Bible Study no 1 of Revelation

Well, brethren, we are today starting a Bible study on the book of Revelation.

And I want to start first with a couple of simple objectives of this study.

In first place, it is to understand better the days in which we live and to discern current events.

If you care to just look at Luke 12, verses 54 through 56, it reads, Then he also said to the multitudes, Whatever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, a shower is coming, and so it is.

And when you see the south wind blow and you say, there will be hot weather, and there it is.

Then Christ says hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, of the earth, and how is it that you do not discern this time, the time of the end? And so that's quite a piercing statement to us all that we need to discern the time that we live in. They, of course, they didn't realize they were talking to the very Son of God, and we live in an interesting time. Turn with me, please, to Matthew 24 14. It's a scripture that we turn to quite often, Matthew 24 14, and it says, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to the whole world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. The interesting thing about this statement, brethren, is that, let's say, a hundred years ago, this gospel was not being preached to the whole world.

It is something of the recent, let's say, 70 years since the days of Mr Herbert W. Armstrong, and we today, in the fellowship that we that have followed from the days of Mr Armstrong, the fellowships, we are doing that. So this gospel of the kingdom is being preached today.

The other interesting point about this verse is that, and then the end shall come. So this is a very particular time about the time of the end. So one of the objectives that we have is to understand these days in which we live, and we, through the study of the book of Revelation, we hope to do that. Second objective is to have a better and more balanced understanding of biblical prophecies. Now, today, there are so many people with so many weird ideas about Bible prophecy that we have to be careful. So if we turn into 2 Timothy chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and we're going to read from verse 1, it says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead. Now, that's Jesus Christ is going to judge the living and the dead. The Father is delegated all to him. At his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. So, yeah, it's Paul telling Timothy and instructing Timothy before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ for Timothy to preach the word, not to preach his ideas like many false ministers do. We're going to preach God's word. And then it says, be ready in season and out of season. So, we need to preach at the right time in season, like, for instance, during the feast. We preach messages related to the meaning of the feast, but it's not only during the festival seasons. So, in season and out of season, we preach points which are pertinent to the times we live in and that can help us in growing. In growing is true Christian. So, Paul says, the atat will not endure sound doctrine. And this is the age we live in. There's so much fake stuff, so many ideas. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, or they want to hear some new thing, new truth. And brethren, the truth is the same all along. But they will therefore heap up for themselves teachers. And they will turn their ears away from the truth. So, these false teachers will turn people away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. So, people will then follow fables. And this is something we've got to watch. We've got to be careful. But you'll be watchfully in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work on evangelists. Fulfill your ministry. So, yeah, is Paul Caling Timothy, a minister that he was teaching in the truth, to make sure that he sticks to the basics, to sound doctrine. And one of the objectives of this study is for us to have a balanced understanding of biblical prophecies so we're not carried away with weird ideas.

Thirdly, we want to encourage the practice of a more holy, godly, and mature conduct. You see, as we realize that the coming of the Lord is near, we need to understand and to be aware that our conduct, our behavior, must be exactly what God wants from us. So, if you turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3, which there is talking about the soon coming of the Lord, 2 Peter chapter 3, and if we read towards the end because there it says, you know, people are being cynical, where's the promise of Christ coming? And he says, well, be patient because these things are going to happen and for God, a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day and God is not slack concerning his promise. And then he says in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works there are in it will be burnt up. Therefore, the eyes the key verse, therefore, that's verse 11, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and gardeners? So, we really, knowing that these things are going to happen suddenly as a thief in the night, we need to be watching ourselves so that we are not caught unawares. Therefore, we need to be vigilant. You'll come as a thief in the night, therefore, be vigilant. Remember, look 21 verse 36, which is a scripture which I refer to quite often, but it is important for us to look at it once again. Look 21 verse 36.

Look 21 verse 36.

