It should be an essential part of every Christian's devotional life, and those who ignore Revelation, are depriving themselves of a rich treasure of divine truth, and those promised blessings that come from understanding that truth.

Faith is the means by which we receive everything from God. Hebrews 11:6 makes this very clear.

This should be crystal clear to us. It is not difficult to please God – it is impossible to please Him! It cannot be done without faith!

Without faith we can receive nothing from God. Without faith all the promises of the Scriptures are invalid.

While the Bereans didn't question everything, they had access to the Old Testament, which allowed them to examine Paul and Silas's words and actions.

Their commitment to studying and understanding the Scriptures earned them the title "noble Bereans." In the spirit of these eager and diligent Bereans, we need to open our hearts and minds to explore the timeless truths found in God's Word and discover the wisdom it holds for our lives today.

When we come to the Epistles (the “letters”) – which occupy the largest part of the New Testament – we are dealing not with preparation or fulfilment, but with explanation.

The letters of the New Testament are intended to explain and make clear to us, the mystery of Christ. The purpose of the Epistles is to present Christ on a kindergarten level of truth that we may understand, and thus enter into His life.

Secondly, there are Old Testament prophecies which speak of Messiah as the Servant, as the suffering One. The prophet Isaiah gives this fore view. Jesus as the coming of One who is to suffer is also portrayed in the fore view of the story of Joseph in Genesis.

Thirdly, the Old Testament pictures Christ’s coming as Man. He was shown to be born of a virgin, grow up in Bethlehem, walk among men. There are pictures of his childhood, youth and young manhood.

Finally, the Old Testament has a pictures which speak of him as God, the Everlasting One.

Bible scholars are always working at the task of “harmonizing” the Gospels.

Sometimes you can get Bibles that have the harmonies of the Gospels contained in them. These Bibles are trying to combine these four books and turn them into one, but if the Holy Spirit had wanted one, He would have the produced one.

God wanted four separate and unique Gospels and I personally feel that it is not possible to harmonize the four Gospels, and that anyone attempting this, is wasting their time. This is because each of the four Gospels are given for a special purpose.

According to one person's count, there are 3573 promises in the Bible which are intended to be fulfilled in this life. So over three thousand promises are made for us today. How many of those have we claimed?

We will now take a brief look at the final eight prophetic books. These are also known as the minor prophets. However the term “minor” here, means smaller in size, not less in importance.

So, what is your definition of a promise?

When a man and a woman stand at the wedding altar and promise each other, what are they doing?

They are committing themselves to give of themselves to each other. A promise then, basically, is a commitment to share yourself. If you give a promise to someone, you are committing or sharing something of your time, your energy, or your resources with that person.

That is what a promise is. It is a sharing of self.

The great promises of the Bible are the assurances of God to share Himself with us. When we understand God’s promises, we will begin to understand something more of the nature and the character of our God. Every promise is a commitment, on God's part, to give of Himself.

The book of Psalms records the emotional responses in man's soul to circumstances.

The book of Proverbs is man's intelligence at work recording the experiences of life.

In the book of Ecclesiastes the will of man is expressed.

Although we call these books “poetical,” it doesn't mean that they rhyme. It means they have a structure of repeated ideas. This is the form of poetry the Hebrews used. These 5 books are marvelous books of expression.

The poetical books are a demonstration or reflection of the rejoicing and the protests of man in response to life. These books show all the feelings of the heart, and the yearnings and desires of every man and woman.

There is one thing that we should all keep in mind when reading these books of the Old Testament. Although these problems occurred historically to the nation of Israel, they also have been recorded for us, as examples of what dangers and stumbling blocks the Church would encounter.

Although these historical accounts were inspired by God the Holy Spirit, there is something in common between the nation of Israel and today's Church – both Israel and the modern Church consisted of human beings with a flesh-controlled carnal nature.

David had an unwavering faith that already showed with him growing up as a boy. There was his battle with Goliath, living in the court of King Saul at the risk to his life, the story of his friendship with Jonathan, and finally being made king, first over Judah for seven years and then over Israel and Judah together for thirty-three more years, a reign of forty years altogether.

