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Alright, so the title of the sermon this afternoon is an overview of the book of Revelation. An overview of the book of Revelation. Now I wanted to just look at the book of Revelation from a top level view, alright. I want to sort of break it down for you so you can understand what this book is about before we go chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Now a lot of people believe the book of Revelation to be a very complicated book and it really, to be honest with you, it really isn't that complicated, okay. It's just that sometimes we've been fed information that confuses us but remember that God is not the author of confusion, okay. The book of Revelation can be understood by you and I. We don't need a Bible prophecy expert to come and do an end times series on the book of Revelation or end times but I have seen the fear of many preachers, the fear of many pastors where instead of teaching their church the truth of this book they would rather bring in the expert. They would rather bring somebody that doesn't have to give accounts for the things that they teach because once they do the teaching they're out, they're gone, okay. Normally if a pastor is going to preach on a book like this the church is naturally going to ask questions because there are some things that are cryptic and challenging to understand but let me assure you, you can understand this book. You had the reading there in Revelation 22 and look at verse number 7, these are the words of Christ, Behold I come quickly, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Now do you want a special blessing from Jesus or you want a special blessing, he says well you need to keep the sayings of the prophecy of the book which means we have the ability to keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book. This is a book that we can understand. This is a book that we can apply in our everyday lives and not just about future events but we can take the principles and the lessons and apply it in our life today. Now the reason we had reading from Revelation 22 is primarily because we're going to read from Revelation chapter 1 again next week so if you can come back to Revelation chapter 1 please, Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 1, Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 1. Now I want you to notice the very first two words of this book, The Revelation, that's where we get the title for the book, the book of Revelation, The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. So John the apostle wrote the book of Revelation. He wrote the book of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and now the book of Revelation will be going through a series of the writings of John but I wanted to make you realise the very first two words is The Revelation, okay, meaning the word Revelation just by a dictionary definition the word Revelation means the act of revealing or disclosing something revealed or disclosed especially a striking disclosure as of something not before realised. So Revelation means to reveal. Now a lot of people say that's a hard book to understand, no, no, no, God is revealing the end times to you, it's not meant to be an overly complicated book, God is telling us exactly what takes place and when you understand the top level view of the book of Revelation it all really helps, really a lot of it makes sense. Now if this is the book to reveal to us the end times we also know that there are other books of the Bible where there's a lot of end times teaching. When we often think about the Old Testament probably the first book that will come to mind about the end times is the book of Daniel, right? Maybe in the New Testament aside from the book of Revelation you'd also think of books like 1 and 2 Thessalonians, deals with a lot of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You might also think about the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke that cover the Olivet Discourse where Jesus Christ himself teaches us about his second coming, alright? Now so obviously we have a lot of teaching throughout the Bible about the coming of the Lord or about the end times but in order for you to understand the book of Daniel or for you to understand the Olivet Discourse, Matthew, Mark and Luke or in order for you to understand first and second Thessalonians you need the book of Revelation. That's why it's the Revelation. It reveals to us everything that God has already told us about the end times. What I'm trying to say is this, you don't use the book of Daniel to interpret Revelation rather you use the book of Revelation to interpret the book of Daniel, okay? This is something you really need to understand. This is the book of Revelation, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He wants to reveal the truth to us and there are things in the rest of the Scriptures that are all true and there's no contradictions but I had someone challenge me recently just on YouTube, you know people write comments and they're trying to make a point of the book of Daniel correcting something in the book of Revelation. Now you've got to mix up. You've got to completely mix up. The Revelation helps us understand that reference in the book of Daniel, okay? Now drop down to verse number four. It says, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, who is the book of Revelation written for? Specifically here, seven churches. Reverend, the book of Revelation is written for the New Testament church. It's something we are to read from. There is something that we need to teach from. It says, our grace be unto 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 notice, I'm sure you've all read the book of Revelation and you know that chapters two and chapters three has these letters and these writings to these seven churches, alright? The church of Ephesus which is, we also have the book of Ephesians that speaks to the same church. The church in Smyrna, the church in Pergamos, the church in Thyatira, the church in Sardis, the church in Philadelphia, the church in of the Lacedonians. All of these churches are geographical locations and if you look at verse number four again, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, okay, or Asia Minor as it was known in time of the writings and in our day, modern day Turkey. All of these locations are found in modern day Turkey or Asia Minor. Now the reason I just wanted to show you that is this is a book for churches and you just get to verse number four and he already tells you these are literal churches in Asia. The reason I wanted to point that out is because some Bible experts going to tell you, well the church in Ephesians that's actually first century Christianity and the church in Smyrna, that's the Roman Catholic Church. I think if I got this right, okay, and the church in, I don't