preachers and pastors are going to say. They're going to tell you this, the book of Revelation never mentions the rapture, not one time. And what I heard some say is it will kind of make reference because the church is gone and stuff like that. But don't think that the book of Revelation is about the rapture because it has nothing to do with the rapture. I mean what's the purpose of it then? Okay? No, the rapture's mentioned throughout. You're going to see a great multitude in heaven in Revelation chapter 7. It's very clearly the rapture. You see that many times in the book of Revelation. And look, if we're just reading verse 7 without preconceived ideas, put aside your preconceived ideas that basically this rapture's going to be secret and basically nobody's going to know what happens. If you read verse 7, it looks like Jesus, when he comes back, everybody's going to see him. And look, when Jesus comes back, he will rapture and so we're going to be going through tribulation but he's going to come back. He's going to spare us through that tribulation and then he's going to pour out his wrath on the people left on earth that are not saved. Okay? So it's a post-trib but pre-wrath rapture because he's going to take us before he pours out his wrath. And look, I've heard people use these straw man arguments. I've heard Baptist pastors say, well I just don't believe that God would just have a house full of believers and then just set it on fire and burn them. Look, we don't go through God's wrath. We don't believe we go through God's wrath. We get raptured and then he pours out his wrath so they put up a straw man. Look, the pre-wrath, post-trib rapture, we don't, it's pre-wrath, it's before the wrath of God. He has not appointed us unto wrath but all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and tribulation. That happens to everyone in all ages, including those during the end times. Okay? Acts 1, Acts chapter 1. See the Bible says that when he comes, every eye shall see him. Every eye shall see him. Okay? Now let us get a bit of an understanding because in Acts chapter 1 we're going to see a reference to his coming. Okay? As he's talking to his followers. Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. Now verse 8 is the very famous verse about soul winning and reaching the world but I want you to notice verse 9. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. So basically, all of a sudden Jesus is speaking to them in verse 8 he says I want you to reach the world with the gospel and then while they're beholding him, while they're looking on him, all of a sudden he just goes up. And they start looking up in the air, he's just going up to heaven, okay? Verse number 10, and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel. Notice how verse 10 is worded, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up. See if you quickly read over this, you might think Jesus just shot up like a rocket in like half a second. But no, they're watching him go up. It's not happening just like this because they're watching him as he went up. It's just like slowly they're watching, he's getting higher and higher and everyone's just watching, okay? It doesn't just happen like that. Why is that significant? Well verse 11, which also said, because two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Now how did he go into heaven? They watched him ascend, it didn't just happen in half a second. They watched him ascend, this is what, because if it happens in half a second, it's like oh whoops, I blinked, I missed it. That's what they say. But no, they're watching him go and he's going to come in like manner, okay? And so look, when he's coming, this is obviously referring when he's coming back and he's going to rap for everyone, okay? And he's going to come in like manner where everyone's going to actually watch him, okay? That's what we're seeing in Acts chapter 1. So once again, when he comes, he's going to rapture and then he's going to pour out his wrath and we're all going to see him come, okay? Turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. And so we're going to look at a few verses that people kind of take out of context and as I mentioned when we started, I've got six pages of notes. This is going to be a long sermon, okay? It's probably going to be the longest sermon during this series but I don't want to leave anything in Revelation 1 out, okay? So we'll probably take a break after about two and a half hours and then we're not, I'm just kidding. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. This is referring to when he's coming back. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. Now notice in verse 52 it says, in the twinkling of an eye. And so people that believe in a preacher rapture say, well see, he just comes in the twinkling of an eye. No, we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. It doesn't say he's going to come, boom, in the twinkling of an eye. No, no, we shall be changed. That is what the context is. So yes, we'll be changed, we'll be going from basically we're dead to boom, we have our new bodies. That's what's going to take place. That doesn't mean he's just going to descend in the twinkling of an eye. We shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. That is what the context is. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 Thessalonians 5. And so they try to use 1 Corinthians 15 verse 52 and say, we'll see when Jesus comes. No one's going to see it and it's like, you know, and the twinkling of an eye is less than the blink of an eye. Okay, it's that little gaze that happens in your eye like really, really fast. And so it's like in one millisecond, boom, all of a sudden, everyone's gone. And it's like, nobody knows what happened. Okay, now, first off, here's what's so foolish about this. Everybody knows that Christianity teaches that Jesus is coming back. Look, if everybody was gone, then people would realize, okay, if the preacher rapture was true, they would realize, oh, wow, I guess I missed the rapture. But supposedly, just 50 million people vanished. And everyone's just like, oh, I don't know, maybe, maybe Coronavirus got them. I didn't even find out about it. I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. Okay. It's, it's, it's laughable. And if you've ever seen these movies, like Left Behind and stuff like that. It's just like, you know, half of an airplane's gone. Look, when you go soul winning, if you had an airplane full of Baptists, there wouldn't be half gone. Look, most people are not saved. Right. 