The Final Battle is Coming. Are You Ready?

If you talk to anyone about end times or Bible prophecy you are going to get quite a few different versions of what people believe, but it is vitally important to separate opinions from what the Bible actually says will happen one day in the future. When that will happen is still not clear, but Jesus did warn us that we would know when it was coming closer by events will can see and know based on the events He told us to watch for.

As we finish up Chapter 14 today, we have to remember that Chapter 14 is what is referred to as a parenthetical pause, and the events that happen here are not in chronological order. This is an insert into the timeline of Tribulation events to give us a brief oversight in what has happened, and what is going to happen.

We know that from verses 14-20 in Chapter 14, we are seeing these events played out as Jesus Christ returns in what is known as the Second Coming. This is the Jesus Christ, that the Jews were expecting to come when Jesus came the first time to Jerusalem but that time was Jesus as Redeemer and Savior. Now we see Jesus Christ coming as the Holy and Righteous Judge to the inhabitants of the earth.

We know that the events after the Tribulation Period will be a division of what is true and what is false and we learned a bit about that yesterday. Moving forward in our study we also see what the devastation of Armageddon will bring to the earth.

Revelation 14:17-20 ~ "Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel same out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle, from 1,600 stadia." 

There are the terrible events of the Second Coming.

Joel 3:11-16 ~ "Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O' LORD. Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Vally of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel."

Isaiah 11:4 ~ "But with righteousness he shall judge the poor; and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked."

Revelation 14:20 ~ "And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle, from 1,600 stadia."

Meaning that the height of a horse's bride is about 4 feet, and 1,600 stadia is about 180-200 miles in diameter. This means that blood will flow nearly 200 miles at a depth of nearly 4 feet.

The topography of the valley of Megiddo is beautiful and is carved perfectly like a channel. Hundreds of millions of soldiers will converge in Israel. More specifically in the Megiddo Valley, otherwise known as Armageddon or the Valley of Armageddon. Never confuse the Second Coming with the rapture. These are two very distinct and different events. Let us look at specific Scriptures concerning only the Second Coming of Jesus, not the Rapture.

Matthew 24:29-31 ~ "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with the power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Zechariah 12:9-10 ~ "And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him who they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn."

Matthew 25:31-33 ~ "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left."

Luke 17:34-37 ~ "I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left." And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."

Now before you upset yourself over these things, remember this:

Genesis 18:25 ~ "Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?"

Those who are destroyed are only those who (1) have refused to examine the evidence of God's existence, (2) will not face the fact that they were sinful, (3) mocked God, the salvation of Jesus Christ and the Bible, (4) lived only for themselves, and (5) a time will have expired for them.

Looking back on the last statement of Genesis 18:25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" Of course He will! We notice the language used here in Revelation 14 referring to this time as a "harvest" Farming and growing is somewhat removed from some of us that don't live in that kind of environment, yet the benefits of those that farm and grow, bless each of us every single day. When a farmer heads to his field, he does so knowing that before a harvest can ever take place, he must first till the ground, prepare the soil, sow the seed, water the earth, and wait in hope.

A harvest requires investing. Investing effort, resources, planning, patience, ownership and hope. It's true in the natural world and equally truly in the spiritual world.

James 5:7 ~ "Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains."

Why are the following six things so important? Because they have, they are, and they will directly affect your life and mine in both time and eternity in this world and in the one to come.

The Lord has invested efforts. By reaching out to us through His prophets, by appearing to us by, His Son, and by speaking to us by His Holy Spirit.

The Lord has invested His resources, by the events that get our attention, by the people who influence us and the things that we possess.

The Lord has invested order, by who you are in this life, by where you are in this life, and by what you are in this life.

The Lord has invested patience, by watching over us, by tolerating all of us and by waiting for us.

The Lord has invested ownership. He owns time itself. He owns all creation and He owns each of us.

The Lord has invested hope by granting us mercy, by allowing us grace and by giving us hope.