However, there is a dark side to the story of David. There was a weakness in his life which resulted in the terrible moral fall of this man. He was an adulterer and murderer!

How could he, God's own man, be guilty of these terrible things?

These historical books of the Bible trace the history of Israel – a single nation with a special ministry – a representative nation. What happens to them is also a picture of all the dangers that men will encounter anywhere. As we carefully study each book for its peril, we will find right along with it the appearance of at least one individual who is given victory over that peril.

Firstly, these historical books of the Bible trace the history of a single nation with a special ministry – a representative nation – Israel. What happens to them is a picture of all the dangers that men will encounter anywhere.

Secondly, these historical books give a special illustration of the perils, pressures and problems which come upon every Christian believer, as they attempt to walk the life of faith. It is very important to know our enemies. These historical books show us the perils which beset the life of faith, and the means of victory over them.

In spite of all the wonderful instructions the Israelites had in Leviticus, and the adequate provision already given to them, entirely by God, so that they might enjoy His presence among them, when we read Numbers, we see nothing but absolute failure because of the ignorance of the people.

The whole book of Exodus centers around three major incidents:

Firstly the Passover. Secondly the crossing of the Red Sea, and finally the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.

The first two of these, the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea, provide a picture for us, as Christians, of the forgiveness and the freedom which God provides – and to teach us that freedom and forgiveness comes through God alone. Man can have no part in either of them.

Usually we start off very well in Genesis and then move on into Exodus, but around Leviticus, where we get into all the strange requirements of the Law, we get stuck, and we never quite get through into Numbers and Deuteronomy.

So why do we bog down?

Until we begin to learn who Jesus is and what He does, and then apply it our own life and heart, we could read our Bibles for years and years, and yet remain totally unchanged and untouched.

If you buy a murder mystery novel, and you only read the last few pages, so that you can discover who the murderer was, it will make the whole experience pointless. You will not be able to understand the characters, the plot, or the ending, and you will not learn how the crime was solved.

So reading the New Testament only, where Jesus is revealed, and not seeing God’s plan from the beginning, will only give you the final answer and never give you the full picture.

This is why there are many people today, who only read the New Testament, can only go so far in grasping the fullness that is in Jesus Christ. It is because their hearts have not been adequately prepared.

So this is why we need the ministry of the Old Testament.

Christ in the world, and it takes the work of the Holy Spirit in interpreting this Scripture to us.

In this podcast, we will take a quick look at how the Old Testament helps us to discover what God’s plan for humankind was since the beginning.

Everything that God has done, and the entire focus of everything that is contained in the pages of the Bible, is aimed at one goal – and that is to mature all of us, so that the fullness of God can work within us. When the fullness of God can be found within us, we become filled and flooded with God Himself. The whole of the revelation that is given to us in the Bible is necessary to accomplish this.

Here is described the life of the eternal city of Jerusalem, and it is a picture of abundant fertility, full of life. There is a river of life, and a tree of life.

The tree, although also literal, is a symbol of Jesus Himself. He is the way, the truth and the life – the tree of life. When believers obey the Word of God, they are eating and feeding on Jesus and drawing life from that nourishment. That is what this signifies. It brings spiritual health. We flourish when we follow his word and obey and live by it.

Personally, I do believe there will be an actual city of incredible brilliance and glory, located somewhere above or within the atmosphere of the earth, but at the same time the city symbolizes activities and relationships that are going on within the community of the redeemed.

So we need to look a little more deeply into the symbolism to interpret these verses correctly...

Not much is said in the Old Testament about heaven. But Chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation describe heaven in detail.

Just cast your mind back to the perfect environment of the garden of Eden. At that time, there were only two people and they both chose to sin. And they did it from a state of innocence.

So if Adam and Eve chose to sin from a state of innocence, what would humanity do from a state of depravity? It does not matter what kind of world they live in, depraved human beings love sin.

And whether Satan is present or absent, it has nothing to do with depravity. People continue to say, “The devil made me do it!” but that is denying the truth and is a shallow excuse. It is not the devil that makes us sin, it is the devil that creates the system that tempts us.

