The Future is Coming! Who's Side Are You On?

Paul Harvey created a segment about "If I were the Devil." It is now available on YouTube and it's chilling to watch. It's prophetic actually. He created this in 1965 and when you look at what is happening in our world today, how can you not wonder how he came to know what would happen this far into our future with his prophetic words? Satan always has counterfeits. He always has stuff that looks like the originals that God created. Even the atheist today has to watch this and wonder. Was Paul Harvey used by God? God can use anybody and Paul Harvey was a believer! He had his finger on the pulse. That man, knew the culture and he was speaking in a very prophetic sense in that he was telling us or warning us what would happen if we remain on this Godless path. Yet here we are in the 21st century, right where he predicted we would be. 100% of this is absolutely true! It's the same thing people think when the read the Book of Revelation and think to themselves, this can't come true. Yet one day it will with 100% accuracy in every single detail.

https://youtu.be/H3Az0okaHig

Don't fool yourself. Every single one of us wants to know about the future. We have this bizarre, strange curiosity that is why every year at the checkout stand in November, they sell all these magazines predicting what might happen in the coming year. They sell out because people are interested in the future. The amazing thing is that the Book of Revelation is in fact the future, but people don't like the way it plays out. They want to write their future. But God has written a future that is far better than anything you could have dreamed of.

This is the stuff people want to talk about when it is entertaining, unfortunately many pastors and churches ditch the teachings on the Book of Revelation. Their flock misses out on what is perhaps the most important book of the Bible. This book covers more Old Testament Scriptures than any other New Testament book does. Satan always comes to us offering an alternative. Do this, instead of the Bible. Do this instead of prayer. Do you realize that if you told people we need to meditate more, everyone would agree with you. If you told people to sit on a rock naked with a pyramid on their head in order to understand the power of the universe, people with brains would want to know how to do it. How naked do they get? Where do they get the right pyramid for this?

Why do that when I can invite you to know God Almighty who can hear your cry? He will do what is best for you because you and I don't know what is best for us. You can meditate on everything and anything and miss it. God knows what you need before you even ask. No Satan comes along and offers alternatives. All Satan wants to do is flood the market with a counterfeit. What we see in the Book of Revelation is the unveiling of a counterfeit, and the world will go after him. He is riding a white horse, he has a crown and he has authority, he's got power. He's just the wrong guy! The world will go after him.

In the book of Daniel, the Bible says, he will promise peace and prosperity. Well who doesn't want those? But Jesus Christ came first to deal with sin, then comes peace and prosperity, when the Prince of Peace returns to earth in the Second Coming. (1) Jesus came to die for our sins. (2). He will come to establish His kingdom. Watch out because those alternatives will come and we see it coming in the form of the Antichrist, the first rider of the apocalypse, the first horseman. The advent is evil in human flesh, he will be amazing.

Revelation 6:1-2 ~ "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."

When John says that he saw the Lamb and it opened the first of the seven seals, this is important, Jesus Christ is the one who releases that seal. The world has never known the advent of such evil. You might say, "Well why did Jesus send evil upon the earth?" It's not so much that Jesus is sending it, remember the requirements of the last will and testament of that seal, of that seven sealed book is being fulfilled. One of those things is that evil must run its course because this is what man wants. Man wants to be self-governed. That's the problem today. You don't want God to tell you what to do. Even the most devoted Christian struggles with what God tells us to do. It all comes down to a step of faith and obedience til the day we die.

When God says do this, don't do that, it levels the playing field to who truly loves Him. Do we love Him enough to do what He says? Or would we rather accept an invitation to something the world offers? Satan doesn't jump out at you saying "Come with me to hell Ha Ha Ha!" No he says things like, " He dressed up and says things like, "This is the norm.This is the way it goes. Everybody is doing it! YOU deserve it! " Satan is going to announce through the Antichrist, "You deserve it! You deserve peace!" What is the world crying for right now? Peace and prosperity! This man will come and give it all. When Jesus loosens the seal, He lets evil personify. He just steps back and says, "You want self governance without God? Instead of a theocracy, you want to have a monarchy? Go ahead and have your man! The Bible says that evil will come and it will be all dressed up and looking good.

Revelation 6:1 ~ "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a loud voice, 'Come!" 

In the Greek, the word "Come" is "Ercho"  and means to come forth but also to go. The living creatures are not speaking to John, he is saying "Come forth and go!" It's a pulling out and sending. This living creature is saying, "First horse of the Apocalypse, the first rider, come forth and go to the earth!" There are going to be four messages sent to the earth with four riders and this one is the white horse.