Watch you therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy. This is the first, let's call it phrase of this verse. We are a watch, therefore, be vigilant. And then it says, and pray always that you may be counted worthy. Now, I know that some Bibles, using other manuscripts, so other versions, omit the samples that you may be counted worthy, but it is a very important sentence.

Because it is God that looks at our hearts and determines whether we are worthy. Therefore, the scripture we read a little bit before that said, what's your conduct?

Ever, as the days are coming near, what's your conduct? Because God is looking at our hearts, and now he gives us two things. First, to escape all these things shall come to pass.

To escape means basically to be protected from the Great Revelation.

But that's not all. Even more important, God is watching our hearts so that we are in the first resurrection. That's what it says, to stand before the Son of Man. When the Son of Man comes, some will stand, you know, will be resurrected, and some will stay asleep for another thousand years.

So, what he's saying here is, watch it therefore, and pray that you may be counted worthy to be in the first resurrection of the use of the life to be changed with those that resurrect at the first resurrection. It is a very important principle that we need to remember. Therefore, this third objective, which is to encourage us to be careful how we behave, to have a more godly and holy and mature conduct so that God will count as worthy. So, we have to watch. You know, let's pay attention, yes, to watching the news, to able to discern it. That's point number one, so we don't understand this.

We have to watch and discern and understand all the events, particularly as they relate to biblical prophecies. That's kind of the second objective.

And part of that, we're going to watch the work of the Church, of the spiritual body of Christ, and in conduct how we're preparing ourselves and how we preach in the Gospel. So, last and not least, we've got to watch and take care of our spiritual life. In other words, we've got to encourage and practice a more holy, godly, and mature conduct. Those are the objectives of this Bible study. Why?

Let's look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 1 and 2. Concerned, concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for yourselves know perfectly that the lay of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

In other words, it'll come suddenly. So, if we are not aware, either of all the events, but if we are aware or not aware spiritually of our spiritual cleanliness and holiness, it'll catch us unawares like the five foolish virgins. That is why it is important to watch and be aware of these points. So, let's read today, believe it or not, we're only going to cover one verse of the book of Revelation, but I'm giving you today an introduction and understand the point of the context of the situation. In Revelation chapter 1 verse 1, if we read Revelation chapter 1 verse 1, we read the word the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Right. Now, the word revelation in Greek is actually the word apocalypse.

Now, the word apocalypse in Revelation 1 verse 1 has got different meanings.

One is to make known what was hidden. A revelation that was open to understanding. It was was hidden, but now he's being open to understanding. So, yeah, it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. So, Christ is revealing what was hidden and is now being open to understanding. The second meaning of the word apocalypse is a disclosure of truth, instruction about things previously unknown and not revealed, and also about events and facts about certain states or people that have either to not be revealed or become known to all. And in third place is a manifestation or appearance. So, it's a revelation Christ is giving us revelation of future things. Could it be things that we don't know, they were not revealed? You know, for instance, in Daniel it says, Daniel, go, these things are closed till the time of the end. So, yeah, it's Christ opening to us a number of things through this book of Revelation. And so we read, yeah, in Revelation 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him, the Father gave Christ, to show his servants, which is us. So, he has revelation from the Father to God's people, to specifically God's people, to the people of God's people. That's why there's so much misunderstanding about the book of revelation, because parts of it is written in symbols and in in metaphors and things like that, which other people don't fully understand. So, God gave it to him to show his servants, God gave it to him to show his servants, things which must shortly come to pass or to take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. So, the Father gave to Christ, Christ gave to an angel, Christ's angel, and this angel gave it to John the apostle.

So, we have here a theme. A theme is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, it is a revelation of the truth about Christ himself.

Thirdly, it's a revelation of future events.

It's a revelation of his second coming when he will be revealed.

It's a revelation that comes from Christ that the Father gave him, and the apostle John was the author of this book. He actually wrote the book under that inspiration.

