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Getting Ready for the Grand Finale
Revelation 15:1-8
Skip Heitzig

Revelation 15 (NKJV™)
1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested."
5 After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.
6 And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands.
7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.
8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

The book of Revelation exalts Jesus Christ as the soon-coming Lord over the earth. Skip Heitzig explains the amazing and mysterious prophecies that form God's final word to mankind.

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Revelation chapter 15. Notice it's 8 verses long---that's why we're going to cover the whole chapter. We come now to the shortest chapter in the entire book of Revelation. But even though it's the shortest does not mean it's any less important. In fact, what it essentially is an introduction to the grand finale. It's the introduction to the final outpouring of God's judgment upon the earth which begins in chapter 16. And though it is an ominous kind of a chapter, it's one filled with hope and singing is involved in this chapter. There's judgment but there's also worship that we read about. There's more to come. In chapter 16, we notice that there are bowls of wrath. The first, the second, the third, all the way through seven are given. And then after this it's ended. There is no more wrath to come. Now all catastrophes that happen could be called God's judgments. There are things that happen that are just the natural consequence of living life on planet earth, of living under the curse of the Fall, and it happens to all people. this morning I bear on my forehead a mark of judgment. This is not God's judgment. This is just the mark of one who likes to take shortcuts. I was getting out of the chairlift, end of the day, done with snowboarding. Do I take the long way up the steps or do I cut across the chairlift and take the short way? I said I'll take the short way---the shortcut. I walk across, knowing that the chairlift is there and it goes this way but forgetting that it makes a turn and comes back. And I didn't see it and ten stitches later, I've learned my lesson. Now I wouldn't call that God's judgment. That's just the natural consequence. The chairlift was always moving, I walked in the way of it. I got nailed. Jesus said that God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. God sends rain, God sends sun, and even a few chairlifts with them.

But every now and then I wonder if, perhaps, things that we see are not God intervening now and not waiting until the final judgment. For instance, a few years ago in India there was a great earthquake, very devastating, and my friend who was there phoned and said this is one of the great centers in India for one of the deities that is worshiped and it happened at the yearly festival when people had gathered after worshiping this great Hindu deity. Or back in 1920s in Messina on December 28th, there was an earthquake that shook Italy. And what is interesting is a few days before in the Christmas edition of their local newspaper, somebody wrote an article challenging God that if he was really real and almighty to send an earthquake. Three days later it came. Or the earthquake in California, now they've seen a lot of them, but back a few years ago in 1994, the Orange County Register had this article, "The area encircling the epicenter of last week's powerful earthquake contains nearly 70 companies that crank out more than 95% of the roughly 1,400 pornographic videos made every year in the United States. Probably the most devastated has been the giant of the industry, VCA Pictures, a Chatsworth Company that normally releases more than 100 videos every year. According to several sources, this office building was totaled and other companies report a range of lesser damage."

Well just when you thought the worst is over in the book of Revelation, even though we're coming close toward the end, the worst is really yet to come. It is the grand finale. It is the final blow upon planet earth, the seven last plagues of judgment contained in chapter 16. And now in chapter 15 is the set-up. It's the introduction. On one hand, we have angels that get poised, ready, in position for this final judgment. And secondly, we have a multitude standing before the throne of God singing or praying. Perhaps just bracing themselves for this final judgment upon the earth. There's nothing left to do. I'm just going to pray and rest and trust. I heard of an airplane that was flying and they got the radio signal to the control tower and the conversation went something like pilot to tower, pilot to tower, we're 400 miles from land, 800 feet above water, and losing fuel quickly. Please advise. Please advise. Next transmission: tower to pilot, tower to pilot, repeat after me, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. That's all that's left. Well let's get into our text, these 8 verses: "Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested." After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed."

We have two groups, then, in this chapter who are really the principal groups. We have first the sentencing angels. They're the ones that appear in verse 1 and later on in verse 5. And these sentencing angels have a proclamation of wrath from God. The second group is introduced to us in verse 2 and their song is given. This is the singing multitude and theirs is not a presentation of wrath but a proclamation of worship to God. So you have judgment going on and you have worship going on at the same time. It's an ominous chapter but it's filled with hope, prayer, worship, singing. In verse 1 we come to the sign in heaven. Notice it with me: "I saw another sign," we've seen a lot so far, John records many of them. "Another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete." Now we've noticed something already in the book of Revelation. That during this time of history the judgments that come upon the earth are progressive judgments and they increase with each one in intensity. We have, first of all, seven seals. There's a scroll that is opened and as each seal of that scroll is peeled off, a judgment comes forth. There are seven of them. But the seventh seal brings the judgment now up to another level and it ushers in seven more judgments. We call them, in the Bible, trumpet judgments because the angels are blowing trumpets announcing them and six of them are given and the seventh one brings judgment out to a higher level. Seven more, seven last plagues, or judgments. The bowl judgments they are called here. Now when all of these are finished, when these last seven are poured out upon the earth, it's over. Then comes the destruction of Satan as far as ruling and reigning upon the earth, his kingdom is destroyed, then comes the ushering in of God's kingdom.