So even if Satan is removed out of this world there will still be depravity. Man is still going to love sin because it is in his nature.

When you read through the New Testament, Matthew 24 focuses on the time when the sign of the Son of man appears in heaven, and Jesus comes with the angels to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth. That heralds the beginning of the glorious Millennial Kingdom.

So both Old and New Testament are just loaded with promises with regard to the Kingdom.

In Revelation 20, we are shown the earthly Kingdom of the Messiah. We are actually looking at a restored earth, almost restored to its original glory. It is ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ and the saints of all the ages. Up until Revelation 20, everything has been pre-millennial. Everything has been pre-Kingdom.

We should not be surprised that He will come as a judge, but we should marvel that He ever came as Savior to sinful men.

This is the final section in the book of Revelation, and we will have to go through it carefully and thoughtfully and look at every part of it as we have done all the way through this wonderful book.

The Second Coming of Jesus is the great climax of all history. All human events, since the beginning of time, have been moving towards this is the single divine event.

That is very fitting, because that is precisely what Revelation chapter 18 tell us what the world will be like, just before the return of Jesus Christ.

In the global church in this age of post-modernism, the wrath of God not a particularly common or a popular subject among preachers, and it is not a common subject of discussion for believers in general today. Nevertheless it should be something that is preached, if we are to be faithful to the Word of God.

In John 3:36 we read that Jesus said: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Yet only a few verses earlier, in the most well-known part of the entire New Testament, Jesus told Nicodemus that: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

So here in John 3:36, Jesus speaks of the “wrath of God” remaining on those who reject Him.

Many Christians today would insist that the Old Testament was written by a God of judgement, and the New Testament was written by a God of grace, but this could not be further from the truth.

After thousands of years of patient waiting and putting up with mankind’s arrogance, hate, greed and the bloodshed that has plagued our earth so long, God has declared that there comes a time when He will say “enough is enough” and bring an end to the whole problem!

But I have to be a prophet of doom, and speak the truth. There is not going to be a better day but a worse one. A better day is not coming.

What is coming is a terrible, eternal tragedy. The world of the future will not be a utopia, but the inhabitants of the earth will feel the fury of God’s judgement like no one else has ever felt it.

Things are not going to get better. They are going to get infinitely worse.

In Revelation Chapter 14, it will become clear to us that these passages record the judgement of God to come. Starting at verse 6, we encounter three angels. While their messages are messages of judgement, they do contain elements of grace, hope and salvation. But the doom of the world is clear.

I came across a wonderful inspiring quote from John Wesley when I was preparing for this podcast.

He said: “Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”

In Revelation 14:1-5, we will be reading about the 144 000 men that Jesus will use to shake the world in the closing days of this age.

Satan is a liar and is the father of lies. He is a deceiver. He is disguised as an angel of light, and his messengers and servants are also disguised as angels of light though they are the agents of darkness.

Satan has always tried to confuse people by covering up the truth of the saving gospel. To obscure the truth of the Word of God with lies that are masquerading as if they are the truth.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said many false Christs would come and we should to expect that, and we have been warned that these false Christs would lead many people astray.

Jesus said that there will be many false Christs. There will be many who will attempt to take the place of Christ but there will be the final Antichrist, the final false Christ, the final individual who attempts to take the place of Christ and he will be more devastating than any other before him.

However in the midst of the tribulation, Satan will lose his access to heaven. Bible scholars differ on whether this is a reference to Satan's work of corrupting one third of the angels of heaven, or if it points to his immense earthly power at this time. Either way, Satan and all rebelling demons will be cast down and barred from their normal access and communication with God.

So there is a sudden change of scene. We are no longer looking at the events on Earth but looking into heaven, and seeing a scene of conflict, invisible to earth but taking place in heaven.

Two of the three symbols that appear here in these verses, are quite easy to identify, but the identity of the woman who appears clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and twelve stars in a crown around her head, is not easy to interpret, unless you see the symbolism and where else in scripture these symbols appear.