80% of this country is Catholic. 80%. Now, are there Catholics, people that we do get saved, and then they stick with the Catholic church? I'm sure there are. But look, nobody gets saved because they're priest gifts from the gospel. Okay. And there's plenty of cults in this country as well. There's very few people that are saved. And when you go soul winning, we realize we are the few. Okay. That's what makes it so special being part of something because we know we're the very, it's the narrow way. Right. And the longer you're saved, you start realizing, man, that weighs a lot narrower than I thought. When I first got saved, I thought, because one out of every three people in this world says they're a Christian. And so when I got saved, I was thinking, man, okay, it's narrow. But then all of a sudden, when you start talking to more and more people, you're like, oh, wow, it's narrower than I thought. Everyone's trusting in their works almost. Very few people are saved. It's very sad, but that's the reality. First Thessalonians 5. First Thessalonians 5. Now, nobody would dispute that in First Thessalonians 4 and 5, it's referring to the rapture because it's the very famous passage, chapter 4 verses 13 through 18. But what I want you to understand is the context doesn't just change in First Thessalonians 5, verse 1 through 4. It's still referring to the same thing because the first word in First Thessalonians 5, verse 1, is but. So that is connecting what was in First Thessalonians 4. What he says is this, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write on you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. There's a very famous movie slash documentary or something like that called Thief in the Night. That was the big pre-trip movie. And what they say by thief in the night, this is a really low budget movie. Don't watch this. It's on YouTube, but what they say by thief in the night is just like, boom, when you don't expect it. You're going to sleep and then all of a sudden, boom, the thief comes and basically people are going to be raptured. You don't even know what happened. But I want you to see this, that when it says thief in the night, notice what it says though in verse 3, if you keep reading. Because he says this, yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Verse 3, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. Now who is that they were referring to? Not believers, the unbelievers. The unbelievers are going to say peace and safety. It's like everything's going great. Ever since I got this mark of the beast, ever since I put the 666 in my hand, man, things are going great. Everything's so easy. The world's going great. All this is awesome. All the people that are preaching the Bible are being persecuted. This is great. That's what they're going to think. Verse 4, but ye, the ye is referring to saved people. See they is the unbelievers but the Bible's written to save people. Verse 4, but ye, brethren, saved people are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. As saved people, we are not in darkness. Amen. Why? Because the Bible tells you the events that are going to take place. It's not just going to come, boom, man, I never saw that coming. No, we're aware of things that must take place. As we'll see in this series, the Antichrist must reveal himself. Look, we don't know who the Antichrist is. You can draw up theories like, oh, maybe it's Donald Trump, maybe it's the Pope, who knows? We don't know who the Antichrist is. And so if we don't know the Antichrist, we know Jesus cannot come back today. Why? Because things must take place first and we'll see that in this series. But what I want you to see here is this, this day is not going to just overcome us and wow, I never expected it. I never saw it coming. It's like, boom, just out of nowhere. No, believers are going to be aware of these events taking place. And what's going to take place is the unbelievers will persecute the believers. And as we're being persecuted, once the Antichrist reveals himself, that's a big sign, man, we're three and a half years into the seven year period. And then all of a sudden we know it's kind of like the countdown's coming. Okay. Now we understand these things, the unbelieving world, they're going to be like peace and safety. Things are going great. And when they least expect it, like a thief in the night, boom, Jesus is going to come. Okay. Now I don't want to go to, there's, we'll turn to Matthew 24, Matthew 24, Matthew chapter 24. And I don't want to go to too many places. And we'll get to the timing of the rapture and future sermons. But you know, the Bible says that they're going to say peace and safety. And then all of a sudden, when they see the Lord returning, it's like, oh man, we're wrong. Everything we were worried about actually came true. And they're going to ask the rocks and mountains to fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. And from the wrath of the lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come. They're like, oh man, the wrath of God's about to be poured out. We're wrong. Okay. So Matthew 24, verse 40, Matthew 24, verse 40. This is perhaps the biggest place where they talk about a secret rapture, Matthew 24, verse 40. So I want to just kind of disprove that real quickly. Matthew 24, verse 40, then shall two be in the field. The one shall be taken in the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the meal. The one shall be taken in the other left. And they