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you All right, in Revelation 22, verse number 1, the Bible reads, And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And tonight I'm going to pick up where I left off with my sermon on Revelation 21, which was discussing the new heaven and the new earth. And in that sermon I already went over the water of life and we talked about that. But then in verse number 2 it says, In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And if you remember, back in the Garden of Eden there was just a single tree of life. And when they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden they were told that they could not eat thereof, because if they ate of that tree of life they would live forever. Well, here there are multiple trees of life on either side of the river, and the Bible says that the tree of life bare twelve manner of fruits, and then it says yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So this is pretty interesting because this is a tree that produces a different type of fruit every month. Isn't that interesting? So it's always in season. You know, in every month it's a different variety of fruit that's growing on it, but there's always something growing on it. And it says, And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Verse 3, And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. Now the first thing I want to point out there is that the Bible talks about the fact that throughout eternity we will be serving God, meaning that there will be work for us to do. Now you don't have to turn there, but in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 the Bible reads in verse 8, We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. You see, there are a lot of people that believe that when you die as a believer that you're just going to lay in the earth and you're going to be asleep in Jesus. And what they think that means is that your soul will be asleep, that you'll just be completely unconscious and then someday you're going to be resurrected. But in reality what the Bible teaches is that when you're asleep in Jesus, quote unquote, is that your body is asleep, but that your soul is very much alive and awake and present in heaven. And so the Bible says here that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's why Paul said, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. He said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so what he's saying there is that when I die, I know I'm going immediately to be with Christ, which is far better than being here on this earth. So he says we're confident. We know for sure that we're saved. We know for sure that we have eternal life. He said, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with Lord. You see, to the believer, death is not something to be feared. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? Death is just a departure to go on to be with Christ. And he says, I'd rather be with Christ. He says, I'd rather be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. But then in verse nine, he says, wherefore meaning for this reason, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. And you see that when we are either present in the body or absent from the body, we labor and we seek to be accepted of him, meaning that God will have work for us to do when we get to heaven. He'll have work for us to do in the millennial kingdom, ruling and reigning with them. And we will even have work to do for all of eternity. Now, I think that's great because I don't know about you, but I like working. Now I like to take a break from work. I like to go on vacation. Sometimes it's hard to take a vacation for me because I'm kind of a workaholic sometimes. And I just, you know, I'm the type where when I go on vacation, I try to bring a little work with me, you know, maybe get a little bit done on the road. It's hard for me sometimes to take a break from work. But the last three days I took a vacation and man, I did not touch work for three days. So this is progress for me. I took a really relaxing vacation. Did not. I brought a bunch of work and didn't even touch it. The whole time. But work is something that men and women of godly character enjoy and like to do. You see, there's a word for people who don't like to work. Lazy. And obviously someone who's filled with the spirit, obviously someone who loves the Lord is not a lazy person because God commands against laziness. And when we get to heaven, when we're completely 100% in the spirit and we don't have the sinful flesh with us anymore, we're not going to be lazy, even if we're a little bit lazy from time to time. Now we're not going to be lazy when we get up there. We're going to want to work. You know, if you look at the Proverbs 31 woman, the virtuous woman, she does a lot of work. She's very busy. You can see all the different things there that are listed. Obviously, men in the Bible who were great men of God were hard workers. And so we as men and women of God desire to work. And therefore, throughout all eternity, it's good to know there will be work to do. There will be something that we can spend our time on that's valuable and fulfilling and that gives us something to do so that we're not bored. And so he says, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted to him. Look down at your Bible there, Revelation 22 says in verse three, his servants shall serve him. And then in verse four, it says this, and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. Now, the first thing I want to point out here is that the word his in both the first part of this sentence and the second part of the sentence are referring to God, the father, not to Jesus Christ or the lamb. Now that's very important, and I'm going to prove it to you because it says in verse four, they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. And you could look back at verse three and see, okay, we're talking about God and the lamb. That's the antecedent of the pronoun he or his. It says in verse three, but the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. Now let me prove to you that that's referring to God, the father. Go to Revelation 14. Keep your finger there in Revelation 22. Go back to chapter 14. And in chapter 14, we find a similar statement that will shed some light on this. It says in verse number one, and I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion. Who's the lamb? Jesus Christ, right? Because remember, God consists of the father, son and the Holy Ghost. And the Bible says these three are one. Now we do not believe in three gods. We believe in one God, but we believe that that God is the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. He's a three in one. People often use the word Trinity, and I don't think that's a bad word because Trinity simply means three in one. And the Bible says these three are one. So you have to understand that even though Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, even though he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the father, even though he said I and my father are one, there is a