So, this book, the book of Revelation, adds critical details to Daniel's prophecies until the coming of the Messiah and beyond. Very critical prophecies about, particularly, the Day of the Lord, as we'll see in the next study. But to fully understand it, it is important to understand a number of things, and we will go through these things carefully and slowly. It is important to understand the sequence of the Gentile kingdoms which affected and will affect Israel. You see, the Gentile kingdoms that affected and will affect Israel are the ones that have main contact with Israel, and that is for Jesus, as we'll see in Daniel 2. Those were Gentile kingdoms that had a direct impact with Israel, and that has a lead into the future, because those are the main, let's call, actors or subject areas of kingdoms that are described. You see, there are other important kingdoms, and there have been other important kingdoms during the time of the Old Testament.

Like you know, other kingdoms like China, it's been around for decades, for centuries, but in books like Daniel, they're not even mentioned. Why? Because they did not affect Israel. Another important point, it is critical to understand who Israel was and is. You see, many people today think Israel is purely the Jewish nation. Israel is more than the Jewish nation. It's over 12 tribes. So, it is important to understand that for us to grasp all these things and put everything together as a whole. It is important to understand who the 10 towers of the image of Daniel 2 will be, as they will be destroyed with the return of Jesus Christ. Remember that stone that He took towers and destroyed them? So, it is important to understand who the 10 towers are, and therefore it is important to understand the image, because the 10 towers are not toes of a different image or toes of that image. Therefore, the importance of that sequence of Gentile kingdoms. You see, a lot of people have ideas of prophecies. It says, oh, these are the 10 kings, and they come out with a whole different names of nations that will be the 10 kings.

But you see, if we understand Daniel 2, the Torah presented 10 toes, and the 10 toes are part of that body of sequence of Gentile kingdoms, then we are able to better focus on who the 10 toes are. So, that is important to understand. Now, the book of Revelation, therefore, is important, because it gives us an overview of these events of the time of the end, and takes what Daniel gives us, and it's a continuity of what Daniel gives us, and it adds to or complements what the book of Daniel gives us. So, it is important to understand some key scriptures or prophecies of the book of Daniel, which we will cover during this study, to be able to have a full, plain, simple understanding of the prophecies of the book of Revelation. And also, the book of Revelation is a book of hope, because it gives us the hope that God promises to us, that God promises to save humanity despite its nature. I use the word humanity. I do not use the word Israel deliberately. God promises to save the whole world, all the nations of the world. Sure, the prophecies in Old Testament focus on Israel, but they can be expanded to include all other nations at the time of the end, because at the time of the end will be a time of judgment of the whole world, not just of Israel. Yes, judgment will start from Israel, but it will apply to the whole world. But the good news, the hope that the book of Revelation gives us, is that God promises to save humanity, all the races of mankind, despite their nature, their problems, their difficulties. And that is such an encouraging hope, because it's just not for one nation. It's not just for America, just not for England, just not for South Africa. It's for the whole world, for all nations, and that is so, so encouraging. So, let's look a little bit more in detail at Revelation 1 verse 1. Yes, we have not finished with Revelation 1 verse 1, because there are a few words here that I want to emphasize a little bit more.

Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. I want to emphasize the word shortly, because it is misunderstood. And then it continues, and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. I also want to emphasize the word signified it, because sometimes its full meaning is not crossed. So, let's look at the word shortly. It comes from the Greek 5034, which means quickness with speed. Now, when you and I read which shortly must take place, we think, oh well, it's going to come soon. But this was stated 2000 years ago. So it kind of, if it said 2000 years ago, will soon come, shortly take place. If we read that word with that meaning behind it, say, well, 2000 years have gone by since this was revealed, well, not quite, but anyway, about 2000 years. So, it's a long time. But if we read the meaning of the Greek word, which says quickly with speed, in other words, these things will take place quickly, suddenly, from one moment to another. That's why it says like a thief in the night. So, look at 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction, sudden destruction comes upon them. In other words, suddenly, it's a short period, shortly, bang! Once it starts, shortly takes place. It just happens quickly with speed. So, when these things are going to explode, they're going to explode and they're going to be quick, quick. As labor planes come and pray to a woman, and they shall not escape. In other words, when the time of labor comes, suddenly comes, and yeah, maybe for some ladies, 12 hours, oh, it feels like a lifetime. But when you compare it to maybe a lifetime of 70 years, it's a short period. Now, when you go through the pain, it feels like a long time. But yeah, all this period from the beginning of the Great Tribulation to the Christ coming, we're talking about three and a half years. It's a short period. And the Day of the Lord, which is basically the theme of the Book of Revelation, the Day of the Lord is one year.