remember exactly but one of them is the Protestant churches and other ones, the charismatic churches and the Laodicean church age is the one we're living in right now and by the way, the Laodicean church is the one that God wanted to spew out of his mouth. I'm sorry but I don't look at New Life Baptist Church as a church that the Lord wants to spew out of his mouth but they start teaching all these, oh man, I need the expert to teach me all these cryptic, oh the seven churches represents this, represents that. He just told us in verse number four, John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Why do you have to then, oh but it really means, look, if you just shut off the expert, I'm not so, I'm just your pastor, shut off the expert and just Jesus is telling us what they are. It's the book of Revelation, he's revealing to us the exact geographical locations of these churches and the expert comes, oh let me tell you something, you only really understand it if you got me teaching you about these seven churches or different time periods or what have you and you need to learn to shut all of that off and just build your doctrine on what the Bible says and I want you to understand, please look, any preachers behind this pulpit, my expectation on you is just teach what the Bible says, not what it doesn't say, okay. There's enough of what it says, we'll never get to the end of what it says, we'll never preach at all, let alone teaching what it doesn't say. Jesus Christ is very clear, these churches are in Asia and John wanted the churches to understand the book of Revelation, okay. Now what happens is when we get to Revelation chapter four, the expert will say to you, well, we don't really need to know the rest of it. Revelation one, two and three, it's to the seven churches, we get to Revelation chapter four and you know, the word church does not exist anymore in the book. The word church does not get brought up anymore, therefore none of the other chapters are for church, okay. All the other chapters are for the Jews, they'll say something like this, okay. Has anyone heard that before? The word church is not in the book after this, so therefore it's not for the church. Again, is that an argument from what is written or is it an argument from silence? It's another argument from silence. Why would you build a doctrine from silence, okay? In fact, if you can, go to Revelation chapter four please, go to Revelation chapter four and verse number one, Revelation chapter four and verse number one. So when we get to, just to repeat, once we get to Revelation chapter four, I agree the word church is no longer used, okay. But then we get to Revelation four one, it says, after this I looked, these are the words of John, and behold a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit, and behold a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. So the same people that will say to you, the word church does not come up anymore after chapter number four, and so it's not for us, will then say Revelation chapter four verses one and two is the rapture of the church, even though the word church does not appear. And again, I want you guys to be really wise, and I don't think it requires a lot of wisdom to be honest with you. When you hear something, put it to the test, try the spirits, is it true? Because I remember as a kid, I'm trying to understand this book, I'm trying to absorb the teaching of the prophecy expert, okay, I'm trying to get, okay, so the word church does not exist anymore, therefore the church is not in the picture, but when you bring up chapter four, verse number one, the church is not there, but now it's a church. So I'm trying to follow your rules, but you can break your rules whenever you want. It doesn't make sense to me. Why create rules and then just break it? There's something wrong with the teaching. There's something wrong with that expert. And when you start to put to test the things you hear at church, okay, not to be rebellious, not to just find problems, like in the honesty of my heart, I just want to know the truth. And so I hear something not for the church because church is not mentioned, all right, I'm going to believe what you say, now I'm going to test it with the rest of the scriptures because it's going to help me and then it doesn't help me anymore because I see the contradictions immediately in that logic. But look, first of all, they'll say this is the rapture of the church. Number one, it's just one man going to heaven. Number two, it's not a bodily resurrection. What did he say? He said in verse number two, and immediately I was in the Spirit. Listen, the rapture is a bodily resurrection. Someone went to heaven in the Spirit, but his body is still on the isle of Patmos, okay. And this is one man going up to heaven to see what God will show him about future events. Now come with me to Revelation 22. So we saw Revelation chapter one, that this book is for the churches. Come back with me to Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible, okay. Verse number 16, Revelation 22 verse number 16, again, these are the words of Jesus. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things, look at this, in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. Listen, when you get to the last book of Revelation, Jesus says, look, these words, these things need to be testified in the churches. What things? We're up to Revelation 22 now. Is it just Revelation 1, 2, 3, a bit of 4, break the rules, that's us now. And now Revelation 22, that's for us again. What are these things that took place between Revelation 4 and 22? Those are the things that Christ is speaking about. Christ says this needs to be testified in the churches. In fact, this is the only book of the Bible where Jesus himself is telling the angels or the pastors, preach this to your church. This needs to be heard in the churches. And then the pastor goes, well, I can't do it. Let's get the expert. But this is the only one, like, I'm saying all the books need to be preached, don't get me wrong, but this is one with Jesus, look, you need to do it. Okay, so we have chapter one, it's for the churches. We have the end of Revelation 22, it's for the churches. But then all these verses, you don't need to worry, all these chapters you don't need to worry about, it's not for you. Does that make sense? Does that make logical sense, honestly? Just from a human being perspective, just from a non-biased perspective, it starts for the churches, it ends for the churches, but the middle bit, all that tribulation stuff, that's not for you. That makes no sense. That honestly makes no sense. But I want to show you, this is a book that must be taught in the churches. Now let me show you how faulty that argument is, because the word church is not mentioned in those chapters, therefore it's not for the church. Well I just did a quick, I looked