Time2Ministries ~ review from Sunday, January 29th

REVELATION/END TIME STUDY 1/29/17 REVIEW

Sunday we first reviewed the first 3 Chapters of Revelation where Jesus introduces Himself and addresses directs John to write to the 7 Churches. (see previous post for information on that) Starting with chapter 4 a big change happens. John sees an open door into heaven and hears a sound like a trumpet and a voice that says Come up here and is told that He would show him the things that would take place after these things(or after the Church ). The Bible says John was then caught up in Spirit to heaven and was before the Throne of God. There is a lot of symbolism in chapter 4 that John used to describe what he saw. I will not get into all of it, but encourage you to read it for yourself. I do want to say this, John was trying to describe the UN-describable with things that related to this modern world. Only when we get there will we fully understand what John saw.

Rev 4 begins with what many believe (as do I) is the rapture of the Church the true believers of Jesus Christ because of several reasons. After Rev 3 the Church is not mentioned again until Rev 19. We believe this because John is caught up into the heavens and is able to watch all that is going on in Heaven and the Earth. John is a part of the body of Christ(the Church) and he sees all of the book of revelation being fulfilled from Heaven.

The bible teaches in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and that one day the believers of Jesus would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. What we refer to as the “Rapture”. Many argue that the word Rapture is not in the bible. TRUE but let me explain. The Bible was first translated from Greek to Latin and from Latin to English. Rapture comes from the Latin word “Rapere” which means to catch away or be caught up and is where we get our word Rapture from. We believe that the rapture is one of the key things that sets off the Tribulation that Revelations refers to. (more on this in a separate post). Mainly because what John hears and sees from Rev 4 to Rev 19 deals with things in Heaven and the judgement of those on the earth.

All through Rev. 4 John describes what the Church will see in the last days, from the Beauty and Glory in the halls of Gods throne Room to over looking the Balcony of Heaven towards the earth and the horrors that will be taking place down here. But nowhere does it mention the Church going thru the Tribulation time.

Rev 5 we see a Strong Angel(possibly Gabriel? which means Strength of God)holding a Scroll or a book so to say.The Scroll needs to be opened because it contains the information on how to redeem the earth and its inhabitants. John begins to weep because no one is found in the heavens or the earth or under the earth is worthy to open it. Then John see a Lamb though as slain(referring to Jesus the Lamb of God that was slain for our sin) He Jesus is able to take the Scroll and open it.

The following is a quote from Pastor Chuck Smith
“The word redemption has its roots in the Old Testament, where the word could mean buying back property or freeing a slave by paying the price or amount he owed. According to Jewish law, a Jew could be sold into slavery for a maximum of six years. The seventh year, called the year of redemption, he must be set free. If he was to be set free before his six years were over, his master was compensated for the remaining years in his contract. Redemption also applied to the recovery of land. In the selling of property, there was always a redemption clause written into the deed stating the time and circumstances whereby the property might be redeemed. The deed was then sealed with seven seals. The law included a clause that made provision for a family member to step in and redeem the property if the seller was unable to do so himself at the specified period. The idea was to keep the property in the family. The family member who would fill this role was known in Hebrew as the “goel” or kinsman redeemer. If no redeemer, or “goel”, stepped forward at the specified time, the property was then permanently transferred to the new ownership. This law is explained in Leviticus 25.” so why is this important.

To read futher about this please see where the above quote came from at
http://joshuanet.org/articles/smith/redemptn.html

When God created the Earth He then gave it to Man. Man lost this earth when he listened to the snake in the garden and did what God had said not to do. Since Man could not redeem the earth back from himself he needed a Kinsman redeemer. God Sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross paying our debt and freeing us from our bondage of sin. That was only the first part of it. Now John(the Church) is watching in heaven as the only one worthy to open the scroll and bring to pass the taking back of the earth for the Glory of God. Exciting things are coming in Rev 6… stay tuned.

Like I said before this is just an overview of what was talked about that night.

In Love Brother Perry