People of the Book

Revelation10:1 I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them." 5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. 8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, "Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth." 9 So I went to the angel and said to him, "Give me the little book." And he said to me, "Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth." 10 Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings."

America is probably the greatest example of a consumer society in the history of the world. In fact, when the world criticizes America, it is often based on the fact America uses so much more than it produces, and that America consumes a criminally-disproportionate amount of the world’s resources.

The question is: With all this consumption going on in our consumer society – what is it that is being consumed? (You can tell an awful lot about a person by what they consume.) I’ve often heard it said, “You can tell more about a person by looking at their check-book than by any other source of information you may have about them.”

If you were to think back to the past year – how would you rate your consumption?

What have you consumed, and how much of it?

We are to be people of the Word. Here John is challenged to literally “eat” the little book he takes out of the angel’s hand. This, of course, evokes thoughts of the times you attempted to eat a piece of paper as a kid, (c’mon, we all did it,) and certain choking reflexes are psychosomatically sensed.

The challenge to John is the same for all of us. This is all according to God’s Word. We are to be people of The Book. We need to be consuming what is good to keep us filled – even if the affect is unsettling. The alternative is to get caught up in the emotional maelstrom going on all around us – and God calls us out of that by His Word.

What the Word says supersedes what the eye sees, what the mind can comprehend, and what the emotions feel - and John is being reminded of that especially as we head down to the end of the world.

-Pastor Bill

Fine, You?

Rev 8:1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. 12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. 13 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"

I have a friend in Jackson, Mississippi who had a custom car tag which read, “Fine You.”

Pretty much says it all doesn’t it? “I’m fine, how are you?”

This is a succinct question in these days in which we live, which are just prior to the Rapture of the Church and the Tribulation of the earth.

What makes me, ‘fine?’ Well, I am certain I am going to be raptured when Jesus comes for His church. The reason I am certain is that I have given myself to Jesus Christ according to the Word of God. I am born again by the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the Word working in my life to bring certainty to my heart that I am, ‘fine.’ I am in Christ, and I am a new creation. I am heaven-bound, and spared from all future torment and punishment by God because I have received His free gift of salvation by His grace. There really is nothing like the peace with God which makes me, ‘fine.’

You?

I will keep saying over and over again through our course of study in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that you do not want to be on earth during the Tribulation – and - if the Tribulation is soon – which it IS according to prophecy – then the Rapture is even sooner than that. You must give your heart to Jesus now, or you will not be, ‘fine’ then.

-Pastor Bill

Called, Sealed, Delivered

Rev 7:1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: 5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed. 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" 11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen." 13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" 14 And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Even in the days of the Tribulation, God chooses people to get His message out - even when the only reason those people did not get caught up in the Rapture is because they refused to believe in Jesus Christ.

Now they do.

At great risk to personal safety - and even their lives - a world-wide revival begins among those who have previously rejected their Messiah – the Jewish people. And it begins very small, with just 144,000 of the world’s population called, sealed, and delivered for the express purpose of delivering others.

How will this deliverance take place? The same way it does now – by speaking forth the gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen. God does the rest. These are the ones God brings out of the great tribulation and giving them white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. There is nothing like a revival of God!

-Pastor Bill

The Beginning of the End

Rev 6:1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. 3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come and see." 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. 5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come and see." So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine." 7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come and see." 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. 9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. 12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

People have been saying, “The end is near!” for as long as I can remember.

“You better get right with God!” is the slogan I remember seeing on a sandwich-board-wearing fellow at an intersection in Meridian, MS as I was driving to work one day.

The usual response is, “Ha ha ha!”

But the plain fact is, the end IS signed, sealed, and delivered, and you BETTER get right with God – unless you want to get left.

The end IS near, and the earth is no place to be once it commences. John is arming us with all the proof we need to know that. Those who are left on earth once the tribulation begins will either die for coming to faith in Christ during the tribulation, or they will die eternally for not.

When the Bible says, “today is the day of salvation,” we must realize today may be the last day we have to make that choice in peace. Things are about to get rough around here.

-Pastor Bill