Look, the words quite often have different layers of meaning.

When the Bible in many places in the Book of Revelation talks about the Day of the Lord, that is that one year. But, for instance, in 2 Peter 3, when it talks about the Day of the Lord, it actually is talking about a thousand years. Because to God, a day is a thousand years. So it's talking about the time from when Christ intervenes till the second resurrection and that whole period. And when at the end of that second resurrection, the end of that thousand years and plus a hundred years, when that will all culminate and the earth will be completely destroyed, that in that context is also the Day of the Lord. So you and I have to read the context to see, but generally speaking, in the Book of Revelation, when it's talking about the Day of the Lord, it's that one year. And we'll cover that in more detail. So these are events that will happen very quickly. Then the word signified, which is Greek 4-5-9-1, semino, which is to give a sign, signified, which is a sign to make known through symbols, metaphors, visions, and words. And that's what we see in the Book of Revelation. We see visions, we see metaphors, we see symbols, we see words, which some of it are like parables, some of it are literal, some of it are like parables. But this is given to us to get an idea. Understand that in the Book of Revelation we have basically key points, key points, key milestones, key events.

It does not give some of the details. So some of the detailed scenarios, we sometimes don't know. It could happen this way, it could happen that way. But we know it's from here to there, and from there to there, and from there to there. But some of the little events here, we don't know. It's like when he says we've had COVID. Who would have said two years ago that we have what we have now? Nobody would have said that. So these details we don't know. But we know some key steps, some key steps. So in Revelation 1 verse 19, if you turn to Revelation 1 verse 19, it says, write the things which you have seen and the things which are, and the things that will take place after this. So this is how he signified. He saw these visions, he saw these symbols, he saw these images of beasts and all this, of locusts and things like that, which was the best he could explain with the then technology existing then at that time. But as time moves along, we start seeing, that's what it means. He sees those details then become a little clearer. All right, let's continue. And now I want to explain something very important about rules of interpretation. Because it is very critical that we're going to have all these symbols, all these analogies, all these things that kind of puts our mind in overdrive.

And it's easy to make wrong conclusions. It's easy to make wrong conclusions. So I am going to conclude today by covering some basic principles of studying the Bible.

Some rules of interpretation. That's what earmenutics means, rules of interpretation. So all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is proffered for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Second term, Matthew 3, 16. So all scripture. So one of the rules is the Bible must be read and seen and interpreted as a whole. You can't just take one scripture and make a doctrine out of one verse. You've got to put that in context of the whole picture of the Bible. You see, that's where people, one example, where people go wrong. Another rule is the Bible interprets itself. Yes, we've heard that before. If we don't understand something clearly, the Bible tells us what that is. You'll see that there is examples. There's also another point is that God has a purpose. God has a purpose for humanity, for us, and God's purpose has not changed. That's why it talks about crises, the alpha and the almond, the beginning and the end. In other words, the father has a plan.

That plan is to create a world-ruling government, a world-ruling family.

Think about it. It's a family of children of years, a royal family, sons and daughters of God, that will rule the universe. Now, initially, it'll rule the earth for a thousand years.

