Revelation: Part 46

When anyone anywhere, responds to this knowledge by having a desire to know this God, God will move heaven and earth to get the message to them.

I want to bring something out here. I promised to do this several weeks ago, and I never went into it. What is the real purpose and rationale of the judgments in the book of Revelation? It’s brought out in seven statements, in the book of Revelation, that has this clause in it.

Those who dwell on the earth, remember that? That’s repeated seven times. And these judgments are all for the purpose of judging the Christ-rejecting world, which are called those who dwell on the earth. What does that mean, exactly?

Well, I looked it up. And I found that it’s -it’s this Greek word. Katoikeo. Katoikeo.

And it’s in the present tense, it’s a participle, in the original Greek. Now, it’s important to realize you can, God can teach so much from the original Greek language of the New Testament. Because the Greek verb system isn’t just about whether it was past or present or future. The Greek verb system emphasizes the kind of action, more than the time of action.

And it can tell you all kinds of things about the kind of action. And, of course, when you relate this to the context of these various passages, it becomes, it sheds light like nothing else on these texts. So the word that is used to describe those who dwell upon the earth, is the word katoikountes. And this is what it means.

Someone who so clings to the things of this earth, that they possess him. Look first with me at Revelation 3:10. Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, this is addressed to the believers in the Church. Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from.

The Greek preposition is ek, which means out of, not from, but out of. And that should be in there. I also will keep you out of the hour of testing. What hour?

That hour which is about to come upon the whole world. Why? To test those who dwell on the earth. And the word test means to put them to a test that will reveal their true character.

Now, do you know that when God addresses us at the beginning of the book of Revelation, he says not just I will keep you out of that hour of testing, but I will keep you out of the time of that testing. This is a clear promise that he will keep the Church out of the Tribulation. And he says that judgment is not for you. It is for those who dwell upon the earth.

All right, let’s learn something else about these people. Chapter 6, verse 10. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, these are martyrs. How long, o Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

All right, here we learn about them that these people are those who torture and slaughter God’s people during that seven-year period. All right, look with me at chapter 8, verse 13. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in the midheaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. All right, this shows that the three last trumpet judgments that are called three woes, are specifically against those who dwell on the earth.

In other words, it says this is the purpose for such horrible judgment. All right, then let’s look at the next one. This is number four, chapter 11, verse 10. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell upon the earth.

You see, it shows here their true character. The two prophets, Moses and Elijah, who minister the first three and a half years of this period in the streets of Jerusalem, are going to be allowed by God to be put to death. They will murder them. It says they will view, all the world will look at their bodies lying unburied in the street for three and a half years -three and a half days.

Now, it says that they rejoice so much over the murder of these two men, the greatest two prophets of the Old Testament, that they will be giving gifts to each other. It will be sort of a satanic Christmas. And God says that’s one the things that really reveals the character of those who dwell on the earth. All right, let’s look at the next one.

I had to translate this from the original because it’s so mixed up in most translations. It says everyone whose name has not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, who was slain from the foundation of the world. The Lamb’s book of life isn’t what’s written from the foundation of the world. It’s the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.

But it’s the Lamb’s book of life that none of these who dwell on the earth has his name written in, you see? The Lamb’s book of life is one of two books in God’s bookkeeping system of who’s lost and who’s saved. When someone believes in Jesus Christ as Savior and receives the gift of pardon, he bought for you with his death in your place, your name is written into the book of, the Lamb’s book of life at that time. Now, what’s important about this?

What did we learn from this? It says that those who dwell on the earth will worship the Roman Antichrist. He’s the first beast of Revelation 13. Remember?

And it’s because their name has not been written in the Lamb’s book of life. They’re unbelievers. So they will fall for him. All right, now look at chapter 13, verse 14.

This is about the false prophet who will totally deceive those who dwell on the earth. It says he, the false prophet, deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast. That is the first one which is the Roman Antichrist. Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

All right, that was number six. Now we come to number seven. Chapter 17, verse 8. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.

