The Book of Revelation begins, [1] The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
[2] Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.[3] Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
"There's more tomfoolery taught about verse nine than any other verse in the Book of Revelation," says Richard Jordan. "John was not exiled on the isle of Patmos because he'd been preaching and they didn't like what he was saying and got mad at him and stuck him on that island. That's what you're told but that's not what the verse says at all.
"When John writes, 'I'm your brother and companion in tribulation,' he's saying, 'I'm part of the community that's suffering. I'm on the island to get something from God.'
"What did he get at Patmos? Verse one and two says he went there for the purpose of getting the information God gave him.
"Verse 10 says, [10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
[11] Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
"That's the Lord Jesus Christ talking to him. Notice, 'I was in the Spirit.' That is a common statement in the prophets about being in a prophetic vision.
"Where was he taken? With Ezekiel, God took him and showed him the temple. John was literally transported out of the 1st Century into the future to see in prophetic vision the things that are going to come to pass out there.
"When you come to chapter 2, and as we studied through the minor prophets, I said to you over and over and over again that when you read Israel's history, and you read the prophets in Israel, they constantly say, 'You see this thing happening out in the future; it's like that thing back there in the past.'
"In fact, back in the Book of Judges, he records some incidents and says, 'This is a rehearsal for what's going to take place in the future.'
"In Zachariah 14, he says, 'He'll fight as He did in the days of old.' So it would not be unexpected for a Jewish Bible student to read these passages of John's in Revelation and spot things in them that refer to their past history.
"The fascinating thing about it is that when you go through and list those things, you discover that the problems listed are traced all the way the history; they match the course of history in your Old Testament. The literary order of Revelation corresponds to the historical order found in the Bible.
"Jude 11 says, [11] Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
"Notice there are three examples. Verse 16 says, [16] These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. He does that in Revelation 19.
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"Revelation 2:20 says, [20] Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
"That's exactly what Baal did back in verse 14. With Jezebel you've moved over into the time of the I and II Kings. Jezebel's husband's name was Ahab. They were the two who took Baal worship and made it a state religion in Israel. They intensified it, not just as something Israelis were doing, but they literally made it the state religion.
"Instead of God's truth, it became the Baalite truth and they made it the national religion. It's the official religion, by the way, for the Antichrist in Revelation 17: [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
"That's why he says in verse 24, [24] But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
"The 'depths of Satan' is that intensive zenith form of Baal worship where you're completely captured, captivated, by that blinding false doctrine. That's when they're carried out into captivity. Those first four churches focus on Israel's history up to the captivity."
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“Just because the whole world, the whole kit and caboodle except eight of them, had gone to seed--just because there’s a lot of them, because there are masses of the ungodly, doesn’t mean God spares them.
“Sodom and Gomorrah were cities of the plain, but the greatness of their achievements doesn’t cause God to spare them. The things that men look at—might, capacity, numbers, excellency of attainment and achievement—none of these are things that cause the judgment of God to be held back.
“Jesus says in Luke 16:15: [15] And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
“There’s a verse you ought to lay to heart. What were they doing? ‘They were they that justified themselves before men.’ They find what’s highly esteemed among men and say, ‘See, we’re right!’
“Success at gathering people and permeating society and developing a sophisticated, well-oiled world that is politically correct, socially acceptable and economically prosperous and religiously united as the old world of Noah’s day was. And God says, ‘That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination.'
“You know why that is? You know where men go for their wisdom? Paul says in I Corinthians 2, [14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
“That verse is so fantastic when it comes to defining the nature of man and sin. Isaiah 53:6: [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
“You know where man by nature goes to get answers to his questions? 'To his own way.' They don’t go to God. ‘No, way! Eww! I don’t want THAT!’ They love darkness because their deeds are evil.
“What men’s wisdom goes after is an abomination to God. It leaves God out.
“II Peter 2: [4] For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
[5] And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
[6] And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
“If God didn’t spare them, don’t worry, He ain’t going to spare you! See, that’s the idea. When he talks about the angels that sinned and the old world in Noah’s day and Sodom and Gomorrah—those three events, in whatever details they are, are events that are going to be like the events that take place in the tribulation.
“For example, in Revelation 11:1: [1] And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
[2] But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
“You’re in the middle of the 70th Week. Three and a half years into it and three and a half to go. [3] And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
[4] These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
[5] And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
[6] These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
“Now, you’ve got the two witnesses come in. Moses and Elijah begin to testify. Verse 7: [7] And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
“That’s the Antichrist. “[8] And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
[9] And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
“Where was Jesus crucified? Jerusalem. Jerusalem in that day is going to be, spiritually, Sodom and Egypt. The same systems that ran Egypt and Sodom and Gomorrah is going to run Jerusalem on to the reign of the Antichrist.
“That’s why when you find that those heads of the Antichrist go all the way back to Egypt--it’s the same system that runs them. In the tribulation, the things that were true in Sodom are going to be true in Jerusalem, and you can go back to Sodom and Gomorrah to get your details of what will be.
“The same’s true of the old world destroyed in Noah’s day. Luke 17:26. [26] And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
[27] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
[28] Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
[29] But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
“There’s a correlation between those two things. The same thing is true in II Peter 2:4, and this is the heart of what to really accept and understand. There’s going to be angels sinning in the tribulation. I told you that was weird.”
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