Then it will rule all those that have resurrected in the second resurrection. And then we get the new heaven and earth right towards the end of the book of Revelation, wherein very little is explained after that. But it basically says this whole world of galaxies, of billions and billions and billions of galaxies that are waiting in hope, they'll be somehow opened up for the sons of God to rule over them. So, putting it in a slightly different way, I'll put it the following way. It will be an inter-galactical government for the whole inter-galactical universe. That's what God has for us. And He's starting small. Today, He's just calling a few to be trained, to be prepared as kings, to be part of His, let's call it, governing cabinet, the firstfruits. Those will be the cabinet of His government, the core of the government. And that core will always be there for all eternity, into this government, into the inter-galactical universe beyond new heaven and new earth. Something enormous that you and I just don't even understand. God's purpose has never changed. That's the goal. And He's delegated all that responsibility to one being Christ. He is the executor. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z, the one that created the world, the one that is developing mankind and training, the one that is the intermediator, the one that is a high priest, the one that will judge the world, the one that when it's finished will hand it all to the Father and that mission accomplished. That purpose is the same from the beginning. And therefore, it is important for us to have that purpose in view when we understand Scripture. Also, a doctrine is established on clear and consistent teaching throughout the Bible and not just a few scriptures. You can't pick and choose one verse here and one verse there. Like people say, oh well, based on verse, verse, verse on that verse, therefore we don't have to keep the Sabbath. You know, you've got to look at the whole Bible. They are distorting a Scripture or whatever it is to give some idea of their own, some incorrect idea. So, a doctrine established on clear and consistent teaching throughout the Bible, not just a few passages. And if we look at 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14 and 15, it says, remind them, let's fall again telling Timothy, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words of no prophet. Why? Because people pick up a word here or pick up a word there and they start making doctrines of that word instead of looking at the whole context. And then, therefore, they ruin, they destroy those people. So, therefore, be diligent to present yourself, approve to God, a worker, which is not ashamed, does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the world of truth. In other words, acting straight, really analyzing it precisely and carefully. So, these rules of interpretation, which is what people call hermeneutics, hermeneutics, rules of interpretation are important. Let's continue with a few more. No book or part of the Bible, therefore, claims to give a complete systematic presentation of doctrines of theologies. You've got to look at the whole Bible as a whole. Doctrines, therefore, are understood by reviewing all relevant sections on the subject or doctrine and the study. So, we've got to look at everything together. That's why Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 20, is knowing this, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. In other words, that one verse, that one portion of Scripture does not have its own private interpretation. You've got to look at the whole thing, at the whole picture. Right. So, whatever possible, therefore, as rules of interpretation, whatever possible, the simple and straightforward understanding of the text is preferable. So, whatever possible, whatever you see in the text, as you read it, is preferable. And again, there are certain degrees of authority which we will cover later.

Priority must be given to understanding provided by Christ. So, whatever Christ's given is because He's the author. He is the author of salvation. He is the creator. He is the one that gives us the law from the Father. He is the spokesman. He is the Word that spoke for the Father. He is the one that all authority has been given to Him. So, must be given to what He says. And then, the church that is built in the words of the Apostolic Church, the apostles that He guided, that He inspired, that He taught in the words of the Scriptures of the New Testament for those apostles that follow exactly that teaching, and the original origins in the context in which it was given in that time.

For instance, that's for instance, I'm doing Bible studies on the book of relations during services. It is important to understand the context of the society, of the situations they were going through, to see why Paul, for instance, wrote back to the Galatians. So, the context of the society is also critically important. So, under these rules of interpretation, which I've mentioned a few already, there are other specific rules which are called exegesis. The rules of exegesis are the ones that you use to extract the meaning of a text as its original writer intended it to be interpreted, and how its origins would have been understood.

So, we've got to understand the context, how you wrote it, the age, the society, and therefore, as we read that, we extract, we mine, we take from it the meaning as it's intended. Unfortunately, many people don't follow exegesis. Oh, yes, they call it exegesis, but they're not extracting the meaning of the structure. They are inserting their own proper meaning into the scripture, inserting a particular meaning into a word or verse, and that is exegesis, that is, putting into it.