this up very quickly. The book of Revelation, as far as the New Testament book, or out of all the books really, has the third most mentions of the word church in this book alone. The third, out of all the books of the Bible, the third most mentions of the word church. It's got 19 references. The only ones that have higher numbers than that is the book of Acts with 22 references to church, and 1 Corinthians with 21 references to church or churches. So the book that has the third highest mention of church is the book of Revelation, but they'll say to you, it's not for you. These chapters, most of the chapters are not for you. It's like, what? Please tell me I'm not the only one that's heard that stuff. I've heard that numerous times. Don't worry about it, it's not for you. Well what about this? They say well because the word church is not there, it's not for us. Well 2 Peter, the book of 2 Peter has no mention of the word church, is that not for us? I mean 1 Peter does, 1 Peter mentions church, I guess that's for us, 1 Peter, I don't know who 2 Peter's for if the word church is not mentioned. I mean imagine if I just came as a pastor and said that to you. Look the word church is not in 2 Peter so it's not for us. Like you're going pastor, you're insane. Well how insane is it to say all these chapters are not for us because it doesn't have the word church? It's the same, right? Or what about the book of 1 John and 2 John does not have the word church? A 3 John does, so that's for us. 3 John's for us but not 1 and 2 John, it's not for us. The book of Jude doesn't have the word church, it's not for us. I'm just trying to show you how silly these arguments are. It just causes you've got the name and you've got the ministry and you've got the reputation, you've got the expert here, you know, it's like oh wow, you know I can only understand this book if I've got a man guiding me. You need the words of the Lord, you need your Holy Spirit and that's really it. I'm going to try to help you understand this book and it really, the reason I'm going for this overview is so you have the confidence, it's not as complicated as people have made it to be. You know, arguments from silence, cannot be understood, it's not for you. These kinds of things or the churches represent periods of time, no it's the Asian churches at that time, okay. The book of, the church of Ephesus is evidence of that, we've got an entire book called Ephesians written at the time when Paul walked the earth. Can you come with me to, well talk about Ephesians, it's the first book, first church that's mentioned. Come with me quickly to Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1. So what's the response? Okay the word church is not mentioned, okay look I get what you're saying but you're making another argument from silence because it's not mentioned, it's not for us but Ephesians chapter 1 and don't forget the very first church that's mentioned that the book of Revelation is written to is the book of, is the church of Ephesians, the Ephesus church and in Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 1, Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 1 it says, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Okay so the first church that's mentioned in the book of Revelation, what does God call them individually? The saints, the saints which are at Ephesus. Now which New Testament book has the most references to the word saints? Does anyone want to guess, sorry, Revelation, Revelation. We already, look Ephesians you're the saints so it's for you church to read, guess what you're the saints right? The book of Revelation, come back with me to Revelation, Revelation chapter 5, Revelation chapter 5 and verse number 8, Revelation chapter 5 and verse number 8. So when the expert says to you look Revelation chapter 5 is not for you because it doesn't have the word church or you go to Revelation chapter 5 verse number 8 and when he had taken the book the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of saints. You say well pastor maybe there are just some saints, maybe they're just tribulation saints, they use these words that aren't in your Bible, okay? It's not us saints, it's other saints. Well go to Revelation chapter 8 now, go to Revelation chapter 8 verse number 3, Revelation chapter 8 verse number 3, doesn't have the word church in this chapter but it says and another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints. Okay you might say you're not those saints but you're all saints. These prayers are being offered up during this time. Okay Revelation 8 may not have the word church but it has the word saints. That's what you are, that's what I am, right? Revelation 11 18, let's just speak through this, Revelation 11, Revelation 11 18, and the nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints. That's Revelation 11, let's go to Revelation 13, Revelation 13 verse 7, Revelation 13 verse 7, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints. Who's making war with the saints in that passage? The beast, the antichrist? Oh that's not us because the word church is not mentioned. Saints, we are God's saints. The Ephesian church is known as the saints, all right? Let's keep going, Revelation 17 verse 6, Revelation 17 verse 6, and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, Revelation 18 24, Revelation 18 24, and in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, Revelation 19 verse 8, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Look Revelation 19 does not have the word church but you see this woman with this fine linen clean and white is the righteousness of saints and here's what's strange about this, the expert will say to you, Revelation 19, those saints there, that is the church. Again breaking their rules, church is not mentioned, saints are mentioned, oh that's the church. Look you can understand me, I love, I've always loved God's word and I've wanted always to understand it and when I had a preacher come and say this means that. I'm like yes and I opened God's word, no it doesn't mean that, I'm not trying to be rebellious but I'm trying to learn from you, teach me the truth, you said to me it can't be just because the word church is not mentioned but now you will avoid all those other references to saints but when we get to Revelation 19 now it's you, now it's the church or what have you, by what standard? Just because your opinion says so? Just because now you decide to break the rules? I mean I've played a game, I remember I played a board game with some friends and there were rules and I was playing the game and my friend kept breaking the rules so he could win. The rules kept changing, I thought these were the rules now, oh but I'm losing so I need to change the rules. You know what, it's not a fun game anymore, in fact I said I quit, I'm not playing with you anymore but preachers make