God never lets sin go unchecked. Many times He prolongs judgement, but at other times He judges sin immediately. In the case of the unbelieving world’s treatment of His witnesses and their subsequent celebration after their murder, God's judgement falls immediately.

This earthquake levels one tenth of Jerusalem and immediately snuffs out the lives of seven thousand people.

Do not try to understand these events of Revelation as a series of chronological events but as degrees of intensity. The judgements of the seven seals of Revelation take place in the seven-year period that the prophet Daniel identifies as the last days. The sounding of the seven trumpets, however, are a return to that same 7-year period and focus on a deeper and different perspective of judgement.

John is sent back over the terrible times of judgement to focus on certain characters and personalities, and to give us more detail about them. John is told to prophesy again about “many peoples and nations and languages and kings”. That is going to be the theme of the next chapters of Revelation.

For millennia, righteous men have been crying for God to intervene, and we have not stopped asking: “When will God speak? When will God break His silence?”

God has promised that the day will come when the mystery of His silence will be broken and that day is linked with the seventh trumpet in Revelation Chapter 10, Verse 7.

In these terrible judgements we see the power, the majesty, the might, and the inescapability of God, and we have to ask ourselves, “What can I do to be saved?”

That is the effect of judgement. God then provides to those who feel their peril is a message of grace. It is not when judgement threatens that we turn to God. It is when we see God’s suffering love that gives itself for us, that carries the hurt and agony and pain. It is that that breaks our proud hearts, and that opens the door to salvation.

The book of Revelation should never be read as a historical record of future events or even a chronological account of a series of events.

This is a time, in future history, when God’s most massive saving work will take place in a very brief period – only 7 years.

Who are these uncountable masses of people from every race and nation? We know that they are all martyrs. They must have died for the sake of Christ during the Tribulation, and they now appear before the throne of God as victors over death and hell, joining the angels in worshipping before the throne.

So during the darkest hour of human history, that is yet to come, the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever seen, will take place! Millions who have never heard the gospel today will one day be brought into the kingdom of heaven!

This band of Spirit-filled Israelites, converted to Christ after the church has been taken out of the world, will go throughout the world like 144 000 Apostle Pauls, preaching the gospel of the kingdom during the time of the cataclysmic judgements of the end times.

But, even in the New Testament, it is Israel that occupies center stage, for the promises that we, as believers, cherish, were given originally to, and belong to, the Jews.

The 490-year period began with the building of the wall of Jerusalem, in the days of Nehemiah, until the end of the age.

Before His crucifixion, as Jesus talked with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, He told them what would happen in the period just before His Second Coming. In that passage, He refers several times to what He calls “the end of the age”. This is the same final seven year period of Daniel’s prophecy that Jesus refers to when He speaks of “the end of the age.”

This seven-year period of both Daniel’s prophecy and Jesus’ prophecy contains the fascinating – and frightening – series of events we are currently exploring in Revelation 6 through 19.

Nature always gives praise and glory to God, its Creator. For instance, look at a flower closely and see how you can marvel at the beauty and complexity of its design, conceived and executed by the power and wisdom of God. All of nature is as amazing as that flower, and the looking at and appreciating nature should lead us to worship and praise God.

However human beings are thankless and unappreciative creatures.

Think about the creation for a moment. God worked without tools to create the universe. He worked without elements or materials, and He worked without help.

God controls everything in His creation at all times, and no one can assist Him, and no one can stop Him. He is sovereign in everything, and absolutely competent and absolutely powerful to control it all.

The right response of any vision of God would be to fall before Him, sensing our sin and our unworthiness, overwhelmed with a holy fear, and a heart of gratitude for His mercy to us as sinners, but do we?

Jesus Christ, the author of these letters and the book of Revelation, did not write these letters to go separately to each church. All 7 letters went to all of the churches, so they all read what the Lord Jesus was saying about the church just down the road, so they must have been anxious about the one that was addressed to them.

Laodicea is a church that is characterized by lukewarmness that is typical of unsaved or unregenerate people.