difference. Listen to me now between the father and the son. And there is another difference between the Holy Ghost. And a lot of people, they believe a false doctrine today. A lot of times you'll hear it referred to as the Jesus only movement. Who's been exposed to this? Maybe out soul winning. It'll tip you off because they'll say to you, you know, have you been baptized in the name of Jesus? And they say, if you've been baptized in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Ghost, you've not been properly baptized. Even though the Bible clearly says in Matthew 28, that we're supposed to go out and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, the Holy Ghost. They say, no, no, no. If you haven't been baptized in Jesus name, just Jesus name, you're not properly baptized. Boy, there's a lot of strange false doctrine out there, isn't there? But I've run into people like this all the time out knocking doors that will tell me this. And you'll run into people that will try to tell you basically that Jesus is the father. Now on the surface, it sounds okay. You know, when you first hear it, it sounds okay. Like, okay, they're just referring to the deity of Christ. They're just referring to the fact that Jesus is God. But what they're actually saying is that there are no distinctions between the father and the son. Basically, what they believe is that the father became the son. You know, the father basically became Jesus, and they're not seeing the separate entities here of the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. Now I'm going to prove to you right now that that's false. And I'm going to show you from this passage why it's so significant that we will someday after the millennium, see God the father's face and have his name in our foreheads. Look, if you would, at Revelation 14 one, I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion and with him, one hundred forty and four thousand, having his father's name written in their foreheads. So whose name is written in their foreheads? The father of the lamb, right? God the father. Now with that in mind, look at Revelation 22 again. It says, and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. So obviously the his of the name in the forehead is the same as the his of they shall see his face. You say, why is it so significant to see God's face? We'll look back at Exodus 33, Exodus chapter 33. You see this doctrine that teaches that basically God the father became Jesus is a false doctrine because the Bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So even in the beginning, there was the word and then there was God. They were together. They were one, but they were also separate. It's a great mystery. The Bible says without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Jesus Christ said in John 17 that he said to the father, glorify me with with the glory which we had before the world began. Okay. And so the father, the son and the holy ghost have always existed and will always exist. And there is a difference between the father and son. They're both God. There's only one God, but they are different. And to basically erase all distinctions, you see there are two ways to get into false doctrine with this. If you say they're not one, that's a false doctrine. That's like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. They don't believe that they're one. And then this Jesus only Pentecostal movement, they basically are saying they're not three. And that's a false doctrine too. You have to believe these three are one. That's the correct doctrine. Okay. But it says this, you're turning to Exodus 33. Listen to John 1 18. No man hath seen God at any time. Did you hear that? No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. So have we seen God the son as human being? Not us personally, but have human beings seen God the son? Yes, they've seen Jesus Christ. But has any human being ever seen God the father? Never. Look at Exodus 33 verse 20. And he said, thou can't, this is God speaking unto Moses, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. Pretty clear, isn't it? And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. Now look, you can just tell from these scriptures that this is a very big deal to God that nobody's going to see his face. Moses is begging to see his face. He wants to see his glory. He wants to see God. And basically God, just to show Moses a little bit of what he wanted to see without fully revealing himself, he puts his hand over Moses and covers Moses' view as he approaches. Then he passes by Moses and removes his hand as he passes by, just so that Moses can catch a glimpse of his hinder parts. And you remember that as a result of this, Moses' face was glowing so bright that people could not even look at Moses' face. They had to put a veil over Moses' face to cover the glory that was shining on Moses' face. That's just from getting a glimpse of the back of God. He said anyone who would see the face of God would die, according to the Bible here. Now go to 1 Corinthians, chapter number 15. 1 Corinthians, chapter number 15. And we'll see a little bit more about the distinction between the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And again, we're not taking away from the deity of Jesus Christ, but to say that the Son is the Father or that the Father is the Son and that there is no distinction between the two is a false doctrine, because there is a distinction between the two. Remember when Jesus Christ was on the cross, he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Obviously, we have a difference there between the Father and the Son. Obviously, Jesus is God. It's not wrong at all to call Jesus God, because the Bible calls Jesus God many times, like when it says in Hebrews 1-8, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The Bible says, Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, preached unto the Gentiles, seen of angels, believed on in the world, received up into glory. That was God. Jesus Christ was God. But God is made up, and sometimes the Bible calls it the Godhead. God, the one God that we believe in and worship, the one God that exists, is made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. So are we right to say there's one God? Absolutely, because the three are one. Let me explain it to you this way, and obviously it's difficult to ever fully explain something of this magnitude, but let me explain it to you this way. I am made up of body, soul, and spirit, so I am also a trichotomy, if you will. You know, I am only one person, right? But I am made up of a body, soul, and spirit. Now would it be accurate to say that my body is my soul, and my soul is my body? That is not accurate at all. Well, that's the same false doctrine as saying, God the Father is Jesus, instead of realizing that there is a distinction between the two. Although they make up one person, Steven Anderson, my body, my soul, and my spirit are separate. And in fact, if I were to die today, a separation would take place where my body would remain on this earth, and the soul and spirit would depart. So the Bible says that the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And if you were to look at that body laying on the ground, and say, that is Steven Anderson, you would be accurate to say, that is Steven Anderson. And the man who walks into heaven in the soul and spirit, if you were to look at him and say, that is Steven Anderson, you would be accurate. Now, are we talking about two different people? No, but are they in two different places? Yes, but it's the same person. Well, that's the same thing with God. God, you know, that's the best way I could think to illustrate it, is that God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But it's only one God. But he is in these three, you know, and we struggle for words, but that's why I try to stick with the Bible's words, you know, these three are one. Look at verse 22 of chapter 15 there. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's that is coming, then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. So here we see the order of the resurrection. He said, Christ the first fruits, that's the first one who rose from the dead. He's called the first begotten of the dead. Jesus Christ is the first one who rose from the dead. You say, well, other people in the Bible were resurrected in the Old Testament, you know, when Elisha, you know, brought someone back to life. But you have to understand those people died again. Those people were just temporarily brought back. Jesus Christ the first one who rose again in a glorified form to die no more. That's what we're talking about here, the glory of the resurrection. Jesus Christ was the first fruits. What's the next step? Afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. That is the rapture, that's 1 Thessalonians 4. We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. The dead in Christ shall rise first. So the resurrection is like this. Christ the first fruits, afterward them that are Christ's that is coming, that's known as the first resurrection. Jesus is the first fruits. And you have the first resurrection, but then there's a second resurrection that takes place after the millennium. So we see, look at verse 23 there. Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's that is coming, look at verse 24. Then cometh the end. So the final resurrection is what the Bible calls the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father. So who's delivering up the kingdom to God, even the Father? Jesus Christ is going to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years. And then after the resurrection at the end, quote unquote, which is what we refer to as the great white throne judgment. After that resurrection, it says that he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father. Okay, at that time of that resurrection. Verse 25, for he must reign. Who's the he? Jesus. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he sayeth all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which put all things under him. What verse 27 is saying is that everything and everyone is under Jesus, except for God the Father is not under Jesus. Because it's obvious that he is accepted that put all things under him. Now look at verse 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Now look, how in the world can you read 1 Corinthians 15, 28 and believe that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son? You know, this Jesus only movement just falls apart when you look at this. I mean, to say that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son is to ignore the clear teaching of God's word. Because here the Bible teaches that after Jesus Christ rules and reigns for 1,000 years on this earth, that he will deliver up the kingdom. Look at verse 24 there. He'll deliver up the kingdom to God, but then he's quick to tell us even the Father. He's delivering up the kingdom to the Father. And the Bible says that after Jesus reign for 1,000 years, that he will be subject unto the Father. And that's what the Bible says. I believe it. Who believes that that's true? I mean, that's what the Bible says. And so this is important doctrine. It says that God may be all in all. So think about this now. In the millennium when Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning, there are still going to be a lot of unsaved people on this earth because a lot of those unsaved people are going to be rebelling at the end of the millennium at the battle of Gog and Magog. Now during the millennium, we are not going to be interacting with God the Father while we're on this earth. I mean, Jesus Christ, the Son is going to be physically present on this earth and Jesus Christ will be in Jerusalem ruling and reigning over this earth. That is who we as human beings will be interact with. Those of us that are saved and also the unsaved will be on this earth as he rules with a rod of iron. Now after the millennium when the great white throne takes place, every unsaved person of all the ages will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where they'll be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then we will go into the new heaven and the new earth and in the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no unsaved people. That's why there will be no more death. No one will ever die again. There will be no more sorrow, no crying, no sickness, no pain. The former things are passed away. All things have been made new. Go to Revelation 22 and that is why it is only at that point that we shall see his face and his name will be in our hearts. I mean that is a very significant event there when we will finally be allowed to see the face of God the father. Now that's a pretty amazing thing and I mean I can't even comprehend fully what that means. I mean when you look at a man like Moses who saw a lot of miracles, he saw a lot of great things, he just saw the hinder parts of God and it was something that he could barely handle and it was something where his face shone from the glory and God said that no man could see his face. But we someday will see the face of God the father himself according to Revelation 22.4. Isn't it amazing? You probably just read over that verse a lot. But now that you understand that, it's wow. I mean we're going to see his face. What Moses desired to see and he was just amazed by just the hinder parts that he saw. But if you would look at verse number five, the Bible says, and there shall be no night there and they need no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Now remember in chapter one of Revelation, I believe the key verse is verse seven where he says, Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so amen. And in chapter 22, we see the statement over and over again. Verse seven, behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Why do we have the book of Revelation? Because the Bible says it's to show unto us as his servants the things which must shortly be done. We need to know this information as his servants because these things are at hand, the Bible says. Verse eight, and I John saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then sayeth thee unto me, see thou, do it not. For