And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and yet will come. I want you to note that here the syntax is very clear. Notice it says whose name has not been written in the book of life. Not the Lamb’s book of life, the book of life.

It’s a different book. And this shows that the book had the names of everyone in it from the foundation of the world. So the name of every person who would ever be born was in this book from the foundation of the world. This is different than the Lamb’s book of life where your name is entered when you believe.

Now what happens with the book of life is whenever a person dies without receiving Christ, or they come to a point where God knows they’ve so hardened their hearts, they’ll never believe, their names are blotted out of the book of life. They’re never written into the Lamb’s book of life because they didn’t believe. So at the end of time, what will God have? A double bookkeeping system.

And both books will have only the names of believers in them. And, of course, these who have, those who have dwelt upon the earth, will not be there. Why? Because they’ve become ensnared with the things of this world.

You know, it is such, it’s such a danger for us all. If you look at 1 John 2:15-17, now I’m gonna read this particular quote from the new international version. Do not love the world. And that’s the word in Greek kosmos.

We get cosmetics from that word.

It comes from that Greek word, it does. Now I’m not saying anything against cosmetics.

Kosmos means world system. Not just the world. And what it means is that, it looks at the world, not so much as a place, but the very elaborate system that controls it. And all of the things that are part of this system.

And so God says to his children, do not love the world system. We are to be in the world. We have to be. You’re never to separate yourself from people and start acting like it says in the Isaiah, do not come near me, for I am holier than thou.

No, you’re not supposed to be like that. That’s not much of a witness to anybody. That really turns people off. You’re supposed to be in the world, but not of the world.

And so it says do not love this world system. And then it says or anything in the world system. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. Now thank God for the present tense.

Because love, the word love, is in the present tense. And in the context it means the one who habitually loves the world shows that he doesn’t have the love of the father in him. In other words, he’d be one of those who dwell on the earth. So all they do is get really so ensnared and entangled with the things of the world, they have no time for God.

Now it says if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the father, but from the world system. The world system and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. Now in chapter 5, verse 19 of 1 John, it tells us why the world system is so dangerous and lethal to us, okay.

There it tells us who controls the world system. It says we know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The evil one is Satan. He controls this system that we live in.

And we have to be careful that we don’t allow our hearts to be so taken by the things of this world that it crowds God out. For instance, it talks about, you know, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and so forth. Lust for what you have or don’t have, what you’ve done and so forth. It’s very, very important for us to realize that this world system changes with every part of, you know, every generation.

The world system contains the fashions of the moment. The things that possess your desire for wealth. The keeping up with the in-things. I remember in my younger days, I kept trying to get where it’s at.

And when I got there, I was where it was.

But, you know, that’s what we all try to do. Do you remember the tremendous, the tremendous pressure of our peers? Everybody wants to be with the chic thing. There’s a multibillion dollar industry in, all the western world in particularly, but here in the United States of magazines.

And all they do is show you the latest in-thing, the latest chic thing. The latest, you know, I laugh at styles. You’ve got to have the latest style if you’re really with it in the world system. And so I watch them come around.

I’ve been here long enough. I see the styles of the 70s being brought back now right now. And, you know, if you keep things long enough, I’ve got an array of ties, some are narrow, some are wide. You know, I keep them long enough, they come back in style.

And, but, you know what I’m saying? Jesus says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And he doesn’t want you to let anything possess your heart to the point where he’s pushed out. And this could be a girlfriend, a boyfriend.

You’re supposed to love your husband. You’re supposed to love your wife. But don’t forget who’s supposed to be first in both your hearts. Don’t get caught up with I’ve got to keep up with the neighbors.

If they got something, I got to match it. Don’t let things like that crowd out what’s really, really important. Don’t be like those who dwell on the earth. You know, I heard so many little ditties when I was a new believer.