Laodicea has the grim distinction of being the only church where Christ has nothing good to say about anything. The church has simply no redeeming feature. This is the false church, an unredeemed church.

Every church then, is a collection of imperfect Christians and therefore it is in itself, imperfect.

Secondly there is no such thing as a perfect pastor. Everyone is imperfect. They all fall short of the absolute standard of holiness that God has set.

So if there is no such thing as a perfect Christian, or a perfect pastor, or a perfect church and no individual or group of individuals can be everything that Jesus desires, is it at all possible to be faithful, to be obedient, to be diligent, and to please the Lord Jesus as a congregation?

It is possible to be a church that the Lord blesses because that church is genuinely faithful to Him, and that is the case of this little church in Philadelphia, in Asia Minor.

This has to be the ultimate shame, to have the Lord Jesus Himself, declare that you are dead. By definition the church is a place where God lives, a place where Christ lives, a place where the Holy Spirit lives, a place where Christians are alive, but not in this church.

This church had a reputation that it was alive, but in fact it was dead.

In Thyatira the trades were so strongly unionised that it was difficult to make a living without being a guild member – and this is an important fact to remember when studying the letter to the fourth church

This is how most believers want it today – a life of compromise.

This is the subtle deception, a compromising with the world. It happens when we begin to embrace the values of the world more than we embrace God’s values.

These were the kinds of false teachings and compromise with the world that were found in the church at Pergamum. The message from Jesus to the church at Pergamum – and to us – is not to compromise.

We cannot really understand life until we see both realms – the visible and the invisible.

This is what the book of Revelation does for us. It opens that invisible realm to us. As we study this last book of the Bible, we will learn much about what is going to happen on earth, as well as what is happening right now.

The passion we once had for Jesus, can be replaced with an acceptance of things as they are. Satan wants us to become so satisfied with where we are, with what we are doing and with what we have accomplished. Instead of maintaining a fiery passion for Christ and for His kingdom, we could lose our zeal for Christ and His kingdom. We replace an all-consuming passion with a complacency that is content with the way that things are.

The church in Ephesus, found in Revelation 2 will be forever be known as “the church that left its first love”. As we focus on the letter in this episode of the podcast, we’re going to come to grips with the danger of love growing cold in the lives of believers.

Most Christians today who are quite familiar with the Sermon on the Mount but are not aware of the existence of these seven messages of Christ to His Church.

Many people tend to skip over these seven letters to the churches, because they are eager to hurry on to those exciting, action-packed sections of Revelation. It seems we would rather hear about the great cataclysms of the last days, than be confronted with the urgent challenges of today!

These seven letters to seven churches are potent letters, written with urgency. Their message is still as relevant and timely today, as when they were first written. So many problems in our churches in the 2020s could be cured if we would only listen with attentive ears to the message Jesus gave us through the pen of John 2000 years ago.

The blessing is that we will be comforted, guided and have assurance, even when the world around us is troubled and confused, putting us under pressure and stress as described in the book of Revelation. The days are growing darker as we near the conclusion of history, but the believer who understands the book of Revelation will have an anchor and guide through the last troubled times.

No other book in the Bible is like Revelation. It is unique. It is the final revelation from God, there is nothing after this. We are sure that God’s Will for mankind is now fully revealed and known. But Revelation is not a “closed book” like Daniel. It was meant to be understood and there are blessings for those who read it and take it to heart.

The reason why so many people have difficulty in understanding this book is not only because they have trouble with interpreting the symbols, but also because they fail to take note of the suggestions that are given in the first 8 verses. If we read these verses carefully and thoughtfully, we will have a tremendous key to understanding this book.

One thing that many Christians fail to realize is that the true Church will never stop fighting this battle until the all the events of Revelation have been fulfilled.

These three characters are like the three kinds of Christians found in the church in any age, and like all the letters of the New Testament, 3 John is a very relevant letter for our modern world and at the conclusion of this letter, we can ask ourselves: “Which one of the three characters in 3 John are we most like?”

The second letter of John is the only letter in the New Testament addressed to a woman. It is addressed to “the chosen lady and her children.”