say, well, see, here you go. There's two people. And then boom, someone's gone. No, all it means is out of two people, one was saved. That's all it's saying. Okay. One of them was saved. Another situation, two people. One of them was saved. Okay. And that does not mean one out of two people is saved. Okay. I wish, I wish that were the case. I would love to be wrong. I wish everybody, you know, that lived in this dream was saved and on the way to heaven. It's just not reality. Okay. But look, if you're going to look at Matthew 24, verses 40 and 41, where two people are there, one's taken, the other's left and say, well, see, there it is, the secret rapture. That's ridiculous. Okay. All it's saying is there's two people, one gets raptured and one doesn't. Because some people get raptured and some people won't, most won't because they're not saved. Okay. Now turn back to Revelation one, Revelation one, and we'll get a few more things here. We've got to get through the rest of this chapter. The second, the second half of this chapter should go a little bit quicker. Revelation chapter one, verse eight, Revelation one, verse eight. I am alpha and omega. Alpha basically means the beginning. And then omega is the end of the alphabet and then the next phrase, the beginning and the ending. Okay. So he's the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, sayeth the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come the almighty. Okay. And so what you're seeing there and not to go into a rabbit show, it's just that Jesus has always existed because he is the alpha, the beginning, in the beginning was the word, okay, which is present tense, which was at the very beginning. So it was not created as the cults would say, or the oneness Baptist, oneness Pentecostals or whatever, which is, which was and which is to come the almighty. He's the beginning and the end. Okay. Jesus has always been here because he's God. Okay. Verse nine, I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation. Okay. Now companion basically means he also went through tribulation and he understands that and whoever I'm writing this to goes through tribulation as well because all that lives shall live godly in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live godly, you will be persecuted. You'll go through tribulation. Our brethren in the faith hundreds of years ago were just killed by the Catholic church. They went through persecution. They went through tribulation. And if there's a book about the end times and John is saying, I'm your companion in tribulation. Does it really make a lot of sense that the people in revelation just will be pre tribulation and not go through tribulation? Does that make any sense when John is saying, I'm your companion in tribulation, but you won't go through tribulation. You just get rapture. That doesn't make any sense. I'm your companion in tribulation and look, we go through tribulation today and the people in the end times, they're going to go through it also, but it's going to be rougher for them because the antichrist will be here and God's people will be persecuted. Look, when the antichrist comes, who is he persecuting? Believers. If all the believers are raptured up to heaven, who is he persecuting? Atheists? The antichrist is going to persecute the LGBT? Wow, that makes a lot of sense. Look, he's persecuting believers because we're not getting raptured up to heaven. Otherwise what's the purpose? What's the point of the antichrist coming? Who's he wreaking havoc on? Who's he persecuting? No, John is our companion in tribulation, which means we go through tribulation today when we live for God. Your family rejects you. Your friends reject you. These things happen. And guess what? During the end times, they go through tribulation, but it's going to be worse for them. There's never been a time here where God's people didn't go through tribulation. So does it really make sense? Do we see a pattern from God's character to say, I don't want my believers to go through any persecution or tribulation. I'll just let them escape everything. No, John's our companion in tribulation. And if you just read that and look at it, it's very obvious. Okay, looks like Christians are going to go through tribulation. It's not a pre-tribulation rapture, and we're going to see that throughout this series. Verse eight, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now he was in the aisle that is called Patmos where he wrote this because of the fact he always bore a record of the word of God, and when you bear a record of the word of God, you go through tribulation. I'm your companion in tribulation because he bore a record of the word of God. You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm not a preacher. Well, he's also in Patmos because he bears a record of the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is referring to soul winning as we saw. So look, John was basically persecuted for preaching the gospel and getting people saved. Guess what? He's our companion in tribulation. The same will happen to us. That is why John went to the aisle that is called Patmos because he was persecuted, because he was preaching the word of God, and because of the fact he was preaching the gospel and getting people saved. And look, when you live for God, people get mad at you. You're not even trying to fight them, and they get angry with you. There are people here in the Philippines that hate this church. There are Baptists in the Philippines that hate this church, and they would be mad if you came to this church. That's the reality. That shows a problem in their hearts because we go soul winning all the time. We preach the word of God, and I wonder, why are you upset at us? What have we done? Why are people mad at me? What have I said that's made them mad? Because I preach against the LGBT, they'd be mad at me. But the reality is that when you're preaching the word of God and when you're getting people saved, there will be persecution. And look, any church that goes