rules, these are the rules and they don't abide by them, it's not fun anymore, I don't enjoy this teaching anymore, it doesn't make any sense and if I ask a question I'm rebellious, I'm just trying to understand the rules, I want to understand how to read this myself, there's a blessing to keep the words of the prophecy, I want that blessing, help me understand and get that blessing myself. Look when you spend enough time really, not just ticking a box to be at church, when you spend time saying I want to learn from God's word, you'll start seeing a lot of inconsistencies with teaching. My biggest fear when I come behind this pulpit is Lord I don't want to teach something inconsistent, I don't want to say something that you haven't said. I don't want my flesh to get in the way here Lord, I want your spirit to work and feed your people your word, that's what I want. Go to Revelation chapter 20 verse number 9, Revelation 20 verse 9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and passed the camp of the saints about. Look all of these chapters, they say 1920's for them too but all these other chapters that we looked at, look if we're that last generation we're going to go for this time. Jesus told us learn it, there's a blessing, teach it to the church, like the complete opposite to what is happening in a lot of Baptist churches. Or they get the expert to explain it all away, create all these rules why it doesn't apply to us but then they constantly break their own rules. It's so discouraging, I want the blessing, I want to understand, I want to keep the words of the Lord. So when you start setting up these rules it becomes complicated, well I don't know, is that for me, is that not for me, is that for what group, that's the tribulation saints, where's that word, no it's not, we just gave it that title, it's not for you, it's for the Jews here, that's for the church over there. And that's why many people are like well that's such a cryptic book, so hard to understand and yet Jesus said no I'm coming to reveal it all to you. How can Jesus be calling up the revelation? And it's Christianly going we don't understand it, there's a disconnect going on there, there's a real disconnect going on there, there are many pastors that are to blame. Jesus told you teach it. Come with me to Revelation chapter 7, let me show you another inconsistency that confuses, confused me, okay. Now before I read this, let me just say the book of Revelation can be understood chronologically, get that right, okay. The timeline is set up in the scriptures. You don't have to take a certain passage and go well that one applies over here, this one's future over there, that one needs to be jotted over here, because they're trying to make it fit their bias. And what they'll do, they'll get to Revelation chapter 7 and everyone that does this agrees when they get to Revelation chapter 7, this is the time they want to do this. They say well Revelation chapter 7 is a parenthesis, parenthesis. So it's not part of the main sentence, it's a pause and that pause can be, we can adjust that pause over here, we can put that pause over there, God's just stopping time right now and trying to put our attention on something else but you know it doesn't necessarily follow chronologically. So say that word right, I believe I said that right, okay. And look again, I'm like oh parenthesis, all right, I need to learn what the parenthesis are, parenthesis, I need to learn what the parenthesis are so I can understand the book of Revelation. Again I'm excited, okay parenthesis, what makes chapter 7 a parenthesis? This is what a pass said, well it starts and after these things, so when it says and after these things, okay now look, let's say I am, I don't know, Pastor Kevin drinks water, checks his phone, after these things I'm walking over here. Now normal English will say well this is happening straight afterwards, after drinking water, after checking his phone, after these things he walked over there. That shouldn't be confusing, is anyone confused by that, after these things? As far as when that takes place, no, but they don't want it taking place, it's a parenthesis. And again as just a normal church member, yes I'm going to learn, okay after these things, parenthesis. So what do I do? Go home, look up every time the book of Revelation says after these things, parenthesis, so I can learn. So come with me to Revelation 18 verse number 1, Revelation 18 verse number 1, and after these things, I remember, parenthesis, chapter 19 verse number 1, and after these things, parenthesis. So I've discovered three parenthesis. Now again I'm not trying to be rebellious, I'm trying to learn the doctrine. So I go to my pastor, pastor, 18 is a parenthesis, no no they're not parenthesis, what, no no, Revelation 18 is not a parenthesis, Revelation 19 is not a parenthesis, say but you just told me in Revelation 7 it's a parenthesis, and the reason it's a parenthesis is because it says after these things. So I took what you said on board and I'm trying to learn it, but now you're saying no it's not. Again you're setting up rules and you're breaking them immediately. You just don't want me to understand what chapter 7 is about. You know why? Because chapter 7, look at this, we'll look at this later when we go to chapter chapter, it mentions the saints which came out of great tribulation. They came out of great tribulation. They don't want it to be that time. They want the tribulation to continue to the end of the seven years when God starts pouring out His wrath. That mention interrupts their timeline. So because it interrupts their timeline, it's parenthesis, move it somewhere else. But again their rules constantly break. Now in preparation for this sermon I just wanted to understand again what are the parenthesis. They all agree. All dispensational, pre-tribulational viewpoints, they don't like chapter 7. They don't. So it's always a parenthesis. But when I looked at different, I went online, Google just looked this up, they all agree. But they don't know, they don't agree with how many parenthesis are in the book of Revelation. I went to netbiblestudy.com, they said there are seven parenthesis. I mean I found three by the rules that I received. But they're saying there's seven of them. I went to bibletimeline.org.uk, they said no there are four parenthesis. I went to Emmaus Correspondent School and they said well there's twelve parenthesis but that's just some. Some of the major parenthesis and they gave me twelve, therefore there are many more. I mean that's a lot of parenthesis, that's a pretty messy book if it's all these parenthesis can be moved and changed. No wonder people are confused. No wonder people can't follow the timeline. But God makes it so easy after these things. God's way is always easy. God is not an author of confusion. But they all agree, yeah, we can't have chapter 7 