But that period of time will be the worst period of time the world has ever known. There have been some pretty bad times. There have been times of tribulation, trouble. We can think of a few just going back and we think of the Dark Ages, a period when progress stopped, it was hindered, cultural development ceased. There were the times when the world was at war, World War I, World War II. There was the time of the Great Depression. And we can probably all think of instances when the world was pretty dark. And though there have been those times, there hasn't been a time described as the prophets described the great tribulation. In fact, almost all of the Old Testament prophets write about this time and if you were to take all the verses that speak of the tribulation and all the verses that speak of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, there are more that speak of the tribulation. It's more detailed than any other event ever. Jeremiah says in chapter 30, alas, for that great day is here, none is like it; it is a time of Jacob's trouble, speaking prophetically. Daniel, in chapter 12, said there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to this time. And then Jesus said in Matthew 24, then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until that time nor shall ever be.

Now there is tribulation, there is trouble. Jesus said everyone has it. In the world you will have tribulation. That is different from the great tribulation. That's a period the world has never yet known and it's described in the book of Revelation and the core of it is in chapter 16. We're now at the introduction of that. The question would arise then, why is there such a thing? In all of the wild schemes of God, the humanist might say, why would God ever conceive of a thing called the great tribulation? What would be the purpose? Well there are many reasons. Perhaps three great ones that stand out are first of all, the great tribulation will be a final period of judgment upon all nations who have presumed on the grace of God. God has been gracious, merciful, for a long time, warnings have been issued out in various generations in a number of different ways, and finally God says, it's over now. The day of grace, the day of mercy, is over. The world has presumed upon that and now I will judge. A few years ago I was on the way back from Israel and we stopped in Rome, a few of us, and we went over to view the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo had his great works. And on one wall is perhaps his greatest painting---dark, dark portrait, picture---called The Last Judgment. And we had an interpreter there to tell us what it meant and the central character is Christ in this picture. His hand is raised in judgment and as you study it, it's a very difficult thing to study, this final judgment of God. But the gesture of Jesus in judging the world was to remind Europe of a holy God and that theme of God's holiness had been lost by humanism of that day. And it is said, because the painting traveled from place to place in Europe, that those who viewed The Last Judgment picture by Michelangelo, trembled as they watched it. That was the purpose, I think, was to cause men and women to tremble at the possibility of the future as they looked at God's judgment. They shook. That's one of the reasons of this great tribulation, to get the world to wake up, to shake them.

There's another reason. It's a time of Jacob's trouble, said the prophet. Another term for Israel. It would be a time when Israel would be so troubled but God would intervene once again in their history. All of that preparing the nation of Israel to receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Remember the first time He came, they didn't. The Scripture said He came into His own and what happened? His own received Him not. Well we know that 144,000 will receive Him during this time, perhaps there will be more but those will be the ones who are sealed. And there's a third reason for the tribulation and that is, for God to pour out His wrath upon a principal character we call the Antichrist. He was the character that, like Satan, exalts himself above the world, becomes the world leader, and the world says, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with this one? And Jesus will be able to say: Me. This one who amasses the armies of the world and comes against God and against His Christ, God will pour out many signs, many plagues, upon the Antichrist. You might say that the Antichrist's slogan will be: you only go around once in life. And this is his final time. This is his big shebang. But the truth of the matter is you only go around once in life, and after this, the judgment. And he's about to be judged.

Well if this is the great time of trouble, if this is the worst time the world has ever seen, and if chapter 16 is the core of that most troublesome time, and it's about to happen, then why does John describe it like he does? Why does John say, I saw another sign, and he calls it great and marvelous? That's hardly how you would describe judgment. The worst time in history. Wow! Great! Wow! Marvelous! But that's how he describes it. Why? Because it's the last. Because after this, it's over. Because the wrath has been going on for some time now and after this, there's no more left and that's great. I don't know about you but all that we've been doing, reading in the book of Revelation, as wonderful as the Bible is in revealing the future, it wears on you. I'm ready to get to the kingdom age set up and read about Jesus coming again. It's great, he says, it's marvelous. God is fulfilling His plan. He's bringing it to a close. These are the last judgments. After this there are no more. The last episode is about to run and so it's the last and it's great and it's marvelous.