Our future doesn't have to be something to fear as we have read about that is coming to those who reject Him their whole life. We can have the hope of an eternal life, free from the wrath and judgment coming for those that reject Jesus Christ. Despite the confusion in the world, there are different ways to get to God but only ONE Way to Heaven and eternal life and that is only through Jesus Christ and putting our belief, faith and trust in Him alone!

One day every single knee shall bow before God, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian, Believer and Non Believer alike and just like Jesus separates the goats from the sheep, He will separate those whose names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life, His book, from those who don't. Those whose names are not found in the Lamb's Book of Life will face eternal judgment separated from Him in Hell for all eternity. Those whose names that are found in the Lamb's Book of Life will enter into eternal rest in heaven and live forever with Him. Don't you want to chose eternal life today?

Know Jesus, Know Heaven! No Jesus, No Heaven.

It is that simple!!!

Choose Jesus today and live forever!!!

Judgment is Coming and When Jesus Comes Back, You Don't Want to Be Here!

If you are under 40 years of age, there is information you need to know, key things in your culture's history, because if you don't - you're bound to repeat it. Most of this younger generation is missing out on most of American History because it is being stripped down and removed or simply watered down. This is becoming an illiterate generation, and they are simply okay with not knowing it. They simply don't care because it is not relevant to them.

This is the same logic being applied to the Bible as well. The Holy Spirit gives wisdom and insight to understand the Bible. It's the very reason when two people pick up the Bible, one gets it, and the other doesn't. The difference is the illumination work of the Holy Spirit. You can ask God to give you the understanding to know what you're reading and He will give it to you.

The events after the Tribulation are the division from what is true and false.

This is the perfect description of Jesus, once again preparing Himself to visit the earth, but not like the first time as a gentle redeemer and Savior. Not this time!

Luke 4:18-21 ~ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

The Scripture Jesus was referring to was Isaiah 61:2 but he stopped at the comma and didn't finish the remainder of the verse. Why? First of all He was proclaiming that the first part of this Scripture was about Him! He stops at the comma. The Second Coming of Jesus is Part 2 of the Bible study He began 2000 years ago. So what does part 2 say? The comma that has been holding back the fulfillment of the remainder of the prophecy?

Isaiah 61:2b-3 ~ "and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn: to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified."

The Second Coming deals with Israel.

Revelation 14:14 ~ "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand."

This is none other than Jesus Christ. The following Scriptures answer this:

Matthew 24:30 ~ "Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Psalm 104:3 ~ "He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind."

This speaks of His dwelling, His glory not clouds on a stormy day.

2 Samuel 22:11 ~ "He rode the cherub and flew: he was seen on the wings of the wind."

Acts 1:9-11 ~ "And when he said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

These events signify the end of the age. The end of the world as man knows it. Be encouraged, and if the rapture happens tomorrow, you Tribulation Saints be encouraged. Why? Because the Bible says that the Lord knows those who are His.

What you need to know about the parable we are going to refer to is that there is a field. There is an owner of the field. He sows seeds in the field. There is an enemy who came and sowed mock seeds or fake seeds in stealth. He did it against the wishes of the owner of the field. Tares, are identical to wheat and look exactly like them. You can't tell them apart.

Matthew 13:24-30 ~ "He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men where sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares (weeds) among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and born grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and asked him, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?" He said to them, "An enemy has done this." So the servants said to him, "Then do you want us to go and gather them?" But he said, "No, lest in the gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat in the barn."

This means wherever there is the truth, there is the false.
Wherever there is the fit, there is the counterfeit.
Wherever there is a real believer, there is a false believer.
Where do you find them? In the church.

Matthew 13:31-32 ~ "He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

You can't plant a mustard seed and have it grow into a tree. This is an abnormal growth that Jesus is referring to and He knew by using this, that it would get everyone's attention. This little thing, grew into a huge monster. This is not a good thing. Pastor's will often quote this Scripture as a means of referring to church growth or faith, but it is taken out of context, wrongly dividing the world of truth. The birds here are hiding themselves in its branches.

Matthew 13:33 ~ "He told them another parable, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measure of flour till it was all leavened."