in the picture, we all agree that's a parenthesis but then we all we disagree with what other parts of the bible are parenthesis or the book of Revelation I should say. Now there is a key to understanding the book of Revelation. Come back with me to Revelation chapter 1 verse number 19. Revelation chapter 1 verse number 19. So I hope you've got your thinking caps on. I know it's afternoon, had a bit of a feed, getting a little tired, right? But give this sermon attention so when I go chapter by chapter through the bible you're not getting confused. Honestly this sermon is to just clarify any confusion, okay? So Revelation chapter 1 verse number 19. Now John gets a vision of Christ, Christ is speaking to him, then when we get to verse number 19 Christ says to John, write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter. This is the key to the book of Revelation, which thou hast seen, that's past tense, okay? So John has not started writing when he got this vision of Christ, now he's got to write what he just experienced. Chapter 1 is past tense for the time that John started to write the book of Revelation. These are the things that he has seen, he saw Christ speaking to him, okay? Then the things which are present, okay? The things which are present are chapters 2 and 3, when he's writing to those seven churches and specific things about those churches. Those churches existed in the time of John, it's a present tense for John, which is again why they're not some timeline, oh that church represents 500 you know AD to 700 AD, that's messed up. This is present tense, these are churches that existed in the time of John. Then he says the things which shall be hereafter, hereafter future events, okay? Write past events, what you saw, write of present, those churches, now write hereafter things of the future. Come back with me to Revelation chapter 4, Revelation chapter 4 and verse number 1, Revelation chapter 4 verse number 1, and this I looked and behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me which said come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter, okay? So chapter 4, now you know, chapter 4 begins the future events. Chapter 1 was past for John, chapters 2 and 3 were present for John, but from chapter 4 it's hereafter, future, it's still future events for us actually, okay, as well as John when it comes to these things, all right. Now before we continue I'm going to ask brother Matt if you can put up that little diagram or picture, whatever it is that I created, we're going to put it up on the screen, we're also going to have it on the live, on the live, on the live live stream, there it goes, okay? Now I don't have time to break all of this down on this overview sermon, but I've done other sermons on the rapture and the end times, okay? Now as a very simple high level or major events about the end times, this is what we learn about. There is a future seven year period to come, a lot of churches, a lot of preachers call that the great tribulation, no, there is a future seven year period to come, but Jesus breaks it down for us, okay, and I haven't got time to prove this, you can go listen to my other sermons if you want, but the first thing that's going to come up is the beginning of sorrows, Jesus Christ speaks of the beginning of sorrows in Matthew 24 and that is difficulties that will affect the whole earth, challenges that will affect the whole earth, World War III or World War X, whatever world war that is, the whole world is going to suffer, okay? That period of beginning of sorrows is the first three and a half years, it's a seven year period, then at the midpoint of the seven years, the antichrist is resurrected, comes into the picture, mark of the beast, all that kind of stuff that you've heard about when it comes to the end times, that kick starts the great tribulation, which is the antichrist persecuting God's people, the saints, okay? Now that period of great tribulation, 75 days or less, the day shall be shortened, Christ said, okay, I don't have time to prove that today, we'll touch upon that as we go chapter by chapter, verse by verse, okay? Then the rapture takes place, we are unashamedly post tribulation, pre-wrath on our position of the rapture, okay, so post tribulation meaning after the tribulation, but the seven years have not ended yet, understand? And then pre-wrath, before God pours out his wrath, which is the purple color there, post trib, pre-wrath, the rapture of the saints, this is where we get our new resurrected bodies, then once the Lord delivers us out of this world, out of the great tribulation, then God pours out his wrath upon the earth, and many times, especially the Old Testament refers to it as the day of the Lord. That's God's wrath upon the earth. We're still within those seven year period, okay? God's wrath gets poured out to the end of those seven years. So let me repeat, beginning of sorrow is three and a half years, midpoint, the Antichrist persecutes God's people, okay, that period is very short lived, 75 days or less, alright? Then the rapture, we still have the majority of three and a half years to go, and that is God pouring out his wrath on the wicked world. Then we know that Christ returns at the end of the seven years, okay, and he sets up his millennium kingdom, he rules on the earth for a thousand years, when that thousand year period is ended, he then has the great white throne judgment, where the dead or the unbelievers get judged and thrown into the lake of fire. Following the great white throne judgment, God the Father creates a new heaven and a new earth, which is the eternal state, okay? So look, when it comes to my other Baptist brethren, this is where we're, I'll explain to you where we are on the same page, there's a future seven years to come on the same page. After those seven years, Christ rules for a thousand years, we're on the same page. At the end of the thousand years, the great white throne judgment, we're on the same page. After that, the millennium reign, the eternal state, the new heavens and new earth, we're on the same page. What they differ is, they will put the rapture before the beginning of sorrows. And they'll say before the tribulation, so they believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. So it's the timing of the rapture that is the main cause of difference, and it's because they call the entire seven years tribulation, but it is very clearly divided by tribulation, the earth to God's people, and then God's wrath, God to the wicked world, okay? That's clear in the Bible. It's so clear actually, but anyway, that's the point of difference. Now, what we're going to do is we're going to understand the book of Revelation and how it fits this. Now, I want to be careful how I say this. I'm not going to change the chronological events of the book of Revelation to fit this. We're going to look at