Let me just kind of sum up what we've seen so far in the book of Revelation and you'll really understand it. Back in chapter 6, there are seven seals unparalleled war, famine, and death. Then over in chapter 8, we get the seven trumpets. Hail comes from the sky, fire comes from the sky, the sea is destroyed or parts of it, the fresh springs of water are destroyed, more of the heavens are destroyed, the green grass is burned up. In chapter 12, Satan and his angels get cast to the earth and we see this horde of demons in a chapter previous coming up from a bottomless pit, tormenting men and women for five months upon the earth. People hide in caves in chapter 6, it's recorded, and they ask the rocks to fall on them so that they would escape the wrath of the Lamb. And over in chapter 16, unclean spirits will gather men to the battle of Armageddon. And then---it's over. When the bowls are poured out, there is no more wrath to come. That's when it all stops. And that's great. Sort of like the boxer who always lost a fight. He never won one single fight and so finally the press asked him why do you keep on boxing if you never win a fight? And he said because it feels so good when they stop. John has recorded all of these signs and judgments and finally, these are the last ones and it's good. He's glad to see it go.

Here's the point. God knows when to begin judgment and He knows when to end it. He's in no hurry to start judgment. It's not like He's licking His chops going I can't wait! Tribulation---alright! He's longsuffering. He doesn't want to do it. He's patient. He lets people get by with a lot of stuff. But He knows when to start it and then He knows when to end it. And it won't last long. Three-and-a-half years of this great period of wrath. In the scope of world history, it's not a long time. And perhaps that's what Jesus meant when He said in Matthew 24, of this time, unless those days were shortened there would be no flesh saved but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. They will be shortened but they will be sure. There's a Spanish proverb that says God delays but He doesn't forget. God has been patient. Now it's over and when it's over, when this is over, it is over. It's the seven last plagues.

Now let's move down to verse 5. I'm skipping the next few verses just because I don't want to deal with them. No, I'm kidding. We'll get back to them. But for the flow of our outline, what John does is he sees seven angels and he describes them in verse 1. Then he sees a whole multitude singing and he describes them. then he goes back to the first group that he saw, these angels with the seven plagues, so let's look at the scene that is going on in heaven. In verse 5: "After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels," which we just read about in verse 1, "having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen," it's the garb of a priest that would come out of a temple, "and having their chests girded with golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls," or literally, saucers, shallow dishes, "full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed."

Now all of this imagery sounds foreign, it sounds a bit weird. You've got these angels with linen gowns and gold bands and you've got this temple and you've got smoke and you've got bowls. It sounds foreign to us, but probably any Jewish person living in the 1st Century, during that time, would have understood the imagery. It was very, very common to the temple worship of that time. All of this is temple imagery. All of the paraphernalia involves the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Now notice it says the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony. That's a term for the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was placed in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, the Jews were commanded to build, by God, a tabernacle. And remember, the tabernacle was a portable cloth set-up. They had a courtyard and they had a building in the middle of it. The courtyard was a fence that went all the way around it with one gate. There was only one way that you could approach God. And as soon as you would walk through the gate, you being a priest, the representative of the people, the first thing you found was an altar. And the altar was where animals were killed and blood was shed and the animal was sacrificed to God. The point was clear: there's only one way to approach God and that's through sacrifice. And so you get a little bit closer and there's this tent structure and the first room was called the holy place, to your left would be the seven-branched candlestick, to the right of that would be a table with showbread on it representing the tribes of Israel, and then a little golden altar right in front of a veil. The veil separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies. On the other side of that veil was one piece of furniture. What was it? It was the Ark of the Covenant which was a wooden box overlaid with gold, and on the top was a lid called the mercy seat. On top of this lid were angels that the wings covered this lid. And that room that held it, the Holy of Holies, was also called the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony because sometimes the ark was called the ark of the testimony.