And therefore, that approach is not used in the development of the fundamental beliefs, which are the teachings of the United Church of God. That's not what we do, because that's wrong. So, it is important to understand exegesis. So, as we put this together, as I mentioned at the beginning of this slide, there are degrees of authority. So, when we put this together, there are degrees of authority.

As we look at the Bible, there are degrees of authority. So, let's look at that very briefly. This chart describes these degrees of authority, and the degrees of authority vary from 0% to 100%. What do we mean? We mean that the authority of something that is stated clearly in the Bible, for instance, verse is the first resurrection, or verse is the Sabbath, the seventh day.

It's a direct biblical affirmation. Direct! It can't be any clearer. The authority of that is 100%. Now, there are some implications which are also direct from the Bible, for instance. We read in Revelation 20 that, for instance, in verse 5, it says, there's the first resurrection, it says, but the rest of the dead did not come alive again until the thousand years were finished.

So, if the rest of the dead did not come alive again after the thousand years, and it was a resurrection at the beginning of the thousand years, was the first resurrection. So, the ones that resurrected afterwards, which after the thousand years, clearly those that resurrected after the thousand years, it's the second resurrection. And so, the term second resurrection is used in the church, but that we can see it's a direct biblical implication, because it says the rest will be after the thousand years.

So, the second will be after the thousand years. Then there are others that are probable indications. Probable indications, it says, or implications, verse is, but it probably could be verse, but it could be something else. And that's got less authority. Now, then we get to a point where you can get to a human reasoning inductive conclusions from the Bible. So, you can say, well, therefore this means that.

Well, it may mean that, but it may not. That's where we've got to be careful. And that's got less authority. And I'll talk to you a little bit more about that in a moment. These four bottom pillars, let's call it that, direct biblical informations, direct biblical implications, probable implications, and inductive conclusions from the Bible, that is human reasoning that we can conclude. They all are from the Bible. They're all public. They're all from the Bible. But now the top two, they're not from the Bible.

The next one is conclusions inferred from general revelation. There's nothing wrong with them, but we've got to be careful. For instance, we conclude that there exists a God, Romans chapter one, by the things that we created.

You see, the things we created prove that a God created it. But you see, that's general revelation. That is, we can look at the beauty of a flower. We can look at the complexity of the DNA and all these things. General revelation, general knowledge, and from there we can make conclusions, and some of them are conclusions of faith that God exists. But these are not from the Bible, but general revelation.

And therefore, you can have some conclusions from general revelation that fit perfectly down the pillar of this pyramid all the way down here, and therefore they're okay. But we can sometimes make conclusions about things, conclusions from general revelation, but they're outside of this pillar and they slide the way down, and therefore, even though they appear good conclusions, but they're not within the parameters of the truth. So we've got to be careful. And the least authority is speculation. I mean, you may have some speculation that falls smack in the eye, but a lot of speculation can be completely out of where it should be. So these are degrees of authority. Now, I want to emphasize the first two at the bottom, because the first two is basically exegesis. Is you extracting from Scripture the meaning? The next two, you can actually call them, you are inserting a meaning, a probable meaning, or you're inducing a meaning, you're injecting, and that's, and therefore, you've got to be careful, because you could be inducing something that is incorrect, which is correct, which falls in yeah, but you could be inducing something that is incorrect and falls outside of the speller.

So we've got to be careful. You see, so what we have here is what I call human reasoning apart from God. You've got to be careful, because the brain is very clever. We are, God has given us a very, very active brain, very capable, but we've got to be careful that this reasoning must be within biblical guidelines, because when this reason is outside these biblical guidelines, it can lead us astray. You see, if this reasoning is outside these biblical guidelines, like this red blob, yeah, then what could happen is it could slide down with a fantastic human reasoning, but it's unbiblical. However, if your reasoning is within the biblical principles, then it's okay. So it must fit the whole of the Bible. It must fit the other things. You see, so this is important. As we study the book of Revelation, it is important for us to understand these rules of interpretation that we've got to stick to proper rules of interpretation, to proper rules of interpretation, to proper hermeneutics. Otherwise, we could go wrong.