the chronology of Revelation and see if it fits this. We're going with God's word and we're testing this. You say, pastor, these are your rules. I'm not going to break it, right? Like I told you, other preachers, they create their rules and they break it all the time. No, no, no. This is what the Bible teaches us. If you can please come with me to Revelation chapter 12, not Revelation chapter 12, sorry. I'm skipping ahead. Revelation chapter three, please, Revelation chapter six, Revelation chapter six and verse number three, Revelation chapter six and verse number three. Again, this is not detailed. This is just a high level overview of significant events. Obviously, there are other things that take place between these things or during these things, but I'm just trying to give you a high level view. Revelation chapter six and verse number three, let me just turn there, okay, it says here, and when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see, and there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword. So you can see that this is not beginning with a persecution of God's people, but rather peace is taken off the earth. There is a world war taking place during this time. So when we look at that, yes, beginning of sorrows, difficulties upon the whole earth, okay. What's the next thing? The great tribulation, the antichrist versus the saints. Well, let's just keep reading in verse number nine, Revelation six verse nine, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, so who's slain God's people, the saints. And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? So has the world started to, sorry, has God started to avenge the blood of his saints yet? I'm asking how long God, because they're being persecuted. It says in verse number 11, and white robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be killed, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. So more of God's saints have to be killed during this time of the great tribulation where the saints of God are being persecuted, okay. So I'm trying to cause you to follow the events of the book of Revelation. All right, well now that there's a persecution that's taking place, we should get to a point where there's a rapture event, that God's people are being taken out of there, right? A post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture. Well if you come with me to, you're still there in Revelation chapter six and verse number 15, sorry verse number 12, Revelation chapter six and verse number 12, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. You say pastor, that's not talking about any kind of rapture, that's just talking about the sun being dark and the moon becoming as blood and the stars from heaven falling upon the earth. Well now that you have the revelation, the timing, we want to now understand when Christ taught the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. Come with me quickly to Matthew 24 and verse number 29, Matthew 24, do you think this is an important event? The sun, the moon, the stars falling, that's a pretty major event don't you think? It's a major event. So guess what, John did not make this up, Christ taught this. In Matthew 24, Matthew 24 please, verse number 29, notice his words, Christ's words. Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, so have a look at that. Great tribulation, then the rapture, so immediately after, okay, that's not hard to understand, it's basic English. Immediately after the tribulation, meaning the tribulation is over, okay? Of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. Is that what we read in Revelation 6, same event, right? And then, verse number 30, and then, that means, by the way, it follows, yeah, then after, not a parenthesis, I don't know what to do with this, let's put that before the tribulation now, no, no, no, and then after, immediately after the tribulation, and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So when you compare Matthew 24, sun, moon, dark and stars, you know, this is when Christ comes back. Come back with me to Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6, now we saw that the, that the, all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, well, look at verse, Revelation 6 verse number 15, it says, and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fallen us, look at this, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. Hide us, look, because Christ just appeared and they can't take it, they're trying to find their bunkers, they're trying to get underground, look, hide us from the face of him. Why? Because after the rapture is God's wrath and they know, they know this, a lot of churches don't know this, even these guys know, because it says fallen 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 and who shall be able to stand. So after the rapture, I mean even these unbelievers know it's time for God's wrath, it's come. So we have God's wrath, all right? So look, and that's the rest of the three and a half years, we're not going to break the sound of the chapter by chapter right now, it's an overview, okay, but the next major event that we're looking for and God's wrath here is the seven, if you follow the chapter by chapter here, it's the seven trumpets, okay, the seven trumpets represents God's wrath upon the earth, okay. Now the next thing that we're looking for after God pours out his wrath is, sorry, I got a lot of notes here, I'm trying to figure this out, Christ rules for a thousand years, right? That's the thing up there. So come with me to Revelation 11, so we're going from six, so seven, eight, nine, ten, a lot of this has to do with God pouring out his wrath upon the earth, okay. Then when he's done pouring out his wrath, it says in Revelation 11, Revelation 11, 15, Revelation 11, 15, it says, and the seventh angel sounded, that's the seventh trumpet, whatever it is, right? And there was great voices in heaven saying, look, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. So when the seventh trumpet is sounded, does Christ come to reign? Do the kingdoms of the earth become his kingdom? Yeah, okay. So we know that's taking place where Christ reigns. Now before I continue here, we're in Revelation 11, aren't we? I want you to notice something, go to Revelation chapter 12, this is important, okay, Revelation chapter 12 and verse number one, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and she being with child cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. This woman is symbolic but it says here that she's expecting a child, okay. Now who is this child? If you drop down to verse number five, and she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Who's that? It's Jesus, all right, Jesus is going to rule with a rod of iron and then it says and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne because Christ would sit at the right hand of