through no persecution, that shows there's something wrong with that church. The first sermon that Jesus Christ preached, they tried to throw him off a cliff. Do you realize he was killed, and he was persecuted the entire time. And so anyone who preaches the word of God, they're going to be persecuted. Jeremiah was persecuted. All of God's people are persecuted. Throughout the Bible, everyone who's preaching the word of God, they are persecuted. And look, being a part of this church, you're probably not going to be persecuted as much as me. But here's what I want to say to you, that you know what, if one of your friends doesn't want to be friends with you anymore because you're part of a hateful church, just stick at this church. Amen. That's pretty light affliction because during the end times, people are going to get beheaded for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. And look, if you go through a little bit of persecution just because people don't like me or they say we're hateful or whatever, it's like, you know what, you should be able to handle that, because all of God's people, they're going to go through persecution. And John, he's our companion. And here's the thing. If John didn't go through tribulation, it'd be kind of hard to receive these words from him. As he's talking about the tribulation you're going to go through, if he ever went through it, it wouldn't make any sense. But when you're looking at Paul and John and these people writing about tribulation and persecution, we know they went through that same persecution. And so, look, John is our companion in tribulation, and in all time periods, God's people, they go through persecution, they go through tribulation. Now turn to, look at verse number 10. Now what we see in the end times is we see the great tribulation, which means the tribulation's going to a higher level. But throughout all time period, people went through tribulation. Verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Now I believe the Lord's day is referring to Sunday, because in the New Testament we saw that they did not meet on Saturday, they met on Sundays. Obviously it's fine to have church any day of the week. There's nothing wrong with having it on Saturday or Friday or Thursday. Even when we started Verdi Baptist Pampanga, we talked about and considered having the services on Saturday, but we chose to do Sunday afternoon. There's nothing sinful about having it on Saturday, but since the pattern is having it on Sunday, we have it on Sunday. And I believe that's what it's referring to in verse 10, on the Lord's day is referring to Sunday. Then he says he heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, meaning very loud. So he hears a voice behind him. So basically, imagine me looking this direction and somebody starts speaking behind me. I hear a loud voice, a great voice as of a trumpet. Notice what he says in verse 11, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest. Notice what it says, what thou seest, not what thou hearest. What thou seest. You see with your eyes. You hear a great voice with your ears. So he's hearing this. He hears a great voice, but he's not seeing anything that's being talked about. But what he's going to write about is what he sees. So notice this, what thou seest, write in the book and send it onto the seven churches which are in Asia, onto Ephesus, and onto Smyrna, and onto Pergamos, and onto Thyatira, and onto Sardis, and onto Philadelphia, and onto Laodicea. So basically he's looking in one direction, he hears a loud voice, and he's told whatever you see I want you to write, but he's not seeing anything, and if somebody's speaking to you from behind, what's your reaction? You turn to look at who's talking to you, right? And that's what he does. Verse 12, and I turned to see the voice that spake with me. So he hears a loud voice, and he turns to look at that person, but what does he see? And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. So the first thing he sees is not the Lord, he sees seven golden candlesticks. And he just talked to him about seven golden candlesticks. What you see I want you to write, and he sees seven golden candlesticks when he turns around. You say, why is this significant? I believe this is significant because I want you to understand, things you see impact you more than things you hear. Say, what do you mean by that? I can preach about going soul winning all the time. And you say, yeah, we should go and things such as that, but I'll tell you this, when you go soul winning and you see somebody get saved, that's gonna move you 100 times more than a sermon I preach. I can preach sermon after sermon on various different topics, all manner of topics in the Bible, but when you actually see it with your own eyes, boom, the impact you're gonna have. We just talked about going through persecution. We preach on this a lot, but the reality is none of us are really going through strong persecution. But let's say, for example, we were living in a time when the Catholic church killed people and you actually had your brother get killed by the Catholic church and you saw it. Boy, that would impact you 100 times more than a sermon, wouldn't it? And see, the things you see are gonna impact you far more. So what I want you to understand is this, that when you hear sermons and you don't apply them to your lives, look, it just is not gonna have the same impact on you. But when you actually apply it and you see these things in action, it's gonna stick with you, okay? He says, what thou seest, not what thou hearest. Notice what it says in verse 13, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. So then he does see the Lord, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle, okay? Now look at verse 20. I just want to quickly show you what these seven candlesticks are. Verse 20, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. So he's gonna explain the mystery, explain the confusion. