1 The revelation [apokalypsis] of 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, ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ 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.)

8 “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