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through. Well, that’s true. And another one, it may be simple, but it sure hit my heart. It says only one life, will soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last. And then again jim elliot’s statement in his diary before he was martyred. He is no fool, who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. What we need to do is to focus, the saints go marching in.

Very apropos for that call.

You know what I’m saying here is so much more important at this moment than it ever was. Because we’re very near the end of this age. We’re very near the time when God is going to snatch us out and take us up to that great rejoicing at the sea of glass before his throne. I think a good test for you is this.

You know, and all I’m saying, I don’t want you to get me wrong, it’s not a sin to have money. It says for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil literally. It isn’t money that’s evil. It’s the love of money that’s evil.

It’s the pushing in your affections of Christ in his purpose to the side for the pursuit and love of money. So I say it’s not a sin to have money. But it is a sin for money to have you. It’s not a sin to want to look presentable.

It’s not a sin to want to be in style. It’s a good testimony. As long as that is not the driving passion of your life. It’s not wrong to, to have fun.

And it’s not wrong to have a home and try to do the best you can with it. But just realize that and here’s the final thing I’m gonna read. In contrast to those who dwell upon the earth, there is a verse in chapter 13, verse 5. There was given him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

That’s three and a half years. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Now I looked that up the world dwell and, you know, it’s a different word than the one used for those who dwell on the earth? It blew me away.

I said, yeah, I’ve read this so many times, Lord, why didn’t I see this? And I saw the word for dwell is derived from the root that the word tabernacle comes from. And it literally says for those who tabernacle in heaven. Now what does that tell us?

He’s railing against those who tabernacle in heaven. Well, first of all, it means the Antichrist is trying to explain what happened to those nonprogressives that just disappeared. We’re better off without them. You know, he’ll have all kinds of wonderful explanations.

And yet here’s another thing I haven’t seen before. It doesn’t say they katoikeo like the other. It says they tabernacle in heaven. Which means when we are at this time in heaven, we know that we’re only tabernacling there because it’s temporary.

That’s not our ultimate destiny. What’s our ultimate destiny? The new Jerusalem. So this is a temporary place where we stay until Christ comes back, sets up a new world order on the earth.

He takes and separates the unbelievers that survive and takes them off the earth and only surviving believers remain on the earth as humans. And we are in a new Jerusalem that apparently is suspended in space above the Jerusalem here on earth and that’s our home. Well, we’ll get into that when we get there. But I wanted to leave you with some happy thoughts.

We’ve gone through some tough things. And, you know, it’s just so important. What’s the antidote for the world getting a grip on you? You know I’ve only found one antidote.

And that’s to be occupied in your mind with the person of Christ. To focus on him to cultivate and develop your love for Jesus Christ. It’s the love for Jesus. And, by the way, that’s why the Holy Spirit came to dwell and that’s what the word really means.

It means to so dwell in that it possesses you. The Holy Spirit came to dwell in you, and to so guide and lead you and empower you, that he will produce the love for Christ that is beyond our frail human ability. The more you walk in fellowship with God, confessing sins when you fail, believing God’s forgiven you and you trust him, and you keep depending on the Holy Spirit, the more you do this, and the more you just meditate on the gospels about the person of Christ, the more you’ll love him. And the more you love him, the less the world system will ever be able to ensnare you.

And that’s my prayer for all of us. Starting with me. Because this is a battle that’s always raging. It’s never won until we leave this world.

If you have the guts to be a real revolutionary, come forward right now and accept Jesus Christ as your real revolutionary and he’ll make a revolutionary that will change lives.

As I prepared for this week’s program, I was again struck by the speed with which events are moving into the scenario the prophets predicted for the end times. I believe we’re there. People on the street are talking about what all of these things mean. Folks that wouldn’t darken the door of a Church, or pick up a Bible, are now very curious.

This may be our greatest opportunity, maybe even our last opportunity, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ before we’re silenced by political correctness. The message that God has given me is more important now than it’s ever been for the Church and for the nation.