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. And so the candlesticks mentioned back in verse 13 are referring to the seven churches in Asia that will be mentioned next Wednesday and the Wednesday after that. Those seven churches that he talks about, okay? So he explains to you what this symbolism is. And so look, if God does not explain some symbolism, it means maybe you're not gonna understand. Because just seeing seven candlesticks, you're not gonna immediately say, man, that's a church. But he tells us that's a church, so that's what we know. Verse 14, his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like on a fine brass as if they burned into furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. Now, I've heard people argue about these verses before in verses 14 and 15, and they argue about was Jesus white or black or was his skin color. Look, when you look at the description being given, he's none of the above. It's different, okay? I mean, he seems to be, I guess, white from above, and then his feet are like fine brass. And so basically some of these religions, like the black Hebrew Israelites in America, they say, well, seeing his feet are like fine brass, he was a black man. That's not the description of his upper half. Look, Jesus does not fully look like any of us, okay? He's not American, he's not Filipino, he's not African, look, he's none of the above. And so we see a description, and it's something that you can't fully comprehend. You're not gonna fully comprehend someone with eyes as a flame of fire until you actually see it, okay? Verse 16, and he had in his right hand seven stars. Now remember, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches from verse 20. Seven stars, I believe the angels of the seven churches are referring to the pastors of those churches because an angel just means messenger, so it could be an angel as we think of an angel or it could be an angel as in a man, okay? But he says the angels of those seven churches, so the seven stars are the angels of each individual church, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Verse 17, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. Look, if you ran into someone with eyes as a flame of fire, you'd probably just fall down and be like, what in the world, right? So that's what takes place, you know, we can't really fully comprehend this. When he says he fell at his feet as dead, it doesn't mean he actually died, but he was basically as dead, like if he died, he would fall over, okay, so he fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. Basically, I'm the Lord, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, okay? Verse 18, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Now, I want you to understand when he says he liveth and was dead, what he means by that was, he was dead, okay, you say, well, I know he was dead for three days and three nights, his body was in the ground. Well, turn to Acts chapter two, he has the keys of hell and of death, okay, look, Jesus was dead physically and spiritually for three days, okay, the Bible says his soul was in hell after he died, look, the Catholic Church got something right. When Jesus died, his soul did go to hell, the Bible teaches that, we're gonna see that in Acts chapter two, once again, put away your preconceived ideas, okay, Acts chapter two, he said he liveth and was dead, he was dead, Acts two verse 31, he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, so speaking about Jesus's resurrection, you have to understand the resurrection of Jesus was both spiritual and physical, the Jehovah's Witnesses say it was just spiritual, Baptists often say it's just physical, no, it's both, because notice the resurrection of Christ, what was that resurrection? That his soul was not left in hell, neither is clustered see corruption, so according to Acts two verse 31, the soul of Jesus was in hell and his flesh did not see corruption, his flesh did not see corruption, because the body at the point of four days will start to decompose, Lazarus when he was dead for four days, it says, behold, he's thinking, his body's decomposing, Jesus was dead three days and three nights, so his body did not corrupt, okay, but his soul was not left in hell, which means if it was not left in hell, it means it was in hell before he was again, so for those three days and three nights, the soul of Jesus was in hell, you say, I've never heard that before, well, think about this logically, where do we deserve to go because of our sin? Hell, did Jesus pay for our sins? Yes, he did, so where did he have to go to pay for our sins? He had to go to hell, look, all the offerings throughout the Old Testament weren't offerings, why did they burn them? He's trying to teach you something, okay, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, look, six feet under the ground is not the heart of the earth, the heart of the earth is the core, the middle, and what's the temperature of the middle of the earth? Thousands of degrees or whatever, right, very hot, okay, those three days and three nights that Jesus was dead, he was in the heart of the earth, and Jonah was a picture of that, that's why Jonah said, out of the belly of hell cried I, now he was not literally in hell, but he was basically speaking symbolically and metaphorically, but being inside a whale's belly for three days isn't going to be very fun, so it's probably very hot with his stomach acid, then he says, you know what, out of the belly of hell cried I, because Jonah was foreshadowing or picturing Jesus Christ, who was in hell for three days according to Acts 2 verse 31, so go back to Revelation 1, Revelation 1, when Jesus says, I am he that liveth and was dead, he means he was dead, not just the body was dead, he was in hell for three days, that's why he says he has the keys of hell and of death, now let me say this, for somebody to be saved, they must understand and believe that Jesus physically rose again, right, because the emphasis is on the fact that he died, was buried, and rose again, they do not have to believe somebody