The question remains, "Who is this rider on the white horse?" This is the unveiling of the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 ~ "He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God."

There is no temple of God in Jerusalem in this moment. There will soon to be however. Showing himself that he is god.

2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 ~ "Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so til he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, who the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming."

The Holy Spirit in the church on the earth is holding the lid on sin, on the Antichrist. Picture it this way, a big pot is boiling on your stove, and the lid is dancing on the top. The Holy Spirit through the church, is sitting on that lid so to speak holding evil down, until as 2 Thessalonians tells us, He steps out of the way, or steps aside. He doesn't leave the earth. Why? Because the rapture takes place, and then He steps aside and this wicked one is revealed. The lid is lifted off and all hell on earth is let loose.

Notice this! The Antichrist can not be revealed until the hindering power of the Holy Spirit determines it so. When the rapture happens, what then?

1. The Holy Spirit will resurrect the bodies the new physical bodies of those that died believing in Jesus. The Bible says to be absent with the body is to be present in the Lord. Those who believe in Jesus who die now, their Spirit is immediately in the presence of the Lord, but their physical body remains here in the grave. When Jesus comes for His church in the rapture, He will literally resurrect the atoms in the earth, and bring them up out of the ground, first.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 ~ "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep , or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not recede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."  

2. The Holy Spirit will hand the baton of the church over to Jesus Christ in the atmosphere. Right where you and I are standing at sea level, 0 to about 126,000 feet technically. That is where our atmosphere is. That is how specific our Bible is. When it says that Jesus will come in the air, when He raptures the church in the air, we are not going to land in Jupiter and wait for Him to come pick us up there. We will meet Him in the atmosphere, somewhere between sea level and 126,000 feet.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 ~ "According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not recede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

"Caught up" is where we get the word "rapture," which is Latin for 'rapturo' which is where we get "rapture" from. 

John 14:1-3 ~ "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

3. The Holy Spirit will stand aside, letting evil go unrestrained.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 ~ "And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, who the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming."

Like Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember when Lot asked if he could go to a safe city outside Sodom and Gomorrah and the angel said, "Yes! Go!" He could not bring judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah until they were gone. God is going to remove the church from the earth, and then Bible says throughout the Old and New Testament, that God will visit the earth in judgment because of their sins. You will NOT be judged for your sins. Your sins were judged on the cross with Christ. Some of you don't get this! I am more sure of that than my last name. All my sin was placed on Jesus on the cross.

How do you know? Because He died. He died on the cross. Then He rose again from the dead. And when He rose again, that was it. That settled it. My Lord has risen from the dead. It is something that He died on Friday, but Sunday was a coming!!! Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. When they went to the tomb it was empty! There is more evidence of the crucifixion of Christ than there is evidence for you and I to go to court on any issue. You are going to have change Roman history, both secular and religious history if you don't believe in the crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus. It is one thing that Jesus died for us, but if He didn't rise from the grave it would have been an empty victory. But He did!

Genesis 19:22 ~ "But flee there quickly because I cannot do anything until you reach it."

4. The Holy Spirit will come upon the nation of Israel.

Ezekiel 36:27-28 ~ "And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people and I will be your God."

Acts 2:16-21 ~ "No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

These are specifically given to the nation of Israel. This is the Second Coming, not the rapture. Remember Israel didn't even exist 70 years ago. There is now a antisemitism movement in the world today. There is an Anti-Israel boycott of products in churches today. God loves Israel and His covenant is with them forever. Israel is going to be the central point of Revelation and in the last days. You better be on the right side of the future!

Will the Real Christian Please Stand Up!

Back in the day, there was a show called "To Tell the Truth" in which a panel of contestants would give facts about their life and the role of the judges was to figure out which one was telling the truth and which were telling lies. Their goal was to be the one to tell the best lie. Just like in the world today, we can tell the marks of a true believer in Christ but certain things that are prevalent in their life, kinda of like looking at a tree and based on what you can see, you can identify what type it is, like an apple or lime tree. All the real Christian would do is putting his faith in Jesus Christ alone.

In the lives of a believer such traits like the ability to worship, might be one indicator as to what they believe, but appearances can be misleading as well. To tell the truth, heaven would be a place where people go who love to worship the Lord. From sea to shining sea, Christians around the world love to worship God. Yet it is also something we take for granted here in the United States where we have that right and freedom to worship, at this time, without any repercussions. I guess you might say, one of the earmarks of a true believer might be those willing to die, not to give up worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord.