I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship God. So John is so impressed by this angel that's been showing him all these visions and explained to him all these things that he falls down at this angel's feet and begins to worship the angel. And the angel tells him, don't do it. And if you would turn to Acts chapter 10, keep your finger in Revelation 22. But he says, don't do it. I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets. So let me ask you this, was this angel quote unquote a human being or not? Yes, he was because he was of his brethren. He was of the servants, the prophets. You see, when the Bible uses the word angel, it often means messenger. For example, think of the word evangelist in the Bible. What is an evangelist? Well, an evangelist is someone who preaches the gospel. For example, I speak German and in German, the word for the gospel is das Evangelium. Evangelium, like evangelist, okay? And basically, if you look at the word evangelist, what's in the middle of that word? Angel, you see that e-v and then angel and then ist. So in the midst of the word evangelist is the word angel because angel means messenger. And if you take the e-v at the beginning, okay, that comes from a Greek prefix meaning good. Like for example, we have the word euphony. Who knows what euphony means? It sounds good, right? Euphony means good sound because that e-u at the beginning means good. Phony means sound. Like, you know, so basically when you have euphony, it sounds good. When you have an evangelist, e-v is the same as e-u. It means good evangelist means good messenger. Basically, a messenger who's bringing a good message or good news. Glad tidings. The Bible you see in Isaiah 61 says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach glad tidings to the meek. That verse is quoted in the New Testament in Luke Chapter 4 as he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. So notice the Old Testament glad tidings is quoted as New Testament gospel, okay? One who preaches the gospel is called an evangelist because he's bringing the good news or the good tidings or the good message. He's a messenger of good things. So when the Bible uses the word angel, it often just means messenger. Like in Revelation 2 and 3 when he talks unto the angel of the church at Ephesus and the angel of the church at Smyrna. And often these angels, quote unquote, he's rebuking. They are the ones who bring the message to the church, meaning basically the preacher of that church is who he's referring to. Here, this guy is a prophet or a preacher that has gone on to be with the Lord and now he's being used in the capacity of an angel or a messenger of God to show John these things that must come to pass. And so he's a human being. He's a man. He's human. Now, there are other beings in the Bible that are called angels, okay, that are not human. For example, the cherubims and the seraphims. The cherubims are living creatures, the Bible calls them, and they have basically four wings and they have four faces often and they're not human. And then you'll look at the seraphims. They have six wings as opposed to four wings. Okay, they're not human. They've never been human. Okay, so when you get to heaven, you're not going to have wings installed when you get to heaven. You know, I'm becoming an angel. I get wings, you know, but you may act as an angel in the sense that you are bringing a message or carrying a message for God or serving God in that way. But we have to be very careful not to confuse this doctrine because the Bible will use the word angel for either one. For example, the Bible says that God never said unto any of the angels at any time, thou art my son this day of our begottenness. When we see a verse like that, obviously we're referring to the non-human, you know, actual angelic beings, the seraphims, the cherubims, and those type of living creatures like Ezekiel saw in chapter 1 and in chapter 10 of Ezekiel and so forth. But sometimes a man can be referred to as an angel in a different sense, just in the sense that he's a servant or messenger of God, okay. So I just wanted to make sure that you understood that. Now look at Acts chapter 10. Because, you know, we see here that when this angel, quote unquote, this prophet or brother of Apostle John, when John bows down and worships him, he says, see thou, do it not. And he stops him from worshiping him and he says, you should only worship God. Don't worship me. I am your brother. I'm your fellow servant. I am not God. But today there are people on this earth who will bow down and worship a man and his name is the Pope. And even if you ask a Roman Catholic who tries to tell you, oh, we don't worship the Pope, if the Pope landed at the airport today, people would get on their faces and bow down before. That is a fact. Doesn't matter what they want to call it or say, well, it's not worship. You know, look, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. And when people are bowing down and getting on their faces and making obeisance under the Pope, that is not scriptural. Now, who did the Roman Catholics say was the first Pope? That's what they say, right? Of course, we don't believe in that because you know what Pope means? Pope means father. It's Latin for father. And you know what the Bible says? Call no man your father upon the earth for one is your father, which is in heaven. So calling the Pope father is blasphemy in and of itself. But look, if you would at the so-called first Pope, according to the Roman Catholics, look at Acts 10 verse 25 and as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. And Peter went like this. No, he didn't. Look what Peter did. Peter took him up. I mean, Peter physically reached down and picked him up off of his prostrate position and said unto him, stand up. I myself also am a man. So you see every man of God in the Bible when he was worshiping this way, whether it was Paul and Barnabas, this happened to Paul and Barnabas, happened to Peter, happened to John, they always hate it when someone tries to worship them and they're, they're picking them up off the ground saying, don't do this. But notice whenever Jesus had people falling down before him and worshiping him, he accepted the worship every time. Jesus always received the worship, right? Because he is the lamb that's worthy to be praised. He was God in the flesh. He was God incarnate. He wanted and desired to be worshiped. And when Thomas fell down at his feet and said, my Lord and my God, he didn't say, stand up, I'm also a man. He said, you know, blessed art thou, Thomas, because thou hast believed. And so we should never bow down and kneel before man or worship man. Go if you would back to Revelation 22. It says in verse 10, and he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. It's interesting that he said that because back in Daniel 12 eight, it says, and I heard but understood not this after Daniel received all the prophecies about the end times. I heard, but I understood not, then said I, oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. So at the time the book of Daniel was written, he said, seal up the words. He said, I don't understand God. He told Daniel, it's sealed. It's closed. You're not going to understand until the time of the end. But look here in verse 10 of Revelation 22, it says, seal not. So it's the opposite of the last chapter of Daniel. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. Now, just based on that alone right there, which book do you believe is going to be easier to understand Revelation or Daniel? Revelation. I wish people would just understand that if they're going to study Bible prophecy, the number one book they should be studying is Revelation. And it's amazing how people will ignore the clear teaching of Revelation. And they want to hang out in Isaiah. They want to hang out in Ezekiel. They want to hang out in Daniel. They want to hang out in Zechariah. And look, I believe every word of those Old Testament books. But I'll tell you something. The Revelation is much more clear and explicit than any of those books because it is the Revelation. And many of the things in those Old Testament books are cryptic and obscure. They are masked in parables and dark sayings. Plus, the difficult thing when you're reading the Old Testament prophets is that a lot of the things that they're prophesying were very short term events that were going to happen. You realize that? I mean, when you're reading, for example, the book of Jeremiah. Okay, there are some end times applications, but the primary application is talking about the Babylonian captivity that happened many thousands of years ago. And when you're reading the book of Ezekiel and when you're reading the book of Daniel, a lot of those prophecies are things that were going to happen before Jesus Christ came. A lot of those things are prophecies of Jesus Christ's first coming. And so sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish between what is a prophecy that's already happened and what is still going to happen. And even when you're reading the four gospels and Jesus is speaking, Jesus Christ himself said that he spoke in parables and dark sayings. And when Jesus is preaching in the Olivet Discourse, some of the things that he preaches in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are short term events that happened at that time. Some of those things in Luke 21 have already been fulfilled. But the thing about the book of Revelation is that the book of Revelation is referring to future events and it's easy to tell what is still coming and what has already happened because it's a much more explicit book. Now look, I'm not saying that I believe any one book of the Bible more or less than another. It's all true. It's all God's word. It's all perfect. But if you're studying Bible prophecy, let me just give you some advice. And I feel like every error in Bible prophecy is a result of ignoring the advice I'm about to give you. If you really want to understand Bible prophecy, let me give you the tip that's better than any other tip. You must understand the clearness of different portions of scripture and you must rank scripture in order of how clear it is and the top rung of that ladder would be Revelation. Revelation is the most clear book on Bible prophecy. The whole book is about the second coming of Christ and the events surrounding it. The whole book deals with future Bible prophecy. Okay, it's the clearest. It's not sealed, my friend. I'm not making this up. He said the book of Daniel, he said it's sealed. Daniel said, I don't even understand a lot of what you're saying. It's a cryptic book, my friend. But the book of Revelation is designed to be explicit, to reveal things, to expose things, to be easy to understand. That's why Revelation should always be our primary study and we should look at things in the Old Testament and interpret them based on what we see in Revelation. So I would say Revelation is the number one clearest place to get our Bible prophecy doctrine. Then secondly would be the epistles. Okay, the epistles of Paul, the epistles of John, you know, all of the epistles because the epistles are very explicit and clear teaching. Okay, then next I would go to the four gospels because the four gospels are New Testament teachings. Now often Jesus used parables and dark sayings but it's still New Testament teachings and it's very easy to tell when he's talking about things that have already happened versus things that are going to happen. And then next I would go to the Old Testament prophets and look at what they have to say. And then lastly I would look at typology, which typology is things that are symbolic. But you know a lot of people have this completely backwards. They want to talk about typology. Well I know that the tribulation and the rapture are going to be like this because you know when Noah got on the ark, that's a picture of X, Y, and Z. You know, why don't you just go with the clear statements in Revelation? Why don't you go with the clear statements in the epistles? Why don't you go with the clear statements out of the mouth of Jesus Christ and it'll all come clear? Because it's funny to me how God gave us a book. Listen to me now. He gave us the book of Revelation so that we would understand the things that were shortly going to come to pass. Did he say I gave you the book of John so that you'll understand the things that are shortly going to come to pass in regard to Bible prophecy? Did he say that about the book of Daniel or Ezekiel? Did he say that about the book of Matthew? No. I mean we can learn about Bible prophecy, I believe, from all 66 books. But which book is intended to show us and reveal to us the things that must shortly come to pass? The book that claims to have that purpose in mind is the book of Revelation. And it should always be the number one cornerstone when it comes to Bible prophecy. And that's why it's such an important book to study. It is not a sealed book. It is only sealed to those that are unsaved. Or it is sealed to those who have a preconceived idea and refuse to believe the truth of what it explicitly says. But to those of us that are saved and to those of us who care what the truth is and do not have an ulterior motive to try to make the book of Revelation say something that it's not saying, it is not a sealed book. It is a book that is to show us and reveal to us what's going to happen. And we can understand it clearly. Now, look at verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things where? In the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. Now look, did Jesus Christ not command for these things to be preached and taught in the churches? He said, I'm giving you these things. I've sent mine angel to show you these things and to testify unto you these things in the churches. So look, is it right for pastors to not preach on the book of Revelation? I heard a pastor recently say, you know, I'm just not comfortable teaching and preaching on the book of Revelation yet. Then you're not ready to be a pastor yet. Because he said that he gave us these things to be taught and preached and shown to the churches. And look, the churches in 2013 need to be taught the doctrines of the book of