the father. So in a very symbolic chapter 12, something has altered, the timeline has changed. I don't need to tell you this is the parenthesis or anything like that, I need to create some rules that are going to get broken. But just by reading chapter 12, you know, hold on, we were God put at his wrath, we were introduced to the kingdom of Jesus, but now chapter 12, Jesus is being born and just very quick summary, ascends to heaven and sits on his throne. So what's happening in chapter 12? Chapter 12 begins a retelling of the events of the end times. And I don't need to tell you it's a parenthesis and believe me, you can read it for yourself, we've gone back in time. Jesus being born, Jesus going to send it to heaven, hey, this happened 2000 years ago at least. So we've gone back in time. And this is the key, this is another key that you need to understand. Once we get to chapter 11, chapter 12 is a retelling of the events all over again. How do we know that? Again, because Christ is being born and ascending into heaven. Now the reason I wanted to bring that up is because go back to Revelation 11. When you read Revelation 11, we don't have the details of the great white throne judgment, great detail, or the new heavens and new earth, but they're there, they're there. It's just that it's been summarized very quickly in Revelation 11. Let me show you. Go back to Revelation 11, Revelation 11 and verse number 15. Revelation 11, 15, and the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Stop there. The reason is Christ is going to reign on the earth for a thousand years. But look at the summary, and he shall reign forever and ever. So that summary, yes, covers the thousand years, but we know at the end of the thousand years, Christ gives the kingdom to the Father, creates a new heaven, new earth, and yes Christ will reign for all eternity. But I want to show you that we're quickly also talking about eternity to come. All there is summarized in a few sentences. One thing I want you to notice, look at, drop down to verse number 18. This is after Christ takes rule and he reigns forever, but it says here in verse 18, and the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. The dead are being judged. That's the great white throne judgment. But again, very quickly in a summary, 18's got that information for us. So I just want to show you, it's all there, but chapter 11 just summarizes very quickly these things. It kind of just combines it all together. We know that Christ is going to rule for eternity. We know that the dead are going to be judged. So when you do the retelling, when you start from chapter 12 and we start all over again, God then gives us more information about those events and where it fits chronologically. Okay, now there's another passage and this might be my own understanding, I don't know, but I believe, you know, another reason why we can say well chapter 12 is a retelling of the prophecies, okay, is chapter, sorry, chapter 12 is a retelling of the prophecies because if you go to chapter 10, Revelation chapter 10, God come with me to Revelation chapter 10 and verse number 9, so now we're coming to the end of this first telling of the prophecy, but in Revelation chapter 10 verse number 9, John has this interaction with this angel in Revelation 10, 9, and I went unto the angel and said unto him, give me the little book. And he said unto me, take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. I mean that's kind of the Bible. We love it. It's still good, but sometimes when we absorb it, that slap you in the face a little bit, it's a little bitter, right, that teaching, ah, it got me where it hurts. That's kind of what John's experiencing, like this is the scriptures, right, but then he says here, and verse number 10, and I took the little book out of the angel's hands, I already read it already, oh no I didn't, and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter and he said unto me, thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Reverend, the book of Revelation has been read by many peoples, many nations, many tongues, many kings. The angel's telling John, look, you've got to prophesy again. So we get to chapter 11, it ends, chapter 12, guess what he's doing, prophesying again, saying that all over again, okay. Now I've once had someone claim to me, oh that's just the post-trib pre-wrath position. No, no, no, no, no, there are many pre-trib believers that also believe this, believe it or not, I've come across them, because it's so obvious, it's so obvious when you start chapter 12, well Christ is born, and there's a retelling of what's happening, like it's obvious, but they want, they still want their parenthesis to switch around the chronology. So what I was trying to show you, this first telling of the prophecy, it follows this order. This was created, I just put this together last night, this was created based on the chronology of Revelation, not the other way around. I've done a Bible college course where we were like, hey, learn the charts, and it was much more complicated than this, this is, learn the charts and then interpret the book of Revelation by the chart, wrong, wrong. You learn the Bible, and then you create a chart, what God said, what he made clear, immediately after these things will come afterwards, and then, that's afterwards, let's just follow the chronology that God has given us, not the other way around. This is the book of Revelation, God is revealing it to us. He's telling us plainly what's going to happen. That's what I'm trying to say to you, you must, when it comes to end times, understand all the other books, and challenge every chart and every table and everything that people have drawn up, test it in light of the book of Revelation, and if the book of Revelation differs, then reject the charts, reject those books, reject the teachings, go with what God's word says, not what it doesn't say. So we get to Revelation chapter 12 and a retelling of the prophecy, now if it's a retelling it should follow this pattern again, should it not, it should, God's word is not going to be contradictory, so when we get to Revelation chapter 12, and verse number 6, now I don't have time to dig into this and explain, I'm going to flesh this out when we get to chapter 12, but we saw that there's a woman in the prophecy, and it says in verse number 6, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she have a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and three school days. That's three and a half years. The first three and a half years, the beginning of sorrows, it's difficulties upon the whole earth. Now I believe this woman represents the whole earth, and I'll explain that when we get to chapter 12. Say, Pastor, are you sure? Let me just give you something to think about, okay? Look at verse number 1 again, chapter 12, verse number 1, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman, I'm saying this is the whole earth, clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head the crown of the twelve stars. I mean, when we think of the whole earth, we think of the two great lights that orbit, or earth orbits around the sun, et cetera, you don't know what I'm talking about. Those three bodies are there, so the woman, to me, represents the entire earth, okay? She's having a hard time during those three and a half years, alright? Now following that, it's the great tribulation, it's the antichrist against the saint of God. Now drop down to verse number 17 in the same chapter. So following those three and a half years, verse number 17, and the dragon, that's the devil, was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So her seed, okay, is which keep the commandments of God, which have the testimony of Jesus Christ. That's believers, that's saints. Now the devil's not making war with the woman, but with the seed, okay, who are believers, who are saints. Now we're seeing persecution of God's people. Just following, alright? So then what? We expect a rapture, okay? Come with me to Revelation chapter 14, and you say, pastor, you skip 13, look 13 is just the detail of the persecution. It's about the mark of the beast, all that, you know, I don't have time to break that all down for you in this overview, okay, but the persecution has begun against God's people. Then we get to Revelation 14, and verse 14, we expect the rapture, we expect the rapture to take place, and I looked and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud once sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. Who's that? Who's sitting on a cloud? Who's like unto the Son of Man, who called himself the Son of Man as he walked this earth? Jesus. Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reaped, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Reverend, we're going to be reaped, we're going to be caught up with Jesus in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So you got that taking place? Well, that makes sense. And we expect what? After the reaping of God's people? God's wrath. Well, let's just continue there. In verse number 18, and another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe, and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gather the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. So God's people are taken up, where, you know, and then there's another reaping. Well, those that remain the grapes, they're going to face God's wrath, the winepress of God's wrath. That makes sense, yeah, God's wrath. Then we expect Christ to reign. Now, we're going to skip ahead to verse number, chapter 19, you say, well, what about chapters 15, 16? That's all God's wrath. And this time, it's not seven trumpets, but it's seven vials that are presented to us. Again, that is God's wrath on a wicked world. Okay, then we get to Revelation 19, verse number 11, Revelation 19, verse number 11. And I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So we know this is the coming of Christ on his white horse, and his saints, those that were raptured are going to come with him on the horses, you can read this in your own time. So Christ is coming to take over the earth, he's coming to make war against those that are trying to make war against him. And if you can, come quickly with me to Revelation chapter 20, Revelation 20, verse number 4, Revelation 20, verse number 4, see, we get a lot more information in this retelling about these other periods, okay, Revelation 20, verse 4, it says, and I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, remember the persecution of the saints, that's happened, and for the word of God, which had not worshiped the beasts, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads and in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. So not only, the first term just has that Christ is going, the kingdoms become his kingdoms, but now we have the period of time, the thousand years, okay. So we've seen Christ come in with his horse, he reigns for a thousand years. Then after he reigns for a thousand years, it's the great white throne judgment, and we meet to Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20, verse number 11, Revelation 20, verse number 11, and I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from his face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them, and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. Now in Revelation chapter 11, it said that the dead will be judged. Look, the living are not being judged. We have eternal life. We will never die. We will never perish. This is not God's people being judged. It's the dead, those that have died spiritually that have been judged, those that did not believe on Jesus Christ, and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works, drop down to verse number 15, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So that's the end of the non-believers, okay? They're cast into the lake of fire, the great white throne judgment, and then we expect the new heaven, the new earth, the eternal state, okay? Revelation 21 verse 1, Revelation 21 verse 1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea, and I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, and that's the Zion that we heard about this morning, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things that passed away, how beautiful is that? And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new, and he said unto me, write, I love this, for these words are true and faithful. God's saying this is going to happen, this is true. He says these words are faithful. God's going to be faithful to this, brethren. We're going to be with the Lord God for all eternity when he creates the new heaven and the new earth. So, brethren, the title for the sermon was an overview of the book of Revelation. We're at Revelation 21, then we saw Revelation 22. There's a blessing to understand, and what I'm trying to show you is it's not that complicated. God says immediately after or and then or immediately after these things to help us understand the timeline, the chronology. Please don't be deceived. Please don't even take my word. Now go home, open the book of Revelation, read it for yourself, understand that Revelation 12 starts the prophecy all over again. If you want to take this, I'll send it to you, you can have a look, hey, did Pastor Kevin put this in the right order? It's the right order. It's the right order from Revelation 4 to 11, it's the right order from Revelation 12 to 21, because the Bible is always true, it's always consistent. This one parenthesis over here, this one parenthesis over there, no, no, no, that's nonsense. God's revealed to us his word, his book, and it's a beautiful book, and when you understand it, you'll truly be blessed. Okay, let's pray.