So, understanding the truth in summary is a miracle from God.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11 says, to what man, for what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in here. You see, God is given as a spirit, the spirit of man in man. And that spirit of man in man enables our human brain to think like a man. If you do not have the spirit of man, this engine, this programming capability in a brain that makes us think like a human being, then we would not understand things of man. Likewise, no one knows the things of God, except if we have the spirit of God merged with the spirit of man or working with the spirit of man for us to grasp and understand the things of God. If God doesn't give us that, we will not get it. And this is what Christ, for instance, spoke, for instance, when he gave the parable of the seeds in Matthew 13. And the apostles came to him and said, why do you speak to the people in parables? And then Christ said, because it has been given to you to know the mercies of the kingdom of heaven, of the kingdom of God. But to them, the people out there, they don't get it. Why? Therefore, and there he says, I speak to them in parables because seeing, they do not see. And hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. Why? Because God has got a plan, and in his plan, he's got a timeline. And now it's time to train the top echelon of God's government that will be eternal, which will be the bride of Christ, which will be eternal, will always be of Christ. That will be, let's call, the governing cabinet of this intergalactical government, which will be eternal. It will be a special team, the first truce. Then, once that team is set up of people that will work with Christ to teach mankind, then yes, you will open up to mankind, the truth, and then they'll understand it. But now, mankind has been cut off from understanding the truth. In other words, mankind has been cut off from God's Holy Spirit, which is symbolized by the Tree of Life. And you know in Genesis 3, when there was the sin of Adam and Eve, and then right at the end of that chapter, chapter 3, men and women were cut off from the Tree of Life, and they said, get out of the Garden of Eden, and he put an angel to protect the Tree of Life, so they would not have access to the Tree of Life. In other words, they would not have access to the Spirit of God, because the Tree of Life symbolizes the Spirit of God. So, mankind has been cut off from the Tree of Life until Jesus Christ comes back at the second time to reign, and then he will have a governing body of people to work with him to teach mankind. You see, in this age, God has to call individuals individually, one by one, to be part of that team. That's what it says in John 6, 44. No man can come unto him, and that's the Father draws in. And yeah, many are called, but few are chosen. Few are selected for this top echelon government team. They have to be virgins. In other words, once they know the truth, and once they've been begotten again by the Spirit of God, they will remain loyal and faithful and virgins, and they will not be mixed with pagan stuff, because they're normal virgins.

So, why only some call now at God the Father's choosing?

It's important for us to understand why. It's important, therefore, to understand the purpose of God for mankind and his plan to achieve.

Turn with me, please, to Romans 8, verse 19. Romans 8, verse 19. And with this verse, I will conclude tonight's initial study on the book of Revelation, which I've only covered in one verse, but it is important for us to understand the context of the cell. Romans chapter 8, verse 19. Romans chapter 8 is a really encouraging chapter, and then it says that we are called to be sons, and we are the sons of God, and we are joint heirs of God, and joint heirs of Christ. It says that in verse 18. And look at it, nothing, the trials that we have, the difficulties we have, is nothing, nothing to be compared with the glory that will have eternity to be in the top echelons of God's government for eternity. Wow! Do we get it? And then he says in verse 19, the whole creation awaits the revealing of the sons of man. Or put it in the way, for the earnest expectation of the creation evenly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. The true sons of God, sons of man as well, I should have written there, sons of God, but the whole creation, including the galaxy, including this whole world, awaits for the revealing of the sons of God. When the sons of God are revealed, the whole family, then we have the new heaven and new earth, and that whole creation is waiting for it, which includes all the galaxies. Brethren, I think it is in an amazing and beautiful story.

I hope this encourages you and that helps you to look forward to a really deep and engaging study on the book of Revelation.