Category: In these last days… Revelation

He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Revelation 5:7
His Authority to Judge

In these last days – The Revelation of Jesus Christ

to John.

– IS HE TALKING TO US?

– How does CHRIST’s Revelation written to seven first century churches apply to you + millennia later in the 21st century of the Common Era?

What should we expect any DAY now?

– Do YOU have the boldness to SHARE the revealed ending [apocalypses] to your SOCIAL friends?

Take a glimpse and tell us what you think about the apocalypse revealed by the risen Christ Jesus to the Apostle John. THEN SHARE God’s WARNINGS with a comment added to Talk of JESUS .com

  • The Time Is Near For Our Church – Ephesus

    The Time Is Near For Our Church – Ephesus

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ

    John to the seven churches

    Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

    “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus…

    “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

    20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

    Christ, our risen Lord and Savior holds in His right hand the angels of the churches. Christ, our returning Lord and Savior stands in the presence of His golden churches – the believers to be taken-up along with those who have gone before us.

    Yet each letter to the churches is specific to a group of believers: praise for faithfulness and call to continued faith. For not all who say, “Lord, lord,” will be taken-up. Not all who say, “Lord, lord,” will stand as a light of witness as a lampstand on His right. For some will be separated to the King’s left and He will say of those who did not glimmer with the light of Jesus, “I never knew you.”

    And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. – Matthew 25:46 KJV

    Therefore: The warnings for the seven churches are addressed to the saints of every generation until the last.

    You with ears to hear, let the scripture of Revelation speak to your eternal soul.

    the_seven_churches_of_revelation       EPHESUS Library at Ephesus

    Maps change. Borders change. Buildings rise and fall. Nations rise and fall. Ephesus, like any other place on the map of this temporal world has changed over the years. Do not make the mistake of thinking of these letters to seven churches as being to “places.” These are letters which address some specific issues of faith encountered by the people of the churches.

    What does not change is people. We are sinners: no matter where we live; no matter when we live… or die: we are sinners.

    Into any part of this world, whether you call it Turkey (21st c.), Greece (BC), or Asia, as written in the Book of Revelation: enter Jesus Christ and every decaying building and dying man has new meaning.

    The population of Ephesus at the time of John was about 200,000 people. Over the centuries control of this area of Asia moved between east and west: Rome and Persia (among others).

    We know that wars and time will cause Nations and buildings to stand no more.  We know that we live in a flesh even more temporary than these. Yet the message of the Gospel from the first century until the 21st and to the Last Day endures.

    The people of Ephesus and the people of Pen Argyl (where I live) are essentially the same: we are sinners with the certain hope of resurrection in Christ Jesus. Yet the warnings for Pennsylvanians or Ephesians, for Romans or Americans, for men and women of any city, in any state, in any country and in any time until now is: follow Jesus Christ as your Lord. He IS and will return.

    Into our individual cultures and local towns we must BE the CHURCH. We must BE HIS SAINTS, or have our lampstand removed.

    We have nowhere to stand without Jesus.

    Each Christian in every Church must shine a light for Christ Jesus.

    Our choice is Eternal Life and Light OR Death, Darkness and the punishment we deserve for our many sins.

    Revelation 2:

    To the Church in Ephesus

    “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

    2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

    3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

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    This is all High Praise from our Lord. Take note. These are good things for our church to continue. These are good things for us to continue.

    • Patient endurance.
    • Do not put up with those who are evil (and we know many who are evil).

    Here’s one a 21st c. seeker-friendly church might miss:

    • “… tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

    When was the last time you, a fellow saint of your church, or even a church leader challenged ANY to find them to be FALSE christians?

    I’m not talking about those seeking to repent, change, and grow in Christ Jesus.  Our Lord challenges the church to identify the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29

    wolf

    Some of us in what WE, ourselves listen to, read or watch as ‘christian teaching’ need discernment to recognize wolves in the shepherd’s clothing of the pulpit.

    IF you see no cross of sacrifice; IF Jesus is going to do something for you, IF ‘god’ wants you to have it NOW, beware.

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    But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

    5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

    Some of you have been born again in the Holy Spirit. Do you remember when you were first on fire for the Lord?

    Acts 4: 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

    Our Lord exhorts the church to continue in our boldness for returning to the love we had for for Jesus and for His Gospel at first.

    If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

    UNLESS YOU REPENT!

    Heaven OR Hell?  That’s really the consequence of repentance or disobedience, isn’t it?

    Why would Jesus keep a lampstand for our diminishing flicker after our wick has burnt dry?

    Our Lord closes His specific cautions to the church at Ephesus with an encouragement, as so often the Letters of the Apostles encourasge us.

    6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

    Again, recall that the warnings were to a specific church with specific challenges, just like your church or my church.  The works of the Nicolaitans are unknown with certainty (perhaps warning enough for false teaching).

    7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

    To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

     

    Hear the cautions for our Church.  NEXT: Smyrna

     

     

  • The Time Is Near for our Church – Prologue

    The Time Is Near for our Church – Prologue

    1 The revelation [apokalypsisof Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

    He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

    To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

    TIME’S UP!

    Has anyone ever announced that to you?

    Were you ready?  Was it a test? Did you know that the end of your time was coming?

    What would happen IF you got up one morning and God sent an Angel to you with an announcement:

    TIME’S UP! I’m taking you up from this earth today.

    What would you think? How would you react?

    You might think: HOW? Will it be an accident? A heart attack? Will someone murder me unexpectedly?

    You might wonder: How soon?  Do I have time to finally write a will? Can I call a loved one, first?

    You might remember that sin: the person you could NOT forgive, that action you never confessed. You might recall how little you had given to your church and how often you had found better things to do than worship God and thank Jesus Christ for His sacrifice on the Cross for you.

    You might even think to ask: Am I going to HEAVEN or HELL?

    You might even be in AWE that an angel would show up to bring a message to you.

    Admit it: you’re finally fearful of the end of your TIME. All of a sudden, DEATH and Eternal Life have a personal relevance.

    The Apostle John, or course, was a better witness of Christ than you or me. He had  actual first-hand witness of Jesus’ resurrection. Yet even John may not have expected the revelation Christ gave to him, which John wrote for us as the final book of the Bible.

    (You should read ALL of Revelation on your own.)

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

    Of course we know that the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ IS GOOD NEWS. Although Revelation sounds more and more like NOT so good news.

    IF the CHURCH will heed the warnings of Christ through the angel to John to the seven churches to OUR 21st c. church: there is still TIME remaining in the hourglass of these last days.

    The King James Version states: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

    John saw what was, what was then, what was to come soon for the first century church, AND John saw what would happen well beyond the day of the death of his earthly flesh in the first century. John saw the hereafter: an AWESOME vision of Eternity.

    Are YOU ready? Is your church ready?

    Haven’t we had just about enough of this Kingdom of the evil one?

    The TIME of the hereafter is NEAR.

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    READ the cautions for our Church. NEXT: Ephesus

  • Revelation 20:12

    Revelation 20:12

    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.
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