Today there is great rejoicing in heaven over Jesus’ second coming. The multitudes are saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The word of God.”

Satan is bound for a thousand years, and Jesus reigns as the perfect King during this time – “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever… And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Then John sees the final vision of a splendid new heaven and earth – “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”

“But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”

We end the reading with Jesus saying, “‘Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book…And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last… I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.’ And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

“Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

And that’s a wrap on the End Times/ New Beginnings Era and our journey through the Bible – the Greatest TRUE story Ever Told! Tomorrow we begin the story the same way the story ends – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). KEEP READING! (Revelation 19:1-22:21)

14 Eras:

Creation Era (Gen 1:1-11:26) ✔️

Patriarch Era (Gen 11:27-50:26 and Job) ✔️

Exodus Era (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) ✔️

Conquest Era (Joshua) ✔️

Judges Era (Judges, Ruth) ✔️

Kingdom Era (1 & 2  Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 1-9, 1 Kings 1-11, various Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon) ✔️

Divided Kingdom Era (2 Chronicles 10-36, 1 Kings 11-22, 2 Kings, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and some of Jeremiah) ✔️

Captivity Era (the rest of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) ✔️

Return Era (Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) ✔️

Silent Era (Inter-Testament period) ✔️

Gospel Era (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) ✔️

Church Era (Acts, the Epistles, and Hebrews) ✔️

Missions Era (Acts, the Epistles, and Hebrews) ✔️

End Times/New Beginnings Era (Revelation) ✔️

In today’s vision John sees the heavens open and “seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete… Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.’” When the bowls are poured out, the following occurs:

1st bowl – “A foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.”

2nd bowl – The sea “became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.”

3rd bowl – The fresh waters became blood.

4th bowl – The sun scorched men with great heat “and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”

5th bowl – The beast’s “kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.”

6th bowl – The Euphrates River “and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.”

7th bowl – “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth… And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.”

We end the reading with John’s visions of the fall of Babylon. “The term ‘Babylon’ refers to a religious-political system where the true God is excluded. The name Babylon goes back to Genesis 11 where the first organized, idolatrous religion system was established. Religious Babylon (probably centered in Rome) will be destroyed halfway through the Tribulation by The Antichrist and his followers, as they seek to establish only one religion in the world – the worship of Satan and The Antichrist (ch.17). Political Babylon (ch. 18) is probably centered in Jerusalem and refers to the center of The Antichrist’s empire. This will be destroyed by Christ at His second coming.” (An excerpt from Survey of the New Testament by Paul N. Benware) 

Tomorrow Jesus has ultimate victory, and a new heaven and earth are created. Keep reading! (Revelation 15:1-18:24)

During this time of calamity, when Satan is reigning, the Lord will send two witnesses who will pour God’s word from their mouths and be indestructible until they finish their testimony. Then “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.” But three days later, God will raise them up to heaven. 

Then John sees a vision of Christ being born and taken to heaven. Meanwhile a dragon, Satan, is attempting to devour Christ and destroy His mother, but the Lord protects them. “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.’”

The people of the earth worship the beast, the Antichrist. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And a second beast will arise that will encourage everyone to worship the Antichrist. 

However, God is still ultimately in control – “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads…These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.”

Then John sees three angels who declare God’s judgment, the fall of Babylon, and the eternal torment of those who follow Satan. “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”

We end today’s reading with a vision of Jesus harvesting the earth by gathering all His followers and throwing His enemies “into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”

John will receive more visions from the Lord tomorrow, so keep reading. (Revelation 11:1-14:20)

After the six seals are broken, the angel says, “‘Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.” And just as God promised the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and as the prophets proclaimed throughout this story, the Lord will fulfill His promise to the tribes of Israel.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” And the ones gathered around the throne of God “serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

When Jesus opens the seventh seal, trumpets begin sounding. At the sounding of the first six trumpets, these events take place:

1) ⅓ of vegetation is burned

2) ⅓ of the sea is destroyed

3) ⅓ of fresh water is destroyed

4) ⅓ of the luminaries are darkened 

5) more power is given to evil – “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.”

6) ⅓ of mankind is killed – “So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million…By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths… But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

The angel then tells John to take the little book that he is holding and eat it. “Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’”

Tomorrow the seventh trumpet sounds, so keep reading. (Revelation 7:1-10:11)

Today Jesus gives a message to the remaining three churches. Then He gives John a peek into heaven.

5) Sardis – Jesus says there are a few in the church who are faithful, but overall their works are dead. He calls for them to wake up and repent. For “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

6) Philadelphia – Jesus commends them for keeping His word and persevering. He tells them to “hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”

7) Laodicea – Jesus rebukes them for being lukewarm – “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked… Therefore be zealous and repent… To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

Christians are defined as overcomers just as John said, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). Overcomers are ones who have faith in Jesus as their Savior and by the power of the Holy Spirit overcome sin, Satan’s tactics, the world, and the flesh. We are called to overcome this broken fallen world and endure until we are one day face to face with Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb.

Jesus gives John a glimpse into heaven where John sees God on a throne with a scroll in His right hand. John weeps because there is no one worthy to open the scroll. “But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’”

“And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

The Lamb, Jesus, opens the first six scrolls sending judgment upon the world. “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” 

Tomorrow the Lord reveals that the ones who will be able to stand are the ones who trust in Jesus. Keep reading. (Revelation 3:1-6:17)