Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:30 — 19.2MB)

Revelation #30

Have you been at peace in Christ over the past week? It is time to continue studying the book of Revelation. Last time we studied about the oncoming wrath to those who worship Antichrist during the Tribulation. Today, we will study each verse as we read starting from (Revelation 14:13 KJV) ¶ And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. Those who die during the Tribulation will be judged for their works. However, in the present age of grace, we are not judged by our works because we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Works are rewarded to the extent of doing God’s work at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Bible says crown will be given there. Judgment Seat of Christ is in heaven during the Tribulation. That is why the saints who have received Jesus Christ and been born again of the Holy Spirit do not fall into tribulation, but are in heaven with the Lord, judged and receive rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ then participate in the wedding feast.

            And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (Revelation 14:14 KJV) The Son of Man is, of course, Jesus Christ. Therefore, during the tribulation, right before the Second Coming, we can see the Lord appearing on a cloud for gleaning. On His Second Coming, he does not come on a cloud, but on a white horse with his army. There were many prophetic passages about this through the ancient prophets. The Bible speaks very clearly to us through the prophet Joel. Joel chapter 2 shows us the scene of the Lord’s army carrying out judgment: ¶ Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2:1-11 KJV) This is the day of wrath. The Second Coming. This is also found in Revelation 19. Let’s skip ahead for a minute to chapter 19 in advance, verse 11: ¶ And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16 KJV)

There are about 500 prophecies in the Old Testament referencing about the Second Coming. And about 300 prophecies about the First Coming. This proves the sheer importance His Second Coming. You should know this is the scene where the Lord comes and draws the final conclusion. The Bible says the Lord’s army on horseback stops their attack on the Mount of Olives, descends to the ground, and enters Jerusalem through the eastern gate. The appearance of the Lord in 14:14 is where He appears just before His Second Coming. The gleaning. This is the first resurrection after the saints have been raptured, as there are three first resurrections. First, in Matthew 27, when our Lord died and was resurrected, many Old Testament saints who had fallen asleep arose. They went into the holy city and showed the people their resurrected bodies. A Roman centurion saw this and immediately testified that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Second, after Jesus Christ’s ascension to heaven, we, who are born again by the Holy Spirit during the past 2,000+ years saved by grace, are caught up into the air and meet the Lord on Day of Christ. The third is the gleaning of the grains that are raptured during the tribulation in which today’s scripture speaks of.

            The Holy Spirit testifies through the Apostle Paul about the order of the first resurrection in (1 Corinthians 15:20-24 KJV)  ¶ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. The Lord comes and reap the grain with a sickle before Armageddon, where all principalities, authorities and powers are abolished, before offering the kingdom to God. This is gleaning. There is firstfruits, harvest, and gleaning. There are three stages of barley farming. There is wheat farming in Israel, which refers to the three raptures. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. (Revelation 14:15 KJV) The gleaning of the grains. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:16 KJV)

Following the gleaning we see the judgment of the remaining: And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. (Revelation 14:17-18 KJV) Parable of wheat and tares in Matthew 13. Hard to tell if it’s wheat or not. Can’t tell if that person is truly a believer or not. The scene is where all the grain is gathered in the barn and the weeds are burned. Thus the contents of the wheat and tare parable are related as the angels reap the final harvest of the grains, put them in the barn, and burn the tares at the end of the world. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19 KJV) The vine of the earth, grapes of the earth. The bunches of grapes contain red liquid. They aren’t gathered into the barn of heaven, but put into the winepress of God’s wrath, and the blood will flow out. The blood would spread to a distance of 1,600 furlongs, which would be about 200 miles. Regarding the vine of the earth, (Deuteronomy 32:32 KJV) For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: He planted the Israelites as vines, but they became grapes of gall and produced bitter clusters, not sweet. There is a church on earth that appear as the church of Christ but it is not. It’s the Roman Catholic Church. Revelation 17 and 18 clearly states they will be judged. The Bible says that blood will flow when the Lord tramples on the great winepress of the wrath of God of the earth. This will be done quite literally as the Bible says. This was prophesied 2700 years ago through the prophet Isaiah. (Isaiah 63:1 KJV) ¶ Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Bozrah and Edom are located south of the Dead Sea. this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.  It’s the Lord of course. He is questioned: Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? (Isaiah 63:2 KJV) He answers: I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isaiah 63:3-4 KJV) And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. (Isaiah 63:6 KJV) He is no longer the Savior who came to die like a lamb at the First Coming, but Isaiah 63 is the voice of the roaring Lion of the tribe of Judah who comes to take vengeance upon the unbelievers. The Lord has taken away all the sins of the past, present and future of everyone in the world, of course the Lord would be very angry when he sees the believers. If you or I died for someone else, and that person doesn’t thank you at all and claim no such thing ever happened, wouldn’t YOU be angry? Totally ungrateful. That’s why the Lord told his disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will rebuke the world, of sin first. Of sin, because they believe not on me; (John 16:9 KJV), not believing in Jesus Christ is sin. If you believe in Jesus, all your sins are now gone. But what great sin it is to not believe. It’s saying: “I am not a sinner. I am righteous. I am God”. This is very evil in the eyes of God. The Unbeliever is a sinner. The thief who was crucified beside the Lord recognized his life-long sin and yelled out to Jesus, Lord! (Romans 10:9 KJV) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. What did the Lord say when the thief called him in faith? And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43 KJV)

He has never been to church, never made a profession of faith, never been baptized, and never did good works. But the Lord invited him to go to paradise at once. Come with me today. Not tomorrow, today. The Lord is looking for the immediate believer. Regardless of sins the believer may have committed, He welcomes and rejoices in the believer because the Lord died for those sins. That is why when we preach the gospel and one person receives the Lord, we become happy. Why? The indwelling Lord is pleased. However, there is no joy if we do not preach the gospel. Why aren’t the saints happy these days? It is because they did not preach the gospel. As the Lord told the disciples in John 15, you testify because you have seen me, but when the Holy Spirit comes, he will testify about me. The purpose of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is to testify of our Lord. I must testify of the Lord who was torn to pieces and shed all his blood and died on the cross for my sins. The Lord is pleased when that one person repents. The angels will rejoice in heaven of one repentant person repents than ninety-nine righteous who have nothing to repent of. Therefore, it is time for us to preach the gospel.