Why was it called the ark of the testimony? Because of what was inside of it. There were three things. Do you remember what they were? First of all, there were the Ten Commandments. Two tablets of stone. It was the second, it was the copy. The first one Moses busted, right? He came down from the mountain, saw the children of Israel in idolatry, he's ticked off, basically, and he smashes them in his anger. God says you gotta make a copy of them, Mo. And there wasn't a Xerox machine. So he had to kind of eek it out himself, etch it out with an implement, and so now it's a copy. And the copy was placed in the ark and it was a testimony against Israel because they had broken God's Law. There was something else inside that ark of the testimony. There was a pot of manna and manna was that weird bread that fell for forty years out in the desert of Sinai, out in the wilderness that preserved the children of Israel. It was the stuff they got, God provided for them, but did they like it? No. They complained over and over again. I hate this manna! Man, I want something else! And, you know, having it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for forty years, you probably get very creative, right? Probably have a cookbook. 101 Ways to Prepare Manna. You have bamanna read, and manna casserole, and mannacotti. But they complained against this stuff and so a little pot of it, a little jar was preserved and kept inside this ark of the testimony. It was a testimony against the children of Israel of their grumbling against God's provision for them. There was a third thing inside that box and it was a little rod, a piece of the staff that Aaron used, which was the symbol of his leadership. You may remember there was an argument among the people and they said, well, who is this Aaron dude, and Moses, as well? And they started complaining against this leadership that God had raised up so God said, ok, let's have a contest. Whoever has the staff that buds, that grows forth flowers and fruit, that's the leader that I've chosen. Only one did and that was Aaron's and that was kept inside that ark. Those three implements. That was a testimony against them for going against God's appointed leadership.

Ok, so here you have a box; it's in the center of the camp of Israel. It's a testimony of the failure of the people. the good news is that once a year the priest would walk into that room, the high priest would sprinkle blood on top of that lid that covered all of those implements. And that box became known on that day as the seat of mercy. It was changed from an ark of testifying against them to a place of mercy extended to them. Now John, being a good Jewish boy from Galilee seeing this vision, would understand. Here is this temple in heaven. And by the way, the writer of Hebrews said the tabernacle of old was a shadow of what heaven is really like. God gave a blueprint to Moses and the Jews built this tabernacle. But all of it was a model of what is going on in heaven---in reality. And so, for instance, in the Old Testament there was a seven-branched candlestick in the tabernacle. We come to the book of Revelation and we see a vision of heaven. There are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. In the Old Testament, we hear about cherubim over the mercy seat, before the throne of God, so to speak. In the book of Revelation, we have four living creatures with wings and eyes that are before God's throne. In the Old Testament, we have a bronze laver, this big brass sea; Solomon called it, this sea of water where the priests would wash their hands before service. They'd get cleansed. The book of Revelation has the sea made out of crystal. It's glass. Why? Because the work of cleansing is finished, it's over; they're standing upon it now. All of that symbolism is meted out.

So here John sees this temple of the tabernacle of the testimony and that place of mercy, of salvation, is now turned into a throne of judgment. All of the judgments are issuing forth from this place, this ark of the testimony. Notice the implements are bowls. It says in verse 6, "And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls". These again are shallow saucers used for libations. The reason they were shallow is because the contents could be poured out quickly and completely. Not like a long vase, but a shallow saucer. You could pour it out immediately and completely---every drop. So these are the saucers of God's judgment. It's easy to make a libation, to pour out God's wrath upon the earth completely. In verse 8 the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. No one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels was complete. Even the redeemed are not allowed to enter at this point. Very, very reminiscent of Moses, who in the Old Testament, could not enter into that place of the tabernacle when the smoke of God's glory, or the Shekinah, as the Hebrews called it, the Shekinah filled it, and they were kept out. It's a declaration, if you will, that God's judgment is irreversible. Nothing can hinder it. God is saying, in effect, I have nothing more to say about this. Judgment is on.

No one is able to enter in until chapter 16 unfolds. In chapter 16, these bowls being poured out, this is God's response to man's position. So far, man has not been open with the judgments that have come, with the witness of the two witnesses that are in Jerusalem, of the preaching of the 144,000, of the angel flying through the heavens preaching the everlasting gospel. Their hearts get harder and harder and harder. They do not turn. mercy doesn't turn them, grace doesn't turn them, and judgment doesn't turn them. this is God's final response. The last bowls about ready to be poured out. Paul the apostle said God's wrath is revealed from heaven for although they knew God they did not glorify Him as God nor gave thanks to Him but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. That will really be intensified during the tribulation period. The response of man toward God, the clenched fist, the bitter and angry words, the self-sufficient attitude, we don't need God, we'll do it ourselves, will be the religion of the time. Lyman Abbott wrote what he called the humanist prayer. This is the prayer of people who are poised against God and they're very self-sufficient and I think would fit during the future time as well: Our brethren who art on earth, hallowed be our name, our kingdom come, our will be done on earth for there is no heaven. We must get this day our daily bread, we neither forgive nor are forgiven, we fear not temptation for we deliver ourselves from evil, for ours is the kingdom and the power and there is no glory and there is no forever. Amen. God has a response for that.