Again this is not a good thing, it is bad news. Jews did not leaven their bread and in this case the woman hid it in the measures of flour which she would bake into bread.

In all these parables, things were hidden among the good. The tares, the birds and the leaven. Now let's see how Jesus explains them all.

Matthew 13:34-43 ~ "All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of this age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be a weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

This entire passage is a reference to Revelation 14:14-20.

Matthew 13:47-50 ~ "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be a weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This is referring to the coming judgment of the world. Jesus Christ is coming back with authority as Judge.

John 5:26-27 ~ "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man."

Joel 3:12-13 ~ "Let the nations stir themselves up and come up the the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great."

Revelation 1:16 ~ "In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength."

Revelation 19:21 ~ And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh."

This speaks of the Second Coming of Jesus , the very same children that said, "Bring the little children unto Me." When Jesus comes back again, He is coming back in Holy Judgment upon the world.

God's Grace and Mercy Have Expired

If you had the attention of 1.7 billion people, what would you say to them as a believer in Jesus Christ? Would you assert your own agenda or would you share the gospel message to them instead? So why don't people who proclaim themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ do that, take for example the Pope. He could share the good news of the salvation that can be obtained in knowing Jesus Christ, but does he? No, he doesn't. He has his own agenda and that is like he has stated that there is no relationship with God except through the Roman Catholic church. In his eyes, you can remove John 3:16 from the Bible but that is a huge error!

Just to sum up what we have learned so far in our Bible Study through the Book of Revelation in Chapter 14, remember that the entire chapter is a parenthetical pause or insert and is not in chronological order. It has been inserted here by God in the midst of the Tribulation Period in the book of Revelation. It can be summed up this way:

Verses 1-5 are events that follow the Great Tribulation Period. (Ending).
Verses 6-7 are events that complete the Tribulation Period (Closing).
Verses 8-13 are events that make up the Tribulation Period. (Consisting).
Verses 14-20 are events that happen after the Tribulation Period (Judgment). 

Revelation 14:14-20 describe the judgment of God at the end of this period as it is revealed upon the earth. What is revealed is what's coming whether you like it or not. Remember you don't have to be here when it happens. This is now the time when God's grace and mercy have expired. It is the closing moments when Jesus will come forth out of Heaven in the Second Coming and execute judgment upon the earth.

Remember that when we left on in verse 13, John is in heaven and he hears the voice from heaven, which we know is the voice of God the Father, and also we hear the voice of the Spirit (capital S), which signifies that this is the voice of the Holy Spirit as well. We know that the Bible speaks of three different types of saints. (1) Old Testament Saints, which comprise of the period of time from Adam through John the Baptist, (2) Church Age Saints, which are comprised from the time of Jesus through the last 2000 years, and finally (3) the Tribulation Saints, which are those that will become believers from the time the rapture happens through the end of the Tribulation Period.

Ephesians 1:1 ~ "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:"

Colossians 1:1 ~ "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:"

If you look at the word "saint: in the Greek as it is used here, it is hagios = declared sacred, made physically or morally pure, to become blameless, now consecrated - (most) holy (one, thing) saint.

If you simply remove one letter from that and you look up hagos in Greek it means an unholy, desecrated thing. Something awful and unusable."

The difference is the letter "I" just like the difference between us and the world is simply that we believe in Jesus Christ, the great I Am!

Revelation 14:14-20 ~ "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one who like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.: So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia."

These verses is speaking about Jesus Christ in a different role than we are used to. This is Jesus coming in all His authority as Judge. 2000 years ago He came in all His authority as Savior and Messiah!

Remember when John the Baptist sent word to Jesus asking Him if He was the One they were waiting for or should he wait for another? Jesus sent His apostles back to John with a message. That Jesus' focus is always on the salvation of the soul first before He comes to judge. John was waiting for the Judge, but instead he met the Savior and Messiah who was coming to introduces us to the way to salvation. When Jesus comes again, it will be as Judge. Jesus takes care of the important things first before He handles judgment and so should we!