In our last three lessons we learned about Jesus Christ, being fully qualified to be the ONLY One to redeem us based on a number of things. (1) Jesus has become our salvation by Himself being God's authorized agent' (2) by Himself alone He became our performance; (3) He has done what no other man could ever do, by Jesus Christ, man's hope is restored; (4) By Jesus Christ, man's salvation is realized; (5) It means that Jesus Christ has meet all the requirements, by being faithful to the commitment to save; (6) by being obedient to the death of the cross.

We know that Jesus Christ had taken the scroll, the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ if you will, and took it from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. We know that when Adam sinned he basically gave the escrow papers of the earth and handed it to Satan. He now has 51% of the controlling powers of the earth. Many people blame God, but the blame is truly on the real enemy. God will one day, take back control over the pain and sufferings of all the people on the earth from Satan. Judgment is coming and soon! We win in the end if you read all the way to the end of the Bible.

Revelation 5:8-14 ~ "And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: "Yo are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels and numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousands times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to received power and wealthy and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and powers, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped."

This study should provoke you to a stronger worship of Jesus Christ in your life.  It's like the saying, "On your mark, get set, fall down! in this case. "On your mark," means having an active, day by day, living relationship with Jesus Christ. "Get Set" means establishing a biblical understanding that Jesus is coming back. "Fall Down," means willfully applying yourself to be a worshiper of God. Now let's look at it in even greater detail.

"On Your Mark!" - Heaven is in your sights, with Jesus Christ as the object of your affection. Put your citizenship and mind on the things of heaven cause that is where we are going one day. As a Christian we should be asking ourselves that, Is Jesus Christ, the object of our affection? Why, you are going to join a crowd of people in heaven, who will be worshiping Him for all eternity. Jesus does not want to be number 1 on a list of 10. He wants to be number 1 on a list of 1. "No other gods before Me," says the Scripture. He and He alone is to be worshiped, we see everything in all of heaven worshiping Him. And it is the will of God the Father, that we should worship His Son, Jesus Christ.

Revelaton 5:8 ~ "And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

A great shift in power is happening here. Now when he (the Lamb - Jesus Christ) had taken the scroll. It means there has been a radical announcement, like a lightning bolt. It has interrupted what has looked like gloomy and foreboding. This is an awesome and exciting moment, frankly, this could be the most important statement in the Bible, because there was no one found worthy in heaven or on earth  and John weeps much! So lost is the world, that is why it is trying to find it's way, drugs, alcohol, find other sources of happiness, they are saying we will try everything they can, like telescopes looking out into intelligent life. Wouldn't it be awesome, for God to stick His face out and say, "I'm right here." The world is searching for an answer, and the answer is Jesus, not a religion or a church. When a church says that they are the only way to get to heaven, beware! Jesus is the only answer. He has to be the love of our life. You can put your fingers in your ears all you want, but you can't escape this question. Jesus steps forward because He alone was found worthy to take the scroll!

In Revelation 5:8 ~ "And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb" 

Notice it is before the Lamb, not before anything else. Not a host of angels, not before anything else. They fall down before the Lamb. The star of heaven is the Lamb. Jesus is the central figure here. Is he the central figure of our soul?  Noah Webster states that "mark" or "to mark" means that it is a place of beginnings. It is a port of origin for a journey albeit a quick sprint or global journey. Like never before the Christian must keep his "mark" true. The mark is where you begin. Doesn't that dovetail what Jesus already said to the churches?  "You have left your first love." You have left your mark. 

If you have ever seen a sprinter before he runs the race in the Olympics? Before you sprint, what do you do? Before the gun goes off, where are you? You are in the blocks! You take your time getting adjusted to where you need to be, you get in and out until you are set. Why do they do this? Because the race is won in the blocks. It is where it all happens. You don't want to stick to the block. You want to be off the block! But how you position yourself on the block, determines the mark or point of origin. We know the one that presides over the event, says, "On your mark!" How many Christians are on their mark? I'm not asking how you feel. Are you asking yourself how are you spending your time lately? Is it serving Jesus or serving yourself? Are you taking time to spend time in church fellow shipping and worshiping with other believers or doing things you want to do? We should be spending our time here, rehearsing for heaven. We don't want to spend our time wondering what to do in heaven, practice now! Right now, we need to be asking ourselves honestly, "Is Christ the object of your affection?"

Doesn't the Bible tell us that we need to be ready? Are you on your mark? Keep Jesus as the target of your life. There are a lot of people in assumed titles that are exalting themselves over Jesus.They love the benefits and power that come from being in that position. Keep Him ever before You, not some man. It's Jesus. He is the only one.