Let's go back now to verse 2, and in contrast to that see the singing multitude. Here angels are poised for judgment, but at the same time before the throne of God, there's worship going on. "And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb". Who are they? What group is this? They're before the throne of God, they're singing songs, and they're the ones who overcame or have victory over the number and the mark of the beast. This is the same group we've seen in a couple of different places. We are introduced to them in chapter 7, they are tribulation saints. They are martyred because of their allegiance to Christ and their turning away from the system of the beast during the tribulation period. Where are they standing? A sea of glass. Remember that in chapters 4 and 5? We see the sea of glass and the worship that goes on from there. Here, however, it's a sea of glass and something else is here. It's mingled with fire. Why a different scene? Because it's a different group. This group, tribulation saints, standing upon the sea of glass, it's mingled with fire. They've gone through the fire of persecution. They've gone through all of the atrocities and the persecutions of the beast and it says, in chapter 12, they overcame the beast by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death.

But notice something wild. They've been tortured and they have been killed and now they're in heaven and after all their pain and suffering it says here, they have victory over the beast. They're not written about as losers---but winners! They're the ones that have the victory. You say wait a minute. The beast is still alive and he killed them. Yeah, but they're the victors because look at where they're at forever and ever and ever. So when a Christian dies, oh it's sad! He's dead! He's in heaven! They're the winners. I think there's a greater application for us. Here's a group persecuted, tortured, beaten, they weren't able to buy or sell, remember? Starved, many of them, unless they had this mark of the beast on their head or forehand, they've gone through the fires of persecution and yet they haven't lost their song. They're singing. And they're not singing, it's been tough, it's hard, and I persevered. It's a song filled with worship to God. Have you noticed that pain moves a person in life? Whenever we go through an episode of pain, trial, discouragement, we're never the same. It moves us in one of two directions, either closer to God or further from God. With some people, they get angry and bitter and they shake their fist at God and why would God allow? Other people are driven to God with a greater trust and clutch the Lord and hold onto Him with a greater intensity. With some, pain will break the back. With others, it will bow the knee in humble submission. That is this group.

Whenever there is suffering, whenever pain strikes, a common response is bitterness. I've met a lot of people like that. I meet Christians like this. You speak to them and there's not that grace of trust. There's not that glimmer of I hope in God. It's I'm ticked. And when I get to heaven, I got a few questions to ask God. Every meet somebody like that? Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott were both writers in the 18th and 19th centuries and both of them fell victim to the same kind of a disease. They became lame, both of them. Lord Byron became very angry, very bitter. Walter Scott, it is said, never complained. It was never heard that he once ever complained about his malady. Though Lord Byron complained often. A letter was written from Lord Byron to Walter Scott and the letter said: I would give all of my fame to have your happiness. What made the difference? Well, read about Sir Walter Scott. He was a committed Christian who trusted God and it's seen in many of his writings. Bitterness can strangle you; can cause you to lose your song. Instead of singing you become very, very sullen. Instead of rejoicing, you become very, very angry. It drives people away. That's why the writer of Hebrews, in chapter 12, said see to it that no one misses the grace of God, that no bitter root grows and causes trouble and defiles many. Bitterness can defile not only the person, but it spreads.

Another common response to pain is resignation. Oh well, it happens, I'll just bite my lip and fake a smile and just get through it. Sort of like the ancient stoics of Greece. The ancient stoics thought that the pinnacle of maturity for a person was to be without any emotion. And they congratulated themselves if even a child died and they showed no emotion. They had reached the apex of maturity, they thought. They'd just endure. There's another response to pain and it's seen by these guys. It's worship. Worship, after all of the pain and all of the suffering, David said during his episode of tribulation, I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. I guess it all depends how much you really believe Romans 8:28, doesn't it? All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And he says it very definitely, doesn't he? And we know that all things work together. I wonder if you can say that. I wonder if instead you think, well, I kind of think that all things work together. Or you could say, and we know that a few things work together for good. Some, a bunch, most---but all? All things work together for good. I think this group believed that. They're still singing. It's like popcorn. You could take regular corn and put it in the skillet, raise the temperature to 400 degrees, you know what will happen? It will shrivel. It becomes hardened. You put popcorn in the same skillet, same temperature, and the gases inside start to expand and that tough, crusty, hardened shell bursts open and out comes a delightful treat. Popcorn. I think there's a parallel in the Christian life. Suffering comes, many people shrivel up, and they get hard. Others are like popcorn, the fires expand that person. He becomes better. He becomes more of a delight, more valuable to others around. I think if this group can make it through the great tribulation, an unparalleled time of suffering in the world, and come out singing, that we ought to be able to sing. We ought to be able to sing---this side of the tribulation.