Revelation more than the churches of any other generation. I mean, the time is at hand, and if there were ever a time that the book of Revelation would need to be taught and preached, it would be today. And he said, I want this to be shown unto you and testified in the churches. And the angels of these churches today, the preachers in these churches today are shying away from it saying, oh, I'm not comfortable. No, here's what you're not comfortable with. You're not comfortable with preaching something that's not popular. That's what you're not comfortable with. And you know that the doctrine you've been taught of the preacher of rapture is a lie and you're not comfortable getting up and preaching the truth because then, you know, Mr. Moneybag's deacon's going to leave the church. That's what you're not comfortable with. And you are not fit to be a preacher. And then another preacher recently I heard about, you know, one of his church members confronted him and said, you know, are you pre-tribbed? This way he said, I don't know. I don't know what I believe. You know, this is the day we're living in. This is supposed to be taught and preached in the churches. If the pastor doesn't even know, how are the church members going to know? And I'm sure God gave us the book of revelation so that we can all just walk into the end times having no idea what's going to happen, having no idea what's about to happen because the pastor won't teach us because the pastor won't tell us. I mean, it's ridiculous today. This is an important book. You say, well, it's not my favorite book. Read it, learn it. But listen to what he says in verse number 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. The city is the city that we talked about in the last sermon on Revelation 21, the holy Jerusalem, for without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. And of course, they told you that all dogs are going to heaven and it's just a lie. They're all going to hell, according to the Bible. Just kidding. But anyway, it says in verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. Now, I want to park it on this verse for a moment here. Jesus Christ said that he is the root and offspring of David and that he is the bright and morning star. Now, our church is King James Bible only. Now, if you've seen the license plate on my car, it doesn't say King James sometimes. It doesn't say mostly KJV. It says KJV only. And I'm very strongly King James only because of the fact that these new modern versions of the Bible, they make changes to the word. Now, this chapter explicitly tells us, do not make any changes. Look at verse number 18 of Revelation 22. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, what things? The words of the prophecy. God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. That is a very serious curse there. He places a curse upon anyone who would add to or remove from God's word. It's pretty serious and he says if you do, you're damned. He says your name is out of the book of life and all the plagues of Revelation will be added unto you. You will never be saved. Now, people will try to use this to say, oh, you'll lose your salvation. Well, you can't lose your salvation. If you're saved, you have everlasting life. But what this is teaching is that a person who's not saved, who tampers with God's word either by removing or adding, they have sealed their fate. They will go to hell. They lose their opportunity to ever be saved. You see, the book of life, it's interesting, I don't have time to go through all of it right now, but if you look up every time the book of life is mentioned in the Bible, did you know that there's not one verse that talks about a person's name being added to the book of life? Did you know that? Look at the Bible. You know, we have this idea and we hear this doctrine that, you know, the moment a person gets saved, there are names written in the book of life. Wrong. Nowhere in the whole Bible. Genesis to Revelation, you'll never find anyone's name being added. The only time frame mentioned about anyone's name being put into the book of life is before the foundation of the world. The Bible says the names were put in there before the foundation of the world. There's no evidence of anyone's name ever being added, but there is much talk about taking names out or blotting names out or removing names. The best example of this is in Revelation 3. He that overcometh his name shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. So right there it says that if you're saved, your name's not going to be blotted out of the book of life, but it will be confessed. But nowhere does it say, you know, if you're saved, you'll be added because listen, this is why, because everybody's name starts out in the book of life. That's why everybody's name starts out in the book of life. Every person who's ever lived. Then when a person either dies without receiving Jesus Christ as savior or does something else in their life, such as blaspheme the Holy Ghost or such as add to or take from God's word, that is when their name is blotted out. That is when basically they lose their chance to ever be saved. And so that's what we see here. He says that if anyone removes or takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, verse 19, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. Basically the place where his name could have been is removed. And so what I'm saying is that once a person has added to or taken from God's word, that person can never be saved when you say, Oh, but anybody who's still alive can always still be saved. No, not if you've taken out from God's word, not if you've added to God's word, you can't. Once you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, Jesus said, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But he said the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. He said that he, the blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath no forgiveness, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. I mean, there are things you can do that push you over the edge. The Bible talks about those that are reprobate, that God has given over to a reprobate mind. I mean, it's just simply too late. Does it seem like God takes pretty seriously somebody tampering with his word? Now I don't know about you, but if God's telling me that the people who actually are the ones who are purposely changing God's word, and obviously someone somewhere along the line purposely changed God's word, right? The Bible says that these people are doomed and damned for doing such a thing. Doesn't that make you afraid of these versions? I mean, to think like, you know, oh, well, I'm just going to go to a church that uses one of these versions. Let me show you right now that these versions are not just inferior to the King James. It's not just, well, the King James is the best one. I'm going to show you and prove to you, listen to me now, that these versions are satanic. You say, no, Pastor Anderson, I don't believe it. I do not believe that these new versions of the Bible are actually satanic. I just think that they're not as good as the King James. I'm going to prove to you right now how satanic they are, because the people who would do such a thing are satanic. They are reprobate. They are sons of Belial. Now let me prove it to you. We're going to use the NIV as an example, but we could be using other, I mean, all the versions are pretty much the same except the King James. I mean, they all do the same things. They all make the same changes. The NIV is the most popular version out there of these modern Bible versions. If you walked into a Christian bookstore and just said, give me a Bible, I mean, they're probably going to put an NIV in your hand. Now Brother Garrett's got an NIV in his hand, and I'm going to show you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NIV is a satanic book, okay? Look at Revelation 22, 16 again. It says, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. Who is the morning star according to the Bible? Jesus Christ. Read for me Revelation 22, 16 from the NIV. You look down at your King James Bible. Read it nice and loud, Brother Garrett. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. Now doesn't the NIV say pretty much the same thing in this verse, that Jesus is the morning star? Doesn't it say that? Okay. Now there's one other place, go to Revelation 2, I'm going to show you one other place that mentions the morning star. Is everybody on the same page so far? In Revelation 22, both the King James and the NIV both said that Jesus is the morning star, okay? Go back to Revelation 2 quickly and I'll just show you this. It says in verse 26, and he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father, and I will give him the morning star. Okay, that's the only other mention in the Bible of the morning star. Now go to Isaiah 14, 12. Isaiah 14, 12, and look down at your Bible there. I'm going to read for you from the King James Bible, follow along. It says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? Now let me ask you this. Who is Lucifer? Satan. I mean, if we were to walk down the street today and ask people, who is Lucifer, pretty much everybody would tell us the same thing, wouldn't they? They'd tell us, well, Lucifer is Satan. And those who worship Satan, they always call him by the name of Lucifer, have you noticed that? I mean, they always talk about Lucifer this, Lucifer that, and people who are Satanists, they worship Lucifer. Now let's read about Lucifer here. And by the way, did you know that this is the only verse in the whole Bible that says the word Lucifer? Did you know that? Isaiah 14, 12 tells us the name of Satan, Lucifer. Look at verse 13. Why is he being cast out or fallen from heaven? It says, Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. So what was it about Lucifer that caused him to be cast out of heaven and cast down into hell? What was it? He wanted to be like God. He wanted to be like the most high. He wanted to ascend into heaven and exalt his throne above the stars of God. Now people will often wrongfully say he wanted to take the place of God, but that's not what he said. He said, I will sit, halfway through verse 13, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation. And he said, I will be like the most high. He didn't want to become God in the sense of taking place of God, he wanted to become a God. And that is exactly what the Mormon religion teaches. That is exactly what the Latter Day Saint religion teaches, that man can become a God. And that's what Satan tempted him with in the Garden of Eden. When he said, if you eat of this fruit, you will be as gods, knowing good and evil. And that's what the Mormon church today teaches, that you will be as gods. You will be your own god of your own planet someday. You will be a god. That was the sin of Lucifer here. So this is a really famous passage about Lucifer's sin that caused him to be cast down. Now read for me nice and loud, and remember, before Garrett reads it, what was it that Lucifer did that caused him to be cast down to hell? He wanted to be like God. He wanted to be like the most high, right? Okay? Go ahead, Brother Garrett, read it nice and loud. You look down at your Bible while Brother Garrett reads Isaiah 14, 12 from the NIV. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn. You have been cast down to earth, you who once lay below the nations. Okay. So in the King James Bible, who's being cast out of heaven? Starts with an L. Who's being cast out of heaven in the NIV? The morning star. And who does the NIV say the morning star is? Jesus. So tell me that these people are not of Satan. Tell me that that book is just, well, it's not quite as good, but it's what people like. It's popular. One time I was talking to an assistant pastor of a Baptist church and I showed him all these errors in the NIV and he said, well, I know the NIV's got a lot of problems, but you know, it's just what people use and so that's why I'm going to preach. It's what people want. It's the most popular one. That's why I'm going to use it. No, it's satanic. I mean to sit there and remove the name of Lucifer, to protect his name from a negative connotation. Because all these New Agers, all these people that are into New Age religion and mysticism and Gnosticism and Satanism, they all talk about how wonderful Lucifer is and that New Age Bible version that he's holding in his hand basically removes Lucifer's name from a passage that's a negative connotation and instead of Lucifer being cast out of heaven, has Jesus being cast out of heaven. So in the NIV, the only mention of the morning star is to say that it's Jesus and to have him be cast out of heaven for what? For trying to be as the Most High. Jesus is as the Most High and basically the NIV is accusing him of being a fraud. He really is God. Jesus really is as the Most High. Jesus does also sit in the sides of the North. His throne is, you know, the throne of God and of the Lamb. I mean he's at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. That book says Jesus is going to be cast to hell for trying to be at the right hand of the Father. No, it was Lucifer who tried to be at the right hand of the Father. He was cast out. He was rejected. And so that is a very satanic book. Go to Revelation 22 and I'll be almost done. Go there in your non-inspired version as well, the NIV. That's what the NIV stands for, the non-inspired version because it is not inspired by God. You say, well it's easier to understand. Of course it is for the unsaved man. That's because you have to be saved to understand the Holy Bible because it's written by God and it's spiritually discerned. A man can understand a book that's written by man. And you just say, I don't like the King James. That just tells me you're not saved because the Bible says that those that are saved that are the sheep, they know the voice of the shepherd. And if you say you don't like God's Word, you have a problem. And by the way, I don't think that that book is any easier to understand at all. It's been proven that NIV is filled with big words. It's filled with complicated grammatical constructions. You know, a small child can understand the King