Even though Second John is one of the shortest letters in the New Testament and can be read in a few minutes, if you pause to consider the content, you will hopefully see how it also answers many of the questions we have today – especially how to treat people who teach wrong things.

John tells us that we can tell by looking at our actions, and that real and authentic Christianity is always made up of the same three elements: Truth, Righteousness, and Love.

John is very practical in his teachings. He emphasizes that fellowship with the Lord Jesus, a day-by-day walk with Him, allowing ourselves be changed by the power of Christ. This will result in truth about Jesus’ righteousness manifesting in our personal behavior and love toward our brothers, and our fellow members of the human race, as well as those fellow members of the Church of God.

It is this same John – the apostle – who wrote these letters. These letters of John are possibly the last of the New Testament to be written, and were probably written after the Gospel of John was completed. So these were perhaps the last words we have from the apostles, written between AD 85-95.They were written from the city of Ephesus, where John spent the latter years of his life.

He focuses on what shows in an authentic Christian. Real and authentic Christianity is always made up of the same three elements: Truth, Righteousness, and Love.

Therefore, these three signs, in perfect balance, are proof to anyone that he or she is a Christian, and such believers will fulfill the qualifications, and manifest truth, righteousness and love to the world.

Jesus Himself had given Peter the mission to tend the sheep of God. At times, a shepherd's job includes driving away wild predators, which requires some ferocity, and Peter shows this by defending his flock from these attacking wolves

Personally I believe that Peter wrote Second Peter, but did not have Silas as a secretary, as he did with the first letter. Peter knows he needs to write urgently, but he doesn’t know Greek well, so the grammar is more clumsy, but the meaning is clear.

The theme of his second letter focuses on how to be faithful in the face of falsehood. How to detect error. How to live in the midst of deceit and how to distinguish between right and wrong, especially when the wrong is so deceptive.

I likened that to trying to understand the whole picture of a jigsaw puzzle by studying just one piece of it. A single jigsaw puzzle piece cannot help you understand the entire picture. All the surrounding pieces must give context to the piece in the middle.

The only way to really understand the Scriptures, especially passages like 1 Peter 3:18-22 , is to read this entire letter from beginning to end, and to read Second Peter as well as the little letter of Jude, so you can see the whole context – the surrounding puzzle pieces and that way see the larger picture.

We learned from this letter that Christians, during times of trouble, persecution and suffering, are assured of 3 things: a living hope, a present power and a rejoicing love, and that those assurances have a remarkable effect on their lives.

In that series we learned that faith is not something that we simply profess. We have to show that we believe in the Lord Jesus by acting. That is real faith.

In this week’s episode we will be introduced to the first letter of Peter the Apostle and learn how we can have hope in the midst of suffering.

Words and wisdom are the focus of James Chapter 3. The uncontrolled words and the wisdom of the world always lead to destruction. Those who trust God understand that neither human speech nor human philosophy will lead them towards a life of faith.

Compared to Hebrews, the letter of James is one of the easiest books of the Bible to understand, but at the same time, it will be one of the hardest to apply to our own lives.

• Faith Anticipates the Future
• Faith Acts in the Present
• and Faith Appraises the Past.

In episode 4 of "Journey through the Scriptures" that covers the last 2 chapters of Hebrews, we will discover how faith is produced in our lives, and how God goes about making us strong in the faith.

Does it line up with the Arminian theology that says there are believers who have lost their salvation, or does it confirm the Calvinist view that argues people like this were never believers, or is it the hypothetical "theology" view that teaches that these events had not actually occurred?

I think that none of these apply, as it is important to understand who the audience of this letter is and what was happening to them.

Jesus Christ is compared to 4 challengers.

• The Prophets and Angels
• Moses and the Promised Land
• Priests and Melchizedek
• Sacrifices and the Covenant.

The central message of the book of Hebrews, is that Jesus Christ is superior to everything and everybody.

The letter to the Hebrews asks 3 important questions. This podcast will help you to discover the answer to these 3 questions:

• What are you believing in?
• Who are you believing in?
• What kind of a person is he?