Notice what they sing. It says they sing the song of Moses. What is the song of Moses? Well, it's a song that Moses sang. Isn't that great? It's that easy. Exodus chapter 15, Deuteronomy 32, gives you the words of the song of Moses. It's a song that Jews sing in a certain synagogue service every year throughout the world. It's a song of deliverance. God delivered us from Pharaoh and God promised us a new land and here we go! They sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. It could be that they're two separate songs. It could be that they're the same song. It's funny how people argue over something that I could care less. They sing is the important thing. I tend to see it as two separate songs: the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. There's a parallel. God delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of a pharaoh and gave them a new land. God delivered this group from the bondage of the Antichrist and gives them a new kingdom. And the words of the song of the Lamb are given and notice that this song is like the whole book of Revelation. It's like a microcosm of it. It's all centered on Christ. They're not licking their wounds; they're not talking about their perseverance; they're singing about Jesus. It's Christ centric as all good worship songs are. Christ is the center. And He's the star of Revelation, by the way. Don't be distracted by Babylon or by the seven trumpets or the two beasts. They're not the most important part of the book. It's the revelation, or the unveiling, of whom? Jesus Christ. He's the star of the book! It's His kingdom that will rule and reign forever and He is the star of this song. And I think this is a good model to follow. Make the focus of your life song Jesus Christ. You say, yeah, but I've been through a lot of bad stuff. Somebody once wrote as you travel down life's pathway, whatever be your goal; keep your eye upon the donut, and not upon the hole. Instead of what you don't have, look at all that you do have. And this group does exactly that---focuses upon Jesus Christ.

Notice what they say. They mention His works. "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!" Now they've seen them, right? They've seen God's judgments through the tribulation period. They have seen God's miracle of the two witnesses. They have seen God's keeping of the 144,000. They have seen God's absolute control over the entire environment, with the killing off of several portions of it. They've seen all of His works and they say, great, marvelous. They notice also His ways. "Just and true are Your ways". Isn't that interesting? they're not blaming God. They're not saying, You're unfair God! They're saying, well we've lived through all of this time and I would have to say at the end of it, that it's just. There's justice that has been meted out and it's not arbitrary, it's not false---it's true. It was judgment based upon an honest evaluation of the condition of the world. Just and true. His wonder is then mentioned. Notice what they say in verse 4, and this is an interesting verse: "Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy." It's as if they're perplexed. You know, after all that the earth has seen, God we don't know why they just don't fear You. Why they don't figure this thing out and wake up and give You worship and glory. But one of the marks of a world who's pushed God aside is they have no fear of God. That's sort of the principal marking of the world who doesn't want anything to do with God. Paul said concerning them, there is no fear of God before their eyes. That's a mark of them. The term, the fear of the Lord, that bothers a lot of people. it's mentioned 50 times in the Bible. It doesn't mean a superstitious, I'm afraid of God. It means a reverential fear for a loving God that produces in me a humble submission. I humbly submit to a loving God because I revere Him so much. That's the idea of the fear of the Lord. The world, on the other hand, refused to repent, they shake their fists at God, they blame God, they blaspheme God, and we've read several times during this time, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