James version. But people don't like the King James. Maybe they just don't like the word sodomite. Maybe they just don't like the word hell. Maybe they just don't like the word damnation. Maybe they just don't like the word pisseth. You know, maybe they don't like the word damned or bastard or, you know, I mean maybe they just don't like the language of God's Word because sometimes God's Word uses some strong language. Well, you know what? Maybe we should just let God decide what's in His Word. And so we go, oh, I don't, oh, oh, it's so, oh, it just sounds so harsh, oh. It's the Word of God. Quit standing in judgment of God. He's God. He can say whatever He wants. And in fact, His Word's perfect. And in fact, I like it. But He says in Revelation 22, right after this curse on anyone who would ever tamper with the Scripture, and notice, who is He speaking to according to verse 18? For I testify unto who? Every man that heareth the words of this prophecy. Is there anybody He's not talking to? Anybody who hears this, He's talking to. Look at the next thing He says. He which testifieth these things saith, verse 20, surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. So the Bible ends with a curse and then a blessing. The curse is upon anyone who will tamper with God's Word. And then the blessing is put upon all men. He just reaches out to everybody. He says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. That's a prayer that is for all men to receive the grace of God. Because God is not willing that any should perish but that all to come to repentance. That's the last verse in the Bible, a blessing upon all men, God hoping that they'll be saved. Obviously, there comes a time where it becomes too late for people. But at some point, God wants everybody to be saved. You know, He gives everybody a chance until they seal their fate. Read for us from the NIV. And keep in mind, God just finished saying, don't change it. Don't take away. Look what the NIV does to verse 21. You look down at your Bible. Read it, Brother Garrett. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people, Amen. Now that's a big difference, isn't it? Revelation 22, 21. And in the NIV, nice and loud, Brother Garrett, one more time. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people, Amen. So the big difference, the colossal difference between what the King James is saying in the NIV is that the King James wants God's grace to be extended to everybody. To everybody who hears the words of the book, he said, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. That's a God who wants everybody to be saved. That's a God who's saying, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. That's a God who tasted death on the cross for every man, wanting everyone to be saved. Now look, not everybody's going to be saved. It becomes too late. Those who died without Christ, it's too late. Those who blaspheme the Holy Ghost, it's too late. But he's not willing to perish. He wants all to be saved. But in the NIV, who is the blessing of the grace upon? He said, it's just for God's people. See that's a great version for the Calvinists. Well God's grace is only extended. No the grace of God that will bring his salvation has appeared to all men. But not in the NIV. It's only for God's people. Nope, the grace of God's available to anybody. But let me tell you something. The grace of God is not going to save you unless you have faith, unless you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Bible tells us, howbeit the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. See the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. So Jesus is the savior of those who don't believe. He's the savior of the world. The Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. But it's not going to do you any good unless you have faith, unless you believe. He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. That means he's the savior of those who don't believe. That means that the grace of God has appeared unto those who don't believe. But the only way to be saved is that you have to put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus Christ looked at the woman that wept at his feet who had sinned much. He said unto her, go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee. See we are saved by our faith and God's grace. God supplies the grace, we supply the faith. Our faith in Christ, God's grace, that's what saves us. Calvinism is a false doctrine. But see how just a small subtle change that probably most people maybe wouldn't even notice. The difference between the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all and let it be with God's people. You say, well the book of Revelation is just written to the seven churches. You know what? He just finished saying that he's testifying unto everyone that hears the prophecy of this book and to prove that he's not only talking to the saved, he even talked about a warning to those that would tamper with it, which obviously is a warning to the unsaved. He's talking to saved and unsaved. Now look, the book of Revelation is primarily to show unto his servants the things which must surely come to pass. But in chapter 22, there are some very specific pleas to the unsaved where he says, come take the water of life freely. Don't try to change my word. Don't tamper with it. And when he gives that blessing at the end, it's for all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. We need to understand that every word of God is pure and we need to understand and take it very seriously when someone's tampering with God's word. And look, if you can't trust the Bible in your hand, who can you trust? Stay away from these modern versions, man. They're coming out with a new one every week and they are corrupting God's word. We need to stay with the tried and the true. The Bible that God has used and blessed for the last 400 years in the English language, the Bible that matches up with previous versions in other languages was diligently compared to the previous translations that is God's word preserved down to us today in 2013, you know, and not be carried about with every wind of doctrine, every new Bible that comes down the pike, written by a bunch of people that, that are casting Jesus out of heaven and they put Lucifer, you know, they leave Lucifer in charge and that's just scratching the surface. I could go all night just showing you the blasphemy of that book. But all that to say this, the book of Revelation is a book that we need to be reading. Blessed is he that readeth, blessed is he that heareth. And let's testify this in the churches. If you're in this room and you're going to be a pastor someday, you better learn to preach this book. Preach the whole book. Preach Genesis, but preach Revelation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for all the things that we've learned from the book of Revelation. I just pray that you'd please just bless us now as we go our separate ways, dear Lord, and please just give wisdom and understanding to all those that are here tonight and in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.