            Prophet Jeremiah also prophesied of the Lord’s judgment at His Second Coming: (Jeremiah 25:30 KJV) ¶ Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. There are more verses about the Second Coming (500 places) than the first coming of the Lord (300 places). Even in the Psalms, there are many things about the Lord’s second coming, the millennial kingdom, and the judgment of the wicked who follow Antichrist. Many do not know this because they have become a generation that has eyes but does not see and has ears but does not hear. The entire Bible, especially the entire Old Testament is about Christ. In Colossians, we see that the body is of Christ and the Old Testament testifies that it is the shadow of Christ to come. We also saw in Revelation 19 that God would tread the winepress.

            Moving on to (Revelation 14:20 KJV) And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. With the blood reaching the horse bridles, An enormous river of blood will be formed. Battle of Armageddon will bring death of an army of 200 million. When the Lord died at His First Coming, he did not die inside the city, but outside the city as written in Hebrews 13, for Jesus died outside the camp. There is an exhortation of Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13 KJV) but the Lord died mercilessly outside the city. In same manner, those who are judged are trampled outside the city and their blood will splatter even unto the horse bridles. The book of Numbers says, when a person is killed and blood is shed, the ground is polluted by that blood. However, the way to make the land holy is that the person who killed that person should be killed and shed blood on the land. Since the wicked and sinners of old killed the Lord after shedding his blood outside the city, it is God’s law of justice that the earth is restored only when their blood is shed. It’s a horrific scene, but it’s nothing when you consider the horrendous killing of the Lord. A movie called Passion of Christ focused a lot on the scenes of the Lord suffering. Some of the contents are not biblically correct, but they described the sufferings of the Lord in a savage manner. That’s how they killed the Lord, but those who watched this and didn’t realize ‘the Lord died like that because of me’ think it’s too cruel when they see the scene of the Lord’s judgment. In fact, it is not so cruel compared to what the Lord had to face. The Lord said Vengeance belongeth unto me. The Lord clearly said he would pay back his enemies. Because unbelief is sin. People simply don’t know it is a huge sin it is to not believe in Jesus Christ right now. People realize it when we preach the gospel because the Holy Spirit convicts them. So, Apostle Paul said that we do not preach the gospel not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power before people realize that they are sinners through the rebuke of the Holy Spirit and receive the Lord in tears. We must understand this well. There are many scenes of this judgment in the Bible, including through the prophet Joel: Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. (Joel 1:15 KJV)

The entire Book of Nahum is the Second Coming judgment. Here’s (Nahum 1:2-6 KJV) ¶ God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. How would we know this without the words of Revelation? It’s something to come. This has not been done. It is a description of the day of the Lord’s Second Coming. The Bible tells us that the book of Revelation is the word of conclusion. We are blessed to know this. No matter how much we suffer on this earth, there is a day of vengeance. The day to take revenge on our enemy the devil. The day to avenge the people of the world who torment us. That’s why we can receive comfort. The book of Revelation strengthens our faith, strengthens us in hope, and therefore prevents us from losing heart. I look forward to that day. The bride waits for the groom. We can overcome the world with faith, just like the members of the early church who never give in even in the face of death. There are several more passages about the Second Coming. You should read it.

            Psalm 68:23, Judges 5:21, Isaiah 63:1 and 34:5,6, Habakkuk 3:15, etc, there are many more besides these. The scene of the Lord’s judgment at His Second Coming is described as if the Israelites in the Old Testament put grapes in the winepress and step on them barefoot, with the juice on their ankles and knees and splashing on their clothes. On the Day of the Lord, Jesus Christ will come to the land of Palestine and strike down two hundred million horsemen and crushing them completely under his feet at Battle of Armageddon. Their blood is described as flowing up to the horse’s bridle at a height of about 3 feet. So when Christ comes riding on a white horse, this blood will reach the bridle, and the feet of the saints who return with Christ will be drenched in blood. What a terrible scene. But this is a clear picture of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The message in Chapter 14 is not something that happened in the past, but an event that will soon appear when the rapture occurs very soon. Now is the time to watch and pray because the end of all things is at hand. We must wake up spiritually, study and listen to the Word of God, and know how the Lord will come. The day of the Lord will not come like a thief, for such people are not in darkness as in 1 Thessalonians 5. Therefore, just as Daniel knew Jerusalem would be restored after 70 years of desolation, those who are awake will know and prepare for the imminent coming of the Lord, by living a more holy life, and strive to do the work of the Lord that will be praised when they meet the Him.

            Therefore, the Apostle Paul said, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV)  We must do the work of the Lord. What is the work of the Lord? It is to save, nurture, and serve souls. And also, because we are the body and bride of the Lord, adorning our bodies with good works is for the Lord. Our body is not ours, but the Lord’s, and we have become one body with Him. Christ and the church are one body. That is why those who live such a holy life and preach the gospel that leads others to salvation are doing the work of the Lord. Everyone, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that all of you will be awake today, pray, understand the Word, and be faithful to the work of the Lord and receive crowns at the judgment seat of Christ when the Lord comes. Amen.