There's no fear of God before their eyes because they live in a me generation. The slogan of that generation is serve yourself, be your own best friend, do it for you, and they've seen all of life as revolving around them. They're the epicenter and life revolves around them and everything should make them happy---even God. So instead of the principal in Revelation 4 that says we were created by God for His pleasure, this group figures that God is there for their pleasure. And today isn't it true that a philosophy of modern Americans is that I must gauge everything on this personal pleasure chart? Does it bring me pleasure? And I'll even evaluate God. I'll serve God if He gives me what I want. I'll go to church if they have just the right program for me. What's in it for me? It's a me generation. Well God is love but God is also light and He's therefore holy. And this group in heaven singing says, man, I can't believe the world hasn't figured that out. You're holy. Then His worship is mentioned, finally. "For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested." This group is anticipating the time when all of the world will gather together, either by choice or by force, confess that Jesus is Lord. Philippians chapter 2: every knee shall bow; every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So let's quickly the background and tie these chapters together. How does chapter 14 open? There's a gathering of 144,000 on Mount Zion with the Messiah. How does chapter 14 end? There's a gathering of all nations for the last battle of Armageddon. And then we have chapter 15 which is a gathering in heaven of tribulation saints anticipating a final gathering of all nations who will worship God. So, in essence, though you have all these gatherings, there are two groups: those who reverence God, those who don't. Those who are on the wrath end of God's activity and those that are on the worshiping end of God's activity. Judgment is coming. You can't stop it. You can escape it. You don't have to walk right into it like I did. That chairlift just goes---it doesn't like, stop, when it sees. Oh! It's Skip! I'll just stop. It comes! I walked into it. You don't have to. You don't have to walk right into the coming judgment. In fact, Jesus said whoever believes in Me will escape that coming judgment and will pass from death into life but does not come into judgment. There was a dad who was walking his little daughter one evening on the prairie up in Canada. There's a whole section of many, many miles of plains with huge prairie grass and they were having an evening walk and they got pretty far away from home and they saw in the distance this prairie fire coming toward them. and the father knew that this thing was moving pretty quickly and that there was only one way to escape this fiery, burning thing coming and that is to burn the ground around them where the grass was so there's nothing left to consume. So he took out a match and he burned a section and then he stood in the middle of that section after the flames had gone out and the flames got closer and closer and the little girl's screams were louder and louder and he held that little girl close to him and when the flames were all around them, he comforted her by saying, don't worry, the flames can't get to us because we're standing where the fire has already been. Two thousand years ago, God's Son came to the earth and God poured out all of His judgment upon sin upon Him, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. So when you're in Christ, you're standing where the fire has already been. You have nothing to fear---at all. You have no wrath to fear at all. And every pain that would come would be a refining kind of a pain that would draw you closer, it should, to Him. But you stand where the fire has burned. Jesus took it upon Himself so you would not have to face God's wrath upon the earth for sin.