went to hell, that Jesus went to hell for three days, they don't have to believe that to be saved, okay, but that is what the Bible teaches, the Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of the body, and someone to be saved, they must believe Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, if somebody does not believe that Jesus went to hell, that does not mean that they're not saved, okay, but the Bible does teach that the soul of Jesus was in hell, okay, and so notice what it says in verse 19, verse 19, write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, okay, now it mentions three different tenses in verse 19, it says write the things which thou hast seen, this is past tense, okay, now he just saw a lot of things in Revelation 1, didn't he, he heard the voice of Jesus, he turned around, he sees seven candlesticks, those are the things that he has seen, past tense, then he says the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, so present tense and future, you say what is the present tense and what is the future tense, turn to Revelation 4, Revelation 4, we're gonna look at the future tense first, Revelation 4, verse 1, so I think we could agree, Revelation 1 is things that happened in the past, you already saw those right, those are the things thou hast seen, then there's present and future, so where does the present come and where does the future come, well chapter 4, verse 1, notice after this I looked, after this I looked, what does that mean, this is taking place later on, this is something that's in the future, after this I looked, okay, so basically he saw things in Revelation 1 and then in chapter 4, after he saw these things, then all of a sudden he looks, that's the future, you say what's the significance, well where's the present tense, chapter 2 and 3, what does that teach you, it means the seven churches in Asia were literal churches that existed, why, because chapter 1 is the past, chapter 4 is the future, so in between is the present, now I'm not gonna go on a rabbit trail, but most people don't teach that, most say Revelation 2 and 3, these churches are like seven ages or time periods, no those are the things that are, they're things that already existed, because chapter 4 we're going to future tense, things that are happening after this, okay, chapter 1 is past tense, the only thing that makes sense is chapter 2 and 3 are present tense, and we'll talk about that these next couple weeks, but that's what we see in Revelation 4 verse 1, and so going back to Revelation 1, the things which thou hast seen are the things he saw in Revelation chapter 1, the things which are going to be the seven literal churches that existed during the time when John was writing this, and the things which shall be hereafter are chapter 4 up to chapter 22, okay, but chapter 2 and 3 are the present, okay, verse number 20, let's just look at verse number 20, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the seven angels, are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches, so once again in verse 20, he reveals the mystery to us, the book of Revelation is not meant to conceal or to confuse, it's meant to reveal, and oftentimes he'll directly tell you this is what it's talking about, now if he doesn't directly tell you, then we could have different opinions, look, when they try to picture, you know, what are the locusts and things such as that, look, you know what, there could be differences of opinion, but a lot of stuff he just clearly states this is what it is, and he does not want to confuse us, that's why the last verse of chapter 1 he says this is the mystery, and these are things that he has seen and then we'll go to the present, so chapter 1 is really kind of setting the scene for the entire book, and what we saw in chapter 1 is that John is our companion in tribulation, which really links up well with the fact that they're going to go through tribulation during the end times, and they're not going to be a three tribulation rapture, and it says every eye shall see him, makes sense that the next time Jesus comes is what it's referring to in Revelation 1 verse 7, and it says every eye shall see him, everyone's going to see him, and the reason why everyone's going to see him is because he's going to descend like he did in Acts 1, he ascended it and he did it slowly so everybody saw him, and when he comes we're going to watch him descend, everybody's going to see him, it's not just going to be like boom, man, what happened, it's like, man, I took a nap and now like, man, my wife, my kids are all gone, it's like, what happened? No, that's not what the Bible teaches, the Bible teaches Christians will go through persecution as they always have throughout the Bible, and then the Antichrist will reveal himself three and a half years into the seven year period, and then what you see is great tribulation that takes place, and then God will eventually rapture up the believers that have not been killed during the end times, and many will get killed, and he's going to pour out his wrath, and the people left, it catches them by surprise, like a thief in the night, and they're going to cry for the mountains and rocks to fall on us, hide us, is what they say, okay, let's close in word of prayer, dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and see Revelation chapter one, it's a really interesting chapter in the word of God, and help us to understand the book of Revelation is actually very understandable, God, there are some deep things and it takes some study and things such as that, but let us not get intimidated by the book of Revelation or any book in the Bible, because there is information we can learn, and this book is meant to reveal the information, not to conceal it from us, God, help us just to be here for every week of this series, and in our own free time, help us to read these chapters and look and search the scriptures to see whether these things are so, God, and we just pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.