REVELATION

I am coming to the last book in the Bible.  I only read ten chapters to leave another ten for tomorrow.  It seems you can read the Bible through in 59 days at 20 chapters a day, and there is 60 to 61 days depending upon the months.  Here are some thoughts that I had as I read: 1) LISTEN UP!  Seven times we read:  "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."  This phrase is found in chapters two and three.  God is trying to get the churches attention, and the Holy Spirit is speaking to the churches.  We need to listen up!  To think that these seven churches were around what we know as Turkey today.  They were not that old, but already they were finding themselves being corrupted!  We had best remember that most churches don't stay true for a hundred years before they decline and fall away into being a liberal church.  That is the death of a church when that happens.  I hope to keep our church doctrinally sound, and evangelistically fresh and alive!!  We are on a mission of winning souls and pleasing the Savior!!  We had better keep listening to the Holy Spirit! 2) THE OUTLINE OF THE BOOK-Revelation is a book that means "the unveiling".  It follows a time-line and is really easy to outline because of how it is laid out.  It is a book of seven sevens.  1) The message to the seven churches; 2) The seven seals; 3) The seven trumpets; 4) The seven personages; 5) The seven vial judgments; 6) The seven dooms; and 7) The seven new things of Heaven.  Along with these seven sevens, there are 5 parenthetical passages as well. (these are verses or chapters that tell of things not in a time line as the others are.)  I hope this will help you as you look at the book of Revelation.   3) THE LION AND THE LAMB-  Both are a picture of Christ.  Rev. 5:5 says He is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David"  but Rev. 5:6 says: "a Lamb as it had been slain".  Yes He is the Lion, and Yes He came as a Lamb to be sacrificed.  A contrast.... yes, but another way of telling us about the complexity that is Jesus Christ.  Simple yet Profound. Loving yet Judging!  Righteous yet Merciful!  LORD of ALL yet Lamb slain for our sins!!  No wonder in chapter 5:14 the elders "fell down and worshiped him that liveth for ever and ever."  We should too!! 4) WHAT A CONTRAST- Rev. 11:8 says:  "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our LORD was crucified."  This is talking about Jerusalem!  Notice what David says about Jerusalem:  Psalms 48:2  "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King."   Because of sin and disobedience, they are now called "Sodom and Egypt".  Ouch!  Jeremiah says:  Lamentations 2:15  "All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?"   God sees Jerusalem now as a fallen city.  No wonder soon a New Jerusalem will be coming down from heaven to take the place of the old and it will once again be "the joy of the whole earth"! Well, that is all for today.  I will finish up Revelation tomorrow.  Hope you walk with God and have a pleasant day in the Lord.  Drop me a line from time to time if something encourages you or helps you understand a passage better.  I'm hoping that I'm helping someone out there as well as helping me.  May God bless!  Pastor Mike Mutchler