Additional Messages in this Series

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6/9/1996
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Good News from a Bad Place
Revelation 1:1-8
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6/16/1996
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Catapulted into the Future
Revelation 1:9-20
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6/23/1996
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When Love Grows Cold
Revelation 2:1-7
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6/30/1996
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Postcard to Those in Pain
Revelation 2:8-11
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7/7/1996
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The Curse of Compromise
Revelation 2:12-17
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7/14/1996
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Corruption without Discernment
Revelation 2:18-29
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7/21/1996
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Church of the Living Dead
Revelation 3:1-6
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7/28/1996
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Body Building - God's Way
Revelation 3:7-13
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The human body has become the obsession of our modern culture. Much like the ancient Greeks, people are madly trying to fit the contemporary ideal of what is an acceptable shape and size. The church is metaphorically called the "Body of Christ" and His desire is to see it built up spiritually. The church of Philadelphia is a good model of a healthy, faithful church. Their example provides for us a template to follow in building up the Body - God's Way!
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8/19/1996
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Taking Your Spiritual Temperature
Revelation 3:14-22
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Ever since we were kids our moms stuck thermometers in our mouths whenever she suspected that we were sick. If our body temperature of 98.6 had climbed up just a few notches, it was always a good indication that an unhealthy condition was present. There is also a spiritual temperature that reveals the condition of our souls, and when the thermometer reads Lukewarm it indicates that something is wrong; it indicates the presence of danger. Let's see how Jesus, the Great Physician, treats his patient with this malady.
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8/25/1996
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Peeking into the Portals of Heaven
Revelation 4
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9/1/1996
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History's Greatest Real Estate Deal
Revelation 5:1-7
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9/8/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 1
Revelation 5:8-10
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In heaven there won’t be just three services in the morning and one at night with a midweek tacked on. There will be no need to be sensitive to time so we can go to lunch. Words will not have to be printed nor projected. Worship leaders will have no need prompting people to sing. It will be an all-consuming experience that will involve our total cooperation and enthusiasm.
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9/15/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 2
Revelation 5:11-14
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9/29/1996
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Four Riders with Bad News
Revelation 6:1-8
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10/6/1996
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The Cries of Heaven and Earth
Revelation 6:9-17
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10/13/1996
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A Blessed Interruption in a Tough Time
Revelation 7
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10/20/1996
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Trumpets of Doom
Revelation 8
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10/27/1996
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When All Hell Breaks Loose
Revelation 9:1-12
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11/3/1996
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Angels of Mass Destruction
Revelation 9:13-21
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11/10/1996
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A Big Angel with a Little Book
Revelation 10
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11/17/1996
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Two Powerful Preachers
Revelation 11:1-14
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11/24/1996
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Light at the End of the Tunnel
Revelation 11:15-19
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12/1/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 1
Revelation 12:1-6
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12/8/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 2
Revelation 12:7-17
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There aren't many people who like to fight. Confrontation is something most would like to avoid. But in the spiritual realm it's unavoidable. The question isn't, "Will I engage in spiritual warfare?" Rather, the question is, "How well will I fight?" As we saw last week, the war in the heavens makes its way to the theater of the earth. Let's see what else it entails.
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12/15/1996
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The Coming Global Leader
Revelation 13:1-10
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12/22/1996
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Evil's Right-Hand-Man
Revelation 13:11-18
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12/29/1996
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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People
Revelation 14:1-5
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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.
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1/5/1997
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Angels Set The Record Straight
Revelation 14:6-13
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1/12/1997
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It's Harvest Time!
Revelation 14:14-20
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One of the most common ways to make a living in ancient times was to "work the land." The early rains of October/November and the soft latter rains produced the wheat and barley harvest later on. Also, when vintage season began, almost the whole village could be found in the fields harvesting the crop. Such images would also provide a poignant way of depicting the final judgment of the earth, as in this section.
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1/26/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 1
Revelation 16:1-11
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We now come to the "seven last plagues" of God in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon planet earth. These judgments come in the form of "bowls" being poured out swiftly and completely-the judgment will be swift and thorough. Yet through all the mercy as Well as wrath of this awesome era, people will persist in having a hardened heart. Open your heart 'right now to these truths.
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2/2/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 2
Revelation 16:12-21
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What will the end of the world be like? What are the final events just before Jesus returns and takes over to set up His millennial reign? That's what this section tells us. There will be increased warfare activity in the Middle East, massive deception, and unheard of destructive cataclysms on earth. In the midst of foretelling these events, Jesus has a word of encouragement.
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2/9/1997
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The Coming World Religion
Revelation 17
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It was Karl Marx who stated, no doubt cynically, that religion was the opiate of the masses. The fact is, he was right-it is! People are driven to worship something or someone. This desire will be exploited to the hilt in the Tribulation period and will be under the umbrella of the world dictator-the Antichrist. What are its roots and how does it end?
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2/16/1997
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Get out of Babylon!
Revelation 18
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Someone once said, "Money can't buy you friends but your enemies treat you a little better." Though meant to be tongue-in­cheek, that won't happen when the entire world economy collapses. God's shakedown of the earth will include everything that the Antichrist's kingdom will embody, from the sacred to the secular.
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3/2/1997
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Marriage Made in Heaven
Revelation 19:1-10
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3/9/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 1
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of our capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." It is that event which we will be studying in the next two weeks. This is what all Christians of all ages have looked forward to - His return and reign of His creation.
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3/16/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 2
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of the capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." it is that event, that Christians of all ages have looked forward to-his return and reign of his creation. We will conclude our study of the return of Jesus Christ, today.
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4/6/1997
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Paradise Regained
Revelation 20:1-3
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4/13/1997
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The Devil's Last Stand
Revelation 20:1-10
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A typical question is, "Will evil ever get its reward?" What ever happened to ethics and justice? Well, we see here that God will not turn His back on this issue. He will deal with the source of all evil (the devil himself) and then judge those who revel in it. This section gives tremendous hope to anyone concerned about injustice in our world.
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4/20/1997
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Life, Death, and Resurrection
Revelation 20:5-6; 20:11-15
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5/4/1997
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All Things New - Part 1
Revelation 21:1-3
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5/11/1997
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All Things New - Part 2
Revelation 21:4-8
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"It's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before." That's how John describes the emotional experience of heaven. So that we can relate, he tells us that all of the pain, sorrow, and moaning we've endured here won't be there. By the way, only those who want to go there will go there. Heaven is not a destination by default, reservations are made here and now!
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5/18/1997
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The City of the Future
Revelation 21:9-22:5
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There is no architect or builder like God himself. Even the patriarch Abraham "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Heb. 11:10) he didn't find it in his lifetime. "You won't find you're "happily ever after" here either, but the New Jerusalem will be God's answer for man's longing to live in a perpetually peaceful stare.
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5/25/1997
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He's Coming - Now What!?
Revelation 22:6-21
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There are 43 additional messages in this series.
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